Move to Wordpress

As I asked everyone here about some time ago, I've moved everything previous to a wordpress site: Reading the Light Through the Pages. All of it remains here in the bassackwards order the blog form imposes on us.

The advantage of wordpress is that we should be able to organize things more readably, adding a structure of fixed pages to allow for following whatever books were/will-be discussed, in natural (rather than reverse-time) order.

The bad news is that information on authorship of posts has evidently been stripped from the copies at that site. Anyone concerned about their authorship information should please leave a comment and I will certainly want to rectify the problem. [Meanwhile I'm still learning to navigate the new quirks of wordpress, re moving the rest of the content (links, etc.)]

Everyone who's participated here, and anyone else wishing to join us, may contact me-- (please!) as "treegestalt" at that address on gmail.com .

Any belated objections-- I'll try to fix!

Forrest Curo

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Update: I've been adding links to the new site, enough to mark the beginnings of each Biblical book in the discussions

Finding one's way through each book is still dependent (mostly) on the site's default links to 'previous' and 'next post'.

Authorship of each post remains muddled, past the first chapters of James.

Luke 18.31-34

And taking the twelve, he said to them, "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written of this son of Adam by the prophets will be accomplished. For he will be delivered to the Gentiles, and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon. They will scourge him and kill him; and on the third day he will rise."

But they understood none of these things; this saying was hid from them, and they did not grasp what was said.

Luke 18.18-30

And a ruler asked him, "Good teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?"

And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? Only God is good.

"You know the commandments: 'Do not  commit adultery. Do not kill. Do not steal. Do not bear false witness. Honor your father and mother."

And he said, "All these I have observed from my youth."

And when Jesus heard it, he said to him, "One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have, and distribute to the poor; and you will have treasure in Heaven. And come, follow me!"

But when he heard this he became sad, for he was very rich.

Jesus, looking at him, said, "How hard it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. For it is easier for a camel to pass through a needle's eye than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."

Those who heard it said, "Then who can be saved?"

But he said, "What is impossible with men is possible with God."

And Peter said, "Lord, we have left our homes and followed you."

And he said to them, "Truly I say to you, there is no man who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not receive manifold more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life."

Luke 18.15-17

Now they were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them; and when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them.

But Jesus called them to him, saying "Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God.

"Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it."

Luke 18.9-14

He also told them this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others. "Two men went up into the Temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a toll collector.

"The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, 'God, I thank Thee that I am not like other men: extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this toll collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all I get.'

"But the toll collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to Heaven, but beat his breast, saying 'God be merciful to me, a sinner!'

"I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other. For every one who exalts himself shall be humbled; but he who humbles himself will be exalted."

Luke 18.1-8

He told them a parable, to the effect that they ought always to pray and never lose heart. He said, "In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor regarded man; and there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him, saying 'Vindicate me against my adversary!'

"For a while he refused; but afterward he said to himself, 'Though I neither fear God nor regard man, yet because this woman bothers me, I will vindicate her; or she will wear me out by her continual coming.'"

And the Lord said, "Hear what the unrighteous judge says. And will not God vindicate his elect, who cry to him day and night? I tell you, he will vindicate them speedily!

"Nevertheless, when this son of Adam comes, will he find faith on Earth?"

Luke 17.22->

And he said to his disciples, "The days are coming when you will desire to see one of the days of this son of Adam, and you will not see it.

"And they will say to you, 'Lo, there!' or 'Lo, here!'

"Do not go; do not follow them.

"For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other,  so will this son of Adam be in his day.

"But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.

"As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be in the day of this son of Adam. They ate; they drank; they married; they were given in marriage-- until the day when Noah entered the ark; and the flood came to destroy them all.

"Likewise it was in the days of Lot. They ate; they drank; they bought; they sold; they planted; they built. But on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from Heaven and destroyed them all.

"So it will be on the day when this son of Adam is revealed.

"On that day, let him who is in on the housetop, with his goods in the house-- not turn back to take them away. And likewise, let him who is in the field not turn back! Remember Lot's wife.

"Whoever seeks to gain his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life will preserve it.

"I tell you, in that night there will be two in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. There will be two women grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left."

And they said to him, "Where, Lord?"

He said to them, "Where the body is, there the eagles will gather together."

Luke 17.20

Being asked by the Pharisees when the reign of God was coming, he answered them: "The Kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed; nor will they say, 'Lo, here it is!', or 'There!' For behold, the Kingdom of God is in the midst of you."

Luke 17.11-19

On the way to Jerusalem he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance and lifted up their voices, saying "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us."

When he saw them, he said, "Go and show yourselves to the priests."

And as they went, they were cleansed.

Then one of them, when he saw he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; and he fell at Jesus' feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan.

Then said Jesus, "Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?" And he said to him, "Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well."

Luke 17.7-10

"Will any one of you, who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep, say to him when he has come in from the field, 'Come at once and sit down at table?' Will he not rather say to him, 'Prepare supper for me, and gird yourself and serve me, till I eat and drink; and afterward you shall eat and drink'?

"Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? So you also, when you have done all that was commanded you, say, 'We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.'"

Luke 17.5-6

The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!"

And the Lord said, "If you had faith as a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, 'Be rooted up, and be planted in the sea! and it would obey you."

Luke 17.1-4

And he said to his disciples, "Temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to him by whom they come. It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea, than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin.

"Take heed to yourselves; if your brother sins, rebuke him. And if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times in one day, and turns to you seven times, and says, 'I repent', you must forgive him."

Luke 16.19->

"There was a rich man, who was clothed in purple and fine linen; and who feasted sumptuously every day.

"And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, full of sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, the dogs came and licked his sores.

"The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom.

"The rich man also died and was buried. And in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes, and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus in his bosom. And he called out, 'Father Abraham, have mercy upon me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in anguish in this flame.'

"But Abraham said, 'Son, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things; and Lazarus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.'

"And he said, 'Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father's house, where I have five brothers, so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.'

"But Abraham said, 'They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them!'

"And he said, 'No, father Abraham; but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.'

"He said to him, 'If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.."

Luke 16.14-18

The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all this, and they scoffed at him.

But he told them, "You are those who justify yourselves before men; but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God.

"The Law and the prophets were until John; since then, the good news of the Reign of God is preached, and everyone tries to enter it by force.

"But it is easier for Heaven and Earth to pass away, than for one dot of the Law to become void.

"Every one who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery; and he who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery."

Luke 16.1-13

He also said to the disciples, "There was a rich man who had a steward, and charges were brought to him that this man was wasting his goods.

"And he called him and said to him, 'What is this that I hear about you? Turn in the account of your stewardship, for you can no longer be steward.'

"And the steward said to himself, 'What shall I do, since my master is taking the stewardship away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg!

"' I have decided what to do, so that people may receive me into their houses when I am put out of the stewardship.' So, summoning his master's debtors one by one, he said to the first, 'How much do you owe my master?'

"He said, 'A hundred measures of oil.'

"And he said to him, 'Take your bill, and sit down quickly, and write fifty.'

"Then he said to another, 'And how much do you owe?'

"He said, 'A hundred measures of wheat.'

"He said to him, 'Take your bill, and write eighty.'

"The master commended the dishonest steward for his shrewdness; for the children of the World are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the children of Light.

"And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous mammon, so that when that fails they may receive you into eternal habitations.

"He who is faithful in very little is faithful also in much; and he who is dishonest in very little is dishonest also in much. If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will entrust to you the true riches? And if you have not been faithful in that which was another's, who will give you that which is your own?

"No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other; or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon."

Luke 15.11->

And he said, "There was a man who had two sons; and the younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me the share of property that falls to me.' And he divided his living between them.

"Not many days later, the younger son gathered all that he had and took his journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in loose living.

"And when he had spent everything, a famine arose in that country, and he began to be in want. So he went and joined himself to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into the fields to feed swine. And he would gladly have fed on the pods that the swine ate, and nobody gave him anything.

"But when he came to himself he said, 'How many of my father's hired servants have bread enough and to spare, but I perish here with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against Heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be  called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants."'

"And he arose and came to his father. But while he was yet at a distance, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.

"And the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against Heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.'

"But the father said to his servants, 'Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet; and bring the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and make merry; for this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found!' And they began to make merry.

"Now the elder son was in the fields; and as he came and drew near the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called one of the servants and asked what this meant.

"And he said to him, 'Your brother has come; and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has received him safe and sound.'

"But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, but he answered his father, 'Lo, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command; yet you never gave me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your living with harlots, you killed for him the fatted calf!'

"And he said to him, 'Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. It was fitting to make merry and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.'"

Luke 15.1-7

Now the toll collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him.

And the Pharisees and the scribes murmured, saying, "This man receives sinners and eats with them!"

So he told them this parable: "What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost, until he finds it? And when he finds it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost.'

"Just so-- I tell you-- There will be more joy in Heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who need no repentance."

Luke 14.25->

Now great multitudes accompanied him; and he turned and said to them, "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me, cannot be my disciple.

"For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation, and is not able to finish it, all who see it will begin to mock him, saying, 'This man began to build, and was not able to finish!'

"Or what king, going to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and take counsel, whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? And if not, when the other is yet a great way off, he sends an embassy and asks terms of peace.

"So, therefore, whoever of you does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.

"Salt is good; but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltness be restored? It is fit neither for the land nor for the dunghill; men throw it away! He who has ears to hear, let him hear."

Luke 14.1-24

One Sabbath when he went to dine at the house of a ruler who belonged to the Pharisees, they were watching him.

And behold, there was a man before him who had dropsy.

And Jesus spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?"

But they were silent.

Then he took him and healed him, and let him go. And he said to them, "Which of you, having a son or an ox that has fallen into a well, will not immediately pull him out on a Sabbath day?

And they could not reply to this.

Now he told a parable to those who were invited, when he marked how they chose the places of honor-- saying to them, "When you are invited by anyone to a marriage feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest a more eminent man than you be invited; and He who invited you both will come and say to you, 'Give place to this man.' And then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes he may say to you, 'Friend, go up higher.' For everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled; and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

He said also to the man who had invited him, "When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite only your friends or your brothers or your kinsmen or rich neighbors, lest they invite you in return, and you be repaid.

"But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind-- and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. You will be repaid at the resurrection of the just."

When one of those at table with him heard this, he said, "Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God!"

But he said to him, "A man once gave a great banquet, and invited many. At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, 'Come, for all is now ready!'

"But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, "I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. I pray you, have me excused.

"And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them. I pray you, have me excused.

"And another said, "I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.

"So the servant came and reported this to his master.

"Then the householder in anger said to his servant, 'Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city; and bring in the poor, and maimed, and blind and lame.

"And the servant said, 'Sir, what you have commanded has been done; and still there is room!'

"And the master said to the servant, 'Go out to the highways and hedges, and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled.

"'For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet!'"

Luke 13.31->

At that very hour some Pharisees came, and said to him, "Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you."

And he said to them, "Go and tell that fox, 'Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow; and the third day I finish my course.'

"Nevertheless, I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the day following; for it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem.

"Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem-- killing the prophets and stoning those who are sent to you! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings; and you would not!

"Behold, your House is forsaken! And I tell you, you shall not see me until you can say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!'"

Luke 13.22-30

He went on his way through towns and villages, teaching, and journeying toward Jerusalem.

And someone said to him, "Lord, will those who are saved be few?"

And he said to them, "Strive to enter by the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and not be able.

"When once the householder has risen up and shut the door, you will begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying, 'Lord, open to us.'

"He will answer you, 'I do not know where you come from.'

"Then you will begin to say, 'We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.'

"But he will say, 'I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity!'

"There you will weep and gnash your teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God-- and you yourself thrust out! Men will come from east and west, and from north and south, and sit at table in the kingdom of God. And behold, some are last who will be first; and some are first who will be last."

The Myth

Out of College Station, TX comes a book for my 86th birthday present: Roger Williams and the Creation of the American Soul.  I've been reading it bit by bit.  This morning in the quiet time came understanding: it's a myth, the biblical myth, the American myth, yours and mine.

Great Britain was Egypt;
The Pilgrims were the Chosen People;
America was the Promised Land;
Like the first Chosen People they messed up in a hundred ways.
Roger Williams was the Prophet;
They banished him, just like the people put Isaiah in the cistern.
He told the future;
He brought Democracy (of a sort!).

But the myth goes on: layer by layer, bit by bit.
We are the Remnant.

Luke 13.18-21

He said therefore, "What is the Kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it? It is like a grain of mustard seed which a man took and sowed in his garden; and it grew and became a tree; and the birds of the air made nests in its branches."

And again he said, "To what shall I compare the Kingdom of God? It is like leaven which a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened."

Luke 13.10-17

Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. And there was a woman who had had a spirit of infirmity for 18 years; she was bent over and could not fully straighten herself.

When Jesus saw her, he called her and said to her, "Woman, you are freed from your infirmity." And he laid his hands upon her, and immediately she was made straight; and she praised God.

But the ruler of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the people, "There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be healed, not on the Sabbath day!"

Then the Lord answered him, "You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his ass from the manger, and lead it away to water it?

"And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for 18 years, be loosed from this bound on the Sabbath day?"

As he said this, all his adversaries were put to shame; and all the people rejoiced at all the glorious things that were done by him.

Luke 13.6-9

He told them this parable: "A man had a fig-tree growing in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it, but found none.

"So he said to the vine-dresser, 'Look here! For the last three years I have been looking for fruit on this fig-tree without finding any. Cut it down. Why should it go on using up the soil?'

"But he replied, 'Leave it, sir, this one season, while I dig round it and manure it. And if it bears this season, well and good. If not, you shall have it down!'"

Pausing the Prophets

If anyone wishes to continue onward with this site's examination of the prophets... my thought is that he/she will need to do it himself.

Ultimately it is God Whom I need to make an activity worthwhile-- or not. Whether or not some activity lights up all my little dopamine receptors, thrills me through & through-- That plays its part as a proximate physical cause. But the ultimate determination: Is this what I'm truly led to?-- simply is not under my own direct control. I don't get to decide what will interest me, and that's a good thing. Even if it sometimes leaves me sitting in a spiritual desert wondering which way that Water could possibly be...

I think that the underlying question, in studying the prophets, is: "Can these people and their writings give me a clue as to God's intentions for this time?"

And what about the prophets' underlying premise?: that the events of world history are literally acts of God, directed towards realizing God's purposes for Israel-- and through Israel, for the human race?

What about the idea that they exemplify God's justice at work?

Any or all of these might be usefully taken up... but I'm more and more seeing them as leading to Jesus. Not through 'type/antitype' relations, rather through the fact that the series of Jewish prophets seems to have culminated with Jesus, who was ideally situated to apply their tradition and the 1st Century historical situation to addressing the gentile world, ie us.

For now I've lost my enthusiasm for following the series, but hope to go on with that prophet from Nazareth.

Types and Antitypes

I found this is Northrup Frye's book, The Great Code, the Bible as Literature.  He might have called it the Bible as Poetry. I paid special attention to Chapter 4 Typology I and Chapter 5 Typology II.
Here are some types and antitypes:

Type: Moses delivered the Hebrews from slavery in Egypt
Antitype: Jesus delivered Christians from slavery to sin.

In Luke 9-29-31 we have:
"29 And as he was praying, the appearance of his face was altered, and his clothing became dazzling white. And behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure,[a] which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. ( Luke 9:29-31 ESV).  Another translation reads "his Exodus which he was about to achieve at Jerusalem".


So you could also say:
Type: Exodus from Egypt
Antitype: deliverance from sin.


Almost every word of the New Testament relates (in the same sort of way) to something in the Old Testament.  The Hebrew Christians of the first century were anxious to be accepted as good Jews.

Two Moralities and a Gospel

In the beginning of Luke 13, people are talking about "the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices."

Their assumption seems to be solidly based on a "Strict Father" view of God: ~"Those people must have really sinned, if God punished them with such a violent death."

Jesus insists that this is not the case: "These were not [worse sinners than anyone else in Galilee], but unless you repent, you will all of you come to the same end."

This doesn't sound like it's stepping outside the "Strict Father" moral universe. It only seems to imply: "God was not punishing those Galileans, but will punish you."

Wait a minute... What about that second part? Jesus doesn't say, here, that God intends to punish anybody. If you don't "repent," yes, ~'same thing gonna happen to you'-- but is that any more "punishment" than what happened to that first set of Galileans?

It certainly isn't "accident". Implicit in the whole mission of Jesus is the belief that God does intervene in human life, is massively intervening in his very mission. What isn't happening is the simplistic moral equation: "Bad => punished; Good => rewarded." The historical fate of Jesus himself undermines any such assumption.

"Repent" can mean "improve your behavior"; it can also mean "turn around", "change your path," "change your way of thinking."

Jesus' people have, at this point, suffered over a thousand years of trying to be good-- and failing-- and suffering consequences. One could say that they've done everything they possibly could-- except "change your minds."

To change their minds would entail accepting a "Nurturant Parent" concept of God. What?-- Doesn't Jesus, in fact, lay down a long series of ethical prescriptions? Yes, but. All of this is based on his view of God as one who "sends sun and rain for the Just and the Unjust," and asks us to do the same.

A parent may love her children dearly, hope for them to find great fulfillment and happiness-- and not want them to burn the house down. Would insist, and intervene decisively, if she caught them doing any such thing.

If there's too much hostility in an environment, then somebody's likely to get hurt. If you can avoid getting mentally caught up in that hostility, you're much better able to dampen the fires, or at least find your way out in time... As many of Jesus' followers were said to have escaped the fall of Jerusalem.

So if God is such a nurturant Parent, how come this world can be so harsh; how can it take so many suffering generations to learn "a new thing"?

Gabor Mate [quoting ___?] recently put this very well: "Something loves you so much... that it will send you whatever suffering you might need... to wake you up."

Luke 13.1-5

At that time, some people told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices.

He answered them: "Do you imagine, because these Galileans suffered this fate, that they must have been greater sinners than anyone else in Galilee? I tell you, they were not, but unless you repent, you will all of you come to the same end.

"Or the eighteen people who were killed when the tower fell on them at Shiloh?-- Do you imagine they were more guilty than all the other people living in Jerusalem? I tell you, they were not.

"But unless you repent, you will all of you come to the same end."

Blake's Bible was not Scofield's

The following is taken from one of Ellie Clayton's Post in William Blake: Religion and Psychology.  It sets forth a number of ways that Blake understood the Bible and used it in his poetry.

We have often spoken of the distinctive way in which Blake read, studied and interpreted the Bible. Northrup Frey who was an ordained minister of the United Church of Canada before he became primarily a literary critic, shows in this passage from Fearful Symmetry (page 370) how he and Blake were able to read the Bible according to the light which was given to them:

"The career of Jesus is visualized in the gospels as a recreation or epitome of the story of Israel. He comes of the seed of "David" that is, he is the new Orc or Luvah. A "father" who did not begat him, named Joseph, leads him to "Egypt," Herod's slaughter of the innocents being in counterpoint to the earlier Passover story. Returning from Egypt,he grows up and is baptized in the Jordan, corresponding to the crossing of the Red Sea; then he wanders forty days in the wilderness as the Israelites wandered forty years, resisting all the temptations the Israelites fell prey to, including at least one not presented as such in the earlier vision, the miraculous provision of bread. He emerges from the wilderness, gathers twelve followers, appears on a mountain with Moses and Elijah, enters and cleanses the Temple, and is finally lifted up like the brazen serpent in the harlot Jerusalem he came to redeem. In the mean time he raised up a new civilization through the power of the unlearned and oppressed people who were most receptive to his teaching.The new historical cycle is symbolized in Blake by Lazarus of Bethany and the Lazarus of the parable, and who is, like Samson, a vision of Orc suggesting the larger contours of Albion, whose resurrection may not be far off. Thus the "life" of Jesus presented in the Gospels is really a visionary drama based on the earlier vision of Jehovah, worked out not, in terms of historical accuracy or evidence but purely as a clarification of the prophetic visions of the Messiah."

Blake's Poem 'Milton', PLATE 24 [26], (Erdman p.120)
"When Jesus raisd Lazarus from the Grave I stood & saw
Lazarus who is the Vehicular Body of Albion the Redeemd
Arise into the Covering Cherub who is the Spectre of Albion
By martyrdoms to suffer: to watch over the Sleeping Body.
Upon his Rock beneath his Tomb. I saw the Covering Cherub (Ezekiel 28:12-19)

Divide Four-fold into Four Churches when Lazarus arose
Paul, Constantine, Charlemaine, Luther;"


(You might say that Blake is being less than complimentary to the four epochs of what became known as the Church.)
 
Here is an earlier post on Albion and Lazarus.

Blake created his own 'visionary dramas' to present his prophetic visions of the Messiah which he was convinced could reveal the contours of a New Age.

From Hosea 6 onward, pausing @9:10

[skipping some redundancies]
Come, let us return to the Lord;
for he has torn, that he may heal us;
he has stricken, and he will bind us up.
After two days he will revive us;
on the third day he will raise us up
that we may live before him.

...
What shall I do with you, oh Ephraim? [in northern monarchy of Israel]
What shall I do with you, oh Judah? [southern kingdom, centered on Jerusalem & Temple]
Your love is like a morning cloud,
like the dew that goes early away.

Therefore I have hewn you by the prophets;
I have slain you by the words of my mouth;
and my judgement goes forth as the light

for I desire steadfast love, not sacrifice;
the knowledge of God, rather than burnt offerings.

...
[8]
They made kings, but not through Me;
they set up princes, but without my knowledge.
With their silver and gold they made idols
for their own destruction.

I have spurned your 'calf' [depiction of Yahwey as a bull], oh Samaria!
(My anger burns against them.
How long will it be till they are pure in Israel?)

A workman made it;
it is not God.
...

[10]
The days of punishment have come;
the days of recompense have come;
Israel shall know it.

The prophet is a fool;
the man of the Spirit is mad
because of your great iniquity
and great hatred.

The prophet is the watchman of Ephraim,
the people of my God,
yet a fowler's snare is on all his ways,
and hatred in the Temple of his God.

They have deeply corrupted themselves
as in the days of Gibeah;
He will remember their iniquity;
He will punish their sins.
-----
[More about this soon....]

Our Dysfunctional Father?

People have known, for a long time now, about optimal methods of raising and teaching children. Probably there are "primitive" peoples who've forgotten more than we've learned about that, but it's clear enough what kind of conditions to provide, if you want a warm and loving relationship with your kids.

And God doesn't do it that way!

There's this people, the Jews-- chosen to help establish a loving relationship between God and human beings. Some of this people, the prophets-- were chosen to announce the meaning of historical events, to give God's reasons and intentions in instigating such events.

Pronouncing doom on nations and rulers... has always been part of the role. But by the time of Hosea, the news is all bad. The people, their rulers, and their priests are all misbehaving. God intends to destroy both Jewish kingdoms: Israel first and Judah later. One prophet after another is saying the same, in chapter after chapter, book after book.

"You just wait til your Father gets home!" For years!

And then God does it. First Israel, then (about 100 years later) Judah falls.

So, to establish a loving relationship-- God first orders His people to do things they can't/won't/aren't-about-to do. Then He threatens them for their failure. Then He has them murdered, robbed, enslaved and carried away wholesale by more powerful nations. But after they've suffered enough, He plans to relent.

This isn't even what you'd call "strict father morality"; it looks downright abusive!

And does it work? In some odd way, it does. It produces a nation with many sincere and intensely devoted worshipers.

But when Jesus is born, centuries after their return, the Jews still haven't eliminated oppression and corruption from their rulers, their Temple hierarchy, their major landowners. Idolatrous foreigners are still taking their goods, lording it over them, treating their religion with contempt.

At this point, Jesus explains-- that God is not an abusive tyrant, but a loving and nurturant parent. Toward everybody.

They should stop plotting rebellion. They'd tried that with the Maccabees, and even though it "worked" it still hadn't produce the kind of results that they, or God, intended.

Instead, they should treat everyone with disinterested, loving benevolence; this is how God behaves. They should adopt a radically humane, egalitarian and nonjudgmental interpretation of Torah (similar to Hillel's, which eventually did become the prevailing approach.)

If they could do that, God could make their lives blessed.

And if they could not-- ~'Are you ever going to wish you had!' Jerusalem would be besieged, the Temple destroyed as it had been before. Some decades later, on the exact same calender day the Babylonians had done so-- the Romans took the city, plundered, murdered and enslaved, destroyed the Temple.

And by then, Jesus' followers were becoming a sect of their own, on the way to forming "Christianity." Many of these people, also, have formed intensely loving relationships with God.

And many of them, also, have continued to imagine God as if He were an abusively-strict father, more concerned with obedience than with mutual love.

The reasons for this have far more to do with human beings, than with God. But that's a subject for later...

Several Moralities

Forrest's post on Two Moralities is honest, straightforward, poetic, and creative in the extreme. The discipline he's undergone in conducting this blog has led to new revelations.

I led the group for a large space of time, and became inactive in favor of other interests (see My Posts). My experience was similar to Forrest's present circumstances, but with some difference.

With my wife, Ellie, we've taught (or led) Bible classes in many Friends' Meetings over many years, and my interest has somewhat waned.  For a long time I believed
1. That the Bible is poetry--every word of it.  Poetry is the highest form of truth.
2. The quality of the Bible changed through the centuries in accordance with the evolution of consciousness of the Bible people. 
3.  Consciousness reached a peak with the birth of Jesus, the Son of God.
4.  The Bible is not all the Word.  The Word comes forth from our mouths today like it did for Isaiah and Hosea.  In effect Jesus  is the Word, and to the degree we're led by Him we too speak the Word. (For me that realization somewhat relativized the Bible.
5.  This blog has been a sacred endeavor.  It began some ten years ago and has been followed faithfully by various people at various times.  Sooner or later it will be laid down, like every other (sacred or profane) activity.  We have every reason to be thankful and praise God  for it.

Two Moralities

After long musing on George Lakoff... I have concluded:

There are two moralities in the Bible: one good, and one evil.

Well-meaning people can support either or (probably) both. And feel they are merely standing for everything good and true and right; that's why it makes sense to call both of them "moralities," or 'concepts of morality.'

And the Bible speaks with both voices. Not only can "the Devil quote Scripture;" he wrote a big chunk of it!

Also, as James Kugel says in How to Read the Bible, people have long read the Bible as God's guide to how He wants us to live.

Now the Bible is truly a fun book! But very few of us would be slogging through the gnarly bits if we didn't agree that God, in some sense, has provided this anthology to help us sort out what's what, Who's Who, and where the little 'You are here' mark ought to go...

But it's a book written by human beings, with all the dirty fingerprints this implies. Interpreters can ignore these, bring out wonderful meanings via the belief that everything in there is meaningful and true... but the conjectures and fudge-factors this requires grow like Pinocchio's nose, like the epicycles of Medieval astronomy, like modern "Skeptics'" efforts to deny the power of Spirit.

Everything on this Earth is divinely created, can speak to us at any moment, whether from a Bible or a children's book. So we are constantly needing to practice discernment: 'What Light can I find in this?' vs 'What interpretations of this might mislead me?'

Two moralities. In the world, people assert: "God says this!" vs "God says that"; and in the Bible it is much the same. We might argue texts for some very long time.

But it cannot be denied, that Jesus is condemned and ultimately killed, by a coalition of the pious and the powerful. And it is Jesus whom God vindicates.

Why No Posts

I'm beginning to bog down from this endeavor, a little.

Either there's a "gospel", or this book doesn't have a lot to say.

I am sure that 1) There is, and 2) It does

but this hasn't been where, or how, I've been getting it lately.

Neither, from the lack of comments on that last post, have many Friends been finding the core of it all, and certainly not here.

So, what has to change here?

Is Quakerism a/the Gospel?

This was the question that long ago brought me to kwakerskripturestudy.

A search on "everlasting gospel" led directly to here, and to a passage in Revelation:

"Then I saw another angel flying in midheaven, with an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on Earth, to every nation and tribe and tongue and people; and he said with a loud voice: "Fear God and give Him glory, for the hour of his judgment has come. Worship Him who made Heaven and Earth, the sea and the fountains of water."

Is that message "Quakerism"?

For early Friends, they would certainly have agreed that spreading "the Gospel" was precisely what they were doing. And that formulation of it, I think, would have been approved.

For modern Friends, it might be hard to find agreement.

That is one reason why early Friends made many converts, while modern Friends do not. Not only did they have a clear message; but it was one which many of their contemporaries were prone to credit.

It is not that they had a preferred form of words for saying it. But they knew The Gospel; hence they could put it into appropriate words for anyone capable of believing it. Why can't we say, as they would, that 'Quakerism' is the gospel, and The Gospel is Quakerism?

How were they different from other preachers of their time? They had a very spiritualized understanding of what the Bible meant, a very 'inward' understanding of where God dwells and how He may be known. They could point each person to the One alive in them, the One who could show them their faults-- but only so these could be forgiven and they might be led away from all such afflictions.

And they had a very concrete understanding, as well. Because, when you know that the Spirit is real, that changes everything! Their faith was strong enough to make manifestations of the Spirit, in their concrete lives, phenomena they could expect and rely on.

So, do we know what 'the Gospel' is, and how to convey it? This message that was explicit for early Friends, implicit (and hardly credited) for modern ones...? A "gospel" is "good news" announcing the advent of a new world ruler. In the case of our example from Revelation, I can paraphrase: The true ruler of this world, this very world, this woefully fallen world, the One who is our true Judge, is the Being of infinite love, wisdom, goodness, and mercy.

"Oh, the first days are the hardest days; don't you worry anymore!" (Grateful Dead)

& you say, "Yes, but..."? Okay, what can you say about this? & what does it have to do with being "Quaker"?

Luke 12.49->

"I have come to set fire to the Earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!

"I have baptism to undergo; and how hampered I am until the ordeal is over!

"Do you suppose I have come to establish peace on Earth? No, indeed, I have come to bring division. From now on, five members of a family will be divided, three against two and two against three: father against son and son against father; mother against daughter and daughter against mother; mother against son's wife and son's wife against her mother-in-law."

He also said to the people, "When you see cloud banking up in the west, you say at once, 'It is going to rain,' and rain it does. And when the wind is from the south, you say, 'There will be a heat wave,' and there is. What a troupe of actors you are! You know how to interpret the appearance of Earth and sky; how is it that you can't interpret this fateful hour?"

"And why can't you judge for yourself, what is the right course? While you are going with your opponent to court, make an effort to settle with him while you are still on the way. Otherwise he may drag you before the judge; and the judge hand you over to the constable; and the constable put you in jail. I tell you, you will not come out until you have paid the last farthing."

Hosea 5

Hear this, oh priests!
Give heed, oh House of Israel!
Hearken, oh House of the King!
for the judgment pertains to you

For you have been a snare at Mizpah
and a net spread upon Tabor
and they have made deep the pit of Shittim;
but I will chastise all of them.

I know Ephraim,
and Israel is not hid from me;
for now, oh Epraim, you have played the harlot;
Israel is defiled.

Their deeds do not permit them
to return to their God;
for the spirit of harlotry is within them
and they know not the Lord.

The pride of Israel testifies to his face;
Ephraim shall stumble in his guilt;
Judah also shall stumble with them.

With their flocks and their herds they shall go
to seek the Lord,
but they will not find Him;
He has withdrawn from them.

The have dealt faithlessly with the Lord;
for they have borne alien children.
Now the new moon shall devour
them with their fields.

Blow the horn in Gibeah,
the trumpet in Ramah.
Sound the alarm at Betel;
tremble, oh Benjamin!
Ephraim shall become a desolation
in the day of punishment/

Among the tribes of Israel
I declare what is sure.
The princes of Judah have become
like those who remove the landmark;
upon them I will pour out my wrath like water.

Ephraim is oppressed, crushed in judgement,
because he was determined to go after vanity.
Therefore I am lik a moth to Ephraim
and like dry rot to the house of Judah.

When Ephraim saw his sickness
and Judah his wound,
then Epharim went to Assyria
and sent to the Great King.
But he is not able to cure you
or heal your wound.

For I will be like a lion to Ephraim,
and like a young lion to the house of Judah.
I, even I, will rend and go away;
I will carry off, and none shall rescue.

I will return again to my place,
until they acknowledge their guilt
and seek my face,
and in their distress seek Me,
saying, "Come, let us return to the Lord!"

Luke 12.41-48

Peter said, "Lord, do you intend this parable specially for us, or is it for everyone?"

The Lord said, "Well, who is the trusty and sensible man whom the Master will appoint as his steward, to manage his servants and issue their rations at the proper time?

"Happy that man who is found at his task when his Master comes! I tell you, then, he will be put in charge of all his Master's property.

"But if that servant says to himself, 'The Master is a long time coming,' and begins to bully the menservants and maids, and eat and drink and get drunk; then the Master will arrive on a day that servant does not expect, at a time he does not know, and will cut him in pieces. Thus he will find his place among the faithless.

"The servant who knew his Master's wishes, yet made no effort to carry them out, will be flogged severely. But one who did not know them, though he earned a beating, will be flogged less severely. Where a man has been given much, much will be expected of him; and the more a man has had entrusted to him, the more he will be required to repay."

That Second Coming?

As a child, I was reading Matthew's versions of these sayings (Luke 12.35-40 and the like...) and the natural reading was~ 'Something really scary is going to drop out of the 20th (now 21st) Century sky, catch you just sitting there fooling around, and if you aren't doing right, at that moment, are you ever going to be sorry!' No telling when-- or what to expect. I'd say people have been reading such passages in that sense from at least the time of Constantine, probably earlier. Certainly we've got Paul (& also the writer of Revelation) predicting that Jesus would come back, wake the dead, judge the Powers of the world (at least) and vindicate his followers "soon". So that must have been an expectation of many early Christians, as well.

NT Wright makes better sense of the 1st Century context. Jesus comes to Jerusalem, to the Temple, as an embodiment of prophecies (explicit in Malachi 3.1->) that "the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to His Temple; the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of Hosts. (etc.)

The "Little Apocalypse" in Mark, when the disciples are asking "When will these things be?"-- and Jesus is near the Temple talking about Jerusalem being surrounded by armies, about "not one stone left on another"-- That isn't about "the end of the world" (though it will look like it to many Jews of the time); it's a slightly later prediction, based on what he finds there, of the destruction of the Temple. Which happened,

The return of 'the Master'? Wright says [about a similar parable]:

"The king who leaves his subjects tasks to perform, and who then returns to see how they have got on, has of course regularly been read as a code for Jesus going away and, in due course, returning. The servants are then Jesus' followers, who will be judged on their performance, in his absence.... [but]

"First, in most parables about a king and subjects, or a master and servants, the king or master stands for Israel's God and the subjects or servants for Israel and/or her leaders or prophets. This is so both in Jesus' teaching and in some Jewish parables...

"Second, the idea of a king who returns after a long absence fits exactly into the context of the return of YHWH to Zion.... I suggest... that the best way to read the master/servant parables is in terms of their immediate context in all three synoptics, that is, of Jesus' journey to Jerusalem.

"...although the idea of Jesus' return (the so-called 'second coming' has a place in Luke's writings, it is neither central nor major, and in any case occurs [there].. only in Acts. It looks more like a post-Easter innovation than a feature of Jesus' own teaching."

...

"It all depends on where, within the story, the hearer is supposed to be located. It has usually been assumed, quite gratuitously, that the story is told from the perspective of the beginning of the process, when the master is going away. But is far more likely, in view of the emphasis of the parable, that the 'ideal hearer' [of Jesus' time] is located near the end of the story, when the master is about to return.

...

"the right way to take this whole kaleidoscopic sequence of parables is as further stories about the imminent return of YHWH to Zion, and the awesome consequences which will ensue if Israel is not ready." [as in: judgment on the rulers of Jesus' day, destruction of the land, the city, the Temple for example...]

------

The quote in Jesus' trial, about "the Son of Man coming on the clouds of Heaven"?-- The reference in Daniel is clearly to a symbolic event: the end of those human-man world-kingdoms symbolized there by the four beasts, the beginning of rule by a humane being. An outcome still in the future, alas!

------

Are we, then, to expect a Second Coming, of the sort I imagined?

Fireworks. Wailing, gnashing of teeth. A sudden realization of "Ooops, I really shouldn't have been doing that a moment ago! Dammit, I'm on my way now-- When do I get my accordion?"

It's good to keep in mind that God has not gone away, that we should maintain an alert expectation that whatever we do may be On The Exam.

Or that, as Stephen Gaskin put it, "the operation of the Law of Karma is like a man taking a full swing at a golf ball in a small tiled bathroom." God is not vindictive, is not sneaking up to catch us out-- but any little character flaw will certainly need to be fixed, or it will make us sorry!

But if we begin alertly expecting the presence of God... not just omnipresence (which is always, logically speaking, with us) but the ongoing, recognized activity of God at work in and around us-- Who knows what further miracles this world will see in the coming future?

Hosea 4

Hear the word of the Lord, oh people of Israel;
for the Lord has a controversy
with the inhabitants of the land.

There is no faithfulness or kindness,
and no knowledge of God in the land;
there is swearing, lying, killing,
stealing and committing adultery;
they break all bounds
and murder follows murder.

Therefore the land mourns
and all who dwell in it languish,
and also the beasts of the field
and the birds of the air;
even the fish of the sea
are taken away.

Yet no one contend
and let none accuse,
for with you is my contention, oh priest!

You shall stumble by day;
the prophet also shall stumble with you by night;
and I will destroy your mother.

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.
Because you have rejected knowledge,
I reject you from being a priest to me.

And since you have forgotten
the law of your God
I also will forget your children.

The more they increased, the more they sinned against me;
I will change their glory into shame.

They feed on the sins of my people;
they are greedy for their iniquity;
and it shall be: Like people, like priest.

I will punish them for their ways
and requite them for their deeds.
They shall eat, but not be satisfied;
they shall play the harlot, but not multiply
because they have forsaken the Lord
to cherish harlotry.

Wine and new wine
take away the understanding.
My people inquire of a thing of wood,
and their staff gives them oracles,
for a spirit of harlotry has led them astray
and they have left their God to play the harlot.

They sacrifice on the tops of the mountains
and make offerings upon the hills,
under oak, poplar, and terebinth,
because their shade is good.

Therefore your daughters play the harlot
and your brides commit adultery.
I will not punish your daughters
when they play the harlot,
nor your brides
when they commit adultery

for the men themselves go aside with harlots
and sacrifice with cult prostitutes;
and a people without understanding
shall come to ruin.

Though you play the harlot, oh Israel,
let not Judah become guilty.
Enter not into Gilgal,
nor go up to Bethel,
and swear not, "As the Lord lives."

Like a stubborn heifer,
Israel is stubborn;
can the Lord now feed them
like a lamb in a broad pasture?

Ephraim is joined to idols;
let him alone.
A band of drunkards, they give themselves to harlotry;
they love shame more than their glory.
A wind has wrapped them in its wings;
and they shall be ashamed because of their altars.

Luke 12.35-40

"Be ready for action, with belts fastened and lamps alight. Be like men who wait for their master's return from a wedding party, ready to let him in the moment he arrives and knocks.

"Happy are those servants whom the Master finds on the alert when he comes. I tell you this: He will buckle on His belt, seat them at table, come and wait on them! Even if it is the middle of the night, or before dawn when He comes, happy if He finds them alert!

"And remember, if the householder had known what time the burglar was coming he would not have let his house be broken into. Hold yourself ready, then, because the Son of Man is coming at the time you least expect him."

Hosea 3

And the Lord said to me, "Go again, love a woman who is beloved by her friend and is an adulteress; even as the Lord loves the people of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins."

So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a 1/2 homer of barley. And I said to her, "You must dwell as mine for many days; you shall not play the harlot, or belong to another man; so will I also be to you."

For the children of Israel shall dwell many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or pillar, without ephod or teraphim.

Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the Lord their God, and David their King; and they shall come trembling to the Lord and to His goodness in the end of days.

Luke 12.33-34

"Sell your possessions and give alms.

"Provide for yourselves purses that do not wear out, and never-failing wealth in Heaven, where no thief can get near it, no moth destroy it.

"For where your wealth is, there will your heart be also."

Hosea 1.14->

Therefore, behold! I will allure her
and bring her into the wilderness
and speak tenderly to her.

And there I will give her her vineyards
and make the Valley of Achor ["troubling"]
a door of hope.

And there she shall answer as in the days of her youth,
as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt.

And in that day, says the Lord,
you will call Me "my husband",
and no longer will you call Me "my Baal[lord, master]"

For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth,
and they shall be mentioned by name no more.

And I will make for you, on that day
a covenant with the beasts of the field,
the birds of the air, and
the creeping things of the ground;

and I will abolish the bow, the sword,
and war from the land; I will make
you lie down in safety.

And I will betroth you to me forever;
I will betroth you to me in righteousness
and in justice, in steadfast love
and in mercy. I will betroth you to me

in faithfulness;
and you shall know the Lord.

And in that day, says the Lord,
I will answer the Heavens
and they shall answer the Earth.

And the Earth shall answer
the grain, the wine, the oil
and they shall answer Jezreel--
[Jezreel == "Whom God Soweth" in my version of this from The Jewish Publication Society, 1955]
and I will sow him for myself in the land.

And I will have pity on "Not Pitied" [== "those I have not pitied"]
and I will say to my people: "You are
my people," and they
shall recognize their God.

Luke 12.32

"Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom."

Hosea 2.1-13

Say to your brother, "My people," and to your sister, "She has obtained pity."

Plead with your mother, plead-- for she is not my wife,
and I am not her husband--
that she put away her harlotry from her face
and her adultery from between her breasts,

lest I strip her naked
and make her as in the day she was born,
and make her like a wilderness,
and set her like a parched land,
and slay her with thirst.

Upon her children also I will have no pity
because they are children of harlotry,
for their mother has played the harlot;
she who conceived them has acted shamefully.

For she said, "I will go after my lovers,
who give me my bread and my water,
my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink."

Therefore I will hedge up her way with thorns,
and I will build a wall against her,
so that she cannot find her paths.
She shall pursue her lovers
but not overtake them;
and she shall seek them,
but shall not find them.

Then she will say, "I will go
and return to my first husband,
for it was better with me then than now."

And she did not know
that it was I who gave her
the grain, the wine, and the oil,
who lavished on her silver
and gold, which they used for Baal.

Therefore I will take back
my grain in its time
and my wine in its season;
and I will take away my wool and my flax,
which were to cover her nakedness.

Now I will uncover her lewdness
in the sight of her lovers,
and no one shall rescue her out of my hand.

I will put an end to all her mirth,
her feasts, her new moons, her sabbaths,
and all her appointed feasts

and I will lay waste her vines and her fig trees,
of which she said, "These are my hire
which my lovers have given me."

I will make them a forest,
and the beasts of the field shall devour them.
I will punish her for the feast days of the Baals
when she burned incense to them
and decked herself with her ring and jewelry;

and went after her lovers,
and forgot me,

says the Lord.

Luke 12.22-31

And he said to his disciples, "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life: what you shall eat, not about your body, what you shall put on.

"For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing.

"Consider the ravens: They neither sow, nor reap; they have neither storehouse nor barn; and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds?

"And which of you, by being anxious, can add a cubit to his span of life? If then you are unable to do so small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest?

"Consider the lilies, how they grow: They neither toil nor spin. Yet, I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

"But if God so clothes the grass which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown in the oven, how much more will He clothe you, oh men of little faith?

"And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink; be not of anxious mind. For all the nations of the world seek these things; and your Father knows that you need them. Instead seek His kingdom; and these things shall be yours as well."

Hosea 1

The word of the Lord that came to Hosea the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahz, and Hezikiah, Kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Johash, King of Israel:

When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea: "Go, take to yourself a wife of harlotry and have children of harlotry, for the land commits great harlotry by forsaking the Lord.

So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim; and she conceived and bore him a son.

And the Lord said to him, "Call his name 'Jezreel'; for yet a little while, and I will punish the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the house of Israel. And on that day I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel."

She conceived again and bore a daughter. And the Lord said to him, "Call her name 'Not Pitied', for I will no more have pity on the house of Israel, to forgive them at all. ["But I will have pity on the House of Judah, and I will deliver them by the Lord their God; I will not deliver them by bow, nor by sword, nor by war, nor by horses, nor by horsemen." This comes next, but in my Oxford Annotated is said to be "a later addition."]"

When she had weaned 'Not Pitied,' she conceived and bore a son. And the Lord said, "Call his name 'Not My People,' for you are not my people, and I am not your god."

Yet the number of the people of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which can neither be measured nor numbered; and in the place where it was said to them, "You are not my people," it shall be said to them, "Children of the Living God." And the people of Judah and the people of Israel shall be gathered together, and they shall appoint to themselves one head; and they shall take possession of the land, for great shall be the day of Jezreel."

Luke 12.15-21

Then he said to the people, "Beware! Be on your guard against greed of any kind, for even when a man has more than enough, his wealth does not give him life."

And he told them this parable: "There was a rich man whose land yielded heavy crops. He debated with himself: 'What am I to do? I have not the space to store my produce?

"'This is what I will do,' said he. 'I will pull down my storehouses and build them bigger. I will collect in them all my corn and other goods, and then say to myself, "Man, you have plenty of good things laid by, enough for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink, enjoy yourself."' But God said to him, 'You fool, this very night you must surrender your life! You have made your money, but who will get it now?'"

Amos Ends with 9.11-15

[It isn't clear how this part relates to everything previous; my Bible notes says: "This section, so affirmative in its emphasis, is generally considered a later addition." Certainly "In that day" is not talking about the same time period.]

"In that day I will raise up the booth of David that is fallen
and repair its breaches,
and raise up its ruins,
and rebuild it as in the days of old--

that they may possess the remnant of Edom
and all the nations that are called by my name,"
says the Lord, who does this.

"Behold, the days are coming," says the Lord
"when the plowman shall overtake the reaper
and the treader of grapes
him who sows the seed;

the mountains shall drip sweet wine,
and all the hills shall flow with it.
I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel;
and they shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them;
they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine;
and they shall make gardens and eat their fruit.

I will plant them upon their land
and they shall never again be plucked up
out of the land which I have given them,"

says the Lord your God.

Luke 12.13-14

One of the multitude said to him, "Teacher, bid my brother divide the inheritance with me."

But he said to him, "Man, who made me a judge or divider over you?"

Amos 9.1-10

I saw the Lord standing beside the altar, and He said:
"Smite the capitals until the thresholds shake,
and shatter them on the heads of all the people;

and what are left of them I will slay with the sword;
not one of them shall flee away;
not one of them shall escape."

"Though they dig into Sheol,
from there shall my hand take them;
though they climb up to Heaven,
from there I will bring them down.

Though they hide themselves on the top of Carmel,
from there I will search out and take them;
and though they hide from my sight at the bottom of the sea,
there I will command the serpent;
and it shall bite them."

"And though they go into captivity before their enemies,
there I will command the sword
and it shall slay them.

I will set my eyes upon them
for evil, and not for good."

The Lord, God of Hosts,
He who touches the earth, and it melts,
and all who dwell in it mourn;
and all of it rises like the Nile
and sinks again, like the Nile of Egypt,

who builds his upper chambers in the Heavens
and founds his vault upon the Earth,
who calls for the waters of the sea
and pours them out upon the surface of the Earth--
The Lord is his name.

"Are you not like the Ethiopians to me,
oh People of Israel?" says the Lord.

Did I not bring up Israel from the land of Egypt,
and the Philistines from Caphtor
and the Syrians from Kir?

Behold, the eyes of the Lord God
are upon the sinful kingdom,
and I will destroy it from the surface of the ground;
except that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,"
says the Lord.

"For lo, I will command,
and shake the house of Israel among all the nations
as one shakes with a sieve,
but no pebble shall fall upon the ground.

All the sinners of my people
shall die by the sword,
who say 'Evil shall not overtake
or meet us.' "

Luke 12.11-12

"When you are brought before synagogues and state authorities,do not begin worrying about how you will conduct your defense or what you will say. For when the time comes, the Holy Spirit will instruct you what to say."