Psalm 78
There is an old joke when an RE teacher asked his class a question "Who destroyed the walls of Jericho?"
Nobody in the class knew the answer. The teacher sent word to the parents, one of whom wrote back "It wasn't our Kevin, I'm sure, but if you can show it was him, I'll make it good."
Word reached the headmaster who contacted the local authorities the nobody knows who destroyed the walls of Jericho - the council sent back to get them repaired and the bill would be settled.
Not a very good joke I know, but many people do not know the stories or message of the Bible.
One of the people who inspired me to write this blog was a guy called David Plotz who had never heard the tale of Dinah and Shechem, which is in Genesis 34.
This Psalm is not too dissimilar, it starts with
"My people, ear my teaching; listen to the words of my mouth.
I will open my mouth with a parable; I will utter things, things from of old -
Things we have heard and known, things our ancestors have told us."
"We will not hide from them from their descendants; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD."
There are a lot of people who seem to despise the idea of oral tradition, preferring presumably that written tradition that has led to the likes of twitter, facebook and , ironically, this blog!
There is something to be said about telling stories-pretty much the whole movie and TV industry does the same thing!
In the Torah (the law books) the people of Israel are encouraged to think about and chat about the law of God "Talk and discuss these things while travelling - bind them to your wrist and forehead - write them on the posts of your doors - talk about them to your children.
In my humble way I think I am trying to make sense of the story of God and men - and the story of my faith, I'm not married and have no children myself, but I hope that I can tell what I know of God.
There is an old joke when an RE teacher asked his class a question "Who destroyed the walls of Jericho?"
Nobody in the class knew the answer. The teacher sent word to the parents, one of whom wrote back "It wasn't our Kevin, I'm sure, but if you can show it was him, I'll make it good."
Word reached the headmaster who contacted the local authorities the nobody knows who destroyed the walls of Jericho - the council sent back to get them repaired and the bill would be settled.
Not a very good joke I know, but many people do not know the stories or message of the Bible.
One of the people who inspired me to write this blog was a guy called David Plotz who had never heard the tale of Dinah and Shechem, which is in Genesis 34.
This Psalm is not too dissimilar, it starts with
"My people, ear my teaching; listen to the words of my mouth.
I will open my mouth with a parable; I will utter things, things from of old -
Things we have heard and known, things our ancestors have told us."
"We will not hide from them from their descendants; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD."
There are a lot of people who seem to despise the idea of oral tradition, preferring presumably that written tradition that has led to the likes of twitter, facebook and , ironically, this blog!
There is something to be said about telling stories-pretty much the whole movie and TV industry does the same thing!
In the Torah (the law books) the people of Israel are encouraged to think about and chat about the law of God "Talk and discuss these things while travelling - bind them to your wrist and forehead - write them on the posts of your doors - talk about them to your children.
In my humble way I think I am trying to make sense of the story of God and men - and the story of my faith, I'm not married and have no children myself, but I hope that I can tell what I know of God.
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