Book giveaway: John’s Gospel or Revelation
We have in the past received requests from authors to provide book giveaways, but never really felt ready to do so. This is sort of a trial run, using my own books, to see if giveaways draw any interest. If they do, then we’ll continue offering giveaways on a periodic basis, direct from the authors of books we review.
Help us make this a fun thing! Even if you own my books, I’d appreciate a “share.” We’ve tried to make it really easy to enter, avoiding forms and privacy issues. Just click on the link below and follow the two steps.
Thanks, and enjoy!
2 Kings 22:8, Where did the book of Deuteronomy come from?
Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the secretary, “I have found the Book of the Law in the temple of the LORD.”
//The name Deuteronomy comes from combining two Greek words: deutero, which means “second,” and nomas, meaning “law.” Deuteronomy means “second coming of the law,” and therein lies today’s story.
In 621 B.C., king Josiah of the kingdom of Judah ordered a reconstruction of the Temple, and as they began its repair, a startling discovery was made. They found a book claiming to have been written by Moses, some 600 years earlier. The workmen gave the book to the high priest, who handed it off to the secretary, who then brought the book to King Josiah and read it aloud. Josiah, much troubled by what he heard, rent his clothes. Judah had forgotten the instructions of God, and this holy book was not being obeyed.
A prophetess named Huldah was consulted, and she solemnly declared that unless the commands within the mysterious book were followed, God’s punishment would be severe. Josiah immediately set about making things right, not only in his own kingdom but in the Northern Kingdom as well, where he led a religious rampage destroying rival shrines to Yahweh.
So, there you have the official story. Most scholars are unconvinced, cynically guessing that this enthusiastic reform was carefully engineered by a person or group of persons who penned, planted, and then “discovered” a mysterious book in the Temple. Scholars call this group the “Deuteronomic writers.”
Psalm 105:27, The Seven Plagues of Egypt
They shewed his signs among them, and wonders in the land of Ham.
//Seven plagues? Um … weren’t there ten plagues in Egypt?
Not according to this Psalm. But let’s jump topics for a moment.
In my book about Revelation, I point out how closely the seven bowls of wrath mimic the plagues of Egypt. Seven; not ten. These seven bowls precede the rescue of God’s chosen, after the inhabitants of the world continue to reject God, in the same way the plagues of Egypt set up Israel’s escape from that land.
So what are the seven plagues, according to Psalm 105? They differ a little from the Exodus story:
Darkness
Water into blood (killing all the fish)
Frogs in abundance
Flies and lice
Hail and flaming fire for rain
Locusts
Killing all the firstborn
And the seven plagues listed in Revelation?
Boils upon the skin
Sea becomes blood, and all the fish die
Rivers become blood
Scorching with fire and great heat (fire from heaven is a theme elsewhere in Revelation)
Darkness
River Euphrates dried up (it brings unclean spirits like frogs)
The war of Armageddon
Book review: The Essence of Religions
by Christopher Coppes
★★★★
Here’s an interesting claim. The core of all the major religions, Coppes seems to posit, can be discovered hiding in the commonality of Near Death Experiences (NDE’s). Sometimes, when a person recovers from death (or near death), he or she recalls an ineffable experience of an afterlife. Some see a breathtaking light, some participate in a sort of life-review, most are irrevocably changed. Familiar themes of this afterlife include:
- No judgment.
- Interconnectedness with all living beings.
- Unconditional love, as if we are bathed in the Light.
- Everyone seems equally important, often with their own task to do.
Coppes likes the phrase “Unity Universe” to describe this connectedness, and discovers it as common teaching throughout our religions. He spends a chapter each on Hinduism (which teaches that while many gods are worshipped, there is but One Entity, which is everywhere and everything), Buddhism (the ultimate human goal is nirvana, with its lack of self, which sounds a lot like what NDEers describe), Judaism (with its teaching that life is the “breath of God”), Christianity (with its emphasis on perfect Love), and finally Islam (which has an interesting afterlife concept very similar to the life-review NDEers sometimes undergo).
Coppes is both critical and appreciative of all these belief systems, but mostly just wants to steer us away from the fringe beliefs to the wheel of the hub, where we find common ground that looks amazingly like what NDEers describe. A fascinating topic, worth exploring, and this book provides a ground-breaker.
Genesis 26:7, Sarah the Sex Slave, part III of III
When the men of that place asked him about his wife, he said, “She is my sister,” because he was afraid to say, “She is my wife.” He thought, “The men of this place might kill me on account of Rebekah, because she is beautiful.”
//Today’s topic is not about Abraham and Sarah, but about their son Isaac and his wife Rebekah. “Son, if you happen to go down to Gerar after I die,” I can imagine Abraham saying to Isaac, “Take your wife Rebekah with you, and give her a little vacation. Here’s a trick that worked well for your mother and me.”
So off go Isaac and Rebekah, down to Gerar, just like Abraham did earlier. They pull the same trick on the very same King Abimelech, telling the king that Isaac’s wife is really his sister. Fool me once … so this time God doesn’t bother to step in, and lets the ruse play itself out. Rebekah moves in with the king. Like Abraham, Isaac appears to have no plan to rescue his wife, and this time, it’s chance that comes to the rescue:
When Isaac had been there a long time, Abimelech king of the Philistines looked down from a window and saw Isaac caressing his wife Rebekah. –Genesis 26:8
Thus does Abimelech discover the truth. He says, “What is this you have done to us? One of the men might well have slept with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us.” It appears Rebekah got to enjoy the pleasures of the palace among the king’s harem for “a long time” without ever having to compromise her sanctity! Perhaps Abimelech had grown old.
Nevertheless, though the third time is a charm and the ruse works best of all this time around, the idea seems to fade. Isaac continues to sojourn like his father, but this particular trick is never again pulled out of the bag.
Genesis 20:1-2, Sarah the Sex Slave, part II of III
Now Abraham moved on from there into the region of the Negev and lived between Kadesh and Shur. For a while he stayed in Gerar, and there Abraham said of his wife Sarah, “She is my sister.” Then Abimelech king of Gerar sent for Sarah and took her.
//Recall from yesterday’s post that the last time Abraham journeyed outside of Canaan, he played a trick on the Pharaoh, passing his wife off as his sister. It appears to have worked to the satisfaction of Abraham and Sarah, and Sarah agrees to accompany Abraham on another trip. They decide to try the same gamble on a new king. Sarah’s beauty again proves irresistible, and the king of Gerar “takes her.” So, off she goes to live in luxury in the king’s palace again.
But this time the ruse doesn’t work so well. God had to rescue Abraham and Sarah the last time, and this time God steps in far too early, foiling their fun. Immediately, so the story goes:
God came to Abimelech in a dream one night and said to him, “You are as good as dead because of the woman you have taken; she is a married woman.” Now Abimelech had not gone near her, so he said, “Lord, will you destroy an innocent nation? Did he not say to me, ‘She is my sister,’ and didn’t she also say, ‘He is my brother’?” –Genesis 20:4-5
God agrees that Abimelech is not to blame—he had been deceived—and explains that that’s why God stepped in before the king touched her. God tells the king to give Sarah back to Abraham and to ask Abraham to pray for him. Abimelech does even more; he brings Abraham sheep and cattle and male slaves and female slaves and tells him to “live wherever you like.”
Thus, the ruse may not have been quite as much fun as Sarah and Abraham hoped, but in the end turned out even better! The story continues tomorrow.
Genesis 12:11-13, Sarah the Sex Slave, Part I of III
As [Abraham] was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “I know what a beautiful woman you are. When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me but will let you live. Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake and my life will be spared because of you.”
//Here are the first recorded words spoken by Abraham to his wife. Complimentary, to be sure, but rather self-serving. It seems to be an unspoken assumption that if Sarah accompanies Abraham to Egypt, she will be taken into the “house” (harem) of the Pharaoh.
Sarah’s reply to Abraham goes unrecorded, but she plays along, pretending to be his sister. As expected, she is selected by the Pharaoh, and Abraham, her “brother,” is allowed to live.
We do not know what goes on inside the “house,” nor whether Sarah is content to be pampered in the palace as opposed to living in a tent with her husband, but apparently the two of them have hit on a satisfactory arrangement. How they planned to ever extricate themselves from the lie is anybody’s guess, and eventually God had to step in.
But the LORD inflicted serious diseases on Pharaoh and his household because of Abram’s wife Sarai. So Pharaoh summoned Abram. “What have you done to me?” he said. “Why didn’t you tell me she was your wife? Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her to be my wife? Now then, here is your wife. Take her and go!” –Genesis 12:17-19
Evicted, the two of them leave Egypt. But the ruse worked so well, they will try the trick again a few chapters later. (story continued tomorrow)
Book review: Navigating Revelation
by Eugene E. Lemcio
★★★★
Filled not with answers but with questions, Lemcio’s “charts for the voyage” do little to illuminate. I therefore found its promise of a “pedagogical aid” to fall a little short.
What the book does provide, however, is page after page of interesting study foundations, that can lead to some interesting research topics. If you are a serious student of Revelation and wish to work from a concise, visual picture of a few of the Apocalypse’s interrelations and derivations from other scripture, this is a great starting point. For that purpose, I definitely recommend it. Some interesting chart titles (with little commentary) to give you an idea of the book’s content:
Revelation 6 & Isaiah 13: The Shaking of the Foundations
Revelation 8:1-5 & 1 Kings 18:16-40 (comparing Elijah’s contest with Baal to the 7th seal of Revelation)
Revelation 12: Satan’s Fall in Jewish Apocalyptic (comparing to Isaiah, Ezekiel, 1 and 2 Enoch, and Life of Adam & Eve)
Revelation 12 & Matthew 1-2 (Herod’s slaughter of the innocents and the dragon myth)
Isaiah 58:10, The Cure For Depression
If you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday.
//Every translation of the Bible is a little different, emphasizing its messages in slightly different ways. I don’t believe I have ever read this verse before in the English Standard Version, the one version which goes right to the heart of the matter for me. I take medication for my “gloom.”
The trick to overcoming gloom, says Isaiah, is to pour yourself out to others. The reason this verse never stood out to me before is because the poetic renderings of other translations never quite cut to the quick. “Extend your soul to the hungry” (NKJV) may be deeper in meaning, but doesn’t quite sink in for a cursory reading. Likewise for the verse’s final promise in the NKJV: “Your darkness shall be as the noonday.”
Having now opened the door to this verse through the ESV, though, I enjoyed going back and reading it over in several different translations. There’s an abundance of beautiful, inspiring instruction hidden in the book of Isaiah. It just needs to be teased out.
1 Kings 3:25, Solomon’s Metaphor (Cut the Baby In Two!)
He then gave an order: “Cut the living child in two and give half to one and half to the other.”
//This is surely the most famous story attributed to King Solomon. Two women were arguing about who was the rightful mother to a baby, and they brought the baby to Solomon. He promptly asked for a sword and ordered that the child be cut in half, so that each mother would receive an even share.
You know the punch line. The real mother cried out, saying “give the living baby to the other woman!” But the other woman said, “Cut him in two, so that neither of us can have him.” Thus Solomon determined the rightful owner, and awarded the baby to the first woman.
Here’s where it gets interesting. Immediately after Solomon died, Israel divided into northern and southern kingdoms. Some see the baby story as a metaphor of a divided kingdom, in which both halves die. (They really do, though it takes a few hundred years. First the northern half perishes, at the hands of the Assyrians, and then the southern half falls to the Babylonians.)
Question: Is this merely a metaphor bemoaning the loss of Solomon? Is it saying that the wisdom of Solomon was the only thing keeping the nation together, and when Solomon died, the split of Israel (and hence its eventual death) was inevitable?
Fantasy Football, Anyone?
Put on the whole uniform of the Team, that ye may be able to stand against the blitz of oncoming linebackers. Don the hip pads of truth, the shoulder pads of righteousness, the cleats of preparation. Don’t forget the facemask of faith and the helmet of salvation. Then clutch the pigskin with much Spirit, for that is what the Play Book of your Coach in Heaven demands.The River of Life
Twice before Lee Harmon has written about Christian topics, once on the gospel of John and once on the book of Revelation. But the question people keep asking him is this: As a liberal Christian, why do you care so much about the Bible? Others wonder whether he is truly a Christian at all.
The Way It Happened
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| Revelation: A love story gone awry. | The Gospel: A love story set aright. |
What really happened 2,000 years ago? How did a persecuted minority of end-time believers known as Christians, with their dreams of Armageddon and a conquering Messiah named Jesus, evolve into the largest religion in the world? Author Lee Harmon explores the period in which the New Testament was written in his books about John's Gospel and Revelation.
(Bloggers: you may be eligible for a free review copy! Just contact us.)
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The God Show
Lee Harmon interviewed on The God Show about the History Channel's miniseries The Bible and Lee's latest book, John's Gospel: The Way It Happened.
About Lee
Hello! I'm an author, historical Jesus scholar, book reviewer, and liberal Christian, which means I appreciate and attempt to exercise the humanitarian teachings of Jesus without getting hung up on any particular supernatural or religious beliefs.
The Bible is a magnificent book that has inspired and spiritually fed generations for thousands of years, and each new century seems to bring a deeper understanding of life’s purpose. This is true of not only Christianity; through the years, our age-old religions are slowly transforming from superstitious rituals into humanitarian philosophies. In short, we are growing up, and I am thrilled to be riding the wave.
I avidly read all thought-provoking religion titles. New authors: I'd love to read and review your book!
Contact me here.
About Leslie
Hi! While Lee writes the articles and reviews the books, I edit, organize, and maintain the blog. The views expressed here are Lee's but I'm his biggest supporter! :-)
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