So, this morning Lucky, you all remember Lucky, he’s our two year old hound dog. Well, anyway, Lucky climbed into my lap and offered up his stomach for the morning tummy rub. See, we get up early, he gets his breakfast and then we go out in the dark and dewy grass for, well you know. Then we come inside and he climbs in my lap while I wait for the coffee to drip.
This morning wasn’t any different than most mornings except when we were talking. I noted there were lots of questions I had and did he have the answers. He took the time to remind me that people, dyslexic species that we are, always get the spelling of his species backwards. It’s dog, not god, he reminded me. I nodded my head. Then told him my first question was whether we needed a second dog in the household. He yawned a big yawn and then asked if I had not read my Bible. Well, of course I’ve read my Bible, I exclaimed. Then, he said, you should remember that I, thy dog, am a jealous dog and thou shall have no others dogs before me. Next question?
I said, speaking of the Bible where did all those wandering people with whom Cain lived come from. You know, Nod in early Hebrew means to wander, so I guess that when Cain ran from God and dwelt in the land of Nod, east of Eden, he took up with some people because he had descendants. So, where did those people come from?
Lucky looked pensive and then said, have you considered that Adam wasn’t actually the first man on earth? No, I said, I hadn’t considered that. Well, Lucky continued, maybe he was only the first of the “chosen” people on earth and there were other humans like those in Nod. I thought about it for a while and commented, well, that could make sense since I’m not one of the chosen people of the Old Testament and if Adam was the real first man then I’d be Adam’s descendent and that would make me one of the chosen.. Guess I’ll have to do some more thinking about that. Lucky pointed out that one had to be careful about confusing things from the Old Testament with things from the New Testament. See, he said, Testament is like a body of evidence. Thus you have the Old Testament which is a history of evidence about the covenant between Yahweh and the Jewish people. Then there is the New Testament which is a history of Yahweh renegotiating the covenant including among the “people” those who believe he took upon himself the sins of the world and offers a redemptive relationship so that the faithful can attain the same level of heaven as that promised to Adam. Oh, I uttered, I see.
Lucky, licking his paws while luxuriating on the back of the sofa, went on. Yep, it’s a whole new deal so be careful pulling things out of the mutually abrogated covenant. Too many people do that today and think themselves righteous. Lots of don’ts Yahweh put in the draft of the first covenant no longer apply in the second one. I mean, bacon is definitely ok now that we know to cook it well done. Pork roast, ribs, ham, all that stuff is permissible. Then there’s the commandments.
Here I had to get up and get some coffee and Lucky drifted off to sleep his chin on the window sill. I suppose I shouldn’t mention it but later in the morning he killed another squirrel. His excuse was that he was just staying in practice for when the economy falls apart and the grocery stores have no groceries. We’ll be asking him to bring in squirrels, rabbits and possums for the communal pot. I hope he’s not a prophet as well as a theologian but he is right, we’ve been spelling the name backwards.