Looking back 7 years

May 5th 2015 

I should go outside, but as I was putting my bookmark into Deuteronomy 28 - verse 46 where I stopped, I had to notice that it was almost completely translated by my algorithm that suggests translations so here it is with a little adjustment here and there for grammar.

And they will be in you for a sign and for a miracle and in your seed for evermore.

All these curses, summed up in that word denial, (the antecedent of they above) are for a miracle upon all generations of the people - isn't that astonishing? Curses a miracle, a sign, really, then, an act of love to something beyond our perception of time.

Paul must have been reading Deuteronomy when he wrote Romans 9 to 11. I won't quote the specific verse I am thinking of but the whole fits in this fearful and wonderful land we have been given.

Psalms 78 - a question

 What's bugging me today? With war, social disruption, privacy laws that protect the rich from scrutiny even by the government, the attempted coding of 'trust' in the sphere of money, our fear for our planet and destruction by fire, I'm bugged by the difficulty of communicating with my children in any form of language - and it has to be metaphorical, for that's all that language is.

Asaph had the same problem and he had instruction to follow even if it was perplexing to them also. After all he as much as admits that their own generation didn't get it. But they could still try and find some common ground with their children.

I'm looking for a host of keywords and stories that we might begin to share. Things like creation, time, material, energy, birth, physics, light, science, metaphor, abundance, life, DNA, design, good and evil, relationships, puzzles, language, completeness, safety, courage, faithfulness, trust, truth, holiness, money, business, discipline, persistence, love, Yahweh, sanctus, sanctuary, Egypt, 

Stories and sayings, parables, riddles, ... so they might set up their folly in God, and not forget the prodigality of God, and observe his commandments, ...

Folly! Prodigality!

Interesting article from Bart Ehrman this morning. Essentially he asks: About what other form of knowledge or belief would we say that it is better that we should think the way we did when we were 16 than the way we think now?

We should never say this is anyone's ultimate expectation. It's an attempt to stultify growth. You can be sure that Asaph is not 16. 

So what does this set of religious stories give us that we can pass on?

מַשְׂכִּ֗יל לְאָ֫סָ֥ף הַאֲזִ֣ינָה עַ֭מִּי תּוֹרָתִ֑י הַטּ֥וּ אָ֝זְנְכֶ֗ם לְאִמְרֵי־פִֽי		1 An insight of Asaph. Listen my people to my instruction. Bend your ears to the sayings of my mouth.
אֶפְתְּחָ֣ה בְמָשָׁ֣ל פִּ֑י אַבִּ֥יעָה חִ֝יד֗וֹת מִנִּי־קֶֽדֶם		2 I will open my mouth in a parable. I will ferment riddles from of old,
אֲשֶׁ֣ר שָׁ֭מַעְנוּ וַנֵּדָעֵ֑ם וַ֝אֲבוֹתֵ֗ינוּ סִפְּרוּ־לָֽנוּ		3 which we have heard and known, and our ancestors recounted to us.
לֹ֤א נְכַחֵ֨ד ׀ מִבְּנֵיהֶ֗ם לְד֥וֹר אַחֲר֗וֹן מְֽ֭סַפְּרִים תְּהִלּ֣וֹת יְהוָ֑ה וֶעֱזוּז֥וֹ וְ֝נִפְלְאוֹתָ֗יו אֲשֶׁ֣ר עָשָֽׂה		4 ♪C We will not conceal from their children in the generation to follow, recounting the praises of Yahweh, and his strength and his wonders which he did.
וַיָּ֤קֶם עֵד֨וּת ׀ בְּֽיַעֲקֹ֗ב וְתוֹרָה֮ שָׂ֤ם בְּיִשְׂרָ֫אֵ֥ל אֲשֶׁ֣ר צִ֭וָּה אֶת־אֲבוֹתֵ֑ינוּ לְ֝הוֹדִיעָ֗ם לִבְנֵיהֶֽם		5 He raised a testimony in Jacob and he set up instruction in Israel, which he commanded our ancestors, to make known to their children,
לְמַ֤עַן יֵדְע֨וּ ׀ דּ֣וֹר אַ֭חֲרוֹן בָּנִ֣ים יִוָּלֵ֑דוּ יָ֝קֻ֗מוּ וִֽיסַפְּר֥וּ לִבְנֵיהֶֽם		6 so that the generation to follow will know. The children to be born, will arise and recount to their children,
וְיָשִׂ֥ימוּ בֵֽאלֹהִ֗ים כִּ֫סְלָ֥ם וְלֹ֣א יִ֭שְׁכְּחוּ מַֽעַלְלֵי־אֵ֑ל וּמִצְוֺתָ֥יו יִנְצֹֽרוּ		7 so they might set up their folly in God, and not forget the prodigality of God, and observe his commandments,
וְלֹ֤א יִהְי֨וּ ׀ כַּאֲבוֹתָ֗ם דּוֹר֮ סוֹרֵ֪ר וּמֹ֫רֶ֥ה דּ֭וֹר לֹא־הֵכִ֣ין לִבּ֑וֹ וְלֹא־נֶאֶמְנָ֖ה אֶת־אֵ֣ל רוּחֽוֹ		8 and not become like their ancestors, a rebellious and provocative generation, a generation not preparing its heart, and whose spirit did not believe God.

It is so difficult to stop once one is started

I should go outside, but as I was putting my bookmark into Deuteronomy 28 - verse 46 where I stopped, I had to notice that it was almost completely translated by my algorithm that suggests translations so here it is with a little adjustment here and there for grammar.

And they will be in you for a sign and for a miracle and in your seed for evermore.

All these curses, summed up in that word denial, are for a miracle upon all generations of the people - isn't that astonishing? Curses a miracle, a sign, really, then, an act of love to something beyond our perception of time.

Paul must have been reading Deuteronomy when he wrote Romans 9 to 11. I won't quote the specific verse I am thinking of but the whole fits in this fearful and wonderful land we have been given.

Paul's sermon in Athens, Psalm 66, 1 Peter 3 and the Advocate

Last week, I found that the building of the new temple was a theme in the four lessons. It linked the old and the new. This week I wonder if I will be so lucky. Nothing jumps out at me in the first read-through.

Paul is said not to have been too successful in Athens. We have no letter to a church there. His message as reported by Luke includes this: that God "has fixed a day on which he will have the world judged in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead."  Imagine the Greek philosophers hearing this and - um - what was that you said, Paul?

It's right there in the next verse - they burst out laughing.

Science is good - even Greek science, and it may yet have the ultimate laugh when it grasps the mystery of the awe in our midst.

We are instructed at the beginning of Psalm 66 to "Raise a shout to God all the earth". Such laughter as is implied is deeper than a mockery based on our assumptions about how life works. There is another psalm where the mouths are filled with laughter (Psalm 126:2). Psalm 66 is both more sober and more universal in its shout. The lips and mouth in this psalm promise to pay vows which were spoken when the poet was in trouble. The poet "will recount to all who fear God what he has undertaken for my being". This is a poet under discipline.

I have the music in PDF form here. The English underlay was more difficult than usual. The feel of regular rhythm in the Hebrew syllables is quite strong and I cannot imitate it in translation. Does this music, through the verses that begin with a rising fifth, indicate that there is a stanza structure?

Look at the sequences of phrase shapes in the first half of each verse and how the mid-verse rest-point (A) is approached.
Verse 1 G-B-A, verse 2 E-F-E-A. 
Verse 3 E-B-G-B-A, verse 4 E-C-B-G-E-A. 

Verse 5 = v 3, verse 6 E-C-G-B-A (cf v 4), verse 7 = v 6 (differing ornaments), 
   verse 8 E-G-F-A, like v 2 approaching the sub-dominant from below. 

Verse 9 E-B-G-A, verse 10 E-F-A, verse 11 = v 10, verse 12 = v 10.

Verse 13 E-B-A, verse 14 = v 10, verse 15 = v 4 (cf v 6).

Verse 16 = v 3, verse 17 = v 2, v 18 = v 1, verse 19 = v 1, verse 20 = v 10.

There is an obvious link between Luke's recording of that last line of Paul's sermon and 1 Peter 3:22 "who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers made subject to him." All things whether in heaven or on earth are subject to the Anointed one.

What then is the connection of Paul's and Peter's words and the Spirit coming as the Comforter? And how does the Psalm fit in? Paul is speaking to the Gentiles. Peter is writing to the dispersed tribes.

Psalm 66 is the middle of three harvest poems that are themselves in a wider set of circles formed by the inscriptions of books 2 and 3. The fields ripening to harvest are the Gentiles. So the psalm begins with the whole earth raising a shout to Israel's God. The shout turns out to be for the salvation of Israel through the sea and through fire and water (like Tamino in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte).

Verse 8 asks all the peoples to make heard the voice of praise to Israel's God. Verse 16 asks all who fear God to pay attention to what God has done for the poet.

This is our cue to see in the poet's identity the whole of the people of Israel passing through trouble, and being delivered, even as the Anointed Jesus passed through trouble and was delivered from it. Then all can praise God for the exaltation of the man in Paul's and Peter's words to the position of judge, so the promise of the Psalms that God will judge the world in righteousness can be fulfilled.

Now to the responsibility of those to whom the Anointing Spirit comes as Comforter or Advocate. These too must go through fire and water, spirit and baptism, so that they can pay their vows (Psalm 66:13) in the day to day lives which God has set them in. These also can offer burnt offerings (that same word aliyah, meaning ascension or burnt offering, that we saw last week.)

I invite you to sing the music.