We're getting to the grind of the old testament, and I'm ready and raring to go. Unfortunately, things are starting to flounder in circles again despite the fact that the books now average about four pages each. Prophecies are pretty much all doom, doom, doom, but God will forgive us and save us, then doom, doom, doom again. And so on and so forth... Punctuated by a few stories reminiscent from those early Sunday school days (three guesses about who the book of Jonah is about!) here and there...
So, first we've got Lamentations. Considering how Jeremiah ended, it's pretty easy to guess what exactly is being lamented here.
The people, despite their backsliding, are acting as any people are apt to--they're indignant, and crying out for mercy, even though they've pretty much gotten their just deserts. Not that we should be surprised at all--this is how anyone acts in such a like (but probably not too like) situation. That's pretty much what my note on on Lamentations 2:20 is--the people are begging God for mercy because of how they've suffered by His hand. Just thought I'd bring it up because they're just like anybody. You know?
Ah--there's also this odd line: "he has made me sit in the darkness like the dead of long ago" Lamentations 2:6. Since Sheol is supposed to just be a deep, dark pit, I thought that perhaps around the time that this was written, perhaps visions of the afterlife would have evolved to something more, but Sheol is referenced by name in many of the following books, so... I guess not...
Ezekiel chronicles--you guessed it!--prophecies of Ezekiel and some of the events that occurred during his life. The Israelites are chided and false prophets and kings are denounced, and the measurements for a new temple is given.
Another note on this Bible's text and the differences between it and the included Hebrew text: "I passed by you, and saw you flailing about in your blood. As you lay in your blood I said to you, 'Live! and grow up to become like a plant of the field.' You grew up and became a tall and arrived at full womanhood" Ezekiel 6:6-7. The Hebrew version reads, as I understand it, as follows: "As you lay in your blood I said to you, 'Live! I made you a myriad". I like that a lot more. It's much more colourful. Just saying.
God also tells Ezekiel a thinly-veiled allegorical story about two whorish women named Oholah and Oholibah. Why bring this up, you might ask? Well, originally I brought it up because I thought it was the name of the really pious, pure-hearted girl from Many Waters by Madeleine L'Engle. Because from what I remember of her is so good, I found it strange that L'Engle would have named her after an oft-backsliding prostitute (other than that she was fathered by a Nephilim, which... makes her prostitute-worthy....?)... Turns out her name was actually Ohalibamah, though. Fine!
To be brutally honest, I don't have any notes for any of the other books except for one in Daniel. I'm sure your heart has been wrenched, but here's a little for you:
In Daniel 12: The Resurrection of the Dead, Daniel writes a prophecy for--well, take a shot in the dark, there. The last chapter of Daniel 11 is "The Time of the End"--though it doesn't mention any horseman, destruction in the form of many wars and raping of the land are described in its paragraph. Daniel 12 starts off by saying Michael shall arise--Michael is pretty much number one archangel. And all those whose names are written in the book shall be delivered, a detail I didn't even notice until rereading this... Which means that all that I've just written is leading up to a musing that's kind of a moot point to muse upon, because this is clearly a prophecy of the Last Judgment. Well... Fine. This is where it comes from, then! (Well, 99% of the ideas of Judgment day, at least.) So there! Actually, I can at least mention that this is the first mention of a promise of an eternity after Sheol as a reward... So that's cool. I guess Sheol was kind of like a middleman that just eventually kind of got phased out (a middleman between death and heaven, I mean)... At least for Christians, at least... Or Sheol got demoted to being hell... It sounds suspiciously similar to some of the creepier descriptions of hell--a dark, dank, midnight black pit that's... Well, essentially it's purgatory. (Deja vu?) The creepier perception of hell is that and more--I'm not clear if you're being tortured in the usual hell ways, but you're being tortured in that you are aware that there are others around, but you cannot touch them or communicate with them, you can only hear them cry or scream or call out... You know, now that I think about it, how does the heaven/post-judgment thing work? Isn't heaven pretty much the same thing as post-judgment? So all the bad people would already be in hell and judged, right? Maybe? ...Uh... Help on this...?
MLA citation information: Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Edition. American Bible Society: New York, 1989.
Answer to last post's cryptic song lyrics: All You Need is Love by the Beatles
This post's cryptic song lyrics: I'm on a road shaped like a figure eight, I'm going nowhere but I'm guaranteed to be late
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