The stump of Jesse and the bramble

[pegkerr]

I went to adult bible study before church. Pastor was talking about today's text from Isaiah, which he was basing his sermon text upon rather than today's Gospel text. It's the famous part, often called "The Peaceable Kingdom." Here's the text:1Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse

Comments

[aome]

And wasn't that pointless, since the story of the virgin birth means that Joseph had nothing to do with Jesus' ancestry.

YES! This has always driven me crazy, too.

My only consolation with the upcoming presidency is: our nation has survived bad presidents before, (Nixon! Hoover! Harding!) and we will survive this, too. Might not be fun, but we'll survive.

How are you, btw?

[dreamshark]

But doesn't one of the other gospels go through pretty much (but not exactly) the same genealogy and then ascribe it to Mary? It seems like the fact that the Bible contains multiple contradictory accounts of the same event should be more of a problem to believers than the precise nature of the contradiction. (Same thing with the first chapter of Genesis, which contains two back-to-back accounts of the creation with the events happening in different orders).

[dreamshark]

I am baffled by the last verse, about the bramble. I haven't even gotten to the metaphorical meaning, I just can't decipher the literal meaning.

"But if not" what? If you don't anoint me king? But didn't they already offer him the job in the first line? If I don't give you shade? If you aren't content to sit in my shade? What exactly is the bramble so upset about that it wants to burn down the country?

[pegkerr]

Reading the surrounding story helps. I think it means, in this context "accept me as your king even if I do something autocratic that hurts you--in other, give me FULL UNCHALLENGED POWER." (which Abimelech certain meant and did and we fear Trump will do)

[dreamshark]

As I vaguely remember, the whole King of Israel thing turned out to be a cautionary tale about the dangers of populism, which resonates with 2016.

I must confess that I don't remember Abimelech at all. But I'm pretty sure the first king, Saul, was chosen by the people, and I believe they picked him mostly because he was the tallest guy around. Not the best criteria; he turned out to be a hot mess. Then we get David (not by popular acclaim, but by royal favortism): generally considered a great success despite a few flaws. And Solomon, also a great king. After that it was all downhill until the Roman Empire showed up.

[anna_wing]

Here through sartorias. This bit baffles me too. Brambles produce blackberries, which are delicious and wonderful (one species produces raspberries, ditto ditto). Their flowers are pretty and popular with bees and butterflies. They make excellently impenetrable stock-fences and hedges (if you have a large garden). Brambles are good things.

[pegkerr]

I'm not sure if brambles in Israel produce blackberries! I think it is meant to signify a thorny plant that doesn't produce fruit at all.

[anna_wing]

Ah, that would explain it.

[pegkerr]

And where did sartorias mention this post?