limtaglongtree

Ditty 8

8. Discuss the relationships of the prophets of Ancient Israel with the throne (government), the temple (religion), and the people (society).

            The prophets are the mouthpiece of God. They are the Spokesperson that God utilizes in His delivery of His plan, message, and his will to the people of Israel. They are means of relaying the message of God.

            In Hebrew, the word traditionally translated as prophet is נְבִיא (navi), which likely means “proclaimer”. This forms the second of the three letters of TaNaKh, derived from Torah, Navim, Ketuvim. The meaning of navi is perhaps described in Deuteronomy 18:18, where God said, “I will put my words in his mouth and he will speak to them all that I command him.” Thus, the navi was thought to be the “mouth” of God. The root nun-bet-alef (“navi”) is based on the two-letter root nun-bet which denotes hollowness or openness; to receive transcendental wisdom, one must make oneself “open”. Cf. Rashbam’s comment to Genesis 20:7. (Wikipedia)

            In the monarchy period, the government officials have a distinct role from the seer or the prophets. The king would reign as the administrator to the people where his ruling is on governing the people. The role of the man of God or seer or Prophet is that they be the mouthpiece of the Lord’s revelation to the King like the acts of Samuel, Eli, and Elijah.

            In the spiritual aspect, the prophets are the ones who give direction on the people’s spiritual condition such as Jonah who was sent to Nineveh to call the people for repentance.

            On the people, Amos was a Judean prophet who was ministering in the northern Kingdom as what Kaiser said; “vigorously denouncing the luxurious living of the upper classes that they were getting rich by exploiting the poor that leads to political and economic crashes.

            We can say that prophets in the ancient near east have a major role in transforming the lives of the people in social, spiritual, political, and personal aspect. God’s revelations are relayed by the prophets for the holistic welfare of the people.

Dev 8

2 kings 20: 1-21

V3. Remember now, o Lord, I beseech You, how I have walked before You in truth and with a whole heart and have done what is good in your sight. And Hezikiah wept bitterly.

V5. Return and say to Hezikiah the leader of my people thus says the Lord, the God of your father David, I have heard your prayers, I have seen your tears; behold, I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the Lord.

                The drama in a man’s life has led him to feel all the turmoil that has turn him to be bitter in pained agony. Bitterness has a pain to bear. The anguish cry of redemption longing to free and escape the reality of unfair life is an urgent prayer.

                How we wish that every fight in life we could just walk out in the ringside with triumph and victory.

                There was a boxer who trained himself hard. He would get up early at 3:00 to go for a 20 km run. He would step to the gym on time. Punch in and out is the language in the gym. Mr. Trainer would push him to go for extended rounds just to go for agility and speed. Every day is a training day, a preparation for the big event.  The day came when the boxer would step into the ring with confidence and pride after all those rigid and hard core trainings. The bell rang! Round 1! His opponent made his right step and followed by a speed uppercut to the chin. Blag!! He fell off. K.O.! The product of hard training has fall into an instant defeat.

                Hezekiah did what is right in the sight of the Lord. But he is not immune to be exempted not to be mortally ill. But despite of this sorrowful event, He beseeches the Lord. He prayed that the Lord would restore him back with petition accompanying bitterness, a symptom that he still desperate of the Lord’s restoration of his “health”.

                With prayer we could come in confidence on the Grace of God in whatever situation we are in.

Ditty 7

7. Choose a king from the North. Summarize his reign and the evaluation of it. What could have he done different in order to have a positive evaluation from God?

            King Omri succeeded his throne after his rival mate Tibni who ruled for 7 days died and this made Omri the official King ruling from 885-874 BC.  Omri ruled for three years and his dynasty has lasted for three generations. During his time of reign, Omri bought the hill of Samaria from Shemer for two talents. Also, Omri had a political alliance to the Phoenicians where during this time it was a mutual benefit for both of them in economic progress comparing to Judah who has been isolated. Israel has built trade routes to larger consumers further south and east, and from supplying Phoenicia with grain and olive. But still he did evil in the eyes of the Lord and done more overly than Jeroboam, Provoking the Lord God of Israel with their idols.

            Omri have performed well because he is a diplomatic politician that has lead Israel in a good economic status.  Omri could have not provoked the anger of God by letting this Phoenician influence them to worship Baal and the practice molech sacrifices. This act of Omri was a disastrous to the spiritual health of the Israelites. This has influenced his son Ahab to do more than what he has done that Ahab did more than all who were before him.  Evaluating his good diplomatic character has led Israel to good economic status BUT Omri should have not compromised his spiritual dignity. He could maintain good business with the Phoenicians BUT have a resistant Spirit to the influence of the Phoenician. He MUST NOT HAS allowed the infiltration of the influence of the Phoenician King in their business. We can see that Omri was seduced by the good economic offer of the Phoenician King and also their gods that probably the Phoenicians are expert influencers of Baal worship which is included in their Diplomatic alliances.

Source: History of Israel by Kaiser

                Bible (1 kings)

Dev 7

Ahaziah’s Messenger meet Elijah

2 kings 1

1:3b is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of ekron?

We live in an era where technology can fill the gap of sickness and good health. Technology breakthrough in the medical field has push away some of the diseases that has killed a lot of people like for example is the bypass operation, one common procedure is to perform heart surgery and sew in a new piece of blood vessel to bridge over (bypass) the blockage (Howstuffworks.com). Acquired physical sickness, disease, and injury can ruin the daily life of a person to live it as normal if possible like Ahaziah who was injured. He is the typical diseased person who wants to enjoy life far from malfunctions. He called his messenger to summoned Baal-Zebub. In a world where everything seems to be in our hands to manipulate things as they are has seduced us not to rely on the power of God. I am not against technology for technology has enhanced my life as better than before in terms of convenience but I can say that I will miss the reliance on God that it seems that technology has become our gods in making us look “healthy” but I believe that these are humbling situations that has pushed us to recognize God as He is. A shift in loyalty is a terrible sin against God for God is a jealous God. The ruling of God is not dependent on situations that we seem to know that God is obligated to sustain our “good” welfare in life. This is a struggle to understand God. This is a struggle to understand God’s intention in our life, for who can know the mind of God? For seasons would come and they will walk in their own course that we cannot rewind them or just wish that they have not happen, wishing that they had not take their path as an athlete has taken its race.

O God give me direction as I follow your course.

Ditty 6

6. Read Dr. Isbell’s article “History and Writing.” According to him, what is the biblical text disclosing? What is the relationship of the Bible with History?

            According to the article written by Dr. Isbell on “History and Writing”, the biblical Text is disclosing the author’s agenda. This author’s schema will address the issues of the time it was written. Dr. Isbell wants to address the debate of the modern era about the historicity of the bible that is perceived by our minds if this literary device can be considered as a genuine proof of History records and can satisfy our own dispositions. The fact that this literary device was preserved and freely used by this modern era that investigates truth with their own paradigm which explores truth considering the conclusions that they will screen from the ‘bible’ that is not ‘sufficient’ to address their so-called curiosity. In the examples of Isbell in 1&2 kings where the writer does not survey all the acts of the king, considering the statement: “are they not written in the book of the _____?” this will give us a clear cut that the writer has its own agenda in this narrative ‘historical’ device.

            The relationship of the Bible and History is directly related. The bible is a literary device that has kept records of the past which is considered as Historical. We cannot just overlook the bible as plain literature because the format itself is Historical Narrative that can be a basis for tracing elements that we need in connecting the events of this modern era. Due to continual search of the past, we will find it very essential in verifying facts and records. The bible lacking some of the trace elements cannot be disregarded. As Isbell says that the biblical narrative is not the kind of Historical evidence we would use to prove OR disprove such things. We can say that thru the span of the timeline, the Bible has recorded the acts of the people in that certain time that will give as clear informative of how did events are rolled in its own masterpiece as  part of History.

Source: ‘History’ and ‘Writing’

            Bible