Big Barn's Corner Spot

The stories of Samson are found in Judges 13-16.  Chapter 13 begins with a formula that is found in most of the stories in Judges.  The formula uses language from the Book of Deuteronomy, so it is speculated that the collection of stories were edited by a Deuteronomic redactor.  The redactor sees history going in cycles--the Israelites do evil in the eyes of God (worship other gods), God gives them over to another people, the Israelites cry out to God, and God sends a judge to save them.  In the case of Samson, the Israelites are subdued by the Philistines. Samson is one of the most colorful characters in the Hebrew Bible.  Even though he is sent by God to save Israel, his battles with the Philistines are all personal, and usually involve women.  His name is derived from the Hebrew word for sun, שמש, sheh-mesh.  Is he meant to be portrayed as the son of the sun god, like Apollo the son of Zeus, or Osiris the sun of Ra?  It is clear to me that our ...

I requested a book from my library on humor in the Bible.  It is nice to know that I am not the only one who thinks that the Bible contains humor.  I am not an expert in the New Testament.  I have read it, but not recently enough to make the claim that I think Jesus had a sense of humor.  The notion that Jesus is the biological son of God could be seen in a humorous way.  Again, we must suspend our disbelief to accept this.  Having a divine parent did not start with Jesus.  One of the oldest stories in history, the Epic of Gilgamesh tells us that Gilgamesh is two-third god and one-third human.  I never quite figured out how that works mathematically. Jesus as the son of God seems to be based on the idea that David and Solomon were the sons of God.  For example, II Samuel 7:14, אֲנִי֙ אֶֽהְיֶה־לּ֣וֹ לְאָ֔ב וְה֖וּא יִֽהְיֶה־לִּ֣י לְבֵ֑ן אֲשֶׁר֙ בְּהַ֣עֲות֔וֹ וְהֹֽכַחְתִּיו֙ בְּשֵׁ֣בֶט אֲנָשִׁ֔ים וּבְנִגְעֵ֖י בְּנֵ֥י אָדָֽם׃ I will be a father t...

My father is from Bangor, Maine.  His obituary in the Bangor paper said he was the best Jewish basketball player to come out of the state of Maine.  He was forty when I was born, so his athletic prime was mostly over by the time I stated to show an interest in sports.  He did teach me the game of basketball.  He taught me that I always had to focus on fundamentals, and that I had to practice them over and over.  We watched games together and he would always point out what was going on.  I learned enough from him to coach basketball. As I indicated in an earlier blog,  I played high school basketball.  That was the highest I got.  I played in men's leagues, but they don't count.  I did not try out for basketball at Rutgers.  Again, I played in the band.  I would like to play in leagues now for old people (over 70), but after a hip replacement, my doctor said basketball was the worst thing I could do, so I stopped.  I miss i...

 I acknowledged early on in these blogs that I try to write about things I know.  One of them is sports.  I am not a sport's fanatic.  I am a fan of the Philly sport's teams, but I only watch the Eagles.   I was a Phillies fan, but baseball lost me when the players went on strike.  I love the game of basketball, but I do not like where college and professional basketball is now.  I was not in Philadelphia when the Flyers won their Stanley Cups, so I never got into the game.  It is like soccer on skates.  I appreciate their athleticism, but I do not know the fundamentals of the games.   I wanted to play football in high school.  I was not big by any standard.  But I was strong and athletic.  I think I would have been a good football player.  I went out for my freshmen team.  A few weeks into training, I was in synagogue and brushed up against a table that was only on three legs.  It was hold the boi...

Sorry for being late, but I guess I should not be, because no one is paying any attention anyway.   But here goes. I was watching a video of Robin Williams.  In it, he claims that God must smoke marijuana to create a Platypus.  If we are created in the image of God, and we have a sense of humor, so must God. My favorite scene in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" is when Roger and the private detective are handcuffed together.  The detective is using a hacksaw to cut through them, but the box is shaking.  Roger removes his hand to steady the box.  When the detective sees this, Roger immediately puts his hand back into the handcuff.  The detective is angry at Roger and says, "do you mean you could have removed your hand at any time?"  Roger responded, "no, only when it is funny". Since I seemed to be focused on suspension of disbelief, I will look at humor that way.  Is it too difficult for some to do that with the Bible, since, if it is the word...

Once a year I fast.  I go without eating at times, but the fast of Yom Kippur is set on the calendar for me.  Since the age of 13, I have observed this fast.  There are other fast days on the Jewish calendar, but they are minor fasts, and are not part of my usual observance.  Fasting is in fulfillment of the command "to inflict our souls" in Leviticus 16:19..  Of the two Hebrew words, the first, תענות, tih-ah-nu , inflict, is the same verb that describes Sarah's actions against Hagar that caused her to run away.  So the verb seems to imply a painful, physical blow.  The next work, "your souls", is ambiguous, obviously.   The word for soul, נפש, ne-fesh ,is not the same word that was used to describe the breath of life in Genesis .  That words is נשמה, nih-sha-mah m which means breathing.  As a result of God breathing a נשמה, the man became a נפש, a "souled" being.  The rabbis distinguish the two.  A נפש is shared by all a...