Bible Reading: 1 Machabees 4:36-51

Just to give you some context, this is a historical book that centers around the history of the Jews while under the command of Judas Machabeus and his brethren. The Jews were persecuted and occupied by a number of invaders, and Rome was on the horizon, though they were not yet conquered by Rome. The scripture I am including here describes how the Jews recaptured a holy place and see the desecration that had taken place, and how they respond. These events are less than two hundred years before Jesus was born.

1 Machabees 4:36-51

Then Judas and his brethren said: Behold our enemies are discomfited. Let us go up now to cleanse the holy places and to repair them. And all the army assembled together, and they went up into mount Sion.

And they saw the sanctuary desolate, and the altar profaned, and the gates burnt, and shrubs growing up in the courts as in a forest or on the mountains, and the chambers joining to the temple thrown down.

And they rent their garments, and made great lamentation, and put ashes on their heads, and they fell down to the ground on their faces, and they sounded with the trumpets of alarms, and they cried towards heaven.

Then Judas appointed men to fight against them that were in the castle, till they had cleansed the holy places. And he chose priests without blemish, whose will was set upon the law of God: and they cleansed the holy places, and took away the stones that had been defiled into an unclean place.

And he considered about the altar of holocausts that had been profaned, what he should do with it. And a good counsel [remember counsel is one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit] came into their minds to pull it down, lest it should be a reproach to them, because the Gentiles had defiled it; so they threw it down.

And they laid up the stones in the mountain of the temple in a convenient place, till there should come a prophet, and give answer concerning them. And they took whole stones according to the law, and built a new altar according to the former. And they built up the holy places, and the things that were within the temple, and they sanctified the temple and the courts.

And they made new holy vessels, and brought in the candlestick, and the altar of incense, and the table into the temple. And they put incense upon the altar, and lighted up the lamps that were upon the candlestick, and they gave light in the temple. And they set the loaves upon the table, and hung up the veils, and finished all the works they had begun to make.


This is one of my favorite passages in the Bible that deals with historical events. There are several reasons I love how these events were recorded in the scripture, which Catholics consider part of the sacred canon of the Bible, while Jews (who do celebrate the memory of these events in their sacred calendar) and Protestants do not consider it part of the canon. The first reason that I love this passage is that it allows the reader over two thousand years later to look over the shoulders of these soldiers and witness their response when they see how their holy places and God's house were profaned. Soldiers were extremely pious. They were distraught at the profanity they had found.

Second they then get down to business and restore the sanctity of the place. Again one is able to look over the shoulder of the leader, Judas, as he considers how to handle the resanctification of the holy place. Here is a mention of the Holy Spirit giving him counsel, advising him to tear down the sacred altar because having been profaned it cannot remain as it is without being a blemish and a shame to those who would worship there. At the same time, though, Judas realizes that deciding what to do with the removed stones of the altar is beyond him or anyone alive among the Jews, and so they put the stones aside "till there should come a prophet, and give answer concerning them."

This shows two things. One is that the Jews continued to have faith that God would send a prophet when it is time, and so even though it had been very long since a prophet had arisen from God among the people, with confidence they put aside this complex and thorny decision for the next prophet. Secondly it shows their great humility. No one pushed forward and declared themselves to be "wise" enough to know what to do with the profaned stones, or claim to be "channeling" God (yikes) as we see so often today among the multitude of false prophets abroad around the globe. This is why I share this passage with you because it is a crucial part of understanding a genuine relationship with God.

Another thing I love is the loving care where they record how they sanctify and restore the temple, the courts and the altar. They understand that this is God's home, because wherever an altar is sanctified to him, God commits that his presence is there.

I hope you have enjoyed this reading and come to love it as much as I do. And remember that though they did not live to see it, around one hundred and fifty years after these events a prophet came to the Jews indeed, however he was the Messiah himself, Jesus Christ.

Oh, and here is something else to share with you. Chapters four and five describe how Judas fights against all the various oppressors, retaking lands that had been captured. On one particular day this is written:

1 Machabees 5:67

In that day some priests fell in battle, while desiring to do manfully they went out unadvisedly to fight.

This is just information about what had happened, not a hidden message or exhortation about the role of priests. But it does tell you, if you want to understand Biblical times better, that while no one stopped priests from fighting with the army, it was a very rare event because priests are the precious role of serving God and are not, in general, considered as military resources. Lest anyone imagine a role of "fighting priest," I include this passage to show you there is no Biblical justification for warrior priests at all.

Understanding the prophets and saints

As I've blogged before, I have been very concerned that modern people do not really understand the characteristics or motivations of genuine, truly genuine, prophets and saints. You know what I mean? Many think of prophets and saints as being like "super heroes," with "super powers." That is totally wrong. First of all, the prophets and saints do not have "super powers." All that is done, even the miracles performed by Jesus Christ himself, is the power of God and God alone acting through the Savior, as through the prophets and also the saints.

But many modern people, especially those who fall into error, heresy and occult practices, think of prophets and saints as magicians, seers, "gifted," and of heroic tendency. By heroic I mean the type of secular, fantasy, science fiction type of "heroic," rather than the heroism that yes, indeed, many did exhibit.

So I found a wonderful verse from Jeremia when I first opened the Bible tonight (determined to do at least one useful blog as it has been several days since I've last posted). Jeremia was a prophet, called to God's service at a very young age (a role model, my young readers, reference what I wrote before, that while the average lifespan of most people was not beyond forty years old, at thirty one is able to be considered an "elder," and thus Jeremia is known to have been younger than thirty!) He was born around 650 BC in a priestly family, and he supported the pious King Josia who was trying to reform the Israelites and bring them back to a closer, purer relationship with God. Thus Jeremia had to battle against many false prophets and idolaters who were corrupting the people, destroying the truth of the faith, and also drawing God's growing wrath upon themselves. He lived on in the ruins of Jerusalem after Israel was destroyed by the Babylonians, until he was exiled by those who still clung to the very errors that had alienated God from Israel in the first place, and he probably died as a result of foul play during exile.

This passage gives you insight into what a real prophet or saint feels about a people who have gone astray, violently, profanely astray, from the purity and truth of their relationship with God.

Jeremia 8:18-23
My grief is incurable, my heart within me is faint. Listen! the cry of the daughter of my people, far and wide in the land! Is the Lord no longer in Sion, is her King no longer in her midst? [Why do they provoke me with their idols, with their foreign nonentities?] "The harvest has passed, the summer is at an end, and yet we are not safe!" I am broken by the ruin of the daughter of my people. I am disconsolate; horror has seized me. Is there no balm in Galaad, no physician there? Why grows not new flesh over the wound of the daughter of my people? Oh, that my head were a spring of water, my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night over the slain of the daughter of my people!

Before I comment and explain more about what he is so movingly feeling and saying, let me remind you of one thing, and tell many of you who have not studied this book of the Bible something else. The first thing to remind you is that as an Old Testament prophet, Jeremia had direct conversation with God himself. True prophets are saddened and alarmed by what they learn from God, not puffed up with their own self importance and "calling" or "mission." That is because when one sees through God's eyes, and hears from God's own lips to one's own ears, one realizes how very terribly wrong much of what humans have done has become. One is alarmed and freaked out, not writing books about "what heaven is 'really'" like or bragging about how one is a "seer" who "channels" the "universe" or whatever. When one hears directly from God it's not because it is report card time and God is handing out A+ on people's term papers. It is because things have really gotten out of hand and the people are in danger of their mortality, their health, their well being, their lives, and their very souls and salvation. So Jeremia is sad and in grief because he knows exactly the terrible continual self inflicted fix that the nation AND the individual people are in, and how God's wrath and judgment is inevitable.

The second thing that I want to point out to those who don't know this about the Book of Jeremia is that the famous statement by God about the sanctity of the preborn human being, the fetus, the embryo, is stated herein:

Jeremia 1:5
Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I dedicated you, a prophet to the nations I appointed you.

As I have explained before in my blogging and in conversations with people, God states here (and alludes to it elsewhere in the scriptures) that God himself creates the soul of each person before the embryo starts to form in the womb. In other words, God knows each soul, creating it individually and sending it at the moment of conception and implantation in the womb, as it grows its first cells but is not yet formed (the shape of the person to be.) So, yes, that "blob" is a person with a soul. Now, because this scripture is from the statement by God when he first calls Jeremia to serve him as prophet, God goes a step further and tells Jeremia that at that time God dedicated Jeremia's new born soul (dedicates him to serving God) AND appointed him specifically to this great task of being a prophet to the nations. Notice the "to the nations." This means not only that Jeremia dealt with several kingdoms during his time alive, but that God is foretelling to Jeremia that his words of prophecy will live on to "the nations."

So this explains to you the anguish that Jeremia feels as a prophet on behalf of his people, in Jeremia 8-18-23. He compares the people who are ruining themselves and their relationship to God with the image of a daughter crying. At this point Jeremia has already gone through much effort to fight the corruption and the rampant idolatry and worship of pagan gods, and is definitely suffering. No matter how much Jeremia warns the people with the most dire and most stern prophecies of the evil and woe to come, the people defy him, and the King, and others who may have been trying to reform and purify the Israelites.

The first and foremost characteristic of genuine, true prophets is agony and panic over disobedient people, because they know full well the measure of God's disappointment with their faithlessness (and how much it grieves the Holy Spirit of God) AND the wrath to come. Genuine prophets feel grief as a broken heartedness, far worse than being jilted by a lover or betrayal by a family member. This is why he says that his "grief is incurable" and his heart is "faint." It is difficult to describe seeing individuals and an entire nation be not only bent on their own self destruction, but individually hell bent.

Because he has been at work for a long time already at trying to convert the people back to God, he views his prophetic assignment as being like a year with four seasons, and the spring and summer have already passed. "The harvest has passed, the summer is at an end, and yet we are not safe!" By this he means that people have waited too long, have waited too much time, and have not repented, reformed and converted back to God, and the harvest, both good and bad, has passed (normally a time of joy as good things are collected).

Again, Jeremia shows what genuine horror and anguish is within a true prophet of God who sees most clearly through God's eyes and God's voice how far everyone has strayed and the terrible price they will bring upon their own heads. He says "I am broken by the ruin," "I am disconsolate" and "Horror has seized me." True prophets are flabbergasted when people ignore God's very own interventions and warnings.

He then asks, rhetorically, why traditional ways of medicine and healing do not work. He does not mean this literally; he means that nothing that should work to turn the people from their evil deeds seems to work. He alludes to a city, Galaad, that is famous for it's healing balm, asking if they have run out of balm. He asks if there are no doctors to be found. He asks why a wound does not heal the way it normally does on a body, when new flesh grows in the place of the wound and the scar. So he is using three analogies of healing a bodily wound, describing a place where there is no salve (what they used for pills at the time), no doctors, and wounds will not heal, to describe how nothing that the righteous, such as himself, do to warn and convert the people to repentance and change works as it should. Jeremia of course knows the reason: the people have gone too far and have become too arrogant and hard hearted. But he describes with wonderful clarity the topsy turvey situation where God's own direct word to his own people is ignored repeatedly, and their behavior only worsens.

Jeremia then uses the vivid and so sad image where he wishes that his entire head were turned into a stream of water so that he could do nothing but shed tears and weep over the people.

THAT, my friends, is the sign of the inner thoughts and feelings of a genuine, true prophet of God, and of saints that are also of similar assignment.

By the way, notice that God interjects a thought to Jeremia while Jeremia is writing or dictating these words! When Jeremia asks, again, rhetorically, because he knows the answer, if God, as God and King, has left the people, God asks him, rhetorically at the same time, "Why do they provoke me with their idols, with their foreign nonentities?" You are reading here a snapshot, an x-ray, an electrocardiogram of what it is like to be in the head and heart of a true, grieving prophet AND then also witnessing how God interjects conversation and thoughts right in the midst of the prophet's own thoughts!

How can anyone think that they, despite what the Bible states, which is that there are no further prophets being sent by God, and that there is one life, one soul, per person, that they "might" be some reincarnated "foreign entity," "saint," "prophet," etc. when the entire focus of such a person is antagonistic to the instincts, thoughts and feelings of true prophets, which is to frantically herd people back CLOSER to the true God, before disaster befalls them? I am astonished at how antagonistic modern deluded people who think they are "messengers" or "gifted" are to God, thinking that they are super heroes on their own mission. Yeah, for Satan maybe, LOL, since that's the results of false prophets.

My friends, the information and the truth is repeatedly found, no matter what the question or the situation, in the Bible. People did not write things such as Jeremia did to "push a religion," or to be "an expert," since those concepts simply did not exist at the time. Jeremia was dutifully recording all that God told him and all that he tried to do in his assignment as prophet, at the time when the hammer was about to fall on Israel, in punishment, resulting in its destruction and taking of the people in captivity to Babylon. What a time to be a prophet! But see, that is the whole point of being a prophet. A prophet, a true Old Testament prophet, is the last life line, the last chance to repent and convert and return to God. It's not some "gifting" of ESP or whatever so that people can be false prophets who march others away from God and toward their own cults and mistaken beliefs.

I really recommend that you read the Book of Jeremia with this insight because it will give you an entire freshness in your understanding of both God, his patience and his mercy, and how it will run out as judgment becomes the only option, AND what it is actually "like" to be a genuine Old Testament prophet.

In closing, be sure to note Jeremia 9:22-25. Read the whole Book but if you only have time in the near term, read those three passages. In them God states first of all where true glory is found, and how people who find that true glory will receive his mercy and do please him very much. He then warns that he will soon demand a complete accounting. Now, remember, rather than have "rolls of church membership" as we have today, when God alludes to the entire body of the faithful, he calls them the circumcised (even though, of course, women are not circumcised), but it is the visible sign of following the Law and identifying the body of the "church," so to speak, of the time. God warns then that both Israel and the pagan nations are alike because they are "uncircumcised in heart."

This needs to be studied by those who wonder how they can 'believe' yet still find themselves in a lot of trouble when they die and are judged by God. The Israelites were circumcised, but God warns against those who outwardly seem faithful but are "uncircumcised in heart" Jeremia 9:25.

I hope that you have found this helpful, encouraging if you are genuinely seeking to draw closer to the true God, and disquieting if you have taken too much upon your own self in regard to determining what is "enough" or is "right" "quantities" of faith, belief or works. Don't be circumcised in the body, even calling upon the name of Jesus, yet be uncircumcised in the heart, and thus calling upon Jesus with hypocrisy and deliberate falseness.

Young people.... as always I hope this helps to guide to you understanding what is printed there in black and white, but is so misunderstood in these times.

Bible reading: Luke 1:51-52

He has shown might with his arm, he has scattered the proud in the conceit of their heart.
He has put down the mighty from their thrones, and has exalted the lowly.

Bible reading: Heeding God's warnings

God explained to the prophet Ezekiel that genuine prophets are like watchmen who warn of danger, while false prophets are like watchmen who do not warn the people of an impending threat.

Ezekiel 33

1 Again the word of the Lord came unto me, saying

2 Son of man, speak to the children of thy people and say unto them, When I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man of their coasts, and set him for their watchman:

3 If when he seeth the sword come upon the land, he blow the trumpet and warn the people;

4 Then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, and taketh not warning, if the sword come and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head...

5...But he that taketh warning shall deliver his soul.

See, God is using several analogies that people of those times would have well understood. God compares his righteous wrath-God's punishment of humans for sin and disobedience-to a sword bearing raider.

This would have resonated to those times where people lived in great danger of raids and attacks, especially from along the sea and coastline. So the people would have understood that God's wrath can come very quickly and without warning.

However, because God is fair and perfect in his justice, God sends legitimate prophets to warn the people of their sin. So the second analogy is that a prophet such as Ezekiel is like a night watchman who is alert and on guard while the people are asleep.

This would also have resonated with people of Biblical times, as people then could not sleep with the security that many take for granted today. A gated city with a trusted watchman was a great comfort and indeed a necessity. So a prophet like Ezekiel who warns exactly what God is wrathful about and will righteously punish transgressors allows people who are just to know that the "watchman" will warn in time to find safety.

So the third analogy is that those who hear the watchman's warning that the "sword" is coming (punishment for sin is nigh) but do not flee (run from sinning, but "remain" in sin) have only themselves to blame for the chastisement.

In other words, those who ignore the legitimate Biblical prophets, not only during their time but in the future as scripture is read, are like people who ignore the warning call of the watchman, and thus, in not fleeing to safety, have only themselves to blame for the shedding of their own blood (or whatever form God's chastisement takes, which may well be in the form of being cast into hell upon one's sudden death).

Then God compares the good watchman to the negligent watchman.

6. But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman's hand.

The only negligent prophet is the false prophet, as God has just explained that the true prophet is like a watchman who sounds the warning. False prophets do not warn the people of either their sins or of the impending certain chastisement. So they are truly like a watchman who looks the other way and does not warn when the sword comes. God explains that both the sinners AND the watchman-the false prophets or, to put it in modern terms, the negligent preachers or deniers of God-will be chastised.

Notice, then, how clearly God speaks and explains the role and responsibility to Ezekiel. Anyone who lived during those times would have totally understood this analogy. God then summarizes to Ezekiel.

7. So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth, and warn them from me.

In other words, God has appointed Ezekiel the watchman for all of Israel, meaning that all the faithful MUST heed Ezekiel's warnings, given in full authority from God himself.

Far from being mysterious, you can see how clearly God explains not only his "doctrine," in the sense of how and what he expects from the faithful, but he also helps those he calls upon to fully understand their responsibilities. If you read the rest of Ezekiel 33 you will see that God continue to explain for many verses this very analogy of responsibility, repeating examples of those who heed the watchman and those who do not, and of the good watchman and his responsibilities, and the punishment that will be meted out to the negligent watchman.

There is no reason moderns cannot understand quite fully and clearly this warning. One need only think of the modern watchman, such as the technology of the burglar alarm, for a similar analogy. Who wants to sleep with a false burglar alarm, trusting in it when it does not work? That is what the assurances of the false prophet, or the unbeliever, or the "soft" preacher who does not understand that God can and will chastise for sin is like, a burglar alarm that says that the perimeter is safe and that one's family is secure, when in fact the very opposite is true. Blame must also be put on those who put their family in reliance of a faulty system, if one is to use this analogy in modern terms. In this case it would be like the family who deliberately does not place batteries in their fire detectors.

But you see, this is one reason the Bible is ageless. You should not update the Bible to modern analogies because they just do not, as you see above, capture the nuance of the personal relationships of citizens/watchman. It is the responsibility of the Bible reader to understand the analogy in the terms that God himself placed them in in the first place and thus one will be more likely to avoid error. There is no misunderstanding a negligent watchman, a human being, while moderns can split hairs over technical analogies (such as placing batteries in fire detectors) and thus try to word smith and tech analogy their way out of salvation and righteousness through inadvertent or deliberate misunderstanding.

I hope that you have found this helpful.

Reflections on my father's prophesy re: Israel

I want to tell you about the one and only time that my father prophesied. First of all, do understand that prophesying is not “fortune telling” or being a “psychic,” and it is not the use of human extra-sensory perception (ESP). To prophesy means that one is uttering a truth that is provided to you directly by God. Thus the prophets were speaking something on behalf of God, not on behalf of their own wisdom or from supposed arcane sources.

To prophesy only once is not unusual. Most of the Biblical prophets lived years of average pious lives and then receive their calling from God, and sometimes it is only once that they are called upon to prophesy. Prophets do not, in other words, establish themselves in the “prophecy” business. People who needed consistent guidance did not go to prophets, who only spoke on God’s behest, but they went to what the Bible calls “wise” men or women. Among the Israelites wise men or women were pious and steeped in the faith; they were not “smart” due to arcane or secular studies.

Anyway, my dad was a totally average guy of his times, though he was what some might call “deep.” My cousin said that my dad had a genius IQ, but in keeping with his times he dropped out of school in the eighth grade in order to work and help support the family (this would be when he was thirteen years old and would have been in the early part of the 1900’s). So even though he had a smart mind and a keen interest in the world, and fought in the American army in World War II (where he met the woman who would become my mother) the one time he prophesied really stands out. My mother and I were reminiscing about this a few years ago while we watched the news one evening.

Around sixty years ago when the UN made their determination to partition Palestine and establish the state of Israel, my father turned to my mother (who as a war refugee was still learning English and was not much on politics). He pointed out to her what was going on and said to her, “Do you see what is happening? Remember this day. What is happening is going to be a great sorrow and how they are doing this is a great mistake. In the future remember what I said.”

My mother says how after my dad died in the 1960’s, she has watched what has happened and marveled how he prophesied this, telling her to think on that day, just as he said. And so a few years ago we watched the news and she recalled once again what he had said.

My father who has enormous street credibility as he put his life on the line-and was wounded-fighting the Nazis he was certainly not being anti-Jewish. He prophesied the disaster that would come from the approach that was taken sixty years ago and how it would only create woe and destroy the peace. This is one reason I am so angry and irate about what is going on in Gaza. My family, through my dad’s prophesy, has seen this coming for sixty years and I cannot believe that rather than thoughtful re-examining of what has worked well with Israel and Palestine and what obviously has not worked, there is only greater hardening of hearts and narrow mindedness. There are people who have been refugees now for as long as it has been since my father prophesied. It’s like there has been a competition about who can care less about the millions, both Jewish and Palestinian, who have suffered. Yet there has been a mind blowing resistance toward contemplating even the most minor of errors that have been made, particularly by Israel. I have never seen a group of people who deny ever making any sort of error as the Israeli institutions. This has now translated into a petty tyrant cruelty that is truly shameful.

Anyway, I thought that I’d share this perspective that has been understood in my family for sixty years now, as we’ve just watched the continual dismal countdown to fulfillment of my father’s prophecy. Cultists have been so nosy and weird about my father that I figured I might as well blog, since it’s certainly not a secret, what is true about my father and what is not. He was just an interesting and average guy with intriguing hidden depths, but the only “supernatural” claim that anyone can make about him is that he uttered that one prophecy regarding the continual sorrow of Palestine and Israel due to errors made in its creation sixty years ago. Ah well.

Bible reading and commentary: Ezekiel 29-32

Part of accurate reading of the Bible and good discernment is to understand the difference between "current prophecy events" as they are documented in the Bible and "future prophecy" events, which are ones still to occur in the future. I thought I would point you to one that is very easy to understand of the "current events" type of prophesy.

If you read chapters 30, 31, 32 of Ezekiel you will see that the Lord God is telling his prophet Ezekiel how he is going to smite the Pharaoh, leader of the Egyptians. Ezekiel names the pharaoh, Hophra, and is also detailed in dating the month and day when he receives his prophecies. Additionally, the action is centered as the Babylonians (the Chaldeans) are besieging Jerusalem, so Biblical scholars are able to precisely date the prophecies as Ezekiel receives them from God. For example, the prophesy that opens Ezekiel 31 occurred "On the first day of the third month in the eleventh year," which was in modern calendar terms June 21, 587 BC.

Now, if you read a Bible with a lot of footnotes, such as my NAB Personal Study Edition, scholars explain the historical events in their context. The Pharaoh had come to help Jerusalem defend itself against the invading Chaldeans. The prophecies to Ezekiel from God expresses his wrath at Egypt for interfering (for their own purposes, since they were seeking to gain their own control) with the chastisement that the Babylonians were about to deliver to Israel, specifically Judah. Thus one learns in reading and comprehending this section of the Bible a specific example of how God allows his chosen people, who have continually sinned and defied God, to fall. God allows the Egyptians to be severely beaten in battle due to their interference in God's divine punishment of Judah.

Now, in case you think that is "mean" of God, think again, and observe how sometimes what is "best" for a country is not so easy to discern. Modern day Iraq is an example where it is difficult to say that invasions, alliances, insurgence and all the variations have been advantageous to the country of Iraq, or not. Likewise God knew that the Babylonians would not slaughter the Jews, but would carry them away to Babylon in slavery. The interference of Egypt, led by the Pharaoh, would not only be unacceptable because of their stepping into the middle of God's chastisement of Judah, but it also expanded the entire conflict and the resulting casualties. God always knows better, and when he speaks through a genuine prophet like Ezekiel, people better obey, even if they don't understand all the facts on the face of what they are hearing.

Now, here is the Wikipedia entry for this very pharaoh, called Hophra by Ezekiel.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hophra

So here is a very easy to understand example of three aspects of God's words and the genuine historical events recorded in the Bible:

1. Ezekiel documents both the siege of Judah by the Chaldeans, a historic event that is documented in historic records outside of the Bible AND a pharaoh by name, whose existence is also documented in his home land's records. Thus this is an easy to ponder example of the reality of the events in the Bible.

2. Ezekiel documents prophecy by God that clearly relates to the actual events of the day. These are not mystical prophecies of a long off future time. These are actually "hands off" warnings regarding Egypt's actual interference in the chastisement of Judah that the Lord God is permitting to happen. So you can ponder the prophecies and know exactly what they relate to and how they indeed did occur (notice the prophecy and then the date of death of the Pharaoh).

3. This is an example of how only God knows the larger plan for the greatest good, even if it does not seem that way on the surface. Here God allows Israel to fall, in order to be chastised but also to be taken into captivity, and not slaughtered. The prophets knew to trust in God and they are diligent in recording these prophecies and events so that witness remains for future generations.

Remember also that Jesus is descended from the House of David, through both his earthly father Joseph (whose lineage is recorded in Matthew 1) and through his mother Mary. Therefore one of those ancestors listed in the genealogy of Jesus through Joseph's side would have been among those carried away to Babylon, and likewise a biological ancestor through Mary's undocumented lineage would also have been in the Babylon captivity. You can now appreciate how God's plan is much larger than any human can comprehend. The "assistance" of the pharaoh could have resulted in a slaughter instead of a captivity, and the killing of one or both of the ancestors of Joseph and Mary. Think about it. That is why God's plans should not be meddled with, for he will not tolerate it and much collateral damage can be done through meddling. For example, one knows that God would not have allowed the ancestor of Mary to be killed, but one has no way of knowing if the ancestor of Joseph would have fallen if the Egyptians had been allowed to extend the siege and battle into greater numbers of those slaughtered. Mary and the virginal birth of the Messiah through her are Biblically promised and assured by God, and thus protected, even from whatever humans are doing, so that God's prophecies are always fulfilled. But St. Joseph, spouse of Mary, is implied (the lineage of David) but not promised specifically. Thus the perfect spouse's (I don't mean sin free, but the blessed spouse of Mary) very existence is obviously known and foreseen by God and part of his greater plan. But I explain this to you to show you that interferring in God's plan in theory could result in very unhappy outcomes, such as what if St. Joseph's ancestor had been killed and so this great, strong and gentle man had never been born? That is why a true prophet hears and obeys God in ALL things, even if they seem difficult to understand on their face.

I hope you find this useful! God understands, and this is why the Bible is such a gift of the generations, that people need to see "how things work" and "why" as best as they can, so that their faith is strengthened. That is why these "ancient" and "boring" events are recorded for posterity to learn and understand. So I thought that as part of my series in helping people to better understand both God and the fullness of the Bible, this is a great intersection of ability to see and understand specific events that are proven to have existed in both historic and Biblical records.

Bible Reading: Isaiah 11:1-3, 12:1-4

Isaiah 11:1-3
But a shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse, and from his roots a bud shall blossom. The spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him: a spirit of wisdom and of understanding, a spirit of counsel and of strength, a spirit of knowledge and of fear of the Lord, and his delight shall be the fear of the Lord.

Isaiah 12:1-4
On that day, you will say: I give you thanks, O Lord; though you have been angry with me, your anger has abated, and you have consoled me. God indeed is my savior. I am confident and unafraid. My strength and my courage is the Lord, and he has been my savior.

With joy you shall draw water at the fountain of salvation, and say on that day: Give thanks to the Lord, acclaim his name; among the nations make known his deeds, proclaim how exalted is his name.

***
I have pulled here the first few passages from one of Isaiah's most well know descriptions of the Messiah to come. He will be a descendant of Jesse (the father of King David, and thus the Messiah will trace his lineage through that of Jesse and David's). This is why Matthew's opening lines of the Gospel is to list the lineage of Jesus, demonstrating the direct line through David and Jesse, who fulfills all of the prophecies.

Isaiah goes on to explain that people will also know the Messiah by his spirit of wisdom, understanding, counsel, strength and fear of the Lord. Isaiah emphasizes that the Messiah will not take his delight in those traits except in his fear of the Lord. By fear of the Lord one can understand that to mean total humility and obedience to God, whose will he perfectly understands (through God's gifts to him of the spirit of wisdom, understanding, counsel and strength). So the Messiah will be recognized through his total emphasis and delight in fear of the Lord rather than any other trait or gift. False messiahs are always known by boasting of their mental or magical powers, but the true Messiah only delights in his fear of God, whose will he knows perfectly. Remember to these modern times that a person who is not totally focused, as Jesus was, on delighting in obedience and fear of God, but who claims arcane knowledge and "insight" is demonstrating that he or she are not at all following in the footsteps of the true Messiah. Notice too that Isaiah implies that the Messiah will not be a man who spent years at scholarly study because the Messiah has from the very beginning a fullness of understanding of the knowledge and will of God for the spirit (of God) rests (constantly) upon him. If someone has to "decode" God's will through years of study then they are obviously not with the spirit of God and not the true Messiah. We have seen many examples of that. And indeed the religious scholars marveled at Jesus and his knowledge of God, wondering how he achieved it without years of study.

I then skip forward to the opening lines of the next chapter, where Isaiah prophesies the comfort and joy that will be brought to followers of the Messiah. Notice that Isaiah pours his gratitude directly toward God, and not to the Messiah. This is because Isaiah had perfection of insight from God that the Messiah and his fear of God is truly a direct gift from God, to whom the praise and thanks must be directed. God is his savior because he will send the Savior. When the Savior arrives there is rejoicing because the faithful realize that God is no longer angry if he has sent the Messiah.

Notice the image of drawing water from the foundation of the Messiah, through him from the foundational source, the fountain of God and his graces. This can be read both symbolically in the context of the culture (where in arid lands water is the saving grace) and prophetically, foreseeing the sacrament of baptism as affirmation of drawing upon the water of the fountain of God. Isaiah exhorts and prophesies that as a result of drawing joy from the water fountain of God, the faithful will proclaim the Lord God "among the nations" (thus beyond the Israelites) and acclaim his name and his deeds on behalf of human salvation.

Bible Reading 4 Kings 2:6-11 and commentary

Many in the faith have a vague recollection of the "Bible story" of the Prophet Elias, remembering him because he is the one who was taken up to heaven in a whirlwind. But there are some details to this miraculous historical event that also help in strengthening faith and understanding. Here they are.



And Elias said to him: Stay here, because the Lord hath sent me as far as the Jordan. And he said: As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. And they two went on together, and fifty men of the sons of the prophets followed them, and stood in sight at a distance; but they two stood by the Jordan.



Elias (Elijah), one of the greatest of prophets, knew that it was his time to be called to God. This was not an illness or old age, but Elijah knew that God was going to summon him directly to heaven. And so he is walking in that expectation with his companion Eliseus, whom he had consecrated as a priest and prophet (3 Kings 19). So Elijah is telling Eliseus that it is time for Elijah to depart, telling him that he they should split at the Jordan while Elijah continues on, but Eliseus refuses to leave him. And by the way, there fifty "sons of the prophets" (also holy men) following. Everyone knew something important was going to happen, and no one wanted to leave, and they certainly did not want Elijah to depart.



In addition to understanding the mighty devotion among all the prophets who serve God, there is another insight that can be gleaned. Once again, you see evidence that the Bible is very literal in its events. There are fifty witnesses to Elijah trying to leave them, having been summoned by God. People who just write mythologies and stories don't add details of fifty witness and THEN have the witnesses not see the actual departure! So a large group followed and stayed in visual sight of the two prophets as they talked and to the Jordan walked.



And Elias took his mantle and folded it together, and struck the waters, and they were divided hither and thither, and they both passed over on dry ground.



Elijah therefore performs a miracle to get the two men away from the following crowd. He takes his mantle (a cloth worn as a cape) and "folded it together," meaning he took the cloth, folded it repeatedly until it was narrow and long like a staff. He uses the staff to strike the waters and the waters pulled back to allow a clear and dry path for the two men to cross the river. Thus the group of fifty men could not follow, and add their voices of concern to get Elijah to stay with them.



And when they were gone over, Elias said to Eliseus: Ask what thou wilt have me to do for thee, before I be taken from thee.



Elijah is now making it clear that he will be taken from Eliseus at that spot. So Elijah asks what he can do for Eliseus, who is to be his successor as prophet.



And Eliseus said: I beseech thee that in me may be thy double spirit.



Bible commentary usually interpret this to mean that Eliseus was asking for "double the power" that Elijah himself had. But this is not exactly accurate. Eliseus is not looking to be "better" or "more" than Elijah. He was asking that Elijah's abilities be added to his own God given abilities, and so that "in me" may be thy "double spirit," thus Elijah's prophetic ability added to Eliseus's forthcoming own prophetic ability. It's not a power thing, but rather, each prophet has a unique calling and gift/relationship with God. Eliseus in his caution wanted to ensure that he retained within him all the prophetic gifts of Elijah, lest his own gifts to be not cover all the eventualities that Elijah's would have. See, this is an important insight about how prophets are different. They are not looking for "double power." They fear not being able to do something that the Lord someday might require of them. To put it in Christian terms, Eliseus wanted to make sure he could perform all of Elijah's charisms if need be, in addition to the charisms he would be granted.



And he answered: Thou hast asked a hard thing. Nevertheless if thou see me when I am taken from thee, thou shalt have what thou hast asked; but if thou see me not, thou shalt not have it.



Ah ha! Elijah immediately kicked that request "upstairs to God," since only God can grant the ability and the extent (the charisms) of prophecy. This should never be misread as a discussion of "magic." It is absolutely not. Elijah immediately understood the caution behind Eliseus' request, but nothing like that had ever been done before in the relationship of prophets to God. They certainly cannot "pass their power from one to the other," to use a "magic" concept. Basically Eliseus was asking Elijah to ask God to give him Elijah's span and capability of prophecy. And so Elijah immediately knew that Eliseus had asked for a "hard" (as in monumental responsibility, not as in difficulty for God to grant), thing, since Elijah had no way of knowing if this is what God would want, and only God could do this. So in the way of a prophet's unspoken communion with God, Elijah knew that if God granted this request, he would allow Eliseus to see the departure of Elijah as a sign that his wish for Elijah's span of prophetic capability was granted.



And as they went on, walking and talking together, behold a fiery chariot and fiery horses parted them both asunder: and Elias went up by a whirlwind into heaven.



And so Elijah is taken up to heaven and because Eliseus sees it, he knows that God has acknowledged his request and given him the span of prophetic ability of Elijah's.



Now here is the most important lesson, besides the lesson that the prophets all carried a burden of caring for each other, but more importantly that they have all that they need in order to serve God (and thus Eliseus asked for selfless reasons for the double prophet spirit with Elijah's share). Many people read the Bible and just assume that God was going to send the horses and chariot all along. In other words, people ascribe significance to God sending a horses and a chariot for Elijah. But suppose that Eliseus had not been there, or had not made the request? God very well might have simply levitated Elijah to heaven. In other words, there is NO significance to the chariot and horses other than the fact they are visible, and they convey great status and respect for the occupant to the viewer. The chariot and horses were not so much for Elijah, who would have been in bliss with a simple levitation, or his body becoming instantly glorified so it can reside in heaven. The chariot and horses were for Eliseus, the successor to Elijah, to see as his sign that his request is answered.



See, a lot of humans apply kind of symbolism and pagan assumptions when they read scripture, and then jump to conclusions and miss really reading every word of what happens in sequence. And so modern people tend to apply symbolism to the chariot and horses, missing the whole point that there is symbolism alright: but it is the symbolism that God let Elijah know that if his leaving was "visible" that Eliseus' request was granted. So God sent a chariot and horses in the whirlwind to be the visible sign for Eliseus' answer from God. Since God was making a visible unmistakable reply to Eliseus, he sent a image (chariot and horses) that unmistakably represented honor and power, in this case, prophetic power.



I hope this helps in your seeing another example of how to not miss or misunderstand any of the subtle and important goodness and sweetness that is in the scriptures.

Picture of King David my visual refreshment

My St. Joseph edition Bible, from my childhood, remains my favorite Bible and the one I keep nearby. It has beautiful pictures that are just right. Some would call them sentimental art, but they would be missing the point that the pictures correctly capture the spirit of the portrayal. Probably my favorite picture is one of King David, and I've made copies so I can have one on my desk nearby.

It shows David in his kingly robes and crown standing on a rampart at night, under a starry sky. His eyes are closed as he is in communion with God in his role as Prophet. His hands are outstretched and on the one side the artist portrays King David's vision of the crucifixion of Christ. On the other side is a picture of him envisioning God in his heavenly throne surrounded by child angels. Beside David is an open book, portraying both his study of the scriptures and his writing of many of the Psalms.

The picture's caption reads: "David, King and Prophet. David was both King and Prophet; through the Psalms he prophesied the suffering of Christ and the universal kingship of God.---Psalms 21 and 46."

When I need visual refreshment, I gaze on that picture. Several years ago I made a collage of him playing the harp; it's in storage and I've not seen it in years. It has actual medieval bells from my collection added to it. :-(

David NEVER lost his faith in God for even a moment, something that one cannot say about even greats such as King Solomon.

More about the so called tablet controversy

There is further discussion on the Ignatius Insight blog, so I composed and added this comment.

While the resurrection of Jesus was “a surprise” to everyone, even though he prophesied it several times to the Apostles, there is extensive evidence and detail within King David’s psalm 21 so much that this psalm, in my 1962 Confraternity-Douay version of the Bible it is labeled as “Passion and Triumph of the Messiah.” The footnotes read, “Psalm 21 is one of the most important of the Messianic psalms. Our Lord Himself on the cross repeated its first line.” [That line is, to refresh everyone’s memory “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me.”] The footnote continues, “…and several other verses are directly quoted, or at least alluded to, in the New Testament as pertaining to His Passion. Of no other person is this touching description of spiritual and physical suffering so eminently true as it is of Jesus Christ. Hence, the entire psalm has been traditionally interpreted in the Catholic Church as referring to Him. The psalmist, therefore, speaks in Christ’s name when in the first section (2-22) he describes the Messiah’s dereliction (2-6), opprobrium (7-9); and physical sufferings (18-19), together with his unshakable confidence I the heavenly Father (10-12; 20-22); and in the second part, the fruits of His Redemption: the grateful praise of the redeemed (23-27), the conversion of the Gentiles (28-30), and the glory of God and His beloved Son (30-32)."

Psalm 21 is understood by all Catholic scholars to be the phrase by phrase “Messianic psalm.” Jesus quotes from it as he is dying on the cross, Matthew 27:46 so, um, clearly Jesus “got the idea” to “say that” from this psalm, which was written before the exile to Babylon and hence at least five hundred years before Jesus. Psalm 21:17-18 prophesies “Indeed, many dogs surround me, a pack of evil doers closes in upon me; they have pierced my hands and my feet; I can count all my bones. They look on and gloat over me; they divide my garments among them, and for my vesture they cast lots.” That precisely happened on Cavalry. I say prophesies because clearly no one crucified King David and in fact there were no crucifying Romans in sight when this psalm was written, so he was not writing about himself. King David, and I gaze on one of my favorite pictures depicting this, was the pre-eminent prophesier of the Messiah, from the details quoted above of the crucifixion to the conversion of “all the ends of the earth” (the Gentiles), which no one could have made up as a scenario in 500 BC. Psalm 21, referenced by Jesus Christ himself on the cross, is the step by step validated description of the passion of the Messiah and his ultimate triumph. The only thing not in that psalm is to state literally that he would rise from the dead after three days and remain on earth another forty.

But if one thinks about it, the passion is described in the lines up to and including line 22, where the Messiah appeals to God to “hasten to aid” and “save” him. Line 23 then states, “I will proclaim your name to my brethren; in the midst of the assembly I will praise you.” The psalm has been entirely sequential in “order,” and so after “they have pierced my hands and my feet” the prophesied Messiah appeals to God and next he will “proclaim” the name of God “in the midst of the assembly.” Any Jewish scholar would have had an expectation of a miraculous return, if not literally as soon as rising from the dead after three days. This psalm was hardly unknown to anyone and in fact, Jesus quotes its first line as he is dying on the cross. So it would be entirely consistent that Jewish scholars would interpret this psalm as having been the disbelief in and then triumphant return of the Messiah, envisioning something like Elias returning in glory. In fact, that is the first thing that those who hear Jesus appeal on the cross believe he is calling for, Elias to come. Jewish Messianic expectations would be entirely consistent with believing the Messiah would be disbelieved and mocked (certainly they would expect that from the Romans), and then a sudden glorious intervention by God. It would not have occurred to them that the Messiah would allow his own death, and then resurrect in the body within a matter of days, bearing the actual wounds, but in a glorified body that could appear through walls into the gathering’s midst.

So the dialogue about the tablet has been very strange and forces two artificial sides to quarrel with each other. One side I guess is supposed to think that early Christians just put together a Jesus fiction based on prophecy and common beliefs, and then conspiracy theory-like they would have made up the whole resurrection event. So that side would think finding some words seeming to “prophesy” or “record a belief” that a Messiah would resurrect in three days a “good thing” because they must have been bothered by where Jesus’ followers “got the resurrection idea from” if it’s not in Psalm 21 explicitly or in Isaiah. So that side is supposed to be gleeful that they found the place that Jesus’ followers “got the idea from” to fill in the “missing link” in the “fictionalized” account of Jesus’ life. Then the other artificial side is supposed to be, I guess, Christians who are supposed to be dismayed that some average Joe “heard from Gabriel” and had “expectations” of “dying and rising again in three days.” That’s kind of like saying that the “been there done that” T-shirt had already been worn, and therefore Christians are only supposed to believe in the truth of the Gospel only because “no one ever thought of those ideas before.” Both “sides” are constructs of the same agenda, which are poor faith, sensationalism and faulty logic and scholarship (if any). There is no proof of the goods authenticity and yet an artificial “debate” has already been framed. I hope this comment helps readers who might not have been taught the significance of the Davidic Messiah prophecies.

***

Some additional thoughts for my readers. As I, and many before me have explained, you have to use faith and reason. Faith is not the suspension of logic and intelligence. Faith is the belief that there is a God, who has a plan, and the plan is benevolent toward all life, including human beings. So if you believe and have faith, even as general a faith statement as that, it permits you to see all the aspects of a problem, debate or scholarly development from the confidence that God is "doing something."

Reasoning is essential because people are so used to sound bytes and responding to being baited, often just for reasons of meanness, jealousy and entertainment, that they lose their heads and don't think things through one step at a time. So on the one hand you have even the most general faith that a benevolent and all knowing, all powerful God has an interest in the welfare of humans, even if that way cannot always be understood. On the other hand you have the testimony of many people who paid the ultimate price for their beliefs, and obviously were not doing so in order to "fool" unimaginable generations after them. With faith and reason, therefore, one can sift through what is false, what is real, what is implied, and what is unknowable or unprovable. And THAT is a lot to accomplish and all for the greater good of the individual and humanity as a whole.

Bible reading and commentary re: prophets

2 Kings 13: 1-32

And behold there came a man of God out of Juda, by the word of the Lord to Bethel, when Jeroboam was standing upon the altar, and burning incense. And he cried out against the altar in the word of the Lord, and said: O Altar, Altar, thus saith the Lord: Behold a child shall be born to the house of David, Josias by name, and he shall immolate upon thee the priests of the high places, who now burn incense upon thee, and he shall burn men’s bones upon thee. And he gave a sign the same day, saying: This shall be the sign, that the Lord hath spoken: Behold the altar shall be rent, and the ashes that are upon it shall be poured out.

[What is happening here is that the King of Israel Jeroboam had turned to idolatry, forging golden calves to be worshipped. God raised an unnamed prophet from Juda to come and warn Jeroboam of his wickedness, disobedience and the dire consequences of his idolatry. Here he also prophesies the name of a future King of Israel, Josias. When you read the lineage of Jesus Christ in Matthew 1:1 you will find the name of Josias there, shortly before the captivity in Babylon].

And when the king had heard the word of the man of God, which he had cried out against the altar in Bethel, he stretched forth his hand from the altar, saying: Lay hold on him. And his hand which he stretched forth against him withered: and he was not able to draw it back to him. The altar also was rent, and the ashes were poured out from the altar, according to the sign which the man of God had given before in the word of the Lord. And the king said to the man of God: Entreat the face of the Lord thy God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored to me. And the man of God besought the face of the Lord, and the king’s hand was restored to him, and it became as it was before. And the king said to the man of God: come home with me to dine, and I will make thee presents. And the man of God answered the king: If thou wouldst give me half thy house I will not go with thee, nor eat bread, nor drink water in this place; for so it was enjoined me by the word of the Lord commanding me: Thou shalt not eat bread nor drink water, nor return by the same way that thou camest. So he departed by another way, and returned not by the way that he came into Bethel.

[Here is what happened. When the prophet gave his dire message from God to Jeroboam, Jeroboam reached out his hand to indicate that the guards should seize and harm the prophet. At this point God strikes the hand of Jeroboam, destroys the altar and pours the ashes to the floor. (The pouring of the ashes to the floor is a sign of rejection by God of that sacrifice. That is mentioned in the Book of Revelation too). Notice that the sign by God is triggered by the hostile reaction by Jeroboam. If Jeroboam had repented on the spot then the sign would not have happened in theory. But God knows all and knew what Jeroboam’s reaction would be to the prophet of God, hence the prophet of God accurately prophesied the rending of the altar and the ashes being poured out and it happened, due to Jeroboam’s reaction, on the spot. The downfall of the burning of men’s bones remains a prophesy for the future fall of Jeroboam and Israel. Jeroboam is horrified at his withered and seized hand and begs the prophet of God to intercede with God for him, and the prophet of God does pray to God on his behalf regarding the hand of Jeroboam. God grants the prayers of the prophet of God and restores the hand of Jeroboam.

Here Jeroboam now invites the prophet of God to dine with him and receive presents, but the prophet of God refuses, revealing more of what God had previously instructed him. God had told him not to tarry and not to take the same paths when he travels. This is not a magical charm, a superstition, or obsessive compulsive disorder. The reason God gives such instructions is that he does not want the prophet to “engage in dialogue.” The prophet is to deliver his message and LEAVE. He is not to honor anyone he encounters with his company or give them an “opportunity” to “argue” their position with the prophet of God. The prophet of God is not to sit at dinner with this idolater and apostate and “listen” to his “explanations” about why he made the golden calves and ordered their worship. So this is why the Lord told the prophet of God to not stay anywhere but his own home and also to never take the same paths (so he will not encounter the same people a second time, thus given them a “chance” to “argue” or “comment” on what they have been told to do on behalf of God by the prophet of God)].

Now a certain old prophet dwelt in Bethel, and his sons came to him and told him all the works that the man of god had done that day in Bethel; and they told their father the words which he had spoken to the king. And their father said to them: What way went he? His sons showed him the way by which the man of God went, who came out of Juda. And he said to his sons: Saddle me the ass. And when they had saddled him, he got up, and went after the man of God, and found him sitting under a turpentine tree; and he said to him: Art thou the man of God that camest from Juda? He answered: I am. And he said to him: Come home with me, to eat bread. But he said: I cannot return, nor go with thee, neither will I eat bread, nor drink water in this place, because the Lord spoke to me in the word of the Lord, saying: Thou shalt not eat bread, and thou shalt not drink water there, nor return by the way thou wentest. He said to him: I also am a prophet like unto thee, and an angel spoke to me in the word of the Lord, saying: Bring him back with thee into thy house, that he may eat bread, and drink water. He deceived him, and brought him back with him; so he ate bread and drank water in his house.

[Here is what happened. It turns out that another legitimate prophet of God, also unnamed here in the scripture, lived in the town of Bethel. This Bethel prophet’s sons either witnessed or heard about the prophet of God’s encounter with Jeroboam and reported what they had heard to their father. This father gave in to temptation and decided to pursue the prophet of God in order to pump him for information and find out more. He probably meant no harm, especially if he had been forced to witness the abominations of Jeroboam; the Bethel prophet may even have wanted to hear words of support from the prophet of God. But when he hears that the prophet of God cannot return to Bethel to eat or drink, or even by the same path, the Bethel prophet sins and lies that an angel told him that it’s basically “all right now to eat bread, drink water, and return by the same path to Bethel.” The prophet of God foolishly believes the Bethel prophet. I say foolishly because just as he had prayed to restore the hand of Jeroboam, and God answered, the prophet of God could have paused and asked God in prayer for a sign if the Bethel prophet was telling the truth. But instead he believes the Bethel prophet and hence disobeys God].

And so they sat at table, the word of the Lord came to the prophet that brought him back; and he creid out to the man of god who came out of Juda, saying: Thus saith the Lord: Because thou hast not been obedient to the Lord, and hast not kept the commandment which the Lord thy God commanded thee, and hast returned and eaten bread, and drunk water in the place wherein he commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat bread, nor drink water, thy dead body shall not be brought into the sepulcher of thy fathers.

[And so the tragedy of two legitimate prophets who each sin and disobey comes to terrible fruition. The Bethel prophet who lies to the prophet of God in order to pump him for more information now receives validation directly from God the very instructions that the prophet of God had explained to the Bethel prophet. So the Bethel prophet lied to the prophet of God to bring him back to Bethel only to now hear directly from God that the prophet of God will now be punished for disobeying God. Again, it’s not the disobedience per se; it is the second guessing God’s will. God did not want the prophet of God to return and rehash conversations with the sinners in Bethel after delivering his message. But instead of pausing and asking God for clarity, the prophet of God believes the lie of the Bethel prophet. Two legitimate prophets of God now have brought about their downfall and diluted the opportunity for the fullness of the message and works of God in this situation].

And when he had eaten and drunk, he saddled his ass for the prophet, whom he had brought back. And when he was gone, a lion found him in the way, and killed him, and his body was cast in the way. And the ass stood by him, and the lion stood by the dead body. And behold, men passing by saw the dead body cast in the way, and the lion standing by the body. And they came and told it in the city, wherein that old prophet dwelt. And when that prophet, who had brought him back out of the way, heard of it and said: It is the man of God, that was disobedient to the mouth of the Lord, and the Lord that delivered him to the lion, and he hath torn him, and killed him according to the word of the Lord, which he spoke to him. And he said to his sons: Saddle me an ass. And when they had saddled it, and he was gone, he found the dead body cast in the way, and the ass and the lion standing by the carcass: the lion had not eaten of the dead body, nor hurt the ass.

[So immediately upon leaving the meal he should not have had at having disobeyed God by returning to Bethel by the same path, the prophet of God is attacked and slain by a lion. The lion remains by the body of the prophet of God, and does not eat the body nor harm the ass, so that the people will know this is a sign from God and not an accidental death. The travelers realize this and go back to the town to spread word of what they saw, which reaches the ears of the Bethel prophet. He immediately realizes that the validation of the prophecy that he received has come true and that the body that has been cast in the road must be the punished prophet of God. So he goes, as he knows it is his duty, having caused the original temptation to the prophet of God, in order to retrieve the body from the lion’s watch].

And the prophet took up the body of the man of God, and laid it upon the ass, and going back brought it into the city of the old prophet, to mourn for him. And he laid his dead body in his own sepulcher. And they mourned over him, saying: Alas! Alas! My brother! And when they had mourned over him, he said to his sons: When I am dead, bury me in the sepulcher wherein the man of God is buried, lay my bones beside his bones. For assuredly the word shall come to pass which he hath foretold in the word of the Lord against the altar that is in Bethel, and against all the temples of the high places, that are in the cities of Samaria.

[By the way, reading the rest of this chapter you will learn that far from the prophet of God having an impact on Jeroboam, he actually sinned even more grievously, thus bringing about his own and his house’s demise, as per “he shall burn men’s bones upon thee.” The Bethel prophet honors the prophet of God, mourning him and burying him with his own family, realizing that he had through his temptation of the prophet of God cut short the life of this prophet who was now proven to have given great prophecy. The Bethel prophet now knows that all will come to ruin as the prophet of God had warned].

***

I do not know of a stronger episode in the Bible warning against interference in the prophecy of God than this story of the historical occurrence of the events of two legitimate prophets of God who mutually sin through temptation and disobedience. (This is not a parable, for those of you used to only reading the New Testament and paying the most attention to the parables of Jesus. The Old Testament is the record of actual events, just as the Gospel records actual events in the life of Jesus and the Apostles and disciples). Imagine even more so the grave consequences of false prophets who claim to “hear God” and to “know God’s will.” The prophet of God who gave mighty prophecy and restores through his prayer the hand of Jeroboam is fallen the same day because he disobeys God. What is a person thinking who has conducted mighty words and works on God’s behest, and then immediately believes the word of a stranger prophet to now disobey the very God who had channeled through him his prophecy only hours earlier? This is the broken and inflated ego of humans. You can give them everything and they will still sin and disobey. And the prophet of Bethel, all he wanted was to hear good news, but he wanted to hear more than was given to him to receive, and he took it in his own hands to obtain more prophecy and worse, to claim that an angel had appeared to him when one had not. And this is a legitimate prophet who had previously directly received God’s word! How foolish and greedy for their own power are humans. Let this be the strongest cautionary reminder that even those who are legitimately given gifts by God will be punished most severely if they tempt others, sin, or disobey, especially when thinking they can nudge along or manipulate deeds and plans that God is already putting into motion. The consequences for the individuals and for the people whom God is trying to reach and convert are dire, and far from helping they harm their own ability to work with God by serving him without self aggrandizing.

Where the Muslim Prophet foretold in the Bible

Some Muslims incorrectly believe that when Jesus said an advocate would come that he was referring to the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). Jesus was actually referring to the Holy Spirit, and that is clear when one reads those passages of the Bible because Jesus explains that he is sending someone to comfort the Apostles and disciples. This was achieved on Pentecost when the Holy Spirit arrived to infuse the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Apostles and the disciples.

However, there is no reason to be unsympathetic to the Muslim desire to point to a place in the Bible that foretells the Prophet (PBUH) because their instincts in this are correct. There is a place, a very honorable place, where the Prophet (PBUH) is foretold. This is in the Book of Isaiah.

By way of background the Book of Isaiah recounts the activities and visions of the prophet Isaiah, who lived in the second half of the eighth century BC when the Northern Kingdom of Israel was under attack by Assyria and the army of Sennacherih drew up to the actual walls of Jerusalem. Isaiah received his call to prophetic office in the Temple of Jerusalem and he describes in his Book his divine summons by God in person. He is considered by Christians to be the greatest of the Old Testament prophets because he received directly from God the prophecies regarding the coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ. Catholics read very frequently from the Book of Isaiah as part of the celebration of Mass services. He is one of my favorites for this reason and also because his great humility demonstrated that even the most holy of men must purify themselves before being in the presence of God. That passage of his Book I have written about before because it demonstrates the Biblical source for the concept of purgatory.

The 66 chapters of the Book of Isaiah are therefore filled with enormous theological and spiritual content. And it is in this Book that if one is observant one can spot the reference to the Prophet (PBUH). In this section of scripture Isaiah is receiving from God word and vision about the upcoming fall of Babylon. One needs to understand that the Old Testament prophets tended to receive from God direct factual information about current or pending events (such as the fall of Babylon), but mixed within these prophecies are references to great salvation events to come.

Chapter 21: 6-9

For thus says my Lord to me: Go, station a watchman, let him tell what he sees. If he sees a chariot, a pair of horses, someone riding an ass, someone riding a camel, then let him pay heed, very close heed. The the watchman cried, "On the watchtower, O my Lord, I stand constantly by day; and I stay at my post through all the watches of the night. Here he comes now: a single chariot, a pair of horses; he calls out and says, 'Fallen, fallen is Babylon, and all the images of her gods are smashed to the ground."

The rest of the chapter and the chapter after describe specific "current events" prophecies for the Jewish refugees in Arabia, Jerusalem, Sobna and Eliaciim, and Tyre and Sidon. After those sections Isaiah then receives general apocalyptic prophecy from God.

So the passage that I reference above is self contained. Therefore you have to notice that the Lord tells him that a "watchman" would need to watch for four arrivals to closely heed. The first two, the chariot and the pair of horses, occurs in the near term and represent the fall of Babylon, which indeed happened. We know that this is the historical Babylon that falls because it is the polytheistic pagan worshipping Babylon that falls because "all the images of her gods are smashed to the ground." God, however, gives no further information about the third and fourth arrivals "someone riding an ass, someone riding a camel."

All Christians with any knowledge of their faith immediately recognize who is foretold by "someone riding as ass," because that is one of the great prophecies that is fulfilled about Jesus Christ.

St. John 12: 12-15

Now the next day, the great crowd which had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took the branches of palms and went forth to meet him. And they cried out, "Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, the king of Israel!" And Jesus found a young ass and sat upon it, as it is written, Fear not, daughter of Sion; behold, thy king comes, sitting upon the colt of an ass.

St. Luke 19: 29-34

And it came to pass, when he drew near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mountain called Olivet, that he sent two of his disciples, saying "Go into the village opposite; on entering it you will find a colt of an ass tied, upon which no man ever yet sat; loosen it and bring it. And if anyone ask you, 'Why are you loosing it? you shall answer him thus, 'Because the Lord has need of it.'" And they who were sent went away and found the colt standing, even as he had told them. and as they were loosing the colt, its owners said to them, "Why are you loosing the colt?" And they replied, "Because the Lord has need of it."

So you can see very clearly that the third event, "someone riding an ass," is fulfilled in the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem for the final time. This event is celebrated in the Catholic liturgy as "Palm Sunday."

And so we are left with the fourth arrival to watch for, no further reference of which is made in the Bible, being "someone riding a camel." That is the Biblical foretelling by God to Isaiah of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).

Now, Christians do not need to overreact to this with worry that this has some implication for their Christian faith. It does not, and you can be assured of this because there are many events prophesied by Isaiah from God that are not representing changes in theology. That's what many Christians need to understand. The Bible is a history (both of events and of the "faith family") and not every word has to be milked to find some hidden meaning or advantage to act upon. This is why God says "a WATCHMAN." God is saying, watch for these events, for they are significant. Obviously each event must be interpreted in its own reality as it unfolds.

For example, Babylon is the fall of a city, a pagan city. Jesus is the Messiah. Each event "stands on its own" as it unfolded; they are not part of a 1-2-3... set of steps where each event is dependent on the previous. A watchman observes many travelers come and go, but each one is not necessarily connected to the previous or following visitor. God is very precise when he presents prophesy to his prophets. He uses words and images that are precise and appropriate to their meaning.

(By the way, I'm being harassed on the computer. That's why this blog posting is going up in fits and starts, has different colors and so forth. When I want to correct errors suddenly my response time gets "hung" and I'm unable to get back in to do my spiritual direction work. This is typical of the s*** that I've had to put up with for years).

Now, to try to get back to decency and matters of faith.

God tells humans through his prophets when to take action and when to watch. I can't put it much simpler than that. No matter how complicated the prophecy, the Prophets were always told by God and understood when an action must be taken (to tell the people about the Law, such as Moses, or to remind people not to sin and warn of consequences) and when just to watch but know that something is important. This section is an example of that. Knowing about the fall of Babylon does not mean that Isaiah or anyone else could run out and do something about it. It's told in prophecy so that the faithful have courage and faith knowing that justice will be rendered at some point or another. It's not their business to run out and try to hasten the fall of Babylon on God's behalf, for example. Likewise they are told to watch for someone who arrives on an ass. That doesn't mean that the people should test every newcomer to see if he is the person that God foretold. It turns out that Jesus arrived about 700 years after this prophecy. Only when the significance of the event on its own standing unfolds are the people to go "Ah, that is the meaning of the prophecy." They are not to run around looking for someone important to ride an ass. They would have wasted 700 years and raised false prophets if they did so. This is why God says that they should be like a "watchman" for these events. God does not give instructions to act.

Therefore when Isaiah is told by God that the "watchman" should take note of "someone riding a camel" then this is an example of where the prophecy will be recognized only after the fact. The event must unfold and then those who are wise look back into the scriptures and now understand. This is the process that Jesus himself taught to the Apostles and disciples. He showed many examples and told them that he will prophesy to them, they won't understand or believe, and then after the event they will go "Ah" with understanding. Prophesy is to be watched for in its own fulfillment in its own time.

So why does God even bother to give people prophesy if they are not to "act" or "take advantage of it" after "interpreting" it? The first reason is to validate that it is indeed God who is giving a prophesy to one of his authentic chosen prophets. Many throughout salvation history have pretended to be prophets. God gives prophesy, sometimes very cryptically, in order that people will not be able to imitate him or his prophets and mislead the people. Who could think of the Messiah arriving in Jerusalem on an ass seven hundred years later? This is unarguable proof when God's prophets prophesy in such as cryptic and strange way and then behold, when that prophesy is long forgotten it is fulfilled unlooked for and unmanipulated. So the first reason that God gives people prophesy at all is so that they can know they are hearing and studying "the genuine article" of prophet when it is fulfilled, often centuries after the prophet has gone to his reward in heaven.

The second reason is to strengthen and increase faith. Prophesy allows people, especially those who are suffering, to put salvation history in context and have stronger belief. The truly faithful who suffered in Babylon, for example, would take comfort in knowing that God will allow Babylon to fall, and their God to triumph over the pagan idolatry, even if that is for their future generations of grandchildren to enjoy in life. Again, prophesy from God is not meant to be "decoded" and "manipulated" or artificially "fulfilled" by humans. It backfires like you cannot believe when that is attempted. God is not giving a formula, for example, saying "Oh, to move forward in the salvation game someone important must ride an ass somewhere and a watchman notices." Of course not! God is saying, "Watch and wait for someone who is riding an ass" and let them "pay heed," "very close heed." The people who cheered Jesus as he entered Jerusalem were not flipping pages of their handy dandy prophet guide and thus cheer Jesus because he arrived on an ass. It is years later that the Apostles and disciples fully comprehend the linkage between the prophesy and the event that unfolded. Jesus, of course, knew fully well because he is the one who requested an ass to arrive on to Jerusalem. Jesus fulfilled the prophecies by his actions with full knowledge of them and their implications.

So it is for authenticity and for faith that God provides prophesy. Therefore God was alerting people to heed "someone who rides a camel." God was making a statement of authenticity and membership in the salvation and faith family regarding this "someone." Camels are animals of the desert, and Arabia was well known in those times, obviously. So it is not the animal in particular but the fact that someone will be seen by the "watchman" and will be heeded. This is the Prophet Muhammad who would be "someone who rides a camel" around one thousand and four hundred years after Isaiah received this prophesy from God.

It is only well after the event that those who are the "watchman" (those who study and heed the scripture and the word of God) can understand how an event has unfolded that is the fulfillment of a prophesy by one of God's true prophets. So I am not surprised that few people understand that this "someone" in the Book of Isaiah is God's prophesy to legitimize that the "someone who rides a camel" is an authentic part of the faith history and God's plan for humanity and salvation. God makes this clear by showing Isaiah the fulfillment of the chariot and two horsemen as being part of the strengthening of faith over the long term, not the arrival of a literal person or persons who are "someones" in faith history. So Isaiah is able to see and record that the first two "arrivals" are "observed" as being representative of the fall of Babylon and of their pagan idols, even though the events have not taken place yet. In other words, God gives him "specifics" that the chariot and the two riders indicate the fall of Babylon. God does not give Isaiah the "specifics" about the "someone riding an ass" or the "someone riding a camel." Isaiah is, however, given plenty more specifics about the details of prophesy of the coming of the Messiah Jesus Christ. The "someone riding a camel" is to be heeded as being authentic in the Abrahamic family of salvation history, but is not part of the Jesus Christ set of events or a successor to Jesus Christ. God is mentioning the "someone riding a camel" so that once the events transpire around this person, people who doubt and wonder can look back and see, "Ah yes, this is God's will. This person is part of the fabric and substance of God's works."

I hope that you find this helpful. It is very important to validate that the Muslims are correct to seek a linkage of authenticity in the Bible, and that is where it is (along with, of course, the rest of the shared Adam to Abraham faith history and their knowledge of Jews and Christians). It is likewise important that in dialogue they understand the specifics of what Jesus promised regarding the helper and comforter, and that this is the Holy Spirit who continues the work of Jesus through the Apostles and disciples, and not a literal person. So validation of the Islamic part of the one true God's salvation history is important, but it is important that we all be pointing to the same correct prophesy. The other important lesson here is that God gives instructions, laws and rituals for people to act upon, not prophesies. Prophesies are to be awaited at God's all knowing will and pleasure and not to be decoded and manipulated like some inside trading commodity or, just as bad, underestimated by humans, who cannot begin to imagine what God's plans and will are in full. Like I said, no one could have envisioned either the time or the form of Jesus Christ as the Messiah, and no one could have envisioned either the time or the form of God's revelation to the Prophet (PBUH). When people try to "decode" prophecy they always come up with an incredibly simple, cheap and thin version of what their limited minds can imagine that "God would do." It is an insult to God as well as being misleading of the faithful to think that any human, no matter how "smart" or "imaginative" could think of what God means in advance of a prophecy's fulfillment. As a scientific example, just to help understand this, what human given a paper and pencil and asked to imagine how life works would ever have thought of DNA? It is the same with God's prophecy of what is to come. No humans can imagine it; they can only hinder achieving the fullness of its intended goodness by misattributed and manipulating mundane events "on God's behalf." That is really horrible and it must never be done, ever again. There has been far too much of it and it has had ruinous consequences. It's as moronic as if after this prophecy people immediately ran around breeding extra asses to be sure that the "someone" would arrive. Thank GOD that the prophets and fathers, the Apostles and the disciples were pure of heart and such thoughts would never have occurred to them or to the people of those times. They could mistake someone as the Messiah or a prophet, but they did not run around trying to manipulate words and events of the holy book. Not only would that never have occurred to them but they would be stricken with dread at the thought, since they never mixed themselves up as being divine "players." It is essential that all people stop with this mindset immediately.