“They read from the book of the Law of God, translating it and giving the meaning so that the people could understand what was read.” Nehemiah 8:8
That’s how the writer of Nehemiah describes the scene. People are gathered around an open-air stage in Jerusalem. Ezra, the scribe, reads from the books of Moses. Spread along in front of the stage are 13 men. They are Levites. Their names are listed: Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan and Pelaiah. These men translate and explain.
The Levites weren’t just giving little sermons. The scroll in front of Ezra was written in Hebrew. But this is happening long after the books of Moses were written, after Hebrew stopped being the daily speaking language of the people. The crowd was born after Jerusalem had been destroyed, after the majority of the people were led into exile, after people from other places had been transplanted to Israel. The language of these people, the language of commerce, the language of life was Aramaic.
As Ezra stood reading, most people knew that this was an important moment, that he was reading the words of God. But it was like an opera performance in Italian. Dramatic, but no sense of story. It was like a foreign film. And the Levites were the living subtitles.
They stood and listened and then translated. They told the story of Egyptian captivity and Passover and the Exodus in the language people spoke. When Ezra read the words Moses said about would happen if the people ignored God, his tone of voice sounded serious and lofty. When the Levites translated them, they sounded devastating. Because these people understood those consequences with their lives. They had been in exile. Their hands had rebuilt the walls.
The words of the Levites, words that were from the Book, yes, but in language they could understand, resonated with their experience. And they wept.
300 words a day 
Rob Hatch
As I was reading Matthew last night, I came to a realization.
I read the Bible looking for ‘gotcha’ moments. It’s as though I want to catch every “Christian” who has ever used a Bible verse to speak some “eternal truth” and tell people how they should behave/live/etc, in a lie.
I read the Bible looking to prove something.
Last night is was this from Matthew (NASB): “and took Mary as his wife, 25 [aa]but kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son” It jumped out at me.
There is the phrase in the Confiteor, my favorite prayer, “and I ask blessed Mary ever virgin”…..but then I read until, until is different and my stupid head says, A-HAAA! you Bishops are liars, you lied. This my friend is how my mind works when I read the Bible. Always.
So, as I think about this…I am bringing so much anger to the table about what I have been told or taught that I want to call out as wrong. I am bringing the fact that my mind seeks out discrepancy and inconsistency as a method of discernment.
The funny thing is, it doesn’t ever shake my belief in God or Jesus but at the same time, I have never been able to view the Bible as the Word of God or ever cared to hold it as sacred in some way.
I read the Bible frustrated with the language that fails to draw me in and talks more about fear and masters and servants, all of which offends my sensibilities as a leader, not to mention my perceptions of Jesus.
The phrase you shared with me from John, “Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name”, well….the Bible has never served to help me believe.
I have quite simply always, believed…even at the height of my own disbelief and questioning, I still knew and have always known…as much as I have known that I am Rob. Oh, and to the point about Mary, I actually do believe in the Immaculate Conception, I just don’t believe that she stayed a virgin. More to the point, who cares if she was or wasn’t? It doesn’t effect my belief.
If anything, the Bible, because of its inconsistencies, (not to mention the WAY it has been used) serves more to undermine belief than support it.
All of the effort to shape and interpret comes across as less about helping people to understand Jesus and what he wants from us and for us and more about people in power trying to exert control through fear. I don’t work well with fear. It is not motivating. I work better from a position of strength and of feeling supported. I see Jesus as a quiet, firm leader who sees the best in people and brings it out.
So as I attempt to read, my mind gets tripped up in contradiction. I wrestle with it, saying on the one hand “peel away the silly details and look at what is being asked of and for. Look for relationship, for strength. On the other hand, I am caught with…what am I missing by ignoring the detail?, am I simply looking for what I want?
It feels immature. It is immature.
My understanding clearly is, but years of others ‘misuse’ have left me looking for a fight and I see it in every phrase.
I have to keep reading, but my knees are getting all skinned up from tripping all the time.
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Becky McCray
Rob and I talked about this yesterday. I have a similar struggle as he does, but a little different. I notice the inconsistencies, the contradictions. I find myself thinking, “I can see why they would claim that, why that was a persuasive argument at the time.” It’s like my attention is caught by the non-divine.
I don’t have Rob’s lifelong belief. I grew up attending church, but got completely away from it. I always believed in something, but not really Jesus, or even God as most of you would think of. I made a decision to have faith in Jesus. I work at that, but it doesn’t stop me from getting tripped up while reading like Rob talks about.
But one idea hit me this week. I was thinking of slavery in Roman times (it’s a long story), and I realized that the Romans didn’t have our belief that all people are equal in the sight of God. That is a belief we get from Jesus, from Christian teachings. (Someone will probably tell me I’m wrong about that, but some other time and place, please.) Since there are an awful lot of things on my list of “Christian teachings” that I don’t like, this is the first item on a new list, of things I like about it. I added a page to my journal so I can keep that list and add to it.
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