Reading from Friday, June 18

Bam. Post #2 for the evening.

Reading for June 18
1 Kings 19:1-21
So far there has been this character named Jezebel who was the wife of King Ahab. Jezebel was persecuting all the Israelites who would not bow to Baal. And by persecuting, I mean murdering. So Elijah was obviously a big target for Jezzie. So he fled to about a day's journey away and hid in a cave where God spoke to him. He said, "go outside for the LORD is about to pass by". Now check this out:

Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. ¹² After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. ¹³ When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.

Maybe I'm just seeing what I want to see here, but I think the symbolism here could certainly be interpreted in a favorable way towards God, even amongst all the killing and violence. It says that a mighty wind, an earthquake, and a fire all passed by, but God was not in any of them. All three were very destructive forces, but those were not God. God was in the gentle whisper that followed those things. Now, the way I see it, this could be interpreted in two ways:

1) God brings the destruction and pain, but the real lesson is what occurs after those things happen.
2) God is none of these destructive forces. His true nature is that of a gentle whisper, and the destructive forces are only an outside layer that needs to be peeled back to see what he truly is.

Any other theories on this? It's defintiely rich in symbolism, but I'm not quite sure I got the meaning. Something to think about though.

After this happens, God tells Elijah to instruct someone named Elisha that he will be the new prophet. They made these names confusing on purpose.

"You used all the glue on purpose!" Who knows what that's from? Bonus points if you do.

Acts 12:1-23
Peter's bustin on outta here...

So King Herod (is this the same King Herod who tried to have Jesus killed as a baby?) is persecuting the Christians and has James killed which pleases the Jewish authorities. Seeing that this was a good thing for him, Herod also arrested Peter and has him put in jail, I would assume to be executed shortly thereafter.

During the night while Peter is in jail, an angel of God comes and removes his chains and opens the gate to free him. The next morning, Herod brings the guards who were on duty the night before in for questioning. It doesn't take long before Herod just has them killed.

Some time later, Herod was giving an address to the people of the region and someone shouted out "This is the voice of God not of a man." Herod didn't correct the person and because he did not give the glory to God, but instead accepted it for himself, and angel of God struck Herod dead. I thought God was done with the jealousy killings after the Old Testament.

Psalm 136:1-26
Most of this psalm is the same as the last one, where the praise to God is about him killing people that stood in the Israelites way, but these last two lines stood out to me:

²⁵ and who gives food to every creature.
       His love endures forever.

 ²⁶ Give thanks to the God of heaven.
       His love endures forever.

I like the idea of God caring for every living thing, but it also contradicts the psalmists ideas of ethnocentricity (yeah - big word, right?) of the Jewish people. He cares enough to at least feed everything on earth - from the dung beetle to the prophets of Baal. This also reminds me of the quote from Jesus where he says "see the birds of the air? God gives them food and water, and yet you worry about what you will eat. How much more does God care for you than those birds?" Something like that.

I also like the line above because my dog's name is Kreacher, and it reminds me of him. He's laying on my stomach right now and he brings me so much joy. Only God could make such a hideous dog so lovable and cuddly. 

Proverbs 17:14-15
 ¹⁴ Starting a quarrel is like breaching a dam;
       so drop the matter before a dispute breaks out.
 ¹⁵ Acquitting the guilty and condemning the innocent—
       the LORD detests them both.

Boom verse 15. Boom.