Friday, June 3, 2011

"In With The New..."

Numbers 26-36

Please indulge a black woman for a moment.  I realized my failure to mention on my last post, the very weird narrative of the talking ass (donkey) in Numbers 22:22-30.  How I forgot to include that little tidbit escapes me.  After all, it is the scripture referenced by many women when the need is felt to justify or qualify our call into the ministry.  So very quickly, here's a synopsis of the narrative; Israel is on the march and has just defeated King Sihon of the Amorites and King Og of Bashan - killing the families of both Kings, all their people and taking possession of their land.  Balak, son of Zippor and King of Moab, observed Israel's military prowess and requisitions.  Real quick, if you've been following this blog, and I believe you have, then you know Moab was the child born out of the incestuous encounter between Lot and his eldest daughter (refer to "God's Got a LOT of Nerve," 11/30/2010).  Thus, the Moabites are the descendents of that incestuous encounter.  Back to the talking ass story... 

After watching Israel destroy two kingdoms, Balak summons Balaam, son of Beor, (also said to be a "seer of the gods"), to curse Israel.  After a couple of delays, Balaam, gets up, readies his donkey, secures a couple of servants for the journey and sets out to meet Balak.  Traveling on his donkey, Balaam is confronted by an angel of the Lord that appears on the road "as his adversary."  Unlike Balaam, the donkey sees the angel of the Lord with a drawn sword and turns aside onto a field.  Balaam struck the donkey to correct it and turn it back onto the road.  The angel of the Lord then stood in a narrow path with a wall on each side.  Seeing this, the donkey tried to avoid the angel and in doing so, scraped against the wall and thus scraped Balaam's foot along the wall.  Angered and yes, probably in some pain, Balaam struck the donkey again.  A third time, the angel of the Lord stood in a narrow path, denying the passage of the donkey, and his master, Balaam, on either side.  With nowhere else to go, the donkey, laid down under his master.  Balaam's anger grew and again, he struck the donkey a third time with this staff.  At this point the "miraculous" happens...  God opens the mouth of the donkey, allowing it to ask his master; "What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?"  Taking a cue from Dr. Doolittle, Balaam responds to the talking ass, saying, "Because you have made a fool of me!  I wish I had a sword in my hand!  I would kill you right now!"  The talking ass admonishes Balaam in his statement; "Am I not your donkey, which you have ridden all your life to this day?  Have I been in the habit of treating you this way?"  Balaam replies, "No" (NRSV Numbers 22:20-30).  Yep, that's it!  That's the story of the talking ass.  As quickly as it was thrown in there, is as quickly as it's over. 

Now, if you've heard it once, you've heard it a hundred times, from women, or lesbian and gay men and women who have been called into the ministry; "If God can use a donkey, praise be to God!  I know He can use me!"  Hear me when I say this in the best black woman's tone and vernacular that I can summon up - "Chile please!"  Stop it!  We don't have to justify, qualify or quantify our calling into the ministry to anyone.  And we most certainly should not be comparing our "calling" to some weird, fictional account of a talking ass!  Give me a break!

Whew...  Okay, I'm done with that nonsense...  In the last post I talked about Israel's journey and march toward the banks of Jordan.  It was the end of a rebellious and disobedient generation of people who had seen all the signs and wonders of God and yet, could not, would not, remain faithful.  As a consequence, not one of them were allowed to enter into the Promised Land.  Instead, Joshua was anointed/commissioned as prophet and priest to lead this new generation of Israel into the Promised Land.  And a good time was had for all.  Joshua and the new generation got together, fired up the grill, poured a bounty of "strong drink" unto the Lord and partied harder than attendees at a Prince concert.

If we read the scriptures literally, that is, as they are written and believe they are a continuous document, written in chronological order, from Genesis to Revelation, then I suppose, while Joshua and the "Next Generation," were partying all night, Moses took a much needed break to write in his diary all that had happened during their time in the wilderness.  That diary would be the next book in the bible, Deuteronomy.  So stay tuned as we sneak a peek into the private thoughts, feelings, frustrations, betrayals and disappointments of Moses, the great deliverer.  Right now though, I think I'm gonna do like Joshua and the next generation and get my groove on.  Thankfully, I don't have to wake up in the morning and invade other people's lands, annihilating all of them and then promptly set up shop like I was supposed to be there in the first place.
© Dorinda G. Henry, 2011

THEOLOGIA HABITUS EST!

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