kay, I really enjoyed this chapter. First of all, I found the history of the house of Israel (BC) very interesting. I think I didn't have a great sense of how it all fit together before, so this chapter helped me to get a better handle on how the bible came together and how the people of the OT became the people of the NT. I also was struck by how prophetic (I know, he was a prophet..) Isaiah's writings were. He pretty much described exactly what happened. The chapter made me ponder on what it would have been like in the world before Christ. Can you imagine a time when everyone believes in their different various pagan Gods. Then come the people of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, saying they have their own God who is more powerful than the rest. Today we just take it for granted that everyone basically believes in the same God. I liked learning the differences between Sadducees (the aristocratic elite, who believed in the most literal interpretation of the books of Moses) and the Pharisees (the popular party who created "hedges" around the law, expanding the law into mounds of rabbinical teachings). Finally, I thought that the history of Jewish law (the way it got more and more complicated and split into different factions, etc) really highlighted the need for a current prophet to guide the church. I started to imagine mormonism without a prophet to guide us and I can imagine a bunch of different sects forming--the take ancient scripture literally-ists, and the create a bunch of crazy rules so you don't get close to breaking the rules-ists (like my cousin who doesn't eat chocolate because it has caffeine in it and she doesn't want to break the word of wisdom..). I'm grateful for the prophet.
Anyways, it was a fun chapter. I hope that you guys keep reading (or start reading if you haven't). I've been enjoying making one chapter a Sunday tradition. okay, peace out. eebs
I didn't have a notebook or pen with me when I read this chapter, so I'll do my best to remember the thoughts I had. Two things struck me while reading this chapter:
I thought it would be very interesting to study the psychology of a nation. Here we have the Jewish nation, the Israelites. It was very interesting and helpful to learn how Pharisees and Sadducees fit into their culture and why Samaritans are the most despised of them. It's enlightening to learn how they fit into the dominant world culture of the time. It really brought the Israelite nation to life for me.
I was also very struck by the idea of the gathering of the lost ten tribes of Israel. Elder Talmage said something about how a once great nation basically became lost and dispersed except for a small handful of them (a few hundred thousand), which became the Israelites of Jesus' time. It's hard to describe, but I just had an impression of what a wondrous, wonderful and amazing thing it will be when the "lost" ten tribes are gathered- when the kingdom of Israel and the reign of Judah become whole again.
kay, I really enjoyed this chapter.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, I found the history of the house of Israel (BC) very interesting. I think I didn't have a great sense of how it all fit together before, so this chapter helped me to get a better handle on how the bible came together and how the people of the OT became the people of the NT. I also was struck by how prophetic (I know, he was a prophet..) Isaiah's writings were. He pretty much described exactly what happened.
The chapter made me ponder on what it would have been like in the world before Christ. Can you imagine a time when everyone believes in their different various pagan Gods. Then come the people of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, saying they have their own God who is more powerful than the rest. Today we just take it for granted that everyone basically believes in the same God.
I liked learning the differences between Sadducees (the aristocratic elite, who believed in the most literal interpretation of the books of Moses) and the Pharisees (the popular party who created "hedges" around the law, expanding the law into mounds of rabbinical teachings).
Finally, I thought that the history of Jewish law (the way it got more and more complicated and split into different factions, etc) really highlighted the need for a current prophet to guide the church. I started to imagine mormonism without a prophet to guide us and I can imagine a bunch of different sects forming--the take ancient scripture literally-ists, and the create a bunch of crazy rules so you don't get close to breaking the rules-ists (like my cousin who doesn't eat chocolate because it has caffeine in it and she doesn't want to break the word of wisdom..).
I'm grateful for the prophet.
Anyways, it was a fun chapter. I hope that you guys keep reading (or start reading if you haven't). I've been enjoying making one chapter a Sunday tradition.
okay, peace out.
eebs
I didn't have a notebook or pen with me when I read this chapter, so I'll do my best to remember the thoughts I had. Two things struck me while reading this chapter:
ReplyDeleteI thought it would be very interesting to study the psychology of a nation. Here we have the Jewish nation, the Israelites. It was very interesting and helpful to learn how Pharisees and Sadducees fit into their culture and why Samaritans are the most despised of them. It's enlightening to learn how they fit into the dominant world culture of the time. It really brought the Israelite nation to life for me.
I was also very struck by the idea of the gathering of the lost ten tribes of Israel. Elder Talmage said something about how a once great nation basically became lost and dispersed except for a small handful of them (a few hundred thousand), which became the Israelites of Jesus' time. It's hard to describe, but I just had an impression of what a wondrous, wonderful and amazing thing it will be when the "lost" ten tribes are gathered- when the kingdom of Israel and the reign of Judah become whole again.