Matthew 28 begins with Jesus being in the grave for the two adjoining sabbaths, the first day of unleavened bread followed by the normal sabbath. There was an earthquake and the stone was rolled away. Jesus was no longer in the grave. The guards were bribed to tell the story that the disciples took the body, but two women, the two Marys met the resurrected Jesus. He told them to tell the remaining disciples that he was risen from the dead. The Gospel of Matthew ends with Jesus giving us the great commission: “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.”
Deuteronomy 32 gives us the Song of Moses. At the end of the chapter the LORD told Moses he would only see the promised land from a distance and die on Mount Nebo.
Matthew 27:32-66, After Jesus was flogged he was too weak to carry his own cross, so the Roman soldiers forced Simon from Cyrene to carry Jesus cross all the way to the place of the skull, and there Jesus was crucified together with two criminals. To identify Jesus they put an inscription on the top of the cross: “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.” A number of prophecies were fulfilled during the crucifixion, and Jesus died on the cross. At that very moment the Temple veil was torn in two, from top to bottom and for the first time the holy of holiest was revealed. Jesus, now being dead was taken down from the cross and put in a tomb, a stone was rolled in front of the entrance and the tomb was sealed, and – this is important, they put up a guard to secure the tomb. Why did they do that? Think about that.
Deuteronomy 30, The Blessings of turning to God is pro-life, but if not, God is pro-choice with all its consequences. See v 15: “I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil“. (KJV)
Deuteronomy 31 Moses declared Joshua to be the new leader of Israel, “Be strong and of good courage”. The Law was to be read every seven years, Israel’s rebellion was predicted and, as a reminder Moses recorded his song, which is recited in the next chapter.
Matthew 27:1-31 depicts the first half of the longest day, beginning with Jesus being handed over to Pilate, the Roman governor; since the Jews did not have right to execute capital punishment. Judas hanged himself and the thirty pieces of silver given him in exchange for the betrayal of Jesus was used to buy the Potter’s field. Pilate tried to wiggle out of his role as judge; his wife had warned him, so he used his privilege to release one prisoner at Passover which was the custom at that time. Pilate chose Jesus or Barabbas to be released and of the two the people chose Barabbas; a known insurrectionist to be released and Jesus to be crucified. Pilate acquiesced to the mob and so Jesus was flogged by the soldiers for a public spectacle and then he was led away to be crucified.
Deuteronomy 29. In preparation of the tribes entering the promised land God renews the Mosaic Covenant in Moab.
In Matthew 26:31-75 Jesus predicted Peter’s denial. After finishing the Last Supper they all moved on to the Mount of Olives, and there was the garden of Gethsemane. In the garden Jesus prayed “Not my will, but yours be done.” Jesus prayed this prayer three times, and every time the disciples fell asleep. After that is recorded the betrayal and arrest of Jesus as he was taken to the Sanhedrin to be interrogated. The chapter ends with Peter’s denial.
Deuteronomy 28. The LORD through Moses specified many blessings for obedience and even more curses for disobedience.
Matthew 26:1-30 is very important. It begins with the plot against Jesus, continuing with his anointing at Bethany, then Judas agreeing to betray Jesus for thirty pieces of silver, continuing with the Lord’s supper being initiated, and Jesus predicting who is going to betray him.
Deuteronomy 25 tells of the marriage duty of a surviving brother, how to weigh with honest measures, and, totally unrelated; do not forget to destroy the Amalekites.
Deuteronomy 26 shows the regulations for offerings of firstfruits and tithes. Follow the LORD’s commands, you are a special people of God.
Deuteronomy 27 specifies that the Law should be inscribed on large stones on Mount Ebal. There six tribes shall declare curses, and on Mount Gerizim six tribes shall pronounce blessings.
Atmospheric N2Olevels averaged 310 ppb (parts per billion) during 2021, or around 19 % greater than pre-industrial levels. It is a 300 times stronger greenhouse gas than CO2 by itself, because its absorption is not saturated in the atmosphere. When water vapor is dominant it is diminished by over 90% since it is at the edges of the Atmospheric window. On the other hand the lifetime of N20 in the atmosphere is short and is typically greatest at 5 p.m. One of the major reasons for the N2O increase is the increase of fertilization with nitrates, the other is from diesel fumes from trains, boats and trucks.
The picture shows a small N2O peak at 7.9 micron. This is because at lower wavelengths absorption from water vapor has nearly eliminated the N2O contribution. Remember that total absorption can never exceed 100 %, so the maximum absorption from N2O occurs at 8.1 micron, At 0.32 ppm it amounts to a greenhouse effect of 0.018 C. Before industrialization the N2O concentration was 0.27 ppm which results in an increase of the greenhouse effect of 0.0029 C from rising levels of N2O since before industrialization .
N2O is commonly called laughing gas, and is hazardous in high concentrations, and should be limited in confined places, but in concentrations of under 1 ppm nobody laughs.
Matthew 25: 31-46. Jesus will return to judge the nations, to illustrate how he told the parable of the sheep and the goats, and the sheep were defined as those who do God’s will “You did it for me.”
Deuteronomy 22 contains more instructions, protect your brother’s property, the LORD detests unisex clothing, protect nesting birds, do not yoke an ox and a donkey together. The chapter ends with various laws on sexual morality.
Deuteronomy 23 deals with shunning and exclusion from the assembly, how to deal or not to deal with certain foreigners. Make your relief stations outside the camp and do what you have to do and keep proper camping cleanliness. No harlots allowed and do not accept offerings from them. You may not charge interest to a fellow Israelite, but you can be a Shylock to a foreigner. If you make a vow to the Lord, you better fulfill it!
Deuteronomy 24 tells of divorce laws and limitations for remarriage, leprosy, lending laws, how to properly pay workmen, and after harvest please leave the gleanings.
Atmospheric methanelevels averaged 1,895.7 ppb (parts per billion) during 2021, or around 162% greater than pre-industrial levels. It is a much stronger greenhouse gas by itself, unlike CO2 because its absorption is not saturated in the atmosphere. On the other hand the lifetime of Methane in the atmosphere is 10 to 15 years so some of the Methane eating bacteria will do its job. There is only one significant frequency band that absorbs, at 7.6 microns.
The picture shows a much smaller peak at 8.1micron. This is because at lower wavelengths absorption from water vapor has nearly eliminated the CH4 contribution. Remember that total absorption can never exceed 100 %, so the maximum absorption from CH4 occurs at 8.1 micron, At 1.8 ppm it amounts to a greenhouse effect of 0.01 C. Before industrialization the CH4 concentration was 0.725 ppm which results in an increase of the greenhouse effect of 0.0072 C from rising levels of Methane since before industrialization .
So much for cow farts, rice fields, landfills and termites eating tree roots. Methane is the “do not care” gas.
Matthew 25:1-30 begins with the parable of the ten virgins, five with oil, five without oil. (Give me oil in my lamp, keep it burning). After that Jesus told the parable of the five, two and one talent given to three different people, the one with five made ten, the one with two doubled his talents, but the one with only one talent buried his. Jesus had his one talent taken away and be given to the one with ten talents. The moral of this parable is: Equal opportunity, not equal outcome.
Deuteronomy19. God commanded to set aside three Cities of Refuge, maybe three more as the land expands. Do not change property boundaries. There must be two or three witnesses for a conviction in court. From this chapter also comes the saying “an eye for an eye”.
Deuteronomy 20. Rules for warfare: The Lord fights the battle for you. If you are too chicken or are building a house or are pledged to marry, you may be excused. For the rest of you, show no mercy unless they surrender, but above all, save the fruit trees.
Deuteronomy 21 deals with what to do with unsolved murders. Can you marry a female taken captive? What are the rights of the firstborn? What to do with a rebellious Son? A man punished to death and hung on a tree, he must be buried the same day. From this we get “Cursedisevery one that hangeth on a tree”.
San_Carlos_Lake is located within the 3,000-square-mile (7,800 km2) San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation, and is thus subject to tribal regulations. It has been full only three times, in 1993 it overflowed the spillway and about 35,000 cfs of water caused erosion damage to natural gas pipelines. The lake contained (April 6,2021) less than 100 acre-ft of water. All fish was dead. This was also the case in 2022, thelake was emptied even earlier in the season.
When former President Coolidge dedicated the dam in 1930, the dam had not begun to fill. Humorist Will Rogers looked at the grass in the lake bed, and said, “If this were my dam, I’d mow it.”[
After the Transcontinental aqueduct will be built the lake will always be nearly filled, lake level will be at up to 2510 feet with flood control nearly automatic, it will never overflow, and it will look like this, or better:
The San Carlos lake, when filled will hold 1,000,000 acre-ft of water. Here it is half filled.
The Coolidge dam will have to be retrofitted to accommodate a 17,000 cfs water flow. When water starts flowing at half capacity, 8,400 cfs in phase 1 of the building project it will take 2 months to fill the lake.
What’s in it for Arizona? The San Carlos Lake has been a great disappointment. It is more often empty than even half full, and when it is empty, all fish die. The Gila river will be rejuvenated and will be able to contain fish again, making it the great recreation spot it was meant to be. In addition it will generate up to 1,4 GW of Power and carry up to 12 Million Acre-ft per year of water to the thirsty American South-west when the aqueduct is built to full capacity. In the first phase when the power stations have installed only half capacity, the flow will be 6 MAf per year, and power generated will be up to 700 MW.
Thanks to an over abundance of rain ad snow this winter the lake is now at the highest level since 1996, at 325% of normal level, and the melting of the snow-melt in the mountains has yet to manifest itself’ This is the chart of the current year’s statistics:
Mar 17 value 452,200 Acre-ft. The first 10 years of the dam the lake was below half full. The chart from 1882 to today shows that the lake is now at the highest level since 1996.
The San Carlos Lake being half filled for the first time in 27 years will alliveate the Arizona drought, but not enough to stop draining the aquifers. With people fleeing California and resettle in Arizona the only viable solution is to build a Trans-continental aqueduct from the Arkansas River to Arizona. Check it out, it is quite interesting.
Len Bilén's blog, a blog about faith, politics and the environment. 