Saturday, May 23, 2020

My house shall prevail



And they shall fight against thee; but they shall not prevail against thee; for I am with thee, saith the Lord ISamuel, to deliver thee.
*** 
And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;
And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.
And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.
Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.

**
And Abram said, Lord God, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus?
And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir.
And, behold, the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir.
***
And they slew Hamor and Shechem his son with the edge of the sword, and took Dinah out of Shechem's house, and went out.
The sons of Jacob came upon the slain, and spoiled the city, because they had defiled their sister.
They took their sheep, and their oxen, and their asses, and that which was in the city, and that which was in the field,
And all their wealth, and all their little ones, and their wives took they captive, and spoiled even all that was in the house.
And Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, Ye have troubled me to make me to stink among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites: and I being few in number, they shall gather themselves together against me, and slay me; and I shall be destroyed,
I and my house.

**
And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, Forasmuch as God hath shewed thee all this, there is none so discreet and wise as thou art:
Thou shalt be over my house, and according unto thy word shall all my people be ruled: only in the throne will I be greater than thou.
And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, See, I have set thee over all the land of Egypt.
And Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand, and put it upon Joseph's hand, and arrayed him in vestures of fine linen, and put a gold chain about his neck;
     And he made him to ride in the second chariot which he had; and they cried before him, Bow the knee: and he made him ruler over all the land of Egypt.
***
Now therefore fear the Lord, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the Lord.
And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.




Tuesday, May 19, 2020

A mighty ONE in the earth


Ur-Nammu
 And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth.
He was a mighty hunter before the Lord: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord. 

Ur-Nammu

dedication tablet for the Temple of Inanna in Uruk.[3] Inscription "For his lady Inanna, Ur-Nammu the mighty man, King of Ur and King of Sumer and Akkad":

π’€­π’ˆΉ Dinanna  Dinanna.... "For Inanna-"
π’Žπ’‚π’€­π’ˆΎ Nin-e-an-na...  Nin-e-an-na.... "Ninanna,"
π’Žπ’€€π’‰Œ NIN-a-ni. NIN-a-ni.... "his Lady"
π’Œ¨π’€­π’‡‰ UR-NAMMU.... "Ur-Nammu"
𒍑𒆗𒂡NITAH KALAG ga.... "the mighty man"
π’ˆ—π’‹€π’€Šπ’† π’ˆ  LUGAL URIM KI ma.... "King of Ur"
π’ˆ—π’† π’‚—π’„€π’† π’Œ΅π’†€  LUGAL ki en gi ki URI ke.... "King of Sumer and Akkad"

Ur-Nammu (or Ur-Namma, Ur-Engur, Ur-Gur, Sumerian: π’Œ¨π’€­π’‡‰, ruled c. 2112 BC – 2095 BC middle chronology, or possibly ca. 2047-2030 BC short chronology) founded the Sumerian Third Dynasty of Ur, in southern Mesopotamia, following several centuries of Akkadian and Gutian rule.
His main achievement was state-building, and Ur-Nammu is chiefly remembered today for his legal code, the Code of Ur-Nammu, the oldest known surviving example in the world.
He held the titles of "King of Ur, and King of Sumer and Akkad".

Contents
  1Reign
  2See also
  3Notes
  4External links
Reign[edit]
According to the Sumerian King List, Ur-Nammu reigned for 18 years.[4] Year-names are known for 17 of these years, but their order is uncertain. One year-name of his reign records the devastation of Gutium , while two years seem to commemorate his legal reforms ("Year in which Ur-Nammu the king put in order the ways (of the people in the country) from below to above", "Year Ur-Nammu made justice in the land").[5]
Among his military exploits were the conquest of Lagash and the defeat of his former masters at Uruk. He was eventually recognized as a significant regional ruler (of Ur, Eridu, and Uruk) at a coronation in Nippur, and is believed to have constructed buildings at Nippur, Larsa, Kish, Adab, and Umma. He was known for restoring the roads and general order after the Gutian period.[6]
Ur-Nammu was also responsible for ordering the construction of a number of ziggurats, including the Great Ziggurat of Ur.[7]
He was killed in a battle against the Gutians after he had been abandoned by his army.[6] He was deified, and succeeded by his son Shulgi.[4] His death in battle was commemorated in a long Sumerian elegiac composition, "The Death of Ur-

  Site drawings of the temple built by Ur-Nammu at Ur to the moon god Nanna.
  Nabonidus dedication to the Ziggurat
  The Code of Ur-Nammu at Britannica
  Foundation Figurine of King Ur-Nammu at the Oriental Institute of Chicago
  The "Ur-Nammu" Stela. Penn Museum. 2006. ISBN 978-1-931707-89-3.
  The face of Ur-Namma. A realistic statue of Ur-Namma shows us how he may have looked.
  A brief description of the reign of Ur-Namma.
  I am Ur-Namma. The life and death of Ur-Namma, as told in Babylonian literature.

The ziggurat (and temple?) of Ur-Nammu
This ziggurat was erected to the moon god Nanna. It was built by Ur-Nammu at Ur around 2113-2096 B.C. It was composed of three stages. It is not clear whether there was a temple at the top. The remains of the ziggurat probably stood over an existing structure going back to the early dynastic period, and restored by the Neo-Babylonian king Nabonidus (556-539 B.C.). It is the most preserved of all ziggurats in Mesopotamia and has been partially reconstructed reaching a hight of 11 m. It stood within a rectangular court 62.5 m x 43 m. at the base. Its outer faces are of baked brick, are inclined to a pronounced batter and have regularly spaced, flat buttresses. These outer faces encase the solid core of mudbricks. Access to the ziggurat was through three converging ramps from where a central stairway continued to the second stage. The shape of the staircase leading to the third stage is unclear.
Aerial view:

*****************
The Code of Hammurabi was one of the only sets of laws in the ancient Near East and also one of the first forms of law.[12] The code of laws was arranged in orderly groups, so that all who read the laws would know what was required of them.[13] Earlier collections of laws include the Code of Ur-Nammu, king of Ur (c.  2050 BC), the Laws of Eshnunna (c. 1930 BC) and the codex of Lipit-Ishtar of Isin (c. 1870 BC), while later ones include the Hittite laws, the Assyrian laws, and Mosaic Law.[14] These codes come from similar cultures in a relatively small geographical area, and they have passages that resemble each other.[15]


Figures at the top of the stele "fingernail", above Hammurabi's code of laws.
The Code of Hammurabi is the longest surviving text from the Old Babylonian period.[16]
The code has been seen as an early example of a fundamental law, regulating a government – i.e., a primitive constitution.[17][18] The code is also one of the earliest examples of the idea of presumption of innocence, and it also suggests that both the accused and accuser have the opportunity to provide evidence.[19]
The occasional nature of many provisions suggests that the code may be better understood as a codification of Hammurabi's supplementary judicial decisions, and that, by memorializing his wisdom and justice, its purpose may have been the self-glorification of Hammurabi rather than a modern legal code or constitution.
However, its copying in subsequent generations indicates that it was used as a model of legal and judicial reasoning.[20]

While the Code of Hammurabi was trying to achieve equality, biases still existed against those categorized in the lower end of the social spectrum and some of the punishments and justice could be gruesome.
The magnitude of criminal penalties often was based on the identity and gender of both the person committing the crime and the victim. The Code issues justice following the three classes of Babylonian society: property owners, freed men, and slaves.[21]

Punishments for someone assaulting someone from a lower class were far lighter than if they had assaulted someone of equal or higher status.[21]
For example, if a doctor killed a rich patient, he would have his hands cut off, but if he killed a slave, only financial restitution was required.[22]
Women could also receive punishments that their male counterparts would not, as men were permitted to have affairs with their servants and slaves, whereas married women would be harshly punished for committing adultery.[21]




Wikipedia




Sunday, May 17, 2020

Now the Host


Eve

is-sue (ishoo)n. 1.
The act or an instance of flowing, passing, or giving out. The act of circulating, distributing, or publishing by an office or official group: government issue of new bonds. 2. Something produced, published, or offered, as: An item or set of items, as stamps or coins, made available at one time by an office or bureau.
****

plain
(plan)adj. plain-er, plain-est. Abbr. pln. 1. Free from obstructions; open; clear: in plain view. 2. Obvious to the mind; evident: make one's intention plain. See Synonyms at apparent. 3. Not elaborate or complicated; simple: plain food. 4. Straightforward; frank or candid: plain talk. 5. Not mixed with other substances; pure: plain water. 6. Common in rank or station; average; ordinary: a plain man. 7. Not pretentious; unaffected. 8. Marked by little or no ornamentation or decoration. 9. Not dyed, twilled, or patterned: a plain fabric. 10. Lacking beauty or distinction: a plain face. 11. Sheer; utter; unqualified: plain stupidity. 12. Archaic. Having no visible elevation or depression; flat; level.n. Abbr. pln. 1.   An extensive, level, usually treeless area of land. A broad, level expanse, as a part of the sea floor or a lunar mare. 2. Something free of ornamentation or extraneous matter.

                                                   Excerpted from American Heritage Talking Dictionary
*******************


Now the Host

And Adam
called his wife's name Eve;
because
she
was the mother of all living.

These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when

they
were created,
in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens,

**
And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them:
and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.

***
and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth,
and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

***


Then said
he,
What have they seen in thine house?
And Hezekiah answered, All that is in mine house have they seen:
there is nothing among my treasures that I have not shewed them.
**
And God called the light Day,
and the darkness he called Night.
And the evening
and the morning were the first day.
***
And God made the firmament,

and divided the waters which were under the firmament - from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.

***
And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,
And to rule over the day - and over the night,
and to divide the light from the darkness:

***
Then said Isaiah to Hezekiah, Hear the word of the Lord of hosts:
Behold, the days come, that all that is in thine house, and that which thy fathers have laid up in store until this day, shall be carried to Babylon: nothing shall be left, saith the Lord.
**
Thou hast delivered me from the strivings of the people; and thou hast made me the head of the heathen:
a people whom I have not known shall serve me.
As soon as they hear of me, they shall obey me: the strangers shall submit themselves unto me.
The strangers shall fade away, and be afraid out of their close places.
The Lord liveth; and blessed be my rock; and let the God of my salvation be exalted.
  It is God that avengeth me, and subdueth the people under me.
He delivereth me from mine enemies:
yea,
thou liftest me up above those that rise up against me:
thou hast delivered me from the violent man.
Therefore will I give thanks unto thee,
O Lord,
among the heathen,
and sing praises unto thy name.
Great deliverance giveth he to his king; and sheweth mercy to his anointed,
to David,
and
to
his seed
IMMANUEL
for evermore.
The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handiwork.
Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge.
There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard.
Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.
In
them hath he set a tabernacle
for the sun,
Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race.
His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it:
and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.
The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the so God rule:
the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.
The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart:
the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.
The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever:
the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold,
yea,
than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.
Moreover by them is thy servant warned:
and in keeping of them there is great reward.

***
And of thy sons that shall
issue
from thee,
which thou shalt beget,
shall they take away;
and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.
Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah, Good is the word of the Lord which thou hast spoken.
He said moreover,
For there shall be peace and truth in my days.
Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.
**
And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened
her mouth
to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand;

***
Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished,
*
she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.
*
she took of the fruit thereof,
and did eat,
and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
*
And the man said,
The woman whom thou gavest to be with me,
she gave me of the tree,
and I did eat.





*
that her inequity is pardoned:
for she
hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins.
The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness,
Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low:
and the crooked shall be made straight,
and the rough places plain:
And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the Lord ISamuelyeaOhath spoken it.