A thursday after-work walk...

 Trying to avoid rain for a change...

Went from partly puffy to overcast real quick...

No surprise, we saw mushrooms...

Obviously, the water runs right to left

"hey, long time, no see!  Cheeeese..."

Typical two year olds- camera refuses my command to pull in, doggie right down the middle of the puddle

white violets out now

The erosion situation west of the bridge is getting serious...

more 'shrooms...

The stump of the formerly split tree.  I think it was a matter of time...

Looking in on the three little trees they planted last year behind the Alumni Center.  #1 is okay, though surrounded by thistles...

#2 is frankly on life support...

#3 doing great!

a little cricket practice

Batter was just knocking them down, I think they were trying to get the pitcher in shape

Rapidly descending to the river...

Ducks like the reborn Swamp

Misty spots her first froggy of the season

Ol' boy was quacking quietly to his hidden wife that we were watching....

If I were Jesus...

 

As I was getting out of the shower, I was pray-chatting and came up with the thought, "What would I have done different (actually, and more to the point, I said, what would I have messed up) if I were Jesus?"  Believe it or not, I did get some productive thoughts out of this...

I said, "Some".

First off, start at the start.  The whole diaper thing would have had to have gone through some adjustments.  Momma wouldn't have needed band-aids or (gakk) hydrogen peroxide in the bathroom.  Papa Joe coulda kept his power tools in the "medicine cabinet."

Speaking more reverently of Joseph, we know from the genealogies that he was rightful King of Israel by blood.  Do you suppose he and Mary knew that?  I mean, before the angel let it out of the bag?  "You know, dear, this whole "royal privalege" thing with the TV remote is getting old..."

I wonder, too, how that part about being left at the Temple talking to the leaders could have played out.  "Here, let me show you," the boy says, and opens a portal to 1300 BC.  "Hey, Moses? Let me borrow that tablet a sec.  Boy, I sure wish we'd taught you about papyrus back then!"

One thing that did hit me seriously was about when the Devil tempted him after His 40 day fast.  Somewhere in between, "Rocks into bread?  I'll just pop a Five Guys up here!" and "Worship you? Imma turn you into a soccer ball and kick you back to Babylon!", they went up on top of the Temple and Satan said, "Cast yourself down!  The angels will lift You, that you don't dash your foot on a stone!"  What we don't get taught is that there was a Jewish tradition that the Messiah would reveal himself BY standing on the Temple top.  But Jesus wasn't interested in fulfilling the Jewish made up traditions- only in fulfilling the Word of God through the prophets.

I had to think about all the times I would have wanted to whip out the ol' Thanos finger-snap on the Pharisees...

...which just goes to show the amazing mercy towards mankind that Jesus had... and I would have ended up purple and alone.

How many times would I have given Peter noogies for the dumb stuff he pulled?  How about the time he told the Jews Jesus paid the Temple Tax, and then went to Jesus and said, "We do pay the Temple Tax, right?"  Jesus told him to go catch a fish, and when he opened its mouth, he'd find a coin to pay for the two of them.  I'd have let him catch a fish with NO coin, snuck up behind him, and said, "Oh, look, it's in your ear..."  Or how about when Jesus went to wash his feet, and Peter made a big deal about not letting Him?  I would have said, holding my nose, "You know, you're right.  Let's just go down to the coin wash and spray you down proper..."

I would have had a hard time not being snarky right back at Pilate.  When he scoffed at Jesus, "What is truth?" I would have gave him the 'fastest 60 seconds in history", starting with 'let there be light' and ending with, 'and then we end up right here.'

"Hang on a sec, willya?  I think I hear Caesar calling..."

What about the Transfiguration?  Peter down there trying to get some pup tents up, and Jesus leans over to Elijah and says, "You think he's trippin' now, wait until he hears My Father's voice in the cloud..."

But you know what I really learned?  Another layer of how much He loves us, another few layers of the mercy I am constantly astounded by, And how little of both I've really learned to do.

Wisdom Truck 16

 

Usually when I cross-reference stories in different sections of the Bible, like I have in recent days between 1 Kings and 2 Chronicles, I get somewhat different versions where one will "flesh out" the other.  Surprisingly, when I got to this week's passage and the story of the Queen of Sheba, it was as if the author of one copy-pasted the other- a nearly exact match!  To me this meant God's way of saying, "What I have written, I have written." But when you dig a little deeper and look at the rabbis, the Ethiopians, even the Muslims, the story turns a whole different way.  And as I tell you BOTH stories, you'll see why.

In combining stories from the rabbinical sources, the koran, and Kebra Nagast (Glory of the Kings), the Ethiopian national saga, You get a tale with the following elements.  Solomon, in his never ending search for items to fill the Temple and his house, had heard of this Ethiopian queen.  He sent a hoopoe-

- with a message to demand her presence.  Despite it being a 2-3 month journey by caravan (thanks, grok!), she responded (by hoopoe mail) that it was a five year journey, but she would see that it was made in 3 years. When she got there, she asked him riddles-

 "What is a well of wood, a pail of iron which draws up stones and pours out water?" Solomon answered, "A tube of cosmetic." "What is that which comes from the earth as dust, the food of which is dust, which is poured out like water, and which looketh toward the house?" Solomon answered, "Naphtha." "What is that which precedeth all, like a general; which crieth loudly and bitterly; the head of which is like a reed; which is the glory of the rich and the shame of the poor, the glory of the dead and the shame of the living; the joy of the birds and the sorrow of the fishes?" Solomon answered, "Flax." Other riddles are quoted in the Midrash (Prov. ii. 6; Yalḳ. ii., § 1085): "Seven depart, nine enter; two pour, one drinks." Solomon answered, "Seven days of woman's uncleanness, nine months of pregnancy; two breasts of the mother at which the child is nourished." "A woman saith unto her son, 'Thy father is my father, thy grandfather my husband; thou art my son; I am thy sister.'" Solomon answered, "This mother is one of the daughters of Lot, who were with child by their father" (Jewish Encyclopedia)

At this point, by some "trickery", Solomon managed to get her pregnant.  Their son became King Menalek I; and as for her, she became the "Shulamite", the wife of Solomon in the Song of Solomon, based on this verse:

Son 1:5  The Beloved to the Maidens: I am dark but lovely, O maidens of Jerusalem, dark like the tents of Qedar, lovely like the tent curtains of Salmah. 

Because she was "Ethiopian", and therefore black.

Now let's look at the real story.  And what you'll see is all the ways that these 'storytellers' were trying to REMOVE God from the story.

First of all, what prompted the meeting?

1Ki 10:1  Now when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the LORD, she came to test him with hard questions. 

Not his intiative, but hers- because of what she heard "concerning the Name of the LORD".  Now, to me this says that there had been some Solomonic evangelism going on.  How was this possible?  Sheba- despite the stories that is was an Ethiopian (and black) kingdom, was actually by all evidence the kingdom of the Sabeans, across the Red Sea from Ethiopia.   A 4th century monument in Ethiopia (then the kingdom of Axum) describes "black and red" peoples, with black on one side of the Red Sea, Red on the Arabian side- the Sabeans were "red"- or as we might put it, dusky, which more fits the Songs passage.  Anyway, back to the point, Solomon already had Israelite crews going with Hiram's Phoenicians to acquire things such as the "gold of Ophir", along with apes and other curiousities.  Ophir is most generally believed to have been in what is now India- meaning these voyages would go the length of the Red Sea into the Arabian Sea- and would most likely have made port calls at the Sabean kingdom.  During these calls, the story was spread of all that God had given Solomon- wisdom and riches- and no doubt the word got to the throne.

We've already talked about how Solomon's wisdom in ruling his kingdom was such that many rulers sought him out for advice- and the Queen, hearing both the stories of his wisdom AND of the God that gave it to him, journeyed to Jerusalem.

When she got there, God says "she tested him with hard questions".  The Jewish Encyclopedia gives us instead Greek-style riddles and trivia.  Am I going to slog across the desert for a quarter of a year, laden with "camels bearing spices and very much gold and precious stones" (1 Kings 10:2) to play trivia night?  Especially when, as a pagan queen from a faraway land- HOW would she even know about Lot and his daughters- or care?

By the way, I looked into the whole hoopoe thing- they were NEVER used as "carrier pigeons" by any ancient people.  It is suggested the rabbis picked the hoopoe for its kingly plumage and a folklore legend of its wisdom.  Another way the Jews tried to take it out of God's hands and turn it into an "AEsop's fable".

Now, when I am saying "the Jews", I am specifically and ONLY referring to these teachers who were apparently trying to "de-God" the Bible.  They are the ones Jerome described as the creators of "fabula Hebraeorum" in so many things (including trying to make the Hiram that David and Solomon knew into the same "king of Tyre" that Ezekiel prophecied about some 300-400 years LATER!).  It's no wonder the common people began to fall away from faith listening to such mental gyrations.

Getting back to the Song passage- I read a little further, to see for myself whether the "Shulamite"- a name which itself was drawn from Solomon's, meaning 'peace'- had any characteristics that would make her seem to be a queen.    In the very next verse:

Son 1:6  Do not gaze at me because I am dark, because the sun has looked upon me. My mother's sons were angry with me; they made me keeper of the vineyards, but my own vineyard I have not kept! 

Making her "keeper of the vinyards" is a lot like David being a shepherd- it was the worst job they could stick her with.  And she was dark because she was tanned, not because she was black.  I don't say this to inject racism into this, but to remove it from the story.  The rabbis likely would have preferred a black Queen, to denigrate Solomon further into the "mortal realm".  But it isn't what GOD said.

Finally, the things she did see, the things he did explain to her, turned her not towards men (or sex), but toward God:

 

1Ki 10:6  And she said to the king, “The report was true that I heard in my own land of your words and of your wisdom, 

1Ki 10:7  but I did not believe the reports until I came and my own eyes had seen it. And behold, the half was not told me. Your wisdom and prosperity surpass the report that I heard. 

1Ki 10:8  Happy are your men! Happy are your servants, who continually stand before you and hear your wisdom! 

1Ki 10:9  Blessed be the LORD your God, who has delighted in you and set you on the throne of Israel! Because the LORD loved Israel forever, he has made you king, that you may execute justice and righteousness.” 

So do I believe Solomon's focus on God saved her?  Judge for yourself from Jesus's words...

Mat 12:41  The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here. 

Mat 12:42  The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here. 

Jesus gave 2 examples of pagans saved by grace here... while showing that the Jewish leaders hadn't changed in  a thousand years, still trying to keep God out of the story...

Luk 20:1  One day, as Jesus was teaching the people in the temple and preaching the gospel, the chief priests and the scribes with the elders came up 

Luk 20:2  and said to him, “Tell us by what authority you do these things, or who it is that gave you this authority.” 

Luk 20:3  He answered them, “I also will ask you a question. Now tell me, 

Luk 20:4  was the baptism of John from heaven or from man?” 

Luk 20:5  And they discussed it with one another, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why did you not believe him?’ 

Luk 20:6  But if we say, ‘From man,’ all the people will stone us to death, for they are convinced that John was a prophet.” 

Luk 20:7  So they answered that they did not know where it came from. 

Luk 20:8  And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.” 

Wisdom Truck 15

 

This week we hit a story housed in 1 Kings 5 and 9, and 2 Chronicles 8, with detours through Luke 16 and a start in 2 Samuel!  So I will keep the verse pastes to a minimum in order to damp the confusion.

In 2 Samuel, David makes treaties of commerce and friendship with Hiram, the King of Tyre.Tyre was a Phoenician city of great maritime commerce, and through them, David laid up a LOT of provisions for the Temple he wanted Solomon to build:

1Ch 22:14  And, behold, in my trouble I have prepared for the house of Jehovah a hundred thousand talents of gold, and a million talents of silver, and of bronze and iron without weight, for it is in abundance. I have prepared timber also, and stone, and you may add to them. 

Which was all well and good, but Solomon in his wisdom knew he didn't have the in-house resources to build it right.  So he in turn went to Hiram:

1Ki 5:6  And now command that they cut me cedar trees out of Lebanon, and my servants shall be with your servants. And I will give you hire for your servants according to all that you shall say. For you know that not a man among us can cut timber like the Sidonians. 

In Chronicles, the request is fleshed out a bit further:

2Ch 2:7  And now send me a man skillful to work in gold, and in silver, and in bronze, and in iron, and in purple, and crimson, and blue, and one who is skillful to engrave with the skillful men who are with me in Judah and in Jerusalem, whom David my father provided. 

So here was a King wise enough to serve his God well, but also wise enough to know he needed help.  That brings us to our main verse:

2Ch 2:12  And Hiram said, Blessed be Jehovah, the God of Israel, who made heaven and earth, who has given to David the king a wise son blessed with judgment and understanding, who might build a house for Jehovah and a house for his kingdom. 

Which is where we kind of hit a bunny trail, because Hiram goes on to suggest such a craftsman.  His name, also, was Hiram- which is occasionally translated as Huram, essentially the same word, to differentiate- and there was some backstory on him.  By combining the stories in Kings and Chronicles, we find that Huram was a "joint Jew-Gentile project".  His mother was a member of the tribe of Dan, who had married and been widowed by a man of Napthali, and then re-married a man of Tyre, of whom Huram was the son.  So in a way, the Gentile world was grafted into the Jewish Temple, just as Paul would describe the salvation of Christ much later.  This was the beginning of a long and fruitful alliance between Solomon and Hiram.  And I would venture to say that this relationship was blessed by God because Hiram had respect for God; years later, God ruined several attempts of King Jehoshaphat to do similar deals with Tyre, as they had become altogether Baal-worshippers, and antagonistic to God. (Jezebel was a daughter of one of those kings.)

But now, to sew up the lesson, we flash foreward 20-some years, to the completion of the Temple, and what came next of the relations between Hiram and Solomon- and 2 seemingly contradictory verses:

1Ki 9:11  Hiram the king of Tyre had furnished Solomon with cedar trees and fir trees, and with gold, according to all his desires. Then King Solomon gave Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee. 

1Ki 9:12  And Hiram came out from Tyre to see the cities which Solomon had given him. And they did not please him. 

1Ki 9:13  And he said, What cities are these which you have given me, my brother? And he called them the land of Cabul to this day. 

2Ch 8:1  And it happened at the end of twenty years, Solomon had built the house of Jehovah and his own house. 

2Ch 8:2  As to the cities that Hiram had given to Solomon, Solomon had built them, and he caused the sons of Israel to live there. 

So what the experts agree on is that Solomon gave the cities to Hiram first.  Tyre was a seafaring kingdom, and Galilee is a lake with no real outlet, tucked into a mountainous region.  These were tiny, poor villages, and Hiram frankly had no use for them.    But where Hiram complained, Solomon built up, and they became a part of Israel.  And not just any part...

Isa 9:1  But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations. 

Isa 9:2  The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone. 

Galilee of the Nations (or, more familiarly, "of the Gentiles") had a PURPOSE for being grafted onto Israel by Solomon- this unloved region would become home to the coming Messiah!

So where is our lesson?  That's where we tumble into Luke.  Jesus told the people a parable about a dishonest manager who had been up-charging the customers of his master to enrich himself.  Word gets back to the master, who says, "Get your books settled and bring them in, you're about to get fired".  Now he had been a lazy man, but a man of respect, so the alternatives on each end- working or begging- were not options to him.  So he went to the people he had screwed the most, changed their bills downward to what they should have been, in hopes that by "helping them out", they would give him a fall back after he got canned.  And the lesson Jesus drew from the story:

Luk 16:8  The master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light. 

Luk 16:9  And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings. 

Solomon had done just that. By providing Hiram with a LOT of food (not to mention manpower), he was able to use money as a tool to make a greater good.  Think of it this way.  Say your company isn't averse to doing shady deals, up-charging things to the limits of legal honesty, or even not paying fair wages.  Your wages, though from ill-gotten sources, came to you by honest work, and when you tithe, you lay up treasure in Heaven no matter HOW your company got it.  Solomon built the Temple with help from a (probably) pagan King, and a "half-breed" craftsman (which would become more ironic after the exile), and still glorified God in it!  But there's a rub to this.  God came to Solomon after the Temple was complete:

1Ki 9:6  But if you turn aside from following me, you or your children, and do not keep my commandments and my statutes that I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them, 

1Ki 9:7  then I will cut off Israel from the land that I have given them, and the house that I have consecrated for my name I will cast out of my sight, and Israel will become a proverb and a byword among all peoples. 

1Ki 9:8  And this house will become a heap of ruins. Everyone passing by it will be astonished and will hiss, and they will say, ‘Why has the LORD done thus to this land and to this house?’ 

Money as a tool becomes righteous if used righteously.  But YOU must stay obedient.

more Squirrel

 Today we learned that a Leopard gecko doesn't pee- she has dark poop for solid and white poop for what would be liquid- they just conserve their water.

Squirrel has gotten a lot better at being calm with us.  She now will nudge your fingers with her snout, rest her chin on your hand, she even yawned on me the other night.

This morning after consuming three crickets (not very hungry!) she almost fell asleep in my hand.  A far cry from a couple Fridays back when she let out a hiss and ran up Laurie's face ( making Laurie let something a little less hiss-like out).

Above is her (relatively) new 20 gallon setup.  She is in the big she-cave where it is currently a balmy 91F with 44% humidity- just the way she likes it.  She also likes her log, ignores her bridge, and uses the far left corner for a bathroom.

Last weekend, Bob's Bar had a VIP pair of visitors... Mrs Bob and her new hubby!

As you might guess, it had some emotional moments, but a lot of catching up and a lot of fun.  Laurie and I won the euchre tourney 2-1!

Beverages included Taxman Quad for me and Guinness for her.  Webb stayed with 7-Up zero ( would that be Zero-Up?) as they have a decent drive back home.

Wisdom Truck 14

 

This one becomes a twist- how the bunny trail became the story.  Our passage:

1Ki 4:29  And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding beyond measure, and breadth of mind like the sand on the seashore, 

1Ki 4:30  so that Solomon's wisdom surpassed the wisdom of all the people of the east and all the wisdom of Egypt. 

1Ki 4:31  For he was wiser than all other men, wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, Calcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol, and his fame was in all the surrounding nations. 

1Ki 4:32  He also spoke 3,000 proverbs, and his songs were 1,005. 

1Ki 4:33  He spoke of trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon to the hyssop that grows out of the wall. He spoke also of beasts, and of birds, and of reptiles, and of fish. 

1Ki 4:34  And people of all nations came to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and from all the kings of the earth, who had heard of his wisdom. 

Now if you've followed me long enough, you know that what I thought was my "bunny trail" is in verse 31.  How I came to see it as the main point is to follow.  This is an extensive listing of Solomon's wisdom, given from God.  The verses before this passage describe how Solomon had set up governors to run the vast nation under his leadership- something never before done in  Israel, and in a way so revolutionary that it attracted other nations to Solomon's "Learn how to run your country" seminar.  And there are levels to it that go beyond just "being wise".

-His mind and interests were expanded (v29).  He wasn't a one trick pony; he wasn't a jack of all trades, master of none.  He had more interests than we could follow, and mastered them all.

-It was beyond what the world was calling wisdom- which in this area was concentrated in the ancient civilizations of Egypt and Sumer/Babylon. (v30)

-It was beyond the wisdom of legend (v31); we'll hit this harder in a bit.

-It couldn't be kept secret; his application of this wisdom drew other nations and leaders to him (v31b).

-It extended beyond dry teachings into foundational truths and worship (v32); he could have been the greatest preacher/worship leader of all time, had it been his calling.

-the natural world was opened to him (v33); and not only animals.  Both copper technology and iron works expanded in the world at this time.

In trying to apply the lesson to myself, I finally asked the question, "How does Solomon's wisdom mesh up with me?"  And the answer- it doesn't.  Solomon was a special case.  This was an over-the-top gift, like the extra boosting of the Spirit we discussed a few weeks back.  This is where we go back to verse 31.

Those four brothers mentioned by Jeremiah (who scholars believe wrote the Books of Kings) were actually a set of FIVE brothers- as we see in 1 Chronicles:

1Ch 2:3  The sons of Judah: Er, Onan and Shelah; these three Bath-shua the Canaanite bore to him. Now Er, Judah's firstborn, was evil in the sight of the LORD, and he put him to death. 

1Ch 2:4  His daughter-in-law Tamar also bore him Perez and Zerah. Judah had five sons in all. 

1Ch 2:5  The sons of Perez: Hezron and Hamul. 

1Ch 2:6  The sons of Zerah: Zimri, Ethan, Heman, Calcol, and Dara, five in all. 

So these five were grandsons of Judah, great-great-grandsons of Abraham.  Despite their wisdom proclaimed by Jeremiah about 1,000  years later, we have very little else to go on with them- UNLESS we look at Psalms 88 and 89.  88 is called a "Maskil" of Heman; one commentator posited that this could have been actually written by Heman during the slavery in Egypt.  It could just have likely been written in Jeremiah's day, as 89- a Maskil of Ethan- obviously was, as it mentions Israel's fall after the days of David.  Another commenter notes that it was common practice that guilds of worshippers dedicated to the teachings of a certain teacher would write things and attribute them to their founder; possibly both Heman and Ethan were so wise they inspired worship guilds that claimed them.  We do know that among the worship leaders that David himself appointed were an Ethan and a Heman, though they were not descendants of Judah.

So how do I get from here to the main point?  You look into the names.  These four brothers had Biblical names- names given as their character was revealed in life, another common practice- that reveal a lot about what we need to know.  And here, they represent characteristics of wisdom that we can aspire to.

But first, the eldest of the brothers, and the one left out in wisdom.  Zimri was also called Zabdi.  One means "musical", the other, "gift".  I'm imagining that gift was his first name, as he was the firstborn.  Musical came later; it may have indicated a less serious, more emotional bent to this brother.  In either event, his lot was to become the grandfather of Achan- the guy who kept some of the treasure from Jericho and caused the defeat at Ai, until Joshua exposed him.

Ethan's name is they first quality we need in our wisdom- permanence.  To continue always in what you know to be wise and right.

Heman is the second- to be faithful, firm in your fidelity to the Lord.

Calcol means sustenance; to keep in, to maintain.  You have to feed the wisdom you have with the wisdom of the Word.

Darda, or Dara: Clearness of knowledge.  Not to be swayed by fuzzy thinking.

It would be easy to see why their wisdom reached across the 1,000 years to Jeremiah if these were truly their qualities, just as Solomon's has across the 3,000 years to us.  But, at this point I need to add in two warnings.

The first, as you know, Solomon had a fall from grace.  And that fall resulted in him abandoning the leves of wisdom God gave him, in order to find a PURPOSE for his life WITHOUT God.  Perhaps if he had sought that purpose WITH God, he might have become that great preacher.

Second, while he was the wisest man of the day, he- and we- might forget one thing: What Jesus said to the Jews-

Mat 12:42  The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here. 

Pictures

 We had one really nice day this week, and despite exhaustion from work, I managed to get Misty out into nature...

(Choke) Cherry trees in bloom.  Sure beats the berries falling on the car all winter...

Dandelions!  Bob might not have liked 'em, but I do.

And violets

And the little white guys

Even a couple of bees

Once again, greeted by neighborhood noisemakers

There they are now!

One set of Dutchman's Britches blooming

If it hadn't been so bright I couldn't see to focus, you'd see center of picture our first butterfly of the year...

Arboreal Ocean about half full

Sadly, by the placement of the trash, you can see how high the creek got

Algae definitely in force at the Alumni Pond

But no froggies, darn it!

Main trail was busy!