The Old Testament: The Book of Amos – Going through the Motions When It Comes to Offerings

Posted on July 30, 2013 by virgowriter

Mom is very generous, especially around the holidays. Every year her stress increased as she listed family, friends and coworkers for whom she had to shop. On Christmas Eve, or whichever workday came the closest, she loaded up a box of gifts and would spend a few hours in the office passing out her 40+ gifts. The gesture was often reciprocated, and Mom came home with a nice haul.

The extended family also received a number of thoughtful gifts, and since our house was the site of either Christmas Eve dinner or Christmas Dinner, we opened a lot of presents. Occasionally friends attended these gatherings, and since it seems weird to have almost everyone open something except a few, these people received a bottle of wine or a box of See’s Candy.

The holidays could be very taxing on Mom because she went to such great lengths to make sure everyone received a token from her, something that represented that she cared.  Although she did (and does) care, there are times (in general) when we get so caught up in HAVING to get a gift as a token that the actual gift is not well thought out or it’s merely given just to have something to give. But gifts should be well thought out, have meaning, right?

One year, Mom received late notice that friends of the family were stopping by for Christmas Eve and Mom hadn’t accounted for them in the wrapped gifts under the tree. I didn’t see the big deal—which probably was a bit hypocritical, since I WOULD be getting several gifts. Still, even when I was younger, I didn’t see the point of giving a gift just to give it. But it was the holidays and Mom had been raised to make sure everyone felt included.

So I guess I knew exactly where the two framed prints—one of a sea horse, one of a starfish—went when I noticed they were missing from the guest bathroom wall right before the first person arrived.

God has similar thoughts on the meaning behind offerings.

The Book of Amos offers another Bible book with another listing of Israel’s sins.  There’s nothing much new here—other than painting a picture of women (called “cows”) who oppress the poor and crush the needy, the ones who are so pampered they enjoy their lives on the backs of others (4:1). One point that stands out in more detail than previously mentioned is God’s disgust with Israel’s disingenuous offerings and festivals.

Apparently during this time the Israelites considered themselves rather faithful in their devotion to God.  They made offerings, observed holidays, etc.  It also appears that they were hedging their bets, for they were also worshipping other Gods. So when presented with the information that they were not honoring God, they were probably confused.  However, the issue was that they were merely going through the motions (or straight up doing them incorrectly) (5:21).

Their problem: they were making offerings but doing a half-assed job of it; in addition, they were only giving lip service to the way of life (God’s way) they were to be living.

So perhaps it makes sense that God was pissed at them: if you are going to take the time to do something, take the time to do it correctly or don’t bother at all.  True, mistakes happen—people get overlooked, appointments missed, etc.—however, the spirit of something needs to be honored, and when it’s not, the point of it withers.

All too often the emphasis in our culture is the gesture rather than taking the time to select something appropriate and meaningful for the person the gesture honors.

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The Old Testament: The Book of Joel: The Best Lessons Need to Be Understood by Kids

Posted on July 28, 2013 by virgowriter

In late August of 1988, the Windhausers were at LAX, already through security and about to check into the gate for our flight to Maui. Since Dad traveled quite a bit when I was younger, he racked up all kinds of frequent flyer points, which made taking this particular family vacation financially manageable. Dad had all of our flight coupons (back when you had to actually possess these) but there was a problem: there was no record of us on this particular (or any other) flight to Hawaii.  Sorry.

Dad tended to have a bad temper back then, and even though I couldn’t tell what exactly was being said at the ticket counter, I could tell that it wasn’t good.  I took a few steps back.

Calmly, Dad took the tickets and stepped away, clearly upset. We took seats.  In a controlled voice, Dad explained that they didn’t have our reservations, and since we were all looking at the tickets in his hands, this made no sense. In a minute we would all be pissed but for the moment we were upset.

But Dad told us to relax, that the counter woman was nice enough, and put our names on the waiting list and would do what she could to get us on the flight. This didn’t seem all that promising—clearly there was more Dad could have done. Did he yell at her? Argue? Didn’t pitching a fit seem like the best course of action?

Dad used this as a teachable moment, as my older brother and I would be flying on our own in our adult lives, and so he told us what he learned in all his years of flying. No matter what you do, no matter what the scenario, respect the counter people and be nice to them, for even if they “should” get you on the flight, they don’t “have” to. It wasn’t this woman’s mistake and being nice positioned you better in her mind, certainly better than the person who verbally unload on her.

The Book of Joel offers a lament over the ruin of the country, and as such it offers few details uncovered elsewhere, such as visions of the attack on Jerusalem (2:4-9) and a call for the people to beg God for mercy (2:17). The book also looks to the future, including payback for Israel’s enemies (3:4, 17) and Judah’s glorious rebirth (3:18).

What stands out, however, is the urging of passing on this tale of destruction to kids (1:9-10).

The idea appears to be that if you can reach the kids, they will grow up with a certain understanding of a better way to live with God and also (perhaps) pass this understanding onto their children, thus creating a strengthened sense of morality within the community. Since adults are not targeted, perhaps this book appreciates that men and women are tougher nuts to crack than boys and girls. But it reveals a respect for youth, or at least in their ability and willingness to absorb instruction, especially useful information.

Perhaps this is a great tactic, as the Old Testament closes and so much of the information aimed at the Israelites doesn’t seem to have sunk in.  Although you could argue that young children are too impressionable for this type of information, one would think that the people imparting the ideas do so with their interest—as well as the interest of the community at large—in mind. I would be interested to see where—and to what degree—children were included or excluded from certain pieces of information. For when you’re really young, how much can you really understand?

Dad obviously wanted us to have a smooth time traveling, and perhaps if we ended up in a similar situation sometime in the future, our behavior at the counter might set a good example to those around us. It might also better ensure that we arrived at our destinations as planned.

Turns out, probably in part because of Dad’s behavior, that we were all squeezed on the flight.

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The Old Testament: The Book of Hosea – Too Many Cooks in the Religious Kitchen (Bad Priests)

Posted on July 25, 2013 by virgowriter

When I was a server, I worked at a few restaurants.  A couple of these places were management heavy.  I use the term management liberally, for in one of these cases, this means that there were a bunch of salaried employees who, in theory, knew how to manage staff and run a shift—which entails making sure the kitchen is running smoothly, servers are able to provide and maintain strong service, and customers are having the experience they pay for.  However, this usually meant that some of these managers took a stroll around the dining room every half hour, stopped in the kitchen to snack, and then spend time in the office monitoring their eBay auctions.

Occasionally we’d have a staff meeting, during which time we would hear everything we were doing wrong and what we needed to implement in order to have the store make its numbers and increase our check average. These would have been better if one, there were fewer managers to listen to, for we tended to lack respect for most of them, and, two, if they had decided beforehand what to say, for often times—especially after the meeting broke—they each had their different take on the way things should be run.

This is what happens when an organization is too top heavy and even worse when there are too many ill-informed voices trying to direct.

In the Book of Hosea, this is the problem Israel has—the voices belong to priests. Now having a bunch of priests is not in and of itself a problem—but it is if these priests claim to be speaking and acting on behalf of God but really aren’t

Apparently, these priests are getting in the way of the lord’s desire to be a husband, not master to Israel (2:16).  This is refreshing way to think about the relationship God has with his followers, as master has that rather negative connotation. Being in a marriage suggests being on equal footing (or at least one with a heightened level of respect than master/servant). Although, given how women were expected to be subservient to their husbands at this time, this might not be a drastic improvement (even if it sounds better to a modern ear).

In order to teach Hosea a lesson about how far Israel has fallen (something in turn all of Israel can learn from), God encourages Hosea to marry an adulterous woman.  After she falls, she has no recourse but to sell herself into prostitution, out of which Hosea must buy her.  So again we have yet another Book of the Bible that likens Israelites to being whores.

But every whore must have a pimp, and Israel had them, in the guise of priests.

In fact, God is fed up with these professed men of faith.  He asserts that the more priests Israel has, the more they sin (4:17). You’d think this would be the other way around, since priests are supposed to be steering the moral ship. But perhaps this is just a useful example that people in power (priests) get corrupted just like everyone else. If they weren’t corrupt, they’d be spreading the correct message.

Which is a point perhaps some of our modern ‘men of faith,’ those who put themselves in the public eye and claim to speak on behalf of God/the bible, can learn from. (But I digress.)

Perhaps a more apt comparison would be to return to the pimp metaphor—these people claim to have their prostitutes’ best interests at heart, but really, they’re just abusing and using them for their own gain.

So what better way to purge these non-priest from the kitchen that is Israel? Why not some wholesale annihilation? Shockingly, God’s had another change of heart.  Not only does he shun weapons and violence (2:18) but he suggests that he will not punish Israel through wrath (11:9).

Perhaps the best thing to have happened to Israel would be to have the priests thinned out, accept better training, and then be in a better position to lead, for people can’t follow directions when they come from people they don’t respect nor know what they’re talking about in the first place. Now if only some restaurants can figure this out with their management staff. Although I am thankful that no one tried to close down the restaurant I worked in because the managers were weak.

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