Generation to generation

“In summary, in the first set of three scenarios ([Ezekiel 18] vv. 5–18) the divine answer undermines the principle of wickedness or righteousness being carried from generation to generation and with this prohibits a current generation from blaming a former generation for its behavior or predicament. Each generation stands on its own. In the two additional scenarios (vv. 21–24), the divine answer focuses in on the opportunity even within a generation for repentance to change its consequences, the implication being that, for those who have begun as either the 'wicked' generation (vv. 10–13) or the 'righteous' generation (vv. 5–9, 14–18), there is the possibility of a 'repentance' for good or ill that will change its consequences of death or life.”—A Severe Mercy, page 278

<idle musing>
Debbie and I were just talking about this the other day. Ezekiel seems to waffle on this. But, perhaps it is a case of strong tendencies, with an opportunity for repentance? It is certainly true that certain sinful habits seem to run in families for generations. It is also true that not everyone in those families falls prey to them, which lines up with Boda's observation here.
</idle musing>

Peace without repentance?

“In the middle of this section [Ezekiel 4-32], which shuts down all inquiry by the prophet to Yahweh, something foreshadowed in Ezekiel’s commission in 3:24–27, comes the first call to repentance in chaps. 4–32 when Ezekiel is instructed to say (14:6) 'Repent (שוב) and turn away (שוב Hiphil) from your idols, and turn (שוב Hiphil) your faces away from all your abominations.' Here, repentance is directly related to an abandonment of idolatry, both internally ('their hearts,' 14:3–5) and externally ('their faces,' 14:3–4, 6–7), that is, this repentance is related to both the affections as well as the actions of the people. Against the backdrop of the false prophecy of his time, which promised peace and discouraged repentance, Ezekiel 14 depicts Ezekiel fulfilling his commission to prophesy approaching doom and encourage repentance.”—A Severe Mercy, page 274

<idle musing>
Not so different from right now, is it? "Jesus just makes things better; you don't need to repent, God doesn't hate sin..."
</idle musing>

Sin has repercussions

“On three occasions, the book of Ezekiel employs the priestly root מעל [M'L] to describe the sin of the people (14:13, 18:24, 39:23). This root associates the sin of Israel with the most hideous of priestly offenses, that is, using something holy for unholy purposes. Ezekiel is not merely using the priestly vocabulary on a metaphorical level but is drawing on the views of impurity related to moral infractions found in the Priestly Code. “With language like this Ezekiel has moved beyond the metaphorical: sin causes its own kind of moral impurity which, like physical impurity, can taint YHWH’s possession” (Mein 2001: 152). This explains why their impure behavior leads to Yahweh leaving the temple (Ezekiel 10), because the holiness and purity of his sanctuary are under threat, and their behavior leads to their expulsion from the land (cf. Lev 18:24–25).”—A Severe Mercy, pages 270

<idle musing>
God is zealous for the holiness of his temple; the OT/HB makes that very clear. Now, what/who is his temple? Why should he be any less zealous for the holiness of his temple now than he was then? And, the good news is he empowers and indwells us via the Holy Spirit to make the temple clean. Imparted holiness—all via grace!—not just imputed holiness.
</idle musing>

Flowers

How about a picture of some flowers? These are around our pump. Yes, Renee, those are sunflowers :) Marigolds and sunflowers that I planted from the birdseed; not for human consumption, but the birds should enjoy them.

Miscellaneous

I noticed that I never mentioned the results of my March broccoli planting. I mentioned that it dropped to 22º the next week, but that was it. Well, take note so you don't do this :) The broccoli came through fine, but it only produced little buttons; I had read that it might happen, now I know. The largest head was all of 3 inches across; most were about an inch...

On a related note, after 2.5 years, I managed to kill my yogurt cultures. Bummer! I didn't check the temperature of the water and it was too hot. The yogurt turned out runny and tasteless. So, I had to buy a container of Dannon™ plain and start a new batch. It turned out well and I'm back to using my own starter. Hopefully I'll watch the temperature of the water better...

How about some bicycling?
Because of getting and taking grandkids, conferences, and rain, my riding has been a bit less than normal on the weekends. The last two weekends have been the first ones I really did much extensive riding—other than the daily 11 miles to work and back. I must say, the back roads in the county are getting bad. I read in the paper last week that they hadn't done any real maintenance on them for 3 years, but were planning on redoing 160 miles this summer. They certainly can use it. I just hope those 160 miles include the 70 I rode this weekend!

More from Nahum

“Nahum emphasizes that God remedies sin through retributive judgment and that this principle is rooted in his very character revealed to Israel at Sinai. One cannot eliminate this sort of retribution “without discarding the concern for justice as well” (Roberts 1991: 49). Whereas Jonah has revealed that the “gracious” half of the character creed is the foundation for the repentance and forgiveness of the nation of Assyria, Nahum reveals that the same Yahweh is also a God who takes sin seriously and deals with it through punishment”—A Severe Mercy, page 326

<idle musing>
Of course, we want to hang onto the gracious half and discard the other...but, you can't discard one without changing the very nature of who YHWH is.
</idle musing>

Nahum

“Although the book [of Nahum] is focused on the judgment of Assyria and at times addresses this imperial foe, it is clearly designed to address a Judean audience (e.g., Nah 1:12–13). This is suggested by the name of the prophet himself, Nahum (meaning “comfort”), a hope appropriate for an audience who had lived under the domination of Assyria. This audience has questioned God’s ability to deal with the sinful oppression experienced under the foreign hegemony of the Assyrians. To them the prophet addresses his question in 1:9a, which is best translated 'What do you reckon unto Yhwh?' 'The question essentially asks, “what do you think about Yhwh?” or “how do you evaluate Yhwh?” and appears to be designed to challenge doubts about Yhwh’s power and justice in the aftermath of the assertions made by the partial acrostic hymn.'[Sweeney (2000: 2:431).]”A Severe Mercy, pages 323-324

And even more garden

This is the main garden, including the strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries. We have one 16' strawberry patch that has produced 33 pints of strawberry jam so far this year. I'm not sure we're going to get much more, with it being so wet. They are starting to rot and the grubs are getting bad, too.

There are 3 raspberry rows, 18 x 3 feet. Two of them are well-established; the third one is new this year, so a bit thin yet. And, we have 5 blueberry bushes; we had 6, but one didn't make it through the winter. We won't get many blueberries off them this year or next. It takes a few years to get established.






In the forefront are tomatoes (just transplanted a week ago to take the place of the early broccoli), onions—we like onions!—and some beets, kohlrabi, and chard.



The row cover is protecting some cabbage transplants and some potatoes. Row cover is effective for keeping the insects off until the plants get big enough and tough enough to survive their assault. I took it off them on Tuesday. The blue container is an experiment in growing corn in a self-watering container. Hope it works...

Why we need books

A nice little op-ed about reading. Here's a brief snippet:

If you read a book with your laptop thrumming at the other side of the room, it can feel like trying to read with a heavy metal band shrieking in front of you. To read, you need to slow down. You need mental silence except for the words. That's getting harder to find.

No, don't misunderstand me. I adore the web, and they will have to wrench my Twitter feed from my cold dead hands. This isn't going to turn into an antedeluvian rant against the glories of our wired world. But there's a reason why that word -- 'wired' -- means both 'connected to the internet' and 'high, frantic, unable to concentrate.'

So in the age of the internet, physical paper books are a technology we need more, not less...

A book has a different relationship to time than a TV show or a Facebook update. It says that something was worth taking from the endless torrent of data and laying down on an object that will still look the same a hundred years from now. The French writer Jean-Phillipe De Tonnac says "the true function of books is to safeguard the things that forgetfulness constantly threatens to destroy." It's precisely because it is not immediate -- because it doesn't know what happened five minutes ago in Kazakhstan, or in Charlie Sheen's apartment -- that the book matters.

That's why we need books, and why I believe they will survive. Because most humans have a desire to engage in deep thought and deep concentration. Those muscles are necessary for deep feeling and deep engagement. Most humans don't just want mental snacks forever; they also want meals. The twenty hours it takes to read a book require a sustained concentration it's hard to get anywhere else. Sure, you can do that with a DVD boxset too -- but your relationship to TV will always ultimately be that of a passive spectator. With any book, you are the co-creator, imagining it as you go. As Kurt Vonnegut put it, literature is the only art form in which the audience plays the score.

<idle musing>
I could quote the whole thing, but do take the time to read it. He makes some very good points. There's a reason I don't have a smartphone and Internet at home...
</idle musing>

And more garden

This is the watermelon patch. The chicken wire keeps the cats and related varmints (dogs) from turning it into a big litter box.



One of the transplants didn't make it, but we should still have a healthy crop of watermelon. I started them from seed and then put them into 4" pots before transplanting them. Since this picture was taken, they've grown quite a bit and are now obviously vines.

Yes, Hebrew does matter

“In these two passages [Ezek. 14 & 18], Ezekiel employs a combination unique in the use of this root, in which the Qal of שוב [shuv] is followed immediately by the Hiphil of the same root, a collocation that functions as a “reinforced Qal” and means “turn back and let yourself be turned backed” (14:6; 18:30, 32; Holladay 1958: 103).”—A Severe Mercy, page 267

<idle musing>
Yep. Despite having 20+ English translations to choose from, sometimes knowing a bit of Hebrew helps :)
</idle musing>

Stop interceding!

“It is clear that the prophet Ezekiel would be allowed to bring the word of God to the people but would not be allowed to take the word of the people to God. A prohibition of this sort suggests that the coming judgment is inevitable and inescapable. It is instructive that the prohibition on intercession is operative within the first half of the book (chaps. 4–32), the precise section that is dominated by judgment, whereas the prohibition is released with the fall of Jerusalem in chap. 33, just before the section dominated by salvation (chaps. 34–48).”—A Severe Mercy, page 259

<idle musing>
That would be a hard injunction. One thing I've learned over the years of Bible reading is that more than half a prophet's job is interceding for the people. I can't imagine being told to stop. Of course, Jeremiah was told to stop and didn't.
</idle musing>

More garden

Here's a look at our herb garden. The dill (at the back) is from last year's plants; as the heads went to seed, I pulled up the plants and shook the seed out in the herb garden. I had planted them in the old herb garden, which is where the raspberries are now. As you can see, they definitely like their new location.



I transplanted about 10 or so basil seedlings, but they didn't survive. Neither did the direct seeded basil. What you are seeing is dill, mint, oregano, chives, one thyme plant and some parsley. I transplanted some more parsley after this picture, so now there are 7 plants.

Finally

The warning labels on cigarettes are getting a facelift. About time! Here's a sample of one:



You can see them all here.

Debbie had a grandfather so addicted to smoking that he tried to smuggle matches and cigarettes into the hospital. His sister caught him with them before he could light up. He was on oxygen! Can you imagine what that would have been like?! She also had an uncle die of emphysema and another one recently died of lung cancer. It isn't a pretty sight to see someone you love waste away, is it, Lonnie?

An internal work

“Repentance and the enduring avoidance of apostasy is therefore secured only by a radical, internal work of Yahweh, which the community in exile will experience (Raitt 1977: 175–84). The mournful cry of Ephraim suggests that this will involve prayer and humility but will rely on Yahweh for its success.

“This new era is also at least marked, if not made possible, by God’s new stance toward the past sin that has been highlighted from the beginning of the book of Jeremiah. Yahweh promises in 31:34 that he will forgive (סלח) their guilt/iniquity (עון) and no longer remember (זכר) their sins (חטאת) and in 33:8 that he will cleanse (טהר Piel) them and forgive (סלח) them of all their guilt/iniquity (עון) by which they sinned (חטא) and rebelled (פשע) against him. This building up of the vocabulary of sin, using all three standard words in Hebrew (Brueggemann 1998: 314), emphasizes the comprehensiveness of this divine act. No basis for this forgiveness and cleansing is given besides the merciful action of Yahweh. Jer 33:8 “seems almost overloaded with its emphasis on this work of God” (Fretheim 2002: 475).”—A Severe Mercy, pages 250-251

<idle musing>
I feel like I'm reading Romans or Galatians, or some other New Testament book. Of course, where did the ideas come from in the first place? After all, the Hebrew Bible/LXX were the early church's Bible.
<idle musing>

new book to get excited about

Judges
Biblia Hebraica Quinta - BHQ 7
Edited by Natalio Fernandez Marcos
Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft Stuttgart, Forthcoming October 2011
ca 240 pages, Hebrew.
Paper
ISBN: 9783438052674
List Price: $109.95
Your Price: $82.46
www.eisenbrauns.com/item/BHQJUDGES

What more can I say?

Perennial Garden

We have a perennial garden that was here when we moved in. We've added a bit to it, such as daffodils, hyacinth, irises, coreopsis, and a tulip or two. I don't know what these are in the picture below, but they are beautiful and only bloom for a week or two. We make sure to enjoy them each day. To give you an idea of context, they stand about 4 feet high.



Here's the whole garden, for some perspective. The tree to the right is a small crab apple.

Necessary, but not sufficient

“The message of repentance is evident throughout the section [Jeremiah 2-23], in the early phase anticipating the penitential response of the people but, as the section progresses, denouncing their lack of penitential response. The section is dominated by dialogue involving God, the people, and the prophet. The people’s cries are evident throughout, but cries that claim innocence are deemed inappropriate and cries that confess guilt are considered inadequate. Rather, in the first section (2:1–4:4) God calls through the prophet for a repentance that involves inner affections including shame and devotion, verbal expression including confession of sin, and practical action including turning from evil and turning to good.”—A Severe Mercy, page 245

<idle musing>
Again, no transformation, no real repentance...
</idle musing>

Thought for the day

This is one of my favorite sections of Isaiah; I think it makes a good thought for today:

The blacksmith takes a tool
and works with it in the coals;
he shapes an idol with hammers,
he forges it with the might of his arm.
He gets hungry and loses his strength;
he drinks no water and grows faint.
The carpenter measures with a line
and makes an outline with a marker;
he roughs it out with chisels
and marks it with compasses.
He shapes it in human form,
human form in all its glory,
that it may dwell in a shrine.
He cut down cedars,
or perhaps took a cypress or oak.
He let it grow among the trees of the forest,
or planted a pine, and the rain made it grow.
It is used as fuel for burning;
some of it he takes and warms himself,
he kindles a fire and bakes bread.
But he also fashions a god and worships it;
he makes an idol and bows down to it.
Half of the wood he burns in the fire;
over it he prepares his meal,
he roasts his meat and eats his fill.
He also warms himself and says,
“Ah! I am warm; I see the fire.”
From the rest he makes a god, his idol;
he bows down to it and worships.
He prays to it and says,
“Save me! You are my god!”
They know nothing, they understand nothing;
their eyes are plastered over so they cannot see,
and their minds closed so they cannot understand.
No one stops to think,
no one has the knowledge or understanding to say,
“Half of it I used for fuel;
I even baked bread over its coals,
I roasted meat and I ate.
Shall I make a detestable thing from what is left?
Shall I bow down to a block of wood?”
Such people feed on ashes, a deluded heart misleads them;
they cannot save themselves, or say,
“Is not this thing in my right hand a lie?”

<idle musing>
Of course, idols come in all shapes and sizes. Today's aren't necessarily made by the blacksmith; it's not infrequent for us to make them ourselves. Whatever comes between us and God is an idol. Even the church...
</idle musing>

Turn or burn

“...the second necessary step in the prophetic return (שוב [shuv]). A return such as this begins with an acknowledgment of guilt (3:13), expressed through a prayer such as the one showcased in 3:22b–25, but must lead to a change in behavior. The kind of “return” in mind is then delineated in 4:1b–2 in terms of practical action to stop idolatry and injustice, that is, as the central statement declares, “no longer go astray.” That this sort of repentance is not merely external action without internal motivation is made clear in 4:3–4, which describes “repentance at a deep level lest Yahweh’s burning and unquenchable wrath be poured out on them” (Thompson 1980: 206).”—A Severe Mercy, page 236

<idle musing>
No change in behavior means no real repentance. Repentance is more than feeling sorry for getting caught. I was talking with someone a few weeks ago and they put this way, "Everyone has to have a 'Paul moment' before repentance becomes real." Well put; we have to realize we can't deliver ourselves and that we need deliverance. Then we can turn and it will be real because the Spirit of God will be the one empowering you.
</idle musing>