Personal Stuff

Well, after posting in March...life has remained tough for me. Down to 345...but not a lot of weight loss in two months. I've been up & down on my diet. I have been working out...I'd like to believe that I've added some muscle which has slowed my weight loss...and people have been saying that Jeannie & I are looking good (losing weight), but in our minds...we're still the same. Your mind can really play tricks on ya. I appreciate the prayers that you have been offering...and still hope you will offer them on our behalf. Love you guys!

OT Posting Board #2

When comparing the OT to other documents from the ancient Near East, what implications can be drawn for us as Christians as to how we are to relate to our culture today?

Moses was a masterful writer, educated by the best of the best in Egypt by God's leading in his life. As a prince of Egypt, nothing was withheld from Moses as he learned and he knew the culture that he would lead as well as minister in. He was God's minister to God's people. Moses dealt with what was going on in the culture in his day. God directed him what to write, but there wasn't much if anything that was left untouched by the Mosaic Law. Social responsibility, justice, order of worship, care of animals, honoring others, friendships, marriages...all this and more were covered. In much the same way, the Laws of Lipit-Ishtar, the Laws of Hammurapi and others covered many of the same things...but in light of men, not in light of the one, true God. Moses directed the attention of the people to God through the Law. The Law did not save them, but it told them what God expected of them and told them how to maintain their relationship with God and each other. We see this in the Ten Commandments. The first four commandments deal with the vertical relationship and the next six deal with our horizontal relationships.
Just as Moses did, we must direct the attention of people to the one, true God. We MUST know our culture. The Word of God, the Bible, is just as applicable today as it was for the early church and for the nation of Israel. We may see it as history, not prophecy, but it applies just the same. This fact should spur Christians to learn more about the Word of God and the CONTEXT in which it was written so that we can then apply it to the CONTEXT of our world today. We cannot speak in a language that people do not understand...we must seek to meet people where they are...we must speak with our lives, as the OT writers did. They weren't perfect...we aren't perfect. The persevered...we must persevere. They sought God...we must seek God.

OT Posting Board

Has the reading of these ancient Near Eastern documents raised specific questions or difficulties concerning your understanding of the OT or how we as Christians are to read the OT?

It's always so funny to me when I have a question raise in my mind about something God says in Scripture or a time where I just don't understand something and then God allows me to answer my own question through the illumination of the Holy Spirit. He is the revealer of all TRUTH!
While reading the creation and flood accounts of the ANE, questions about the validity and the originality of the OT were raised in my mind. What documents came first? Did the other civilizations copy the OT or did Moses "borrow" material from the other writings of the ANE? If Moses did reference material from another source, does that really effect the inerrancy of the accounts? I was a bit unsettled.
I spent time in prayer and thought about those questions while continuing to read and compare. The conclusion I came to was that the other writings of the ANE did nothing other than to solidify my belief in the Pentateuch as the Word of God. These events REALLY happened! The very existence of other accounts only ground the events in history! Men were trying to answer the questions of why the flood occurred...how were were made...where man came from...MEN were trying to answer those questions. The gods that the ANE wrote about where not God-like. They acted as men. They even depended upon men to an extent (Epic of Gilgamesh and the sacrifice of Utnapishtim). They quarreled...all of this points to god-men, not God. GOD answered those questions through his servant, Moses. God is in control...He has no equal. He always acts in love toward His children.
The documents and culture of the ANE plays a part in how we read the OT. The context is so very important...the context of the text AND the culture. I love the illustration of this in "Introduction to the Old Testament" by Longman and Dillard. Song of Songs 1:9 states, "I liken you, my darling, to a mare among Pharaoh's chariot horses." I read that the first time and went...HUH!? Upon learning a bit of the culture, however, there is a bigger picture in this passage. Egypt never used mares to pull their chariots, they only used stallions. A stallion is VERY distracted by a mare because of procreation! There was an actual battle tactic of setting loose mares amongst chariots to distract the stallions and throw the enemy into a bit of confusion. Solomon is basically saying, "Honey, you're so hot that I can't even think about work!"
While I hope this brings a smile to your face...the need for context is greatly seen here. Placing the OT in its context allows us to more fully understand what Moses meant, grounds the historical records of the OT in our history and allows us to better apply God's Words to our lives today.

How much should the ancient Near Eastern setting of the Mosaic Law influence our application of the law in our own lives today?

The reader of the Old Testament accounts and specifically the Mosaic Law MUST take into account the culture in which that text was written in order to fully understand it. So many practical things are covered in the Mosaic Law that dealt with specific instances of wrongs, sins and even what to eat that were specific to the culture and the time period.
Exodus 21:28-32 speaks of a bull goring a man or woman that causes that person to die. If the bull has done it for the first time and no one knew that the bull had that tendency, the bull must die and the owner has no responsibility. However, if the bull had been known for goring and the owner had been warned and the owner takes no precaution in order to prevent it from happening again, the owner is held responsible and BOTH the bull and the owner must die unless the owner has the opportunity to redeem his life by paying what is demanded. I liken this to owners of dogs today. I can't say that we got this law or way of acting specifically from the Mosaic Law, but it make sense. We don't own bulls...but we do own dogs....pretty easy application.
Exodus 22:16-29 speaks of various social responsibilities that we can read today and not be able to make heads or tales out of unless we learn a bit of the culture. This passage can be read word for word and not be heeded because we don't see the SPIRIT of the law that is here. God is worth our best. We don't necessarily give our firstborn children to God, but yet we do give Him our hearts...we are to give Him our BEST. God delivered the firstborn in the Passover...the people of Israel are God's chosen, His firstborn. The firstborn belonged to God because of the salvation given to them as they left Egypt. Our "firstborn" or the BEST of us now belongs to God because of the salvation afforded to us through the gift of Jesus Christ on the cross! What a parallel and what a gift given!

The OT and the Ancient Near East (ANE)

Genesis 16 relays the story of the "help" that Sarai and Abram felt they needed to give to God in order for the Abrahamic Covenant to be fulfilled in their lives. Abram and Sarai had not had any children and it seemed as though Sarai was getting impatient about having children so she hands Hagar, her maidservant, over to Abram for him to sleep with and hopefully concieve a child. This passage has always been a mystery to me. I could never fully understand why a wife would give her husband another woman to him in order to have an heir. The cultural significance of this practice come heavily into play in this passage of scripture. In the "Adoption of Shennima" it describes a situation where a wife or concubine would be given to Shennima if his wife, Gilimninu, does not bear children. An heir was of utmost importance in this culture as the family line could not continue without children...family was the "politics" of the time period. A whole civilization's way of live could end if no heir was born!
In the same story, but a different part of the story in Genesis 16, Sarai has now become pregnant and become jealous of Hagar and Ishmael. She does not want to be "bested" by her maidservant, so she goes to Abram and speaks of this to him. Abram places the fate of Hagar in the hands of Sarai and she mistreats Hagar. Hagar flees from the family and goes to the desert with Ishmael. I had always wondered why Ishmael "fell off the face of the planet" after this happened. I had the understanding that all children were heirs of their father, but those born to a concubine didn't have as much of a share. However, after reading in the "Laws of Lipit-Ishtar," the Sumerian laws (where Ur, Abram's homeland, was located)1 allowed for a man to free his slave woman and her children. The child born of the slave woman would have no rights in the estate of his father(Arnold, 108). The culture plays a role here that would be missed had I not studied it.
Finally the stark contrasts and similarities between the creation account of the Old Testament in Genesis 1-2 and the Akkadian account in Enuma Elish really suprised me. The splitting of Tiamat's corpse to create the two spheres of water and the dividing of the firmament on the second day is one of those similarities. Both split the firmament in order to create the sky and the waters. The manner in which the world was created as a whole is the most stark contrast. God spoke everything into being. There was no anger, no hurt, no selfish intent...it is about God's glory! The glory He alone deserves! In EE, Marduk creates humans from the blood of Tiamat's friend Kingu and the universe from Tiamat's corpse! Man is created for the sole purpose of freeing the gods from their work. I count it a privilege to see the different creation accounts and the fact that, in the case of EE, they are trying their best in order to answer the question of where we came from. However, this is MAN'S idea, it is not born from the mind/heart of the one, true God. This is evidenced by how the gods in EE react to their plight and their selfish and humanlike attitudes. There is really no separation between the gods and man other than their "powers" like superheroes. God is God...God spoke out of love and thus we were created....all to HIS GLORY! It's not about war or conquering, unless you are talking about the conquering of sin. That comes later...:)

Introduction to the Old Testament

I have now begun my next course in my graduate program with Liberty University, OBST 591, Introduction to the Old Testament. I have been learning A LOT in this class as well, and future posts will be about this course.