In Luke 3 John the Baptist prepared the way and performed the baptism of repentance. Jesus’ was also baptized by John, after which “the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased.” The chapter then lists the genealogy of Mary, from the human side of Jesus. (Matthew listed the genealogy of Joseph from the Kingly side, and since Joseph adopted Jesus as his own, it shows Jesus became the rightful heir to the throne of David.)
In 1 Samuel 26 David Spared Saul’s Life a second time.
1 Samuel 27. David allied himself with the Philistines.
Luke 2:21-52 is telling of when Jesus was brought to the Temple, Simeon’s and Anna’s testimonies, and Jesus at age 12, also in the Temple. Read it and marvel.
In 1 Samuel 24, David Spared Saul’s life, staying true to God.
1 Samuel 25 records Samuel’s death. It also tells the vivid story of David and Abigail, the wife of Nabal.
Luke 2:1-20. The birth of Jesus is so well known that even Charles Schulz’ Peanuts tell of the Birth of Jesus, and the Shepherds and the Angels. Beginning in 2015 many school districts banned the play because of the biblical quotes. Some replaced it with Frosty the Snowman, something we all can believe in.
1 Samuel 20, . Jonathan and David vowed an oath of loyalty, saying: “The Lord be between me and thee, and between my seed and thy seed for ever.”
In 1 Samuel 21 David and his men ate from the Holy Showbread. After that David fled to the Philistine city-state of Gath and pretended to be insane to stay alive.
1 Samuel 22. David gathered four hundred men and went back into Judah. Because the LORD’s priests had helped David, Saul had Doeg the Edomite murder the priests, eighty-five in all.
1 Samuel 23. David Saved the City of Keilah, was pursued by Saul, spending most of the time in strongholds of the wilderness.
Luke 1:57-80, tells of the birth of John the Baptist and Zechariah’s song.
1 Samuel 17 gives a vivid rendition of how David defeated Goliath. Just read it, it is great reading.
1 Samuel 18. Saul began to resent David, and no wonder, women started chanting “Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands.” Saul’s daughter Michal fell in love with David, and Saul let them marry after a rather unusual dowry, but he became more and more suspicious and afraid of David.
In 1 Samuel 19 Saul’s paranoia was fully developed, and he persecuted David, trying to kill him over and over again.
The very first Earth Day was celebrated April 22 1970, on the 100 year anniversary of the birth of Vladimir Lenin (Владимир Ильич Ленин). True green environmentalists keep telling me it is just a coincidence. I think not..
The first Earth Day in Philadelphia 1970 featured Ira Einhorn (The Unicorn Killer) as master of Ceremonies. For those too young to remember, he murdered his girlfriend , stuffed her in a piece of luggage in his apartment and kept her there for seven years, and no one smelled a dead rat). He was finally convicted many years later. The big environmental scare of that day was the threat of a new Ice Age. The clarion call was: “In the year 2000 temperatures will have fallen 10 degrees”, the culprit was pollution, especially acid rain.
Things have changed, and we have experienced decades of climate change, or so they say, but it depends very much on where you live. Most of the increased temperature since 1970 is due to cleaner air in the industrialized nations, there are now more thunderstorms as opposed to daylong rains. This leads to fewer clouds and less reflection of incoming light back into space. This means warmer days.
What forms clouds is saturated humidity with a sufficient aerosol to form condensing spots. The best solution is to plant trees that provide enough aerosols to form clouds. This is especially important in the American Southwest and the whole 10-40 degrees latitude region where the majority of the world’s population lives.
USA can be seen as two very different regions: In the West the fight is about water rights; in the East it is about water responsibilities.
My proposal is that we reshape the water rights laws so that water rights belong to the land. Where it rains, as much as possible of the rain should remain on that land without building dams. By building swales and planting trees at high elevations the erosion from flash floods will diminish, and more water will remain in the ground, causing rivers to flow year round rather than seasonal. As it is now a house owner in Arizona cannot even water his plants from what falls on his roof or driveway.
In the East the opposite is true. When you build a house with a driveway you must also provide a catch basin capable of absorbing all the rain that falls on the improved property, sufficient to absorb a substantial rainstorm.
As it is now, the aquifers is the west are being drained, and need to be restored. Yes, without restoring the aquifers the American Southwest will experience desertification.
Luke 1:1-56, to Theophilus. The birth of John the Baptist was foretold to Zacharias by an Angel, then the angel Gabriel made an announcement to Mary. Mary met Elizabeth, Zacharias’ wife, and stayed with her. In this chapter is recorded Mary’s song; called the Magnificat.
1 Samuel 15 is the chapter where Saul is rejected by God as King.
1 Samuel 16. Samuel anointed David as King after rejecting all of David’s older brothers and David entered into Saul’s service while Saul was still the titular King. Whenever Saul’s spirit troubled him David played for him and that soothed Saul.
Mark 16. On the first day of the week Jesus did rise from the dead and Mary Magdalene saw the Risen Lord. The oldest manuscripts end there. The majority script completes the Gospel with Jesus proclaiming the Great Commission, was taken up to heaven and is now sitting down at the Right Hand of God.
In 1 Samuel 11 King Saul rescued Jabesh Gilead. Then the people reaffirmed Saul as King.
1 Samuel 12 contains Samuel’s speech at Saul’s coronation.
In 1 Samuel 13 the real trouble began, Saul offered an unlawful sacrifice, so God would no longer fight for them, Saul’s kingship would be taken away and God would choose a king after his own heart. The weapons for the army were taken away from the Israelites and the Philistines took control of the iron trade.
1 Samuel 14. Jonathan Defeated the Philistines. King Saul made an oath that no one was allowed to eat until nightfall. Jonathan didn’t know that, so he ate, and Saul wanted to put Jonathan to death, but his men refused the King’s order, and thus Jonathan’s life was spared.
Mark 15:21-47. The Crucifixion of Jesus the King took place. Read it carefully. Jesus Died, spiked on the cross, and at the same time the Temple veil was rent in two, from top to bottom, opening up for us full access to God himself. Jesus died, and Joseph of Arimathea asked for his body and buried him in a tomb cut out in a rock.
1 Samuel 9. Saul was a tall and handsome man, his father had lost some donkeys, so he sent Saul and his servant to look for them. Not finding them for three days they went to the prophet Samuel, God told Samuel to meet them, they met up, and so Saul was chosen to be King.
In 1 Samuel 10. Saul was Anointed King and proclaimed King over all Israel.
Mark 15:1-20, Early in the morning Jesus was brought before Pilate since only the Romans could execute capital punishment. Pilate, trying to get out of the situation offered to release Barabbas, a known murderer and insurrectionist, or Jesus, and the crowd chose Barabbas. Pilate gave in to the crowd, the Soldiers mocked Jesus, and the verdict was that Jesus the King was to be Crucified.
1 Samuel 5. The Ark of the LORD brought nothing but trouble to the Philistines.
So in 1 Samuel 6 the Ark was returned to Israel together with a guilt offering of five gold tumors and five golden rats.The Ark was brought back as far as to Kiriath Jearim.
1 Samuel 7. Samuel grew up and became Judge over Israel. He subdued the Philistines at Mizpah, and there he raised his Ebenezer (stone of help). He judged Israel all the remaining days of his life.
1 Samuel 8. Samuel’s sons were not following the Lord, so Israel demanded a King. Samuel complained to the LORD, but He answered : “Hearken unto their voice, and make them a king.”
Mark 14:32-72. After Judas Iscariot left the eleven remaining disciples, they and Jesus went to the Mount of Olives where there is a garden called Gethsemane. While they were there Jesus Prayed intensely. Judas Iscariot reappeared and betrayed Jesus with a kiss. The accompanying soldiers arrested Jesus, and he was brought before the Sanhedrin. Peter was waiting outside and denied Jesus three times, after which the cock crowed twice.
1 Samuel 3 tells of Samuel’s first prophecy, a prophesy against Eli and his sons, because Eli failed to restrain them.
1 Samuel 4. The Philistines captured the Ark of God. Soon after that Eli died, and Phineas died and his wife gave birth to Ichabod, which means “No Glory”, for the glory had departed from Israel.
Psalm 39, of David. At the later part of his life David wrote this Psalm to give words of wisdom, knowing the end for him was near. It is sometimes quoted in part during funerals to give comfort when words are hard to find.
Len Bilén's blog, a blog about faith, politics and the environment. 