David's Pen

Back in the day, before we set off on our epic journey up north to visit parents or to the wilds of Dorset  to go on holiday, there would be much map searching and route plotting. Lists of directions and alternative routes, debates over timings and potential stop-off points. Time-consuming but satisfying, arrival wasn't the start of the adventure, the journey was a part of it. Today, of course, we plug in the postcode of the destination into the Sat-Nav as we get into the car and just do what we are told. Turn right, turn left, slow down, speed up, stop, you've arrived. Very easy, very convenient, especially when you're sense of direction is as bad as mine. Was reminded of all this today on holiday. Walking from the apartment up into the old town of Paphos. Got the map out, plotted the route, made some changes on the fly when we saw something we liked. Sense of achievement when we got there, lots of fun on the way - not much to see in the town itself, happy when w...

There is a theology that suggests that there is a hierarchy within the Trinity which is supposed to be reflected in human relationships. In particular, the Son is seen as being 'under' the Father, lending authority to the notion that wives are 'under' their husbands. Now, it should be stressed, that in both these cases, there is no suggestion that being 'under' role is less significant than being 'over', nonetheless, this is a reflection of the Godhead and not  therefore open to cultural interpretation.  Adherents to this view, point to the way in which Jesus submitted himself to the authority of the Father; only saying what He gave him to say and only doing that which he was given to do, ultimately resulting in his obedience to death on a cross. These examples of behaviour demonstrating that Jesus understood and was faithful in the execution of his role as subservient in his relationship within the Trinity. By extension, a simple reading of Ephesi...

18  “You must not commit adultery. Kings who would live after the time of Moses and the great Patriarchs who lived before him, often had multiple wives or those who bore them children. Abraham was married to Sarai but had a child with Hagar, Jacob was tricked into marrying both Leah and Rachel, David had eight wives and Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines. Meanwhile, Moses himself appears to have had two wives, though whether they were both alive at the same time is not clear. As these examples perhaps demonstrate, how much easier it is, when things become difficult in a relationship, to avoid dealing with the roadblocks to genuine depth. How much easier to find solace elsewhere than to work through the issues that prevent us finding it where we should. How often, the grass is greener. In any friendship, when we scratch the surface of another person we discover that which we don’t like, that which triggers the worst in us, that which will require commitment and ...

17  “You must not murder.   We’ve begun to see that all the commands are rooted in the character of God – a God who is love. It’s easy to see that killing someone isn’t very loving! But let’s pause for a moment to ask why? Love, the Bible tells us, ‘does not insist on its own way’ – it gives choice. Put simply, death precludes choice – it steals that which is at the heart of love – it is the most profound opposite of love. And this thought finds its home in this command. The Hebrew from which this is translated certainly encompasses the command not to take someone’s life unjustly, but it casts wider than that. Rabbinical tradition includes the broader concept of not stealing someone’s life – and in recent times was used by Rabbis as a command against kidnapping or enslaving. For Moses, such thoughts would have resonated profoundly. Firstly, he did steal someone’s life, literally, he killed the Egyptian. But his people, who he was called to lead to freedom, had ...

20  “You must not testify falsely against your neighbour. The first commandment that we looked at warned us not to make false images of God because t he law (Deuteronomy 19:15-21) specified that the testimony of one witness was not sufficient to prove a case, however, the testimony of two or three witnesses was conclusive. There was no CSI, no Inspector Morse, no ‘Silent Witness’, no jury. The investigation of a case was limited to the credibility of the witnesses – and if two or three agreed, that was enough to convict. Clearly, those motivated by malice could conspire to testify against someone: John and Jane, having a grudge against Fred, might drag him before the judge saying: “We saw Fred steal that fruit” Provided their individual testimonies agreed and the witnesses were therefore credible, poor Fred would be found guilty. To mitigate this risk, the law instituted the famous ‘eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth’ clause. If the witnesses are shown to be bearing fa...

8  “You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind, or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea.   9  You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the  Lord  your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected—even children in the third and fourth generations of those who reject me.   10  But I lavish unfailing love for a thousand generations on those who love me and obey my commands. What is God like, how are we to know Him? It’s a fundamental question that has been asked down the ages and still is. When Moses went up the mountain, it is what the people waited to discover – Moses was going to meet with God and find out what He was like on their behalf. When it looked like he had died in the process, they had Aaron make an image of God. One way or another, they wanted something tangible to see – ...

“Hear O Israel, The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the  Lord  your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. ” This passage, from Deuteronomy 6 is known as the Shema (from the Hebrew “to hear”.) It comes after the commandments themselves and acts as a summary. Indeed, when asked what the greatest commandment was, rather than picking one of the ten, Jesus quotes from the Shema, arguing that all the commandments flow from this. So, what does it tell us, what context does it provide? ‘Hear O Israel’ As Moses reminded them, they went into Egypt as seventy persons, but by now outnumber the stars in the sky. Israel had become a vast multitude, yet God was addressing them as one nation. From the disunity of twelve tribes had come the community of one people. ‘The Lord our God, the Lord is one’ In the same way, God, who had begun to reveal Himself as three persons through the ‘First Book of Moses (Genesis), is nonet...