November 15, 2023 – Does the Bible Say…? 

Does the Bible say the bush was not consumed by the fire?

“During that long period of time the king of Egypt died, and the Israelites groaned because of the slave labor. They cried out, and their desperate cry because of their slave labor went up to God. God heard their groaning, God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob, God saw the Israelites, and God understood. Now Moses was shepherding the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the desert and came to the mountain of God, to Horeb. The angel of theLord appeared to him in a flame of fire from within a bush. He looked – and the bush was ablaze with fire, but it was not being consumed! So Moses thought, “I will turn aside to see this amazing sight. Why does the bush not burn up?” Genesis 2:23-25

There are a lot of reasons to envy Moses — he parted the Red (Reed) Sea — he bested one of the most powerful rulers of his time — he was in charge of a nation that had no home but a lot of people to tell him how to keep them in line — well that last one may not have been so good. But Moses is considered to be “The Prophet” of the Prophets in Jewish history. And throughout his lifetime, he talked with G-d on a number of occasions (in fact he had the opportunity to argue with G-d — and win).

Moses is a complicated individual. From being saved from certain death by his crafty mother and the mothering instincts of one of Pharaoh’s daughters, to murdering an Egyptian for abusing one of his kinsmen, he came out of obscurity to become one of Israel’s greatest leaders. The story of G-d calling him from the burning bush gives us some insight into his character — for he was not afraid to argue with G-d.

I just want to ask Moses what it looked like to see a bush that was on fire, but the fire was not consuming the bush. The Bible describes the voice of G-d as thunder, or the earth trembling. The Bible gives us many descriptions, but there are some things that happen that just seem to be an afterthought. What was it like to speak to the creator of all things through a mysterious fire? What did G-d’s voice sound like and did the earth shake when G-d spoke? What would you ask Moses if you had the chance?

Pastor Dave

November 14, 2023 – Does the Bible Say….?

Does the Bible say Jonah was swallowed by a Whale?

“The Lord said to Jonah son of Amittai, “Go immediately to Nineveh, that large capital city, and announce judgment against its people because their wickedness has come to my attention.” Instead, Jonah immediately headed off to Tarshish to escape from the commission of the Lord. He traveled to Joppa and found a merchant ship heading to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went aboard it to go with them to Tarshish far away from the Lord. But the Lord hurled a powerful wind on the sea. Such a violent tempest arose on the sea that the ship threatened to break up! He said to them, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea to make the sea quiet down, because I know itʼs my fault you are in this severe storm.” Instead, they tried to row back to land, but they were not able to do so because the storm kept growing worse and worse. So they cried out to the Lord, “Oh, please, Lord, donʼt let us die on account of this man! Donʼt hold us guilty of shedding innocent blood. After all, you, Lord, have done just as you pleased.” So they picked Jonah up and threw him into the sea, and the sea stopped raging. The men feared the Lord greatly, and earnestly vowed to offer lavish sacrifices to the Lord. The Lord sent a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the stomach of the fish three days and three nights.” Jonah 1:1-4, 12-17

The story of Jonah is a story about the limits we try to put on our calling from G-d, and the lengths G-d will go to reduce our limits. Jonah tried immediately to limit the length he would go to accept a calling from G-d. As soon as G-d said “Jonah, Go to Nineveh!” — Jonah went the opposite direction. As soon as he began running, Jonah experienced trouble. The men on the ship to which he had retreated soon discovered that someone on board was responsible for their bad luck and bad weather, and Jonah confessed that his G-d was angry. Finding no other way to appease G-d — Jonah was thrown off the ship and immediately swallowed by an enormous fish (or mammal or Leviathan). The text does not say that he was chewed up and swallowed — just that he was swallowed whole and descended into the belly of the beast. The King James translators made an unfortunate mistranslation of Matthew 12:38-40, in which this great fish was called “a whale”; but that word is nowhere found in the Scriptures.

As to what kind of fish this was, there is utterly no way of knowing. In nature, there is no such thing as a fish that could swallow a man without killing him; but this is no ordinary tale and no ordinary man. Have you ever cut open a fish? I have — it is not a pleasant smell. Actually cutting up any living mammal, fish, or mollusk is not necessarily pleasant smelling. Now imagine you have been swallowed by a large “thing” and descended into their gastrointestinal playground. It must have sounded awful, looked awful, felt awful, and smelled awful. In three days Jonah would be vomited up on the beach. Imagine sitting in the stinking, foul, pool of undigested matter of a large creature/mammal for three days, praying to G-d and hoping you do not agree with their stomach — and then becoming the vomit.

No wonder Jonah went right back to doing what G-d asked him to do — preach to the people of Nineveh. Imagine if he decided to flee once again. Most likely G-d would have had him swallowed by a Pelican, or some other immense bird — imagine becoming bird vomit.

Jonah learned the hard way – hopefully we do not have to learn the same lesson, in the same manner as Jonah.

Pastor Dave