A Chiasm & A Parallelism in Deuteronomy 26:14

The small chiasm in Deuteronomy 26:14 concerns bringing tithes of the land to God and ensuring that those tithes are brought in a condition that honors God and can be accepted by him.

• I have not eaten of my tithes while in mourning (for the dead)
• I have not stored away any of these tithes while unclean
• I have not given any of my tithes for the dead

Spiritual uncleanness results from contact with death, whether through the loss of life force (e.g. menstruation and other sexual discharges and dysfunctions), through the loss of life itself (e.g. physical contact with the dead or their graves), or through spiritual association with death (e.g. ancestor worship, necromancy, and the honoring of false gods). This is why uncleanness is sandwiched between mourning and death. Anything dedicated to God should not be contaminated with unclean things and activities, not because they are sinful--some are and some aren't--but because God is most holy.

Uncleanness is the opposite of holy. It interferes with our spiritual communion with him, which is a possible reason that God says the flesh of pigs and other unclean animals is abhorrent to him and ought to be to us. He likes to spend time with us and spiritual uncleanness gets in the way.

This chiasm is immediately followed by a couplet (a simple, 2-part parallelism):

• I have hearkened 
• To the voice of God
• I have done
• What God has commanded

To truly hear God is to obey. It doesn't matter if what God says makes sense to us or not. He always has reasons, and he is under no obligation to explain them to us. Our job is to trust him and to love him, and both trust and love require obedience to his commands. If God doesn't want his tithes tainted with death and mourning, then we need to make sure we give cheerfully and without reference to the dead.

Not even to the "sainted" dead.

For more on chiasms--including how to identify, map, and interpret them--check out The Chiasm Course!

Solomon on Facing Adversity

There are three things a person needs to face adversity without faltering:

1. Fellowship – Proverbs 18:1-2 says that if you are willing to break fellowship in order to swim against the tide you will be on your own without support and counsel. Sometimes it’s necessary, but be sure to count the cost before you dive in.
2. Faith – Proverbs 18:10-12 says that you can trust in God’s promises. Material wealth can buy strong walls, financial hedges, and even politicians, but ultimately God owns it all. With a single word, he can bring all you own to dust. His name is your only sure fortress.
3. Fortitude – Proverbs 18:14 says that the spiritually strong can stand against injury and illness, while the spiritually weak are defeated without a single enemy.

Some Challenges of Reading the Bible in English

The Apostle Paul wrote,

For God is my record, how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ.
(Philippians 1:8 KJV)

What a curious thing to say. Paul wants Jesus to eat us all!

No, really. It says so right there.

Wait. That's not what Paul meant, you say?

Well, of course not. It doesn't make any sense. It's easy to see that the original intent isn't what it seems to be in plain English, so we know that Paul was using an expression that just didn't translate well. With a little thought, we can work out that he actually meant "with the heart/affection of Jesus".

Every language uses metaphors and colloquialisms that can be difficult to translate. In the case of Philippians 1:8, the King James translators used English words that people of the 17th century were likely to understand, but that have changed meaning over the centuries or fallen out of usage altogether.

When reading the King James Version and other older English Bibles, we need always to keep in mind that the original text must undergo two translations before it can be understood: Once from Greek and Hebrew into early Modern English, and once again from early Modern English into our own dialects.

Even more importantly, whenever we read *any* English Bible, we must always be aware that the text has already undergone one or more translations from the original, and if we sometimes need to pause in order to understand one another's English, how much more difficult is it to understand a foreign text separated from us by thousands of years and largely unknown cultural differences?

You don't need to be a linguist, anthropologist, or philologist to be able to understand the Bible, but you do need to be aware that the words you read are usually only a close approximation to the original intent, and sometimes they are only educated guesses. You also need to be aware that English words often have multiple meanings or implications that were never part of the original intent of the Biblical texts.

If you're interested in learning more about the Bible, its English translations, and how to study it, go over to Common Sense Bible Study at AmericanTorah.com.

Sorry, This Is My Reality, Not Yours

Many self-help gurus and two-bit philosophers insist that we are each able to shape our personal realities by force of will.

If I can change my reality by simply altering my thoughts and desires, and you can change your reality by altering your thoughts and desires, then at the very moment that our wills diverged from each other's, so too did our realities. You and I are not living in the same universe.

Neat, huh? It gets better.

Nobody on earth views the world in exactly the same way. Everyone thinks a little differently. Everyone wants something different. Therefore...

Everyone is living in a separate universe.

It then follows that all of the people you see walking around and interacting with your own pretend reality aren't actually real people at all, or, at best, are merely the shadows of people who only fully exist in universes of their own making.

Nobody is real. Nobody exists. Except you.

.

.

.

.

Of course, that's all complete bunk. There is one reality, and you're stuck in it with all the rest of us schmucks. No way out. No escape. You can't even get out by dying. If you die, you just move on to another mode of existence in this one and only reality.

Truth, facts, reality... These things can't be changed by fantasizing new facts. There is one God, one way of eternal salvation, and only two human genders. Everything else is just wishful thinking. Deal with it.

7^4 + 4 = Watch, Wait, and Obey

Numbers 9:17-23 is an odd text. It repeats the same information over and over and over, just shuffling the words a bit each time. Reading it is almost as bad as reading a list of begats, but even more baffling. However, if you break the passage down a bit, some interesting patterns emerge.

There are four sets of statements that are each made seven times.

The cloud remained over the Tabernacle
...the cloud settled...the cloud remained...the cloud remained...the cloud was...the cloud remained...the cloud continued...the cloud remained...
The people set out
...the people set out...the people set out...they set out...they set out...they set out...they set out...the people set out...
The people remained in camp
...the people camped...the people camped...the people remained...Israel did not set out...they remained in camp...Israel remained in camp...the people camped...
At the command of YHVH
...at the command of YHVH...at the command of YHVH...according to the command of YHVH...according to the command of YHVH...at the command of YHVH...at the command of YHVH...at the command of YHVH

And four times, it says that the cloud lifted.
...when the cloud lifted...when the cloud lifted...when the cloud lifted...when the cloud lifted...

What is the point of all this repetition? I'm sure that there are other patterns in this text, especially if I were able to read and understand the original Hebrew, but one possible message is this: When God tells you to go, go. When God tells you to stay, stay. However long he tarries, be content with where God has put you. However briefly he keeps you in a particular place, be content with the impact you were able to have in that short time. The important thing is to keep your eye on God and to obey him in whatever he says.

If you are living every day in obedience to God, his presence remains with you. God can't live in a defiled and disobedient heart, but if your heart is right--even if you slip now and then as we all do--God will be right there in the center of your life's camp, no matter where that is.

If you are watching for his signs, listening for his voice, studying the words of Moses (see verse 23), then you will be ready to move when the cloud lifts and you will recognize the Messiah and be ready to lift him up before all the world.

Psalm 107 and the Grand Finale

A reader pointed out to me that Psalm 107 contains this really neat parallelism:

The pattern established in four parallelisms (v1-7, v8-14, v15-20, v21-30) is

A - Thank God for all the good things he does.
B - Ungrateful people get into trouble, but...
C - If they humble themselves and repent
D - God delivers them from trouble and brings them to a better place.

In the conclusion, the Psalmist changes it around a little:

v31-32 - Thank God for all the good things he does.
v33-34 - God can turn good things bad.
v35-38 - God can turn bad things good.
v39 - When bad things happen to good people
v40-41 - God turns it around so that all things work to good for those who believe in him.
v42 - Righteous people see this and give thanks to God in all circumstances. Wicked people ought to just keep silence lest things get even worse for them.
v43 - The wise will understand without having to see it in action and will meditate on the enduring love of God.

The same elements are present in the conclusion as in the preceding parallelism, except for one: The ungrateful people who get themselves into trouble. They are there by implication (the princes in v40 and the wicked in v42), but their doubt and foolishness isn't described explicitly.

Maybe the Psalmist's point in leaving that out of the final stanza is that eventually the pattern of sin and restoration comes to an end. The righteous will be permanently elevated and the wicked will come to a permanent end.

A Caution against Getting Carried Away by Eschatological Hysteria

The return of many Jews to the land & the formation of the State of Israel might, or might not, be the beginning of the fulfillment of certain prophecies. A word of caution, though: Pay attention to these events, but don't be dogmatic about any particular interpretation of prophecy.

If the State of Israel is destroyed & the Jews scattered again, it won't mean that God's promises aren't good. It will only mean that some people were wrong about their interpretations of prophecy and current events.

To know what will be, learn what has been. Study Scripture, especially God's interactions with the patriarchs. God has foreshadowed the end from the beginning.