The tenth son Levi

According to Jewish legend, the reason that the Levites became the priestly class of the Hebrew was that God asked Jacob why he had not tithed. Jacob replied that he had. This is at the time that he wrestled with the angel for his blessing. God said, you have not tithed to me your sons. So, Jacob counted his sons and the tenth one was Levi, which he then tithed to God.

Levi and his descendents would be the exceptions. That would not raise any produce, but receive the tithings of the other eleven on behalf of God. Benjamin at this time was still in his mother's womb. Levi and his descendents would devote their whole existence to the priestly matters of the chosen people of Jacob, now called Israel.

Taxes

I've got a kid in boyscouts. Two actually. I'm selling popcorn at work and such for them. One guy felt so strongly for their independence mindedness and that it even adds to the boyscout traditions, that when I didn't look him up to sell to him, he came to me and all but scolded me because he admired them and wanted to contribute.

But.

I just asked a friend of mine that I already knew wouldn't buy. But again. This guy and I get in all kinds of political debates anyway. When I asked if he wanted anything to buy, he not only said no, but added, it is just so typical to go around on fundraisers. We should just pay more taxes and support them.

He has told me that he considers rich people evil or why else would they be rich. Nothing about innovation, skill, hard work, only they are evil and that's why they get rich. Working hard for money is nothing but evil. Not can be, is. They sell their soul for money. They're greedy. Most people aren't greedy and that's why they aren't rich. A one on one equation. Jesus hated the rich, the Bible says so.

I went to an academic conference a couple of years ago and there was this girl from Canada one night at supper enlightening us similarly in how superior Canada was. They tax. If you want to give to charity, you don't have to, you get taxed. This guy ought to move to Canada. It's ideal there.

Boy scouts, in particular, are indepently minded, that's for sure, but the beauty of course is that they want to take care of themselves. Not only for the hard work aspect, but also because look what happens too. You get shut out if you aren't politically correct. Not just not breaking any laws, not thinking correctly, so disinherited. So, yes, the boyscouts would like to go their own way because of that way too.

But mostly it is just deciding to not ask for handouts, or inefficient distribution methods. You may want to give support to them, in particular, like my friend that bought, or you like the product even at inflated prices. But they don't ask anyone to work for them, they seek their own agenda and the means for it. That's not evil.

Tax money not only goes for levies in New Orleans, that gets sidetracked, but also wars in Iraq that Joan Baez and Cindy Sheehan deplore. So, raising your own funds lets you raise it, not tax it and redistribute it, but also lets people buy a product or one on one support it at their discretion.

More on Father Abraham

From the same book I'm reading which is on Jewish thought, not Christian. And actually, a note on the subject. Since Jesus was such a revolutionary some in modern times wonder where He came from in a philosophical sense. I've heard things like He may have wandered to India in His youth and picked up some things there, perhaps from Buddhists, etc.

He was from Nazareth, which is not far from Sepharis, which was one of the leading intellectual centers of that age anywhere in the world. It had Roman influence, Greek, and was directly on the trade routes of Asia, Africa, Asia Minor, and Europe. Thus, He wouldn't have had to have traveled far to be so exposed to different ideas.

But many point to how Jewish He was. Some say He was easily a product of Jewish tradition and also the thought of His day. He fit the times, but expanded and composed on it. Hillel had been a powerful Jewish figure just prior to Jesus, for instance.

When we think of Jesus and the Jews of the times, the impression we get is usually from the Bible and we think of the Pharisees portrayed, even the Sadducees. It makes the Christian world rather judgemental against the Jews quite easily, in spite of Jesus' Jewishness. We think only of the narrow minds that had Him crucified.

I read with interest this piece of Jewish thought on the Patriarch Abraham.

An account read of the historic beduoin type hospitality that has gone on for milleniums. Though Canaan land is near the sea, and parts quite fertile, there is so much vastness of the desert all around, almost to the sea itself, and even to parts of the sea. If someone was caught out in that they would easily die. A devout tradition of hospitality evolved. You offered a traveler the shirt off your back.

Father Abraham came upon one such traveler and implored him to stay with him for the night and let him tend to the travelers needs. The traveler thanked him for his kindness.

Then Abraham talked to him about the living God, the omnipotent of the universe, and the traveler told him that he was an idol worshipper. Enraged, Abraham kicked the man out of his tent.

God then spoke to his servant Abraham and asked about the traveler. Abraham related to Him what happened. God then rebuked Abraham and tole him that he had been patient with this idol worshipper for decades, that he was a very good man with a good heart and conscience and God was speaking to him and even sent him to Abraham to show the man of His ways. He commanded Abraham to go find the man and to beg his forgiveness, which Abraham did.

We forget that Jesus was a Jew. We forget what it meant to be a Jew. What it does today.

The largest support group for civil rights next to the Blacks themselves fighting for their political and social rights in the 1960s were the Jews, but to this day, they seem to be outcast to so many Black leaders of that movement. People forget who they are. History has not been kind.

Thank God

There’s a road that’s straight and narrow
That the saints have traveled on
Paved with all the tribulations
Of the martyrs that have gone
If you’re grateful for their victory
And for showing us the way
Then give thanks for all your blessings
Get on your needs and pray.

Thank God
For each flower and each tree
Thank God
For all the mountains and the sea
Thank God
For giving life to you and me
Wherever you may be
Thank God.

In this world of grief and sorrow
Filled with selfishness and greed
There remains a glory fountain
To supply our every need
You can find it in the Temple
With a welcome on the door
But be sure to count your blessings
Before you ask for more.

Be forgiving to the wayward
Like the Master told us to
When He said forgive them Father
For they know not what they do
They would change their way of living
If they could but understand
So remember they’re your brotherThey need a helping hand.


by Fred Rose, manager of Hank Williams

Father Abraham's Wisdom

I am reading on Monotheistic legends, mostly Jewish. Religious, scholarly Jews through the milleniums are a tradition. On top of the Torah, they have scholarly teachings such as the Mishnah and the Talmud where they study and discuss the origins of their faith and the Bible.

The origins of Abraham from Ur in Chaldea have it that he was the son of an idol maker. The Chaldeans are the ones that made the Tower of Babel, hoping to build a structure so tall as to save themselves from any future flood as occured in the time of Noah, but further they took their gods of stone with them. They shot arrows into the air hoping to kill the heavenly spirits that dwelled there and to take over heaven. Of course, the tower was destroyed and the people scattered and unable to understand the languages of the next.

So, Abraham, who first discovered God and made a convenant with Him, thought it foolish to worship these stone and metal gods that he watched his father make. Once someone stole an idol and Abraham had contempt for anything that could not protect itself. Once someone brought a meal of goat stew to feed and please the gods and Abraham took advantage of that and destroyed them all but the biggest. When his irate father asked how that happened Abraham replied that they quarreled over the food. His father found that impossible to believe since he had only just made the idols himself. Abraham then smashed the one remaining idol and accused his father of blasphemy.

So, how did Abraham find the one true God? By seeking Him. God could not be the fire if water can drown it out. It can not be water if the dust can devour it. It can not be the dust if the wind can blow it. It cannot be the wind nor the heavenly bodies because they come and go whereas God is eternal. It must be an omnipotent, invisible being and he sought Him out.

The Chaldeans were big on astrology. Father Abraham did not disavow such, but considered it likewise foolish. Why look to the sun and stars, he asked, but seek the God who created them.