Posted by: admin in faith
Every once in a while, I run across a word for phrase in the Bible that just throws me for a loop. The most recent example came while I was brushing up on my David character study I’m writing for my Bar and Bat Mitzvah kids.
We know the Bible teaches that nothing evil can come from Adonai our G-d; as a holy G-d, nothing evil can enter his presence.
We also know that King Sha’ul’s madness was probably brought on by both the horrors of war and the rebuke he’d received from Adonai, in which G-d ultimately rejected him as king over all Israel. There’s only so much a flawed Israeli king can take, right?
And then, there it is in front of me. A verse in I Sh’mu’el states that after Adonai’s blessing was removed, King Sha’ul was tormented by, “an evil spirit from G-d.”
An evil spirit? From G-d?
Maybe it’s the translation, but… something fishy’s going on there. Could someone be playing games with our theology…? …No, probably not.
Personally, I think it’s a colloquialism, in this instance. Clearly, King Sha’ul had fallen to some form of mental illness, given that his outbursts of temper stemming from this were often violent, and that David’s music soothed his troubled spirit.
So, this coming weekend is Passover and my wife and I will be able to go to and enjoy our shul’s community seder for long-term members. That will be enjoyable, certainly. But while a Seder is far more relaxing than stressing over, say, computer rental, it can still be a lot of work and stress for the people hosting it.
My wife and I know; we held our third Seder last weekend for some close friends, which is nearly as dear an annual tradition for us as the Seder at our shul. We held our first one before we were married, over at a friend’s apartment. So it’s only our second time hosting as a married couple.
This year’s affair was smaller than normal; in part, that was by design, since spring has been a little tight on the purse strings. But although we only invited three other people this time, one of them canceled last-minute and it ended up being a foursome.
It was nice though. I led our little group through the haggadah and ceded sermon duties to my wife, who did well delivering a message customized to our guests, as well as a general review of the messianic symbolism in the Seder meal.
A good time was had by all; this weekend, the real matzah-fest begins!
