Week 3: Rainbows, Alphabets, Lucifer and The Sermon on the Mount

Week Three: Rainbows, Alphabets, Lucifer and The Sermon on the Mount

     Week Three had fewer surprises and a tremendous amount of depth.  Paul ties Christ to Adam in Romans Chapter 5, Verse 18: "Just as one man's trespass led to condemnation for all, so one man's act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all."  In Chapter 6 he asks the rhetorical question: "How can we who died in sin go on living in it?"  He assures us that salvation is entirely a gracious and undeserved gift.  

     In Genesis this week, the Great Flood subsides and God makes a covenant with Noah to not do that again.  The symbol of this covenant was a rainbow.  God further instructs Noah to "Be fruitful and multiply."  Noah becomes a man of the soil, plants a vineyard and apparently enjoys the fruits of his labors.  In Gen 9:22, "He (Noah) drank of the wine and became drunk and lay uncovered in his tent."  I wonder if that will be in the movie?  The ancestors of Noah are then outlined and Asimov points out that the three sons of Noah represent the three great divisions of humanity that were known to the ancient writer.  Shem's descendants are traced through Terah to Abram and Sarai.  What follows next is the curious story of the Tower of Babel in Chapter 11.  Asimov tells us that this story may have been based on the largest Ziggurat (tower) ever built in ancient times by Nebuchadenazzar (King of Babylon) around the sixth century B.C.   I find this a curious story where God decides to "go down and confuse their language, so that they may not understand each other's speech" in order to foil human attempts to build a tower into heaven.

     Joshua is busy this week with military victories.  In 11:23 we read that "So Joshua took the whole land, according to all the Lord had spoken to Moses."  Asimov's commentary includes some very interesting geographical tidbits as they relate to this segment of Joshua.  He notes that in Joshua 11:8 there is mention of Zidon (or "Sidon") whose people were famous for producing a purple-red dye.  The Greek name for this region in "Phoneicia" from the word meaning, appropriately enough, "purple-red."  At the time of Joshua the Phoenicians had already invented the alphabet which was adopted by many of these Hebrew tribes.  

Phoenecian Alphabet

Asimov also points out that Joshua in actuality failed to take "all of the land."  The Philistines, recently escaped from Egypt, occupied the southern-most coast of Canaan and remained there.  This area is now known as "The Gaza Strip" and its occupation has caused many a modern political problem.

     The Psalms continue to inspire.  In Psalm 6 the author implores God: "Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am languishing.  Heal me, O Lord, for my bones are troubled."  In Psalm 7 God is referred to as a "righteous judge" and in Psalm 8 the glory of God is manifest in the night sky and in the songs of children.

     In Job 5 and 6 advice is given as to how Job should appeal to God.  Job becomes a bit piqued at his tedious friends but does note that "the terrors of God are arrayed against me."  In 6:11 and 12 Job asks "What is my strength, that should wait?  And what is my end, that I should be patient?  Teach me, and I will be silent;  make me understand how I have gone astray."  Job is searching for answers to questions he can't comprehend.

     Isaiah 12 through 17 begins with songs of deliverance and thanksgiving (Ch. 12) and "Oracles" against foreign nations, the most emphatic regarding the fall of Babylon (Ch. 13) and peace falling on the settled peoples.  Asimov has an interesting explanation for Isaiah 14:12: "How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, Son of the morning."  He notes that the Hebrew word for Lucifer is helel which literally is "The Shining One".  This is thought to refer to the planet Venus (the morning star).  The use of the term Lucifer here in connection with the pride of the Babylonian King is the writer of Isaiah using a metaphor to describe the Babylonian King's (Nebuchedanazzar?) fall from absolute power to captivity and death.  These verses came to mean more to later Jews.  Lucifer, a fallen angel, evolves into Satan.  The early Christian church fathers considered this statement in Isaiah to be a reference to the eviction of Satan from heaven and Jesus is quoted in Luke 10:18 "I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven."

     Matthew Chapters 5 through 7 dive into Jesus' teachings.  Chapter 5 contains what has become to be known as "The Sermon on the Mount."  Asimov believes that this is a collection of Jesus' favorite themes and does not actually represent one sermon.  The title "Sermon on the Mount" is attributed to St. Augustine whose commentary on Matthew in A.D. 394 he titled "Concerning the Lord's Sermon in the Mountain."  There are many references in this sermon to Psalms.  Matthew, the most "Jewish" of the four Gospel writers, is stressing Jesus' belief in the supremacy of the Law of Moses.  In Matthew 5:17, Jesus is even quoted: "Iam not come to destroy, but to fulfill."  Jesus is seen here to not only adhere to the Law, but to exceed the letter of the Law in matters of morals and ethics.  Jesus also denounces ostentation in piety and in Matthew 6 gives us "The Lord's Prayer."  Also in Chapter 6 Jesus has harsh words for wealth and the wealthy.  In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus urges us to care less for the gathering of material riches and give more care for the gathering of the ethical riches valued in heaven.  Chapter 7 has a definite slant towards Jewish oriented Christianity, again revealing the bias of the writer of this Gospel.

     This concludes Week 3 of the Bible in a Year challenge.  A challenge it is!  I find myself being less certain of my "knowledge" of the Bible and a tremendous respect for those who have a command of it.  Thank you for following along!