Tag: idolatry

Morality Matters (2 Kings 9:14-26)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment

Then Jehu, Jehoshaphat’s son and Nimshi’s grandson, plotted against Joram. Now Joram along with all of Israel had been guarding Ramoth-Gilead against Aram’s King Hazael, but King Joram had gone back to Jezreel to recover from wounds that the Arameans had given him when he fought Hazael.

So Jehu said, “If this is the way you feel, then don’t let anyone escape from the city to talk about it in Jezreel.” Then Jehu got on a chariot and drove to Jezreel because Joram was resting there. Judah’s King Ahaziah had also come to visit Joram.

The guard standing on the tower at Jezreel saw a crowd of people coming with Jehu. He said, “I see a crowd of people.”

Joram said, “Take a chariot driver. Send him out to meet them to ask, ‘Do you come in peace?’”

So the driver went to meet him and said, “The king asks, ‘Do you come in peace?’”

Jehu replied, “What do you care about peace? Come around and follow me.”

Meanwhile, the tower guard reported, “The messenger met them, but he isn’t returning.”

The king sent a second driver. He came to them and said, “The king asks, ‘Do you come in peace?’”

Jehu said, “What do you care about peace? Come around and follow me.”

The tower guard reported, “The messenger met them, but he isn’t returning. And the style of chariot driving is like Jehu, Nimshi’s son. Jehu drives like a madman.”

Joram said, “Hitch up the chariot!” So they hitched up his chariot. Then Israel’s King Joram and Judah’s King Ahaziah—each in his own chariot—went out to meet Jehu. They happened to meet him at the plot of ground that belonged to Naboth the Jezreelite.

When Joram saw Jehu, he said, “Do you come in peace, Jehu?”

He said, “How can there be peace as long as the immoralities of your mother Jezebel and her many acts of sorcery continue?”

Then Joram turned his chariot around and fled. He shouted to Ahaziah, “It’s a trap, Ahaziah!”

Jehu took his bow and shot Joram in the back. The arrow went through his heart, and he fell down in his chariot. Jehu said to Bidkar his chariot officer, “Pick him up, and throw him on the plot of ground belonging to Naboth the Jezreelite. Remember how you and I were driving chariot teams behind his father Ahab when the Lord spoke this prophecy about him: Yesterday I saw Naboth’s blood and his sons’ blood, declares the Lord. I swear that I will pay you back on this very plot of ground, declares the Lord. Now pick him up, and throw him on that plot of ground, in agreement with the Lord’s word.” (Common English Bible)

Jehu shoots an arrow that strikes Joram in the back, by Jan Luyken, 1712

Ancient storytelling often had a moral to it. Historical writing was typically less concerned for objective details and much more interested to point out, in narrative form, how people morally lived and what happened to them. Rather than commenting on what the moral(s) are, the storyteller lets the story speak for itself.

Today’s Old Testament lesson brings several kings into the story (Jehu, Joram, Ahaziah, and Ahab). We are meant to contrast Jehu’s zeal for justice and living into God’s call with the others kings’ injustice and living for power and wealth. The final end of the kings is designed for us to see the ultimate consequence of injustice.

Elisha the prophet had given a non-descript Israelite military man, Jehu, instructions from the Lord about carrying out divine judgment against the unjust royal house of Omri – and more specifically, against King Ahab and Queen Jezebel.

After Jehu’s prophetic call and anointing, the soldiers under his command immediately acclaimed him as king. Jehu wasted no time in going after the people responsible for years of abusive power.

Rather than simply giving orders to his soldiers and remaining in back of his army, Jehu led his men into the thick of battle. We get the picture of a person with single-minded determination, aggressively going after unjust leaders; and seeking to upend a royal system of power which strayed far from their original mandate of upholding God’s system of law and covenant.

Jehu’s zeal is exemplified in his chariot driving: He was going to speedily get to where he needed to go, and do what he needed to do.

The story emphasizes the increasing drama of messengers sent to enquire of Jehu’s intentions: Are they peaceful? Clearly, no. There was betrayal afoot, as Jehu boldly drove against his own king of Israel, as well as the king of Judah.

The unjust kings had created a situation in their nations of peace for themselves, but not necessarily others. So, Jehu would take that peace from them.

The two kings of Israel and Judah personally went out to Jehu, not realizing what was about to happen. Ironically, it took place on land which Naboth had previously owned, and of which Ahab and Jezebel diabolically stole. It is a powerful depiction of what goes around comes around.

Jehu quickly got to the nub of the issue: There cannot be peace as long as Jezebel’s idolatry and witchcraft abound in the land. Her wicked ways had become thoroughly imbued throughout both Israel and Judah, and was supported by both of the kings.

From the perspective of Jehu, there was no peace that could exist between a follower of Yahweh and a practitioner of the Baal and Asherah cults. Jehu’s intent was to fulfill the prophecy that was announced by Elijah twelve years earlier. And he went about it with violent zeal.

Whenever the Lord begins to exact judgment and ensconce justice, there’s no way anyone is going to stop it. Joram went out to face an enemy that he could not stop. There was no escaping the inexorable force of God.

Divine providence brought the kings together on the very piece of land that was once Naboth’s vineyard – the place where Ahab took sinister control of it. (1 Kings 21). Murderous theft was the inevitable result of spiritual fornication; Ahab and Jezebel had prostituted themselves with the gods Baal and Asherah.

Spiritual adultery never ends well. Because God is a jealous Lover. Peace is not achieved by letting everyone do whatever they want. Instead, it is established through integrity, justice, truth, and ethical morality.

Eternal God, in whose perfect kingdom the sword of righteousness is drawn: Spread abroad your mighty Spirit, so that all peoples may be gathered under the banner of the Prince of Peace, as children of one Father; to whom be dominion and glory, now and forever. Amen.

A Prayer of Confession and Contrition (Nehemiah 9:16-25)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment

But they—our own ancestors—acted arrogantly.
They became stubborn and wouldn’t obey your commands.
They refused to listen.
They forgot the miracles you performed for them.
They became stubborn and appointed a leader
to take them back to slavery in Egypt.
But you are a forgiving God,
one who is compassionate, merciful, patient,
and always ready to forgive.
You never abandoned them,
even when they made a metal statue of a calf for themselves
and said, ‘This is your god who took you out of Egypt.’
They committed outrageous sins.
But because of your endless compassion,
you didn’t abandon them in the desert.
The column of smoke didn’t leave them during the day,
but it led them on their way.
The column of fire didn’t leave them during the night,
but it gave them light to see the way they should go.
You gave them your good Spirit to teach them.
You didn’t keep your manna to yourself.
You gave them water to quench their thirst.
You provided for them in the desert for 40 years,
and they had everything they needed.
Their clothes didn’t wear out, and their feet didn’t swell.

You gave kingdoms and nations to the Israelites
and assigned them their boundaries.
So they took possession of the land of Sihon,
the land of the king of Heshbon,
and the land of King Og of Bashan.
You made their children as numerous as the stars in the sky.
You brought them into the land you told their parents to enter and possess.
Their children took possession of the land.
You defeated for them the Canaanites, who lived in the land.
You handed the Canaanite kings and their people over to them
to do whatever they wanted with the Canaanites.
The Israelites captured fortified cities and a rich land.
They took possession of houses filled with all sorts of good things,
cisterns, vineyards, olive trees,
and plenty of fruit trees.
So they ate and were satisfied and grew fat.
They enjoyed the vast supply of good things you gave them. (God’s Word Translation)

The Jewish people had experienced the Babylonian Captivity. The walls of Jerusalem had been torn down, and the Temple was ransacked and destroyed.

Years later, the Persians overthrew the Babylonians, and many of the Jewish captives were allowed to return to Judea. One of the returning groups was led by Nehemiah, who was a cupbearer to the king.

Nehemiah engaged in an ambitious project of rebuilding Jerusalem’s wall and securing the city. It was a large undertaking. Yet, even more daunting was restoring the Jewish people’s worship of Yahweh, and following the Torah, God’s law.

Today’s Old Testament lesson takes place in the fifth century B.C.E. Nehemiah, along with the religious leader Ezra the scribe, organized a public assembly. The people listened to the Torah being read, and were fasting, confessing, and repenting of the ways they had neglected God’s law.

A group of Levites (the priests) stood up and said a long prayer of confession. Our verses for today are a part of that extended time of confession of sin and profession of faith. The people’s past history was very much a part of their present circumstances.

The Levities emphasized that it is God’s nature to be full of faithfulness and steadfast love. So, the Lord preserved the Israelites and rescued them out of Egyptian slavery through a series of miraculous wonders.

While their ancestors were out in a desert sojourn, anticipating entry into the Promised Land, God was faithful to provide for the Israelites both physical and spiritual food – Torah and manna.

And yet, despite the incredible rescue from Egypt, and miraculously escaping through the Red Sea, the people were rebellious. Their disobedience to God in the golden calf experience prevented that generation from entering into the promised rest. (Hebrews 3:16-19)

Every generation has its “sinners,” those who seem to have a bent toward selfish behavior, and refuse to see the needs of the entire group. They only serve God if it serves their own self-centered purposes. And they stubbornly refuse to bend to anyone’s wishes, including God’s.

Unfortunately, that sin of pride and arrogance gets passed down to the next generations. It’s not only, in some ways, taught; this sort of stubbornness also appears to have a genetic component, as well. Whenever our minds and hearts are rewired with injustice toward others and disobedience toward God, that wacky wiring gets passed down to the next generations.

It is quite likely that past trauma has a lot to do with skewed minds and hearts.

Epigenetics is a scientific field which investigates how environment influences our genes. Trauma does not alter our actual DNA sequence; but it does impact how that sequence is read and utilized in our body.

When an individual experiences trauma, their body may adapt by adjusting gene expression, and some of these changes can be passed on to their children. It’s like passing on genetic notes to our progeny – which means that these notes can be rewritten (and rewired) by our own life experiences and actions.

I am not a genetic scientist, yet this may be something akin to the divine warning about generational sin, arising from a generation’s trauma experience, after being enslaved and mistreated for 400 years in Egypt. In giving the Law to Moses, God then said:

“The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.” (Exodus 34:6-7, NIV)

Whether any of us knows anything about genetics and epigenetics, or not, there yet remains the need for a prayer of confession. It is necessary to acknowledge our own sins, as well as the sins of our ancestors.

In their prayer of confession, the Levites in Nehemiah’s time acknowledged and confessed their own guilt, and the guilt of their ancestors, of being the following:

  1. Obstinate. They stubbornly presumed God would be with them, then obstinately did whatever the heck they wanted.
  2. Stubborn. They were “stiff-necked” and refused to obey God when they didn’t want to.
  3. Forgetful. Not an accidental forgetting, but a purposeful neglect to remember what God had done for the people.
  4. Idolatrous. It was the people’s impatience with waiting for Moses on Mount Sinai that led to the golden calf idol disaster. Failing to accept God’s timetable will always lead to a bevy of bad behavior.
  5. Disobedient. The most sinister form of this is obeying halfway, and believing that you have completely done your duty for God, i.e. the sin of one person, Achan, affecting the entire community. (Joshua 7:1, 10-12, 20-26)
  6. Complaining. Murmuring and grumbling is the dissatisfying attitude and speech of ingrates. When directed at God, it is a failure of faith, replaced with a belief that God is mean and/or capricious.

Confession and repentance are the remedies to both individual and communal guilt. And that is exactly what Ezra and Nehemiah organized the post-exilic Israelites to do, publicly.

Not only did they offer a prayer of confession and repentance, but they also acknowledged and believed God’s faithfulness and mercy to forgive, renew, and restore.

Indeed, God’s grace is greater than all of our sin.

The Levites were not simply offering a mechanical liturgical formula for corporate confession. They were crying out with heartfelt confession to the God they believed was listening and would respond.

As the Levites led the people in confession and repentance, they pointed to the following attributes and activities of God which they put all of their trust in:

God forgives.

He made known his ways to Moses,
    his deeds to the people of Israel:
The Lord is compassionate and gracious,
    slow to anger, abounding in love.
He will not always accuse,
    nor will he harbor his anger forever;
he does not treat us as our sins deserve
    or repay us according to our iniquities.
For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
    so great is his love for those who fear him;
as far as the east is from the west,
    so far has he removed our transgressions from us. (Psalm 103:7-12, NIV)

God guides.

He guides me along the right paths
    for his name’s sake. (Psalm 23:3, NIV)

God provides.

He has caused his wonders to be remembered;
    the Lord is gracious and compassionate.
He provides food for those who fear him;
    he remembers his covenant forever. (Psalm 111:4-5, NIV)

God sustains.

I lie down and sleep;
    I wake again, because the Lord sustains me. (Psalm 3:5, NIV)

When all is said and done, the centrality of God is humanity’s ballast. As we orient all of life around the Lord, this is what makes all the difference in coming to grips with our past, present, and future.

May it be so, to the glory of God.

Avoid the Downward Spiral (Judges 6:1-10)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment

The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and for seven years he gave them into the hands of the Midianites. Because the power of Midian was so oppressive, the Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in mountain clefts, caves and strongholds. Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples invaded the country. 

They camped on the land and ruined the crops all the way to Gaza and did not spare a living thing for Israel, neither sheep nor cattle nor donkeys. They came up with their livestock and their tents like swarms of locusts. It was impossible to count them or their camels; they invaded the land to ravage it. Midian so impoverished the Israelites that they cried out to the Lord for help.

When the Israelites cried out to the Lord because of Midian, he sent them a prophet, who said, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I brought you up out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. I rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians. And I delivered you from the hand of all your oppressors; I drove them out before you and gave you their land. I said to you, ‘I am the Lord your God; do not worship the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you live.’ But you have not listened to me.” (New International Version)

Frankly, the biblical Book of Judges is rather depressing. Its descriptive arc is a sad downward spiral of forgetfulness and disobedience – with the people crying out for deliverance and being saved – and then another slide, even lower than before, into memory issues, and negligence of the law.

Newer and greater levels of depravity occur, the further one reads into the Book of Judges. Indeed, early in the book we are given the reason for such an immoral and idolatrous slide:

The people served the Lord throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him and who had seen all the great things the Lord had done for Israel…

After that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors, another generation grew up who knew neither the Lord nor what he had done for Israel. Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord and served the Baals. They forsook the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples around them. They aroused the Lord’s anger because they forsook him and served Baal and the Ashtoreths. 

In his anger against Israel the Lord gave them into the hands of raiders who plundered them. He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, whom they were no longer able to resist. Whenever Israel went out to fight, the hand of the Lord was against them to defeat them, just as he had sworn to them. They were in great distress. (Judges 2:7, 10-15, NIV)

In today’s Old Testament lesson, yet another round of disobedience brought yet another threat, in the form of the Midianites and Amalekites. Midian’s annual raids of Israelite land destroyed crops and led to the livestock eventually starving. The people were left just trying to eek-out a living and survive.

The Midianites were a nomadic people, subsisting mostly through trade. They were not farmers, and really did not need to raid Israel. It seems they came and did their damage just to keep Israel weak and under their thumb, unable to compete in the caravan markets that Midian depended upon.

The story of crop destruction, and Midianites as thick as locusts, communicates divine judgment and connects with Joshua’s warning to remember God and be faithful to the covenant law:

“If you violate the covenant of the Lord your God, which he commanded you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them, the Lord’s anger will burn against you, and you will quickly perish from the good land he has given you.” (Joshua 23:16, NIV)

The Israelites cried out in their distress to God for deliverance. They were answered by an unknown prophet who clearly connected the people’s disloyalty to their adverse situation. Although Canaanite gods may have been tolerant of worshiping other deities, the Lord, Israel’s God, is certainly not.

In the case of the ancient Israelites, the people’s disobedience caused their suffering. The prophet did not promise any sort of deliverance. And the distressed people were left wondering if they had been abandoned by God.

This entire situation is a set up for the character of Gideon, who will come on the scene as one of the dominant deliverers in the Book of Judges. And Gideon’s story further illustrates the ever-increasing relationship between Israel, Canaan, and immoral behavior.

By the time we get to the end of the book, there is a sort of morbid and depressing anarchy that has settled amongst the people, ending in the statement:

In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit. (Judges 21:26, NIV)

That was not a statement of freedom, but of depravity. It was almost like living in a dystopian society in which nobody was really safe.

Yet God always has had a remnant of people who are faithful and remember the great things which the Lord has done.

So, if we want to avoid the downward spiral in the Book of Judges, the believer is encouraged to keep memory of God’s works, words, and ways in this world; and to remain faithful in obeying God’s law and embracing God’s love.

We need the law of love, and the love of law, in order to rightly relate to our neighbor and be concerned for the common justice of all persons – instead of living in a bubble of supposed safety, doing only what seems right to me.

Lord God, almighty and everlasting Father, you have brought us in safety to this new day: Preserve us with your mighty power, that we may not fall into sin, nor be overcome by adversity; and in all we do, direct us to the fulfilling of your purpose; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Wealth and Wisdom of Solomon (2 Chronicles 9:29-31)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
King Solomon, by British artist Simeon Solomon, c.1874

Everything else Solomon did while he was king is written in the records of Nathan the prophet, Ahijah the prophet from Shiloh, and Iddo the prophet who wrote about Jeroboam son of Nebat. After Solomon had ruled 40 years from Jerusalem, he died and was buried in the city of his father David. His son Rehoboam then became king. (Contemporary English Version)

The life of King Solomon can be found in the biblical books of 1 Kings (chapters 1-11) and 2 Chronicles (chapters 1-9). Solomon is also traditionally viewed as the author of three biblical books: Ecclesiastes, Proverbs, and Song of Songs.

Solomon was the son of Bathsheba and King David. He is most known for building the first Jerusalem Temple, as well as his immense wealth, wisdom, and numbers of wives.

Although his reign as king was marked by peace and prosperity, it fell apart after his death. Late in his life Solomon succumbed to worshiping many other gods, which the biblical editor connects with the split of the kingdom under his son Rehoboam.

King Solomon presides over the Old Testament as a sort of larger than life individual. He reigned over a united kingdom of Israel and Judah nearly a thousand years before Christ.

Coming to the throne after his father’s death, Solomon carried out a purge. He cunningly did away with his older brother Adonijah, and the commander of the army Joab. Both of them were characters only concerned with themselves and not the overall good of the kingdom. (1 Kings 2:13-46)

Once firmly ensconced in power, Solomon famously asked God for wisdom – after the Lord came to him in a dream and offered to grant the king any wish he wanted. In asking for wisdom instead of riches, glory, or long life, God was pleased to give him a great degree of discerning wisdom that no one before or since would ever have. (1 Kings 3:5-15)

The Judgment of King Solomon, by Frans Floris, c.1547

The proof of King Solomon’s wisdom came in many forms, including the rendering of justice. The biblical story is told of two women who came before the king, both claiming to be the mother of a baby. Solomon called for a sword and said the solution to the dilemma would be to cut the baby in two, and give each half to each woman.

One woman finds the solution agreeable, but the other woman protested, stating that she would give up the child rather than see the baby killed. King Solomon therefore concluded that this woman, not the other, was the child’s mother. (1 Kings 3:16-28)

King Solomon engaged in many building projects, but none more great than the Temple. To this day, Jerusalem continues as the center of Jewish prayer and worship. Indeed, Solomon’s impact is felt all these millennia later.

And then there were the wives. Lots of them. According to scripture, Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines (a concubine was a lesser wife who was not born of royalty or nobility). Many of his wives worshiped gods other than the Lord, which is why Solomon eventually allowed idols into the city.

A famous encounter with Solomon included the Queen of Sheba, which is a story told in both 1 Kings and 2 Chronicles. The country of Sheba, in the south of the Arabian peninsula, heard about Solomon’s renown. The queen decided to travel to Jerusalem with a large entourage in order to meet him for herself.

The Visit of the Queen of Sheba to King Solomon, by Edward Poynter, 1890

The queen was overwhelmed with what she saw and experienced; and was so impressed with Solomon’s wisdom and wealth that she gifted him with spices, precious gems, and gold from her own country. All sorts of various Jewish stories came out of this original biblical account.

The many wives of Solomon included women from the nations God commanded the Israelites not to marry, because they would lead their husbands astray to worship foreign gods. And that is exactly what happened, even to the wisest man in the world.

Because of this, we get some different takes on Solomon’s spiritual commitment in scripture and according to tradition. On the one hand, Solomon is presented as fully devoted to God, and careful to worship the Lord and communicate divine precepts. Yet, on the other hand, the Bible doesn’t hedge from stating that Solomon committed evil in God’s sight and was not loyal like his father David.

In truth, we are all a bit of a mix of sinner and saint, showing steadfast loyalty in many ways, along with a curious bent toward indulging our desires and letting them carry us to unfaithful places.

Yet, no one can doubt King Solomon’s influence and legacy on the religious world. His writings and collection of wise sayings, along with the colorful stories, are still read and retold by Jews and Christians to this day.

The biblical text tells us that after ruling for four decades, King Solomon was laid to rest in Jerusalem. He was the last ruler of a united Jewish kingdom. Because of this, and his legendary wisdom and wealth, Solomon’s reign is remembered by many as a golden era in history.

But whatever you think about the story of Solomon’s life, his legacy of proverbial sayings and experiential truth can continue to inform and teach us. Our lives will never come close to Solomon’s material riches, but perhaps we can gain something of the immaterial blessings through his wisdom.

Almighty God, I humbly ask that You grant me wisdom to make sound choices and decisions. Open my eyes to see Your truth clearly. Give me spiritual discernment to distinguish right from wrong. Help me not rely solely on my own limited understanding, but trust in Your wisdom to guide my steps. Grant me a heart eager to gain wisdom from Your Word and wise counselors. Let Your wisdom shape my thoughts, words, and actions each day. Amen.