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Well, it's time I admitted it, friends.
The Scripture blog needs to take a break for a week or two. The fact is, even the best intentions are not enough to get this done in the last few weeks. Things are getting busier as we swing back into our regular fall programming at Trinity. I love the blog and it is a wonderful discipline for me, but right now the "real" face-to-face ministry needs to come first.
I'll take a few weeks off, brush up on my languages and be right back where we left off: providing you with original translations and Bible notes each week for the texts we'll encounter in worship. I apologize for the recent lack in posts, but sometimes it's just very important to prioritize.
It's ta-ta for now, and see you in a week or two!
Friday, August 29, 2008
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Exodus 1:8-22 for Sunday, August 24, 2008
Translation:
(1)A new king arose over Egypt who did not know Joseph. (9)And he said to his people, "Now the children of Israel are more numerous and mightier than us. (10)Come now, let us deal wisely with them, lest they become great and meet in battle, joined also with those who hate us and wage war with us and leave the land." (11)They placed over them captains of forced-labor in order to oppress them with forced labor. And they built supply cities for Pharaoh; Pithom and Ramses. (12)But as the Egyptians oppressed them, they multiplied and they spread out and the Egyptians loathed the children of Israel. (13)And the Egyptians made the children of Israel labor ruthlessly. (14)They made their lives miserable with hard labor in mortar and brick and with all the labor in the field, all labor which they worked in harshness. (15)And the King of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, the name of one was Shiphrah and the name of the second was Puah. (16)And he said "When you deliver for the Hebrew women and you see upon the birthing stool that it is a son, you will kill him. And if it is a daughter, she will live." (17)The midwives feared God and did not do as the King of Egypt said to them and they preserved the children. (18)And the King of Egypt called the midwives and said to them "Why have you done this thing? You preserved the children!" (19)And the midwives said to Pharaoh "Because [they are] not as Egyptian women, the Hebrew women are vigorous; before the midwife comes to them, they give birth." (20)And God was good to the midwives, he multiplied the people and they were very strong. (21)Because the midwives feared God, he made for them families. (22)And Pharaoh commanded to all the people saying "All the boys born, you will cast in the Nile."
What a story! This narrative begins the book of Exodus narrative. It begins the story sometimes called "The Easter of the Old Testament." Truly an epic narrative.
I think this Pharaoh has some problems. He sees problems that don't exist! He worries needlessly and makes edicts that make no sense at all! First, he sees the Hebrews as a threat. They have not done anything that would cause him to feel threatened! He is only afraid of what could happen. We all know that if we walked around in fear of what could happen, we would never accomplish anything at all. The film What About Bob illustrates this nicely.
All the same, Pharaoh is worried that the Hebrews might cause an uprising that the Egyptians would not have the resources to handle. Worse yet, they might actually leave and then there would be no peasants to do the work no one else wants to do! So, Pharaoh implements plan A. He attempts to work them so hard that they will not have the strength to cause an uprising.
Plan A fails. The work seems only to cause the Hebrew people to grow stronger! Gluttons for punishment!
Plan B is less logical than plan A. Pharaoh decides Plan B is to kill all the Hebrew baby boys. This makes sense if you are worried about a future army rising up. It makes little sense if you are hoping for a second generation of hard workers.
Plan B fails. Unfortuantely, Pharaoh's plan had Hebrew midwives killing Hebrew babies. At some level, he almost had to expect failure!
Plan C is to throw all the boy babies into the Nile. We all know how well that worked out. One mother, following the edict, puts her baby in a basket and floats him down the river where Pharaoh's daughter finds him, raises him in Pharaoh's own court and before we know it we have a Hebrew hero ready to lead the people away from Pharaoh's land. The very thing Pharaoh feared has come true after all.
I think what we have here is a Pharaoh who constantly lives out of a culture of scarcity. None of this would have started if he wasn't so afraid of not having enough. He feared not having as many resources as the Hebrews. He feared not having enough labor to build up storage cities. Since he needed storage cities, he was evidently afraid of not having enough grain. Not enough, not enough, not enough.
Meanwhile, the Hebrew people are doing just fine with what God has given them. It's not much, but they grow to be a strong and numerous people, just as God promised in Genesis 12.
What is evident to me is that Pharaoh's greed and sense of scarcity led him to make a series of decisions with varying degrees of rationality. When we do not rely on God, do we not do the same? What do you think?
(1)A new king arose over Egypt who did not know Joseph. (9)And he said to his people, "Now the children of Israel are more numerous and mightier than us. (10)Come now, let us deal wisely with them, lest they become great and meet in battle, joined also with those who hate us and wage war with us and leave the land." (11)They placed over them captains of forced-labor in order to oppress them with forced labor. And they built supply cities for Pharaoh; Pithom and Ramses. (12)But as the Egyptians oppressed them, they multiplied and they spread out and the Egyptians loathed the children of Israel. (13)And the Egyptians made the children of Israel labor ruthlessly. (14)They made their lives miserable with hard labor in mortar and brick and with all the labor in the field, all labor which they worked in harshness. (15)And the King of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, the name of one was Shiphrah and the name of the second was Puah. (16)And he said "When you deliver for the Hebrew women and you see upon the birthing stool that it is a son, you will kill him. And if it is a daughter, she will live." (17)The midwives feared God and did not do as the King of Egypt said to them and they preserved the children. (18)And the King of Egypt called the midwives and said to them "Why have you done this thing? You preserved the children!" (19)And the midwives said to Pharaoh "Because [they are] not as Egyptian women, the Hebrew women are vigorous; before the midwife comes to them, they give birth." (20)And God was good to the midwives, he multiplied the people and they were very strong. (21)Because the midwives feared God, he made for them families. (22)And Pharaoh commanded to all the people saying "All the boys born, you will cast in the Nile."
What a story! This narrative begins the book of Exodus narrative. It begins the story sometimes called "The Easter of the Old Testament." Truly an epic narrative.
I think this Pharaoh has some problems. He sees problems that don't exist! He worries needlessly and makes edicts that make no sense at all! First, he sees the Hebrews as a threat. They have not done anything that would cause him to feel threatened! He is only afraid of what could happen. We all know that if we walked around in fear of what could happen, we would never accomplish anything at all. The film What About Bob illustrates this nicely.
All the same, Pharaoh is worried that the Hebrews might cause an uprising that the Egyptians would not have the resources to handle. Worse yet, they might actually leave and then there would be no peasants to do the work no one else wants to do! So, Pharaoh implements plan A. He attempts to work them so hard that they will not have the strength to cause an uprising.
Plan A fails. The work seems only to cause the Hebrew people to grow stronger! Gluttons for punishment!
Plan B is less logical than plan A. Pharaoh decides Plan B is to kill all the Hebrew baby boys. This makes sense if you are worried about a future army rising up. It makes little sense if you are hoping for a second generation of hard workers.
Plan B fails. Unfortuantely, Pharaoh's plan had Hebrew midwives killing Hebrew babies. At some level, he almost had to expect failure!
Plan C is to throw all the boy babies into the Nile. We all know how well that worked out. One mother, following the edict, puts her baby in a basket and floats him down the river where Pharaoh's daughter finds him, raises him in Pharaoh's own court and before we know it we have a Hebrew hero ready to lead the people away from Pharaoh's land. The very thing Pharaoh feared has come true after all.
I think what we have here is a Pharaoh who constantly lives out of a culture of scarcity. None of this would have started if he wasn't so afraid of not having enough. He feared not having as many resources as the Hebrews. He feared not having enough labor to build up storage cities. Since he needed storage cities, he was evidently afraid of not having enough grain. Not enough, not enough, not enough.
Meanwhile, the Hebrew people are doing just fine with what God has given them. It's not much, but they grow to be a strong and numerous people, just as God promised in Genesis 12.
What is evident to me is that Pharaoh's greed and sense of scarcity led him to make a series of decisions with varying degrees of rationality. When we do not rely on God, do we not do the same? What do you think?
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