“The laws outlined in Leviticus 19 and their equivalents in Deuteronomy have a whole range of community laws that are about protecting the weakest in society and restraining the most powerful.” -Ash Barker (Making Poverty Personal)
Tag: Deuteronomy
“Giant” King Of of Bashan, Thou = Familiar
1) Something jumped out at me when I was reading the other day. Deu. 3:11 mentions the size of the bed of a giant (King Of of Bashan) as being “…4 cubits in width according to the standard [or common] cubit”. Why add this whole clause “according to the standard cubit” unless this isn’t the cubit they usually used (royal cubits?) Previously I’d done a little
preliminary research on the cubit and which cubit length would Moses have measured the tabernacle in, seeing good arguments for the length being in royal cubits. I’d like to investigate this anomaly usage of cubit further, but this little gem seems to be one more piece of evidence in favor of that argument. And evidence that the enemy king’s bed was slightly smaller than it sounds ;-).
2) Thou. I was reading up on some biblical Greek grammar stuff, and came across an explanation of why “you” is the same for singular and plural in English. Basically, English *used to* have different conjugations for the two, thou art for the singular, and you are for the plural. Using the plural address (you are) was also occasionally used as a polite/formal version for the singular, and the singular (thou art) was considered more
intimate/informal. Over time the singular informal was replaced with the
formal or plural usage (hence why it is you are not you is). Understanding
this makes it so much more clear why old hymns are so chock full of
vocabulary that sounds antiquated or colloquial today. Why would a hymn say “thou art strong ” rather than “you are strong”? Because it was
emphasizing the familiar intimate relationship we have with God. To someone from that era, a modern worship song that uses you eg “you are my all in all” would sound like God is formal and distant, not accurately representing the character of God.
The Temptation of Jesus
Today’s Daily Wordseemed quite aptly timed lesson about temptations 🙂“God never tempts us to do evil, but sometimes he allows us to go through seasons of temptation in order to make us stronger. In Greek, the words for “temptation” and “test” are the same.”
“temptation attacks us where our identity and mission as the children of God intersect”
“The temptations attempted to distort Jesus’ identity and pull him off mission.”
Temptations
1) turn stone into bread – attempt to get Jesus to use his power for selfish ends
2) throw self from atop temple – attempt to force God to rescue Jesus from a reckless choice
3) worship satan for riches – wrong means (worship satan) to a right end (all the kindoms of the earth under Jesus)?
Quotes Jesus used to refute satan: Deuteronomy 8:3, 6:13, 6:16 — from the period of wandering the wilderness following the exodus when Isrealites gretly tempted and “chose to fail often”.
“Jesus, however, read Scripture and learned the right lesson from Israel’s wrong example. He succeeded where they failed by leaning wholeheartedly on the wisdom of God the Father. The question is: Do we know what God has said, and do we heed his words?”