Showing results by author "Bill Creasy" in All Categories

St. Paul dominates in the New Testament. Thirteen of the twenty-seven books of the New Testament are attributed to him, and during three missionary journeys, he managed to evangelize all of Asia Minor and a major part of Europe. Today, St. Paul is viewed as the apostle who worked tirelessly to spread the gospel in the ancient world. Yet, Paul began as the great persecutor of the Church.

We continue our story of Paul as he begins his 2nd missionary journey, A.D. 50 – 52, leaving Syrian Antioch and making his way across Asia Minor, into Macedonia and finally arriving in Greece, where he spends 18 months at Corinth. Then it’s on to his third missionary journey to Ephesus, A.D. 54 – 57, and finally he is caught in a thicket of legal problems that take him to Rome and an audience before Caesar himself.

With the death of Solomon, his son Rehoboam, ascends the throne. All twelve tribes gather at Shechem to anoint him king—but they demand two concessions: 1) lower the taxes and 2) end conscripted labor. Rehoboam refuses, triggering a civil war. In 930 B.C., the united monarchy splits, ten of the twelve tribes forming the northern kingdom of Israel, with its capital in Samaria, and two of the twelve tribes forming the southern kingdom of Judah, with its capital in Jerusalem.

Jesus’ entire public ministry leads to his death, burial and resurrection. Indeed, Jesus tells us himself that he came “to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20: 28). We often are given the impression that Jesus was the innocent victim of corrupt religious authority and political intrigue. That is wrong. Jesus knew exactly what he was doing when he left Galilee for Jerusalem on Passover in the third year of his ministry.

When the kingship and the priesthood become corrupt, God often raises a great prophet to counter them. Ahab reigns over the northern kingdom of Israel (870-853 B.C.) and Asa over the southern kingdom of Judah (910-869 B.C.). Ahab “did more evil in the eyes of the Lord than any of those before him. To counter such massive corruption and idolatry, God raises one of his greatest prophets, Elijah. His story begins here.

The Book of Job explores “why bad things happen to good people.” Job is indeed a righteous man, so why are terrible things happening to him? We find our answer in these chapters.

With Saul and his sons dead, the door opens for David to become king (1010-970 B.C.). But it’s not easy. Kingship rests with the tribe of Benjamin, while David is from the tribe of Judah; Saul still has a surviving son and grandchildren; Saul’s commanding general, Abner, has rallied ten of the twelve tribes to the house of Saul; and David has been an outlaw for a decade, working for Israel’s enemies, the Philistines. Although we read that God gave the kingship to David, it is another matter entirely to convince the people that David should be king.

The march to the Promised Land takes 40 years. But the Israelites do not wander aimlessly in the wilderness during that time. (Recall the old explanation that Moses, like most men, was too stubborn to stop and ask for directions!) Refused passage through Edom on the King’s Highway, Moses diverts northwest to Kadesh Barnea, a large oasis, where the Israelites spend nearly 37 of the 40 years, finally entering the Promised Land through Moab, by a remote and very dangerous desert route.

In Isaiah Part 2, we enter the historical interlude. We learn in Isaiah 1: 1 that Isaiah functions as a prophet during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah: That is, from 740 – 686 B.C. During that time, two major historical events occur: 1) Assyria’s attack on the northern kingdom of Israel in 722 B.C. and 2) Assyria’s attack on Jerusalem in 701 B.C., while Hezekiah is king and Isaiah is prophet.

That attack in 701 B.C.—and God miraculously saving Jerusalem—foreshadows greater events to come.

What happens next is a delicious reversal! In the end the Jews not only survive, but they kill and plunder the Persians who attempt the holocaust; Haman is impaled naked on a pointy-pole; Esther becomes the heroine of her people; and Mordecai replaces Haman as Xerxes’ number-two man!

In Leviticus, God tells his people to “be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy” (Leviticus 19: 2). Leviticus is a handbook of holiness. Here God prescribes the five great sacrifices that enable a sinful people to be brought into fellowship with a holy God: 1) the burnt offering; 2) the grain offering; 3) the peace offering; 4) the sin offering; and 5) the guilt offering. Four of these five are animal sacrifices.

The story of Job is set during the time of Abraham—the beginning of our story. Here we read that Job “was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil…. He was the greatest man among all the people of the East” (Job 1: 1; 3). Job has done everything God asks; yet his life is a disaster! Placed after Esther, Job calls into question everything we have learned about God in the previous books.

With the Law in hand and the Tabernacle functioning, Moses organizes the Israelites by tribe, clan and family. A head count numbers 603,550 men, ages 20-50. The march to the Promised Land begins!

By the end of Joshua, the Israelites have a foothold in the land of Canaan, but the conquest raises several critical issues: 1) strategically, how do the Israelites conquer a much stronger and more numerous enemy; 2) can a land conquered so brutally result in a peaceful and blessed life for the conquerors; and 3) what about the moral and ethical issues involved in such a conquest? Joshua is a deeply disturbing story on several levels.

It is one thing to conquer a land; it is quite another to settle it and live in it. At this point in our story, Israel is not a nation; it is at best a loose confederation of tribes, each living in its own territory, isolated by rivers, mountains, valleys and other natural terrain. When an outside threat intrudes, the tribes coalesce, a leader (called a “judge”) emerges, and he (or she, in the case of Deborah) deals with the threat. There are 13 such leaders in Judges, and as our story progresses, they become more and more corrupt.

With good intentions David’s commanding general, Joab, engineers Absalom’s return from exile to an uneasy peace between father and son. All the while, Absalom chafes under David’s refusal to reinstate him as his eldest surviving son and heir to the throne, and as time passes, Absalom gains support, raises an army, and marches against his father. If David stays in Jerusalem and defends the city, he knows he will ultimately face his own son in battle, and when he does, David will kill him.

Isaac survives, and our story continues with tales of Isaac and his twin sons, Jacob and Esau.

As David’s star rises, Saul becomes ever more paranoid, sinking into a morass of delusion and despair, finally ordering David’s assassination. Informed of Saul’s plan, David runs, becoming a wanted felon and an outlaw. For ten years David works as a mercenary for Israel’s enemies, the Philistines, gathering around him a band of very tough characters that becomes his inner circle. The action culminates at Mt. Gilboa, where Saul and his sons are killed and the Philistines thunderously defeat Israel.

We’ve all heard the story of David and Bathsheba, but never like this: There is no great love affair between David and Bathsheba; adultery is not David’s great sin; and although God forgives David for what he does, there are far reaching consequences that shake the kingdom and bring David to his knees. This is one of the greatest stories in all of world literature, dazzling in its brilliance, stunning in its nuance and profound in its understanding of human nature.

Forgiveness of sin does not cancel the consequences of sin. And in 2 Samuel 12 the consequences envelop David. David’s eldest son and heir to the throne, Amnon, rapes his half-sister, Tamar. Absalom, Tamar’s brother and David’s favorite son, murders Amnon in revenge, and then Absalom flees into exile.