March 18 Psalm 12; Matthew 12; Genesis 34-36

Genesis 34-36.  Notice how Dinah has no voice at all in these transactions, which involve her rape by a man who ultimately falls in love with her and expresses tender feelings toward her.  We don't know how or whether they are reciprocated.  No one asks her what she thinks or feels: not Shechem, not her father or brothers.  Jacob's family thinks only about a) the family honor (Dinah was "defiled") and b) what a marriage alliance would mean with Shechem; c) how they can use Shechem's position to their advantage.  Then they avenge Dinah's "defilement" by slaughtering Hamor and Shechem and plundering their city.  This is the spiral of escalating violence that lex talionis (an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth) was supposed to prevent.

Genesis 35--Jacob's household is still polytheistic.  But Jacob has another encounter with God.  (If you are paying attention to little details, this is a part of the book of Genesis where God is known simply as God, and not as "the LORD".)

Then we have a sort of sea change in the household.  Benjamin is born; Rachel dies giving birth to him; and Isaac also dies.    The next chapter is a more extended genealogy of Esau's line.  You are not "cheating" on the Bible Challenge if you just glance at it.

Psalm 12 begins with the word, "Help!"  Anne Lamott says this is one of the three basic human prayers.  The other two are "Thanks" and "Wow!"    Also in this psalm we see the LORD presented as exercising what is sometimes called the "preferential option for the poor."
12:5:     "Because the poor are despoiled, because the needy groan,
                  I will now rise up," says the LORD;
              "I will place them in the safety for which they long."

Matthew 12  Questions about what is "lawful"-- and Jesus, rather than trying to restrict what is lawful on the Sabbath, extends the general principle that it is lawful to do good, to heal, on the sabbath.

A quotation applying one of Isaiah's Servant Songs to Jesus

Questions about Jesus and the motivations for his actions--some wanted to attribute them to Beelzebul (a name for a Babylonian "Lord of the Flies" god and a local term for the devil among members of the Jewish community in Palestine).  Jesus says: "Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters"  and then we have that problematic "unforgivable sin" passage  (vss 31ff).

This is maybe the chapter in the entire gospel of Matthew that is the hardest to understand or appreciate.  It feels terribly judgmental and lacking in the grace of God that is often so apparent in Matthew.   For me, one of the scariest verses is right here: (12:36)  "I tell you, on the day of judgment you will have to give an account for every careless word you utter; for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned."