Ben Petersen and Shiloh Logan’s long friendship has coalesced around a deeply shared love of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. They’ve spent countless nights together with their families talking about the wonders of hope, love, and peace that come from the gospel of Jesus Christ. In these podcasts, we are searching for moments to sit with the Divine. As we contemplate each week’s readings, we look for how we can understand and use the Sermon on the Mount and the atonement of Jesus Christ to more fully understand the greater narratives of the scriptures.
An Introduction to the New Testament: Context, Text, and Meaning with Dr. David Peck
Bonus Episode: Song of Songs (Song of Solomon)
Ben flies solo in this episode on 2 Samuel and 1 Kings. The reign of David and Solomon are the golden age of Israelite history. Despite civil wars and brutal rebellions, the monarchy persists and grows in its prestige and splendor. David's sins bring great tragedy and sorrow, but seem to have some profound and timeless lessons. Solomon fulfills his father's promise to build the temple and the project takes on cosmic themes that remind us of the creation in Genesis.
Ben and Christopher continue with a discussion of the first book of Samuel. The various sources that make up the book portray multiple perspectives on monarchy and the kingship. Saul is anointed as the first king of Israel. His military success initially endears him to the people, but his disobedience causes him to lose favor with Samuel and God. David is anointed to succeed Saul and the narrative recounts stories of his bravery, piety, and military prowess. The story of David and Goliath is the unmistakable source of literary allusion in Nephi's account of slaying Laban in the Book of Mormon. What might this say about Nephi's intent, message, inspiration, and actual experience?
The book of Ruth is a love story about a particular kind of love. Hesed is often translated as loving kindness, but it is also loyalty, grace, and courage. It is the kind of love that characterizes the covenant relationship of God with the people or of a man and his wife. Ruth exemplifies hesed in her relationships with Naomi and with Boaz, counting her a worthy ancestor to the Davidic line despite being a foreigner. Hannah pours out her soul to God and is filled. The life of Samuel prepares him for the unique role he will play in transitioning Israel from being ruled by judges to being ruled by kings.
The book of Judges traces a pseudo-history of the Israelites after the conquest of Joshua. Israelite judges are more often legendary military heroes than arbitrators of justice. The people follow a cycle of obedience, success, idolatry, bondage, and deliverance. The message is that while God will always deliver his people, the cycle of disorder and bondage can only be broken by a centralized monarchy. “There was no king in Israel” foreshadows the arrival of an anointed king and also evokes a Christological hermeneutic. The symbolism of trees returns in the account of the prophetess Deborah, the calling of Gideon, and the fable of the trees in search of a king. The stage is set for the book of Samuel and the creation of the Israelite monarchy.
The Book of Joshua recounts the Israelites' story of their conquest of Canaan. The Israelites are tasked with creating a sacred space for God's presence. Ben and Christopher discuss the perennial question of Divine Genocide as presented in the text. How does the rhetoric of the text match up with actual known history? If the Israelites didn't actually kill the Canaanites en masse, then why does the text say they did? What does the Book of Joshua have to say to modern peace-loving Christians?
Deuteronomy, Devarim, Words. Moses' words recall his uneasy relationship with speech all the way back to his conversation with God at the burning bush. Moses recounts Israelite history from the Exodus on, continually reiterating that he will not cross into the promised land with his people. This melancholy reminiscing of Moses is likely a product of later editors who crafted this text to fit their contemporary religious reforms around the 7th Century BC. God is more narrowly defined and religious practice is centralized under the authority of the temple priests. This context provides interesting possibilities for the narrative of Lehi and his family in the Book of Mormon. To what degree might Lehi's persecution be for what are deemed by the Deuteronomistic reformers to be unorthodox beliefs and religious practices? How might Nephi's vision of the Tree of Life relate to the Divine Feminine that is so systematically subverted in Deuteronomy? This final book of the Torah calls for interpretation as much as it is itself a complex work of reinterpretation and reform of the Israelite tradition.
Numbers, Bamidbar, In the Wilderness. The children of Israel journey in the wilderness, encountering death, failure, rebellion, and hope. In this largely imagined past there are profound ties to psychological and philosophical questions. Moses struggles with his responsibility as leader and prophet while the people murmur. The threat and reality of divine violence are ever-present, even when God's mercy and love shine through the cracks. The staff of Moses has been a consistent symbol of divine authority and force, but does God have a new way to offer Moses that involves persuasion and gentleness through speech? The Brazen Serpent is raised in the wilderness, offering to heal all who look and typifying the persona of Christ. How are we to perceive divine violence in scripture, even when it is explicitly justified in the text?
Can we properly understand the Old Testament if we skip reading some of its chapters? In this longer-than-usual episode, Ben and Christopher tackle Exodus 35-40 and the entire book of Leviticus. This intimidating section of scripture was difficult to approach, but with some help from the great Rob Bell, much of the seemingly irrelevant and bizarre has taken on relevance and profound meaning. In this Priestly manual, the sons of Aaron are invited to participate in the tending of the sacred space created in the Tabernacle as part of a new creation extending beyond it. Israel is called to be this new creation because the LORD has delivered them from slavery in Egypt. Their new system and society respond to the injustices of their captivity, establishing the weekly, seventh-year, and 50th-year (Jubilee) Sabbaths as signs of Israel's covenant relationship with the LORD. All of this in about an hour and a half. As a bonus, Ben and Christopher spend about half an hour more responding to the above question, first raised by Christopher's daughter (though already on Christopher and Ben's minds) by delving deeper into what scripture is, and what to do with it in our own covenant relationship with the LORD.
Ben and Christopher discuss the laws put forth in the Book of the Covenant. These laws have an Ancient Near Eastern context mirrored in contemporary legal codes in the same context. The general exceptions are in how they treat the disadvantaged of society. Nephi's killing of Laban finds its justification in these verses. The LORD gives instruction on how to construct the tabernacle, being a representation of the cosmos in creation and Eden. Moses wins an argument with God after the people worship before a golden calf. What are we to understand about God and His relationship with the people from this event?
Moses and the Children of Israel have been delivered from slavery and brought out of Egypt by the power of the LORD. As Moses struggles to bring the people into a relationship with the LORD, he receives wise counsel from his father-in-law Jethro: By creating a bureaucracy, Moses might better govern the people. While this counsel is timely and practical, it also leads to the loss of a deeper experience and relationship Moses was modeling. The Messianic type here is reminiscent of the ministry of Jesus. What moments with God do we lose out on in our daily quests for efficiency? As Moses ascends Mount Sinai, the people are invited to follow him, but they are fearful of the presence of the LORD. They content themselves with second-hand expressions of the divine experience. Do we? The Ten Commandments provide a model for how we might approach scripture avoiding common pitfalls in our approach to interpreting it.
Ben and Christopher combine two weeks' readings into one podcast on the core of the Exodus narrative. The LORD afflicts Egypt with 10 plagues before Pharaoh agrees to let the Israelites go. The God of the Hebrews triumphs over all others and displays his matchless power in their deliverance. The narrative is summarized and repeated in the poetic verse of chapter 15, which is likely a much earlier source of the story that could be attributed to Miriam as a prophet. The LORD continues to deliver his people in the wilderness from thirst, hunger, and enemies.
In this episode, we begin the Book of Exodus. God begins to fulfill the promises made to the patriarchs when he raises up Moses to lead his people out of bondage in Egypt, and while they won't make it to the promised land until the Book of Joshua, Exodus provides the foundational story of the creation of the nation of Israel. The Book of Exodus can be divided into three parts: First, we witness the power of the Lord as he extends his arm against Pharaoh, sending the ten plagues and finally parting the Sea of Reeds, which swallows up Pharoah and his army, letting Moses and the Israelites escape into the wilderness. In the second part, Moses will ascend Mount Sinai and receive the law (Torah). The final section of the book is devoted to the construction and description of the tabernacle, or the portable temple the Israelites will carry with them over the next 38 years they spend in the desert. A three-part division is also seen in the Sinai episode where the people are gathered at the bottom, the elders are part way up, and Moses is on top speaking with God. We see a similar tripartite division in the third section's description of the tabernacle with its courtyard, Holy Place, and the Holy of Holies. Later mystics and teachers would use these three-fold divisions to describe the soul's journey to God, labeling the stages with terms such as ‘purification,' contemplation,' and ‘union'. After giving a brief overview of Exodus, we discuss some of the main themes of the book as a whole, and briefly touch on their importance for Israelite religion, later scripture and theology, mysticism, and world literature. This week's reading, chapters 1-6, gives us the background to the story of Moses, with his people enslaved and him in Pharaoh's court. His life takes a drastic turn when he kills a man and has to flee to the desert where he marries Zipporah and lives with his father-in-law, Jethro, as a lowly shepherd. God speaks to him from a bush that burns without being consumed and calls him to lead his people out of Egypt so they can serve Him instead of Pharaoh. God overcomes all of Moses' objections, reveals to him the name by which He will henceforth be known, and Moses makes his first attempt to convince Pharaoh, which fails miserably and makes the situation even worse for the Israelites. As promised in the podcast, here is a link to an article describing the connection between the Feast of Trumpets and the giving of the gold plates to Joseph Smith.
The story of Joseph in Egypt is found in texts outside the Bible. Not only do we see it woven deeply into the Book of Mormon narrative, but the account in the Qur'an adds fascinating details. Comparing and contrasting these narratives, Ben and Christopher develop the central point of the story: forgiveness. Despite all that has happened to him, Joseph finally sees God's influence in bringing about the salvation of his family from famine. Even if not every single thing that happens to Joseph is specifically orchestrated by God, Joseph's willingness to forgive his brothers is ultimately the mechanism by which God works the miracle of reuniting and saving his family from destruction, keeping his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
This week the Come Follow Me curriculum omits a few chapters in Genesis. Ben and Christopher discuss these anyway since they touch on important themes. Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah in turn all make choices that put their legitimacy as heirs in question. Jacob returns to Bethel to establish a mode akin to temple worship. Isaac dies, and the presence of both Esau and Jacob hints at final reconciliation between the brothers. Joseph's story begins, interrupted by the narrative of Judah's impropriety. This contrasts with Joseph's character and legitimacy as the heir of the birthright of Israel. Joseph is sold into Egypt and the Lord is with him through it all. Joseph's story is a fundamental narrative underpinning the story of the Nephites in the Book of Mormon and the development of the Latter-day Saint ethos.
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