Patchwork
April 25th, 2008, 11:34 AM
I just wanted to share this bible study I enjoyed this morning.
This topic is, randomly, "ask what?"
Num 11:15 L' (If this is how you are going to treat me, put me to death altogether —if I really mean anything to You —and do not let me behold my own wretchedness."
This is Moses, who knows God so intimately, not making a literal request but talking to him in words designed to let God know how deeply frustrated he is. I like "wretchedness" on this, of the various renderings. I don't think 'great frustration' was used by any translators, but it sounds like it.
--------------
1Sa_1:15-16 (include context in thinking)
1Sa 1:15 Hannah answered and said: not so my lord, I am a woman sorrowful in mine heart, and have drunk neither wine nor any strong drink, but I have poured out my soul before the LORD.
1Sa 1:16 Count not thine handmaid to be like a daughter of unthriftiness: for out of the abundance of my meditation and grief have I spoken hitherto.
This was Hannah, lost in the pain of her plea, she was asking to bear a son, and wanted it so much (and had been frustrated so long) (and tormented by another person -- note that 'other persons' had been the cause of Moses' grief) that she too was wretched. I sometimes wonder if our biggest thorns in the flesh are not other persons. Not that they mean to be, any more than we mean to be that, to them. When we bear one another's burdens is a valid reason, but when they are just mean and pesky, it's worse.
-----------
Moses "bartered" with his own life. Hannah "bartered" by the dedicated relinquishment of the son she so longed for. Hers was a real offer, not an expression of it, as was Moses.
This contains a very exciting nugget of truth for me personally. to think that God considered what each one of them really meant! God reads our prayers.
He told me that once, and I didn't have scripture for it. He knows our hearts, and knew the difference, and responded accordingly. ! ! !
p.s [ Exo 13:12, found the next day, emphasizes this discovery. I would call this a third witness! Extremely strong, God is so good! From Ex 13:12 we learn that it was Jewish law, the firstborn must always be dedicated to the Lord; this act was done by each Jewish family, but the dedication was symbolic. They did not actually have to give the child, but gave an offering in its stead. This was what was done for Jesus as described by the two doves that were given by Mary and Joseph for the Baby Jesus. Hannah's intent was that her baby actually be given.
Patchwork
This topic is, randomly, "ask what?"
Num 11:15 L' (If this is how you are going to treat me, put me to death altogether —if I really mean anything to You —and do not let me behold my own wretchedness."
This is Moses, who knows God so intimately, not making a literal request but talking to him in words designed to let God know how deeply frustrated he is. I like "wretchedness" on this, of the various renderings. I don't think 'great frustration' was used by any translators, but it sounds like it.
--------------
1Sa_1:15-16 (include context in thinking)
1Sa 1:15 Hannah answered and said: not so my lord, I am a woman sorrowful in mine heart, and have drunk neither wine nor any strong drink, but I have poured out my soul before the LORD.
1Sa 1:16 Count not thine handmaid to be like a daughter of unthriftiness: for out of the abundance of my meditation and grief have I spoken hitherto.
This was Hannah, lost in the pain of her plea, she was asking to bear a son, and wanted it so much (and had been frustrated so long) (and tormented by another person -- note that 'other persons' had been the cause of Moses' grief) that she too was wretched. I sometimes wonder if our biggest thorns in the flesh are not other persons. Not that they mean to be, any more than we mean to be that, to them. When we bear one another's burdens is a valid reason, but when they are just mean and pesky, it's worse.
-----------
Moses "bartered" with his own life. Hannah "bartered" by the dedicated relinquishment of the son she so longed for. Hers was a real offer, not an expression of it, as was Moses.
This contains a very exciting nugget of truth for me personally. to think that God considered what each one of them really meant! God reads our prayers.
He told me that once, and I didn't have scripture for it. He knows our hearts, and knew the difference, and responded accordingly. ! ! !
p.s [ Exo 13:12, found the next day, emphasizes this discovery. I would call this a third witness! Extremely strong, God is so good! From Ex 13:12 we learn that it was Jewish law, the firstborn must always be dedicated to the Lord; this act was done by each Jewish family, but the dedication was symbolic. They did not actually have to give the child, but gave an offering in its stead. This was what was done for Jesus as described by the two doves that were given by Mary and Joseph for the Baby Jesus. Hannah's intent was that her baby actually be given.
Patchwork