Bet you weren't expecting this post to be so quick, either! Well, it turns out that when you're home from college and no-one else in your house is on their break yet, there's not much to do. Either you sleep, you play that Back to the Future game on Facebook, you watch Nick JR, or you read the Bible. So, I read these three books of the Bible yesterday into today. Maybe my goal should be to finish them all by Christmas, or try at least to get to Jesus's birth by Christmas!? (That's not happening. I just hardly broke the 200s. Is Christmas really only three days away?)
Okay, so I haven't got as much to say about these three books, but at this point I'm pretty set in my ways (oh really?) so I stuck to the three book format regardless of the fact that this will be the first post in a while that if printed could be used as wallpaper for a hallway closet.
First of all, then, we've got Numbers. Numbers is a continuation of the story of Moses. Some censuses are taken of the wandering group and spies are sent to check out the land God has promised to the people. There are a few more regulations at the very end of the book, too.
My first note on Numbers comes with the spies. The spies go into the lands and they see how great it is, but also how powerful those already there are. So instead of talking about how great the land actually was, they say that the land "devours its inhabitants" (Numbers 13:32) and that those inhabitants are so big that the spies appeared to be like grasshoppers. Why bother mentioning this? Well, in some translations of the Bible, the names of these inhabitants is translated to giants. In this edition, however, the Hebrew is kept the same, and they are the Nephilim. Just thought it was worth mentioning, because they're kind of an important piece in Madeleine L'Engle's book Many Waters. Her book is set during the story of Noah, however, and in hers it is implied that all the Nephilim are killed in the flood. Granted, the people seen weren't actually Nephilim, but still...
My second note regards the bronze serpent. Those following Moses were upset about God and Moses for taking them from Egypt where there was sustenance into the desert where there was none. God punished the people by sending an onslaught of venomous snakes to their campground and the snakes killed many. The people asked for forgiveness and so Moses smelted a serpent out of bronze and put it on a pole--if you were snakebit and you looked upon it, it would cure you. This I bring up because Asclepius, the Greek god of medicine, carried a rod with a snake wrapped around it. Interesting connection, yes?
"You shall not defile the land in which you live, in which I also dwell; for I the Lord dwell among the Israelites" Numbers 35:34.
Deuteronomy is largely a summary of everything regarding Moses that just happened. There's a little more, such as Moses's death, but for the most part, it's like, "The bread! Again with the bread!" Oh well. It expands on some things; it's not like reading a bunch of Sarah Dessen books (OH! Burn!).
"When a man is newly married, he shall not go out with the army or be charged with any related duty. He shall be free at home one year, to be happy with the wife whom he has married" Deuteronomy 24:5.
Hmm, I just noticed this: in Trachimbrod (in Everything is Illuminated) there is a mill. Once a year, without fail, a worker of the mill is killed. The "Miscellaneous Law" after Deuteronomy 24:5 reads as follows: "No one shall take a mill or an upper millstone in pledge, for that would be taking a life in pledge" Deuteronomy 24:6. So maybe I'm reading this wrong, but maybe that's why...?
"You shall pay [poor labourers] their wages daily before sunset, because they are poor and their livelihood depends on them" Deuteronomy 24:15.
"Parents shall not be put to death for their children, nor shall children be put to death for their parents; only for their own crimes may persons be put to death" Deuteronomy 24:16.
And... Uh, I guess I don't have any notes for Joshua. Sorry about that. (Wow, this was a ridiculously short post.) So... See you soon? I don't really have any general comments to make about the three books I just read. They were a little dry. Hmm... Do you think I can read about 85 pages of this by tomorrow? We'll see, I guess. Have a good day!
MLA citation information: Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Edition. American Bible Society: New York, 1989.
Answer to last post's cryptic song lyrics for Emma: Wine Red by the Hush Sound
This post's cryptic song lyrics for Emma: The third planet is sure that they're being watched by an eye in the sky that can't be stopped--when you get to the promised land, you're gonna shake that eye's hand
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