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For I know the plans I have for you,declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jer 29:11 |
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Dear
Friend,
If you do not already have a habit of gathering daily manna the first thing in the morning (we can look at the example given to us in Exodus 16 and find the pattern for make it a habit. Establish your life and your schedule to allow you the necessary time to do your daily collection first thing every morning to give you the strength to make it through the day. And remember that today’s manna will not be sufficient for tomorrow; tomorrow’s manna must be collected tomorrow morning. Saturday, December 29, 2018
Today's Passage : Today's Passage:The Flight into Egypt and Slaughter of the Innocents Bible Verse:Matthew 2:13-18 "Now when they [the three Magi] had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Arise, take the young Child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I bring you word; for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy Him.” When he arose, he took the young Child and His mother by night and departed for Egypt, and was there until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, “Out of Egypt I called My Son.” Three wise men (magi) with Jesus Then Herod, when he saw that he was deceived by the wise men, was exceedingly angry; and he sent forth and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying: “A voice was heard in Ramah, Lamentation, weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, Refusing to be comforted, Because they are no more.”" Message:
Herod depicted in this passage has traditionally been considered to be Herod the Great. His father was an Edomite - a “semi-Jewish” race that had special status under the law of Moses. Edom included the large area extending south from the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Aqaba, bordering Egypt. (Today, ancient Edom is known as Idumea; it has become a generally barren land and geographically is part of southern Israel, southern Jordan, and eastern Egypt.)
King David conquered Edom, and the people (by choice or force) had adopted Judaism by the time of Christ. Herod’s mother was a full-blooded Hebrew, so although he was Jewish in a sense, he was never really accepted by the people of Israel as legitimate. Not to mention, he was not of the lineage of David.
Herod the Great lived from (very approximately) 73 BC to 1 AD; at the time of Christ’s birth, he had been established by the Romans as a great king, ruling as a Roman “client” king over Idumea (Edom), Judea, Samaria and Galilee.
He was ruthless in defense of his power and notorious for his brutality. He slayed his own sons, to prevent one of them from trying to usurp his throne. According to the Roman historian Macrobius, when Caesar Augustus heard that all children under the age of two in “Syria” had been slain, he said, “it would be better to be Herod’s pig than his son.” Some Christian commentators, over the centuries, have estimated the number of children murdered to have been in the tens of thousands, but a more realistic view is that probably 10 to 50 infant males were slaughtered, at least in the incident related by Matthew. Macrobius, for instance, might have been talking about another slaughter of children.
As short as it is, the story is inherently powerful, both saddening and infuriating. It has been widely celebrated as a feast day in Catholic countries and has formed the subject of countless sermons in churches of every denomination. The event presages the crucifixion of the innocent Christ.
(Note: The date most commonly given for Herod’s death lies somewhere between 4 BC and 1 AD, and the date most commonly given for Christ’s birth is 3 AD. Possibly, one of these dates is wrong. Otherwise, the name “Herod” in Matthew 2 refers not to Herod the Great, but rather to his son, Herod Archelaus. Beware people who tell you that they know the answer since all the dates are speculative. I wouldn’t even value the opinion of anyone who didn't have a Ph.D. in an appropriate field.)
Meditation : Prayer : If you are with me, O God, who can be against me? For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate me from the love of God in Christ Jesus my Lord..........Amen |
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