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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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| Archived Manna: | |
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. Tuesday, March 12, 2019
Today's Passage : Today's Passage:Stephen’s Speech to the Sanhedrin [1] Bible Verse:Acts 7:1-8 "And the high priest said, “Are these things so?” And Stephen said: “Brothers and fathers, hear me. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, and said to him, ‘Go out from your land and from your kindred and go into the land that I will show you.’ Then he went out from the land of the Chaldeans and lived in Haran. And after his father died, God removed him from there into this land in which you are now living. Yet he gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot's length, but promised to give it to him as a possession and to his offspring after him, though he had no child. And God spoke to this effect—that his offspring would be sojourners in a land belonging to others, who would enslave them and afflict them four hundred years. ‘But I will judge the nation that they serve,’ said God, ‘and after that they shall come out and worship me in this place.’ And he gave him the covenant of circumcision. And so Abraham became the father of Isaac, and circumcised him on the eighth day, and Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs. " Message:
At this juncture—in the New Testament, after the Gospels—we oddly get a basic history of Judaism. Stephen, in his defense before the Sanhedrin, will give us the Cliff’s Notes version of Hebrew History.
This is actually very useful, because the Old Testament is so long and full of details that it is difficult to grasp the outline. And also, there is a complete lack of sources outside the Bible for it. The Hebrews were utterly inconsequential to the rest of the ancient world, until they conquered Canaan and became a minor tribe situated between Egypt and the Assyrians.
A page of Exodus, from an illuminated Tanakh.
A page of Exodus,
from an illuminated Tanakh.
Most notably, there is no archaeological record of their sojourn in Egypt. Some scholars use this to argue that it simply did not happen. I think I would believe it did, even if I did not have faith in the Bible, simply because the Old Testament is so detailed on the subject. It just doesn’t seem like the kind of thing that somebody would make up.
Also, may I point out, it seems that the more time passes, the more evidence archaeologists find of historical records, previously known only from Old Testament. In 1993, secular historians finally began to admit that King David might have actually existed!
Also, we can see even today the Jews’ resilience to assimilation when displaced into a foreign land. It has been proven time after time in the past four thousand years. So it is credible that their strong bond, kept through the covenant of circumcision, would differentiate them from other tribes even over 400 years of Egyptian captivity. Jewish males carried the mark of their difference on their very bodies.
We also know, from archeological evidence, that Harran — a small area now in Turkey, right on the southwest border next to Syria — was settled as a trading outpost of Ur of the Chaldees roughly two thousand years before Christ. The journey of Abraham from Mesopotamia (the land of the Euphrates River, one of the borders of Eden) to Harran is entirely consistent with the time.
Meditation : Prayer : Finally, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, let me think about these things. What I have learned and received, let me do; and the God of peace be with us all.....Amen |
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