understanding the old testament – Page 2 – Jesus @ 2 am blogs and podcast

Understanding the Bible 09: Interpreting the Psalms

December 4, 2013March 26, 2014Kirk WinslowLeave a comment

Great poetry generally makes for difficult reading. The words and phrases may be simple enough, even simplistic. But the very nature of poetry is to pick up where language fails – to articulate the ineffable. And thus readers of poetry face the dual challenge of interpretation and introspection. We must simultaneously examine words and ourselves to find the points of intersection.

This work is hard enough when the verse is in our native tongue and generation, but multiplies exponentially as the distance increases. The sonnets of Shakespeare are works of incredible genius, but not the sort of thing one internalizes easily. We may possess a few couplets we can rattle off from memory, but to resonate with the soul of these poems requires sustained effort.

In that same way, many of us can call to mind a few verses from the Hebrew psalms: “The Lord is my shepherd…” But for many of us, myself very much included!, the psalms are a slowly-acquired taste. The linguistic and cultural distance (they were, after all, written in Hebrew, on the other side of the planet, nearly 3,000 years ago) is immense, and renders many of the elements of poetry (rhythm, rhyme, homily, idiom…) impotent (at least at first).

But within these poems lies the finest guide to actual contact with God in print. The pslams contatin expression of every dimension of the life of fatih: love, despair, fear, plantiff cry and shouts of elation. Whatever we yearn to say to God or long to hear, it is present in the psalms. What is required is a guide to understanding the process of interpretation.

In this episode, I do my best to trace my journey from psalm-loather to prayer-life-enjoyer. And in the process I hope to shed a little light on the process of interpretation and internalization. And I hope to inspire you to take another look into an anthology of poetry richer, wiser and more honest than any other.

Wanna do more reading? I can’t recommend Robert Alter’s translation of the psalms highly enough. His translational notes are far and away the best I’ve found in a single volume. He renders the Hebrew very faithfully (and beautifully!) while also explaining (by means of wonderful footnotes) what the original audience would have understood in and between the lines. At $9.99 for the Kindle edition, it’s a must buy. 🙂

Understanding the Bible 08: Solomon’s Temple

November 25, 2013March 26, 2014Kirk WinslowLeave a comment

In the polytheistic culture of the Ancient Near East, deities were worshipped by means of sacrifices made in particular places. Most gods were considered to have what we might consider “regional” power (the Babylonians having a few patron deities vs. those of say the Assyrians); and within those regions to have particular locations in which their “presence” dwelled (or could at least be called upon). These locations were usually marked with the building of a sacrificial altar, and in key locations, with the construction of a temple (think, for example of ancient Greek or Roman ruins).

It is worth noting that YHWH never demands the building of a temple. But it is unthinkable to King David that the earthly king of Israel should be granted a palace while the Lord had no “home.” David determines to build a temple to YHWH, but God denies him the opportunity. That honor falls instead to David’s son, Solomon, who completed what we know as the Temple of Solomon (or the first Temple) sometime in the mid-10th century BCE.

When the Temple is completed, Solomon holds a dramatic dedication ceremony, and the “the glory of Lord” comes to rest in the inner-most sanctuary of the Temple known as the “Holy of Holies” (where the ark of the covenant was laid to rest). And in that moment, God pledges that his heart will be ever-open to the prayers said in the Temple, his eyes and ears ever attentive.

No one – then or in later centuries – ever imagined that “all” of God dwelled in the Temple (YHWH is Lord of the heavens and the earth – “heaven” is not emptied when the Temple is completed!). But now there was a place on earth – an actual geographic location – where God could be “found.”

It is difficult for us in the 21st century to imagine God having a mailing address, a “home” that could be located on Google Maps. But that is what the Temple was – a dwelling place for God on earth.

In this episode we explore this next step in Israel’s development in light of the larger biblical narrative. And – for ourselves – we ask: Where do you go to find God when it counts? When we need God to hear our prayers, how do we ensure God’s ears are still listening.

Understanding the Bible 07: David & the Monarchy

November 14, 2013November 14, 2013Kirk WinslowLeave a comment

David is a central protagonist in the biblical story. And though his triumph over Goliath and his moral failings with Bathsheba are the stuff of great art, it is his establishment of the monarchy in Israel that both shapes and foreshadows future events.

David is born in Bethlehem (c. 1040 BCE). He spends his childhood as a shepherd (a very lowly position) and bears no obvious signs of greatness (see: Abraham, Sarah, Moses, Aaron…). Yet God names David the successor to Saul – Israel’s first and failed king.

David is anointed king by the prophet Samuel (see 1 Samuel 16 for the story; note that in Hebrew the word for an anointed one is “messiah”), and it is under David that the 12 tribes of Israel are consolidated into a nation state with its capital in Jerusalem.

David proves to be a very capable king with exceptional skill in battle, able to not only secure but expand the borders of Israel to their zenith. And though he is guilty of some terrible sins (which the Bible recounts in all the gory details), he remains ever devoted to God, repenting of his wrongs; one God describes as a “man after my own heart.”

In many ways David marks the high point in Israel’s political and economic power and security and thus it is no wonder that he will form the model upon which Israel’s future expectations of an anointed “savior” are based.

In this episode, Rev. Mike Regele (guest preaching) gives one of the finest and clearest explanations of the establishment of the monarchy and the reign of David I have ever heard (he makes a very, very complex biblical story sound so simple!).

It is from this high point in Israel’s history that Israel will soon fall, and with it will come the fear that perhaps the project of salvation has come to its end…