i know because ive read it. lots of it. not just on a passage or two. dont assume things you dont know
Which one? Only one? Not good enough.
you werent impressed because you dont agree with any of it. im sure you are impressed with the study bible explanations
It seemed more like the "bashers'" annotated Bible than the Skeptic's annotated Bible.
if you dont even know where it is, then obviously you never read it. if youve never read it then you have no room to talk about it.
I have read the Torah, twice. It's been a while, and I was speed-reading them. So I do remember the Midians, but I don't remember where it occurs exactly. I'm assuming Numbers, because that's where most of the post-exodus narrative is.
tell you what. pick any story in the bible.... say genesis chapter 19 where god saves lot and his family from sodom and gomorrah, right after lot offers his two daughters to the sodomites as sex slaves advertising their virginity, although he lied even about that because they were both married. anyway, so god saves him and his family because apparently lot has found favor in gods eyes and is portrayed as a standup guy and strong believer....by the end of the chapter lot gets drunk like a good little man of god and has hot sex with his own two daughters leaving them pregnant......
now, obviously this whole story raises morality questions left and right, but hey, why dont you show us what your study bible has to say on this... i bet it will pull spiritual teachings on god's great mercy out of this mess of a story.
Doubt it. I haven't come across ANYTHING like that in my study Bibles.
Okay... on Lot willing to give up his daughters, here's what Alter has to say:
"Lot's shocking offer, about which the narrator, characteristically, makes no explicit judgment, is too patly explained as the reflex of an ancient Near Eastern code in which the sacredness of the host-guest bond took precedence over all other obligations. Lot surely is inciting the lust of the would-be rapists in using the same verb of sexual "knowledge" they had applied to the visitors in order to proffer the virginity of his daughters for their pleasure. The concluding episode of this chapter, in which the drunken Lot unwittingly takes the virginity of both his daughters, suggests measure-for-measure justice meted out for his rash offer."
Hm... interesting. So Lot was being rash because in his eyes, based on the hospitality customs of the time, the well-being of his angelic guests outweighed the well-being of his daughters, and as punishment, took his daughters' virginity himself in drunken stupor. Nothing about God's loving grace here.
Let's see what Friedman has to say:
"Some say that this is a matter of ancient Near Eastern hospitality: Lot as the host must do
anything to protect his guests. Some say that daughters were held in low esteem in that world's values. Ramban and others say that this shows that Lot had an evil heart. It seems to me that it is not the Near Eastern tradition of hospitality but of
bargaining that accounts for what is going on here. ... Lot is supposed to make an extraordinary gesture. He offers his own daughters. But no one is supposed to take him up on it. And then, in this horrible town, the gesture does not work anyway. The people only become angry."
Uh, huh. Nothing about God's grace here. (the elipses only indicate a bit about Abraham making a bargain elsewhere, and isn't that important.) More or less the same thing that Alter said, but worded differently and not mentioning Lot's drunken incestuous episode. (Friedman doesn't mention that bit at all.)
Now, let's see what the Jewish Publication Society has to say (it's a footnote):
"Lot's offer of his two daughters is surely connected to the tragicomic scene at the end of the chapter when they get him drunk and encage in incestuous relations with him."
There you have it. Nothing about God's grace(in fact, nothing about God at all), and implications that what Lot did was bad.
These study Bibles don't bring God up if God is not a major player in the story.
