Holidays

There are many holidays in Israel. Too many. And they're not evenly spread. In April there were Passover, Holocaust Memorial Day, Memorial Day, and Independence Day (known as Disaster Day in some circles).

Along a street near us is a stone wall, (actually most streets are lined with stone walls, because of the terrain) and in that wall is built a placque to a fallen soldier. I noticed around Independence Day that someone had placed a wreath by it, and there were some candles burning by it. A nice thing to do. I was thinking of buying some of those little candles once, because I like candles. But then I noticed that some of these candles say "Soul Candle," and I realized and remembered that some people actually pray for the dead here.

They also say that if you say prayers by the grave of a Righteous One your prayers will have more merit.

"There is one God and one Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus."

In May there will be Shavuot, or the Feast of Weeks.

May

Then there's May. If it hasn't rained for three weeks, you can look back and say, "Summer began three weeks ago." Unless it rains today. Then summer begins tomorrow. Because surely that was the last rain of the winter. But the only way you know it was the last one is by waiting for the next one, and as long as the next one doesn't come, then it's summer.

April

Generally you don't think of Israel as having four seasons. It's just winter or summer. But you could say that April in Israel must be what's considered spring in some parts of the world. You feel like summer's coming, and you get your hopes up, but then there's more cold rain, and some hail, and you realize it isn't quite summer. But there are a few warm days interspersed, and certain flowers and trees bloom, and you know summer does have to come eventually.

Get Charged

In Israel a battery charger (charges 4 double A's) costs $30. No, actually they cost $60. First you buy one, lose it, spend three days looking for it, buy another one, then find the first one.

Where did this whole dreary day go, anyway. Oh, I remember. I was researching language programs. I was trying to decide whether to study Rocket German or Transparent Russian. I wasn't impressed with either, but then beginning lessons are always pretty dull. So for the time being I guess I will study neither.

There are an average of 12 rain days in Jerusalem during January and February. After that it tapers off to zero rain days in May, June, July, and August. Today it rained off an on, but the sun came out for a few minutes.

Not a Chemist Nor a Cook

Mixing several small bottles of shampoo, conditioner, and shower gel didn't produce any strange gases. I assume they're all pretty much the same thing.

Mixing several strange Indian spices to make some tasty snacks didn't produce anything either. Because I don't have any of those spices. Nor do I know where to find them in Israel. And besides, looking at recipes makes me sleepy, too sleepy to cook.

This week's winding down. Surely there has to be more to life than this. If I can't think of anything more interesting to do tomorrow, I will....uh....

play computer games -- NOT
sleep -- not much
clean house -- not much
write dismal poetry -- Possibly
do all my usual studies -- Maybe
cook -- NOT
work a puzzle -- NOT
get depressed -- well, of course
exercise -- YES
write music -- ONLY if I can get organized
get organized -- NOT
dry clothes one at a time on the heater -- YES
check my e-mail 15 times -- maybe twice
go somewhere -- Impossible
wait for something to happen
and wait
and wait
and wait

Saul, Son of a Year

1 Samuel 13 KJV   "Saul reigned one year; and when he had reigned two years over Israel,"

The note in my Bible says "one year in his reigning."

You can read many translations that change "one" to "thirty" or "forty," and some translations leave a blank. Some change "two" to "forty-two." If you go to Bible Hub and read several commentaries, you can find several explanations for this, including some really bad ones, such as "errors in the original manuscripts," so they start speculating on what numbers really belong there. Or they'll say that "son of a year" means he was like a child, while others say it means he was an adult. (?!)

But you really don't have to go to great lengths to understand this verse. You can simply read David Kimchi. Or if you don't read Hebrew, you can trust the Authorized Version. The language in Hebrew is very simple -- "son of a year in his reigning." Either he was one year old, OR, as is obviously the case here, he had reigned one year.  The expression is commonly used today to say a person has been in office or in a position for one year. A good commentary gives good explanations as to why these first two years are listed separately from his total reign.

So I got curious and checked several other translations to see which ones changed "one" to "thirty" or "forty." The New American Standard, Revised Standard, NIV, ESV, French, Portuguese, Romanian, and Hungarian Bibles and many others say "thirty" (sometimes in italics), or "forty" or leave a blank. 

The Reina-Valera, Statenvertaling, Authorized Version, Geneva, Young's Literal, New King James, Russian Synodal and Ukrainian Bibles have it correct.

The Sabbath, the Lord's Day

There is really only one Sabbath Day per week, but in a world where hardly anyone anywhere keeps any kind of Sabbath, you appreciate it when Christians keep any Sabbath, including Saturday, as is done in Israel. But there is one fold, one Shepherd, and no middle wall of partition between Jews and Gentiles. So how can there be two Sabbath days?

But I am not actually interested in debate over which is the correct day. I would just like to find any kind of information on why and how to keep the Sabbath day. I have rarely ever read any good articles on the Sabbath. There is one book, Market Day of the Soul, Dennison.

"Keeping" the Sabbath is immediately labeled as legalism by some. In fact, there are those who say you are a legalist every time you use the word "should." You "should" get some rest for your body every night, but that doesn't make you a legalist if you do. I would say I "should not" stay up past midnight if I want to be healthy, and I "should not" tell lies, and I "should" get my Bible out and read it, and often when I don't really feel like doing it, but I am not a legalist. I might even make a few rules for myself, or have certain methods, for the sake of order and productivity, but that doesn't make me a legalist or a methodist.