Tag: death

  • Gardener, Shepherd and Hunter: 4- Tragic Death of a shepherd

    Gardener, Shepherd and Hunter: 4- Tragic Death of a shepherd

    sunrise over earth from space

    I had opened my eyes (just for a moment) and thought that I saw a sunrise from long long ago.. Watching for a long time (it seemed) or maybe for just an instant (I could not tell). I then observed the sun waning beneath the surface of this paradise.

    Tragic DEATH!


    This instant of time quickly reverted into a darkness.. and my eyes (I thought) were not even closed again. I quivered and held my breath (I thought), as an eerie sense of a chaotic scene drew me down beneath the place where I thought I had just stood above the once magnificent paradise.

    So I was no longer filled with any breath of joy at what I had already seen.

    Then a scene planted my mind into a still and horrific place which pierced the ash-like fog into which I had fallen. I knew that this place emerging into the strain of my blinded eyes was not only beyond the garden, but it is beyond the fields where I had just witnessed a contentious conversation between two brothers.

    I looked deeper into the darkness.. and then, I now realize, — beneath it.

    Just then, I remembered my Guide, who I guessed had not only led me to the garden east of Paradise but also to this place. And I remembered straining to hear what the two brothers were saying: Kahyin, the gardener, and Heḇel, the shepherd whose offering had pleased the LORD.

    .. It was only then that a dark and joyless truth wounded my briefly revived heart.

    HE KILLED HIM!


    So it came about in the course of time that Cain [qayin] [Smith {like Moses’ father-in-law}] brought an offering to the LORD from the fruit of the ground.

    Bereishit (Genesis) 4:3 :: קַיִן The same as קַיִן (H7013) The KJV translates Strong’s H7013 in the following manner: spear

    Once again I wanted more knowledge from my Guide about what I had just seen.

    So CAIN, a disgruntled gardener, KILLED his brother, a shepherd?

    You have just witnessed its result, my Guide confirmed.

    So Cain was ALSO the Hunter, wasn’t he?

    No.

    I was wrong already..

    Who then, I wondered as my Guide continued His response.

    He murdered Abel, just as later in your timeline you know that Moses would murder a Hebrew brother.

    WHY? Why did the Lord allow it?

    I plead for the bloodied body I had just seen of the shepherd brother of Cain not even thinking (in my response) of the man Moses had killed.

    I reasoned with my Guide:

    This shepherd, Abel, was a righteous man. AND the LORD even accepted his offering at the same time He rejected what Cain brought Him.

    And logically I added:

    HE could have stopped Abel’s murder.

    Yes, of course the LORD could have prevented Cain from killing Abel.

    AND The Almighty could have prevented the guilty man to whom HE gave this story, Moses, from killing a Hebrew slave when he lived as a prince in Egypt.

    I had no answer..

    You asked why the LORD allowed these things to happen to Cain who mostly lived as a good man trying to please God.


    I thought of Moses (this time)..


    and Joseph in Egypt before their slavery..


    THEN I remembered what my Guide had just asked me an instant ago, “Why would it make any difference to you if one brother’s offering is better than the other’s OR if either brother knows about the offering of the other?

    And I even remembered that David was also a later shepherd, just like Abel, yet like Moses and Cain King David had murdered a man.


    Do you think it would be better for these men to have NO choice in what they do and just have God lead them here and there to do as the Lord their God pleases?

    I began thinking about Cain and Able BOTH being FREE to choose their own actions and reactions in the paradise of God.

    Each of them Slaves!!? — I thought. IF we are NOT FREE to choose wrong, it would make us like slaves of GOD..

    I’m thankful that I am free from slavery, even to GOD.

    I wondered if maybe I shouldn’t have said that out loud.

    Of course you are free to say whatever you would like to me.. and to God.

    And even though you may say anything to any other man you encounter on the earth the LORD does not restrain you, think of those words you cannot hear. You just witnessed the consequences of only one such encounter.

    Now look ahead to right judgment of the LORD when we freely choose to accept His Word.


    sunrise over earth from space
    IN THE BEGINNING…

    For an instant I looked back.. further to the west of the endless line..


    I thought I heard sobbing.. and “I’m so sorry I didn’t raise you right” and “We didn’t want you to know the mistakes we made..” ..and yet more wailing the way I felt over the death of Abel. Adam and Eve loudly lamented all of this.. and the separation of a father and mother from one sinful son: Cain, who had just killed the other son they loved..

    I could only imagine my own father or mother IF I had actually killed any of my siblings.. (or anyone, for that matter).

    “Not only is this tragic death of their son Abel new to them,” my guide pointed out to me, “the impact of DEATH itself has just gripped Adam and Eve — two parents who the LORD had told many years before,

    ‘You shall surely die.’”

    I thought of those times one of my brothers had been MAD at ME… What if it were my blood in that field?



    Then the LORD said to Cain,

    “Where is Abel your brother?”

    And he said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?”

    Genesis 4:9 NASB20

    Then He said, “What have you done?

    The voice of your brother’s blood is crying out to Me from the ground.

    “Now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.

    “When you cultivate the ground, it will no longer yield its strength to you;

    you will be a wanderer and a drifter on the earth.”

    Genesis 4:12 NASB20

    4:16 וַיֵּצֵא קַיִן מִלִּפְנֵי יְהוָה וַיֵּשֶׁב בְּאֶֽרֶץ־נוֹד קִדְמַת־עֵֽדֶן׃


    קַיִן [

    Once upon a time there was a man named Kahyin.. who brought an offering to the LORD from the fruit of the ground.

    I heard the Voice of my Guide in Hebrew, yet somehow I understood every word.

    I have told you about qayin and heḇel his brother for good reason.

    Now it’s time for me to introduce you to the hunter.

    3:1 וְהַנָּחָשׁ הָיָה עָרוּם מִכֹּל חַיַּת הַשָּׂדֶה אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה יְהוָה אֱלֹהִים וַיֹּאמֶר אֶל־הָאִשָּׁה אַף כִּֽי־אָמַר אֱלֹהִים לֹא תֹֽאכְלוּ מִכֹּל עֵץ הַגָּֽן׃

    Genesis 3:1 – Masoretic Text [Click this link to meet the Hunter, the first character Moses mentions here]

    The Gardener, the Shepherd and the Hunter

    Roger Harned, Christian Author

  • What’s good about Good Friday?

    What’s good about Good Friday?

    15 April, in the year of our Lord, 2022:

    Looking for a question that will trip-up nearly any 21st c. christian?

    And since I have answered it before rather than answering it yet once more today on this GOOD FRIDAY, I will point you (my christian, jewish and anti-Christ friends) to previous Good Friday posts on which perhaps you might comment (publicly or privately) in this year of our Lord 2022.

    Why do you call a day JESUS was killed on a Cross good; what GOOD is it to you or for me?

    Look at the NEWS of today (and I dare say NONE of it is Good News.’

    CLICK FOR example of BBC World News
    
    • Is ‘god’ even news-worthy?
    • Does your local forecast not give more credibility to Mother Nature?
    • Even TgIF may soon give way to some new credit.

    It’s GUNS that kill, COVID which kills, FOSSIL FUELS will kill, the OTHER political party who kills everything right & GOOD!

    Tell me, How can JESUS make anything about TODAY good?


    GOD IS GOOD (Believe Him; or not)

    Will you believe David?

    19:1 למנצח מזמור לדוד׃ (19:2) השמים מספרים כבוד־אל ומעשה ידיו מגיד הרקיע׃

    Masoretic Text Psalm 19:1-2

    The heavens tell of the glory of God;
    And their expanse declares the work of His hands.

    Psalm 19:1b NASB20 – The Works and the Word of God.

    Will you believe Moses? מֹשֶׁה

    וַיַּרְא יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶת־הַיָּד הַגְּדֹלָה אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה יְהוָה בְּמִצְרַיִם וַיִּֽירְאוּ הָעָם אֶת־יְהוָה וַיַּֽאֲמִינוּ בַּֽיהוָה וּבְמֹשֶׁה עַבְדּֽוֹ׃ פ

    https://www.blueletterbible.org/nasb20/exo/14/31/t_conc_64031

    When Israel saw the great power which the LORD had used against the Egyptians, the people feared the LORD, and they believed in the LORD and in His servant Moses.

    Exodus 14: Now the LORD spoke to Moses..:31

    This is the victory of the LORD after His Passover of good woshipers among the Hebrews when the LORD killed the firstborns of the land. 

    Will you believe the [Gospel] GOOD NEWS of John 5?

    “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in the same way..

    “For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes. For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son, so that all will honor the Son just as they honor the Father..

    You examine the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is those very Scriptures that testify about Me..

    Yet truthfully -- and sadly -- not only do many jews no longer believe Scripture, but too many 'evangelical christians' no longer hold to the Way, the Truth & the Life of the Scriptures either.
    

    “How can you believe, when you accept glory from one another and you do not seek the glory that is from the one and only God?

    “For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?”

    Gospel of John 5:45[46]-47 NASB20 + Challenge of the Messiah Jesus to those who refuse to believe Scripture.

    Will you believe the Bible?

    The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “ALL THE NATIONS WILL BE BLESSED IN YOU.”

    Galatians 3:8

    All Scripture is [God-breathed] inspired by God and beneficial for teaching, for [reprimand] rebuke, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man or woman of God may be [proficient] fully capable, equipped for every good work.

    2 Timothy 3:16-17 NASB20

    Why don’t YOU Talk of JESUS?

    • I don’t talk of GOD.
    • I don’t care about the Israel of David.
    • I don’t think Moses applies anymore.
    • Certainly JESUS is not GOOD NEWS for most!
    • I do NOT believe the the BIBLE is TRUTH (for me).

    IF these are YOUR excuses to say that GOOD FRIDAY is NOT GOOD NEWS for YOU, you will not want to Talk of JESUS [HERE, or anywhere else].

    For salvation is only for those the Lord will choose as His faithful remnant who will believe.

    Good Friday’s past

    PLEASE COMMENT ON THIS [privately or publically] OR any of my previous posts which include, of course, OTHER GOOD Fridays and RESURRECTION SUNDAYS. - rh 
    Good Friday in the year of our Lord, 2021
    Good Friday in the year of our Lord, 2015 + Roger’s personal witness to the Holy Spirit of God

    And don’t miss yesterday’s post:

    14 April in the year of our Lord, 2022

  • Another Resurrection in Joppa

    Another Resurrection in Joppa

    old man in beret kneeling at grave
    death… Why do you weep?

    Death’s Vigil

    If you should pause briefly near death’s vigil, you may see some soul precariously perched on a precipice above the dark shadows of hades; yet.. lifted to light of life after death.. another resurrection in Christ to eternal glory with God Who Saves.

    Peter and another resurrection as witness

    Even as Peter travels some distance to Lydda and Joppa, somewhere back in towns nearer to Jerusalem a disciple named Lazarus witnesses another resurrection than that of the Lord Jesus Christ: his own.

    Lazarus come forth - photo of sunrise and Bible

    So the Jews were saying, “See how He loved him!”

    It’s one of the tenderest lines in Scripture. Roger@talkofJESUS.com 

    – on witnesses of Jesus at Lazarus’ funeral John 11:36

    In the ever so brief time prior to Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection Peter, the Apostles and many disciples of the Lord Jesus had witnessed this powerful sign of the Messiah as Jesus called out to Lazarus to come out of the grave!

    Earlier in Jesus ministry the Apostle also had witnessed yet another resurrection of a young man sitting up in his coffin about to be carried to his funeral wake in Nain!

    Resurrection of a body which has fallen from life into the valley of death is nothing new to the Apostles. To Peter another resurrection would be completely possible IF it is the will of the Lord.

    Acts 9:

    Click above for Gevurot 9:35-43 Orthodox Jewish Bible; Living Bible; Living Bible; Living Bible; Arabic Bible:

    Death’s appeal from Joppa

    A young woman has died..

    Her friends prepared her for burial and laid her in an upstairs room. 38 But when they learned that Peter was nearby at Lydda, they sent two men to beg him to return with them to Joppa.

    Lydda or Lod is about halfway from Jerusalem to where saints from Joppa on the coast ask Peter if he will do another resurrection. & is the place where Peter healed a paralyzed man
    Aeneas of Lydda: “I can walk!

    Peter responds and ACTS

    Aeneas who had been bedridden for eight years, because he was paralyzed, has been at Peter’s side; just as a lame man in Jerusalem who was healed also had stood with him and John as witness in the Temple.

    35 And all who lived at Lydda and Sharon saw him, and they turned to the Lord..

    37 But it happened [in those days] at that time that she [the young woman in Joppa] became sick and died; and when they had washed her body, they laid it in an upstairs room.

    “Do not delay in coming to us.”

    So Peter got ready and went with them.

    ACTS of Peter 9:38b-39a NASB20

    Might a Gazelle Leap once more?

    Tabatha or Dorcus is a name meaning gazelle, which describes a young believer who was to become another resurrection proof for the saints when Peter came to Joppa

    36 Now in Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (which when translated means [Gk. for gazelle] Dorcas);

    this woman was excelling in acts of kindness and charity which she did habitually.

    Peter arrives in Joppa

    39 .. as soon as he [Peter] arrived [from Lydda with the two men who had summoned the Apostle to Joppa], they took him upstairs where Dorcas lay.


    It’s the scene of grief – mourning the loss of a beloved servant of all, a friend, a young woman once vibrant in life who succumbs to one of the many maladies of this fragile flesh.

    Like those Peter had seen — the boy in a bier in Nain and Lazarus wrapped in death’s cloths behind a closed tomb in Bethany — here the Apostle takes in the vigil of those watching this Gazelle’s lifeless body, as well as the Apostle’s own entry into their sad scene in an upper room perched above the the shadows of valley of death.

    The room was filled with weeping widows who were showing one another the coats and other garments Dorcas had made for them.

    40 But Peter asked them all to leave the room; then he knelt and prayed.

    Nain funeral procession where Jesus first raised a boy from the dead

    (Like in Nain, Joppa will cancel its funeral procession today,

    DUE TO this next resurrection.)

    Another Resurrection!

    .. and turning to the body, he [the Apostle Peter] said, “

    Ταβιθά ἀνίστημι

    “Tabitha, arise.”

    The familiar command of Peter (to a dead woman) in ACTS 9:40

    And she opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter, she sat up.

    41 Then he gave her his hand and lifted her up; and when he had called the saints and widows, he presented her alive.

    He Raised Her Up

    You Raise Me Up – Selah – 5 min.

    DEATH.. and all hope for flesh and blood lost.. except for the hope in the resurrection of Jesus Christ! And once again, here and now, another resurrection — by the Apostle and not the Lord Incarnate.

    Luke continues with the resurrection theme [45x] in his second account of the Gospel of Jesus Christ:

    ἀνίστημι Strong’s G450 – anistēmi – an-is’-tay-mee – to cause to rise up, raise up


    42 The news raced through the town, and many believed in the Lord.

    43 And Peter stayed a long time in Joppa, living with Simon, the tanner.


    ACTS of the Missionary Journeys of Peter: To be continued...