I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me
Though I am no poet or hymn writer, inspired by my brother Mason, I decided to give it a try. I'm teaching a class on the problem of evil Sunday morning, and these are some of the things I've been thinking about as I've studied the topic (especially influenced by Job, Paul, and William Lane Craig).
I'm going to hold back listing my explanation for each verse and line and each usage of a passage. I'm interested to see how you all understand each thing and which passages of scripture you find jump out at you.
Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Don't be afraid to correct any errors, great or small. Anything you find cheesy, or that you think could be better, let me know. I'm interested in learning more about hymn writing.
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The Problem of My Evil
Just look at the beautiful world:
Surely, this is God’s hand.
The only thing more beautiful,
Can be the promised land
But as I look a little more,
I see the woes of sin.
What is such pointless evil for?
A war rages within.
Considering the pain I’ve seen,
In bed I turned and cried:
“With this the problem of evil,”
“Can God be justified?”
Your voice comes out of the whirlwind
To give me a new view.
“Behold, I am of small account,”
“What shall I answer you?”
I know that you can do all things,
Things so far above me.
I repent in dust and ashes,
For now my eyes can see.
Considering the God I’ve seen,
On my knees I humbly cried:
“With this my problem of evil,”
“Can I be justified?”
To answer the question in Job,
You had only begun.
To solve the problem of evil,
You gave your only son.
Though I had questioned the Divine,
-A paradox this is-
The problem of evil is mine,
The solution is His!
Considering the grace I’ve seen
In joy I loudly cried,
“Solved is my problem of evil,”
“I have been justified!”
Though I am no poet or hymn writer, inspired by my brother Mason, I decided to give it a try. I'm teaching a class on the problem of evil Sunday morning, and these are some of the things I've been thinking about as I've studied the topic (especially influenced by Job, Paul, and William Lane Craig).
I'm going to hold back listing my explanation for each verse and line and each usage of a passage. I'm interested to see how you all understand each thing and which passages of scripture you find jump out at you.
Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Don't be afraid to correct any errors, great or small. Anything you find cheesy, or that you think could be better, let me know. I'm interested in learning more about hymn writing.
--------------------------------
The Problem of My Evil
Just look at the beautiful world:
Surely, this is God’s hand.
The only thing more beautiful,
Can be the promised land
But as I look a little more,
I see the woes of sin.
What is such pointless evil for?
A war rages within.
Considering the pain I’ve seen,
In bed I turned and cried:
“With this the problem of evil,”
“Can God be justified?”
Your voice comes out of the whirlwind
To give me a new view.
“Behold, I am of small account,”
“What shall I answer you?”
I know that you can do all things,
Things so far above me.
I repent in dust and ashes,
For now my eyes can see.
Considering the God I’ve seen,
On my knees I humbly cried:
“With this my problem of evil,”
“Can I be justified?”
To answer the question in Job,
You had only begun.
To solve the problem of evil,
You gave your only son.
Though I had questioned the Divine,
-A paradox this is-
The problem of evil is mine,
The solution is His!
Considering the grace I’ve seen
In joy I loudly cried,
“Solved is my problem of evil,”
“I have been justified!”
“At a lodging place on the way the LORD met him and sought to put him to death. Then Zipporah took a flint and cut off her son’s foreskin and touched Moses’ feet with it and said, “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me!” So he let him alone. It was then that she said, “A bridegroom of blood,” because of the circumcision.”
(Exodus 4:24-26 ESV)
Who is the object of the verse? Why is God trying to kill whoever it is He is trying to kill? What is the meaning of "a bridegroom of blood?" What causes God to not kill whoever it was He was seeking to kill? How does this fit in the context and purpose of Exodus?
We're covering this tonight in our Bible class and thought I'd see how others take the passage.
The nearest antecedent that makes sense as a reference to "him" in verse 24 is Moses in verses 21 and 22. I think the more challenging question is, How does the LORD seek to kill someone but not succeed? I'm guessing this is the remnant of another "wrestling with God" (Jacob-like) tradition that hasn't been fleshed out very much for us. It does say the LORD "met" him.
I think "bridegroom of blood" refers to Zipporah's resentment of having to circumcise her son, causing him to bleed. Though I'm pretty sure that Egyptians had already practiced the ritual of circumcision, but maybe the Midianites were different. The touching of the foreskin to Moses' feet seems like a pre-Passover tradition.
I'll have more responses later (probably after others have commented as well), but I would like you to clarify what you mean by a "pre-Passover tradition." I don't know what you mean there.
Well, the "pass over" lamb is something sacrificed that caused God to spare the firstborn son's. While Yahweh was seeking to kill Moses (because he hadn't already circumcized his son?), touching the foreskin of his son to Moses was enough to cause Yahweh to pass over him. "Pre-Passover" tradition in historical-critical circles probably means something more like "a custom that was transformed into the later passover tradition." But one could simply say it prefigures or foreshadows the passover.
You know what is really odd? At the moment that I clicked on your link to read your blog, I happened to be reading Exodus 4 online and reading it in the ESV, which is unusual for me. Whats up with that? But I hadn't started reading the section you blogged about. But I would have gotten there eventually...
I've heard somewhere that God was displeased that Moses was supposed to be going back to represent him to Israel and yet Moses hadn't obeyed the fundamental covenant obligation of circumcision (I don't know if this will help at all or not...).
(interesting passage) hey, you made a comment on Think_Different about a mac Bible program called "macsworld"? i'm trying to find that ... am i reading this wrong?
The LORD seeks to put Moses to death because he had not yet circumcised his sons according to the covenant between God and Abraham.
Why does God all of a sudden want to kill him for this now, and not earlier? That one is beyond me. But this is the only sense I can make of the passage.
Awesome! Nobody else did that well on their first attempt.
I don't know you, but I think I did talk with you on the phone one night - when I was trying to get hold of Dan Peters. Would that be right?
You may have already come up with all your answers on the passage above, seeing as Wed night has come and gone.....but I'll offer this up just in case:
Zipporah clearly didn't like the strange idea of seeing her son's genitals mutilated (the perspective she would likely have, and we also if we weren't used to it), and that may well be the reason Moses had not done what he should have done already. NOW, though, Moses is going to Egypt as a messenger of God to both the Egyptians and the Israelites - this needed to be taken care of immediately! His delay had been sin, and he deserved death already (Rm6:23), but God is merciful and patient - but now it needs to be taken care of for reasons beyond Moses own family. Touching it to Moses' feet? I have no idea, nor any evidence of any such tradition - did what you found in Stuart demonstrate a tradition? "Bridegroom of blood" - probably as Josh B says, resentment.
Certainly so. When I was preaching at Floral City, we went through the Pentateuch through a 2-year period. I would certainly recommend the JPS Torah series commentaries if you're doing those sections, they are clear, consise, and scholarly.
