Author: eejoseph

TWO WOMEN WITH WORDS THAT LEAD THE WAY

eejoseph

Apparently women as word-possessed people is rare. If some people had their way a woman would never be seen with leading words. Even though we have narratives of women of extreme character (all the leading women in the patriarchal households, Deborah, and Bathsheba) it is refreshing to find a woman’s word is the guiding light outside of these prominent examples. If a prophet gives a woman the lead is she not in as good a company as company could get? Since we see our Lord making a woman’s voice and interest part of historic legislation (Numbers 36) and making a woman’s voice the first to tell the news of his exaltation (Matthew 28:1-7) we salute these two alongside the woman with the alabaster box of ointment whose deed we are commended to commemorate wherever the gospel is preached.

The prophet Nathan makes a plan with Bathsheba when it seemed that the crown may go to Adonijah (son of Haggith). He counselled her (yaatz) to ask the king to confirm that her son Solomon would be the king’s successor. Nathan would come right in behind her, join the lady’s conversation with the king, and “fill up” her words. Prophetic counsel can be expected to move a king.

Behold, while thou yet talkest there with the king, I also will come in after thee, and confirm thy words.

1 Kings. 1:14

Solomon, as we all know, not Adonijah, succeeded his father on the throne. The other woman with guiding-light words is the woman whom Elijah challenged to use her last oil and flour to give him a meal. In response, the woman swore that she was on her last meal, and was in fact gathering sticks to make a fire.

Elijah’s first request was for water, to which he added ” bring a bite too…”

So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, the widow woman [was] there gathering of sticks: and he called to her, and said, Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink.

1 Kings. 17:10,

The woman’s oath was met by what may seem like a ton of selfishness.

OATH: And she said, [As] the LORD thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and, behold, I [am] gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die. 1 Kings. 17:12

And as she was going to fetch [it], he called to her, and said, Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thine hand.

1 Kings. 17:11

Elijah’s puts himself first: please make me that cake first, then feed yourself and your son.

And Elijah said unto her, Fear not; go [and] do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring [it] unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son.

1 Kings. 17:13

Do as you say (kidbarek)’ according to your word must refer to (a) her handful or meal (b) her few drops of oil (c) the prospect of finding sticks for the fire and (d) the last meal. All of her vision is confirmed in the narrative except her last meal. It would be a thing of great disrtinction if instead of chasing down a prophet or some other figue of authority, if all of us understand that our words cannot lead if they are not intimately with the Way. On the other hand, when our words and actions are connected with the interests of the Way we avoid the catastrophe to which our Lord refers when he taught about the house built on rock or sand.

Perverts in plain sight

eejoseph,

43 individuals, all members of the Republican party, sworn to be impartial jurors, looked away as the evidence of their leader’s crimes and high misdemeanors came up for their scrutiny. For wanting to be known as the party that hears the cries of the unborn and seeing the future of jurisprudence as dependent on narrow minded judges the GOP just stripped itself of any credibility as representative of the people and judges of what is right or even factual. If the judgment they arrived at in the 2nd impeachment of the 45th president is shared by the people they represent the perverts can no longer hide.

You shall not distort justice; you shall not be partial, and you shall not take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and perverts the words of the righteous.

Deuteronomy 16:19

If anyone wanted conclusive evidence that both church and state in the United States have become disgraceful recall Mitch McConnell’s back to back vote of “not guilty” and serpentine blurb about 45’s indisputable crimes.

So what follows the cowardice of the 14%?

God is not listening to these brutes and neither should we. They cried fire and wolf when neither were a threat so we cannot expect them to be reliable watchmen when the accused arsonist and ravening wolf victimizes his own and is himself one of them.

If someone invites you to join a group of any kind you do well to ask about its ties to the Republican party and look for any affirmation of spiritual faith. The saying “All things are possible” cannot apply in situations where the factual does not receive top ranking. It is quite obvious that religious experience has gone sideways and ditch-wards.

Isaiah 1:15

“So when you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you; Yes, even though you multiply prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood.

Triggered by Syrian facts

eejoseph

That God was gracious to one Syrian was the cause of anger in a synagogue in New Testament times.  Behind the anger lay jealousy and misplaced xenophobia.  The Syrian ( Aramaean, ארמי, Arami ) and the Israelite are kin. The Israeli-Syrian conflict of our times is not merely a continuation of an ancient family feud. The anger in the synagogue showed how the critical facts of solidarity with family can become inconsequential.

Luke 4:27-28

27) And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, except Naaman the Syrian. 28) And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath…

Yeshua speaking in a synagogue

Jacob’s ancestral home

Syria is Jacob’s ancestral home.  That is where Abraham sent his CEO to get a wife for Isaac. It was in Syria, at his uncle’s, where Jacob hid from his brother’s anger and started a family (with two of his cousins) .

At the time of Israel’s preparation to enter Canaan God prescribed the content of the future celebration of history. It included a meaningful mention of the Aramaean roots of the nation.

Deuteronomy 26:5

You shall answer and say before the Lord your God, ‘My father was a wandering Aramean, and he went down to Egypt and sojourned there, few in number; but there he became a great, mighty and populous nation.

Let us not cheer any attempt to separate families or treat people as less than ourselves because they are different. It comes home in the gathering of witnesses from every human family (Psalm 22:27-28). After all, diversity began with Adam and Eve, and that fact is not a trigger for anger or for a murderous mob to attack a speaker of truth.

Conservative decoration expired

eejoseph

The people calling themselves conservative, orthodox, or fundamental are likely to be on the fringes of what they are espousing.   Truly orthodox people with original ideas are prone to be afraid of what follows.  They are primarily good at protecting practical life. They are not expected to even be in tune with authentic thought patterns and are more avid users of slogans and cliches than being informed about the weightier matters of their interests. Since the conservative tools for securing society have to be locked in on yesterday – ancestral thought and practice – the present generation’s conservative leaning comes from being coerced and deluded because when the needs of the human psyche are at stake the conservative decoration is like expired food and a rusted and corroded medal.

The gold is dimmed and all that is left of national greatness and empire is cheap tin.

Parents who think that they have discharged their duty by imposing their fears and beliefs as lifelong standards on their children as if the exclusive body of lore and practice was not at one time a new thing are near the top of the list of delusional people. 

An era is not an alley

When the patriarch dies a new era can truly come into being.   Eras can be faked in many countries when a new a leader gets elected every four or five years.  The claim that all the policy changes in a 4 or 8 year period transforms any society is highly unlikely and deceitful. For the record, apart ftom being a specific time marker for the days of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob conservative is another name for male-domination, backward, monolithic, counterproductive, and regressive civic arrangements. Blind arrogance is the better conclusion.

Maybe small government works for snall countries

The deadly increase of dishonourable behaviour from children who were never set on a path of knowledge and discretion is telling.  The religious conservative is at best a person at the top of his or her game, knowing and doing the things required of the religion.  Such a person is also capable of transmitting the vision and substance to one’s peers or next generation.  His or her dread of the future persists even when it is clear that their own children’s futures are in limbo.

Why we should not listen to another conservative

The conservative politician or pastor may have a benign personal profile and academic achievement, but they almost never grasp the dynamic relationship between the excellent things of the past and the universally expected, rational and sustainable lifestyles in a mature now. They are perpetually throwing up barriers to progress and enlightenment for their own personal benefi. 

Today scares the old fashioned and conservative

They reject knowledge that they cannot recite like robots. For example, when faced with the original languages of the Bible conservatives choose English grammar and the science of the human fetus, and reject the evidence of a polluted and finite planet.

The conservative Christian is likely to be an extremist, a narrow-minded and robotic talking head, a person claiming to be interested only in the things that adorned the earliest manifestation of his faith.  This is a dead end distraction because the road for the majority of his peers seems to begin and end with the protestant reformation or with a local and contemporary development, such as an election, a visionary experience, or the increase of knowledge.

A political conservative is likely to be  a person with little awareness of what he is trying to conserve or protect and may also be nothing more than a member of a party that says it follows the past.  The smaller government demand of American conservatives is bewildering.  They would rather see big business thrive than to invest in people’s pursuit of liberty and happiness. They choose violent repression of civil rights over building the legal patterns of cooperation and diversity.  They want to keep their grip on the guntoting bigoted past, admitting none of the nation’s failures.  There are no depths to which the conservative has not already sunk.  They cannot see the wall much less the handwriting on it.  The label “party of Lincoln” used to identify the GOP means as much as “adult children”.  The light has gone out.  Time has run out.

Decoration expired

 Over against the promise of  America’s legislative brilliance and her historic generosity to the poor and dreamers of the world why else would God expose the poverty of character in the political process and in abuse of her own citizens whose skins are not pink if not to say as he said of Jerusalem’s house, “desolate”.

Moving on without the truth

eejoseph

A host of lying segregationist religious and political figures want to move past the despicable incitement of violent overthrow of the United States government. Since 2016 the crimes of the 45th president only became more acceptable to the Republican party and to a dangerous number of people who are willing to believe, repeat and do anything that comes from a source they think is patriotic. The latest voice trying to stop the application of law and justice to the unspeakable abominations of the 45th president is the former ambassador Haley. Give the former president “a break” she begs. Oh yeah, turn 50 blind eyes in the Senate to the truth, turn the millions of deaf ears on Christian radio to ministerial neglect of the gospel, and turn off your mouth if you are .99 notches below an eyewitness to the legacy of Yeshua of Nazareth.

Rubio calls impeaching the former president “stupid”. It is never late to pursue justice and stupid as a label comes in packages of two with self-adhesive versions. Him and Ted Cruz stand out as ambitious candidates for thoughtless and at least deliberately forgetful, and rightfully credibility-free.

Meanwhile on the dark web people I thought were serious about research and righteousness are stumbling all over themselves trying to deny that they are deep down the shameful political pit pushing the delusional evangelical playbook. The leaders on the dark web are our pastors and their lackeys and that playbook belongs to people like Haley, Rubio, and Cruz, all powerbrokers lost in a cloud of their own flatulence.

Where is the hallel?

eejoseph

May I boast a little? Why not? Professor X can testify that he got a meager education and that was sufficient for reading the Bible.  Prayer warrior Y for Christ can boast about having the Spirit but cannot competently pray without sounding like a prophet of Baal. The fearful boast that Christ’s sacrifice makes the medical profession unnecessary, but they have not given up their health cards, put their dental and physiotherapy activities on pause.  It is smallness of mind that leads people to think that God will discard the documentation of his excellence throughout all of humanity’s journey.  Boasting and bragging has gone to the dogs, all the way to saying what is presumed to be a magical word – hallelujah – without actually saying what is praiseworthy.

I glory

Again I say, let no one think me foolish; but if you do, receive me even as foolish, so that I also may boast a little.

2 Corinthians 11:16

When Paul found himself repeatedly inhaling empty Jewish boasting and national pride he did not look far for a synonym for his own boasting and praising. He passed over the usual praise epaineo, glory (Hebrew kabod) bless barak and settled for boast (kauchomai).

People boasting about things
For the wicked boasts (Greek paineo, Hebrew halal) of his heart’s desire, And the greedy man curses and spurns the Lord.

Psalm 10:3

People boasting about God and the law

if you bear the name “Jew” and rely upon the Law and boast in God, 17) and know His will and approve the things that are essential, being instructed out of the Law, 18)

Romans 2:17-18

Do please say what God has DONE

Saying hallelujah a million times without addressing the Supreme Being or without declaring (a) what is excellent about HIM or (b) what excellent thing[s] he does is rubbish.

Let the hallel proclaim what is OBVIOUS

Insane people extol the small as GREAT

Halal is used for boasting, not only regarding others (Gen 12:5).  We are sure that Pharaoh’s princes praising Sarah said something about the lady. It is hightly unlikely that the men used the word halal in any of its forms.

Hallelujah is not a magical word. It has meaning. It is not like “amen” which signals agreement or wish. Amen comes from aman (אמן), he verified. When we say amen we are saying “I agree” and “Let it be so”. On the other hand hallelujah is a command, “y’all praise Yah”. The appropriate response to hallelujah is to be directed to Yahweh, not a mere repetition of the command. “Yah, you are more precious than silver”, “Oh God, your love lifted me” are examples of praise directed to God.

Boasting is naturally personal.  Boasting about another person can leave us flat on our faces. The cross is most personal in its genius and genesis and its effect on human conditions, is most admirable. This is why we find Paul mainlining it.

Mainline boasting

But may it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

Galatians 6:14

“If I have to boast, I will boast of what pertains to my weakness” is a stern rebuke to unhinged boasting about law, obedience, healing, miraculous deliverances, and visionary experiences.

A hallel for disability

If I have to boast, I will boast of what pertains to my weakness. [Since it behooves me…I will]

2 Corinthians 11:30

Hallels we can use

Addressing God:  Yahweh, halaltika (I thank/I praise you) for your abc.  Addressing a loved one: Honey,  I appreciate… A hallel cannot be empty. A

A kiss is a hallel. Carry his photo in your purse. Pharoah’s officials might have said something like “Your majesty, we keep seeing a woman with the most magical eyes and lips like juicy grapes.  Your majesty, we have never seen womanhood like hers! We found out that she is also the experienced manager of a very large household”. Simply saying the word hallelujah is hollow, and hollow does not become the God whose name is excellent everywhere. Surely we can find tons to say in praise of Yeshua’s excellent greatness. That is where the hallel lives.

Jerky feathery visionary wheels

eejoseph

It is often the intention of a writer to motivate the reader to put himself or herself into the narrative. At the end of the day Christ himself and faithful men like Moses and Paul are limited role models for far too many people who say they have become disciples.

Vision #1

As for the form of their faces, each had the face of a man; all four had the face of a lion on the right and the face of a bull on the left, and all four had the face of an eagle.

Ezekiel 1:10

Even though the older brother in the Lost Son parable is obedient and not lost nobody wants to walk in his shoes.

The entities in Ezekiel’s visions (or John’s, Ezekiel 1:10ff, 10:13ff) present a motion imperative. They move straight ahead, they rise above the earth. Their motions and appearance are the basic challenge. What to make of the second vision of the “wheels” takes the challenge into new territory.

The cherub replaces the bull

The next time Ezekiel sees the wheels one of faces is new.

And each one had four faces. The first face was the face of a cherub, the second face was the face of a man, the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle.

Ezekiel 10:14

There is only our likeness to angels (officers of the heavenly court) after the end of the age, but in this age angels are superior to humans in their nature and association with God’s palaces and inferior to humans as servants tasked with assisting humans. We recognize the human as failure prone and totally ours, but the king of the jungle, the bull and the eagle shut us out.  If face is a way of speaking about appearance and function these creatures are the most representative of the extent of diversity and integration and we are a long way from wanting to emulate these straight-walking and amazingly mobile beings.