Reviews by Hubie Goode: The Life and Times of King David part 5

The Life and 

Times of King

David

part 5

When king David finally learned about his son’s insurrection, it was almost too late. His court had become divided over his leadership and the people had formed a social movement in favor of Absalom. Now aged and an unlikely competitor for the younger man, David was forced to flee his capital, across the Jordan to Mahanaim. Several hundred of his loyal followers went with him as he made his way east. These consisted of his servants, his runners, his soldiers and his household. However, his priests Abiathar and Zadok remained behind to report on Absalom’s actions.

Absalom's Pillar, which he built to himself, still exists.

Once outside the capital, David could then see the mood of the people. An old man assaulted him with rocks and curses. But to many of the people it looked as if David had given up the throne to Absalom. Many of them wept as he passed by, but in Jerusalem, Absalom took the capital without a struggle.

The chief adviser to Absalom recommended an immediate attack on Mahanaim, before David could gather his armies. He had about 12,000 men under his command, more than enough to claim victory if he did indeed act swiftly. But a second adviser told Absalom to mobilize all of Israel against his father. This man, Hushai, had pledged allegiance to Absalom but in reality he was a double agent for David. His suggestion was a play for time as David gathered his forces.

Absalom

“You know that your father and his men are mighty men, and your father is expert in war.” Hushai told Absalom. There was enough truth in that statement to deter the young king long enough, and when he did finally attack, David was ready for him.

The battle was a rout, as the conscripted rookies of Absalom went up against the battle tested veterans of David’s troops. Thousands died in the battle and even though David had requested Absalom be spared, Joab took Absalom out as he hung from a tree by his own hair.

When notified, David went into mourning over his son. He had a great love for his children no matter what they had done to him, and he sequestered himself away in his bedroom. Joab knew that David risked losing his supporter by isolating himself and he confronted the King. “You shame those who love you today,” he told the king. “You make it clear that commanders and servants mean nothing to you as you love those who hate you and hate those who love you. If you don’t go out and speak to your men, then by morning there will be no one left!”

Joab was probably right and when David felt shame by his general’s accusation, he did indeed go out to the people. But before he could return to his capital a new cry of insurrection erupted.  A man named Sheba, a Benjaminite, made one last effort to split the kingdom that was now under one rule. Joab, loyal to a fault, followed Sheba  to the town of Abel, and the people of the town , in an effort to save their own hides, cut off Sheba’s head an threw it over the wall to Joab. Both insurrections and Sheba were now dead.

Adonija, David’s eldest surviving son, was now heir apparent. But at this time there was no precedent for succession to the throne. He was deeply concerned about the influence of Bathsheba, mother to his half brother Solomon. She had the powerful palace clique behind her and David was old and on his last legs. Adonijah had both Joab and the high priest Abiathar on his team, and he decided the time was ripe to strike. He took it upon himself to declare his King ship of Israel, and performed all the required activities for doing so. His supporters gathered for a festive banquet to celebrate.

When Bathsheba heard of this from the prophet Nathan, she went directly to the bedridden King. She told him of his son’s treacherous actions and reminded him of his promise to make Solomon king.

David immediately ordered the appointment of Solomon as King of Israel and gathered all of Solomon’s supporters for his own inauguration. When Adonijah’s followers heard the news, they quickly abandoned him. Adonijah sought sanctuary in the temple and was spared by Solomon. 

Bathsheba presents Solomon to his father the King

By this time, David, former shepherd, had reigned in Jerusalem 33 years. The about the year 960 B.C., he died in a good old age, full of years, riches and honor. He had broadened the borders of Israel, and made her richer with the spoils of  war. He left a golden age for his son Solomon who would succeed him in a time of unprecedented peace. To the world he left the city of Jerusalem, and of course, his beloved psalms.

Reviews by Hubie Goode: The Life and Times of King David part 4



The procession of a King's Death

The Life and Times of

King David

part 4

Saul had created the first standing army in Israel’s history. David then took it and expanded it. The cream of the armed forces were known as the “thirty”. These were the men who had fought by David’s side in his outlaw days. They formed his honorary army council and served as sort of the “congress” of the army. Under Joab they commanded the two separate branches of David’s regular military army. One branch was recruited from the Sea people, Cretans and Aegeans, among others. The second branch was formed entirely from the assimilated Philistines.

Bodyguards for the King and the palace were formed from the men of Gath, or Gittites. These were men who also ran with David during the exile.

The army had some 2,000 well trained regulars,  and there were also territorial contingents who could be called upon as were needed. These men came from the Israelite tribes and came in groups of 10, 50, 100 and 1,000 each and were lead by their own commanders.

The tools of defense were swords, javelins and spears. Armor was a helmet, a breast plate, leg guards and a leather covered wooden shield. Territorial accompaniments had to buy their own equipment. One of which, the two edged sword, was a tool of the wealthy. The rest used Ox goads, rough lances, wooden bows and arrows. Also included: bludgeons, axes and the sling.

With such a force at hand, and the elimination of the Philistine threat, David moved east toward the Jordan river. He launched wars of expansion  which took advantage of the crumbling Babylonian empire. The Hittites were no longer a power in the Near East, and the Hurrians had been destroyed by the Hittites and Assyrians. The Assyrians themselves at this time were not in a position for further military aggression. Internal strife in the Egyptian administration had weakened them  to the point that David would have to be ignored no matter whose toes he stepped on. David’s intel had notified him of all of these advantages  for a free hand in the area and he took swift action to capitalize on the situation.

David’s forces rolled in he area. He defeated one after another, the peoples who were living there: the Ammonites, the Edomites, the Moabites, and then he took out the last of the Amelikites. The latter, for those who do not know, are considered the remaining vestige of the Nephilhelm, those mixed of human and demon descent.

He stretched his kingdom south from Edom, rich in copper mines, to the Gulf of Aqaba and the Red Sea. This gave Israel a potential port. Eventually, Solomon would trade from there with Arabia and Africa. When David conquered the Arameans of eastern Syria, he gained control of all trade routes to the Euphrates river.

David took part in may of those campaigns, but usually it was the brilliant commander Joab who lead the troops while David stayed at the capital. On one such an occasion, when he should have been out leading the troops in battle, David allowed his idleness to get the best of him and create gateway for other problems. Above the city, on his palace roof, he looked down and saw Bathsheba bathing.

Bathsheba enticingly bathed in the open, but for most women
of her day, this was done indoors. Unscented oil was used like cold
cream to remove dirt, then scented oil would follow.

She was the wife of a Hittite soldier named Uriah. At the time he was with Joab battling the Ammonites. David, feeling that he was King after all, sent for Bathsheba and they tripped the light fantastic. She did, however, become pregnant by the king.

David immediately called Uriah home to his wife, no doubt believing that the lines between his child and Uriah’s child needed to be blurred as soon as possible for the up and coming date.  Uriah, however, refused to return home. Instead he slept with his buddies at the door of the King’s house. A soldier in battle, kept himself sacramentally clean, and this meant no slap and tickle during war time. David then had to resort to legal murder in order to cover up the impending results of his dalliance. This meant legal murder.  David had Joab send Uriah up front in the upcoming battle and then pull back behind him in order that he may be killed in action.

A clay figurine of the period

Uriah was of course killed, and Bathsheba went into mourning. When the time was over, David married her, and soon after she gave birth to a son. But the Lord was displeased with David’s soap opera movements, and he sent Nathan the prophet, to David.

The story was now well known throughout the country and Nathan addressed the King and said, “ Thus says the God of Israel, I anointed you King over Israel, and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul; and I gave you your master’s house... and also that of Israel and Judah... and if this were too little I would add to you much more. Why have you done evil in the Lord’s sight?”

David accepted his guilt and confessed to his sin against God. He probably expected Nathan to pronounce a death sentence, but Nathan assured him that he was not to die. However, the child to be born would indeed die, and Nathan left him with that.

The child lay ill for six days and David did all he could to entreat the Lord to change his mind about the fate of the boy. But on the seventh day, the child did die. David, revealing the thoughts of those at the time as to what happens when we die, stated that it was he who would go to the child but the child would never return to him.  Thus David had to live with the results of caving in to his own lust, as a fine officer and his own son, met their ends at his own hands. Bathsehba, however, would be the one to bear his future son, the future King Solomon.

Israel had become rich and secure under David, but as time passed he had become less and less of a favored celebrity. Fat with prosperity, and military superiority, the Israelites resented the taxes they had to pay, and the conscription of troops.  David’s third born son, Absalom, took full advantage of the disgruntled populace.

David’s daughter, Tamar, had been raped by Amnon, David’s oldest son, and Absalom had him killed for it two years later. This was, however, a political move more than an act of vengeance, as Absalom had now been placed in the position  of heir apparent. Tamar, never recovered.

Absalom then ran from what he knew would be David’s anger toward him. With the help of Joab, he managed a reconciliation with David a few years later. Unsatisfied, he then began to plot a rebellion among the people, hoping to gain David’s kingdom.

Absalom started politicking in the public squares and speaking out against his father’s negligence as a judge and telling the people what they wanted to hear from their leadership. He showed off before them with pomp and circumstance  and turned many toward him as they became sold on his campaign.

For four years he campaigned against David while showing himself to be both proud and humble to the populace. Then suddenly he left for Hebron, with 200 of his followers. He told his people, “As soon as you hear the trumpet say: Absalom is King at Hebron!”

The time for open rebellion had come.

.. and ever since David’s dalliance with Bathsheba, strife had never left his home.

more on this next time.    

                      

Reviews by Hubie Goode: The Life and Times of King David part 3

The City of David

The Life and Times of King David

part 3

David, being a man of his word and convictions, would not strike Saul. He loathed the thought of civil war for Israel as well. Thus he left the country and headed for Philistine territory. He returned to Gath with 600 men in his tow. In an attempt to release himself from the pursuit of Saul he offered his services and those of his men to the king.

King Achish no doubt had some problems with the concept, but nevertheless established them in the town of Ziklag. David and his men were then expected to conduct raids on the southern border of Judah.

However, David and his men instead went after the semi nomadic enemies of Judah, and strengthened her borders. The spoils of victory were given to the people of Negeb. Covertly, David was enhancing his position with those he would one day rule.

King Achish knew nothing of David’s duplicity, and was instead concentrating on the plans of the five Philistine overlords of the north. They had come together for an all out assault on Israel. Their first movement was to take the plain of Jezreel. David was asked to join them, but the commanders had a basic lack of trust in David and his men, and he was kept out of it. David was en rout from Jezreel to Negeb when Saul confronted the Philistines at Mount Gilboa.

When David returned to Ziklag, he found that the Amalekites had raided the town. They had looted and pillaged, but had also taken everyone hostage. The Lord told David to head after them, for he would surely catch them and make rescue.

David headed south to the brook of Besor, where 200 of his men collapsed, too exhausted to continue. David and his 400 found the Amalekites spread out over the land. They were having a great feast in celebration of all the spoil they had taken. David attacked at dawn, and recovered all hostages and livestock. He then divided the spoil  among those who had fought and those who had stayed behind.

Saul and his men, poised for battle at Mount Gilboa, were going into battle with an old king. A king who was no longer confident in the Lord’s involvement in his life. Before he went into battle he had consulted with the prophets of God about the coming battle, but the “phone rang off the hook.”

He then went to a witch, or medium for answers. He wanted to conjure up the spirit of Samuel. To everyone’s surprise, even the medium’s, Samuel showed up and predicted Saul’s death and the defeat of Israel.

Distraught and convinced he was headed for his last stand, he fought at Mount Gilboa. Jonathan and his two brothers, Abinadab and Malchishua, were all killed. Saul was seriously wounded by Philistine archers, and apparently when you lose to the Philistines you are subject to anal rape, so Saul fell on his own sword and perished also.

Until David came along, the state of Israelite music
was rather primitive. It typically consisted of instruments
like the "sistrum". This was little more than an elaborate rattle.
David imported skilled Phonecian musicians and added
to his nation's culture.

David received news of the defeat and the deaths of those he had come to know as family. Though he went into mourning he also realized that if he were to take Saul’s place as king, he would have to move quickly. He consulted of God as to where to go now, and was told to go to Hebron.

To Hebron they all went, and there David was anointed King over the house of Judah. The date was about 1000 years before Christ. David now ruled Judah, but Israel was now in division. A nation once unified under Saul, was now led by Ishbosheth, Saul’s youngest son. He ruled the ten tribes who lived in the central and northern areas of the kingdom: Benjamin, Dan, Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, Zebulun, Asher, Naphtali, Gad and the remnant of Rueben which had escaped the Moabite and Ammonite pressure. David ruled over the tribes of Judah and Simeon.  Abner, Saul’s chief general, lead bloody skirmishes against Joab and the armies of David for two years with little results.

Abner, however, began to move without the let of his king and took one of Saul’s concubines for his own. The king saw this as treason and a split developed between the two men. Abner then met with David secretly, no doubt feeling that Israel would have a better future under David’s rule, and he discussed the plans for turning over the northern kingdom.

As a show of good faith, Abner returned Michal to David from the town of Gibea. She had been married off to another when David had fled the country. There in David’s harem, she provided a link between Saul’s family and the Kingdom of Judah. This strengthened David’s position as future king of Israel.

Joab however, knowing nothing of the talks between Abner and David, sought revenge for a brother Abner had killed in battle. Abner, not realizing that Joab knew nothing of the secret talks, walked right up to Joab and was quickly disemboweled.

This was bad news for David and his political future, so David called a national day of mourning  in respect for the fallen Abner, this in order to keep his people from retaliation. However, without Abner, his king began to lose courage and the people followed suit.

Two of Ishbosheth’s captains, seeking favor of David, for the future, killed the king in his sleep.  Instead of promoting them, David had them executed for killing Saul’s son, not only their king.  Only Jonathan’s five year old crippled son remained of the house of Saul. Now no one stood between David and the throne of Israel. All of the elders went to Hebron and anointed David their king. With this act, Samuel’s prophecy was fulfilled.

The Philistines, hearing these events, became alarmed. As long as Israel fought amongst itself, they knew that all of Canaan would eventually be theirs to take. A united Israel, however, with warrior King David at its command, was big, big trouble.

They therefore attacked before David would be able to get any help from the northern tribes. They amassed in the valley of Rephaim, hoping to drive a wedge between Israel and Judah before any solidarity could take place. David proved more than a match for them however, and defeated them twice. In fact, David kept rolling until the armies of the Philistines were destroyed.  The Philistines were never heard from again.

Jerusalem, the last city in central Israel was still controlled by the Canaanites. It was built on a high ridge bordered on the east, west and south by steep valleys. It had high walls and lofty springs. David considered this to be the best place for a capitol. It was also on the border between the two nations of Israel and Judah and would also be a great place for political rule.

David then set out to capture the city, only to be mocked by its inhabitants. The Jebusites told him, “The blind and the lame will defend this city against the likes of you.”  David told his men that the first one to smite them would be chief and commander.

Joab led his men through a water tunnel that ran under the city, no doubt a lesson learned from the fall of Babylon. They emerged inside the city and threw the Jebusites into confusion. He then threw open the city gates for the rest of his forces and soon the victory was done.

David would live there. He would call it the City of David. It belonged neither to Israel or to Judah. It was the sole property of David himself. Pretty good for a little shepherd boy from Bethlehem!

David centralized the power of the state in the king, with Jerusalem as the seat of government. Tribal allegiance was forgotten once inside the walls of Jerusalem, one now belonged to the king, not just a confederacy.

David also had the ark of the covenant brought there with the prophet Nathan. David danced before God as the ark was brought into the city. Jerusalem was now not only the City of David, but with the seat of God there, it was also the City of the Lord. Michal, his wife, thinking David silly for his exuberance, rendered herself barren with derisive comments. R.E.S.P.E.C.T.!

Now the whole of political, civil, religious and all other administrations were concentrated in one place with David as its ruler. David then surrounded himself with officers and clerics and created an administration of some of the most famous names in the Old Testament: Joab, Jehoshaphat, Seraiah, Benaiah, Zadok and Abiathar, to name a few.

It was then that he commissioned the collection of the book of Psalms. These hymns were sung by priests and celebrants at the Tent of the Covenant. We still have these books and records of these events to this day, including the existence of Israel, and her people who are historically connected to all of this. The flag of Israel is decorated with the Star of David. Remind your atheist and agnostic friends and co-workers, that it is one thing to disregard an invisible creator, but quite another to ignore Israel and the Jews.

more on all of this next time.

Reviews by Hubie Goode: The Life and Times of King David part 2

"The Lord gave you into my hand in the cave...but I spared you." 1 Samuel 24.10
In an En-gedi cave like this, David spared Saul's life, even though Saul was trying
to kill him. He and his men also hid out in these caves, whose cool recesses
offered shelter not only from men but from the blazing heat of the desert

The Life and Times of King David

part 2

With his great victory, David was now a sports hero so to speak. Now a full fledged leader in the army of the king, his victories mounted and grew.  He had sudden fame and glory and all the women came out of the city singing his praises.

“Saul has slain his thousands, David his tens of thousands!”

Saul had promoted David due to his prowess in battle, and the obvious advantage of having someone with God’s hand on him didn’t hurt either. The public adoration for David didn’t help him in the eyes of the king. Naturally, he began to distrust David’s inner motives. Suspicion of a threat to his throne grew within Saul.

Still suffering from the fits of madness, he twice throws his javelin at David, attempting to impale him. David was younger and more agile and thus able to avoid the javelin. Saul, however, couldn’t admit this advantage over himself and saw it as obvious help from God in David’s ability to avoid certain death. This only added to his suspicions of a threat to the throne. No matter how many times he sent him out to meet the Philistines in battle, they failed to kill the boy. David’s popularity, and obvious favor of God over Saul, began to steam roll in the constituency.

Saul then offered his eldest daughter to David in marriage, if he won even more victories. David never married her however, since Saul abruptly gives her to another. But he tries again with his younger daughter Michal, who had a bad jones for the young hero. The price of marriage? 100 Philistine foreskins. A task I cannot imagine: circumcising 100 dead men and collecting their penis skin. Oh my!

Saul must have thought this impossible if not repulsive and surely David would get himself killed trying such a stunt. Please make sure they are all dead first, or you’ll have quite the fight on your hands! But David brought back 200 foreskins instead. Michal was his, and seemingly David was invincible.

Saul then called on Jonathan to kill David. But Jonathan pleaded David’s case siting his service and record, and Saul relented. They even reconciled for a time, but it was only a temporary respite.

Even Michal got into the act of going against he father for the sake of David. Upon hearing of Saul’s plan to have soldiers bring him to the palace to be slain, she warned him to save his life. She tried to fool the soldiers when they arrived  with the phoney “pillow under the covers routine” and claims that David was ill and couldn’t be moved, but the soldiers didn’t fall for it and discovered the ruse.

"And the servants of David went out and met the servants
of the son of Saul at the pool of Gibeon.... and the battle
was very fierce that day" 2 Samuel 2.13, 17
The probable scene of this encounter a stair well that leads
down to the water table. This was discovered in 1956 by archeaologists.
It was a circular pit , 37 feet across, cut from solid rock to a depth of 82 feet.
Almost 3,000 tons of limestone had to be removed. Village women would have
to descend the stair and then climb back up with water pots on their heads.
The 79 step climb must have made for some well toned ladies.

David had fled in the night, and ended up in Ramah, a few miles away, in the safety of Samuel the prophet. Saul pursued him there, but God intervened and had the soldiers and Saul himself become overwhelmed with a type of religious dancing in praise of God.

David then secretly met with Jonathan to discuss the problem and asked him just what it was he had done to deserve the wrath of Saul. Jonathan assured David that Saul would have no success at killing him and the two men renewed their friendship.

The feast of the new moon was the next night, and as tradition would have it, David was obligated to be at table with Saul. When he wasn’t there Saul was furious, and Jonathan had to lie to Saul with the excuse that David had been given leave to visit his brothers in Bethlehem.

In the morning, after an evening of near death from his own father’s javelin tossing, Jonathan met with David secretly in the field, and the two  said farewell for the time being. They both knew that David would now be a wandering outlaw in the wilderness until Saul’s death.

David then moved on to Nob, where he received the sword of Goliath which had been left in the care of Ahimelech the priest. No doubt thinking that he would not be found in the Philistine town of Gath, he fled there, only to be seized by the King’s soldiers. When brought to King Achish, David faked madness like a man in a rubber room.

Achish of course, tossed David out, as David had expected. In his day, the insane were thought to be touched by the divine, and therefore inviolable. The Philistines released him and he fled to a cave in Adullam, near the border between the two territories of Judah and the Philistines.

In this area all those who were the outcast, the indebted, the receivers of Saul’s ire, and those considered a rebel, gathered around David. They survived off of the kindness of local shepherds and farmers and kept one step ahead of Saul’s pursuit. In time, the followers of David grew, and became a small army of rebels unto themselves.

David’s army soon encountered the philistines in battle and overran a force at Keliah. With 400 men under his command, he soon demanded tribute from the settlements in the hills. Nabal from  Carmel, a rich man who owed David tribute, refused to pay and David planned to march against the town. Abigail, Nabal’s wife moved quickly however, and brought David tribute on the way from town. Nabal was so incensed that he had a cardiac arrest and died.

Due to the days in which he lived, a King’s power was often measured by how many wives he had in his harem. (That would make someone I know very, very weak!) And David married Abigail in recognition for saving him from something called “blood guilt”. He was loath to avenge himself by his own hand.

Saul, however, had continued his pursuit of David and had killed Ahimelech and his family for the kindness he had shone to David. The priest's son had escaped Saul and warned David to run from the enclosed town of Keilah, and David once again avoided Saul.

David and his men led the life of guerilla fighters in Judah. They offered protection to those who fed them and wrentched provisions from the uncooperative rich. Like Robin Hood, they shared with the poor, all the while harassing king Saul's men. In this rendering, the meal would be lentils and figs with goat's milk. Weapons and water flasks were enough of a burden to carry without the cares of food maintainence. Living on the run required a light travel bag.

Saul followed David and his men to the edge of the Dead Sea. He stopped to “drain the dragon” in a cave that held David and his men in the back, where they were hiding. David got close enough to have killed Saul, but refused to think of such a thing as he still held the King in his position.  Instead, he cut off part of Saul’s garment and then when Saul was a good distance away, he called to him, waving the garment piece, and displaying his innocence of any claim to the throne.

Saul was tearfully repentant upon the realization of what he had done, but still could not rid himself of his hatred for David. Such is the result of physical addiction to internal emotions. Later on David would again sneak into camp where Saul was sleeping, and took his spear. Easily the young King could have killed his tormentor, but instead he continued to hold him in honor.

Once again, David had spared the life of his aggressor.

More on this in the next installment   

Reviews by Hubie Goode: Ignoring Israel Part 8

Ignoring Israel


Part 8: Israel and America

There is a fence, a large concrete fence, that runs along the 1948 boundaries between the Israeli peoples and the Palestinians. It has caused an uproar around the world. It is there because of the many terrorist attacks and acts of violence that come from the West Bank and Gaza. Since the inception of Israel as a state, most American Presidents have been supportive of Israel, but they have all, in one way or another urged Israel not to build any kind of wall that would inhibit Palestinian traffic.

Many members of the American government and also some Israeli citizens, have taken offense at the Israeli action of inhibiting Palestinian traffic in and out of the country. Palestinian Authority flags were obvious in the many protests filmed by the news media during the wall’s construction. Their claim, as was also the claim of their supporters, was that they have a right to be able to come in and out of the country to find work and support for their own families and communities.

Many Israeli companies have no problem with the egress of Palestinians, as they are known to be hard workers, and often fill necessary jobs that Israeli citizens refuse to take. The problem, as is all too often the case, is that enemies of the state often use the same reasoning for entrance into Israel in order to launch terror attacks upon the citizenry.

As a person who lives in Southern California, this issue is all too real, and fascinatingly congruent. America also finds herself embroiled in debates about immigration, notably in relation to the building of fences and barriers along the Mexican border. Once again, this is a problem due to the millions of Mexicans who have crossed over into America illegally. They too take jobs many Americans would rather let them have, and many take them, but they also take the non taxed wages earned and send much of it back to their home countries. Many worry that this too increases the crime rate in America, and leaves a big hole of entry for those who would terrorize the nation. 

There are now such things as “Minuet Men” who patrol the border looking to capture and haul back across the border the illegal immigrants who attempt to cross over. It is estimated that there are about 12-14 million illegal immigrants living and working here in America, they were not born here and they take American money and jobs from citizens. With a homeless populace of approximately 300 million Americans, it is not hard to see how such an argument reaches beyond just the constitutional legalities. Also, as had happened in Israel, local Mexicalis could be seen protesting in the streets with large crowds waving the Mexican flag. 

These are only a few instances, as I had also mentioned in the last post, which illustrate what happens when America forgets who Israel is, and pressures her to act in ways that go against the plan of God. I seriously don’t know what more evidence someone could give for recognizing the many points of reality that are being displayed upon the world stage. What happens to  Israel, happens to America, and when it is America that places Israel at risk, she herself is visited by the same consequences Israel endures.

Only a country steeped in atheist education could ignore Israel and the results that come from attempting to manipulate her position. I worry a lot about the current administration and its attempts to have Israel give back land gained in the war of 1967. The Israeli Prime Minister answered in much the fashion as I myself predicted he would. “That simply isn’t going to happen”. It’s a hot topic I do hope that Mr. Obama abandons, but if he doesn’t, watch out folks!

There are those out there who have as their prime directive, the complete destruction of Israel, in fact they want to wipe them off the map. They want Israeli men, women and children slaughtered like cattle. Is it any wonder America suffered 9/11? Now America shares in the targeting by those who want our destruction. Is it because in the past we have supported Israel? Or would it have come anyway due to our capitalist society that is considered the “Great  Satan” of the world? This is hard to say specifically, but the facts of what is our reality due to terrorism, and that which we share with the nation of Israel, are far from merely being open to interpretation.

There are those who feel that the War with Iraq was the blowing of one of the prophetic trumpets of Revelation. This being due to the way the sky was blotted out when Sadam Hussein set fire to 17,000 oil wells in Kuwait. In the Bible, there is a telling of events in Kings that relates heavily to the story of the Gulf War. There is a man named Ben-Hadad who also comes against Israel, and his name means “fierce”. Saddam Hussein’s name actually means “destroyer”, his mother so calling him that, it is reported because of the difficult time she had giving him birth. It is said that there are many similarities between the two events of the Ben-Hadad war with Israel and also America’s war with Iraq. But the thing we need to keep in mind for our day and time is that Iraq is present day Babylon, and the histories of Israel, America and Babylon/Iraq continue to this day to be entwined in events that effect the world.

Yassir Arafat, a leader of the PLO, once met with American President William Jefferson Clinton in the early 1990’s to assuage Muslim forces that assisted in the first Gulf War. Several years later the government used tactics on Israel that it would not employ itself if the positions were reversed and forced Israel to sign a peace treaty with someone they considered a known terrorist. The Madrid Conference of 1991, coerced Israel into peace negotiations with the Palestinians.

Despite his involvement in the Olympics terrorism that saw Israeli athletes snipered to death, America still sought to have Israel make peace with a man who had become an underground gun runner seeking Israeli destruction, and also a supporter of Saddam Hussein during the first War with Iraq. No need to spell out the history of the “Decade from Hell” that has befallen America from 2000 to 2011, and still seems to be continuing today. Arafat himself threw up and died in a Paris hospital in the early part of the decade. The cause of his death is still considered unknown. 

Former President Jimmy Carter met with leaders of Hamas, a known terrorist organization, in the spring of 2008; a year known for its close call re-enactment of the “Great Depression” here in America. The very existence of Hamas is geared toward eradicating the people of Israel from Palestine. Their Prime directive is to “liberate” Jerusalem from its occupiers, an area known to them as al Quds. Jerusalem is the planned site for the capitol of the new Palestinian state.

When Carter was there, an earthquake hit West Salem, Illinois that shook the middle of the country. No need to point out the name Salem, and the name Jerusalem.

But are these events of America’s actions in dealing with Israel and Israel’s enemies truly a cause and effect or are they just events that happen randomly and can be place together by “linking the dots” on the time line grid? It does, of course, make a difference from what perspective you are coming from when considering the events of history.

But the trail of American and Israeli involvement goes back in history like no other. There are those who speculate that the Japan tsunami may have had something to do with Japan insisting on the rebuilding on the West Bank. Japan doesn’t have that historical link, so I am not a believer in any direct cause and effect in this case. The whole Earth is increasing in disasters of this type due to the end times we live in, and I think that this is a better explanation.

But I will say this, that Israel is more and more a burden to America, and the future of her will be intrinsically tied to how the United States deals with Israel in relation to her own Biblical history.

more to come, but not much more ;-)

Reviews by Hubie Goode: Historicity of the Old Testament Part 5

 

Historicity 

of the Old Testament

part 5

One of the things discussed in my post about the Historicity of the NEW TESTAMENT was the continuing witness of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper by early Christians as having been a linchpin to which scripture was accepted by these churches as being authentic when copies of scripture were presented to them years after the initial events. These two ordinances were established by Christ himself and then adopted by new believers as they became part of new churches and then spread out into the surrounding society. Had this not been the case, the New Testament, which describes the establishment of the ordinances, would never have been received as genuine in the first years of the church. They would have instead been rejected out right as false, due to the fact that the establishment was already in force and also had been relayed as being from other sources, and not Christ himself; if indeed these ordinances were in force at all. And if they had not even existed, then the rejection of scripture would have been even more of a non-event. But that is NOT what happened.

The Passover ceremony reflects in many ways the same sort of witness when it comes to the Old Testament. Higher critics attribute these books to other writers and priests hundreds of years after the life of Moses. The implication flatly stating that Moses existence is in dispute.

The book of Exodus describes in great detail the directions of God concerning the Passover celebration and its yearly observance. It delineates the events of the first Passover and Israel’s miraculous delivery from Egypt, which is commanded to be remembered by the children of Israel every year.

But suppose NONE of this had really happened. In supposed fact, let’s say a group of priests who lived about 700 A.D. got together to promote a formalized system of worship they had created in order to solidify their control over the populace of its day. They then developed a body of religious literature, with the help of various sources, in particular cementing their own position of religious power.  They then attributed the authority of scripture to the writing of Moses for the “name dropper” effect of credibility.

But, this would have been immediately rejected by those for whom the writing was intended as soon as the Passover feast was presented, for such a thing had NEVER been established, and the people would have known how phony the whole thing was. The response of course, would be that the documents which ordered the Passover observance had been lost in antiquity and therefore the feast was unfortunately forgotten with time. Many hard headed Israelites would have been reticent to ignore this decree as the documents describe an expensive and demanding priestly rule and restriction. They would have demanded firm proof of the authorship of Moses before ever coming under the “totalitarian” demands of scripture. Kings and rulers would have been especially dismissive as the books relay a rule by God over the people and not my a monarchy, as the governmental structure of the nation. The priests presenting these papers to the people would have been condemning themselves as the documents describe the necessity of the priesthood as the keepers of the religious institutions of Israel and were therefore no longer trustworthy.

The documents also describe the creation of other institutions such as, the Tabernacle, perpetual offerings, annual feasts and also the Levitical priesthood themselves. In fact, the priesthood was NOT to own land, as their inheritance comes from God, and this would have put a crimp in the power mongers for sure. None of these could have been instituted on the basis of rediscovery of ancient text, as they often punish the presenters themselves.

But let’s say that all these institutions had sprung up on their own with no help from Moses. Then the priesthood itself decided to crystallize them all with the creation of scriptures. In real life, effects require causes, and believability asserts that it is more likely that Moses delivered these decrees to the nation of Israel than it is that such “anit-egocentric” writing was easily accepted as truth. Due to the nature of the story line involved, the facts of the story are central to the existence of Israel itself, and therefore the institutions would have to have happened, and or been written about, but in any case established, immediately after the formation of the nation. 

However if the histories really took place, if Moses was actually the great leader and lawgiver that scripture indicates, then the institution of the Passover and the other articles of practice would never have been accepted by the people unless they corresponded with what they already knew to be true without great evidential proof of Moses’ authorship.

The writers could have been the most clever deceivers and charlatans ever known to mankind. They somehow made it all up! The creation, Earth’s history, the moving lives of the patriarchs, thrilling stories of Israel’s deliverance from Egypt and then wandering in the desert for forty years, everyone dying in the desert and never seeing the promised land, the Ten Commandments and their impossible moral code which only points toward mankind’s complete inability to place himself in good standing before God. For thousands of years now, the world has been duped!

It is higher critics who have really been exposed here. Can anyone who reasons in such a way really be an honest man? Our neighbor’s true nature is plain to see for each of us and any tome which was “made up” that does not speak to the ego of man in some way, but instead to his pathetic fallen existence before God, would have been long forgotten.

The Old and New Testament stand! The testimony of the Passover. The unanimous acceptance of scripture by the early Christian church and their Jewish counterparts. The careful studies of Bible scholars. The penetrating discoveries of scientific archeology. The impact of the Old Testament on all of world history. The testimony of Christ himself.  All these thing unite in a message that the Old Testament, and in fact the Bible itself, is undeniably true.

Reviews by Hubie Goode: Historicity of the New Testament Part 7

Historicity of 

the New Testament

part 7

Other amazing demonstrations of validity of the New Testament rendering of Christ are also revealed in the historical vindication of statements made by Christ himself.

In John 18, Jesus identifies himself as the “light of the world.” This seems on the surface as megalomania gone awry. If someone said that today, they would be ushered to the funny farm post haste, especially if they were a world leader or someone with position and power. Jesus, however, was nothing at the time except a lowly carpenter with a rag tag crew of followers.

Yet this insane assertion, made either by the carpenter’s son himself or perhaps by the writer for the fictional character he was creating, has been remarkably fulfilled for two thousand years as  directed prophesy. The world’s greatest paintings, most beautiful music and literature have all been influenced by the person of Jesus Christ.

Think about the man who lived by the pool for 38 years while people came and went for healing of their bodies. Every time the waters would stir, someone would beat him to it. He believed he could not get himself there to be healed. Where was the Peace Corps? Where was the Christian Children’s fund? Can you think of ANY historically recorded charity from the past, even in the Roman Empire, who made an impact for the poor and down trodden? Where is the “Mother Teresa” of the past? They don’t exist.

Most of the world’s Hospitals, great educational institutions and charitable organizations have been created in His name. This is also true of social reforms such as the abolition of slavery. There have been millions over the last two centuries who have found that following Jesus affords them the opportunity to receive the light of life.

Realistically, instead of the ravings of some ego maniac, or philosophizing fictional character, the words of Christ have been proven, by historical revelation, to have been the sanest and truest words ever spoken.

Christ also says, “Heaven and Earth shall pass away, but not one word, not one stroke of a pen of my word shall ever pass away.” Who would he be to think that an obscure carpenter’s son, from some despised nation with only a few close allies who really knew him, would have anything to say that wold interest the entire world? We’d tell him to get a life.

And yet, for two thousand years, his words have NOT passed away. They have been heard and read and loved by more people in more nations all over the world than any other person who has ever lived.

As I have said, the Romans had no charities, and condemned criminals where slowly tortured to death on a cross for crimes against the state. Jesus told his followers that he too would be killed in this way. This certainly doesn’t bring anyone a vision of something to be looked forward to. In fact just the opposite is true, this kind of death was best not to be witnessed at all and quickly forgotten.

Christ told his followers that if he be lifted up on the cross, that he would draw all men to himself. Sure enough, grave yards are full of crosses over tombs all over the world. People from every walk of life, every nation, every level of education, every age, every level of wealth, have been drawn to the cross. Who could have predicted such a thing within human reason??? But there it is, littered across the landscape of history all over the world.

Jesus also said; “Upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it.” This is an impossible claim that also has been fulfilled in history. That a group of followers lead by an ignorant and impulsive fisherman (Peter), would be perpetuated and multiplied despite opposition and intense persecution  from all sides, is a pipe dream at best. Even more ridiculous is the notion that this church would be built upon Peter’s belief the Jesus was the Son of God.  But the dream continues even to this day.

Jesus also predicted that knowledge of him would reach the “ends of the Earth”. This too would seem a lunatic’s rhetoric given the times and impossibility of the notion during that time. But today, tech developments have seen to it that this same Word from an obscure carpenter are heard all over the known world, and still this continues.

Amazingly, there is nothing that has been said in Christ’s name that has NOT come true. Some things have yet to manifest, but there is NO record of something having failed.

Ezekiel 11:19
I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh.

One need only read of the outlandish human rights tragedies that are common place in the Old Testament to see that indeed something else has happened to mankind since the life of Christ  graced the Earth.

Just a few outrageous examples, or at least ones WE would call outrageous: Samson has a first wife whom he at first likes, then she gives him trouble. He has her burned as a result, or set on fire, if you will. Jezebel is a woman who seeks power where there is none for her, she is killed, and her body thrown to the dogs. All they find left of her is her hands and her head. A king has 70 sons, or  princes, and when he is disposed, all the sons are killed, then beheaded, and the skulls are separated into two bags and brought to the gates of the city and placed into two piles at the doors. These were probably kids, too. When Joshua was told to invade the land of Canaan, he was told to slaughter even the women and children, and then burn everything.

Ask yourself a question: If God the Father told YOU to run down helpless women and children with a sword and slaughter them, could you do it? Joshua was obedient of course, but had no problem with it. This is the way the world was. People back then knew no human rights, no social reforms, no charity. Yet today, our answer to God would probably be “No, I won’t slaughter children, even for greater reasons God may have.” Because, you know, Jesus would never ask you to do that. The world of that day also did not have the Holy Spirit raining down on them. Today you have a heart of flesh that those people did not know of, they only knew a heart of stone and had to be dealt with accordingly.

Ezekiel 11:19
I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh.

Where did you get that heart of flesh?

All these things we have reviewed have no rational explanation if Jesus was not who He said he was, God come in the Flesh. You can’t get away with the assertion that the writers exaggerated his claims or miss quoted him. The writers were not idiots, they would have been shocked by the lunatic fringe rhetoric they were hearing, and they would have softened things up a bit to make Jesus’ words more acceptable. The claims have been fulfilled, whether Jesus said them or not. You can’t charge the now dead writer’s with manufacturing the fulfillments. If Christianity were false, and incorrectly represented as is claimed by many all over the world, then this is a greater miracle than if we were just reviewing the Words of Christ and the resulting truths of reality that follow, all on thier own.

Reviews by Hubie Goode: Historicity of the New Testament Part 6

Historicity of 
the New Testament


part 6

In the other parts of this post we have seen that the New Testament writings are indeed authentic, written around the middle of the first century by men who were intelligent, stable and sincere in what they wrote about. They had full access to the facts that they were reporting and they were firmly convinced that the one about whom they wrote was God in the flesh. His words were uniquely perfect, the first time, and he performed mighty miracles, not the least of which was his victory over death by his own bodily resurrection. 

Now if none of this were true, then the only other explanation that fits is that Jesus himself was a great deceiver who so baffled them with bull that they believed he was perfect in word and deed. He also fooled them into believing he had walked on water, gave sight to the blind and raised Lazarus from the dead. He then concocted the “Passover plot” and fooled them into thinking he had been crucified, buried and then rose again from the dead. Then, outdoing David Copperfield’s best work, he rose from Earth into heaven. 

This is, of course, absurd on so many levels. If such great deceptions are really the way things happened, then Jesus is even MORE marvelous than what the disciples reported of him. Make no bones about it, if we are talking about deception here, then Christ was indeed the greatest charlatan and deceiver in all history. 

The truth is however, that even those who refuse to acknowledge his deity report him to have been one of the greatest teachers, by word and deed that the world has ever known. The “paper trail” that Christ has left us has been the greatest force for good that the world has ever known. Unless his character is exactly what is reported in the New Testament, then there is no way to find truth in this world. Life is devoid of meaning and God is truly dead if scripture is all a big put on. 

Christian churches everywhere practice two important ceremonies. These are the ordinance of baptism and the remembrance of the Last Supper. Baptism being a part of Christ’s integral great commission which is conferred upon all new believers, and the Lord’s Supper commemorates his sacrificial death. 

Down through the ages the churches have always practiced these two instructions. The New Testament authorizes this. These two have a particular witness of their own, not shared by other events recorded in the New Testament. These two practices actually come BEFORE the writing down of the New Testament, and are recorded historically, mostly due to the fact that Christ himself initiated their practice. 

Let’s just say for instance you and I are the church at Phillipi, the Philippians, if you will. This church existed for about 20 years after its founding before it began to receive epistles from Paul, and it would be another ten years before it received a copy of one of the Gospels. 

During this time it was guided by the teachings of its founder, and also by other teachers that God had sent their way as those who would feed his sheep. These teachings included baptism and also the remembrance of the Last Supper. Philip would have of course stressed the importance of following these decrees and then when they received epistles and then Gospels, they would have become even more resolute in their faith. 

However, let’s say that this was NOT the case, they had NOT been lead all this time to observe these two ordinances by the leadership of the church. Suddenly, they receive the Gospel of Matthew, or Paul’s letter to the Corinthians. Their response would of course be to perceive the Gospel and epistle as fake and a fraud and reject them right out. These two ceremonies would NOT have been known ahead of time as something that had been established by Christ himself, and therefore would have appeared as fiction writing ever since. 

Authenticity of any writings about Christ could never have been accepted at all by any church from the beginning, and we would never have known the Bible we know today. There is no other way to have documented the practice of these two ordinances except as they are described in the New Testament. The churches would never have been persuaded to begin practicing these two ordinances by books or teachers who told them they had already been practicing them since the days of Christ, if in fact they knew that was not so. Therefore, the ordinances WERE established by Christ himself, and the New Testament writings which tell about them are indeed authentic. 

But what about the demonstration of truth in history itself? More on this in part 7. Oo! Seven! I like that number. ;-)

Reviews by Hubie Goode: Historicity of the New Testament Part 5

Historicity of 

the New Testament

Part 5

When we consider the things that we have already covered, then the authenticity and the authorship of the New Testament can be considered firmly established. General accuracy can also be established as well as their internal consistency as confirmed by linguistic and archeological studies. This CAN and HAS been done by intelligent and considered studies.

Skeptics and those who choose to be atheists have however, sought to escape the impact of these studies by charging the writers with fraud, and the text with muddy antiquity, that is to say, they have thrown their hands up in surrender as to any truth being retained based solely on the number of years that have past since the writer’s inception. Their contention is that the writers were interested in being the leaders of some new religious and/or political movement and they conspired to create a type of “Superman” who would fulfill the Savior and Messiah position that was promised for hundreds of years by their ancestral writings. As representatives, the main proponents would then exercise authority and power of the one they supported.

Such a supposition, however, belongs to the school of straw grasping and pandering to those with the weakest intellectual ability to direct for themselves any cognitive investigations independent of so called “outside expertise”. 

Let’s take a look at discrediting these notions.

1) The conspiracy involves such a large number of people, of such diverse backgrounds, that a collusion on the part of all concerned is not even remotely possible. There were at the least eight different writers involved, not to mention a great deal of associated colleagues, and these wrote and lived at widely scattered times and places over a period of about 1500 years. (Considering all texts, not just the New Testament.) Watergate WAS a conspiracy, and look how quickly the whole thing fell apart.

2) Evidences of collusion are noticeably absent in the writings. Each writer gives his own independent witness, writing from his own perspective. On the surface, they often appear to contradict each other, and these contradictions are resolved by close study and cross examination of the testimonies. Many would point to this a evidence of irrelevance, but one cannot find the truth in these testimonies without following the course of rigourous testimonial investigation. To simply pass a casual judgement is to treat the subject with less than it requires and will ultimately say more about the investigatior’s own desire to know the truth than it does about the truth contained within the various testimonies themselves. 

3) Rather than containing their writings to generalities or perhaps only to individual experiences, a practice that would sufficiently evade long term investigation, the records instead team with public events and dates and places well known by the world at the time. 

4) An honest and candid reading of the New Testament texts does not lead one to fraudulent conclusions. The very atmosphere of the writings is drenched in the sincerity of the writers. If any of the writings are merely a wicked deception, then they are the texts of the greatest con men ever born to Earth. Con men who were eventually executed, almost to the man, for what they knew was really a lie, or perhaps as a result of their own mental instability, despite the absence of insanity that mad men usually display. Quite the feat to accomplish for what appears on the humanistic surface to have been all in vain. 

5) This willingness for the authors to suffer and die for what they knew is crowning proof. For they killed no one in some public outrage against the machine, but charged forward for the betterment of mankind itself while causing no harm, only to find martyrdom at the end of their ministries. John, of course, outlived them all, as was hinted at in the very scripture words of Christ himself, but he too found exile, if not martyrdom at the end of his life. Men die for unworthy causes that are a lie all the time, Nazi Germany being a prime example, but none of those men would have admitted they they knew it was all a lie. Those that did, either extracted themselves or they fought the cause. Unstable people fighting for a cause have an unfortunate habit of taking innocents with them in their drive to prove or defend their cause. It simply is not realistically possible, nor logically possible, that all these men would have sacrificed their lives, both the life itself and also their one and only voyage of life upon this Earth, for some grand illusion. 

The writers of the New Testament were sincere, intelligent men, firmly convinced of what they wrote. But were they just wrong? Were they victims of mass delusion? Were they unstable, easily convinced of their own emotional perceptions? Were they the biggest suckers since the audiences of P.T. Barnum?  Were miracles that they reported about simply a mass hallucination or mass suggestion? Were their minds just playing tricks on them?

One has to consider that the events were:

1) In the open. Crowds of people often surrounded them, and only a few miracles were done in hidden privacy. The feeding of the five thousand is reported in all four Gospels. 

2) Reported in a great variety of times and places, by many different people of diverse backgrounds. Mass delusion is never reported in this way.

3) Written up by men not regularly associated with hallucinations or a lack of credibility. Paul was a highly educated Levite, with a careful and  articulate mind. His writings bear this out. Luke was a physician and detail oriented historian. Matthew was a politician and tax assessor. James was the leader of the early church in Jerusalem. 

4) Accepted by great numbers of people who, due to the intense persecution of their faith, would have been highly motivated to make every effort to make sure the claims of the early Apostles about the person of Christ were accurate. If the Apostles had been nothing more than deluded fanatics, you and I would have never been sitting here discussing this today. When everyone died, that would have been the end of it. 

So what about the character of Christ himself?  Was he the greatest deceiver ever known?  More in Part 6.