How do you respond to warnings about disasters? Are you like the thousands fleeing Hurricane Sandy or those who stubbornly refused to listen? Your reaction could mean your life.
Take the one Jesus made about Jerusalem for instance. Jesus warned, as recorded at Luke Luke 21: 20, 2,1 that the city was going to be destroyed. Most of the inhabitants of that city unfortunately had rejected him as the Messiah and did not listen when he said, "When you see Jerusalem surrounded by the encamped armies...Then let those in Judea begin fleeing to the mountains, and let those in the midst of her withdraw." because Jerusalem was going to be destroyed.
What happened? Several decades later Cestius Gallus' Roman army surrounded Jerusalem while crushing a Palestinian revolt according to Josephus and was on the verge of sacking the city when Gallus, for some reason, ordered a withdrawal.
There were two completely different responses to this sudden retreat. Encouraged by this sudden change of fortune most of the inhabitants thought the danger was over and ignored Jesus' warning to flee the city when this happened.
But Judean Christians listened and fled to Pella, a mountain city in the Decapolis region, according church historian Eusebius. They stayed their faithfully for years, not returning to Jerusalem which appeared to be still thriving. It must have been tempting to return.
But by remaining in Pella these disciples of Jesus escaped the returning Roman armies in 70 C.E. In that year the Roman General Titus led another army that besieged and laid waste to the entire city. Hundreds of thousands perished as the Roman legions had no pity on those who refused to heed Jesus prophetic warning and continued to defy Rome.
Monday, October 29, 2012
Monday, October 15, 2012
Ancient Brew Masters
The desire to relax and celebrate with the help intoxicating drinks made by ancient brew masters and wine makers is as old as human history. Right from Genesis where Noah is depicted as enjoying his wine after the flood down through the Old Testament or Hebrew Scriptures and the Christian Greek Scriptures or New Testament there are frequent references to wine and intoxicating liquors.
Two of these references are at Deuteronomy 14: 26 where God spoke of enjoying wine and intoxicating liquor and Luke 1:15 where he showed that John the Baptist should not touch "wine or strong drink" at all as a special evangelist going in advance of the promised Messiah, Jesus Christ.
This was not a blanket prohibition against the consumption of such drinks, however. Jesus, himself on at least one occasion during his earthly lifetime, turned water into wine during a wedding feast and the Apostle Paul on at least one other occasion suggested to Timothy that he take a little wine, "for his stomach's sake."
Just what Luke meant by "strong drink" is unclear, but certainly the Jews and other peoples had a wide variety of types of alcoholic beverages other than grapes. Other drinks were made other fruits such as dates, figs, apples, and pomegranates as well as honey. He apparently did not have in mind anything like the gins, vodka, or whiskeys we enjoy today though.
The forerunners of our Seagram's and other distillers of grains and other crops to make such beverages were a much later development in man's history, but the early Jewish and other peoples of the Middle East, such as the Egyptians, Babylonians, and Philistines did consume beers made from crops such as barley.
They all enjoyed their refreshing beers. Archaeologists have found evidence of this in the form of paintings of brewers in Egyptian tombs, artifacts showing Babylonian nobles as well as commoners enjoyed their beer on a daily basis. And in addition to these discoveries searchers have found jugs with strainer spouts to prevent Philistine drinkers from swallowing the barley husks as they drank in archaeological digs through modern day Palestine.
So the idea of relaxing and celebrating with the help of wines and other alcoholic beverages has a long history starting with the ancient Brew Masters such as Noah and others of his era.
Two of these references are at Deuteronomy 14: 26 where God spoke of enjoying wine and intoxicating liquor and Luke 1:15 where he showed that John the Baptist should not touch "wine or strong drink" at all as a special evangelist going in advance of the promised Messiah, Jesus Christ.
This was not a blanket prohibition against the consumption of such drinks, however. Jesus, himself on at least one occasion during his earthly lifetime, turned water into wine during a wedding feast and the Apostle Paul on at least one other occasion suggested to Timothy that he take a little wine, "for his stomach's sake."
Just what Luke meant by "strong drink" is unclear, but certainly the Jews and other peoples had a wide variety of types of alcoholic beverages other than grapes. Other drinks were made other fruits such as dates, figs, apples, and pomegranates as well as honey. He apparently did not have in mind anything like the gins, vodka, or whiskeys we enjoy today though.
The forerunners of our Seagram's and other distillers of grains and other crops to make such beverages were a much later development in man's history, but the early Jewish and other peoples of the Middle East, such as the Egyptians, Babylonians, and Philistines did consume beers made from crops such as barley.
They all enjoyed their refreshing beers. Archaeologists have found evidence of this in the form of paintings of brewers in Egyptian tombs, artifacts showing Babylonian nobles as well as commoners enjoyed their beer on a daily basis. And in addition to these discoveries searchers have found jugs with strainer spouts to prevent Philistine drinkers from swallowing the barley husks as they drank in archaeological digs through modern day Palestine.
So the idea of relaxing and celebrating with the help of wines and other alcoholic beverages has a long history starting with the ancient Brew Masters such as Noah and others of his era.
Friday, October 5, 2012
Part of The Roots of Modern Publishing
By the time of the Apostle Paul and other scribes the development of pens and various types of inks was well under way in the Middle East -- the roots of the sophisticated inks used in publishing today.
He and others used pens, not unlike early quills or even our modern fountain pens, particularly the ones without an ink reservoir office workers and students used to tip into the ink bottle to pick up enough ink on the to write a few words. Most of us remember those you used to have sitting on your desks as well as in the paper blotter to used to dry the words to keep them from smudging if you turned to page?
Paul and other used a pen made from a reed carved to a point with a slit in the centre on one end just like a modern fountain pen or a brush to paint the words onto the writing surface
The ink Paul and other scribes used was usually black, but according The Aid to Bible Understanding some ancients also produced colored inks by adding iron oxides and tinctures to other colors such a rich gold. But apparently black ink predominated and was made basically from amorphous soot or crystalline charcoal contained in a liquid containing gum, blue or varnish which bound the ink to the scrolls.
This ink was not kept in a liquid form however. The ink was stored in dried cakes or bars and when writing the writer had to moisten sufficiently to transfer the ink to the tip of his brush or reed pen.
These early writers worked with two basic ink varieties. Some were quite resistant to smudging once they had dried -- even after they had been soaked in water for several weeks. Others could be wiped out with a damp cloth or sponge. ( Some scholars believe that this feature of some of the inks was the basis for the warning at Exodus 32:33 where Jehovah warned: " Whoever has sinned against me I shall wipe him out of my book.") That would create a very vivid impression in the mind of the listener or reader.
The editors of Aid to Bible Understanding do not mention when the first inks were produced or who came up with the idea, but do explain that," To make the best inks much time was required to grind and disperse the pigments into their vehicles," the liquid mediums containing that gum glue or varnish.
He and others used pens, not unlike early quills or even our modern fountain pens, particularly the ones without an ink reservoir office workers and students used to tip into the ink bottle to pick up enough ink on the to write a few words. Most of us remember those you used to have sitting on your desks as well as in the paper blotter to used to dry the words to keep them from smudging if you turned to page?
Paul and other used a pen made from a reed carved to a point with a slit in the centre on one end just like a modern fountain pen or a brush to paint the words onto the writing surface
The ink Paul and other scribes used was usually black, but according The Aid to Bible Understanding some ancients also produced colored inks by adding iron oxides and tinctures to other colors such a rich gold. But apparently black ink predominated and was made basically from amorphous soot or crystalline charcoal contained in a liquid containing gum, blue or varnish which bound the ink to the scrolls.
This ink was not kept in a liquid form however. The ink was stored in dried cakes or bars and when writing the writer had to moisten sufficiently to transfer the ink to the tip of his brush or reed pen.
These early writers worked with two basic ink varieties. Some were quite resistant to smudging once they had dried -- even after they had been soaked in water for several weeks. Others could be wiped out with a damp cloth or sponge. ( Some scholars believe that this feature of some of the inks was the basis for the warning at Exodus 32:33 where Jehovah warned: " Whoever has sinned against me I shall wipe him out of my book.") That would create a very vivid impression in the mind of the listener or reader.
The editors of Aid to Bible Understanding do not mention when the first inks were produced or who came up with the idea, but do explain that," To make the best inks much time was required to grind and disperse the pigments into their vehicles," the liquid mediums containing that gum glue or varnish.
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