Jul 29 2006
1000 Year Old Book of Psalms Found - Open to Psalm 83
Really old copy of the Bible - cool.
Really old copy of the Bible found in Ireland - cooler.
Really old copy of the Bible found in Ireland, open to Psalm 83:
1 O God, do not keep silent;
be not quiet, O God, be not still.2 See how your enemies are astir,
how your foes rear their heads.3 With cunning they conspire against your people;
they plot against those you cherish.4 “Come,” they say, “let us destroy them as a nation,
that the name of Israel be remembered no more.”5 With one mind they plot together;
they form an alliance against you-6 the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites,
of Moab and the Hagrites,7 Gebal, Ammon and Amalek,
Philistia, with the people of Tyre.8 Even Assyria has joined them
to lend strength to the descendants of Lot.
Let’s see… follow the links above and you find those place names approximating to Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq and Iran, with parts of the Palestinian territories thrown in. Hm. Coincidence?
Coolest.
h/t to Spitfire at A Step in the Right Direction.
12 Responses to “1000 Year Old Book of Psalms Found - Open to Psalm 83”
Cool, my first hat tip. Read your insight on it, pretty “cool”
I hate to comment totally off topic, but I’m not sure if you check my blog that often.
Regarding “replacement theology” - that’s your term, not mine by the way, you may think that Israel still has a special place in Gods plan, and you may very well be correct. But I suspect that if King David were standing in Jerusalem right now, he would be absolutely appalled by what is going on there. Even the strictest Orthodox Jews are not following the Laws. They have all but forsaken the command of the Lord, and fail to even recognize the Saviour He sent for them. The conditions of the Covenant are spelled out in Joshua (among other places in the OT). God was faithful beyond all measure to this stubborn and rebellious people, and they still did evil in his sight.
Israel, as it is today, is a far cry from the Israel of 2500 years ago. Surely you can agree with me on that.
I am trying to pop in on you more often actually…
When I used that term, that is what the theologians use to describe the idea that the church hs replaced the nation of Israel in God’s plan. I personally think it is way off base, for many reasons.
However, I do totally agree with you that Israel as it stands now is an almost completely secular state. However, the Bible is clear that before Jesus returns, the Jews will turn to Him. En masse. In fact, you could look at Rev 19 and Ezek 39 for a glimpse of perhaps what triggers their final return to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Ultimately, the entire world will turn against them and invade them to exterminate them once and for all. God won’t let that happen, because they still have a role to play in God’s plan.
I’ve posted another response in my comment thread back “home”, heh.
Your use of Ez 39 has me wondering a little bit. Author Gary deMar said it best when he said, “In Ezekiel 38 and 39, it obviously is about an ancient battle, the people are on horseback, they have shields, the loot they want is cattle, and this really has nothing to do with our time.”
Surely you can agree that the context of this passage was not meant for us today. One of the biggest causes of eye-rolling moments for me in church is when people attempt to apply verses to today without considering the original context in which they were written.
Granted, I’m no expert in the Jewish language, and although I am familiar with biblical Jewish history and culture, my knowledge comes from my own personal study and two year of Bible school. I’m not exactly an authority. But at the very least I try to take the original context seriously. How can we come up with meaningful applications for today if we do not even grasp wheat the passage meant to the intended audience?
Source of deMar quote: http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060722/NEWS10/60722016
This is kind of funny carrying on the same discussion in two different places.
I find the DeMar quote to be rather silly. Gog is Russia. There was no nation in the region of Gog that had any interest in Israel during any point of Israel’s existence. Until now. Meshech and Tubal can both be traced to Scythia, which is southern Russia, north of the Black Sea. Nations in that area have never been documented to have attacked Israel during any era. If they did, with the numbers that Ezekiel describes (their bows and arrows and spears and shields meeting Israel’s energy needs for 7 years after the battle - see v9) then surely some ancient source would have noticed it. I mean, Israel has never been smaller than a million people since the exodus. How much wood would it take to fuel the nation for 7 years? I don’t think there has ever been an army that used swords and spears and bows that if they dropped them all in one place, the people there could use them for firewood for 7 years!
Given the impossibility of the description there and the implausibility of Scythia attacking and the lack of note of any battle similar to Eze 39 in all of history, you are left with one alternative - it is describing a future event. If you are Ezekiel, living 500 years BC, and you are shown a vision of a huge army over Israel, then you see the hand of God annihilate all of them and the machines they used to fight all are left on the ground, and the people of Israel scavenge them for fuel, how would you describe them? You are going to use terms that you understand, your compatriots will understand.
I wonder what LeMar thinks of verses 11 to 16. How would a battle with sword and bow contaminate the land? Why would there be people set aside to go into the area and mark remains, which need to be disposed of by special teams? Why would this condition only last 7 months? Is it mere coincidence that the nuclear and chemical weapons of war we have today would need to be disposed of in EXACTLY that manner? You can look at the rules that God lays out in the OT as arbitrary rules to test Israel’s obedience, but to me, I see just about every rule God gives as having a very good reason. Why 7 months? Seems to me that it would take time for chemicals and/or nuclear radiation to subside sufficiently to send in cleanup crews. At no other time in history would such orders have had meaning beyond arbitrary and capriciousness, and I don’t believe in a God that is arbitrary and capricious.
Although I will say one thing - the article is right at the end. The Bible clearly describes a period of peace for Israel before the end, before that final battle. I am not watching this Hezbollah to-do as a sign of the End. I am watching it to see how God protects his people Israel even in the face of international censure and opposition.
I don
I would like to see your basis for the claim that the 7 years is to be taken figuratively.
On V27 - I think that makes perfect sense. Israel was not scattered to the countries of their enemies. Enemy, yes. But even then, there remained Hebrews in the land. There were never scattered to the lands of their enemies until the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD. Then all Jews were banished by the order of the Roman Emperor.
They have been gathered from the nations of their enemies now. Israel was created in 1949 because they were being persecuted everywhere, and the nations which held them were glad to be rid of them. They have not all yet returned to Israel, so I do not believe this is completely fulfilled yet. It will be though.
Lastly, He did not pour out His spirit on all Israel with the first coming of Jesus. If He had, you can be certain that the Jews would not have delivered Him up to Pilate for execution, and they certainly wouldn’t have declared Him a blasphemer for His claims to be God. Isn’t that one of the signs of a believer that they confess Jesus Christ as Lord? If they can’t or don’t they do not have the Spirit of God in them. therefore, clearly the Spirit of God has not yet been poured out on the House of Israel, because they have not all yet come to faith in Jesus.
But they will. After the events of Eze 39, which seem to be paralleled in Rev 20:7-9.
My figurative view of the seven years is based on the fact that the book of ezekiel is chalk full of symbolism and figurative language. It seems reasonable to me that the author is merely trying to make a point. In a similar way, I do not think EVERY type of wild animal and EVERY type of bird was meant by this:
“Son of man, this is what the Sovereign LORD says: Call out to every kind of bird and all the wild animals: ‘Assemble and come together from all around to the sacrifice I am preparing for you, the great sacrifice on the mountains of Israel. There you will eat flesh and drink blood. 18 You will eat the flesh of mighty men and drink the blood of the princes of the earth as if they were rams and lambs, goats and bulls
Sounds like you are putting God in a box. Your reasons for reading “figurative language” and “symbolism” into Ezekiel seem to be disbelief, as opposed to based in a proven pattern. I am not saying that there is neither symbolism nor simile nor metaphor in action in Ezekiel or Revelation. I am just saying that there is a difference between understanding specific things to be an attempt by a 5th Century BC or 1st Century AD man describing things that do not exist yet, and understanding the whole kit and kaboodle as a huge allegory as opposed to God’s direct revelation of the future.
Same goes for your last statement. So, you think God can’t tell who is a Jew and who isn’t eh? What is impossible for man, is possible with God.
Tell me, do you have the same understanding of time statements in the other Major Prophets as well? Because if you do, I would like to point out a few examples of other figures in the Bible taking them very literally.
Sounds like you are putting God in a box
So, you think God can
Where does it say they have to be 100% pure Jews? They weren’t in Jesus’ day either you know. 1000 years of breeding with the Philistines ensured that. Heck: Jesus wasn’t even pure Jew! Rahab and Ruth were both in his geneaology.