Author: Al
Posted: 2007-01-29 13:33:20
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Disciple – Week 17
Special “End of the OT Edition”
Esther
Ah, Esther! The very worst of the Veggie Tales. While the book read very well, I am not certain that I disagree with those who wonder why this is even in the canon.
To this quandry, Clarke offers an excellent rebuttal:
Though some Christians have hesitated to receive the book of Esther into the sacred canon; yet it has always been received by the Jews, not only as perfectly authentic, but also as one of the most excellent of their sacred books. They call it megillah, THE VOLUME, by way of eminence; and hold it in the highest estimation. That it records the history of a real fact, the observation of the feast of Purim, to the present day, is a sufficient evidence. Indeed, this is one of the strongest evidences that any fact can have, viz., that, to commemorate it, a certain rite, procession, feast, or the like, should have been instituted at the time, which, without intermission, has been continued annually through every generation of that people, and in whatsoever place they or parties of them may have sojourned, to the present day. This is the fact concerning the feast of Purim here mentioned; which the Jews, in all places of their dispersion, have uninterruptedly celebrated, and do still continue to celebrate, from the time of their deliverance from the massacre intended by Haman to the present time. Copies of this book, widely differing from each other, exist in Hebrew, Chaldee, Syriac, Greek, and Latin. All these differ much from the Hebrew text, particularly the Greek and the Chaldee: the former has many additional paragraphs; and the latter, as it exists in the London Polyglot, contains five times more than the Hebrew text. To notice all the various readings, additions, and paraphrases, in the above copies, would require a volume of no inconsiderable magnitude. The reader who is curious may consult the above Polyglot. This book does not appear to be extant in Arabic, or in any other of the Oriental languages, besides the Hebrew and Syriac.
Fun fact (from Clarke):
It is a singular circumstance that the name of God does not once occur in the whole of this book as it stands in Hebrew.
Nik's Bible had a very interesting discussion of why this might be so. I will not recount it verbatim here, but the gist is that since no one in this story is really exemplary, it serves best as a secular story, and an example that God is with everyone, not just a chosen few.
Jonah
Jonah, ranks #2, just behind Esther in my dislike for the Veggie Tales treatment. Don't get me wrong, I love Veggie Tales, but these two (and the space one) were just not even slightly entertaining.
Upon reading this I learn that there is some debate over whether Jonah was a history or a fiction. I have always taken the story at face value. It comes with none of the problems that plagued the story of Job when examining it as a history. For one thing, it is sparsely detailed enough to be believable as a history. Like Job though, from a practical standpoint it really does not matter. The story has value for Christians that should be taken from any source available.
In the interest of completeness, here is Scofield's introduction to Jonah:
The historical character of the man Jonah is vouched for by Jesus Christ Matthew 12:39-41 as also that his preservation in the great fish was a "sign" or type of the Lord's own entombment and resurrection. Both are miraculous and both are equally credible. 2 Kings 14:25 records the fulfilment of a prophecy by Jonah. The man himself was a bigoted Jew, unwilling to testify to a Gentile city, and angry that God had spared it. Typically he foreshadows the nation of Israel out of its own land; a trouble to the Gentiles, yet witnessing to them; cast out by them, but miraculously preserved; in their future deepest distress calling upon Jehovah-Saviour, and finding deliverance, and then becoming missionaries to the Gentiles. Zechariah 8:7-23.
He typifies Christ as the Sent One, raised from the dead, and carrying salvation to the Gentiles. The chapter divisions indicate the analysis of Jonah.
The verses sited in Matthew are not what convince me of Jonah's existence. We all talk about fictional characters in this way, but the rest of Scofield's commentary is beautiful.
End of the Old Testament
While I am excited to go into the more familiar waters of the New Testament, there are a couple of disappointments here.
First, while this is more than a little petty, I am sad that the leap to the NT did not coincide with Christmas. The depressing lull of January just does not seem fitting for our first foray into the nativity story.
Second, and a little more substantively, I am sad that we have not covered more of the OT. We left out a lot of stuff, much of it looks far more interesting than a good deal of what we read early on. Why, oh why did we read so much of Leviticus and none of Malachi?
All in all, I've come out of the OT much stronger in my faith. It troubles me that seemingly no one (especially in our group) finds any interest in the parts of the Bible that I find interesting.
Highlights:
Psalm 136:10 as my new favorite verse (Week 13)
Amos 5:15 “As you think he is.” (Week 10)
Joshua 1 -3 To prove that I really do like Veggie Tales (Week 8)
Judges 13 – 16 “Heifer for a plough” That still cracks me up (Week 8)
Genesis 28 – 35 Never take more than one wife (Week 4) |
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