SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/7/2022 8:04 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-2 “The
Incident”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference:
Matthew 12:1
Message of the
verse: “1 At
that time Jesus went on the Sabbath through the grainfields, and His disciples
became hungry and began to pick the heads of grain and eat.”
We begin with a quote from John
MacArthur: “Jewish tradition had even
caused the Sabbath to be dangerous. The apocryphal
book of 1 Maccabees (2:31-38) tells of an incident during the time of Judas
Maccabaeus when a group of Jews refused to defend themselves on the Sabbath
against the Greek army led by Antiochus Epiphanes. As the soldier of Antiochus attacked, the
Jews ‘answered them not, neither cast they a stone at them, nor stopped the
places where they lay hid; but said: ‘Let us die in our innocency: heaven and
earth shall testify for us, that ye put us to death wrongfully.’ So they rose up against them in battle on the
Sabbath, and they slew them with their wives and children and cattle, to the
number of a thousand people.’
“It was Antiquities, the Jewish historian Josephus reports that it was also
because Jews would not defend themselves on the Sabbath that the Roman general
Pompey was able to capture Jerusalem. As
was the custom in ancient Roman warfare, Pompey began building a high mound
from which his troupes could bombard the city. Aware that the Jews defending
Jerusalem would not oppose him then, the general did all construction work on
the Sabbath. ‘Had it not been for that
practice, from the days of our forefathers, to rest on the seventh day,’
Josephus wrote, ‘this bank could never have been perfected, by reason of the
opposition the Jews would have made; for though our Law gave us leave then to
defend ourselves against those that begin to fight with us and assault us (this
was a concession), yet it does not permit us to meddle with our enemies while
they do anything else.’
“One section alone on the Talmud,
the major compilation of Jewish tradition, has twenty-four chapters listing
Sabbath laws. One law specified that the
basis limit for travel was 3,000 feet from one’s house; but various exceptions
were provided. If you had placed some
food within 3,000 feet of your house, you could go there to eat it; and because
the food was considered an extension of the house, you could then go another
3,000 feet beyond the food. If a rope
was placed across an adjoining street or alley, the building on the other side,
as well as the alley between, could be considered part of your house.”
In his commentary John MacArthur
goes on to talk about these ridiculous laws that were man-made for the
Sabbath. I have to say that I believe
they were brought about by Satan in order to control people, something that he
is good at.
I will conclude this SD by writing
about a friend of mine, one that I have known since 1978 died late last month
and his funeral is today and I am honored to be one of those who are to carry
him to the place where he will be buried.
Bruce was a good friend and my dear wife has been spending time with his
wife to help to comfort her. I can
remember many stories of the things that Bruce and I did together, mostly with
other members of the churches we went to.
I have to say that I am angered by the way that he was treated while in
the hospital and I believe that those who have put these policies in place will
one day have to answer to the Lord. I
will miss Bruce, but I know where he is right now and I also know that if he
could come back to earth that he would not chose to do so. I also know that one day I will see him again
when the time comes for me to join him in heaven or when the Lord comes in the
clouds to retrieve his body along with all those others who died in the church
age. I look forward to that day, and
believe it is not too far off.
1/7/2022 8:30
AM
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