There is hope

“The only hope once defiant sin was committed was found in mediatorial figures who could stand before Yahweh and seek pardon for the people. The most common figure is Moses, but at times priestly figures such as Aaron and his son Phinehas are able to secure forgiveness and atonement, bringing an end to punishment. This forgiveness and atonement often involves mitigated punishment, that is, the people still suffer, but they do not receive the full measure of judgment that they deserve.”—A Severe Mercy, page 95 (emphasis his)

<idle musing>
After yesterday's post, I wasn't sure where we were headed, but this give's at least some hope. It's still a Severe Mercy, but it is mercy! This book certainly can't be accused of encouraging a cheap grace...
</idle musing>

Another garden update

I haven't posted about the garden lately—not because I haven't been doing anything with it!

About 3 weeks ago, I borrowed a pick-up truck (thanks Jim!) and got four loads of wood chips. That's a lot of wood chips! A little over two loads worth went on the walkways of the garden. Last fall I had expanded the fenced-in section to include the raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, and asparagus. It almost doubled the size of the garden. It also required significant amounts of wood chips for the paths—hence the 2 plus loads. The rest went around the house, replenishing the ones already there, and on a path that we have in the woods going to the creek. Right now the creek is over its banks and part of the path is flooded, but the rest got a fresh load of wood chips.

I have also been busy planting and transplanting stuff. I transplanted 15 San Marzano paste tomato plants in the hoop house about 2 weeks ago. They are doing marvelously. About the same time, I planted some turnips and kohlrabi in a cold frame; the first planting (mid-March) of kohlrabi didn't make it, although the rutabaga did. In the hoop house, I planted some filet green beans for fresh eating—they don't freeze well—and some carrots. Outside, in the garden itself, I planted about 5 pounds of onion sets and put row cover over them—did I mention that we like onions?

Meanwhile, in the hoop house, the stuff that overwintered has been doing great. I'm giving away spinach; the overwintered is still producing and the stuff I planted at the end of January is also producing, and some that I planted in November (most of it didn't come up) is also giving me spinach. I didn't plant a lot in each planting, but... Oh, if you are looking for a long-time producing spinach, try "Space;" I planted it last fall and it produced all winter (January and February only once every week or so) and is still producing. I do cut-and-come-again to extend the season, but this is unbelievable. It is starting to get a bit tough, but, still.

We've been eating radishes, carrots, and green onions for a while now, probably 3 or more weeks. I brought some green onions in to share with Michael. They overwintered and are huge. They stuck out of the top of my pack; I'm sure people thought I was a bit strange :) They're about as big as leeks. Take a look:



Here they are lying on the desk:

Is there no remedy?

“There appears to be no remedy to remove the guilt of the present generation save their death in the wilderness. Yahweh's merciful forgiveness, however, is available to save the nation. The only effective function available for a human figure is Moses' mediation before Yahweh. He secures the forgiveness of mitigated punishment through an appeal to the glory Yahweh enjoyed among the nations and the mercy Yahweh promised to his people.

“It is important not to miss that Numbers 15 follows immediately after the rebellion at Kadesh in Numbers 13-14. In it, Yahweh highlights the provision of mercy through the sacrificial system for those who sin unintentionally (15:22-29) but the lack of this kind of mercy for those who sin defiantly (15:30-31). The sin of the wilderness generation in not taking the promised land is subtly linked to defiant sin, for which there was no remedy.”A Severe Mercy, page 94

<idle musing>
Not very hopeful sounding is it? I hope it gets better, or we are all doomed...
</idle musing>

How they get here

I enjoy looking at the search terms and referring sites from time to time. This one tickles my fancy: http://myhealthcare.com/search?q=acting+strangely...

I'm not sure what qualifies as acting strangely: being a bookseller in an Internet world, being a pacifist in a violence-loving society, or just being a Christian. Maybe all of them...

and the answer is...

“Although the administration of the legal code was designed to deal with offenses, Yahweh provided his own direct covenant blessings to encourage obedience and direct covenant curses to discourage and bring an end to disobedience. These curses appear to replace sacrifice with the suffering connected with the curse. This is made clear in the ultimate curse of exile, which promotes listening to Yahweh, adhering to commands, confessing sins, humbling the heart, and providing sacrifice through suffering. Through this there is an opportunity for renewal of covenant with Yahweh.”—A Severe Mercy, page 85 (emphasis his)

<idle musing>
Pretty severe—perhaps that's why the book is called A Severe Mercy? But, in the end, God will use whatever means he can to woo us to himself. Augustine called the Holy Spirit "the hound of heaven" for a good reason!
</idle musing>

The purpose of the covenant curses

“The blessings and curses of Leviticus 26 thus reveal another way for dealing with sin according to the Holiness Code. Yahweh would use a system of covenant blessings and curses to encourage obedience and discourage sin. The discipline of curse was designed to turn the people from sin and save them from more severe discipline.”—A Severe Mercy, page 83

<idle musing>
Problem is that it didn't work...Israel went into exile. Still doesn't work very well, does it?
</idle musing>

Thought for the day, or lifetime

εὐλογεῖτε τοὺς καταρωμένους ὑμᾶς, προσεύχεσθε περὶ τῶν ἐπηρεαζόντων ὑμᾶς.

"bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you" Luke 6:28

Be holy...

Today, Boda summarizes the first section of Leviticus based on the four previous observations:

What the priestly legislation provided then was an intricate theological-symbolic world designed to preserve God's presence in the midst of his people. The people were constantly reminded of his holy character through their failure to follow his commands but at the same time experienced his gracious character as they received atonement for both cleansing and forgiveness. Through these priestly encounters with God's holiness and grace, they were reminded of their need to “be holy as he is holy.”—A Severe Mercy, page 76

<idle musing>
What a great segue into Hebrews...in the old covenant, it was failure and atonement; in the new covenant, it is sacrifice and cleansing, resulting in rest! Rest for the people of God as they walk by faith in Christ's accomplished work on the cross. Not just forgiveness, but deliverance. What more could anyone want?

Anything less than deliverance, and you are still walking in the old covenant...
</idle musing>

The communal effect of sin

Today's fourth, and final, observation from the first section of Leviticus:

Fourth, the need for reparation and restitution in the priestly legislation showed that sin had an impact on others and demanded that a person change his or her behavior practically in light of the grace that was afforded through the sacrificial rite.—A Severe Mercy, page 76 (emphasis his)

<idle musing>
Sin always has a communal effect. I know it is hard for us in our individualistic society to fathom that, but it's true. What happens in the darkness of a corner room has a society-wide ramification. Of course, the answer isn't more legislation, but instead repentance and reformed behavior by the power of the Holy Spirit.
</idle musing>

Preserving the presence

Today, we get the third observation from the first section of Leviticus in Boda's A Severe Mercy:

Third, the need for purification of the sanctuary and its altars shows that sin endangered the community's relationship with their God. The Creator of the universe, the covenant God who had spoken with such power from Sinai, was the same God who had descended in Exodus 40 into the tabernacle at the center of their camp. The people were shown on a regular basis that they should not take their sin lightly, lest this God abandon a defiled and unworthy tabernacle.—A Severe Mercy, page 76

<idle musing>
A good reminder to us all! Again, I'm struck by the continuity between the covenants...
</idle musing>

The second observation on Leviticus

We're still camping on page 76 of Boda's A Severe Mercy. Today is the second observation from the first section of Leviticus:

Second, knowledge, recognition, and confession of guilt are important to remedying sin. Recognition may come from the violator, but at times the community was to play a role in bringing violations to the attention of its members. The constant reference to 'recognition of guilt' suggests that the sacrificial system was designed to foster the formation of conscience within the community, but the constant references to 'knowing' suggest that it was designed also to foster accountability. Demanding verbal confession I cases of certain deliberate sins brought these two aspects together, forcing the worshiper to recognize guilt and expose sin before covenant God and community.—A Severe Mercy, page 76 (emphasis his)

<idle musing>
Isn't that a nice picture of what the church should be like with the various members of the body encouraging and holding each other accountable in love?
</idle musing>

Ouch

I don't follow television at all, so I don't even know the individual replying in the video, but I'm sure most of you do. Anyway, apparently Mr. Limbaugh last night asked what Jesus would take. Today this gentleman replied:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

<idle musing>
Ouch. I'm reminded of Bonhoeffer's Discipleship. We try to explain away what Jesus is saying, but we can't...why not just embrace it? The Holy Spirit is waiting and willing to take over!
</idle musing>

Mitigated Punishment-again

This week we are going to camp on one page in Boda's A Severe Mercy, page 76. Page 76 is a summary of the first section of Leviticus from which he draws four observations. Here' the first:

First, the rituals involving various animals and their blood suggest the costly character of sin. Not only does one's sin demand the loss of a life, but it means the economic loss of that animal from one's head. Forgiveness meant mitigated punishment: one avoided death, but it cost something.—A Severe Mercy, page 76 (emphasis his)

<idle musing>
There's that recurring theme of mitigated punishment. No cheap grace in the Hebrew Bible!
</idle musing>

I served my time

OK, a week ago Wednesday, they came for me:



And they hauled me away and put cuffs on me and a strange suit of clothes:



Because my cell phone was dead, they let me go, otherwise some of you would have heard from me. But, you can still help me out by going here: Kosciusko, IN Lock-Up 2011: James Spinti

Thanks!

Good Friday

It seems appropriate that on Good Friday, there should be a post on the cross. So, perusing the blog world today, I found a very good one, by Roger Olson. Here's a snippet, but read the whole thing; he's riding a favorite hobby horse of my own...

I will take the risk of putting forth a theory here. It seems likely to me that whenever and wherever and to the extent that the objective view of the atonement (viz., that the death of Christ reconciled God to the world as much as the world to God) diminishes, the cross will diminish in importance for worship and piety. A subjective theory of the atonement will not do; it cannot sustain long term, profound commitment to the gospel of the death of Jesus Christ as our salvation.

Some contemporary Christians, including some evangelicals, worry that the preaching of the cross in any traditional sense (viz., objective) risks sanctioning child abuse. That seems to me to be utter nonsense because it completely ignores the Trinity in the background of objective atonement. No theologian defending objective atonement has ever regarded the atonement as anything other than God the Son’s voluntary suffering and death. Even Anselm’s Satisfaction Theory and the Puritans’ Penal Substitution Theories pictured it that way and NOT as God simply taking out his anger on an innocent person against his will.

On this Good Friday I call on evangelicals especially to return to their roots and rediscover the good news of the cross as God’s way of reconciling himself to a sinful, rebellious world as well as God’s way of drawing us to himself.

<idle musing>
Amen! I've mentioned before my experience with the loss of the cross. It truly is central to Christianity; without it, there is no atonement. Of course, we can't stop there; we need the resurrection too! But, you can't get to the resurrection without going to the cross first. And on that cross, you and I died with Christ that we might live with him. No cross, no resurrection. No resurrection, no deliverance from the power of sin—let me emphasize here that I'm talking about deliverance; not just forgiveness!
</idle musing>

God is...

"God is Love, but that same God self-describes with “I am holy.” Yes, I agree — the witness of the Bible is that God is love, but how can we simply avoid God’s self-identifying words about holiness? And what does holiness say about some of the topics in this book? Can we simply dismiss the robust view of holiness at work in the Bible when it comes to descriptions of God? For some holiness is the defining attribute of God, for others it’s love. I don’t know why we get into such battles – both are true. God is holy and God is love, and God is lovingly holy and holy in his love. Holiness does not mean wrath; holiness means purity and moral perfection and utter differentness — the ineffability and the infinity of God."—Scot McKnight

<idle musing>
Yes. Yes! YES! YES!
</idle musing>

Forgiveness

“The nature of סלח [selach], however, is slightly different from the Western conception of forgiveness. Numbers 14 shows that סלח involves not necessarily the eradication of the penalty by the offended party (Yahweh) but rather 'the substitution of a mitigated penalty (non-entry into the land) for a much more severe penalty (immediate destruction by plague).' (Sklar 2005:84-85) This suggests that the sacrificial animal functioned in a similar way to modern-day fines. Instead of the harsher penalty of incarceration, a mitigated financial penalty is demanded.”—A Severe Mercy, page 71

<idle musing>
I'm not quite sure what to do with this. Any ideas? Maybe it will become clearer as I read further in the book.
</idle musing>

Understatement of the decade award...

Goes to Mark Boda for this statement:

“Although most introductory Hebrew students are taught that this latter conjunction [ו, waw] should be translated as 'and,' is is unquestionably the most versatile particle in the Hebrew language.”—A Severe Mercy, page 65

<idle musing>
Not at all like Greek, with its plethora of particles, so much so that there is a 574 page book called Greek Particles—which should be in every Greek student's library, by the way—, Hebrew has a much more limited repertoire of particles to choose from. Of course, that leads to interpretive issues :( But, remember, context is always king and the number of times the meaning isn't clear is minimal.
</idle musing>

What a deal!

Now through April 30: $10 standard shipping on all international orders



That's right: standard shipping on any retail order, of any size, anywhere outside the U.S. is just $10 until the end of April! Prices for Air Mail and other shipping services will stay the same. This incredible deal won't appear during the checkout process, but we'll adjust it before we bill your card.

* This won't apply to existing backorders, is valid for retail customers only, and you have to place your order on the website. Picky, picky, picky. It's still a good deal.

And the response was...

After the golden calf incident:
“Although the mediator secures forgiveness from Yahweh for the people's rebellion, they do experience mitigated punishment. The people are not rejected and destroyed by their holy God but rather preserved because of God's gracious character and action...The remedy for sin is thus complex, involving the just punishment of a holy God, the passionate intercession of a mediator, and the merciful forgiveness of a gracious God. What is striking is the lack of emphasis on the response of the sinful community...—A Severe Mercy, page 48

<idle musing>
Ouch! The people are all about to die in the wilderness. But, before we throw stones, what will be our response to Christ's invitation?
</idle musing>