Mot and an Overreading of "Starship Mine"

Exegesis is a funny thing. To misquote the apostle Paul, exegesis infiltrates the mind like "a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough" (1 Cor 5:6). My life, and television-viewing for that matter, has never been the same since I've become a student of biblical exegesis. For the most part, as it pertains to TV, an interest in interpretation and narratology has been very fruitful, resulting in greater engagement with plots and character development.

Sometimes, however, I "find" things the writers didn't intend...

I was recently inspired by a friend to stroll again through the memorable seasons of Star Trek: the Next Generation. In the episode "Starship Mine" the Enterprise is taken over by a group of bandits who are after some of the ship's propulsion components, which they attempt to steal while the ship's crew is on "shore leave", on a starbase. Only Cpt. Picard remains on board, unnoticed by the bandits.

When Picard is discovered, they demand to know his name, and he answers, "Mot. My name is Mot. I'm the barber." It makes sense for Picard to give a false name, because it's fairly evident that, should the bandits learn he is the captain, they will kill him. But what comes next caused my exegetical ears to perk up.

As the episode proceeds, Picard kills most of the bandit crew. Picard uses an uncharacteristic amount of lethal force in this episode. Picard is a diplomat, usually relying on his ace negotiating skills to to diffuse a tense situation.

The combination of his stated name, "Mot," and the great amount of death Picard causes got me thinking, "Do the writers of Star Trek know Ancient Near Eastern mythology?!"

In ANE mythology (which includes the Old Testament), "death" or מות (mōt) is personified, and often functions in stories and poetry as a character. Since Picard took the name of "Mot", or "Death," I naturally became very intrigued with the writers' apparent mythological prowess. Since Star Trek: the Next Generation already makes frequent reference to Greek mythology, and since Picard is always telling Commander Riker, "You should really read more history," a further reference to Ancient Near Eastern mythology didn't seem like too far of a stretch.

Mot the Barber

That is... until I watched through several more episodes and found out that there actually is a barber on the Enterprise named Mot...

So, rather than expertly perceiving a subtle allusion to מות, I had rather unintentionally performed a classic case of 'eisegesis'; I had read an obscure mythological reference into the story. Sorry, Mr. Mot. I had you all wrong.

The Heart of Ezekiel 11

Yahweh makes an amazing, and well-known, promise to Israel in Ezekiel 11: He promises to return them from exile and to “remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh” (Ezek 11:19). Whenever I have read this passage or heard it preached, I’ve usually understood Ezekiel’s contrast to have been based on the physical qualities (softness/hardness; warmth/coldness) of “flesh” versus “stone.”

While their physical qualities are likely in the background, an interpretation more sensitive to Ezekiel’s use of language places the focus upon the contrast between the worship of Yahweh and that of Israel’s detestable idols. Earlier in Ezekiel, the rebellious idol-worshippers are described as having foreheads “like the hardest stone, harder than flint” (Ezek 3:9). They are people whose “adulterous hearts” have turned away from Yahweh, and whose eyes have “lusted after their idols” (Ezek 6:9). The connection between a “forehead as hard as stone” and a “heart of stone” is fairly concrete (excuse the pun...). The connection between Yahweh and "flesh" is less so, but arguable nonetheless. As in many prophetic texts, Yahweh is declared to be superior to idols and pagan gods because he is alive and has command of his senses and achieves mighty deeds for his people. Though there is no direct literary link between Yahweh and the “heart of flesh”, such a link can be suggested since the contrast Yahweh draws between "stone" and "flesh" comes in a passage which discusses where Israel's worship and allegiance should lie.

So then, given Ezekiel's use of "stone" and its contrast with "flesh," Yahweh is communicating that the make-up of Israel's heart will mirror the characteristics of the sort of deity they serve. They have worshiped lifeless idols made of stone, and so they receive a lifeless heart of stone. When their worship returns to Yahweh, he gives them a heart of flesh: a living heart from the living God.

"Don't Do as the Romans Do": Anti-assimilation and Old Testament Narrative in Revelation

This week I got to engage in some academic fun. I was invited to share a paper at Briercrest College and Seminary's Bible/Theology Colloquium. For those interested, here is a summary excerpt from the paper:

John’s use of Old Testament narrative in Revelation is united in purpose. His primary concern is to warn the churches of the grave danger of entering into the sexual immorality and idolatry so aggressively prescribed by the surrounding culture. His goal in alluding to Old Testament characters and narratives is to firmly assert the vital importance of remaining faithful to Jesus in the face of severe (and even deadly) persecution. Examples from Israel’s past are called to mind as both admonition against assimilation and motivation for repentance and endurance. John’s use of the Old Testament beckons, “Do not imitate the practices of the nations around you! Remember how Jezebel, Ahab, Balaam, and Pharaoh suffered on account of their wickedness, and Israel for its unfaithfulness!” 

From the stories of Jezebel and Balaam the churches are reminded of the destruction that falls upon those who are unfaithful to the Lord. From the stories of Daniel and Exodus, they are instructed to remember that God delivers those who remain his faithful servants. Though they might be crushed under an enemy’s heel now, they will ultimately receive vindication and restoration. God will not allow a beast to conquer them nor a Pharaoh to enslave them forever. He will utterly destroy these satanic enemies, and will set up his people in a place of authority, even to rule with him. John’s message is one of concern and hope. His desire is for all the churches to be included among the overcomers, those who will make up the faithful bride of Christ.

If you are interested in the rest of the paper, it can be downloaded here.

Winter winds blow whilst ye still remain

I often wonder what scholars of the future will say about the things we experience everyday here and now. In much of the reading I've done on the historical Jesus or on the historical background of the New Testament, or on the formation and identity of first-century Judaism, I find that scholars make a lot of estimations about how life and culture worked long ago. Maybe the Jews of Jesus' day spoke Aramaic, or maybe they spoke Hebrew. Maybe Judaism was a very strict, legalistic system. Or, maybe it was full of grace and facilitated the understanding of God as a loving Father that Jesus taught. These sorts of academic estimations are part of the game. It makes me wonder how scholars of the 27th century will try to reconstruct daily life in the Canadian prairies.

Take, for instance, our winters. Five months of snow, sun dogs, blizzards, frozen batteries, mittens, ice rinks, and sub-zero temperatures. Maybe that's an unfair list, but they are definitely elements of winter. But suppose at a certain point in history, global warming does away with our frigid part of the year. What if, by the middle of the 22nd century, winter has seen its last snowflake, and November-March becomes an extended Autumn and slow transition to Spring. Suppose no one has seen a snowflake in many generations, and natural ice becomes a thing of legend. "Your great-great-great-great grandfather was a hockey player. He had an ice rink outside his house where he and his friends would play for hours. They called it 'scrimmage'."

I wonder if, perhaps, historians would negotiate on the actual whiteness of the snow, or quibble on how cold it really felt, or if the winters were really five months long. What effect did sub-zero temperatures, apparently dropping as low as -45C, have on the common combustion engine? Was hockey really a common pastime, or is that only a generalization? There is certainly evidence of many ice rinks in the Canadian prairies: archaeologists even unearthed what appears to be a "Zamboni," though its precise function and pronunciation is still a cause of great debate among historiomechanists.

Once in a while, usually through the reading I do for Seminary, I ponder the great expanse of time that separates us from truly understanding some of the events and people that have shaped the understanding of the world, and of ourselves, that we hold today, and I get to thinking about (admittedly ridiculous) things such as these. Anyway, while history's ever-advancing charge allows, enjoy the mundane, the normal, and even the winter.

Reaching for the Stars: Star Trek and today's hand-held devices

I love techy innovation. I don't mind Facebook, though many like to hate it, because Facebook pushed us to think about online communication in new ways. I like Gmail because the folks at Google blew open our old (Microsoft-based) conceptions of what an email account can do. I like Apple because they might be the most innovative company around these days. I think the biggest reason I like Apple is because I like Star Trek, and it seems like Apple are the folks who are helping us catch up to Kirk and Picard.

"What in the world are you talking about?" you might ask? Well, consider how far our technology has come in the past few decades.

First of all, here is Cpt. Kirk, back in the sixties, using a flip device to communicate with the Enterprise. Does this look familiar? Back in those days, a flip-phone was pretty inventive. I remember even back in the mid-90's, my dad's cell phone was enormous -- bigger even than most wireless house phones today! But nowadays, flip-phones are not only common, but even being left behind by other devices, like smart phones.

The next great Star Trek innovation in communication was the "communicator", a little A-shaped device worn by everybody in Star Fleet. With a click of the device, a communication channel is opened to the ship orbiting above. But is this so futuristic anymore? We have ways to communicate with a little click of a wireless device: Bluetooth. It might be worn on the head rather than the chest, but the idea is basically the same. (Though the Star Trek communicator might have had better range... So far I haven't heard of Astronauts using Bluetooth to communicate with Houston...)




One more futuristic innovation: this is where Apple comes in. Each day, Commander Riker comes to Captain Picard's ready room with the daily report. He offers Picard a tablet device, upon which Picard uses his finger to navigate through the various reports. Back in the late-80's to mid-90's, this hand-held, slim computer was pretty amazing. After all, in 1984, only a few years before this scene with Picard was filmed, Apple had released its first ever Mac. Picard's tablet looks a little more advanced... But, now 27 years later, Apple has caught up to the good captain, and offers a pretty futuristic device that anybody (or perhaps everybody) can (or perhaps should) use: the iPad.

The first-ever Mac, 1984

So, in a few communicative ways, we've caught up to the Star Trek universe. But one key ingredient remains: warp-drive! According to Star Trek lore, it's the warp-drive signature left in space by the first warp-drive engine that attracts the attention of the Vulcans and prompts them to make first contact with the people of Earth, ushering our little planet into a bright future of intergalactic proportions. Much like Kip from Napoleon Dynamite, I must confess that "I love technology," and the innovations of people like Apple have raised my hopes that one day we'll find people with pointy ears and bumpy foreheads, and Soong-made androids, and neutral zones, and delta quadrants.

Alright, enough nerdiness for today.

School of Webcraft

Mozilla and Person 2 Person University have partnered to establish the School of Webcraft, a wonderful environment in which leaders in the web development world are invited to host classes for anyone who wants to learn. There is a fairly broad selection of classes, which will only continue to grow as this project matures, and it's all free!

The sign-up date for some classes has passed, but there are still plenty of classes accepting new students. I'm enrolled in "Introduction to PHP," which delves into the (introductory) depths of database-driven websites using open-source coding.

If you have any level of interest in internet things, you should check it out! You might find something you like and learn something cool.

Info from Mozilla: http://www.drumbeat.org/p2pu-webcraft
Registration site: http://p2pu.org/webcraft/