In which there is an end to arrogance

August 18, 2011

source What had to be fixed before Israel’s Exile to Babylon would come to an end? In Exile, they had only to remember their past to know what they needed to do in the present. In a part of Leviticus that was always there, but ignored: They will have to confess that they…have rebelled against […]

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In which hope flickers, darkness beckons, God arrives

August 17, 2011

source There was hope for Israel in the heavy of Exile. There was belief that there would still be a future when they could barely get by the present. Yes, they had to go through the trial. They had to live in a land – and a way – they hated. They were removed from […]

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In which Exile overshadows Exodus

August 16, 2011

source There was Abraham who followed the voice of God when no one else heard it. There was David who reigned and ruled in a higher and nobler fashion than even the king of mythical Camelot. There was Solomon who built their pride and joy, the Temple in Jerusalem, and whose wisdom was unsurpassed. But […]

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In which rejecting the Messiah makes sense (Exile pt3)

August 15, 2011

source Some of those in Exile saw the defeat and Exile of Israel as a defeat of God. The popular press had it that Marduk, and the other gods of Babylon were now stronger than Yahweh. Being a time of many gods they wouldn’t have turned no faith at all, but would have followed another […]

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in which there is Exile and fullness of time

August 12, 2011

source So Israel was in Exile. (the little known story of the Exile began here, yesterday) They weren’t in POW camps, neither were they hounded nor persecuted. But they were a proud people, now humiliated. And yes, they had freedoms in Babylon but lost a certain level of self-determination. They had a place to live, […]

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In which they (and I) should have seen it coming

August 11, 2011

source Egypt had welded Israel into a strong people. The Philistines and the trials of Judges unified them into a nation. The ups and downs of Saul, David and Solomon built a strong kingdom… not quite a Babylon, Egypt, or Greece, but large and independent. Then, as fast as a lightning bolt splits the sky… […]

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In which ancient is retold in “technicolor” ™

August 10, 2011

source If there is one moment that, for most of us, sums up the history of Israel, it’s this… The time when Charlton Heston freed the Israelites from the tyranny of Yul Brenner, the Pharoah of Egypt. source That’s the one. I remember well how Charlton Heston had killed Vincent Price in anger. source He […]

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In which there is one chair everyone wants (fullness of time pt2)

August 9, 2011

source I was about five years old and dressed in a white shirt and tie. I had my hair combed just right – and “product” in it before the use of “product” in male hair became all the rage. There was a circle of chairs and music playing. And my mom – young, and the […]

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In which there are thank you’s to God 478-493

August 8, 2011

#478 … that You teach me that everything is “good” because everything, if I turn it to You, makes me more like You. #479 … for this fleecy fabric, so soft and inviting, and how you can write on it by moving your fingers against the grain – then erase it with one swipe of […]

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In which there is contemplation of “the fullness of time”

August 5, 2011

source Lord, if You arrived on the path of history just a little later… or just a little earlier… how many of us  would know You now? I began, in the hours before dawn, to write something totally different… but my mind suddenly wanted to think about this amazing timing… And so I gave in. […]

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