Reading from Friday, April 16

So I've been getting back into hockey. So far I've watched the first three games of the playoffs and the Devils are down 2 games to 1 against the Flyers. I am not a big sports guy - I hardly even watch the Super Bowl, but there's something about hockey playoffs that is unbelievably exciting. It's also great that Jilly is into it as well and we've really enjoyed watching the games together. Anyway...Bible.

Reading for April 16
Joshua 13:1-14:15
This is fairly uninteresting. God promises to drive out more and more nations as the Israelites continue to grow their land and territory - which probably means more genocides. So now at this point, its clear that God has no discretion as to who he orders the Israelites to kill - just people that live in the land that the Israelites want. Bad form, God. Bad form.

The rest of this reading just talks about how the land they already owned was divided amongst the various tribes. Bo-ring.

Luke 18:1-17
There's a great parable here of the Pharisee and the tax collector. Tax collectors were considered awful people during these times. They were basically hired by the Roman government to collect the taxes, but were given permission to take as much as they wanted for themselves from the people they collected from. So everyone dreaded seeing them as most took advantage of this dishonest practice.

So in this parable, there is a tax collector - the scum of the earth - and a Pharisee - a well-to-do religious figurehead. They both go out to the synagogue to pray and they each offer different prayers. Here is the Pharisee's prayer:

'God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. ¹²I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.'

Praising himself, mostly. Now here is the hated tax collector's prayer:

'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.'

Jesus says that the tax collector left the synagogue justified before God, but the Pharisee did not. And guess who the audience was when Jesus was telling this story? Pharisees. Boom.


Psalm 85:1-13
This is a very hopeful psalm after all the death and destruction I've read about. With lines like:

 ² You forgave the iniquity of your people
       and covered all their sins.
       Selah
 ³ You set aside all your wrath
       and turned from your fierce anger.

And...

 ¹⁰ Love and faithfulness meet together;
       righteousness and peace kiss each other.
 ¹¹ Faithfulness springs forth from the earth,
       and righteousness looks down from heaven.

Now that's a Bible I can get behind.

Proverbs 13:7-8
 ⁷ One man pretends to be rich, yet has nothing;
       another pretends to be poor, yet has great wealth.
 ⁸ A man's riches may ransom his life,
       but a poor man hears no threat.

It's like my man Puff used to say, 'mo money mo problems.'