The late LeGrand Baker (not related), a well-written professor of ancient scripture, produced a 770 page book as one of his works. I have a copy, as well as a PDF. His ideas were very inspiring and revealing to me, although not universally accepted. I'm sure he comes from a Judaic background to be Christ based in the way few do.
No, I haven't ever gotten through all of the book. Read and listened to much (with a text to speech app while exercising or walking). It has laid on my living room table.
The other day, I felt inspired to open it. As oft happens in study, it opened to a section never read but most inspiring; it made me think of current events in this world. I'd like to share a trimmed up version of what I read. The last few paragraphs are the meat of it, but the sequence is necessary.
Psalms 82 (A Psalm of Asaph.)
God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he judgeth among the gods.
***How long will ye judge unjustly, and accept the persons of the wicked? ***Selah.
Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy.
Deliver the poor and needy: rid them out of the hand of the wicked.
They know not, neither will they understand; they walk on in darkness: all the foundations of the earth are out of course.
**I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High.**
But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes.
Arise, O God, judge the earth: for thou shalt inherit all nations.
Another scripture:
“God saw these souls [the noble and great ones] that they were good, and he stood in the midst of them, and he said: These I will make my rulers.” There he was standing and judging or choosing.
How long will ye judge unjustly, and accept the persons of the wicked?
The Hebrew reads simply “the wicked.” The Tanakh, which is the official Jewish translation of the Old Testament, renders this verse as “How long will you judge perversely, showing favor to the wicked?”
That is the pivotal question upon which everyone’s salvation ultimately turns. It is about prejudice, bigotry, and intolerance. As soon as we arrive in this world, ***no matter what human culture we arrive in***,
that culture teaches us that some people are better than others, so favor should be shown to those with political prestige, money, education, expensive toys, “correct” cultural preferences, and “appropriate” lifestyle. It does not matter whether they are better because they have ten cows rather than just two, or whether they have a huge house rather than a simple one. The principle is the same—and that idea that some people are better than others—says God in these instructions to his children, is the misconception they must first correct in themselves, and **then reject altogether**.
One does not judge people by their appearances or by their prestige.... There could have been no question about the implications of that command.
The Law was explicit:
5 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might (Deuteronomy 6:5).
18 Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the Lord (Leviticus 19:18).
