Then Leah said, “How happy I am! The women will call me happy.” So she named him Asher. 

//As the story goes, Jacob (later named Israel) had twelve sons, and these twelve sons became the twelve tribes of Israel. Here is a list of the twelve as we usually see them:

But something is amiss with this list. What about the other tribes the Bible tells of? Where are the Gileadites, Calebites, Kenites, Gibeonites? Today’s verse, for example, includes Gilead and asks why the tribe of Dan remained “by the ships.” Indeed, Judges 18:1 verifies that Dan had not settled at the same time as the other “eleven:”

But if a priest buys a slave with money, or if a slave is born in his household, that slave may eat his food.

//In this verse It appears that the Levitical law takes slavery for granted. Buying and selling slaves was a way of life.

Now, I’ve heard it argued that “owning” a slave in Bible days was a bit different than the slave ownership of America before the civil war. That a better comparison to Israelite slavery would be like the way the Denver Broncos now own superstar Peyton Manning. But I don’t really buy it.

Can we be thankful, however, that the New Testament abolishes the idea of slavery? Didn’t Paul promise, “there is no longer slave or free … for you are all one in Christ Jesus?” Yes, Paul said that, but note the provision. In Christ Jesus. Paul was writing to Philemon, but not to criticize Philemon for owning other slaves. He was writing to encourage Philemon to accept Onesimus, a runaway slave, back in a new status … because Onesimus had converted to Christianity.

Likewise, the Old Testament repeatedly discusses the humanitarian expectations God expects of his people … toward their fellow Israelites! God called his people out of slavery, and didn’t want them back in that role again.

If one of your countrymen becomes poor among you and sells himself to you, do not make him work as a slave. … Because the Israelites are my servants, whom I brought out of Egypt, they must not be sold as slaves. … Your male and female slaves are to come from the nations around you; from them you may buy slaves. You may also buy some of the temporary residents living among you and members of their clans born in your country, and they will become your property. You can will them to your children as inherited property and can make them slaves for life, but you must not rule over your fellow Israelites ruthlessly.

One might conclude that the Bible disapproves of slavery for people of like faith, but assumes its legitimacy for heathens. Thoughts?

And I heard the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and sware by him that liveth for ever that it shall be for a time, times, and an half; and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished.

//In The Year of the Lord’s Favor, author Tom Arthur speculates that by the time John’s Gospel was written, the feast of the Lord’s Supper had already become a stale ritual, its wine probably served in sterile little glasses like many churches do today. If anyone did arrive hungry and needy, he was treated to a mere nibble. So, in John’s account, the Eucharist is replaced with a much more personal activity: washing another’s feet. Is John recommending a new ritual?

And when the cloud departed from above the tabernacle, suddenly Miriam became leprous, as white as snow. 

★★★★★

Ouch. Several months ago, Harper One sent me a short collection of Rob Bell reprints to review. I slowly worked my way through them, enjoying each one, and somehow left this one sitting on the shelves. Too many other obligations. I just now picked it up, and read it in one sitting.

I couldn’t put it down. Forget Velvet Elvis. Forget Love Wins. This 180-page sermon, this little obscure work, is for Bible groupies Bell’s real masterpiece. It’s definitely my new favorite, so maybe that says something about co-author Don Golden, a name I hadn’t come across before.

From the Exodus, to the Temple construction, to the Eucharist, Bell and Golden reveal a surprising thread that weaves its way throughout the Bible. This “new perspective ” opens up what the Bible means to Americans today, living in the world’s most powerful nation, boasting the greatest military, yet holding the strongest responsibility for the world’s impoverished. America is an empire, and the Bible has a lot to say about empires.

“I hope you see that there is a common humanity we share with everybody alive today, and everybody who has come before us,” writes Bell in the preface. This little book accomplishes just that.