the old and new

Some days I really have problems with the Old Testament. Here is my newest one. Ezra/Nehemiah is supposed to mark a high point in Israel’s history. Post exilic/2nd temple Judaism has just made some critical reforms. Ezra instituted the law so that those who retuned were going to be “people of the book.” All the exilic prophets point this way too. Israel is being purged of their sins, but when they return, things are going to be good. And so they are. Israel rebuilds a wall, their temple, re-institutes religious practices and even loosens up on where the religion can be practices (seems as though exilic life taught em’ something about God’s presence being able to move outside the temple).

Because they’ve been exiled there’s a bit of confusion about who really constitutes Israel. Is it those who were exiled as Ezra, Haggai, and others imply or is those who were left in Israel during the exile and the foreigners like Isaiah 56 implies? Well to help settle matters, Ezra decides that marriages to all foreign women need to be annulled or however they dealt with that sort of thing back then. Now there’s real grace.

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13). Jesus is the full revelation of God (John ??:??)…Mark’s portrayal of Jesus interests in the redefinition of insiders/outsiders, Luke’s outrageous attitude of inclusivity towards the Samaritans…Israel’s reformed and supposed Yahwistic honoring attitude towards the gentiles. It all fits together nicely.

I never really believed in inerrancy. I settled in infallibility in college…by that I meant that I trusted the Bible is infallible in communicating what it means to. I guess that’s still what I think, but some days…most days I really don’t know how to piece it all together. Some might respond that, “I’m trying to use my modern paradigm to fit it all together, but I do think we have a genuine problem here that can’t be explained away that easily.” Why is Jesus so idiosyncratic in his attitude towards the Law in Matthew? How can Jesus say “you have heard it said, but I say on the one hand,” and use the psalms, prophets, and Pentateuch to corroborate his claims on the other.

I hate the paradoxes. I just really wish someone would come out with a book that says, “Israel got it wrong again and again. The only thing to take away form the Old Testament is God’s radical inclusivity, and His patience in working with a nation He preferred. The Old Testament seems to stand in opposition to the New Testament because it in fact does. Israel got it wrong all the time, good thing we have the incarnation to correct this poor theology.”

Well…maybe those of you who read this could add me to your “be sure to pray out of purgatory list.” I think Dante’s got heretics in ring six? So pray hard and for a while. For those of you who don’t pray for me, well I’ll let people know where you are as I’m coming out.