Is. 3: Judging Jerusalem

Isaiah 3:8 "Jerusalem staggers, Judah is falling; their words and deeds are against the LORD, defying his glorious presence."

This was written in a time before Israel was taken into exile, so the prophecies in Isaiah 3 come true just as they were written. Even though Isaiah was used by God during a time where Judah had relatively good kings, the people were still scumbags. There was a long engrained tradition of evil that was marring the nation. And the truth is, Isaiah probably could have seen this coming without divine revelation from God.

Those who were meant to be subservient will be equal and in charge, oppressive. Those who were leaders, who led the army, who guided the nation will be vacated and useless. Their sin is flaunted without any sense of wrong, and the comparison to Sodom is made again. It was a pretty wicked place to live. I assume Isaiah was not very popular in his day. Who wants to hear how awful he is, and as a result how terrible life is going to be?

The women were just as bad as the men. Just because their status in society was second to men, it doesn't mean they were able to hide in their sin. They were pretty lascivious, using their bodies for sin, and to bring others down in sin. But as much as they attempted to pretty themselves up, God was going to strike them bald, and they'd be dressing in sackcloth.

What's worse, their military, blessed by God for a sincere purpose would be rendered useless, and they would be slaughtered on the battlefield.

Job 24: The Darkness

Job 24:12 "The groans of the dying rise from the city, and the souls of the wounded cry out for help. But God charges no one with wrongdoing."

Job continues to wonder what God is doing. And I like that. He doesn't claim to get what God is doing. He wants to know. He wants to comprehend it, but even in the first verse, he wants to know why an eternal God who transcends time doesn't set times or days for judging man. He sees wicked men doing all these unjust things without facing any recourse. He sees poverty in the world, injustice, and lots of horrible things, but God doesn't call anyone into account. 

Like anyone who has honestly considered God, I wonder that myself. It's THE question: "If God is so good, why is there so much evil in the world?" The answer is obvious but unacceptable. It is simple, but too complex to grasp. Evil occurs and occurs, and will for all time. That's the world.

Job realizes the life of man, however, is a temporary one. It lasts for less time than evil. Hod is just, but Job wonders why God isn't his kind of just.

Ne. 13: Nehemiah's High Horse

Nehemiah 13:14 "Remember me for this, O my God, and do not blot out what I have so faithfully done for the house of my God and its services."

I don't know the timeline of when chapter 13 occured in relation to chapter 12, but I imagine it could be a huge holy buzzkill. Just as the people are celebrating and thinking pretty highly of themselves, Nehemiah comes along and points out all their faults. In a way, I love his direct approach, including but not limited to pulling the hair out of men who married foreign chicks. You have to get attention somehow. And these things the people did were expressly forbidden. Dozens (probably) of times in scripture alone. Never mind the examples of what happened to revered forefathers of Israel when they hooked up with foreign broads (Solomon?). 

But another way to react, as I did, was to bristle at how Nehemiah treated the people. He didn't sugarcoat his judgment on the people. He didn't try to reason with them. Straight up he was with the people he knew were blowing it. This was no milquetoast believer. I don't respond so well to direct hostility. Chances are, I know when I'm a screwup, and personally, I'd need someone to show me how to change.

And I don't mean to suggest that these violations were minor. Eliashib allowing Tobiah (yeah, that Tobiah who aided in spreading rumors and impeding wall construction) to use a room in the temple was pretty out of line. In fact, the whole temple situation was in disarray, with people not at their posts (out farming, because people weren't giving the priestly portions with their offerings) and people working on the Sabbath. Lets not forget how important rest is to the LORD.

So Nehemiah does a lot of purificatin', and does his best to implant reforms that will get things right again. These are the things Nehemiah wants to be remembered for, and I think he is.

Ge. 3: It's the LORD. Oh no, run!

All right, now we meet the crafty serpent. You just knew it wasn't going to stay hunky-dory for long. Crafty is sly. Although with the naivete' of Adam and the woman who just fell off the turnip truck, how crafty did the serpent really have to be? I don't know. And maybe the serpent was a dragon. That's what I think of when I think serpent. Not snake exactly.

Anyway, the serpent says, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?"
I had to go back into chapter two...verse 17. God actually says "You must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die." The serpent twisted the words around. The woman corrects it, saying what God said in 2:17. What I never really noticed before was that God issued this command to Adam before the woman was created. So Adam must have emphasized this to her in some way that she was able to internalize it, and recall it later. Maybe that was obvious, but I never noticed that. I wonder what else they talked about?

While the woman had it right to begin with, the serpent started off with a statement that allows doubt to creep in. Before the woman knew it, she was listening, and then..."You will not surely die," the serpent goes on, directly and obviously contradicting what God said, playground style. It is a complete and total opposite. Something is the reverse of God here. The anti-God. Bizzaro God. He then goes on to inject the idea that she and her husband will be like God, knowing good and evil, like that is some wonderful gift. The serpent attached a perceived value to this thing that the woman bought into. I've...never done that. As though its worth you're ever-lovin' soul. The serpent causes them to question God's motives, as cynics, thinking God has some sinister motive for them not already knowing good and evil. As if God is hoarding all the knowledge for Himself.

We know what happens next: Fruit looks good, woman takes a bite, Adam is like, "I'm with you, babe," and eats it as well.

Now they know they are naked. It must have been some kind of cataclysm at that point. No longer was there perfection. Anywhere. I imagine they noticed spots and wrinkles and sags where there were none previously. The entire earth must have groaned collectively as paradise was closed. The lamb got up from his spot next to the lion. Or was devoured in a gory, tendon-snapping, entrail flinging mess.

They had to cover what was created in innocence and beauty, as it now became a taboo. So they hide, and God asks where they are, but He knew. It seems like God wants to open a dialogue, rather than be accusatory. As if He wants Adam to recognize that he missed the mark on his own, rather than be put in the hot seat. Adam doesn't lie to God. And like any loving husband, he blames his wife. She blames the serpent. Interesting that the first punishment is handed out to the serpent. What a bleak, horrible future the serpent is given. The bride...er...woman will have enmity (conflict) with him, and his head is going to be crushed by a Son of Adam, although there will be some heel-strikage.

The woman gets it bad too...childbirth will be painful...moreso, as the punishment is the increase. The desire for the husband is apparently also a part of the punishment, not in some sort of wink-wink, unfunny stand-up comedian way, but perhaps that speaks to the tribulations of marriage...especially the divine marriage?

The ground is cursed because of Adam. Of course, he has to work the soil, and get pricked by the thorns suddenly sprouted by roses and the like. His food will have to be cultivated, it won't just be pluckable. ( I just wanted to say, "pluckable.") As Adam noticed imperfections in his naked body, so now the earth begins its decay. So, I guess, man is responsible for earth changes.

The woman is named Eve...the mother of all the living. My great-great...great...etc...grandmother. Your great-great-and-so-on grandmother.

Man now knows good and evil. It was good to know only good, I imagine. With knowing good and evil, you have to now know evil as well. Great prize, Bob. Hope that fruit was tasty. It's like matching all the numbers in the lotto, and winning 80 cents...and a trip to the guillotine. God says that now Adam cannot reach out and take fruit from the tree of life and live forever. That's all it would have taken? God's original design was eternal life. Probably better that Adam isn't alive today, he'd be seen as the guy that spoils everything, like when you set up a family photo and he streaks through the background, or he drops the pop-up with the game on the line...you just want to say, "You blew it!" Its easy to throw Adam under the bus for our human condition...but the serpent would have gotten to someone eventually.

So one man ushers in sin...

My Bible says the man was driven out. I'm assuming it wasn't like a limo drives someone out. I don't get the impression that God pointed to the gate, and Adam hung his head and trudged out. I think Adam did what he could to stay in that place, and would have done anything to get back in. I wonder if there was full scale tantrumming. I wonder if he thought the tree of life could still save him?

Kind of a downer chapter, outside of the serpent with a crushed head. Things will get better for this Adam guy though, right?


Questions I have for God:
1. What was the serpent?
2. What was the fruit? (Meaningless in the grand scheme of things, but...don't you want to know?)
3. What would childbirth have been like without pain? How could pain not exist?
4. At what point did you realize you didn't need the cherubim and the flashing sword by the tree of life?