February 28, 2012

Joshua 22:1-24:33

Continued from Monday 2/27

The History

Nehemiah, royal cupbearer to the Persian king, was born to the tribe of Judah and may have been a native of Jerusalem. At that time (5th century b.c.e.), Judah was a province of the Persian Empire. The history of how this came to pass is complicated. As related in Chapter 11, the united kingdom of Israel had split into two states, Israel in the north and Judah in the south, in the 10th century b.c.e. Both kingdoms were able to maintain their autonomy, despite the conflicts they had with each other, because their neighbors were relatively weak. But in the 8th century b.c.e. the Assyrians conquered Israel and deported many Israelites into captivity. At the beginning of the 6th century b.c.e. the Babylonians, having destroyed the Assyrian empire, took control of Judah. The Babylonians razed the Temple at Jerusalem and carried away the Ark of the Covenant (which disappears from history at this time), essentially severing the living connection between the Jews and God. Nebuchadnezzar II, the Babylonian king, ordered the deportation of most of Judah's people to Babylon. This period of exile, when the Jews were enslaved in Assyria or Babylon or were forced to flee to Egypt or other lands, is known as the First Diaspora, or Dispersion. In the mid-6th century b.c.e. the Persian Empire, under King Cyrus the Great, conquered Babylonia and most of western Asia, including all of Israel. Cyrus permitted a number of Jews to return to Jerusalem, and under the leadership of Sheshbazzar, they began to build the Second Temple.

When Artaxerxes I became king of Persia in the 5th century b.c.e., he granted Nehemiah's request to return to Jerusalem in order to help in the rebuilding of the city. Beginning in 446b.c.e., Nehemiah governed Jerusalem for about thirteen years, restoring the traditional religious observances and continuing the reforms begun by Ezra, his predecessor. When Nehemiah returned to Persia, however, Jerusalem quickly fell back into corruption and idolatry. At this point the prophet Malachi began to exhort the Jews to return to the Law, and Nehemiah rushed back to Jerusalem after an absence of only two years, shocked at the quick decline in the moral state of his people and determined to bring them back to God. He was able to maintain public order and worship and remained in his post as governor until his death in about 413 b.c.e. Afterward, Judah became a part of Syria, under the administration of the high priest.

February 27, 2012

Joshua 19:32-21:42
Joshua 21:43-45
1 Chronicles 6:54-81

February 26, 2012

Joshua16:1-19:9
1 Chronicles 4:24-33
Joshua 19:10-31

February 25, 2012

Joshua 13:1-15:63

February 24, 2012

Joshua10:1-12:24

FUN FRIDAY

February 23, 2012

Joshua 7:1-9:27

February 22, 2012

Joshua 3:1-6:27 

February 21, 2012

Deuteronomy 33:1-34:12; Joshua 1:1-2:24

THE GEZAR CALENDAR

The Gezer Calendar is a limestone tablet about 4inches (10cm) tall. It dates from the time of Solomon, in the mid-10th century BC. It describes the agricultural cycle month by month, giving the tasks to be performed at certain times of the year. 

August and September are times of harvest, October and November for planting. February is devoted to cultivation of flax, and March to the barley harvest, etc.

The Gezer Calendar

This is illustrated by a stone tablet from Gezer (see top of page, Ancient Farmer's Calendar) assumed to be part of a 10th century BCE schoolboy's exercise. It is not an official calendar. 

In seven lines, it lists the months and seasons as:

• 1: 2 months Olive Harvest (Sept/Oct or Oct/Nov), first the picking of the olives then the pressing for oil.
• 2: 2 months Sowing: The next two months (Nov./Dec or Dec/Jan) come, in Israel, after the first winter rains and, as a rule, after the ploughing, done at the end of October and early November. This was the grain-sowing season.
• 3: 2 months Late Planting: January to March was the time for sowing millet, sesame, lentils, chick peas, melons, cucumbers and so on.
• 4: 1 month Hoeing: This was especially the period for cutting the flax. This was done with a hoe as the plants must be cut close to the ground so that the full length of the stalk can be used, when dried and treated, to make thread and cloth.
• 5: 1 month Grain Harvest: Barley is harvested in April in the south and in May in the north. Wheat and spelt come later in May/June. The grain was cut by a sickle, made before the 10th century BC from flint chips set in a haft made of wood or bone. Later, a small curved wooden blade was affixed to a wooden handle. The grain was separated from the straw and husks by spreading the cut plants on a specially prepared threshing floor outside the village and then driving oxen round and round over it, pulling a threshing sledge which might be flat or on small rollers. The grain was then winnowed and sieved, and finally stored in large jars. Rooms full of such jars are not uncommon in excavations.
• 6: 1 month Festivals: Seven weeks from the beginning of the grain harvest (Dt. 16:9) or at about the time it was completed, a pilgrimage was made to the sanctuary bearing an offering of "first fruits" for the festival of Pentecost (Shavuoth).  In later usage, the Hebrew terms for "early harvest" or "first fruits" have acquired the wider meaning of "choice" fruits or produce.
• 7: 2 months Vine Tending: During the hot summer months of June/July or July/August, after the grain harvest, vines were pruned and the vineyards weeded and cleaned in preparation for the grape harvest.
• 8: 1 month Summer Fruits: The last month of the agricultural calendar (August/Sept.) was devoted to harvesting summer fruit, especially grapes, figs and pomegranates.

According to the oldest liturgical calendars, (Ex. 23:14-17; 34:18-23), the first month, Nisan, during which the feast of Unleavened Bread was celebrated, began in the spring, approximately March-April in modern terms. 

February 20, 2012

Psalm 90:1-17

Deuteronomy 31:30-32:52

February 19, 2012

Deuteronomy 29:1-31:29

February 18. 2012

 Deuteronomy 27:1-28:68

RECIPES

MEAL:  Abigail Cooks to Appease

Abigail's Lentil Dish

3 cups water
1 bay leaf
3 sprigs parsley
1 onion, chopped
3 Tbsp. oil
1 cup cooked rice
ó tsp. mace
salt and pepper
1 ½ cups tomato sauce


Wash the lentils and soak in water for about an hour; do not drain. Add bay leaf and parsley and
cook until tender—about 1 hour. Meanwhile, brown the onion in the heated oil; then add the
remaining ingredients with the exception of the sauce. Heat through, and serve with sauce in a
side dish.
Yield: 8 servings



14 … One of the young shepherds told Abigail, Nabal's wife, what had happened: ´David sent
messengers from the backcountry to salute our master, but he tore into them with insults.
15 ´Yet these men treated us very well. They took nothing from us and didn't take advantage of
us all the time we were in the fields.
16 ´They formed a wall around us, protecting us day and night all the time we were out tending
the sheep.
17 ´Do something quickly because big trouble is ahead for our master and all of us. Nobody can
talk to him. He's impossible—a real brute!µ
18 Abigail flew into action. She took two hundred loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five
sheep dressed out and ready for cooking, a bushel of roasted grain, a hundred raisin cakes, and
two hundred fig cakes, and she had it all loaded on some donkeys.
19 Then she said to her young servants, ´Go ahead and pave the way for me [with David]. I'm
right behind you.µ
20 As she was riding her donkey, descending into a ravine, David and his men were descending
from the other end, so they met there on the road.
21 David had just said, ´That sure was a waste, guarding everything this man had out in the
wild so that nothing he had was lost—and now he rewards me with insults. A real slap in the face

FUN FRIDAY

February 17, 2012

Deuteronomy 23:1-26:29

February 16, 2012

Deuteronomy 19:1-22:30

February 15, 2012

Deuteronomy 15:1-18:22

THRESHING FLOOR

THRESHING FLOOR

Floors for

Gen_50:10-11; Jdg_6:37; Rth_3:2-14; 1Sa_23:1; 2Sa_6:6; Hos_9:2; Joe_2:24

A threshing floor is a specially flattened surface, usually circular and paved, where a farmer would thresh the grain harvest and then winnow it, before the advent of threshing machines from the nineteenth century onwards. The threshing floor was either owned by the entire village or by a single family. It was usually located outside the village in a place exposed to the wind.

Structure

Threshing floors are usually located near a farm or farmhouse, or in places easily accessible from growing areas. They are usually paved with material that may be of various kinds, for example round stonecobbles about the size of a fist; slate; tile; or sometimes the underlying bedrock itself is exposed. Unpaved earthen threshing floors are also sometimes found. The floors usually have a slight slope, to avoid water standing on them after rain; and the paving may be divided by rays traced from a central focus to facilitate the pavement.

To overcome possible unevenness, and isolate them from water running off after rain so helping to preserve them, threshing floors are often surrounded by a stout low wall. The construction was often in a high place, to take advantage of soft and steady winds to facilitate the work of winnowing, separating the grain from the chaff, once the threshing had been completed.

Use

A horse pulling a threshing-board on a threshing floor

Sheaves of grain would be opened up and the stalks spread across the threshing floor. Pairs of donkeys or oxen (or sometimes cattle, or horses) would then be walked round and round, often dragging a heavythreshing board behind them, to tear the ears of grain from the stalks, and loosen the grain itself from the husks.

After this threshing process, the broken stalks and grain were collected and then thrown up into the air with a wooden fork-like tool called a winnowing fan. The chaff would be blown away by the wind; the short torn straw would fall some distance away; while the heavier grain would fall at the winnower's feet. The grain could then be further cleansed by sieving.

External links

February 14, 2012

Deuteronomy 12:1-14:29

February 13, 2012

Deuteronomy 9:1-11:32

AGRICULTURE IN BIBLE TIMES

Jer 51:33  

like a threshing-floor, it is time to thresh her — rather, “like a threshing-floor at the time of threshing,” or “at the time when it is trodden.” The treading, or threshing, here put before the harvest, out of the natural order, because the prominent thought is the treading down or destruction of Babylon. In the East the treading out of the corn took place only at harvest-time. Babylon is like a threshing-floor not trodden for a long time; but the time of harvest, when her citizens shall be trodden under foot, shall come [Calvin]. “Like a threshing-floor full of corn, so is Babylon now full of riches, but the time of harvest shall come, when all her prosperity shall be cut off” [Ludovicus De Dieu]. Grotius distinguishes the “harvest” from the “threshing”; the former is the slaying of her citizens, the latter the pillaging and destruction of the city (compare Joe_3:13; Rev_14:15, Rev_14:18).

Isa 28:27  

The husbandman uses the same discretion in threshing. The dill (“fitches”) and cummin, leguminous and tender grains, are beaten out, not as wheat, etc., with the heavy corn-drag (“threshing instrument”), but with “a staff”; heavy instruments would crush and injure the seed.

February 12, 2012

Deuteronomy 6:1-8:20

February 12, 2012

Deuteronomy 6:1-8:20

RECIPES

Solomon' Flat Bread

Meal-King David Nuptial

1 1/2  cups whole wheat flour

13 cup fine cornmeal

1 Tbsp. olive oil

1 ò tsp. salt

1/2 cup lentils, cooked

1 Tbsp. millet, ground into powder

1 1/2 cups water

1 tsp. onion powder

1/2 cup sesame seed

One of the few breads to incorporate lentils in the dough, Solomon's Flat Bread is great when served with hummus or some other dip.

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Combine flour, cornmeal, olive oil, salt, lentils, millet, and water to make a dough mixture, and flatten onto an oiled baking sheet. Sprinkle with onion powder and sesame seeds. Bake 20 minutes or so. For a crispier cracker, leave in oven an extra 10 minutes.

Yield: 6 servings

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Chocolate-Cherry Filled Angel Food Cake

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Transform angel food cake into a lavish dessert by fusing it with chocolate whipped topping and cherry pie filling. Sprinkle your masterpiece with grated chocolate for that elegant finesse.

Prep Time: 20 Min

Total Time: 1 Hr 20 Min

Makes: 8 servings

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INGREDIENTS:

1

large round angel food cake

1

(21-oz.) can cherry pie filling

2

tablespoons unsweetened cocoa

1

(8-oz.) container frozen light whipped topping, thawed

2

tablespoons grated semisweet chocolate

Hide Directions

DIRECTIONS:

• With long, serrated knife and cutting horizontally, carefully cut off top 1/2 inch of cake. Set top portion of cake aside.
• Cut down into cake 1/2 inch from outer edge and 1/2 inch from hole, leaving a "wall" of cake 1/2 inch thick. Remove center with curved knife or spoon, being careful to leave base of cake at bottom 1/2 inch thick. Discard or reserve crumbs for a later use. Place cake on serving plate.
• Spoon pie filling evenly into cavity of cake. Fold cocoa into whipped topping until well blended. Spoon 1/2 cup topping mixture over cut surface of cake. Replace top portion of cake.
• Frost sides and top of cake with remaining whipped topping mixture. Sprinkle top with grated chocolate. Refrigerate at least 1 hour or until serving time. Store in refrigerator.

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High Altitude (3500-6500 ft):

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Nutritional Information:

1 Serving (1 Serving)

• Calories 280
• (Calories from Fat 35),

• Total Fat 4g
• (Saturated Fat 4g,
• Cholesterol 0mg;
• Sodium 330mg;
• Total Carbohydrate 57g
• (Dietary Fiber 2g,
• Sugars 49g),
• Protein 3g;

Percent Daily Value*:

• Vitamin A 4.00%;
• Vitamin C 4.00%;
• Calcium 6.00%;
• Iron 4.00%;

Exchanges:

• 1 Starch;
• 3 Fruit;
• 4 Other Carbohydrate;
• 1/2 Fat;

*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.

© 2012 ®/TM General Mills All Rights Reserved

February 11, 2012

Deuteronomy 3:12-5:33

FUN FRIDAY

February 10, 2012

Deuteronomy 1:1-3:11

February 9, 2012

Numbers 34:1-36:13

GLEANING

Gleaning

glēn´ing (לקט, lāḳaṭ, עלל, ‛ālal): The custom of allowing the poor to follow the reapers in the field and glean the fallen spears of grain is strikingly illustrated in the story of Ruth (Ruth 2:2-23). This custom had back of it one of the early agricultural laws of the Hebrews (Lev_19:9; Lev_23:22; Deu_24:19-21). Breaking this law was a punishable offense. The generosity of the master of the crop determined the value of the gleanings, as the story of Ruth well illustrates (Rth_2:16). A reaper could easily impose upon the master by leaving too much for the gleaners, who might be his own children. The old Levitical law no longer holds in the land, but the custom of allowing the poor to glean in the grain fields and vineyards is still practiced by generous landlords in Syria. The writer has seen the reapers, even when they exercised considerable care, drop from their hands frequent spears of wheat. When the reapers have been hirelings they have carelessly left bunches of wheat standing behind rocks or near the boundary walls. The owner usually sends one of his boy or girl helpers to glean these. If he is of a generous disposition, he allows some needy woman to follow after the reapers and benefit by their carelessness. It is the custom in some districts, after the main crop of grapes has been gathered, to remove the watchman and allow free access to the vineyards for gleaning the last grapes.
Gideon touched the local pride of the men of Ephraim when he declared that the glory of their conquest surpassed his, as the gleanings of their vineyards did the whole crop of Abiezer (Jdg_8:2). Gleaned is used of a captured enemy in Jdg_20:45.
Figurative: Israel, because of her wickedness, will be utterly destroyed, even to a thorough gleaning and destruction of those who first escape (Jer_6:9). The same picture of complete annihilation is given in Jer_49:9, Jer_49:10.


Deu 24:19-22
When thou cuttest down thine harvest in thy field — The grain, pulled up by the roots or cut down with a sickle, was laid in loose sheaves; the fruit of the olive was obtained by striking the branches with long poles; and the grape clusters, severed by a hook, were gathered in the hands of the vintager. Here is a beneficent provision for the poor. Every forgotten sheaf in the harvest-field was to lie; the olive tree was not to be beaten a second time; nor were grapes to be gathered, in order that, in collecting what remained, the hearts of the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow might be gladdened by the bounty of Providence.

Sickle

sik´'l (חרנשׁ, ḥermēsh (Deu_16:9; Deu_23:25), מגּל, maggāl; compare Arabic minjal (Jer_50:16; Joe_3:13); δρέανον, drépanon (Mar_4:29; Rev_14:14-19)): Although the ancients pulled much of their grain by hand, we know that they also used sickles. The form of this instrument varied, as is evidenced by the Egyptian sculptures. The earliest sickle was probably of wood, shaped like the modern scythe, although much smaller, with the cutting edge made of sharp flints set into the wood. Sickle flints were found at Tel el-Ḥesy. Crescent-shaped iron sickles were found in the same mound. In Palestine and Syria the sickle varies in size. It is usually made wholly of iron or steel and shaped much like the instrument used in western lands. The smaller-sized sickles are used both for pruning and for reaping.

February 8, 2012

Numbers 32:1-33:56

February 7, 2012

 Numbers 30:1-31:54

BIBLE TIME COOKING

39b Then David sent word to Abigail, asking her to become his wife.

His servants went to Carmel and said to Abigail, “David has sent us to you to take you to become his wife.”

She bowed down with her face to the ground and said, “Here is your maidservant, ready to serve you and wash the feet of my master's servants.”

42 Abigail quickly got on a donkey and, attended by her five maids, went with David's messengers and became his wife.

I Samuel 25:39b-42, New International Version

A jug of olive oil was representative of the feast of kings, as the ancient Hebrews
 believed that olive oil was capable of restoring health and adding longevity.

Biblical Passage Notes

The Bible does not provide us with any words about the preparations for David's marriages,
 but there seems to be a long history associated with a wedding feast in the House of David. The imagery is seen over and over again in the Song of Songs, where some scholars and a longstanding tradition identify the male protagonist, the lover, as Solomon, David's son and successor. In addition, the parable of the wedding feast in the Christian gospels (Matthew 22:1–14, Luke 14:15–24) is rooted in a Jewish understanding of the marriage of a great king.
The stories surrounding David were undoubtedly on the minds of the gospel writers as they related the teachings of Jesus, who himself was said to be a descendant of David.

The Preparation

What would a feast for such a great king look like? In modern-day Israel, one will come
across more than a few sites pitching “King David's Feast” (such as Genesis Land just outside of Jerusalem) to the tourist trade; and many of the cookbooks of the last seventy years have a recipe or two that imagine some glorious confection worthy of the Jerusalem court. We've attempted a fair cross section of both offerings, while adding in a few recipes we think
would make an 11th-century b.c.e. royal meal complete. If you're going to try the whole
menu at one sitting, make sure you have left yourself a lot of preparation time and that you've invited lots of friends and family with hearty appetites!

SEE RECIPE ON 2/11

The History

As related in Chapter 8, King Saul had become extremely jealous of David's success in battle, his popularity among the people, and his special relationship with God, to the point that
 Saul actually tried to murder David with a spear while the young man was playing music.
 David, aided by his wife Michal and Saul's son Jonathan, managed to elude Saul's men and
to gather a large band of supporters. Even though he was a fugitive, David cornered Saul on two different occasions, but each time David spared the king's life. Saul and three of his
sons, including Jonathan, finally met their end during another battle with the Philistines,
 Saul committing suicide instead of allowing the enemy to kill him. Afterward, David went to Hebron and became king of Judah; he was but thirty years old. A war between the House of Saul and the House of David ensued, and after seven years of fighting David's forces
prevailed; he was then anointed king of Israel as well. Historians date the unification of
Judah and Israel to the 11th century b.c.e.
David reigned for about thirty-three years as ruler of the united kingdom. During that time
 he was able to subdue the Philistines and conquer the rest of Canaan. Historians also credit David with having provided strong spiritual leadership to a fractious group of tribal families who were easily tempted to abandon the Covenant in favor of the religious practices of the native peoples. He made Jerusalem the capital of the new nation of Israel because that city was and still is considered to be sacred to God: within its boundaries is Mount Moriah, the place where Abraham was supposed to have gone to sacrifice Isaac and the place where
 Jacob was believed to have had his vision of a ladder ascending to heaven. To this holy spot David brought the Ark of the Covenant with the Tablets of the Ten Commandments, and there he is believed to have composed many of the works found in the book of Psalms.
Before and during his reign as king, David took at least eight wives, a number of concubines, and had at least twenty children, including a son, Daniel, with Abigail; a son, Absalom, and a daughter, Tamar, with Maachah; and a son, Solomon, with Bathsheba. It was Solomon,
 known for his wisdom, who succeeded to the throne when David died, and it was he who built the great Temple at Jerusalem.

A

February 6, 2012

Numbers 27:1-29:40