So, after twelve weeks and forty two posts, I've blogged my way through the first five books of the Bible, collectively known as the Pentateuch or the Law Books. This seems a good point to stop and reflect, so here a just a few points that jump out at me as I look back over what I've read.
I said when I started this blog that I wanted to learn more about God. So what have I learnt? Well, I have read of a God who is powerful and majestic and glorious. Who guides and provides and protects. And who is abounding in love and mercy. But I've also read of a God who kills the innocent because they belong to the wrong nation. Who strikes down His own servants for seemingly minor disobediences. And who curses as well as He blesses.
I have met the God who loves, but I do not know the God who curses. God is who He is and it is not for us to question Him or His actions, and yet still this disparity niggles. So what am I to believe? Who is God? Is there another side to Him I do not know? Maybe the answer is both yes and no. Maybe He did curse and kill. Under the old covenant, sin had to be punished and it would not make God cruel or abitrary, only just. But then Jesus died, the Law was fulfilled and the system of atonement and punishment was abolished. And so now God no longer needs to punish His people, and He can love us unreservedly.
But then maybe, as I've suggested before, it's all a question of interpretation. The narratives in these early books are presented as history, but no history is totally subjective. We all understand events through the prism of our individual beliefs and preconceptions. The Old Testament writers believed in divine judgement, and so they explained events as blessings or curses. But maybe that was just their interpretation. We as readers must also interpret through our own prisms. There is only one truth, but no way to know for sure what it is, and we so must all wrestle with it for ourselves.
I also said I wanted to know more about God's covenant, and the way He wants me to live. This one is also a little tricky, as the laws which make up the main part of the Pentateuch formed part of the old covenant, but since Jesus' death and resurrection, we live under a new covenant. That doesn't mean we should throw the Old Testament out in its entirety, but it does mean that before we apply it, we need to examine it in the light of New Testament teaching. Sometimes it's obvious whether or not a law still stands - many laws were affirmed by Jesus, while others were flatly contradicted - but often it's not so easy. And then we must employ the intelligence with which God gifted us. And most importantly, we must pray.
Finally, after God, Moses is the most dominant character of these early books. So what can we learn from him? Well, I think he's a fantastic role model. When things get tough, he prays. When things go well, he praises God. And when the people are against him, still he speaks the word of God. He's not perfect by a long stretch - he's slow to trust God and obey his calling, and there's the hiccup that costs him the promised land - but he keeps trying and he keeps coming back to God. In the end that's the best any of us can do.
And so ends my jaunt through the Pentateuch. Next up are the histories, although as I'm about to start a part-time degree on top of my part-time job, my blogging may become a little more sporadic.
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