Sword in the Fire

In response to questions about violence in the OT, here is a continuing series of several thoughts I have compiled.  The title of the posts is taken from  Evangelical Bible professor  Dr. David Lamb's, God Behaving Badly .   Here is  part 1 ,  part 2 , part 3 , and  part 4 8.  Christ died for the Amorite.  Not long after Joshua’s covenant with the Gibeonites, five Canaanite kings conspired to join forces and fight against Gibeon, perhaps to dissuade other tribes from covenanting with Israel or to test Israel’s solidarity with their new found allies.   Gibeon, under attack and facing certain destruction, calls out to Joshua for salvation.  Joshua rallies his men to defend the defenseless and uphold covenant he made Gibeon.  Like the battles before, Joshua engages the enemy, and the God of Israel works wonders to extend the battle, defeating the armies of the five kings.  In the midst of battle, the kings fled into a...

Please keep praying for the Christians of Egypt.  The Arab spring has felt more like a nuclear winter to the Christians in the region.   http://ad-orientem.blogspot.com/2011/11/cairos-christians-worry-about-egypts.html Blogger and Author, Melinda Johnson, continues her Orthodox Artist series.  This link is just one in a number of great posts.  Read and Subscribe.  http://melindasmailbox.wordpress.com/2011/10/24/orthodox-writers-readers-and-artists-grace-brooks/ Another great article on Orthodoxy and Scripture.   http://goodguyswearblack.org/2011/10/28/a-call-for-an-orthodox-approach-to-scripture/ Greeks claims to have the tomb of Alexander the Great and the Ark of the Covenant...my Ethiopian friends might take issue with the discovery.   http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/10/an-unbelievable-ark-of-th_n_1085987.html  

In response to questions about violence in the OT, here is a continuing series of several thoughts I have compiled.  The title of the posts is taken from  Evangelical Bible professor  Dr. David Lamb's, God Behaving Badly .   Here is  part 1 ,  part 2 , and part 3 . 7.  A conflict between the God of Israel and the pagan gods.   During ancient times, every god was a local one.  The superiority of your god above those of your neighbor was your god's ability to defend you and help you conquer territory.  A god who could not defend his people or conquer their enemies was no god worth worshipping.  We see this when we read the book of Exodus in the plagues of Egypt.  The plagues are often seen as a judgment upon Pharaoh, and they were, but they were ultimately a demonstration of God’s superiority over the Egyptian deities.  Each plague struck at the various realms of the Egyptian pantheon: the Nile, the sky, the ea...

Hymn 1:4 of St. Ephrem's The Pearl "Searching is mingled with thanksgiving, And whether of the two will prevail? From the tongue The incense of praise riseth Along with the fume of disputation And unto which shall we hearken? Prayer and prying from one mouth, And which shall we listen to? "For three days was Jonah a neighbour in the sea: The living things that were in the sea were affrighted, Saying, 'Who shall flee from God? Jonah fled, And ye are obstinate at your scrutiny of Him!'"

In response to questions about violence in the OT, I have posted several thoughts I have compiled.  The title of the posts is taken from  Evangelical Bible professor  Dr. David Lamb's, God Behaving Badly .   Here is part 1 and part 2 . 4.  Hyperbole:  I am sure you have used hyperbole in your speech this week.  Your football team killed their opponent this past weekend.  Maybe it rained cats and dogs at your house. Or perhaps you almost died laughing at the antics of your six year old, at least you weren’t hopping mad.   Some Bible scholars believe that may be what is going on with some of the extreme sounding language present to us in these OT books.  The phrases “destroy all that breathed” and "they utterly destroyed" have counterparts in other Ancient Near Eastern languages of the same period.  It was common to use this as a figure of speech indicating total victory and conquest of another group.  To defend t...

Persecution of Christians in Muslim countries remains high, but news like this is encouraging:  Moslem Armenians convert back to Christianity Over at Glory to God for All Things, Fr. Stephen has posted a refreshing post on Orthodoxy and the Bible  http://fatherstephen.wordpress.com/2011/10/26/is-the-bible-true-2/ Here's a nice challenge to parents about instilling their kids with knowledge of Scripture.  We can't expect 36-52 hours/year at Sunday School to be enough.   http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2011/oct/28/bob-hunt-parents-need-to-hold-the-light-for/ And more shameless plugs for my book.  It is now available at Barnes and Noble in the Nook format.  What is really nice, is that you can download a sample to your nook or PC.   http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/books/1106932445?ean=2940013246515&itm=1&usri=rest%2bof%2bthe%2bbible

At 40, he was chosen to be a spy.  His sole job was to scout the enemy, determine their strengths, calculate their weaknesses, and report back his decision whether to begin a military strike.  His band of brothers consisted of 11 other men who had lived in the same world as he, suffered the same humiliation in slavery, and experienced the same miraculous deliverance into freedom.    Upon crossing into enemy territory, he and another spy, later to become his greatest ally, fellow leader, and lifelong friend, saw nothing but the bounty they had been promised.  The residents were healthy and strong, the land fertile and rich, the cattle well-fed, and the harvest was beyond anything they had seen before, seeming like something from a starving child's dreamworld.   He could taste the victory, and feel himself building a home where he could settle with his family, and watch his children grow, bearing grandchildren who would play in the green grass and fert...