Today's Readings and Stuff -- Saturday. 14 November 2020

 Another Saturday.  Well below freezing last night, more of the same expected over the next 10 days.  NOT my favorite time of the year, and we are still more than a month away from "official" Winter.  

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Today's and perhaps the month's song, He Looked Beyond My Faults And Saw My Needs

Earlier, wife had something "streaming" on the TV (we don't have cable but we do have Internet access) with the background music being "Danny Boy".  Which put this in mind: they share at least part of the music.  Or so it seemed at the moment.  And this song is a pretty good theme song.  For me and, perhaps, for others.  Dottie Rambo brought it to us, in no small part it was her own testimony.  As it can be for many of us.  Sing along and watch the lyrics.  Can I get an AMEN!! on this?

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Two of the largest, most powerful, and wicked city state nations of the world at one time were Nineveh and Tyre.  Nineveh is a ruins, near present-day Mosul, Iraq.  Tyre?  We see mention of it in Jonah.  How fast these devices of humans collapse and are largely forgotten!  Except, perhaps, in histories or poems.  Rudyard Kipling composed his poem, "Recessional", as part of the Diamond jubilee of England's queen, Victoria, in which he warned of the pointless hubris of humans who live on pride and arrogance.  It included the warning "lest we forget",  which in turn is based from Deuteronomy 6:12. 

12  then beware, lest you forget the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage 

Warnings ignored and forgotten.  But coming to pass.

Recessional

BY RUDYARD KIPLING

1897

God of our fathers, known of old,

   Lord of our far-flung battle-line,

Beneath whose awful Hand we hold

   Dominion over palm and pine—

Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,

Lest we forget—lest we forget!

The tumult and the shouting dies;

   The Captains and the Kings depart:

Still stands Thine ancient sacrifice,

   An humble and a contrite heart.

Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,

Lest we forget—lest we forget!

Far-called, our navies melt away;

   On dune and headland sinks the fire:

Lo, all our pomp of yesterday

   Is one with Nineveh and Tyre!

Judge of the Nations, spare us yet,

Lest we forget—lest we forget!

If, drunk with sight of power, we loose

   Wild tongues that have not Thee in awe,

Such boastings as the Gentiles use,

   Or lesser breeds without the Law—

Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,

Lest we forget—lest we forget!

For heathen heart that puts her trust

   In reeking tube and iron shard,

All valiant dust that builds on dust,

   And guarding, calls not Thee to guard,

For frantic boast and foolish word—

Thy mercy on Thy People, Lord!

Where have we, as individuals or as a nation, put our trust?  

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EZEKIEL 27

Lamentation for Tyre

1The word of the Lord came again to me, saying, 2“Now, son of man, take up a lamentation for Tyre, 3and say to Tyre, ‘You who are situated at the entrance of the sea, merchant of the peoples on many coastlands, thus says the Lord God:

“O Tyre, you have said,

‘I am perfect in beauty.’

4Your borders are in the midst of the seas.

Your builders have perfected your beauty.

5They made all your planks of fir trees from Senir;

They took a cedar from Lebanon to make you a mast.

6Of oaks from Bashan they made your oars;

The company of Ashurites have inlaid your planks

With ivory from the coasts of Cyprus.

7Fine embroidered linen from Egypt was what you spread for your sail;

Blue and purple from the coasts of Elishah was what covered you.

8“Inhabitants of Sidon and Arvad were your oarsmen;

Your wise men, O Tyre, were in you;

They became your pilots.

9Elders of Gebal and its wise men

Were in you to caulk your seams;

All the ships of the sea

And their oarsmen were in you

To market your merchandise.

10“Those from Persia, Lydia, and Libya

Were in your army as men of war;

They hung shield and helmet in you;

They gave splendor to you.

11Men of Arvad with your army were on your walls all around,

And the men of Gammad were in your towers;

They hung their shields on your walls all around;

They made your beauty perfect.

12“Tarshish was your merchant because of your many luxury goods. They gave you silver, iron, tin, and lead for your goods. 13Javan, Tubal, and Meshech were your traders. They bartered human lives and vessels of bronze for your merchandise. 14Those from the house of Togarmah traded for your wares with horses, steeds, and mules. 15The men of Dedan were your traders; many isles were the market of your hand. They brought you ivory tusks and ebony as payment. 16Syria was your merchant because of the abundance of goods you made. They gave you for your wares emeralds, purple, embroidery, fine linen, corals, and rubies. 17Judah and the land of Israel were your traders. They traded for your merchandise wheat of Minnith, millet, honey, oil, and balm. 18Damascus was your merchant because of the abundance of goods you made, because of your many luxury items, with the wine of Helbon and with white wool. 19Dan and Javan paid for your wares, traversing back and forth. Wrought iron, cassia, and cane were among your merchandise. 20Dedan was your merchant in saddlecloths for riding. 21Arabia and all the princes of Kedar were your regular merchants. They traded with you in lambs, rams, and goats. 22The merchants of Sheba and Raamah were your merchants. They traded for your wares the choicest spices, all kinds of precious stones, and gold. 23Haran, Canneh, Eden, the merchants of Sheba, Assyria, and Chilmad were your merchants. 24These were your merchants in choice items—in purple clothes, in embroidered garments, in chests of multicolored apparel, in sturdy woven cords, which were in your marketplace.

25“The ships of Tarshish were carriers of your merchandise.

You were filled and very glorious in the midst of the seas.

26Your oarsmen brought you into many waters,

But the east wind broke you in the midst of the seas.

27“Your riches, wares, and merchandise,

Your mariners and pilots,

Your caulkers and merchandisers,

All your men of war who are in you,

And the entire company which is in your midst,

Will fall into the midst of the seas on the day of your ruin.

28The common-land will shake at the sound of the cry of your pilots.

29“All who handle the oar,

The mariners,

All the pilots of the sea

Will come down from their ships and stand on the shore.

30They will make their voice heard because of you;

They will cry bitterly and cast dust on their heads;

They will roll about in ashes;

31They will shave themselves completely bald because of you,

Gird themselves with sackcloth,

And weep for you

With bitterness of heart and bitter wailing.

32In their wailing for you

They will take up a lamentation,

And lament for you:

‘What city is like Tyre,

Destroyed in the midst of the sea?

33‘When your wares went out by sea,

You satisfied many people;

You enriched the kings of the earth

With your many luxury goods and your merchandise.

34But you are broken by the seas in the depths of the waters;

Your merchandise and the entire company will fall in your midst.

35All the inhabitants of the isles will be astonished at you;

Their kings will be greatly afraid,

And their countenance will be troubled.

36The merchants among the peoples will hiss at you;

You will become a horror, and be no more forever.’ ” ’ ”

EZEKIEL 28

Proclamation Against the King of Tyre

1The word of the Lord came to me again, saying, 2“Son of man, say to the prince of Tyre, ‘Thus says the Lord God:

“Because your heart is lifted up,

And you say, ‘I am a god,

I sit in the seat of gods,

In the midst of the seas,’

Yet you are a man, and not a god,

Though you set your heart as the heart of a god

3(Behold, you are wiser than Daniel!

There is no secret that can be hidden from you!

4With your wisdom and your understanding

You have gained riches for yourself,

And gathered gold and silver into your treasuries;

5By your great wisdom in trade you have increased your riches,

And your heart is lifted up because of your riches),”

6‘Therefore thus says the Lord God:

“Because you have set your heart as the heart of a god,

7Behold, therefore, I will bring strangers against you,

The most terrible of the nations;

And they shall draw their swords against the beauty of your wisdom,

And defile your splendor.

8They shall throw you down into the Pit,

And you shall die the death of the slain

In the midst of the seas.

9“Will you still say before him who slays you,

‘I am a god’?

But you shall be a man, and not a god,

In the hand of him who slays you.

10You shall die the death of the uncircumcised

By the hand of aliens;

For I have spoken,” says the Lord God.’ ”

Lamentation for the King of Tyre

11Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 12“Son of man, take up a lamentation for the king of Tyre, and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord God:

“You were the seal of perfection,

Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.

13You were in Eden, the garden of God;

Every precious stone was your covering:

The sardius, topaz, and diamond,

Beryl, onyx, and jasper,

Sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold.

The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes

Was prepared for you on the day you were created.

14“You were the anointed cherub who covers;

I established you;

You were on the holy mountain of God;

You walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones.

15You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created,

Till iniquity was found in you.

16“By the abundance of your trading

You became filled with violence within,

And you sinned;

Therefore I cast you as a profane thing

Out of the mountain of God;

And I destroyed you, O covering cherub,

From the midst of the fiery stones.

17“Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty;

You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor;

I cast you to the ground,

I laid you before kings,

That they might gaze at you.

18“You defiled your sanctuaries

By the multitude of your iniquities,

By the iniquity of your trading;

Therefore I brought fire from your midst;

It devoured you,

And I turned you to ashes upon the earth

In the sight of all who saw you.

19All who knew you among the peoples are astonished at you;

You have become a horror,

And shall be no more forever.” ’ ”

Proclamation Against Sidon

20Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 21“Son of man, set your face toward Sidon, and prophesy against her, 22and say, ‘Thus says the Lord God:

“Behold, I am against you, O Sidon;

I will be glorified in your midst;

And they shall know that I am the Lord,

When I execute judgments in her and am hallowed in her.

23For I will send pestilence upon her,

And blood in her streets;

The wounded shall be judged in her midst

By the sword against her on every side;

Then they shall know that I am the Lord.

24“And there shall no longer be a pricking brier or a painful thorn for the house of Israel from among all who are around them, who despise them. Then they shall know that I am the Lord God.”

Israel’s Future Blessing

25‘Thus says the Lord God: “When I have gathered the house of Israel from the peoples among whom they are scattered, and am hallowed in them in the sight of the Gentiles, then they will dwell in their own land which I gave to My servant Jacob. 26And they will dwell safely there, build houses, and plant vineyards; yes, they will dwell securely, when I execute judgments on all those around them who despise them. Then they shall know that I am the Lord their God.” ’ ”