OK, true story. I was on a flight to Washington D.C. for my birthday trip gift from my brother and my niece. I was reading Scripture and my brother says, "Hey - I think the Bible is loooooooooooaded with kill you and kill them and looting. It's about the Bronze Age and petty tribal power. With beheadings. Sword kill you. "
Siblings. We all need them. Mom - he's crossing the line. Make him stop.
My reaction. Look this way. Look that way. Yep, heads are looking. Turning. Getting a pointed at. We have now been on vacation for 15 minutes. I look at my brother. Hard. He says, "Answer the f ing question, forgedabod them."
I reply. "You do that impression pretty well." He's an attorney - he bothers people for a living, when he isn't a peacemaker. And actually, being an attorney - he is really good at peacemaking. The career has been really good for him. Except he was a sibling kicking me in the head - first. He knew how to do that and look like, "What me?"
My brother, my sibling replies. "Yeah, you're dodging. I just insulted the Bible. Answer."
Now a few more people are looking - but this time - the crowd very quickly does not meet eye to eye and looks at laps, laptops, books. It's a knee JERK thing. Sibling.
I said, "The Bible covers the Bronze Age. It's back to the Exodus which the History Channel even supports the plagues and evidence of the Bible."
John says, "No, the Bronze Age is 1,000 B.C."
No - the Bronze Age ends at 1,000 B.C. the Iron Age is when King David and Solomon are coming to power."
My Brother, the Attorney says, "Oh History Lesson before dealing with the killings and petty power."
Right. The Bible starts cooking when the Children of Israel learn God's Name and that God still is a Physical Presence willing to Rescue and Deliver Establishing His Promises. And this is not petty tribal warfare. Egypt is the richest Kingdom on earth. When God starts - God starts Big. Like Jesus starts out with the whole town turns out to hear from the Man who did every sign of the Messiah before His first Sermon.
The Bible has God Showing Up Hugely every 500 Years. So David hits the Iron Age.
"That's when we get petty tribal warfare."
No. Solomon's Kingdom is debated to go as far as Greece. Solomon married Pharaoh's Daughter, Solomon the Wise. Invaders show up in Egypt, there is no war and the pirates leave with the Treasury. Unidentified - to the point - leave fast - Treasury Robbery. And not only that, before, when God got finished with the Plagues of Exodus - the people of Egypt were throwing all their gold and silver plate and jewelry begging the slaves to leave. They leave with so much gold and silver - they were paid for their years of Slavery. God is God.
"But they kill people and the Crusades."
"You, my sibling, have an undergraduate in classical History. You know the history of mankind is warfare. Every political upheaval is war. So, to say this is of the Bible - we have a discrepancy. War is Government establishment. Almost Always."
"What are you reading right this minute, Anne-Laurel?"
Psalm 139
1 O LORD, you have searched me and known me!
2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar.
3 You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways.
4 Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know it altogether.
5 You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it.
7 Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence?
8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
9 If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
10 even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.
11 If I say, "Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,"
12 even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you.
13 For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb.
14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!
18 If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake, and I am still with you.
19 Oh that you would slay the wicked, O God! O men of blood, depart from me!
20 They speak against you with malicious intent; your enemies take your name in vain!
21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD? And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?
22 I hate them with complete hatred; I count them my enemies.
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts!
24 And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!
"See, Anne-Laurel, the Bible is all this poetry and then you get to the bottom of the Psalm and it's all bloodshed."
"One Important Point of God is this: no one really, really wants to read the first 5 books of the Bible. The Pentateuch are the first 5 Books of the Bible where the "BLESSINGS" are located. And in telling of us how to get to the Blessings - you read pages and pages and pages of what not to do. And because of the Pentateuch, we have a better culture."
My Brother, the Attorney, with a Classical Undergraduate Degree says, "OK, we agree there. Because almost all Cultures point back to Abraham to establish the basis of the Legal Law. Because Abraham was a rational man - we actually have 'Culture' today."
I said, "Right, exactly. Abraham is called 3,000 years ago 'Father of Nations.' "
My brother says, "No Bull? But the Bible was written in like 400 A.D. for the New Testament and no one knows about the Old Testament."
"No. The Papyrus 46 is owned by the University of Michigan and the way the pronouns are written are a 300 THREE HUNDRED BIBLE INTACT CHAPTERS and a debate that this is 90 A.D. or 120 A.D. When Paul, in the Holy Spirit, writes the New Testament, Paul refers to the daily on-going work/sacrifice in the Jerusalem Temple still operating until 70 A.D. When Jesus would have died of Old Age - Naturally."
"And the Dead Sea Scrolls - the whole point of the Essenes as hermits, who copy the Bible. And their Bible entirely match the Bible the Gutenberg Bible just blithely put out - completely matching a Bible from 0 A.D. - This is the PROOF these words were so Holy - the Words Match to Match. The Bible is revered, copied, died for, held forth as the Holy Word of God Himself. The Dead Sea Scroll is HUGE. Found in a 500 year mark historically."
"We die. We go Home. The Word of God is Upheld." We are folded up as a garment. The grass withers, the flower fades. The Word of God Endures Forever.
Ok, but why did Psalm 139 end so hatefully?
A man lives in the world. In all types and stages of history - he loves and has a child. This child is precious to him. Suddenly this man realizes he is a man. He takes a look at the environment around him. Does his government provide stability? Is his job enduring to support his child, this infant? Does he have an enemy who would kill his child? Suddenly - a battle is much, much, much more ferocious.
I said, "John, didn't you ever have someone in your life that suddenly you worried your very place in life?"
Yes. I said Edward too. He had a boss who took his salary down and made us have a month where our income was $200. And suddenly a mild-mannered man is angry beyond belief.
Psalm 139. Is very like the Holy of Holies. A seat. The Ark of the Covenant is actually a seat.
Genesis 3
8a Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day
God always intended to live and move and have His Being to be part of all of our lives. To tenderly hold us under the Wing of God Himself. And God realizes Life has come to be. Life moves like Light. Fast. Life has made mankind like Aaron coming into the Holy of Holies. Aaron is going to make a horrible mess. Blood. Life. Mess. And God thought about how acceptable mankind was to Him. The flood - many histories record. I think the flooding of the world we call the Ice Age is the Great Flood. Mankind would worship other gods who asked for baby sacrifice because early man didn't realize blood meal was good fertilizer and 'prosperity'. God always always always as the God of Abraham said no murder or baby murder. And the gods pollute mankind with bloodshed of even the innocent.
It was never petty. Ever. It was a fight of Good and Evil. Life and Death. Heaven or hell.
And because the Journey of Life - is so serious - is Life and Death. Because God would let Aaron come in and throw blood, blood, blood - because of the Overwhelming Love of God
Because God desires to save the world
because God writes He looks into mankind and finds He wants to save
because God has studied mankind since the beginning
God wants to
.............put up with the mess. To have the Relationship.
This is our God.
God would ALLOW David to record for all time the hate in his heart. The sheer NEED to Thrive. To make a path for Children. The way life causes War.
It's like the Holy of Holies. God goes with us in the horrible, hard, nasty, treacherous, wild winds of life.
God says He will Never Forsake us.
The Bronze to Iron Age is known to be Bloody, yet our Century is known to be one of the Bloodiest of all of mankind. World Wars. Nuclear Attacks and Abortion. Terrorism. Knowledge, appearance and isolation.
Psalm 139 exists to comfort Edward when his income is taken and he has $200 for the month. With two toddlers.
Psalm 139 exists to comfort us when we feel hatred. When life is being taken from us.
God Will Never Leave Nor Forsake us. EVER. All aspects of Life are covered in the Name of Jesus and are in His Hand.
We do not go alone. God is with us.
As we got off the plane, John said that truly made sense.
Father God,
And we who know Father God pray like this: "I know Father God, I'm ok. I Pray for the one who is worried because they do not know the Peace and Unending Overwhelming Unceasing Reckless Love of God. Leave the 99 to find the lost one."
And we pray more of God's Kingdom on earth. Filling our loved ones. The people given to us by Father God. Our employments. Our schools. Our Nation Trusting in God. The Nations of the world Trusting in God. The Beloved of God in unceasing prayer conversations with God who wants the Relationship. Because the Grace of God is Jesus Christ HIS ONLY SON. Our Savior. Amen and amen and Amen.
♔ Lord Jesus Saves! †
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