Glimpses, Notes, Items (7/9/24)

Glimpses

Here’s the initial outline of a book I’m shopping with a few publishers:

Blue Collar Confessionalism: Reclaiming an Earthy Christianity

Introduction

Ch 1 Earthy, Not Worldly (senses)

Ch 2 Timely, Not Trendy (time)

Ch 3 Ambitious, Not Apathetic  (desire)

Ch 4 Gendered, Not Androgynous (sex)

Ch 5 Rooted, Not Detached (place) 

Ch 6 Productive, Not Consumeristic (work)

Ch 7 Extended, Not Nuclear (family)

Ch 8 Communal, Not Solitary (church)

Ch 9 Real, Not Ideal (results) 

Appendix: A Warning: Reactive Externalism

I’m ironing out chapter descriptions. BTW, I’m still working on Surviving the Death of a Child. It’s just been difficult to finish due to all the emotions from the recent deaths of close family members and friends.

Speaking of Blue Collar Confessionalism…

You can learn more and get tickets here.

Notes

I’m preparing for a mid-length sermon series in Genesis 1-11. I’m using the following books for sermon prep:

• Genesis (2-Volume Set---1 and 2) (Word Biblical Commentary) by Gordon Wenham

• The Tabernacle Pre-Figured: Cosmic Mountain Ideology in Genesis and Exodus by L. Michael Morales

• Sermons on Genesis Chapters 1-11 by John Calvin

• Dominion and Dynasty: A Theology of the Hebrew Bible (New Studies in Biblical Theology Book 15) by Stephen Dempster

• The Old Testament: Explained and Applied by Gareth Crossley

As I study, I’ll just sketch out rough notes. Here are some of those notes…

1-11 The Descent of the Nations

Mankind’s descent from his kingly fellowship with God in Eden into a state of misery and death via their rebellion of law-breaking and false worship.

4 Major Events (creation, fall, flood, Babel)

5 Toledoths

Some of the battles….

• Serpent vs Mankind

• Cain vs Abel

• Cainites vs Sethites

• Ham vs. Noah/Brothers

12-50 The Ascent of Israel 

Mankind’s reascent back to God through the establishment of right worship and the promise of a coming King and Sacrifice.

4 Patriarchs (Abram, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph)

5 Toledoths

Some of the battles…. 

• Death vs Abraham/Sarah

• Ishmael vs Isaac

• Esau vs Jacob

• The Bothers vs. Joseph

And some more notes:

Satan tempts Eve (and Adam, the son of God, see Luke 3:38) with the forbidden fruit.

She saw…good…took (Gen 3:6).
And then Adam followed suit into apostasy.

Satan tempts the sons of God with pagan women.

They saw…good (attractive)…took (Gen 6:2).
And then all of mankind’s way was corrupted (v. 12), which I take as a reference to apostasy.

This is a cycle that repeats throughout the Pentateuch.

Here are a few examples…

Israel (the son of God, see Ex 4:22) is warned about “taking” pagan daughters for its sons (Ex 34:15-16).

Why? Because such marriages will “make your sons whore after their gods” (v. 16).

Israel (again referred to as sons of God, see Deut 14:1) is warned:

“You shall not intermarry with them, giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons, for they would turn away your sons from following me, to serve other gods. Then the anger of the Lord would be kindled against you, and he would destroy you quickly” (Deut 7:3-4).

Israel (the nation is referred to as “himself” again referring to the fact they are the “son of God”) “began to whore with the daughters of Moab” and then “bowed down to their gods.” This is pictured as a religious intermarriage: “So Israel yoked himself to Baal of Peor. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel” (Num 25:1-9).

Throughout the Pentateuch, intermarriage with pagan women is equated to making peace with their false gods, leading to corrupted worship and, ultimately, apostasy.

This theme extends to and weaves through the entire Bible.

Two more examples…

Solomon, the son of God (see 1 Chr 28:6), built the house of God but “loved many foreign women” who led him into apostasy. In 1 King 11, we read:

“So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and did not wholly follow the Lord, as David his father had done.

Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites, on the mountain east of Jerusalem. And so he did for all his foreign wives, who made offerings and sacrificed to their gods.

And the Lord was angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel…”

In 2 Corinthians 6, the sons and daughters of God (see v. 18) are told not to be “bound together with unbelievers” because it leads to spiritual corruption:

“…for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? Or what harmony has Christ with [k]Belial, or [l]what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols” (v. 14-16).

Throughout Scripture, the theme of marriage and right worship is deeply connected, and this is especially clear in the Pentateuch.

Also, these are rough partial notes on a topic people get strangely animated about. They are offered here as a pebble in your shoe. I'll be spending several months on Genesis 1-11. It will all get more fleshed out. Be cool in the comments.

This quote always kills me:

Items

• I’ve been stewing on Aaron Renn’s article on Levelling Up.

• I’m on the board and leadership team of Clear Truth Media. It’s a broadly protestant media company focused on biblical content that opposes the spirit of the age.

• My friend, Eric Tuffendsam, has a new musical project called Sower. I dig the tagline: “Planting God’s Word through Indie Rock Music.”