Jul 27 2008
Tag Archive 'Bible'
Jun 01 2008
Turning Our Hearts to Our History
I finished the Old Testament of the Bible this week! I set a goal nine months ago to read the entire account for the first time straight through to these very last verses in the Old Testament from the prophet Malachi:
Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.
Although this verse is a specific prophecy with specific meaning, the phrase, “turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers” symbolizes what studying biblical history from the beginning has meant to me. My heart turns toward the history and heritage of the human family that has laid a foundation for us to build upon. Our ancestors through history have built a foundation of growth in intellectual, spiritual, physical, social, financial and, even, emotional ways. In this way the human family has matured through generations. Now, we are at a time and a place in the Earth’s history where we can add to that growth they prepared for us. Pride holds us back; sometimes we want to literally start at the beginning and “reinvent the wheel.” To turn our hearts to our fathers is a recognition of and gratitude for the gifts of understanding from them that we might build an even more solid foundation.
May 19 2008
Hertiage Shapes More than Language
When I wrote Wisdom’s Writing on the Wall I did not know the origin of this commonly used phrase. Months later, in preparing to teach Daniel to my youth Old Testament class, I read about King Belshazzar of Babylon drinking with his lords in a great feast:
In the same hour came forth fingers of a man’s hand, and wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaister of the wall of the king’s palace: and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote.
Then the king’s countenance was changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against another.
The king cried aloud to bring in the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers. And the king spake, and said to the wise men of Babylon, Whosoever shall read this writing, and shew me the interpretation thereof, shall be clothed with scarlet, and have a chain of gold about his neck, and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom.
The king sent for the prophet Daniel who gave this interpretation:
MENE; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it.
TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.
PERES; Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.
The interpretation of the writing on the wall meant that God was not pleased with the king’s actions and that he and Babylon were to be destroyed, which is what happened.
In modern usage we say the “writing on the wall” and we mean that the inevitable will occur. The inevitable is usually negative. Connecting this expression with its origin expands its connotations. For a more detailed explanation go here.
Our heritage shapes our language not only by giving us words to express ourselves but by helping us associate our modern experiences with powerful historical examples.
In this election year, words are consequential. Syndicated columnist Kathleen Parker quoted the words of one West Virginia voter who wants a “full-blooded American” as president. She observed that heritage may be as important to voters as race and gender in this year’s election. She said:
What they sense is that their heritage is being swept under the carpet while multiculturalism becomes the new national narrative. And they fear what else might get lost in the remodeling of America.
Getting Bubba, May 14, 2008
Kathleen Parker
Certainly the President of the United States influences our national identity. But we write this narrative—not only by using the right words but by ensuring that we recognize all the associated implications to our culture.
May 18 2008
Meditations On This Book
This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.
May 01 2008
Internal Correction
The Question: Have I seen the hand of God reaching out to touch us today?
I am a thief. I stole two hangers from a hotel. Paul pointed it out to me when he unpacked. Sure enough, two outfits attached to two wooden hotel hangers.
My first thought—return them immediately or my guilt will overflow each time I see them. I could mail them back to the hotel, which was in Minnesota but not in a city I would travel to soon.
I separated them from our hangers. And for seven days they stayed. (I don’t go to the post office that often.)
On the eighth day I prepared the lesson for my Old Testament class on correction, chastisement, and repentance. “And if it be stolen from him, he shall make restitution unto the owner thereof.” Exodus 22:12
Before even teaching the class, I set the hangers on the floor of our closet where we would trip on them. I asked Paul if he could return them on his business trip.
He redeemed me. They gave him a cookie. I received a clear conscious.
For all the bad hype we give to nagging feelings of guilt, I still prefer that small corrective way to the more destructive scriptural accounts of chastisements when God’s people didn’t respond to quieter means.
