Imagine you are an omnipotent Creator determined to restore a world that is in rebellion against you and headed for hell. What would you do? A flood, that would do it. Or, better, a huge fire. Wipe it out and start over. That would do it. Would you pick out a single obscure sheik, send his descendants into slavery and then bring them out, give them a land and eventually kings, and then send them out of the land again?... Read more
Israel complained about conditions in the wilderness. Some in Israel wanted to return to Egypt. In Egypt, they worshiped Egypt’s gods. Therefore: The complaint in the wilderness was a complaint against Yahweh, and conversely a call to turn back to the gods of the fathers. The logic is identical to that of the worshipers of the Queen of Heaven in Jeremiah’s time: “we will certainly carry out every word that has proceeded from our mouths, by burning sacrifices to the... Read more
Israel complained about conditions in the wilderness. Some in Israel wanted to return to Egypt. In Egypt, they worshiped Egypt’s gods. Therefore: The complaint in the wilderness was a complaint against Yahweh, and conversely a call to turn back to the gods of the fathers. The logic is identical to that of the worshipers of the Queen of Heaven in Jeremiah’s time: “we will certainly carry out every word that has proceeded from our mouths, by burning sacrifices to the... Read more
Shestov again, from a 1921 letter to his daughters: “When the infant grows up, he is no longer attracted by his mother’s breast, but it would not be natural if, from the first day, he rejected it. When we ascend a staircase we leave behind the lower step in passing to the higher, but previously the lower one was before us. This must not be forgotten; otherwise, one will obtain exactly the opposite of what he would have wished to... Read more
Shestov again, summarizing the implications of Kierkegaard’s insight that sin is an effort to shore ourselves up against our createdness: “The Nothingness that the tempter pointed out to our forefather prompted his fear before the unlimited will of the Creator; and he rushed to knowledge, to the eternal, uncreated truths, in order to protect himself from God. And so it has continued to the present day: we fear God, we see our salvation in knowledge, in gnosis. Could there be... Read more
In an essay on Dostoevsky and Kierkegaard, Lev Shestov traces Kierkegaard’s pilgrimage away from his youthful enthusiasm for Hegel toward biblical faith. On Kierkegaard’s reading, Hegel urged that philosophy and spirit transcend the finite and silly obsessions of Scripture, which presents at best representations of spirit. Kierkegaard ran aground just there: He “suddenly felt that there lay hidden in the great master’s philosophy a treacherous, fatal lie and a terrible temptation. He recognized in it the eritis scientes of the... Read more
In an essay on Dostoevsky and Kierkegaard, Lev Shestov traces Kierkegaard’s pilgrimage away from his youthful enthusiasm for Hegel toward biblical faith. On Kierkegaard’s reading, Hegel urged that philosophy and spirit transcend the finite and silly obsessions of Scripture, which presents at best representations of spirit. Kierkegaard ran aground just there: He “suddenly felt that there lay hidden in the great master’s philosophy a treacherous, fatal lie and a terrible temptation. He recognized in it the eritis scientes of the... Read more
First Pharaoh attacks Israel. Then the Amalekites attack, an attack from a fraternal enemy, a descendant of Esau (Genesis 36). Finally, Moses gets attacked by various rebels within Israel. Israel gets attacked by the Gentiles, by the brother Amalekites, by nearer brothers within Israel. And Moses has to lead Israel from all three forms of bondage. These, of course, are identical to the three courts that try Jesus: Pilate the Roman, Herod the Idumean/Edomite, and the Jewish Sanhedrin. Read more
In today’s sermon text, Israel fights Amalekites for the first time. It is not the last battle with Amalek. Saul has to fight them too, and David, and they aren’t finally wiped out until the book of Esther. Each time Israel defeats Amalek, other Gentiles turn to the Lord. After the victory under Moses, Jethro the priest of Midian advises Moses. When David defeats the Amalekites who attack Ziklag, he forms an alliance with Hiram of Tyre. While the Jews... Read more
Exodus 17:10: Joshua did as Moses told him, and fought against Amalek, and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. There are two locations in this story, and two groups of people. Down below, in the valley, Joshua and the armies of Israel fight the Amalekites. Up on the top of a hill overlooking the battle stand three men, Moses, Aaron, and Hur, together holding up the rod of the Lord. As Pastor Sumpter has... Read more
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