Bible Stories 4

Now started reading Exodus.

I realise that the God in OT does not protect all. His protection is just towards his chosen people, i.e. the descendants of Abraham.

And one thing that I found strange. In the beginning of Exodus, it was said that ths Israelites has been made slaves by the new Egypt king because the king was afraid of their numbers. So, after a lot of hardship, they could not stand anymore and call for God's help. And only then, God knew of their predicament and started being concern for them. Uh, I thought God is all knowing? Also, God seem to have forgotten his promise to Abraham to look after his descendants. Only when they cried for help, he suddenly remembered. Strange.

Exodus 2:

"During that long period, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God.

God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob.

So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them."

Update:
Going to look up on the Reuel/Jethro confusion. Why Moses father in-law has different names. Is he like Jacob/Israel?

Found some answers here.
http://www.tektonics.org/lp/mosdad.html
http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=258&letter=J

I've notice that from Adam's time through to Jacob, there's always 1 son chosen to continue God's covenant. The guy can have many sons and they will each prosper, but, only 1 chosen son will carry on the covenant with God. But, It seemed to have broken at the time of Jocab. I initially, I thought Joseph will carry on the covenant, because God was by his side and protected him through his hardship and God gave him the power to interprete dreams. But, he didn't. The Bible just said he died in Egypt and he did not bless his sons like his ancestors did. In fact, his first 2 sons was adopted and blessed by Jacob. Also, his relationship with God was different from his ancestors. For his ancestors, God actually asked them to go this way and that and they followed God's instruction. But, for Joseph, he was sold by his brothers to some traveling group who in turn sold him to Egypt and he later realised it was all God's plan so that he can save his tribe later.

It's also interesting that in Genesis, Jacob more like curse Simeon and Levi,

Simeon and Levi are brothers—
their swords are weapons of violence.
Let me not enter their council,
let me not join their assembly,
for they have killed men in their anger
and hamstrung oxen as they pleased.
Cursed be their anger, so fierce,
and their fury, so cruel!
I will scatter them in Jacob
and disperse them in Israel.

But, Moses was born under the Levi tribe and he will be the one who bring the Isrealites out of slavery.

悲如喜

有悲就有喜，有喜就有悲。嚟個道理我信，因為兩個都係一種感覺。有冇可能淨係要喜不要悲? 我覺得唔可能。要真真正正脫離悲痛，就要學識 detach。但係我們可以淨係detach悲痛但係唔detach喜悅嗎?
佛家話，喜都係一個痛苦的根源。因為，當你失去令你喜悅嘅野，你就會感覺悲哀。所以，要detach, 就detach所有貪嗔癡愛恨。可能我唔夠了解乜嘢係真正的平靜同bliss。有人話，detachment 不是冇感覺。你仍然可以樂在其中。只係，當快樂時光完了，你就放手，不要癡戀。同樣，傷心完就算，不要不放。Uh, 噉咪係冇美好回憶囉？回想都冇感覺。

--------到此為止。日後在續。---------

Bible Stories 3

Reading the Story of Joseph now. I really really like Joseph and his story. Compare to his ancestors, he really is very upright. He he loyal and trustworthy. He's grateful to his Egyptian master and won't betray his trust. He didn't sucumb to lust and he's not conniving and, like one blogger said, very honest.

But, he's not without flaw. When he was young, he was a tale-teller and going finger. Always giving bad reports to his father about his brothers. No wonder his brothers hate him (besides the reason that their father show extreme favouritism to him).

I like how this story shows the growth of the brothers and the message of forgiveness and blamelessness that it convey.

After the brothers sold Joseph and saw how devastated their father was, they grew to be less selfish, especially Judah, who willingly trade place with Benjamin to become a slave so that his father won't experience the heartbreak of losing another beloved son again. He has really became a filial son. But, it got to hurt knowing that your father love your brother more and losing you will be less devastating than losing your brother. But, Jacob's favouritism was understandable. Rachel was the one he wanted. He work 14 years to get her hand in marriage. He was tricked into marrying Leah. So, him favouring her offspring was understandable.

I also like that Joseph forgave his brother for what they did to him and in fact not blaming his brothers at all. Instead he saw this as God's arrangement to send him to away to save his family later. I think all of them grew as a person. I don't know whether future stories will be like this or not. But, for the past stories I read, there's not much growth in the major players of the stories. The only other one I saw that show growth wa Esau, who also show a big heart in forgiving Jacob.

"And he sent his brethren away, and they departed. And he said to them, Do not quarrel on the way."

Haha, Joseph is so funny. He must have reminiscence of the past.

Update June 30

Finish Genesis.

I did say I like Joseph a lot. But, one thing I don't agree with him was him taking advantage of the famine and made whole of Egypt bondage to the Pharoah. He took their money, then livestock, then, their land and even the people. I know it's the people themselves to offered out of desperation. But, I think he should be more benevolent instead of businessmanlike. On the other hand, he's a very good servant of the Pharoah, very loyal. Pharoah sure will love him a lot.

The blessing part is also funny. Why Jacob asked Joseph to put his hand under his thigh to make a promise? What's the reason behind this act?

An the part where Jacob bless all his sons. Some of the 'blessing' sure sound strange, and its so specific it looks like a prediction. Poor Reuban. He's a nice guy, but, made a big mistake. Now, got a bad blessing from his father. (Sounds like the china stage play 'Lui Yu' to me). I think this blessing story was again just to explain the condition of the existing tribe at the times.

NIV translation

Then Jacob called for his sons and said: Gather round so that I can tell you what will happen to you in days to come.

Assemble and listen, sons of Jacob;
listen to your father Israel.

Reuben, you are my firstborn,
my might, the first sign of my strength,
excelling in honour, excelling in power.
Turbulent as the waters, you will no longer excel,
for you went up onto your father's bed,
onto my couch and defiled it.

Simeon and Levi are brothers—
their swords are weapons of violence.
Let me not enter their council,
let me not join their assembly,
for they have killed men in their anger
and hamstrung oxen as they pleased.
Cursed be their anger, so fierce,
and their fury, so cruel!
I will scatter them in Jacob
and disperse them in Israel.

Judah, your brothers will praise you;
your hand will be on the neck of your enemies;
your father's sons will bow down to you.
You are a lion's cub, O Judah;
you return from the prey, my son.
Like a lion he crouches and lies down,
like a lioness— who dares to rouse him?
The sceptre will not depart from Judah,
nor the ruler's staff from between his feet,
until he comes to whom it belongs
and the obedience of the nations is his.
He will tether his donkey to a vine,
his colt to the choicest branch;
he will wash his garments in wine,
his robes in the blood of grapes.
His eyes will be darker than wine,
his teeth whiter than milk.

Zebulun will live by the seashore
and become a haven for ships;
his border will extend towards Sidon.

Issachar is a scrawny donkey
lying down between two saddlebags.
When he sees how good is his resting place
and how pleasant is his land,
he will bend his shoulder to the burden
and submit to forced labour.

Dan will provide justice for his people
as one of the tribes of Israel.
Dan will be a serpent by the roadside,
a viper along the path,
that bites the horse's heels
so that its rider tumbles backwards.
I look for your deliverance, O LORD.

Gad will be attacked by a band of raiders,
but he will attack them at their heels.

Asher's food will be rich;
he will provide delicacies fit for a king.

Naphtali is a doe set free
that bears beautiful fawns.

Joseph is a fruitful vine,
a fruitful vine near a spring,
whose branches climb over a wall.
With bitterness archers attacked him;
they shot at him with hostility.
But his bow remained steady,
his strong arms stayed supple,
because of the hand of the Mighty One of Jacob,
because of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel,
because of your father's God, who helps you,
because of the Almighty, who blesses you
with blessings of the heavens above,
blessings of the deep that lies below,
blessings of the breast and womb.
Your father's blessings are greater
than the blessings of the ancient mountains,
than the bounty of the age-old hills.
Let all these rest on the head of Joseph,
on the brow of the prince among his brothers.

Benjamin is a ravenous wolf;
in the morning he devours the prey,
in the evening he divides the plunder.

All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father said to them when he blessed them, giving each the blessing appropriate to him.

The Green Hornet

I'm going to watch this movie when it comes out. Watch the series as a kid. Although I don't remember much of it, I still have fond feelings of it. And I remember liking Kato becuase he's Chinese. There's not many asians in western movies and series, so, when I saw a chinese looking actor/character, I'll especially like. :D

So, I'm obviously going to watch this movie more for Kato and Jay Chou.

Wiki entry
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Green_Hornet_(2011_film)
IMDB
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0990407/

Trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yo3eI-03OtU

Interesting trivia: Although both Kato actors are/were chinese, the Kato character itself has never been chinese. Kato's races ha change several times through the years. He's first known to the Japanese. But due to anti-Japan sentiment during WW2, Kato's character known as just Oriental. Later his race changed to Korean and then Philipino.

Memory and a children song

Memory is such a strange thing. The more you try to recall, the more you can't.

Yesterday, I was watching the local series 'The Age of Glory II'. In it, a character was playing a song with his harmonica. The song sounded familiar and my housemate immediately said it's a song that was used in 'The Greed of Man', but, she only knew the chinese version. I clearly remembered there's a english version, but, however much I tried to recall, I couldn't recall what was the song, not even a word of the lyrics. I asked another housemate, and she confirmed there's an english version, but couldn't remember either. I tried hard to scan my memory for children's songs and even look and children's songs list. Lots of songs popped up in my mind. 'You Are My Sunshine', 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star', 'The More We Get Together' etc. But somehow, I couldn't recall that song. Until I came to office today, and asked my collegue and she said it's 'Red River Valley'.

So, here's this elusive song that has me crack my brain last night. Enjoy a nostalgic trip down memory lane. :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YScY4zKw8Nc

Sigh. My memory is getting worse and worse. Need to find remedy liao.

Btw, 'The Age of Glory II' is a good quality drama. Give it a try. I can see that the production crew really put a lot of effort in it from script to sets to acting.

your name and your life

Do you believe that your name will influence your life? Many cultures their own method choosing a good name for a child or studying a name to see to see how it influence one's life.

In western culture, we have numerology where you assign numbers to each alphabet of your name and add it up in various ways to determine the influences it have on a you.

In chinese culture, you have the brushstroke and the elements (Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth).

Do you believe that just by changing your name, you can change your life? I have 4 people seen my chinese name and all 4 said it's not a good name, especially the character in the middle. But, I like that character in my name because not many people use that character in a name (haha, maybe the above reason is why not many people use it). So, I was relunctant to change it. I think one can succeed despite bad names. One shouldn't be so not in control of one's life.

But, I do believe your name influence your life in one way. For example, if you have a weird name that people can make fun of, it will affect your way of thought or how you see yourself. If you have a funny name that made people can't take you seriously, it will also affect your life in a way.

Btw, fun stuff. You can check the numerology of your name here.
http://www.paulsadowski.com/NameData.asp

My number is 7, which characteristic is supposed to be

'analysis, understanding, knowledge, awareness, studious, meditating'.

Haha, so scholarly.

Coincidentally, my birth number (comebine all the numbers in your birthdate and reduce into 1 digit) is also 7.

Work/Career

Can someone work in a job he doesn't like for his whole life just for financial security and making a living? I read a lot of books that says, in order to success you will have to love what you do and to live a fullfilling life, you have to go with your passion. But, on the practical side, your passion will not neccessarily put food in your mouth.

Do you actually know what you want in life or are you just going with the flow and see what life brings you?

How willing are you to take risk and going out of your comfort (and not so comfort but bearable) zone? To do something new? To not worry about this and that when making a decision?
As the saying goes, 'no risk, no gain'. But there's also s saying '小心駛得萬年船' (equivalent proverb: Caution is the parent of safety) . How to balance this? Take risk but at the same time be sensible?

Is it too late to change the course of my life now?

Is anyone reading my blog anymore?

Just curious. I know I just limit my readers to a few. But, I would like to know. Does anyone still read my blog nowadays or I'm just talking to myself?

Anyone who is reading, please reply.

If no reply, I guess this means that I'm talking to myself.

Book: The Gospels' Veiled Agenda

On hiatus from reading the Bible. Stop at Genesis 38. Am currently reading a book by Harry Freedman can 'The Gospels' Veiled Agenda'. Very interesting from a historical POV as he dissect the Bible stories and showing parallels between OT and NT.

Currently, I'm reading the lottery part where Pilate let the Jews choose whether to release the Jesus Christ or Barabbas (whose first name also happen to be Jesus). The book said this is parallel to the tradition of the Jews where one goat will be sacrificed to God while the other goat will be released to the wilderness carrying the sins of the people. The second goat is called Azazel (which later got mistranslated to english as scapegoat). According to the book, this ritual originated from a pagan ritual of human sacrifice where 2 men will be chosen for the ritual (supposedly to appease the demons). One man will have to kill the other man as a sacrifice. The killer will then carry the sin of the murder and be exiled to the wilderness to live alone i.e. excommunicated from the tribe. A Jewish scholar Hyam Maccoby coined the term 'Sacred Executioner' for this person. This way, the tribe will be protected from the guilt of the murder by shifting the blame to this person. But god of the tribe (or the demon god) will protect him since he carried the burden of the sins for the tribe. The author think this practice was later modified and they use goats instead. But, unlike the ritual, Jesus became the sacrificed one and also carried the sins of mankind. But, what interest me was the choice of the Jews choosing Barabbas over Jesus. Reading the book, I can understand the choice. I don't think they chose Barabbas over Jesus because they hated Jesus such much that they would choose a murderer and hardened criminal over him. Yes, Barabbas was a murderer, but, his was also condemned for 'a certain rebellion made in the city'. From this, he seem to me more like a revolutionary fighter than your usual criminal. Maybe he was someone who was fighting against the oppressive Roman rule. So, maybe the choice wasn't so easy after all. It's between 2 revolution leaders. Maybe one used the Mahatma Gandhi way and the other use the Guerrilla fighter way and the majority of the people asked preferred the latter. Just my take on it.

Bible Stories 2

Read about Esau and Jacob.

When I first read this story last year, I don't like Esau for the way he gotten Esau's birthright from Esau. I considered it cheating. But, now reading the story again, I don't feel the same way. It's true that he took advantage of Esau in his weak moment, but, it's Esau himself who decide to give over his birthright for a meal. Can't blame anyone.

I wonder, during Abraham and Jacob's time, was it common for people who kill someone's husband just to get the wife? Both Abraham and Jacob told people that their wife was their sister when they traveled to another place because they were afraid people will killed them for their beautiful wife.

Just remember this one. Forgot to put earlier. When I read about Lot leaving Sodom with his family and his wife look back and turned to salt. This reminded me of the Greek Mythology story where Orpheus traveled to the Underworld to get his dead wife back. He was able to persuade and Hades and Persephone to let him take his wife back but he could not look back while on the journey out to see whether his wife was following. He did look back and his wife faded back to the Underworld.

I also like the part where Sarah laughed (rather in disbelieve I think) when Abraham told her God will bestow her a child. She laughed because she's over the age of childbirth. When God asked her why she laughed, she denied that she did and God just said 'Yes, you did'. So funny.

Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, which was behind him. Abraham and Sarah were already old and well advanced in years, and Sarah was past the age of childbearing. So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, "After I am worn out and my master [d] is old, will I now have this pleasure?"

Then the LORD said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh and say, 'Will I really have a child, now that I am old?' Is anything too hard for the LORD ? I will return to you at the appointed time next year and Sarah will have a son."

Sarah was afraid, so she lied and said, "I did not laugh."

But he said, "Yes, you did laugh."

Update:

Read more on Esau and Jacob. Earlier, I don't blame Jacob for getting the birthright from Esau in an open bargain. But, the second deceit is not easily justified. Jacob totally cheated his father and snatched the blessing from Esau. Why is Rebekah so bias? Both are her sons. It's interesting that this outcome has already predicted or destine by God.

The LORD said to her,

"Two nations are in your womb,

and two peoples from within you will be separated;

one people will be stronger than the other,

and the older will serve the younger."

Bible Stories 1

I don't think anyone read my blog at all now. But, I'll post it anyway.

I've read bits an pieces of Bible stories when I was young, but, has never actually read the whole Bible. So, I decided to start reading it since I got a copy from my aunt's place (New King James Version). I started last year, but, many things happened that made me discontinued doing it. Last week I started again. This time, I read the 'New International Version' I just bought.

Now, I'm up to the story of Abraham sacrificing his son to God. This man really really have great faith and trust in God. How many people nowadays can do that? People who said they know God and communicate with God. If one day, they hear God says 'Sacrifice your child to me', who will actually do it? If the father really do that, people nowadays will call him crazy and be disgusted with him. I've not, so far, read any news of any monotheist religions follower doing that. But, I have read reports about parents using their kids has sacrifice in black magic.

I wonder what Abraham was thinking when he led Isaac to the altar of sacrifice. Did he believe that God will show some miracles in the last minute? Did he ever expect God to intervene in the last minute? Or he completely trust in God's decision and ready to actually sacrifice his son. It's kinda painful when I read how his son asked him where's the sacrificial lamb. I wonder what was his feeling at that time. Did he feel any pain and sadness?

Other interesting parts I get from the Bible. God was the one who sabotage human twice. Once, when he shorted man's lifespan from 900+ years to 120 years. Another time was when God saw the descendants of Ham building a tower to heaven to make a name for themselves and to prevent their city from being scattered. At that time, everyone spoke the same language. God saw what they did and said 'If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.' So, God went and confused their language and scattered them over the face of the whole Earth. I guess God has a right to do that since he created man in the first place. He must have his reason. One interesting point I found. Many a times, when God was referring to self, He always use 'us'. Who was He talking to? Even when he first created man, He said, 'Let us make man in out image'. Strange. I double check with the New King James Version. It also use 'us'.

The story of Noah and his sons is quite strange. What did the story actually want to tell us? How come Noah's reaction so big towards what Ham did?

I like the story of Sarah, Abraham and Hagar. Very human. I don't know, I especially interested in Ishmael (maybe because of the injustices he and his mom faced, him being the firstborn, but being driven away and lived in the dessert as archer. Can write a good story about it). Glad that God still blessed him even thought he's not the chosen one for the covenant.

I felt sorry for those Kings that Abraham lied to for self-preservation when he told then Sarah was his sister. When they took Sarah as their consort, God punished them. I like that one argued back and said he did it with a clear conscience since he did not know Sarah was Abraham's wife.

Lastly, I do not know what to say about Adam's response to God when God chastised him for eating the fruit from the tree of knowledge, "The woman you put here with me - she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it." Sound like blaming God.

God in the Old Testament seems to be favouring one chosen group instead of loving all fairly. I'll read on to see what more I can find and understand.

It was interesting now I read about Cain and Abel. In the version I read, it just said Cain was farmer and he took someone of the crops to God as offering. But, the children Bible story I read when I was young, it said Cain took rotten (or not very good ones) crops to God. Was the children's Bible trying to justify to kids why God rejected Cain's offerings? But, anyhow, Cain shouldn't have killed Abel.

Maybe all these stories are just metaphor to some teachings. But, still interesting read.