Jonah is challenging us at the moment. He is precise and particular in what and how he wants things done. All part of growing up and learning that the world does not in particular cater to you. I made my first somewhat successful batch of cookies yesterday. They made me miss my friend Jamie's endless baking ability but they weren't too bad.
Internet has been down at home so we have been reading a lot. I finally decided it was time to buckle down and read books on the genocide. Sobering, hard and not fun but enlightening. They do make this particular passage very very difficult for me though:
1st Samuel 15
Samuel said to Saul, “I am the one the Lord sent to anoint you king over his people Israel; so listen now to the message from the Lord. 2 This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘I will punish the Amalekites for what they did to Israel when they waylaid them as they came up from Egypt. 3 Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy[a]
all that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and
women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.’”
4 So Saul summoned the men and mustered them at Telaim—two hundred thousand foot soldiers and ten thousand from Judah. 5 Saul went to the city of Amalek and set an ambush in the ravine. 6 Then he said to the Kenites,
“Go away, leave the Amalekites so that I do not destroy you along with
them; for you showed kindness to all the Israelites when they came up
out of Egypt.” So the Kenites moved away from the Amalekites.7 Then Saul attacked the Amalekites all the way from Havilah to Shur, near the eastern border of Egypt. 8 He took Agag king of the Amalekites alive, and all his people he totally destroyed with the sword. 9 But Saul and the army spared Agag and the best of the sheep and cattle, the fat calves[b] and lambs—everything that was good. These they were unwilling to destroy completely, but everything that was despised and weak they totally destroyed.
The passage goes on to talk about Saul's lack of obedience in destroying everything. The hard part is that this is just one of many such passages in the Bible. When looked at through the eyes of the genocide books I'm reading at the moment it's difficult to swallow. So, I'm taking a break from serious reading and reading some light and fluffy things while this simmers. Any thoughts: Feel free to share!
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