Song of Songs

Solomon wrote the song of Solomon because romance rules. 

Solomon expressed himself through poems all the time and I think this is another one of those times where he just needed to write about it! The finished product consisted of a series of poems that don't stand alone. Each chapter goes deeper into a story of one man and one woman from their newly budded love to a time of tested and true loyalty to one another.

Why do I think Solomon wrote The Song of Songs?

Good question, all the facts point to him being the author regardless of the elephant in the room; how in the world would Solomon write such a great love poem about true, unfailing love if he was such a player? Talk about a contrast.

Lets's look at the facts: in 1:1 it states the book is of (or to) Solomon, Also, the internal evidence of the plant and animal metaphors pointing to his authorship, the use of certain areas like Jerusalem and Tirzam point to the time when he was king, and the riches and splendor talked about in these poems reflect the wealth and customs around his era...this points to truths about the time of authorship (around 956 BC) and also who wrote it--it's good to be the king.

As I was doing my BRI, trying to find the author and reason written I faced a challenge, most of the facts pointed to Solomon being the author even though I really hated that answer. I wanted the author to be the priests of that time. I wanted them to have written it to Solomon to teach him a lesson about what true love really looked like! Ya! Cause Solomon was such a tool and I kinda don't like the guy for it. But I just couldn't find enough info to back up this theory...So, as I pondered this little conundrum  I realized that I could pull my lessons from proverbs into the equation. Solomon was the wisest kid in town. He knew about things on a deeper level than most because God gave him this wisdom. His wisdom was only good when he put it into action, this is how he was such a great king; he acted upon the things he knew to be true (through God). It also says in 1 Kings that even though Solomon was blessed with great wisdom, he wasn't perfect. And what was Solomon's vise? Women.

I'm sorry, but this loop of wisdom turning to idiocracy screams ironic. Solomon knew. He knew the right thing, God gave him the wisdom to understand a beautiful romance and intimacy with one woman--that's why he wrote the Song of Songs. But sometimes even when a person knows the right thing to do, they walk away from it. They simply choose something that seems better, or maybe it was easier, or maybe his head got too big, who knows--it's good to be the king.

Whatever persuaded him to mess up shows that people are inconsistent and we tend to makes mistakes. Which means even the proof of Solomon being the author and all the theories of how to interpret the Song of Songs can be argued and persuade a person to believe anything. I'm not saying that all the interpretations of this book are correct (cause they can't all be true), but people have been opinionated for quite some time without the satisfaction of a wholesome answer. While complete agreement would be awesome, for now, I'm going to settle with  the solid ground that this is a book about two people truly in love and how awesome it is to be in love.

Deuteronomy: Family and Education

 For my theme tracing this week I picked family and education. First off I would like to say that family as an education style could be a theme in itself. I say this because in a lot of cultures education does not come through the family (they rely on schools to educate their children). And that is a pity. Because a family that teaches each other is a lifestyle choice that gets passed down from generation to generation. (which is what Moses wanted to happen) This means that children being educated in their families will be taught right from wrong at a very young age which is a brilliant thought! Kinda like the nature vs, nurture theory. If a kid is brought up in a certain way they will most likely be that way when they grow up. This was a common theme throughout Deuteronomy (11:19 Moses wanted them to teach these things to their children; 12:25; 17:15 leadership in Israel is supposed to be within their family. why? because the laws are being taught in the family. these are just a few examples)
 And to go even deeper, the education  the children receive (as in the laws) from their parents is laced with healthy theories about how families should run. (14:28--take care of the sojourners, fatherless, widows, and Levites;15:2 the whole nation has a brotherly love because of God's laws;17:7 getting rid of the evil from their midst was for the benefit of the whole community; just to list a few). These were all laws with one big concept; Community. The Israelites were supposed to take care of each other and not mistreat one another by stealing property or using faulty weights to measure money. Moses wants them to be 1: educated on the written law and 2: be educated on the reason behind the written law. And the reason behind the written law has everything to do with loving you brothers and treating them right. which in my opinion is like saying the whole culture is supposed to be like one big family.
 The Sojourners involvement in the laws regarding family is pretty cool too. There are times when the brotherly laws only seem to encompass the Israelites (like you can take interest on foreigners but never take interest on your brothers) but there are laws protecting the foreigners from mistreatment (24:14) A nation with laws protecting foreigners from mistreatment would be very appealing. This  invites foreigners from the north and south of the promise land to come visit, inhabit, do business whatever with Israel; a nation with such high moral standards. Now we have foreigners being educated about Israel's laws! And something we can observe from Duet; if you know God's laws, you are one step closer to knowing God. The foreigners get the chance to be apart of the Israelite's family and to love God and serve him with all their heart, mind, and soul.

Numbers (heart motives)

                God heart, Israel's heart, and Moses and Aaron's heart.

      First, I'll talk about God's heart because it's my favorite. I noticed that throughout the whole book, there are serious ups and downs to God's emotions. One minute he was aggravated to the point of wanting to commit genocide...multiple times! But then he forgives the strong headed masses once atonement have been made. Now this is just an opinion but I got to say it; God doesn't want to act this way. He doesn't want to punish them and kill them off for their stupid rebellions but his hands are completely tied; if he gave the people no punishment for what they had done, then Israel would never learn their lesson about being thankful, trusting, and to follow God. And of course, the best way to get people to change behavior is to get them extremely sorry they got caught and make the consequence too much to bear (usually death in this case) But what I'm trying to say is; God's heart motives were to teach the Israelites. They needed to understand how to be grateful  how to be different from the rest of the world, how to live justly without jealousy and contempt for the people around them.
Which leads me to Israel's heart; they were stubborn, stuck in survival mode, and could not for the life of them (literally, haha) get through their thick skulls that GOD WAS IN CONTROL. They have all the laws in front of them yet following them was easier said then done. Their hearts filled to the brim with their own desires which caused them to foolishly forget the good things God was desperately trying to teach them. Like in Numbers 15:39 when God wants people to put tassels on their clothing to remember God's commandments it was because the Israelites were inclined to whore after their own heart. Israel's baseline for living screams selfishness. All they pursue in life comes from their own heart which sadly contrasted God's commandments.  This can not be the case for a nation God calls to represent Him and all his character traits.
Luckily, Israel has some saving grace; Aaron and Moses. I forget how many times it says Aaron and Moses fell on their face by the tent of meeting. Whenever problems arose, Aaron and Moses went to God for direction. they were constantly interceding for Israel, reminding God of human's need for His mercy, and graciousness and praying he would be slow to anger but abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. (granted, they made mistakes too but no one is perfect) Moses and Aaron understood what was going on. They could see the people's mindsets clashing and fighting against right and wrong and they could see God's intolerance to the sin and filth the Israelites emitted. Representing God with the all that filth just can't happen because it would be a lie. Moses and Aaron's heart cried out for understanding and resolution between God and man.
I believe as I keep on reading through the bible and get into the second and third generation Israelites; the ones who get to enter into the promise land, I will observe how they are becoming more teachable and their heart begins to understand that God controls their safety and can provide for them. I'm guessing their hearts will be more open to obeying God as he leads. Of course, they will still have their downfalls, but it's a process! Thankfully God helps us every step of the way.

Leviticus

Through the book of Leviticus, a few themes have been jumping out to me.

One of them is how God stressed holiness for not just the priests but also the rest of the nation. I love how God wanted to be the God of everyone, not just the priests.

Sadly, I think it is a tough cultural default that people see a separation between them and preachers, Pastors or Catholic Priests  or gurus or whatever other kind of spiritual leader exists for people to come seek spiritual guidance  For the most part, popular belief says "just leave the heavy duty spiritual knowledge for those guys, but I'm going to continue my life pretty normal and not try to seek God out personally. Seeking God out for myself would be impossible or too difficult."

I hate how the presence of spiritual leaders give people an excuse to be more distant from God instead of the presence of a spiritual leader bringing people closer to God. But in the book of Leviticus I observed how the priest's job had a lot to do with cleansing the people of their sins and making atonement for the nation in order for God to dwell with them. The Levite's job was directly related to bringing God and the nation closer together. Baby, that's how it should be!! 

Once I made that connection, the challenge came. Am I relying on a spiritual leader in order to be closer to God? Or am I trying to have direct relationship with God? Also, do other people see me like their spiritual guru now because I'm going to bible school so I must have all the right answers? Or am I encouraging people to go find God on a personal level themselves?

God wants EVERYONE. He wants everyone to get to know his character, and share inside jokes, and exchange gifts, and frolic through flowers, and share pictures of their grandchildren and I'm going overboard but I hope you get the point. He wants every single person to know him personally because he is the best thing even before sliced bread. 

Some one during my DTS said they used to have a date night with God every week. She would start out by asking God where he wanted to go and then spend the night doing whatever with God. That's the kind of effort God is asking for in Leviticus (like with the solemn assemblies or all the festival days) . Take a day out for God and just be with Him. We do it for our best friends and significant others. Why don't we do it for God?

Exodus

Before I wrote this final application I had a dream. A crazy dream about my entire life. It was about where I lived growing up, who my friends were in middle school, the choices I made in high school, all the vacations I had with my family, what kind of music I listened to, things my teachers said in school, and the most significant thing of all was my dream brought back my thoughts and emotions and feelings about all these things.

 When I woke up from my dream, my mind hit...overload. There were so many things from my childhood; good experiences and bad experiences I hadn't thought about in ages. And I asked God, why did you show me all this? He reminded me, It's good to look back.

Looking back at old mistakes makes you wiser. And looking back at old accomplishments makes you proud.

  I'm not sure how many people can relate to this, but sometimes I feel like I have messed up my canvas of life so much that I want another piece of paper; a restart. I like going to new places and meet new people because i think, "maybe I'll get it right this time and the woman will come out that I finally would want to be and the old girl can just fade to the back. But my dream really made me think. I realized I couldn't forget who I used to be--my past shaped me into the person I am today. Some of my past is beautiful; it made me a kind, loving girl. While some of my past, I continually fight. I hate how it made me shy and uncomfortable and hurtful to people. I have to remember those things will always be there and I can't truly avoid them, even if I try.

 Then I realized this was a great parallel to the book of Exodus...

  After reading the book of Exodus and observing how God brought the Israelites out of their slavery; how God wanted them to be a priestly nation; how the Israelites grumbled and had no trust in God AND didn't keep his commands (they had a lot to figure out and they were learning the hard way); I noticed through all those events, God still forgave them and continually tried to show them how to completely trust in God's provision. But, I would like to note,There was a point in which God was willing to give up on the Israelites and wipe them out completely (kinda like the times I want to press restart on my life and start over fresh). But God didn't.

*Bah!! Why didn't God just give up? Then I would have an excuse to do the same thing!! Geesh God...*

 When Israel messed up by worshiping the golden calf, they completely abused the covenant they just made with God (not making a graven image). So, God had every right to obliterate those idiots. (He really did, they just made a crazy blood covenant where Moses splattered blood on everybody; how nasty is that?) But anyways, God getting rid of the Israelites and starting over with Moses would go against the character of God. You see, God is making a statement in Exodus that he is with those people for the long hall.  Even though the Israelites screwed up big time, forgiving them was more important because God still had big plans for their nation. (you know, conquoring the Canaanites and all)

And it's a good thing Exodus was written down so they could look back and remember their past! The good and the bad.

 So now i'm making that statement with my life; no matter how many times I screw up, I can't forget my past, I'm sticking with God as my guide for the long hall. And like Moses, my deep relationship with God will help me get through. Ya, I know. I have no clue how weighty that statement just was but I said it anyways. It's sorta like the covenant they made with God way back in Exodus;)

Genesis

By reading through the whole book of Genesis I have picked up certain themes;

1. God has a plan. Ever since creation, God had everything together. I know this is a bold claim seeing as we screwed up in the Garden of Eden and everything got all crappy. But God knew exactly what to do as soon as Adam and Eve did it. And he knew exactly what to do once Cain killed Abel; He knew exactly what to do when Noah was the only righteous person left in the world. And it was by no mistake that he told Abraham he was going to bless him and (this is important!!) through Abraham, God promised to be a blessing to the rest of the world. God had this whole thing air tight. And he knew from the beginning that our freewill would keep us from being perfect and would become self destructive. But, He was going to bring redemption--He was going to bring a blessing to the world through Abraham.
2. God is faithful and keeps his promises He keeps his original promise to Abraham about filling the land with offspring and blessing him with livestock and possessions. We see this promise through the following generations after Abraham all the way to Joseph. Also, even though he isn't completely finished with the promise of the Hebrews living in the land of Canaan, the promise is being passed from generation to generation and they believe that it will come to pass. 
3. God cares for the human race. God is trying to bless Abraham and his descendants because he wants to restore a right relationship with his creation. He picked Abraham because he was righteous and obedient and 'called upon the name of the Lord'. which leads me to my next point:
4. God wants people to 'be righteous'. Now there is no God given law for mankind at this point so I use the phrase 'be righteous' as a loose meaning for having a moral conduct--not being wicked. Certain times in Genesis people trust God and it is counted as righteousness, or they act righteously and it pleased God. But on the other hand some people or whole cities acted wickedly and God reacts by killing them or wiping them off the face of the earth. (I would also like to note that when God did these things it wasn't considered unfair of him to do so) So God created us to be righteous and he doesn't like it when we are not righteous.
5. God wants to take care of his creation. God is constantly taking care of people and looking out for them. For example, he wants to bless Abraham and through Abraham, He wants to be a blessing to the rest of the world. Examples of him taking care of people include: God protected Lot from being wiped out with his city; God protected Jacob from Esau by means of escaping to Laban (note here Jacob probably did not deserve this protection); God protected Joseph and his family by giving them the means to get food in a famine; God also protected Joseph while he was a slave and gave him dream interpretations and blessed his work no matter where Joseph lived.
6. God has a crazy way of balancing human's freewill and his will for the human race (that i still don't understand). He is constantly talking and engaged with his people and constantly saying, 'I will be with you' but He also lets things happen through people instead of doing things himself. (I'm not talking about the plagues in Egypt yet cause that is in Exodus=P)
7. God is forgiving. Even though God likes it when people are righteous and do not act wickedly, He still works with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob when they make mistakes (like lie about who they are married to). It is an example of how God is patient with humans--He understands the difficulty for us to achieve perfection but he still wants us to strive to 'be a blessing and be blessed'

How will I personally apply what I have learned?

 This is a tough question to mull over in my head. I am torn between personal application and viewing the text as the original reader (most likely the Israelites at Mt. Sinai). I know this book's design challenges a whole nation's mindset and changes how they view themselves; are they a creation from the many gods of Egypt? or do they come from this one god of their ancestor's;  Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? Are they simply slaves, viewed as nothing more than cheap labor? Or are they a people group with a rich heritage and a faithful,eternal god who's hand is in everything that occurs in their life's story? Can they know this god personally like their forefathers did?...
 To say the least, the Hebrews have quite a bite to chew. And honestly, so does the rest of the world.  I have heard it said before how the Hebrew slaves are a wonderful symbolism for people today--we are all slaves to something weather it be our work, our relationships, our leisurely activities, you name it, we can be a slave to it. But just like the slaves in Egypt, we have a deliverer who can take us out of our unhealthy bond to that something.
 But what do we do once we are free? Now, finally, we are like the Hebrews in the desert. Which leads me back to the beginning of my personal application; I feel like the Hebrews in the desert, I have read the book of Genesis.Through reading the whole book, I'm starting to grasp the personality of this one true God, and now I have observed his consistent character traits. So now comes my new-found knowledge...are you ready for it? The one thing that I am going to take away from the book of Genesis and attempt to personally apply for the rest of my life!?
 Mistake and forgiveness. By reading the countless stories in Genesis about human mistakes and forgiveness I realized how often people make mistakes. And how often forgiveness is required to keep the world turning. I'm not just talking about forgiveness by God. Humans forgive too. And without that special ingredient to the recipe of life, God's redemptive plan for the world takes 10 steps backwards. If we don't forgive our family, our friends, and other nations, we would have only burnt bridges with nowhere to advance. As a world joined by one creator, we need to be united.
 So ending this long thought process, people make mistakes, duh! But in order for the human race to 'be righteous' we must forgive each other's mistakes and move on.
And I'm guessing the 'moving on' will come in the next books=D So I'm so excited to read the rest of the bible now!!

xoxo

The beginning

Hello friends and family!

     It's been almost 3 weeks since I left California and I already miss everyone sooooo much! I wish I could come and visit all my peeps and tell them everything that's been going on in my life....but that would be expensive to do every weekend....So I'm going to start a blog as a way for everyone back home to keep up with all my adventures and everything I'm learning in my bible school here in Tijuana.
     I'll post things on here about my daily life but more importantly I'll post important lessons God is teaching me while I study the bible for the next nine months. I'll try to keep them short and sweet for ya;) So feel free to comment on them and more importantly let me know how everything is back home!! Cause i love and miss everyone to pieces.

los quiero,

Amber
xoxo