The cleft repair charity Smile Train recently announced its greatest “smilestone” to date – the one millionth cleft repair surgery completed by its partner surgeons.
Founded in 1999, Smile Train has grown to be the world’s largest cleft charity and has made great inroads repairing cleft palates and cleft lips in countries where these untreated disfigurements cause lifetimes of psychological pain and physical suffering. Children with clefts often cannot speak or eat properly, and their physical plight is compounded by the fact that they are often not allowed to attend school and they are ostracized, even by members of their own families.
Smile Train pioneered the training of doctors to perform the relatively fast 45 minute surgery to provide free, safe treatment for poor patients with cleft lip and/or palate. Organized in such a way that overhead expenses are largely paid by Smile Train’s board members, the charity is able to claim that virtually all donated funds go to repairing clefts for individuals who would never normally receive such help.
The charity’s one millionth patient, six year old Osawa Owiti from a remote village in Tanzania, had already experienced years of psychological and physical hardship, and his mother was also subject to the stigma, being unjustly blamed for her child’s cleft. But Osawa is now recovered from his surgery and happily enjoying the new life he has been given.
Smile Train – and all cleft repair groups – are to be thanked for the work they are doing. Considering the extent of the cleft problem throughout the world, it is something for which we can be truly grateful that this particularly debilitating cause of suffering is being so aggressively fought. You can read more about Osawa Owiti and the work of the Smile Train here. It is a worthwhile work for which we can pray, and one which deserves continued support.
In Genesis 15:9-21 we find the story of God sealing his covenant with Abram (before he became Abraham) by means of animal sacrifices. In response to Abram’s request for a sign that God would fulfill his promise (vs. 8), God instructed him to take various animals and sacrifice them in a particular manner. After killing the animals, Abram divided them into halves, placing them on the ground in such a way that someone could walk between the halves of the carcasses. The narrative then states: “When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram …” (Genesis 15:17-18).
Many biblical commentaries suggest that this event was symbolic of such things as the “furnace of affliction” Israel would suffer in Egypt, but there is no reason to make such a symbolic connection, especially one so stretched. The real meaning of this event can be clearly seen from what is known of ancient Near Eastern land grant treaties (a type of “suzerain-vassal treaty” in which an agreement is made between two unequal parties, one of higher status and one of lower status, in which land is granted to the ruler of lower status on condition of faithfulness to the higher king). In this type of ritual, sacrificed animals were divided in half and in some cases the participants to the treaty walked between the halves of the animals as a way to seal the agreement made by the participants. This legal procedure of the world in which Abram lived is clearly central to understanding the story of Genesis 15. Perhaps Abram walked between the animal halves when he arranged them on the ground, but it is clear that God did – represented by the burning torch which “passed between the pieces.”
Another, much later (c. 590 BC), but clearly parallel biblical example of this ritual in the time of Zedekiah involves an animal being killed, cut into two pieces, and then individuals passing between the divided pieces (Jeremiah 34:8–22 and note vss. 15, 19).
The Hebrew Bible speaks of covenants not as being “made” but as being “cut” (Hebrew karat ), and the ancient sacrificial covenant animal cutting practice explains that usage.
The controversial film “Noah” is finally in theaters and drawing large audiences, as was expected. If you haven’t seen the news, most reviews seem to be positive, and Christianity Today awarded the movie four and a half stars (out of five) and tweeted “Get to the biggest screen you can and watch #Noah.” Their review is here. Many details of the movie are clearly not part of the biblical account, but overall the film seems to be getting a fairly good reception from Christian viewers. Our take on the movie is here.
There is an old story, I am not aware of its origin, that each day as we go into the world we pass through one of three doors. The first door is the dark way, the door of evil intentions, which leads to harm for ourselves and others. The second door leads to neither good nor bad intentions, and the third door leads to the good intentions of serving and helping others. The interesting thing about the story is that it continues by telling us that most people go out into the world each day by way of the door of no intentions – intending neither bad nor good - but when we do so, we invariably return by way of the dark door.
There is certainly some truth to this simple little story. How many times have we gone out into the day not intending anything in particular only to sooner or later run into traffic, coworkers, messages or whatever that rouse us to frustration, anger, fear, doubt, or other negative feelings or actions. According to the story, it is only as we go out into the day through the light door – the door of intending to do good – that we will return by way of the middle door, or, if our intentions are maintained, through the door of good intentions.
The story has a point, but its weakness is clear. We all know that “the road to hell is paved with good intentions” (as first stated by Bernard of Clairvaux), and that of themselves even the best of intentions usually are not enough. Simply put, the door of our own good intentions really only leads to a partial solution to the problem of how our lives will really play out.
But the old story can remind us, of course, of the words of Jesus which carry a much more profound lesson. The Book of John records His words: “I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture” (John 10:9). This was part of the parable Jesus told of the sheepfold with the sheep and the door they entered in and out of. But the words fit our old story well, too.
It is only as we go out into the world through the power of Christ – the true door – that our good intentions will be more fully realized and maintained. That takes conscious thought and determination, but if we remind ourselves daily of the door through which we need to walk, we will be much less likely to go out through the door of wrong intentions or that of no intentions at all.
In 2 Samuel 24:1 we are told that: “Again the anger of the Lord was aroused against Israel, and He moved David against them to say, ‘Go, number Israel and Judah.’” Because this chapter goes on to say that God punished David when he did take a census of Israel’s fighting men, the biblical account is difficult to understand at this point. Another odd aspect about the story is that it appears to differ in an important detail in the parallel account in 1 Chronicles which tells us: “Now Satan stood up against Israel, and moved David to number Israel” (1 Chronicles 21:1).
So who moved David to count the Israelite men – and if it was God, why was David punished for this? There are several aspects involved in clarifying this situation. First, as at least one commentary points out, it is possible that the first sentence of 2 Samuel 24:1 –“And again the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel” – is actually the title for the section of text that follows, so that the following “He” in “He moved David” in this verse might be understood as Satan, as in 1 Chronicles 21.
Notice that when David was challenged regarding taking the census by his military commander, Joab, David did not claim that God had instructed him to do this, but nevertheless “the king’s word prevailed” (2 Samuel 24:3-4). Further, we see that as soon as the census was taken, David regretted what he had done: “David was conscience-stricken after he had counted the fighting men, and he said to the Lord, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done. Now, Lord, I beg you, take away the guilt of your servant. I have done a very foolish thing’” (vs. 10). If God had instructed David to take the census, David’s words at this point would not make any sense.
So one solution to the apparent problem is to see Satan as being behind rousing David to conduct the census in both accounts. But at a deeper level we can also understand that in some ways God can be said to influence individuals by creating the circumstances in which He knows the individual is likely to act. In this way Exodus tells us that Pharaoh’s heart was hardened toward Israel (Exodus 8:19) when God created circumstances in which this might happen. In this sense 2 Samuel 24:1 may mean that God allowed Satan to tempt David because, as the verse stresses, His anger “was aroused against Israel” for its sinfulness at that time. Note that it was primarily Israel that was punished, not David; but it is as if God decided to punish Israel at a time and in a way that would teach David an important lesson regarding his own failings.
It seems that David’s sin in numbering Israel was due to his underlying motive for carrying out the census. God actually instructed Moses to number the Israelite fighting men for a specific reason on two occasions (Numbers 1:1-3; 26:2-4). But, as the Wycliffe Bible Commentary points out, there were only two logical reasons for taking a census in David’s time: to tax the population or (more likely because it was the fighting men who were counted) to prepare to conscript an army. Because God had blessed David with both physical abundance and safety, the taking of a census may have demonstrated a failure on David’s part through pride in his military strength or, conversely, lack of trust in not looking to God for economic or military help that might be needed.
Osawa – Image from SmileTrain Website 
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