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The Jevlir Caravansary

Category: Bible

  • Psalm 121: A Translation and Poetic Response

    OK, this is playing around. The first is a translation with some freedom, but with an effort to convey just a little bit of the rhythm of the Hebrew. It needs some more work. The second is just me having some fun with rhyme and meter, a practice I can always use.

    I look up to the mountains,
    Where can I find help?
    My help comes from Yahweh,
    The maker of heaven and earth.

    He won’t let your foot slip.
    Your guardian won’t sleep.

    Not sleeping,
    Not slumbering,
    Israel’s keeper.

    Yahweh is your guardian.
    Yahweh is your shelter.
    Right there with you.

    By day the sun does no harm,
    Nor the moon at night.
    Yahweh keeps you from all injury.
    He preserves your life.

    Yahweh watches when you go out or come in,
    Today, and every day hereafter.

    And now the response:I gaze as mountains bar my way,
    With pinnacle and rock and peak.
    I ask myself whose help I seek.
    Whence guidance comes I can obey.

    To God I look when fears assail,
    From right or left, by day or night.
    When arrows fly from left or right,
    My shield’s my Lord he will prevail.

    No matter when I fear not sleep,
    My Lord protects and guards my life.
    Mid toil and trial, stroke or strife,
    He stays awake, my guard to keep.

    If battle call the trump should sound,
    He watches every step I take.
    And if a misstep I should make,
    He puts my foot on solid ground.

    He is my guard, he’s ever near,
    So never danger must I fear.

  • Blogroll Addition: Nuggets of Gold

    I located this site because it was added to the Moderate Christian Blogroll.  The writer uses stories in a very inspirational way.  I intend to keep track of it, so even though I display the Moderate Christian Blogroll, I’m going to add it to my standard blogroll of writing blogs.

    I’d  particularly commend the post titled The Missing Baby.  It’s a creative combination of story and scripture.  Good stuff!

  • Book: Pilate’s Wife

    This book is well out of the norm for my reading, but the topic caught my attention, as well as the dearth of information with which the author had to work. It is hard to write a good novel about a historical character when almost nothing is known about that character. It doesn’t really matter what you write, somebody is not going to like it.

    The first thing to note about this book is the subtitle: A Novel of the Roman Empire. Those who are expected a Biblical novel, one primarily oriented toward Biblical characters, themes, and goals will be sorely disappointed. The setting is primarily Rome and Roman social life in the provinces; Palestine only plays a small role when Pilate is sent there. In a Christian novel, Biblically based, one might expect a great deal said about Jesus and other Biblical characters. That is not the case here.

    Second, one should be aware this is written about a woman by a woman, and it focuses on the woman’s perspective. In historical novels of this period that is not all that usual, because it is hard to keep things interesting when men are running the show and all the chief characters are women. I got the annoying feeling that the lead characters spend their time largely being pushed around by other people, with only brief moments when they can be themselves. Of course, that feeling is probably an accurate reflection of what it was like to be a woman at that time.

    For historical connections, the author uses a couple of less probable reconstructions about Jesus, but those elements are not impossible, merely not proven, so that can be forgiven. It does make for some added interest in the story.

    I have to rate this book at 3, because I found it interesting but not exceptionally so. I must note, however, that this is not due to any weakness of the book, but rather to my limited interest in the subject matter. Within its necessary constraints it is a good book.

  • The New Judge

    [Note: This is one of my attempts to tell either a different part of a Bible story, to tell the story from a different perspective, or to get a similar point across in a different way. I will quote the related scripture passage at the end. Besides the general fun of setting myself the assignment and trying to write it, I hope these stories will help someone think about the scriptural passage in new and creative ways. This is a work of fiction. All places, characters, and things are products of my imagination and any resemblance to anyone or anything real is purely accidental.]

    Carl, now Sir Carl, made a bit of a stir when he arrived in the tiny village of Felidol. He rode his horse right across the small bridge across the creek (or river, as the locals would have it) and through the gate in the wooden palisade that surrounded the town. Farmers in their fields looked up and then continued to stare as he went by on his white horse. He did indeed cut quite a figure with shining armor, a quite long sword at his side, and fine cloak over it all, and expensive boots on his feet.

    The villagers stared, but they were less impressed by his fine figure and equipment than they were frightened to see anyone like that here. The citizens of Felidol and the surrounding countryside didn’t like important people all that much. Important people wanted to get things done, and it always seemed that what they needed in order to get things done was the farmer’s money, food, and sometimes even their property.

    Carl was completely oblivious to all this. He waved at the villagers in a friendly way as he rode past. He didn’t want to seem aloof or unsociable. He didn’t seem to realize that with the way he was dressed and equipped, the villagers had a hard time seeing him as anything but aloof. They hoped he would be aloof, and thus wouldn’t get them involved in anything.

    On the other hand, he knew something they didn’t. In spite of his young age, and his knightly appearance, he was actually the new circuit judge, to be based in their village. Carl knew very well that he had gotten the appointment only because his father was one of the richest merchants in the city. He was fairly sure that his father had bought him this appointment for his 20th birthday, along with a knighthood. But that was alright with him, because he knew enough about the law to do the job, and he intended to do right by these people.

    ###

    Carl’s first day in the courthouse was a disappointment. There were a couple of weddings to formalize, something that went without ceremonies in these parts. The feasting and celebration would take place elsewhere. There were some documents to formalize, ones that required the seal of a king’s officer. Carl was the only king’s officer in many, many miles. But nobody came to petition him for anything. He couldn’t imagine that none of the small farmers in this area had any complaints against the more important landowners. He imagined that the townsfolk had complaints against farmers, and farmers against townsfolk. That was how he had heard things always were.

    (more…)

  • Book: Unashamed

    My wife handed me this book because she has been trying to get me to read one of [tag]Francine Rivers[/tag]’ stories about various Bible characters. I’m generally a bit slow to pick up this sort of book because production of a good story is very difficult. On the one hand you can stick closely to the [tag]Bible story[/tag] and ignore any problems that may cause for your story. On the other you can ignore the facts and create a story, but for me that doesn’t work because it isn’t consistent. Why write a story about someone with the name of a Biblical character if you are not actually going to use the Biblical character?

    My preference is that someone create a story about a person consistent with the characteristics of that person as claimed in the Biblical text. If one has to play with the facts a bit, that’s OK. What is invented to fill in the blanks is fine, as long as it stays consistent with the character.

    Unashamed takes on the story of Rahab, and I consider that a daunting task. First, Rahab becomes an exception to the order to destroy all the Canaanites, and the explanation given in the Bible doesn’t cover it. The spies swear an oath, and thus the Israelites keep that oath. This is consistent, though they seem to do so ungrudgingly, quite unlike their response to the oath they swore to the Gibeonites, which was kept only with great reluctance.

    Second, Rahab is a prostitute who becomes part of the genealogy of King David. That is an unusual thing and any proposed understanding requires some imagination.

    Rivers doesn’t really try to deal with the oddity of allowing a Canaanite to become part of the congregation. What she does manage is provide believable story elements to explain the position [tag]Rahab[/tag] was in so as to hide the spies, and how she might succeed in that. I find Rahab’s attitude toward her own people just a little bit cold and bloody-minded. Simply because they don’t grab hold of the God of Israel as she has, she shows very little sorrow for their deaths. She truly goes over to the side of the enemy. While that kind of cold-blooded attitude is a bit hard for me to accept it is quite realistic. To survive and have her name remembered favorably on the Israelite side, Rahab must have truly turned with vigor to the Israelites.

    I didn’t find the story overwhelmingly exciting. That is probably unavoidable in a story that connects to the Biblical story at all possible places. It’s hard to get into the tension of waiting in Rahab’s house while the Israelites march around the city when you know precisely what is going to happen! But that same characteristic makes this story an excellent example to use in studying the Biblical story. One of the procedures I suggest in the participatory Bible study method is to try to retell stories from different perspectives. People often find that hard to do with Bible stories. We are often afraid to let our imaginations work, but if you want to get the full benefit from a story, you need to think about that person’s attitudes and feelings, and that is going to require imagination. In my article Interpreting Stories, I try this process from the point of view of Ahab.

    If you have a study group and would like to try working more effectively on Bible stories, and by this I mean learning from the stories and making them relevant to your life, this little book would be a valuable contribution. Read it, think, imagine, and imitate.

  • Writing Lessons from the Bible

    I located this post through preparations for the Christian Carnival #179. Due to the time frame requirements on posts I couldn’t include it in the carnival, but I wanted to call attention to it in any case, as it’s a good post from an interesting blog.

    From Savvy Writer: Top Three Writing Lessons from the Bible:

    This post is not meant to cause an uproar of any religious sort. In my personal opinion, the Bible is the greatest piece of literature every written. Even if you do not believe what it says is true (which I do), you still have to admit that it is one of the greatest writings of all time. It lasted centuries and it the most sold book. So, what can an aspiring learn from the great writings of the Bible?

    Go read the three lessons for yourself.

  • Psalm 103 as Blank Verse

    OK, here’s another try at transforming a Psalm, in this case, by putting it into blank verse. There are some wonderful parallelisms in Psalm 103, but a great deal of that impact is lost on English readers. Here I try to present the message in blank verse, which provides some meter. I’m still sticking fairly close to the thought structure of the Psalm as it is. As I have time I may play around some more and try to create additional translations using other poetic forms.

    May all I am from deep within speak blessings of my God!
    Oh let me not forget the things my God has given to me

    He it is forgives my sins.
    He it is who heals my ills.
    He it is my life redeems.
    He it is his grace pours out.
    He my life with good things fills.
    He’s the one renews my strength.

    My God does right and justice gives for all who are oppressed.
    He showed his servant Moses ways and deeds he knew were right.
    My God is kind, he will abide, his anger slow to show.
    His accusations soon will end, his favor then we’ll see.

    Our sins are great, but mercy’s more, our guilt receives his grace.
    As heaven’s far above the earth, so grace exeeds our fall.
    As far as east is from the west, so far transgressions sent.
    As parent cares for wayward child, so cares our God for us.

    Because he knows just who we are; recalls that we are dust.
    We’re like the grass that fades and dies, like flower that blooms then fails.
    A wind may blow and then it’s gone, it’s roots cannot be found.
    But my God’s grace forever stands, his justice never fails.
    To those who keep his covenant, to those who do his word.

    Let angels, every power who does his word come bless my God.
    Let all the host who serve and do his will come bless my God.
    May all that he has done in every place he rules come bless my God.
    May all I am from deep within speak blessings of my God!

  • Susanna: A Transformation

    For a literal translation of Daniel 13, “Susanna” see USCCB – NAB – Daniel 13. This is not a translation or even a paraphrase. One might even call it a “transformation.” What I am attempting to do is to rewrite this short story into a modern form. I allow myself to alter the order of the telling, what is told and what is ignored, but not to alter the facts of the story as recorded. I also allow myself to add some details and to exchange telling the story for created conversations. I chose names for the unnamed players at random from Chronicles. For this story I assume that the Daniel of the story is the same as the main character in the book of Daniel, though not all interpreters would agree. You can judge the results.

    The elders gather outside what would have been the city gates, if only they had been back in Judah, and this had been a city with gates. As it was, it was a quite prosperous little community for exiles from Judah living in Babylon. Those who lived here were the elders, people of importance in the community, and many who had good jobs working for Babylonians and thus had money to live relatively good lives in exile.

    Daniel stood to the side of the group of elders, watching with interest. His position in the court of Babylon gave him entry to assemblies such as this, but he was still too young to be invited to participate. He felt his chest tighten, and anguish gripped him as he heard the elders call for Susanna. Susanna was the wife of the well-known businessman, the most prosperous member of the community, Joakim. Nothing had ever been even whipered against the character of Joakim and his wife. Behind her followed her father Hilkiah and his wife, along with other members of her family, all weeping.

    (more…)

  • Psalm 46 as an Italian Sonnet

    This is the result of my having fun with my morning devotions and then mixing it with thinking about translation theory. Anyone up to produce Psalm 46 in another poetic form? I’m particularly interested in playing with translating into fixed forms.

    I’m safe with God my strength, my shield, my friend.
    In danger he is sure and will be there.
    When broken world and shattered mount I dare,
    No fear I know, on God I will depend.

    All water’s safe where God his help can lend.
    His city glows with joy as streams there fare.
    The center of his city’s in his care.
    At dawn he comes, he shouts, he will defend.

    My God is here with troops, his joy, his strength.
    Let’s look and see what works he’s going to show.
    He stops a war, he goes and weapons breaks.

    Be quiet, soul, the world watch, breadth and length
    See how all know he’s great wher’ere winds blow.
    He rules, he saves, he hears, all peace he makes.

    Copyright © 2006, Henry E. Neufeld