Format

I've decided on a basic format for the blog. At least, one I'll try to stick to in most cases.

As mentioned in my first post, I do plan on making both Sunday and Thursday primarily Bible-focused days. On Sunday, I think I'll look at certain passages in the New Testament and thinking about what they mean--both for us now and for the people to whom the text was originally written for. On Thursday, I'm going to focus on reading the Old Testament.

Thus, this coming Sunday will be my first NT post, and next Thursday will see me continuing my treatment of the book of Joshua. Between these posts, I'll probably have a few less specifically focused thoughts here and there, but I hope to keep my Sunday/Thursday schedule going for awhile.

Joshua chapters 1-3

It's Thursday, so it's time for a Biblical post of some sort. It took me a few minutes to decide what to write about because I decided to primarily do New Testament readings on Sunday, and I don't know all that much about the Old Testament. I decided to do Joshua, though, because it struck me as exceptionally interesting at the time.

Joshua basically takes up the narrative at the end of Deuteronomy and sets the social and political stage for the events that take place in Judges. Joshua is the beginning of what scholars call the "Deuteronomistic history," or the DH, which includes Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings. They're named such because their theology is so closely based upon Deuteronomy, and it's likely that they were authored by the same person or group.

(I'll discuss the Documentary Hypothesis, which this is all based on, in a later post. I should have done that first, but I wanted to keep my promise of having a Biblical post every Thursday.)

So Deuteronomy is over; Moses is dead, and the Israelites are right across the Jordan from Canaan (their Promised Land). Joshua opens up with God telling Joshua how he's going to
back him up and help the Israelites kick all kinds of ass in Canaan. That is, if they are "careful to act in accordance with all the law that my servant Moses commanded you; do not turn from it" (Josh. 1:7). God is very strict about his commandments, something that is stressed exceptionally hard in the DH.

Joshua tells his people to get ready, giving specific instructions to the Reubenites, Gadites, and the "half-tribe of Manasseh" (1:12). It sounds like their piece of the Promised Land is on the side of the Jordan that they've already occupied, because Joshua specifically tells them that although they have their land, they still have to help the rest of the twelve tribes invade Canaan. They don't mind, and assure Joshua that they'll kill anyone who disobeys his orders.

Moving into chapter 2, Joshua sends two spies from Shittim (the last major Israelite encampment before crossing the Jordan) into Canaan to scope out the situation with Jericho. They sneak into the city and hide out in a prostitute named Rahab's house. She hides them from the Jericho guard and helps them escape in exchange for their promise that she and her family would be spared. They agree, but only if she ties a certain crimson cord in the window of her house, and hides all of her family inside.

The crimson cord seems to allude to the lamb's blood in Exodus: "For The Lord will pass through to strike down the Egyptians; when he sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, The Lord will pass over that door and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you down" (Exod. 12:23). Similarly, the Israelites seem intent to slaughter everyone in Jericho, only passing over the house which has a crimson cord marking it.

Rahab tells the spies about how all the city is trembling in fear because they have heard of The Lord's great power, and that he fights for Israel. She says she has heard about how The Lord parted the yam suf (commonly known as the Red Sea, but better translated as the Sea of Reeds), and how everyone knew they were doomed. The spies relate this to Joshua in 2:24, "moreover all the inhabitants of the land melt in fear before us."

The God of the Hebrew Bible rarely seems to give any thought of mercy to people who are not Hebrew. (It could be argued that he had very little even for the Israelites, but that's another post.) Here we have a city full of people that are apparently quaking in their shoes in fear of the approaching Israelites, and though surely most of these terrified people would surrender, only one woman and her family will be saved. It is interesting, however, the way that the prostitute is portrayed as the head of her family.

As chapter 3 starts, Joshua explains to the Israelites how they will move into Canaan. They will follow the priests who carry "the ark of the covenant of The Lord your God" (3:3) but they will be careful not to come within two thousand cubits. This distance seems to serve to represent the ark's extreme holiness; the common folk must stand back, and only the priests are allowed to come near it. The sharp division between the sacred and the profane is notable as something that most (and some would argue all) religions share.

After a pep-talk from God and Joshua, the Israelites move towards the Jordan. When the priests who are carrying the ark touch the edge of the river, the waters split apart before the Israelites. The priests stand near the center of the riverbed with the ark, apparently keeping the waters at bay with the ark's holy power, while the Israelites cross over.

I find it interesting that the text does not specify that God is holding back the Jordan. In Exodus 14, it's repeatedly stressed that The Lord is the one acting upon the river, but in Joshua it seems as if the ark of the covenant is itself a supernatural artifact with incredible powers. These powers may come from God, but they do not seem to be the direct result of his will.

Continued in Joshua chapters 4-6

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Harper Collins Study Bible - NRSV

Most of the readings I'll be doing will come from the Harper Collins Study Bible. It makes use of the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, or the NRSV, which is widely considered the most accurate English translation of the Bible, especially in scholarly circles.

There has been some controversy over the NRSV's elimination of many instances of gender-specific language. For instance, many places where the original text might specify "brothers" or "man," the NRSV translates as "siblings" or "adult."

I do not entirely understand the problem here. Even in the King James Version, "b'nei Yisrael" is translated as "children of Israel," though "b'nei" translates directly to "sons of." Even the English Standard Version (ESV) which was created almost directly in response to the NRSV's use of gender-neutral language translates this as "children" instead of "sons."

Some accuse the NRSV of pandering to modern feminism, but I think it's much more like it's looking through ancient sexism. It's not at all clear that the ancient texts were even specifically sexist in these cases; when Tolkien writes of the race of Man in The Lord of the Rings, do people assume that he is indicating only the males?

In any event, using the very little Hebrew that I do know, the NRSV seems to match up to my Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia much more closely than the other translations I've used. As I advance in my Hebrew, I'll try to look at more text and see how it compares.

Identity and Purpose

I am a Christian.

What does that mean? One of the purposes of this blog, a minor one, is to answer that question. What am I? How do I classify myself? Unfortunately, most of the descriptors I can use for myself are negative: I am not a fundamentalist, I am not a literalist, I am not an atheist, nor am I a relativist. Surely there is some description that deals with what I am, rather than what I am not.

The primary purpose of this blog is to explore what it means to live in a world where there does exist a thing called the sacred. Being a Christian myself, I will primarily discuss Christianity here, but it may not be the only thing I talk about. Posts will often concern Biblical text, and there will be at least one post on Sundays and Thursdays that will always concern Biblical text. Other posts may deal with other aspects of religion or spirituality. Most will probably be related to Christianity, but everything will be related to humanity as a whole.

This blog is not discriminatory. Fundamentalists, literalists, atheists, and relativists are free to read and comment. It should go without saying that I welcome discourse from adherents of other religions, but I'll say it anyway. Agree or disagree with me, I don't mind. Feel free to argue with me, or if I'm factually inaccurate, even correct me.

I am not a professional Biblical scholar, though I am a student of religious studies. I do not profess to know "everything there is to know" about the Bible. I am a scholar, however, as is anyone who wishes to join me in this endeavor. The first time a person opens the Bible to read it in a scholarly fashion, they are a Biblical scholar. So join me; let’s learn something.