Thursday, January 20, 2011

Class from the 18th

Sorry I'm late posting this. I should have done it right after class but it definitely slipped my mind on Wednesday. But it was such a pretty day out and I was super tired and hungry so I just didn't get around to it.

So on Tuesday we began talking about the ark of the covenant. I have always been really confused on what exactly the ark of the covenant was. It is the box which holds the ten commandments fragments and possibly the instructions to the Temple of Solomon. Does it actually exist? Maybe, my guess is probably not. Did it ever exist? Maybe, maybe maybe maybe. But it would be pretty freaking sweet if it did. Like damn, thats the really fun stuff. When we find archaeological evidence for biblical stuff, thats the cool stuff. Like Tel Dan. I think if we found the ark of the covenant, that would be like the ultimate find. Anyways, David wanted to build a house to hold the Ark, but God was all like 'nah, its no big deal. Ive been chillin in my ark outside in the desert like the rest of the Jews for a while.' And david was like 'u got it boss.' So David didn't build the temple and instead God waited for Solomon to build it. I don't know if its in the Tanak or in the Midrash, but I believe its because of David's 'blood stained hands.' And God didn't want the builder to have 'blood on his hands."

We also went over some biblical parallels between David and Jesus. I think we have had enough of those and I feel like they aren't part of the history of Jerusalem, at least not in the period we are studying. They can wait till we get to the time of Jesus. But there are a ton. The procession for a king/priest through Jerusalem. Bethlehem. Underdog. Jesus's lineage goes through David. Theres a lot.

Then we also talked about how the Hebrew Bible is fairly consistent with other religions and mythologies of the Near East, which makes a lot of sense. Judaism is a middle eastern religion, even though we think of it not in the middle east for the majority of its history, and certainly for the last 1900 years.

Um, ya, I didn't take too much notes on Tuesday so that's it for this class.

Hope you enjoyed!
Joey

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