A thirsty land - now and then

Earlier this week, the day after Anzac Day I remembered that I have Ion Idriess’s book The Desert Column. It is an excellent read around Anzac Day, this book having the geographical setting for much of II Chronicles. Idriess (1889-1979) was among the Australian soldiers who fought at Gallipoli and later in what was then Palestine. He was a Light Horse man and had to attend to his horse before he attended to his own physical needs.

The Desert Column records much of Idriess’ World War I diary (pruned for publishing). Idriess accomplished the amazing feat of carrying with him many small books in which he recorded everything that happened each day. Surely a unique record. He says he would probably have been in trouble if the “Heads” knew he threw away his iron rations to find room in his haversack for the little diaries.

https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/P11013264

Hear the end of one chapter written at Gaza:

Just a Cossack post – I’m blest if I know why I trouble the diary about it. But the morning is beautiful. My old neddy hungrily eats his breakfast, occasionally he nuzzles me with the pathetically empty nosebag, his big brown eyes plainly asking for more. I have none to give him. A lark is singing up in the sky – and here comes the sergeant to detail me for some patrol.

I must scratch myself – the lice are dammed bad, and I should be lousing my strides like the other chaps, instead of talking to the diary.

Anyway, I got a little reminder of II Chronicles when I read of the fall of Beersheba, the wells of Beersheba. Quote:

So we are at Esani, the whole brigade split up into working parties assisting the Australian and New Zealand Field Engineers and the Camel Corps, to dig out the wells….the success of all the operations depends on water.

Later –

Water is pouring into the huge wells we have cleaned out. It was a mighty well-system in the ages when this desolation was a city. The German engineers spend great quantities of gun-cotton blowing in these wells, but we laugh hourly on seeing their work is vain.

Later again –

The morning rolled on bringing its heat, its hot rifle-bolts, its thirst; longingly we thought of the cool wells of Beersheba, and by Jove I know I experienced a choking feeling of the senses on remembering that we must take those wells.

Back to II Chronicles. I remembered that I had a long way to go if I was to read all of II Chronicles. I peeked at a Chapter 32, found verses 2-4. Hezekiah is now king.

And when he saw that Sennacherib was come, and that he purposed to fight against Jerusalem, He took counsel with his princes and high mighty men to stop the waters of the fountains which were without the city: and they did help him. So there was gathered much people together, who stopped all the fountains, and the brook that ran through the midst of the land, saying, Why should the kings of Assyria come, and find much water?

A comment on the site Enduring Word Bible Commentary, 2 Chron. 32 – God protects Jerusalem is of interest:

No doubt the Assyrian army suffered much through this, as a Christian army did eighteen hundred years after this. When the crusaders came, in A.D. 1099, to besiege Jerusalem, the people of the city stopped up the wells, so that the Christian army was reduced to the greatest necessities and distress. (Clark)

Let the Bible Speak TV with Kevin Presley has an interesting story about wells being dug and re-dug:

There is a very timely lesson in those words for us today. This event happened in the valley of Gerar in the land of Abimelech, the king of the Philistines. Isaac’s father, Abraham, had once been there, but years later when Isaac came to this same land, he didn’t find it in the condition that his father had left it. Abraham’s servants had once dug wells there, but the Philistines came along after Abraham died and stopped those wells, filling them with earth. Since Isaac and his cattle needed water, the Bible says that he dug again the wells of water that had been dug in the days of Abraham.

And, another more metaphysical offering from the same source:

Jesus later compared Himself and the salvation he brought to mankind to a well of living water. The wells, however, were polluted and obstructed by the enemies of truth. The Apostles, particularly Paul, spent a great deal of their time re-digging the wells of salvation that were clogged with the remnants of Judaism and paganism.

 Joyce Voysey

Singing to end wars

Music has long been used to inspire and encourage. Chapter 20 of II Chronicles recounts the story of an unprovoked attack on the southern kingdom of Judah by several neighbouring countries. The good King Jehoshaphat of Judah famously tells his people (verse 15): 

"Don't be afraid. Don't be paralyzed by this mighty army. For the battle is not yours, but God's" (The Living Bible).

Furthermore, he enlists a choir to lead the march! And it was at this point that the enemy began fighting each other and that was the end of the war.

I do wonder what sort of music the choir sang. Possibly a hymn?

Shortly after reading this story this morning, I tuned into ABC Classic FM radio and was delighted to hear a program about hymns. A quick Google search offers the following definition of what a hymn is: 

HYMN. (from Greek hymnos, "song of praise"), strictly a song used in Christian worship usually sung by the congregation and characteristically having a metrical, strophic (stanzaic) nonbiblical text.

While I tuned in, the radio program included Italian composer Antonio Vivaldi's Mass Gloria (probably written 1715) and Finnish composer Jean Sibelius' Finlandia (1899) - both the hymn and the tone poem from which the hymn has been extracted. 

First performed in July 1900, Finlandia served as a protest against Russian encroachment on the autonomy of Finland.

Writing on the blog site Interlude in 2022, Dr. Georg Predota has this to say about the symphonic tone poem from which the hymn is taken:

For Sibelius, Finlandia was “the song of our battle, our hymn of victory.” From the very beginning, Finlandia proved hugely popular, and the magnificent closing hymn tune became an international hit. Often incorrectly cited as a traditional folk melody, the hymn actually sprang from the composer’s mind. It was sung around the world with such words as “Be Still My Soul,” “At the Table,” “Land of the Pine,” and “Our Farewell Song.” The composer had mixed feelings about these versions: “It is not intended to be sung… It is written for an orchestra. But if the world wants to sing it, it can’t be helped.”

Well, we do want to sing it! And the 2017 Christian Science hymnal gives us two versions of the glorious tune.

The first is hymn 469, "Eternal God, the Cause of All Creation", where we sing words (adapted) by Oak E. Davis. This hymn is in F major and could conceivably work well for four-part harmony.

The second setting is hymn 561, "Our heavenly Father-Mother Love abiding", with words by Richard D. Row (altered), paraphrasing Matthew 6:9-13, which is of course the Lord's Prayer. This hymn is in the slightly lower key of E flat major and has a slightly more active accompaniment, above which the melody soars. 

My preference is for the first setting - somehow the long dotted minims held over the bar line to the crochet in the next bar provide a sense of both stillness and movement which results in an anticipation that stirs the heart. 

I’m now thinking about the joy of congregational singing and its potential to end wars!

Julie Swannell

What's your mother's name?

It was probably the first time that I read the Bible through that I noticed that it seemed to be important to mention a king’s mother’s name.

Example: II Chronicles 13:2 - Abijah became the new king of Judah in Jerusalem in the eighteenth year of the reign of King Jeroboam of Israel. He lasted three years. His mother’s name was Micaiah (daughter of Uriel of Gibeah).

Why? I asked.

So, I checked in Concord, the Christian Science study site with which we can find any word in the Bible and Mrs. Eddy’s writings and the Christian Science Hymnal. There are 30 entries under mother’s name; nearly all of them are in Kings and Chronicles.

Next, I checked in JSH Online. There is nothing in the Christian Science periodicals under “mother’s name”. So, I am left to reason on my own – with God.

Name means character, nature or quality of being.

I love the chapter Glossary in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. It is so helpful. Here is Mary Baker Eddy’s introduction to it.

In Christian Science we learn that the substitution of the spiritual for the material definition of a Scriptural word often elucidates the meaning of the inspired writer. On this account this chapter is added. It contains the metaphysical interpretation of Bible terms, giving their spiritual sense, which is also their original meaning. (p. 579:1)

There are many names listed. Many of them give examples of the character of the person.

For example:

ABEL. Watchfulness; self-offering; surrender to the creator the early fruits of experience. (ibid p. 579:8)

Sometimes Mrs. Eddy gives the opposite as well the spiritual, as in

ROCK. Spiritual foundation; Truth. Coldness and stubbornness. (ibid p. 593:18)

A few of Jacob’s sons are listed: Asher (a good report)(ibid p. 581:15); Benjamin (a physical report followed by one of renewal and improvement)(ibid p. 582:4); Dan (a negative report)(ibid p. 583:26); Gad (a good report)(ibid 585: 21); Levi (a negative report)(ibid p. 590:11).

Jacob’s entry just about gives us his history:

JACOB. A corporeal mortal embracing duplicity, repentance, sensualism. Inspiration; the revelation of Science in which the so-called material senses yield to the spiritual sense of Life and Love. (ibid p. 589:4-5)

Bible Dictionaries sometimes give a label to a person. For example, in one dictionary, Jacob’s entry gives “heel grabber” or “supplanter.” And Abraham’s: Father of a multitude.

I have given the definition of Abel, now here is one of Cain his brother, from the chapter Genesis in Science and Health:

Cain is a type of mortal and material man, conceived in sin and “shapen in iniquity;” he is not the type of Truth and Love. (ibid p. 540:28-30)

In thinking on this ‘type’ angle, it seems to me that all mortals (yes, you and I included) may at times exhibit the types we read about.

Now, another example of name.

Hallowed be Thy name.
Adorable One.
Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 16:28

I am sure many a First Reader has puzzled over how to say those words and understand their spiritual significance in the spiritual interpretation of The Lord’s Prayer.

Now, let us consider a phrase spoken by Jesus:

...ask in my name (John 14:13)

John is the one who shares our Master’s words in this regard. Here is the context:

And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it. (John 14:13,14)

This a strong theme in chapters 14, 15, and 16 of John.

Another example:

Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. (John 16:23)

There is also the Commandment:

Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. (Exodus 20: 7)

Perhaps that is where all this reasoning has sprung from!

Can it be that in asking help of the Father/Mother God we are to acknowledge that we have the name/nature of God, and ask from that infinitely close relationship?

But, back to those mothers’ names which were so prominent in the stories of the kings of Judah.

While the line of descent on the male side continued from one generation to another, there was always the female side to be considered, if we were to accept that the qualities of the parents were passed on to the child, whereas we learn in Christian Science that all good qualities (and there are no other) come directly from God and are embodied in the synonyms for God given in Science and Health – Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, Love. (See p. 465:8-10).

This has given me much to think on.

Joyce Voysey

The Queen of Sheba visits King Solomon

The visit to Solomon of the Queen of Sheba fills a lot of Chapter 9 of II Chronicles.

The entry about her on PBS.com appears in their series titled, In search of myths and heroes, and tells us that the Queen of Sheba story is recorded in the sacred writings of the Jews, the Christians, and the Muslims, and that she may have come from Ethiopia.

She decides to see for herself Solomon’s amazingly rich kingdom. She goes by camel to Jerusalem. This version of her story has her having relations with Solomon and becoming pregnant. She goes home and has a son, Menelik. When he grows up, he decides that he would like to meet his father and travels to Israel for that purpose.

Here is the way the story ends in the In Search of myths and heroes version:

When he returns, he takes with him the Ark of the Covenant, the sacred container that contained the Ten Commandments. In Ethiopian legend, the Ark has remained in Ethiopia ever since and Ethiopians see Menelik as the first in an unbroken line of Ethiopian kings that stretches into the 20th century.

I wondered if the Islamic scriptures included the Queen of Ethiopia story. (Seeking information about Muhammad and the date of his revelation, I consulted Britannica, namely https://www.britannica.com/biography/Muhammad. He was born c. 570 at Mecca, Arabia, and died Medina 632. It seems it is difficult to find biographical information on his life. That site is well worth a read.)  

Then, in the Wikipedia entry under Islamic View of the Bible, I was delighted to find this information about the sacred writings and the coincidence of some parts of them; it satisfied some of my wonderings:

Among the books considered to be revealed by God in the Quran, the three mentioned by name are the Tawrat (Torah) revealed to Musa (Moses), the Zabur (Psalms) revealed to Dawud (David), and the Injil (Gospel) revealed to Isa (Jesus). The Quran mentions the Torah, Psalms, and Gospel as being revealed by God in the same way the Quran was revealed to Muhammad, the final prophet and messenger of God according to Muslims.

                                                                                                                                     Joyce Voysey

Dwellings - simple and elaborate

There is a lot of repetition from I and II Kings in II Chronicles. Students will notice this early on, for the story of King Solomon’s asking for wisdom and an understanding heart is very familiar. (II Chronicles 1:10 “Now give me wisdom and knowledge to rule them properly, for who is able to govern by himself such a great nation as this one of yours?” [Living Bible] and also I Kings 3:5-15.)

I am heartened by the possibility that men and women in authority wish for wisdom in carrying out their duties. Yes, some may even pray for it. As in every aspect of life, we need to be unselfish in our asking, not asking for personal power.

The story offers great detail on the sumptuousness of the temple fit-out. I recall when I was First Reader in a Christian Science church many years ago, that, because we had a fine artist (painting and craft) in our membership, I once prepared readings on the beauty of arts and crafts.

Of interest: the phrase “and he made” appears often in the story, “he” being Hiram, king of Tyre.

How come Solomon was so rich?  Trade, gifts (e.g. Queen of Sheba), heavy taxes, and the use of resident aliens as forced labour on public works were some of the means available to him. One commentator tells us that he even charged a hefty yearly set fee for anyone who desired to hear his wisdom.

Incidentally, after Solomon passed from the scene, under his son Rehoboam the people revolted against the high taxes.

Tabernacle (Moses) and Temple (Solomon) Comparison 

It may be worthwhile to compare the tabernacle with the temple. After Moses gave the Ten Commandments to the people, he invited them to bring him materials out of which a travelling tabernacle (a movable tent) would be built. This they did willingly. Exodus 35-40 give full details. These chapters describe tent curtains of fine twined linen in blue, purple, and scarlet with cherubims of cunning work, and the “bars of shittim wood for the tabernacle sides, overlaid with gold”. 

^{Exodus 35: 25-26} The women skilled in sewing and spinning prepared blue, purple, and scarlet thread and cloth, and fine-twined linen, and brought them in. Some other women gladly used their special skill to spin the goats’ hair into cloth. (Living Bible)

One Bezaleel made the Ark of shittim wood: two cubits and a half in length, a cubit and a half in breadth, and a cubit and a half in height. It was overlaid with pure gold within and without, with a crown of gold to it round about. This Ark of the Covenant held Moses’ two tablets of stone inscribed with the Ten Commandments.

Figure 1: Tabernacle (top) and Temple (below) – uploaded by Michael Hickenbotham on quora.com.

 

The spiritual significance of the tabernacle is explained by Louise Mattheus Martin in her article “The Tabernacle of God” (Christian Science Sentinel March 19, 1927):

“…The interpretations of God as a mighty lawgiver, which had come to humanity through Moses, the great Hebrew leader, were clarified and beatified by the spiritual revelations of God which Christ Jesus unfolded; and thus the ancient tabernacle built by Moses and his people stands in the dim perspective of the centuries as a type and shadow of better things to come. The Man of Galilee rent the veil of ignorance and doubt which had hidden the Holy of Holies for so long, and opened the sacred sanctuary to all mankind by his abundant interpretation of God as Love, universal and ever present. He revealed the nature and character of God, without mystery or limitation, and unveiled the glories of divine Being…” 

Joyce Voysey

Ed. Contemplating the tabernacle information above, I came across a most interesting article by Fred H. Wight called “excerpts from Manners and Customs of Bible Lands: Tent dwellings”. Here is the image that accompanies that article from the Ancient Hebrew Research Centre website:

      Figure 2: Tents such as people may have used in Bible times

A temple and wisdom

And so on to II Chronicles and Solomon's story. Of course, most are aware of his great wealth - so much so that he is regarded as the wealthiest of all the kings. He is, however, also attributed great wisdom. In fact, his specific prayer is to be wise:

II Chron. 1:10 Now give me wisdom and knowledge to rule them properly, for who is able to govern by himself such a great nation as this one of yours?” (the Living Bible)

The temple is now to be built. Solomon needs thousands of workers and an extraordinary array of materials. The Jerusalem-sited temple will be huge: the foundations were 90 x 30 feet and the roof 180 feet high. When King Solomon contacts King Hiram in neighbouring Tyre and asks his for help, the response is warm. Britannica explains that Tyre “was a Major Phoenician seaport from about 2000 BCE through the Roman period” and “Hiram, king of Tyre (reigned 969–936), furnished building materials for Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem (10th century).” Today, the ancient port city of Tyre is located just north of the Israeli border in Lebanon, south of Beirut.

In response to Solomon’s request, King Hiram generously offers his craftsman, the “famous Huramabi”:

II Chron 2:13 – 16 “I am sending you a master craftsman—my famous Huramabi! He is a brilliant man, 14 the son of a Jewish woman from Dan in Israel; his father is from here in Tyre. He is a skillful goldsmith and silversmith, and also does exquisite work with brass and iron and knows all about stonework, carpentry, and weaving; and he is an expert in the dyeing of purple and blue linen and crimson cloth. He is an engraver besides, and an inventor! He will work with your craftsmen and those appointed by my lord David, your father. 15 So send along the wheat, barley, olive oil, and wine you mentioned, 16 and we will begin cutting wood from the Lebanon mountains, as much as you need, and bring it to you in log floats across the sea to Joppa, and from there you can take them inland to Jerusalem.” (the Living Bible)

A special feature would be the special Holy of Holies. The Living Bible describes it thus:

II Chron 3:10-13 Within the innermost room, the Holy of Holies, Solomon placed two sculptured statues of Guardian Angels and plated them with gold. 11-13 They stood on the floor facing the outer room, with wings stretched wing tip to wing tip across the room, from wall to wall. 14 Across the entrance to this room he placed a veil of blue and crimson finespun linen, decorated with Guardian Angels.

People across many nations invest in both buildings and ceremony. Shortly, the people of Great Britain will witness the crowning of their new king in Westminster Abbey. So, we can relate to the events in King Solomon's reign. And we can probably relate to the idea of church buildings as special spaces. 

In a June 3, 1996 article in the Christian Science Sentinel (A Church without Creeds), Beulah Roegge comments:

When King Solomon consecrated the Temple that the people had built, he said of God, "Behold, heaven and the heaven of heaven cannot contain thee; how much less this house which I have built!" (II Chron.6:18).  Though he perceived that God could not be confined to a building, apparently he thought of the Temple as a symbol of God's presence. His prayer continued by describing many situations and conditions under which his people could come to the Temple to receive help from God. He included wars and sickness, and also the needs of the stranger in the land.

From King Solomon's day to ours, people find that involvement in church supports their efforts to solve all sorts of problems. I found this help myself when I first began attending the Church of Christ, Scientist…

Today, we experience church in all sorts of ways, but how good it is to gather together and to seek that wisdom which is ours from God.

Julie Swannell