Category Archives: Bible Study

Christmas Connection’s 2020

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My wife found these two verses as we were looking into a place called Migdal Eder.  This Christmas connection adds support to the story we know and love.

Migdal Eder is a new place and term for us.  We heard about it in connection with the sheep and shepherds around Bethlehem.  In my post (Jeremiah – A Christmas Connection) we talked about Jeremiah 31:15 because of Rachel and her death and mourning.  Both of these things are part of the history of Bethlehem.  Migdal Eder was a tower that was used to guard the sheep that were used for the Temple.  This tower/cave/birthing pen/stable might have been where Jesus was born.  The reference in the Bible is Micah 4:8 and uses the term watchtower and stronghold and in 5:2 we have Bethlehem added as the location. There are many opinions and much uncertainty about Migdal Eder but I feel it has a place in the Story.   

During the study we saw Job 38:7 – “the morning stars sang together and all of the angels shouted for joy” (NIV).  This is part of the Lord’s answer to Job.  It also would fit very well into the Genesis narrative of the story of creation.  It describes the angel’s songfest for the shepherds on the first Christmas.  So, how does a creation idea work into Christmas?  Jesus’ arrival marked a new beginning for mankind and especially Israel. The Bible is the story of the children of God and our history.  First, with natural Israel and then with spiritual Israel.  The two stories need to be told together to get to all that the Lord God wants to show us.

Over the years, we have heard many facts and traditions about the swaddling clothes or strips of cloth that Mary put on Jesus and that the shepherds were to be looking for.  These two things are tied to Migdal Eder.    

They could have been at THAT stable for the lambs for the Temple.  There seems to be a few facts about the wrapping up of Temple lambs in strips of cloth from the worn-out priest robes.  Some people reference tour guides in Israel as their source of information and others quote an eighteenth-century book about a third-century oral tradition. Do your own study – the idea is nice but very few solid facts about wrapping up baby lambs.

Ezekiel 16:4 does talk about the practice of child care after birth.  The child was washed in water, rubbed with salt, and wrapped in strips of cloth.  This verse and story of how God treated Jerusalem can also be used as part of the Exodus story as the washing might be the trip through the Red Sea after they were delivered from Egypt. The rubbing with salt may be the forty years of wandering and the wrapping up could be the protection God gave Joshua and David.

These verses are good additions to my other Christmas Connection verses.

 

Leah the Overlooked

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Leah is one Bible character that just seems to be overlooked or ignored.  I am writing this during the Christmas season which is part of the reason this is bugging me.  I do have a habit of disagreeing with popular preaching and she will be added to my growing list. (Lo Debar was not a dump, Mephibosheth was not pathetic, and Jesse was not cruel to David. Leah was the good faithful FIRST wife of Jacob who probably had “pretty eyes”.)  This Christmas season I have heard Rachel mentioned several times and Leah mentioned only once, and that was only because she was unloved.  So, please bear with me as I try to show you why Leah should be treated better!

Jacob – I know that he got the short end of the deal with Laban, but did he really have room to complain about deceptive practices!  He was not the poster child of fair-trade practices.  (By the way, Jacob was OLD when he took a liking to Rachel.)  It is also very plain that he did not ignore Leah, she had seven children (six boys and a girl).  All of Leah’s family came before the name change to Israel.  Yes, it still amazes me that from that point on he was called by both names.  That change has many foreshadows.

Rachel – She must have been good looking but her personality really did match Jacob’s – she was a thief (her father’s idols), a con artist (Ruben’s gourds), and a liar (faking her period before her father).  Leah is only mentioned in the Books of Genesis and Ruth (she was placed after Rachel), while Rachel is mentioned more times and made it into Jeremiah and Matthew.  She was the “loved one” but I still have a hard time seeing that she was the “better one”.  Because of her “loved” status people have heaped accolades on her but I shutter when they try to compare her to Ruth and Mary.  (Which by the way, Mary was a descendent of Leah and Jacob through Judah.)  Also, the fact that she was not taken to the family burial cave is a little perplexing.  It would seem that Jacob was grieving and set up a pillar over her grave, but he did not take the time to honor her with a trip to the only property the family owned at the time. I know she may have stunk by the time they made it there but he did not even try. 

Leah – Her exact role in Laban’s con of Jacob is never made clear, except that she went along with it and that Jacob could not tell the girls apart in the dark (okay, he was probably drunk).

At first, it bothered me that Leah was not mentioned more than she was in the Bible.  That was until I remembered that the genealogies in Matthew and Luke were really her family trees.  Boaz, Jesse, David, and Jesus are all her grandchildren, as were the majority of Jerusalem. 

It is probable that Leah took care of baby Benjamin and Joseph after the death of Rachel and that she was the “mother” in Joseph’s dream.  How long she lived and when she died is not told to us, only that she was buried in the cave with the rest of the family. 

Leah’s Sons – Please do not point to the behavior of the children as an indicator of how good the parents were.  If you read carefully the best one was Joseph and he may have had a pride problem before the trip to Egypt.  Leah’s children in order of their birth are Ruben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, and Dinah.  See the graphic in Marching Order.  

It is apparent that “true wives” versus servant girls and first-born and rights of the firstborn come in God’s planning in the Exodus story and occupying the Land.  Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun are in the prominent position of first in the Exodus march and face east in the camp around the Tabernacle.  Rachel’s family of Ephraim, Manasseh, and Benjamin set out third and are on the west side of the Tabernacle.  This is not bad, but they are not in the lead.

After the kingdom was split into two parts the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and Levi (Aaron) are the ones that inhabit Jerusalem and protect the Temple.

A Thought – Like many things Leah and Rachel are types and shadows of things to come.  Leah the overlooked, the first wife of Jacob should/does represent present-day Judaism.  That would make Rachel a shadow of Christianity.  Okay, I am not sure how comfortable I am with that idea but God bless Leah the Overlooked and her part in the Family of God. 

Special pic is from the Ultimate Bible Collection – Leah_w_Rachel_67-63

Joseph the Tzaddik Christmas 2020

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Joseph, the step-father of Jesus, is introduced in Matthew as tzaddik(righteous) for his part in the Christmas story.  That statement in Matthew 1:19 caught my attention because he was making a choice that was not religious (the Law).  John 8 (the woman caught in adultery) would have been the religious solution and would have had Mary stoned as an example. (Was Jesus thinking about His mother while this was taking place?) Stoning was the religious answer, not the righteous one! Joseph’s life and that decision made him tzaddik.

Why, am I using the Hebrew term? I used the two websites below and found the thoughts and the connections very interesting.  This is also a study blog, which means that getting out of your comfort zone is okay. (Note- the Chabad.org site is not Christian, but has great views into Jewish thoughts and practices that I do not find in Christian sites.)  Chabad portrays a tzaddik as a person who is calibrated to the Creator’s original concept of being human.  That dwarfs many modern definitions of the word righteous and challenges me to do some internal checking.

Joseph is not the only tzaddik in the Christmas story.  Luke also places Elizabeth and Zechariah as righteous Christmas characters.  Luke, being a Gentile, would have used the term dikaios for the idea of righteousness.  

I did use the Orthodox Jewish Bible, that is in Bible Gateway, to start this study; use the parallel function.  Grammar is a work in progress for me.  So Jewish grammar is a step-up and I may not have used tzaddik correctly in all of my sentences.

http://www.hebrew-streams.org/works/ntstudies/tzaddikim.html

https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/2367724/jewish/Tzaddik.htm

In a previous Christmas post about Joseph, I had suggested comparing the Joseph of the Old Testament with the one of the New.  I will do a few of those now.

  • Both went to Egypt and escaped certain death.  I have no problem believing that the first Joseph would have been killed by his brothers and the second Joseph would have put up a fight.
  • I do believe that they came back because of/about Passover.  The death angel had cleared the way for Jesus’ return and Joseph’s body came back with Moses.
  • The Magi supplied for the needs of the Holy Family (the gifts) as Joseph met the needs of his family in Egypt.
  • Righteous – both by the way they lived their lives are righteous (tzaddik).  One was before the Law and the second one was before fulfillment of the Law.
  • Dreams – Joseph of Genesis had and interrupted dreams.  Jesus’s Joseph had dreams and then acted because of them.  Okay, they were different types of dreams.

Jeremiah – His Kings

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Jeremiah served under several kings of Judah and saw Neco and Nebuchadnezzar flex their muscles in Judah.  In Jeremiah’s book Manasseh and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, are mentioned. Jeremiah, in its present form, is not linear in construction but is grouped loosely by several different themes.  One grouping could be that in the first part of the book is that people, priests, and prophets (false) are dealt with, and the second part focuses on kings and nations.  So, in this post, I will try listing Jeremiah’s kings as they appear while doing something important. (Let me explain using Josiah.  He is frequently listed with his son’s names as an identifier but not directly involved in that story.  (In another context that is also a reminder that they could have been doing better because of his good example. Those listings I will not put in.)  Some commentary will appear and some noteworthy events, but please go to the post on Josiah for a different look at his children and grandchild.

Josiah

  1. 1:1 Jeremiah started in his thirteen-year of reign. (Jeremiah had been ministering for five years when Josiah celebrated Passover. 2 Chronicles 35:19)
  2. 3:6 A word about unfaithful Israel (northern kingdom) and unfaithful Judah.  The leader was trying to do right, the people were not.
  3. 25:3 The length of time Jeremiah had been prophesying – twenty-three years.
  4. 36:2 Jeremiah’s commission to write down his words from the Lord. (Josiah is a time marker; the event was in the 4th year of Jehoiakim.)

Jehoahaz/Shallum

22:11 The word that he would never return to Judah and Jerusalem. (He ruled three months.)

Jehoiakim/Eliakim – Possible Chronology Order

  1. 1:3 Time of his reign. (Eleven years)
  2. 22:18 No one would mourn for him.
  3. 24:1 Identified Jehoiachin as his son.  (See Josiah’s Children)
  4. 25:1 His fourth year and the first of Nebuchadnezzar reign.  Captives were taken.  Verse 11 is the first mention, by Jeremiah, about seventy years of captivity.
  5. 36:1 Jehoiakim’s fourth year and when God told Jeremiah to write down all of the words he had been given.
  6. 36: 9 – 32 He burns the scroll Baruch wrote for Jeremiah.
  7. 45:1 Refers to the writing of the scroll in 36:1.
  8. 46:2 Refers to his fourth year, but this word is against Pharaoh Neco and his defeat at Carchemish.
  9. 26:1-20 Jeremiah prophesies and is threatened with death.
  10. 26:21,22,23 He had the prophet Uriah retrieved from Egypt and killed.
  11. 35:1 When Jeremiah learned a lesson from the Recabites.
  12. 52:2 Compares Jehoiakim to Zedekiah and the evil they did.

Other references: 2 Kings 23: 34 – 36; 24: 1- 19; 1 Chronicles 3:15+16; 2 Chronicles 36: 4-8; Daniel 1: 1+2

Jehoiachin

  1. 22:24 + 28 Words that he will be cast out with his children.
  2. 24:1 The word about two baskets of figs when he, his officials, and the craftsmen and artisans were taken to Babylon. (He ruled three months and ten days or 100 days.)
  3. 27:20 The pillars, the Sea, the movable stands, and other furnishings would be taken to Babylon.
  4. 28:4 A word from a false prophet about Jehoiachin’s return to Jerusalem.
  5. 29:2 Jeremiah had sent a letter after the time marker of Jehoiachin leaving Judah. 
  6. 52:31, 33, 34 Jehoiachin was released and taken care of in Babylon.

Zedekiah – Possible Chronology Order

  1. 1:3 History of Jeremiah and Zedekiah’s eleven years. 
  2. 24:8 Word about a basket of figs and how God will deal with Zedekiah and the survivors. 
  3. 29:3 When Jeremiah sent the letter to the exiles about the seventy years of serving Babylon.  (This is hard to place but I would put it before Zedekiah’s trip to Babylon. Jehoiachin was only in power 100 days.)
  4. 49:34 A word about Elam early in the rule of Zedekiah.  Elam was an area north and east of the Persian Gulf. This is an interesting word about an ancient, long-surviving culture (see the link below).  This is an example of the non-linear editing order.  Elam/Susa is the setting for the Book of Esther. Verse 39 was fulfilled. Chapter 50:1 is a word against Babylon which subjugated Elam. 
  5. 51:59 An event in his fourth year when he went to Babylon. Jeremiah sent a letter with Seraiah about Babylon. 29:3 and this verse/event is possibly the same story.
  6. 27:1,3,12 The word that Zedekiah and other kings were to bow their neck to Nebuchadnezzar.  It was early in his reign. (28:1 has this in the same year.)
  7. 28:1 The fourth year and fifth month of Zedekiah’s rule (see 27:1-12) and a false prophet breaks the yoke.
  8. 21:1,3,7 He sent people to have Jeremiah inquire of God because of Nebuchadnezzar attacking Jerusalem.
  9. 34:2,4,6 A word about how Zedekiah would not die by the sword.
  10. 34:8 After Zedekiah gives slaves their freedom, only to enslave them again.
  11. 34:21 God retracts His offer and Zedekiah will die by the sword. (1. Pharaoh Neco had marched out of Egypt to battle Nebuchadnezzar. 2.There are several words about this topic. It seems that God was willing to give him a chance.)
  12. 37:1 – 21 The time must be after the ninth year of Zedekiah.  They are not listening to Jeremiah but the king sends a private envoy to ask him a question. (The Babylonian army withdraws because of Neco.  Jeremiah is thrown into prison because he tries to leave the city.  Zedekiah calls for him again, he is afraid of the people. He also assigns Jeremiah to a different prison with food.)
  13.  32:1,3,4,5 Jeremiah bought his cousin’s field and Zedekiah is warned again about fighting Nebuchadnezzar. This is the tenth year and Jeremiah was held prisoner in the courtyard.
  14. 38:5 Jeremiah is put in a muddy cistern because Zedekiah won’t stop his officials.
  15. 38:14 – 24 Zedekiah again sends for Jeremiah to ask him questions.  Zedekiah is afraid to follow the advice because of Jews who switched sides.  Jeremiah cannot talk about the conservation because of the haters.
  16. 39:1-7 The story of the fall of the city and Zedekiah’s attempt to escape, his capture, and his punishment.  Jeremiah was freed in this telling of the story.
  17. 52:1-11 A retelling of the fall of the city and the capturing of Zedekiah. This version goes into the destruction of the city and when more captives were removed.
  18. 44:30 This is a warning to the fleeing Jews to not go to Egypt. The association of Pharaoh and Zedekiah to the Jews was an example of what would happen to them.  (A change in Pharaohs.) 

Other references: 2 Kings 24:17 – 20, 25:1-7

https://www.ancient.eu/elam/

Jeremiah and Baruch

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I am telling on myself in the writing of Jeremiah and Baruch.  I wanted to paint the picture that Baruch son of Mahseiah was “family” to Jeremiah but not through parents or DNA. Baruch worked with Jeremiah for over eighteen of Jeremiah’s forty years of ministry. They went through some hard times together.  My problem is simple, they did share DNA through Abraham and possibly Levi.  The majority of the people in Jerusalem at that time belonged to the tribe of Judah, Benjamin, or Levi/Aaron.  

The Wiki article listed below has some interesting legends and facts about Baruch.  I do find it creditable that Baruch and Ezra were responsible for Kings and Chronicles.  I will try and point out information that is in the Book of Jeremiah.

Baruch and Jeremiah worked together for at least eighteen years.  Jeremiah 36: 4 – 32, 45: 1+2 are the first “time” they are mentioned together.  This is part of Jeremiah’s story where he has been told by God to write down the words he has been given.  The timestamp for these verses is the fourth year of Jehoiakim.  45: 1+2 is really out of sequence because it is the promise from God that Baruch will be kept safe.  It is put with the time when he and Jeremiah are being taken to Egypt against their will.  Baruch also has the Lord “read his mail” about wanting “great things for himself”.  The hard part of this story is Baruch faithfully reads the scroll of Jeremiah to the people, Temple officials, and then to a hostile Jehoiakim. And watch it burn at the hands of Jehoiakim.

Jeremiah 51:59 does not mention Baruch but his brother (or cousin) Seraiah son of Mahseiah.  Seraiah was given a scroll to take to the exiles in Babylon. This took place in the fourth year of Zedekiah.  Seraiah is a name used at least eighteen times for various people in several books of the Bible.  It is the name of priests, learned men, and court officials.  Reusing a name in a family was not uncommon at this time, and this is why I tried to make Baruch a close relative of Jeremiah.  Mahseiah is used only in the Book of Jeremiah.

Jeremiah 32:12 tells of Jeremiah buying a field and Baruch being given the deeds to the property and instruction on how to treat them.

Jeremiah 43: 3+6 are the last two times (chronology) Baruch is mentioned.  He is accused of swaying Jeremiah about going to Egypt.  According to legend he left Egypt alive and did other works for God. 

Notes – the fast in Jeremiah 36 must have been called because of Nebuchadnezzar.  The usual fasting times are in Zechariah 8:16, there is no mention of a ninth month fast.  Zechariah 7 may reference this time period as the fourth day and the ninth month is an unusual time to be asking about fasting.  

Homework – 1. Find Jeremiah’s other friends and allies (yes, he had some in his later years).  

2. Find all of the other priest and what they did in the Book of Jeremiah.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baruch_ben_Neriah