Bible | Bob Schwartz

November 19, 2012

The Rubicon and the Pillar: If We Pass This Little Bridge

The Lives of the Twelve Caesars
By Suetonius

XXXI.

…The lights going out, he [Julius Caesar] lost his way, and wandered about a long time, until at length, by the help of a guide, whom he found towards daybreak, he proceeded on foot through some narrow paths, and again reached the road. Coming up with his troops on the banks of the Rubicon, which was the boundary of his province, he halted for a while, and, revolving in his mind the importance of the step he was on the point of taking, he turned to those about him, and said: “We may still retreat; but if we pass this little bridge, nothing is left for us but to fight it out in arms.”

XXXII.

While he was thus hesitating, the following incident occurred. A person remarkable for his noble mien and graceful aspect, appeared close at hand, sitting and playing upon a pipe. When, not only the shepherds, but a number of soldiers also flocked from their posts to listen to him, and some trumpeters among them, he snatched a trumpet from one of them, ran to the river with it, and sounding the advance with a piercing blast, crossed to the other side. Upon this, Caesar exclaimed, “Let us go whither the omens of the Gods and the iniquity of our enemies call us. The die is now cast.”

September 26, 2012

You Kippur and Job

The days from Rosh Hashanah (“Head of the Year”, the New Year) and Yom Kippur (“Day of Atonement”) are the ten holiest on the Jewish calendar. Known as the Days of Awe or Days of Repentance, they are a time for reflection on the year past and the year to come, and a time to make amends—not by asking God for forgiveness, but by asking it from those who have been wronged, and through the practice of repentance (literally, “turning”), prayer and charity.

During these days, the Book of Life is metaphorically open, and on its pages your life is weighed: “On Rosh Hashanah it is written, on Yom Kippur it is sealed.”

The liturgy for these holidays, and particularly for Yom Kippur, is some of the most moving and soul-searching in all of the religious canon. There are Old Testament readings included, but not too often from the Book of Job.

There are two solid consensuses about the Book of Job.

Literary types agree that it is probably the greatest work of literature in the Bible.

Religious types agree that it is the most puzzling book in the Old Testament, and that even when you look at it in the most common and superficial way (“Why do bad things happen to good people?”), you end up scratching your head.

Job is the book to read for Yom Kippur. It is the book to ponder at the start of the year, at the end of the year, and at points between. (It was, by the way, Abraham Lincoln’s most studied book of the Bible.)

We begin with the book itself.

It is unusual for it to have been included in the canon of the Hebrew Bible because it is not about a Jew. When non-Jews appear in other books, it is usually a story of helping Jews or hurting Jews or marrying Jews or eventually becoming Jewish. None of that applies to the Book of Job.

The story is relatively simple, at least until the end. Job is a rich and pious man who has everything: health, wealth, family and friends (or so they seem). Satan wants to prove that Job’s piety is dependent on his having everything, and challenges God to take it all away. God does.

Job’s friends are convinced that he must have done something wrong, and urge him to figure it out and repent. The scenes with his friends are talky, like a play, or maybe like the film My Dinner With Andre—except this is My Dinner with Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite.

Job’s wife has a different suggestion: “Curse God and die.”

Job remains steadfast in his faith.

And then, in Chapter 37, God appears to Job, to explain it all.

The chapters that follow are a poetic and breathtaking description of the world’s wonders, by the one who made them. God tells Job that his friends don’t know what they’re talking about (God takes care of them later). And God implicitly tells Job the only two things to do: Be awed. Be humble.

Job’s reply in Chapter 42 is one of the most important passages in the Bible. It is not only the watchword for Yom Kippur; it is the watchword for everyone, religious or otherwise, who is convinced they are smarter than anyone in the room or in the universe:

Then Job answered the Lord:
“I know that you can do all things,
and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.
‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’
Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand,
things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.
‘Hear, and I will speak;
I will question you, and you declare to me.’
I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear,
but now my eye sees you;
therefore I despise myself,
and repent in dust and ashes.”

“I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.”

Whether this is a day of reflection and fasting, reciting centuries-old prayers, or an ordinary day of work or study, managing others or being managed; whether you are Job beset by unexplained misfortune, or Job’s wife, ready to kill him if he doesn’t kill himself, or Job’s friends so quick with advice; whether you are being punished by God, Satan, or whatever other forces you believe are working against you; whether you are the smartest person in the room or not; this is what we can do, even if there is seemingly no comfort in it:

Be awed. Be humble.

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August 22, 2012

Mene Mene in Tampa

We should not be surprised by the latest craziness in the Republican campaign. Anything seems possible. Even the mysterious appearance of a finger writing something like this on the wall of a $5,000-a-plate fundraiser:

MENE MENE TEKEL PARSIN

According to ancient reporting:

King Belshazzar made a great festival for a thousand of his lords, and he was drinking wine in the presence of the thousand.

Under the influence of the wine, Belshazzar commanded that they bring in the vessels of gold and silver that his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple in Jerusalem, so that the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines might drink from them. So they brought in the vessels of gold and silver that had been taken out of the temple, the house of God in Jerusalem, and the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines drank from them. They drank the wine and praised the gods of gold and silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone.

Immediately the fingers of a human hand appeared and began writing on the plaster of the wall of the royal palace, next to the lampstand….

Then Daniel was brought in before the king. The king said…”I have heard that you can give interpretations and solve problems. Now if you are able to read the writing and tell me its interpretation, you shall be clothed in purple, have a chain of gold around your neck, and rank third in the kingdom.”

Then Daniel answered in the presence of the king, “Let your gifts be for yourself, or give your rewards to someone else! Nevertheless, I will read the writing to the king and let him know the interpretation….You have exalted yourself against the Lord of heaven! The vessels of his temple have been brought in before you, and you and your lords, your wives and your concubines have been drinking wine from them. You have praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood, and stone, which do not see or hear or know; but the God in whose power is your very breath, and to whom belong all your ways, you have not honored.

“So from his presence the hand was sent and this writing was inscribed. And this is the writing that was inscribed: MENE MENE TEKEL PARSIN. This is the interpretation of the matter:

MENE, God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end
TEKEL, you have been weighed on the scales and found wanting
PARSIN, your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians

(Daniel 5, NRSV)

It is fitting that the writing on the Republican wall may have first appeared in April 2011, when Donald Trump led the field of Presidential prospects (Mitt Romney was third). Fitting because Trump will be appearing at next week’s Republican convention with a surprise “that I think is going to be I think really amazing. It’s going to be great. And we’ll see what happens. I mean, we’ll see how it’s received. But it will be pretty wild. I think it will be potent.” Fitting also because you can just see Trump not only attending Belshazzar’s over-the-top feast, but hosting it at one of his hotels.

If Trump’s lead in last year’s polls wasn’t the sign, maybe the whole Republican primary season was. Looking back from down the road (“Years from now, when you talk about this, and you will, be kind”), people of all political persuasions will have their mood lifted by just the mention of Herman Cain, who also led the polls (and as recently as nine months ago).

The point is not that the Republicans are destined to lose the election because of this craziness; it remains a close race. The point is that we have reached the point in the tale—introduced to all the characters (or so we think: Todd Akin?), to most of the intertwined story lines, and to some of the secrets—that nothing would be surprising, and anything seems possible.

Like a biblical storm.

Biblical as in Tropical Storm Isaac, one of the few names on the National Hurricane Center storm list that comes from the Bible.

Biblical as in the belief among a few that storms are a form of divine intervention.

It appears that Isaac will turn into a hurricane, and that it may be headed near Tampa, the site of the Republican convention. Contingency plans are in the works.

As long as we have a biblical hurricane, we might as well consider whether it is a sign.

Among the Old Testament patriarchs, Isaac stands apart from his father Abraham and his son Jacob. Unlike them, he is represented as passive, pliable and indecisive in his dealings. Noted commentator Gunther Plaut has said that Isaac must be an historic figure, because no tradition would create a patriarch so weak.

We all hope—especially those of us who have lived through the devastation of a hurricane—that Isaac stays far away from everyone and everything, including the Republican convention. But for those who are so inclined, it couldn’t hurt to read the writing on the wall.

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