Hebrew Bible and Christian Scriptures

Last Sunday, my husband and I attended First Baptist Church Arlington and heard Dr. Wiles the pastor preached on Isaiah 6.  Dr. Wiles is also an adjunct proffesor at Truett teaching preaching 2 on Wednesday mornings.  His sermon included a section about King Uzziah found in 2 Kings.  I really enjoyed how his brought the context of Isaiah into his sermon and even made practical apllication out of the choices King Uzziah made eventually leading to his death and ruin of his reputation.  I would encourage you to listen to this sermon from Dr. Wiles.  below is a link to his sermon from this past Sunday titled, “Holy, Holy, Holy.”

http://www.fbca.org/sermonarchive#!/swx/pp/media_archives/15898/episode/27670

I work with a man from Zimbabwe named Jericho.  He was telling me about weddings in his countryand as he was describing the process I found some similarities between this culture and the cutlure in the Old Testament.  In Zimbabwe a man must get consent from the brides father and pay the bride price.  Most of the time this would be cattle like cows or goats.  Jericho said that when he got decided he wanted to marry his wife now he was very poor like in the case of Jacob in Genesis 29.  Luckily for Jericho he did not have to work for forteen years to finally marry the woman.  It would have been customary to give his bride’s father a gift but her family are Muslims and that culture does not require such gift.  

Jericho also said that is would not be unusual for for the bride’s family to be extremely demanding of the groom and often times grooms go poor trying to fulfill all of these demands and are left with no money for the wedding or even a ring.  As a pastor in Zimbabwe Jericho has had to work with young couples with trying to live up to cultural standards of a wedding along with the cultural demands of the bride’s price. 

Thousands of years later the culture of the Old Testament is still seen in numurous countries like Zimbabwe.  Some people old true to what the Bible says at all cost even if it means paying a hefty bride price.

Have your eyes ever hurt standing in line of the supermarket or at least your head? The magazine rack is beaming with bright colors with familiar faces. Faces that we hold up as heroes for some almost in a Greek pantheon way. Not only do we lift up Hollywood, but we all too often lift up the names in the Bible as unreachable humans. Instead of seeing Abraham or Ruth as a man or woman just like you and me perhaps you, like me, see them as a Superman figure that God had a highly unique relationship. Then there are some stories that explode this view.

The time had come Sarah had passed and Abraham knew that he wanted to see his son, Isaac, married. He called in his servant gave him instructions to bring a wife from his ancestors back to Isaac. The servant made an oath that he would faithfully complete this task and
he set off to land of Ur.

The servant arrived in the village of Nahor. He strode arrogantly in with his procession of fine goods he had brought as gifts to the bride to be. Then upon inquiring of Abraham’s family began a beauty pageant to see who would be selected. Sorry nope. No King Xerxes here.

The servant stops at the village well and prays. Whoa! Wait I thought God only had a relationship with those he picked out. This is before the ten commandments and Israelite religion. Here is a servant praying,

“LORD, God of my master Abraham, make me successful today, and show kindness to my master Abraham. ¹³ See, I am standing beside this spring, and the daughters of the townspeople are coming out to draw water. ¹⁴ May it be that when I say to a young woman, ‘Please let down your jar that I may have a drink,’ and she says, ‘Drink, and I’ll water your camels too’—let her be the one you have chosen for your servant Isaac. By this I will know that you have shown kindness to my master” (Genesis 24:14).

This is one of my favorite prayers in the Bible. It is humble, simple, and the servant expects God to show up in a big way. He asks God for a very specific sign you can tell he is taking this oath to his master seriously.

Another reason I gravitate toward this prayer is its searching for discernment. The servant is concerned both with fulfilling his oath, and also carrying out God’s wishes “let her be the one you have chosen”. There is a hint of familiarity in the servant’s prayer that indicates to us reading it that this was not the first prayer uttered by this servant.

The last aspect of this prayer is its tone. The tone is so friendly. If it stopped after the opening line “O LORD, God of my master give me success today” it would sound official and impersonal. Instead. The second line sounds more like a face to face conversation “See, I am standing beside this spring…”. The servant goes on to explain his predicament and how God can help him through it.

This simple servant had somewhere along the way learned to pray to Abraham’s God who was now their God. Abraham makes it to Hebrews 11 the servant’s everyday faith doesn’t, but it is one I can really grab onto. So I tip my hat to us common everyday faithful saying God may never use us to start a nation, marry a  tyrant to save your people, or to call down fire from heaven, but he is still God with us.

As the last words of the servant’s prayer are dripping from his mouth God begins acting. There before him was the girl for Abraham’s son. The servant anticipated the arrival of God he prayed as if God always shows up. Entering into advent I am mindful of the anticipation of Christ’s coming both present tense and future tense. Do I have the faith of this servant who expects and prays in  anticipation of God who always shows up?

He said, “Go out and stand on the mountain before the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by.” Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake;
12 and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence.
(1Ki 19:11-12 NRS)

Unfortunately, too many good climbers are no longer around because of summit fever. Summit fever is typically defined as the dangerous state of mind in which a person fails to notice dangerous weather, route conditions, physical exertion or refuses to take them into consideration in a desperation to reach the top.

I further expand this definition to include the problem many extreme sports enthusiasts find themselves in. This problem is when ‘big’ is not longer ‘big enough’. Climbing a huge mountain is no longer a challenge so I will ski down the face of Everest. Normal ski runs are not doing it for me so I will take a run with a 255ft jump. This river in South America has never had a first descent I will drop in knowing there is no way out for the next few miles and if I make one mistake I will die. So summit fever is a danger to all extreme athletes. If  you throw all of this in a pot and get it to a boil you will notice really we are dealing with contentment.

One spring day King David wakes up from a nap. His band of brothers is far off doing his bidding for some reason this year he was not interested in battle. This behavior was completely out of character for a warrior from boyhood, a national military hero in adolescence, an outlaw robin hood in young adulthood, now king of a nation. As this restless man looks out over his kingdom his eyes see a woman bathing on her rooftop. Summit fever strikes! David asks of her identity and can’t keep his mind off of her. Despite the fact that he has multiple wives and that this woman Bathsheeba had a husband he is blinded by a summit fever of sorts.

After a night of  indiscretion David awakes. Whew, he thinks “I will skate by”. Then the ground shakes and above him on the slope is wall of snowing descending over 100mph. Pregnancy, a honorable husband, one of my best men he is pummeled. Clawing from the cold coffin he arises over the bank in the midst of white out. Murder, loss of a child, the incestuous rape of one of his daughters, fratricide, the rebellion of a son the cloud never seems to lift for King David. Finally, stumbling trying to make sense of which way is up he surveys his people to establish the might of his kingdom. The cold hard air closes in on his chest a night from which he will never arise.

It may sound like I coming down really hard on David and I am. The point I am trying to make is the that we all  hear the siren’s call to summit fever. Contentment is the hardest thing in life. Materialism is ingrained in us as children. The TV declares that we need the latest dolls that pees everywhere or the remote control car that can climb straight up walls. Then as a teenager it is all about having the right label and portraying the right image. As adults guys can get a beer or body wash or both that will get all of the beautiful women you could shake as stick at. Women can get underwear that will instantly make them supermodels, even angels. If you just work harder you can get more vacation, more money, more happiness. You can take a pill that will make you skinny and you won’t have to do any of that exhausting exercise. Technology! Oh Technology! You can’t get anything that uses electricity that doesn’t go out of date before you leave the store. I am pretty sure that if you even bought a toaster it would be useless before you got home.

If you listen to what is swirling around you, you will hear “Your life is horrible!! There is something better for you. Your body is ugly. You have no value unless you have _____. This relationship is temporary there is someone better.” On and on the refrain goes. Take it from those who have gone before us summit fever bites! King David can attest to that. So how about you and me we sit down and figure out how to translate the climbing mantra “Climb to live another day!” We must declare that bigger is not better and enough is enough!

This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. Psalm 118:24

I hate being interrupted.  Being interrupted during a movie is a big one for me like; the screen shuts off, some is yapping loudly on a phone, a child is screaming, or someone has to get up to use the bathroom.  UGHHH!  I get super frustrating.  Ironically all these interruptions can occur while I am preaching.  It throws me completely off sometimes but I’m learning to adjust.  As Pastors, ministers and especially chaplains our whole carreers are built upon interruptions.  This week I am carrying the hot pager (yes, they still make pagers).  The hot pager or on call pager is the go to pager for the hospital when I chaplain is needed.  I have the honor of carrying this for an entire week.  I go to the store with it, I take it into movies, I work out with and it even sleeps right next to me becuase when it goes off I have less than half an hour to ge to the hospital.  The worst of all these interruptions is when I am fast asleep and at 3:00 AM it screams out at me.  I have to throw on my clothes, put make up the sleepy bags under my eyes and rush off to the hospital normally to find someone dying or worse someone who has past away. 

There are other interruptions in ministry that seem absolutely frustrating and unneccesary until you look back and see God working through that intteruption.  The Bible is full of these divine interrupitons that normally come in the form of angel or messanger of the Lord.  We see this with Abraham and the messangers whom he shoes hospitality.  We also saw this with Joshua who encounters the commander of the Lord’s Army.  In the New testament Mary and Joseph’s lives are interrupted with by an angel of God.  Perhaps God uses interruptions to get us out of the routine lifestyles out of the norm, in order for us to be apart of something miraculous.   

The other morning I got page to come to the hospital where an elderly woman was about to pass away.  I hurredly put myself together and went to the hospital to find a sweet family saying goodbye to their mother.  They shared stories about life growing up and how blessed they were to know her and be part of her life.  I was so blessed to be about of that moment with that famile. Often times the greatest stories of God working in my life begin with loud annoying pages in the middle of the night.

What do the Tooth Fairy, Scorpion King, and Rock have in common? They all answer to the name Dwayne Johnson who can be seen below with his signature move the “People’s Elbow”.

Imagine for a moment the pain and shame dealt by Dwayne on these men. In Deuteronomy 17 the LORD gives Moses several commandments for kings. This of course was well before Israel would have a king, but God knew the path things would take.

Here is what is required of a king:

• must not acquire many horses
• not acquire many wives
• not acquire silver and gold in great quantity
•  he must have his own copy of God’s law with him at all times
•  he must read the law and learn to fear the LORD
•  must obey the law
•  must not exalt himself above other members of the community

In 2 Samuel 18: 9 King David’s son, Absalom, gets his big head stuck in a tree.

⁹And Absalom happened to meet the servants of David. Absalom was riding on his mule, and the mule went under the thick branches of a great oak,and his head caught fast in the oak, and he was suspended between heaven and earth, while the mule that was under him went on.

At first read, I imagaine this man literally dangling in mid air with his hair all tangled in the branches of the tree, his clothes snagging on the bark, and his body squirming to get free.  The man was stuck!  But then the phrase “suspended between Heaven and Earth” caught my attention.  Could this possibly mean something more perhap an in between place of being?  Maybe he was caught between this life and the next and Joab simply put him out of his misery.  In medical terms this would be called DCL – Discontinued of LIfe.

I have seen this in between place a little to often for my liking.  Working in the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit a DCL will most likely take place at some point.  I often wonder about those have been prounouced brain dead or no longer able to breath on their own.  Sometimes families keep them alive on life support for quite some time.  Are they still here with us or have the souls moved on?  Could they be suspended between heaven and earth?

The media and entertainment world has always enjoyed using the Bible in not so accurate way.  I find some secular material that uses Bible stoires to be extremely fascinated and at times very insulting.  But when I get past the blasphemy and approach these movie scenes, television shows or other media material with a secular perspective I begin to see how the world might view God’s word.  There is a Simpson’s episode that I recently watch that involved three popular stories from the old testament.  This episode was aired in 1999 and in my opinon provide an interesting “worldly” perspective on Old Testament stories. 

Storyline

Each family member has a dream after they nod off during a boring church sermon. Marge imagines she is Eve to Homer’s Adam,being expelled by God (Ned) from Eden for eating the forbidden fruit – as well as for killing Gary the Unicorn. Whilst Homer sees himself as Solomon wisely giving judgment on the division of a pie,Lisa is a Hebrew slave helping Moses Milhouse lead the kids to freedom from Pharaoh Skinner by flushing all the toilets and parting the waves for them. Bart is David,fighting Goliath’s son Nelson,with the help of shepherd boy Ralph,who comes back from the day to get rid of the bully. Written by don @ minifie-1 

Although I am not a big fan of the Simpsons(I prefer family guy), I believe that this controversial episode provides interesting insight to modern cultures views on the Bible.  What do you think?  Is this simply blasphemy and insulting to Christianity or does this help us understand the world in which we live?

There is a theme that I have seen throughout my few years of ministry.  I am not what people expect to see especially as a chaplain in the hospital.  Most of the time for patients, family members or staff, this is a pleasant misconception.  However for some people it is very difficult when reality, what is standing right in front of them, is not what they had envisioned or expected.  God uses unexpected people in unexpected ways.  The first church I served in, I was the first woman ever to preach in the church and the second church I served, the church had never seen a woman serving as the student pastor.  This theme in my life has been revealed more clearly to me now that I am serving as a chaplain.  Some people are caught off guard when I walk into a patient’s room and introduce myself.  I have heard several phrases like, “Aren’t you too young for this job?”, “How old are you?”, “Aren’t chaplains supposed to be old, white men?”  I used to dismiss myself by saying something like, “Well I’m sorry you expected someone else.”  But now I have embraced my calling as a young, white female and I find myself saying things like “I’m not that young” or “I’m old enough.”  When I dismiss myself, it opens the door for others to dismiss me. 

            Reading the story about David in I Samuel has really encouraged me as a young, female pastor serving God against people’s expectations.  I wonder if David had a difficult time being a King that did not fit the expectations of people.  David was anointed to be king although he was not tall and strong like Saul and he was not old enough according to the criteria of men. 

³³And Saul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for you are but a youth, and he has been a man of war from his youth.” …³⁸Then Saul clothed David with his armor. He put a helmet of bronze on his head and clothed him with a coat of mail, ³⁹and David strapped his sword over his armor. And he tried in vain to go, for he had not tested them. Then David said to Saul, “I cannot go with these.” I Samuel 17

He did not fit the age or physical criteria that the people of Israel expected.  David was small and the youngest out of his brothers who were also not supportive in anyway.  But God used David in incredible ways, ways that were so miraculous that the only glory or praise given had to be given to God. 

Jesus also came in an unexpected manner.  Born in a cattle stall, working a as carpenter, dying a criminals death.  The Israelites expected a King like David, who would come and destroy the enemy right in front of them.  Those that do not let go of their expectations miss out on an incredible work that God was and still is doing through unexpected people.  Each day I need to remember that what others expect or even what I expect is not always what God will do.  I am not what people expect and that’s ok with me because I know that God will continue to use me without the approval of man’s expectations.

Okay maybe David didn’t utter those words. I can still remember sitting in my Old Testament class in undergraduate class and hearing Dr. Tatum explain that David operated like a pirate. This consqeuntly brought all sorts of imagery to my mind. In this present moment I am envisioning a swashbuckling Jack Sparrow type.

David had no ships nor water to carry out his raiding fancy. However, in 1 Samuel 25 – 30 David takes on the role as pirate.

First, is the extortion of Nabal. David keeps his sheperders “safe” in the desert. Yes David defends them, but aren’t his band of rebels the ones raiding the country side. Nabal sees no need for David’s security force and sends him away. At the risk of breaking hospitality customs Nabal spurns David’s men. Nabal’s destruction is narrowly averted by his generous wife Abigail.

David later moves on to the land of Philistines to escape the pursuit of King Saul. David had already tried to escape to Gath where King Achish lived, but his reputation as an Israelite commander preceded him. David played insane to escape.

This time David returned pirate plan in hand. David and his six hundred men went out raiding and pillaging enemies of Israel. Then they would return to King Achish pay him tribute with the spoils with the explanation that they had raided an Israelite town. Pirate scheme in place…Check.

Lastly, David proved that he is the ultimate pirate when his own village is raided and everything is taken. After crying their eyes out the band of rebels did what any good pirate crew did they organized for a mutiny. In this moment David leans on the LORD and is given a promise that a rescue attempt would be successful. The Amalekite raiders have a several days head start but David is such a tank that he catches up to them. 200 of his men couldn’t even keep up with the pace. After this crazy dash David and his men fight the raider for 24 hours. Then David and his band of rebels return with all their stuff and then some. Who is the best pirate in the land? David of course!

I never want to meet David or one of his men in a dark alley that is for sure.