Today's Readings and Stuff -- Tuesday, 13 November 2018

Well, we're almost to the halfway point of November.  That's something, I guess.  Would like it better if we were in the second half of April, of course.  Would like it better if it were mid-May, and the conditions would stay there.  Not likely, of course.

Had to make run to the local library branch earlier.  Dropped off three books I'd gotten out just two weeks ago.  Two of them, which had looked pretty good, I'd not even cracked, hardly, got totally engrossed into, and not nearly finished with, a history of medieval Europe.  I'm not tremendously a student of history, but also realize that many of the things that we see today, good and bad both, are as a result of things that happened them.  Doesn't hurt to take a look and see how, and just as importantly why, some of these things happened, and continue to echo.
But I may be taking a break from running to the library.  What with the ghastly weather that is one of the ghastly side effects of living here, the journey may be more than I want to undertake real often.  I can get quite a bit via the e-book type stuff that is available.  Not just from the local library system, but also via tie-ins to the state library cooperative system and others as well.  Local library branch doesn't have a great selection anyway, so I often have to have something brought from the main branch or via inter-library loan arrangements, from far corners of the state.  Getting the e-books, etc. doesn't require negotiating dreadful roads, drunk drivers, black ice, etc.  Saves on gasoline too. 
And I don't have to go out.  As I told some people recently, I could have been quite happy as a hermit monk on a far-off mountain.  Wife agrees.  Yes, we're a match.  Not real good at "peopling".

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Again, keep in mind the origin of some of these enemies of Israel.  For example, see the mention of the Ammonites.  Remember Ammon?  Ammon was the product of the incestuous union of Lot and his younger daughter. Not a great start, and it got worse.  Rabbah was an Ammonite city.  It's still around, now called Amman, the capital city of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, just across the River Jordan.  Moab?  Moab was the product of the incestuous union of Lot and his older daughter.  See what I meant above about things from the past that still trouble a weary world?
We like to think that the things we do will live after us (sound like the people of Babel?) and will be a locus of good things.  And sometimes that happens.



Ezekiel 25

1The word of the Lord came again unto me, saying,

2Son of man, set thy face against the Ammonites, and prophesy against them;

3And say unto the Ammonites, Hear the word of the Lord God; Thus saith the Lord God; Because thou saidst, Aha, against my sanctuary, when it was profaned; and against the land of Israel, when it was desolate; and against the house of Judah, when they went into captivity;

4Behold, therefore I will deliver thee to the men of the east for a possession, and they shall set their palaces in thee, and make their dwellings in thee: they shall eat thy fruit, and they shall drink thy milk.

5And I will make Rabbah a stable for camels, and the Ammonites a couchingplace for flocks: and ye shall know that I am the Lord.

6For thus saith the Lord God; Because thou hast clapped thine hands, and stamped with the feet, and rejoiced in heart with all thy despite against the land of Israel;

7Behold, therefore I will stretch out mine hand upon thee, and will deliver thee for a spoil to the heathen; and I will cut thee off from the people, and I will cause thee to perish out of the countries: I will destroy thee; and thou shalt know that I am the Lord.

8Thus saith the Lord God; Because that Moab and Seir do say, Behold, the house of Judah is like unto all the heathen;

9Therefore, behold, I will open the side of Moab from the cities, from his cities which are on his frontiers, the glory of the country, Beth–jeshimoth, Baal–meon, and Kiriathaim,

10Unto the men of the east with the Ammonites, and will give them in possession, that the Ammonites may not be remembered among the nations.

11And I will execute judgments upon Moab; and they shall know that I am the Lord.

12Thus saith the Lord God; Because that Edom hath dealt against the house of Judah by taking vengeance, and hath greatly offended, and revenged himself upon them;

13Therefore thus saith the Lord God; I will also stretch out mine hand upon Edom, and will cut off man and beast from it; and I will make it desolate from Teman; and they of Dedan shall fall by the sword.

14And I will lay my vengeance upon Edom by the hand of my people Israel: and they shall do in Edom according to mine anger and according to my fury; and they shall know my vengeance, saith the Lord God.

15Thus saith the Lord God; Because the Philistines have dealt by revenge, and have taken vengeance with a despiteful heart, to destroy it for the old hatred;

16Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will stretch out mine hand upon the Philistines, and I will cut off the Cherethims, and destroy the remnant of the sea coast.

17And I will execute great vengeance upon them with furious rebukes; and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall lay my vengeance upon them.

Ezekiel 26

1And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the first day of the month, that the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,

2Son of man, because that Tyre hath said against Jerusalem, Aha, she is broken that was the gates of the people: she is turned unto me: I shall be replenished, now she is laid waste:

3Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against thee, O Tyre, and will cause many nations to come up against thee, as the sea causeth his waves to come up.

4And they shall destroy the walls of Tyre, and break down her towers: I will also scrape her dust from her, and make her like the top of a rock.

5It shall be a place for the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord God: and it shall become a spoil to the nations.

6And her daughters which are in the field shall be slain by the sword; and they shall know that I am the Lord.

7For thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will bring upon Tyre Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, a king of kings, from the north, with horses, and with chariots, and with horsemen, and companies, and much people.

8He shall slay with the sword thy daughters in the field: and he shall make a fort against thee, and cast a mount against thee, and lift up the buckler against thee.

9And he shall set engines of war against thy walls, and with his axes he shall break down thy towers.

10By reason of the abundance of his horses their dust shall cover thee: thy walls shall shake at the noise of the horsemen, and of the wheels, and of the chariots, when he shall enter into thy gates, as men enter into a city wherein is made a breach.

11With the hoofs of his horses shall he tread down all thy streets: he shall slay thy people by the sword, and thy strong garrisons shall go down to the ground.

12And they shall make a spoil of thy riches, and make a prey of thy merchandise: and they shall break down thy walls, and destroy thy pleasant houses: and they shall lay thy stones and thy timber and thy dust in the midst of the water.

13And I will cause the noise of thy songs to cease; and the sound of thy harps shall be no more heard.

14And I will make thee like the top of a rock: thou shalt be a place to spread nets upon; thou shalt be built no more: for I the Lord have spoken it, saith the Lord God.

15Thus saith the Lord God to Tyre; Shall not the isles shake at the sound of thy fall, when the wounded cry, when the slaughter is made in the midst of thee?

16Then all the princes of the sea shall come down from their thrones, and lay away their robes, and put off their broidered garments: they shall clothe themselves with trembling; they shall sit upon the ground, and shall tremble at every moment, and be astonished at thee.

17And they shall take up a lamentation for thee, and say to thee, How art thou destroyed, that wast inhabited of seafaring men, the renowned city, which wast strong in the sea, she and her inhabitants, which cause their terror to be on all that haunt it!

18Now shall the isles tremble in the day of thy fall; yea, the isles that are in the sea shall be troubled at thy departure.

19For thus saith the Lord God; When I shall make thee a desolate city, like the cities that are not inhabited; when I shall bring up the deep upon thee, and great waters shall cover thee;

20When I shall bring thee down with them that descend into the pit, with the people of old time, and shall set thee in the low parts of the earth, in places desolate of old, with them that go down to the pit, that thou be not inhabited; and I shall set glory in the land of the living;

21I will make thee a terror, and thou shalt be no more: though thou be sought for, yet shalt thou never be found again, saith the Lord God.

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1st Peter 5

1The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed:

2Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind;

3Neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being ensamples to the flock.

4And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.

5Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.

6Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:

7Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.

8Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

9Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.

10But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.

11To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

12By Silvanus, a faithful brother unto you, as I suppose, I have written briefly, exhorting, and testifying that this is the true grace of God wherein ye stand.

13The church that is at Babylon, elected together with you, saluteth you; and so doth Mark my son.

14Greet ye one another with a kiss of charity. Peace be with you all that are in Christ Jesus. Amen.