Would Lazarus have been better off dead?

Would Lazarus have been better off dead? Would he have been better off if Jesus had not called him back to life? That's a pretty presumptive question. It's questioning God. But I (think) I have a valid point. Bear with me, please.

Just in case you are wondering, my church's Sunday School lesson for the coming Sunday is based on 1 Corinthians 15, where Paul considers the resurrection at considerable length. Beginning with verse 12, Paul considers six consequences of no resurrection, with six if statements. Then, he hits us with the key word of the chapter, but:
20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. (ESV)

So what about Lazarus? Well, let's start earlier. The Bible contains the following stories of people being raised from the dead:
In 2 Kings 4, Elisha, with God's help, raised the young son of a woman from Shunem back to life, at her request.

One Old Testament storiy of a person coming back to life seems accidental. The apparent agent of this miracle was dead himself. In 2 Kings 13:21, a burial was interrupted, and the body thrown into the grave of Elisha, and the dead person revived.

In Luke 7:11-17, the widow of Nain's son had died. Jesus had compassion on her, and raised him back to life.

In Mark 5:21-43, Jairus begged Jesus to heal his daughter. She died before Jesus got there, but Jesus raised her from the dead.

In Acts 20:7-10, Paul brought Eutychus back to life. Eutychus was a victim of Paul's long preaching -- he went to sleep and fell out of a high window.

In Acts 9:36-42, Dorcas died. Peter brought her back to life, apparently out of sympathy for the poor widows that Dorcas had helped.

In John 11:1-44, there is a story with some of the same features. Lazarus, Jesus' friend, was sick, and his sisters, Mary and Martha, sent a message, urgently asking Jesus to come heal their brother. Jesus didn't get there before Lazarus died, apparently on purpose. Then, in seeming response to the chiding of the sisters that He hadn't been there when they needed Him, he brought Lazarus back to life.

I am omitting discussion of people being brought back to life in Revelation, because I'm not sure these events are meant to be taken literally.

One thing about all of these situations, even the one involving Elisha's grave, is that someone died twice. The Bible says nothing about the second death of Lazarus, or the daughter of Jairus, or any of the other people brought back to life, but they must have died a second time.

Notice something else about all of these stories but that of Elisha's grave, and, perhaps, that of Eutychus. That is that a person was brought back to life for the sake of someone else. Now, granted, a dead or dying individual would not be able to summon a miracle-worker for him or herself. But the emphases above make the point that Elisha, Jesus and Peter brought someone back to life because someone else loved him or her very much, and, at least in the case of the widow's son, and of Dorcas (and perhaps of Lazarus) needed the dead person back alive, to help them materially.

I hope you miss a story in the list above, the most important story, the one told in 1 Corinthians 15. Christ was also raised for others -- for me, for you. Without His resurrection, as Paul puts it, we would be "of all people most to be pitied." (verse 19b, ESV)

So what about Lazarus? Perhaps, on balance, he personally would have been spared great suffering, if he had only had to die once, not twice. We can't know. But God had a plan, to aid his sisters in their great need, and to publicly proclaim the power of Christ, even to the raising of a man who had been in the grave for over a day. It was better for others if Lazarus was brought back to life, only to go back through death again, instead of (presumably) to heaven. It was certainly better for me that Christ went through death and resurrection. And He didn't have to die a second time. (Except that I, or you, may crucify Him again by not living and being what we ought to be -- see Hebrews 6:4-7.)

Thanks for reading. Live so as to not put Christ through death again!

Chance, yet again, in the Bible

Proverbs 18:18 The lot puts an end to quarrels and decides between powerful contenders. (ESV)

As often in Proverbs, this statement doesn't seem to related to the context, but to stand alone. It simply states a truth. Does this advocate using some sort of random drawing, rather than our expensive court system? Maybe, maybe not. But the statement doesn't seem to condemn the use of chance, whether it can be applied more broadly, or not.

I saw this in the July on-line Bible readings from the English Standard Version.

I've posted several times on "chance," and if you want to see other posts, click on the"chance" at the end of this post.

Thanks for reading. I'm glad you chanced by.

Why didn't the Apostles raise James from the dead?

Jesus brought some people back from the dead to life. The early church did, too.

In Acts 9:36-41, Peter raised Dorcas from the dead.

Another possible instance is in Acts 20:7-10, where Eutychus fell from a high window ledge, and Paul either brought him back to life, or reported that he wasn't really dead.

There may have been other instances, that weren't recorded.

Clearly, however, such events were infrequent. In Acts 12:1-2, the Bible tells us that James, John's brother, was killed by Herod. He wasn't raised from the dead.

Why was Dorcas raised from the dead, when James, one of the inner circle of Christ's twelve special followers, was not? Obviously, I don't know. It is possible, however, that Dorcas's work with the poor was so important that God wanted it continued. That's only musing on my part, you understand!

Thanks for reading.

Saul knew he was wrong, but kept chasing David.

1 Samuel 24 has an amazing verse: "20 And now, behold, I know that you shall surely be king, and that the kingdom of Israel shall be established in your hand." (ESV) This is Saul, then king, speaking to David. Saul was chasing David at this time, attempting to kill him. You might think that Saul, who obviously knew that he was in the wrong, would have stopped trying to chase David, but he didn't. In 1 Samuel 26, two chapters later, he is at it again.

How often have I done this?

I noticed this passage as a consequence of following the ESV on-line Bible reading for a day in May.

Thanks for reading.

Daniel on doing the right thing, only: Ravi Zacharias

A week ago, I heard Ravi Zacharias on the radio.

He had an interesting slant on Daniel's refusal to eat the fancy food provided by the king's staff.

Zacharias said something like this:
Many believers try to see how close they can come to the line between good and evil. Daniel was trying to see how far into the good area he could get from that line, while still being an effective ambassador for God.

May I do the same.

Thanks for reading!

Christ, creator, long after Adam

This is the first miracle attributed to Jesus Christ:
John 2:6 Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. 7 Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. 8 And he said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.” So they took it. 9 When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom 10 and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.” (ESV)

This must have been a creation event, or a transformational event. The alcohol in wine contains Carbon, Hydrogen and Oxygen, whereas water contains only Hydrogen and Oxygen. (There were probably some impurities in the water in those jars, but surely there was not enough Carbon to make enough molecules of ethyl alcohol, or ethanol, to make the difference.) So, somehow, Jesus made alcohol from nothing, and added it to the water, or transformed some of the Oxygen or Hydrogen atoms into atoms of Carbon, to say nothing of joining them with the needed Oxygen and Hydrogen, into molecules of ethyl alcohol.

It must have been more complicated than that. The Wikipedia article on wine indicates that good wine has other flavors, meaning other chemicals, and, no doubt, other elements.

Colossians 1:15-17 tells us that, in the first place, Jesus Christ was the person of the Trinity most involved in creation. It also tells us that He is, somehow, presently involved in sustaining and maintaining the material world. So Christ's action, in making wine, good wine, where there had only been water, should not be a surprise to us. It must have been a great surprise to the servants who filled those jars, though!

I noticed this passage as a consequence of following the ESV on-line Bible reading for a day in May.

Thanks for reading.

A biblical mandate for scientific study?

Psalm 111:1 Praise the Lord!
I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart,
in the company of the upright, in the congregation.
2 Great are the works of the Lord, studied by all who delight in them.
3 Full of splendor and majesty is his work,
and his righteousness endures forever.
4 He has caused his wondrous works to be remembered;
the Lord is gracious and merciful. (ESV)

This can be read as a mandate for scientific study of nature. I suspect that that's not the main meaning, maybe not the intended meaning, which was probably more about how God had rescued the Israelites, but it's nice to think that it also applies to looking into the way things around us are put together.

I noticed this passage as a consequence of following the ESV on-line Bible reading for a day in May.

Thanks for reading.

Jesus and germs

Jesus was no "Monk." For those who haven't seen this TV show, Adrian Monk is an obsessive-compulsive crime solver. One of his obsessions concerns germs. He is constantly wiping his hands with disinfectant wipes. He's not the only one. Our local grocery furnishes wipes, so that you can wipe the handle of the grocery cart. Disinfectant wipes and liquids are big business.

Jesus wasn't that compulsive about cleanliness:
Luke 11:37 While Jesus was speaking, a Pharisee asked him to dine with him, so he went in and reclined at table. 38 The Pharisee was astonished to see that he did not first wash before dinner. 39 And the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. 40 You fools! Did not he who made the outside make the inside also? (ESV)

Jesus was making a point, of course, about the inner unrighteousness of the Pharisees, and how it canceled all their outer cleanliness. I need to be careful that I'm not a Pharisee on this point. However, some of us are probably way too particular about germs. How did the Israelites, Sacajawea, Julius Caesar, Gandhi, Winston Churchill, Booker T. Washington and Joan of Arc get along without disinfectant wipes? They seem to have made it all right without them. North American society, no doubt encouraged by the makers of disinfectant products, seems to have gone overboard on this matter. Some scientists even claim that keeping our little kids from germs contributes to their susceptibility to allergies. I'm not sure about that claim, but I am sure that increased exposure to disinfectants is selecting germs for resistance to those very products.

I noticed this passage as a consequence of following the ESV on-line Bible reading for a day in April.

Thanks for reading.

Warning against idolatry in 2008

Luke 18:9 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: 10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ 13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” (ESV)

It is often pointed out that the Old Testament commandments against idolatry, if they were made today, might be made against worshiping ourselves. Here, Jesus spoke of people, who, like us, are tempted to believe that we are self-sufficient, a form of self-worship. May I never do that! (But I know that I have, sometimes.)

I noticed this passage as a consequence of following the ESV on-line Bible reading for a day in April.

I'm cheating a little. I've been posting reflections on my Bible reading on Sundays, but I may not have access to a computer for several days, so am posting on May 1, 2008, but telling Blogger that I'm posting on May 4. We'll see how that turns out.

Thanks for reading.

The most sexist verse in the Old Testament?

Here it is, after two verses to give it a little context:
Judges 5:28 “Out of the window she peered,
the mother of Sisera wailed through the lattice:
‘Why is his chariot so long in coming?
Why tarry the hoofbeats of his chariots?’
29 Her wisest princesses answer,
indeed, she answers herself,
30 ‘Have they not found and divided the spoil?—
A womb or two for every man;
spoil of dyed materials for Sisera,
spoil of dyed materials embroidered,
two pieces of dyed work embroidered for the neck as spoil?’ (ESV)

A womb or two for every man? Huh? So I checked the NIV, and the KJV. They don't use "womb." But a check of the original language, courtesy of the Blueletter Bible, indicates that there is a valid reason for the ESV translation.

So, this verse, part of a song celebrating God's help in delivering Israel, speaks of captive women as if they were wombs, not people. Wow!

I must remember the context. Judges 5 is a song of praise to God, attributed to Deborah and Barak, after they jointly led an attack against the army of Jabin of Hazor, which was led by Sisera. Part of what they are celebrating is the killing of Sisera by Jael, wife of one of the descendants of the father-in-law of Moses. So this is hardly the statement of an Old Testament male chauvinist -- it's being said by a woman, who led Israel (Judges 4:4), even in battle, and it includes celebration of a valiant act of war by a woman. It's possible that what Deborah and Barak were saying was that one of the reasons that Jabin's army was evil was the way they treated captive women. I don't know. I'm not sure that the Israelites didn't also treat them that way.

It is also doubtful that Deborah and Barak had any personal knowledge of what Sisera's mother, or her princesses, may have said. They may have made all that part up. However, these verses are part of the Bible, so must have some validity.

I noticed this passage as a consequence of following the ESV on-line Bible reading for a day in April.

Thanks for reading.

Christ, cursed by hanging on a tree.

Deuteronomy 21:22 “And if a man has committed a crime punishable by death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, 23 his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for a hanged man is cursed by God. You shall not defile your land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance.

Galatians 3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— (both passages ESV)

A couple of thoughts. The most important one is that Christ was cursed for me. (And you.)

The second is that Paul seems to have been a lot looser with his quotation of the Old Testament than I would have expected. (Perhaps the original language is such that his was a more accurate quote. Perhaps not. But I'm not Paul, and I should be more careful.)

I noticed this passage as a consequence of following the ESV on-line Bible reading for a day in April.

Thanks for reading!

Warfare in a theocracy

Deuteronomy 20:1 “When you go out to war against your enemies, and see horses and chariots and an army larger than your own, you shall not be afraid of them, for the Lord your God is with you, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. 2 And when you draw near to the battle, the priest shall come forward and speak to the people 3 and shall say to them, ‘Hear, O Israel, today you are drawing near for battle against your enemies: let not your heart faint. Do not fear or panic or be in dread of them, 4 for the Lord your God is he who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies, to give you the victory.’ 5 Then the officers shall speak to the people, saying, ‘Is there any man who has built a new house and has not dedicated it? Let him go back to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man dedicate it. 6 And is there any man who has planted a vineyard and has not enjoyed its fruit? Let him go back to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man enjoy its fruit. 7 And is there any man who has betrothed a wife and has not taken her? Let him go back to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man take her.’ 8 And the officers shall speak further to the people, and say, ‘Is there any man who is fearful and fainthearted? Let him go back to his house, lest he make the heart of his fellows melt like his own.’ 9 And when the officers have finished speaking to the people, then commanders shall be appointed at the head of the people.

10 “When you draw near to a city to fight against it, offer terms of peace to it. 11 And if it responds to you peaceably and it opens to you, then all the people who are found in it shall do forced labor for you and shall serve you. (ESV)

One application for today's Christians is that, as long as we are on God's side, we don't need to fear. I'm not saying that the rest of these rules of war apply to anyone now, because I'm not sure that they do. Verse 10 didn't even apply throughout the Old Testament. It seems to have only applied to cities not in the territory of the Israelites -- they were to kill the adults in cities in their territory. I noticed this passage as a consequence of following the ESV on-line Bible reading for a day in April.

Thanks for reading.

Examples of person-to-person evangelism in the New Testament

I have posted a web page, comparing seven different examples of personal evangelism in the New Testament. Since Blogger doesn't seem to allow tables, and a table seemed to be the most sensible way to prepare this, I'm not placing the material on this blog.

I haven't posted this, or the accompanying web page, because I'm a great personal evangelist. I'm not.

My conclusions:
1) There was no set pattern.
2) The evangelists were all spiritually prepared. The Holy Spirit had also clearly prepared at least some of the people they evangelized, as well.
3) Baptism and follow-up were important.
4) None of these conversations started by warning about sin, or by telling of God's love. These approaches may have their place, but weren't used in any of these cases.
5) All of these conversations were with strangers. It's probably important to get to know someone, and win their trust, before leading them into belief, but it wasn't necessary in any of these cases.

Thanks for reading.

God's care for the tribes East of Jordan

Numbers 32:16 Then they came near to him and said, “We will build sheepfolds here for our livestock, and cities for our little ones, 17 but we will take up arms, ready to go before the people of Israel, until we have brought them to their place. And our little ones shall live in the fortified cities because of the inhabitants of the land. 18 We will not return to our homes until each of the people of Israel has gained his inheritance. (ESV)

These are spokesmen for the tribe of Reuben, Gad, and part of the tribe of Manasseh, speaking to Joshua. They are volunteering to go and fight on the West side of the Jordan, while leaving their wives, their flocks, their children, and most of their possessions on the East side, in the land they have chosen for themselves, until the rest of the tribes have conquered the peoples inhabiting their inheritances. That's a remarkable statement they have made. God's provision for their wives, children, and flocks is even more remarkable. The wives and children must have done the work of caring for the animals, and God must have protected them from attack by enemies.

In Joshua 22, these fighters finally returned home, after they had helped subdue 31 different kingdoms. This commentary, by Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown, says that these conquests took seven years! Even allowing for the possibility that some or all of these men from the two and a half tribes may have gone back for brief periods from time to time, that was remarkable commitment on their part, and remarkable provision by God. (The seven years probably comes from Joshua 14, where Caleb, gives Joshua a chronology, in a speech.)

I noticed this passage as a consequence of following the ESV on-line Bible reading for a day in March. Thanks for reading.

Old Testament "Fly on the Wall" situations

Cody Thomas has posted a list of 10 parts of the historical books of the Old Testament which he would like to have observed. There's nothing wrong with his list, but he suggested that others might like to do the same. Here is my list, for now at least, (links are to ESV scripture) in no particular order:

Watching Deborah lead the Israelites. (Judges 4)

Listening to David and Nathan's conversation, including David's repentance. (2 Samuel 12:1-23, Psalm 51 -- I know, that's not in one of the historical books)

Observing Esther's selection as queen. Was it because of her great beauty, or her character,or both? Also, observing her appearance before the king, when she had no royal invitation. What was their relationship like? (Esther 2:1-18, 4:13-5:8)

Watching Jehu in action, and determining why, even though he followed God, he didn't renounce the sins of Jereboam I. (2 Kings 9-10)

Observing Manasseh's repentance. (2 Chronicles 33:1-20)

Observing the lives of ordinary people. What did the Israelites of that time eat? How was it prepared? What were their table manners like? What did they wear? What were the sleeping arrangements? How did they heat and cool their homes? What were the sanitary arrangements? What pets did they have, if any? What did they grow in their gardens, if any? What domestic animals did they have? What crafts and trades did they practice? What was their devotional life like?

When angels surrounded the city, and were revealed to Elisha's servant. (2 Kings 6:8-23)

Elijah being fed by ravens, by a widow woman, and raising her son back to life. (1 Kings 17)

Seeing the dedication of the Temple. (1 Kings 8)

Watching the courtship between Ruth and Boaz. Was Boaz an old man? Did she speak differently than the Israelite women? When did Boaz really begin to notice Ruth (and vice versa)? What happened on the threshing floor? How was the ceremony of taking off a shoe performed? What was a marriage ceremony like? (Ruth 1-4)

Thanks for reading. Thanks for the idea, Cody.

Biblical use of the word, "hymn"

This is not a profound post (not that any of mine are). I did a search for the word, "hymn" in the Bible. I discovered six uses of the word, all in the New Testament. Here they are (all from the ESV):

Matthew 26:30 And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. Mark 14:26 is identical. The "they" is Jesus and the eleven apostles, Judas having left to betray Jesus to the Jewish authorities.

Acts 16:25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them,

1 Corinthians 14:26 What then, brothers? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up.

Ephesians 5:19 addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart,

Colossians 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

A couple of conclusions, from an amateur:
1) Singing is appropriate, and important, in corporate worship.
2) There were apparently three types of songs used by the early church, all approved by Paul. I have no idea what Paul meant by a "hymn," or a "spiritual song," and how they might have differed. Perhaps the psalms were from the book of Psalms.
3) whatever hymns and spiritual songs were, someone must have written them, probably during New Testament times.

Thanks for reading.

The first thing God told Moses . . .

Exodus 24:18 Moses entered the cloud and went up on the mountain. And Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.

25:1 The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Speak to the people of Israel, that they take for me a contribution. From every man whose heart moves him you shall receive the contribution for me. 3 And this is the contribution that you shall receive from them: gold, silver, and bronze, 4 blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen, goats' hair, 5 tanned rams' skins, goatskins, acacia wood, 6 oil for the lamps, spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense, 7 onyx stones, and stones for setting, for the ephod and for the breastpiece. 8 And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst. 9 Exactly as I show you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle, and of all its furniture, so you shall make it. (ESV)

I noticed this passage as a consequence of following the ESV on-line Bible reading for a day in February. It struck me that, on this occasion when Moses spent time on Mt. Sinai, in the presence of God, the first thing God told him was to tell the Israelites to prepare to give an offering. Or at least it's the first thing recorded about what God said to Moses. There's probably a sermon in there somewhere.

Thanks for reading!

Salt in the incense and the grain offerings

I recently noticed, for the first time, that salt was significant in the religious practices of the Old Testament.

Exodus 30:34 The Lord said to Moses, “Take sweet spices, stacte, and onycha, and galbanum, sweet spices with pure frankincense (of each shall there be an equal part), 35 and make an incense blended as by the perfumer, seasoned with salt, pure and holy. 36 You shall beat some of it very small, and put part of it before the testimony in the tent of meeting where I shall meet with you. It shall be most holy for you. 37 And the incense that you shall make according to its composition, you shall not make for yourselves. It shall be for you holy to the Lord. (ESV)

Leviticus 2:13 You shall season all your grain offerings with salt. You shall not let the salt of the covenant with your God be missing from your grain offering; with all your offerings you shall offer salt. (ESV)

I noticed these passages, which refer to the use of salt in worship ceremonies, as a consequence of following the ESV on-line Bible reading for two separate days in February.

A search for salt in the on-line ESV Bible turned up the following additional passages:
Moses, speaking to Aaron, the first High Priest, said: Numbers 18:19 All the holy contributions that the people of Israel present to the Lord I give to you, and to your sons and daughters with you, as a perpetual due. It is a covenant of salt forever before the Lord for you and for your offspring with you.” 20 And the Lord said to Aaron, “You shall have no inheritance in their land, neither shall you have any portion among them. I am your portion and your inheritance among the people of Israel.

2 Kings 2:19 Now the men of the city said to Elisha, “Behold, the situation of this city* is pleasant, as my lord sees, but the water is bad, and the land is unfruitful.” 20 He said, “Bring me a new bowl, and put salt in it.” So they brought it to him. 21 Then he went to the spring of water and threw salt in it and said, “Thus says the Lord, I have healed this water; from now on neither death nor miscarriage shall come from it.” 22 So the water has been healed to this day, according to the word that Elisha spoke.
*The city was apparently Jericho.

2 Chronicles 13:4 Then Abijah stood up on Mount Zemaraim that is in the hill country of Ephraim and said, “Hear me, O Jeroboam and all Israel! 5 Ought you not to know that the Lord God of Israel gave the kingship over Israel forever to David and his sons by a covenant of salt? . . .

King Darius speaking, and, seemingly, knowing about the requirement for salt in the work of the priests, in Ezra 6:7 Let the work on this house of God alone. Let the governor of the Jews and the elders of the Jews rebuild this house of God on its site. 8 Moreover, I make a decree regarding what you shall do for these elders of the Jews for the rebuilding of this house of God. The cost is to be paid to these men in full and without delay from the royal revenue, the tribute of the province from Beyond the River. 9 And whatever is needed—bulls, rams, or sheep for burnt offerings to the God of heaven, wheat, salt, wine, or oil, as the priests at Jerusalem require—let that be given to them day by day without fail, 10 that they may offer pleasing sacrifices to the God of heaven and pray for the life of the king and his sons.

Ezekiel indicates that newborn babies were normally treated with salt: 16:1 Again the word of the Lord came to me: 2 “Son of man, make known to Jerusalem her abominations, 3 and say, Thus says the Lord God to Jerusalem: Your origin and your birth are of the land of the Canaanites; your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. 4 And as for your birth, on the day you were born your cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water to cleanse you, nor rubbed with salt, nor wrapped in swaddling cloths. 5 No eye pitied you, to do any of these things to you out of compassion for you, but you were cast out on the open field, for you were abhorred, on the day that you were born.

So salt was a symbolic substance, in the Old Testament, as well as the new. Sorry I wasn't paying better attention earlier! Thanks for reading.

Where did God go when He left Abraham?

Over the last few years, I have mostly quoted from someone else on Sunday's posts. I used a couple of devotional books, and most lately, hymns by Charles Wesley.

I think I'm going to try interesting items (to me -- because I seldom get comments on a Sunday post, anyway!) from my devotional Bible reading, for a while. We'll (or I'll) see where it goes. God help me.

Here's a verse from Genesis 18, which was part of the ESV Bible's on-line Bible reading for January 8:
33 And the Lord went his way, when he had finished speaking to Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place.

When it says "his way," where is that? Heaven? Some other business on earth? Does the phrase have any meaning for an omnipresent God?

Thanks for reading.

Sunspots 143b

Matthew 9:1 And getting into a boat he crossed over and came to his own city. 2 And behold, some people brought to him a paralytic, lying on a bed. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven.” 3 And behold, some of the scribes said to themselves, “This man is blaspheming.” 4 But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts? 5 For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? 6 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he then said to the paralytic—“Rise, pick up your bed and go home.” 7 And he rose and went home. 8 When the crowds saw it, they were afraid, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to men. (ESV)

Three remarks:
First, Jesus responded to the faith of the people who brought this paralytic to Him, not to the faith of the paralytic.
Second, His first response was to forgive the person's sins, indicating that that was more important. Note that this was, again, in response to the faith of other people.
Third, He did heal the man, but as a sign of His sin-forgiving power, not as an end in itself.

Thanks for reading.