CSI - Ancient Israel Water Ritual

What should you do if a dead body is found in a field, and your basic detective work cannot discover a killer? Here is an ancient water ritual that ensured that cold cases didn’t just suffer the indignity of civil neglect.

You can read the extended ritual in Deuteronomy 21:1-9. Here is a brief summary:

Song for Africa's Newest Nation

Tomorrow Africa’s newest nation will be born.

During my visit to South Sudan in 2008 I saw the ruins of schools and churches destroyed thirty years ago at the hands of their own government. I met young people born in refugee camps and listened as grand-parents spoke of their dreams of a re-building their nation.

Now thanks to international efforts, and a referendum in support of independence they have a fresh opportunity for peace and growth.

They need our prayers.

Break-through

Guerilla warfare depends on evasion, stealth and surprise, and David was a master at the game. He had honed his skills through 20 years on the run from King Saul, but now that Saul was dead, David faced an even more formidable foe. The combined Philistine confederacy was moving in for the kill. 2 Samuel 5:17-25.

When David learned this he reverted to guerilla tactics instead of direct assault. He retreated to the caves near the Dead Sea and prayed for God’s counsel. With divine direction he attacked and routed the Philistines decisively.

Speak to the Rock

Twice In the extended story of the Exodus, God miraculously provided desperately-needed water from a rock - with Moses using his staff as a cudgel.

In the second of these stories, near the end of the 40-year migration, we read,

The LORD said to Moses, "Take the staff, and gather the assembly together. Speak to that rock before their eyes and it will pour out its water. You will bring water out of the rock for the community so they and their livestock can drink."

If You Had Only One Wish . . .

Kaitlin Boyda really knew how to live.  Here is an inspiring story from Compassion Canada

Kaitlin Boyda, who lived with a faith and compassion that inspired hundreds of people to give to water projects through Compassion Canada, passed away on Thursday last week, May 5, 2011 at the age of 17.

Kaitlin, from Lethbridge, Alberta, was diagnosed in the summer of 2009 with a cancerous brain tumour at age 16 and has spent the last year and a half battling its affects. When she was approached by the Children’s Wish Foundation in December 2010, she decided not to choose a wish to benefit herself, but to donate the wish to build a well for children in need in Uganda.

The Roar of a Waterfall

There’s a distinct sound reverberating across Canada today. It's Election Day.

After weeks of political speeches, debates, promises and threats, millions of voters are going to get the last word. It’s called democracy – a flawed system to be sure, but better than most other ways of governing in our world.

In the days of imperial Rome, John, the last-surviving disciple of Jesus, was a political prisoner. The emperor and his regime feared the truth about Jesus and tried to silence John’s witness by exiling him to their version of Alcatraz or Robben Island, the Aegean island prison of Patmos.

A voice like a trumpet shattered John’s solitary reverie one day. Whirling around to see who was speaking, John was stunned speechless by a vision of Christ and by the sound of his voice – which thundered like ocean waves or the roar of a cataract.

Deep Sea Fishing

In my April 25 post I wrote about one of Jesus’ final conversations with his friend Simon Peter. Today we look at one of the earliest encounters between the two men as recorded in The Gospel of Luke, Ch 5.

It was Simon’s lucky day – but it hadn’t started out that way. After a fruitless night of fishing, he had come home with an empty boat. For a professional fisherman that spelled frustration, no respect, no income and the added burden of having to clean and repair your gear in hopes of a better outing tomorrow.

But then Jesus told him to “push out into deep water and let out your nets for a catch” Simon took up his challenge – and as soon as his nets hit the water the lake erupted in thrashing fish and a haul so large his nets began to tear apart. His partners on the shore leapt to his aid and together they pulled in a catch that almost swamped both their boats.

Soaked and Soiled - the Joy of Serving

In first-century Palestine, it was courtesy to welcome guests to your home by washing their feet. Since most of the roads and laneways were unpaved, both in rainy seasons and dry, people’s feet would quickly be caked with dust or mud. Simple hospitality required a host to arrange for a servant to wash the feet of the guests when they arrived.

But as Jesus and his friends gathered to celebrate Passover, there were no servants to wait on them. And every disciple was jockeying for the right to sit closer to Jesus, acutely focused on his prestige in the group. No one moved to initiate this basic gesture of hospitality.

Out, damned spot! Out, I say!

Guilt is a terrible thing.  But if there is something worse than guilt, its name would be Denial.  Denial is the paralyzing refusal to come to terms with the monster that is destroying you.

Helen Rynne as Lady Macbeth

A grim scene in Macbeth illustrates the destructive power of repressed and unacknowledged guilt:  Lady Macbeth sleep-walking the halls of her castle with a candle, trying in vain to scour the damning blood-guilt from her hands.

Yet here's a spot . . .

Out, damned spot! out, I say! . . .

Who would have thought the old man
to have had so much blood in him? . . .

What, will these hands ne'er be clean? . . .

Here's the smell of the blood still:
All the perfumes of Arabia will not
sweeten this little hand.

Oh, oh, oh!

Her façade is cracking; denial is hard to sustain. 

Leadership Springs

Time was of the essence. The senile King David shivered in the hours before his death, but his scheming son kept his eye focused on his father’s crown. Adonijah was handsome, shrewd and self-serving. Aware that the king favored Solomon as his heir, Adonijah moved quickly to grasp his advantage. (Read 1 Kings 1)

With a small bodyguard, he organized his own coronation. He invited all his royal brothers except Solomon to a lavish feast at the En-Rogel spring outside the southern walls of the city – a country barbeque – to celebrate his accession to the throne and, no doubt, to enlist their support.

But news of his conspiracy leaked out and the prophet Nathan roused the dying king to act. David immediately named Solomon his successor and ordered Nathan to convene the official coronation of Solomon at the other spring – Gihon, a few hundred meters north of En-Rogel.

Rizpah and the Rain

Suffering sometimes triggers good soul-searching. And a three-year drought set King David on a desperate search for answers.

What he uncovered was a story of treachery and genocide that hadn’t registered a flicker on the national conscience.
See 2 Samuel 21:1-14.

It involved one of Israel’s tribal neighbors, the Gibeonites, who lived east of the Jordan. By ancient treaty, (see Joshua 9) these people had enjoyed protection and immunity from attack by Israel. But David’s predecessor, Saul broke faith and attempted to annihilate them – and almost succeeded.

The Cost of Water

What does water cost? And who should pay? Is water a human right or a human need? How should water be financed?

Two contrasting images in the Bible give a hint:
► prisoners forced to buy their own drinking water
► a free-entry hospitality suite for every thirsty person on the planet!

The first story comes from the heart-wrenching lament of Jewish prisoners-of-war in 586 BCE when the Babylonians sacked Jerusalem, raped her women and burned the Temple. Among the atrocities they endured, we read,

We have to pay to drink our own water.

Even our firewood comes at a price.

We're slaves, bullied and bowed,

worn out and without any rest.

Lamentations 5:4 The Message

Spring Up, O Well!

It's Labor Day.  So here is a biblical story about water and work.

Towards the end of Israel’s 40 year migration from Egypt, the people and their flocks were - as always - in dire need of water. God told Moses, 'you assemble the people; I’ll provide the water.'

The next thing we know, the people are celebrating around a fresh flowing artesian spring. Imagine the ooohs and ahhhs of relief, the laughter and splashing, the cheers of thirsty, sun-weary souls enjoying fresh cold spring-water.