Sermon for March 8th, 2015 - Revision history

Iraneal at 03:18, 8 March 2015

2015-03-08T03:18:13Z

Iraneal at 03:13, 8 March 2015

2015-03-08T03:13:54Z

Iraneal at 02:49, 8 March 2015

2015-03-08T02:49:03Z

Iraneal at 02:23, 8 March 2015

2015-03-08T02:23:20Z

Iraneal at 02:04, 8 March 2015

2015-03-08T02:04:47Z

Iraneal at 01:30, 8 March 2015

2015-03-08T01:30:56Z

Iraneal at 00:11, 8 March 2015

2015-03-08T00:11:47Z

Iraneal at 23:23, 7 March 2015

2015-03-07T23:23:25Z

Iraneal at 22:21, 7 March 2015

2015-03-07T22:21:04Z

Iraneal at 22:08, 7 March 2015

2015-03-07T22:08:09Z

@@ Line 62: / Line 62: @@
 *Dinosaur (Creation Museum)
-====The Monster At the End of This Book====
+====Asking the Wrong Questions====
 I said earlier that Behemoth has fascinated readers for centuries, but most of that fascination seems to be centered on the question "What WAS Behemoth?"  Mythical monster? Historical creature? It's a great question, but God doesn't answer it any more than he answers any of Job's questions.  Perhaps there is no answer.  Perhaps, when it comes to Behemoth, we've been asking the wrong question altogether.
@@ Line 75: / Line 75: @@
 When God shows up, Job is in a pretty bad state. He's lost everything. He's sitting on a pile of ashes (or a dung heap), covered in sores, mired in grief. He is weak. He is vulnerable.  And God says to Job, you are strong. I made you like I made Behemoth, foremost of my creations.  I didn't create you to be free from pain and suffering, but I created you to withstand it. When the river rises up against you, you have nothing to fear. Behemoth cannot be tamed, cannot be brought down with hooks and snares...and neither can you.
 There is a book that I loved as a child, and my own children have all loved it, too.  It is a Sesame Street book called "The Monster at the End of This Book, Starring Loveable, Furry, Old Grover." If you've never read it, the premise is simple:  Grover (a muppet-monster) reads the title page of the book and becomes terrified of the monster it promises at the end. He builds all sorts of barriers and hinderances, and pleads with the reader not to turn the pages.
 I think we're like Grover sometimes.  We're so terrified of the monsters and the monstrosities in the world that we decide not to turn any more pages.  We build walls for ourselves and try to hide. But despite our protests, the pages of our days keeps turning, and when we get to the end we realize our story--all the trials and all the triumphs--have been in the capable hands of a great, heavenly author. We are the only monster at the end of the book, but like Grover, we are loveable.  Like Behemoth, we are strong.  And like Job, we are fearfully and wonderfully made.

← Older revision		Revision as of 03:13, 8 March 2015
Line 75:		Line 75:
	When God shows up, Job is in a pretty bad state. He's lost everything. He's sitting on a pile of ashes (or a dung heap), covered in sores, mired in grief. He is weak. He is vulnerable. And God says to Job, you are strong. I made you like I made Behemoth, foremost of my creations. I didn't create you to be free from pain and suffering, but I created you to withstand it. When the river rises up against you, you have nothing to fear. Behemoth cannot be tamed, cannot be brought down with hooks and snares...and neither can you.		When God shows up, Job is in a pretty bad state. He's lost everything. He's sitting on a pile of ashes (or a dung heap), covered in sores, mired in grief. He is weak. He is vulnerable. And God says to Job, you are strong. I made you like I made Behemoth, foremost of my creations. I didn't create you to be free from pain and suffering, but I created you to withstand it. When the river rises up against you, you have nothing to fear. Behemoth cannot be tamed, cannot be brought down with hooks and snares...and neither can you.

−	There is a	+	There is a book that I loved as a child, and my own children have all loved it, too. It is a Sesame Street book called "The Monster at the End of This Book, Starring Loveable, Furry, Old Grover." If you've never read it, the premise is simple: Grover (a muppet-monster) reads the title page of the book and becomes terrified of the monster it promises at the end. He builds all sorts of barriers and hinderances, and pleads with the reader not to turn the pages.
		+
		+	I think we're like Grover sometimes. We're so terrified of the monsters and the monstrosities in the world that we decide not to turn any more pages. We build walls for ourselves and try to hide. But despite our protests, the pages of our days keeps turning, and when we get to the end we realize our story--all the trials and all the triumphs--have been in the capable hands of a great, heavenly author. We are the only monster at the end of the book, but like Grover, we are loveable. Like Behemoth, we are strong. And like Job, we are fearfully and wonderfully made.

← Older revision		Revision as of 02:49, 8 March 2015
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	No doubt God makes some pretty crazy things; things that terrify us, things we don't understand. But if there's any clue to understanding Behemoth in the Book of Job, I think it's right there in the first line of our passage: Behold, Behemoth! I created him, just like I created you. In English as well as in Hebrew, that phrase can mean "I created him and I also created you" or it can mean "I created him similar to you." God meets Job's questions with more questions, and I think here he's using Behemoth to hold up a mirror to Job.		No doubt God makes some pretty crazy things; things that terrify us, things we don't understand. But if there's any clue to understanding Behemoth in the Book of Job, I think it's right there in the first line of our passage: Behold, Behemoth! I created him, just like I created you. In English as well as in Hebrew, that phrase can mean "I created him and I also created you" or it can mean "I created him similar to you." God meets Job's questions with more questions, and I think here he's using Behemoth to hold up a mirror to Job.
		+
		+	When God shows up, Job is in a pretty bad state. He's lost everything. He's sitting on a pile of ashes (or a dung heap), covered in sores, mired in grief. He is weak. He is vulnerable. And God says to Job, you are strong. I made you like I made Behemoth, foremost of my creations. I didn't create you to be free from pain and suffering, but I created you to withstand it. When the river rises up against you, you have nothing to fear. Behemoth cannot be tamed, cannot be brought down with hooks and snares...and neither can you.
		+
		+	There is a

@@ Line 62: / Line 62: @@
 *Dinosaur (Creation Museum)
-====The Monster Within====
+====The Monster At the End of This Book====
 I said earlier that Behemoth has fascinated readers for centuries, but most of that fascination seems to be centered on the question "What WAS Behemoth?"  Mythical monster? Historical creature? It's a great question, but God doesn't answer it any more than he answers any of Job's questions.  Perhaps there is no answer.  Perhaps, when it comes to Behemoth, we've been asking the wrong question altogether.

@@ Line 55: / Line 55: @@
 *The Spiritual Form of Pitt Guiding Behemoth (1805) Per Blake's description, Pitt is "that Angel who, pleased to perform the Almighty’s orders, rides on the whirlwind, directing the storms of war."
-Modern naturalistic interpretations of Behemoth point to the hippopotamus
+Modern naturalistic interpretations of Behemoth generally point to the hippopotamus:
 *Hippopotamus (Angus Library, Illustration, 18th C.)
 *BDB Entry (Photo Library)
-#*Dinosaur (Creation "Science Museum)
+And, of course, most recently a few Fundamentalist Christians point to dinosaurs:
 ====The Monster Within====

@@ Line 42: / Line 42: @@
 The Liber Floridus (book of flowers) is an 11th century Medieval Encyclopedia where Behemoth makes an appearance as the beast ridden by the the Antichrist in the Book of Revelation.
-*Devil Steed (Liber Floridus)
+*Devil Steed (Liber Floridus, 11th C.)
 However, Behemoth is not always portrayed as a vehicle for evil.  In a church in Asinou, Cyprus, Behemoth appears on a mural (along with Leviathan) as the steed for a Saint (probably John the apostle).
-*Saint Steed (Asinou Church)
+*Saint Steed (Asinou Church, 11-14th C.)
 In the late middle ages and reformation, Behemoth began to be interpreted more often as an actual creature, and less a mythical one. Aquinas and Calvin both thought the passage described an Elephant.
 #*Dinosaur (Creation "Science Museum)
 ====The Monster Within====

@@ Line 34: / Line 34: @@
 Behemoth has fascinated readers of the Bible for centuries, so the first thing I'd like to do is walk us through a little history of interpretation.
-In the Septuagint, a Greek translation of the Old Testament that predates the time of Christ, chapters 40 and 41 are spliced together and taken to describe one single monster. So in many early illustrated manuscripts, you get something like this:
+In the Septuagint, a Greek translation of the Old Testament that predates the time of Christ, chapters 40 and 41 are spliced together and taken to describe one single monster. So in many early illustrated manuscripts, you get something like this: (Note that "Beheviathan" is already associated here with Satan & evil.)
 *Illuminated Byzantine Manuscript 1 (9th C., Patmos, Codex 171)
 *Illuminated Byzantine Manuscript 2 (9th C., Vatican, Codex Gr. 749)
 #*Political Satire (Wm. Blake Image)
 #Behemoth as actual creature

@@ Line 20: / Line 20: @@
 Last week our family was driving home from somewhere, and we had two vehicles. My son, Grady, asked if he could ride with me.  It had been a long day, I was tired, and I knew my son well.  So I said, you can ride with me, but only on one condition:  You can't ask any questions for the whole trip.  It was only a five minute trip home, but apparently if you want to drive a ten-year-old boy crazy, that's the way to do it.  He would start to say something, then stop himself before it turned into a question, then try to rephrase it as a statement, and then finally give up in frustration. The silence lasted about five seconds before the whole process repeated itself again.  Two minutes in and I thought his head was about to explode. So many questions in the wide world, and so few answers.
 Job--the central character in the Book of Job--spends about 35 chapters (the vast majority of the book) asking questions.  Unlike Grady's questions, Job's are not driven by curiosity, but rather personal tragedy--the loss of fortune, his property, his children, his health.  Over and over again, he asks God the questions, "Why?" and "Why me?" and "What have I done to deserve this?" and "Where were you when I was suffering?" and "Where are you now?"
@@ Line 28: / Line 29: @@
 God never does answer any of Job's questions, and of course Job is incapable of answering God's questions. It's like eventually they just come  to a stalemate, an unspoken agreement not to ask each other any more questions. This is probably a bit disappointing for those who have read all the way through 42 chapters of Job hoping to get a good answer to the question "Why do bad things happen to good people?"  It's good to remember that in life there are no easy, simple answers to the most difficult questions...not even in the Bible.  What we find instead is a God who, while he doesn't always do what we want him to, does show up and does engage with us. Often he turns our questions back on us like a mirror, and helps us to see ourselves, and our world differently.  Sometimes he helps us see, in hindsight, that we were asking the wrong questions all along.
 One of God's questions bring us to our first monster: Behemoth. In Job 40:15-23, God describes this formidable, awe-inspiring creature, and then in verse 24 essentially asks the question, "Can he be captured or tamed?"
 Behemoth has fascinated readers of the Bible for centuries, so the first thing I'd like to do is walk us through a little history of interpretation.
-#Behemoth as composite monster with Leviathan
+In the Septuagint, a Greek translation of the Old Testament that predates the time of Christ, chapters 40 and 41 are spliced together and taken to describe one single monster. So in many early illustrated manuscripts, you get something like this:
-#*Illuminated Byzantine Manuscripts
+*Illuminated Byzantine Manuscript 1 (9th C., Patmos, Codex 171)
 #Behemoth as Mythical Land Beast
-#*Book of Enoch
+#*Book of Enoch (Ambrosian Jewish Bible, Milan 13th C.)
 #*Devil Steed (Liber Floridus)
 #*Saint Steed (Asinou Church)
@@ Line 43: / Line 49: @@
 #*Hippopatomus (Modern Interpreters, NRSV)
 #*Dinosaur (Creation "Science Museum)

@@ Line 33: / Line 33: @@
 #Behemoth as composite monster with Leviathan
-#Behemoth as
+#*Illuminated Byzantine Manuscripts
+#Behemoth as Mythical Land Beast
-What is Behemoth?
+#*Book of Enoch
--Canaanite/Babylonian Land Monster
+#*Devil Steed (Liber Floridus)
--Devil Steed (Liber Floridus) -- vehicle for evil in the world
+#*Saint Steed (Asinou Church)
--Hippopatomus? (Modern interpreters, NRSV)
+#*Political Satire (Wm. Blake Image)
--Elephant? (Calvin)
+#Behemoth as actual creature
--Dinosaur? (Creation "Science" Museum)
+#*Elephant (Calvin)
--Demon? (Medieval Iterps)
+#*Hippopatomus (Modern Interpreters, NRSV)
--Lunch? (Enoch / Jewish Interp)
+#*Dinosaur (Creation "Science Museum)
-−
-Behemoth is monster number one:
-*If identified with Satan, then the "first of God's angels"
-*If identified as dinosaur, then first in the sense of before people
-*If taken as representative of all wild animals then per Genesis before Adam & Eve
-−
-Images:
-*Illuminated Byzantine Ms. (Behemiathan)
-*Liber Floridus (satan riding on behemoth)
-*Asinou Church (John riding Behemoth, James riding Leviathan)
-*Wm. Blake's Image
-*Elephant demon
-*Dinosaur

@@ Line 26: / Line 26: @@
 Finally in chapter 38, God shows up, just as Job had requested.  Only, God doesn't answer any of Job's questions.  Instead, he starts to ask his own questions of Job.  Job had asked God "Where were you when I was suffering?" and now God asks Job "Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?" God doesn't stop there, however.  He asks Job 61 questions before stopping, and waiting for Job's response.  So what does Job do?  He asks God another question. And then God asks him 27 more questions. It's almost comical.
-God never does answer Job's questions, and of course Job is incapable of answering God's questions. It's like eventually they just come  to a stalemate, an unspoken agreement not to ask each other any more questions. This is probably a bit disappointing for those who have read all the way through 42 chapters of Job hoping to get a good answer to the question "Why do bad things happen to good people?"
+God never does answer any of Job's questions, and of course Job is incapable of answering God's questions. It's like eventually they just come  to a stalemate, an unspoken agreement not to ask each other any more questions. This is probably a bit disappointing for those who have read all the way through 42 chapters of Job hoping to get a good answer to the question "Why do bad things happen to good people?"  It's good to remember that in life there are no easy, simple answers to the most difficult questions...not even in the Bible.  What we find instead is a God who, while he doesn't always do what we want him to, does show up and does engage with us. Often he turns our questions back on us like a mirror, and helps us to see ourselves, and our world differently.  Sometimes he helps us see, in hindsight, that we were asking the wrong questions all along.
+Behemoth has fascinated readers of the Bible for centuries, so the first thing I'd like to do is walk us through a little history of interpretation.
-Unanswered questions (Grady & Job)
 What is Behemoth?