Biblical Theology XXVII: Obadiah

The Book of Obadiah is most likely written during the Babylonian Exile, and makes reference to Edom's betrayal of the covenant people by helping their enemies loot Jerusalem. This is likely a reference to the Babylonian plunder of Jerusalem. The name 'obad/'ebed Yahu means "servant of YHWH," and may not be a literal name so much as the designation of this particular prophet. Edom is descended from Esau in the Bible, and as a fellow descendant of Abraham was often viewed as allied with Israel, often as a vassal state.

Theology: Edom represents the potential Gentile friends or enemies of Israel that may be condemned or saved depending whether they become faithful allies or enemies of God's people. In the Book of Obadiah, Edom has joined with Jacob's enemies and betrayed their brothers. Hence, they will receive the judgment of God as one of His enemies. The book, therefore, argues that the judgment of God over the nations is linked to Israel. To mistreat the people of God is to mistreat God, and will bring down His wrath. To do good to His people is to do good to God, and thus, will bring about blessing. In this regard, it recalls the promise to Abraham, "I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you, all of the families of the land will be blessed" (Gen 12:3). Whereas the presence of God's people in the land would have led to blessing if they had been treated with favor, their mistreatment will lead instead to the complete destruction of those people.

Obadiah argues that there will be nowhere to hide from God's judgment once this has occurred. Although Edom had its strongholds in the mountains, and the people likely trusted in the impenetrable nature of their secure dwellings, God will annihilate them from there. "Even if you were to soar high like an eagle, even if you were to place your nest among the stars,

I will cast you down from there!” declares YHWH (v. 4).

Part of that judgment is that God's people will be restored even when the nations deal with them treacherously, and their reward will include not only their own land, but that of their enemies as well. Their enemies will have no remnant upon the earth. In this regard, Edom really does represent all of the enemies of God's people throughout all of the nations, as this promise to rule over the other nations from Jerusalem is a staple promise in the Prophets.

“For the day of the Lord is approaching for all the nations!

Just as you have done, so it will be done to you.

You will get exactly what your deeds deserve.

For just as you have drunk on my holy mountain,

so all the nations will drink continually.

They will drink, and they will gulp down;

they will be as though they had never been. (vv. 15-16)

The "day of YHWH" refers to the day when all of the wicked nations that are opposed to God's people will be destroyed. The destruction of Edom is a microcosmic event that will occur before the macrocosmic event that involves the whole world. In Joel, the microcosmic event was made up of a locust-induced famine, but here it is the destruction of Edom's people.

Ethics: Given that the book rests in the midst of the Book of the Twelve, one might suggest that it functions the same way the other books do in that it is a warning that gives those who are being warned a chance to repent. Hence, the declarations of total destruction are contingent upon a lack of heeding the warnings in the book. This becomes all the more convincing in light of the fact that that the next book in the anthology is the Book of Jonah that warns Nineveh of impending doom, but offers no promise of God relenting if the wicked city should repent. However, when they do repent, God does relent.

In this regard, the book may function both as a means to save Edom rather than destroy it, and as a comfort to God's people who were unjustly betrayed by the neighboring state. The enemies of God's people, therefore, should repent and treat them favorable so that they may not be destroyed in a microcosmic or the macrocosmic judgment of God; but rather live at peace with Israel who will rule over Edom from Mount Zion when YHWH is the sole King over all of it. The hope of this is realized in Acts 15:15-17, where the Gentiles are repenting and serving YHWH via Jesus Christ. For those who do not repent, however, there is a promise of total annihilation, and so the book seeks to influence the behavior of the nations toward God's people today in light of the promised judgment to come.

Biblical Theology XXVI: Amos

Amos is set around the time of Hosea just before the destruction and deportation of the northern kingdom of Israel. The prophet is not a professional prophet like those among the school of the prophets in Israel, but was instead a shepherd and farmer of fig trees. He is ultimately told to get out of the land (he’s from the south and goes up to the north to prophesy) by a priest who complains to King Jeroboam II, and told not to speak against God’s “chosen people” again. Hence, his ministry is rejected.

Theology: The judgment of God falls on the pagan nations for their abuse of power over others and because they do not help their poor. The book then turns to argue that Israel is under the judgment of God for this very reason.

Amos also argues that if the people are hearing a warning from the prophets, God is about to judge them. It is not an idle threat or something far off in the distance. Judgment is nigh if a warning has gone out. Hence, the people are in grave danger of being destroyed for their distorted views of God and their many injustices toward His people.

Various tragedies are means by which God nudges His people to repentance so that they do not end up in final judgment. The book argues that none of these warnings of calamity have been heeded, and hence, the greater coming judgment is still about to fall. The final warning, as noted above, is the warning of God’s Word through the prophet.

As is a common promise in the Prophets, those who repent have the hope of being fully restored under the Davidic King who will reign over an eternally prosperous land.

Ethics: Amos is a book about social justice, as it argues that God is not pleased with any of the sacrifices and religious practices of His people if it is not first accompanied by the worship of the true God (i.e., loving God) and the care of the marginalized within the covenant community (i.e., love of the people of God). Hence, to pursue the truth in terms of right theology and right practice is true acceptable religion to YHWH. Anything less brings about His judgment upon the people, and they are rejected as pagans. It is not a book about social justice in the sense that it is often taught by the inclusive American folk religion. God will hold each nation accountable for its own crimes against the weak and the poor. The people of God are a nation to themselves. They will be judged concerning whether they treated their marginalized with care, and did not oppress others or commit atrocities in war. They poor they are to take care of are their own. Israel, therefore, is being judged for not taking care of its own marginalized people, and Amos argues that this is a result of worshiping false gods.

To display the idea connected to Genesis, the image is a life-giver, and when he worships the true God, he joins God in His life-giving work; but when he worships false gods, gods who demonically become obstacles to the life-giving work, they reject the role of the image and replace the work that is to be done with false works (e.g., religious rituals that do not preserve life by themselves, oppressive behaviors, or acts of benevolence toward the wrong people, so that the people for whom they are responsible are not taken care of). Hence, wrong practice is linked to wrong theology, so Amos argues that the false worship of Israel has led to their mistreatment of the marginalized among them, and hence, has brought horrible judgments, as well as an even worse final judgment, upon them.

If they want to live they must reverse their false theology and ethics by seeking both YHWH (5:4–6) and good rather than evil (v. 14).

Evangelicalism's Rules without Reasons

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/troublerofisrael/2018/06/rules-without-reasons/#disqus_thread

Biblical Theology XXV: Joel

Theology: The Book of Joel gives us the theology concerning the “day of YHWH.” This is a day that God decides to bring judgment upon His people. In Joel, that judgment takes the form of extreme famine, where locusts have devoured all of the crops. This judgment is taking place because the people have sinned against God, and are, therefore, no longer under His protection. In the ancient Near East, the people are only under the protection of deity when they remain in his or her favor. As long as they have the god’s favor, the elements of chaos (e.g., invading armies, natural disasters, etc.) are held at bay. The protection of the deity functions much like a damn holding back mountains of water. When that favor is lost, the damn is broken, and the waters of chaos flood in and destroy everything. The day of YHWH is the day He decides to judge His people for their sins and no longer hold back chaos.

Ethics: The response to this coming judgment, as in all of the prophets, is to repent. Repentance is said to look like a complete focus of thoughts geared toward obedience to God, fasting (i.e., the sacrifice of food/resources in order to take care of the poor among God’s people), weeping and mourning (i.e., the external emotional signs that accompany repentance. However, a caution is given to not confuse an emotional sorrow with real repentance. Hence, Joel urges the people to “rend your mind and not your garments.” This is defined as “returning to YHWH your God” (2:13). 

The people have hope in this because God is “gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, full of hesed, redirecting His favor away from chaos” (v. 14); but it is not a sure thing that God will, in fact, turn His judgment back (v. 15). This is a common theme in the prophets, and it conveys the idea that God is not mocked. He may or may not forgive. He has the discretion to do so or to refrain from doing so. No one, and no act (even an act of repentance), controls Him. However, because of His character, there is hope that He will turn from His wrath and bless the people instead. The hope of repentance is that God will remove the threat of chaos and restore the people and the land to prosperity.

Repentance is also corporate, not just individual (2:16), and corporate repentance is to be led by the priests, who are to intercede for the people (v. 17).

Joel is really a warning to Israel to repent before the day of the Lord, i.e., before God withdraws His protection and lets chaos flood in. In this regard, Peter’s use of Joel in the Book of Acts is consistent with its theme. He warns them of the oncoming judgment for their killing of the Messiah. They, however, do not repent, and God withdraws His protection. The chaos that ensues when the Romans attack the city is, therefore, a result of God withdrawing this protection on the “day of the Lord,” precisely, because it functions the same way as it does in Joel. It is not because there is only one day of the Lord, but because the day of the Lord is any day that God withdraws His protection from upon His people and lets chaos come bursting in. 

Joel also connects the day of the Lord judgment of locusts to one or more in the future, where the people of God repent and are, therefore, given the Spirit of God so that revelation becomes abundant. This is the opposite of the judgment of God that withholds revelation from people. Instead, even the children will prophesy, and all who call upon the name of the Lord will be placed on the Lord’s holy mountain/Jerusalem and will escape the judgment, and all of their enemies (i.e., agents of chaos) will be judged instead.

On the Road to the American Genocide

I've been quite alarmed by the type of speech that has surrounded our culture since the election. If we keep going the way that we have, this speech will not evaporate in the air but solidify in the actions of horror. Words have great power. They can turn into beautiful things, but they also have the ability to become very ugly things, perhaps, much uglier than their original speakers intended.

I study genocides quite a bit, more in terms of how they begin. I do this largely because I'm curious how what seems to be a somewhat organized and civilized society can suddenly turn into one that condones and practices the mass murder of others. From what I can tell, it begins with a single sentiment:

Resentment toward a perceived or real oppressor.

One may think that it is the oppressor who often brings genocide, but in the mind of those committing genocide, they are actually the freedom fighters. They are the ones who are fighting to make their way to peace, and the main obstacles in the way of utopia are the oppressors who have stolen something or preventing a certain condition or environment that would bring in this utopian bliss. Whether it is prevention of wealth, health, equality, etc. the oppressors must be moved out of the way or this nirvana, where the oppressed are on top will never occur.

This resentment, then, begins to emerge in speech that degrades the humanity of the perceived oppressor. After all, anyone who would oppress others is a "monster," a "rat," a "dog," a "cockroach," a "Nazi." The terms are largely irrelevant. It's simply necessary to use some term that describes another human as less than human, or rather, not deserving of their humanity due to their perceived oppressive behavior.

Speech then turns into action as these oppressors are put in their place by the heroes of the resistance. Social shunning, job loss, defamation of one's character and name, laws created to protect the oppressed by limiting the rights of the oppressor are all justified as the oppressors are moved out of positions of influence and power and shamed into being subordinates.

At this point, violence is justified. A monster should be vanquished. A rat should be exterminated. A dog can be beaten. A cockroach should be killed. A Nazi should be punched in the face.

The final step, then, is simply to remove the oppressors from society physically. This can mean prison or death. As Oprah Winfrey said of old white people who are still racist, "Those people just need to die." There is no tolerance of those who cannot be re-educated quickly. They just need to die, and the wolf will lay down with the lamb, the new world will begin. And what a beautiful world it will be once all of that grass grows over all of the dead bodies of men, women, and children who were in the way of the visions of the KKK, Young Turks, Stalin, Hitler, Mao, Pol Pot, the Hutu, ISIS, the ANC Youth League, ANTIFA.

The oppressed become the oppressors. They look much more like monsters and sub-human creatures seeking the blood of their victims than their perceived oppressors ever did. Like T'Challa says to his cousin in "The Black Panther," when his cousin's solution is to subdue the oppressors via war and genocide, "You have become them."

But it's OK, you see, they're making the world a better place. They just have to terrorize and slaughter a few million people like pigs first in order to get there.

The United States has sat comfortably for around 150 years now without a war on its own soil. That's quite a few generations that know nothing of the terrors of war. What this has created is a sort of obliviousness to the fact that such horrors are coming, and an unwillingness to entertain the idea that genocide could ever take place in our society. Yet, the resentment, and the verbal manifestations of the beginning stages of genocide, are already here.

The world can only bring solutions that end in murder because it has no basis to forgive. Even when it attempts to superficially forget about wrongs done, it holds them down deep within, unsatisfied and unplacated by a calm brought about by mere words. Furthermore, even when wrongs have not been done, but are perceived as existing, there is no basis for giving another the benefit of the doubt. Why be generous to a Nazi?

The church's responsibility is to give the world a basis for forgiveness, and that can only be brought about in the proclamation of the cross. Only then can wrongs be justly punished without the murder of so many. Only viewing people in Christ as new creations will bring peace, as only Christ can bring peace. Humanity must first be reconciled to God, become His life-giving images again, and then they will be able to be reconciled to one another.

But have no doubt, we are on the road to civil war and genocide. The resentment that has been fostered, and the words that have begun to form reality, have set our culture on that path. And there is now only one force powerful enough to stop it.

The rhetoric of murder has, and will never, become the utopia of radicals. It will instead create the ugliness of a bloody and destroyed world, and they will simply replace one oppressive regime with another; but the words of the gospel will become the beauty of paradise.

Biblical Theology XXIV: Hosea

Hosea sets the tone of the singular anthology entitled, "The Book of the Twelve," or simply, the "Minor Prophets" by placing the prophets in the framework of lawyers who bring charges against Israel/Judah/the nations on behalf of God. 
 
Theology: The theological contribution of Hosea is its teaching concerning the nature of the covenant that God has made with His people. In the ancient Near East, the covenants that most gods made with the people had to do with the deity protecting the people as long as they kept up his or her temples, brought sacrifices, etc. As long as these rituals were performed, it pleased the god and one could go on his merry way to live his life according to what he thought was right.

Hosea, however, presents the covenant as something akin to the type of love commitment one makes in a marriage covenant (and toward the end, as the type of obligation one sees in a father-son relationship). What the book does for the reader, therefore, is to describe the things that are faithful and unfaithful to that covenant in such a way as to give the reader an understanding of what type of love God requires of His people. In other words, Hosea helps us understand what love looks like in relationship to God and others. 

Contrary to our views of love as romantic and emotional affections for someone, and contrary to their views of loving deity that merely require the upkeep of temples, the tributes of holy days, and the bringing of sacrifices, the book argues that loving God is a commitment to do what pleases Him, as it is revealed in the law. Hosea argues that Israel is unfaithful like a wife who prostitutes herself is unfaithful when she goes after other men. Israel is worshiping other gods along with YHWH, and merely thinks that bringing sacrifices and offerings is sufficient to fulfill their obligations of love to Him. Deity is the driving force in one’s life, and to go after other gods is to have others becoming the driving force for what one does.  Yet, YHWH demands the sole position as the driving force in one’s life like a husband who demands the sole position as the one to whom love is due.

According to Hosea, to be unfaithful  to God in this covenant of love, therefore, is to break God’s commandments, regardless of whether the superficial ritual activity is observed.  Because of this understanding of love and the nature of the covenant Israel has made with God, it has fallen under the condemnation of an adulteress. Hosea, therefore, presents God as bringing Israel into court, making accusation against her, rendering a verdict, and dealing out the punishment (i.e., death, destruction, and deportation). 

Ethics: Hosea helps the reader understand that to love God is to first have Him as the primary driving force in one’s life over all others, and secondly, to offer obedience, rather than affectionate gestures that are absent of becoming a good person according to God’s law,  as the sign of faithfulness to the covenant that God has made with him. If God’s people have not been faithful in this way, they will certainly be judged by God and removed from among His people. Yet, as with all of the prophets, there is hope of restoration in repentance. If one turns from his prostitution with other gods and the unfaithfulness of sin, God will restore His people and put down their oppressors once again. They will again seek God through the Davidic king, and be restored to the land. In this way, the judgment functions only as a purging of God's people so that only those who truly love God remain in eternal covenant with Him.

A Conversation about Narcissism

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioWcLuMcTBc