JOURNALING ON THE OLD TESTAMENT--MARIA GRACE, Ph.D.

9/9/08

Reflections on Genesis Verses 2-11

In reading the first 11 verses of Genesis, I first respond by imagining the world as it
is being created by God. The imagery in Genesis is powerful. I envision an abysmal
pre-ordered world, amorphous, and utterly silent. I find it interesting that, as
Creation happens, God creates through his Voice. He “speaks” creation as it
happens, then he recognizes what he creates as “good”, and finally he names it.

The text initially presents God as existing above the waters. I find the metaphor
interesting. Being God, he would have been everywhere, but in Genesis, he appears
to be a pneuma (the Greek word for “Spirit”, a derivative of the verb
pneo=breathe), moving above the water. As breath, God moves. Motion implies
direction and intention. Breath implies life. Only living things breathe. Therefore, I
read the word “pneuma Theou” (spirit of God) as Life that lies above the Abyss (or
Chaos). Creation, therefore, begins with Life—life that is above chaos, life that
intends to create order and harmony—and that is God.

In the following verses, we are introduced to God’s senses. First, we hear his voice.
“Let it be light.” I find the way of creating light—that is by speaking—very
interesting. I also find interesting that Light was the first thing God created, in
order to bring cosmos to chaos. It seems to me that God needed light in order to
see his creation, as it progressed. In this process, the text presents God as
recognizing what he has created as “good”, and then using it to further his creation.
Therefore, in Genesis, what God creates is given its purpose—and place in the
universe—by God in the next step of creation. God uses the Light he created to
create Day. By doing so, the pre-existing darkness also acquires a purpose: it
becomes night. Day and night form a complete day. What was formerly chaos and
abyss has now become a harmonious whole. (Verses 2-5)

Creation appears to be linear, logical, and methodical. The text uses the metaphor
of “day” to indicate distinct steps in creation. Each step seems to build on the
former. Verses 6-9 describe the “second day”, during which God creates the sky.
The word used in Torah is “___________” (rakia) and in the Greek Old Testament
“stereoma”, which means “firmament”. I understand this word not as “sky”, but as
something solid, something upon which you can rely, stand, and build. Or, as
something solid that is above you, which also protects you.

Some Old Testament translations present ” _______“ rakia “as “dome”. It is

interesting that the text presents God as being “earth-centered”, in other words,
having as point of reference the earth. He cares for the earth to become covered by
a “firmament”, a “rakia”, a “stereoma”, before he continues his creative process on
earth. For me, this metaphor alludes to the basic human need for shelter and
protection. It invokes imagery of newborn infants looking “up” to adults—and the
 JOURNALING ON THE OLD TESTAMENT--MARIA GRACE, Ph.D. 2

surrounding world—for security and stability, as they lie unable to stand or walk,
still undifferentiated from the womb in which they lived before they saw the light. A
newborn, recent to the world from mother’s womb, has uttered its first cry, as it
sees light for the first time. The next thing is to be clothed—covered, protected,
sheltered—from what is above, i.e. the world of adults.

So, God “clothes” the earth with a “rakia”__________ and calls that firmament
“sky”. The text does not indicate whether the sky is round, dome-like, or flat. To
me, it seems that what is important in creation is that God creates a separation
between the waters that were on the earth from those that were above the sky by
giving them a certain place and a certain purpose. Differentiation, harmony and
purpose are essential characteristics of creation.

Verses 9-11 describe the creation of the dry land and the seas. God first orders the
water to gather in one place and let the dry land appear. The text implies that God
knew what was under the waters. I find it interesting that it does not say that God
created the land that was covered with water, but that he let it emerge by ordering
the waters to collect in one place. To me, this is a metaphor bringing forth another
meaning: Divine creation is not work that produces something “ex nihilo”; rather,
God is “seeing” the purpose and utility of things “hidden” in an amorphous world
preceding the cosmos as he is creating it, and he arranges His world in such a way
so “hidden” aspects become apparent and find their place and purpose. And once
God sees them in the world He is creating, he recognizes them as “good”.

The Greek word for “good” is “kalos” and it has several meanings some or which
are: right, virtuous, beautiful, suitable, competent, as it should be. It denotes
inherent moral, physical or spiritual beauty that has a powerful, calming, and
transforming effect on the mind and heart of its beholder. In the Greek context you
are not “made” Kalos—you are born with this quality, as though it has been given to
you by God.

So, when God recognizes the emerging Light, Sky, and Earth as good, he
recognizes a quality in them given by God himself, which is also pleasing to him.
“Good” as a quality in every part of Creation is both inherent and purposeful. It is
the first quality God recognizes in everything he creates, immediately after he
names it. What formerly was purposeless, shapeless, and had no inherent virtue,
now becomes purposeful, beautiful, as it should be. It will serve its purpose, and
that is to please God.
 JOURNALING ON THE OLD TESTAMENT--MARIA GRACE, Ph.D. 3

9/16/08---Reflections on my reading the book of Genesis:

I read Genesis in one sitting. It was a privilege to read it all at once. I was used to
readings of individual stories, so I did not have a sense of continuity and of the
“atmosphere” of the entire book. To say that I enjoyed reading Genesis is an
understatement. I felt animated, energized, perturbed, and nostalgic. The stories
carry tremendous energy, the energy of a people committed to their survival, while
obeying the will of God.

What struck me first was the different style in which the stories are written. In the
stories up until the story of Joseph, their style reminded me of magical realism--the
genre in which magical elements or illogical scenarios appear in an otherwise
realistic or even "normal" setting. God interacts with people, he interrupts their
daily life to give them instructions, admonitions, guidance, advice, protection, hope,
and--what I call--faith assignments. The people, on the other hand, respond to
their best of their ability, while always reserving their right to use their own will and
human judgment in handling the challenges of every day life.

The style in which the stories are written expresses the intimate coexistence of two
realms--a divine and a human--both of which need each other in order to fulfill their
purposes. Humans need God as their conscience and God needs humans as his
beloved work of art. The intimacy between God and humans expressed in Genesis
is touching--really touching. It permeates all stories, finding its crescendo in the
story about Isaac’s sacrifice, where Abraham surrenders to God’s love with a faith
that surpasses his love for his son. And God responds with even greater love, by
sparing his son’s life, a moment before Abraham is about to slaughter him. It is a
moment of intense love between God and humans, given through the heart-
wrenching scene of infanticide. It is paradoxical, extreme, scary, edgy, disturbing,
almost disgusting. But nothing in love is pristine, and Genesis is--in my eyes--a
book about God’s love affair with people, and that’s a love that knows no limits and
makes no excuses for its temperament, intensity, or unconventional creativity.

Another reaction I had was that to the energy that permeates the stories of
Genesis, as expressed through the verb and the name. There are three kinds of
words that stayed with me, after reading Genesis: God’s name, people’s names,
and verbs--verbs of motion, verbs of action, verbs of ongoing movement. There is
no reflection in Genesis--there is action and movement. The verbs carry energy,
they carry the energy of God and of humans, and that is energy always in motion,
expressed through actions--walking, going, coming, falling, ascending, working,
listening, hearing, speaking, blessing, cursing, guiding, hiding, saving, speaking,
doing, making. Action. Ongoing, endless action. People live their relationships with
God and with each other through action, and through action they sin, repent,
forgive and are forgiven, punish and are punished, get closer or farther away from
God. God also, becomes present through words and actions. In fact, God’s actions
are contained in God’s words. For example, “Let it be light”--- contains the act of
creating light. After reading Genesis, I felt a rush of energy that stayed with me for
hours. Interesting reaction, indeed. I attributed it to the power of the verbs in
Genesis, which carry the power of God.
 JOURNALING ON THE OLD TESTAMENT--MARIA GRACE, Ph.D. 4

The people in Genesis are flawed, human, and--very often--charmingly funny. They
are born in a harsh society, and they are living a hard life. When acting out of their
survival instincts, they are vying for power, for love, for dominance, for posterity,
for riches. To achieve their ends, they fabricate lies, create intrigues, hide the truth,
manipulate or hurt each other, and even kill their own kin. Their actions are
described as actions that take place when they are away from the presence of God.
In the story of Cain and Abel, Cain takes Abel for a walk in the field, where he kills
him. Afterwards, God asks “where is Abel?” The story alludes to the imagery of
God’s waiting “back home”, and when he sees Cain returning alone, God wants to
know what happened “out in the field”.

I read the image “out in the field” as a metaphor illustrating the disassociation from
our God-instilled moral conscience, which happens each time we give into sin.
Genesis is filled with such moments, followed by moments in which God responds,
always intending to restore the fallen human nature, always offering a remedy,
always giving continuation and a new purpose to the fallen human. Even when God
seems to punish the fallen humans in Genesis, God always gives them a new
purpose which continues their life, giving it a new direction. In the case of Cain,
God does not take Cain’s life for his fratricide. Instead, he sentences him to
perpetual wandering and shows mercy when Cain asks for the terms of the
sentence to be altered, for fear that he would be killed. God puts a mark on Cain’s
forehead, which acts as protection against attacks from members of other tribes.
God puts the mark on Cain as a sign to others that Cain should not be killed until
he has had seven generations of children.

God also accepts Abram’s bargaining plea and promises not to destroy Sodom.

Until the story of Joseph, God and people are in constant dialogue, speaking to
each other, some times face to face. In the story of Joseph God’s presence becomes
more subtle. We don’t hear God’s voice directly, but we see God’s presence in more
complex and multi-layered interactions among people and within themselves, which
take place simultaneously and across time. In the story of Joseph, I see God hidden
in all the moments that determine the fate of the characters in the story. God
appears through symbolic dreams to reveal the future of individuals and of an
entire nation. God appears as Joseph’s extraordinary gift to interpret dreams which
saves his life and gives him tremendous power as a government official. God acts
through Joseph, without speaking directly to him, as God has done with other
characters in the previous stories of Genesis. At the end, Joseph forgives his
brothers for betraying, deferring the final judgment to God.

In the story of Joseph, God’s presence penetrates human life as it unfolds in

unpredictable and complex ways that involve both joyful and tragic moments. At
the end of the story, I thought that Joseph’s betrayal by his brothers was a
necessity, in order for a larger plan to be executed.
 JOURNALING ON THE OLD TESTAMENT--MARIA GRACE, Ph.D. 5

09/23/08

Reactions to Exodus--the Passover Meal.

Exodus 12: Moses is being instructed to start a new calendar, which puts us at the
beginning of who we are now. Through that passage and God’s instructions for the
creation of a calendar, we are going back to the beginning. God also gives
instructions about how to eat the lamb. The lamb must be without blemish, a year-
old male. God gives nstructions about the timing of consumption of the lamb, so
you celebrate Passover itself, and not something else.

The instructions about unlevened breath indicate the urgency of the present
moment and project how life will be for the Israelites in the future. It tells them
how they will be doing things in the future. I see symbolism there. If they leave the
leven behind it is as though they are leaving their life behind, they start anew, they
are making a clean slate.

I see the bitter herbs as symbolic of their bitter time and hardship in the
wilderness. The fast roasting over the fire, without the use of utensils and pots and
pans, or wood ovens. They will eat it in a hurry, following God’s instructions. It also
establishes a ritual that reminds Israelites of their exodus from Egypt, that
happened according to God’s will. Repeating the ritual reminds them of God’s
presence in it. The ritual keeps the memory alive, to this day. It makes the story of
Exodus not a historical memory that can easily be forgotten or referenced as an
event, but as a lived reality, that puts the people of God in the presence of God, in
the real present.

This makes me think of communion, that is a ritual relived in “the memory of

Christ”. It remembers a moment that is not a memory, but reality. The body and
blood of Christ are real, therefore present, among us, in us. Just like Passover, the
Holy Communion keeps the presence of God among us alive. It begins in an event
that happened in history (the Last Supper) but, as it is being re-lived, it is no longer
history. It is God’s presence being real among us.

There is a theme about God’s presence becoming real as food in the Old (and New)
Testament, sealing a relationship among God and people, breaking any distance,
making the relationship of God and people really intimate. In Exodus, God instructs
people to have the first Passover, a ritual meal. Later, after Moses receives the 10
commandments, he and the Israelites have a meal with God on Mount Sinai. That
meal commemorates God’s promise that they will be a holy nation, through the Law
that will render them into a nation. In their wonders through the desert, God
appears to them as food “manna”, sustaining them in their hunger. God feeds them
quail when they complaint again. Food bridges the distance between God and
people. Ritual meals make God’s presence a living, real experience.
 JOURNALING ON THE OLD TESTAMENT--MARIA GRACE, Ph.D. 6

9/30/08

Reflections on my reading Genesis:

I read Genesis in one sitting. It was a privilege to read it all at once. I was used to
readings of individual stories, so I did not have a sense of continuity and of the
“atmosphere” of the entire book. To say that I enjoyed reading Genesis is an
understatement. I felt animated, energized, perturbed, and nostalgic. The stories carry
tremendous energy, the energy of a people committed to their survival, while obeying
the will of God.

What struck me first was the different style in which the stories are written. In the stories
up until the story of Joseph, their style reminded me of magical realism--the genre in
which magical elements or illogical scenarios appear in an otherwise realistic or even
"normal" setting. God interacts with people, he interrupts their daily life to give them
instructions, admonitions, guidance, advice, protection, hope, and--what I call--faith
assignments. The people, on the other hand, respond to their best of their ability, while
always reserving their right to use their own will and human judgment in handling the
challenges of every day life.

The style in which the stories are written expresses the intimate coexistence of two
realms--a divine and a human--both of which need each other in order to fulfill their
purposes. Humans need God as their conscience and God needs humans as his
beloved work of art. The intimacy between God and humans expressed in Genesis is
touching--really touching. It permeates all stories, finding its crescendo in the story
about Isaacʼs sacrifice, where Abraham surrenders to Godʼs love with a faith that
surpasses his love for his son. And God responds with even greater love, by sparing his
sonʼs life, a moment before Abraham is about to slaughter him. It is a moment of intense
love between God and humans, given through the heart-wrenching scene of infanticide.
It is paradoxical, extreme, scary, edgy, disturbing, almost disgusting. But nothing in love
is pristine, and Genesis is--in my eyes--a book about Godʼs love affair with people, and
thatʼs a love that knows no limits and makes no excuses for its temperament, intensity,
or unconventional creativity.

Another reaction I had was that to the energy that permeates the stories of Genesis, as
expressed through the verb and the name. There are three kinds of words that stayed
with me, after reading Genesis: Godʼs name, peopleʼs names, and verbs--verbs of
motion, verbs of action, verbs of ongoing movement. There is no reflection in Genesis--
there is action and movement. The verbs carry energy, they carry the energy of God
and of humans, and that is energy always in motion, expressed through actions--
walking, going, coming, falling, ascending, working, listening, hearing, blessing, cursing,
guiding, hiding, saving, speaking, doing, making. Action. Ongoing, endless action.
People live their relationships with God and with each other through action, and through
action they sin, repent, forgive and are forgiven, punish and are punished, get closer or
farther away from God. God also, becomes present through words and actions. In fact,
Godʼs actions are contained in Godʼs words. For example, “Let it be light”--- contains the
 JOURNALING ON THE OLD TESTAMENT--MARIA GRACE, Ph.D. 7

act of creating light. After reading Genesis, I felt a rush of energy that stayed with me for
hours. Interesting reaction, indeed. I attributed it to the power of the verbs in Genesis,
which carry the power of God.

The people in Genesis are flawed, human, and--very often--charmingly funny. They are
born in a harsh society, and they are living a hard life. When acting out of their survival
instincts, they are vying for power, for love, for dominance, for posterity, for riches. To
achieve their ends, they fabricate lies, create intrigues, hide the truth, manipulate or hurt
each other, and even kill their own kin. Their actions are described as actions that take
place when they are away from the presence of God. In the story of Cain and Abel, Cain
takes Abel for a walk in the field, where he kills him. Afterwards, God asks “where is
Abel?” The story alludes to the imagery of Godʼs waiting “back home”, and when he
sees Cain returning alone, God wants to know what happened “out in the field”.

I read the image “out in the field” as a metaphor illustrating the disassociation from our
God-instilled moral conscience, which happens each time we give into sin. Genesis is
filled with such moments, followed by moments in which God responds, always
intending to restore the fallen human nature, always offering a remedy, always giving
continuation and a new purpose to the fallen human. Even when God seems to punish
the fallen humans in Genesis, God always gives them a new purpose which continues
their life, giving it a new direction. In the case of Cain, God does not take Cainʼs life for
his fratricide. Instead, he sentences him to perpetual wandering and shows mercy when
Cain asks for the terms of the sentence to be altered, for fear that he would be killed.
God puts a mark on Cainʼs forehead, which acts as protection against attacks from
members of other tribes. God puts the mark on Cain as a sign to others that Cain
should not be killed until he has had seven generations of children.

God also accepts Abramʼs bargaining plea and promises not to destroy Sodom.

Until the story of Joseph, God and people are in constant dialogue, speaking to each
other, some times face to face. In the story of Joseph Godʼs presence becomes more
subtle. We donʼt hear Godʼs voice directly, but we see Godʼs presence in more complex
and multi-layered interactions among people and within themselves, which take place
simultaneously and across time. In the story of Joseph, I see God hidden in all the
moments that determine the fate of the characters in the story. God appears through
symbolic dreams to reveal the future of individuals and of an entire nation. God appears
as Josephʼs extraordinary gift to interpret dreams which saves his life and gives him
tremendous power as a government official. God acts through Joseph, without speaking
directly to him, as God has done with other characters in the previous stories of
Genesis. At the end, Joseph forgives his brothers for betraying, deferring the final
judgment to God.

In the story Joseph, Godʼs presence penetrates human life as it unfolds in unpredictable
and complex ways that involve both joyful and tragic moments. At the end of the story, I
thought that Josephʼs betrayal by his brothers was a necessity, in order for a larger plan
to be executed.
 JOURNALING ON THE OLD TESTAMENT--MARIA GRACE, Ph.D. 8

10/01/08

Reactions to my reading about the Law:

Exodus 16-34: Reading this passage gave me a new appreciation of Law as handed
down to us by God. The Law of the Old Testament is different from the Civic law.
We seem to read this part of the Old Testament, with the same understanding of
God’s Law that we have about the Civic Law. It seems to me that God gives his
people the Law to create dignity in them. He knows that they live in an imperfect,
cruel culture, he knows their animal nature and, through is Law, God is protecting
his people from their very nature. It is also through the law that the Israelites are
acquiring their identity, as the people through whom God will create a Holy Nation.
If they keep the law, God’s promise will be fulfilled. Keeping the Law redeems the
animal in them in God’s eyes and fulfills God’s promise. Breaking the Law hinders
God’s promise form being fulfilled.

Unlike the Law of the Old Testament, the Civic Law controls the animal in us. It
does not redeem, it is enforced to protect us from our sinful impulses. It is not
created with a Divine promise in mind. We obey civic Law out of fear of the
consequences we may have to pay, if we get caught. It is not salvific in essence.
Civic Law confirms the power of the State.

When we obey God’s Law, we do so out of trust--not fear--that God wants us not to
lose our life. Breaking God’s Law alienates us from God, and this equals death.

I think that the Law became impossible to follow because--somehow--people could

not see God’s love in it. It became a torturous voice, impossible to please. I can see
why Jesus coming and death on the Cross as the fulfillment of the Law brought
freedom from the fear of the Law. We still have to atone for our disobedience but,
through Jesus, God has reached within us in his love and in a way that we can see
and experience as forgiveness.
 JOURNALING ON THE OLD TESTAMENT--MARIA GRACE, Ph.D. 9

10/08/08

How I read the Old Testament:

As a script for the future

As a map to navigate the unknown
As a tool that connects me to History
As a Bible of the common folk
As a set of magical, magnificent stories, amazing, love-imbued poetry and
instructions for decent, God-blessed living
As an instrument of faith
As an account of God’s word

I wish the Bible were required reading outside the church. We say this is God’s
word, but the paradox is that most interpretations of the Bible--so far--happen to
justify human endeavors, not God’s endeavors. I am not a literalist, when it
concerns the Bible. These stories are a bridge between the Divine and the Human,
but they are written in such a way that is difficult to tell. They show God so
intimately involved with us, it’s easy to interpret the entire stories from a human
perspective. I am beginning to see a different way of reading them. They are not
just metaphors. They mingle reality, history, and the Divine Purpose so densely, it’s
no wonder why they are most often interpreted literally.

I am beginning to think that this is how God really is in our lives: really, really
present in our lives, in our history, our reality, our everyday-ness, so densely
present, that we often we mistake God for ourselves.

I have started to see how much in love God is with us. Reading the Old Testament,
in which God does not have one specific face but different--such as a “stranger”, a
Voice, a lion, a burning bush, food from the sky, or other supernatural phenomena--
brings closer to me the reality of God as all-encompassing with Love, rather than
the reality of God as only an inner, mental and psychological construct and/or
experience.This is a new revelation for me, as a psychologist. The Old Testament
helps me see that God is not only the Creator of this universe and our human
society, but also the Redeemer of our sinful nature, and the Sustainer of our
individual and collective lives, through Love. And I see all three manifestations of
God’s Love in the stories about the Law.

But if they are taken literally, they become tools for oppressing gays, minorities,
women, and everyone “different” from the group in power. A perfect example is the
interpretation of the passage of Leviticus on homosexuality. If people were created
for companionship, if companionship was blessed by God on the sixth day of
creation, then everyone is blessed by God to have a companion. The argument
against homosexuality enforced by the church using the Bible is, in fact, a direct
attack against God’s people, not against homosexuality as Paul defines it “a fruit
from the Fall”, with which we must deal just as we must deal with all the other
fruits of sin that result from the fall. Oppressing gay people does not address
homosexuality per se. It simply cuts people off from the body of God. God wants us
to be One in God’s body.
 JOURNALING ON THE OLD TESTAMENT--MARIA GRACE, Ph.D. 10

10/08/08

Reflections on Ruth:

It’s a beautiful story, in which God works through people’s relationships, especially
as kindness (in Hebrew=hesed). Ruth shows hesed to her mother-in-law after
devastating losses, and promises not to leave her and create her own life, even
though she is young and fertile. It is through Ruth’s hesed to her mother-in-law,
that God’s promise for a king of Israel is fulfilled.

Widowed Ruth gleans wheat to feed herself and her mother-in-law. Humility and
loyalty are Ruth’s virtues at the beginning of the story, and it is through those
virtues that God’s plan unfolds. She marries Boaz, who becomes the father of her
child, who is in the same lineage as David’s.

What I like about this story is Ruth’s loyalty to her husband’s mother, and her
unconditional trust in doing the right thing, even though she has to undergo
hardships. The story does not talk about Ruth’s obedience to God, or about her
following God’s orders against her own will. She is unconditionally given to taking
care of her mother-in-law, the embittered Mara. It must have been very difficult to
live with her depressed mother-in-law, whom she had to feed with scraps of wheat
she gleaned in the fields, under the hot sun of the Middle East. But, this is how God
works, if we let him do his work.

Ruth is a hopeful story, full of gentleness and respect for tradition, silent faith in
God, and God’s love that always remembers its promise of life. It’s interesting that
the story begins with deaths of all men in Mara’s house, and ends with the birth of
a boy who will be David’s forebear. The seeds of a nation were lying on the field
where Ruth gleaned wheat for her daily bread.
 JOURNALING ON THE OLD TESTAMENT--MARIA GRACE, Ph.D. 11

11/04/08

Reflections on the themes of the books we read so far:

There seems to be a sequence in which God’s plan is unfolding in the books we are
reading this semester:

A. Genesis--After the fall, and until the story of Joseph, God promises the creation
of Israel as a nation that will birth and bless all other nations. There is a continuous
theme of “death and resurrection” between God and people, in which people fall
away from God and God saves them, then brings them back on track in order for
the promise to be fulfilled. Each time humans fail God, they are punished by the
consequences of their actions, but God always finds a way to restore them to life.

Adam--sins against God, God expels from the garden but is not destroyed. He
creates a family.
Cain--kills his brother, but God does not return the death with death. Instead, he
puts a mark on his forehead to protect him from being killed by other tribes. The
consequence of his action is perpetual homelessness and wandering. He will not
have a family.
Noah--God chooses him to save humankind, when he decides to eradicate sinful
beings. Still, this is an act of God’s love for us.
Abraham: He has a son, after years of childlessness. God responds to his faith by
saving his son from being sacrificed. His son will be a forebear of Israel.
Jacob--a wicked trickster, Jacob becomes Israel after “wrestling with God and with
people and prevailing”
Joseph--through a complex story that is set up in such that no human but only God
can predict the outcome, Joseph brings the Israelites to Egypt and saves them from
famine. God’s plan works through Joseph’s ability to interpret dreams.
Moses--God chooses him as the leader of Israelites, and commands him to bring
them out of slavery. God gives him the Law, rules of worship, instructions for the
Tabernacle, God establishes a relationship with Israel as a forming nation through
Moses.

B. Leviticus, Numbers, and Deteuronomy: God makes Israel a holy nation,

instructing them how to “be holy as He is holy”. God gives Law, rules of Worship,
rules of conduct, freedom, dignity, protection.

C. Joshua--God conquers Jericho. Joshua is his general, but God is the conqueror.
He instructs Israel how to conduct Holy War. God creates the kingdom of Israel

D. Judges--God brings Israel through a period of confusion and uncertainty, through

11 men and one woman who are instructed by God. This is a liminal stage for
Israel, which begins to want a king “just as other nations have kings”. This is the
beginning of Israel’s wanting to fall away from God.
 JOURNALING ON THE OLD TESTAMENT--MARIA GRACE, Ph.D. 12

E. Samuel--God sends prophets to counsel and conduct Israel, but Israel wants a
king.

F. Kings--Israel wants to be a kingdom and God agrees to grant Israel’s request,

even if this will have consequences on Israel. David builds the kingdom, Solomon
expands it, and brings together state and religion. Israel becomes powerful, only
to fall away from God, by worshipping other Gods. Israel splits, against God’s
will. Warrior theology, in which God becomes the protector of defender of
Jerusalem. God does not pay attention to how things are done politically, God is
only interested in being the only God worshipped by Israel. When this does not
happen, Israel is destroyed.

G. Chronicles: Presents Israel as a relational, highly priestly society. Everyone

relates to everyone and there is great interest in priesthood. The themes of the
books are genealogical and organizational. But they speak of a nation that is
built based on a family that goes all the way back to Genesis. And the emphasis
on priesthood is to indicate that Israel is a holy nation, not a political entity.

H. Ezra--is a narrative about restoring the Law and the worship of God, after the
Israelites are brought back to Palestine from the Babylonian exile. It comes first
to honor God, because this is a story about God and this is a nation built by God.

I. Nehemiah--organizes the nation, builds walls. He builds the physical

infrastructure for the nation to thrive. Jerusalem (God’s chosen city) is restored
and rebuilt. The people are moving back in their households. God’s promised is
fulfilled.
 JOURNALING ON THE OLD TESTAMENT--MARIA GRACE, Ph.D. 13

12/02/08--Reflections on my whole experience with the Old Testament, as I read it

in this class, at LTSP, this semester.

A great shift happened to me as a person raised in the Christian world, during this
semester. I understood that the Bible is not a book speaking primarily about us. We
are looking to find us in the Bible. The Bible is not talking about us. It’s talking
about who God is and how God relates to us. How God chooses to relate to us. The
focus is on God. The Bible tells us who this God is how God reveals God’self to us.

I used to understand the Bible as text that spoke about people looking from the
earth toward God. Especially the Old Testament, which describes cruel and fearful
ways of living, under a wrathful, moody, dictatorial God. Against my will, I was
influenced by literalist, womanist, feminist, and all other -ist interpretive
perspectives, against which I was rebelling, because I could not agree with any of
them. I simply could not find the Love of God in the Old Testament and that had
alienated me.

On the other hand, I knew that those stories could not and should not be read
literally. So, I read them as metaphors describing psychological states of our human
condition. Again, that reading was interpreting God as a construct responsible for
personal, inner experiences. It was also interpreting God through our own
experiences. I was reducing God to psychological phenomena, or to renditions of
the Divine seen through a specific socio-cultural frame of reference, within certain
historical periods, and expressed in a language that reflected those times and which
could not speak for today’s human problems. Again, that was too limiting and
provided little comfort.

I ended up discarding the value of Old Testament as a book speaking the Word of a
God of Love. I was terrified to approach it and--for many years--I carried a sense of
disappointment and resentment that was hurting me and only me. Not having
theological training did not help either.

The shift that happen is that I read the Bible through God’s eyes (if I may use these
terms). I saw it as book that is limited because it was written by humans living in a
specific context, but as a narrative sent by a God who wants to be with us in every
real way possible. I understood why God would “feel” angry, disappointed, upset,
hurt, longing to fulfill a promise of our salvation, all while having to deal with our
big, re-occurring messes, that God never stop working on restoring. We are stupid,
and we don’t mean well, and we blame God for it.

We are stupid because we forget so quickly, we keep giving God more work to do to
bring us back from death, each time we kill our lives. We don’t mean well because
we usurp God’s Love and Wisdom as ours, and we try to outdo God in love, power
and wisdom, as soon as we are brought back from death. What we fall into, each
time, is sin. Love becomes lust and greed, power becomes a tool for domination,
wisdom becomes arrogance and self-interest. This is the repeating theme in the Old
Testament, and the result is always death. I was able to see this only when I read it
through the eyes of God. I’m amazed God hasn’t given up on us yet.
 JOURNALING ON THE OLD TESTAMENT--MARIA GRACE, Ph.D. 14

And I think God has not given up on us because, simply, God loves life. God IS life.
But it seems as though, in order for us to be brought into life, we must die.
Whether it is by our own doing or by the doing of those in power, we must die in
order for God to bring us back to life. This is the message of the Old Testament,
from God to us: “I create you because I love you, I want you to live, you want to
die, I let you die, then I bring you back to life because I love you. I love you, this is
why I create you and I create you because I love you.”

Love is all there is in God. And I am grateful I saw it in the Old Testament. Whether
it is Adam and Eve being expelled from the Garden, or Israel being enslaved in
Egypt, or the human individual living in a state of oppression and alienation, or an
entire modern society living in a state of collective ignorance and arrogance that
keeps it separate from God, we are all slaves to death by our own doing, crying to
return to the Promised Land. God knows this and God knows how to bring us there.
The Old Testament shows how this can be possible. But it can’t be our way.

This is why, in my opinion, interpretations of the Old Testament that come from a
human perspective--no matter how modern and “liberated” this may be--will fail to
open our eyes to God’s love. We must hold those stories lightly, cut through the
specificities, because they immobilize us with their literalism. God is not literal. We
are. But God works with our literalism, in a very real and personal way. We should
not try to translate God’s word--and work--literally. We should just see it for what it
is, beyond and above specificities: Love for Life.