I am really missing the Grand Canyon tonight. Something in its quietness and unsurpassing beauty... the stillness of the air calls to me tonight. The canyon was always a place to slow down and to be still. It's where I could see the hand of God in the creation laid out before me, in the people to come to my register and the coworkers who would become family. Being still, listening to the quiet. Sometimes, I forget that stillness, that slowness of pace.

I feel as if from the moment my feet hit the floor, I'm on the go, always moving, always thinking, always doing. Never just simply being. I forget to just simply be Brooke. Life moves at such a fast pace - at least in my world. There is a great difference in 12 kids and 17. It's just simply more. I don't know how principals of large schools do it - how they remain in the students lives but still able to do their jobs at the same time. This is my worry. I can feel myself distancing from the students, because I can't do both jobs - teacher and administrator - 100%. And that's unfair. But its a fast pace, all the time.

I long for the stillness of the canyon, the quiet evenings with stars that explode out of the sky. I long for the air, the smell, the pace of it all.

I am immensely frustrated today with the level of my students work. They clearly didn't study for their vocabulary & spelling quiz, nor for their word of the day quiz (6 words, mind you) and some of them didn't study for their scripture test. Then, they have either an essay or an ABC book due and all I get are excuses... they had more than 3 weeks notice...

I guess it's just been one of those weeks. Sometimes I feel like I am beating my head against the wall over and over again.

God's Purpose for Women - Essay #3

God’s Purpose for Women
What is God’s purpose for women and why were the chosen ones, chosen? God created woman to act as a supporter, a strong counterpart, and source of power for her husband. In the Old Testament, He chose four women to be the strongholds of the Hebrew lineage. These women had a purpose and it was through the struggle of infertility that bound them together in their darkest struggle. The fulfillment of their purpose in Gods time brought both joy and triumph to their existence. Each had a tragic flaw that created unnecessary pain and torment to their lives. Sarah doubted God, Rebekah took on a role that she should not be in, Rachel was wildly jealous and Hannah did not trust her husbands’ love. Through their lives, we are able to discover the depths of their sacrifice, the honesty of their choices and the flaws that made them imperfect women.
First, God created women for a purpose. When God created Adam from His image, God determined that he needed a partner. So the Lord “formed out of the earth all the wild beasts and all of the birds in the sky… but no fitting helper was found” (Genesis 2:18-20). Secondly, God created woman in His image. Genesis 1:27 says, “And God created man in His image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” God formed Eve from Adam’s rib.
From that beginning, women’s role began as a helper and a partner to their husbands, equal but with different responsibilities and tasks. In fact, according to R. David Freedman in his article “Woman, a Power Equal to Man,” the word “helper” does not adequately demonstrate the meaning and depth of the translated word. Instead, the word, “ezer” means strength or power, not helper. This is because of the words association with God as an “ezer to human beings” (Freedman). There were two roots of this word; ‘-z-r’ and ‘g-z-r’. The pronunciation determines the meaning. Freedman says that the root meanings in the ancient Hebrew are to save, or rescue and to be strong. The word “ezer,” was mentioned twenty-one times in the Old Testament, usually in association with God. Most often, Freedman believes the word indicates power and strength. Based on the evidence, Genesis 2:18 therefore should be translated as “I will make a power [or strength] corresponding to man” (Freedman).
While the weaker vessel, woman was to be a partner to a man, to be his equal. Unfortunately, after the Fall (of man), the role of women began to slowly spiral downward beginning with Adam blaming Eve for his own sin. After Eve ate of the fruit, she gave it to her husband. He took it willingly. The blame should lay with both: Eve for disobeying God’s command and Adam for not having the strength of character to refuse his wife (Custis James).
When God questioned both Adam and Eve, Adam blamed God first, then Eve immediately for giving him the fruit. Genesis 3:12: “The man said, ‘The woman You put at my side – she gave me of the tree, and I ate.” This begins the downslide of the role of women from supporter, source of strength and power to one of submission, dominion, and inequality.
However, despite Eve’s legacy, four women fulfilled their roles as an equal to their husbands. They understood that they had value and worth within their relationship with God but also in their relationship with their husbands. Nevertheless, the relationship with God sustains them through their deepest and darkest trials.
These women, (Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, and Hannah) were chosen by God to fulfill a specific role. They were the mothers of the Matriarchs, the cornerstone of Jewish heritage. Individually their characteristics are many and diversified. Each one struggles with defeat, distraction, hopelessness, desperation, impatience, torment, sexual assault, and sacrifice. Collectively, they share much more, such as years of infertility, and the silence of God.
Each woman experienced a great love – Sarah and Abraham, Rebekah and Isaac, Rachel and Jacob, and Hannah and Elkanah. Regardless of their mistakes, it is clear that these men were devoted to their wives. They loved them, in spite of their biggest hurdle – the infertility that ravaged each one. The infertile womb was not what made these women so special; it was how each reacted to her plight.
Sarah and Abraham are the two most iconic figures in the Old Testament due to the covenant that God makes with Abraham: “Go forth from your native land and from your father’s house… I will make of you a great nation… for I will make you the father of a multitude of nations” (Genesis 12:1-2, 17:5). Sarah had already been subjected to sexual assault by Pharoah (Genesis 12:19) and was aware of her great responsibility to produce offspring for Abraham. Instead of having patience and trust in God’s plan, Sarah was defeated by her circumstances and distracted from her purpose by her inability to bear children. She became increasingly frantic and desperate as she took matters into her own hands by giving Hagar to Abraham to have sexual relations. She believed this would relieve her anxiousness but instead, increased it. Instead of turning the blame inward, Sarah lashed at Abraham who was weak in his own faith.
Sarah allowed her identity as a woman to be obscured by her desperate desire to give Abraham children. She stumbled in her faith and fell into the trap of listening to the voice of her culture. God was silent for Sarah. He only spoke to Abraham throughout this journey. She doubted God’s provision and laughed when she finally heard His promise to her: Sarah would conceive and birth a child. The child born to her was Isaac, the son of promise. He marked the fulfillment of God’s covenant with Abraham and the restoration of Sarah’s place within her family.
Abraham did not want his son, Isaac to choose a wife from the Caananites, so he sent a servant to his native land where the servant encountered Rebekah. She was a woman of great kindness and beauty and demonstrated that kindness when she encountered Abraham’s servant at the well. She offered him and the camels water and lodging for the night. This was the response the servant had been told to seek. After meeting with her family, the servant brought Rebekah to Abraham’s house. After meeting Isaac, the writer of Genesis tells us that she brought him comfort after his mother’s death and that Isaac loved her.
Rebekah was barren for twenty years, but there was little said about her infertility. The writer of Genesis does not give us an account of the twenty years, only that Isaac “pleaded with the Lord on behalf of his wife because she was barren; and the Lord responded to his plea, and his wife Rebekah conceived” (Genesis 25:21). Unlike Sarah, there is not much known about Rebekah. There was virtually nothing said about her from when she arrived in Canaan until twenty years had passed. She does not plead with God for children. She does not cry out in prayer or give her husband to another woman. We can assume that she felt shame or forgotten by God, but nothing that we read indicates this.
It was only after her conception of twins when a clearer picture of Rebekah emerged. As the twins fought in her womb, she sought counsel from the Lord about her children. He told her, “Two nations are in your womb, two separate peoples shall issue from your body; one people shall be mightier than the other, and the older shall serve the younger” (Genesis 25:23). Isaac was weak in his role as head of the family because he displayed his favoritism for Esau over Jacob. Genesis 25:28 says, “Now Isaac loved Esau because he had a taste for game, but Rebekah loved Jacob” (NASB). Isaac disobeyed God by determining that Esau would get the birthright. He fell victim to the desires of his flesh and did not trust God to provide for both his sons. This caused a domino effect in the family. Rebekah, took the role of spiritual leader, one she was not equipped to do. Jacob became a deceiver. There is alienation between the family members, pitting husband against wife, mother against son, father against son and brother against brother. None of this would have occurred if, beginning with Isaac, the family trusted God.
Rachel, daughter of Laban, was also beautiful. She loved Jacob and he loved her, enough to work seven years to have her as his wife. He was willing to work for her father for that amount of time, which showed his dedication to her. Rachel, like Sarah and Rebekah, was infertile. In addition, she was jealous of her rival and sister, Leah. Out of jealousy, Rachel gave her handmaid to Jacob. He conceived with her (and others), producing ten children. When Rachel finally conceived, it was after seven years of infertility. She gave birth to Joseph, Jacob’s favorite son.
As with the other women, we can only assume that in addition to her jealousy, Rachel felt disgrace, shame, maybe desperation and perhaps forgotten. God was, again, silent, as with Sarah and Rebekah. She was wildly jealous of her sister. Her inability to trust God and His provision caused pain in her life.
Finally, the great love that Hannah and Elkanah experience provided Hannah with knowledge that though the Lord had deliberately closed her womb, Elkanah’s love for her did not change. This knowledge came with a price. Hannah had difficulty trusting Elkanah’s love, due to his procreation of many children with Peninnah. The text implies Elkanah loved Hannah deeply. 1 Samuel 1:8 says “Hannah, why are you crying and why aren’t you eating? Why are you so sad? Am I not more devoted to you than ten sons?” Elkanah simply could not understand why Hannah was so desperate for a child. He could not understand why his love simply was not enough. Frankly, Elkanah was not able to understand Hannah’s desperation because he was a man. Hannah’s infertility was caused because her womb was closed deliberately. In her mind, she was the one who was unable to give Elkanah children. This produced feelings of inadequacy, bitterness, and depression perpetuated by the mocking and belittling treatment Hannah received from Peninnah and the constant reminder of Peninnah’s many children. Even though Elkanah loved Hannah deeply, she still felt forgotten by God.
Hannah had a job to do: produce a male heir so she would feel vindicated. Moreover, Hannah was a woman who had a fierce love for her God and wanted Him to vindicate himself to the naysayers around her. This love for God, demonstrated by her remarkably relentless faith and through her prayers to Him, shows the depth of her character. Even though God was silent, as with the other women, Hannah never gave up hope that she would have a son. It was her greatest desire. Instead of turning away from God, like Sarah and Rachel, Hannah turned to Him.
Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, and Hannah were created for a purpose; helpers and strong partners for their husbands, but also chosen to sustain and continue the Hebrew legacy; Abraham’s heritage. Their sons (Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Samuel) were some of the greatest men in the history of the Old Testament, matriarchs of the Jewish people. They were born only through tremendous trials and strife, victory and triumph over infertility and dissention. The four women provide examples of strength, pillars withstanding tests. They provide lessons for believers to learn from and follow. So many times, we forget to simply wait and trust God in His provision for our lives. As believers, but sinful beings, it is easy to succumb to the desires of the flesh to grow impatient and desperate, often feeling forgotten and lost. God listens, even when He is silent. These are teachings from the lives of Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, and Hannah. Their purpose was fulfilled. They struggled and fought. Each had flaws; none of them perfect. It is through their lives that we are able to use their inabilities and shortcomings to learn from and are able to see that God did not create women to be lesser beings than men, but rather given different tasks with tremendously different responsibilities.

Sacrificial Giving in the Old Testament - Essay #2

Sacrificial Giving in the Old Testament

In the Old Testament, there were five different kinds of sacrifices: burnt offerings, grain (or meal) offerings, peace offerings, sin offerings, and trespass offerings. In fact, Leviticus chapters 1 through 7 are dedicated completely to the ritual of sacrifice. One of the purposes of a sacrificial offering was to atone for sin, introduced by Adam and Eve in their disobedience to God. After Adam and Eve, the ritual of sacrifice performed was to account for and atone for the continued sins by the Israelites. In the examples of Cain and Abel, Abraham and Isaac, Hannah and Samuel, and Lot and his daughters, the sacrifice offered involved the most precious of possessions.

Briefly, the laws in Leviticus are that an object to sacrifice must be clean and without defect. In the case of a burnt offering, the object must burn completely on the altar. For a grain offering, “the offering must be of choice flour. They must pour oil on it and put frankincense on it…” (Leviticus 2:1). For peace offering, “the one who offers the herd animal—whether male or female—must present a flawless specimen before the Lord” (Leviticus 3:1). An offering made to atone for purification or sin should be a flawless animal, including a bull, a sheep, or a goat. Leviticus chapters 1 through 7 are very specific in regards to the ritual of the sacrifice and the importance of a clean, perfect, flawless model.

Sacrificing became standard practice among the Israelites. After Adam and Eve’s sin, God clothed them in animal skins (Genesis 3:21). This act of covering Adam and Eve with animal skins was the first ritual sacrifice. The assumption is that God provided the skins by killing the animals and then He demonstrated the steps and procedures for sacrifice. Later, God provided clear instructions (seen in Leviticus) for the ritualistic sacrifice.

The story of Cain and Abel follow the Fall of man, and it provides the first recorded example of a ritual sacrifice. Genesis 4:3-4 says, “In the course of time, Cain brought an offering to the Lord from the fruit of the soil, and Abel, for his part, brought the choicest of the firstlings of his flock.” The sacrificial object itself was the best of your offering, without defect, essentially perfect. After Cain submits his offering to God, the writer of Genesis says, “And the Lord had regard for Abel and for his offering; but for Cain and for his offering He had no regard” (Genesis 4:4-5). This was not because God favored Abel over Cain initially, but rather because the offering that Abel provided was from his “choicest of the firstlings of his flock.”Abel brought God the “best of the best” from what he had to offer.

This is the first example of God showing favor to one son over the other. Cain’s repercussions were the result of his own action whereas Abel’s offering was a genuine sacrifice of his choicest flock. He simply sacrificed more than Cain.

A true sacrifice involved giving up something loved in order to be obedient and follow God’s commandment. In the Old Testament, Abraham represented the ultimate model of this truth. In Genesis 22, God tested Abraham by asking him to sacrifice his son, Isaac, whom he loved. God said, “Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you” (Genesis 22:2). While Abraham was commanded by God to sacrifice his beloved son, Isaac, it was his willingness to do so that symbolized Abraham’s obedience to God.

God made a covenant with Abraham stating that he would be the father of all nations. This pledge required obedience from Abraham and trust in God that He would keep His promises. God blessed Abraham for his willing sacrifice and in turn, spared Isaac by providing the ram for the burnt offering. Abraham was willing to sacrifice his most important possession – his child in order to be obedient to God’s command.

In another example of sacrificial giving, Hannah, the mother of Samuel, pleaded with God to open her womb and give her children. Before conceiving, Hannah commits her child to a lifetime of servitude to God. She makes a monumental decision to dedicate her son to the Lord and to have Eli, the priest, raise Samuel from the time he was weaned. This example demonstrates sacrificing what you love the most in a tremendous way. Not only did Hannah consciously give up her right to raise her son, but also she missed all of the precious “firsts” with her child. She had the opportunity to see him once a year and had to live with the fact that he was alive and living elsewhere, not in her care.

In this example, Hannah’s sacrifice was a genuine act of obedience – the fulfillment of her vow to God for providing her with a son. Hannah was rewarded because she followed through on her promise, instead of breaking it to keep what she loved the most. She was obedient, but also willing to give up her most precious part of her life.

Finally, in another prime example of sacrificing a cherished possession, Lot sacrifices his virgin daughters to protect the angels from harm. Hebrew daughters have a great value to their families – more than the physical bride price due to the moral value they have for their families. The sacrifice of Lot’s daughters in Genesis 19 was not an indication of how lowly daughters (women) were, but rather the opposite. This example of sacrifice shows us how important daughters. When faced with a choice, Lot gave his choicest.

This particular example has caused a spectacle over the proposed value of women, daughters in particular. In Genesis 19, Lot has a dilemma. Two messengers from God had come to Sodom seeking righteous men so God would not destroy the city. Instead, the men, young and old surrounded Lot’s house. They said, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out so we can have sex with them” (Genesis 19:5, NIV). The messengers had come under Lot’s roof and so he felt obligated to protect them under Hebrew law. He offered instead his virgin daughters: “Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do what you like with them. But don’t do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof” (Gen. 19:8).

Some critics assume that women in Biblical Israel were not accepted or thought as highly of as men. While in some cases that may be true the reality is women had different roles, with different expectations. Lot did not despise his daughters, or consider them the lowest member of his household. In truth, these women were his choicest possession. Virgin daughters were worth more (200 maneh) (Adler, Greenstone and Adler) than daughters who had “committed a disgraceful act in Israel by prostituting herself in her father’s house” (Deut. 22:20). Based on the laws in Deuteronomy, Lot sacrificed his daughters to save the visitors from harm. He risked financial disgrace and his daughters’ lives. This was not because they were not important to him, but because Lot understood their value to the Hebrew culture.

Judging this event based on 21st century roles and regulations is misleading, because according to Jewish law and the Hebrew culture, Lot’s daughters belonged to him. Daughters were important. Without daughters, there would not be sons. They have a higher value than the financial asset that they bring with their marriage. This value goes deeper to the moral identity of the family itself. Lot simply chose to sacrifice his choicest and proudest possession.

In Leviticus, the Israelites have a clear understanding of the expectations concerning ritual sacrifices. These instructions, while permanently written into the book of Leviticus by Moses, were given to him by Gods command. This book of law helped to maintain the rules and regulations that the Israelites were expected to live by. The Israelites knew the importance of the ritual of sacrifice. They also understood the importance of the object sacrificed. More than anything, God asked the Israelites to be obedient to His commands and to give of what was most important to them.