Read Online Exodus From Hunger by David Beckmann - Free Book Online
Authors: David Beckmann
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what God is doing in the world.
Previous chapters of this book were about poverty and policies. This chapter is about the Bible and God. We shift from an understanding of poverty to the imperative to overcome it.
God on the Move
Christians, Muslims, Jews, and many people from other religions or no specific religion look to the Bible as a source of spiritual insight. For many of us, the Bible story is the definitive revelation of God.
According to the Bible, God acts in history. Here is a summary of some of the main twists and turns of Bible history. The dates below are not exact, but I find it helpful to remember that some of the major events took place at intervals of roughly five hundred years:
1. God creates the cosmos, the abundant earth, and human beings. Again and again, people act sinfully and suffer for it. Yet the Lord finds a way to help them.
2. In about 2000 BCE, God calls Abraham and Sarah to leave their home in what is now Iraq, travel to a land of promise, and live there as nomads. Their great-grandson Joseph is sold into slavery in Egypt by his brothers. God rescues Joseph, but his descendants fall back into slavery.
3. In about 1500 BCE, God calls Moses to lead the people of Israel to freedom and gives them his law in the Sinai desert. It’s not clear why the Lord “heard the groaning” (Exodus 2:24) of the slaves when he did and not before. The people wandered in the desert for forty years before they entered the promised land of Israel, a land “flowing with milk and honey.”
4. In about 1000 BCE, Israel crowns a king: David. The Lord at first objects to centralized power, but later promises to establish David’s throne in perpetuity. Under subsequent kings, the nation falls into idolatry and neglect of poor people, and the Lord punishes them with division, conquest, and exile.
5. In about 500 BCE, the Lord brings some of the exiles back to Jerusalem. This is the second great exodus in their history. They have visions of a radically better future, led by the messiah, a great king in David’s line.
6. Yet another five hundred years pass, and Jesus Christ appears on the scene—healing the sick, forgiving sinners, and announcing that God’s kingdom is at hand. Jesus is crucified, forgiving his enemies from the cross. His disciples later see and believe that God has raised Jesus from the dead.
7. Jesus’ resurrection convinces the disciples that he is the Messiah and that his forgiving death is God’s offer of forgiveness and new life to everyone. They take that message to the ends of the known world, establishing a global community of people who believe that Jesus lives in them and look for Jesus to establish God’s kingdom on earth.
Clearly, the God of the Bible is engaged in human history. The Bible offers doctrines about God, but they grow out of messy, historical experience—a history just as confusing and contradictory as the recent history of China, Mozambique, or the United States. God’s plans are often frustrated; God suffers. Yet God repeatedly finds new ways forward toward a better, more blessed future for humanity. God’s involvement in the world continues, now and to the end of time.
The personality of the Lord is consistent over the biblical millennia—patient and forgiving, insistent on morality (especially justice toward people in need), and intolerant of phony gods. Yet the Lord of the Bible is full of surprises. When the Jews are exiles in Babylon, the Lord sends a savior to allow them to return to Jerusalem. But who is that savior? Cyrus, the Persian emperor! The Persians conquered Babylon, and the Persians have a more tolerant policy toward conquered peoples. The prophet Isaiah sees the Lord calling Cyrus to be his servant: “I call you … though you do not know me” (Isaiah 45:4). God’s movement in history is not limited to the efforts of people who believe in God.
The Bible and Justice for Poor People
Every section of the Bible is clear about our
Previous chapters of this book were about poverty and policies. This chapter is about the Bible and God. We shift from an understanding of poverty to the imperative to overcome it.
God on the Move
Christians, Muslims, Jews, and many people from other religions or no specific religion look to the Bible as a source of spiritual insight. For many of us, the Bible story is the definitive revelation of God.
According to the Bible, God acts in history. Here is a summary of some of the main twists and turns of Bible history. The dates below are not exact, but I find it helpful to remember that some of the major events took place at intervals of roughly five hundred years:
1. God creates the cosmos, the abundant earth, and human beings. Again and again, people act sinfully and suffer for it. Yet the Lord finds a way to help them.
2. In about 2000 BCE, God calls Abraham and Sarah to leave their home in what is now Iraq, travel to a land of promise, and live there as nomads. Their great-grandson Joseph is sold into slavery in Egypt by his brothers. God rescues Joseph, but his descendants fall back into slavery.
3. In about 1500 BCE, God calls Moses to lead the people of Israel to freedom and gives them his law in the Sinai desert. It’s not clear why the Lord “heard the groaning” (Exodus 2:24) of the slaves when he did and not before. The people wandered in the desert for forty years before they entered the promised land of Israel, a land “flowing with milk and honey.”
4. In about 1000 BCE, Israel crowns a king: David. The Lord at first objects to centralized power, but later promises to establish David’s throne in perpetuity. Under subsequent kings, the nation falls into idolatry and neglect of poor people, and the Lord punishes them with division, conquest, and exile.
5. In about 500 BCE, the Lord brings some of the exiles back to Jerusalem. This is the second great exodus in their history. They have visions of a radically better future, led by the messiah, a great king in David’s line.
6. Yet another five hundred years pass, and Jesus Christ appears on the scene—healing the sick, forgiving sinners, and announcing that God’s kingdom is at hand. Jesus is crucified, forgiving his enemies from the cross. His disciples later see and believe that God has raised Jesus from the dead.
7. Jesus’ resurrection convinces the disciples that he is the Messiah and that his forgiving death is God’s offer of forgiveness and new life to everyone. They take that message to the ends of the known world, establishing a global community of people who believe that Jesus lives in them and look for Jesus to establish God’s kingdom on earth.
Clearly, the God of the Bible is engaged in human history. The Bible offers doctrines about God, but they grow out of messy, historical experience—a history just as confusing and contradictory as the recent history of China, Mozambique, or the United States. God’s plans are often frustrated; God suffers. Yet God repeatedly finds new ways forward toward a better, more blessed future for humanity. God’s involvement in the world continues, now and to the end of time.
The personality of the Lord is consistent over the biblical millennia—patient and forgiving, insistent on morality (especially justice toward people in need), and intolerant of phony gods. Yet the Lord of the Bible is full of surprises. When the Jews are exiles in Babylon, the Lord sends a savior to allow them to return to Jerusalem. But who is that savior? Cyrus, the Persian emperor! The Persians conquered Babylon, and the Persians have a more tolerant policy toward conquered peoples. The prophet Isaiah sees the Lord calling Cyrus to be his servant: “I call you … though you do not know me” (Isaiah 45:4). God’s movement in history is not limited to the efforts of people who believe in God.
The Bible and Justice for Poor People
Every section of the Bible is clear about our
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