It's the End of the World As We Know It...

Just kidding... it's apocalyptic literature. Until this unit, I truly thought apocalyptic meant the end of the world. Just that and nothing else. This week, in our OOTLE class, we studied the book of Daniel and I learned that apocalyptic is not strictly about the end of the world. Apocalyptic literature is written about when God will intervene and a new heaven and new earth will be created. Throughout apocalyptic literature, several common elements can be identified. In this post, I will be connecting passages from the book of Daniel to the common elements of apocalyptic literature.

Before making connections, I'd like to share what Christopher Stanley (in his book The Hebrew Bible, Chapter 36) identifies as some of the common elements of apocalyptic literature:

Apocalyptic literature shows visionary experiences in which God's plans for humanity's future are shown to an individual, sometimes through dreams, other times through the individual being lifted to heaven to learn of the future or secrets. Through these visionary experiences the interpretations are sometimes given, while at times, the reader is left to do the interpreting. Apocalyptic literature uses a narrative framework for recounting the circumstances through which the visions were received. These narrative works were often attributed to famous and/or revered leaders in the recent past (this is known as pseudepigrapha). A third common element of apocalyptic literature is cosmic dualism, which describes the period in which people started questioning the "goodness" of God in comparison to the evil in the world.

Elements of eschatological orientation are found in apocalyptic literature as well. This element is not necessarily preoccupied with end times, but rather includes ideas of what will come when God intervenes.  In God's intervention, it is believed that evil will be defeated and a new heaven and earth will be ushered in. Stanley identifies moral strictness as another element to apocalyptic literature. This moral strictness encourages readers to associate only with those within their groups and provides motivation for people to remain faithful, even in the face of temptation. Moral strictness in apocalyptic literature may lead to suffering and death, but Stanley wrote "those who suffer and die for their faith will be richly rewarded by Yahweh after death" (Stanley 484). The final element common to apocalyptic literature is the use of symbolic language. Through the use of imagery and symbols, literature with aspects of fantasy is recalled and/or created.


Let's connect! (Please note: the elements do not happen in any particular order!) The first passage from Daniel that I will connect to apocalyptic elements is Daniel 7:1-28.

In this passage, the very first verse reads "In the first year of Babylon's King Belshazzar, Daniel had a dream - a vision in his head as he lay on his bed. He wrote the dream down" (Daniel 7:1 CEB). This correlates with the element of visionary experiences. Daniel's dream fits nicely into the apocalyptic element of a person receiving visions through dreams and/or being taken to heaven to hear the future.

A reader may also notice early in this passage the use of symbolic language when Daniel 7:4-8 describes beasts of the sea. One is described as a "lion with eagle's wings" that is set "on two feet, like a human being, and given a human mind" (Daniel 7:4 CEB). Other beasts in these verses are described in details that are fantastic in nature, fitting quite nicely into this element of apocalyptic literature.

The second passage from Daniel to which I will make connections with elements of apocalyptic literature is Daniel 10:1-4.

In this passage, the element of symbolic language is seen very strongly. Daniel, in first-person, describes a vision he had while on the banks of the Tigris River. In this vision, Daniel suddenly sees a "man clothed in linen" who had "a gold belt around his waist" and a "body like a topaz" (Daniel 10:5-6 CEB). While this language presents different (and less scary!) imagery than the previous passage's, it still paints a very vivid picture of a fantastic event. Even though the people with Daniel did not see the vision that Daniel saw, he says they ran away and hid (Daniel 10:7 CEB).

The last thing the "man" presenting the vision shares is that he has "come to help you [Daniel] understand what will happen to your people in the future, because there is another vision concerning that time" (Daniel 10:14 CEB). While we don't actually learn what that vision is, readers are able to see hints of eschatological orientation through the speech of the man. This orientation is not necessarily about end times, but again is a telling of what will happen after God intervenes.

Finally, let's work with Daniel 11:1-12:13.

One of the first elements that I noticed in this passage was that of dualism. In the opening verses, Daniel describes a fourth king of Persia who will disturb everyone and a warrior-king who will step forward and do whatever he pleases (Daniel 11:2-4 CEB).

In this passage, this is where the eschatological orientation is most strongly viewed. This entire passage is apart from the first two discussed, as this set of verses is not describing visions or dreams that Daniel has had or is having, but is rather used to shows Daniel's prophecies for life that is to come.

Overall, the passages from Daniel are written in a narrative framework, which is another element common to apocalyptic literature. These passages read as though they are fantastically wild and, at times, dark children's stories, much like legends that have been passed down over time.

I have enjoyed studying Daniel this week, as I had only ever studied the "nicey nice" stories about "Daniel and the Lion's Den" and Daniel, the three youths, and the fiery furnace.  Okay... not so nicey-nice as in threw-my-fave-into-the-lion's-den-to-see-if-he-can-swing-it or let's-throw-'em-in-the-furnace-Gang, but nicey-nice in that they have good messages about being faithful even in the face of obstacles.

T-OOTLE-oo!

Melissa

Testing, Testing....1, 2, 3

This week has been trying. This is to say the least. Many extenuating circumstances have made this week less than stellar for me.  I have kind of felt like Job.  No, not because I've lost all my stuff (quite the opposite, actually... the only thing I've lost is my mind, Folks!), but because I feel like I've been tested... and tested... and tested this week. I've had my patience tested, my ability to sleep like a college student again tested, my organizational skills tested, and the list goes on an on.  Unlike Job, however, I haven't been so great at the praising God part. I've tried so hard to keep it together for my job, my husband, my kids, my sanity, that I think I have been forgetting to praise God and be thankful for the things given to me and the blessings I do have. I am working on that part still.

This week, I listened to a portion of a podcast at professionalleft.blogspot.com by Driftglass and Blue Gal.  The podcast is "270: Prayer Breakfasts, Blasphemy, and Aaron Schock." (Please note there is explicit language throughout the podcast). The portion I listened to was from about 22:00 - 32:00. In this podcast, which seems a bit incomplete (by this, I mean I feel like I was missing the point of the podcast or the fullness in which the conversation was being done with), but apparently Stephen Fry was charged with blasphemy because he claimed he would ask God at judgement day "Why let children suffer?"  The podcast hosts then turned their attention to Job and how Fry's comment could be related to the story of Job.

In their discussion of Job, which seems half-hearted (or maybe half-informed is a better word) at best, the pair discusses the book of Job.  Some claims they made were fairly accurate, but some were not.
Others just felt incomplete.

** Note: I took notes while listening, so I'm using words directly from their podcast to categorize what I felt was right, wrong, or incomplete.

Correct:

• “God’s a jerk in Job.” While I have to admit I'm not to keen on calling God a jerk (as in, I would make my middle and high school youth pick a new word in this instance had they called God that...), it seems a bit true. He definitely comes across as a bully, especially when he has tested Job so much and has taken so much away from him.  In the end, God puts Job into his place (read Job 38-41) and suggests he not question God again! 
•  “One of the most honest books in the Bible.  It’s about the best man being tested and having everything taken away.” I can agree with the statement that Job is one of the most honest books in the Bible, if not the most honest book! I think we all want to strive to be obedient like Job, but in reality, Job's devotion has me in shock. I can't imagine losing all that Job does (I will speak more about "having everything taken away" in another point...that part of the statement from the podcast was a little off to me) and still remaining faithful.  I think I'd cave on the niceties and brood against God if I was put in the same situation!
• "Job followed every rule to a T; he made good with the contract he had made with God." True. Job was like the best Christian ever -- he followed all the rules, made a conscious effort to be faithful to what he was told, and held firm to his beliefs.

Incorrect: 

• Job's wife died. This is one of the most blinding inaccuracies I came away from the podcast wondering about. "Driftglass" claims as an aside at the beginning of this portion of the podcast that "Job is his favorite book." After making the claim though that Job's wife died, I began wondering if the pair has actually read all of Job.  I do not recall anywhere in the book that Job's wife died.
• "Bet with the Devil that if you take away this guy's good stuff, he'll turn against God." Another inaccuracy I felt was portrayed in this podcast was their ideas that God and the satan bet each other about what would happen to Job.  I don't think that God actually bet with the satan.  By saying this, it means that both parties involved in the "bet" were hoping to gain something from the outcome. I don't think God ever bets on any of us, because he knows our human faults and that we will ultimately fail. The only thing God got out of the deal with Job (or with any of us for that matter), was heartbreak.  Much like the love of a parent to a child, God knows the heartbreak of parenthood and he knew by testing and stripping Job of the things and people he loved, God would "lose" Job, albeit temporarily. 

Incomplete:

• "God took everything away from Job." I think that this piece is somewhat incomplete, because it implies that Job has everything that is able to be taken away. While Job has a full life, he doesn't have everything. I don't think it's really about Job's stuff being taken away anyhow. Job did lose all of his earthly possession and those he loved, but I think "everything" needs to direct us away from thinking about the material possessions and thinking more about losing everything Job had in God. Job went through a period and starting questioning whether God was there for him or not. The fact that Job felt alone and lost, without the One to whom he had been so faithful, that shows that Job lost everything. 

Overall, I question what the purpose for the podcast was.  Was it to make funnies and create controversies? The podcast personalities definitely had some good points that seem mostly accurate, but also had some incomplete and inaccurate points as well. 

On a side note, I want to briefly mention the reading from Bandstra's chapter called "Proverbs and Wisdom: The Wisdom of Israel" (Click here to read). In this chapter, Bandstra discusses wisdom literature. He says "Every culture finds ways to transmit its accumulated knowledge, sometimes through storytelling or through institutions of learning" (Bandstra 397-398). We see this in our own country throughout different cultures, peoples (I think of Native American literature, for example), and traditions. Of the Biblical wisdom literature (which includes Proverbs, Job, and Ecclesiastes, by the way!), Bandstra shares that

Whatever the original context of instruction, the content of instruction eventually came to be written down.  The wisdom books provide direction to those who sought to conduct their lives in a moral and productive way. They may have functioned as textbooks for those who were teaching and learning how to manage life: how to think, how to cope, how to succeed (Bandstra 398).

I think the most striking part of this quote from Bandstra is that these wisdom writings were used to teach and learn life management skills including thinking, coping, and succeeding. While the Bible sometimes seems like we are incapable of fully understanding, we can relate to the fact that the sharing of stories among generations is done to help nurture and grow the generations to come.  This is a lovely sentiment!

T-OOTLE-oo!

Melissa 

It's Already Week Two... Psalm down...

So... this week in OOTLE (I don't know if I ever clarified what that means.... Open Old Testament Learning Environment... now you know why I use #ootle15 in my Tweets and the label "ootle" in my blog posts) we went a'discoverin' in the Psalms. I'll break down a bit of what I learned from each portion of this week's work, and then will talk about a specific Psalm.

Lecture: From this week's lecture episodes (Psalms Part A, Psalms Part B), a couple of points that stood out to me include:

• Five Basic Types of Psalms (the Psalms themselves do not actually contain labels... rather, we simply see how Psalms can fit into these types); we see 
• Individual Complaint/Lament: these are from individual people asking for God's intercession
• Communal Complaint/Lament: like individual complaints or laments, but from a group rather than any one person
• Individual Thanksgiving: from an individual, thanking God for already intervening
• Communal Thanksgiving: again, like an individual Psalm of Thanksgiving, but from a group thanking God for prior intervention
• Hymn of Praise: these Psalms praise the nature of God as one who intervenes regularly
• The Psalms are written as Poetry
• Pseudepigrapha: the Psalms were written and then attributed to a revered figure in the past in order to be considered authoritative; the book of Daniel is an example of this
• Superscripts: these are the little "blurbs" at the start of a Psalm that set up the verses (On a cool side note: we were talking about Ash Wednesday in middle and high school youth group this week where I am the Director of Youth Ministries, and in reading a couple Psalms, I was able to share this new vocabulary word with my youth!)

Bandstra Reading: In this week's reading of Bandstra's Part 3: Writings, Prologue to the Writings (Part 3), I wrote down a few notes about the Writings that were interesting points to me:

• "Together the books of the Writings represent an important stage in the history of Israel and the development of its religion and society" (Bandstra 369).
• I am more and more realizing that the Tanak, specifically the writings, can be seen as a crucial part of the way that the nation of Israel was formed and functioned
• The individual books that are considered Writings drew upon the Torah (aka: 5 books of Moses, Pentateuch, Law) and the Prophets. Within the Writings, we often see quotes from earlier books, which is a way of remembering traditions or prophecies in order to either affirm God's faithfulness and/or call people to return to being faithful (Bandstra 370)

Edward Hirsch's "How to Read a Poem" Reading: In this reading ("How to Read a Poem"), I was reminded of my days of teaching high school English (which was my career for 6 years before becoming the Director of Youth Ministries) and trying to teach kids how to read poetry. I am wishing I had discovered this article sooner and could have used it to teach about poetry! Anyhow, there are several tips Hirsch gives regarding taking a stab at poetry; these tips work well with reading the Psalms, as the Psalms are poetry!

• Embrace Prior Assumptions: One of the most important things I urged my students to remember when reading literature and especially poetry is the fact that each reader of poetry or literature comes to the piece with a differing set of experiences, backgrounds, and lifestyles. 
• Read a Poem Aloud: This may take several tries!
• Decipher the Line: Working through the grammatical structure of a piece can be challenging, but is important to understanding the content of the poem
• Start a Conversation: Although the contents may be personal, answering questions raised, reshaping, and clarifying the meaning is important. 
• Talk Back to the Poem: Ask questions or authorship, situations, audience, tone, etc. to help better understanding
• Conquer the Context: Realizing and embracing the contexts of a poem will help the reader to relate to the poem 
• Embrace Ambiguity: Being okay with not understanding all parts of the poem's meaning on the first try will be helpful to the reader.  It may take several attempts at reading, or even an amount of time passing to gather experience and knowledge to finally make sense of a poem.

And now.... for the Main Event!  Let's talk about a Psalm! After all, it is Psalm Week (Disclaimer: this is nothing like Shark Week). In this section, I will take a look at Psalm 44 (CEB), and will answer the questions raised by Hirsch in his section called "Talking Back to the Poem":

• Who is the speaker? The speaker of this poem is a group of Korahites.
• What circumstances gave rise to the poem? The Korahites, a group of worshippers in the community of Israel, are lamenting, wondering where God is. They have recently been/felt defeated, as can be seen starting in verse 9.  
• What situation is presented? The situation, as I understand it, is that the Korahites have previously been successful in battle (with God's help), but now have been recently defeated and feel rejected and abandoned by God. 
• Who or what is the audience? The audience of this Psalm is God. The Korahites were disappointed with God. 
• What is the tone? The tone starts off in a way of praise. The Korahites praise God for their past victories, but then change to a tone of lament and disappointment in their recent defeat. 
• What form, if any, does the poem take? This Psalm does not take any specific grammatical form, but can be viewed as Praise - Lament. 
• How is form related to content? I do not believe that the form is related to content. 
• Is sound an important, active element of the poem? When reading this Psalm aloud, the letter sounds are not as important as the sound of anger (the tone) that is portrayed when hearing the words. 
• Does the poem spring from an identifiable historical moment? This poem does not spring from an identifiable historical moment, specifically, but rather is a response to a recent defeat of the people speaking. This historical moment can be transferred to any defeat -- personal, economic, in the workplace, etc. - of the people to read it at any time. 
• Does the poem speak from a specific culture? This Psalm speaks from the point of view of the Korahites, but is easily translatable to people of any culture. 
• Does the poem have its own vernacular? I do not believe this Psalm uses its own vernacular.  Instead, I feel that the language used is that which people of all stations of life can relate to. 
• Does the poem use imagery to achieve a particular effect? This Psalm uses imagery that creates real pictures for the reader. The images are that of real-life, relational situations: ie - sheep ready for slaughter, sheep to be butchered.  These images are some that people of the time the Psalm was written would understand and relate to. 
• What kind of figurative language, if any, does the poem use? One of the most apparent uses of figurative language in this Psalm is that of God sleeping or hiding from the people.  In verses 23 - 26, the people cry out "Wake up! Why are you sleeping, Lord? Get up! Don't reject us forever! Why are you hiding your face, forgetting our suffering and oppression? Look: we're going down to the dust; our stomachs are flat on the ground! Stand up! Help us! Save us for the sake of your faithful love." In these verses, we see the people lamenting, crying out for help and guidance through the use of figurative language about what God is doing (or not doing). 
• If the poem is a question, what is the answer? I don't believe this poem is a question, but rather asks the question "where the heck are you, God!?
• Does the poem use unusual words or use words in an unusual way? This poem does not use any especially unusual words, but rather uses words that are common to the people of the time it was written. 

Psalm 44 can be considered a Psalm of Lament, as the people are wondering why God has rejected and abandoned them. Despite this lament, the people praise God, giving thanks for all that God has already seen them through. The use of language is not done in a way that excludes readers from relating to and using this plea.  Rather, the language allows readers of all experiences and backgrounds to relate to the desperation in the plea of the people. 

Can you apply Hirsch's tips to other Psalms? 

T-OOTLE-oo!

Melissa

Week One (in a Nutshell).

This week, I read the introductory chapter of Barry Bandstra's online textbook called, Reading the Old Testament: An Introduction to the Hebrew Bible. (FYI: From this point forward, I will refer to this book as RtOT). In this introduction, Bandstra wrote about the Bible and how it is perceived, especially in America. "Each year," Bandstra writes, "the Bible is the best-selling book, with Americans buying 25 million a year, and the market is worth more than a half billion dollars" (Bandstra 6).  As Americans, we are spending a great deal of money every year to purchase the Bible, but we don't necessarily know what to do with the Bible or what the Bible is. For example, Bandstra uses statistics from a Polling Report in 2007 showing that nearly 75% of Americans in the past 30 years believe that Bible is the literal Word of God and that we should take the Bible's text with absolute accuracy and follow it word-for-word (Bandstra 6).  These facts were surprising and not at the same time for me. I have wishful thinking that we - as a whole - would understand and know what to do with and how to utilize the Bible more accurately. On the other hand, maybe we in the church are missing the boat when it comes to teaching our members how to use the Bible. Maybe we need more congregational education about how to use the Bible?

After reading, I watched/listened to two podcasts from my professor regarding the Tanak. The Tanak is a relatively new subject to me, as I first heard about it in the Confirmation class I co-lead (and by co-lead, I mean I sit and soak in as much knowledge as I can in the hour we are together!) a couple of months ago.

The word Tanak is an acronym of sorts for the Old Testament. It stands for:

Torah (Law)

• The Torah includes the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy 
• The five books listed above are also called "The Five Books of Moses"
• The five books are also known as the "Pentateuch" 
• The Torah is written as instruction
• These books were the first to be translated into Greek

Nevi'im (The Prophets)

• The Nevi'im were later translated into Greek
• The Prophets can be divided into two sub-sections, Former and Latter Prophets
• Former Prophets: Includes historical books like Joshua, Judges, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings
• Latter Prophets: Includes books of Isaiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, Habakkuk, Nahum
• The Latter prophets can be divided into two sub-sections, Major and Minor Prophets
• Major Prophets: these are long books (which is what makes them "major," not the fact that they are more important than the others), such as Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Jeremiah; major prophets take up an entire scroll with their writings
• Minor Prophets: these are 12 shorter books (again this is what classifies them as "minor"), including Amos, Hosea, Jonah, Nahum, and Habakkuk; minor prophets' work could be added up and all 12 could fit onto one scroll

Ketuvim (The Writings)

• The Ketuvim includes the books of Psalms, Proverbs, 1 and 2 Chronicles, Ruth, and Esther, to name a few
• Ketuvim writings are unique from prophets and law because they are written in genres that help us to understand what the author was trying to say.
• In these writings, usually there is not just one way to interpret what is being said 

Understanding the parts of the Tanak is important to beginning to understand the Old Testament. While we view the Old Testament (which I will refer to as OT from this point forward) as harder to understand than the New Testament (I will refer to this as NT from now on), the disciples and NT writers felt the opposite - that the OT made sense and the NT was harder to grasp. We must understand this as we read the Bible and try to make sense of the way it is written. 

As I close, I leave you with a couple questions this week: Have you heard of Tanak before? If so, how has the knowledge shaped the way you read each part (law, prophets, writings)? If not, what do you think now?

T-OOTLE-oo!

Melissa

Can you hear me now?...

Welcome!

I am in a MOOC (Massive Online Open Course) this semester to study the OT (Old Testament). Let's be real here. I just had to Google "MOOC" again, because I couldn't remember what the letters stood for.  Hey, at least I remember what OT stands for! 

This course is open to anyone in the world who wants to learn more about the OT. 

Join me for the next 13 weeks of learning about the OT!  This is also an experience for me learn more about Twitter, MOOC-ing (um... can I make a verb out of that? I do have a Masters of English Education degree, which I have previously touted to former students as my "golden ticket" to coining whatever I want to!), and being more adamant about blogging.  I have had a couple blogs for several years and am really good at changing the backgrounds and themes not so good about actually writing on them. 

Here's to 13 weeks of learning fun... please don't point and laugh at my attempts to Tweet and blog (to my face anyhow... turn your computer camera off, please, before doing so!)

T-OOTLE-oo!

Melissa