Most of you have probably heard of "Gateway" drugs. These are drugs that first time users often get involved with and then progress on to more serious drugs. In studying 1 Corinthians 10, I noticed a similar concept in regard to idolatry and what Paul says it leads to.
In this chapter Paul continues his thoughts on eating meat sacrificed to idols and the dangers of turning to idolatry. In order to make his point he turns their attention to a previous generation of God's people - the Exodus generation. He starts out by mentioning the blessings God bestowed upon them:
1) Having been "baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea"
2) Eating spiritual food
3) Drinking spiritual drink
Paul says that even though the received all that they still died in the wilderness. Paul is using this as a warning against thinking just because you are God's people and have received tremendous blessings that you still shouldn't think too highly of yourself. If that isn't enough Paul further connects them with the exodus generation by mentioning the water from the rock (Numbers 20:11) and connects the rock with Christ ("and that rock was Christ"). Just as Christ is in your midst he was there as well.
Paul is saying you have everything in common with that generation - spiritual blessings, a baptism of sorts, and even Christ! 1 Cor. 10:6ff - "Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did..." What is the example for? Paul mentions four instances of sin in that generation:
1) Idolatry (1 Cor 10:7) - p.s. "indulging in reverlry" alludes to sexual immorality which bridges vs. 7 & 8.
2) Sexual immorality (1 Cor 10:8)
3) Testing the Lord (1 Cor 10:9)
4) Grumbling against God (1 Cor 10:10)
Three of these are easily pinpointed in that generation
1) Idolatry - Paul makes reference to the Golden calf episode (Exodus 32:6)
2) Sexual immorality - Paul makes reference to Israel at Baal Peor (Numbers 25) where 24,000 died by a plague from God. Uncertain why Paul's numbers are off here.
3) Testing the Lord - Paul references the the Bronze snake episode (Numbers 21:4ff)
The fourth one is harder to pinpoint. Some think he makes reference to Numbers 14:27, 36
Then notice what Paul says - these things are warnings to us! Because we are so connected with that generation, we could also be like them - not just in our blessings but in our defeat! Do not be proud - you might fall. Paul gives them the warning - "Therefore, my dear friends, flee from idolatry." What about the other three sins? What about sexual immorality that he told them to flee from in 1 Cor 6:18? What about grumbling and testing God? Why doesn't Paul also warn them to flee from those?
I think Paul is viewing idolatry much like we view "gateway" drugs today. Idolatry is what opens our hearts up to a variety of other sins. When we look at the story of the golden calf we see that the people first opened up to receiving a God other than Yahweh God. Then what happened? Everything broke down, became permissible, and sexual immorality ensued. The reason Paul doesn't tell them to flee from these other three things is because if they keep giving their heart solely to God these other three things won't be a temptation.
Idolatry is not something that only happens in other countries. It is just as much a threat to us as it was to them or to pagan nations today. Idolatry doesn't always look the same every time. Some are blatantly obvious - we see someone bowing down to a statue and say to ourselves - "I would never do that. Look how silly that is! Bowing down to something other than God. How crazy can you be to devote your life to a piece of stone!?!" But we do it too don't we? I mean if we are really honest with ourselves and look inside most of us have had in the past or currently have things that we put in the place of God that are not blatantly obvious like a man bowing to a block of wood. But it is just as deadly to our soul.
While "gateway" drugs lead to "more serious" drugs. Idolatry as a "gateway" sin is actually the most serious as we give our heart and identity to something that is not God, which leads to all sorts of other problems. Maybe if we understand idoltatry for what it really is and become aware of how Satan uses it in our own lives we wouldn't have to worry about these other three things. What is the biggest idol today? Not statues of Buddah or shrines in some far off land. It seems to me the biggest idol today is self. We put ourselves even before God. Then what happens? We get so focused on filling ourselves up and satisfying our desires that we indulge in things we would not have permitted if we had kept God, God. I think this is really a Lordship issue. When Jesus is our Lord he calls the shots and we take a backseat to his will for our lives. Only when we take Paul's advice and "flee from idolatry" will God/Christ be able to take the throne and make our lives all that he wants us to be!
Showing posts with label Old Testament. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Old Testament. Show all posts
Friday, November 17, 2006
Monday, October 23, 2006
The Tree of Life - Roland E. Murphy
I just finished this book on the Wisdom Literature of the Old Testament. Philip (see sidebar) asked me if I would comment on the book. I really wished I had read Gerhard von Rad's "Wisdom in Israel" first as Murphy is heavily influenced by that book. If I had to do it over again I would read that first.
Murphy's introductory material is quite helpful. He talks about the nature of the wisdom literature: what was considered wisdom lit., who the sages were, comparisons with other cultures (like Egypt), and the literary forms used to compose wisdom literature. His introduction was pretty thorough and gives some good tools for understanding the wisdom literature.
With any book this length that covers this much material you can be sure that most treatments will be too brief. This was the case in his handling of the book of proverbs. I wanted to mention a couple things I found helpful in his chapter on proverbs. 1) The best way to teach proverbs is to only handle a handful at a time. The individual sayings don't group together all that well and it is easy to get lost in them even within reading a chapter or two. Classes will get more out of proverbs if taught more in depth on a few key proverbs in each section rather than trying to cover every proverb in the book. 2) his discussion on multiple levels of meaning in proverbs was helpful. 3) He points out a few numerological aspects of proverbs that were quite interesting. For instance the three names (Solomon, David, Israel) in 1:1 add up to the total number of lines in the book - 930. The title at 10:1 is numerically 375 which adds up to the number of lines in that collection (10:1-22:16). Chapters 25-29 are known as the Hezekian collection which has 140 lines = Hezekiah numerically.
While Murphy does not see Job as a historical character (which many would agree with), his chapter on Job was very helpful. He does a good treatment of the "devil" in Job as well as theodicy and the structure of the book. His chapter follows the course lined out in the book itself and he offers some helpful insights along the way. One line on Job I thought was a little much was his statement that "The maker of all things is astonished at the things He has himself made." p, 43. He cites the need for a response in the book of Job on the part of the reader and points to Liberation Theology/Gutierrez's book "On Job" as an example.
Ecclesiastes was adeptly handled. He again looks at numbers within the book to show some of the hidden undergirding of the book. Murphy's discussion on "vanity" and its double meaning are helpful. Unlike others, Murphy sees this book as a profound testimony to faith. "He offers no consolation, nor does he limn the 'soft' side of God that one finds in the rest of the Bible. He simply accepts God on God's terms. That is his faith." p58. He sees this book as bringing balance to the OT, saying "there is more to religion than salvation." p59.
He gives a section to Ben Sira and Wisdom of Solomon, which I won't discuss.
His final three chapters were very well done - Chapter 7 - "Wisdom's Echoes" - examining wisdom literature in chapters of psalms and deuteronomy. He makes some good observations there. Chapter 8 - "Wisdom Literature and Theology" attempts to make a bridge between two subjects few have accomplished. There has always been a problem linking the wisdom lit to the rest of OT theology. The problem is that the wisdom sayings rarely mention God and are more about everyday happenings. Murphy's conclusion is that Israel saw their everyday activities as an important connection with God. They didn't make all the secular distinction of various areas of their lives and activities that we do today. Therefore, everyday activities was seen in light of being the people of God. "Wisdom in the theological sense of God's presence, of an intimacy and community with God, is not separate from the world, but is in the midst of everyday life with its customary, even petty events." p125 - quoting J. Marbock. His final chapter is on Lady Wisdom and includes a concise treatment of personification in the OT.
Finally, the appendix offers some great bibliographic material for further study including references to Ancient Near Eastern texts (Pritchard), Wisdom in Mesopotamia and Egypt, and Greek thought.
It is a good read and won't take you very long to collect some helpful nuggets of wisdom on the Wisdom Literature. I would recommend, if at all possible to pick up Gerhard von Rad's "Wisdom in Israel" and read that first to give some basic underpinnings for where Murphy is coming from.
Murphy's introductory material is quite helpful. He talks about the nature of the wisdom literature: what was considered wisdom lit., who the sages were, comparisons with other cultures (like Egypt), and the literary forms used to compose wisdom literature. His introduction was pretty thorough and gives some good tools for understanding the wisdom literature.
With any book this length that covers this much material you can be sure that most treatments will be too brief. This was the case in his handling of the book of proverbs. I wanted to mention a couple things I found helpful in his chapter on proverbs. 1) The best way to teach proverbs is to only handle a handful at a time. The individual sayings don't group together all that well and it is easy to get lost in them even within reading a chapter or two. Classes will get more out of proverbs if taught more in depth on a few key proverbs in each section rather than trying to cover every proverb in the book. 2) his discussion on multiple levels of meaning in proverbs was helpful. 3) He points out a few numerological aspects of proverbs that were quite interesting. For instance the three names (Solomon, David, Israel) in 1:1 add up to the total number of lines in the book - 930. The title at 10:1 is numerically 375 which adds up to the number of lines in that collection (10:1-22:16). Chapters 25-29 are known as the Hezekian collection which has 140 lines = Hezekiah numerically.
While Murphy does not see Job as a historical character (which many would agree with), his chapter on Job was very helpful. He does a good treatment of the "devil" in Job as well as theodicy and the structure of the book. His chapter follows the course lined out in the book itself and he offers some helpful insights along the way. One line on Job I thought was a little much was his statement that "The maker of all things is astonished at the things He has himself made." p, 43. He cites the need for a response in the book of Job on the part of the reader and points to Liberation Theology/Gutierrez's book "On Job" as an example.
Ecclesiastes was adeptly handled. He again looks at numbers within the book to show some of the hidden undergirding of the book. Murphy's discussion on "vanity" and its double meaning are helpful. Unlike others, Murphy sees this book as a profound testimony to faith. "He offers no consolation, nor does he limn the 'soft' side of God that one finds in the rest of the Bible. He simply accepts God on God's terms. That is his faith." p58. He sees this book as bringing balance to the OT, saying "there is more to religion than salvation." p59.
He gives a section to Ben Sira and Wisdom of Solomon, which I won't discuss.
His final three chapters were very well done - Chapter 7 - "Wisdom's Echoes" - examining wisdom literature in chapters of psalms and deuteronomy. He makes some good observations there. Chapter 8 - "Wisdom Literature and Theology" attempts to make a bridge between two subjects few have accomplished. There has always been a problem linking the wisdom lit to the rest of OT theology. The problem is that the wisdom sayings rarely mention God and are more about everyday happenings. Murphy's conclusion is that Israel saw their everyday activities as an important connection with God. They didn't make all the secular distinction of various areas of their lives and activities that we do today. Therefore, everyday activities was seen in light of being the people of God. "Wisdom in the theological sense of God's presence, of an intimacy and community with God, is not separate from the world, but is in the midst of everyday life with its customary, even petty events." p125 - quoting J. Marbock. His final chapter is on Lady Wisdom and includes a concise treatment of personification in the OT.
Finally, the appendix offers some great bibliographic material for further study including references to Ancient Near Eastern texts (Pritchard), Wisdom in Mesopotamia and Egypt, and Greek thought.
It is a good read and won't take you very long to collect some helpful nuggets of wisdom on the Wisdom Literature. I would recommend, if at all possible to pick up Gerhard von Rad's "Wisdom in Israel" and read that first to give some basic underpinnings for where Murphy is coming from.
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