1 Samuel 13 – The text is
corrupted so we don’t know how old Saul was when he became king, but it says he
served only two years by this translation. Eerdman’s
suggests it must be 32 years since he was young when anointed and now has a son
old enough to lead men in battle.
Three thousand Israelis serve in Saul’s army—two thousand under him and
one thousand under his son Jonathan.
When Jonathan defeats the Philistines at Geba, the enemy muster a huge
army (30,000 chariots and 6,000 horsemen).
The Israelites are “in distress” when they saw them; they go and hide in
“caves and in holes and in rocks and in tombs and in cisterns” (13:6).
Saul
is in Gilgal (to renew the ceremony making him king and apparently Samuel has
told him to wait seven days—again, as he did in 10:8-- for him to get there.
But Samuel does not show. The people
begin “to slip away from Saul” (13:8)—a worrisome thing in light of the already
fragile acceptance he has gained in the latest victory. So Saul offers the burnt offerings Samuel was
supposed to have offered (13:9-10) and then Samuel arrives. He is furious. He says, “You have done foolishly; you have not kept the commandment of the Lord
your God, which he commanded you. The
Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever, but now your
kingdom will not continue; the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart;
and the Lord has appointed him to be ruler over his people, because you have
not kept what the Lord commanded you” (13:13-14).
The
Philistines are at Michmash. The
Israelites have no smiths (iron-workers).
The Philistines have a lock on this technology. What swords and spears the people have are in
the possession of Saul and his son.
Proverbs
Proverbs 10 – Here
begin the first major collection of proverbs, attributed to Solomon. They are
two liners with no strong line of flow. These are the ones that stand out to
me:
“A wise son is his father’s joy, a foolish son his mother’s
grief (10:1)
You can gain “treasure” with wickedness, but not “delivery
from death” (10:2).
“The mouth of the virtuous man is a life-giving fountain, violence lurks in the mouth of the
wicked” (10:11).
“Too much talk leads to sin. Be sensible and keep your mouth
shut” (10:19).
“When the storms of life come, the wicked are whirled away,
but the godly have a lasting foundation” (10:25).
“The hopes of the godly result in happiness, but the
expectations of the wicked come to nothing” (10:28). This
one seems shallow to me. Sometimes the godly are devastated. They do have the
“lasting foundation” but it’s too much to say their hopes will always lead to
happiness.
Proverbs 11 – Again, two liners, all pretty much the same. I have selected
a few:
In the day of wrath riches will be of no advantage, but
virtuous conduct delivers from death” (11:4).
“Their virtuous conduct sets honest men free, treacherous
men are imprisoned by their own desires” (11:6).
“For want of guidance a people fails, safety lies in many
advisers” (11:14).
“Give freely and become more wealthy; be stingy and lose
everything. The generous will prosper; those who refresh others will themselves
be refreshed” (11:24-25).
“Those who bring trouble on their families inherit the wind”
(11:29). 1960 movie called “Inherit the Wind.”
“The seeds of good deeds become a tree of life” (11:30).
Augustine (354-439)
Confessions
19 - But in this
my childhood (which was far less dreaded for me than youth) I had no love of learning, and hated to be
forced to it, yet was I forced to it notwithstanding; and this was well
done towards me, but I did not well, for I would not have learned had I not
been compelled. For no man does well against his will, even if that which he
does be well. Neither did they who forced me do well, but the good that was
done to me came from you, my God. For they considered not in what way I should
employ what they forced me to learn, unless to satisfy the inordinate desires
of a rich beggary and a shameful glory. But you, by whom the very hairs of our
heads are numbered [Matthew 10:30] used for my good the error of all who
pressed me to learn; and my own error in willing not to learn, You made use of
for my punishment— of which I, being so small a boy and so great a sinner, was
not unworthy. Thus by the instrumentality of those who did not well did you do well
for me; and by my own sin you justly punished me. For it is even as you have
appointed, that every inordinate affection should bring its own punishment.
As I have probably said, I loved
every day and year of school I ever had. There were teachers I did not care for
but not many and mostly not until high school. I remember the kindergarten
class I went to. You could see the window the class from the house I lived in
up the hill behind. I remember my grandfather taking me the first day, the
excitement of seeing my friends in a new context and kids I’d never seen
before. It was a crowded classroom, and there were two teachers – Mrs. Bloxom
and Miss Squarey (love those names – for kindergarteners!). The Ardsley School
– today a place to buy a condo, but then the only school for kindergarteners
through 12th. Throughout my childhood, the blossoming “Baby-Boomer”
generation made schools very crowded, brought new schools to be constructed.
Numbers, letters, words, simple
books about Dick and Jane. The first “substantive” content I remember was about
history, in 5th grade in School #7 in Bronxville where I first heard
about the discovery of spices in the Far East. We spent some time putting tiny
cloves into oranges as an activity – made the lesson about the pull of the
spices very palpable. Loved it.
No comments:
Post a Comment