Previously in the Pentateuch...

Haven't we heard this before? Yes... Reading the first part of Deuteronomy is like tuning into LOST and hearing Christian Shepherd's voice say, "Previously... on LOST..." (or Heroes, or or or... ) Today we wrap up the recap, and begin the part of Deuteronomy thought to be the scroll that King Josiah found when cleaning out the Temple (we'll get to that in a few months, when we read the histories...). King Josiah reads the scroll and says, "Uh-OH! We've messed up... time to straighten up..." and the scroll is read to all the assembled people, and there's a massive and sweeping reform.  Here is a repeat of the Ten Commandments, and we'll also encounter repeats and recasting of the other commandments we've heard before, along with some new.

Today we also heard the Shema Yisrael, the Hear O Israel in Deuteronomy 6:4-5: Hear O Israel, the LORD is our God, the Lord alone (or varieties on this theme). You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.  Good stuff.  Truly a summary of what this Pentateuchal journey has been all about: "Who is your god? I am your God. Whose people are you? You are my people... I brought you out of slavery in Egypt... and in order to stay in this land I am going to give you, here's the deal...and if you mess up, you'll be scattered... you break this covenant, and all bets are off..."

That is the heart of what's known as Deuteronomistic Theology... which can be summarized as, "Good things happen to good people, bad things happen to bad people... if bad things have happened to you, it's because you broke this covenant..."  Other voices in the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible will counter this theology (Job and Ecclesiastes, in particular).

And this theology is about to be soundly trounced by Jesus in the chapter we'll read tomorrow in Luke. Synchronicity is a wonderful gift from the Holy Spirit.

Speaking of whom... How 'bout that Holy Spirit. And Jesus' offering his own version of "actions have consequences..."  Blaspheme against the Holy Spirit and you'll be thrown into Gehenna... 

What does it mean to blaspheme against the Holy Spirit?  To me (most often) it means choosing not to receive the grace and gifts God offers us through the Holy Spirit. Rather like the Israelites not trusting in God when God said, "Go, cross over into this Land I am giving you!" and all but Caleb let their fear get the best of them, rather than having faith in the God who brought them out of slavery in Egypt... God offers us so many blessings and graces and gifts, and when we embrace them, our lives are in grace... when we refuse them, there are consequences... often hellish consequences...  

But that's just my take. What does blaspheming against the Holy Spirit mean to you?

Now, fun with translation... this word here in Luke is not hell, nor the land of the dead (Hades in Greek or Sheol in Hebrew)... it's Gehenna, literally a geographic location outside of Jerusalem... a burning trash heap, with an interesting literary and theological history... More about Gehenna can be found here... there's even a picture of the Valley...  Gehenna would come to have hellish implications over time, and if your interested, that link above will tell you more about Gehenna than you may have known you wanted to know.

More fun with translation... that word selah, that appears with the Psalms that come with overt instruction to the choirmaster. Whatever does it mean? We don't know. Some good guesses can be found here. 

I love seeing the Psalms that have notes to the musicians--nice reminders that Psalms were meant to be sung. My Hebrew Bible professor (the amazing Kathe Darr) reminded us often that the Psalter is the "hymnal of the second Temple," that is, the Temple that was built after the Restoration, after the Exiles had returned from Babylon.  While there are Psalms that are likely from an older context, like Psalm 54 today, others we will encounter down the road speak directly to the Babylonian experience, and to Restoration. Rather like we find old chestnuts in the Hymnal 1982, that we loved in Hymnal 1940. 

I wonder, though... are there any Psalms that didn't appear in this Psalter, that folks missed singing, as we miss hymns that didn't make it from the 1940 into 1982... (Once to-o-o every man a-a-and na-ation, comes a-a-a mo-oment, to-o de-cide...")

On another note entirely, I am truly grateful for all of you, and to be sharing in this adventure with you. Currently I am in San Francisco, at a conference. Feeling farther away than I am, I am grateful for this Bible Challenge, knowing that we are reading scripture together. And I am grateful for the connection this offers, and the sense of being closer than I feel-- if that makes sense. More grace from the Holy Spirit.

Thank you for being on this journey, and for being an instrument of the Spirit's grace for me today!

Peace,

Paige+