If someone dies, will they live again? All the days of my hard service I will wait for my renewal to come. – Job 14:14

Today’s Scripture Reading (April 30, 2015): Job 14

I love the story of Moses the Black. Moses was one of the Desert Fathers, but his roots were not within any religious system of belief. Moses was a servant of a government official in Egypt, but the official dismissed him from his post for theft, and for the suspicion that he had committed a murder. So Moses, a physically big man, left the comforts of Egyptian society and became the leader of gang that roamed throughout the Nile Valley, spreading both terror and violence to anyone that Moses and his gang met. 

But one day Moses was attempting to carry out a theft when he was stopped because a barking dog alerted the community to his presence. So the frustrated Moses decided to take his anger out on the owner of the dog. He swam across the river with his weapons in his mouth, intending to kill the dog owner. But his intended victim was once again alerted to Moses presence, and he ran and hid in a place where Moses would not be able to find him. Moses had to satisfy himself with the slaughter of a few sheep. By then the authorities were on to Moses, and he ran and hid with some desert monks. Moses was so impressed with the monks’ teachings and their commitment to peace that he decided to join their community. He gave up his former way of life, was baptized and joined the monastery.

One night, a gang of robbers accosted Moses in his cell at the monastery. The big man fought back against the robbers and quickly overpowered them. But he was unsure of what to do next, and so he decided to go to the other monks for advice. The dragged the group of would be robbers into the room where the other monks were praying and announced to them the events that had taken place, but then also told the monks that he didn’t think a Christian should hurt the robbers. Moses was confused about what to do next, and apparently so were the would-be robbers. The failed thieves repented of their sins, and like Moses, decided to join the monastic community.

But maybe the most important story of Moses life was the account of his death. Moses became aware that some rebels planned to attack the monastery. At the time, Moses was seventy-five. He quickly sent the most of the monks away from the monastery to safety, but he, along with a small group of seven other monks, decided to stay behind and wait for the rebel fighters. But they were going to refuse to take up arms against them. When the rebels approached the monastery, Moses and his seven friends opened the doors and welcomed the rebels with open arms. The rebels slaughtered all eight monks. The man of violence who had become a man of peace died at the point of a sword because he refused to pick up a weapon and defend himself.

Experts have argued over the answer to Job’s question – if someone dies, will they live again. Many have argued that as far as Job was concerned, the answer had to be no. Their argument is that the doctrine of resurrection wasn’t developed until much later Jewish history. So Job’s rhetorical question had to be answered with a no. But others argue that that can’t be quite true. For one thing, Job seems to connect the idea of renewal to the idea of death. Whether or not Job really believed in the idea of resurrection, he definitely hoped for a resurrection.

But they also note that Job’s contemporary seems to have believed very strongly in the idea of resurrection. Abraham was willing to sacrifice his own son because he trusted that with God death was not the final act. The author of Hebrews writes these words – ^“Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death” (Hebrews 11:19). And if Abraham believed in resurrection from the dead, why not Job. The stories come from the same time period.

We hold on to life, sometimes maybe too tightly. But we can be assured that the answer to Job’s question is yes, even if Job didn’t believe that that was possible. And for the many who have died over the course of history following Christ, they were sure that their sacrifice was not a permanent one, that God holds the keys of life and death – and that they will rise again.

For Moses the Black, it was all the assurance that he needed to meet his death as he believed his Saviour would want him to – with his arms open in peace toward the ones who wanted to do him harm.     

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Job 15

 

If only you would be altogether silent! For you, that would be wisdom. – Job 13:5

Today’s Scripture Reading (April 29, 2015): Job 13

Abraham Lincoln is thought to have said “Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and to remove all doubt.” The attribution to Lincoln isn’t solid. Others have suggested that Mark Twain is the author of the saying (the Twain version is often phrased slightly differently - It’s better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than open it and remove all doubt). The humor of the saying would seem to fit well with Twain, but it is probably even less likely that Twain said it than it is that Lincoln said it. The first appearance of the phrase, at least in this form, appears to be in the early 20^th Century. But the bottom line is that we are not really sure who actually said it.

Except that Job gives us an ancient version of the saying. Addressing the friends who had gathered around him, he tells them that their silence reveals more wisdom than their words. Every time they open their mouths, they reveal their own foolishness. And yet they insisted on speaking.

But there is something beyond just a restatement of the Lincoln/Twain phrase that is found in Job’s words. The truth is that Job didn’t need their words (or their supposed wisdom). All Job really needed was their presence. The presence of the friends, sitting with him and supporting him in his hour of pain, would have been very positive experience. But the friends turned what could have been a positive experience into a negative experience with their words. Their silence would have been the action of the wise.

But the friends couldn’t just support Job, they felt the need to make a moral judgment. The problem was that even if they were right, they were wrong. This just wasn’t the time for the judgment.

What is surprising is that we still make the same mistake with our own friends. Too often when people simply need our presence, we can’t help ourselves and we make a moral judgment. Oh, we are doing it out of love. We want our friends to find personal improvement through their time of suffering, but even if we are right - we are wrong. Sometimes we need to just shut up and be there with them. In those moments, our silence is the only wisdom that they need. And nothing else is appropriate.  

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Job 14

Doubtless you are the only people who matter, and wisdom will die with you! – Job 12:2

Today’s Scripture Reading (April 28, 2015): Job 12

On March 23, 2015, Soren Kam passed away of natural causes. For some, the death of Kam in this manner was unfortunate. They would rather that his life could have been stolen from him through his execution, rather than have him surrender it gently to nature. The problem was that Kam was a member of the Waffen-SS, the armed wing of the Nazi Party’s Schutzstaffel – the SS. But specifically, Kam was wanted in Denmark for the murder of an unarmed Newspaper editor, Carl Henrik Clemmensen, on August 31, 1943 in the middle of the Second World War. But maybe what some have found most irritating about Kam is that he never seemed to understand that what he had done during the war was wrong. Besides the murder of Clemmensen, Kam has been accused of stealing the birth records of Jews in Denmark to make sure that the Germans files on Danish Jews was as complete as possible. But what placed Kam above others who have also been accused of War Crimes was that he didn’t see anything wrong in the events that had taken place during the war – or in any of his own actions. Where some others have felt guilty over the events that had taken place in Nazi Germany during the Second World War, Kam remained unrepentant. And what the families of the victims of his crimes needed, at the very least, was some sort of sign that he understood that his actions were wrong.

Job seems to be losing patience with his friends. They seem so sure of themselves; they have all the details on what has happened and they seem to know how they are innocent and that Job is the guilty one. But Job wants to push back. His friends think that they know, but they don’t. Job needs to fill in the blanks.

And so he reminds them that they don’t have all of the details. His remark is sarcastic. Job means the exact opposite of what he says – his friends are not the only reservoirs of wisdom – Job knows that he has some too.

Maybe what Job really needs to hear from his friends is an apology – an admission that they know that they have pushed too far, and that they are wrong. They have jumped to the wrong conclusion, and Job wants to set the record straight. Job understands that he is not perfect, but then again he also knows that no matter what it is that they are saying, his friends are not perfect either. And Job needs them to understand that, and know that they are wrong.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Job 13

Yet if you devote your heart to him and stretch out your hands to him … - Job 11:13

Today’s Scripture Reading (April 27, 2015): Job 11

Mark Twain once commented that “a half-truth is the most cowardly of lies.” One would think is that Twain had modern day politicians in mind. It has long been the strategy of political minds to attempt to twist the truth for their own advantage. And as long as what they are saying is at least partially true, then it is harder for the accusation of them being untruthful to stick. But the flip side is also true, the best lie contains an element of truth. The truthful element makes the lie both easier to tell and easier to believe.

Half-truths seem to be the theme of Job’s friends, although the comments made might be better understood as half understandings. It is not that the friends are intentionally trying to mislead Job, but rather that they have been misled by the predominant culture to believe something that as only partially true. Culture might be the best purveyor of the half-truth. The truth part of what is being said is that we are to devote ourselves to God and put our trust only in him. To trust in something or somebody else is an insult to the God who created all that we know. The comment that if Job will “stretch out his hands to him” indicates a position of supplication. It specifies that if Job will only open his hands and receive the forgiveness that God has for him, he can be restored. And there is an element of truth in all of this.

The problem is the assumption that Job’s situation indicates that he has not done this. The writer of Job continues to hammer home the simple idea that looks can be deceiving - and that it is unfair to judge someone on the external circumstances of our lives. There is just too much about the lives of those around us that we cannot understand or even know.

The teaching of Job is an ancient one, but it is still one that is hard to assimilate. We still make assumptions based on the external conditions of the people that we meet. Often we overestimate our own ability to make the assumption, and as a result we believe the half-truth that our culture serves up for us.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Job 12

 

Are not my few days almost over? Turn away from me so I can have a moment’s joy … Job 10:20

Today’s Scripture Reading (April 26, 2015): Job 10

The trial of Henry Rayhons presents an interesting problem for our contemporary culture. Rayhons, who is 78, is charged with third-degree felony sexual assault. The charge arose because of alleged sexual contact between Rayhons and his wife in a nursing home. His wife, who passed away in 2014, suffered from advance dementia. The prosecution is arguing that because of her condition, Mrs. Rayhons could not give consent for sex. But the problem is that that is not definitively known. What we know is that Mrs. Rayhons, if she was alive to answer questions, would probably be unable to articulate consent to us. But we also know that consent does not have to be verbal. Our problem is that we know so little about this vital part of life.

Henry Rayhons’ defense points out that dementia normally presents a state of fluctuating mental ability. In other words, the mental state of the patient does not remain the same, nor is it constantly diminishing. The reality is that a patient with dementia may be able to consent to sex in the morning, and not be able to consent in the afternoon – or even remember that sex had happened in the morning. But the other problem is that our research is showing that our drive for intimacy is actually primal in nature. Some have argued that the desire for intimacy should be paired with the desire for food, or the desire to breathe – all of these are the last things that we lose in the process of dying. And it might be that the desire for sex may outlast even our desire for food. We would consider the denial of food for a dementia patient a criminal act. So why is the denial of sexual intimacy between a husband and wife a laudable act? We seem to be left with the picture of nursing homes as being places where life is no longer honored, and those staying there can no longer be termed to be living - they are simply there waiting for death. Apparently joy dies long before this stage in our lives.

Job recognizes that his stay on this planet is swiftly drawing to a close. The pain that he is experiencing is intense because, at least in Job’s mind, the hand of God is laying heavily on him. And so Job has a request. Would it be possible, before Job finally dies, for God to remove his hand from him so that he could experience one last time the joy of life. For Job, that joy might be found simply in the absence of pain – or it might be something more. But either way, it will require the removal of God’s heavy hand.

Of course, we know what Job didn’t know. We know of the discussion that was happening in heaven, and we know the end of the story. Not only is God going to remove his hand, but he is going to restore Job and give him the joy that he craves – even give to him more family to help recover all that he had lost (they would never be able to replace his losses, but thy would help restore the joy and meaning to his life.) And it is this joy that makes life worth the living.

And maybe that is something that we all need to remember as we deal with the end of our lives – maybe the joy of life can persist longer than we really believe that it does – if we will let it.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Job 11

Indeed, I know that this is true. But how can mere mortals prove their innocence before God? – Job 9:2

Today’s Scripture Reading (April 25, 2015): Job 9

In Christian circles we sometimes rail against what we call relative truth. It is found in the famous question of Pontius Pilate as he was questioning Jesus -  “What is truth?” The implied question is simply a relative one – Is my truth the same as yours? We sometimes seem to carry the idea that relative truth is something new. But it isn’t. Relative truth has been around for a long time – in fact, it has been there from the very beginning. For example, for those of us who have been brought up with the doctrine of Original Sin and the idea that we are sinful from birth, the suggestion that anyone can be thought to be righteous is impossible. (Note: Original Sin is a Christian Model of belief. I had a short discussion with a good friend recently who was dismayed that Orthodox Judaism does not believe in the doctrine Original Sin. But this is not a Jewish Doctrine; no one thought about the concept of Original Sin until Irenaeus was embroiled in a battle with Christian Gnostics during the Second Century, a hundred years after the ministry of Jesus.) Yet Noah is considered to be righteous in the early pages of the Bible (Genesis 6:9). And even in the Book of Job, Job is said to be righteous (Job 1:1).

And yet, as Job answers his accusers, Job does not seem to believe his own hype (even though it is God who is hyping him.) Job hears the accusations of his accusers and answers them by telling his friends that they are right – and then asking the question about whether or not is possible for anyone to be considered innocent (or righteous) before God. Some of this might be attributable to good, old-fashioned humility, but we are also left wondering if that all that is in play here.

The answer to the question is actually found in the idea of relative truth. Job (and Noah) when they are compared with their compatriots were righteous. The Bible truthfully informs us that there was no one else on the face of the earth that was more righteous than Noah, and Job’s righteousness dwarfs the righteousness of the men with whom he was sitting. That was actually part of the problem. Job’s friends knew the depth of their own spiritual failure. It might have been that they had watched the life lived by the righteous Job and mourned that they could not live up to his example. But on the day that the trouble made its visit to the house of Job, all of that changed. Finally they felt vindicated. It was not that Job was living a better life than they were, just that he was hiding his sin better than they could. In their eyes, Job’s trouble proved his sin.

But the truth of the comparison did not lie in their eyes, but rather it could only be found in the eyes of God. God looked down on Job and his friends and the truth of Job’s righteousness was apparent. But it was a relative truth, because when Job compared his righteousness with the righteousness of the God that he served, and he knew that he fell short. The truth was relative. Job’s righteousness depended on with whom he was being compared.

Our truth is that it really doesn’t matter how well we might compare with men. All that should matter is how we compare with God. And the truth that Job was well aware of was that when that comparison is made (when that relative truth is considered), we are all dependant on the Grace of God to make up the difference that exists between our righteousness and his.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Job 10

“Ask the former generation and find out what their ancestors learned … - Job 8:8

Today’s Scripture Reading (April 24, 2015): Job 8

Hilary Clinton is almost two weeks into her campaign to become the next President of the United States. If she wins, she will become the first in a couple of areas. Hilary Clinton will become the first woman to hold the office (just by winning the Democratic nomination she will be the first woman to run for the office.) She would also become the first spouse to hold the office that her marriage partner had held. We have had father and son hold the office, but never a husband and wife.

The argument can and will probably be made that it is about time for the United States to have a woman president. Other major powers have already extended the mantle of Supreme Leadership to women – this is one area where the United States lags behind. But the struggle will be over her second first. In an election that must be about the future of the United States, the question that has to be answered is whether or not Hilary Clinton is too tied to the past. I am sure that there will be Republicans that will make the charge that this is just about the third term of Bill Clinton, and some may even suggest that it is really the third term of Hilary – after all, wasn’t she the puppet master pulling the strings behind the Bill Clinton presidency. A third Clinton presidency might not be a bad thing, but that is something that the American voter will need to decide.

Bildad begins his first speech, and he immediately points to the wisdom of the past. He insists that if Job wants to know the truth, all he needs to do is remember what has gone before. Bildad is simply restating what was already stated in much of the Mesopotamian Wisdom Literature. It was simply the common knowledge of the day – it was common sense. And Job was not being sensible in his denial of this well-known fact.

Some have argued that this is the real theme of the entire Book of Job. Oh, it is about a healthy view of suffering, one that will carry us through our own dark nights of the soul. But it is also about avoiding an unhealthy attraction to tradition. The wisdom of our ancestors is not always right. Sometimes it is wisdom that works and needs to be heeded and learned from. But sometimes it is wisdom that was right “in its time” – but it is wisdom that no longer makes sense today. And sometimes the wisdom is simply wrong. Accepting the wisdom of past without examination is simply folly.

Time moves forward. And times change. A wise man in any generation is simply one who clearly understands the time in which he lives. For Hilary Clinton, the challenge for the future is proving to the American voter that that is exactly who she is – not one who is tied to what has gone before, but one who can discern the best of what tradition and her husband’s presidency holds, and be able to combine that with the best of what is needed to move into the future. Both the wisdom of the ages and a fresh approach is needed, and the people need whoever it is that can deliver that to the Office of the President of the United States.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Job 9

When I lie down I think, ‘How long before I get up?’ The night drags on, and I toss and turn until dawn. – Job 7:4

Today’s Scripture Reading (April 23, 2015): Job 7

Sometimes it seems as if the list of enemies to our sleep grows steadily. We have always known some of the enemies, we have been told about some of the common agitators – caffeine, nicotine, alcohol (although that last one is disputed by some). We know that light can cause serious problems with our sleep cycle, and that fact can be a real problem during the summer months for those that live in the north. And right now, the days are steadily getting longer and longer – I am not sure what you do in the summer if you live in the far North, in the land that will soon experience the midnight sun. But there is evidence that it is not just the natural sunlight that is a problem. Most of us have learned to dim the lights as our bed time approaches. But a new enemy to our sleep might be lurking in our computers and tablets. I love to use my tablet to read as I am beginning to prepare myself for sleep, but apparently the blue light that comes from my electronics is just one more thing that is going to threaten to keep me awake. As if I needed something else that will threaten to keep me awake.

But one of the constant enemies of sleep is pain. And Job has suffered enough pain to go around. Not only is he physically in pain, but he is suffering with painful memories – as the night gets quiet the memories increase of everything that he has lost. And all of this produces sleepless nights, and is made worse by it.

Sometimes we wonder why the Bible would include these kind of details, but the truth is that it is in these descriptions that we begin to see ourselves. We have known these nights. We have suffered without sleep and have been plagued by our own memories of what we have lost. And, in these moments, we can identify with Job and all that he is suffering through.

And that is as it should be. Job is not one of kind, he is not unusual. He stands in for all of us and all that we suffer through was we live this life. His explanations for pain are our explanations. His model is our model. Our hope, as we experience our own sleepless nights, is that we can weather them as well as Job did. And with the faith of Job. We need to know, even in the middle of our sleepless nights, that God is still in control. And because of that, we can be certain that our dark nights will end and that morning will come.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Job 8

The arrows of the Almighty are in me, my spirit drinks in their poison; God’s terrors are marshaled against me. – Job 6:4

Today’s Scripture Reading (April 22, 2015): Job 6

Genghis Khan, the Great Khan (emperor) of the Mongol Empire from 1206-1227 told his enemies that he was “the punishment of God...If you had not committed great sins, God would not have sent a punishment like me upon you.” Those who he conquered noted the great cruelty with which the Mongolian Army treated the nations that they defeated. But those who fought with him credit Genghis Khan as a military genius, and with making trade possible between the West, the Middle East and Asia. He also brought the Silk Road for the first time under one cohesive political environment.

But Khan’s claim to be “the punishment of God” is an interesting concept. Somewhere, whatever Khan’s idea of God might have been, he believed that the only reason why he conquered is because a deity of some kind allowed him to conquer. While Khan apparently believed that he was God’s hammer, there is no indication that Khan selectively chose the nations that he conquered because of the evil things that they did. Kahn fought to secure and advance Mongolian sovereignty, and in doing so he brought a wide swath of destruction with him.

As we read the story of Job, we have an advantage that Job does not have; we know of the conversation that has happened in heaven between God and Satan. While we know that it is Satan that has brought calamity on Job, Job feels that this pain is directly from God. Job does not say that he feels Satan’s arrows, the way that we might. He blames the arrows directly on God.

But while we know the back story, Job is also right. It might be Satan’s arrows that Job feels, just as the people defeated by Khan felt his wrath, but it is clear that Satan could only do what God had allowed him to do – which of course means that Khan is right too, at least as far as his belief that God allowed him to do what it is that he did. One of the things that we often miss in our study of suffering is that strength of character can only be produced through hardship. I recognize that I would not be the person that I am today without the pain that I have suffered. There is no doubt that God loved Job, but there is also no doubt that God allowed him to feel the arrows of Satan. And while it might have been Satan’s plan that he would weaken and destroy Job with his attack, the real result that God understood was that all that Satan was doing was strengthening Job and making him a better man.

We have the same opportunity. When we suffer Satan’s arrows, we don’t have to be destroyed. We can allow the arrows to make us even stronger than we could have been without the adversity.  

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Job 7

He provides rain for the earth; he sends water on the countryside. – Job 5:10

Today’s Scripture Reading (April 21, 2015): Job 5

California’s drought continues (Cue Albert Hammond and “It Never Rains in California.”) It is thought that this might be the worst drought that the state has ever experienced. That conclusion is not just based on the length of time that the state has suffered under drought conditions, but also the higher temperatures that California is experiencing and the minimal snow melt that is available in the mountains. And according to experts, there is no end in sight. Yet, California still seems to be having difficulty convincing some of its districts that water rationing is in order.

Add to this problem the fact that water usage in North America is among the highest in the world, and water usage in California has traditionally been among the highest in the United States, all of which compounds the drought situation in the state. So when recent studies revealed that some areas were doing better at conserving water than other areas, and California tensions are on the rise. Some of the most recent stats reveal that in general California is being slightly more careful with its water, but it also reveals that Northern California is doing better at its water conservation efforts than is Southern California.

All of this leads us to a question. Eliphaz states clearly that God provides the rain. And while we might have problems with some of the things Eliphaz says, with this we can actually agree. We believe in a providential God who gives to us the things that we need. He is present in every breath that we breathe and in every drop of water that we need for the growth of the earth. So what happens in a time of drought? Has God forgotten us? Or maybe a better question is this – has God failed us or have we failed God?

We know that there is a natural rhythm to life – and to water – in this world. There are some places in the world that naturally receive very little water, while other places receive all the water that is needed to support lush plant growth. Eliphaz would have lived in the Fertile Crescent, a place where there is an abundance of water that surrounds the Syro-Arabian Desert. The Syro-Arabian desert is a place where there is precious little water. So evidently Eliphaz understood that God sent the rain into the Fertile Crescent and not into the desert. Yet we also know that life finds a way to survive - even in the desert.

California is a place where traditionally little rain has fallen. Yet life has found a way to live, and the desert has been turned into an oasis. But the current situation would seem to be more man created than God ordained. Climate change has increased the temperature and decreased the water reserves. This is a problem that we have created; we can’t blame it on God. The pinnacle of God’s creation, and the ones that God has placed in charge of guarding creation, have failed him. And maybe it is time that we admitted that and started to sincerely work toward a solution to the damage that we have done. And while we are working to correct the damage, maybe we could be praying that our providential God can make the Albert Hammond’s lyrics a reality in California –

            It never rains in California,

            But girl, don’t they warn ya?

            It pours, man, it pours.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Job 6

Consider now: Who, being innocent, has ever perished? Where were the upright ever destroyed? – Job 4:7

Today’s Scripture Reading (April 20, 2015): Job 4

The idea behind the phrase “might makes right” is attributed to the ancient Greek historian Thucydides. The idea comes from his work on the History of the Peloponnesian War which took place between 431 – 404 B.C.E. Thucydides account of the war was written late in the fifth century or early in the fourth century B.C.E., soon after the conclusion of the conflict. Thucydides’ actual quote is that "right, as the world goes, is only in question between equals in power, while the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must." According to Thucydides, strength means that you can discard any notion of what is right and do whatever it is that you can – or want. Weakness, on the other hand, means that you have to suffer whatever it is that the strong want to do to you.

Today, the idea of “might makes right” often also involves the way that history is written. It argues that the strong get to define what is appropriate or correct actions. The accusation of war crimes seldom effects the victor of a conflict. The strong write history and define what is deemed to be appropriate conduct. For example, we can imagine how different the Nuremburg War Crimes trials, which took place after the Second World War, might have been carried out had Germany won the war. Their actions, which astonished the world, would have quite possibly been defined as right. The world that would have resulted from such an event would have been very different.

The theology of Eliphaz the Temanite is based on a similar idea. It is not that “might makes right,” but that “positive outcomes makes right.” His idea is very situational. Basically he argues that good thing happen to people who act in a right way, and that bad things happen to people who have committed wrong actions. And his question is an interesting one – Who, being innocent, has ever perished?

The book of Job is a very old story and was likely around long before anyone thought to write it down, so maybe we can forgive Eliphaz his ignorance, but the Bible’s first family would seem to give us a good example that Eliphaz seems to have missed. In the story of Cain and Abel, it is Abel that does right and pleases God, and it is Cain that disappoints God. Yet, Cain kills Abel.

If Eliphaz’s point is that God will bless, provide for and protect his people, we can answer with a resounding yes. But we also know that there is an abundance of evil in our world that desires to vent its hatred and destruction on those who try to live in a righteous manner. And the story of Job is an example of that reality – of evil venting itself on the righteous.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Job 5

Why is light given to those in misery, and life to the bitter of soul … - Job 3:20

Today’s Scripture Reading (April 19, 2015): Job 3

David Scott writes in “The Love That Made Mother Teresa” that there were maybe two Mother Teresa’s – a public Teresa and a private one. The one that we saw was the Teresa that always seemed to have a playful smile on her face. She seemed to look like there was a private joke that we just didn’t understand. This playful attitude seemed to be magnified when she was around children. Then she simply beamed with delight. So it is not much of a surprise that a lot of people who had the opportunity to spend some time with Mother Teresa came away saying that she was the most joyful person that they had ever met.

But the other Mother Teresa was one who suffered. Scott writes that “for more than fifty years following her initial visions and locutions, Mother Teresa was wrapped in a dark pitiless silence.” While she was smiling on the outside, on the inside she was going through a dark night of the soul. Teresa had come to believe that “the doors of heaven had been closed and bolted against her. The more she longed for some sign of [God’s] presence, the more empty and desolate she became.”

It is really hard to blame her for her almost disillusionment with God. After all, the pain that Teresa worked with on a daily basis was far beyond what many of us could stand. Serving the poorest of the poor, she must have daily struggled to understand the way that God moved. And she was probably in the best position to understand Job’s words in this passage.

Amazingly, in spite of the pain that Job had seen and had suffered, his thoughts were not centered on himself. Job’s thoughts centered on his relationship with God. He would have probably agreed with Mother Teresa, at this point in his life the doors of heaven seemed to be closed and bolted against him. And so he was left with a question – why is light given to those in misery, why is it that God remains at the center of his thoughts even though he seems to be so far away. And why is it that life was given to those who found its taste so bitter.

It is important to note that suicide was not an option for Job. He had already been tempted with that idea, his own wife had dared him to curse God and die (Job 2:9). But Job had refused the temptation. Life and death, for both Job and Teresa, rightfully belonged in the hands of God. He is the one who holds the keys of life and death. But that didn’t stop them from asking the question.

We still see suffering and we still ask the questions. I admit that I wish we had more answers that satisfied our struggles. But if there is a lesson that we can learn from Job and Mother Teresa, it might be that it is not a sin to question the suffering that we experience – and that even the spiritual giants at times have felt that “heaven was closed and bolted” to them. And yet even then they continued to serve their God, trusting that even though they did not understand suffering didn’t mean that God didn’t understand it – and they still trusted that God was worthy of being praised.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Job 4

“Skin for skin!” Satan replied. “A man will give all he has for his own life. – Job 2:4

Today’s Scripture Reading (April 18, 2015): Job 2

Military Historian and Novelist Caleb Carr commented in an interview in the late 1990’s that we “want to believe that there's one relationship in life that's beyond betrayal. A relationship that's beyond that kind of hurt. And there isn't.” I think that most of us desperately want to believe that Carr is wrong; that there are some relationships are beyond betrayal – that some relationships will endure no matter what happens. I see this kind of relationship every time I look at my wife, my children and my grandchildren. I can’t imagine what it would take for me to betray them. And yet life seems to continually prove us wrong. I have watched as others have betrayed those closest to them. We are betrayed and we are hurt. But what might be even worse, we also all stand on the other side of the situation, we are all the betrayers. And we stand in good company. Some of the greatest heroes of the Bible were guilty of betrayal in order to save their own lives, including Abraham (who betrayed his wife), David (who betrayed his own integrity) and Peter (who betrayed Jesus). And every one of them only wanted to save one thing - their own lives.

This is the heart of the message as Satan speaks to God about this man Job, a man who God describes as being blameless and upright. And Satan’s accusation is that Job is like every other man. When push comes to shove, Job will betray his God to save his own skin. And the charge against Job actually goes even deeper than that. Satan’s charge is really that Job loves himself more than he loves anyone else in his life. He may not betray God because of the pain that his wife and children go through, but if God threatens Job’s life, if Job is forced to live in pain; that is all that Job really cares about. God has to threaten Job’s skin.

The threat to our own health might be one of the biggest character testing moments that we will face in this life. How we react when we are in pain tells a story about the depth of our faith. And it is only a test that we are able to pass with the help of God – and this is exactly what Satan and Job are about to learn as the testing of Job continues.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Job 3

Note: The VantagePoint Community Church (Edmonton) message "The Practice of Worship" from the Series "Extreme Soul Building" is now available on the Vantage Point website. You can find it here.

 

In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil. – Job 1:1

Today’s Scripture Reading (April 17, 2015): Job 1

Our world is changing, sometimes so quick that it leaves us speechless. Author Phyllis Tickle speaks about those over the age of 65 (and she is over 80) in our society as being immigrants to a land and culture in which they have never lived. But her encouragement to all of her fellow immigrants is that they have the ability to adapt to this culture. The age group that she worries about are the ones between 45 and 65. These often seem lost. She doesn’t call them immigrants, but since this is my age group, I will. Maybe the problem is that we are immigrants who are trying desperately to believe that we have some kind of control over the society in which we live. But this is quickly becoming a fantasy. Experience keeps on telling us that we just don’t belong.

Maybe a mundane example of this is found in the controversy over free range children. I have to admit that the first time I heard the phrase, I was baffled. Free range animals I have understood. Free range ranching has long been advocated as a humane approach to obtaining the meat and animal products that we consume. Free range simply means that the animals are allowed to roam outside as they grow, rather than being herded inside and kept in tight pens that allows the greatest possible number of animals to be kept in the least amount of space. Often these animals are crammed in so tightly that it is a wonder that they can breathe and live. Free range is the ethical alternative, but requires much more space.

But apparently free range children are not a good thing, as the Meitiv family of Montgomery County – just outside Washington, D.C. - is finding out. The family has been in trouble, not once but twice in recent days, for allowing their children, aged ten and six, to walk home alone from a park close to their house. And the reaction to the story is different depending on age. Some younger people seem to understand the concern, while older ones remembering their own childhood think that the police must have something better to do with their time other than to pick up and hold two kids walking home from the park for the crime of not having someone over the age of thirteen with them. One person commented that we were all free range children when we grew up. And as strange as it might seem, he is not exaggerating. I remember walking home from Grade Kindergarten all by myself at the age of five – a distance of a few blocks from my home. But times have changed and now we are immigrants in a new world that we are desperately struggling to understand. It almost seems to us that the story of the Meitiv family should have “Once upon a time” attached to the beginning of it – it is a cautionary tale that is supposed to teach us some obscure lesson.

The story of Job is like that. Some experts have desecrated the story of Job by saying that it ought to have “Once upon a time” attached to the beginning of it. And the story of God and Satan in heaven does have that kind of feel to it. But the author of the story, maybe Job himself, wants to make sure that we understand that the story is grounded in history. We may not be able to identify where this land of Uz is, but then again, we sometimes seem to have problem identifying the land that we grew up in. But the author wants us to know that Job was a real person, a flesh and blood descendant of Noah. Uz was the son of Aram, the son of Shem, the son of Noah – in other words Uz, the person that Job’s home was named after, was the great-grandson of Noah. All of this is to anchor the story of Job in history, so that we don’t add “once upon a time” and lose the flesh and blood story of this special man, even though the story itself is anchored in a time that we may not easily understand.

 Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Job 2

Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. But when they came to Harran, they settled there. – Genesis 11:31

Today’s Scripture Reading (April 16, 2015): Genesis 11

There seems to be many misconceptions around the Santa Maria and Christopher Columbus’ voyage to find a new way to Asia. Maybe the most prevailing false image is that the ships were worked by criminals who were afraid that the Santa Maria was going fall off the edge of the earth. Or that maybe that even Columbus himself was unsure that the world wasn’t flat and that at one point the Santa Maria was going to fall off the edge of the map. The truth is that in 1492, while there might have been a few people within the Catholic Church who stubbornly clung to the idea of a flat earth, most of the world knew that the world was round. Most of the world had known that the world was round for almost two millennia – ever since Aristotle had suggested the idea in the fourth century B.C.E. Maybe the real miracle is not that the Santa Maria tried to sail west to get east, but rather that in the nineteen hundred years that passed since Aristotle and no one else had even tried.

But the reality was that no one really wanted to venture outside of their zone of comfort to make the trip west. Under the Pax Mongolica (the Mongolian Peace) there was a safe land passage that allowed all of Europe to get to the east. But all of that changed in 1453 with the fall of Constantinople. After 1453, the safe road east was gone. A new way to Asia had to be found, and maybe for the first time things in Europe were finally uncomfortable enough for someone to try to find the passage west – to get to the east.

Terah decides to move from Ur of the Chaldeans to Canaan. And so he packs up and moves his family toward Canaan – but he never actually gets there. He gets about half way, and then stops. No one is sure why Terah stopped in Haran, but the best guess is that he stopped because Haran was as far as he could go comfortably. This was as far as the empire went in his day. This was as far as he could go and still worship the idols of his family. The move to Canaan sounded good at the beginning of the move, but the farther he moved away from the center of his culture, the less comfortable he was. And in Haran, Terah reached the end of his comfort zone. And so it was in Haran that Terah settled.

It would be left to Abraham to complete the trip to Canaan. But that would not happen until after Terah had died. It would be God’s call on Abraham’s life that would eventually make it more comfortable to move on to Canaan rather than stay in Haran among the familiar things and the culture that had been so comfortable to his father. God’s call on our lives is often like that – it is the one thing that can really get us to move beyond our comfort zone.      

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Job 1

Cush was the father of Nimrod, who became a mighty warrior on the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the LORD; that is why it is said, “Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the LORD.” The first centers of his kingdom were Babylon, Uruk, Akkad and Kalneh, in Shinar. – Genesis 10:8-10

Today’s Scripture Reading (April 15, 2015): Genesis 10

Ronald Reagan once commented that if America “ever forgot that we are one nation under God, then we will be one nation gone under.” Reagan seemed to love to invoke the idea of absolute good and absolute evil. And in Reagan’s mind, God was obviously the absolute good. But absolute evil could be found in many places. Evil was found in the Evil Empire of the Soviet Union (a phrase that Reagan coined), but it also lived a lot closer to home in the decisions like that of the American Supreme Court to oppose prayer in American Schools. Ronald Reagan seemed to understand that nothing clarifies good as easily as evil. Of course, during Reagan’s stay in the Oval Office the Iron Curtain fell and the United States found, at least for a time, a friend in a nation that Reagan had once believed was evil.

But the contrast of good and evil is not something invented by Reagan. It is an ancient device. Even as we read through the Bible we see the device being used – although sometimes inconsistently. One example is the Kingdom of Babylon. Through much of the historical sections of the Bible, Babylon is the real evil empire – especially under the rule of Babylon’s greatest king – Nebuchadnezzar II. They were conquerors and they were feared. They were the nightmare story that you told around the campfire. And when you heard that the armies of Babylon were on the march, you locked the door and hoped against hope that they came nowhere close to where you were.

But in the book of Daniel, the prophet paints an extremely different picture of Nebuchadnezzar. For Daniel, Nebuchadnezzar is a tool used by God. He is also a King for whom God cares. In fact, God cares enough for Nebuchadnezzar to give him a dream about his future, and the wisdom to chase after Daniel to find its meaning. According to Daniel, Nebuchadnezzar built a good relationship with his Jewish captive advisers. And Nebuchadnezzar qualifies as the only foreign king to actually write part of the Hebrew Bible – Daniel 4 is a letter that Nebuchadnezzar writes to the nations, and it contains a desire of Nebuchadnezzar that the readers of the letter would “prosper greatly” (Daniel 4:1).

Yet, Babylon in much of the rest of the Bible retains its image as the “evil empire.” And the character development of Babylon as the Evil Empire and the enemies of Israel may actually be much older than Nebuchadnezzar and the exile. It might even extend back to the life of Nimrod. Ancient Hebrew tradition teaches that Nimrod was the King of Shinar, a vast swath of land that included ancient Babylon. It also teaches that Nimrod was the driving force behind Babylon’s Tower of Babel, and sets Nimrod up as the evil counterpart to the good Abraham. And although this is not mentioned in the Bible, the rabbis taught that Nimrod and Abraham actually met, with Nimrod arguing for the advantages of self and greed while Abraham responded defending his God.

Nimrod’s dream, like many other selfish kings, was nothing less than world domination. The name Nimrod actually means “We will revolt” and the comment in Genesis that the name means “mighty hunter” might be better described as “one who hunts men in order to enslave them.” For those in fear of Babylon at the time of the exile, that description fitted Nebuchadnezzar as much as it fitted Nimrod. At any rate, Nimrod’s Babylon may have been the first Babylon to haunt the dreams of the people on the earth – and it might have been the first Evil Empire. And the first nation to decide that they could go it alone - without God.    

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Genesis 11

And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal. And from each human being, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of another human being. – Genesis 9:5

Today’s Scripture Reading (April 14, 2015): Genesis 9

I love the description we are given for sin in the Russell Crowe movie “Noah.” The concept of sin is placed very early in the movie. The sons of Cain, who are evil and live in a state of sin and evil, had used the resources of the earth indiscriminately. As a result, the world was broken and increasingly unable to support life. But the sons of Seth, which basically amounted to Noah and his family, used the resources of the world only as they needed. Even a flower was sacred and could not be picked unless there was an overwhelming need. The children of Seth were the guardians of the world; the protectors of creation. And for them, life was all about balance.

There is an argument that what God views as sin is really simply the condition of being out of balanced. We need money to live, but too much money can lead us to depend more on the material things in our lives than God, and that imbalance leads us into sin. The argument about whether or not alcohol is the tool of the devil is an old fight in the church. But the bible does not condemn alcohol, what it condemns is getting drunk. And again it is alcohol out of balance that seems to be the real problem. The Bible does not condemn sex, although listening to some people you could arrive at that conclusion, but it does condemn sex outside of marriage. Sexual immorality, which is condemned in the scriptures, is essentially sex out of balance.

So the flood ends and Noah emerges from the ark, and God reminds him that he is to rule over the world. God reminds Noah that the animals of creation were made for food, but there was not many of them. They were extremely valuable, so care needed to be exercised and balance needed to be maintained. And if the animals were valuable, then the ones made in the image of God were even more so.

I love the translation of this complex Hebrew idea into the English word “accounting.” Because at the heart of the idea that God is trying to communicate to Noah is the idea of balance. Accounting seems to be the right idea. This verse is about the pluses and minuses working together to produce life. It is about using the resources of the world carefully – and only as needed.

It is about a concept that we are failing at in our culture. We are not living in balance and, therefore, we are living in a state of sin. Our ecological footprint is much larger than it needs to be. The reality is that when all of life is contained in one small area, it is easy to see the value and importance of life – all life. But we have been fruitful and multiplied. And somehow in the population explosion, what was once so obvious to us has been lost – the immense value of life and the balance in which we have been commanded to live.    

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Genesis 10

The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done. – Genesis 8:21

Today’s Scripture Reading (April 13, 2015): Genesis 8

A number of years ago I was working in a retail situation and I made a mistake. I ordered the wrong item for a customer, and then compounded the problem by not immediately recognizing the error. Instead, I phoned the customer to tell her that the item had arrived and was ready for pickup. But while the customer was in transit, the error was recognized. The discussion that then ensued was in regard to what it was that we were going to tell the customer when she arrived. And the consensus of the store was to blame someone else. It must have been that person who picked the item in the warehouse, or maybe it was a computer error, or a shipping error – there always seems to be someone that can be safely blamed. I listened to the suggestions, and then commented that I wanted to try something a little different – the truth. I wanted to tell the customer that I made the error, but that I was also willing to make it right.

I have to admit that my co-workers had never heard of such a stupid idea, but they were willing to let me try – just as long as I didn’t include any of them in my hare-brained scheme. I still remember the customer walking in to the store, and my admission of error. There was a pause in the conversation before the customer unleashed her barrage of words against my lack of abilities. But one of the things that has always intrigued me was the moment that she accused me of lying. After the customer had left, my co-workers had their moment of mirth at my expense. They insisted that a paradox existed in retail work - if I really wanted to be seen as truthful, I had to learn how to lie.

The attitude is pervasive in our culture. Lying is expected. Admitting error is a sign of weakness. Failure is not an option. And yet, error and failure are part of the fabric of the human condition. None of us are perfect, so why do we insist that those around us have to be?

Sometimes I wonder if part of the sin of the pre-flood populations was simply found in their arrogance and their refusal to admit error. So one of the first things that Noah does is to build an altar (this the first time in the Bible that anyone is said to have built an altar) and makes a sacrifice. Noah is not following any kind of prescribed ritual – the Law of Moses was still several centuries away from being given to Israel. Israel didn’t even exist, just Noah and his family. The only animals that existed on the planet were the ones that Noah had brought with him, so the sacrifice was more costly than maybe we might think. And yet Noah seems to innately know that a freewill sacrifice was somehow necessary. Noah needed to admit man’s error. And God received the sacrifice and forgave the remnant that was left of the race of man.

And God promised that he would never send the flood waters on the earth again, in spite of the fact that every inclination from the human heart is evil since birth. The truth is that God does not expect perfection, he expects honesty – and if we are willing to admit our error before him, God has promised that he will forgive us of our sins and that he will bless our lives.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Genesis 9

Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living creature I have made.” – Genesis 7:4

Today’s Scripture Reading (April 12, 2015): Genesis 7

 

Child Surrenders to Photographer
Photographer - Osman Sagirli

A picture of a four year old Syrian child surrendering to a photographer has been breaking the hearts of many over the past few weeks. The photo, which was actually taken in a refugee camp in December 2014, shows a small girl with her hands stretched up over her head. The photographer says that he was not close to the child and that he was using a telephoto lens to take the shot, but the child spotted him and believed that the camera was a gun. She surrendered on the spot. The question that many have been asking is in regard to the damage that war is inflicting on a generation of children. The unfortunate truth is that what is being done to these children will mark them in ways that we can’t even imagine. At the age of four, this little girl’s childhood is already gone. She is living a nightmare. And that is something that I am reminded of every time I get to sit and hug my three year-old granddaughter.

The reality is that the conflict that exists in various parts of our world are brought home by pictures like this one. All in a sudden, the violence becomes real. Sometimes we have the uncanny ability to pretend that violence isn’t happening – at least we do emotionally. We know that bad things are happening intellectually, but the violence only makes emotional inroads into our lives when we are confronted with pictures such as this one. We are left with a desire to simply come and hold the child and to protect her from all the violence that is happening around her. We know we can’t, but we desperately want to.

When we put together all the various accounts of the great flood, we are left with a very specific picture. Intellectually, Noah has known that the flood was coming. He has been building the Ark with his sons preparing for the day that the rain would begin to fall. But legend has it that Noah has also been travelling the world with his grandfather, Methuselah, trying to get people to turn towards God one more time. But grandfather-grandson team has failed. And according to legend, God had promised Methuselah that he would not die with the unrighteous of the world. Legend also tells us that Methuselah dies seven days before the rain began to fall. So when God tells Noah that in seven days the rain will start falling, we know that Methuselah has died. What had been intellectual theory is quickly becoming emotional reality. Maybe Noah never really believed that this day would actually come. Considering the close relationship that legend holds existed between Methuselah and Noah, we can guess that right now all Noah wants to do is to sit down and mourn the loss of his ancestor and friend – maybe to hold the lifeless body of Grandpa – to bury him, to try to protect him from the onslaught that was about to take place, to remember all of the stories that Methuselah’s life had produced. But he can do none of this. Because in seven days the rain is going to begin to fall. What had been an intellectual reality was now becoming an emotional one. And while he loved his grandfather, now there were other lives that Noah loved, his wife and children and their spouses, which were dependant on what it was that Noah chose to do next.

Noah could almost hear the sound of rain. There was no time to lose.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Genesis 8

Note: Messages from VantagePoint Community Church (Edmonton) are available on the VantagePoint Website. You can find them here.

The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown. – Genesis 6:4

Today’s Scripture Reading (April 11, 2015): Genesis 6

I enjoyed the 2014 Movie “Noah” starring Russell Crowe. Noah was a little more angst ridden than the church usually imagines him to be, but then again, how do you go through the great flood in a big box filled with animals and get to the other side and realize that you are the only survivor, without at least a little of what we call survivor guilt. Maybe the angst in the movie is a lot closer to the truth than the happy story that we tend to tell our children.

But since the release of the movie, the Christian community seems to have been split over the biblical merits of the movie. And the movie does depart from the biblical story in certain places – it does get the story wrong. But more often what the movie does is reimagine the story. And one of these re-imaginings is with regard to the rock creatures that inhabit the earth in the days before the flood. The movie builds on the idea of these creatures being watchers, picking up on later Hebrew writings in places like the Book of Enoch. The watchers were essentially fallen angels whose punishment seemed to be that they had to watch the race of men without being able to help them. In the movie it is not so much that they were unable to help as it was that they were unwilling to help. They were bitter over the ways that the race of men had mistreated them and destroyed creation. They were giants that seemed to be separate from either the descendants of Cain or the descendants of Seth. Maybe they were the offspring of the intermarriage between the angels and the daughters of the earth. In the movie, these watchers finally come to the place where they can begin to help Noah build the Ark. And as a reward for this help, God finally releases them from their stone exteriors and restores them to heaven. And in the Bible, these watchers are often referred to as the Nephilim. I have often described this passage as proof that alien life exists, and that they visited earth. But the truth is that we just don’t know who or what the Nephilim really were.

So the argument by some people within the Christian Church that these rock creatures aren’t biblical is not completely true. The movie simply reimagines these Nephilim, complex creatures that we simply do not understand. If the question is whether or not the Nephilim looked like the Rock Creatures of the movie “Noah,” the answer is probably not. Are the Nephilim the alien life forms of my imagination? Probably not. We simply do not know what the Nephilim were. And, as humans, when we don’t know our imaginations run wild with possibilities. And that is okay. I encourage you to allow your imagination to run free as you try to imagine what these Nephilim might have been like, because every guess has as much merit as any other.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Genesis 7

Personal Note: Happy Birthday to my sister, Cheri, who is of an undisclosed age. Have a great day Sis!

Altogether, Methuselah lived a total of 969 years, and then he died. – Genesis 5:27

Today’s Scripture Reading (April 10, 2015): Genesis 5

It seems that every culture has its own longevity myths. It is the foundation of ideas like “The Fountain of Youth” and of the rumors of inaccessible places, usually high up in a remote portion of a mountain range, like “Shangri la.” Here people live, but time refuses to take a toll on their bodies – at least it refuses as long as the person remains in this location of longevity. And we are still creating them. There are a number of people who believe that there is no reason that anyone who reads these words to die. According to these dreamers, medical science will soon advance to a place where all diseases can be cured and where aging can be slowed down to an imperceptible crawl. While they are far from the majority, these people walk among us and share their beliefs with anyone who is willing to listen. Apparently Shangri la has been found and it is located throughout the earth.

There seems to have been a belief in early Christianity that the disciple John would never die. The thought is written by the apostle himself at the end of his gospel. At the end of his telling of the Gospel story, John writes these words as part of a conversation between Jesus and Peter about John –

Jesus answered, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me.” Because of this, the rumor spread among the believers that this disciple would not die. But Jesus did not say that he would not die; he only said, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you” (John 21:22-23)?

I have often wondered if this comment might be the real purpose behind the writing of John’s Gospel. Maybe this was simply a tool that John used to say goodbye. He had heard the rumors that he was going to live forever, but deep inside John knew that the rumors were false. He may have survived the attacks of the power structure around him that were intended to result in his death, but he also knew that each day the ravages that age was playing on his body. Maybe his hand shook now as he wrote the end of his story. Death was coming and the Gospel was just one way of letting them know.

According to the Bible, the person who lived the longest in all of creation was a man named Methuselah, who died when he was 969 years of age. Scholars have tried to infuse the ages in Genesis with some kind of meaning – maybe they were simply indicating the length of certain family dynasties, or maybe the word that we have translated here as years should read months. If Methuselah died at the age of 969 lunar months, he would have been about 78 years of age. And that is in a much more comfortable age range for our disbelieving minds. But the problem with the idea is that if this is to be applied to all of the ages that we find in the early sections of the Bible, then Enoch became the father of Methuselah when he was about five.

But if we take Genesis as we find it, if we can find it in our hearts to admit that maybe God kept these saints alive longer in the early days than he does now (and this meaning would seem to be supported by what appears to be a change of heart on the part of God in Genesis 6:3 - Then the Lord said, “My Spirit will not contend with humans forever, for they are mortal; their days will be a hundred and twenty years.”), then Methuselah died during the same year that the great flood occurred. He was the last of this list of men, other than Noah himself, to live until the flood. And part of me has always wondered if God was waiting for Methuselah to die before he brought the flood, or if Methuselah perished in the flood.

Ancient traditions have sought to answer that very question. According to the Book of Enoch, a work that dates to about 200 years before the birth of Christ, Enoch tells his son Methuselah that God is going to, one day in the future, bring a great flood upon the Earth. This might explain why Noah accepted the news of the flood so easily from God, the story of the impending flood had been told in his family for a few generations - and it was a story that Noah had heard direct from his grandfather, Methuselah.

According to the Book of Jasher, a rabbinic text from the 16^th Century, Methuselah and Noah went around together trying to encourage the people of the earth to return to God. But they failed. Methuselah lived to see the building of the Ark, but died seven days before the flood began because God had promised that this good man would not die with those who were unrighteous – at the age of 969.  

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Genesis 6