Todays Readings and Stuff --- Wednesday, 07 March 2018

a quiet day.  Not quite what I had planned.  Wife was up four times during the night, not feeling well at all.  So the trip that I had planned for a get-together with people that I knew in high school (a VERY long time ago) didn't happen. 
Wife is doing a little bit better now, but it snowed HARD earlier.  That has melted, but the episode chilled the ground considerably and the air as well.  We have more snow due to arrive soon, a fair amount.  But then, they're predicting as much as TWO FEET for New York City, so we should be spared that.  I hope the NYC sophisticates enjoy this latest episode of "catastrophic global warming that will make snow a thing of the past as of around 2004".  



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for today, chapters 13 and 14 in the book of Numbers
Some bad choices were made here, and the results of those bad choices affected many not yet born.  I call such things the "splash effect".  It's a real thing, and most  of us have observed it, with sorrow.  But we also see who is faithful and true, and we see Joshua and Caleb, of whom we will see more later.  We see what happens when we focus on the problems, or the potential ones, rather than on He who has sent us.
Now, verse 18 of chapter 14 is one that has been contentious.  But, like it or not, we see it played out all too often.  Again, "splash".

Numbers 13

 1  And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,

2  Send thou men, that they may search the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel: of every tribe of their fathers shall ye send a man, every one a ruler among them.

3  And Moses by the commandment of the Lord sent them from the wilderness of Paran: all those men were heads of the children of Israel.

4  And these were their names: of the tribe of Reuben, Shammua the son of Zaccur.

5  Of the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat the son of Hori.

6  Of the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh.

7  Of the tribe of Issachar, Igal the son of Joseph.

8  Of the tribe of Ephraim, Oshea the son of Nun.Oshea: also called, Joshua

9  Of the tribe of Benjamin, Palti the son of Raphu.

10  Of the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel the son of Sodi.

11  Of the tribe of Joseph, namely, of the tribe of Manasseh, Gaddi the son of Susi.

12  Of the tribe of Dan, Ammiel the son of Gemalli.

13  Of the tribe of Asher, Sethur the son of Michael.

14  Of the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi the son of Vophsi.

15  Of the tribe of Gad, Geuel the son of Machi.

16  These are the names of the men which Moses sent to spy out the land. And Moses called Oshea the son of Nun Jehoshua.

17  And Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said unto them, Get you up this way southward, and go up into the mountain:

18  And see the land, what it is; and the people that dwelleth therein, whether they be strong or weak, few or many;

19  And what the land is that they dwell in, whether it be good or bad; and what cities they be that they dwell in, whether in tents, or in strong holds;

20  And what the land is, whether it be fat or lean, whether there be wood therein, or not. And be ye of good courage, and bring of the fruit of the land. Now the time was the time of the firstripe grapes.

21  So they went up, and searched the land from the wilderness of Zin unto Rehob, as men come to Hamath.

22  And they ascended by the south, and came unto Hebron; where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the children of Anak, were. (Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.)

23  And they came unto the brook of Eshcol, and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bare it between two upon a staff; and they brought of the pomegranates, and of the figs.

24  The place was called the brook Eshcol, because of the cluster of grapes which the children of Israel cut down from thence.

25  And they returned from searching of the land after forty days.

26  And they went and came to Moses, and to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh; and brought back word unto them, and unto all the congregation, and shewed them the fruit of the land.

27  And they told him, and said, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it.

28  Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there.

29  The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south: and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites, dwell in the mountains: and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and by the coast of Jordan.

30  And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it.

31  But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we.

32  And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature.

33  And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.

 

Numbers 14

1  And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night.

2  And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and the whole congregation said unto them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness!

3  And wherefore hath the Lord brought us unto this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey? were it not better for us to return into Egypt?

4  And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt.

5  Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel.

6  And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of them that searched the land, rent their clothes:

7  And they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land.

8  If the Lord delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land which floweth with milk and honey.

9O  Only rebel not ye against the Lord, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the Lord is with us: fear them not

10  But all the congregation bade stone them with stones. And the glory of the Lord appeared in the tabernacle of the congregation before all the children of Israel.

11  And the Lord said unto Moses, How long will this people provoke me? and how long will it be ere they believe me, for all the signs which I have shewed among them?

12I will smite them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of thee a greater nation and mightier than they.

13  And Moses said unto the Lord, Then the Egyptians shall hear it, (for thou broughtest up this people in thy might from among them;)

14  And they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land: for they have heard that thou Lord art among this people, that thou Lord art seen face to face, and that thy cloud standeth over them, and that thou goest before them, by day time in a pillar of a cloud, and in a pillar of fire by night.

15  Now if thou shalt kill all this people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of thee will speak, saying,

16  Because the Lord was not able to bring this people into the land which he sware unto them, therefore he hath slain them in the wilderness.

17  And now, I beseech thee, let the power of my Lord be great, according as thou hast spoken, saying,

18  The Lord is longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation.

19  Pardon, I beseech thee, the iniquity of this people according unto the greatness of thy mercy, and as thou hast forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.

20  And the Lord said, I have pardoned according to thy word:

21  But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord.

22  Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice;

23  Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it

24  But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it.

25  (Now the Amalekites and the Canaanites dwelt in the valley.) To morrow turn you, and get you into the wilderness by the way of the Red sea.

26  And the Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying,

27  How long shall I bear with this evil congregation, which murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against me.

28  Say unto them, As truly as I live, saith the Lord, as ye have spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you:

29  Your carcases shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, which have murmured against me,

30  Doubtless ye shall not come into the land, concerning which I sware to make you dwell therein, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.

31  But your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which ye have despised.

32  But as for you, your carcases, they shall fall in this wilderness.

33  And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcases be wasted in the wilderness.

34  After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know my breach of promise.breach…: or, altering of my purpose

35  I the Lord have said, I will surely do it unto all this evil congregation, that are gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die.

36  And the men, which Moses sent to search the land, who returned, and made all the congregation to murmur against him, by bringing up a slander upon the land,

37  Even those men that did bring up the evil report upon the land, died by the plague before the Lord.

38  But Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of the men that went to search the land, lived still.

39  And Moses told these sayings unto all the children of Israel: and the people mourned greatly.

40  And they rose up early in the morning, and gat them up into the top of the mountain, saying, Lo, we be here, and will go up unto the place which the Lord hath promised: for we have sinned.

41  And Moses said, Wherefore now do ye transgress the commandment of the Lord? but it shall not prosper.

42  Go not up, for the Lord is not among you; that ye be not smitten before your enemies.

43  For the Amalekites and the Canaanites are there before you, and ye shall fall by the sword: because ye are turned away from the Lord, therefore the Lord will not be with you.

44  But they presumed to go up unto the hill top: nevertheless the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and Moses, departed not out of the camp.

45  Then the Amalekites came down, and the Canaanites which dwelt in that hill, and smote them, and discomfited them, even unto Hormah.

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Today, Psalm 48

Psalm 48

 A Song and Psalm for the sons of Korah.

 

1  Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of his holiness.for: or, of

2  Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King.

3  God is known in her palaces for a refuge.

4  For, lo, the kings were assembled, they passed by together.

5  They saw it, and so they marvelled; they were troubled, and hasted away.

6  Fear took hold upon them there, and pain, as of a woman in travail.

7  Thou breakest the ships of Tarshish with an east wind.

8  As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the Lord of hosts, in the city of our God: God will establish it for ever. Selah.

9  We have thought of thy lovingkindness, O God, in the midst of thy temple.

10  According to thy name, O God, so is thy praise unto the ends of the earth: thy right hand is full of righteousness.

11  Let mount Zion rejoice, let the daughters of Judah be glad, because of thy judgments.

12  Walk about Zion, and go round about her: tell the towers thereof.

13  Mark ye well her bulwarks, consider her palaces; that ye may tell it to the generation following.

14  For this God is our God for ever and ever: he will be our guide even unto death.

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The reading here is chapter 4 in the Gospel of Luke.
Note, first, that even the Devil can quite Scripture when it suits his purposes.
Note also that the passage that Jesus read here is from the lectionary, the assigned passage for that very day.  Anyone think that it was a coincidence that He was there that particular day?

Luke 4

1  And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness,

2  Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered.

3  And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread.

4  And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.

5  And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.

6  And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it.

7  If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine.

8  And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.

9  And he brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence:

10  For it is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee:

11  And in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.

12  And Jesus answering said unto him, It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.

13  And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season.

14  And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: and there went out a fame of him through all the region round about.

15  And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all.

16  And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.

17  And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written,

18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,

19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.

20  And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.

21  And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.

22  And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph's son?

23  And he said unto them, Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country.

24  And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country.

25 But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land;

26 But unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow.

27 And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian.

28And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath,

29  And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong.

30  But he passing through the midst of them went his way,

31  And came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and taught them on the sabbath days.

32  And they were astonished at his doctrine: for his word was with power.

33  And in the synagogue there was a man, which had a spirit of an unclean devil, and cried out with a loud voice,

34  Saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art; the Holy One of God.

35  And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him. And when the devil had thrown him in the midst, he came out of him, and hurt him not.

36  And they were all amazed, and spake among themselves, saying, What a word is this! for with authority and power he commandeth the unclean spirits, and they come out.

37  And the fame of him went out into every place of the country round about.

38  And he arose out of the synagogue, and entered into Simon's house. And Simon's wife's mother was taken with a great fever; and they besought him for her.

39  And he stood over her, and rebuked the fever; and it left her: and immediately she arose and ministered unto them.

40  Now when the sun was setting, all they that had any sick with divers diseases brought them unto him; and he laid his hands on every one of them, and healed them.

41  And devils also came out of many, crying out, and saying, Thou art Christ the Son of God. And he rebuking them suffered them not to speak: for they knew that he was Christ.

42  And when it was day, he departed and went into a desert place: and the people sought him, and came unto him, and stayed him, that he should not depart from them.

43  And he said unto them, I must preach the kingdom of God to other cities also: for therefore am I sent.

44  And he preached in the synagogues of Galilee.