Mitch Lewis

Peter Enns has a terrific series of posts at BioLogos on the book of Exodus' recapitulation of the book of Genesis' creation themes.

• Yahweh, Creation, and the Cosmic Battle
• Exodus, the Plagues, and the Cosmic Battle
• Exodus and the Cosmic Battle (Again)
• Exodus, Mt. Sinai and Creation
• Adam is Israel

Enns' observations make the Biblical authors' intention and artistry unmistakable. Read the whole series.

Enns is the author of Inspiration and Incarnation, a model for Old Testament hermeneutics and one of my "Best Theological Books" of the last decade.

My son is a religion major at the University of Georgia. He tells me that his paper, 'And the world was changed': The Nephilim and Watchers in Wider Mythological Context, has been accepted for presentation at a session of the Southeast Commission for the Study of Religion (SECSOR) this spring. Drew will present his paper at one of two undergraduate research sessions on Saturday, 6 March 2010. The three-day conference runs from Friday to Sunday at the Atlanta Marriott Century Center.

According to its web site, "The Southeastern Commission for the Study of Religion promotes the scholarly study and teaching of religion in the Southeast and the professional development of members of its sponsoring and affiliate societies in the Southeast: The American Academy of Religion (AAR/SE), the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL/SE), and the American Schools of Oriental Research (ASOR/SE)."

Congratulations, Drew!

Ancient Israel often suffered at the hands of the major imperial powers of its day. It's amazing, then, Israel's sacred texts portray the descendents of Jacob serving in positions of some authority and influence within these ancient empires. Among the faithful Israelites are Joseph, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, Azariah Nehemiah, Ezra, Mordecai and Esther. Each of the empires in which they served ultimately fell under God's perfect judgment. The Biblical narrative, however, also tells us how these children of Abraham served the cause of good in the service of empire.

Joseph in Genesis and Exodus

Sold into slavery by his brothers and unjustly imprisoned by his Egyptian masters, Joseph eventually became a senior administrator in Pharaoh's government. He enabled his master's household to prosper and later supervised Egypt's entire agricultural industry. His efforts as an officer of Pharaoh saved countless lives in during a severe famine. His work in Pharaoh's court also enabled the entire family of Jacob to endure the famine, insuring the continued existence of God's chosen family. (See Joseph the Dreamer.)

But Genesis and Exodus are two volumes in the same literary stream. In Exodus we find that "a new king, who did not know about Joseph, came to power in Egypt." (Exodus 1:8) The same Egyptian empire in which Joseph served - and which saved the Israelites from extinction - now enslaved and mistreated God's people. Egypt earned God's judgment. The plagues which Egypt suffered revealed the LORD's verdict on Egyptian gods. In the destruction of the Egyptian army, God executed his righteous sentence on the empire that had kept Israel in bondage.

The Book of Daniel

The first part of the Book of Daniel tells the stories of four Judean exiles living first in Babylon, and then in Persia. The four Judeans were  from royal families and exceptionally well qualified to serve in the Babylonian court. Their names were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. For three years they studied Chaldean (i.e. Babylonian) writings and language. They even received new Babylonian names: Belteshazzar, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Then they served as advisors to the king of Babylon and administrators of the province. When Babylon fell to Persia, Daniel then served the king of the Persian Empire in a similar fashion. "O king, live forever," Daniel said to Darius. (Daniel 6:21)

Overall, these four faithful Judeans refused to violate the dietary laws given through Moses, to worship idols or neglect the worship of Israel's God. Otherwise, they sought the well-being and success of the empires they served.

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Forty years ago this Christmas Eve, the astronauts of Apollo 8 became the first human beings to orbit the Moon. As they orbited the Moon, astronauts Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and William Anders broadcast a message that was carried live throughout United States and the world. This is NASA's description of that Christmas Eve broadcast.

Apollo 8, the first manned mission to the Moon, entered lunar orbit on Christmas Eve, December 24, 1968. That evening, the astronauts; Commander Frank Borman, Command Module Pilot Jim Lovell, and Lunar Module Pilot William Anders did a live television broadcast from lunar orbit, in which they showed pictures of the Earth and Moon seen from Apollo 8. Lovell said, "The vast loneliness is awe-inspiring and it makes you realize just what you have back there on Earth." They ended the broadcast with the crew taking turns reading from the book of Genesis.

William Anders:

"For all the people on Earth the crew of Apollo 8 has a message we would like to send you".

"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness."

Jim Lovell:

"And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day. And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.? And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day."

Frank Borman:

"And God said, Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so. And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good."

Borman then added, "And from the crew of Apollo 8, we close with good night, good luck, a Merry Christmas, and God bless all of you - all of you on the good Earth."

Listening to the Apollo 8 Christmas Eve broadcast is still one of the most striking memories of my youth.

Why did this broadcast mean so much to me and to the rest of the world?

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You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. (Genesis 50:20 TNIV)

It strikes me that the first book of the Bible is more about a family than it is about a religion. In Genesis 12, God promised Abraham that He would bless the world through Abraham and his descendants. Abraham, his son Isaac, and his grandson Jacob don't become traveling evangelists. They don't build a temple or write religious books. They just go about their lives in the knowledge that they are God's people and that God is working out his purposes in them and through them.

In Genesis 50, we come to the end of a story of that began in Genesis 37. It is the story of Joseph, Jacob's son, and it occupies about 25% of the text of Genesis. That must be some story. What we find is that God has begun to fulfill the promise he made to Abraham in Genesis 12. God is preserving Abraham's family and blessing the world through Abraham's descendant.

At the end of the Genesis, Joseph is about thirty years old. He is second in command to Pharaoh in the Egyptian government. There is a great famine in the land, and Pharaoh has chosen Joseph to implement a plan that will save all of Egypt (and Israel) from starvation. Pretty impressive, isn't it?

How in the world did this son of a goat herder ever get so high and mighty?

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Genesis 28:10-19
John 1:43-51

Surely the LORD is in this place--and I did not know it! How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.

The House of God

What do you think of when you hear the phrase, "House of God." In your mind, what does the house of God look like?

For me, me the quintessential house of God is the Gothic cathedral with its stone walls, vaulted ceilings, large stained glass windows and vertical sense of space. I don't know how it works for a worshiping community, but there is a sense of holiness that you experience before you even walk in the door.

The recent trend in mega church sanctuaries has been away from "churchy" architecture toward utilitarian "econoboxes" with large open spaces that can be used in a multitude of configurations. Useful, but not very inspiring.

I read the results of a recent survey conducted among young Christians. It seems that this new generation of Christians favors a return to a more reverent form of church architecture, so that the worship space itself becomes part of the experience of God. Good on them. I agree with them.

At the opposite end of the spectrum from large cathedrals and mega churches are the little country churches built with love by their parishioners. These little wood frame churches often convey a tremendous sense of reverence toward God despite their small size.

Our Old Testament reading today concerns a very different kind of house of God.

Jacob's Journey

It's a long way from Beersheba to Haran - about the distance from Savannah, Georgia to Richmond, Virginia.

Jacob had been on the road only a few days. The trip would take 10 times that long. He had been traveling the ridge road through the Judean hills, and he came to a place called Almond Tree - or Luz, in Hebrew.

When he got to Almond Tree, the sun was going down. He had been walking - fast - all day. He was in a hurry. He was hot. He was tired. He was thirsty. He was hungry. He was alone. His future didn't look very bright. He laid down in the dust and literally pulled up a rock as a pillow. And he laid down.

This is not how he pictured things turning out.

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