Wednesday Bible Study: The end of all things- Genesis

Once again, I want to take our chapter- Genesis 50- in a different direction than usual.  Hopefully this will fall under the aegis of "Looking with God's view, not man's".

I guess I need to start in Proverbs- where I have been starting my Bible reading every day for the past few months.  And a pair of verses struck me as I read before taking on this task:

Pro 14:20  The poor is disliked even by his neighbor, but the rich has many friends. 
Pro 14:21  Whoever despises his neighbor is a sinner, but blessed is he who is generous to the poor. 

These two verses as simply as possible express that principle- Man sees the rich as blessed- but God sees you as blessed in blessing the poor.  It shows the complete 180 between looking our way and God's way.  Now, let me look at today's chapter that way.


Genesis 50 is neatly divided into three sections.  First is the aftermath of the death of Jacob.  Then comes the brothers of Joseph pathetically coming to him for mercy against the wrath they expect from him now that dear ol' dad isn't there to stop him- and Joseph's response.  Finally, the first book of the Bible closes with Joseph's own death.  And I think the first two parts are an enlightenment of the 2 verses from Proverbs.


In the first section, Joseph asks to take Jacob's body back to his original home.  Now, one thing to keep in mind here is that there was a connection between this Pharaoh and Jacob, if we go back a bit:

Gen 47:7  Then Joseph brought in Jacob his father and stood him before Pharaoh, and Jacob blessed Pharaoh. 
Gen 47:8  And Pharaoh said to Jacob, "How many are the days of the years of your life?" 
Gen 47:9  And Jacob said to Pharaoh, "The days of the years of my sojourning are 130 years. Few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their sojourning." 
Gen 47:10  And Jacob blessed Pharaoh and went out from the presence of Pharaoh. 

Jacob showed genuine concern for Pharaoh; in return, Pharaoh showed genuine interest in him.  Now, extend that for the seventeen years Jacob lived under Pharaoh in Egypt.  Then come back to the extreme respect Jacob was shown in death:

Gen 50:7  So Joseph went up to bury his father. With him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his household, and all the elders of the land of Egypt, 

Gen 50:8  as well as all the household of Joseph, his brothers, and his father's household. Only their children, their flocks, and their herds were left in the land of Goshen. 

Gen 50:9  And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen. It was a very great company. 

Gen 50:10  When they came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, they lamented there with a very great and grievous lamentation, and he made a mourning for his father seven days. 

Gen 50:11  When the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning on the threshing floor of Atad, they said, "This is a grievous mourning by the Egyptians." Therefore the place was named Abel-mizraim; it is beyond the Jordan. 

To look at this as the Canaanites did, there was no difference between Jacob and someone very high in the world of Egypt.  In other words, this poor old shepherd was treated as if he was a son of Egypt.  He was, in essence, one of them.

Now, let's look at a second case of, "He's one of us":

Gen 50:15  When Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, "It may be that Joseph will hate us and pay us back for all the evil that we did to him." 

Gen 50:16  So they sent a message to Joseph, saying, "Your father gave this command before he died, 

Gen 50:17  'Say to Joseph, Please forgive the transgression of your brothers and their sin, because they did evil to you.' And now, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father." Joseph wept when they spoke to him. 

Gen 50:18  His brothers also came and fell down before him and said, "Behold, we are your servants." 

Instead of treating Joseph with respect born of they way he had treated them for these 17 years, now they pictured what THEY would do if they were him- and it scared the crap out of them.  What would Joseph do first?  Throw us in a hole?  Have us literally torn apart by wild beasts, as we had told our father of him?  Maybe sell us into slavery?  So they tried to scare him with the one thing that scared them in the past- their father.  "Your father gave this command before he died," they said in their defense.

Difference?  When you treat someone with honor and respect, "He's one of us" means something different than when you treat them with dishonor and disrespect.  They weren't looking at Joseph as he had earned it, they were looking as THEY had earned it.  Also, Jacob and Joseph had lived lives that earned them that respect.  On the other hand, the brothers had lived lives of arrogance at first, and fear in the end.  As a result, they became a self-fulfilling prophecy- just as Joseph's dream had long ago predicted, they ended up bowing before him.

Tuesday Message (yes, Tuesday)

So tomorrow, a new Wednesday message comes out.  It had a very valuable lesson about how when you treat people with honor, they reciprocate- and if you treat them like YOU deserve, you get what you deserve, sometimes.  I typed it up last Thursday, and apparently forgot it by Saturday, because I had a rip roaring argument with a much wiser man, and he did NOT treat me as I deserved.  I finally glommed onto the fact I was the fool in the encounter- long after I should have- and pulled my stupidity down and apologized.

It took me most of Sunday (observant people may have caught on) to get to a point where I stopped moping and heard God tell me that I had no business to mope- it was over, you owned up, let it go.

As Spider-Man once replied when asked if he ever stopped with the allegedly funny comments, "Clearly this is not in my nature."  But eventually, I accepted it.  The final note being when David Jeremiah mentioned what should have been common sense- "Jesus is praying for you, not only when you're good, but especially when you mess up, He's there praying you THROUGH it."

And He IS reliable.  I went from this incident into some incredible discouragement.  Not over anything big, just a lot of "what's the use" kinda garbage.  Through all this, it was finally starting to dawn on me- I SIN when I REACT.  Satan has been a busy Pavlov in my life, and I respond to all manner of bells.  One of them at work today, I wanted to react so bad, knowing it was the wrong thing.  And I prayed, not only for the strength to get through, the joy to get through smiling, but that if I was going to have an effect on the situation, let Jesus set it up, because anyway I try to do it, I will mess it up.

Day's over.  Situation solved.  No feelings hurt.  And valuable reminders of what God's done, what He has promised to do, and how He's going to get me there.

Martin World News- critiquing the headlines

So today I thought I would stick to the headlines, and see what humor I can mine from them.  Let's start with-


CNN

#1: Social distance, please, I don't want to be hit by that lightning bolt

Headline:  Opinion: God has a lot to answer for during this pandemic

Arnold M Eisen may well be "one of the world's foremost authorities on American Judaism", but methinks his expertise in the Book of Job might be wanting...


#2:  What's wrong with this picture headline

Headline:  A man who wore a watermelon on his head while stealing from a convenience store has been arrested

Now, even if the HL writer didn't bother with the article, they might have wanted to check the picture just above it...

Yeah, that should have been "MEN have been arrested...."


#3: This could have been spaced out better....

Headline: Your car knows secrets about you. Here's how to protect yourself


And I sure hope the answer wasn't, "Call an Uber," because just beneath this link....


Uber has now cut 25% of its staff during coronavirus pandemic





FoxNews: I guess their HL writers don't read the article, either

Headline: Fort Worth cockfighting event raided by police over coronavirus concerns, report says

First thought:  I was under the impression that cockfighting was illegal BEFORE coronavirus...

Further examination:  The article itself never mentions coronavirus... OR a 'report'.


BBC:  Y'know what your problem is?

Your problem, BBC, is that the thoughtful headlines you see in your articles themselves sometimes don't match the front page link headline- and maybe they should.  For example, here is the in-article headline...

How offices will change after coronavirus

Good question.  Makes people think.  HOWever, the headline on the front page link....

How coronavirus will change offices

Makes me ask, "When did coronavirus get an office?"


And finally, Australia's News.AU- What is it with sport and sex?

There are two headlines in this genre I saw- one for the second time- that made me ask this question.

#1: Karl loses it over AFL ‘bonking ban’

In this article, host Karl Stefanovic busted up trying to introduce a panel discussion about how the Australian Rules Football League has banned players from, well, playing around once the season re-starts soon to keep that nasty virus- no, I mean COVID- from sweeping the league.  Poor Karl did as professional job as he could, but...

“AFL players have been told no more bonking,” he said before needing to take a quick pause.

“It’s a very difficult world for me to say with any kind of credibility.”

“I feel a little bit sorry for them. These poor guys have been locked away for the last 17 weeks and then they come back and they play footy and it’s like, ‘Oh my god, what are they supposed to do’. “


Well, they could look into the next story....

#2:  South Korean football club FC Seoul apologise after being accused of putting ‘sex dolls’ in empty seats

The club said that they were assured multiple times by the manufacturers that the 'fans', put into the stands to 'liven-up' a fan-less contest, were NOT in fact sex dolls.  However....

"The club’s statement didn’t directly address criticism of why it chose to work with Dalkom, which does manufacture sex dolls, according to the company’s website, or why nearly all the mannequins at the stadium were female in design.

Korean news website Koreaboo also shared that the dolls were also holding advertising boards advertising adult content live streamers..."


Uh-huh.

Chris Martin is 58...

Friday we had the actual birthday party for me- one day early!  We start with KC and his family coming over...

Mr Wiggles here grabbed a handful of birthday cake all on his own...

Mr Wiggles took this shot!

Later Shenan and Soybean came over for the adult beverage section of the proceedings...

And now, I know you're dying to know what toys I got....

First, that contraption above is Laurie's catapult.  I teased her about aiming at me, and Peanut.  Result?  Two strikes at my empty chair and one direct hit on Peanut, which drew a "Really?" look from little man...

I got one glass from Laurie and the other from Peanut and Wiggles...

A Beer Advocate Rastau Teku glass- toted as the 'best beer glass design', and logoed in platinum...

And "Papa Shark needs a drink, do-do-do..."

The rest got me this neat beer cap map!  As you can see, that aforementioned "adult beverage portion of the proceedings" has it off to a good start!

Meanwhile, here are some pics from the last couple days...

Two different sets of Duck babies...

Ground hog spying us from a distance...

Ukky looking Thursday...

This is where mama duck was hanging out the other day when Dad watched the ducklings...

Like I said, ukky....

...and of course, we HAD to get rained on!

Time Machine co-ordinates VICXLIV62451572

Today we reach May 15th, 1972, the day Arthur Bremer, who apparently was just looking for someone to shoot to make him famous, got off three rounds at presidential candidate and well-known bigot George Wallace.  The fact that I just read his story, went on to other research, and had to go back to remember his name, speaks volumes.  Perhaps if he had remembered to shout his catch phrase after the shooting, as he had planned, it would have been easier.  That catch phrase- something historic like Sic Semper Tyrannus?  No... actually it was, "A penny for your thoughts."

"Now that's just nuts!"

Sure it is, so why don't we ask the Milwaukee psychiatrist who declared him mentally ill after an arrest on November 18th, 1972- but "stable enough" to live in society, so he got let out after paying a $38.50 fine...

*********************************************************

Anyway, here we are at Time Machine, where we have 3 Dog Night as guests, two new M10 debuts, a 6D that I actually put some work into, and the top 2 from Eurovision 72!  Let's get at it!

*****************************************************

Let's lead off with our debut at #10- a song about " peaceful people who worshipped a mountain river believing its water was sacred. Neighbors were afraid to invade their lands because of a legend according to which the ones who spilled the blood on the banks of the river were forever cursed and would not live another year. Once a conqueror passed through those mountains and the lake people were in his way. He shed the blood into white streams of the river and went on to his war. And despite that it seemed like an easy victory to him, he failed in this military campaign because of the curse." (From their website).  In English, it's called, Where The Winds Live, and this is Russia's Alkonost:





***********************************************

Nardole, where are Three Dog Night?

N:Well, it seems that Lawyer Bellbottom refused to sign off on their contract...

Oh.  And why would that be, Lawyer Bellbottom?

HB:I observed them to be not in a fit condition to participate.

And what condition was that?

Elvis:  They were messed up, man.  They got some drug issues...

And it didn't strike you, Nardole, to choose another time to retrieve them from?

N: Well, yes, but by the time I found them in suitable condition, they were in middle school...

Seriously, you couldn't have found them during some recording session, or during an interview?

HB:  Then we would have been obligated to bring in all band members, producers, recording engineers, etc, etc...

I have got to have another look at our 'standard contract'.  So what did you come up with as an alternative for our show?

Elvis:  I suggested the singing dogs...

N:  Mr Newton kindly made an offer...

HB:  I believe our best solution is just to wear these masks and, er, stand in for them...

Elvis:  Are you out of your cotton-growin' mind?

N:  Fine, but I want to be the middle one...

Elvis: Dibs on Blue!!!

All right, you clowns, enough!  I'll do it myself.  And take those costumes off!  Good grief, makes me wonder what I pay this staff for!

So, we had 25 contestants from 75 stations- and it just so happened that 2 of them were the top 2 finishers in the Eurovision '72 contest!  So naturally, we lined them up on a

feature to see if we agreed!  The first one, which I believe got a vote from Radio London, was the New Seekers and Beg Borrow And Steal, which came in 2nd... the other, which came to us from Radio Netherlands, was a young lady who was born Vassiliky Papathanasiou, but performed under the less-bulky Vicky Leandros.  Her song, the rep from Luxembourg, was the French-language Apres Toi (which was 6 on the UK chart this week in English as Come What May).


Laurie:  I give a slight edge to Vicky.  Both are good!
Chris:  Vicki.  Just a better song, period.

So as it turns, we both agreed with the EV judges.


*********************************

Back to the Panel- this ended up being a fairly tight race, and we have four contenders.  A side note is that four Australian stations all had the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards and their version of Amazing Grace at the top, so it gets an honorable mention despite currently being #113 on this week's Cashbox chart.  Wayne Newton is pestering me would like me to mention that his Daddy Don't You Walk So Fast has 2 votes from the #60 spot on the charts.  Anyway, here are the finalists:


The Staple Singers at #8 with I'll Take You There...
Roberta Flack with The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face at #1...
The #11 this week, the Chi-Lites and Oh, Girl...
and Joe Tex with I Gotcha at #3.

Tune in later to see how that goes!  Right now, our debut at #9 was introduced to me by bloggy friend from Canada Debbie D Doglady, as last week she introduced me to fellow Canuck Sass Jordan, who grabs her M10 spot with this hit from 1994:





***********************************************

The Carpenters were set to release off their lp Passages a song called I Just Fall In Love Again.  You might remember Passages as the album where the song they DID release was a cover of the song Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft from Klatuu (who?).  But apparently the record company didn't like the concept of a 4 minute Carpenters song instead of a 3 minute one, so it ended up becoming a #1 country and AC and #11 pop hit for Anne Murray.  Dusty Springfield also had a go at it on her lp Living Without Your Love.  This album also had a song called Save Me Save Me, a Barry Gibb co-write whose claim to fame was being covered twice and becoming failed follow ups to 2 other Barry Gibb-written hits- Rare Earth's Warm Ride and Frankie Valli's Grease. 

The Grease theme was played over an animated beginning which was created by one John David Allen- who several years before created the animated video for our 6D victim.  It was the last hit as a duo for Sonny and Cher- A Cowboy's Work Is Never Done, at #6 on Cashbox this week without a Panel vote.

*******************************************************

As I went down the week's chart to find the big mover, I got real concerned when I had 5 songs tied at 14 spots up- then, at last, I found one that moved up 15 places.

And another.

And another...

Three songs split the big mover title this week:  Mouth and MacNeil's How Do You Do, going from 100 to 85; Elton John's Rocket Man, from 81 to 66; and Frederick Knight's I've Been Lonely For So Long, from 80 to 65.

In the meantime, the UK #1 was Metal Guru by T-Rex.  Australia, as mentioned, was Amazing Grace by the RSDGs, while Canada had Neil Young's Heart Of Gold at the top.

*****************************************

The remaining M10:

Albert Hammond Jr's 3 week #1 Set To Attack slides from 4 to 8.
As I told Laurie several times, "Two out of three songs that were stuck in the same position last week are still stuck this week"- and one of those is Jana Kramer's Untouchable at #7.

Caroline Rose evades the 2 to 8 curse (somewhat), falling only to 6 with Do You Think We'll Last Forever?
The second 'stuck for a third week' is Brooke Annibale's Under Streetlights at #5.
The Pretenders climb 5 to #4 with You Can't Hurt A Fool.
The other one that was stuck, falls from the top spot to #3- Maddie and Tae's I Don't Need To Know.
Up from 6 to 2 are the Stones and Living In A Ghost Town.

And our new #1?

Deradoorian and Monk's Robes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


And the Panel?

Joe Tex 'gotcha'ed 8%...
The Staples gotcha 9.3%...
Roberta Flack managed 14.67%...


But yer winnah, with 20% even....

...the Chi-Lites with Oh, Girl!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Next week, after a thorough review of our contract situation, will be the Chi-Lites and 1973!

Vacation Tuesday and Wednesday

Tuesday was highlighted by our first visit to Gaul Fortress North, as a certain fellow Timelord might have said....

 Misty's excired for her first road trip that didn't involve the vet...

Unfortunately, that excitement led to a slight problem upon arriving.... here's an artist's conception from the lovely Ms Donna...

But all was soon forgiven, and we went on the tour...

Soon later, it was the short trip to the lake itself...

This here Killdeer mommy came rushing at Misty- and then went into "Come get me, I'm wounded" mode as we were apparently close to the nest which we never saw.

In the meantime, new indoor furniture arrived...

"We're not supposed to bow, are we?"

Next came lunch at Turkey Lake Tavern- I had the deep-fried cheeseburger.

Look!  A Three Floyd's truck!

Later, a nice afternoon stroll....

On Wednesday, another trip- Misty's first over the bridge to PFW...


But first, duck babies!

Dad was off to the side, with a buddy close by.  Mom must have been shopping...

Meanwhile, overlooking the swamp...

Before getting to the river, we noticed the creek was flowing BACKWARDS... which meant they had just opened up the Hurshtown gates upriver... thus the river was back to normal levels.

Big goose fight erupts below us...

And Columbus at last touches foot on the New World.

PFW has added a couple of small "outdoor gyms" along the nature trail...

"SQUIRREL!!"

Amazing floating Redwing

And here are "The Bachelors"...

Finally, and mercifully without pictures, I invited KC to come play the disc golf course with me.  A small chest of beer, one crappy little frisbee, and at least one squirrel tagging along to laugh at us.  Trees were constantly jumping in front of my shots.  And Laurie built a catapult!  So watch out, I could come flying through your roof at any moment....