Living in The Story

As we continue to read, we will encounter ‘Second Isaiah’ this week. Be sure to read the Isaiah overview to understand how this powerful, prophetic book works.

Psalm 74 startles. I sang a choral rendition of this Psalm when I was in high school and its impact remains with me to this day. The music was mournful, yearning and angry.

We also are encountering another powerful prophetic work – the Revelation of the Risen Christ to his servant John. As you read, notice again the genre of apocalyptic literature and how the visions of Isaiah and the Revelation inter-relate. The Revelation is a direct descendant of Isaiah, Ezekiel and Daniel.

If you are able, read the entire work of Revelation in one sitting. Or better – find a way to listen to the book read by a good reader. It doesn’t take long and gives new insight into the letter to the seven churches.

Isaiah 40-55

Psalm 73

Psalm 74

Psalm 120

John 21

Revelation 2-3

https://livinginthestory.com/2017/09/the-book-of-revelation/

https://livinginthestory.com/2017/09/isaiah/

We are reading what is referred to as First Isaiah, chapters 1-39. Last week we read 1-12 which includes the remarkable vision of Isaiah in the Temple, his call to ministry and his commissioning as a prophet of God. This week, we read 13-39 to finish the section grounded in the events of the destruction of the nation of Judah.

Here is Isaiah of Jerusalem, watching his beloved city and holy Temple suffer devastation by the armies of Babylon. He weeps as his beloved people are slain by the hundreds and thousands. He rails as a remnant is carried away in chains; captives in a far away land.

The bald, honest emotion of Psalm 137 makes us suck in our breath:

O daughter Babylon, you devastator!
    Happy shall they be who pay you back
    what you have done to us!
Happy shall they be who take YOUR little ones
    and dash THEM against the rock!

First Isaiah endures the agony while persistently calling out for repentance and renewal. Is it possible that God will relent and save his people? Is it conceivable that God could forsake them and abandon the covenant?

First Isaiah is filled with dramatic visions of the Holy given for the people through the prophet. The visions are apocalyptic and symbolic, peppered with bizarre images that point to realities beyond human comprehension.

We also begin reading the apocalypse of Revelation, another amazing work of visions and startling proclamations. Another work that pronounces both judgment and hope.

Isaiah 13-39

Psalm 77

Psalms 130

Psalm 131

Psalm 137

John 20

Revelation 1

Living in The Story blog for Week 37

https://livinginthestory.com/2017/09/isaiah/

Lamentations. The perfect name for the prophet’s painful prayer in light of Jerusalem’s destruction and Israel’s captivity by the Babylonian Empire.

The gospel story in John describes Jesus’ trial and crucifixion – the quintessential human experience of abandonment and despair.

But always (always! always!) God’s people can find hope in the midst of despair. The opening chapters of Jeremiah and Isaiah offer brilliant visions of call; the prophets cannot not speak a word from the Lord in the midst of their swirling spiraling history.

Be sure to read the Psalms in this week’s Living in The Story texts.

Lamentations
Jeremiah 1-4
Isaiah 1-12

Psalms 138

Psalm 139

Psalm 141

John 18-19

Philemon

Living in The Story blog for Week 36

https://livinginthestory.com/2017/08/where-was-god-2/

The last days of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah: the end is tragic.

Since the days of Abraham, God’s people had lived in the promises: a chosen people and a promised land. But their story reminds all of us that counting on privilege without living up to the responsibilities of privilege cannot be sustained.

From here, we will be reading the powerful prophetic writings, bold voices called by God to warn, challenge and then comfort God’s people. Prophets who can’t not speak out against unfaithfulness while – at the same time – who can’t give up on the promises.

The New Testament readings are also important messages from pastors and prophets. Jude warns of unfaithfulness while Jesus prays for sturdy endurance for his beloved disciples. And not only for them – for us as well – beloved disciples, followers who live into and live out of faith.

No matter how long it takes, no matter the brokenness – God’s promises are firm and God’s people are beloved.

2 Kings 17-25

2 Chronicles 29-36

Isaiah 36-39

Psalms 44

Psalm 87

Psalm 89

Psalm 92

John 17

Jude

Living in The Story blog for Week 35

https://livinginthestory.com/2016/08/the-last-days-of-the-kingdom/

The downward spiral continues. These stories of the royal houses of Israel and Judah describe the ebb and flow of our humanity – nations, communities, churches, families, individuals. Sometimes we are faithful. Sometimes we are not.

If we are fortunate, we all will have someone in our lives who will call us back to faithfulness. That was the prophets’ job. Elijah and Elisha. And then soon we will meet Isaiah, Jeremiah, Amos and Joel. Sometimes their prophetic call actually worked. People repented, mended their ways and averted disaster. Eventually however, the spiral continued its downward path until the golden kingdom of David and Solomon became a wasteland.

But now … read the strange stories of Elisha and the kings. And be sure to read the Living in The Story blogs to help you along.

2 Kings 1-16

2 Chronicles 24-28

Psalms 33

Psalm 78

Psalm 79

John 14-16

Titus

As you read resource for Week 34

https://livinginthestory.com/2016/09/elijah-elisha-and-other-weird-stories-of-scripture/

Living in The Story blog for Week 34

https://livinginthestory.com/2016/07/open-our-eyes-lord/

“There is a bright Elijah thread that weaves through the Bible…” This week’s As You Read resource will help you see how this long biblical thread continues to this day.

We are reading through the Gospel of John again, this time very slowly. Nearly every story John tells overflows with signs and symbols. Ponder and wonder.

Enjoy your week. Live in The Story this week.

1 Kings 12-22

2 Chronicles 10-23

Psalms 50

Psalm 52

Psalm 53

John 13

2 Timothy

As you read resource for Week 33

https://livinginthestory.com/2016/07/as-you-read-elijah/

Living in The Story blog

https://livinginthestory.com/2016/07/what-are-you-doing-here/

Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these.

Jesus’ statement from the Sermon on the Mount alludes to Israel’s Golden Age, a time of military might, ambitious building projects and international commerce; a period when pomp and circumstance impressed foreign diplomats, the royal navy traded as far away as the Indian Ocean and the fledgling nation of Israel became a force to be reckoned with.

But all these successes of Solomon came at a huge price. As the rich got richer, the poor grew poorer. As he appeased his 700 political wives and 300 concubines, he allowed their pagan worship practices to find a firm foothold in Jerusalem. As he built ships and temples and palaces, he enslaved conquered peoples and conscripted his own citizens. Civil war followed immediately after Solomon’s death and the Golden Age became a wistful memory.

Once again you will be reading from the tradition of the Kings, the Court historians and comparing their version of the history with the Chroniclers.

1 Kings 1-11

2 Chronicles 1-9

Psalm 1

Psalm 48

Psalm 49

John 12

1 Timothy

As You Read resource for Week 32

As You Read: Solomon

No other king of Israel, not even David himself, ascended a higher pinnacle of worldly splendor. Solomon’s vast building program, his fabulous wealth and large harem, his far-flung commercial enterprises, his up-to-date military program, his patronage of wisdom and the arts, all were admired with open-eyed wonder by his subjects and by visitors from afar like the Queen of Sheba.

Solomon was the son of David and Bathsheba. But David’s other wives and other sons were part of the intrigue of ascendancy. Who would be the next king? The oldest? Or the favorite? Before David died, he used some of his last energies to seat Solomon on the throne.

There is a lovely story told in both the Kings and the Chronicles traditions. Soon after his crowning, God came to Solomon in a dream. “What do you want me to do for you?” the mysterious YHWH asked. “Only give me wisdom so that I may rule your people well,” was Solomon’s pious reply.

1 Kings 3

 ¹¹ God said to him, “Because you have asked this, and have not asked for yourself long life or riches, or for the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right, ¹² I now do according to your word. Indeed I give you a wise and discerning mind; no one like you has been before you and no one like you shall arise after you. ¹³ I give you also what you have not asked, both riches and honor all your life; no other king shall compare with you. ¹⁴ If you will walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your life.”

1 Chronicles 1

God answered Solomon, “Because this was in your heart, and you have not asked for possessions, wealth, honor, or the life of those who hate you, and have not even asked for long life, but have asked for wisdom and knowledge for yourself that you may rule my people over whom I have made you king, ¹² wisdom and knowledge are granted to you. I will also give you riches, possessions, and honor, such as none of the kings had who were before you, and none after you shall have the like.”

It is a lovely story but the history of Solomon’s reign actually shows very little wisdom as it turns out. His practices and policies seeded revolt and soon after his death, the ten northern tribes seceded. Only the tribes of Judah and Benjamin and the royal city of Jerusalem carried the legacy of the once great nation of Israel.

But the royal city and the Temple were still amazing. As you recall, David wanted to build God a “house” but YHWH gave that task to Solomon instead. It took seven years to build Solomon’s Temple, ushering in the First Temple period.

Then it took thirteen years to build Solomon’s palace complete with elaborate royal rooms, governmental buildings and harems for his 700 wives and 300 concubines. (That many wives doesn’t sound very wise to me!)

These elaborate building projects required the back breaking labor of thousands of captured slaves and conscripted citizens. “They felled the great cedars of Lebanon, floated them down the Phoenician coast to Joppa, and thence hauled them over the hills to Jerusalem. Eighty thousand Israelites were reported to have been put to work in the stone quarries, and 70,000 toiled as burden bearers. Thus the great Temple was completed at a cost far greater than the financial outlay – the cost of the life and liberty of exploited people.”

Even so, Solomon is seen as the founder of Israel’s Wisdom Tradition. His story tells of one gifted with wisdom, empowered as sage, given insight about correct human behavior and the divine order of creation.  Many of the Proverbs are attributed to Solomon. The enigmatic cynicisms of Ecclesiastes are said to be his work. And the erotic Song of Songs is also known as the Song of Solomon. His story describes both a deeply spiritual and a decidedly secular man.

For all his faults, Solomon bequeathed to Israel both the Temple and the tradition of Wisdom. He is surely a study in contrasts.

Bernhard W. Anderson, Understanding the Old Testament (1986: fourth edition), Prentice Hall.

The readings from the books of Samuel and the records of the Chronicles offer a different story line for David’s life as king. Here is a good example of the editorial range of storytelling in Scripture. Editorial – Theological – Perspectival. This is a good thing. All of our stories are vast and complex so of course the biblical story should show us the multifaceted reality of humans in their journey of relationship with God and with one another.

Especially note that the Chronicler does not include the tale of David’s sin against Bathsheba and Uriah. Surely the story was a powerful part of the David tradition so it’s fascinating to ponder why Chronicles chose not to include it.

Also note this: if you go to the Bible Gateway passage linked below in the NRSV of 2 Samuel 11, you will see that the heading announces this: “David Commits Adultery with Bathsheba.” I say “balderdash.”

I grew up with the interpretation that the sin was adultery and that Bathsheba was a willing partner – maybe even a temptress – but certainly equally guilty. Now I bristle at the modern spin that (as happens too often) blames the victim. If a king called a woman into his chamber, she had no choice but to obey. A king’s royal power overpowered any resistance. Today we would call it rape. Be sure to read Charlotte’s recent sermon (below) on this event in light of Psalm 51.

When you read John 9, consider once again Jesus’ teaching on “who sinned” in light of the David story.

2 Samuel 11-24

1 Chronicles 20-29

Psalms 32

Psalm 51

Psalm 93

John 9-10

2 Thessalonians

Living in The Story blog for Week 30

https://livinginthestory.com/2016/05/davids-undoing/

A sermon about sin and salvation

https://livinginthestory.com/2017/07/sin-the-lost-language-of-salvation/