Wednesday, May 5

So I haven't brought this up yet out of fear of jinxing it, but I have been getting up early to work out about every other day. I don't think it's doing anything yet because the hairy bagel is still in full effect.

For those not in the know, this is the hairy bagel:

Anyway - today, I went to the city and walked to and fro my destination - about a 30 minute walk, so pretty good workout. On the way back, I was rushing to catch the 7:07 train. I got to Penn Station at 7:06 and literally skidded across the floor in front of the gate to make the train. It was awesome.

Hey look what I just learned how to do!

Reading for May 5
Judges 21:1-25
Oh yeah! Another book finished! Let's see how old Judges closes out.

One of the things I noticed a few days ago was that Judges is the book with the fewest mentions of God's presence so far in the Old Testament. God is absent from his people at this time, because they continually turned away from him and began worshiping stupid Baal.

My friend Andy pointed out the fact that this line is repeated over and over in this book:

In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit.

It's written probably five or six times throughout this book and it almost feels like the chorus of a song, reminding us that the actions of the people were not of God. In those days, the King was considered divinely appointed, and thus had a strong connection with God and was able to interpret and communicate his will to the people. Without a king, the people had no connection to God and no way to hear what he wanted for their lives.

Something else I wanted to point out was the explicit overuse of vows to God in this book overall. Jesus later teaches that swearing to God, or making vows to him is not recommended, and you can see the result of those vows is never favorable for those who make them. Maybe that was the lesson here, but it wasn't written out for the reader. 

The book ends with the same line - "In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit" - kind of bookending the entire writing with that image. The people were not only kingless, they were Godless, and they did some pretty awful things because of it. Although they did some pretty awful things when God was present, too - so what should I make of that?

Ruth 1:22
OK, so this is kind of a lineage story, but written out in long hand. Ready?

There's a guy named Elimelech. He marries a woman named Naomi. They have two sons,  Mahlon and Kilion. Mahlon and Kilion get married to Orpah and Ruth. Then Elimelech (Father), Mahlon (Son 1) and Kilion (Son 2) die. So we're left with Naomi (Mother), Orpah (Son 1's wife) and Ruth (Son 2's wife). You still with me?

So Naomi urges the her two recently widowed daughter-in-laws to return to the land they were from, Orpah returns but Ruth does not. She stays with Naomi to comfort her because Naomi had lost everything she loved, was too old to remarry and would not have any more children. That's pretty much it so far.

John 4:4-42
This section covers the Samaritan woman at the well. This story has been documented in other gospels and the details are pretty much the same here. Jesus tells her that he can give her living water that will never make her thirsty again, she wants it, thinking its actual mega water that has thirst mutilating electrolytes in it. Obviously Jesus was using the analogy of thirst for spiritual longing. And that his teachings can fulfill that desire within us.

One of the more striking lines in this text is:

²²You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. ²³Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. ²⁴God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."

There's so much in there. He first says basically "you worship based on your cultures religion, and we worship based on ours. Then he starts talking about worshiping God in spirit and truth, saying those are the kind of worshipers God wants. Phoneys need not apply, I reckon. Then there's that line: God is spirit. A reference to the holy trinity? A verbal cue in reference to worshiping him in "spirit and truth"? I don't know. CDLC, I know you got something for me. Hit up the comments, oh wise one. 

Psalm 105:1-15

Nothing special in this one, to me. I invite you to read it.

Proverbs 14:25
 ²⁵ A truthful witness saves lives,
       but a false witness is deceitful.

Well...yeah. That's the definition of a false witness. That's like saying:

"Eggs are delicious with ketchup,
     but milk is a dairy product."

On that narcissistic note, I'm off to bed. Did I use narcissistic correctly there? Sometimes I think of words and just say them and hope they fit into a sentence. Income tax revenue. See?