Synopsis
A review of and quotes from The Chosen by American author, novelist, playwright, editor and rabbi Chaim Potok (February 17, 1929 – July 23, 2002)
- Paul: Steal 📚
- Matthew:
- Paul: Burn 🔥
- Matthew:
Introduction
By Paul Anderson
In March, I read the book The Chosen. It is a novel written by Chaim Potok about a friendship between two Jewish boys from differing backgrounds. It was first published in 1967. In addition, I watched the TV series The Chosen. It is the first-ever multi-season, TV show about the life of Jesus. It was first released in 2017. So, it seemed appropriate to do a study on "Chosen" in the Bible as well.
The TV series was enjoyable, as it stays very true when the Bible speaks and yet provides a glimpse of Jesus' time when the Bible is silent. You can imagine the setting where Jesus walked and get a fuller picture of the Apostles who are not mentioned much in the Scriptures. Who knew Matthew, the tax collector, acted just like Dustin Hoffman in the movie Rain Man?
Of course, it is a lot of speculation since the TV series is 2,000 years removed from the actual events and written primarily for entertainment purposes. It is like getting your fortune told by carnival machine. You have to take what it says with a grain of salt.
 |
| photo by Paul Anderson, 4/27/24 |
The book was much more enjoyable. It is a Steal 📚! I first read it back in my grade school days and liked it. However, I love it more now than ever. I guess I can relate to the book more now after my college experience. Instead of the two worlds of Judaism in the book (a Modern Orthodox school vs an ultra-orthodox Hasidic yeshiva), my real worlds contained the antagonistic views of the International Churches of Christ (ICOC) and the traditional Churches of Christ. I was the President of Campus Advance, a campus organization started by the ICOC, during my time at the University of Colorado in Colorado Springs.
However, the best part of The Chosen was that it highlighted the value of silence. Reb Saunders, the father of the boy from the ultra-orthodox Hasidic yeshiva, raises his son, Danny, in silence. I can relate to this relationship, as I am raising my wife in silence (more on this in the conclusion).
Better is an handful with quietness, than both the hands full with travail and vexation of spirit.
Ecclesiastes 4:6 King James Version
Reb Saunders only speaks to Danny when they study Talmud together. This is due to Danny's gifted mind. He has a photographic memory, which causes him to neglect the other parts of his soul. His 4 Pillars of the Soul (Body, Heart, Mind, & Spirit) are out of balance. To help Danny's Spirit, Reb Saunders only speaks to Danny in a setting where he can feed his Spirit.
“My father doesn’t write,” Danny said. “He reads a lot, but he never writes. He says that words distort what a person really feels in his heart….He told me once he wishes that everyone could talk in silence.”
It is not a new idea. It may have originated in ancient Egypt. By 1831, the proverb was first printed by the poet Thomas Carlyle, “Speech is silver and silence is golden!” By 1985, the American rock band Heart said it best in their song, These Dreams, from their self-titled eighth studio album.
The sweetest song is silence
That I've ever heard
Funny how your feet
In dreams never touch the earth
In a wood full of princes
Freedom is a kiss
But the prince hides his face
From dreams in the mist
The Bible says it this way:
A fool uttereth all his mind: but a wise man keepeth it in till afterwards.
Proverbs 29:11 King James Version
This verse may explain why I didn't like the second book I read to finish out the month of March: Notes From The Underground. I had a hard time figuring out what was going on in the story, as the narrator admits he is a babbler.
Oh, gentlemen, do you know, perhaps I consider myself an intelligent man, only because all my life I have been able neither to begin nor to finish anything. Granted I am a babbler, a harmless vexatious babbler, like all of us.
The book is divided into two parts. The first part is titled "Underground" and is the babbler's dystopian rant against trying to remove pain and suffering from the world by creating a Crystal Palace (Nikolai Chernyshevsky's What Is to Be Done?). The second part is titled "Apropos of the Wet Snow" and describes some events from the babbler's life that highlight his dystopian world.
The book seemed like two unrelated stories with no point in either. Burn 🔥. While it may be the original dystopia and an accurate predictor of what life would become in Russia, it lacks most of the elements better dystopias have used to create their unusual worlds, other than a brief reference to a "wall" 🧱 (https://acts512.blogspot.com/2023/08/dystopian.html). Not to mention, it lacks a plot, characters, a setting, and anything interesting - very vexatious.
Since the "chosen" material were the pick of the litter this month, let's see what the Bible says about "chosen."
Here are my top 12 verses on Chosen:
Jesus On Chosen
Matthew 12:18 King James Version
18 Behold my servant, whom I have chosen; my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased: I will put my spirit upon him, and he shall shew judgment to the Gentiles.
Matthew 22:14 King James Version
14 For many are called, but few are chosen.
Mark 13:20 King James Version
20 And except that the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh should be saved: but for the elect's sake, whom he hath chosen, he hath shortened the days.
John 15:16-19 King James Version
16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.
17 These things I command you, that ye love one another.
18 If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.
19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.
Chosen In The New Testament
1 Corinthians 1:26-31 King James Version
26 For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:
27 But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;
28 And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:
29 That no flesh should glory in his presence.
30 But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:
31 That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.
James 2:5 King James Version
5 Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?
1 Peter 2:9-10 King James Version
9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light;
10 Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.
Revelation 17:14 King James Version
14 These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.
Chosen In The Old Testament
Deuteronomy 7:6-9 King James Version
6 For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God: the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth.
7 The Lord did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people:
8 But because the Lord loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the Lord brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
9 Know therefore that the Lord thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations;
2 Chronicles 6:6 King James Version
6 But I have chosen Jerusalem, that my name might be there; and have chosen David to be over my people Israel.
Proverbs 22:1 King James Version
22 A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favour rather than silver and gold.
Isaiah 48:10 King James Version
10 Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.
Conclusion Of The Whole Matter
The word "chosen" occurs 119 times in the Bible and seems to be a theme that is spread equally across all the sections of the Bible. 91 of those occurrences are in the Old Testament while 28 are in the New Testament, which works out to 3.25 times as many occurrences in the OT. This number is roughly equivalent to the number of chapters in each Testament (929 in the OT and 260 in the NT = 3.57).
For the most part, God does the choosing. He chose a people (Israel & Christians), a city (Jerusalem), a king (David), and a savior (Jesus). God's choice is based on humility. He chooses the fewest of all people to be His, and He chooses the foolish, the weak, the base, and the poor to humble the proud. However, Jesus did choose the Apostles, and we are expected to choose the good things rather than wealth.
To be chosen is a good thing. While even some evil are called to the banquet (Matthew 22:14), it is the good that are chosen to remain. However, it is not enough to just remain chosen. Revelation 17:14 gives us a warning that there is more than just being called and chosen.
We have to remain faithful.
A Time To Speak
In 2009, we had finished the legal requirements of homeschooling our son. My wife would now be free from the burden of the state and have some extra time on her hands. I told my wife that she needed to stay productive and help our son decide what he wanted to do for a living and if he wanted to continue his education. She said they would start a home-based business. I was encouraged and helped by creating a website and an ebay account to get them started with online marketing.
I was fine with a gap year and giving them time to get a business up and running. However, the gap year turned into the Triple Gap Years.
During this time, the economy had tanked and we needed a little extra help financially. I told my wife that she needed to get a job. She refused.
A Time To Keep Silence
So, the relationship deteriorated. I realized that I had chosen poorly. Instead of a Proverbs 31 Wife, I had chosen a Proverbs 30 Woman.
The horseleach hath two daughters, crying, Give, give. There are three things that are never satisfied, yea, four things say not, It is enough:
Proverbs 30:15 King James Version
Although, in my case, she had four daughters crying: "Give me rent! Give me utilities! Give me insurance! Give me taxes!"
The idea of silence grew on me. After all, I had enjoyed my choice to switch from talk to text. In 2012, I shut off the landline and moved to an unlimited-talk cell phone for $35. However, over the years, I realized that I liked text better. So, now I have a $7 plan with unlimited text and 300 minutes of talk. And I have a hard time using all those minutes.
Perhaps silence would bring balance to my wife's 4 Pillars of the Soul, in which I see her Spirit as lacking the most. Perhaps not. I knew there was the possibility that this tactic would make no difference. However, after reading The Chosen, I realized that silence is to honor God and not another. It may not help a son; it may not help a father; it may not help a wife; but it will help you. Would you rather be in a marriage of silence or wrath?
It is better to dwell in a corner of the housetop, than with a brawling woman in a wide house.
Proverbs 21:9 King James Version
This verse is poignant in the fact that, over the same time as the switch to text, I have lost control of more rooms in the house. Her hording has claimed 10 rooms while I have 4. I get to use 28% of the space, and I get to pay 100% of bills.
Since she wouldn't listen to me, I had to find someone to speak for me. But who?
 |
| photo by Paul Anderson, 4/27/24 |
 |
| photo by Paul Anderson, 4/27/24 |
While Zoltar had good things to say about my future, I didn't think he would be persuasive with my wife. Danny Saunders had another Jew, Reuven Malther, to speak to his father for him in the book The Chosen. In fact, Reuven seemed to not only understand Judaism but also marriage:
"It tore man from God, as Danny put it, and married him off to Satan."
While I wouldn't go as far as saying that I am married to Satan, I could relate to Paul in his dealing with Hymenaeus and Alexander (1 Timothy 1:18-20), who he delivered unto Satan.
So, I figured I should choose someone with a similar spiritual perspective as me. My son seemed like the best choice to be my Reuven. I would deliver my wife to Satan and he would bring her back.
The words of wise men are heard in quiet more than the cry of him that ruleth among fools.
Ecclesiastes 9:17 King James Version
More Quotes from The Chosen
He wanted to read Freud. That had been his mistake. Freud had to be studied, not read.
______________________________________________________
...words are cruel, words play tricks, they distort what is in the heart, they conceal the heart, the heart speaks through silence.
119 Bible results for “chosen” from King James Version.
- Old Testament (91)
- Exodus (2)
- Numbers (1)
- Deuteronomy (6)
- Joshua (1)
- Judges (4)
- 1 Samuel (9)
- 2 Samuel (1)
- 1 Kings (7)
- 2 Kings (2)
- 1 Chronicles (9)
- 2 Chronicles (11)
- Nehemiah (1)
- Job (1)
- Psalm (13)
- Proverbs (2)
- Isaiah (12)
- Jeremiah (5)
- Ezekiel (1)
- Daniel (1)
- Haggai (1)
- Zechariah (1)
- New Testament (28)
- Matthew (3)
- Mark (1)
- Luke (2)
- John (4)
- Acts (7)
- Romans (1)
- 1 Corinthians (2)
- 2 Corinthians (1)
- Ephesians (1)
- 2 Thessalonians (1)
- 2 Timothy (1)
- James (1)
- 1 Peter (2)
- Revelation (1)
Scripture contributions for March 2024 by: Paul Anderson, Matthew Anderson
No comments:
Post a Comment