Dating Deuteronomy

INTRODUCTION

Deuteronomy is often dismissed as a bellicose, legalistic book, irrelevant to New Testament theology.  However, efforts must be made to understand this book so often quoted by Jesus.  A critical reading helps us enter the world of the original audience, broadly accepted as 7^th century Judah, but perhaps a more ancient Hebrew people or later Jewish exiles.  Thus, we may understand the message as it was intended: as a gracious covenant treaty between YHWH and all Israel.  While Deuteronomy contains preached law, it is structured not as law code but as an Ancient Near Eastern (ANE) suzerain-vassal treaty.  I will attempt here to ground this document in Israel’s history so as to understand its message, in particular how the treaty genre is exploited to convey a theology of astounding divine grace. 

PART ONE:  THE FORM AND STRUCTURE OF DEUTERONOMY

Deuteronomy is traditionally included in the Torah, but to what extent is it actually law?  Especially in chapters 12-26, there are casuistic and apodictic laws (Thompson, 1964, 17).  Deuteronomy heaps up synonyms like commandments, statutes, and ordnances (Deut. 4, 1-2; Boadt, 2006, 146).  Many laws corresponding to those in the Book of the Covenant (Ex. 20-30) are updated for a more advanced, urban context (ibid., 147; Kline, 1963, 33), possibly seventh century Judah.  Neither abstract nor esoteric, the clear, practical content is to be known by all Israel (Wright, 1996, 62; 85; 275).  It conveys an ethos for a covenant people, where human life is valued more than property (ibid., 82), and YHWH demands unswerving loyalty.  This law is anchored in Israel’s history, and is an appropriate response to his grace (ibid., 64; 261). 

 

Kline rightly claims that “the hortatory character [of Deuteronomy] exposes the inaccuracy of speaking of a Deuteronomic law code” (1963, 32).  Scholars concur that the urgent, sermonic style aims to elicit a response of commitment and obedience (Boadt, 2006, 141; Thompson, 1974, 17).  Homiletic devices include repetition, imperatives, exhortations and emotive phraseology (Boadt, 2006, 144; McConville, 2002, 19).  A key verb in Deuteronomy is ‘expound’ (Wright, 1996, 21).  Thompson describes the typical structure of apodictic laws, explained in legal language but expounded homiletically (1964, 31).  For example, in Deut. 15:1-11 on debt remission, a command is given, then explained procedurally and applied pastorally.  The style and content of Deuteronomy, as well as the structure if taken at face value, make clear that this is preached law.

 

However, covenant, not law, is at the heart of Deuteronomy (Boadt, 2006, 143; McConville, 2002, 20; 28).  Scholarly consensus is that the heuristic key to Deuteronomy lies with similarities to secular ANE suzerain-vassal treaties (ibid., 1993, 31).  This view was suggested by Mendenhall (1955), and developed by Klein (1963) for Deuteronomy in particular.  Typically, such treaties identify the Great King in a preamble before recounting historical details.  Then follow stipulations of the treaty, first in general and then specifics.  Suzerain-vassal treaties also detail in further sections how the treaty was to be read publicly, gods were invoked as witnesses, and finally curses and blessings were listed.  Such treaties are exclusive and binding (Wright, 1996, 110).  See table 1 for the way in which Boadt aligns Deuteronomy to the sections of a treaty. 

McConville aptly warns against taking the treaty structure too far.  Firstly, Deuteronomy is unique and does not follow the precise structure any one kind of treaty, Hittite or Assyrian (2002, 24; 59).  Kline too stresses that the structure is a “conceptual adaptation … of common formal media” (1963, 42), with deliberate innovations such as the absence of gods as witnesses (Boadt, 2006, 143).  In fact, altogether different structures can be discerned, with Wright comparing the book to a “rich fruit cake” that can be sliced in multiple ways (1996, 1).  Deuteronomy is also a series of three speeches, in the deathbed speech or fatherly wisdom traditions familiar in the ANE (ibid., 2; Thompson, 1964, 21).  There is a concentric literary pattern, moving from an outer and inner frame towards the core, and out again, with further examples of chiasmus embedded within (Wright, 1996, 4).  And within the book, there is an approximate ordering of material according to themes of the Decalogue (ibid., 5; 255).  By recognizing these structures also, a stereophonic message of law and grace for the covenant people sounds out.  But for whom, or by whom, was it written?

PART TWO:  INTERPRETIVE HORIZONS IN ISRAEL’S HISTORY

We now turn our attention to an evaluation of the mainstream view linking Deuteronomy with seventh century Judah, before considering Mosaic and exilic alternatives.  A seventh century composition was proposed by de Wette (1805) and developed by Wellhausen (1883) who suggests that an editor compiled a core Deuteronomy, Urdt, just before the reforms of 2 Kgs 22 (Thompson, 1974, 57).  If Deuteronomy is indeed the Book of Law discovered by Josiah, then its context is Judah after the Fall of Samaria.  People feared a similar fate for the southern kingdom, and while some saw political alliances as a solution, Josiah sought religious reform God (2 Kgs 22-23).  Unfortunately, the reform was short-lived and the pattern of evil monarchy and spiritual decline followed.  In this context, Deuteronomy would have profound political and theological implications.  Suzerain-vassal treaties were certainly known to the scribes in Jerusalem, who perhaps wrote Deuteronomy to assert politico-religious independence (ibid., 75).  The covenantal theism of Deuteronomy is better developed than pre-monarchic religious expressions (McConville, 2002, 22; ibid., 1993, 16).  As further evidence of a 7^th century composition, there are parallels with Wisdom literature and its simplistic morality, and prophecy with its call to loyalty (ibid., 2002, 25; 44).  Deuteronomy certainly advocates elements of Josiah’s reform programme such as centralized worship, although Jerusalem is not mentioned by name (McConville, 1993, 17).  For other historical parallels, see table 2.

The volume of scholarship advocating Deuteronomy’s link with Josiah’s reform is overwhelming, yet more recently the link has been weakened.  While maintaining a seventh century date for Deuteronomy, some advocate earlier, northern origins.  Boadt (145; 2006) points out ambivalence to monarchy (Deut. 17, 14ff), and parallels with Hosea (e.g. Deut. 32, 21).  Moses, not David, is the key figure, and the covenant is tied to Ebal and Gerazim (Deut. 27).  These Sinaitic and amphictyonic traditions may have been brought to Judah by refugees following Samaria’s fall in 722.  Certainly, Hezekiah attempted reform in the earlier part of the 7^th century, himself witness to the fate Samaria and Sennacherib’s failed siege on Jerusalem (2 Kgs 18-20).  The whole of the 7^th century was a traumatic time of soul-searching, and a likely context for the emergence of Deuteronomy. 

Others advocate a much earlier date.  Thompson synthesizes evidence for material stemming from the period of the judges (1974, 43).  Perhaps the central sanctuary is not Josiah’s Jerusalem at all, but a succession of resting places for the Ark of the Covenant, such as Shechem, Bethel and Shiloh of the old Israelite amphictony.  Agricultural and patriarchal laws reflect pre-monarchic society (ibid., 52).  Arguments against such an early date are easily countered.  For example kingly material need not preclude pre-monarchic origins, since kingship was familiar throughout the ANE (Deut. 2, 24-3, 11).

Perhaps, after two centuries of biblical criticism set on a 7th century date, even a Mosaic reading is again possible. Without insisting on Deuteronomy as Moses’ ipsissima verba, ancient voices can be traced back to the second millennium, close to the time depicted in Deuteronomy of a people entering Canaan (Wright, 1996, 7).  Second millennium Hittite treaties may be closer to Deuteronomy than later Assyrian texts (Kline, 1963, 41).  It is in these earlier treaties that historical prologues feature most strongly (Deut. 1-3; 4, 44-5, 3329, 1-8).  Thompson explains that references to settled life could stem from captivity in Goshen (1974, 55), and warns that scholars should not summarily dismiss references to Moses’ writing (ibid., 56).  McConville too sees an ancient basis to Deuteronomy (2002, 38).  Difficulties such as the narrative of Moses’ death could be considered as editorial additions to a ‘substantially Mosaic legacy’ (Wright, 1996, 7).

One significant alternative deserves consideration, namely a utopian exilic or post-exilic composition.  Deuteronomy has parallels with late writings including Malachi and Nehemiah (Thompson, 1974, 78).  The main argument for such a late composition is the warning of exile (Deut. 4, 27) and the promise of restoration (Deut. 4, 31), as well as a generally pessimistic tone.  Simultaneously, Deuteronomy is idealistic in its social standards, and contains themes relevant to returning exiles, e.g. anti-cultic theology of the heart, entering the land, and having a second chance.  McConville (2002, 42) successfully integrates this (post-) exilic relevance within his early dating of Deuteronomy by suggesting that there are late glosses, but that even in Moses’ day the people were notoriously disobedient.  Therefore, the exile remains a valid interpretive horizon even supposing a primarily second millennium composition.

PART THREE: DEUTERONOMY’S THEOLOGY OF GRACE

So far, we have established that Deuteronomy follows a suzerain-vassal covenant treaty structure rather than law code.  We have also considered various dates as interpretive horizons.  Now we arrive at theological content.  Many avenues could be explored, such as the nature of sin, or ethics.  However, the undergirding theme of this book is in fact divine grace.  Here we look at four aspects of grace, namely election, rescue, land, and unconditional promise including the hope of restoration.

While Hittite and Assyrian kings made treaties with multiple vassals for their own political expediency, YHWH chooses only one people.  God binds himself to Israel as his treasured possession (Deut. 7, 6; 14, 2; 26, 18).  Thompson (1964, 35) and López (2004) demonstrate how the vocabulary of Deuteronomy, full of love and heart language, is different to secular treaties, especially in the unique use of chesed.  Israel is reminded that she was neither bigger nor better than other nations (Deut. 7, 6-8; 9, 4-6).  Election is not based on merit, nor on any quid pro quo, but out of sheer grace, ‘because I loved you’ (Deut. 7:8; Thompson, 1963, 6). 

The repeated rehearsals of OT Heilsgeschichte are another feature of grace.  Unlike earthly kings, YHWH does not act in history to conquer, tax and exploit, but to redeem and bless (Wright, 1996, 55).  Deuteronomy emphasizes the exodus tradition, rooting laws and community identity in historical experiences.  God reminds Israel of his provision and protection in the wilderness (Deut. 8, 2-4), and promises to fight the Canaanites on their behalf (Deut. 9, 1-3).  While an historical prologue is expected in a Hittite treaty, Deuteronomy’s sheer amount of reiteration of history is striking.

As with other OT covenants, land is God’s tangible gift (cf Gen. 12; 17; Ex. 19).  Wright discerns that the land is both God’s gift to Israel, yet also his to take back (1996, 280).  This apparent tension can be understood thus.  The land, like election, is not merited by obeying the law; it is a gift.  However, the land can only be enjoyed when living God’s way, or to use Wright’s word, appropriated.  God’s preferred plan for his people is prosperity, not in the distorted ‘prosperity gospel’ sense, but through social justice and reflecting God’s character in their lives.  References to early apostasy (Deut. 1, 26; 9, 7) ensure that Israel consider the land as gift, not reward.

 

How can this message of grace be squared with the curses of punishment and exile?  Is grace conditional?  No, for punishment does not mean the covenant is annulled.  Although Assyria crushed Jerusalem in 722 CE for Jehoiakim’s non-payment of tribute to Nebuchadnezzar and his pro-Egyptian agreement (2 Kgs, 24), God’s treaty with Israel stands forever.  The message of chapter 30 is that the prescribed curses will pass and Israel can return to God as well as to the land.  Thompson (1974, 38) locates the first biblical mentions of (re)turning in Deuteronomy (e.g. 4, 30).  Deuteronomy contributes to OT theology that God’s covenant relationship is eternal and, although punishment may be necessary, repentance and restoration are always possible (McConville, 2002, 42).

CONCLUSION

That Deuteronomy is a covenant between God and Israel, based on secular suzerain-vassal treaties of the ANE, seems beyond doubt.  This treaty form has been used flexibly, with repeated historical rehearsals and disallowing other gods as witnesses.  It is difficult to tie Deuteronomy to one date, for while it was most probably used in Josiah’s reform, there is likely much material originating far earlier in the second millennium. Deuteronomy has been reinterpreted and related to generations throughout Israel’s history.  An early form probably did inspire the occupation of Canaan under Joshua, perhaps as oral tradition.  The same story became the story of Israelites and Judahites struggling to resist idolatry and injustice in the eighth and seventh centuries.  And the message of urgent choice, total commitment and the curses brought about by apostasy would have spoken bitterly to the exiles, as well as those returning to a land with no king or temple in the late sixth century BCE.  The very difficulty in dating Deuteronomy is surely the reason for its enduring significance, that its message of grace is relevant to God’s people in every generation.

 

 

Table 1: Parallels between Josiah’s Reform and the message of Deuteronomy (adapted from Boadt, 2002, 145)
Reference in 2 Kgs	Reform	Reference in Deut.
23, 4; 6; 7; 14	Abolition of the asherim	7,5; 12,3; 16, 21
23, 4f	Destroy the host of heaven	17, 3
23, 5; 11	End worship of the sun and moon	17, 3
23, 7	Stop sacred prostitution	23, 18
23, 10	End the cult of Molech	12, 31; 18, 10
23, 13	Tear down heathen high places	7, 5; 12, 2f
23, 13	Remove foreign gods	12, 1-32
23, 14	Destroy ‘the pillars’	7, 5; 12, 2f
23, 21f	Passover to be observed only in Jerusalem	16, 1-8
23, 24	Forbid necromancy	18, 11

 

 

Table 2: Treaty structure of Deut. 1-30 (adapted from Boadt, 2002, 143)
Great King’s self-identification	1,1
Historical prologue	1,2 – 4, 43
Laws binding on the vassal: introduction	4, 44 – 11, 32
Laws binding on the vassal: detailed law code	12, 1—26, 19
Provisions for reading the law aloud	27, 8
Witness of the gods	None
Curses and blessings	27, 1 – 28, 68

           

BIBLIOGRAPHY

 Boadt, L.  (2006)  ‘Deuteronomy.’  In The Catholic Study Bible, eds. Senior, D. and

            Collins, J.J.  New York: Oxford University Press.

Kline, M.G.  (1963)  Treaty of the Great King.  Eugene, Oregon: Wipf and Stock.

 

López, R.  (2004)  ‘Israelite Covenants in the Light of Ancient Near Eastern

            Covenants.’  In Chafer Theological Seminary Journal, Vol. 10, No. 1,

            Spring 2004.  Accessed online at

            http://www.chafer.edu/page_to_print.cfm?id=367 [accessed 29^th August

            2012]

 

Mendenhall, G.E.  (1955)  Law and Covenant in Israel and the Ancient Near East. 

            Pittsburgh: Biblical Colloquium.

McConville, J.G.  (2002)  Deuteronomy.  Downers Grove, Illinois : Intervarsity Press.

McConville, J.G.  (1993)  Grace in the End: A Study in Deuteronomic Theology.  Grand

            Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan.

Thompson, J.A.  (1963)  ‘The Significance of the Ancient Near Eastern Treaty Pattern.’ 

            In Tyndale Bulletin 13, pp 1-6.

Thompson, J.A.  (1964)  The Ancient Near Eastern Treaties and the Old Testament. 

            London: Tyndale Press.

 

Thompson, J.A.  (1974)  Deuteronomy.  Downers Grove, Illinois: Intervarsity Press.

Wright, C.J.H.  (1996)  Deuteronomy.  Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Books.

Madrid

Some things about Madrid never change. 

In April, madrilenos still wrap up in winter overcoats and scarves against the 17 degree temperatures, while tourists pace around in flip flops and shorts.  Tapas always end up costing more than you meant to spend.  Tiny cups of café solo never fail to please, and just as you think a customer and waiter are about to knock the crap out of each other, they see the funny side and laugh and clap each other warmly on the shoulder.

Those eternal madrileno truths remain unchanged.

But the mood is definitely different to any of my previous visits to the Spanish capital.

Bars are emptier, restaurants less packed - and less festive.  In the streets, ordinary-looking people in their 20s stop by litter bins and root for something edible.  White, culturally middle-class people announce in the metro that their home has been repossessed and they've become homeless, and implore passengers to 'collaborate' by buying a packet of tissues.

When I was last in Spain, two years ago, the Occupy movement was angry and vociferous, and ever-present in the media and on the plazas.  On this trip, over four days, I saw one small, half-hearted protest by the Communist Party lasting 15 minutes.

It feels like people have lost their fight and accepted their new lot.

One definition of depression is the inability to imagine a future for oneself.  I wonder, can a whole nation be collectively depressed?

I spoke to a Spanish friend who's a lecturer in economics, and is getting offers from universities in Latin America.  Countries, he says, that are future-oriented, and who see education as a tool to build something.  Who aren't making big cuts to universities, but investing in them and in the quality of teaching.  His students are looking to Germany, the UK, the US, hoping they'll find better prospects there.  He thinks it will take another 3-4 years for the financial crisis to ease.

He introduced me to his colleague.  Yes, she conceded with notable reluctance, Spain at the moment has a few 'problemillas' (little problems).  But she sounded confident when she said that the current government is finding solutions.  A year, she estimates, and things will be right again.  ('Right' being an apt word here!)

For now, the construction work in Spain has halted.  And it seems many people can't imagine a future, either for their country or for themselves.

We are living in strange times.  In the West, we thought we could commodify numbers and data and live off a clean, white-collar knowledge economy, a strange place where the number of houses built has more to do with clever people managing hedge funds and clicking the mouse at the right time, than it had to do with the population and basic human needs.

Spain and Ireland both need to learn again how to build a future.  Like someone suffering depression, I think our countries need to learn again to envisage better times and find our locus of control within rather than in external circumstances beyond our control.  It's easy to blame others (bankers, the unemployed, foreigners ...) - it'll be much harder to move ahead.

It's a different Madrid to before.  There's melancholy in the air.  But the April sun still shone, the coffee was still as punchy as ever, and I still love rambling those streets in my flip flops.

Ajayu in Aymara Spirituality

Catholicism was thrust upon the Aymara and Quechua of modern-day Bolivia, and fused with their existing Andean belief system.  Evangelicals are, rightly, critical of the syncretism that has resulted.  But did Evangelicalism in Latin America make more of a clean break with paganism, or are Protestants just less able to see the more insipid remnants of a pre-Christian worldview?

In Aymara anthropology, all humans have ajayu.  It's an aura or spiritual well-being.  And it's very, very fragile.  Ajayu can be lost when a child falls over, or when we receive a shock.  Fear of losing ajayu can lead to overprotection and obsession about what might happen.  The treatment, as far as I observed, is lots of kisses and hugs and stacks of blankets, warm drinks and more hugs and kisses.

In an attempt to preserve ajayu, pagos are offered to Pachamama and the myriad apus, or mountain spirits.  These might be sweets, amulets, confetti or the first sips of a beer poured onto the ground.  While Pachamama works through nature to nourish and maintain balance, the apus are mischievous and capricious.  So, Aymara spirituality is essentially pessimistic: pagos don't so much bring good luck as, hopefully, avert bad luck by appeasing malevolent spiritual forces who are all too ready to mess with your ajayu.

(From here on, I promise not to introduce any more Aymara words.)

Western visitors are often confused by Andean culture, close in many ways to the fun-loving stereotype of Latin America, yet imbued with a disarming pathos just under the surface. 

Fiesta-filled it might be, care-free it's not: there's a palpable sense of worry.  Worry of catching an illness via bare feet, worry that a change in weather will bring on a cold, worry that you'll get an infection from eating raw fruit or salad, and worry about travel to the next city.

If you saw the roads, you'd worry too, and in many ways it's no bad thing to think twice about eating lettuce from a street cart vendor.  But when worry takes over, it can become an immobilizing force, we get overprotective and give ourselves ulcers.

Fear can be as devastating to our ajayu as anything an apu could do to us. 

In rural Potosí, I once met a man about 35 who looked about 60.  He was depressed, gaunt, with no appetite or energy.  This Christian man from a local Protestant church was brought for prayer by his family, all convinced that the apus had cursed him and weakened his ajayu.  Now this is the thing, maybe that was the case, I don't know.  But the fear looked to me to be what was crippling him and them.

Everyone prayed, including the man's family.  And the prayer went something like, 'Papito bendito celestial - blessed heavenly daddy - hold him, and keep him, and guard him, and protect him ... from all harm, and all injury, all assaults of the devil, all attacks by demons, ...'.  Synonyms piled high.  No eventuality left out that could be thought of.

Because if God is like the apus, he might take delight in spotting a hole in the prayer.  Aha, you prayed that you'd arrive at your destination, but you didn't say alive!  Or well!  

Folk religion seems to develop everywhere, not just the Bolivian Highlands.  I didn't publish this blog before because I didn't want to be critical of the Bolivian church.  But it's common to the worldwide church; it's just more exotic to me as a European that this one incident happened in Potosí.

I suppose you don't have to travel to the Andes to find pagan influence on Christian thought.

And I suppose, too, that just as the Catholic Church is still hard at the job they started following the Conquista, Anglican and other Protestant churches have to learn patience on the mission field.  These things don't change overnight.

But what a job for the missionary in highland Bolivia.  To foster trust in God, unlike the capricious apus, and to toil in prayer unlike the pagan pagos.  To teach, and learn, to be optimistic.  To deliver from fear.

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.  Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake?  If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!"

(Matt. 7, 7ff)

The wasps are angry. They know they're dying.

I lifted my coffee and put the small change in a tip jar.  Held by one hand, the cup rattled nervously on the saucer.  Better use two.  Coffee swirled across the lip as I turned around. 

Behind me, a woman in an electric wheelchair had just come in.  Her torso was upright and her arms only just mobile, a finger poised over a toggle button.  I felt embarrassed.  I clasped my arms to my body, coffee cup right by my chest, and pressed myself against chairs behind me to let her past.  Damn it, the chairs scraped the floor.

"Go on ahead," she said warmly, in a raspy voice.  "You'll get through easier than me."  Her neck didn't move as she looked up at me, and I saw lots of white in her eyes.  She had a slight frame and fine features, her hair long and straight and blonde.  The corners of her mouth flickered into a smile.

"Oh thanks," I said, and went to sit down.

This woman manoeuvred herself neatly to a table near mine, facing the wall where I saw her clearly.

"Usual is it, Heather?"  

The waitress walked over, put a hand on Heather's shoulder, turned and softened her knees to see her customer's face.  Heather nodded, barely perceptibly.  The waitress was off, busied herself behind the counter, foamed milk, cut a slice of pie, wrapped a fork in a paper napkin.

"Now.  There you are, love."  She took Heather's hand and set it around the napkin-clad fork.  "Two sugars, isn't it?"  She knew really, she didn't wait for an answer before tearing a sachet and tipping in the contents.  Heather's eyes strained over her shoulder in recognition.

I set my own cup down into its saucer.

Heather looked at hers.

"And there you go, pet," said the waitress, and popped a straw into the frothy cup, giving it a stir.  "Watch, now, it's hot."

With her wrist, Heather pushed the fork forward.  She concentrated on opening up the napkin with a forefinger.  Third time, it worked.  Then, she grabbed at the fork several times before she managed to clutch it up with all five fingers.

And so, slowly, she transported a piece of pie, just a few crumbs really, to her mouth and ate it.  She sucked as much as she chewed, obviously concentrating on the motion all the while.  When she stopped, she leaned forward for a sip of coffee through the straw.

A man walked in, late forties maybe, shiny shoes and a purple V-neck.  He was waving a newspaper all around him.

"Latte, please love, when you get a wee minute."  And he sat down by the window and opened his paper.  I noticed now why he's been waving it, a wasp had followed him in and was buzzing about his head.  Now reading, he flailed his arms.  The wasp careened past his ear and made him flinch.

Now it swooped past me and towards Heather.  It flew once around her head and landed in her long hair.  I noticed now it was greying blonde.  She put down her fork gently and took a sip of coffee.  The wasp flew off, circled her once, and landed back in the same spot, like it wanted the recognition it didn't get the first time.  It flew down onto the pie, danced about a bit, and flew across the room and out of sight.

Heather just sat there, and I didn't know if I should say anything.

The waitress appeared our side of the counter again, and carried a latte to the man who'd brought the wasp in.  It followed in her wake.

"There's that wee bugger after you again, love.  This place is wild for wasps, isn't it?"  He went to roll up his paper.

"End of the warm weather," replied the waitress.  "They're angry this time of year."

He slowly rolled up the sports section and raised it above his head.  He sat motionless, only his pupils moving right and left, tracking the wasp as it teased him.  It flew right past his ear.  He winced.  It flew round a single white flower on the table.  It skimmed right across the top of his latte, centimetres from it.

It landed on the table.

Slam.

He missed, the flower and vase fell over.  He started waving his paper again like mad.  The wasp went wild.

He got up stealthily, ready to strike.  He raised the paper slowly.  Slowly.

Slam.  He hit the wall.  I couldn't see the wasp now, but I could hear it, all over the place, one end of the cafe to the next in a second.  He couldn't see it either - he cocked his head, motionless but for eyes flitting here and there.

"Shit!" he yelled.  "The bugger stung me!"

And it flew straight out the door.  The man's face was puce, he was holding the back of his hand tight, his cheeks swelled like balloons and neck veins bulged with him trying to keep further curses in.  He released his breath roughly and the redness calmed.

He sat down again.  He looked at the waitress, then at Heather, and at me.  He unrolled his sport section and started to read.

"Mister, do you want some lemon juice?  Or is it baking soda?  I can never remember which is for bees and which is for wasps."

"Leave it, darling, it'll be OK."

He read the sport.  The waitress wiped the counter with a cloth.  I looked at Heather.

She took another bite of pie.  It took her a long time to swallow it.  She sucked some coffee through a straw,  and she choked a little.

Heather saw me staring and smiled warmly.  I tried to look away, I felt my cheeks burn.

"It's the end of September," she said softly.  "The wasps are angry.  They know they're dying."

Her hand trembled a little as she put down the fork.

Easter baking

Sarah was really good all Lent and didn't eat any chocolate, so we needed a chocolate-free Easter treat for Saturday and a chocolately reward for Sunday.  So here are the results ...

Christus Victor Cake

I love simnel cake but nobody else I know seems to.  So here's a compromise between simnel cake's lovely marzipan top and a traditional Victoria sponge.  Watch you don't overdo the raspberry jam.  A Victoria sponge isn't the most macho of things to make, so I decided to butch it up and call it a Christus Victor cake ... but then I added some marzipan flowers.

I'm not going to claim credit for the basic recipe, it's Mary Berry's which you can find at http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/mary_berrys_perfect_34317.  However, I prefer to cream the sugar and butter, and then add the eggs, and then the dry ingredients, for a nice smooth mixture.  Sandwich together with whipped cream and raspberry jam.

On top, spread a little warmed apricot jam, and place a circle rolled out marzipan - as thick as you like!


Chocolately Hot Cross Buns

We made these gluten free, using Dove's Farm gf self-raising flour and adding a teaspoonful of xanthan gum for good measure.  They are not as hard to make as you might think.  I'd need to experiment with some vitamin C powder to try and improve the structure, as the gf version came out a bit dense.

Ingredients

2 x 7g sachets dried yeast

3½ cups plain flour (if gluen-free, add 1 tsp xantham gum)

½ cup cocoa powder

1 ½ tsp mized spice

1/4 cup caster sugar

350ml lukewarm milk

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 cup sultanas

¾ cup good quality chocolate chips

½ cup currants

Crosses and glaze:

½ cup plain flour, extra

1/3-½ cup water, extra

apricot jam, strained and warmed

Method

1. Combine the sifted flour, cocoa and mixed spice with the yeast and sugar in a large bowl. Add warm milk and eggs to flour mixture. Use a flat-bladed knife to mix until dough almost comes together. Add fruit and chocolate. Use clean hands to finish mixing to form soft dough.
2. Turn out onto a lightly floured board and knead until smooth and elastic. Return to bowl, cover with plastic wrap and leave in warm place for 1 hour or until doubled in size.
3. Punch down dough to its original size. Knead until smooth then divide into 12, shape each portion into a ball, then place onto a greased tray about 1 cm apart. Cover with plastic wrap. Set aside in a warm place for 30 minutes or until buns double in size.
4. For the crosses: Mix extra flour and water together in a small bowl until smooth, adding a little more water if paste is too thick. Spoon into a small resealable bag. Snip off 1 corner of bag. Pipe flour paste over tops of buns to form crosses. Bake in a moderately hot oven 190°C for 20-25 minutes or until cooked when tested. Glaze with strained apricot jam.  Allow to cool on a wire rack.

Door Marked 'Yes'

So, for a few years now I've been wondering what to do next.  In my twenties, there seemed to be no limits - I could be a teacher, and a missionary, and be involved in politics, and write, and do a PhD, and and and and

but.  Then I was around the 30 mark, when we realize maybe every door opened means another several doors are closed.  Because we have finite time and energy.

And all the time there was this little voice niggling.  Train as a priest.  Or presbyter, pastor, whatever you want to call it.

'But I don't really know what ordination is for!'  I protested.  I can do all the things I enjoy without being ordained.

And ordained people have to kind of toe the church line - theologians can get away with more, they have more freedom to say what they want!

It's too hard, too expensive to go back to study, too big a commitment ...

My motives aren't completely clear.  I think I want to study theology full-time, I'm not sure it's entirely unselfish ...

There were a million reasons not to.  And yet here I am.  The Bishop has given the green light for me to train towards ordained ministry in the Church of Ireland.

It has been a long process.  First, I had to take the brave step of telling another human being - how do you tell someone you feel called to ordained ministry?  What if they laugh, what if they tell others?  What if they burst out, 'what you?!'.

Then there were the initial chats, with clergy and others, about motivation - why? why now? why me? why this?

And then the Foundation Course, the gist of a theology degree by distance learning over a year.  Church and Ministry; Biblical Studies; and perhaps scariest off all, Matrix of Christian Theology.  At some points I expected men in black coats (or indeed white coats) to offer me the red pill if I wanted out, to wake up and remember nothing.

And more recently, the Bishops' Selection Conference.  Two days at the beautiful Dromantine, where it really is pitch black when you switch the lights out, in the middle of rural County Down, with 16 other hopefuls, three bishops, and panels of other clergy and lay people.  Lots of personal questions and a few curve balls, and unhealthy consumption of coffee as we all waited to hear from others as they emerged from interviews.

Ordination is one of those things I don't think I'll ever understand.  It's enigmatic: as soon as you think you have it figured out, what it is and why, it eludes you again.  But after all these years, after all the recent study and discernment, man did I want it!

The process has been a great one.  By this point, if it had been a 'no' I'd have been gutted.  Which says a lot really.