One Year Bible Blog: February 13th readings

One Year Bible Blog: February 13th readings

Exodus 36:1-7

The only thing I an say is "Wow!" The people were so grateful for what God had done for them, that they offered up far more than was needed for God's purposes, so the leaders told them to stop giving! Wouldn't that be a nice problem to have in our churches today? But then, would we have the integrity of Moses and the artisans to tell the people, "Stop. We have enough."

Matthew 27:51 - the tearing of the temple curtain.

This is very interesting to me. The comments that people have been making seem to be focused on the idea that the tearing of the curtain is a symbol for removing the barrier between God and the people. To be honest, I'd never thought about it in those terms before. I'd always seen it as a sign of God's anger at what had been done. The termple curtain representing, not a separation from God, but the worldview of the Jewish people.

Now that I've heard this apparently more "standard" interpretation, I can see a lot of merit in it. I actually think that it's two ways of looking at the same root, both valid.

Matthew 27:52-53

I can't believe I never noticed this before. Bodies of the saints raised, and entering the holy city after Jesus' resurrection? That sounds like a pretty significant event to me, for it to receive what amounts to little more than a footnote. Is this mentioned in the other Gospels as well?

Proverbs 9:7-8

This is the focus of Mike's discussion comment for us. The uselesness of rebuking the foolish and wicked, vs the profit in rebuking the wise. What jumped out at me about this is this: You have to have the respect of someone before you can offer correction. "Scoffers" and the wicked respect no one, and so accept correction from no one.

The other side of that, I think, is that the rebuke itself must be offered with a sense of respect. From a position of equals, or perhaps even more humbling of ourselves, rather than attempting to humble or humiliate the one being rebuked. After all, it may be our place to offer correction where we think it appropriate, but it is not our place to be the judge of another. God reserves that role.

In my experience, liberals (I count myself in that group) tend to shy away too much from the rebuke side of things. Conservatives seem to me to have a tendency to fall short on the respect and lack of judgement aspect. We all have something to learn in this.