ok. moving past the delicious pagan pagentry to a literary view...
i was thinking the other day (danger!!) and happened upon this thought.
somewhere back in samuel and kings there are two versions of the same story. they have some theological differences but i think i've had that discussion. i've now misplaced the references but that's not so important. suffice to say, david took a census of the isrealites and this was a great sin.
so i've made some interpretations and i think it was a sin because it gave a countable number to the sons of abraham who are supposed to be numbered as the stars in the sky or the sand on the beach or some such thing... in other words, uncountable.
so the reason this was so bad is that it verged on having the power to break the promise that god made to abraham. (end pre-story)
it occurred to me that the whole christmas scenario begins with a census of the jews.
so it seems to me this is, perhaps, the most amazing part of the whole story. that someone purported to be without wrong could come to be when his very birthplace was determined by a great wrong.
what's your take on it? ie what do you think of my interpretation of david's sin? am i aright in thinking the roman census was a great wrong (not necessarily perpetrated for that express purpose; i understand the usefulness of a census.)? what affect do you think this idea might have on the birth story?
(this is a topic for bible scholars only, and not one for a debate about the reality of any religion or the truth of the jesus story.)
This message has been edited by brennakimi, 01-03-2005 22:31 AM
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