Aug 26, 2009

Texts:
Deuteronomy 27 and 28
Luke 18

Deuteronomy:
Well, wow. What an interesting section. This passage is considered to be very old material--Levi is still counted as a tribe and the house of Joseph has not yet been divided--and it has parallels in Leviticus and in other ancient cultures. A public listing of curses and blessings would have been common when agreements (or covenants) were sealed. Scholars aren't sure what happened to the list of blessings.
The covenant ceremony was to take place in Schechem, the city between Mt Ebal and Mt Gerazim. The location of Schechem today would be the city of Nablus.

Luke:
I love the parable in which Jesus compares our constant praying to an annoying woman who won't leave the judge alone. If an unjust judge answers her concern just to shut her up, won't God grant justice to those who cry to him? I love it that we are given permission to ask, again and again and again, for our prayers to be answered.

There are a lot of stewardship issues in this chapter. Any thoughts?