Epic of Eden: A Book Review

When you think of the Bible does the word epic come to mind?

I recently finished a book called Epic of Eden, by Sandra L. Richter. 

This fall two of my lovely friends and I took up the endeavor to read the book together.  We read and discussed.  We tried to drink in the content and let it change us.

Epic of Eden has the subtitle “A Christian Entry into the Old Testament.”  It is that.  It provides a framework for understanding the patriarchal, patrilineal, and patrilocal culture of the Ancient Middle East, as well as an understanding of the geography of the Fertile Crescent, Palestine, and Egypt. 

Understanding the context in which the Old Testament takes place is critical, since often times we readers bring our own experiences and biases from our own upbringing and cultural understanding when we sit down to read the Bible.  If we do not understand the context we readers, who come from a modern Western background, might find stories odd and disturbing because we lack the information that make sense of that which is strange and foreign to us; and in the midst of our own biases we may miss the critiques of culture that are being pointed out in some instances or the provisions of God’s generosity in others.

Richter tackles the ideas of redemption and covenant, by explaining their significance in the broader culture of the Ancient Middle East.  In doing this, she highlights how God uses these cultural customs to reveal himself in an epic way through Israel’s history.

After setting the stage with this background, we began to explore creation and God’s intent for humanity.  It is a beautiful picture.  We looked at how the story is headed towards a restoration to God’s original intent; and what follows is the unfolding history of a God who works to redeem humanity.  He works through a man, a family, a nation, to draw all people to Himself.

Richter uses several patriarchal figures of the Old Testament to set up a basis for understanding the history of the Old Testament—Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and David.  These men are used to define different periods of time in Israel’s history and to describe the significance of how God is working toward reconciliation with humanity in the midst of these times. 

The insights along the way have been enlightening.

When my friends and I began to read this fall, it was my third time to begin Epic of Eden.  As much as admitting that may not lend itself to seeming like a good read, I promise that has never been the case!   

I truly have enjoyed rereading all of it, each time, because it has deepened my understanding of Scriptural context in a way reading it once would not have accomplished.  I have also found with each reading, Jason and I have been in different locations of the Old Testament reading Scripture together; and each time it has seemed to match up perfectly with the content of the book to lead me to a deeper understanding of the character of God and his love for humanity.  I could not have orchestrated that and count it as a gift.

Recently, Jason and I have been reading through 1 & 2 Samuel and 1 & 2 Kings.  (We will soon get to 1 & 2 Chronicles!)  This was very appropriate as I was reading about David and the monarchy in Israel.  There was so much that I did not understand about the distinctions of the role of a prophet, priest, and king in the midst of the monarchy in Israel. 

The priest was to speak for the people to God.  The prophet was to speak God’s word to the king and the people.  The king was to know God’s law, and lead the people by example in relationship and devotion to God. 

What made David a good king was not that David was perfect.  He definitely was not.  However, he loved God and sought to serve Him.  When he did not follow God’s law, he listened to the word of the prophet and was repentant.  In reading, both Epic of Eden and Scripture it seems to me that it was David’s repentant heart that was special.  David was receptive to what God was saying; and it his response to God that sets David apart from all the other kings.  This is why he is the standard.

The words about each new king introduced in 1 & 2 Kings say something about the king’s heart and the way he leads God’s people.  They are either like David or not. 

“[Abijam] walked in all the sins of his father which he had committed before him; and his heart was not wholly devoted to the Lord his God, like the heart of his father David.” 1 Kings 15:3

“Asa did what was right in the sight of the Lord, like David his father.” 1 Kings 15:11

“[Hezekiah] did right in the sight of the Lord according to all that his father David had done” 2 Kings 18:3

There are many instances where the Kings of Israel and Judah are compared to the example of a bad king (usually from Israel) as well.  These are in contrast with David.

In the past, I read through the parade of kings noticing a king’s behavior but not really understanding the full picture of what God was doing.  (I still probably don’t see the whole picture, but more of it.)  What I have seen is that God responds to His people based on the way they keep their covenant with Him.  If they follow the covenant, they live in peace in the land.  If they do not live according to the covenant, they are attacked by foreign nations and the land (or a portion of it) is taken from them.  It is fascinating to watch God’s consistency, His patience, His mercy—even with the worst of Judah’s and Israel’s kings.

As I have read, there is something else I have been learning.  Understanding the Old Testament is key to a deepening understanding of the gospel.  It is important to understand that Jesus is the fulfillment of the promises made to God’s people.  Jesus’ claims are tied to these Old Testament promises where God is calling all people to Himself in a kingdom.  Jesus’ death and resurrection prove his identity as King.  The New Testament is in this regard about the fulfillment of God’s promises in Christ and learning to live under His kingship.  It is a call to live in reliance upon God, trusting Him. 

I can’t think of a book that I would recommend more highly.  Epic of Eden will deepen your understanding of Scripture and God’s heart toward people.  I invite you to stop by and borrow a copy if you are in the area.  If you are not in the area, you might consider ordering it.*  I would love to sit down for a chat to hear what you are learning if you do!

***

Grace and peace be ours in abundance as we open up the Bible and drink heartily of God’s word to us.  May we find that it excites in us a posture of loving obedience to the heart of God.

Jessica :)

P.S.  I am so sorry if you stopped by last week looking for a post.  I got carried away with getting ready for our Little Love and found that the day slipped away.  That may happen again in the near future when she actually arrives and we try to find our bearings around here.  I will try to do a better job of communicating when that happens if I can.  Thank you so much for grace!

*Jus in case you are wondering, I am not receiving any compensation by linking you to order here.  I am just providing access to this resource.

For Always

Inspiration came as I was doing the dishes while listening to Matt Maher’s Alive Again album a couple of weeks ago.  I sat down during ‘Garden’ and began writing this.  I love it.  I can just imagine Jesus’ words to me in the midst of this season of resurrection.  I think of the story from fall to eternity and I am amazed at the love of God for man, for me.  Enjoy!

Redemption, Love.

Restoration, Love.

That is where we’re headed, Love.

We've traveled a painful road, Love.

But there’s beauty ahead, Love.

We’ll replace the ashes with fruit from the trees

And be full, Love.

Ever what I’ve wanted;

It’s what you’ve been made for all along.

Together, Love.

For always

  

***

Grace and peace be ours in abundance as we receive the gift of love we have been offered in Christ and respond to it.  May we find that we live abundantly a quality of LIFE we’ve been made for all along as we trust God in the midst of all things.

Jessica :)

Place of Atonement

Today is Yom Kippur, the Jewish, Day of Atonement.  I think of a poem I wrote a few summers ago as I was listening to Revelation Song on a Sunday morning in the middle of worship.  Around me, people sang; I wrote.  I remember thinking about the Day of Atonement and how Jesus is our atoning sacrifice, perfectly fulfilling the law.

The mercy seat, place of atonement

His sacrifice flows down, beside cherubim

Trickle of sticky red, down gilded law

Blood, making right the brokenness of ages

For all who seek the perfect, spotless Lamb

Him with wounded hands and pierced side

Holy One, resurrected from sin’s deathly tomb

Living God, opening wide the Inner Chamber

To the Holy of Holies, relationship reconciled.

 "If anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father--Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.  he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world."  1 John 2:1-2 NIV

***

Grace and peace be ours in abundance as we recognize in Jesus the perfect atoning sacrifice that fulfilled the Law.  May we come to him ready to confess.  As we do, may we receive the mercy that His life won for us with great joy, relationship reconciled.

Jessica :)

A Human Family Reunion

William Ury sits perched on the edge of his seat.

As he talks with one of the Summit facilitators, I listen closely to what he has to say.  I can’t help it.  His energy and passion for conflict resolution is so engaging.  He calls the point we are at in history “the moment of the human family reunion” and describes how we must learn to live with one another. 

Ury talks about his role in major negotiations for peace around the world; and I can tell he loves his work.  He tells a story about how he chose not to react to a frustrated Hugo Chavez who was yelling in his face for thirty minutes, in the midst of negotiations with his opponents, just prior to Christmas in 2002.  There was only so long Chavez could carry on his rant; and once he reached the end of it, he was quiet and then asked Ury what he should do.  I am rather impressed at the calm he describes. 

He offers the idea that the biggest obstacle in conflict is me.  I think about it.  Isn’t it when I am being stubborn or focusing on my own injured feelings or just plain angry that I can’t begin to think about having an adult conversation in the midst of conflict?  Ury invites us to “go to the balcony”— to get some perspective and separate from the problem.  Yes.  I’ve practiced this a few times and it always goes better than those times I just can’t seem to choose it. 

As Ury talks, I file away these nuggets to remember the next time my feelings are injured or my husband comes to me with a problem we need to work out. 

We near the end of his allotted speaking time when the facilitator asks about Israel and Palestine.  He wonders if there can ever be peace between these peoples, asking Ury for some perspective.  He says something profound that I have been pondering ever since:

“Some conflicts are so difficult they can only be healed by a story.”

Could it be as simple a solution as that? 

The part of me that knows the way my own faith has deepened because of training in God’s story relaxes into this idea.  This makes perfect sense to me. 

When we believe a story we live it.

I know what it is to train in a story, to believe something more fully—to go from head knowledge to practiced knowledge of the heart. 

As I trained in God’s story this spring, I came to a better understanding that God wants us to trust Him.  A healthy relationship is built on trust; and choice is the laboratory for trust.  When a choice is made, trust is either kept or broken.  In the garden, the tree of knowledge of good and evil was the vehicle around which trust would develop.  Adam and Eve were invited by their Creator to trust him and choose loving obedience and relationship by not eating from it.  When man chose not to trust we were separated from God; and our relationship with Him was broken.

Yet, it is through a shared story with man, God redeems us and restores our relationship to Him. 

Sandra L. Richter describes the story succinctly,

“In Eden all humanity was welcomed into relationship with God, with the Fall, that relationship was broken.  With Noah, one man and his immediate family reenter God’s plan.  With Abraham, an extended family that eventually becomes a tribal confederacy is welcomed home.  With Moses, an entire nation experiences the grace of God.  Finally with Jesus, as in Eden, every son of Adam and daughter of Eve is offered the opportunity for relationship with their Creator” (Epic of Eden, p.133).

 

For me, understanding this idea of trust led to practical applications in one of my family relationships.  I realized that in order for there to be a real relationship with this person, they would need the opportunity to choose it.  This meant having some conversations about boundaries with others in my family to allow for the possibility.  It also meant doing something that was hard to do, for the possibility of something better. 

Believing God’s story changed me.  It continues to change me.  Because of this, I suppose, I shouldn’t be surprised that story might change others too.

Ury describes the tradition of hospitality and kindness to one another that is rooted in a common ancestor for Israelis and Palestinians—Abraham.  He talks of a need to build a new story that is rooted in an old one.

It makes me wonder. 

Is it possible to begin weaving our lives together from a common place—like a shared ancestor, Abraham—and find reconciliation by creating something new together that honors both the Israelis and Palestinians?

Could it be possible that it is through being shaped by God’s story, which we all share, that we will find reconciliation? 

Paul wrote a letter to the Galatians saying, “In Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.  There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.  If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise.” Galatians 3:26-29

Is it possible that by finding our identity as God’s children we will care about the well being of our brothers and sisters and seek peace with them? 

Is that the kind of story powerful enough to bring people together?

I think so.

***

Grace and peace be ours in abundance as we experience the reconciliation that comes through God’s story.  As we train in His story may we be changed by it in ways that leave us ever speaking of His goodness.  May we be the kind of people who allow God to work in us to pursue reconciliation in our own broken relationships.  May we share of the availability of His reconciliation for all.

Jessica :)