Month: September 2026

1.  Prelude

An interesting pattern is noticed with the two temples of the Lord built by the Jews; a pattern from the past that foreshadows the future.  Both previous temples were built by kings and destroyed by kings; the second temple was destroyed on the same calendar date as the first.  Coincidence?

2.  The Constructions

The first temple was built by King Solomon, elaborately supported with resources from King David his father (1 Kings 6:1; 5:5; 1 Chronicles 29:1-9).  The second temple, built after the captivity in Babylon, generally overseen by Zerubbabel, was the initiative of Cyrus the gentile king of Persia, supported in later years by King Darius and King Artaxerxes (Ezra 6:4, 8, 14).  Centuries later, it was expanded and decorated by yet another king in the New Testament: Herod, during a memorable period of forty-five years (John 2:20).

The first two temples were built by kings.  Which king(s) shall build the third, whose materials are all set, awaiting the word of the king(s)?

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Never does the human soul appear so strong and noble as when it foregoes revenge, and dares to forgive an injury. – Chapin

A brave man thinks no one his superior who does him an injury; for he has it then in his power to make himself superior to the other by forgiving it. – Pope

Ennobling Forgiveness: Forgiver, Like God

Forgiveness elevates a mortal to the realms of God.  That is the sense in which, as attributed to Plautus the Roman playwright, it is said, “To err is human, to forgive, divine”; and, according to Winter, that “It is manlike to punish but godlike to forgive.”  As giver is inherently greater than receiver, and as the hand that gives is normally over and above the receiving hand, so is ‘for-GIVER’ greater than trespasser.  In that light, an offender merely subsumes themselves under those against whom they sin and from whom they must receive forgiveness.

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WHY MOSES KILLED AARON (Part 2 of 2)

4.  The Mountain of Deaths

Everyone had thought that the matter of the failed coup had ended with the havoc that had followed, but it would appear, the rumours said, that the street fighter was not yet done with his now more-popular Assistant Pastor, with whom he had lately been finding flimsy faults.  Down the line, one day, he came up with the story that God wanted to see Aaron up the mountaintop; that none else was invited along to that ‘special meeting,’ except himself with Aaron’s elder son.  Two other sons of that Assistant Pastor had died in mysterious circumstances when they were alleged to have performed their associate priestly duties in ways that Moses did not approve.  What killed them, according to the official media of Moses, was ‘the fire of God.’  None was free to query or cry, or God, said he, would be mad at everyone (Leviticus 10:1-6).  Strange.  The nobles whose death none should mourn!  What if those had been his own sons?  Nobody dared to query the Leader too loudly, because ‘God’ could hear, and ….  He ruled with an iron hand.

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WHY MOSES KILLED AARON (Part 1 of 2)

1.  Moses the Fighter

According to Ancient History, Moses, raised as a prince in the courts of Pharaoh, was a general in the army of Egypt.  Josephus, the famous Jewish historian of antiquity, is said to have also reported of him as a handsome and educated mighty warrior, who led his armies to reputable victories for Egypt.  That was probably where he learnt his toughness and impatience with opponents.  On his very first outing in the ghettos of the enslaved Jews, for instance, according to Bible records, he invited himself into a street fight and gave his opponent such a lightning super punch that that fighter was knocked out instantly into an early shallow grave (Exodus 2:11-12).  There was hardly a ‘second round’ and little need for an ambulance in the fights of Moses.  His opponents seldom lived to tell their story.  He was a “mighty” man.

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