Bad Samaritans and Good Samaritans

 There are apparently people saying the guy who killed Jordan Neely on the subway in NY is a good Samaritan. It's astonishing that most of the people saying this - are Christians and clearly DON"T understand the parable of the Good Samaritan.

So - For anyone who's actually read it - and not just been told about it - but actually read the story for themselves it's clear that the parable as 2 morals. 1) be kind and help strangers in need. 2) don't judge strangers as evil just because they are strangers.

The context of this is that Jesus' audience hated Samaritans. In modern times think of Christian Nationalists describing black people as "thugs" or as describing hispanic people as "illegal immigrants." Same thing. When Jesus was talking about the Samaritan, he's talking about someone his audience thinks of as a lawless thug. To them, there is no such thing as a "good Samaritan." The parable is Jesus correcting them.

Next - the parable is about how someone the audience thinks of a lawless thug (aka - a Samaritan) does not KILL or steal or harm the beaten suffering man as the audience would expect. Instead, the Samaritan helps him. And Jesus' audience finds that shocking because - he's a Samaritan! But this Samaritan is a good Samaritan not a bad Samaritan. Don't judge all Samaritans as bad. They are humans capable of goodness. And in this case they display more kindness and compassion than Jesus' audience does. Jesus is totally shaming his audience for their lack of compassion.

The guy who strangled a stranger to death in the subway isn't a "good Samaritan." He's the guy who injured the stranger who was left for dead on the side of the road in the parable. He's the bad guy. The good Samaritan is the person who HELPS the stranger on the side of the road. Not the guy who injures/kills the stranger.

And again, the only reason he's a "good" Samaritan is because Jesus' audience thought all Samaritans were bad. So - when you hear Christians demonize anyone, or when they call people thugs or illegal understand that they are still doing what Jesus admonished his followers for doing with this parable and that NONE of them understand the parable of the Good Samaritan. Despite saying they are Christians, they clearly don't understand Jesus' message.

The Book of Job - retranslated

There is a new translation of the book of Job. Done by a guy who is a language nerd.

According to the Atlantic article on this, "Edward L. Greenstein’s new translation of the Book of Job is a work of erudition with—as we shall see—a revolutionary twist. A professor emeritus of Bible studies at Israel’s Bar-Ilan University, Greenstein is not going for the deep-time sonorities of the Authorized Version. His language is lumpy with scholarly fidelity to the text."

What is apparently cool about this - is that Job - doesn't say he's sorry to God when God comes down in his fury.

Instead - after saying - I wish I had never been born and life is crap.  And after hearing God say - well - that's just how I roll. Job doesn't repent.  Instead - he says - well then, I feel sorry for everyone.

He doesn't capitulate. He remains defiant. Which is AWESOME!

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/09/job-edward-l-greenstein/594769/


God's response to this defiance is to restore to Job all he had lost. His friends - who told him to repent are told to go make some offerings. Job - is rewarded for being honest with God.

James Parker, the author of the article, sums up what this new translation means about who God is in this book. "Maybe that’s what this God, faced with this Job, is telling us: Bring it all before him, the full grievance of your humanity. Bring him your condition, loudly. Let him have it."

A more compassionate God - certainly would be more humanistic than an uncaring - demand fealty god

Biblical Scholar Interview

I am not a biblical scholar. I'm just a person who has been reading the Bible from a Humanist perspective to see what I think of it.

But this woman, Professor Francesca Stavrakopoulou, is. And she's an atheist and the head of a theology department at Exeter University.

She's funny and interesting and views the Bible the same way I do. I loved her interview and thought you might too. Obviously - even among Biblical Scholars her views are a bit - controversial, but not as controversial as you might think.

2 Kings 9: Jezebel is killed

Synopsis:

Elisha has one of the children of the prophets go to Jehu, son of Jehoshaphat and pour oil on him and declare he will be king over all Israel and then they fled. He is ordered to smite the hose of Ahab. The dogs shall eat Jezebel and there shall be none to bury her. Jehu goes out to the servants; they blow trumpets and declare him king. Jehu conspires against Joram of Israel, who is in Jezreel heeling. Ahaziah, king of Judah, nephew of Jehu is visiting him. Jehu rides furiously to Jezreel. Joram and Ahaziah come out to meet him and ask him if he is coming in peace. The answer is no. What peace, so long as the whoredoms of your mother Jezebel are so many? Joram flees. Jehu draws his bow and sends an arrow between his arms. It came out through his heart.  Ahaziah sees this and flees, but Jehu follows him and smote him also. Ahaziah flees to Megiddo and dies there. Jezebel is now aware of what Jehu is doing. He looks up to the window of the servants of Jezebel and asks, who is on my side. Two or three eunichs throw Jezebel down. She is trampled under the feet of the horses. Jehu enters the palace and eats and drinks and then tells the servants to bury Jezebel, but there is nothing left but her skull.

In other words:

Jehu, son of Jehoshaphat kills Jezebel and the other kings and takes over.

Favorite bit:

2 Kings 9:3 – Then take the box of oil, and pour it on his head, and say, Thus saith the Lord, I have anointed thee king over Israel. Then open the door, and flee and tarry not.

Least favorite bit:

2 Kings 9:33: And he said, Throw her down. So they threw her down: and some of her blood was sprinkled on the wall, and on the horses: and he trode her under foot. (Very graphic, very disturbing)

Most interesting bit:

Ahaziah is the nephew of Jehu. So his brother had become king and he plots against his nephew and when he can kill both his nephew and the king of Israel he does it. Very clever.

Best comeback:

2 Kings 9:22 And it came to pass, when Joram saw Jehu, that he said, Is it peace, Jehu? And he answered, What peace, so long as the whoredoms of thy mother Jezebel and her witchcrafts are so many?

Moral Lesson Learned:

Be strategic about WHEN you act (2 Kings 9)