The House of Smart and Dumb

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In the house of smart and dumb

For several years you must come

Everyone rents a room

But you will choose just where you bloom

The stairs you climb is up to you but no one is excluded

Facilities are not the same

Utilities included

The power you will use

Determines just what dumb you lose

Few are those who lead the way

Most are they who simply stay

To climb the stairs takes a gladiator

But most just want the escalator

The day comes fast, the courses pass, for graduation yearning

And out the door you are pushed back in The Land of Learning

Moses’ Psalms

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Psalm 90 is actually the only Psalm that has a sub-heading that identifies Moses as its writer (some Bibles do not include these) but it is fairly clear that his family was musical. Look at Exodus 15 even though Moses may not be credited with writing that song he did lead the Israelites in its singing and in verse 21 Miriam follows his lead and starts playing the tambourine and dancing. He also leads (recites) a song in Deuteronomy 32, so he seems to at the very least have been a songwriter.  Over the years as I have read Psalms 90 through 100, I have wondered why most of them have no subtitles and that Psalm 101 is clearly marked as being written by David? The exception is Psalm 92, which is identified as being for the Sabbath Day. (possible placement of Psalms)

Ok, now for an active imagination because there is no proof for this other than contextual clues, and some people may think that is a bit thin. Look at the job that Moses actually had to do; teach the children of Israel about God after they had been in a pagan land for 400 years. They were more knowledgeable about Egyptian gods than they were about Yahweh just because they were around those demon gods’ art and statues. He had approximately one million people who knew very little about God and had to be instructed in His ways. What better way to do that than through song; so now read these Psalms as Sunday School lessons and focus on themes. Also, think about the trials and problems the Israelites had in Exodus through Deuteronomy.

  • Psalm 90 – (think Exodus 15:26)
  • Psalm 91 – (think Exodus 17:15) to make God your fortress and He will protect you
  • Psalm 92 – (think Exodus 16:27)
  • Psalm 93 – (think Deuteronomy 5,6) shifting thinking from Egyptian gods
  • Psalm 94 – (think Exodus 10:29) a call for justice
  • Psalm 95 – (a lesson after Meribah and sending out the first spies) exhortation to praise God and not tempt Him
  • Psalm 96 – to praise God for His general judgments
  • Psalm 97 – the majesty of God’s kingdom
  • Psalm 98 – a general call to praise God
  • Psalm 99 – the mercifulness of God and His right to reign (some sources suggest that it may not have been the Samuel of 1 Samuel)
  • Psalm 100 – (think Exodus 40) giving praise to enter the new worship area

Psalm 111 is mentioned in Part 2. (See below.)

Thompson Chain-Reference Bible was a resource. NIV usually includes subtitles on Psalms.

Moses picture: http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/db/Moses_Pleading_with_Israel_(crop).

Please see Part 2.  In Part 2, I focus on Moses’ Psalms or Songs outside of the Book of Psalms.

Fruit and Nuts – Grapes + Recabites

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Grapes, raisins, vines/branches, and wine

When it comes to symbolism what better icon is there than the grape plant for representing the Church of Jesus?  Jesus used it in parables, it is part of our communion and it is referred to throughout Scriptures. Now as with most symbols you can attach several meanings to grapes and its vines; I am going to look at a few and let God reveal others to you.

  1. Part of Communion – The wine is to represent the Blood of Jesus. * Sorry, I did not say grape juice! I do go to a church that uses grape juice but ancient Israel would have had to ferment it in order to keep it. Several churches I know use grape juice so as to not have weaker Christians stumble and I am good with that!* But wine is a “living drink” having come from many individual grapes all put together and joined by yeast (it does not have to symbolize sin) to become something new. Yeast in Luke 13:21 is used as a picture of the Kingdom of God.
  2. Jesus refers to Himself, as the Vine and we, the Church, are the branches. John 15:5
  3. Nazirites – People separated to God for a season could not eat or drink any part of the grape plant while under the vow. (Look in Numbers 6 and remember that Samson was a Nazirite and so was John the Baptist, probably.) Interesting type and shadow, that people in the Old Testament who choose to get close to God had to give up grapes, a symbol for the church.
  4. Medicine – In 1 Timothy 5:23 Paul urges Timothy to use a little wine because of his stomach; the alcohol can kill germs.
  5. The vine in Judges 9: 12+13 – refuses to rule over other plants so that it can do its job. I did not find any reference to a “vine” that was not grape.
  6. Misuse of wine – I guess the one that stands out is Noah getting drunk after the Flood. Proverbs 20: 1- “Wine is a mocker” (NIV) speaks for its self or Proverbs 23:29-35, “When will I awake so I can get another drink.”
  7. Raisins – They are grapes with most of the water (Holy Spirit) taken out of them but they still can revive a weak individual. Ex. 1 Samuel 30:12

However, you view wine drinking is between you and Jesus but the grape plant and its fruit are and always will be part of Church symbolism.

The picture of the grapevine is from http://free-extras.com/images/growing_grapes-5434.htm

Recabites (NIV) or Rechabites (KJV)

First, my apology to anyone who is not familiar with American slang; the word “nut” can carry several meanings and for this blog, it is someone who is crazy (at least according to worldly standards).

The main story of the Recab family is found in Jeremiah 35. Here the prophet Jeremiah is instructed by God to have all of the men of the family come to the Temple and serve them wine. No pressure right, THE MAN of God invites you to church and expects you to join in “the boys night out” he is throwing. They refuse and state that they don’t drink because of a long-standing family tradition. (Drinking alcohol is not the point but it could be; I know it is a very volatile topic. I don’t drink because it is one thing that God delivered me from when I got saved. I have found out through the years that it is not me who is uncomfortable with not drinking but the drinkers around me.) They also state another family tradition of not owning houses or planting fields. Now all of this combined for some people would qualify them as “NUTS”, no “American Dream” of your own house; then to top all of that off they tell the man of God, NO.

So who were these Recabites who would say no when put into such a pressure situation? According to 1 Chronicles 2:55 they are one of the family groups that came from Caleb, the faithful spy in the Exodus story. Now there are several “Recabs” in the Bible and not all of them are from Caleb and when you read verse 55 you may recognize Kenites and again there are several groups with this name that do not seem to be related. But more specifically they may have come from the Jehonadab who sided with Jehu in 2 Kings 10 (it makes you wonder if they are part of the 7000 in 1 Kings 19) to get rid of Ahab and the prophets of Baal. So taking a stand and following God was a long time family tradition for the Recabites.  And in Jeremiah 35:19 God honors them because they honored the instructions of their ancestors. With a promise to always have a family member who serves God!

The picture of the Recabites is from http://lavistachurchofchrist.org/Pictures/StandardBibleStoryReadersBook5/images/scan0017.jpg

Fruit and Nuts – Figs and Nabal

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Figs

Let us start our discussion of figs by talking about apples. In the Garden of Eden, there were two fruit trees that Adam and Eve did not eat from; according to Wikipedia, it is probable that they “became” apple trees during the Renaissance. I would like to make the case for them being fig trees; after all, what did they sew together to cover their shame, fig leaves. Most of this is a retake of a sermon I heard several years ago that used figs as a metaphor for the church/religion. The preacher made the point that where figs are mentioned just insert the idea of  “religion.”  I will not cover all of the references to figs and I am not sure all of them fit neatly into that box but let’s take a look at a few of them.

Genesis 3:7 Adam and Eve disobey and instead of trying to get back to God they cover themselves in fig leaves and people have been doing that ever since.

The phrase “under his own vine and fig tree” is found in several places in Scripture and can be a symbol of Israel being at peace but both of those plants are symbols for the church. Ex. 1 Kings4: 25, 2 Kings 18:31

Jeremiah 24: 1-10 is a vision where the prophet sees two baskets of figs in front of the Temple one good and one bad. This reminds me of Luke 6:43-46, which is the parable of the trees and the wise and foolish builder; this is where Jesus asks why do you say to Him Lord, Lord and do not do what He says.

John 1: 48 – Philip was under his fig tree and when he was called to come to meet Jesus.

Finally, the story of Jesus cursing the fig tree because it has no fruit and it dies.               Ex. Mark 11

Now in Israel, there is a sycamore-fig, it is not a true fig, but the analogy still works. And my final thought is something that is talked about in Scripture that I did not know; fig trees can bear two crops of figs, the first crop is called breba figs that grow from the old wood. The main crop follows on the ends of the branches- new wood. We can make all kinds of analogies here: natural vs spiritual Israel, former church latter church, new wineskins vs old wineskins, etc.

Please visit this blog to see more about figs.  http://ferrelljenkins.wordpress.com/2008/10/10/zaccheus-climbed-up-into-a-sycamore-tree/  The fig pic is from – http://www.raysfiginfo.com/graphics/sycamore04.jpg

Nabal

Proverbs 18:11 – The wealth of the rich is their fortified city; they imagine it an unscalable wall.             :23 – A poor man pleads for mercy, but a rich man answers harshly. (NIV)

I think these two verses are examples of why I picked Nabal as my first “nut.” But we will get back to him, let us look at 1 Samuel 25 and get some background. Carmel means, “Planted orchard” and is in the area of En Gedi, which is south of Jerusalem (yes there is an Mt. Carmel that is in northern Israel).  Abigail (Nabal’s wife) means “a father’s cause of joy” and after she married David she had his second son, Daniel     (1 Chronicles 3:5).  The Desert of Maon, which means “dwelling”, is in the land of Judea and became a hiding place for David.

Nabal was a descendant of Caleb who was one of the two faithful spies in the book of Numbers; so he was loosely related to David. This leads us to why I think he was a “nut.” In verse 10 when Nabal harshly answers David’s men he knew exactly who David was and what he was capable of doing so verse 10 and 11 is really a high-level insult. David’s request for a gift was for protection that he and his men had given Nabal’s flocks.  So insulting a “warlord” with 600 men when a few sheep would have made him happy is a “nutty” thing to do. Now the problem actually started in verse 9 when the young men “waited.” This word is only translated twice as “wait” many of the times it is used it is “rest” and many of those references are inferring a LONG rest. So as it says in Proverbs 18 Nabal thinks his money is his fortress and so he answers people harshly and made the men wait a long time. (see Judas)

Fortunately for David and all the men around Nabal’s house, Abigail had good judgment. Note – part of the gift was pressed figs.

As I enjoy trying to place Psalms where they may have been written I would put Psalm 109 after verse 35.

Also, the Lord’s use of “tens” in this text is interesting; Nabal was in a coma ten days, which also was the number of men David sent for the gift.

Map of Carmel and Maon from http://home.comcast.net/~davebowser/bible/david/david15.html

 

 

High Adventures in Tibet

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High Adventures in Tibet by David V. Plymire is one of my favorite books. It is not a new book but they have reprinted it several times so it is still available.

It is the story of David Victor Plymire a pioneer missionary to Tibet from 1908 to 1949. The book starts with an article that is a reprint of a 1937 Readers Digest article about a group of Bonism priest calling for Yamantaka the King of Hell. It sets the tone for the book especially when you notice that this occurred during the time Plymire was a missionary.

The book relates the highs and lows the missionary endured for the privilege to bring the Word of God to this rugged land at the top of the world.

Below are several websites that have more information on the man and his family.

http://www2.wheaton.edu/bgc/archives/GUIDES/341.htm#610

http://world.ag.org/article/call-obedience-0

Picture from, it is also in the book.   http://world.ag.org/article/call-obedience-0