the evening

April 12, 2017

Ezekiel leaves Jerusalem (Ezek 12:7-12:7)

“I did

As I was commanded.

I brought out

My baggage

By day,

As baggage for exile.

In the evening

I dug through the wall

With my own hands.

I brought it out

In the dark,

Carrying it

On my shoulder

In their sight.”

Ezekiel said that he did what Yahweh had asked him to do.   He got his luggage ready during the day, clearing indicating that it was exile baggage. Then when the evening came, he dug a hole in the wall with his own hands. Next, in the sight of everyone, even though it was dark, he put his baggage on his shoulder. He then went through the hole in the wall.

March 3, 2016

Planting seeds (Eccl 11:4-11:6)

“Whoever observes the wind

Will not sow.

Whoever regards the clouds

Will not reap.

Just as you do not know

How the breath comes to the bones

In the mother’s womb,

So you do not know

The work of God

Who makes everything.

In the morning,

Sow your seed.

At evening,

Do not let your hand be idle.

You do not know

Which will prosper,

This or that,

Whether both alike will be good.”

If you wait for the perfect wind or the perfect clouds, you will never sow or reap. You have no idea how breath comes to bones in a mother’s womb. So too you have no idea how crops grow. Qoheleth reminds us that God made everything. In the morning, you sow your seeds, but you should not be idle in the evening. You are not sure which seeds will prosper, this one, that one, or both, only God knows.

January 5, 2016

The simple one (Prov 7:6-7:9)

“At the window of my house

I have looked out through my lattice.

I saw among the simple ones.

I observed among the youths.

There was a young man without sense.

He passed along the street near her corner.

He took the road to her house,

In the twilight,

In the evening,

At the time of night and darkness.”

Now we find out about the simple person who does not have wisdom. This wonderful father looked out his window. He then saw a simple young man without sense. What was he going to do? This simple one, in the twilight of the evening when night and darkness was coming, passed along the street near the corner that led to her house. Stay tuned for further adventures.