Jeremy Thompson Catholic PhD in Biblical Languages, Programmer, Runner

The primary Old Testament lectionary reading today comes from Joshua 3 and involves the Israelites passing through the Jordan on dry ground.  I have already commented briefly on that text HERE.  In that reading the waters are “cut off” and “stand still.”  But, Psalm 114 presents the more poetic perspective, which I like better.  It actually appears that the waters of the Jordan (and the waters of the sea in the Exodus for that matter) were running away from the LORD.  In verses three and five the waters of the Jordan “turn around,” this is in parallel with the waters of the sea “fleeing” in the Exodus.  The trembling of the earth in verse 7 adds to the picture in the sense that the waters are running away not simply because God commanded, but more because they are afraid.  Very cool word picture since we typically think of water as inanimate. Check it out:

1 When Israel went out from Egypt,
the house of Jacob from a people of strange language,
2 Judah became God’s​​ sanctuary,
Israel his dominion.
3 The sea looked and fled;
Jordan turned back.
4 The mountains skipped like rams,
the hills like lambs.
5 Why is it, O sea, that you flee?
O Jordan, that you turn back?
6 O mountains, that you skip like rams?
O hills, like lambs?
7 Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord,
at the presence of the God of Jacob,
8 who turns the rock into a pool of water,
the flint into a spring of water. (NRSV)

Today’s lectionary reading moves from the end of Deuteronomy to the third chapter of Joshua.  The reading begins with verse 7 which, reads, “This day I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel, so that they will know that I will be with you as I was with Moses” (NRSV).  Of course, as always with the nation of Israel in the Old Testament, there seems to be some sort of disconnect here.  This disconnect is easy to miss in the lectionary as it jumped over Joshua chapter 1.

Well, what happens in Joshua 1?  A number of things happen, one of which is the Israelites pledging support to Joshua.  Verses 16 – 18 have the Israelites speaking to Joshua and saying the following:

16 They answered Joshua: “All that you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go. 17 Just as we obeyed Moses in all things, so we will obey you. Only may the Lord your God be with you, as he was with Moses! 18 Whoever rebels against your orders and disobeys your words, whatever you command, shall be put to death. Only be strong and courageous.”

So, what is the issue when we come to chapter 3?  Why is it necessary for the LORD to exalt Joshua, so that the people will know that he is with Joshua?  They have already pledged their support.  Or, was this support only feigned?

I am not a big fan of conquest narratives.  And, I do not believe that everything happened just as the Book of Joshua describes.  But, I do think there is a truth to be learned in all of this.  Group opinion is fickle.  One day people will pledge their support and the next they will be in need of a sign.  Never take the opinion of a group for granted.

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Today’s lectionary reading (Deut. 34) involves Moses dying in the land of Moab before reaching the Promised Land.  There are two elements of this story that to me add to the drama and make for quite a depressing tale, even though one does find the positive statements about Moses at the end.

1. Notice where Moses dies – Moses dies in Moab.  For those unfamiliar with the Bible’s claims about the origin of the Moabites this may not really strike a cord.  However, when one realizes that the Moabites are supposedly the descendants of Lot by his oldest daughter (Gen. 19.30ff), it changes things a bit.  Amy-Jill Levine (if you are interested in Levine’s audio course on the Old Testament get a discount HERE)  says that this story in Genesis was the Ancient Israelite way of saying the Moabites were “incestuous bastards.”  Moab is not really the ideal place for an Old Testament figure to die.  It is not like being buried in the Cave of Machpelah or your bones being brought back down to the land of promise.  But, Moab is not only where Moses dies, but also where he is buried (verse 6 – though the exact location is unspecified).
2. It also appears that Moses is dying before his time.  Of course, the story says that Moses is 120 years old.  That does not really sound like a person dying before his time; however, when one reads the description of his physical state, the point is clearer.  Verse 7 relates, “His eyes had noted faded (were not dim) and his strength had not fled.”  We get the image of 120 year old Moses as “bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.”  So, what happens?  God commands that he be dead, and he is dead (verse 6).  Perhaps I am taking the idiom in verse 7 too far, but the incongruence does seem real enough to inspire later traditions like that found in the Assumption of Moses.

Of course, if I had been Moses, I might have been happy to have died before the conquest narratives of Joshua (or is it Judges?).  Considering all the slaughtering of man, woman, and child, perhaps God is sparing him further bloodshed.  Yet I doubt that is the point of Deuteronomy.  Rather, severe is the penalty penalty for disobeying the Lord.  You will meet your end before your time in the land of incest.

If you are familiar with some of the more bizarre stories of the Old Testament, this one is probably near the top of the list.  A number of youths ridicule the prophet Elisha, he curses them, and two bears come out of the woods to maul the boys.  Four bloggers have recently interacted with this story if you are interested in seeing a couple of different approaches.  I think McGrath’s post is the best among the four if you only have time to check out one of them today.  Sometimes scholars in the field of Biblical Studies can take themselves a bit too seriously, but his post is both humorous and instructive at the same time:

1. James McGrath – Bad Boy Bible Study
2. David Ker – Bad Boy Bible Study Meets Ship of Fools
3. Douglas Mangum – Bizarre Bible Stories: 2 Kings 2.23-34
4. Tim Bulkeley – Watch Out or the Bears will Get You

It is every teacher’s frustration – Getting to the end of the course without making it all the way through the material.  I remember taking Systematic Theology in seminary and having the course end before we got to Eschatology.  Are you kidding me?

Brooke over at Anumma is dealing with a similar issue by not being able the give The Writings their due in a course on the Hebrew Bible.  I understand his frustration since The Writings contain the Wisdom Literature, which is my favorite part of the Hebrew Bible.  So, he has decided to deal with this in a new and different way by teaching backwards through the Hebrew Bible.  I look forward to hearing his results.  Check out his post HERE to see what tpyes of advantages he imagines from this approach.

John Hobbins over at Ancient Hebrew Poetry has recently written a very good post about the boring nature of Bible dictionaries.  I must confess that reading Bible dictionaries has generally been very good for putting me to sleep.  The print is generally tiny, which makes my eyes tired and makes me feel like I am getting nowhere when I am reading.  On top of this, the articles are usually dry and uninteresting (i.e. “Just the facts ma’am”).  John goes into significantly more detail about what might make a Bible dictionary interesting.  Check it out HERE.

Well, I have been away from blogging for a couple of days, and there have been a number of good links that I failed to get out there.  So, here goes…  The first post I wanted to point you towards was on a good principle for Biblical interpretation.  It is by Mark over at Alternation.  I can tell that Mark and I likely think very differently about many things; however, this is a good post about “doing no harm” with your interpretation of the Bible.  You can check out the post HERE.

I have moved my blog to WordPress. I apologize for any inconvenience. You can still navigate the old blog with archives and tags HERE. However, the new blog can be found by simply using the right navigation here.  I will be adding categories to the old blog posts shortly, so that you can find any old posts that you might be looking for.  I really love my old blogging software for writing.  I was using RapidWeaver, which is the same software that I use for my site.  I was able to do anything that I wanted to very easily.  But, RapidWeaver was terrible for publishing and commenting purposes. I’m not crazy about WordPress for writing, but it will make publishing and commenting easier.

Here is a link to a post on Art Boulet’s site entitled “Adam’s Rib or Adam’s Baculum?” He discusses an article which proposes that “rib” is a mistranslation of… well, something else. You’ll have to read the post to find out what.