The Old Testament: Job I – Speaking with Authority

Posted on May 27, 2013 by virgowriter

When I was in college, I was taking classes at Peirce Community College in Woodland Hills.  I had been a student at CSUN but wanted to move to San Diego, attend UCSD.  Community college offered my best chance to transfer.  Following my general education requirements, I took a sociology course.  The professor was an engaging, clearly intelligent individual who had a lot of insight into people.  This was especially crucial in order to maintain interest from the students, as it was a three-hour Monday night class.  She often deviated from the text and told stories of what she loved about traveling, how she always avoided the touristy parts of town and instead found neighborhoods to wander and kids with whom she could sit in the street and play.  That, she believed, was how you got to know a culture.  I couldn’t take notes fast enough.

One night, a student brought up gay people and how they are often maligned, much like blacks were in the 60s.  Since our professor was black, the student wondered what she thought about the comparison.  This was around the time I’d been considering embracing that part of my identity, so I too was curious.  The professor, though, smiled in that way people do when she’s been asked a common question, the answer to which was far simpler than people realized.  If only people would just think a little more.

“They are not the same, actually.  You’re born black, white, what have you.  You don’t have to have sex.  Therefore, you don’t have to be gay.” She let that sink in before she considered her next topic, standing there in front of the class with her hands clasped.

I raised my hand and she nodded to me. “But is that practical, people not having sex?”

“No, it’s not.” To her, you chose your sexuality in ways you couldn’t choose your race.

The discussion moved to a different topic, and as I sat there, annoyed that I hadn’t challenged her further, I looked around, for people had been taking notes.  These people, who had come to class looking to understand people would perhaps leave with her understanding of being gay—that people had a choice, that people were only gay when (if?) they were having sex.  But perhaps like everyone else in the class, I shut off because she spoke with authority and seemed to know what she was talking about.

I wished I would have challenged her logic.  How did she know? Was she gay? I could have assured her that people didn’t choose to be gay; rather, they chose to accept it.  But she probably would have shook her head—clearly I hadn’t read all that she had (or perhaps as little)—her degree privileged her opinion.  Maybe I’m not giving her enough credit.  Still, looking back on that night, I can’t get over how comforted she looked in believing what she was talking about.  I probably never occurred to her that her opinion was not grounded in the truth (even if she thought it was).

The Book of Job is built on this notion: what happens when people who think they know what they are talking about but really they are putting forward emphatic ideas that happen to be false.

The Book of Job tells the story of what happens when God brags to Satan about what a stellar, upstanding human being Job is.  Could anything turn him from God?  God was willing to find out, as Satan suggested (1:11), for he had the utmost faith in Job.  So Satan, acting with God’s blessing, strips the well-to-do Job of his possessions.  When he is still with God, Satan ups the ante and suggests that if you messed with Job’s body, that would turn Job.  Go ahead, give it your best shot, God tells Satan (2:5).

And while Job suffers, the thoughts from his close friends are more painful than his ailments.

(To be continued)

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The Old Testament: Esther I – A Capable, Brave Woman in the Right Place at the Right Time

Posted on May 25, 2013 by virgowriter

I enjoyed playing recess games with older kids.  I enjoyed the challenge of playing above my skill level.  I also enjoyed being underestimated if I could pull off a key play.  This is what having an older brother does to you.

One of the games I would play was known as jailbreak.  This game—think part dodge ball, part volleyball—is played with a volleyball on a volleyball court.  And at Chaparral, one of the elementary schools I would attend, the good games were on the lower level (this school, built on a steep hill, had three).  As I was typically one of the younger and smaller kids among those who enjoyed the game, I was typically picked last.  I didn’t always come through, and I won’t pretend I did.  The point wasn’t whether I would come through every time—what player does on a team?—but rather if I EVER could.

One afternoon, on a team of six or seven, I was the last player from my team on the court.  The other team was down to four.  Although my head barely rose above the bottom of the net, I was clutching that ball, moving back and forth, thinking about where to throw the ball and bust my team free so the game could continue.  The other team looked amused, standing close to the front of the net.  You could tell by their smirks and their taunts that they just wanted me to throw the ball so they could catch and end the game.  I really wanted to wipe the smirks off their faces.  Almost as much as I wanted to be the one who broke my teammates free from the sideline jail.

After what I’m sure was only a minute or two but really felt like a month, I foisted the ball over the net and, perhaps because the other team was thought I was a little weakling, it found pavement.  My team cheered like they’d won the game, although all it meant was that the game would continue, and I got to feel important, which for me confirmed that I was useful enough on the team, regardless of my size.

The Old Testament is filled with people who are similarly underestimated, and the Book of Esther is named for one of the stronger, smarter ones.

Not every Israelite chose to return to Jerusalem.  Some—for a number of reasons, perhaps some related to opportunities at prosperity—stayed behind in Persia.  And although they were able to enjoy prosperity, not everyone was happy about their presence.  So you can guess how long it takes for someone to do something about this.  Thankfully, someone is in place to do something about this attack against the Israelites: Esther.

The Persian Empire’s King Xerxes had enough of his queen Vashti, who didn’t follow directions well (1:12), so he had her deposed before she inspired female disobedience in other women.  So he conducts a search for a new queen, and he has virgins assembled within the empire and then groomed in his harem (1:22).  Sort of like an ancient version of the story of Cinderella, but different.

Because he understood that her Jewish roots might work against her at some point, Mordecai, the uncle who raised her, concealed her Jewish identity and, because she becomes popular with the king (2:15), she is installed as queen (2:17). Her position here is a work of fate, perhaps, or divine intervention, as her position will become rather useful to the Benjamin tribe (and other Jews) remaining in the Persian Empire.  One thing that is especially interesting in this book is that God is not mentioned once.  Not at all.  Perhaps the idea of fate alludes to him but he is absent, which suggests that what is accomplished is really a testament to Esther.  So here’s what she has to deal with.

Haman, an honored nobleman, wants to punish all Jews because Mordecai would not kneel to him (3:2, 6).  He informs the king that Jews are dangerous (3:9) and the king says to act on this warning anyway he sees fit (3:11). So Haman has an edict announced: kill all Jews by a certain approaching day (3:13).  So while most of the Jews are in mourning due to this announcement, Mordecai decides to enlist the one person who is in a position to help: Esther.

Even though she has the king’s ear—she is the queen—she knows that asking for an audience without being called might cost her her life.  She is subservient as a woman, and calling to him would be disobedient, as her predecessor proved. Because she’s intelligent (and she also realizes that as a Jew she will be targeted at some point), she devises a plan, which involves hosting a few dinners that slowly bring the king into her favor.  Ultimately, she succeeds.  The edict is overturned and Haman is hanged.

There’s a little more to the story—Mordecai is a strong helper, and Haman is actually responsible for letting his arrogance seal his fate too—but what she does is create a strong example of how to use your wits to accomplish something.  Perhaps this is even more interesting because she does so without divine intervention.  I won’t say that God is absent from her story, but it is curious that he is not prayed to or spoken of at all.  Perhaps some people are merely in the right place at the right time, and, if they steel themselves they can contribute in a worthwhile way.

Perhaps the biggest lesson is not to underestimate someone, for that person might very well be the person who lifts you to success.

Next up: Book of Job.  Can’t wait to see just how patient this guy was.

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The Old Testament: Nehemiah I—Will Problems Never Cease? And Daughters Pitch in.

Posted on May 22, 2013 by virgowriter

As soon as I was old enough to care about such things, I wanted to buy a house.  When I was in college, I was too busy charging up my credit cards to believe this would be a reality anytime soon, but I still planned.  When I graduated with my Master’s in 2002—and settling down in Philly, I got serious.  I picked up extra shifts waiting tables and saved enough to buy a house in 2003, just as Center City real estate was about to get hot.  Thankfully, the house I bought had recently been renovated, which I figured would curtail the amount of money I would have to spend fixing issues here and there.  Still, I braced, for things were bound to happen.

And I have been fortunate.  Although when something came up—like a leak in my basement—I forked out cash from my savings, knowing this was how home-ownership worked but wishing—for once—I could get ahead, that once I fixed a problem that would be that.  I wish I were the kind of person who would print this out and keep in my workspace to remind me when things arose.  So, last year, when I learned I had to replace my chimney liner, I could have borne the hit my savings took yet again, and perhaps I would have been less surprised when the work crew left that Saturday that when I went to use the garbage disposal, I smelled smoke from the motor. I took a deep breath.

One of things that has been interesting for me while reading the Bible is learning how few story lines end with characters riding off into the sunset or living happily ever after.  These type of neat and tidy endings have always driven me crazy (and not just because I have perhaps become more cynical as I have aged). Because I have seen so few examples of such a thing in my own life (or of those around me), I didn’t trust the message in these stories. Real life works differently.

In the book of Nehemiah, the title character understands this idea all too well.

He is the official in king Artaxerxes’s court who asks the king to help Jerusalem get their city together. He has a good plan.  Clearly a virgo, once he is granted permission to return to Jerusalem, he wastes no time in delegating and getting the wall around the city repaired and reinforced.  He gets it done in 52 days.  Given how long it takes to get a pothole fixed in today’s society, this is no small feat.

Not only does he inspire teamwork, but what is even more interesting is who pitches in—daughters.  Working alongside men, these young women roll up their sleeves and provide a necessary component to the work force.  They’re not around to merely pass out water or mop sweaty brows (3:12).  Women are also permitted at the general assembly where Ezra reads the Law of Moses to them (8:3), providing the basis for their code of conduct.  Had this been an earlier book of the Old testament, the women would have been excluded.

This book reflects real life in an another interesting way.  Just as Nehemiah rights the ship in Jerusalem (the wall is built, duties assigned, laws established, the agreement of the people secured (they promise to honor the Sabbath, etc.), priests appointed) , new problems surface.

For official reasons Nehemiah had returned to Babylon.  He returned after a while—perhaps hoping that everything had run smoothly in his absence—only to learn that Eliashib, the priest who had been placed in charge of the storerooms of the house of God, was corrupt (13:4-5).  In addition, people (even though they promised not to) have continued to intermarry (13:23-24).

Although he was able to resolve these and other issues, his story (which here is told from a refreshing first person account—unlike previous versions of the Old Testament) shows that life is not about getting all of your problems solved.  No, his realistic story shows that there is no such thing as reaching this point in life when everything is perfect and will stay that way.  Perhaps especially when other people are involved.  Rather, to be successful, you need to cultivate a plan to handle the issues that come your way. So, in the end, he shows what it takes to be a good manager, and having enough patience in emotional reserve to handle problems that arise.

Next up: Book of Esther – Is this the woman who inspired Madonna’s Kabbalah’s name?

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