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  • DistroMan 20:00 on February 29, 2012 Permalink
    Tags: Chronicles, , , , , , index, , , , Kings, , , , , , Samuel   

    Distro’s Bible Commentary: An Index 

    Warning: The Bible is a work of fiction and should not be taken literally. It contains verses descriptive of, or advocating suicide, incest, bestiality, sadomasochism, sexual activity in a violet manner, murder, morbid violence, use of drugs or alcohol, homosexuality, voyeurism, revenge, animal cruelty, undermining of authority figures, lawlessness and human rights violations and atrocities.

    Exposure to contents for extended periods of time or during formative years in children may cause delusions, hallucinations, decreased cognitive and objective reasoning abilities, and, in extreme cases, pathological disorders, hatred, bigotry and violence including but not limited to fanaticism, murder and genocide.

    GenesisExodusLeviticusNumbersDeuteronomyJoshuaJudgesRuth1-Samuel2 Samuel1 Kings2 Kings1 Chronicles2 ChroniclesEzraNehemiahEstherJobPsalms – Proverbs – Ecclesiastes – Song of Solomon – Isaiah – Jeremiah – Lamentations – Ezekiel – Daniel – Hosea – Joel – Amos – Obadiah – Jonah – Micah – Nahum – Habakkuk – Zephaniah – Haggai – Zechariah – Malachi – Matthew – Mark – Luke – John – Acts – Romans – 1 Corinthians – 2 Corinthians – Galatians – Ephesians – Philippians – Colossians – 1 Thessalonians – 2 Thessalonians – 1 Timothy – 2 Timothy – Titus – Philemon – Hebrews – James – 1 Peter – 2 Peter – 1 John – 2 John – 3 John – Jude – Revelation

    Genesis

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    41424344454647484950My thoughts on Genesis

    Exodus

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    Leviticus

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    Numbers

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    Deuteronomy

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    Joshua

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    Judges

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    Ruth

    1234My thoughts on Ruth

    1-Samuel

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    2-Samuel

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    1-Kings

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    2-Kings

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    1-Chronicles

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    2-Chronicles

    123456789101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233343536My thoughts on 2-Chronicles

    Ezra

    12345678910My thoughts on Ezra

    Nehemiah

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    Esther

    12345678910My thoughts on Esther

    Job

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    Psalms

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  • DistroMan 20:00 on March 24, 2011 Permalink
    Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Samuel, ,   

    1-Samuel: The Post Mortem 

    1-Samuel: What was it all about?

    Well, that was a slightly more interesting story than Ruth. With this we had Samuel through to Saul through to David.  Saul and David being the main players.  Why God would tell Samuel to make Saul the King when he would have known that he was the wrong choice is beyond me.  Yes, that’s right.  I’m not all knowing and don’t pretend to be as opposed to this petulant freak we call God.  How this book can continue to say God is all knowing, all wise, all powerful while at the same time proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that he is nothing of the kind leaves me bewildered.  People read this tome daily.  They preach from it daily.  They teach it to our children daily.  And yet, while reading it they must somehow turn off that portion of the brain that leads the rest of us to think for ourselves and see how dangerous this book really is to a civilised and modern society.

    How can we ever expect to move forward into the future with a positive outlook while at the same time keeping ourselves chained like slaves to, among other things, a superstitious, lawless, genocidal, bigoted past?

    When you read section after section that Saul is tormented daily by God’s tormentors, pushed into slavishly pursuing David for no other reason than God’s amusement, to then be persuaded to give up the chase and change his mind again the following day, it just becomes a joke.  Think about it for a second.  If you were pissed off at someone and you chased them around the desert until you finally caught up with them and they were unarmed, you had a sword or spear and they kept insulting you, would you let them go?  No?  Of course not.  But this book expects us to believe that Saul would do just that in the face of David’s insults.  Do you want to believe it is because that is what God wanted him to do?  Ok, believe that, but explain it to me.  What is the payoff to anyone to have them behave in this manner?  Where is the moral teaching behind it?  The only story here is to stay the hell away from religion before it sends you around the twist and has you locked up in a rubber room somewhere.

    In one section it tells you David had three wives and in another it tells you he only had two.  One person, Jonathan, who backed David right from the beginning and was ultimately the cause of David’s life being saved was then killed without anything being done by God to save him.  What good did it do Jonathan to be a believer?

    To finish off I’d like to ask yet again, what good it does anyone, even God, to have so many people being killed day after day, week after week, year after year?  Even the Israelites aren’t being allowed to live in peace.  The millions they’ve killed certainly haven’t benefited.  The slaves they’ve captured haven’t thrown any parties and thanked anyone for being held captive and worked to death day after day.  The women/girls they capture and rape aren’t sending out messages of appreciation.  It’s no better from the other side of the equation either.  The Philistines are just as bad.  It’s just one big bloodbath that only seems to be for the amusement of God.  And what god would that be?  They don’t all believe in the same god.  Is there a whole plethora of the bastards up there in the sky playing some kind of wargame with us as the game pieces?  Millions dying in wars, earthquakes, plagues, fires, floods, famines and just for their amusement?

    Get over yourselves people.  It’s a book.  A badly written book with nothing to back it up.  Put the stupid thing down, back away from it and never pick it up again.  You and the rest of the world will be better of for it.

    << 1-Samuel 31      Index      2-Samuel 1 >>

     
  • DistroMan 20:00 on February 23, 2011 Permalink
    Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , Samuel,   

    1-Samuel 3: Here Samuel, come here boy! Sit! 

    1-Samuel: Part 3 of 31
    The LORD Calls Samuel

    1 The boy Samuel ministered before the LORD under Eli. In those days the word of the LORD was rare; there were not many visions.

    2 One night Eli, whose eyes were becoming so weak that he could barely see, was lying down in his usual place.

    3 The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the house of the LORD, where the ark of God was.

    4 Then the LORD called Samuel. Samuel answered, “Here I am.”

    5 And he ran to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.” But Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.” So he went and lay down.

    6 Again the LORD called, “Samuel!” And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.”  “My son,” Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.”

    7 Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD: The word of the LORD had not yet been revealed to him.

    8 A third time the LORD called, “Samuel!” And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.” Then Eli realized that the LORD was calling the boy.

    9 So Eli told Samuel, “Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, ‘Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.

    10 The LORD came and stood there, calling as at the other times, “Samuel! Samuel!”  Then Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”

    Aha, this is like Vampires.  God can’t come in unless you invite him.  Very cool information I must say.

    11 And the LORD said to Samuel: “See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make the ears of everyone who hears about it tingle.

    12 At that time I will carry out against Eli everything I spoke against his family—from beginning to end.

    13 For I told him that I would judge his family forever because of the sin he knew about; his sons blasphemed God, and he failed to restrain them.

    Ah, but God is the one with all the superpowers and the buck stops with him.  It is his fault.  He failed to restrain them.

    14 Therefore I swore to the house of Eli, ‘The guilt of Eli’s house will never be atoned for by sacrifice or offering.’”

    15 Samuel lay down until morning and then opened the doors of the house of the LORD. He was afraid to tell Eli the vision,

    16 but Eli called him and said, “Samuel, my son.”  Samuel answered, “Here I am.”

    17 “What was it he said to you?” Eli asked. “Do not hide it from me. May God deal with you, be it ever so severely, if you hide from me anything he told you.”

    18 So Samuel told him everything, hiding nothing from him. Then Eli said, “He is the LORD; let him do what is good in his eyes.”

    19 The LORD was with Samuel as he grew up, and he let none of Samuel’s words fall to the ground.

    20 And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba recognized that Samuel was attested as a prophet of the LORD.

    21 The LORD continued to appear at Shiloh, and there he revealed himself to Samuel through his word.

    The trouble is that everytime God shows up, untold misery and loss of life seems to follow.

    << 1-Samuel 2       Index      1-Samuel 4 >>

     
  • DistroMan 20:00 on February 22, 2011 Permalink
    Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , Samuel,   

    1-Samuel 2: I give you what you don’t need. – God 

    1-Samuel: Part 2 of 31
    Hannah’s Prayer

    1 Then Hannah prayed and said:

    “My heart rejoices in the LORD;
    in the LORD my horn is lifted high.
    My mouth boasts over my enemies,
    for I delight in your deliverance.

    Why have enemies?  Why boast?  These are not desirable traits!

    2 “There is no one holy like the LORD;
    there is no one besides you;
    there is no Rock like our God.

    So says God and he’s not exactly partial in the matter.

    3 “Do not keep talking so proudly
    or let your mouth speak such arrogance,
    for the LORD is a God who knows,
    and by him deeds are weighed.

    Why not talk that way?  God does!

    4 “The bows of the warriors are broken,
    but those who stumbled are armed with strength.

    Whose warriors?

    5 Those who were full hire themselves out for food,
    but those who were hungry are hungry no more.
    She who was barren has borne seven children,
    but she who has had many sons pines away.

    Why is everything being turned upside down here?

    6 “The LORD brings death and makes alive;
    he brings down to the grave and raises up.

    Praise God, Lord High Zombiemaker.

    7 The LORD sends poverty and wealth;
    he humbles and he exalts.

    How can sending poverty and humbling be good things?

    8 He raises the poor from the dust
    and lifts the needy from the ash heap;
    he seats them with princes
    and has them inherit a throne of honor.

    Princes and thrones should be relegated to the history books.  Neither are necessary.

    “For the foundations of the earth are the LORD’s;
    on them he has set the world.

    9 He will guard the feet of his faithful servants,
    but the wicked will be silenced in the place of darkness.

    “It is not by strength that one prevails;

    Then why would God turn Israel into a mobile army?

    10 those who oppose the LORD will be broken.
    The Most High will thunder from heaven;
    the LORD will judge the ends of the earth.

    “He will give strength to his king
    and exalt the horn of his anointed.”

    First it says that strength is not what you need, but then God gives strength.

    11 Then Elkanah went home to Ramah, but the boy ministered before the LORD under Eli the priest.

    Eli’s Wicked Sons

    12 Eli’s sons were scoundrels; they had no regard for the LORD.

    The Lord’s priest wasn’t much of a father was he?

    13 Now it was the practice of the priests that, whenever any of the people offered a sacrifice, the priest’s servant would come with a three-pronged fork in his hand while the meat was being boiled

    14 and would plunge the fork into the pan or kettle or caldron or pot. Whatever the fork brought up the priest would take for himself. This is how they treated all the Israelites who came to Shiloh.

    15 But even before the fat was burned, the priest’s servant would come and say to the person who was sacrificing, “Give the priest some meat to roast; he won’t accept boiled meat from you, but only raw.”

    16 If the person said to him, “Let the fat be burned first, and then take whatever you want,” the servant would answer, “No, hand it over now; if you don’t, I’ll take it by force.”

    Well, I wonder from whom they learnt greed and bullying?

    17 This sin of the young men was very great in the LORD’s sight, for they were treating the LORD’s offering with contempt.

    18 But Samuel was ministering before the LORD—a boy wearing a linen ephod.

    19 Each year his mother made him a little robe and took it to him when she went up with her husband to offer the annual sacrifice.

    20 Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife, saying, “May the LORD give you children by this woman to take the place of the one she prayed for and gave to the LORD.” Then they would go home.

    21 And the LORD was gracious to Hannah; she gave birth to three sons and two daughters. Meanwhile, the boy Samuel grew up in the presence of the LORD.

    Is that how they said it back then?  Gracious to Hannah?

    22 Now Eli, who was very old, heard about everything his sons were doing to all Israel and how they slept with the women who served at the entrance to the tent of meeting.

    23 So he said to them, “Why do you do such things? I hear from all the people about these wicked deeds of yours.

    24 No, my sons; the report I hear spreading among the LORD’s people is not good.

    25 If one person sins against another, God may mediate for the offender; but if anyone sins against the LORD, who will intercede for them?” His sons, however, did not listen to their father’s rebuke, for it was the LORD’s will to put them to death.

    So God made them not listen? Might they have listened and become better people if allowed to hear?  This is not moral behaviour.

    26 And the boy Samuel continued to grow in stature and in favor with the LORD and with people.

    Prophecy Against the House of Eli

    27 Now a man of God came to Eli and said to him, “This is what the LORD says: ‘Did I not clearly reveal myself to your ancestor’s family when they were in Egypt under Pharaoh?

    28 I chose your ancestor out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to go up to my altar, to burn incense, and to wear an ephod in my presence. I also gave your ancestor’s family all the food offerings presented by the Israelites.

    29 Why do you scorn my sacrifice and offering that I prescribed for my dwelling? Why do you honor your sons more than me by fattening yourselves on the choice parts of every offering made by my people Israel?’

    Because that is what priests do.  Duh!

    30 “Therefore the LORD, the God of Israel, declares: ‘I promised that members of your family would minister before me forever.’ But now the LORD declares: ‘Far be it from me! Those who honor me I will honor, but those who despise me will be disdained.

    31 The time is coming when I will cut short your strength and the strength of your priestly house, so that no one in it will reach old age,

    Just another promise reneged upon.

    32 and you will see distress in my dwelling. Although good will be done to Israel, no one in your family line will ever reach old age.

    33 Every one of you that I do not cut off from serving at my altar I will spare only to destroy your sight and sap your strength, and all your descendants will die in the prime of life.

    Punishing innocents.  Also not nice.

    34 “‘And what happens to your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, will be a sign to you—they will both die on the same day.

    Murder.

    35 I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, who will do according to what is in my heart and mind. I will firmly establish his priestly house, and they will minister before my anointed one always.

    36 Then everyone left in your family line will come and bow down before him for a piece of silver and a loaf of bread and plead, “Appoint me to some priestly office so I can have food to eat.”’”

    << 1-Samuel 1       Index      1-Samuel 3 >>

     
  • DistroMan 20:00 on February 21, 2011 Permalink
    Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , Samuel,   

    1-Samuel 1: I want a baby so I can give him away! 

    1-Samuel: Part 1 of 31
    The Birth of Samuel

    1 There was a certain man from Ramathaim, a Zuphite from the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Elkanah son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite.

    2 He had two wives; one was called Hannah and the other Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had none.

    Bigamy was fine back then?  Were women allowed to have two husbands?

    3 Year after year this man went up from his town to worship and sacrifice to the LORD Almighty at Shiloh, where Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, were priests of the LORD.

    No great recommendation for intelligence there.

    4 Whenever the day came for Elkanah to sacrifice, he would give portions of the meat to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters.

    They weren’t his children?

    5 But to Hannah he gave a double portion because he loved her, and the LORD had closed her womb.

    Why is the Lord playing around with his creations genitals all the time?  Fetish?

    6 Because the LORD had closed Hannah’s womb, her rival kept provoking her in order to irritate her.

    7 This went on year after year. Whenever Hannah went up to the house of the LORD, her rival provoked her till she wept and would not eat.

    Why does the Lord wish this?

    8 Her husband Elkanah would say to her, “Hannah, why are you weeping? Why don’t you eat? Why are you downhearted? Don’t I mean more to you than ten sons?”

    9 Once when they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh, Hannah stood up. Now Eli the priest was sitting on his chair by the doorpost of the LORD’s house.

    10 In her deep anguish Hannah prayed to the LORD, weeping bitterly.

    11 And she made a vow, saying, “LORD Almighty, if you will only look on your servant’s misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the LORD for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head.”

    Well that’s a lovely thing to do. Take away the choices of a person who hasn’t even been conceived yet.

    12 As she kept on praying to the LORD, Eli observed her mouth.

    13 Hannah was praying in her heart, and her lips were moving but her voice was not heard. Eli thought she was drunk

    14 and said to her, “How long are you going to stay drunk? Put away your wine.”

    15 “Not so, my lord,” Hannah replied, “I am a woman who is deeply troubled. I have not been drinking wine or beer; I was pouring out my soul to the LORD.

    16 Do not take your servant for a wicked woman; I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief.”

    17 Eli answered, “Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him.”

    The question should be asked why the Lord would do this to her in the first place?

    18 She said, “May your servant find favor in your eyes.” Then she went her way and ate something, and her face was no longer downcast.

    19 Early the next morning they arose and worshiped before the LORD and then went back to their home at Ramah. Elkanah made love to his wife Hannah, and the LORD remembered her.

    20 So in the course of time Hannah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, saying, “Because I asked the LORD for him.”

    Why does God find it so titillating to cause anguish and torment to a woman so that he can get her to ask for his favours, in order for him to be able to commit adultery with them?

    Hannah Dedicates Samuel

    21 When her husband Elkanah went up with all his family to offer the annual sacrifice to the LORD and to fulfill his vow,

    22 Hannah did not go. She said to her husband, “After the boy is weaned, I will take him and present him before the LORD, and he will live there always.”

    Just hand your son over to the frockwearing horde?  Not good.  Not good at all.

    23 “Do what seems best to you,” her husband Elkanah told her. “Stay here until you have weaned him; only may the LORD make good his word. So the woman stayed at home and nursed her son until she had weaned him.

    24 After he was weaned, she took the boy with her, young as he was, along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour and a skin of wine, and brought him to the house of the LORD at Shiloh.

    Another poor innocent animal loses it’s life to appease a fairytale character.

    25 When the bull had been sacrificed, they brought the boy to Eli,

    26 and she said to him, “Pardon me, my lord. As surely as you live, I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the LORD.

    27 I prayed for this child, and the LORD has granted me what I asked of him.

    28 So now I give him to the LORD. For his whole life he will be given over to the LORD.” And he worshiped the LORD there.

    Mega Facepalm!

    Index       1-Samuel 2 >>

     
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