God's message: consistent from the start!

1 Samuel has long been one of my favorite books in the Bible. Some of the stories are well known, like Samuel's call and David v. Goliath, while others are less renowned. One of my favorite chapters in the book is chapter 15, because it brings a New Testament kind of lesson into the Old Testament context.

Samuel is the spiritual leader of Israel at this point, and Saul the political king. The chapter begins with God giving a command to Saul, "Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys" (1Sam 15:3, italics mine). The campaign continues but we see that Saul captures the Amalekite king, Agag, sparing his life and his men plundered the livestock, keeping the goats, sheep, fattened calves and "everything that was good" (v. 9). OOPS! That doesn't sound like the total annihilation that God asked for.

Samuel's next move was to confront Saul. God told him what had happened and, when he went to talk to Saul about it, Saul replied, "but I did obey the Lord" (v. 20). Bringing back the king was a common sign of dominance over another nation and, as for the animals, he argued that the men chose the best of the livestock for sacrificial purposes. That's holy enough, right?

Samuel's response is one Saul probably didn't expect. He said, "Does the Lord delight in burnt offereings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice and to heed is better than the fat of rams" (v. 22). The principle here is simple, bold and timeless. The very idea of sacrificial systems came about as a way to purify sinful people in the sight of the Lord. If we were to surrender ourselves to his will, there would be no need for sacrifice! Even in the Old Testament, God was setting a standard of total obedience. He is God; we are not. He gets to call the shots. It's when we get to a place of thinking that we know better that we get in trouble.

God's original plan did not involve him sacrificing his Son on the cross for our sins but rather a relationship with his creation that glorified his kingdom. The only proper response for such a "once and for all" sacrifice being made is for us to daily recognize our need for that sacrifice, bask in the cleansing that it brings and strive to grow in obedience to his will.

For my next trick, I'll make the Canaanites disappear!

As we move along in our reading plan, pay close attention to what is happening right now. This is the early history of Israel, a nation with a geographical home. The majority of Joshua (thought not all) is devoted to the defeat of many of the large cities in the region and the division of the land to the twelve tribes of Israel. In the course of Judges 1, we see Judah (one of the tribes) get a pretty good start at taking over the land completely. Remember that the Israelites were supposed to demolish all the people who inhabited the land completely, something that the other tribes did not do (second half of Judges ch.1). So we see that they start to compromise that command and the result is God metaphorically saying "I told you so." They ended up compromising their beliefs and customs along with God's command. So God allows those people to be a "thorn in Israel's side," bringing unnecessary struggles and strife into the picture. This sets the stage for all the coming Old Testament History, intensifying and leading up to the exile in Babylon.

On another note, this is where we start to see some AWESOME stories! Ehud in Judges 3 and Deborah (the prophetess) in Judges 4 are both stories worthy of scenes in Hollywood blockbusters. Keep reading!

Why "The Law" Is Important

If you're following the reading plan, we have just finished the section of it known as the 'Pentateuch.' These are the first five books of the Bible, the part dealing with Moses and the part Jews call the 'Torah' (lit. "Law"). These books can be really dry if it is the first time you've read them and often seem arbitrary to the modern reader. But if 2 Tim. 3:16 is to be taken seriously, then we can assume there is some importance to them. Of course a deeper look would surely reveal theological truths, etc. about these laws. One such principle is that the laws were set in place to set Israel apart from other Ancient Near Eastern cultures.

If you've been struggling with these books I'd like to propose one principle that should shed some light on the issue. In Romans 7:7, Paul says that "I would not have known what sin was except through the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, 'Do not covet.'" In this whole chapter, Paul explains that the law was brought for us to see that we cannot live up to God's law. This is an important realization to come to if we are to fully grasp the magnitude of Jesus' sacrifice for us.

Cool Parallels between OT Sacrifice and Jesus

In the Old Testament there are a lot of rules about sacrificing, the different types of sacrificing and the rules for offering each. Hebrews 10 deals with Jesus as the final atonement sacrifice for our sins, and 1 Corinthians 5 calls Jesus our "Passover Lamb." Here are some interesting parallels that show how Jesus fits these descriptions.

• The passover lamb is to be "without defect" (Ex. 12:5). Jesus never sinned (Heb 4:15)
• Exodus 12:11 says they are to eat the Passover meal with their "cloak tucked into their belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand." These things symbolized being prepared to move, leave or travel. After Jesus' resurrection, he told us to go to the ends of the earth. We were challenged to go out, to spread the good news. More importantly, though, the next scene in exodus was the Israelites actually leaving captivity, being set free. Once we accept Christ as our Passover sacrifice, we need to be prepared to leave captivity and move to freedom from sin.
• Exodus 12:13 says "The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt." This is where we get the understanding that Jesus' blood acts the same way as the blood of the passover lamb. We allow it to mark us and God's judgment will pass over us. 
• Exodus 12:46 says they are to partake of the passover sacrifice but "not break any of the bones." John 19:32-33 says that, although it was customary to break bones when taking men off the cross, none of Jesus' bones were broken.
• Jesus came to Jerusalem and was crucified at Passover (Luke 22:15).
• The once-a-year atonement sacrifice (Yom Kippur) made by the High Priest was the only time he was to enter the "most holy place" in the temple. The High Priest was to make two sacrifices. One of a bull for his own sins. "He is to take some of the bull's blood and with his finger sprinkle it on the front of the atonement cover (of the ark of the covenant)." (Lev. 16:14). This made him clean to come before the Lord. Then he was to sacrifice a goat for the sins of the people and, "take its blood behind the curtain and do with it as he did with the bull's blood" (Lev. 16:15). Hebrews 10:19 says that "we have confidence to enter the Most Holy place by the blood of Jesus."
• The last part of the Atonement sacrifice is that a second goat was brought to be the scapegoat. This goat would have all the sins of Israel laid on its head, and would carry them off into the desert. The sacrifice cleansed the people, the scapegoat removed the sin from the people. Jesus is our scapegoat! On the cross, he "took away" the world's sins (Rom 11:27, Heb. 9:28, 1Jn 3:5)

These are not prophecies fulfilled but rather ways in which God designed Jesus' sacrifice to represent rituals that first-century Jews would understand. Those that "got it" would become the first early Christians, understanding that the sacrifice made in Jesus' crucifixion stood as the final blood sacrifice for the atonement of our sins and our deliverence from God's judgment.

Job 38-42 - Sarcasm, Dragons and Blessings

Here are some things that came out as I was reading Job 38-42 today as part of our reading plan. First of all, I should recap the book for anyone that hasn't read it. Job takes place pretty early in Biblical history, before God has revealed himself to his chosen nation, Israel, meaning less may be known about his character at this point. The first couple chapters of the book introduce Job and his predicament. Chapters 3-37 are a dialogue of Job and his three friends discussing God and how these things could possibly of happened. At various times, Job questions why he was born, why God would allow these things, etc. He never curses God. His friends, however, encourage Job to turn his back on a God that has seemingly done nothing but bad things for him. After a brief set of speeches from a bystander, Elihu (32-37), we come to God's response in chapter 38. You should be up to speed.

Chapter 38-39
If anyone ever wondered where sarcasm came from, know that we were made in God's image! These two chapters are God's ancient way of saying, "Who do you think you are, little man?" The imagery in these chapters is AWESOME! It describes storehouses for hail and snow, setting the limits to the oceans, etc. God is using some pretty thick sarcasm (38:21 - "Surely you know, for you were already born! You have lived so many years!") to bring Job to a point where he understands his position compared to God. (40:4 - "I am unworthy, how can I reply to you? I put my hand over my mouth.")

Chapters 40-41
Behemoth (40:15-24) - Is likely the Hippopotomus.
Leviathin (ch. 41) - Probably referring to the crocodile, but what is interesting to me here is all the language about breathing fire (vv. 18-21) and scales that are hard as rock and totally impenetrable (vv. 15-17, 22-30). Could this be Biblical evidence of the existence of dragons? Or perhaps this is just using imagery of mythical dragons? After all, we can write stories about dragons despite the fact that they don't exist. Just a thought.

Chapter 42
In the final chapter, two important things stick out to me.

1. God despises it when people speak incorrectly of his character and his name. 42:7 says, "After the Lord had said these things to Hob, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite, 'I am angry with you and your two friends beause you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.'" This tells the modern reader that if we are going to pontificate on the character and will of God, we better take great care to make sure that we are not distorting his word.
2. God rewards a repentant heart. Job had no pretention of deserving any reward from God. He repented because that was the right response to God's greatness and his smallness. We don't voice these expectations out loud very often, but in our hearts it is not uncommon to bargain with God and expect certain things. "I will repent if I know you'll bless me my way in the end." The correct thing is to recognize our position and repent simply because God is God. He will reward that in a uniquely individual way every time.