BibleWorm

Episode 414 Wait for It Still (Habakkuk 1:1-7; 2:1-4; 3:3b-6, 17-19)

This week BibleWorm enters into the Christian season of Advent by reading from the prophet Habakkuk. We marvel at the way Habakkuk moves us from the articulation of profound suffering to the casting of a hopeful vision and then to expectant rejoicing in a restoration that has not yet come. We discuss the urgency of being honest about suffering and despair, not just in Habakkuk’s day but in ours as well. We think about the importance of articulating a vision that is so profound that it can inspire hope and yet so simple that it can be read by people on the run. And we ponder the beauty of a resilient hope that rejoices even in the midst of despair, believing that the world has already turned even though there is no evidence that anything has changed.

Episode 413 Swords into Plowshares (Isaiah 36:1-3, 13-20; 37:1-7; 2:1-4)

This week BibleWorm reads Isaiah 36:1-3, 13-20; 37:1-7; and then 2:1-4 - a set of texts that calls us to sit with questions about the power of rhetoric to confuse, mislead, and exhaust us in times of fear and conflict. How can we preserve our energy for the proverbial moment of birth, when the stakes could not be higher? What would the world be like if political struggle and violence could be taken off the table – what could we turn our attention to instead?

 

 

Episode 412 Micah’s Ideal Ruler (Micah 1:1-5; 5:2-5a; 6:6-8)

This week BibleWorm moves into the prophetic literature with Micah 1:1-5; 5:2-5a; and 6:6-8, one of the most famous passages in all of the Hebrew Bible. We talk about the prophet Micah, who prophesied to the Jerusalem elites reminding them that the economic and military decisions of the centralized authority have profound effects on people living far away from the centers of power. Micah envisions a new ruler for the community, reaching all the way back to Bethlehem, to the time before David was king, to call for a humble shepherd who will gently guide the people toward peace and prosperity rather than exploiting his own economic and military power. And we talk about Micah’s famous instruction to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God, which calls us back to the Torah and to the concrete actions that make for beloved community, both then and now.

Episode 411 The Healing of Naaman (1 Kings 5:1-15)

This week BibleWorm reads the story of the Elisha and Naaman in 2 Kings 5:1-15. The story focuses on the Aramean general Naaman, who is successful in battle but hindered by a case of leprosy that no one can cure. When an Israelite girl tells Naaman to visit the prophet Elisha in Israel, it sets in motion a drama animated by the peculiar expectations of people in power about how the world should work—proper chains of authority, proper expressions of hospitality…and proper rituals of healing. Naaman is offended when Elisha doesn’t come to the door to see him and even more upset that Elisha should tell him to bathe in the river Jordan. We talk about the ways our expectations of how things should be can hinder our ability to experience the miraculous, how people outside of positions of power are often the ones who can see most clearly, and the possibility that God’s healing power is already in the world, not requiring someone to mediated it with a wave of the hand but only someone who can recognize God’s work and point others in the right direction.

Episode 410 SPECIAL EPISODE Biblical Women: Rahab (Joshua 2)

It's time for another special episode! Today we read the story of Rahav in Joshua 2 -- she is a harlot living in the walls of the city of Jericho who is at the very core of Israel's success as they move into the promised land. How are we to understand this character who has so little power in any official sense, but who seems to know more than anyone else among the people of Jericho or the people of Israel? How do we understand the faith, the moral compass, and the courage of this lifelong sex worker? Does she change over the course of this story - is this a paradigmatic conversion story, as most ancient interpreters read it? It will surprise you not at all to know that we think it's far more complicated than that.

Episode 409 Solomon’s Wisdom (1 Kings 3:4-28)

This week BibleWorm reads 1 Kings 3:4-28, the story of a young King Solomon asking for wisdom – and getting it! He displays his wisdom in a story so famous that Seinfeld based an episode on it – the story of the baby who is claimed by two mothers. But it’s not just a puzzle to solve - this story arises out of genuine tragedy, and the stakes could not be higher. What kind of wisdom, exactly, does Solomon display? Is it focused on discerning what happened in the past, or is it a future looking wisdom, trying to put things on the best available course? Which mother do you as a reader imagine is telling the truth, and what from your own life experience makes you think so? And finally, let’s raise up the woman who stepped in to save the child’s life, even if it meant being separated from her own infant. She is the real hero.

Episode 408 Confronting David (2 Samuel 11:1-5, 26-27; 12:1-9; and Psalm 51:1-9)

This week BibleWorm reads the story of David and Bathsheba as told in 2 Samuel 11:1-5 and 26-27, 2 Samuel 12:1-9 and Psalm 51:1-9. We talk about the complacency of David, who stays at home at the time when kings go out to war, and the ways his loss of a sense of responsibility to the community leads him to violate Bathsheba, Uriah, and the will of God. We discuss the complexity of the biblical portrayal of David, who is a great biblical hero and yet a deeply flawed human being, and we wonder whether we have lost the capacity for recognizing such complexity today. And we give thanks for the compassion of God, who can forgive even so awful a thing as David has done…and yet we wish for more from David, who seemingly  makes no attempt to repair the human damage he has done. Forgiveness without reparation and reconciliation feels a little cheap to us, to be honest, and we wish to have seen more from David…and from God.

Episode 407 Retelling the Story (Joshua 24:1-18)

This week BibleWorm reads the story of Israel’s covenant renewal ceremony in Joshua 24:1-18. We wrestle with this difficult text, which comes at the conclusion of the conquest of the land, after the Israelites have annihilated the Canaanites from their midst. On the one hand, we talk about the problematics of having a conquest narrative at the core of the biblical tradition, and we wrestle with what such a text can justify—and has justified—throughout history. On the other hand, we acknowledge that the core of this text is about God’s providence—giving land and security to a people who had themselves been abused, enslaved, and murdered at the hands of the Egyptians for more than 400 years. In the end, we reflect on the importance of remembering our stories and of retelling them, acknowledging the painful realities of the past while claiming the promises of God for a better future

Episode 406 SPECIAL EPISODE Biblical Women: Tamar (Genesis 38:1-26)

BibleWorm begins our special series on women in the biblical text with the story of Tamar in Genesis 38. We bristle immediately at the hypocrisy of the men in the story who only pretend to hold to the societal norms they impose on her, and in doing so leave Tamar stuck in a holding pattern after the death of her husband. We draw out the profoundly different experiences of the man and the woman who lose a spouse in this story, and think about the risk and lack of privacy that seems built into walking through the world with a body that can get pregnant. It is a story for our time indeed. But we would be remiss if we did not also raise up Tamar’s strategic thinking, profound loyalty, and courage.  

Episode 405 Living the Ten Commandments (Exodus 19:1-8 and 21:1-21)

This week BibleWorm reads the story of God giving the 10 commandments to Israel as told in Exodus 19:1-8 and 20:1-21. We draw out the idea that God has been calling these people out of Egypt and through the wilderness in order to make them a treasured possession among all the peoples of the earth. We think about God giving the 10 commandments to the people—and to us—to show the importance of integrity and fidelity in relationships with God, with each other, and with ourselves. And we marvel at the nature of God—1,000 parts compassion and 4 parts judgment. That’s the recipe for a covenanted life with us humans, who try and fail and try again.