Jan 2: Gen 2, Matt. 2, Ezra 2, Acts 2

Genesis 2

God rests on the seventh day after creating everything.  

Plants are created but no crops apparently.  God creates a man from dust and places him in a garden with 4 rivers coming out of it.  Two of the rivers (Tigris and Euphrates) have familiar names, the others do not.

• Did the other two rivers dry up or do they exist?  Research indicates that the Pishon and the Gihon are not definitively located, but they have been identified in the past with the Ganges and the Nile, respectively.  This gives some credence to the figurative nature of Eden, as civilization as we know it kicked off in a band from India to Ethiopia.

God places the first man into the garden and has him working in the field and tending the garden.  He tells him not to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.  

• Is there a notion of man pre-free will?   Does this have anything to do with evolution?

God gives the first man the job of naming everything, but there is no "helper fit for him".  God makes him a person to be with him so that he is not alone.  The first "marriage declaration" is stated.  The first man and his wife are naked and unashamed in the garden.

• What is the significance of man getting to name everything?  Is there something we should understand about what this means for our stewardship of the Earth?

Matthew 2

The wise men ask Herod where to find the new King of the Jews, which isn't so great since Herod is currently ruler of Judea.  Herod's people figure out he's in Bethlehem (via prophecy) and Herod actually sends the wise men to find him (I didn't know this.)  A star guides the way, and the Nativity scene happens.  They were warned in a dream to go home another way rather than actually going to Herod, so they did.  

Joseph was told in a dream to take the child and Mary and hide in Egypt until Herod dies.  Matthew says this is to fulfill another prophecy about God's son being called out of Egypt.

Herod, threatened by the possiblity of Jesus and angry about the wise men sneaking out of Judea, kills all the male children around Bethlehem aged 2 and under, which apparently fulfills yet another prophecy.  

When Herod dies, Joseph, Mary, and Jesus return but out of fear of reprisal from Herod's son Archelaus, they set up in the obscure district of Galilee in a small town called Nazareth.  This fulfills still another prophecy.  

• I could use a Bible that cross-references these prophecies.  I feel like I need a WikiBible.
• Stars are really high up.  What did the guiding star look like and how was it clear where they should go?
• Is there historical evidence for the killing of all these children?  (apparently, kind of: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massacre_of_the_Innocents - estimates range from 6 to 20 children if all baby boys in the small town were killed, which is certainly plausible )

Ezra 2

Exhaustive account of the different houses of Israel that are returning, and their entourages.  

• Should I be paying closer attention to the census record chapters when I'm not doing research?

Acts 2

On Pentecost (apparently a Hebrew festival celebrating the giving of The Law on Mount Sinai), the Holy Spirit descends and the apostles begin to speak in tongues in Jerusalem.  Apparently, all of them are from Galilee, but Jews from around the known world can understand them.  Some marvel at it as a miracle.  Others just think they're drunk.  

Peter speaks up and says that it's too early for anyone to be drunk (which I think is a funny answer), then quotes a prophecy of Joel, ending in "And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."

• Saved from what/to what?  Eternal damnation is the obvious answer, but that theology hasn't yet been spelled out so what would the people hearing this understand?

Peter goes on to preach about Jesus crucified and resurrected, and quotes a prophecy of David that he says speaks to this.  He asserts Jesus is God and the Messiah.  People respond and 3000 or so were baptized into the faith.

It describes the early days of the church.  Lots of miracles, everyone living in communes, sharing all resources, and converting people around them.

• The earliest days of the church have people living in a communist way (literally communist as in pooling and sharing of all available resources and not having individual possessions, not Marxist or socialist where a government decides how resources are allocated).  Why does the church not call us to do that now?  Is it because it's too hard?  Not essential?  Does this have to do with the disadvantage the rich had according to Jesus in entering the Kingdom of God?