base

November 14, 2018

Gethsemane (Mk 14:32-14:32)

“They went to a place

Named Gethsemane.

Jesus said

To his disciples.

‘Sit here!

While I pray.’”

 

Καὶ ἔρχονται εἰς χωρίον οὗ τὸ ὄνομα Γεθσημανεί, καὶ λέγει τοῖς μαθηταῖς αὐτοῦ Καθίσατε ὧδε ἕως προσεύξωμαι.

 

This is almost word for word in Matthew, chapter 26:36.  In Luke, chapter 22:40, there is no mention of Gethsemane only the Mount of Olives, while in John, chapter 18:1, it is a garden in the Kidron Valley.  Mark said that they went out (Καὶ ἔρχονται) to a place with the name of Gethsemane (εἰς χωρίον οὗ τὸ ὄνομα Γεθσημανεί).  This Aramaic name Gethsemane means an oil press.  Thus, this might have been the place where olive oil came from as this urban garden was at the foothills of the Mount of Olives, where they had just been.  Jesus then told his disciples (καὶ λέγει τοῖς μαθηταῖς αὐτοῦ) to sit there (Καθίσατε), while he went to pray (ὧδε ἕως προσεύξωμαι).  Thus, they have gone from the room where the Last Supper Passover meal took place to the Mount of Olives, and now to the garden in Gethsemane at the base of this hill filled with olives.

December 30, 2017

The two women and the wicked basket (Zech 5:9-5:11)

“Then I looked up.

I saw two women

Coming forward.

The wind

Was in their wings.

They had wings

Like the wings

Of a stork.

They lifted up the basket

Between the earth

And the heavens.

Then I said to the angel

Who talked with me.

‘Where are they taking

The basket?’

He said to me.

‘To the land of Shinar,

To build a house for it.

When this is prepared,

They will set the basket

Down there on its base.’”

Next two-winged women came forward, with wings like a stork.  They took the basket into the sky with the wicked woman in it.  Zechariah wanted to know where they were taking the basket.  The angel who had been talking with Zechariah said that they were taking the basket to the land of Shinar, another name for Babylon.  There they were going to build a house or a temple and put this basket of wickedness in the middle of the temple on a base set up there.  In other words, this wicked basket was going to become a Babylonian idol.

July 5, 2017

The wooden altar (Ezek 41:21-41:22)

“The doorposts

Of the nave

Were square.

In front of the holy place

Was something resembling

An altar of wood.

It was

Three cubits high,

Two cubits long,

Two cubits wide.

Its corners,

Its base,

Its walls were

Of wood.

He said to me.

‘This is the table

That stands

Before Yahweh.’”

Next Ezekiel explained the wooden altar. There were square doorposts in the nave in front of the holy place. Ezekiel seemed vague as he said that he saw something resembling an altar of wood that was 3 cubits high or 5 feet high. However, the top was a small square, 2 cubits long and wide, about 3 feet square. All its corners, base, and walls were made of wood. Then the bronze man explicitly told Ezekiel that this was the table that stood before Yahweh.

July 4, 2017

The raised platform foundations (Ezek 41:8-41:11)

“I saw also

That the temple had

A raised platform

All around.

The foundations

Of the side chambers

Measured a full reed

Of six long cubits.

The thickness

Of the outer wall

Of the side chambers was

Five cubits.

The free space

Between the side chambers

Of the temple

With the chambers

Of the court

Was a width

Of twenty cubits

All around the temple

On every side.

The side chambers opened

Into the area left free.

One door was

Toward the north.

Another door was

Toward the south.

The width

Of the part

That was left free

Was five cubits all around.”

Then Ezekiel explained that he saw a raised platform all around the base or the foundations of these side rooms or chambers. Once again, he went into detail about the size of these items. This platform foundation measured 6 cubits or about 10 feet. The outer walls of these chambers were fairly thick, 5 cubits or about 8 feet wide. There was a free space between these Temple small rooms and the chambers in the court of 20 cubits, or about 35 feet, all around the Temple. There also was an open space in front of the small chamber doors on the north side and the south side of 5 cubits or 8 feet wide.

March 23, 2016

The annoying righteous one (Wis 2:12-2:16)

“‘Let us lie in wait

For the righteous man.

Because he is inconvenient to us.

He opposes our actions.

He reproaches us

For sins against the law.

He accuses us of sins

Against our training.

He professes to have knowledge of God.

He calls himself a child of the Lord.

He became to us a reproof of our thoughts.

The very sight of him is a burden to us.

Because his manner of life is

Unlike that of others.

His ways are strange.

We are considered by him

As something base.

He avoids our ways as unclean.

He calls the last end of the righteous happy.

He boasts that God is his father.’”

They are going to attack the righteous one (δίκαιον), because he opposes their actions. He has been reproaching them for their sins against the law (ἁμαρτήματα νόμου) and their training (παιδείας). He claims to have knowledge about God (γνῶσιν ἔχειν Θεοῦ). He says that he is a child of the Lord (παῖδα Κυρίου). He has rebuked their thoughts. His very presence is a burden to them. He is not like the others since his ways are strange. He thinks that they are base and unclean. He claims that God is his father (πατέρα Θεόν).