Tag: Jesus

Do Not Judge

Posted on by jovial_cynic

Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?
Matthew 7:1-3 (NIV)

The teaching about “not judging others” is a bit more nuanced than simply “don’t judge.”

If you ask God to judge between you and another, you’re putting yourself in a rather precarious position. You’d better be righteous.

Then Sarai said to Abram, “You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my slave in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the Lord judge between you and me.”
Genesis 16:5 (NIV)

Imagine a heavenly court whereby if you bring an accusation against someone and demand that the court determine who is at fault, the FIRST thing the court does is examine you, the accuser.

At any rate, we have a rule that if someone calls upon G-d to determine if concerning an accusation leveled against a fellow human being he or she had been correct, the first thing the heavenly tribunal does is to examine if the accuser has led a blameless life himself or herself.
Chizkuni on Genesis 16:5:4

And if they find you to be unrighteous or guilty of anything, the first thing they do is punish YOU for your sins. Only then will they address the accusation.

That is what the teaching is that informs us of this “do not judge” teaching. It is a warning.

If faults are found in the accuser’s life, he is judged, i.e. punished first, before the accusation is examined in greater detail.
Chizkuni on Genesis 16:5:4

In the case of Sarai, we want to blame her for lack of faith, or perhaps we want to apply a modern standard and accuse her of causing infidelity. But notice that God does not discipline her here.

But also, what is her accusation, exactly?

But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.”
Genesis 15:2-3 (NIV)

The rabbis suggest that in Genesis 15, when Abram prayed for a child, he prayed only for himself and not for his wife. Remember: she was the one who was barren. She is the one who needed prayer.

She accuses him of being selfish in his prayer, and she is vindicated.

There are so many lessons to learn here, if we have the ears to hear.

The Gardener

Posted on by jovial_cynic

The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.
Genesis 2:15 (NIV)

He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”

Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”
John 20:15 (NIV)

If you study Genesis first, the Gospels will make more sense.

The Midrash has a saying: when God made Adam in His Image, the angels suddenly couldn’t tell which one was God and which one was Adam. It wasn’t until God made Adam fall asleep that they knew which one was God.

Binding and Releasing

Posted on by jovial_cynic
We toss around “cursed” and “blessed” like they mean “rejected” and “favored” or “evil” and “good,” but the words have a different function.

Though not linguistically connected, “cursed” is associated with “binding,” and “blessing” is associated with “releasing.”

When the ground is cursed and Adam is told he will return to it, we are given imagery of him being bound to the earth, unable to rise above it. He is mortal.

When Adam and Eve are blessed, they are told to be fruitful and multiply: to increase, to spread out.

When the serpent is cursed, we are told that he will crawl on his belly, also tying him to the earth. His head will be crushed.

When Noah and his sons are blessed in Gen 9, the next chapter is the Table of Nations, showing them released to be fruitful and multiply.

So what of Ham’s son Canaan? When Noah (not God) curses Canaan in Gen 9, what is being bound? What is restricted to prevent it from getting out of hand, like a weed in a garden?

I suspect what God is cursing is our shame.

This nakedness Ham sees in Genesis 9:22 is tied to the shame and nakedness Adam and Eve see in Genesis 3:7, when they covered themselves in FIG leaves.

The Gospels tell us something about FIG leaves on a tree that bears no fruit.

Now in the early morning, when He was returning to the city, He became hungry. And seeing a lone fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it except leaves alone; and He *said to it, “No longer shall there ever be any fruit from you.” And at once the fig tree withered.
Matthew 21:18-19

One day, God will curse and bind the Fig Tree that we keep using to cover our shame. He’ll cause that tree to wither so there are no more leaves to grab, and then we’ll have to stand face to face with God, who will cover our nakedness with something far greater.

Forgiveness is Greater than Vengeance

Posted on by jovial_cynic
When Jesus tells Peter to forgive 70 times 7 (or 77, depending on translation), He is countering the vengeance in the story of Cain and Lamech.

Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?”
Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.
Matthew 18:21-22 (NIV)

Lamech said to his wives,

“Adah and Zillah, listen to me;
wives of Lamech, hear my words.
I have killed a man for wounding me,
a young man for injuring me.
If Cain is avenged seven times,
then Lamech seventy-seven times.”
Genesis 4:23-24 (NIV)

Gold

Posted on by jovial_cynic
Jesus said that it’s harder for a camel to squeeze through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom.It would make sense, then, that the first mention of gold in Genesis describes it outside the garden, out where the rivers are separated.

A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters. The name of the first is the Pishon; it winds through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold.
Genesis 2:10-11 (NIV)

“But Josh, there’s gold in the New Heaven and new Earth. It’s in the Revelation!”

Yes. I know. And Jesus said “with God, all things are possible” in the same story. And gold will likely have a different meaning in a world where there is no scarcity. Just like in Eden.