Lesson 5 Treaty

 Richter mentioned a chart of treaty in last week's video. I'm pretty sure that is in this week's lesson on pages 70 to 71.

• Through this Covenant relationship, through this treaty that Yahweh offers to Israel, Israel is given the Idea of national identity.

• They didn't have a national identity before, as they were a tribal outfit, an extended family.

• The thing that has forged them together is their common suffering, but at the foot of Mount Sinai by means of the Covenant document, Yahweh makes them a nation.

• God is suzerain,  Israel is the vassal. 

• God communicates the idea of monotheism. This is critical, the Israelites don't understand monotheism, and really it's going to take them a while to get this straight. The average citizen sitting in the pew isn't going to get it straight for a long long time, and that's evidenced by all sorts of material, culture, and archaeological evidence. We've still got statues to Ashra dropping into the average citizen's house in 8th century Judah, unfortunately.

• God uses a political form to communicate to this theologically challenged outfit what monotheism is all about, and how it works. “I'm the only one here, yes, you've been taught about other Gods, but I am your suzerain you either give your loyalty to me or there will colloquially speaking, be hell to pay."

Mega Huge Idea!!

This had so many lightbulbs going off in my brain! It was such a huge aha moment for me! The Old Testament is making sense to me more than ever before.

"Matthew 26: 27-28. It is Passover. Jesus and his 12 disciples have gathered to celebrate the ritual meal. Every Jew everywhere was required to gather and commemorate the miracles of The Exodus. To remember that great and terrible night when the blood of a spotless lamb marked, who would live and who would die, when the 10th plague." Passed over" the houses of the Israelites but struck down the first born of Egypt. It was during this" last supper" that Jesus instituted the communion meal. When he had taken a cup and given thanks, he gave it to them saying,' drank from it, all of you; for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins." Do you hear the echo of Exodus 24? Moses said," this is the blood of the covenant"; Jesus said," this is my blood of the covenant." This echo is not coincidental, nor was it missed by its first century audience. Rather, on that Passover night, Jesus announced to his disciples that something greater than The Exodus was about to transpire. By means of oath and sacrifice. Another rabble of slaves was about to be transformed into God's covenant people. As Moses sprinkled the blood of the bulls upon the people of Israel in order to ratify the Sinai covenant, so Jesus distributed his own blood that night to ratify a New covenant. And this time the oaths were not sealed by." The blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer," but by the blood of God the son. Moreover, the slaves who were freed from their bondage by this New covenant were not delivered merely from Egypt, but from death itself. In this New covenant, the Lord of the cosmos has served as both suzerain and sacrifice."

The Epic of Eden by Sandra Richter

The Epic of Eden Lesson 4 The Concept of Covenant

Summary

• The biblical writers were theologians who consciously organized their material in a systematic fashion in order to communicate certain Central truths. We need to rediscover their system and allow their system to organize our closets.

• The covenant is a major structuring principle of our scriptures. A covenant was much like a contract 

• Fictive kinship Israel's patriarchal culture in which an individual's privileges and responsibilities within the bêt ’āb, the tribe and larger society were predetermined by their lineage, gender and birth order. This was how the ancients ordered their world.

• Establishing a relationship of privilege and responsibility with someone who was non-kin that person would have to make kin out of non-kin. This was accomplished by means of fictive kinship. Both parties agreed to act like family. (think marriage and adoption)

• Egypt and Mesopotamia were the superpowers who regularly sought for control of Canaan; Israel's territory (Canaan or Palestine) 

• In the days of the divided monarchy, this tiny strip of land housed, the Israelites, Judahhites, Philistines, Phoenicians, Moabites and a dozen other small tribal groups.

• Two sorts of international alliances: the Parity Treaty (made between equals) and the Suzerain/Vassal (treaty made between greater and lesser powers).

• Parity Treaty: responsibilities of both parties typically limited to military alliance against an outsider (covenant partner spoke of each other as brothers)

• Suzerain/Vassal Treaty: One party clearly more powerful than the other had right to demand submission of weaker Ally. (Partners spoke of each other as Father and son or Lord and servant) 

• Make a covenant ("cut a berit") with us (Joshua and the The Gibeonites).

• A berit always involved oaths, ratified by  of animals ("May what has happened to these animals happen to me if I fail to keep my oath")

• Genesis 15:9 Abram participating in a covenant with Yahweh: " oh Lord God, how may I know that I will possess the land?"  Genesis 15:8 Yahweh answers in a way that he knows Abram will understand - cow, goat, ram, dove, pigeon for sacrifice as when people cut a berit.

• Abram supernaturally induced sleep - A great darkness fell upon him (an appearance of the deity in physical form) What happened at Sinai when God descended upon the mountain in material form to communicate with his people. Genesis 15:18 God passed between the torn and bloodied parts of the sacrificed animals.  "May what has happened to these animals happened to me if I failed to keep my oath" 

• Abram didn't fail his promise, but the children of Abraham did. Whose flesh was torn to pay the price for this broken covenant? The God man, Jesus Christ, the representative of humanity and the embodiment of Yahweh whose flesh was torn to appease the broken stipulations of the oath taken.

• Covenants are the terminology associated with the international politics of the ancient near East, and the Bible is describing Israel's relationship to Yahweh in terms of a berit. Suzerain and Israel has become his vassal.

• Yahweh has become Israel's sovereign Lord and Israel His servant. Israel will demonstrate this three times a year, every year, when every male was required to appear before Yahweh with his tribute in hand. If Israel fails to obey the stipulations of the covenant, their sovereign Lord will surrender Israel to her enemies. But if Israel is faithful, Yahweh will defend her against all military and economic afflictions. In this manner, the nation of Israel will retain the land grant of the Great King.

• In sum, we see that the word covenant carries more semantic cargo than most Bible readers would ever guess and Yahweh, the great teacher, selected this well-known secular image in order to teach his chosen people about himself. So significant. Is this concept of covenant to the Bible that the biblical writers utilize it as a major structuring principle for both the history and theology of redemption. 

The Epic of Eden Lesson 3

The Bible in Real Time and Space

Richter acknowledges the complex geography in the Old Testament, but she clearly points out its importance. She suggests streamlining all the locations into three main areas: Mesopotamia, Israel, and Egypt, which is a great way to manage what's important and organize it all.

" We are organizing the story of redemption as the biblical writers have, around five major eras. Each of these five eras is associated with one key player (Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses and David) organize the plotline of the Old Testament. Three general areas (Mesopotamia, Israel and Egypt, set the stage."

Adam God offers Adam and Eve everything a human could desire. He installs these two, made in his image, as the stewards of his perfect world. But as we all know, humanity rejects God's plan, choosing autonomy instead and they are evicted from Eden. Thus Adam's world is birthed with all of its pain and chaos. So too is the story of redemption birthed. For with Adam's choice, God's plan of rescue begins.

Noah

The flood served as a period of history that divided the Adamic Age to the current one. Noah's chosen Shem was the salvation of our fallen race.

Abraham

Abraham is the offspring of Shem and the next step in God's redemptive plan. He is known as "the father of the Jews" because his descendants will become the nation of Israel. This is where we step into datable history. He brought his bêt āb to Canaan (which would later become Israel). His son Jacob took his bêt āb and followed Joseph into Egypt.

Moses

Moses the child of a Hebrew raised with Egyptian royalty. Driven from Egypt because of his loyalty to his own people. Moses leads God's people out of slavery and into a new life. When the sea parts, tens of thousands of the offspring of Abraham step into freedom. At Sinai this group is transformed into a nation and the journey to the Promised Land begins.

David

David was born into an era in which Israel has not yet evolved into a centralized government. This new nation is still governed through its tribal leaders. The people's first choice was Saul the Benjaminite who turns out to be a horrid disappointment. Yahweh removes him and appoints David, with whom the actual dynasty begins.

Space

Some basic geographical information will transform the way we read and understand the Old Testament. Remember, we are going to organize ourselves around three general regions: Mesopotamia (which housed the nations of Assyria and Babylonia), Israel (which is also known as Canaan and Palestine) and Egypt. All of these regions may be found in the Fertile Crescent. What made this region fertile was water. The Tigris and Euphrates rivers toward the east, the Jordan in the center and the Nile in the west transformed desert and stone into farmland and pasturage. This swath of habitable and arable land served as the backdrop to the peoples and narratives of the Old Testament.

Mesopotamia

• means "the land between the rivers"
• east of Fertile Crescent
• writing first developed here in c. 3200 BC
• cradle of civilization
• setting for Noah's flood
• biblical writers apparently understand it as the setting for the Tower of Babel
• Abraham leaves Ur in Mesopotamia to find the promised land

Canaan

• Canaan/Israel/Palestine
• served as the only land bridge between to Mesopotamia and Egypt
• Abraham spent most of his life in Canaan

Egypt

• after several generations Abraham's kin found their way to Egypt
• Joseph and his special coat
• for many years Joseph lived in Egypt as a slave, then prisoner and then a political advisor
• Jacob discovers Joseph is still alive, takes his kin to Egypt and stayed, eventually becoming slaves to Pharaoh.
• Moses leads the people out of Egypt to Mt. Sinai, then Moab
• sets up the reformation of the people of God
• Moses transferred leadership to Joshua and Israel began to make preparations for the conquest of the Promised Land

Canaan Revisited

• successful assault on Jericho (books of Judges and Joshua)
• Israel spent next several hundred years wrestling indigenous people for governing control in the land
• Under King David Israel Israel gains control of all the land promised to Abraham
• Under David's grandson, Rehoboam, fissure between northern and southern tribes develops and country torn apart by civil war
• divided kingdom 931 BC Israel in the north (various kings/dynasties), Judah in the south (Davidic dynasty) 1 and 2 Kings
• to avoid divided monarchy confusion see map below and remember that the temple and David's dynasty continue in the south in Jerusalem.

Mesopotamia Revisited

• northern and southern kingdoms eventually became victims of conquest and exile

• in 722 BC the Mesopotamian superpower, Assyria, captures Samaria (capital of northern kingdom) resulting in the 10 lost tribes of Israel never returning home again. 2 Kings 17
• 130 years later southern kingdom suffers same fate at the hands of Babylonia
• David's kingdom swept off into exile by Nebuchadnezzar II
• the remnant of the faithful in Babylonia did return
• 538 BC Jews released to go home rebuilt the community in and around Jerusalem and temple rebuilt. This is the era of the birth of the modern religion of Judaism

How is your closet coming?" 

The Epic of Eden A Christian Entry into the Old Testament. 2008

Chapter 2 The Bible as the Story of Redemption

As we open the Bible, we find that the God of history has chosen to reveal himself through a specific human culture. To be more accurate, he chose to reveal himself in several incarnations of the same culture. And, as the evolving cultural norms of Israel were not without flaw. (there was a mixture of the good, the bad and the ugly), God did not canonize Israel's culture. Rather, he simply used that culture as a vehicle through which to communicate the eternal truth of his character and his will for humanity. 

• He teaches us things in adversity. We don't learn any other way.
• Hosea  2:14-15 therefore, I'm going to allure her. I will lead her into the wilderness and speak tenderly to her. There. I will give her back her vineyards, and will make the valley of acor a door of Hope. There she will respond as in the days of her youth, as in the day she came up out of Egypt. 
• God uses even our negative experiences to create opportunities to turn back to him. As you face problems and trials, remember that God speaks to you in the desert, and not just in times of prosperity.

Ruth and Boaz 

• Naomi marries Elimelech from Bethlehem
• A famine causes them to move to Moab 
• Naomi's husband and two sons die leaving her with no means of support 
• Naomi returns to Bethlehem, tells her daughter-in-law's to to stay.
• Ruth 1:11-13 we often hear Ruth's words quoted in marriage ceremonies, but these words are in reality plain spoken statements of tribal solidarity. Ruth is announcing that her tribal affiliation is with Naomi. Regardless of the patrilineal culture of their society, Ruth has chosen Naomi as her kin, and she's not leaving
• Ruth met Boaz  (clan of Emimelech) Ruth seduces him, he buys back the family land of her deceased husband, marries Ruth, and takes Naomi into his household.
• From this story, we learned that the tribal law of redemption had to do with a patriarch rescuing, a family member who, due to crippling life circumstances, had been lost to the kinship circle, to protect their legal rights. The law demanded that the patriarch protect the individual's legal rights and resolve her debts.
• This is another expression of redemption in Israel's world.

Lot and Abraham 

• Lot is Abraham's nephew 
• Abraham's bêt' āb split, and Lot went to Sodom 
• Kings from Mesopotamia invade the region and take lot and his household captive Adam, as as patriarch had responsibilities in this society, if a member of his lineage found himself in need of ransom or rescue, (Lot) that patriarch was expected to do something about it 
• Abraham puts his own household and his life on the line in order to rescue his brother's son. This is another expression of redemption

Gomer and Hosea

• Hosea was a prophet to the northern Kingdom of Israel commissioned by Yahweh to live his life as an ongoing visual aid of Yahweh's relationship with Israel 
• Yahweh instructs Hosea " take to yourself a wife of harlotry and have children of harlotry; for the land commits flagrant harlotry forsaking the Lord." Hosea 1:2 
• They marry and have three children. Gomer's life is transformed, and her world filled with good things
• The brokenness of Gomer's soul was not so easily fixed. She repeats the crimes of her past cheating on Hosea, who was unsure that he is the father of his children 
• Gomer is auctioned off at the city gate
• God tells Hosea to go and buy her back 
• Isaiah buys his wife for 15 shekels of silver and a Homer and a half of barley. This is redemption
• Allegory: Gomer is like Israel Hosea is like Yahweh the redeemer

From the book, The Epic of Eden: " Yahweh is presenting himself as the patriarch of the clan who has announced his intent to redeem his lost family members. Not only has he agreed to pay whatever Ransom is required, but he has sent the most cherished member of his household to accomplish his intent- his firstborn son. And not only is the firstborn coming to seek and save The Lost, but he is coming to share his inheritance with those who have squandered everything. They have been given. His goal? To restore the Lost family members to the bet' ab So that where he is, they may be also. This is why we speak of each other as brother and sister, why we know God as the Father, why we call ourselves the household of Faith. God is buying back his lost children by sending his eledest son, his heir, to 'give His life as a ransom for many' (Mt 20:28). so that we the alienated might be 'adopted as sons' and share forever in the inheritance of this 'firstborn of all creation"

Lesson One

 I recently read  some thoughts that Richard S. Hess shared about The Epic of Eden in the Denver Journal 25 (2022). https://denverjournal.denverseminary.edu/the-denver-journal-article/the-epic-of-eden-a-christian-entry-into-the-old-testament/ 

I really like his summary of the Richter's lessons. I've selected some of his thoughts on the introduction and Chapter One below. Summarizing what we have heard and read is key to remembering and learning it. I hope Dr. Hess' words and a few of my own (which are in blue), help you in learning what we listen to and read this week. 

“Introduction: The Dysfunctional Closet Syndrome?”  Everyone can identify with that closet where our things are in a mess.  It at once both draws in the reader with a relatable word picture and provides a clear connection with the third challenge of why the Old Testament is often unreachable for students.  There are too many disorganized facts and theories in this huge book.  The second reason is also easy to connect with.  The Old Testament seems too far removed in time and place.  'Christians have not been taught that the story of the Old Testament is their story.' " 

Chapter 1, 'The Bible as the Story of Redemption,' begins with the challenge of Jesus as the pale, white man in which he is often encountered."  

Richter teaches that Ethnocentrism is the belief that one's own culture or ethnic group is superior to others. This often leads to  judging other cultures based on our own cultural standards. It's very easy for people in our time and culture to judge the people of the old testament  which was before 4,000 BC. That was so very long ago and the culture vastly, hugely different from ours. Talk about a generation gap!

"Richter seeks to present, with helpful illustrations, that ancient society.  She introduces the bayt ʾab “house of the father” as the extended family headed by the patriarch and as the basic unit of society.  This was led by the eldest male and would be passed on to the firstborn male. 

Richter shines with reflections on the role of a woman’s identity and on the matter of  the practice of marrying the widow of one's childless brother to maintain his line, as required by ancient Hebrew law."

New Study Beginning Sept. 18

Thursday Sept. 18 at 9:30 in room 119, same place and time:)

You can borrow a video study guide book, or if you'd like to keep it, you can purchase it. 

Last spring we talked about a study to connect or bridge the Old Testament to the New Testament. I looked for something to fit our needs and nothing seemed to be "it."  Rev. McClendon to the rescue!! Tim knew just what we needed. He said the author, Sandra Richter, is an expert on the Old Testament and a great writer. He was correct, this book is awesome. 

The author has a way of teaching the Old Testament that brings it to life. This study of the Old Testament leads us to a profound understanding of the New Testament and all that Scripture means for your life.

The author teaches quite a bit about the time, place cultures found in the Old Testament and how even though it seems so far away from our culture and time there is great meaning in the OT for us today. It's packed with maps and diagrams that really help readers understand what the author is trying to convey. I've been reading the book as well as the video study guide this summer and I've enjoyed Richter's teaching and learned so much!

The videos are watched after the weekly reading. Under the Schedule tab in this blog's menu bar, you'll find a schedule for this study. You may find it helpful to keep a notebook for jotting questions, answers or other notes as you read, view the videos, or share in the group discussion sessions. Depending on your current time commitments, and the depth to which you want to dive into this study, you can use some parts of the study guide or all of them. It is totally customizable to suit your needs. 

God Bless,

I'm Looking forward to seeing everyone!