Tag Archives: Old Testament

God Hates Me (Satire on Jacob and Esau in Romans 9)

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What if Puddle of Mudd wrote their popular song She Hates Me about Esau?

Isaac and Rebekah had twin boys, Jacob and Esau. From the start there was sibling rivalry and parental favoritism. Two individuals with different interests and skills. But for them there was also promises that God had made to their grandfather Abraham. There would be a favored nation that would be great and would ultimately be a blessing to the world.

Paul mentions these two in Romans 9, quoting Malachi 1:2-5, sparking debate about how God elects people to salvation

Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated

This one goes out to all the TheoBros out there…

Chosen ones, numbered like sand
He made us, clay in His hand
Potter made a jar or two
I’m the one cracked and glued

Lentil stew, drips from my lip
Never thought I’d be the one He’d skip
Then I started to realize
I was nothing in His eyes

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Walkin’ in the Desert (Satire for the Book of Numbers)

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Black Sabbath wrote a song, After Forever, asking if one ever stops to consider death without Christ. Metallica explored themes from Exodus in Creeping Death.

Inspired by an exchange on the X platform, we consider what a song based on the events in Numbers might look like in the hands of Guns N’ Roses. This is meant to be sung to the tune of Welcome to the Jungle.

Slash performing at the Nokia Theater in New York in 2008

Walkin’ in the desert, is not fun and games
We left everything behind
Moses, counted the names

We are the people God did find
enslaved by Pharoah’s greed
We took all his money, honey,
and crossed thru the seas

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The Lord Has Not Given You a Heart to Know (Part 3)

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I recommend starting with part 1 if you have not read that already…

We started what has turned into a mini-series of posts by reading Deuteronomy 29:4 and asking three questions.

  • What is it that God is not giving the Israelites an ability to understand, perceive and discern?
  • Is this something the Israelites are only able to understand if God gives them an ability to perceive it?
  • What is the historical context of the day on which this is spoken and what has occurred before the statement is made?

Focusing on the immediate context, as well as the overall context of Deuteronomy, we found the historical context. Moses is addressing the Israelites as they are gathered at Moab. The Israelites are about to enter the Promised Land and Moses is transferring his leadership to Joshua. Given the phrase “to this day”, we concluded that it was reasonable to assume that the Lord has not given the Israelites an ability to understand, perceive nor discern something throughout the entire Exodus.

The immediate context, also answered the question that the something that the Israelites were unable to understand, perceive nor discern was all of the Lord’s activities, the signs and wonders, during the Exodus and the wilderness wandering. These activities were given to both teach the Israelites so that they would know the Lord and to test them.

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