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Well, it was inevitable. We have held prices firm from the first book on the list, but as production and shipping costs have risen, now we are going to raise prices on all my books starting January. The increase won’t be a lot, but if you want to get one of the books you don’t have at a lower cost, now is the time.
And, if you wanted to make an “end of the year” tax donation, now is certainly the time.
Go here to see all the available books.
Thank you, all of you who have ordered, donated and supported At God’s Table in so many ways. New things are coming in 2012.
Shalom
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The LORD said, “I have surely seen the affliction of My people who are in Egypt, and have given heed to their cry because of their taskmasters, for I am aware of their sufferings. So I have come down to deliver them from the power of the Egyptians,” Exodus 3:7-8a NASB
Deliver – Did God see you in Egypt? Has He seen you afflicted by taskmasters? The typology of bondage to sin is a powerful theme woven into the reality of an historical exodus. The words chosen to express this event on both levels are important. God has “surely seen.” In Hebrew, He has raoh raeeti (seen seen). He has looked twice and found misery and torment. He is aware (yada’). He knows their pain intimately. He is not the transcendent overseer of a mechanical universe. He is the God who suffers, who is heartbroken, who grieves with His people. And so God chooses to act on their behalf. “I have come down to deliver,” – ered lehatzilo – “to deliver him.” Yes, it’s singular. God comes to the aid of His people, His soon-to-be nation, as one all together. The root is natsal. This verb expresses the power of one entity to overcome another. God enters into a cosmic war with the gods of the Egyptians and defeats every one of them (each of the plagues is about a battle with an Egyptian god, including Pharaoh). That’s why God prevents the exodus on more than one occasion. The full victory of every false deity must be completed before there is real redemption from bondage. You and I can apply the same theme in our lives. One small god in the back closet prevents true redemption. They must all go. They must all be crushed, all destroyed, all ground to powder and urinated on the ground. Deliverance requires extermination.
We know the story. At least we know the historical narrative, modified to conform to Hollywood sensibilities. Now step back from this seminal event and recognize it for what it truly is – the greatest display of hesed in the Tanakh. Why do I say that? Because one of the essential elements of hesed is the fulfillment of a need of the recipient that he is unable to do for himself. If there is any possibility that the beneficiary of the deed is capable of self-deliverance, hesed does not apply. Hesed is freely given benevolence on behalf of the truly helpless. Israel had no way out. Moses, the next-in-line Pharaoh, failed in his human effort to deliver his people. Only God could provide what Israel needed. And when only God can provide, divine hesed comes into play.
Consider your noble intentions to show charity to another. In order to act as God would act, you must do for another what he is incapable of doing for himself. You must do this without any motivation of recompense, even the reward of being recognized as a charitable person. You must act in a way that delivers another because of your obligation, not to the beneficiary but to God Himself. You must be entirely free not to act, but to act anyway. Then you will experience coming down to deliver. Then you will know the heart, the broken heart, of God.
Topical Index: hesed, natsal, deliver, Exodus 3:7-8
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