{"id":162,"date":"2012-05-17T18:37:55","date_gmt":"2012-05-17T12:37:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/intelligent-torvalds.74-208-171-134.plesk.page\/?p=162"},"modified":"2023-09-23T08:31:01","modified_gmt":"2023-09-23T13:31:01","slug":"a-monotonous-cycle-part-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/religiousmind.net\/?p=162","title":{"rendered":"A Monotonous Cycle, Part 5"},"content":{"rendered":"

Though I\u2019ve been proposing that God intervened in Israel\u2019s history to divide the kingdom of Israel, his primary method seems to have been nonintervention<\/em>.\u00a0 God allowed people who rebelled against him by seeking a king in the first place to continue on that same trajectory for about four generations.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t send a prophet with an astute hypothetical, adroit questions, or revelations that might have enlightened and turned them from a self-destructive course.\u00a0 He did not grant them the insight that Solomon\u2019s reign was, in fact, as good as their current course could get, or the wisdom to reason that their continued dissatisfaction might require a change of course.\u00a0 To simply change kings was to simply miss the point.<\/p>\n

Now how can I speak of Israelite history as if it had a point?\u00a0 This is absurd to the in-the-box thinking of the historical critic and his fellow travelers.\u00a0 But I believe I have been granted the wisdom not merely to perceive a point but to know precisely what it is.<\/p>\n

<\/a>When Nicodemus was slow to understand Jesus\u2019 statement about the necessity of being born from above, Jesus responded incredulously, Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you don\u2019t understand these things?<\/em>1<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 Now I need to confess that I have gone through many changes in my response to Jesus as revealed in the Scriptures.\u00a0 My first response as I already mentioned<\/a> was that He was just about the rudest person I had ever met.\u00a0 It was best just to keep my mouth shut around Him because He would take anything I said and berate and ridicule me for it.\u00a0 As I began to know Him better and came to realize that He wasn\u2019t as mean as I made Him out to be, I changed my tone.\u00a0 I assumed then that Jesus had a flare for dramatic exaggeration.\u00a0 He knew that Nicodemus didn\u2019t understand.\u00a0 How could He expect anyone to understand so novel a concept as being born from above<\/em> or again<\/em>?\u00a0 But these days I believe that Jesus was expressing a sincere surprise and maybe even a hint of frustration that a man so admirable and so well educated as Nicodemus did not grasp this most basic point of the Hebrew Scriptures:\u00a0 I tell you the solemn truth, unless a person is born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God<\/em>.2<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

So the change of course the Israelites needed to make was to be born from above, just like Jesus told Nicodemus.\u00a0 That is the point of Israelite history as revealed in the Bible, according to Jesus.\u00a0 Of course, I didn\u2019t get it either, not until I read about Jesus and Nicodemus, over and over and over again, and then returned to the Old Testament with Jesus\u2019 conclusion already in mind.<\/p>\n

<\/a>I realize how far it seems I have come from the simple goodness of, God said it<\/a>; I believe it; that settles it.\u00a0 I\u2019ve put words in God\u2019s mouth, suggesting that He might have comforted Solomon and Rehoboam with the same comfort He gave Samuel.\u00a0 I\u2019ve denied that the words spoken by the Israelite rebels recorded in the Bible actually reflected their real motives.\u00a0 An interpretation like this might have alarmed me when I was a philosophical and legalistic young man fighting his way back from atheism.\u00a0 But these days I see some faith in it.<\/p>\n

Solomon\u2019s wealth and wisdom fit into a context that starts, for the sake of this discussion, with the rejection of God in the person of Samuel the last judge of Israel, and the desire for a new leader like all the other nations<\/em>; and it ends with the continued rejection of God in the person of that new leader\u2014King Rehoboam.\u00a0 And all of this nestles in the context of the point of the Old Testament proclaimed by Jesus, You must all be born from above<\/em>.\u00a0 God said it\u2014For it is not you that they have rejected, but it is me that they have rejected as their king<\/em>.\u00a0 I believe that dynamic continued to hold sway not only thus far in the Old Testament narrative but beyond.\u00a0 And for the moment I\u2019m fairly content with the truth of that interpretation, especially if I compare it to the alternative.<\/p>\n

<\/a>I just can\u2019t bring myself to start with the rebels\u2019 pronouncement\u2014Your father made us work too hard<\/em>\u2014and then try to mold and cajole the Bible into something that supports that contention, especially when that molding<\/em> and cajoling<\/em> is actually a process of ripping out and throwing away large portions of the testimony that is in fact included there.\u00a0 And why should I rip them out?<\/p>\n

Well, because they don\u2019t belong, according to Nietzsche:\u00a0 God could not inspire ancient Israelite writers to speak and write his words truthfully because God doesn\u2019t exist.\u00a0 The illusion of God speaking, that I am so enamored with in the Bible, was created much later by\u2014still relatively ancient people, completely unknown to history, yet oddly familiar as perennial scapegoats\u2014a conspiracy of lying Jews.\u00a0 This theory of Bible interpretation held a lot of sway in mainline American churches in the early decades of the twentieth century.\u00a0 Today it seems important to acknowledge that its ultimate contriver is the arch-enemy, not only of the Jews, but of us all.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Addendum<\/strong>: December 12, 2018
\nA table comparing John 3:10<\/a> in the NET and KJV follows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a>John 3:10 (NET)<\/td>\nJohn 3:10 (KJV)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Jesus answered, \u201cAre you the teacher of Israel and yet you don\u2019t understand these things?<\/td>\nJesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n\n
NET Parallel Greek<\/a><\/td>\nStephanus Textus Receptus<\/a><\/td>\nByzantine Majority Text<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u1f00\u03c0\u03b5\u03ba\u03c1\u1f77\u03b8\u03b7 \u1f38\u03b7\u03c3\u03bf\u1fe6\u03c2 \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u03b5\u1f36\u03c0\u03b5\u03bd \u03b1\u1f50\u03c4\u1ff7\u0387 \u03c3\u1f7a \u03b5\u1f36 \u1f41 \u03b4\u03b9\u03b4\u1f71\u03c3\u03ba\u03b1\u03bb\u03bf\u03c2 \u03c4\u03bf\u1fe6 \u1f38\u03c3\u03c1\u03b1\u1f74\u03bb \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u03c4\u03b1\u1fe6\u03c4\u03b1 \u03bf\u1f50 \u03b3\u03b9\u03bd\u1f7d\u03c3\u03ba\u03b5\u03b9\u03c2<\/td>\n\u03b1\u03c0\u03b5\u03ba\u03c1\u03b9\u03b8\u03b7 \u03bf<\/a> <\/strong>\u03b9\u03b7\u03c3\u03bf\u03c5\u03c2 \u03ba\u03b1\u03b9 \u03b5\u03b9\u03c0\u03b5\u03bd \u03b1\u03c5\u03c4\u03c9 \u03c3\u03c5 \u03b5\u03b9 \u03bf \u03b4\u03b9\u03b4\u03b1\u03c3\u03ba\u03b1\u03bb\u03bf\u03c2 \u03c4\u03bf\u03c5 \u03b9\u03c3\u03c1\u03b1\u03b7\u03bb \u03ba\u03b1\u03b9 \u03c4\u03b1\u03c5\u03c4\u03b1 \u03bf\u03c5 \u03b3\u03b9\u03bd\u03c9\u03c3\u03ba\u03b5\u03b9\u03c2<\/td>\n\u03b1\u03c0\u03b5\u03ba\u03c1\u03b9\u03b8\u03b7 \u03b9\u03b7\u03c3\u03bf\u03c5\u03c2 \u03ba\u03b1\u03b9 \u03b5\u03b9\u03c0\u03b5\u03bd \u03b1\u03c5\u03c4\u03c9 \u03c3\u03c5 \u03b5\u03b9 \u03bf \u03b4\u03b9\u03b4\u03b1\u03c3\u03ba\u03b1\u03bb\u03bf\u03c2 \u03c4\u03bf\u03c5 \u03b9\u03c3\u03c1\u03b1\u03b7\u03bb \u03ba\u03b1\u03b9 \u03c4\u03b1\u03c5\u03c4\u03b1 \u03bf\u03c5 \u03b3\u03b9\u03bd\u03c9\u03c3\u03ba\u03b5\u03b9\u03c2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
\n
Jesus’ Artifacts, Part 1<\/em><\/a><\/div>\n
A Monotonous Cycle Revisited – Part 1<\/em><\/a><\/div>\n
Back to Ezra and Divorce<\/em><\/a><\/div>\n
Back to What Kind of Carpenter is Jesus? – Introduction<\/em><\/a><\/div>\n
Back to My Reasons and My Reason, Part 6<\/em><\/a><\/div>\n
Back to Forgiven or Passed Over? Part 2<\/em><\/a><\/div>\n
Back to Romans, Part 71<\/em><\/a><\/div>\n
Back to To Make Holy, Part 2<\/em><\/a><\/div>\n
Back to My Deeds, Part 1<\/em><\/a><\/div>\n
Back to Atonement, Part 2<\/em><\/a><\/div>\n
Back to Forgiven or Passed Over? Part 2<\/em><\/a><\/div>\n
Back to Condemnation or Judgment? – Part 16<\/em><\/a><\/div>\n
Back to Fear – Deuteronomy, Part 1<\/em><\/a><\/div>\n
Back to A Monotonous Cycle Revisited, Part 6<\/em><\/a><\/div>\n
Back to The Book of Life, Part 3<\/em><\/a><\/div>\n
Back to The Day of the Lord, Part 6<\/em><\/a><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n
\n

1<\/sup><\/a> John 3:10 (NET)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

2<\/sup><\/a> John 3:3 (NET) Table<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Though I\u2019ve been proposing that God intervened in Israel\u2019s history to divide the kingdom of Israel, his primary method seems to have been nonintervention.\u00a0 God allowed people who rebelled against him by seeking a king in the first place to … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,5],"tags":[105,106],"class_list":["post-162","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-monotonous-cycle","category-what-kind-of-carpenter-is-jesus","tag-john-310","tag-john-33"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/religiousmind.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/religiousmind.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/religiousmind.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/religiousmind.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/religiousmind.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=162"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/religiousmind.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21944,"href":"https:\/\/religiousmind.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162\/revisions\/21944"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/religiousmind.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/religiousmind.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/religiousmind.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}