I Will Fear No Evil: For Thou Art With Me

I actually liked to read these psalms. They were short, concise, and weren't full of unneeded dialogue or explanations. They are almost like a prayer one would say before going to sleep.  Unlike the rest of the books that make up the Bible, these "poems" are easier to understand. They have the same writing style, but at least they are short enough so one can keep focused. This way, I was actually able to understand what the narrator was trying to say. In fact, all the Bible should be summarized in little practical poems that you can even turn back to remember. Maybe this way, understanding Christianism, Judaism, and even Islam (because they are all somehow based on the teachings of their version of the Bible) would be a whole lot easier. (Also, making these blogs wouldn't be so hard!)
What's even more interesting is that I've heard parts of these psalms in modern music. For example:
 "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me;" (Psalms 23:4).
This verse appears in Hammerhead, by the Offspring. What I can't really grasp is why a punk band would use Psalm verses in their songs? Another song I heard is about Psalm 137:1, and it's called Rivers of Babylon, by the Melodians. The Psalms have their message so well delivered that they are even useful to make songs from them. That's what I love about the Psalms!

The Crimes of David

Time has changed David a lot. I remember when he first appeared as the youngest of Jesse's sons. He was so young and so devoted to God he intended to kill Goliath with a simple stone. As soon as he started becoming older, his morals began changing. They didn't seem much at first. He sacked the house of one of his wives husband, but that didn't seem to have a negative impact on his image. He still was very devoted to God and respected him so much. For example, he didn't kill Saul because he was "one of God's anointed." (Samuel I 26:23). And then he became king.
Greediness and ambition can really twist a person's morals. When he finally gets to be king, he starts spreading his territory rapidly. In doing so, he kills thousands of innocent people, and sacks city after city. He even turned the lame and the blind into his personal enemies. Why would he do that? He literally said so, "the lame and the blind, that are hated of David’s soul," (Samuel II 5:8). Isn't a king supposed to have mercy on the week and the less fortunate? He conquered city after city mercilessly. Like he did with Metheg-ammah city:
"David took Metheg-ammah out of the hand of the Philistines. And he smote Moab, and measured them with a line, casting them down to the ground; even with two lines measured he to put to death, and with one full line to keep alive. And so the Moabites became David’s servants, and brought gifts." (Samuel II 8:1-2).
During this time, merciless conquering isn't so bad. It's actually part of forming nations, and nobody takes it so seriously. Some think it's even justifiable. What David did that really messed everything up was commit adultery against Uriah. He lay with his wife Bathsheba, and she became pregnant. What's worse is that he then tries (and succeeds) to kill Uriah. David marries Bathsheba, and she has his son. It's so unfair that David, a king who has all the riches in the world and a lot of wives, can take the only precious thing Uriah had, which was his beloved wife. Like Nathan's metaphor said:
"There were two men in one city; the one rich, and the other poor. The rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds: But the poor man had nothing, save one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and nourished up: and it grew up together with him, and with his children; it did eat of his own meat, and drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was unto him as a daughter." (Samuel II 12.1-4).
It's actually fair that God gives him all that punishment for his crimes. Apart from making his kingdom full of turmoil, he killed his son. David deserved it for being such a greedy and ambitious pig. So much power went into his head and finished all the morals he had. Most men in power tend to loose their morals.

The Story of David

The story of David is a story of courage, jealousy, loyalty, betrayal and forgiveness.
Courage is a small shepherd deciding to fight a 6 cubit and a span tall giant. David, the youngest of the sons of Jesse, was brave enough (or stupid enough) to accept Goliath's challenge. One man from each side would fight, and the winner would let his side subdue the looser side. I still don't understand how they let the crazy kid go. It was almost an impossible situation.  As Saul said, "Thou art not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him: for thou art but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth. " (Samuel I 17:32). Obviously David did have the advantage of being on God's side, so in the end, the duel was very unfair, but for the Philistine's side.
Saul let David go on his quest to kill Goliath, and later was very thankful. However, this gave David a lot more popularity than Saul had ever gained. What's worse is that David was a better than Saul in pretty much everything. Even the women were aware of this and they happily sang, "Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands." (Samuel I 18:7). This made Saul go green with envy. Such were his feelings of hate and envy, he attempted murder two times, sent him on a suicide mission (although it didn't end up too bad for David) and later laid a heavy pursuit on him. All of his attempts to destroy David were rebutted by David's excellent behaviour and God's help. Like the book said, "And David went out whithersoever Saul sent him, and behaved himself wisely:" (Samuel I 18:5). In the end, Saul was never able to kill David or get rid of his jealousy.
This story is very divided into loyalty ad betrayal. David was very loyal to Saul, and he worked for him as a loyal servant. However, he did go to the Philistine side when Saul started hunting him down, betraying the Israelites. Jonathan was also involved in a loyalty/betrayal dilemma. He "loved" his friend David, and became a truly loyal friend. As the book said, "Jonathan and David made a covenant, because he loved him as his own soul." (Samuel I 18:3). This loyalty however, was intercepted with a duty to his father. He couldn't be a loyal friend and at the same time a loyal son, especially since Saul wanted to kill David. When Jonathan helped David escape, he did remain a true friend, but he betrayed his father.
In the end, it all came down to one thing: forgiveness. After his heavy pursuit, Saul was found by David helpless, but he decide not to kill him. He forgave him for all he made him suffer (and run), and let him live. In return, Saul promised not to hunt him down again, and they both reconciled. David remained a loyal friend and servant, because even after all Saul had done to him, he went back to give him a proper burial after he'd been murdered at war. David found all the pieces of Saul and Jonathan's bodies (which had been cut in pieces ad hung in different places) and buried them.

God Cares

Job's ordeal finally ended. After being reprehended by God for his inappropriate attitude, he was finally cured from his wounds, restored to the double of his wealth, and had ten beautiful children. In the end he won right? What astounded me of this ending was that God actually agreed with Elihu's opinion over Job's attitude. He also thought Job was in no position to criticize him, since he is none other than his creator. Had he been with him centuries ago when he decided to create man? Did he posses the knowledge and experience God had gained throughout all that time?  Of course not!  Like he asked Job:
"Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding. 38:5 Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it? 38:6 Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof; 38:7 When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?" (Job 38: 4-7).
 Job is nothing bu an insignificant speck in the whole space of history since the beginning. Job is only a small human being living along a million other humans and creatures. He only has to live with what he has, with no right to complain over any misfortune that could happen during his life. What can he do about it? Only God has any knowledge to judge all creatures on Earth.
In the end we all are in the same situation. We all live our lives thinking only about ourselves, and we forget we are living along another 6 billion people in the world. If we think about it, we are only 0.1 *10^-9% of the whole world population. We are nothing in this world, and yet we always feel we are the center of it. When something terrible happens to us, we feel that God has decided to curse you, and the whole world has turned against you. The truth is, not everything has to do with you. Like Job, we've got to learn to accept our fortune without complaining, because God somehow is the one managing it. If we trust in God, then we know that somehow, he will fix things.
He did create the world in the first place, and we have to acknowledge his thousands of years of experience. Even if he did make mistakes in the past (like leaving a forbidden fruit tree in the middle of a garden), over time he has learned how to deal with the terribly restless creatures humans are.
It is very comforting to think that no matter how many billions of humans are living right now, you can always know that God somehow has an eye on you.  It is very nice to think that you can be absolutely sure that there is at least one being in the universe that cares about you. 

That's What Friends Are For

This debate between Job and his friends was very impressive. At first, I couldn't understand why Job was guilty of any crime or wrongdoing. His friends kept saying he had somehow sinned and had to repent before God. Job kept saying he was completely innocent, and was suffering under no justification. Also, he was furious with his friends for doubting his righteousness. "I have heard many such things: miserable comforters are ye all." (Job 11-37).

But then Elihu started with a point I hadn’t considered until he mentioned it. First of all, he was younger than the rest, but that didn't mean he wasn't as smart as or smarter than them. In addition, he respectfully waited for everyone to finish their arguments, and say everything they had in their minds to later give his own opinion. His opinion was that Job was thinking he was more righteous than God. It may have been true, but although he had not sinned, his attitude was sinful. One of his arguments was:

"For Job hath said, I am righteous: and God hath taken away my judgment. Should I lie against my right? my wound is incurable without transgression. What man is like Job, who drinketh up scorning like water? Which goeth in company with the workers of iniquity, and walketh with wicked men. For he hath said, It profiteth a man nothing that he should delight himself with God..." (Job 34:5-9).

I completely agree with Elihu's remark. Who is Job to reclaim to God? What true knowledge lets him judge whether God has a right to punish (or in this case test) him? It is true Job is a righteous man, and he hasn't committed any sin that deserves a curse from God, but he is still a human being. Couldn’t he even consider that God knows something he doesn’t know? He was created by God, and only he can know how to judge each piece he has created. Job cannot go into the state of arrogance he has entered, and try to reclaim to God, because that would infer that Job is wiser, or simply morally superior to God. That is not a very smart thing to say when God has just taken all your wealth, health and family.

In conclusion, Elihu's advice was the best any friend could have given to Job. He not only supported Job in his earnest claim of rightfulness (in contrast to his other friends who only accused him of somehow sinning), but he also showed him a new angle of his case he probably hadn't considered before. Maybe that could be the solution to end Job's terrible curse

A Small Mistake

Reading this part of the book of Job was reading a completely different story from Exodus and Genesis. For the first time, a human preferred by God had to go through a terrible ordeal. Never had God hurt anyone of his favorite men. Abraham was given a huge amount of wealth, good children and a whole land for himself. The only time he had to sacrifice something was when God asked him to give his son as a sacrifice, but that was only a test, and he never killed Isaac. Jacob became rich, had four wives and twelve kids (what more can a man ask?), and became the founder of the Israelites. Moses never got as much as a scratch. All he had to do was go to the Pharaoh, as for the Israelites' freedom and wait aside as God destroyed Egypt with all kinds of plagues. He didn't even have to hunt for food or water, because God threw it from the sky. Basically, if you are a VIP for God, your life is made. This is why I'm so confused with Job's fate. He apparently was a better person than any of his ancestors, because as the Bible said:


"There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil." (Job 1:1).

He was practically perfect, and never had he sinned or in the very least displeased God. Hadn't God wanted this from every single human he had created since Adam and Eve's time?

It all happened when God started bragging about him to Satan, and he took advantage of the situation to test how far could that perfection go. When he found that taking all his wealth and all his offspring wasn't enough to make Job curse God, he continued to physical sacrifice. The pain was so great he wanted to die, and he was even wishing he had never been born. I wonder how God had agreed to all of this unnecessary torture. Wasn't he happy enough to have at least one human in the whole world that hadn't turned up a total disaster as almost all of his past creations were? What is wrong with God during this book? The punishment he was receiving has no reason or justification, because Job was a perfect son of God. Even his friends were impressed, and kept saying he must have angered God in some way, in order to be experiencing so much sorrow and pain. And yet it was almost like a bet between God and Satan to see if he was as perfect as he appeared. I wonder if Job will keep loving God after all he’s done to him. Be very annoyed if I found the God I've been honoring all my life suddenly started punishing me with no reason, just to show Satan how perfect I am.

The Exodus By: God

Exodus is a story that I've known for years. I know by heart the incident of the flaming bush, the miracle of the serpent/rod, the bloody river and the seven plagues. It was all perfectly clear to me until I read the King James Bible, and discovered the story wasn't as simple as I thought.

First of all, God was the one who caused everything. It is true the Pharaoh had the Israelites as his slaves, and God was trying to free his people from the Egyptian oppression. But the following quote, which was repeated many times, left me very confused:

"And the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart, so that he would not let the children of Israel go out of his land." (Exodus 11:10)(This quote is similarly repeated in Exodus 7:13, 9:7, 9:35 and 10:20,). I don't understand why the Lord would harden Pharaoh's heart? What was the need of it? What I understand of the story was that God wanted to free the Israelites and send them to the Promised Land. Like he said when he appeared in the flaming bush to Moses:

"I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows; 3:8 And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey;" (Exodus 3:7-8).

He gave Moses signs so people would believe his story, and he walked with him to speak. If he indeed wanted to free his people, then instead of hardening the Pharaoh's heart, couldn't he have softened it? Maybe he needed the plagues to show all his power to the people, and make everyone see he is more powerful than any other god they worshipped. After all, he did say, "I the LORD thy God am a jealous God..." (Exodus 20:5). Still, I think that after the locust plague, when the Pharaoh asked for forgiveness and let the Israelites go, God again hardened his heart and decided to give him more plagues. If you think about it, the Pharaoh repented at least twice, and if God hadn't intervened, the Israelites would have gone from Egypt sooner. In the end, I think the Israelites wouldn't have made the journey to the Promised Land if God hadn't shown all his power and created so much fear amidst the people.

So I think Exodus was God's way to herd the people out of Egypt into the Promised Land where they could live in a covenant with him.