Matthew 13:45-6 (King James Version)
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls:
Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.
Matthew 13:45-6 is a passage of great beauty and eloquence, which illustrates perfectly the concept of worth, and describes with powerful simplicity what it means to love and to treasure. The passage also tells us that such love comes at a ‘great price’ after much searching. When eventually you find that ‘one pearl’, it is so precious that you are compelled to give away all that you possess, in order to obtain the ‘kingdom of heaven’. Its true beauty lies in the fact that it is by sharing this with others, that the value of this ‘kingdom’ becomes manifest.
Tuesday, 29 November 2011
Monday, 21 November 2011
21st November 2011
Gen. 31: 19. ‘Meanwhile Laban had gone to shear his sheep, and Rachel stole her father’s household idols.’ (Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures. The New Jewish Publication Society Translation According to the Traditional Hebrew Text).
Reading this biblical verse as a Jewish woman, I recall its traditional rabbinic interpretation, which is that Rachel stole the idols to keep her father Laban from the sin of idolatry. And yet it seems more plausible that, about to leave her father’s home and travel with Jacob to an unknown land, Rachel would have wanted to take the doll-like teraphim with her, hidden under her skirts, because it was these that she still half-believes had kept her safe since she was a child. If she were trying to preserve her father’s religious virtue the narrative’s tragic irony would be lost. For Jacob, not knowing that Rachel had stolen the figurines, makes an oath to her father that whoever is found with them will not remain alive (Gen. 31:32). By the end of Genesis 35, Rachel has died giving birth to Benjamin and is buried by the road to Ephrath (Gen, 35:16-20).
Reading this biblical verse as a Jewish woman, I recall its traditional rabbinic interpretation, which is that Rachel stole the idols to keep her father Laban from the sin of idolatry. And yet it seems more plausible that, about to leave her father’s home and travel with Jacob to an unknown land, Rachel would have wanted to take the doll-like teraphim with her, hidden under her skirts, because it was these that she still half-believes had kept her safe since she was a child. If she were trying to preserve her father’s religious virtue the narrative’s tragic irony would be lost. For Jacob, not knowing that Rachel had stolen the figurines, makes an oath to her father that whoever is found with them will not remain alive (Gen. 31:32). By the end of Genesis 35, Rachel has died giving birth to Benjamin and is buried by the road to Ephrath (Gen, 35:16-20).
Monday, 14 November 2011
14th November 2011
‘The spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is weak’ (Matthew 26.41) This admission, in a call to resist temptation, recognizes the difficulty of living up to high moral standards. According to Clarke’s commentary, ‘Your inclinations are good - ye are truly sincere; but your good purposes will be overpowered by your timidity. Ye wish to continue steadfast in your adherence to your Master; but your fears will lead you to desert him.’ http://bible.cc/matthew/26-41.htm
Monday, 7 November 2011
7th November 2011
While the Authorized Version was meant to replace the Bishops' Bible as the official version for readings in the Church of England, it was apparently (unlike the Great Bible) never specifically "authorized", although it is commonly known as the Authorized Version in the United Kingdom. However, the King's Printer issued no further editions of the Bishops' Bible; so necessarily the Authorized Version supplanted it as the standard lectern Bible in parish church use in England. In the Book of Common Prayer (1662), the text of the Authorized Version replaced the text of the Great Bible — for Epistle and Gospel readings — and as such was "authorized" by Act of Parliament. The phrase "King James version" first appeared in print in 1884.’
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