It is hard for me to believe that the Summer Solstice is only one week away, on the 21st! Too soon!! Then the days will become progressively shorter and shorter, reminding those of us with a particular mindset, that the dead time of mid-Winter is headed our way, regardless of the conditions outside right now. It is most surely headed this way. So in the midst of high temperatures (at least for this area) and all that comes with that, we see on a -- distant, admittedly -- horizon the advance of what is to me far worse.
Yes, I to tend to be morose. Sorry.
Hot outside. The window-type A/C units seem to be keeping up today a little bit better than they had done yesterday, so I don't know if we had a miraculous healing overnight or what. Perhaps just a brief respite. I know that the unit in the living room (where I am at the desk right now) has the area cooler than it was yesterday. I know that when I went to sleep last night, the temperature in the bedroom (where the smaller unit is) was such that I was under just a sheet, but during the night Dear Wife got cold and put a blanket over us, and snuggled tight so that I could be a heat source. Now, that doesn't mean it's cold in here today, even with the thing on "MAX", but it's livable, at least to me. Wife is complaining of the heat, but she has no thyroid gland, and her body can not adjust to much of any variation, so her "band" is extraordinarily narrow. We may know more by morning. And on next Tuesday, the SS hits the bank. May have to go by Wally World or Menard's or something and drop a hundred+ dollars for something. May have to.
{And it is primarily Dear Wife who needs this.
When I was single and much younger, say between 1976 and late 1979, yes, a LONG time ago and I was younger, I lived in what was in truth the "janitor's closet" in an old apartment building. Owner of the building knew me and charged a nominal rent of under $100/month. NO A/C. had hot water and shower and toilet and space for a stove and refrigerator (which someone gave to me), and a couch that I slept on for that time. One window that opened directly onto the asphalt parking lot. NOT cool in summer nor very warm in winter either. I got through, somehow. But Wife could not survive, and in truth I was 40 years younger than now. Don't know if I could do it again, though I might someday have to try.
So she might just be in a condition that I'll be in myself in the not too distant future.}
But we have a place to sleep, food to eat, shoes on our feet and clothes on our backs. God is good.
I am trying to avoid overmuch commentary here on the shooting event in Alexandria, Virginia yesterday afternoon, with a crazed disciple of Bernie Sanders shooting up a baseball practice field, quite openly attempting to kill as many Republican Congresscritters as possible. I have already seen on various sites, those who are disappointed that many Republican members weren't killed, and praising the action. I've seen the governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia claim -- falsely, of course -- that 93,000,000 Americans are killed by firearms EVERY DAY. Stupid even for him.
Things are coming apart. No doubt about that.
My father loved poetry, and wrote and published (self-published) several books of his works, and read constantly. So I often think in terms of poetry. I am reminded of something that Yeats wrote, in 1919 in the aftermath of the horrid bloodletting of WW One.
THE SECOND COMING
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: a waste of desert sand;
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Wind shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?
Yes, it's evocative. No, it's not Biblical. But it reminds us that the current state of affairs has been a very long time in gestation. And the birth of whatever monstrosity comes forth, will not be A Good Thing for the world nor for any individual.
I recommend a re-reading of chapter 7 in the book of Daniel, and also this article from the Jerusalem Cornerstone Foundation, published back in 2011, on the poem, with an image of what appears to be a Persian ruler or god, and a comparison to Herod and others.
Now, as Christians, we have a much different interpretation of the term "Second Coming", we foresee the triumphant return of the Jesus as Lord. But that will be quite a day, and a time of terror for all too many.
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The passage for the day in the Old Testament is chapters 6, 7, and 8 of Ezra
The opposition to the rebuilding of the Temple fails, and indeed makes possible even more support for the effort. Not without bumps along the way, but the work is continuing.
Ezra 6
1 Then Darius
the king made a decree, and search was made in the house of the rolls,
where the treasures were laid up in Babylon.
2 And there was found at Achmetha, in the
palace that is in the province of the Medes, a roll, and therein was a
record thus written: 3
In the first year of Cyrus the king the same Cyrus the king made a
decree concerning the house of God at Jerusalem, Let the house be
builded, the place where they offered sacrifices, and let the
foundations thereof be strongly laid; the height thereof threescore
cubits, and the breadth thereof threescore cubits;
4 With three rows of great stones,
and a row of new timber: and let the expenses be given out of the king's
house: 5 And
also let the golden and silver vessels of the house of God, which
Nebuchadnezzar took forth out of the temple which is at Jerusalem, and
brought unto Babylon, be restored, and brought again unto the temple
which is at Jerusalem, every one to his place, and place them in the
house of God. 6
Now therefore, Tatnai, governor beyond the river, Shetharboznai, and
your companions the Apharsachites, which are beyond the river, be ye far
from thence: 7
Let the work of this house of God alone; let the governor of the Jews
and the elders of the Jews build this house of God in his place.
8 Moreover I make a
decree what ye shall do to the elders of these Jews for the building of
this house of God: that of the king's goods, even of the tribute beyond
the river, forthwith expenses be given unto these men, that they be not
hindered. 9
And that which they have need of, both young bullocks, and rams, and
lambs, for the burnt offerings of the God of heaven, wheat, salt, wine,
and oil, according to the appointment of the priests which are at
Jerusalem, let it be given them day by day without fail:
10 That they may offer
sacrifices of sweet savours unto the God of heaven, and pray for the
life of the king, and of his sons.
11 Also I have made a decree, that whosoever shall
alter this word, let timber be pulled down from his house, and being set
up, let him be hanged thereon; and let his house be made a dunghill for
this. 12 And
the God that hath caused his name to dwell there destroy all kings and
people, that shall put to their hand to alter and to destroy this house
of God which is at Jerusalem. I Darius have made a decree; let it be
done with speed. 13
Then Tatnai, governor on this side the river, Shetharboznai, and their
companions, according to that which Darius the king had sent, so they
did speedily. 14
And the elders of the Jews builded, and they prospered through the
prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. And
they builded, and finished it, according to the commandment of the God
of Israel, and according to the commandment of Cyrus, and Darius, and
Artaxerxes king of Persia.
15 And this house was finished on the third day of the
month Adar, which was in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king.
16 And the
children of Israel, the priests, and the Levites, and the rest of the
children of the captivity, kept the dedication of this house of God with
joy. 17 And
offered at the dedication of this house of God an hundred bullocks, two
hundred rams, four hundred lambs; and for a sin offering for all Israel,
twelve he goats, according to the number of the tribes of Israel.
18 And they set the
priests in their divisions, and the Levites in their courses, for the
service of God, which is at Jerusalem; as it is written in the book of
Moses. 19 And
the children of the captivity kept the passover upon the fourteenth day
of the first month. 20
For the priests and the Levites were purified together, all of them
were pure, and killed the passover for all the children of the
captivity, and for their brethren the priests, and for themselves.
21 And the children
of Israel, which were come again out of captivity, and all such as had
separated themselves unto them from the filthiness of the heathen of the
land, to seek the LORD God of Israel, did eat,
22 And kept the feast of unleavened
bread seven days with joy: for the LORD had made them joyful, and turned
the heart of the king of Assyria unto them, to strengthen their hands
in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel.
Ezra 7
1 Now after
these things, in the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia, Ezra the son of
Seraiah, the son of Azariah, the son of Hilkiah,
2 The son of Shallum, the son of Zadok, the son of Ahitub, 3 The son of Amariah, the son of Azariah, the son of Meraioth, 4 The son of Zerahiah, the son of Uzzi, the son of Bukki, 5
The son of Abishua, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of
Aaron the chief priest:
6 This Ezra went up from Babylon; and he was a ready scribe
in the law of Moses, which the LORD God of Israel had given: and the
king granted him all his request, according to the hand of the LORD his
God upon him. 7
And there went up some of the children of Israel, and of the priests,
and the Levites, and the singers, and the porters, and the Nethinims,
unto Jerusalem, in the seventh year of Artaxerxes the king.
8 And he came to Jerusalem
in the fifth month, which was in the seventh year of the king.
9 For upon the first
day of the first month began he to go up from Babylon, and on the first
day of the fifth month came he to Jerusalem, according to the good hand
of his God upon him. 10
For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the LORD, and to do
it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments.
11 Now this is the copy of the
letter that the king Artaxerxes gave unto Ezra the priest, the scribe,
even a scribe of the words of the commandments of the LORD, and of his
statutes to Israel. 12
Artaxerxes, king of kings, unto Ezra the priest, a scribe of the law of
the God of heaven, perfect peace, and at such a time.
13 I make a decree, that all
they of the people of Israel, and of his priests and Levites, in my
realm, which are minded of their own freewill to go up to Jerusalem, go
with thee. 14
Forasmuch as thou art sent of the king, and of his seven counsellors, to
enquire concerning Judah and Jerusalem, according to the law of thy God
which is in thine hand;
15 And to carry the silver and gold, which the king and his
counsellors have freely offered unto the God of Israel, whose habitation
is in Jerusalem, 16
And all the silver and gold that thou canst find in all the province of
Babylon, with the freewill offering of the people, and of the priests,
offering willingly for the house of their God which is in Jerusalem:
17 That thou
mayest buy speedily with this money bullocks, rams, lambs, with their
meat offerings and their drink offerings, and offer them upon the altar
of the house of your God which is in Jerusalem.
18 And whatsoever shall seem good to
thee, and to thy brethren, to do with the rest of the silver and the
gold, that do after the will of your God.
19 The vessels also that are given thee for
the service of the house of thy God, those deliver thou before the God
of Jerusalem. 20
And whatsoever more shall be needful for the house of thy God, which
thou shalt have occasion to bestow, bestow it out of the king's treasure
house. 21 And
I, even I Artaxerxes the king, do make a decree to all the treasurers
which are beyond the river, that whatsoever Ezra the priest, the scribe
of the law of the God of heaven, shall require of you, it be done
speedily, 22
Unto an hundred talents of silver, and to an hundred measures of wheat,
and to an hundred baths of wine, and to an hundred baths of oil, and
salt without prescribing how much.
23 Whatsoever is commanded by the God of heaven,
let it be diligently done for the house of the God of heaven: for why
should there be wrath against the realm of the king and his sons?
24 Also we certify
you, that touching any of the priests and Levites, singers, porters,
Nethinims, or ministers of this house of God, it shall not be lawful to
impose toll, tribute, or custom, upon them.
25 And thou, Ezra, after the wisdom of thy
God, that is in thine hand, set magistrates and judges, which may judge
all the people that are beyond the river, all such as know the laws of
thy God; and teach ye them that know them not.
26 And whosoever will not do the law of
thy God, and the law of the king, let judgment be executed speedily
upon him, whether it be unto death, or to banishment, or to confiscation
of goods, or to imprisonment.
27 Blessed be the LORD God of our fathers, which hath
put such a thing as this in the king's heart, to beautify the house of
the LORD which is in Jerusalem:
28 And hath extended mercy unto me before the king,
and his counsellors, and before all the king's mighty princes. And I was
strengthened as the hand of the LORD my God was upon me, and I gathered
together out of Israel chief men to go up with me.
Ezra 8
1 These are
now the chief of their fathers, and this is the genealogy of them that
went up with me from Babylon, in the reign of Artaxerxes the king.
2 Of the sons of
Phinehas; Gershom: of the sons of Ithamar; Daniel: of the sons of David;
Hattush. 3 Of
the sons of Shechaniah, of the sons of Pharosh; Zechariah: and with him
were reckoned by genealogy of the males an hundred and fifty.
4 Of the sons of
Pahathmoab; Elihoenai the son of Zerahiah, and with him two hundred
males. 5 Of
the sons of Shechaniah; the son of Jahaziel, and with him three hundred
males. 6 Of
the sons also of Adin; Ebed the son of Jonathan, and with him fifty
males. 7 And
of the sons of Elam; Jeshaiah the son of Athaliah, and with him seventy
males. 8 And
of the sons of Shephatiah; Zebadiah the son of Michael, and with him
fourscore males. 9
Of the sons of Joab; Obadiah the son of Jehiel, and with him two
hundred and eighteen males.
10 And of the sons of Shelomith; the son of Josiphiah, and
with him an hundred and threescore males.
11 And of the sons of Bebai; Zechariah the
son of Bebai, and with him twenty and eight males.
12 And of the sons of Azgad;
Johanan the son of Hakkatan, and with him an hundred and ten males.
13 And of the last
sons of Adonikam, whose names are these, Eliphelet, Jeiel, and
Shemaiah, and with them threescore males.
14 Of the sons also of Bigvai; Uthai, and Zabbud, and with them seventy males. 15
And I gathered them together to the river that runneth to Ahava; and
there abode we in tents three days: and I viewed the people, and the
priests, and found there none of the sons of Levi.
16 Then sent I for Eliezer, for
Ariel, for Shemaiah, and for Elnathan, and for Jarib, and for Elnathan,
and for Nathan, and for Zechariah, and for Meshullam, chief men; also
for Joiarib, and for Elnathan, men of understanding.
17 And I sent them with
commandment unto Iddo the chief at the place Casiphia, and I told them
what they should say unto Iddo, and to his brethren the Nethinims, at
the place Casiphia, that they should bring unto us ministers for the
house of our God. 18
And by the good hand of our God upon us they brought us a man of
understanding, of the sons of Mahli, the son of Levi, the son of Israel;
and Sherebiah, with his sons and his brethren, eighteen;
19 And Hashabiah, and with
him Jeshaiah of the sons of Merari, his brethren and their sons, twenty;
20 Also of
the Nethinims, whom David and the princes had appointed for the service
of the Levites, two hundred and twenty Nethinims: all of them were
expressed by name. 21
Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river of Ahava, that we might
afflict ourselves before our God, to seek of him a right way for us, and
for our little ones, and for all our substance.
22 For I was ashamed to require of
the king a band of soldiers and horsemen to help us against the enemy in
the way: because we had spoken unto the king, saying, The hand of our
God is upon all them for good that seek him; but his power and his wrath
is against all them that forsake him.
23 So we fasted and besought our God for this: and he was intreated of us. 24
Then I separated twelve of the chief of the priests, Sherebiah,
Hashabiah, and ten of their brethren with them,
25 And weighed unto them the silver,
and the gold, and the vessels, even the offering of the house of our
God, which the king, and his counsellors, and his lords, and all Israel
there present, had offered:
26 I even weighed unto their hand six hundred and fifty
talents of silver, and silver vessels an hundred talents, and of gold an
hundred talents; 27
Also twenty basons of gold, of a thousand drams; and two vessels of
fine copper, precious as gold.
28 And I said unto them, Ye are holy unto the LORD; the
vessels are holy also; and the silver and the gold are a freewill
offering unto the LORD God of your fathers.
29 Watch ye, and keep them, until ye weigh
them before the chief of the priests and the Levites, and chief of the
fathers of Israel, at Jerusalem, in the chambers of the house of the
LORD. 30 So
took the priests and the Levites the weight of the silver, and the gold,
and the vessels, to bring them to Jerusalem unto the house of our God.
31 Then we
departed from the river of Ahava on the twelfth day of the first month,
to go unto Jerusalem: and the hand of our God was upon us, and he
delivered us from the hand of the enemy, and of such as lay in wait by
the way. 32 And we came to Jerusalem, and abode there three days. 33
Now on the fourth day was the silver and the gold and the vessels
weighed in the house of our God by the hand of Meremoth the son of Uriah
the priest; and with him was Eleazar the son of Phinehas; and with them
was Jozabad the son of Jeshua, and Noadiah the son of Binnui, Levites;
34 By number
and by weight of every one: and all the weight was written at that time.
35 Also the
children of those that had been carried away, which were come out of the
captivity, offered burnt offerings unto the God of Israel, twelve
bullocks for all Israel, ninety and six rams, seventy and seven lambs,
twelve he goats for a sin offering: all this was a burnt offering unto
the LORD. 36
And they delivered the king's commissions unto the king's lieutenants,
and to the governors on this side the river: and they furthered the
people, and the house of God.
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Our New Testament passage is chapter 21 of the Gospel of John, finishing John and the Gospels.
John 21
1 After these
things Jesus shewed himself again to the disciples at the sea of
Tiberias; and on this wise shewed he himself.
2 There were together Simon Peter, and
Thomas called Didymus, and Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, and the sons of
Zebedee, and two other of his disciples.
3 Simon Peter saith unto them, I go a
fishing. They say unto him, We also go with thee. They went forth, and
entered into a ship immediately; and that night they caught nothing.
4 But when the
morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore: but the disciples knew
not that it was Jesus.
5 Then Jesus saith unto them, Children, have ye any meat? They
answered him, No. 6
And he said unto them, Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and
ye shall find. They cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw
it for the multitude of fishes.
7 Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved saith unto
Peter, It is the Lord. Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord,
he girt his fisher's coat unto him, (for he was naked,) and did cast
himself into the sea.
8 And the other disciples came in a little ship; (for they were
not far from land, but as it were two hundred cubits,) dragging the net
with fishes. 9
As soon then as they were come to land, they saw a fire of coals there,
and fish laid thereon, and bread.
10 Jesus saith unto them, Bring of the fish which ye have now caught. 11
Simon Peter went up, and drew the net to land full of great fishes, an
hundred and fifty and three: and for all there were so many, yet was not
the net broken. 12
Jesus saith unto them, Come and dine. And none of the disciples durst
ask him, Who art thou? knowing that it was the Lord.
13 Jesus then cometh, and taketh bread, and giveth them, and fish likewise. 14
This is now the third time that Jesus shewed himself to his disciples,
after that he was risen from the dead.
15 So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon
Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith
unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him,
Feed my lambs. 16
He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou
me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He
saith unto him, Feed my sheep.
17 He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of
Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the
third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all
things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my
sheep. 18
Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdest
thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old,
thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and
carry thee whither thou wouldest not.
19 This spake he, signifying by what death he
should glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he saith unto him,
Follow me. 20
Then Peter, turning about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved
following; which also leaned on his breast at supper, and said, Lord,
which is he that betrayeth thee?
21 Peter seeing him saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do? 22
Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that
to thee? follow thou me.
23 Then went this saying abroad among the brethren, that
that disciple should not die: yet Jesus said not unto him, He shall not
die; but, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?
24 This is the
disciple which testifieth of these things, and wrote these things: and
we know that his testimony is true.
25 And there are also many other things which
Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose
that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be
written. Amen.
