The Lord to the children of Israel: …and you cried to me, and I delivered you out of their hand? And yet you have forsaken me, and have worshipped strange gods: therefore I will deliver you no more. Go and call upon the gods which you have chosen: let them deliver you in the time of distress.

Strong, almost human, parent-child relationship in the Old Testament between God and the children of Israel. It was limiting in scope and in effect, so much so that God progressed to the New Testament and gave His Only Son to the world, so that we would get and experience love through Jesus Christ and The Holy Spirit. Amen! Alleluia!

Yet how many times do we forsake God? How many times do we forsake ourselves? How many times do we forsake other human beings?

Who can, and who will deliver me in the time of distress?

Certainly not my selfishness or my overactive worldly mind or my self-centered ego. Or the Devil or Satan in disguise. I only feel true relief, comfort and love through Jesus’s love for me and all of us. In my case, food and sugar, while they temporarily self-medicate me, they never can cure me. Only with God’s help, only with Jesus’ help, and only with The Holy Spirit’s help is that even possible.

Analogous to the spiritual law that only light can displace darkness, only love can displace hate, only turning to God can I come out of my self and experience the peace, joy, and freedom in life as Our Creator so intended for us to do so!

We know the familiar story of Abraham willing to sacrifice his son Isaac yet the Lord stopped him in time. Yet there is Jephte in the Book of Judges who fulfilled a vow to the Lord and did sacrifice and offer his daughter as a holocaust to the Lord.

Therefore the spirit of the Lord came upon Jephte… If thou will deliver the children of Ammon into my hands, whosoever shall first come forth out of the doors of my house, and shall meet me when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, the same will I offer a holocaust to the Lord.

And Jephte passed over to the children of Ammon to fight against them: and the Lord delivered them into his hands… and the children of Ammon were humbled by the children of Israel.

…his only daughter met him with timbrels and with dances: for he had no other children… for I have opened my mouth to the Lord, and I can do no other thing… Grant me only this I desire: Let me go, that I may go about the mountains for two months, and may bewail my virginity… and the two months being expired, she returned to her father, and he did to her as he had vowed, and she knew no man.

What are we to make out of this? How are we to understand the meaning of the two biblical Old Testament passages in light of God’s demonstrated love through His Only Son Jesus in the New Testament?

Is it as simple as “that was then in God’s wrath in the Old Testament and this is now in Jesus’ love in the New Testament?”

Why, therefore, a cow? I have no idea.

And when the flame from the altar went up towards heaven, the angel of the Lord ascended also in the flame.

We shall certainly die, because we have seen God. And his wife answered him: If the Lord had a mind to kill us, he would not have received a holocaust and libations at our hands, neither would he have showed us all these things, nor have told us the things that are to come.

And she bore a son, and called his name Samson. And the child grew, and the Lord blessed him. And the spirit of the Lord…

First bit of country in the Bible… “if the Lord had a mind to kill us”… and the wife figured it out before her husband and she figured it out right!

I beseech you, take her for me to wife…that thou will take a wife of the Philistines, who are uncircumcised? Take this woman for me, for she hath pleased my eyes.

…behold a young lion met him raging and roaring. And the spirit of the Lord came upon Samson, and he tore the lion as he would have torn a kid in pieces… and behold there was a swarm of bees in the mouth of the lion and a honeycomb…

Samson: …I will propose to you a riddle… out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness…

The story of Samson to be continued…

Our riddle…

Who can, and who will deliver me in the time of distress?

Only God the Father, Jesus Christ His Son, and The Holy Spirit!

Day 85: Reading The Bible with a TROML Perspective; Who Can, and Who Will Deliver Me in the Time of Distress?

Read and inspired by the Old Testament, The Book of Judges Chapters 10-14

Bible Notes:

This Book is so called, because it is a history of the Jews under the government of the Judges, men, like Gedeon and Samson, who were raised up to rule Israel before they had kings. It describes the religious and political condition of the Jews and the work of the twelve Judges.

Judges Chapter 10: Thola and Jair judge Israel; Philistines and Ammonites oppress Israel; The Israelites cry to God; Israelites put away false gods.

After Abimelech there arose a ruler in Israel, Thola…, and he judged Israel three and twenty years.

To him succeeded Jair the Galaadite, who judged Israel for two and twenty years.

But the children of Israel, adding new sins to their old ones, did evil in the sight of the Lord, and served idols… and the gods of… and they left the Lord, and did not serve him.

And the Lord being angry with them, delivered them into the hands of the Philistines and of the children of Ammon. And they were afflicted, and grievously oppressed for eighteen years… and Israel was distressed exceedingly.

The Lord to the children of Israel: …and you cried to me, and I delivered you out of their hand? And yet you have forsaken me, and have worshipped strange gods: therefore I will deliver you no more. Go and call upon the gods which you have chosen: let them deliver you in the time of distress.

Children of Israel to the Lord: “We have sinned, do thou unto us whatsoever pleaseth thee: only deliver us this time. And saying these things, they cast away out of their coasts all the idols of strange gods and served the Lord their God: and he was touched by their miseries.

Judges Chapter 11: Jephte flees from his brothers; Jephte becomes prince of Galaad; Jephte’s message to the Ammonites; Jephte’s vow; Jephte defeats the Ammonites; Sad fulfillment of Jephte’s vow.

Wife of Galaad: Thou canst not inherit in the house of our father, because thou art born of another mother… and there were gathered to him needy men, and robbers, and thy followed him as their prince.

Jephte: If you come to me sincerely, that I should fight for you against the children of Ammon, and the Lord shall deliver them into my hand, shall I be your prince?

But what the Lord our God hath obtained by conquest, shall be our possession…

Why have you waited so long a time attempted nothing about this claim? Therefore I do not trespass against thee, but thou wrongest me by declaring an unjust war against me.

Therefore the spirit of the Lord came upon Jephte… If thou will deliver the children of Ammon into my hands, whosoever shall first come forth out of the doors of my house, and shall meet me when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, the same will I offer a holocaust to the Lord.

And Jephte passed over to the children of Ammon to fight against them: and the Lord delivered them into his hands… and the children of Ammon were humbled by the children of Israel.

…his only daughter met him with timbrels and with dances: for he had no other children… for I have opened my mouth to the Lord, and I can do no other thing… Grant me only this I desire: Let me go, that I may go about the mountains for two months, and may bewail my virginity… and the two months being expired, she returned to her father, and he did to her as he had vowed, and she knew no man.

Judges Chapter 12: The Ephraimites quarrel with Jephte; The men of Galaad slay the Ephraimites; Death of Jephte.

Sedition—incitement of discontent or rebellion against a government.

And Jephte the Galaadite judged Israel six years: and he died…

Abesan of Bethlehem judged Israel seven years.

Ahialon, a Zabulonite, judged Israel ten years.

Abdon, a Pharathonite, judged Israel eight years.

Judges Chapter 13: Philistines subdue Israel; An angel foretells the birth of Samson; The angel reappears to Manue’s wife; The angel instructs Manue; Manue’s sacrifice; The angel ascends in a flame; Birth of Samson.

And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord: and he delivered them into the hands of the Philistines forty years.

And an angel of the Lord appeared to the wife of Manue… thou are barren and without children: but thou shall conceive and bear a son… for the child shall be a Nazarite of God from his infancy… and he shall begin to deliver Israel from the hands of the Philistines.

…may come again, and teach us what we ought to do concerning the child that shall be born.

…but if thou wilt offer a holocaust, offer it to the Lord.

And when the flame from the altar went up towards heaven, the angel of the Lord ascended also in the flame.

We shall certainly die, because we have seen God. And his wife answered him: If the Lord had a mind to kill us, he would not have received a holocaust and libations at our hands, neither would he have showed us all these things, nor have told us the things that are to come.

And she bore a son, and called his name Samson. And the child grew, and the Lord blessed him. And the spirit of the Lord…

Judges Chapter 14: Samson desires a Philistine wife; Samson kills a lion; Samson finds honey in the lion’s mouth; Samson’s wedding feast; Samson’s riddle; The answer to Samson’s riddle; Samson slays thirty men.

I beseech you, take her for me to wife…that thou will take a wife of the Philistines, who are uncircumcised? Take this woman for me, for she hath pleased my eyes.

…behold a young lion met him raging and roaring. And the spirit of the Lord came upon Samson, and he tore the lion as he would have torn a kid in pieces… and behold there was a swarm of bees in the mouth of the lion and a honeycomb…

Samson: …I will propose to you a riddle… out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness…

Thou hatest me, and dost not love me: therefore thou wilt not expound to me the riddle which thou hast proposed to the sons of my people. So she wept before him the seven days of the feast: and at length on the seventh day as she was troublesome to him, he expounded it. She immediately told her countrymen. And they on the seventh day before the sun went down said to him: What is sweeter than honey? And what is stronger than a lion?

And the spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he went down to Ascalon, and slew there thirty men… and being exceedingly angry he went up to his father’s house: but his wife took one of his friends and bridal companions for her husband.

This part of the Bible is so rich in inspiration my notes below is simply a rewriting of the biblical text. Is it rich in inspiration through the process of being familiar and repetitious in my life—heard and otherwise experienced? Or is Christ thoroughly in my heart and connecting me to His Word so that I may act on it according to God’s Will for my life?

Probably a little bit of both but rewriting, journaling if you may, necessitates thought, which further embraces and digests the Scriptures for me.

There are the familiar words and phrases here in John’s Gospel with the interaction of Jesus and Nicodemus that leads to the familiar and trusted John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that those who believe in him may not perish, but may have life everlasting.”

Here it is as it reads like a book:

Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews, came to Jesus at night… “Rabbi, we know that thou hast come a teacher from God, for no one can work these signs that thou workest unless God be with him.”

Jesus: “Amen, amen, I say to thee, unless a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

Nicodemus: “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born again?

Jesus: “Amen, amen, I say to thee, unless a man be born again of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not wonder that I said to thee, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it will, and thou hearest its sound but dost but dost not know where it comes from or where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

Nicodemus: “How can these things be?”

Jesus: “Thou art a teacher in Israel and dost not know these things? Amen, amen, I say to thee, we speak of what we know, and we bear witness to what we have seen; and our witness you do not receive. If I have spoken of earthly things to you, and you do not believe, how will you believe if I speak to you of heavenly things? And no one has ascended into heaven except him who has descended from heaven: the Son of Man who is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that those who believe in him may not perish, but may have life everlasting.”

For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that those who believe in him may not perish, but may have life everlasting. For God did not send his Son into the world in order to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him. He who believes in him is not judged; but he who does not believe is already judged, because he does not believe in the name of the only-begotten Son of God. Now this is the judgment: The light has come into the world, yet men have loved the darkness rather than the light, for their works were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light, that his deeds may not be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light that his deeds may be made manifest, for they have been performed in God.

My experience as I journal and review my life to date is that one can go back year-by-year; month-by-month, day–by-day, moment-by-moment to extract inspiration throughout one’s life. In the process of doing so, in a willing, humble, and honest manner, we see our life experiences in a new light. We forgive ourselves and others and let go and let God wash his purity once again over us. Symbolically we have gone back to our mother’s womb and in a childlike manner begin our adult lives over again having been saved or born again by Christ. TROML Baby!

The richness of The Bible continues here with the symbiotic relationship of John the Baptist and Jesus. John knowing his place in life and in God’s Will. Letting go of the worldly judgments and comparisons to feel true joy.

John: “No one can receive anything unless it is given to him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness that I said, ‘I am no the Christ but have been sent before him.’ He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend if the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices exceedingly at the voice of the bridegroom. This my joy, therefore, is made full. He must increase, but I must decrease.”

He who comes from above is over all. He who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and of the earth he speaks. He who comes from heaven is over all. And he bears witness to that which he has seen and heard, and his witness no one receives. He who receives his witness has set his seal on this, that God is true. For he whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for not by measure does God give the Spirit. The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into his hand. He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; he who is unbelieving towards the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God rests upon him.

“This my joy, therefore, is made full. He must increase, but I must decrease,” no more humble statement made in The Bible by one other than Jesus? Of course, John was subrogating himself to Jesus Christ and God, not another human being. My own application was that I was never really working for my supervisor or manager in the jobs that I did, but rather more directly for Christ. Maybe that is why, ultimately, I had to exit Corporate America? Or was it really just my ego?

Chapter 4 of John’s Gospel is the interaction between Jesus and the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well.

Jesus: “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again. He, however, who drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him shall become in him a fountain of water, springing up unto life everlasting.”

She saw him as a prophet because he knew she had been married five times before and the man she was with now was not her husband. But he revealed his true identity:

Samaritan woman: “I know that Messias is coming (who is called Christ), and when he comes he will tell us all things.”

Jesus: “I who speak with thee am he.”

And she went and told the town people many of whom believed based on her word. Many more came to believe when they convinced Jesus to stay two more days and heard his word.

“We no longer believe because of what thou hast said, for we have heard for ourselves and we know that this is in truth the Savior of the world.”

Believe in Christ; be inspired by His Word, be inspired by your life experiences!

Day 86: Reading The Bible with a TROML Perspective; Believe in Christ; Be Inspired by His Word, Be Inspired by Your Life Experiences!

Read and inspired by the New Testament, The Gospel of Saint John Chapters 3-4.

Bible Notes:

The Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John

Saint John, the disciple and Apostle whom Jesus loved, was the brother of James and the son of the fisherman Zebedee and Salome.

First a disciple of John the Baptist, he was called to follow Christ.

The purpose of his Gospel he states as follows: “these are written that you may believe the Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God: and that believing you may have life in his name.”

John Chapter 3:  Nicodemus comes to Jesus at night; Jesus explains rebirth; Nicodemus’ wonderment; Salvation through Christ; John hears that Christ baptizes; John exalts Christ; Need for faith in the Son.

Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews, came to Jesus at night… “Rabbi, we know that thou hast come a teacher from God, for no one can work these signs that thou workest unless God be with him.”

Jesus: “Amen, amen, I say to thee, unless a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

Nicodemus: “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born again?

Jesus: “Amen, amen, I say to thee, unless a man be born again of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not wonder that I said to thee, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it will, and thou hearest its sound but dost but dost not know where it comes from or where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

Nicodemus: “How can these things be?”

Jesus: “Thou art a teacher in Israel and dost not know these things? Amen, amen, I say to thee, we speak of what we know, and we bear witness to what we have seen; and our witness you do not receive. If I have spoken of earthly things to you, and you do not believe, how will you believe if I speak to you of heavenly things? And no one has ascended into heaven except him who has descended from heaven: the Son of Man who is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that those who believe in him may not perish, but may have life everlasting.”

For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that those who believe in him may not perish, but may have life everlasting. For God did not send his Son into the world in order to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him. He who believes in him is not judged; but he who does not believe is already judged, because he does not believe in the name of the only-begotten Son of God. Now this is the judgment: The light has come into the world, yet men have loved the darkness rather than the light, for their works were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light, that his deeds may not be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light that his deeds may be made manifest, for they have been performed in God.

John was also baptizing in Aennon… for there was much water there… for John had not yet been put into prison.

John’s disciples and the Jews to John: “Rabbi, he who was with thee beyond the Jordan, to whom thou hast borne witness, behold he baptizes and all are coming to him.”

John: “No one can receive anything unless it is given to him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness that I said, ‘I am no the Christ but have been sent before him.’ He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend if the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices exceedingly at the voice of the bridegroom. This my joy, therefore, is made full. He must increase, but I must decrease.”

He who comes from above is over all. He who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and of the earth he speaks. He who comes from heaven is over all. And he bears witness to that which he has seen and heard, and his witness no one receives. He who receives his witness has set his seal on this, that God is true. For he whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for not by measure does God give the Spirit. The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into his hand. He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; he who is unbelieving towards the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God rests upon him.

Measure—have/take someone’s measure, to judge or assess someone’s character, capabilities, etc.; size up: During their conversation she was taking his measure as a prospective employee; the extent, dimensions, quantity, etc., of something, ascertained especially by comparison with a standard: to take the measure of a thing.

For he whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for not by measure does God give the Spirit.

For not by judgment or comparison; if you believe in Christ, God will give you the Spirit.

John Chapter 4:  Jesus passes through Samaria; He meets the Samaritan woman; She wonders at Christ’s request; Christ promises living water; Christ reveals her past; She recognizes Him as a prophet; His disciples return; Reaping the harvest; The Samaritans believe; Jesus in Galilee; The royal official comes to Jesus; Jesus cures his son.

Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John—although Jesus himself did not baptize, but his disciples…

…near the field that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob’s well was there.

Jesus to Samaritan woman: “Give me to drink.”

Samaritan woman: “How is that thou, although thou are a Jew, dost ask drink of me, who am a Samaritan woman.” For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.

Jesus: “If thou didst know the gift of God, and who it is who says to thee, ‘Give me to drink,’ thou, perhaps, wouldst have asked him, and he would have given thee living water.”

Samaritan woman: “Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Whence then hast thou living water? Art thou greater than our father Jacob who gave us the well, and drank from it, himself, and his sons, and his flocks?”

Jesus: “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again. He, however, who drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him shall become in him a fountain of water, springing up unto life everlasting.”

Samaritan woman: “Sir, give me this water that I may not thirst, or come here to draw.”

Jesus: “Go, call thy husband and come here.”

Samaritan woman: “I have no husband.”

Jesus: “Thou hast said well, ‘I have no husband,’ for thou hast had five husbands, and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband. In this thou hast spoken truly.”

Samaritan woman: “Sir, I see that thou art a prophet. Our fathers worshipped on this mountain, but you say that at Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.”

Jesus: “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. For the Father also seeks such to worship him. God is spirit, and they who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

Samaritan woman: “I know that Messias is coming (who is called Christ), and when he comes he will tell us all things.”

Jesus: “I who speak with thee am he.”

Samaritan woman to the people of the town: “Come and see a man who has told me all that I have ever done. Can he be the Christ?”

Disciples: “Rabbi, eat.”

Jesus: “I have food to eat of which you do not know. My food is to do the will of him who sent me, to accomplish his work. Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, and then comes the harvest’? Well, I say to you, lift up your eyes and behold that the fields are already white for the harvest. And he who reaps receives a wage, and gathers fruit unto life everlasting, so that the sower and the reaper may rejoice together. For herein is the proverb true, ‘One sows, another reaps.’ I have sent you to reap that on which you have not labored. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labors.”

Now many of the Samaritans of that town believed in him because of the word of the women who bore witness, “He told me all that I have ever done.”

“We no longer believe because of what thou hast said, for we have heard for ourselves and we know that this is in truth the Savior of the world.”

…for Jesus himself bore witness that a prophet receives no honor in his own country.

…a certain royal official whose son was lying sick at Capharnaum.

Jesus: “Unless you see signs and wonders, you do not believe.”

Royal Official: “Sir, come down before my child dies.”

Jesus: “Go thy way, thy son lives.”

More cruelty, violence and killing in the Old Testament.

Samson versus the Philistines who denied him his wife.

Revenge, hatred, and death were the norm for the day.

By today’s standards, Samson was a “player,” in that he “went also into Gaza, and saw there a woman a harlot, and went in unto her.” After this he loved a woman, who dwelt in the valley of Sorec, and she was called Dalila.

Dalila and Samson had an interesting relationship, certainly not one built on love, trust, and honesty. Unlike those rekindled loving relationships we hear about on the nighttime radio show Delilah. Dalila and Delilah, close in spelling but opposite in virtues.

Dalila was offered a fortune from the Philistines to discover the source of Samson’s great strength.

The Bible

Wherein thy greatest strength lieth… I shall be weak like other men… The Philistines are upon thee, Samson… Behold thou has mocked me, and hast told me a false thing…. How long dost thou deceive me, and tell me lies?… How dost thou say thou lovest me, when thy mind is not with me?… Thou hast told me lies these three times, and wouldst not tell me wherein thy great strength lie. And when she pressed him much, and continually hung upon him for many days, giving him no time to rest, his soul fainted away, and was wearied even until death.

I am a Nazarite, that is to say, consecrated to God from my mother’s womb: if my head be shaven, my strength shall depart from me, and I shall become weak, and shall be like other men.

Then seeing that he had discovered to her all his mind… for now he hath opened his heart to me… and forthwith pulled his eyes out, and led him bound in chains to Gaza, and shutting him up in prison made him grind

And now his hair began to grown again… Philistines offer great sacrifices to their god Dagon… suffer me to touch the pillars which support the whole house, and let me lean upon them, and rest a little.

O Lord God, remember me, and restore to me now my former strength.

Let me die with the Philistines. And when he had strongly shook the pillars, the house fell… and he killed many more at this death, then he had killed before in his life… and he judged Israel twenty years.

Another grisly story of the Old Testament but one that clearly shows us how to pray to God to remember and restore us to our best self. Or more realistically, in today’s world, to take us to new heights so that we can become the best-ever version of our self!

The spirit of the Lord came strongly upon Samson many times so he was obviously doing the will of the Lord.

The next three chapters take us through the hiring of a Levite priest, the making of a graven and molten god and seeing the tribe of Dan take over people who were living a secure and easy life without fear. And then the tale of the husband of the wife from Bethlehem Juda begins…

Until next time, I pray to O Lord God, to remember me, and restore to me now my former strength and make me my best possible self!

Day 87: Reading The Bible with a TROML Perspective; O Lord God, remember me, and restore to me now my former strength.

Read and inspired by the Old Testament, The Book of Judges Chapters 15-19

Bible Notes:

This Book is so called, because it is a history of the Jews under the government of the Judges, men, like Gedeon and Samson, who were raised up to rule Israel before they had kings. It describes the religious and political condition of the Jews and the work of the twelve Judges.

Judges Chapter 15: Samson is denied his wife; Samson burns the Philistine’s corn; Philistine’s burn Samson’s wife; Samson’s revenge; Samson is delivered to the Philistines; Samson slays a thousand men; Samson judges Israel twenty years.

Samson came, meaning to visit his wife… And when he would have gone into her chamber as usual, her father would not suffer him, saying: I thought thou hadst hated her, and therefore I gave her to thy friend. From this day I shall be blameless in what I do against the Philistines: for I will do you evils.

Which being set on fire, both the corn… was all burnt, insomuch, that the flame consumed also the vineyards and the oliveyards.

And the Philistines went up and burnt both the woman and her father.

Although you have done this, yet will I be revenged of you and then I will be quiet.

We are come to bind Samson, and to pay him for what he hath done against us. As they did to me, so have I done to them. We will not kill thee: but we will deliver thee bound.

The spirit of the Lord came strongly upon him… so the bands which he was bound were broken and loosed… he slew therewith a thousand men.

Then the Lord opened a great tooth in the jaw of the ass, and waters issued out of it. And when he had drank them he refreshed his spirit, and recovered his strength.

And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years.

Judges Chapter 16: Samson carries away the gate of Gaza; Dalila bribed to delude Samson; Samson reveals his secret; Samson is seized and blinded; The Philistines’ feast to Dagon; The death of Samson.

He went also into Gaza, and saw there a woman a harlot, and went in unto her.

After this he loved a woman, who dwelt in the valley of Sorec, and she was called Dalila.

Wherein thy greatest strength lieth… I shall be weak like other men… The Philistines are upon thee, Samson… Behold thou has mocked me, and hast told me a false thing…. How long dost thou deceive me, and tell me lies?… How dost thou say thou lovest me, when thy mind is not with me?… Thou hast told me lies these three times, and wouldst not tell me wherein thy great strength lie. And when she pressed him much, and continually hung upon him for many days, giving him no time to rest, his soul fainted away, and was wearied even until death.

I am a Nazarite, that is to say, consecrated to God from my mother’s womb: if my head be shaven, my strength shall depart from me, and I shall become weak, and shall be like other men.

Then seeing that he had discovered to her all his mind… for now he hath opened his heart to me… and forthwith pulled his eyes out, and led him bound in chains to Gaza, and shutting him up in prison made him grind

And now his hair began to grown again… Philistines offer great sacrifices to their god Dagon… suffer me to touch the pillars which support the whole house, and let me lean upon them, and rest a little.

O Lord God, remember me, and restore to me now my former strength.

Let me die with the Philistines. And when he had strongly shook the pillars, the house fell… and he killed many more at this death, then he had killed before in his life… and he judged Israel twenty years.

Judges Chapter 17: The idol of Michas; Michas hires a Levite to be his priest.

Eleven hundred pieces of silver… Blessed be my son by the Lord… and make a graven and a molten god, so now I deliver it to thee… which was in the house of Michas… In those days there was no ling in Israel, but every one did that which seemed right to himself.

I am a Levite of Bethlehem Juda, and I am going to dwell where I can, and where I shall find a place to my advantage. Now I know God will do me good, since I have a priest of the race of Levites.

Judges Chapter 18: The tribe of Dan seeks an inheritance; The Danites covet Lais; The Danites steal an idol and a priest; Michas pursues the Danites; The Danites capture Lais.

Michas hath done such and such things for me, and hath hired me to be his priest… Go in peace: the Lord looketh on your way, and the journey that you go.

Lais… people dwelt therein without any fear… secure and easy… let us go and possess it, there will be no difficulty.

In the house of Michas: and saluted him with words of peace… What are you doing? Hold thy peace and put thy finger in thy mouth and come with us, that we may have thee for a father, and a priest… he agreed with their words, and took the ephod, and the idols, and the graven god, and departed with them.

But Michas seeing that they were stronger than he, returned to his house.

The Danites capture Lais and rename it Dan. In those days there was no king in Israel.

Judges Chapter 19: A Levite seeks his wife in Bethlehem; The Levite tries to depart for home; An old man of Gabaa lodges the Levite; Men of Gabaa abuse the Levite’s wife; Death of the Levite’s wife; The Levite divides his wife’s body.

A wife of Bethlehem Juda… and her husband followed her, willing to be reconciled with her, and to speak kindly to her, and to bring her back with him…

I beseech thee to stay here to day, and let us make merry together… and spend the day in mirth, and to morrow thou shalt depart… and his concubine… I will not go into the town of another nation, who are not of the children of Israel…

Concubine—(in polygamous societies) a woman who lives with a man but has lower status than his wife or wives; a mistress.

… and dwelt as a stranger in Gabaa… Whence comest thou? And whither goest thou?.. and now we go to the house of God, and none will receive us under his roof… we want nothing but lodging… Peace be with thee… he entertained then with a feast.

Bring forth the man that came into thy house, that we may abuse him… I pray you from this folly… I have a maiden daughter, and this man has a concubine, I will bring them out to you, and you may humble them, and satisfy your lust only, I beseech you, commit not this crime against nature on the man… They would not be satisfied with his words; which the man seeing, brought out the concubine to them, and abandoned her to their wickedness: and when they had abused her all the night, they let her go in the morning.

Came to the door of the house where her lord lodged, and there fell down… He thinking she was taking her rest, said to her: Arise, and let us be going…

And when he was come home he took a sword, ad divided the dead body of his wife with her bones into twelve parts, and sent the pieces into all the borders of Israel.

Jesus’ miracle curing the paralytic, who had lived thirty-0eight years under his infirmity, on the Sabbath in the pool at Bethsaida was what we would call today “the tipping point between his ministry and the authority of the Jewish leaders.

Jesus: “My Father works even until now, and I work.”

This, then is why the Jews were the more anxious to put him to death; because he not only broke the Sabbath, but also called God his own Father, making himself equal to God.

In my family Bible from 1952 everything that Jesus is quoted to have said is written in red ink. Chapter 5 of the Gospel of John is pretty much a red chapter!

His words concerning judgment and who does the judgment (God or Jesus?) and when (in real time living or after our death?).

I recall the recent words from John 3:17—For God did not send his Son into the world in order to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him.

Yet Jesus words, and words only, not actions except for the Pharisees and Scribes, seem to say that he will render judgment in real time living?

Jesus: “For as the Father has life in himself, even so he has given to the Son also to have life in himself; and he has granted him power to render judgment, because he is the Son of Man.”

Jesus: “Of myself I can do nothing. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just because I seek not my own will, but the will of him who sent me. For neither does the Father judge any man, but all judgment he has given to the Son, that all men may honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son, does not honor the Father who sent him.”

Judgment aside, I see the clear delineation of whether our glory, acclaim, praise should come from other human beings and institutions or God if we want to be like Jesus.

Jesus: “I do not receive glory from men. How can you believe who receive glory from one another, and do not seek the glory which is from the only God?”

Jesus: “If I bear witness concerning myself, my witness is not true. I however do not receive the witness of man, but I say these things that you may be saved.”

Again the goal in life is to be saved and be certain of eternal, everlasting life.

Jesus again challenge the authority of the Jewish leaders: “But if you do not believe Moses’ writings, how will you believe my words?”

And the direct reason why their authority is no longer righteous or legitimate…

Jesus” “And you have not His Word abiding in you, since you do not believe him whom he has sent. You search the Scriptures, because in them you think that you will have life everlasting. And it is they that bear witness to me, yet you are not willing to come to me that you may have life.”

I want God’s Word, these Scriptures, to “abide” in me.

A miracle led into the Divinity of the Father and Son; God and Christ!

I believe in miracles. I believe Christ died on the Cross for my sins. I turn from my sins and accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and Personal Savior. I surrender to God’s Will and seek His Direction in my life aided by the Power of The Holy Spirit.

Amen. Alleluia!

Day 88: Reading The Bible with a TROML Perspective; A Miracle leads into the Divinity of the Father and the Son; God and Christ!

Read and inspired by the New Testament, The Gospel of Saint John Chapter 5.

Bible Notes:

The Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John

Saint John, the disciple and Apostle whom Jesus loved, was the brother of James and the son of the fisherman Zebedee and Salome.

First a disciple of John the Baptist, he was called to follow Christ.

The purpose of his Gospel he states as follows: “these are written that you may believe the Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God: and that believing you may have life in his name.”

John Chapter 5:  The pool of Bethsaida; Jesus cures a paralytic; Paralytic accused of breaking the Sabbath; Jesus accused of breaking the Sabbath; Christ’s claim to divinity; The Baptist’s testimony to Christ’s divinity; The testimony of Christ’s miracles; The testimony of the Father; Jesus upbraids the Jews.

A pool having five porticoes. In these were lying a great multitude of the sick, blind, lame, and those with shriveled limbs, waiting for the movement of the water. For an angel of the Lord used to come down at certain times into the pool, and the water was troubled. And the first to go down into the pool after the troubling of the water was cured of whatever infirmity he had.

Porticoe—a structure consisting of a roof supported by columns or piers, usually attached to a building as a porch.

Jesus: Dost thou (thirty-eight years under his infirmity) want to get well?

“Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred, for while I am coming, another steps down before me.”

Jesus: “Rise, take up thy pallet and walk.”

And at once the man was cured. And he took up his pallet and began to walk. Now that day was a Sabbath.

“It is the Sabbath; thou art not allowed to take up thy pallet.”

“He who made me well said to me, ‘Take up thy pallet and walk’?”

“Who is the man who said to thee, ‘Take up thy pallet and walk’?”

But the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had quietly gone away, since there was a crowd in the place.

Jesus: “Behold, thou art cured. Sin no more, lest something worse befall thee.”

The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him.

And this is why the Jews kept persecuting Jesus, because he did such things on the Sabbath.

Jesus: “My Father works even until now, and I work.”

This, then is why the Jews were the more anxious to put him to death; because he not only broke the Sabbath, but also called God his own Father, making himself equal to God.

Jesus: “Amen, amen, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of himself, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever he does, this the son also does in like manner. For the Father loves the Son, and shows him all that he himself does.

And greater works than these he will show him, that you may wonder. For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom he will.

For neither does the Father judge any man, but all judgment he has given to the Son, that all men may honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son, does not honor the Father who sent him.

Amen, amen, I say to you, he who hears my word, and believes him who sent me, has life everlasting, and does not come to judgment, but has passed from death to life.

Amen, amen, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is here, when the dead shall hear the voice of God, and those who hear shall live. For as the Father has life in himself, even so he has given to the Son also to have life in himself; and he has granted him power to render judgment, because he is the Son of Man.

Do not wonder at this, for the hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs shall hear the voice of the Son of God. And they who have done good shall come forth unto resurrection of life; but they who have done evil unto resurrection of judgment.

Of myself I can do nothing. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just because I seek not my own will, but the will of him who sent me.

Jesus on John the Baptist’s testimony to Christ’s divinity: “If I bear witness concerning myself, my witness is not true. There is another who bears witness concerning me, and I know that the witness that he bears concerning me is true. You have sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth. I however do not receive the witness of man, but I say these things that you may be saved. He was the lamp, burning and shining; and you desired to rejoice for a while in his light.

Jesus: “The witness, however, that I have is greater than that of John. For the works which the Father has given me to accomplish, these very works that I do, bear witness to me, that the Father has sent me.

Jesus: “And the Father himself, who has sent me, has borne witness to me. But you have never heard his voice, or seen his face. And you have not his word abiding in you, since you do not believe him whom he has sent. You search the Scriptures, because in them you think that you will have life everlasting. And it is they that bear witness to me, yet you are not willing to come to me that you may have life.

Jesus: “I do not receive glory from men. But I know that you have not the love of God in you. I have come in the name of my Father, and you do not receive me. If another come in his own name, him you will receive. How can you believe who receive glory from one another, and do not seek the glory which is from the only God?

Jesus: “Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father, There is one who accuses you, Moses, in whom you hope. For if you believed Moses you would believe me also, for he wrote of me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?”

This tale of ‘so heinous a crime, an incredible fury of lust, ever committed in Israel’ began back in Chapter 29:

A wife of Bethlehem Juda… and her husband followed her, willing to be reconciled with her, and to speak kindly to her, and to bring her back with him…

Bring forth the man that came into thy house, that we may abuse him… I pray you from this folly… I have a maiden daughter, and this man has a concubine, I will bring them out to you, and you may humble them, and satisfy your lust only, I beseech you, commit not this crime against nature on the man… They would not be satisfied with his words; which the man seeing, brought out the concubine to them, and abandoned her to their wickedness: and when they had abused her all the night, they let her go in the morning.

Came to the door of the house where her lord lodged, and there fell down… He thinking she was taking her rest, said to her: Arise, and let us be going…

And when he was come home he took a sword, ad divided the dead body of his wife with her bones into twelve parts, and sent the pieces into all the borders of Israel.

A savage and odd story with an interchangeable wife and concubine as the concubine was abused yet the wife was dead and then cut up into twelve pieces and evidently sent to all the twelve tribes of Israel, including the offending tribe of Benjamin.

The story continues in Chapter 20:

…intending to kill me, and abused my wife with an incredible fury of lust, so that at last she died.

And I took and cut her in pieces, and sent the parts into all the borders of your possession: because there never was so heinous a crime, and so great an abomination committed in Israel.

That was the lust—the sin against God and fellow children of Israel.

The revenge was as brutal and savage against the city of Gabaa where the offenders lived and the entire tribe of Benjamin because they would not give up the criminals as requested by other eleven tribes of Israel—who met together in the assembly of the people of God, four hundred thousand footmen fit for war.

…and they sent messengers to all the tribe of Benjamin to say to them: Why hath so great an abomination been found among you? Deliver up the men of Gabaa, that have committed this heinous crime, that they may die, and the evil may be taken away out of Israel. But they would not hearken to the propostion of their brethren the children of Israel.

Let Juda be your leader answered the Lord.

Shall I go out any more to fight against the children of Benjamin my brethren or not? And he (the Lord) answered them: Go up against them, and join battle.

After two not so yet victorious attempts: Shall we go out any more to fight against the children of Benjamin our brethren, or shall we cease? And the Lord said to them: Go up, for to morrow I will deliver them into your hands.

On the third change, using the tactic of “we flee, they follow, then we ambush them,” the body of the children of Israel were victorious. So much so that there remained of all the number of Benjamin only six hundred men that were able to escape, and flee to the wilderness: and they abode in the rock Remmon four months.

That was the revenge—the sin against God and fellow children of Israel.

O Lord God of Israel, why is so great an evil come to pass in thy people, that this day one tribe should be taken away from among us?

And the children of Israel being moved with repentance for their brother Benjamin…

And there were found of Jabes Galaad four hundred virgins, that had not known the bed of a man… and commanded them (children of Benjamin) to receive them (four hundred virgins)  in peace…

And all of Israel was very sorry, and repented for the destroying of one tribe out of Israel.

For all the women in Benjamin are dead. And we must use all care, and provide with great diligence, that one tribe not destroyed out of Israel… come ye on a sudden out of the vineyards, and catch you every man his wife among them… and they went into their possession and built up their cities, and dwell in them.

That was the repentance—what God wants us to do every time we cannot avoid the temptation of the Devil to sin.

Even though there was lust and revenge, there was also repentance and the tribe of Benjamin lived on as one of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel!

Actually there were 14 Judges!

This Book of Judges, which has come to an end, is so called, because it is a history of the Jews under the government of the Judges, men, like Gedeon and Samson, who were raised up to rule Israel before they had kings. It describes the religious and political condition of the Jews and the work of the twelve Judges.

I don’t think there were twelve judges identified in the Book of Judges but I do remember Gedeon and Samson.

I was surprised when the latest passage did not end with something like “and Juda, chosen by God to lead the Israelites against the tribe of Benjamin, judged Israel for twenty years.”

Leaders chosen by God typically became judges in those times.

Rather the Book of Judges ended with “In those days there was no king in Israel: but every one did that which seemed right to himself.”

Judges 21:25 In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes… They Lived in Spiritual Darkness. Ancient Culture. Savage Warfare. Spiritual Syncretism. Ancient=NOT P.C.

Isn’t that the whole point of The Bible and the old and new covenant with humankind—that which seems right to each of us—based on our own self, pride and silly ego is not right with God.

We need to find our Splendid Spiritual Self and evolve to a Spiritual Love in order to do God’s Will, of course, in my opinion, based on my own life experiences.

TROML Baby Forever!

One afterthought: Here we are a couple of hundred pages into the Old Testament, and it seems to me that this is the first time that there was a real injustice, a real sin that may have warranted such revenge of savage and brutal means.

I didn’t say it was a well-thought out afterthought, did I? While there was captivity and bondage up to this point in the Old Testament, it seemed to me that lots of times innocent people were being slaughtered only because the slaughters had found favor with God.

I do see an evolution of humankind though. From a brutal seemingly lawless tribal society into some sort of organized and mutually beneficial society all the doings of an emerging merciful and compassionate God.

As I get closer to the Word of God, both Old and New Testaments, I sense some sort of transition within me, as well, along similar thinking and feeling lines. I pray it results and recommits me forever and beyond with Jesus overflowing in my heart and knowing, without a doubt, God loves me and has a place reserved for me in heaven.

TROML Baby Forever, Again!

Day 89: Reading The Bible with a TROML Perspective; Lust, Revenge, Repentance and the Tribe of Benjamin Lives On!

Read and inspired by the Old Testament, The Book of Judges Chapters 20-21 (END)

Bible Notes:

This Book is so called, because it is a history of the Jews under the government of the Judges, men, like Gedeon and Samson, who were raised up to rule Israel before they had kings. It describes the religious and political condition of the Jews and the work of the twelve Judges.

Judges Chapter 20: The Levite reveals the crime; The Israelites decide to attack Gabaa; The tribe of Benjamin defends Gabaa; Forty thousand Israelites slain; The Israelites consult the Lord; By strategy the Israelites are victorious; Flight and massacre of Benjamin; Only six hundred men of Benjamin survive.

…And all the tribes of Israel, met together in the assembly of the people of God, four hundred thousand footmen fit for war.

…intending to kill me, and abused my wife with an incredible fury of lust, so that at last she died.

And I took and cut her in pieces, and sent the parts into all the borders of your possession: because there never was so heinous a crime, and so great an abomination committed in Israel

…and render to it for its wickedness, what it deserveth.

…and they sent messengers to all the tribe of Benjamin to say to them: Why hath so great an abomination been found among you? Deliver up the men of Gabaa, that have committed this heinous crime, that they may die, and the evil may be taken away out of Israel. But they would not hearken to the propostion of their brethren the children of Israel.

…and the Lord answered them: Let Juda be your leader.

…trusting in their strength and number

Shall I go out any more to fight against the children of Benjamin my brethren or not? And he (the Lord) answered them: Go up against them, and join battle.

At that time the ark of the covenant of the Lord was there…

Shall we go out any more to fight against the children of Benjamin our brethren, or shall we cease? And the Lord said to them: Go up, for to morrow I will deliver them into your hands.

Set ambushes round about the city of Gabaa… but they artfully feigning a flight, designed to draw them away from the city… and they slew of them in that day five and twenty thousand, and one hundred…

…gave them place to flee, that they might come to the ambushes that were prepared… they should make a fire: that by the smoke rising on high, they might show that the city was taken… and so it was, that they were slain on both sides by the enemies, and there was no rest of their men dying.

And there remained of all the number of Benjamin only six hundred men that were able to escape, and flee to the wilderness: and they abode in the rock Remmon four months.

Judges Chapter 21: Israel bewails the fate of Benjamin; Men of Jabes Galaad put to the sword; The Benjaminites take wives from Silo.

O Lord God of Israel, why is so great an evil come to pass in thy people, that this day one tribe should be taken away from among us?

And the children of Israel being moved with repentance for their brother Benjamin…

And there were found of Jabes Galaad four hundred virgins, that had not known the bed of a man… and commanded them (children of Benjamin) to receive them (four hundred virgins)  in peace…

And all of Israel was very sorry, and repented for the destroying of one tribe out of Israel.

For all the women in Benjamin are dead. And we must use all care, and provide with great diligence, that one tribe not destroyed out of Israel… come ye on a sudden out of the vineyards, and catch you every man his wife among them… and they went into their possession and built up their cities, and dwell in them.

In those days there was no king in Israel: but every one did that which seemed right to himself.

A familiar story indeed, Jesus multiplying loaves of bread and fish to feed five thousand people, but how familiar is it or will it be in our own personal lives?

Multiplication, that is easy and more powerful than the four other mathematical operations of arithmetic—addition, subtraction, and division. The larger the multiplier and multiplicand, the larger the result!

Easy for Jesus but hard for us especially when it comes to the realities of our life.

Some will point to our heirs, our children, and their children, and our grandchildren and so forth down through the centuries of us being present in life and making an impact in the destiny of the world. Quite egotistical to say the least and meaningless for those that choose not to have children or cannot and choose adoption as a viable alternative.

But where have we taken a few crumbs and maybe a stinking fish or two and made something of it with our lives?

Maybe a business, a legacy trust, or a few trees planted on the land we own?

Or maybe what’s outside us all in the material world is meaningless both in totality and by individual segment?

Maybe we were able to grown something inside ourselves and have it manifested to the outside world or friends, family or strangers through our love?

Where have you witnessed the multiplying effect in your life?

Maybe you performed division instead of multiplication, subtraction instead of addition to downsize and minimize your life from the materialistic world and therein found your peace, joy, unity, and freedom to be simply your True Self?

No one needs to be a king of anything. Jesus certainly realized this and did not stray from His divine destiny.

After the multiplication, His followers wanted to raise him up in a way different than God had planned.

The people: “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world.”

So when Jesus perceived that they would come to take him by force and make him king, he fled again to the mountain, himself alone.

Sometimes we do need to be alone, to isolate ourselves… from the world but not from God the Father, His Son Jesus Christ or The Holy Spirit. In reality we can never do that as God The Triumvirate is eternally within each of us.

We can’t be perfect. We can’t be in control of everything. We can’t think in all-or-nothing terms and we can’t be judgmental to be eligible for eternal life. We simply must believe and as Jesus says—“No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him, and I will raise him up on the last day.” The Father draws us near even though we may be trying to draw near to Him. Ultimately it is out of our control to secure everlasting life by ourselves, our thoughts, our words, and our actions.

As for Jesus’ time on the earth, things were getting complicated and confusing:

Brethren (Disciples) to Jesus: “If thou dost these things (works, miracles), manifest thyself to the world.”

Jesus: “My time has not yet come, but your time is always at hand. The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I bear witness concerning it, that its works are evil. As for you, go up to the feast, but I do not go up to this feast, for my time is not yet fulfilled.”

…then he (Jesus) also went up, not publically, but as it were privately.

People: “Can it be that the rulers have really come to know that this is the Christ? Yet we know where this man is from; but when the Christ comes, no one will know where he is from.”

Jesus: “You both know me, and know where I am from. Yet I have not come of myself, but he is true who has sent me, whom you do not know. I know him because I am from him, and he has sent me.”

Jesus: “Yet a little while I am with you, and then I go to him who sent me. You will seek me and will not find me; and where I am you cannot come.”

Jesus on the last day of the great feast: “If anyone thirst, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the Scripture says, ‘From within him there shall flow rivers of living water.’” He said this, however, of the Spirit whom they who believed in him were to receive; for the Spirit had not yet been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.

Attendants to the chief priests and Pharisees: “Never has man spoken as this man.”

Nicodemus: “Does our Law judge a man unless it first give him a hearing, and know what he does?”

Chief priests and Pharisees: “Search the Scriptures and see that out of Galilee arises no prophet.”

And I think there is confusion in the world and in my life today!

Who is Jesus I too would have wondered… where would I have witnessed him in my life back in those days… would I have known how to multiply His blessings and share them with the world back then or even today?

Day 90: Reading The Bible with a TROML Perspective; A Familiar Story but Have You Witnessed Multiplication in Your Life?

Read and inspired by the New Testament, The Gospel of Saint John Chapters 6-7.

Bible Notes:

The Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John

Saint John, the disciple and Apostle whom Jesus loved, was the brother of James and the son of the fisherman Zebedee and Salome.

First a disciple of John the Baptist, he was called to follow Christ.

The purpose of his Gospel he states as follows: “these are written that you may believe the Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God: and that believing you may have life in his name.”

John Chapter 6:  A great crowd follows Christ; They do not have sufficient food; Jesus feeds five thousand; They wish to make Christ king; Jesus walks on the water; Jesus in Capharnaum; Jesus promises heavenly bread; The people ask for this bread; Christ is the true bread of life; Christ promises to give His flesh to eat; The Jews wonder; Christ repeats His promise; Many disciples leave Him; The Twelve remain; Judas condemned.

Jesus said to Philip: “Whence shall we buy bread that these may eat?”

But he said this to try him, for he himself knew what he would do.

Philip: “Two hundred denari worth of bread is not enough for them, that each one may receive a little.”

Andrew: “There is a young boy here who has five barley loaves and two fishes; but what are these among so many?”

Jesus: “Make the people recline.”

The men reclined, in number, about five thousand.

Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, distributed them to those reclining; and likewise the fishes, as much as they wished.

Jesus: “Gather the fragments that are left over; lest they be wasted.”

They therefore gathered them up; and they filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.

The people: “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world.”

So when Jesus perceived that they would come to take him by force and make him king, he fled again to the mountain, himself alone.

But after they had rowed some twenty-five or thirty stadia, they beheld Jesus walking upon the sea, and drawing near to the boat; and they were frightened. But Jesus said to them, “It is I, do not be afraid.” They desired therefore to take him into the boat; and immediately the boat was at the land towards which they were going.

Wikipedia Notes:   Jesus walking on water appears in the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and John, but is not included in the Gospel of Luke. Matthew’s account adds that Peter asked Jesus, “if it is you”, to tell him, or command him, to come to Jesus on the water (waters). In all three accounts, after Jesus got into the ship, the wind ceased and they reached the shore. Only John’s account has their ship immediately reach the shore. Matthew’s and Mark’s accounts end at this point.

And when they found him on the other side of the sea, they (the crowd) said to him, “Rabbi, when didst thou come here?

Jesus: “Amen, amen, I say to you, you seek me, not because you have seen signs, but because you have eaten of the loaves and have been filled. Do not labor for the food that perishes, but that which endures unto the everlasting, which the Son of Man will give you. For upon him the Father, God himself, has set his seal.”

Crowd: “What are we to do that we may perform the works of God?”

Jesus: “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”

Crowd: “What sign, then, dost thou, that we may see and believe thee? What work dost thou perform? Our fathers ate the manna in the desert, even as it is written, ‘Bread from heaven he gave them to eat.’”

Jesus: “Amen, amen, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

Crowd: “Lord, give us always this bread.”

Jesus: “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst. But I have told you that you have seen me and you do not believe. All that the Father gives to me shall come to me, and him who comes to me I will not cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. Now this is the will of him who sent me, the Father, that I should lose nothing of what he has given me, but that I should raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father who sent me, that whoever beholds the Son, and believes in him, shall have everlasting life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

Crowd: “is this not Jesus the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How then does he say, ‘I have come down from heaven?’  

Jesus: “Do not murmur among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him, and I will raise him up on the last day. It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they shall be taught of God.’ Everyone who has listened to the Father, and has learned, comes to me; not that anyone has seen the Father except him who is from God, he has seen the Father. Amen, amen, I say to you, he who believes in me has life everlasting.”

Jesus continues: “I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the desert, and have died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that if anyone eat of it he will not die. I am the living bread that has come down from heaven. If anyone eat of this bread he shall live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.”

Crowd: “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”

Jesus: “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his blood, you shall not have life in you. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has life everlasting and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood, abides in me and I in him. As the living Father has sent me, and as I live because of the Father, so he who eats me, he shall also live because of me. This is the bread that has come down from heaven; not as your fathers ate the manna, and died. He who eats this bread shall live forever.”

Crowd: “This is a hard saying. Who can listen to it?”

Jesus: “Does this scandalize you? What then if you should see the Son of Man ascending where he was before? It is the spirit that gives life, the flesh profits nothing. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But there are some among you who do not believe. This is why I have said to you, ‘No one can come to me unless he is enabled to do so by my Father.”

For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who it was who should betray him. From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about him.

Jesus, therefore said to the Twelve: “Do you also wish to go away?

Simon Peter: “Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast words of everlasting life, and we have come to believe and to know that thou art the Christ, the Son of God.”

Jesus: “Have I not chosen you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil.”

John Chapter 7:  The disciples ask Jesus to go to Judea; He sends them ahead; He follows secretly; Jesus goes to the Temple; The source of Christ’s teachings; Justification for curing on the Sabbath; Christ’s origin; attempt to seize Christ; Jesus to leave soon; Jesus claims to be the fountain of life; The crowd is hesitant; The Pharisees condemn Jesus; Nicodemus asks for a hearing.

Jewish Feast of Tabernacles (Wiki: During the existence of the Jerusalem Temple, it was one of the Three Pilgrimage Festivals on which the Israelites were commanded to perform a pilgrimage to the Temple.)

Jesus did not wish to go about in Judea because the Jews were seeking to put him to death.

Brethren (Disciples) to Jesus: “If thou dost these things (works, miracles), manifest thyself to the world.”

Jesus: “My time has not yet come, but your time is always at hand. The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I bear witness concerning it, that its works are evil. As for you, go up to the feast, but I do not go up to this feast, for my time is not yet fulfilled.”

…then he (Jesus) also went up, not publically, but as it were privately.

Others (said about Jesus): “No rather he seduces the crowd.” Yet for fear of the Jews no one spoke openly of him.

When, however, the feast was already half over, Jesus went up into the temple and began to teach. And the Jews marveled, saying, “How does this man come by learning, since he has not studied.”

Jesus: “My teaching is not my own, but his who sent me. If anyone desires to do his will, he will know of the teaching whether it is from God, or whether I speak of my own authority. He who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory. But he who seeks the glory of the one who sent him is truthful, and there is no injustice in him. Did not Moses give you the Law, and none of you observes the Law? Why do you seek to put me to death?”

Crowd answered: “Thou hast a devil. Who seeks to put thee to death?”

Jesus: “One work I did and you all wonder. For this reason Moses gave you the circumcision”—not that it was from Moses, but from your fathers—“and on a Sabbath you circumcise a man. If a man receives circumcision on a Sabbath, that the Law of Moses may not be broken, are you indignant with me because I made a whole man well on a Sabbath? Judge not by appearances but give just judgment.”

People: “Can it be that the rulers have really come to know that this is the Christ? Yet we know where this man is from; but when the Christ comes, no one will know where he is from.”

Jesus: “You both know me, and know where I am from. Yet I have not come of myself, but he is true who has sent me, whom you do not know. I know him because I am from him, and he has sent me.”

Jesus: “Yet a little while I am with you, and then I go to him who sent me. You will seek me and will not find me; and where I am you cannot come.”

Jesus on the last day of the great feast: “If anyone thirst, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the Scripture says, ‘From within him there shall flow rivers of living water.’” He said this, however, of the Spirit whom they who believed in him were to receive; for the Spirit had not yet been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.

Attendants to the chief priests and Pharisees: “Never has man spoken as this man.”

Nicodemus: “Does our Law judge a man unless it first give him a hearing, and know what he does?”

Chief priests and Pharisees: “Search the Scriptures and see that out of Galilee arises no prophet.”