by Carl Howard | Jan 18, 2010 | Atheism and Religion, Blog Topics, Blogging the Bible
–[continued from previous post] choose the first king of Israel. This is the unfortunate (as we’ll learn later) lad called Saul, the precursor to the book’s main protagonist. The story of Saul becoming king is very well written, reminding me of the story of Samuel’s...
by Carl Howard | Jan 11, 2010 | Atheism and Religion, Blog Topics, Blogging the Bible
–[continued from previous post]–the Ark was placed in a remote town and largely forgotten. Samuel’s long reign (over 20 years) is given just one chapter. The only notable thing he does is suggest the Israelites stop worshipping other gods so that YHWH will give them...
by Carl Howard | Dec 21, 2009 | Atheism and Religion, Blog Topics, Blogging the Bible
[continued from previous post]–Samuel’s a lad, helping out in the Temple where the Ark was. He’s sleeping and hears the voice of God calling out to him. In those days, prophecy was rare (YHWH engaging in a hissy-fit with an embargo of silence?) so Samuel doesn’t know...
by Carl Howard | Nov 16, 2009 | Atheism and Religion, Blog Topics, Blogging the Bible
Time to say goodbye to the book of Job. In the last 5 chapters, God himself takes the stage and begins his reply to Job. Unfortunately God’s line of argument is pretty much the same as Elihu’s one from the previous section, so not much new. As is appropriate for a...
by Carl Howard | Nov 5, 2009 | Atheism and Religion, Blog Topics, Blogging the Bible
Now that Job’s friends have run out of abuse to heap on Job, the next section of the book is dedicated to speeches by Elihu. Elihu steps up because he’s disappointed that Job’s friends didn’t find enough arguments. Again it’s not clear where the authors’ sympathies...
by Carl Howard | Oct 30, 2009 | Atheism and Religion, Blog Topics, Blogging the Bible
Chapter 31 completes the main part of the book of Job (the only thing left is Elihu’s speeches and God’s cameo). The one thing of note is this: I have covenanted with my eyes Not to gaze on a maiden […]Calamity is surely for the iniquitous; Misfortune, for the worker...
