Today's bible wisdom for Christians.
God loves babies:
 

(Psa 137:8-9 NRSV) O daughter Babylon, you devastator!
Happy shall they be who pay you back what you have done to us!

Happy shall they be who take your little ones and dash them against
the rock!

Today's bible wisdom for Christians.
God wants all your money:
 
 

(Acts 5:1-5 NRSV) But a man named Ananias, with the consent of his
wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property; with his wife's knowledge,
he kept back some of the proceeds, and brought only a part and laid
it at the apostles' feet.

"Ananias," Peter asked, "why has Satan filled your heart to lie to
the Holy Spirit and to keep back part of the proceeds of the land?

While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was
sold, were not the proceeds at your disposal? How is it that you have
contrived this deed in your heart? You did not lie to us but to God!"

Now when Ananias heard these words, he fell down and died.

And great fear seized all who heard of it.
 
 

(3 hours later his wife showed up, Peter questioned her and...)

(Acts 5:10-11 NRSV) Immediately she fell down at his feet and died.

And great fear seized the whole church and all who heard of these things.

Today's bible wisdom for Christians.
Do not let the women live:
 

(Num 31:14-18 NRSV) Moses became angry with the officers of the army,
the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds, who had
come from service in the war.

Moses said to them, "Have you allowed all the women to live?

These women here, on Balaam's advice, made the Israelites act
treacherously against the Lord in the affair of Peor, so that the
plague came among the congregation of the Lord.
 

Now therefore, kill every male among the little ones,
and kill every woman who has known a man by sleeping with him.
 

But all the young girls who have not known a man by sleeping with
him, keep alive for yourselves.
 

Today's bible wisdom for Christians.
What happens when you miss church:
 

(The Jabesh-gilead tribe of Israel forgot to show up for a roll call)

(Judg 21:10 NRSV) So the congregation sent twelve thousand soldiers
there and commanded them, "Go, put the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead
to the sword, including the women and the little ones.
 

Today's bible wisdom for Christians.
The rewards of ripping open pregnant women:

(2 Ki 8:12-13 NRSV) Hazael asked, "Why does my lord weep?" He answered,
"Because I know the evil that you will do to the people of Israel;

you will set their fortresses on fire, you will kill their young men
with the sword,

dash in pieces their little ones,

and rip up their pregnant women."

Hazael said, "What is your servant, who is a mere dog, that he should do this great thing?"

Elisha answered, "The LORD has shown me that you are to be king over Aram."
 

Today's bible wisdom for Christians.
How to treat rude children:
 

(2 Ki 2:22-24 NRSV)

...Elisha spoke.

He went up from there to Bethel; and while he was going up on the
way, some small boys came out of the city and jeered at him, saying,

"Go away, baldhead! Go away, baldhead!"

When he turned around and saw them, he cursed them in the name of
the LORD. Then two she-bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two
of the boys.
 

Today's bible wisdom for Christians.
Lesson one on the "righteousness" of King David, key ancestor to Jesus:
 

(1 Sam 16:23 NRSV)
And whenever the *evil spirit from God* came upon Saul, David took the lyre
and played it with his hand, and Saul would be relieved and feel better,
and the evil spirit would depart from him.
 

(Saul is jealous for being "out-slaughtered" by upstart David)

(1 Sam 18:7-8 NRSV)
And the women sang to one another as they made merry, "Saul has killed his
thousands, and David his ten thousands."

Saul was very angry, for this saying displeased him. He said, "They have
ascribed to David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed thousands;
 

Today's bible wisdom for Christians.
Lesson two on the "righteousness" of King David, key ancestor to Jesus:
 

(King David is especially "close" to Saul's son Jonathan)
 

(1 Sam 18:1 NRSV) the soul of Jonathan was bound to the soul of David,
and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.

(1 Sam 20:3 NRSV) But David also swore, "Your father knows well that
you like me; and he thinks, 'Do not let Jonathan know this, or he will be
grieved.'

(1 Sam 20:41 NRSV) He bowed three times, and they kissed each other,
and wept with each other; David wept the more.
Then Jonathan said to David, "Go in peace,

(2 Sam 1:26 NRSV) I am distressed for you, my brother Jonathan; greatly
beloved were you to me; your love to me was wonderful, passing the love of
women.

Today's bible wisdom for Christians.
Lesson three on the "righteousness" of King David:
 

(King David sees Bathsheba in the nude sunbathing)

(2 Sam 11:4 NRSV) So David sent messengers to get her, and she came to him, and he lay with her.
The woman conceived; and she sent and told David, "I am pregnant."
 

(King David thinks of a way to get rid of her husband)

(2 Sam 11:15 NRSV) In the letter he wrote, "Set Uriah in the forefront of  the hardest fighting, and then draw back from him, so that he may be struck down and die."
 

(After he had her husband killed, he added her to his harem of 6 other women)

(2 Sam 11:27 NRSV)
When the mourning was over, David sent and brought her to his house, and she
became his wife, and bore him a son.
 

Today's bible wisdom for Christians.
Lesson four on the "righteousness" of King David:

(more murder)

(1 Sam 27:9-10 NRSV) David struck the land, leaving neither man nor woman alive,

When Achish asked, "Against whom have you made a raid today?" David would say, "Against the Negeb of Judah," or "Against the Negeb of the Jerahmeelites," or, "Against the Negeb of the enites."

(and more...)

(2 Sam 3:14 NRSV) Then David sent messengers to Saul's son Ishbaal, saying, "Give me my wife Michal, to whom I became engaged at the price of one hundred foreskins of the Philistines."

(and more...)

(2 Sam 8:13 NRSV) David won a name for himself. When he returned, he killed eighteen thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt.

(and more...)

(2 Sam 18:7 NRSV) The men of Israel were defeated there by the servants of
David, and the slaughter there was great on that day, twenty thousand men.
 

Today's bible wisdom for Christians.
Remember the sabbath, keep it holy:
 
 

(Num 15:32-36 NRSV)

When the Israelites were in the wilderness,
they found a man gathering sticks on the sabbath day.

Those who found him gathering sticks brought him to Moses,
Aaron, and to the whole congregation.

They put him in custody, because it was not clear what should be done to him.

Then the Lord said to Moses, "The man shall be put to death;
all the congregation shall stone him outside the camp."
 

The whole congregation brought him outside the camp and stoned him to
death,

just as the Lord had commanded Moses.
 

Today's bible wisdom for Christians.
"Virtuous" King Solomon's 1000 lovers:
 

(1 Ki 11:1 NRSV) King Solomon loved many foreign women along with the
daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite
women,
 

(1 Ki 11:3 NRSV) Among his wives were seven hundred princesses and three
hundred concubines;
 

Today's bible wisdom for Christians.
What the bible says about women in church.
 
 

(1 Cor 14:34 NRSV) women should be silent in the churches. For they are not
permitted to speak, but should be subordinate, as the law also says.

(1 Cor 14:35 NRSV) If there is anything they desire to know, let them ask their
husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church.

(1 Tim 2:11 NRSV) Let a woman learn in silence with full submission.

(1 Tim 2:12 NRSV) I permit no woman to teach or to have authority over a man;
she is to keep silent.

(1 Cor 11:5 NRSV) but any woman who prays or prophesies with her head unveiled
disgraces her head--it is one and the same thing as having her head shaved.

(1 Cor 11:7 NRSV) For a man ought not to have his head veiled, since he is the
image and reflection of God; but woman is the reflection of man.

Today's bible wisdom for Christians.
Lord, How can we be a good witness to the world?

(Isa 20:3 NRSV)
Then the Lord said, "Just as my servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot for
three years as a sign and a portent against Egypt and Ethiopia,

Today's bible wisdom for Christians.
How to treat your slaves:

(Exo 21:20-21 NRSV)
When a slaveowner strikes a male or female slave with a rod and the slave dies
immediately, the owner shall be punished.
But if the slave survives a day or two, there is no punishment; for the slave
is the owner's property.

Today's bible wisdom for Christians.
How be a good parent:

(2 Ki 6:29 NRSV) So we cooked my son and ate him. The next day I said to her,
'Give up your son and we will eat him.'
 

Today's bible wisdom for Christians.
Lesson one, Joshua does as God commands him:
(The battles of Joshua for the possession of cities and genocide of inhabitants)

(All verses from book of Joshua NRSV)

(City of Jerico)(6:21) Then they devoted to destruction by the edge of the sword all
in the city, both men and women, young and old, oxen, sheep, and donkeys.

(City of Ai)(8:22)Israel struck them down until no one was left who survived or escaped.

(8:29) And he hanged the king of Ai on a tree until evening; and at sunset Joshua
commanded, and they took his body down from the tree, threw it down at the entrance
of the gate of the city ...

(The Amorites) (10:10) ...(the Israelites) inflicted a great slaughter on them at Gibeon ..., and struck them down as far as Azekah and Makkedah.

(*** God throws boulders down from heaven onto fleeing Amorites ***)

(10:11) As they fled before Israel, while they were going down the slope of Beth-horon, the Lord threw down huge stones from heaven on them as far as Azekah, and they died; there were more who died because of the hailstones than the Israelites killed with the sword.

(There wasn't enough time in the day to complete the slaughter so
God makes the Sun stop moving in the sky)

(10:12-13) ...Joshua spoke to the Lord; and he said in the sight of Israel,
"Sun, stand still at Gibeon, and Moon, in the valley of Aijalon."

And the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, until the nation took vengeance on
their enemies. Is this not written in the Book of Jashar? The sun stopped in
midheaven, and did not hurry to set for about a whole day.

(God's mission accomplished with the Amorites)
(10:20) When Joshua and the Israelites had finished inflicting a very great
slaughter on them, until they were wiped out, ...

(much more of God's slaughter next time...)
 
 

Today's bible wisdom for Christians.
Lesson two, Joshua does as God commands him:
(The battles of Joshua for the possession of cities and genocide of inhabitants)

(All verses from book of Joshua NRSV)

(more slaughter as commanded by God)

(City of Libnah)(10:30) The Lord gave it also and its king into the hand of Israel;
and he struck it with the edge of the sword, and every person in it; he left no one remaining in it;

(City of Lachish)(10:32-33) ... and struck it with the edge of the sword,
and every person in it, as he had done to Libnah.
Then King Horam of Gezer came up to help Lachish;
and Joshua struck him and his people, leaving him no survivors.

(City of Eglon)(10:35) and they took it that day, and struck it with the edge of
the sword; and every person in it he utterly destroyed that day, as he had done to
Lachish.

(City of Hebron)(10:37) and struck it with the edge of the sword, and its king and
its towns, and every person in it; he left no one remaining, just as he had done
to Eglon, and utterly destroyed it with every person in it.

(City of Debir)(10:39-40) and he took it with its king and all its towns;
they struck them with the edge of the sword, and utterly destroyed every person in
it; he left no one remaining;

So Joshua defeated the whole land, the hill country and the Negeb and the lowland
and the slopes, and all their kings; he left no one remaining, but utterly destroyed
all that breathed, as the Lord God of Israel commanded.

(still more of God's slaughter to come...)

Today's bible wisdom for Christians.
Lesson three, Joshua does as God commands him:

One last big battle of Joshua for the possession of cities and genocide
of inhabitants)

(all verses from the book of Joshua NRSV)

(Sorry to keep boring you with all this slaughter but there is just one
battle to go and all the inhabitants of Canaan will have bee exterminated)
 

(11:1-4) People of Hazor, Madon, Shimron, Achshaph, northern hill country,
Arabah, Naphoth-dor, Canaanites in the east and the west, the Amorites
(again?), the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites and the Hivites
unite against the Israelites.

(Ho hum...)
(11:14) All the spoil of these towns, and the livestock, the Israelites
took for their booty; but all the people they struck down with the edge
of the sword,
until they had destroyed them, and they did not leave any who breathed.
 

( Let there be no doubt whose idea it was for these genocides)

(11:20) For it was the Lord's doing to harden their hearts (the canaanites)
so that they would come against Israel in battle, in order that they might
be utterly destroyed, and might receive no mercy, but be exterminated,
just as the Lord had commanded Moses. (amen)