Unable to serve.

Stephen Dempster's Dominion and Dynasty: A theology of the Hebrew Bible is the new book sitting next to my bed for pre-sleep reading. A treatment of Joshua was particularly striking. Near the end of the book, Joshua gives two speeches. The second speech takes place at Shechem and renews the Sinai covenant. He reminds the Israelites of God's actions (24:2-13) and the people respond by cheering and showing their commitment to serve God alone. Joshua cynically respods "You are not able to serve Yahweh, for he is a holy God! He is a jealous God an he will not forgive your transgressions and sins!" (24:19). Dempster quotes Anderson:

...the statement that Israel is unable to serve Yahweh is unparalleled in the Old Testament, and in some way it relates to the verdict, to which prophets like Jeremiah and Ezekiel were driven, that Israel lacks the capacity 'to live with and belong to God' (1976: 350).

Interesting enough, Dempster points out that this verdict was already present at Sinai (Exod. 32; Lev. 10), the departure from Sinai (Num. 10-25) and Moses' farewell address (Deut. 4:23-28; 29:21-27).

This mirrors our own inability, as Paul tells us in Romans 8:7 that sinners dead in their sin cannot submit to God's law. What we need is a heart that will keep Torah (Deut. 30:6). This understanding of the radical nature of sin is present even in the OT. The concept of the Fall is not a Christian import, like modern Biblical commentators and Rabbis would have us believe, but is integral to the story of the Israelites' failure to please God. This hearkens me back to Piper's T4G address, where he challenged his listeners to study the gospel accounts and realize that they teach Paul's Gospel, so that they might not be afraid to preach the gospel accounts and be wiling to lean on them. In the same way, I feel that I generally don't turn to the OT as often because I don't trust it to clearly teach the same Gospel and so I don't dedicate enough time to studying it.

General Updates:

• Two exams today: US Foreign Policy in the Gulf and Int'l Security Politics. Should be a hectic day; between the two exams I'll be studying for the second one, and after the second one I'll be studying for my Int'l Economics exam tomorrow morning.
• Was contacted by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission for a brief phone interview this Friday.