Who Gets Punished for Who's Sins

2 Chronicles 25

[Amaziah] did what was right in the eyes of the LORD... he did not put their children to death, but acted in accordance with what is written in the Law, in the Book of Moses, where the LORD commanded: “Parents shall not be put to death for their children, nor children be put to death for their parents; each will die for their own sin.” [ref. Deuteronomy 24:16]

And yet in Exodus 34:

⁶ And [the Lord] passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, ⁷ maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.”

 And Numbers 14:18

The LORD is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.

So the Deuteronomy rule makes sense and seems fair enough. The other two do not. But God is just. What gives?

I suppose the implication with the Exodus and Numbers quotes is that there may be consequences to sin that have a lasting impact on your family. And that's probably how most Christians (and maybe Jews) would rationalize it. However, that's reading a good bit between the lines that may not be there because that's not really what it says. It reads as an active thing that God does - he punishes - not a passive thing in that he allows the consequences to perpetuate.

Thoughts?

Will God Forsake Us, Or Not

2 Chronicles 15

¹The Spirit of God came on Azariah son of Oded. ² He went out to meet Asa and said to him, “Listen to me, Asa and all Judah and Benjamin. The LORD is with you when you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you...”

Deuteronomy 31

¹ Then Moses went out and spoke these words to all Israel: ² “...⁶ Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”

Hebrews 13 also quotes that verse from Deuteronomy (for a new testament ref.).

Not sure what to make of this seeming contradiction. But I feel like these sorts of problem verses typically get ignored and swept under the rug by Christians. I'm just thinking, really? Does nobody read this stuff and have problems with it? Where's the discussion? Why does there appear to be discord in the message here?

The Holy Grail

I just so happened to be watching another show on the Knights Templar and the Freemasons and they claim that Christopher Columbus was not the first person to settle/find the Americas. It was the Knights Templars looking for a safe place to hide the Holy Grail. There was alot of info I am trying to research but their claim is that the Holy Grail is actually hidden somewhere on this continent. I will see what I can find out and post more later.

Sodom and Gomorah revisisted

I recently watched a documentary on the events of Sodom and Gomorrah as they may be related to the Kofels Impact.
A planisphere dating back to 700 BC was found in 1850 by an archaeologist in the library of a royal palace in Nivea that is now known as Iraq. The tablet is said to be an astronomical observation of the fall of an asteroid which took place in 3123 BC. The recorded projection of the asteroid is amazingly accurate, within 1 degree. The projection puts the asteroid in the path of Kofels, Austria. The recorded observation suggests that the asteroid is one that orbits close to the earth and was 1 kilometer in diameter. The angle of decent had it striking the mountain of Gamskogel causing it to explode and the fireball created damage to the Kofels valley which is observed by modern geologists. The resulting plume of the asteroid would have been about 400 degrees Fahrenheit, enough to ignite and disintegrate everything in it's path, which would have been the towns of Sodom and Gomorrah. The resulting impact would have also caused widespread changes in climates as suggested by northern Africa was once a lush tropical environment that turned into desert.
I believe the show is still running an NatGeo if you are interested.

Satan

1 Chronicles 21:1 - This seems to me the first mention of the name Satan. It took me by surprise because he hasn't been part of the conversation since early in Genesis as far as I recall. Am I forgetting something?

And, yes, I realize I have fallen very far behind in my reading at this point. But I'm at least continuing.

2 Kings 10

2 Kings 10:30 NIV

The Lord said to Jehu, "Because you have done well in accomplishing what is right in my eyes and have done to the house of Ahab all I had in mind to do, your descendants will sit on the throne of Israel to the fourth generation."

What Jehu accomplished was slaughtering everyone in the house of Ahab, in cold blood - there was no war going on. And he got a nice pat on the back from God for that.

Should we revise commandment #6? You shall not murder... unless God tells you to.

What do you think?

Published with Blogger-droid v1.7.0

A bit behind...

Ok, I knew I was a bit behind on my reading the Bible straight thru. I hadn't entirely neglected reading the Bible, I had taken a tangent on reading the first 3 lessons in the Life Principles Bible (courtesy of Charles Stanely) The first lesson was Our intimacy with God-His highest priority for our lives-determines the impact of our lives. Genesis 1:26. Each lesson is followed by excerpts from Charles Stanely about What the Bible Says About... Answers to Life's Questions... and Life Examples. Life Principle 2 was Obey God and leave all consequences to him. Exodus 19:5. And the third was God's word is an immovable anchor in times of storm. Numbers 23:19. I have really enjoyed them all so far. The excerpts are all good.

As far as reading thru the Bible in a year I am about 50 pages behind currently camping out in Nehemiah. I should be at Job 42. Yikes. I feel confident I can make up for lost time. I am aslo very excited that I am only 500 or so pages away from the New Testament. Yea Me!

Ezra: I am so enamored with the whole concept of the Kingdom of David, to Solomon, to the Babylonians invading and now the rebuilding of the temple. It is a story filled with drama and intrigue. I can't help but notice the total absence of the Ark of the Covenant from the things the Babylonians took, to what Cyrus King of Persia gave back. The other thing that interests me is the lack of talk of Love. What I mean is that at the end of Ezra, the men who were guilty of intermarriage with pagan women rescinded the marriage and left their wives and children. It seems so impersonal, a lack of commitment and relationships. I have a hard time with the fact that these men were giving up responsibilities that they entered into when they had children. I understand the reason, but wouldn't you want to stay and try and change certain behaviors? I may be interpreting this all wrong. What are your thoughts?

Info on King Solomon

I got most of the content from wikapedia, by typing in King Solomon. The reference to the bird is from a Rabbinical account (e.g Targum Sheni)

King Solomon's Death

King Solomon is said to have died of natural causes at the age of 80. His son Rehoboam succeeded him as King. Historical evidence other than the Bible is minimal for King Solomon. Josephus, citing Tyrian records and Menander in Against Apion, give a specific year in which Hiram 1 of Tyre sent materials to Solomon for his Temple.

In Feb 2010 an archaeologist announced a dig at the site she claims is the wall of the famous Temple.

In reference to the Queen of Sheba: King Solomon was said to have been given power over all living things. He would often have them dance and perform for him. One day he noticed that the mountain cock was missing so Solomon summoned the Bird. The Bird told him that he had been searching for someplace new and found a land of great wealth and riches. The land was Kitor who's ruler was the Queen of Sheba. Solomon sent the bird to request the Queen of Sheba. The Queen arrived with many riches and riddles. Solomon is said to have answered all she desired and she left satisfied. The Queen of Sheba is never mentioned by name and there is no historical record of her.

What happened to King Solomon's Temple?

The question was asked so I did a little research to try and find out why we have never found the Temple. We can't talk about the Temple without reference to the Ark. Let's start with the journey of the Ark of the Covenant. We know the David wanted to build the Temple but because he angered the Lord by taking a count of his people God let the task of building the Temple fall to David's son Solomon. Solomon went into dept so bad that he sold 20 villages to help pay for the construction. The Temple is/was to be a final resting ground for the Ark. That place is Mt Moria in Jerusalem. It is the highest point in the city and also is said to be the place where Abraham almost sacrificed Isaac, where Jesus is said to have been crucified, and also it is holy to the Muslims because they say Mohammad ascended from there. The center of the temple was called the Holy of Holies because it is where the Ark rested. Some deeply religious people will not even set foot on the Mount for fear of stepping on the actual place the Ark sat. In 587 BC the temple was over run by King Nebuchadnezzar of the Babylonians. Babylonians kept carefully detailed notes of what they looted and the Ark was not there. Speculations swirl from the Queen of Sheba's son sneaking it out, (Queen of Sheba is said to have had a son with Solomon named Menelick), to priests arranging to hide it, to it being hidden in the tunnels under the original Temple. Anyway, King Nebuchadnezzar built a second temple over the first one which was destroyed by the Romans in around 70 CE. There is a religious group devoted to reconstructing the temple exactly as Solomon had built it down to the last nail. They are waiting for the return of the Ark to do this. The return of the Ark will fall in line with the second coming of Christ and they want to be ready. Some say the return of this religious artifact will also spark WW3. There is strong reason to believe that the Ark is housed in a church Our Lady Mary of Zion in Ethiopia. It is the only country in the world to base it's entire existence around a single religious artifact. Every church contains a replica od the Ark. I tried to add pictures but they are apparently copyrighted. Fascinating stuff!

God's smile

More Lost Books?

2 Chronicles 12:15 refers to the records of Shemaiah, 2 Chronicles 13:22 refers to the annotations of of the prophet Iddo, 1 Chronicles 29:29 refers to the records of Samuel the seer, Nathan the prophet and Gad the seer. I am curious who these people are and what, in Biblical times, seer and prophet refered to. I haven't had much time to research but will submit my findings once I have.

Kingdom of Judah vs Kingdom of Israel

I am not sure I get where the separation of kingdoms starts. I guess I started to notice the differences in kingdoms in Judges, but never really put much thought into it because I was trying so hard to follow the people and the stories and glean what I could out of what the books where trying to say that I missed why there even was such a separation. I thought it was "one for all all for God" kinda thing.

BGOTB: Woman at the Well, John 4

I find it interesting that the writer picked another no named woman as a vessel to convey a message. I find it even more interesting that this was the start of a lengthy conversation the longest found in Scripture between Jesus and anyone, as the writer says.
Most of what the book reviews of the conversation lost me until the "what lessons can we learn from the woman at the well" section. Never be afraid to ask questions. Hadn't thought about it that way, but she does have a point. Sometimes we are afraid to tread more deeply into theology with someone more knowledgeable because we don't want to appear foolish by the questions we ask. If the Lord has provided a teacher, be a willing student. James 1:5 If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. I like it. I am always praying that God grant me wisdom to make wise choices in my everyday life and relationships I have with co-workers, friends and passing acquaintances and that those "wise" choices reflect God's work in me. So this part really hit home for me.

The only other thing I have to comment on is that the last lesson was: water is meant to be shared, not hoarded. I don't think I need to go into detail on that, especially if you have been following along. Acts 20:24 I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me-the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace.
No group next week, I have to close down at work. The next bad girl is Delilah. Judges 13-16. I love it, I blogged earlier this year on him and her, I can't wait....

The lineage of kings

Here is a link that could prove to be very useful in sorting out the kings of goodness and badness and who's kingdom they belong to: www.biblestudy.org/prophecy/israel-kings.html.