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.
Shiloh is joined with guest co-host Christopher Hurtado to discuss modality in terms of the priesthood. Modes are, in a sense, stories that we believe in as real and that we pour our intentionality into to produce experiences. By “story” it is not necessarily to say a “fiction,” but it is a narrative that frames our belief(s) and that we combine with our faith unto action. When we say something as simple as “I am going to go pray to God,” we often do not take into account the richness and complexities of the assumed stories and expectations that go into that short phrase. In that statement is the assumption of what we construct as the “I” (the thinking, acting, believing, and producing thing that is conscious and aware), the assertion that the “I” has intentionality and that that intentionality and hope matters, that there is a “God” (and all of the beliefs, assumptions, expectations, experiences, and thoughts of what that entails), that we are in an important relationship to this “God,” and that this “God” is of a type of entity, being, or thing that cares or is in response to our own intentionality and purpose to have a conversation. Just the simple concept of “prayer” is a rich story full of narratives, experiences, assumptions, and expectations. So, what of “priesthood”? Modality is not the only way to think of priesthood, but it certainly opens a new discussion than what we typically have in recognizing the richness of that conversation and of the sometimes unexamined assumptions and beliefs that we have concerning this part of our religious experience. ...
Shiloh and Ben move into talking about the fulfillment of Samuel's prophecies concerning the birth of Jesus Christ. Nephites who were baptized into the Church because they had seen signs did not experience deep conversion to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Nephites and Lamanites combine forces to thwart the Gadianton Robbers. While Mormon explains that "it was the custom among all the Nephites to appoint for their chief captains, (save it were in their times of wickedness) some one that had the spirit of revelation and also prophecy" and that "Gidgidoni was a great prophet" (3 Ne 3:19), there is still ample evidence that the depth of the Nephite "righteousness" may not be as deep as perhaps we generally read into it. Ben brings up, once again, a rather poignant possibility that the Nephites/Lamanite duo had a great missed opportunity (once again) of how to reclaim the Gadianton's prior to the seemingly necessary need to kill them. The Nephites and Lamanites triumph over the Gadiantons but ultimately everything crumbles into tribalism, as the Reign of the Judges comes to an end just prior to the destruction of the land. ...
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. ...
