tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-149001142012-01-22T22:00:56.338-08:00A lay Christian's honest response to perceived flaws in the Bible.Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.comBlogger2041100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-9329731573895810252011-10-12T13:29:00.000-07:002011-10-12T14:17:07.557-07:00

This post is going to be a bit of a departure from what I'm usually writing in here, but since I haven't written anything for quite some time, posting at all seems to go against the current trend, I suppose.Earlier today, I received a comment on an old post, and I responded to it as I just about always try to do. While I was responding, though, as I also often do, I looked through previous

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-25391105378749534992009-10-02T23:59:00.000-07:002009-10-03T14:43:59.467-07:00

Not really a post here, but a link to a guest post in Dwindling in Unbelief.

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-91548282864119901982009-02-10T08:00:00.000-08:002009-02-10T08:00:01.290-08:00

Chapter 7 is extremely significant, and the reason it is significant is also the reason that the SAB is wrong about failed prophecy in this particular case.David comes to be speaking to the prophet Nathan one day, and he says that he feels bad that the ark is kept in a tent while he lives in a palace, hinting that he would like to build a temple. Nathan thinks this is a great idea, and encourages

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-10815191385922766892009-02-09T08:00:00.000-08:002009-02-09T08:04:57.876-08:00

In chapter 6, David decides that it's time to send for the ark and bring it to Jerusalem. This prompts a question of timing of this event, about which I have already given an opinion.Now, the manner in which this happens is important. As the Philistines did when they had the ark and wanted to get rid of it, the Israelites get a new cart, load it up, and bring it along. This is a problem. When the

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-74712489963335571922009-02-06T08:00:00.000-08:002009-02-06T08:00:00.607-08:00

Finally in chapter 5, David becomes king over all of Israel, and remains king for 40 years. This prompts the SAB to see a possible contradiction in certain events that occur in the reign of David, particularly the eventual rebellion of Absalom. I don't think I buy the logic here; if anything, it almost seems worse than the SAB is insinuating. 2Sam. 15:7 says "And it came to pass after forty years

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-11797957520682056392009-02-05T08:00:00.000-08:002009-02-05T08:00:00.760-08:00

In chapter 4, we learn of the odd story of how Ishbosheth becomes worried and weakened when he hears that Abner is dead, and so two of his captains come into his house when he's resting in the middle of the day, and they kill him. They take his head and bring it to David, which really seems like an obviously stupid thing to do given the way David has reacted so far to people who take it in their

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-14430316653442924412009-02-04T08:00:00.000-08:002009-02-04T08:12:14.515-08:00

In chapter 3, David gets busy being king and having lots of kids. David has six sons, each by a different wife, and for some reason the retelling of David's family in 1Chronicles 3 gives one name different. It might be a nickname or something like that, but I really have no idea what the story is here.A really strange story here is the story of Abner and his turning his allegiances to David.

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-11666967195631125792009-02-03T08:00:00.000-08:002009-02-03T08:00:05.192-08:00

So in chapter 2, David finally becomes king officially. However, at apparently around the same time, Abner decides to declare Saul's son Ishbosheth the king. No doubt Abner, being a close relative of Saul, would prefer to keep the monarchy in the family.This does present a problem for the SAB though, in that according to 1Chronicles 10, "all [Saul's] house died together" during the battle that

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-32198495775777505482009-02-02T08:00:00.000-08:002009-02-02T20:42:05.170-08:00

As 2Samuel (which, as I think I said earlier, was not really a separate book originally) begins, we have yet another story about Amalekites. An Amalekite comes to David and claims that he has killed Saul, prompting the SAB to ask how it could be possible for an Amalekite to exist, given the history of various attempts throughout the reign of Saul to obliterate them. Note however that right here

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-84823472183803834402008-12-23T08:00:00.000-08:002009-02-02T21:07:23.104-08:00

Here in the final chapter of this book, the SAB has only one question: "How did Saul die?" The page pointing out the apparent inconsistency gives four possible answers. Now while one can easily dismiss the account of the Amalekite as a lie (after all, he had no witnesses, and apparently assumed that telling David that he had killed Saul would curry favor) I don't think it's necessary, and besides

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-48541183646627834922008-12-22T08:00:00.000-08:002008-12-22T08:00:01.578-08:00

Amalekites, don't they ever quit? Apparently not in chapter 30. Now I'll say that I'm fine with standing on what I had said before, but here there may be yet another possibility as to what's going on. It might be that the story in chapter 27 is a telescoping of several events into a single story, and the time that David wiped out the Amalekites in that chapter was actually an out-of-order version

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-13735171172060299742008-12-19T08:00:00.000-08:002008-12-19T08:00:00.568-08:00

Back to David in chapter 29, we find him in the uncomfortable situation of marching to war with the Philistines against his own country. Some of the leaders of the Philistines aren't happy and insist that David go away.The SAB notes that the word in the Hebrew used of David is "Satan", but I'm not sure what's noteworthy about this. I think most people who know anything of Hebrew (well, I guess

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-54442461837840529772008-12-18T08:00:00.000-08:002008-12-18T08:00:00.342-08:00

There's an interesting point to bring up about the story in chapter 28 and the nature of figurative speech. In verse 3, it says, "And Saul had put away those that had familiar spirits, and the wizards, out of the land." The story than goes on to talk about a woman with a "familiar spirit" in the land. The SAB does not mark this as a contradiction, I assume because it is understood that nobody

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-81433759742201295672008-12-17T08:00:00.000-08:002008-12-17T08:00:00.975-08:00

In chapter 27, David flees to Gath, figuring that if he goes among the Philistines, Saul will not follow. Indeed, it is noted here that Saul gives up.While in this area, he and his men make some raids, completely wiping out the Geshurites, Gezrites and Amalekites, because these apparently were among the people that God wanted wiped out back in the days of Joshua.Why is David fighting Amalekites

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-27918573656941530552008-12-16T08:00:00.000-08:002008-12-16T08:43:03.180-08:00

Chapter 26 has no notes from the SAB, but perhaps it's a good time to pause for a moment and consider a few points that could have been brought up in earlier chapters, but I didn't yet bother with. With this chapter carrying a bit of a repititious story, it's a good time to comment.Once again, Saul comes after David to kill him, and once again, Saul is caught in a position where he is entirely at

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-35548292518683868122008-12-15T08:00:00.000-08:002008-12-15T08:03:53.364-08:00

Here in chapter 25, Samuel dies, but for some reason, we're only given a short note on the matter.So then we come to the matter of Nabal and Abigail. Nabal is sort of an odd character, mostly because of his name, which means essentially "fool" in Hebrew. It's unlikely that anyone would actually name their son "fool", but the possibility exists (especially since Nabal is a Calebite, which makes

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-15725706868174274072008-12-12T08:00:00.000-08:002008-12-12T08:00:01.742-08:00

Chapter 24 has no notes from the SAB, but it's an interesting little story. In the midst of Saul and his men hunting for David, Saul happens to corner David in a cave, but doesn't realize he's done it.Saul comes into the cave where all of David's army is, "to cover his feet". (He's covering his feet with his clothes, i.e., he's dropping his pants to take a dump.) David's men see this as a golden

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-30781728844289778162008-12-11T08:00:00.000-08:002008-12-11T08:00:06.871-08:00

Chapter 23 is pretty standard fare for the most part. David has decided to do something about the invading Philistines, despite the fact that he's more or less in hiding from Saul. This of course leads to claims of violence, etc. from the SAB; insert stock answer here re self-defense.It is a little odd that David "enquired of the LORD" twice, my thought on that is that the first time was more

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-50325876554576441482008-12-10T08:00:00.000-08:002008-12-10T08:00:04.380-08:00

So David and his family flee to Moab, and after David sees to it that his family is taken care of, he returns to the land of his tribe, Judah, now with a small army to protect him.Saul meanwhile is very unhappy with, well, pretty much everyone and everything. The fact that David is against him, and Jonathan, his own son, is a friend of David has caused him to become paranoid. He gives a speech to

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-45884783319124369312008-12-09T08:00:00.000-08:002008-12-09T08:00:01.355-08:00

As we move into the final part of Saul's story here in chapter 21, the part of Saul's life where he spent much of his time chasing David around, we're going to come across a handful of related problems, all of which are at least in part tied to the first verse of this chapter. I'm getting ahead of myself in including some of this before the SAB does, but it seems clear that there's something

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-49767498488798050182008-12-08T08:00:00.000-08:002008-12-08T08:00:02.557-08:00

Chapter 20 is sort of weird because it largely involves David trying to convince Jonathan that Saul hates his guts. The fact that Jonathan is unaware of this is more than a little strange, seeing the events of the chapters leading up to this. Jonathan doesn't think he could possibly be unaware of anything going on with his father, and tells David that he'll prove it.So David and Jonathan come up

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-35299643082065935952008-12-05T08:00:00.000-08:002008-12-05T08:00:00.825-08:00

There's not much new in chapter 19. We're really seeing the SAB pick up on issues that we've seen before in this book.Was Jonathan "totally gay" for David? Lacking better evidence for the claim, I say no.Is David violent and intolerant for killing the Philistines? Well, they were an invading army; what was he supposed to do?What's the deal with Saul and his "evil spirit"? I don't know, but I've

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-32754953328422443102008-12-04T08:00:00.000-08:002009-01-23T11:48:48.807-08:00

In 1Samuel 18, we are finally introduced to the close relationship between David and Jonathan. The SAB takes the approach that so many do, assuming the implication that Jonathan and David were lovers. Now, whereas it's certainly possible, of course the conservative assumption among both Christians and Jews is that this is not the case. The fact is, there really needs to be a stronger case made if

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-37189641066429328702008-12-03T08:00:00.000-08:002008-12-03T08:00:01.007-08:00

So here in chapter 17, we come to the infamous story of the giant Goliath. The Philistines and the Israelites are camped on opposite sides of the valley of Elah, and out comes Goliath, a man about ten feet tall. Now I've mentioned it before, but this is the most appropriate place to bring it up, so I'll repeat myself: while ten feet seems unlikely, it's not completely outside of the realm of

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-85299000344310934082008-12-02T08:00:00.000-08:002008-12-02T10:52:24.671-08:00

So in chapter 16, God says it's time to move on, and look for the new king. Samuel is nervous, because he thinks Saul will attack him if he tries to choose a new king, which was probably an accurate assessment.God tells Samuel to go to Bethlehem, and there give a sacrifice, inviting Jesse and his family because one of Jesse's sons is destined to be the new king. Everything appears to be going

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-86463262594545171292008-12-01T08:00:00.001-08:002008-12-01T08:15:36.186-08:00

Now whereas I usually feel there is an easy response to challenges of violence and intolerance (most of what has been seen in this book so far has been violence in self-defense), chapter 15 presents us with the first example of God-ordered genocide with no immediately obvious purpose. Sure, back in Joshua it was a matter of establishing the nation in the land of Canaan, both for the benefit of

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-17221733880486198822008-11-28T08:00:00.000-08:002008-11-28T08:00:01.248-08:00

Chapter 14 introduces us more formally to the character of Saul's son Jonathan, the man who would have succeeded Saul had there been a proper Saulide dynasty, and frankly someone who seems to have been far more suited to be king. This guy's smart, kind, and a good warrior, which is everything an ancient king really needed to be. Maybe I'm forgetting something, but I don't seem to recall the Bible

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-44119330826762940162008-11-27T08:00:00.000-08:002008-11-27T08:00:02.790-08:00

The circumstances in chapter 13 indicate to me that perhaps I was too hasty in my evaluation of chapter 7. Let's see.Saul has managed by this time, about two years on, to amass a regular army (sort of, we'll see some oddities later in the chapter) and has put a division under the control of his son Jonathan, who attacks the Philistine garrison in Geba. The Philistines gather their forces to

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-22933575579510658062008-11-26T08:00:00.000-08:002008-11-27T10:15:55.118-08:00

Chapter 12 is pretty much a one-issue chapter. Samuel gives an address to the people of Israel, and while he is not dying just yet, this has the flavor of a farewell address.He gives a brief summary of Israel's history from the Exodus to the present, in the middle of which, as a sign of his supernatural authority, he calls down a thunderstorm. The people are afraid."Should we fear God?" the SAB

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-65479671324852421172008-11-25T08:00:00.000-08:002008-11-25T08:00:00.815-08:00

Chapter 11 is the sort of chapter in the Bible that really makes this sort of thing fun. Whether or not everyone who reads this ends up agreeing with me, I do feel that I have very appropriate responses to every issue brought up by the SAB in this chapter.The Ammonites, led by Nahash, come up to Jabeshgilead and prepare to do battle against the inhabitants there. The men there send him a message

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-62144090498134234502008-11-24T08:00:00.000-08:002008-11-24T08:00:01.014-08:00

In chapter 10, Samuel finally comes out and tells Saul plainly that he is to be the king of Israel, and he anoints him with oil. (I've always thought this a strange practice, and probably ought to read up on it more. I can't imagine having a jar of oil dumped on your head is a pleasant thing, but I suppose I'm missing something.) He tells him a series of signs that will come to pass to verify to

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-12919863823410416322008-11-21T08:00:00.000-08:002009-01-05T08:14:14.167-08:00

Chapter 9 opens with yet another identity conflict, this one having to do with the family tree of Saul. Here we see the claim that Kish was the son of Abiel, but in 1Chronicles, we are twice told that Kish is the son of Ner. So which is it? Well, despite the fact that being told twice in 1Chronicles might lead you to go with the majority statement, reading elsewhere seems to suggest this minority

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-40018132937412202302008-11-20T08:00:00.000-08:002008-11-20T08:00:00.888-08:00

Right off the top in chapter 8, the SAB catches yet another minute detail, and I applaud the thoroughness and attention to detail. Here, we are told that Samuel had (at least) two sons, and the eldest's name was Joel. However, in 1Chronicles, we are told that Samuel's firstborn was named "Vashni". Let me explain: I can't explain this one. From the little bit of research I did into the matter, I

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-6837422143766057892008-11-19T08:00:00.000-08:002009-08-07T10:18:35.975-07:00

Okay, I don't really have a good answer for the first point of contention in chapter 7. The second one, yes, but here, I'm admittedly stumped, so of course I'm going to write far more than I need to in order to express my being at a loss for explanation.So when the ark comes back to Israel, instead of taking it back to Shiloh (which would have actually made sense) they take it to Kirjathjearim,

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-85981281689169418252008-11-18T08:00:00.001-08:002008-11-18T08:16:08.055-08:00

In examining the story unfolding here in 1Samuel 6, Robert Alter points out that there is indication of a possible mistranslation. The Philistines make an offering to the God of Israel in the form of "Five golden emerods, and five golden mice". This is the first time we hear about mice, and it's suggestive to some scholars that there is an aspect of the affliction of the Philistines about which

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-9923141505175051102008-11-17T08:00:00.000-08:002008-11-17T19:16:24.080-08:00

In chapter five, we see a series of rather humorous miracles.First, the ark is taken to the temple of Dagon and left there. The following morning, Dagon's statue had fallen over, appearing to bow before the ark. Not liking this, the Philistines figure it's just an accident, and set Dagon upright again. The next morning, not only is Dagon on the ground, but his head and hands have been severed.

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-60213853246181726652008-11-14T08:00:00.000-08:002008-11-14T08:00:02.325-08:00

So despite the fact that the SAB has no notes on chapter 4, there's a lot here that I really think is noteworthy, including the fact that there are no notes despite the presence of certain items.Israel goes to battle against the Philistines, and early in the fighting, they sustain casualties in the neighborhood of 4,000. The SAB doesn't mark this attack against Israel as violent, unjust and

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-20466262900841705112008-11-13T08:00:00.000-08:002008-11-13T08:12:39.501-08:00

Chapter 3 opens with a verse that has an interesting phrase: "there was no open vision." It seems that unlike in various previous days, God was not speaking to the people of Israel directly through any prophet. In the previous chapter, one might wonder how the prophecy was delivered to Eli, and I suspect that in fact, that prophecy was not quite delivered. Despite the fact that in verse 13, God

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-60158947180708699862008-11-12T08:00:00.000-08:002008-11-12T08:00:03.744-08:00

1Samuel 2 opens with a little prayer by Hannah. Like many such passages, it contains a lot of flowery language that the SAB is going to take issue with. Note that this is poetic language; in taking the last point first, ("The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces; out of heaven shall he thunder upon them.") the SAB labels this verse as violent, unjust and intolerant, but notably does

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-68515697095823752982008-11-11T08:00:00.000-08:002008-11-11T08:24:40.739-08:00

The first issue of the book of Samuel is with Samuel himself. What tribe was he from? Samuel was a Levite, something I never realized before reading this comment in the SAB. I'd always wondered how Samuel ended up where he did in life without being a Levite, but since he is one, no problem. Oh, how do I know? The verse here in 1Samuel never names the tribe of Ephraim, only the mountain of Ephraim

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-78168831096116375662008-11-10T08:00:00.000-08:002008-11-13T22:19:05.482-08:00

The books of 1st and 2nd Samuel, in the original Hebrew Bible, were a single book. Actually, context seems to imply that that 1Samuel right through 2Kings was more or less a solid piece of historical narrative. What we're looking at here is the history of the Jewish monarchy, with 1Samuel being events leading up to the coronation of David, and 2Samuel being the story of David as King. I've often

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-82122795213604004422008-11-07T08:00:00.000-08:002008-11-13T22:18:35.358-08:00

So Boaz goes to the gate of the city and waits. The purpose is twofold: he's expecting the nearer kinsman to come through the gate eventually, and in that location, the elders of the city will be present to act as witnesses to whatever comes to pass. (Important men of the city in those days tended to sit by the city gate and talk about civic matters.) The man comes along and Boaz flags him

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-13964714954016743622008-11-06T08:00:00.000-08:002010-01-20T11:24:07.774-08:00

So here's Naomi's plan: Ruth is to go down to the threshing floor that night and meet up with Boaz. She will appeal to his better nature (and his probable sexual desire for a beautiful young woman) in order to ask him to perform his sacred duty as a "kinsman".The nature of the duty of a "kinsman" is outlined in various spots in the Mosaic Law. There are different words for a relative, but the

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-72249589330932122542008-11-05T08:00:00.000-08:002008-11-05T08:00:30.254-08:00

As chapter 2 opens, we are introduced to arguably the hero of this story, a man by the name of Boaz ("strength"). Boaz is apparently a wealthy in-law of Naomi, which will be very important to the story.In the land of Israel, it was a custom that people who could not fend for themselves, namely orphans and widows, were allowed to walk in the fields during harvest time and "glean". Essentially, if

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-69114147147785902092008-11-04T08:00:00.000-08:002008-11-04T08:43:24.225-08:00

The opening of the book of Ruth jumps right in, introducing us to many of the important characters and giving us an historical backdrop for the story. A man named Elimelech ("My God is King"), from Bethlehem ("House of bread", a city that later became very famous) in the tribe of Judah decides that in the face of difficult times, he needs to leave Israel and move to nearby Moab, a land peopled by

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-44619216831226878242008-11-03T08:00:00.000-08:002008-11-03T08:00:01.070-08:00

The book of Ruth is actually one of my favorite books for a number of both straightforward and odd reasons. The straightforward ones are mostly pretty self-evident. In the aftermath of the sex and violence of the book of Judges, (and yet, chronologically in the middle of it!) we finally see a story that's largely built in a framework of love, kindness, devotion and faith. This is a love story,

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-9701999220044100672008-08-10T22:28:00.000-07:002008-08-10T23:30:37.411-07:00

Ah, doesn't this story keep getting better? No, not really. Apparently all of a sudden, the Israelites start realizing that--especially to the extent that they have butchered an entire tribe of Israel--two wrongs don't make a right. So naturally, they do what anyone would, and decide to see if maybe three wrongs will do the trick.Since they had made a vow that they would never allow their own

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-36127861328604268652008-08-07T14:24:00.000-07:002008-08-07T15:11:17.035-07:00

Now, while I don't think that chapter 20 is quite as shocking in a simple sense (I mean after all, this isn't so personal; it's war, and this is just the way war is.) there is something more troubling about it from the point of view of an apologist: While God is completely absent from the previous chapter, it appears that the civil war that unfolds in response to the events of chapter 19 is

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-21262563359398421142008-08-06T13:43:00.000-07:002008-08-06T14:16:04.324-07:00

Okay, time to get back to it; I've got to finish this book. As some might know, I've been out of work for a while, and it's been hard to focus at times when I feel that every waking moment should be spent in job searching. As it happens, I've also been involved in a Bible study with my church that's been taking up a fair amount of my time, being a bit more involved than the usual sort. This week,

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-3247830680723547902008-07-03T16:55:00.000-07:002008-07-03T17:26:51.558-07:00

"In those days there was no king in Israel." Ah, the oft-repeated phrase in the book of Judges, usually followed by "every man did that which was right in his own eyes." Cleary, the main lesson taught in the book of Judges is that of a need for (and unfortunate lack at the time) an authority figure to hold the people together. It's funny, but even though the Bible mandates a certain separation

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-69994426401939227062008-06-27T11:52:00.000-07:002008-08-18T11:48:18.986-07:00

Seriously, SAB? No notes on Judges 17? Even if you're not a follower of the God of Israel, you've got to see how messed up this is. The fact that there were no notes on this chapter as well as no notes concerning the treatment received by Samson at the end of his life makes me wonder if the SAB is showing its prejudice in an odd manner, although I'm not sure what we're prejudiced against.

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-24487749834608314772008-06-19T07:09:00.000-07:002008-11-08T06:34:27.921-08:00

Ah Judges 16, and the story of Samson finally defeated. Here we see him fall to what must be his greatest weakness, his lust for women, and apparent unfailing trust of them despite all evidence against doing so. Yes, Samson goes to visit a prostitute in Gaza, but this is not his downfall yet, although one might wonder if the whole thing was a set-up for a trap. The Philistines fully expect to

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-54357612675741530852008-06-06T12:58:00.000-07:002008-11-08T06:35:16.375-08:00

So with each new chapter in Samson's life, he looks worse and worse. Aside from Samson's one supposedly redeeming feature of hating the Philistines, we see what might be considered a redeeming feature by some, but in his case is perhaps a bit of foreshadowing to his downfall: Even after his wife has betrayed him, he forgives her and goes back to her (whether it be a sexual betrayal or not, the

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-29835352744833972702008-06-04T07:24:00.000-07:002008-11-08T06:36:40.145-08:00

So with Judges 14, Samson's personal story begins. If Samson seems like an unlikely Biblical hero, that's because he is. He's a jerk, a drunk, a womanizer, and he's prone to fits of violent outburst that have a lot more to do with a sense that he's been personally wronged rather than a desire to see the will of God carried out, as with most of the other characters we've seen in this book. I'm not

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-21843560486498441542008-05-30T07:19:00.000-07:002008-08-18T12:04:27.399-07:00

So, with Judges 13, we begin the wade into the deep end of the book of Judges. The story of Samson is an ugly one that takes up a very large portion of the book, and unfortunately, there's not much to commend in the stories afterwards.Well, comparatively, this portion of the story, our introduction to Samson's parents, is pretty good. There's not much indication (yet) that there's anything really

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-31290477422166747882008-05-27T07:45:00.000-07:002008-05-27T08:09:43.322-07:00

Judges 12 is a short chapter with few comments from the SAB. It's funny, but I was reading this on my own over the weekend, and I anticipated what the comments would be; that's not always easy to do, as the SAB can be full of surprises.Anyway, as yet another sad footnote on the time of Jephthah's rule, we see a bizarre and bloody fallout of this war that shows itself in some sort of intertribal

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-48497801062759026932008-05-13T08:09:00.000-07:002008-08-18T12:11:12.994-07:00

Judges 11 gives us the very odd tale of Jephthah the Gileadite, a man whose life carries a few oddities that those like the SAB who like to find problems with the Bible are hardly going to overlook. Perhaps oddly, the SAB does not draw attention to the very first item of interest about Jephthah, the fact that apparently, he's a bastard. The fact that he is mentioned first and the following fact

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-20693108593155959342008-04-30T07:09:00.000-07:002008-04-30T07:35:39.515-07:00

Judges 10 is a short chapter, and one that has few notes. Actually, the two notes given are in the category of Absurdity, and like so many in that category, little explanation is given and I am left wondering what the deal is.Like a number of the Judges in the book, Tola is one that you might blink and miss. Oops, his story finished while I was writing that last sentence.Now the judge Jair is

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-72379081598252877512008-04-22T06:59:00.000-07:002009-02-06T07:49:16.055-08:00

Yikes! If you think politics are ugly today, you obviously have no idea what it was like in previous centuries. Here in Judges 9, we get a taste of dirty politics from a few millennia ago. (Once again, let me lead off with the caveat that we can't assume that God approves of any of this, with one exception that must be addressed. We'll get there.)Having made a number of very bad decisions in his

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-42877661525355745202008-04-18T07:12:00.000-07:002008-04-18T07:57:23.659-07:00

I guess it's fair to say that in Judges 8, we see a fair bit of Gideon's bad side. Clearly the man is a good military leader, but not a real "people person". Well, in general; he does manage to flatter some of the men of Ephraim enough to get them to lay off criticizing him.Other than that, though, we're not really seeing the best of Gideon as he threatens to beat up the men of Succoth and tear

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-55816307268954625662008-04-17T07:21:00.000-07:002008-04-17T08:04:21.291-07:00

I was thinking that today was not the day to tackle Judges 7, since I was pretty tired and didn't have much time, but I see this chapter has mostly charges of absurdity against it in the SAB, which are usually not so difficult to deal with, I think.So what is absurd here? First, there's this odd selection of Gideon's army by the manner in which people drink water. I've heard it suggested that

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-71977083734218688482008-04-11T06:52:00.000-07:002008-04-11T08:35:14.284-07:00

Okay, I've been a bit too busy for this, and I probably still am, but I've just got to keep going, as I would like to finish someday, although at the rate I've managed, it'll probably take me more than 10 years to finish the whole Bible.Judges 6 has a few tough questions. Right off the top is the question of the Midianites. I was going to say that obviously, the Israelites in Moses' time didn't

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-82173883533398528782008-04-01T06:52:00.000-07:002008-04-01T07:48:04.325-07:00

Judges 5 is a familiar scene that we've seen before in the Bible, and we'll see again: Battle's over, and having won, the Israelites sing a victory song. Typical of this sort of thing, there's a lot of poetic language, some of which (such as fighting "stars") the SAB picks up on and criticizes, and some of which (such as God himself marching into battle) it does not. Anyway, my blanket response

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-57117797633054249722008-03-27T07:01:00.000-07:002008-08-18T12:41:38.571-07:00

Chapter 4 presents us with a fair amount of repetition of issues I've already addressed. As I already said (and I guess I'll keep saying "I already said"), the book of Judges largely follows a repetitive pattern, perhaps illustrating humankind's tendency to fail to learn from history. Their previous leader dies, they turn back to sin, they reap the results and end up at the mercy of a foreign--

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-10210524010853380702008-03-21T08:06:00.000-07:002008-03-21T12:15:25.243-07:00

Judges 3 starts with what seems like a lot of repetition, but there's a bit more to it than that. The SAB says of verse 8 that God sold the Israelites into slavery "again". Actually, while this was mentioned in the previous chapter, this is the first time (unless you might want to count their time in Egypt, which isn't quite the same). As I said in my last post, the second chapter is more like a

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-38738058985741081232008-03-19T13:15:00.000-07:002008-03-20T08:15:22.089-07:00

The second chapter opens with a rebuke of Israel from God, and an accompanying rebuke of the text by the SAB. Apparently, this rebuke is absurd, unjust and intolerant. Frankly, the only one I see is the intolerant bit, but as I have said before, absurdity and injustice are in the eye of the beholder, and I see no reason to excuse intolerant behavior on the part of God. They didn't do their job,

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-27553554380426613162008-03-19T11:55:00.000-07:002008-03-21T11:12:25.223-07:00

It was the sort of thing that I would have saved for my other blog, but really I don't have so much to say about it. Apparently, the Dalai Lama has threatened to resign in the face of violence being committed by his followers in his homeland of Tibet. The Dalai Lama is just one of these guys you have a hard time not admiring even though his religious views are so disparate from your own.

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-78123027051879221642008-03-11T07:08:00.000-07:002008-08-18T13:24:46.644-07:00

I've been hesitating to start up the book of Judges for a number of reasons, one of which has not been that I was unaware of what an ugly book it is. I've known that from the first time I read it; you can't miss it. One thing that was lacking in me was a good idea of the proper way to say the things that needed to be said about it. Somehow, "This book is nasty. Let's go!" seemed a bit lacking.The

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-945916899735706322007-12-24T06:39:00.000-08:002008-08-18T13:27:06.148-07:00

I suppose technically, I left off the issue from verse 20, but I figured waiting until the second half to deal with it was good enough. I actually really hoped to be done with my Christmas blogging before Christmas Eve, as I hate to do last-minute Christmas anything, and I still wanted to put up something on my other blog. At least my shopping was done weeks ago.The story picks up six months

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-15321393550803888952007-12-21T15:13:00.000-08:002008-08-18T13:33:38.614-07:00

Luke chapter one is interesting in that it tells the accounts of two supernatural births. I've often mused on the fact that if you look into the fine details of the Gospel accounts, there happen to be a lot of connections between the people of the early church that aren't always as well-known as they should be, starting here where we find out that Jesus and John the Baptist are actually cousins

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-38525146147563146562007-12-14T12:33:00.001-08:002008-11-13T22:18:03.197-08:00

Having finished Joshua, I now intend to turn back to Exodus and do some more work there for a few chapters and then I'll come back to where I left off here after a while and start in on Judges, which is probably the ugliest book of the Bible, loaded full of plenty of sex and violence. For the moment though, I'd been considering going back an correcting the mistake I made before for reasons I do

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-44633568255303236832007-12-13T11:16:00.000-08:002007-12-13T13:14:26.369-08:00

Here in the final chapter of Joshua, Joshua once again calls the people together for a speech. It may be that this is a continuation of the speech from the previous chapter, or it may be at a later time. While Joshua did say in the last chapter that he expected to die "this day", I have discussed before that the word "day" is often figurative, and not necessarily always a 24-hour period. I

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-38438812207524852112007-12-11T06:59:00.000-08:002008-11-13T22:17:29.539-08:00

In Joshua 23, apparently the fighting is over, and Joshua calls the tribes together to give them a speech. The main purpose of the speech seems to be pretty plain: he's giving a review of what the fighting was all about. He reminds them of their victories (and not their failures, perhaps hypocritical, but I'd like to think he was just aiming for a positive note) and admonishes them to stay

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-82684354585991087922007-12-10T07:47:00.000-08:002007-12-10T07:48:00.026-08:00

Maybe I should have covered more material in the last post, as most of the issues, well, pretty much through the rest of the book are repeats of the ones I already covered. We see numerous notes of various Canaanites that couldn't be driven out, a giant or two here and there, casting lots to determine a course of action or division of land, etc. This is really the part of the book of Joshua

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-63469850775005044022007-12-04T11:32:00.000-08:002009-11-02T13:53:17.836-08:00

My birthday occurred not too long ago, and while some people in my family claim I'm a difficult person to shop for, I don't think that's necessarily the case. This is based on the fact that everyone that gave me a gift managed to find a really good one, and the one person who picked an item on my Amazon wish list was my sister, who got me Robert Alter's translation of the Torah, and it was she

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-30919526618624339872007-11-27T11:17:00.000-08:002008-03-19T07:33:49.874-07:00

Throughout the next few chapters, the notes get rather sparse. A lot of the book of Joshua is pretty much an accounting of which cities were destroyed, how many kings vanquished, and who got the real estate.In chapter 12 however, the SAB finds one thing noteworthy: giants. Once again, there is little given in the way of explanation, only the icons for absurdity and science/history. Oddly enough,

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-16702170820397946472007-11-20T12:48:00.000-08:002007-11-20T13:21:26.816-08:00

Well, I didn't have much time today, but when you toss out the main questions of violence and fairness of Holy War as I've been doing, you're not left with much for this chapter. So, I figured I try for a quick one. Actually, the two remaining notes here are both going to relate back to things I've already discussed.First of all, the SAB notes some cruelty in the fact that Joshua houghed, or

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-28596871445797688562007-11-16T11:55:00.000-08:002007-11-16T13:09:33.380-08:00

It's been a while since I've gotten to post, partially because I've been generally busy, but also partially because I've been looking up the meanings of all the names in this chapter to see if it offers any interesting insight. The only thing that seemed to be directly related to the story in this chapter was the fact that "Lachish" means "invincible", which it apparently was not, since even with

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-46033327739483278362007-11-12T07:28:00.000-08:002007-11-12T12:59:42.200-08:00

The story of the Gibeonites has always held a bit of a confusion for me, and clearly not in the same way it holds confusion for the SAB. Back in the day when I read this book for the first time, and didn't have the understanding that I have now of the book, this story always seemed strange. It still does, but in a different way.Before I had gained my current viewpoint on the nature of Holy war, I

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-43523434723259619532007-11-09T07:45:00.000-08:002007-11-09T13:15:10.275-08:00

Well, I'm finding myself with very little time this morning for posting, but then I realized I have very little to say about this chapter, so I'll probably say it at great length anyway.Contradiction is a funny thing, because I have my own standards for what I consider to be the difference between a "minor" contradiction and a "major" contradiction. Some people like to accuse me of hypocrisy for

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-67313571340960348942007-11-07T07:07:00.000-08:002007-11-07T08:08:53.478-08:00

So now we come to the topic of Achan. Yes, the title of this post is a correctly copied verse from 1Chronicles, and I'm surprised this typo was not noted in the SAB, as Bible critics love to point out scribal errors, which this might be, although it could also be a matter of several hundred years' difference in Hebrew dialect. It is notable that achar is the Hebrew word for "trouble", and the

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-76026810622049155732007-11-02T12:18:00.000-07:002007-11-02T12:59:48.632-07:00

Often I try to imagine what the world would be like if the Holocaust had not happened. Six million Jews slaughtered by Hitler's Third Reich, not to mention several million others including Gypsies, homosexuals, Jehovah's Witnesses and the disabled. It was a horrible time in modern history, but one of the things that's perhaps really disturbing about it is that it really wasn't an isolated

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-92068606221043683192007-10-31T07:13:00.000-07:002010-01-20T11:24:41.885-08:00

Joshua 6 is the first chapter of Joshua to have a lot of notes in the SAB, but the interesting thing about the chapter to me is something that doesn't appear in the notes, at least as of the time I write this. Perhaps this will be another response that will result in additional notes added to the SAB rather that existing notes taken away. We'll see.First thing, and most obvious to anyone at all

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-35280604524644749682007-10-24T07:21:00.000-07:002007-10-30T07:16:40.889-07:00

Oh, I gotta tell you, I've actually been looking forward to this one a great deal. The SAB marks Joshua 5 in two places with the "Absurd" icon, and indeed, this chapter is full of weirdness. This is as excellent a place as any to put forward my personal theory on God's modus operandi when it comes to the Jewish people: God wants the Jews to be "weird" so that other nations will notice them, and

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-7380264395469453192007-10-18T07:13:00.000-07:002007-10-18T08:26:36.504-07:00

Well, I was going to combine chapters four and five, since chapter four only has one note on it, but then I realized that to do it justice, I ought to devote a whole post to that single note. It's one of the odd things about the Bible and people who believe in it to those who are on the outside of that group, a group referred to by some as "God-fearing people".I thought I had actually already

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-90389714069873425192007-10-16T17:17:00.000-07:002007-10-24T07:33:54.211-07:00

There is very little to be said about this chapter, so I'll just write it up quick here. In fact there are only two issues the SAB brings up, and one of them has already been addressed. Whether or not one accepts my explanation, I don't think I have more to add to what I've already said regarding the failed conquest of Canaan.Actually, the second point isn't exactly a new one to address. So the

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-37770606264361377482007-10-16T07:36:00.000-07:002007-10-16T17:48:37.182-07:00

I was considering giving a bit of the standard talk about how the Hebrew word used here is questioned by some who believe that there is possibility that Rahab was not a prostitute, but an innkeeper. Sure, translation can be difficult at times, and it may be that the ambiguity is real, but then, one still has to wonder about the concept of a woman being an innkeeper in that day and that culture,

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-88845267150880914582007-10-15T11:52:00.000-07:002007-10-16T17:46:56.044-07:00

I realized over the weekend that there was good piece of advice I've given many people over the years that I'm not taking for myself. If you try to work your way through the Bible from beginning to end, you're probably going to come to one or more parts that are boring and/or difficult, and you'll find it hard to proceed. I've always told people that if you're trying to read the Bible, it's

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-50261026314917302922007-09-07T08:00:00.000-07:002007-10-23T07:36:26.921-07:00

There is a lot to be said actually for this one verse, which encapsulates a number of issues. Some of them I have addressed at length previously, such as the matter of polytheism. Most of the issues were at least touched on in this post, but as I mentioned there that there ought to be a future post that would delve more deeply into it, I think this is finally the time for it. While Exodus 22:20

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-1479631328616253762007-06-22T21:35:00.000-07:002007-06-22T22:12:48.328-07:00

Well, I was going to let it sit until a future date, but then, in writing the last post, something came up that truly troubled me, and I decided to jump ahead to an issue that I originally meant to leave for much later: sex with a menstruating woman.Those who have had dealings with me before elsewhere, and perhaps a few times in this blog, will know that I sometimes will say something like "Well,

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-77582785849701172432007-06-22T08:34:00.000-07:002007-06-22T13:18:09.813-07:00

I thought I had covered beastiality in my post on animal rights. I guess not. It's hard to keep track of what I was intending to do sometimes, I guess, but I'll assume I was leaving it for this post, where I will try to go over the broad topic of sexual sins in the Mosaic Law. For those wanting to keep track, I'm going to assume that the SAB has covered the topic properly and draw from its notes,

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-46121852605609225802007-06-08T12:28:00.000-07:002009-09-29T09:03:59.838-07:00

Once again, here is a post about other people's blogs, and the links that love them. I don't recall whether I ever pointed out that I added a link to Steve Wells' blog, Dwindling In Unbelief. It's pretty good; mostly more of the same stuff he puts on the SAB, but in a looser form. In the comments of his blog, I came across a couple of other blogs that I thought a person who liked my blog might

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-51038746808626035032007-06-05T16:40:00.000-07:002009-09-29T09:13:26.115-07:00

I figure I have about four posts to go to get through the end of Exodus 22, and I really hope to finish them before the month is out. My output has slowed down greatly as of late for various reasons, some of which are beyond my control. However, I wanted to take a break to talk once again about my aims for this blog, mostly for my own benefit. (Partially that's because I don't think most readers

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-55133828700560808762007-05-30T08:01:00.000-07:002007-05-30T08:29:34.813-07:00

A girl I briefly dated in college with whom I was friends for quite some time used to always say of the Salem witch trials, "Why is it that people always say that it's a shame that these women were falsely accused of being witches? Does that imply that if any of them were actual witches (which a few of them may have been) that would make it morally acceptable to kill them?" It was a rhetorical

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-5245772878046705372007-05-03T09:19:00.000-07:002007-05-03T09:19:40.784-07:00

You know, I have to admit; I've been stalling on this one. There are different reasons that certain topics are less than savory to talk about. As I expressed previously, abortion is a topic that I hate to discuss because it seems to be impossible to discuss without starting a fight. This time however, there are multiple reasons for me to dread this post.While the subject of the verse (Ex 22:16)

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-16329280625612062182007-04-25T13:46:00.000-07:002007-05-03T07:48:49.424-07:00

It's fascinating to me to find that in thetime that I have been working on this, there has been so much change in the text of the SAB. In going back and cleaning up old entries, I've found that a few things I attempted to refute appear to have been accepted by Steve Wells (although not necessarily solely on my say-so, of course) and edited out.At the same time, I note that there are new things

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-30644351846956387082007-04-25T07:51:00.000-07:002010-01-20T11:25:02.185-08:00

The SAB finds the idea of capital punishment for animals absurd, apparently, and I suppose it sounds that way when you put it like that. Really, though, it makes a lot of sense to me that if an animal is dangerous, then it would be best to put it down. (If you're an animal rights activist, you'd more likely consider this cruel than ridiculous.) Furthermore, as verse 29 says, if a person who owns

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-69988016911713097242007-03-15T18:32:00.000-07:002007-03-15T19:14:34.722-07:00

I'm going to put up a short post, just for the heck of it. Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe. (Exodus 21:24-25) This is a short little phrase, and perhaps one of the most famous, most misunderstood, and most famously misunderstood of all Bible passages. The SAB makes no comment on the verse, but merely marks the

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-9702506369560997092007-02-22T08:26:00.000-08:002007-04-05T08:05:15.963-07:00

Aside from being busy with other things both important and non-important, I've simply been...well, sort of the opposite of looking forward to this post. The next topic to be raised by the SAB in going through Exodus is that of abortion, and there seem to be few topics as highly-charged. I'm tempted to disallow comments on this post, but instead, I'll warn any would-be posters that I'm likely to

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14900114.post-1167337748507574502006-12-28T12:29:00.000-08:002007-04-03T16:48:44.410-07:00

Okay, I've been slacking on this, so let's kill off the year with a post on the subject of capital punishment. As I think I mentioned in my other blog (Hmm, it seems I mentioned it in a post that's in progress and has not yet been posted, oh well.) this is actually one of a handful of difficult subjects for me as my personal views are not fully lined up with the position the Bible seems to be

Bruckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08445755788968924719noreply@blogger.com2