Caleb--A Man of Honor

Image by Oregon State University Archives via FlickrYou might think of Caleb as a minor Bible character, but think again.  Caleb was the kind of person God calls us all to be.  We find Caleb first in chapter 13 of the Book of Numbers.  He was chosen to accompany Joshua and 10 other leaders to go into the Promised Land to scout it out. 

Caleb was an honorable and trustworthy son of Jephunneh from the tribe of Judah.  When the 12 men returned from their trip into the Promised Land, they assured the Children of Israel that the land was everything they had hoped for.  They spent 40 days exploring and viewing the land.  It had vineyards and orchards with fig trees and pomegranate trees and well-watered plains.  They said it "flowed with milk and honey." 

Then the opinions were no longer unanimous.  Joshua and Caleb assured Moses and the people that they should go up and take the land for they were well able to do it, but the other 10 spies pointed out the strength and power of the inhabitants.  They lived in fortified cites: the descendants of Anak lived in Hebron; the Amalekites lived in the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites lived in the hill country; and the Canaanites lived near the sea.  There was no place where they could settle that they would not have to fight a strong, settled population--it would be foolishness to try to take the land.  "We looked like grasshoppers next to them," they said.   

That night they wept because the land was good but they were weak.  The people discussed choosing a new leader and returning to Egypt.  For the second time Joshua and Caleb wept and tore their clothes in an attempt to persuade the people to obey the Lord, but they would not listen.  Joshua and Caleb were in danger of being stoned with Moses and Aaron.

The Lord appeared to the whole assembly at the Tent of Meeting.  He told them the penalty for disobedience--they would not be allowed to enter the Promised Land.  The ten spies that brought the evil report were struck down by a plague.  All the people who were 20 years old when they left Egypt and were counted in the census would die in the desert except Joshua and Caleb.  They would wander the desert as shepherds, a year for each day of the spy trip.  The next day they decided they would enter the land and they marched out to meet the Amalekites and Canaanites, but neither the Ark of the Lord nor Moses went with them.  God had given them a new command which they disobeyed in presumption, and they were defeated.

Caleb lived to enter the land.  Joshua gave him Hebron in the Hill Country. 

Caleb exhibits the kind of character we admire but don't see much.  He stood firm in righteousness against personal insult and attack.  His strength is an inspiration to us today.  May we be open to receive his example.

Opposites Attract, Repel, or Define

I have been reading Rob Bell's book titled Love Wins.  He asks all the questions I ask and comes up with some of my answers.  He corrects one of my mistakes when he emphasizes that we may not be able to answer the hard questions, but we can, should, must respond to them.  My daughter asks some of these questions:  What did I do to deserve Rheumatoid Arthritis?  How am I serving God in this painful and crippled existence?  What now?

On pages 58 and 59 Bell tries to get at an understanding of time and existence that human beings have difficulty with.  He views eternity, not as a physical, endless expanse into the future, but a different plane of existence altogether.  I take that to mean that eternity can be a very present reality.  I agree with Bell.  I find reality in heavenly things and understanding; truths that I cannot grasp in a physical realm are easy and common in a spiritual state.

Here may be the hardest place for me to connect with Rob Bell.  In Mark 10:25-31 the Bible records the words of Jesus:
²⁵ It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
 ²⁶ The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, “Who then can be saved?”
 ²⁷ Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.”
 ²⁸  Peter said to him, “We have left everything to follow you!”
   ²⁹ “I tell you the truth,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel ³⁰ will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life. ³¹ But many who are first will be last, and the last first.” (NIV)

Rob Bell insists that heaven is here.  I agree that we are connected to there, to heaven.  Our hope is there, but it begins here.  This is the hardest concept for me to master, to have faith in the realities the Bible promises while my experiences are confined to the physical and tangible.  Well, not altogether.  Sometimes I have been in tune with heaven and rejoiced in its splendor, but it was a brief sojourn, and the jarring reality of earthbound activities returned with force.

So how can I as a physical and fallible human ever understand and appreciate the promises of heaven and eternal life?  I am afraid  that trying to fit heaven into an earthly reality deminishes the prospect. and perhaps I am missing some part of Rob Bell's argument.  I may need to give the book a closer read. The truth is I don't want heaven to be here.  I want the promises to be only a reflection, a hint of what heaven will be; these hints are just something to spur me on to the full reality of God's glory.

One theory found in the field of literary theory is called binary opposition.  We define things as black or white, up or down, heaven or hell, life or death, time or eternity.  Opposites are used to define the subject by what it is not.    Heaven is defined in terms we use as earthly surperlatives--choirs of angesl, crystal sea, golden streets.  In one passage Bell suggests that heaven and hell is like the celebration with the prodigal son and the sadness of the older brother.  If hell is not punishment and torment, is heaven still joy and exaltation?  All our metaphors collapse when we examine them too closely.  Heaven and hell will be revealed in that other dimension, and now we only throw darts at the target hoping to get a bull's eye.

I am afraid my attempts to grasp this idea have only muddied the water.  I may need to start over. 

Lessons of Philemon

Philemon is the shortest book in the New Testament, but it holds some magnificent truths.  It is a quick read, less than ten minutes, but it is well worth the effort.

New Christians are often advised to begin Bible reading in the Gospel of Mark or John, but I might advise a new believer to begin with Philemon.  I would preface the reading with some background to offer a framework for the story.

Philemon was a Christian friend of Paul who lived in Colossae.  He was apparently wealthy.  We know this because he owned slaves and his home was large enough to host meetings of the Colossian Church.  Onesimus was one of Philemon's slaves who had run away.  He got into some kind of trouble and found himself in jail.  There is no indication what the problem was, but it was resolved.  As Paul wrote the letter, he intended that Onesimus carry it to Philemon when he returned home.

There are important passages and meanings in this little letter.  Verses 4-7 remind us of the importance of praying for those we love.  Paul gives thanks to God for his blessing on Philemon and for Philemon's faith. 

It appears that Philemon became a Christian through Paul's preaching, so Paul alludes to the debt Philemon owes for his knowledge of salvation.  Paul, however, wants Philemon's treatment of Onesimus to be based on love not duty.  He is careful to explain his position: "Please receive Onesimus because of your love and concern for him, not because you owe me a debt of gratitude."

Then Paul illustrates the principle of imputation:  Treat Onesimus as you would treat me.  To impute a virtue, righteousness for instance, to someone means you assume it to be true.  You treat him as if you knew him to be upright and honest.  Paul also uses the principle of substitution.  "Treat Onesimus as you would treat me," he says.  "If he owes you anything, charge it to my account.  If you would welcome me, they welcome him."
  
This is a picture of what Jesus did for Christians.  Whatever debt we owe for sins we have committed, Jesus paid.  Whatever righteousness Jesus carries in his own person, he gives to us.  For a new Christian or even an old one, these lessons of imputation and substitution are timeless and continuous.  The meanings grow and expand as we learn and mature in Christ, but they are a wonderful way to begin.

God's Word Waters the Earth

¹⁰ As the rain and the snow    come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
   without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
   so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
¹¹ so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
   It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
   and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. Isaiah 55:10-11(NIV)

Some things happen naturally.  The water cycle is a good example:  rain and snow fall to the earth and provide moisture for plants that grow and produce a harvest.  As the plants use the water, it is released in the form of elements that recombine in the atmosphere to produce rain again.  Some of the water flows to streams and rivers and the ocean where it becomes available for fish, or animals, or men.  The earth blooms because of the water.  Our lives are sustained by the water.

This passage mentions two classes of people who benefit from the rain and snow.  First, there are the farmers who get seed as a product of harvest.  They can produce another crop with seed.  They are provided a resource to continue for another year.

Second, there are eaters, hungry people who need the nutrition provided by the harvest.  The rain and snow provide the moisture to grow grain that serves both needs:  seed for planting a new crop and grain to grind for bread.

Grain and harvest are symbols used over and over in the Bible.  This time they are used as a metaphor for the power of the Word of God.  As surely as the rain will produce a harvest of grain, so the Word of God will produce the results he intends.  The harvest may be righteousness.  People who hear God's word may respond in repentance.  The harvest may be in souls that come to a saving knowledge of God through Jesus Christ.  Sometimes the harvest is a personal understanding of God in quiet communication.  However it comes, the harvest will accomplish his desire and fulfill the purpose for which he sent it.

How has God's Word produced a harvest in your life today?

Deborah Praises Jael

The book of Judges tells repeatedly of the descent of the people of Israel into sin and disaster.  When, as a result of their own failure, they sought God for relief from oppressors, he appointed judges who delivered them.  Deborah was such a person.  She was the only female judge the Bible records.  She would have been remarkable under any circumstances, and her record in Judges 4-5 is amazing.

After Ehud died the people fell back into sin, and they came under the hand of King Jabin who reigned in Hazor.  Sisera was Jabin's commander, and he oppressed Israel for twenty years.  The roads were not maintained, and village life deteriorated.  People traveled by hidden paths to avoid the army.  Their crops and herds were taken and the people lived in terror.

Deborah was a prophetess, and I assume that this gave her credibility in the eyes of the people.  She held court between Bethel and Ramah under the Palm of Deborah.  Deborah received a message from God.  She sent for Barak and told him he was to take an army of ten thousand men from the tribes of Naphtali and Zebulun and go to Mount Tabor.  She would lure Sisera to the Kishon River where God would give them victory. 

Barak began to quake.  "If you go with me I'll go.  But if you don't go, I won't go."  (This makes me wonder why Barak was necessary.)  Deborah said, "Because of the way you are going about this, the honor will go to a woman, not to you.  A woman will defeat Sisera."

Heber was a Kenite who lived and pastured flocks near Kedesh.  He was married to Jael.  He had "friendly relations" with Jabin and, I assume, Sisera.  It appears Jael did not share his affiliation with them.

Sisera commanded nine hundred iron chariots and an experienced army.  God commanded the skies.  Deborah and Barak and ten thousand men of Israel assembled on Mount Tabor waiting for battle.  The storm caused flooding and the iron chariots became bogged in the mud of the plain.  The men of Israel poured down the mountain side and destroyed the army of Sisera. 

Sisera abandoned his chariot and fled to the tent of Jael.  She was home alone.  It was a severe violation of custom for Sisera to enter her tent, but he did and she allowed it.  She gave him milk to refresh him, actually cottage cheese "in a lordly bowl."(KJV)  He lay down to rest, and she took a hammer and drove a stake through his temple nailing him to the ground.

Deborah and Barak arrived soon after this, and she presented the scene to them.  In the celebration after the battle, Deborah praised Jael's deed and honored her.  The Song of Deborah is, perhaps, the earliest example of Hebrew poetry dating to the 12th century b.c.e.

Just as a technical point, I would like to cast doubt on the pictorial representation of the act.  I cannot see that Jael could take a hand tool and drive a peg through his skull.  I think that would wake him.  I believe she used something like a sledge hammer to drive a railroad spike.  I envision an implement on the hammer that would affix the spike to the hammer until it was struck with one full blow.  Since the women were responsible for setting up the tent, I am convinced that she was able to accomplish this.  Just a thought-- 

Covenant of Salt

Image via Wikipedia Salt was an important element in ancient societies.  The Hebrews were required to add salt to all the sacrifices they put on their altars. 

Salt signified several things: first, salt preserved meat.  In the heat of that country meat had a short life, but salted, it could sustain them for a long time. 
Salt was a symbol of friendship.  If you were invited to eat salt with someone, you were safe from threat or attack.  It was also an acceptable gift.  Salt, then as now, improved flavor of foods.  Salt is necessary for the body, human or animal, and for that reason alone is valuable.

For the Jews and maybe, other people, a covenant of salt marked an unbreakable contract, one that could not be changed.  Human beings are changeable and fickle, but God is faithful and constant.  Even when we fail to perform according to expectations, God does not change.

I remember when I joined the church.  I was nine years old.  I solemnly took the vows and promised all kinds of things I didn't even understand, but my intent was to be faithful.  Many times I fell far short of Godly standards, but God sustained me and kept his part of the bargain--it was, indeed, a covenant of salt, at least from
God's perspective. 

My marriage was a covenant of salt.  I find it sad that many people don't consider marriage in that light anymore.  Marriage for convenience, or money, or selfish gain cannot approach the commitment needed for a covenant of salt.  Maybe I'm the one that is out of step.  Consider carefully a contract or a commitment that requires a covenant of salt.  It cannot be broken.

Related articles

• The marriage covenant (christianmen.wordpress.com)

Isaiah Revisited

I am finishing a study of Isaiah in Bible Study Fellowship.  It was a very good study.  Understanding some characteristics of the book might help you make sense of it.  

There are two major portions of the book.  Some people have labeled them Isaiah I and Isaiah II.  The first part contains a lot of history of Israel and the confrontation they had with other countries.  They were threatened and beseiged, and Isaiah predicted that they would eventually fall to the Babylonians.  Chapters 1-35 give a review of the kings of Israel and of the threats. 

Chapters 36-39 provide a description of an interlude between the worsening apostasy and the exile.  Hezekiah was a good king and his reign was renouned.  This passage includes Jerusalem's miraculous deliverance from Sennacherib.

Chapters 40-66 describe the call to repentance to the people in exile.  God through Isaiah promises relief, restoration, and  redemption to a broken and distressed nation.

Some scholars believe the two portions are written by different people.  It is amazing that the predictions and prophesies are very accurate.  On the other hand, that is the definition of prophesy. 

Isaiah could be called the Gospel according to Isaiah.  It has several passages that describe the birth of Jesus, his ministry on earth, and his suffering and death.  These passages occur in both sections of the book, so if, indeed, there were two authors, they were surely of one mind.

Isaiah is the most quoted prophet in the New Testament.  Jesus quotes him many times and Paul, Peter and the Gospel writers all quote him, too.  Isaiah is the most prolific of the prophets.  The importance of this book to Jews and Christians cannot be overestimated.  Read it; it is worth your time.