As always, Michelle is concise and biblically sharp. She adds information about Hollis’s Rise Conference and Hollis’s friendship with Jen Hatmaker that is good to know about..
Month: September 2018
Staying afloat from all the negativity
I publish a scripture picture every day on my personal Facebook, my The End Time Facebook page, Instagram, and Twitter. Also Pinterest if I think of it. I usually tie the daily pictures to a theme for the week. Recently, I’ve been writing a Sunday Biblical Literacy essay (“Word of the Week”) explaining one of the foundational words of the faith. I’ve written essays on Justification, Transcendence, Immanence, Propitiation, Sanctification, Glorification, Orthodoxy, Heresy, Omniscience, Perspicuity, and Aseity. All the Scripture Pictures for that week with verses match each Word of the Week.
You likely don’t know the themes and thought that I put into each picture of the week. You might not even notice that I have a theme for the scripture pictures. You don’t have to, it’s not expected.
On another topic, I’ve been reading a lot about social justice recently. I read the race baiting and anger and accusations from Social Justice Warriors (SJW). I anticipated then read MacArthur’s sermons and blogs on the topic. I read the massive Statement that came out. I read tweeted garbage against the originators of the statement, particularly against Justin Peters this week. Disheartening for sure. I thought through whether I’m going to sign or not, and answered several emails and messages asking me just that.
I am proud of the men who met and prayed and researched and edited and ultimately stood for Jesus and His Gospel by issuing the Social Justice Statement. It was needed, and they did it. Good job.
However, with all the negativity surrounding it, and all the back and forth about theological nuances and philosophies of man and heated debates, it’s gotten really negative. By necessity, contending does that. Satan never sleeps. I felt I needed simply Jesus. I decided that my scripture picture the theme for this week will be “Jesus.”
Let’s get back to Him. Who He is, His work, His character. Whenever I feel the ‘garbage’ mounting up against me, swirling, and ready to turn my attention and heart away from the simple things, I go back to Jesus.
So the theme for my Scripture Pictures this week will be Jesus. The verses will flow from who He is to my favorite aspects about Him-
Only begotten Son of God, John 3:16
A Man of Sorrows, Isaiah 53:3
The Lamb of God, John 1:29
Jesus Christ the Righteous, 1 John 2:1
The Shepherd of the Sheep, Hebrews 13:20
The Lily of the Valley, Songs 2:1
So that is my little insight. It’s important to stay current with the theological news and debates, of course. I might be a simple person, but I think it’s also more important when things start to get heated and complicated to always go back and focus on just Jesus. He is the ultimate recalibration.
Remembering our earliest grace
By Elizabeth Prata
New Christians are so full of zeal and fervor! They run hither and yon, proclaiming and exclaiming the glories and perfections of Christ. Those early days of their grace-filled life are sweet to witness. Do you remember your early days?
As sanctification grows, so does the fruit of the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23).
As a bundle of one fruit, the fruit in growing saints sweeps in as a rushing tide, later to settle as a gentle march of steady growth.
But as time passes for the mature saint, does the early zeal grow slight? Does it wane? Does the steady growth sadly slow to a state of frozen molasses, inching along only imperceptibly? Let it not be so! Let not the grace filled days of zeal sputter into a distant memory.
Spurgeon said of Christian zeal aimed rightly-
We do little or nothing, the most of us; we fritter away our time. O that we could live while we live; but our existence—that is all we can call it—our existence, what a poor thing it is! … O that we may become inexhaustible and permanent rivers of usefulness, through the abundant springs from whence our supply cometh, even the Spirit of the living God. … We cannot advance so far as the Saviour’s bloody sweat, but to something like it the Christian ought to attain when he sees the tremendous clouds of sin and the tempest of God’s gathering wrath. …
How can I see souls damned, without emotion? How can I hear Christ’s name blasphemed, without a shudder? How can I think of the multitudes who prefer ruin to salvation, without a pang?
I have to close by commending zeal. Let my words be few, but let them be weighty here. In commending zeal, let me say, I think it should commend itself to every Christian man without a word of mine, but if you must have it, remember that God Himself is zealous.
Charles H. Spurgeon, “Zealots” sermon No. 639
If we constantly hark back to our beginning days, we can fan the flame of zeal when we remember our former state. We remember His work to deliver grace. We remember our joy in the relief of the terrible burden of sin and judgment. John Bunyan wrote:
It is profitable for Christians to be often calling to mind the very beginnings of grace with their souls. … It was Paul’s accustomed manner (Acts 22), and that when tried for his life (Acts 24), even to open, before his judges, the manner of his conversion: he would think of that day, and that hour, in the which he first did meet with grace; for he found it support unto him. When God had brought the children of Israel through the Red Sea, far into the wilderness, yet they must turn quite about thither again, to remember the drowning of their enemies there (Num 14:25). For though they sang his praise before, yet “they soon forgat his works” (Psa 106:11-13).
My dear children, call to mind the former days, “and the years of ancient times: remember also your songs in the night; and commune with your own heart” (Psa 73:5-12). Yea, look diligently, and leave no corner therein unsearched, for there is treasure hid, even the treasure of your first and second experience of the grace of God toward you. Remember, I say, the word that first laid hold upon you; remember your terrors of conscience, and fear of death and hell; remember also your tears and prayers to God; yea, how you sighed under every hedge for mercy.
John Bunyan, Grace Abounding
Saint, remember the early days. Remember all that Jesus has done. Extol His virtues and perfections, His willingness to endure the cross with all its loneliness and wrath. His death and burial, and glorious resurrection. Remember all that, so the grace that He delivered to us in forgiveness of our sins will revive the quieting heart, renew the callousing heart, resound the forgetting heart. Jesus was zealous for His Father’s house. We can gather and be zealous for His house also. Zealous in love and submission and awe and worship.
Have a wonderful Lord’s Day!
The only glory they’ll ever see…
…is when they are standing at the Great White Throne. It will be the ultimate flashbulb moment.
Psychologists have a thing called ‘Flashbulb memory”. It’s that moment when a piece of extremely emotional or traumatic news was heard. Cognition Magazine explains,
“Almost everyone can remember, with an almost perceptual clarity, where he was when he heard, what he was doing at the time, who told him, what was the immediate aftermath, how he felt about it, and also one or more totally idiosyncratic and often trivial concomitants.”
The prototypical event in past cognition studies was the moment President Kennedy was shot. More recent studies use the moment the news broke about the attacks on the Twin Towers in New York on September 11, 2001.
When I was a teenager, my father gave me a 1940s Argus camera, similar to the one above. It had the kind of flash you mounted on top of the camera. It was extremely bright, and you had to pop the bulb out after, which was extremely hot. The photo subject always involuntarily blinked in the microsecond after the flash went off, due to the brightness. You know when they closed their eyes, the reverse negative of the image is emblazoned on the inside of their eyelids. That’s a real flashbulb moment.
When the unsaved are exhumed and gathered to the Great White Throne, they will see Jesus in His glory. They will account for their lives, and try to explain their sin. However, they will be found without excuse. When the judgment is done, they will be sent to outer darkness.
They will see the Ancient of Days, hair white as wool, glorious in light and power. They will see. Their eyes having been blind on earth to Him, will now see Him AND His glory. It will be bright.
Then they will be cast into outer darkness, fire, and torment forever. The darkness will be complete, palpable, utter. It will contain no hope, no glimmer, no crack at all. Even when waving one’s hand in front of one’s face, the sinner will find no relief from the ink. The only light they will ever see will be the glory light of God emblazoned on the inside of their eyelids forever. The actual glory will be unreachable, its chasm unbridgeable. It is the ultimate flashbulb moment.
Sister, we have been forgiven of our sins, the sins that would have sent us to that throne to plead our case, only to be finally rejected and sent to the Hopeless Dark. Our flashbulb moment will last for eternity. We will see Him and not be consumed by wrath. We will enjoy the brightness of His glory through glorified eyes. Let’s take a moment to be grateful for His grace today, and to remember the destiny of others. Be a witness to His name.
Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. 15 And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. (Revelation 20:11-15).
Throw out the worthless slave into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matthew 25:30).
By Elizabeth Prata
Cappadocia fairy chimneys
By Elizabeth Prata
Well, this is quite an interesting landform I’ve just learned about. It’s in Cappadocia.
Cappadocia is mentioned in the Bible in several places. When Peter was preaching the first sermon in Acts 2, people from around the region who had gathered for the Jewish Passover, heard Peter preaching in their own language. Cappadocians were among the people groups listed.
Parthians and Medes and Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, (Acts 2:9)
Peter opened his letter with greeting fellow Christians in various areas to which they had been scattered in the persecutions. Cappadocia was one area he intended brethren to read his letter.
Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who reside as aliens, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who are chosen…(1 Peter 1:1)
Cappadocia was a large Roman province in the central eastern part of Asia Minor, in what is now eastern Turkey.
What makes this area unique are the unusual land formations. The site is in fact now a World Heritage site. The nearby but extinct volcano Mount Erciyes emitted ash during its eruptions, of course. The layers of ash built up over subsequent eruptions. Strong wind and water eroded the ash into pillar-like formations out of the tuff. These chimney-like pillars were used as hiding places for persecuted Christians. The tuff is strong but can be carved. Archaeologists have found old dwellings and even churches inside the pillars.
Some have called the area a fairy landscape, and it is definitely bizarre and eerie, but beautiful in its sculptural aspect.
National Geographic explains: (please excuse their mention of ‘mother nature’, they know not what they do…)
Erosion shaped the incredible landscape of Turkey’s Göreme valley, but thousands of years ago humans took a cue from Mother Nature and began carving an incredible chamber and tunnel complex into the soft rock. Beginning in the fourth century A.D., an urbanized—but underground—cultural landscape was created here.
It wasn’t just Christians who needed to flee and hide from persecution. The area has been used for several thousand years as a hiding place as political regimes changed and empires came and went. You might remember the tribe Hittites from the Old Testament, ancient enemies of God. NatGeo again: (NatGeo calls the area Göreme).
Göreme was inhabited as early as the Hittite era, circa 1800 to 1200 B.C. and later sat uncomfortably on the boundary between rival empires; first the Greeks and Persians and later the Byzantine Greeks and a host of rivals. This precarious political position meant that residents needed hiding places—and found them by tunneling into the rock itself.
Called ‘fairy chimneys’, the landscape does indeed look magical. Though the landform and their uses is incredible enough, it seems that the enterprising ancients built massive underground cities and tunnels to connect them. Smithsonian has the story:
In ancient Cappadocia, now part of modern day Turkey, the people who lived there dug incredible, honeycomb-esque cities into the soft rock—underground complexes that could go stories deep. Today, remnants of these underground hives are scattered through the region, and the most recently discovered of these ruins are also some of the most impressive. In 2012, a crew of demolition workers inadvertently uncovered a network of tunnels near Neveshir, Turkey, and now that archeologists have given this find a deeper look, they think it could turn out to be the most extensive underground city ever known.
Wow.
Whenever someone replies to me about the Bible being God’s truth, saying, ‘Aw it’s just a bunch of hooey written by know-nothing ancient desert shepherds,’ I laugh to myself and think of the Pyramids, the Sphinx, Machu Picchu, and now the fairy chimneys and underground cities of Cappadocia. And what a blessing the fleeing Christians had places to flee to and live in during the persecutions. God’s foreordination saw to it that they had a place to run to.
Thanks for coming on a virtual trip with me to eastern Turkey. All those cities and locations mentioned in the Bible are so interesting. Now, where will I “visit” next”?… 😛
The site became a religious refuge during the early days of Christianity. Monks excavated extensive dwellings and monasteries and created Byzantine fresco paintings in cave chapels beginning in the seventh century. The paintings endure in well-preserved isolation to this day. Source NatGeo
PHOTOGRAPH BY DAVID SUTHERLAND, ALAMY STOCK PHOTO
I Surrender All (Or Do I?)
By Elizabeth Prata
I do hope your faith is growing and your trust in Jesus is too. He is so magnificent. Daily I’m awed by His sweetness, perfection, and power. I wrote on this blog a while ago about how the Spirit sometimes leads me through listening to hymns, and one example blessed me. I like the traditional hymns because they either directly quote scripture, or closely paraphrase Bible verses. This morning I awoke humming “I Surrender All.”
So that got me thinking on the word surrender. I was wondering, what IS surrender, exactly. How does one surrender? What does one surrender? I know we “surrender” because it’s a war between the flesh and the Holy Spirit who draws us. Even after conversion with the Spirit in us, we still struggle against the flesh. Our carnal nature still seeks to gain territory within us, making us less effective for Christ.
Self-surrender is defined in Galatians 2:20: Paul saying, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”
Curious, I looked up the word surrender in the biblical encyclopedia. It’s defined as “the struggle between the natural human impulses of self-seeking, self-defence and the like, on the one hand, and the struggle toward self-denial, self-surrender, on the other. The Scriptures represent self-surrender as among the noblest of human virtues.” The following is an excerpt on surrender. Go to this link to read the short paragraph.
Some examples given in the Old Testament are Adam and Eve, In the Old Testament self-surrender is taught in the early account of the first pair. Each was to be given to the other (Genesis 2:24; Genesis 3:16) and both were to be surrendered to God in perfect obedience (Genesis 3:1-15).”
Also the faithful ones like Abraham are characterized by self-surrender. Abraham abandons friends and native country to go to a land unknown to him, because God called him to do so (Genesis 12:1). He would give up all his cherished hopes in his only son Isaac, at the voice of God (Genesis 22:1-18). Moses, at the call of Yahweh, surrenders self, and undertakes the deliverance of his fellow-Hebrews (Exodus 3:1-4:13). The prophets are good examples of self-surrender.
The International Bible Encyclopedia defines self-surrender as,
In the New Testament self-surrender is still more clearly set forth. Christ above all men was the prime example of self-surrender to the Father’s will. Christ’s teachings and example as presented in the Gospels, give to it special emphasis. It is a prime requisite for becoming His disciple (Matthew 10:38; Matthew 16:24 Luke 9:23, 24, 59; Luke 14:27, 33). When certain of the disciples were called they left all and followed (Matthew 4:20; Matthew 9:9, Mark 2:14, Luke 5:27 f). His followers must so completely surrender self, as that father, mother, kindred, and one’s own life must be, as it were, hated for His sake (Luke 14:26).
Do we surrender? As saved sheep of the Shepherd, we have been called to surrender our ego, our desires, our souls to Him, and we continue striving to do so. But how much territory does Satan gain back? He cannot take all of it because we are sealed for Christ and we’re His for certain. But satan can tempt us. I read recently that all one needs to do to conform to a secular world view, is nothing. We must work against the current and continue to swim upstream, every day. Part of that struggle involves surrendering ourselves to the cross every day. (Luke 9:23).
Meanwhile, I sing “I Surrender All” and consider it a privilege to ask the Spirit to guide me into ever deeper submission to His will. It is a good Will, working for the good of all those who love Him.
Biblical theology: Eating the elephant one bite at a time
What is Biblical theology?
Biblical Theology
Excerpt
Biblical theology is theology drawn from the Bible rather than theology imposed onto the Bible. Biblical theology helps Christians understand the broad biblical message, discern developments in the canon, and see how each particular text fits in with the larger story of Scripture. In studying biblical theology, interpreters try to determine what the authors of the Bible thought or believed in their own historical contexts and on their own distinctive terms.
Köstenberger, A. J. (2012, 2016). Biblical Theology. In Faithlife Study Bible. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
Having a biblical opinion about Jesus means you have a theology. Everyone has a theology, it just depends on how informed or uninformed it is, or how shallow or deep it is.
Pastor Nate Pickowicz’s wife Jessica Pickowicz wrote a wonderful study guide to go along with the recently published Biblical Theology: A Systematic Summary of Bible Truth by John MacArthur and Richard Mayhue. She also set up a Facebook group of women last year who are interested in going through the study together. Her lessons have been just right: biblical, thought provoking, studious, and readable & doable.
This past June, Jess paused the weekly study for the summer so she could attend to Bible studies in her home church. She promised to resume in September. That time is here. The next study guide lesson begins on Thursdays, so the time for the next chapter of Biblical Doctrine is tomorrow. We resume with the chapter on Pneumatology, or study of the Holy Spirit.
Please feel free to join us ladies studying through this wonderful book Biblical Doctrine. I agree with this opinion from Mr Forbis. I’ve been through several systematic theology books or programs and this book is the best.
Biblical Doctrine is a hefty tome, but through Jess’s guided study, we do ten pages a week. Taking one bite of the elephant per week, with other like-minded ladies, is a great way to study through the doctrines of God, be edified, and learn more about our wonderful savior. Please join us!
Goodbye for now, Nahum
By Elizabeth Prata
King Sennacherib and his crown prince Arda-Mullissi after the battle of Lachish in 701 BC. From the palace at Nineveh. Source Looklex Encyclopedia
Who is Nahum?
He was an Old Testament prophet about whom we know little. Nahum the Elkoshite is a short form of the name Nehemiah. His name means ‘consolation’ and he might have been from Capernaum, which means ‘town of Nahum’ or he might have been from Al-Qosh in modern-day Iraq. No one knows for sure. What we do know for sure is that his book of prophecy, technically, an oracle’ is a prophecy against Nineveh of the Assyrian empire, for persecuting God’s people of Judah.
Of his prophecy, we know a lot. His three chapter oracle against that mighty capital city is muscular, vivid, and tough to read. God’s character is on sharp display here, and part of His character is His wrath. Gregory Cook named his commentary “Severe Compassion” because of God’s severity in dealing with His enemies and His compassion in dealing with His people. Nahum shows this in all its starkness.
Jonah preached God’s coming judgment to the Ninevites and they repented, from the King to the lowest slave. God stayed His hand of judgment. Unfortunately, about 100 years after Jonah’s preaching, the Ninevites had returned to the God-dishonoring ways and the judgment Jonah had promised was coming. Nahum preached that, to the Ninevites through preaching to Judah, whom Assyria was harassing and persecuting. Nahum’s oracle promised Judah and end once for all of the wars and torment by the Assyrians.
When John MacArthur preached a sermon called “Who Is God?” he began with Nahum.
Roy Gingrich was a pastor and Bible teacher who is known for having created outlines for the books of the Bible, including the Major and Minor prophetical books. I find them extremely helpful. Here, Gingrich introduces Nahum’s book and I comment after each line-
A. IT IS POETICAL IN ITS FORM—It is the most poetic of all the prophetic writings.
I found it a wonder to read because of its language and poetry.
B. IT IS VIVID AND FORCEFUL IN ITS STYLE—We can see the actions described by Nahum.
It takes your breath away in parts, it is so vivid. You can almost hear the clatter and strorm of invading chariots and the screams and cries of the Assyrians.
C. IT IS ANIMATED AND LIFE-LIKE IN ITS PRESENTATION—There is nothing artificial or unrealistic in the book’s descriptions.
Yes. Despite the war materiel being antiquated it is very present-day.
D. IT IS RAPID IN ITS MOVEMENT—It moves from scene to scene with lightning-like rapidity.
I use the term muscular. Like the book of Mark, with its use of the word ‘immediately’ and its short active sentences, Nahum ‘s poetry is less Elizabeth Barrett Browning and more modern-day war poet Sigfried Sassoon.
E. IT IS MAJESTIC IN ITS MORAL DESCRIPTIONS OF GOD—No other Bible book excels Nahum in this respect.
Soaring in its powerful descriptions of the power of God, I agree, no other book has an equal in showing God’s moral character
F. IT IS UNITARY IN ITS THEME—It has one theme, the soon-coming destruction of Nineveh.
Woe to God’s enemies! This book made me grateful I am not His enemy but by His grace, I am His friend!!
X. THE VALUE OF THE BOOK
The book has great value because of its teachings concerning God’s righteousness. It teaches that God ultimately destroys the wicked and delivers the righteous. It teaches that God is severe to His enemies and good to His friends. (Gingrich)
You can buy Gingrich’s outlines on Amazon here Kindle editions, or through his web page here. They are also available through Logos software.
If you would like to read reviews of Cook’s commentary Severe Compassion, some are here on Goodreads.
I pray you read Nahum, even better, Jonah then Nahum, and move on to other Minor Prophets. These books are so named not because they are less-than but because of their brevity compared to the Major Prophets such as Isaiah or Ezekiel. God’s moral character, His severe compassion, and His power. Nineveh was destroyed and obliterated so thoroughly that the city itself as never even found until 1845, 2000 years after the prophecy came true.
Yet, look at this. God is great in love and compassion. Only three nations are mentioned in the future literal 1000 year kingdom to come, Israel, Egypt, and…Assyria:
In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrians will come into Egypt and the Egyptians into Assyria, and the Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians. In that day Israel will be the third party with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth, whom the Lord of hosts has blessed, saying, “Blessed is Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel My inheritance.” (Isaiah 19:23-25)
A Day in the Life of: A Tanner
By Elizabeth Prata
Previous essays in the series:
A Day in the Life of: A Roman Centurion
A Day in the Life of: A Professional Mourner
A Day in the Life of: A Fisherman
A Day in the Life of: A Potter
A Day in the Life of: A Scribe
A Day in the Life of: A Shepherd
A Day in the Life of: A Tanner
A Day in the Life of: A Seller of Purple
A Day in the Life of: Introduction
What was a day in the life like for a person who lived in New Testament Bible times? It depended on what trade the person made their living. Last time I looked at the woman of Thyatira, Lydia, a seller of purple. Today I’m interested in what a day in the life of a tanner would be like.
A tanner was a worker of hides. Tanner definition:
Tanning is the process of treating skins and hides of animals to produce leather. A tannery is the place where the skins are processed. (Source)
Tanners were low status people in the Jewish community. They dealt with unclean hides and death. They had to touch dead animals. Plus, they were Gentiles, two strikes. And they smelled bad. Three strikes.
Normally their workshop would be just one or two rooms and a courtyard far from a residential area. You might remember this was a requirement for Lydia’s trade, the dyer who used snail shells (or a plant) to extract and ferment purple, another malodorous process.
Simon was a Tanner in Joppa. He housed Peter for many days according to Acts 10:32, Acts 9:43, Acts 10:17, Acts 10:6. Luke is very precise and mentions Simon’s trade three times in short order. So it is significant that the Lord stationed Peter with a Gentile tanner, showing that Christianity is a religion where all are welcome.
There are only two other biblical references to leather itself; where leather girdles are mentioned (the end product of tanning) and those are in 2 Kings 1:8; Matthew 3:4).
Therefore send to Joppa and invite Simon, who is also called Peter, to come to you; he is staying at the house of Simon the tanner by the sea. (Acts 10:32).
And Peter stayed many days in Joppa with a tanner named Simon. (Acts 9:43).
Despite the infrequent mentions, leather was important and used in many goods. Thus, tanning was an important trade, just a trade that no one liked to be around.
Leather was widely used in biblical times: for sandals and shoes, and for straps and harnesses for horses, donkeys, and camels; the nod, a skin bottle for storing and transporting liquids, is still widely used in the Middle East. All writing materials were also produced from hides. A ritually important use of leather and parchment since ancient times is for Torah scrolls, tefillin, the straps of which must be made from ritually clean animals, and the contents of mezuzot. (Source)
Joppa (Jaffa) is now an old neighborhood in the city of Tel Aviv. It’s by the sea. You might remember Jonah fled from the LORD at Joppa where he boarded a ship bound for Tarshish.
As in Greece and Rome, tanneries had to be located on the outskirts of the towns, far from residential quarters. According to the Mishnah (BB 2:9) a tannery should be situated on the east side of the town only, at least 50 cubits from the outskirts. This was because tanning was a primitive, malodorous process. The residents of an alley or lane could prevent one of their neighbors from becoming a tanner (Mishnah BB 21b). For all these reasons the tanner’s status in society was low. (Source)
As with Lydia’s purple dyeing, that trade and tanning needed to be on the east side because the winds were from the west most of the year, and would blow the odors away from the residential area if the manufacturing was done on the east side.
A Tanner’s dwelling and his workshop location was limited by his trade also. By necessity, they had to be close to to salt water seas.
Simon’s house was by the seashore, as is true of the tanneries along the Syrian coast today, so that the foul-smelling liquors from the vats can be drawn off with the least nuisance, and so that the salt water may be easily accessible for washing the skins during the tanning process. (Source – The International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia)
Tanning was a low-status job, so tanners were because of their trade low on the totem pole. As with Lydia’s trade (dyeing of purple), by Jewish tradition, a wife could sue for divorce based on the unpleasantness of her husband’s tanning trade, and it would be granted. An unnamed Jewish Babylon Talmudic scholar of the 6th-12th century-
explains that they are exempt because their bad odor, having penetrated their flesh, cannot be removed. This, he said, was why they had their own synagogues in his day in Babylon. The tanner’s trade was among those from which neither king nor high priest might be appointed, not because the tanner is ritually unfit, but because his occupation is despised
Poor Simon. So, geographically, ritually, and societally, a tanner endured a low status and a marginal communal living. Simon no doubt had friends, even the hated tax-collectors had friends, prostitutes and other tax collectors though they may have been. But a tanner’s trade prevented him from enjoying the full force and joys of communal living and even worship.
Joppa (or Jaffa as it’s called today, the oldest part of modern-day Tel Aviv) is about 45 miles from Jerusalem. On the map, you can see Nazareth to the northeast and Lake Tiberias (Sea of Galilee) beyond that.
So what did a tanner DO? The International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia describes the multi-step process. Simon would have had skins percolating in various stages of the process.
Within are the vats made either of stone masonry, plastered within and without, or cut out of the solid rock. The sheep or goat skins are smeared on the flesh side with a paste of slaked lime and then folded up and allowed to stand until the hair loosens. The hair and fleshy matter are removed, the skins are plumped in lime, bated in a concoction first of dog dung and afterward in one of fermenting bran, in much the same way as in a modern tannery. The bated skins are tanned in sumach, which is the common tanning material in Syria and Palestine. After drying, the leather is blackened on one side by rubbing on a solution made by boiling vinegar with old nails or pieces of copper, and the skin is finally given a dressing of olive oil.
That was the short version. Here’s the more descriptive process from Wikipedia.
The steps in the production of leather between curing (which involved salting) and tanning are collectively referred to as beamhouse operations. They include, in order, soaking, liming, removal of extraneous tissues (unhairing, scudding and fleshing), deliming, bating or puering, drenching, and pickling. Simon was busy. He either skinned the animal himself of got the skins from a skinner.
Skins typically arrived at the tannery dried stiff and dirty with soil and gore. First, the ancient tanners would soak the skins in water to clean and soften them. Then they would pound and scour the skin to remove any remaining flesh and fat. Next, the tanner needed to remove the hair from the skin. This was done by either soaking the skin in urine, painting it with an alkaline lime mixture, or simply allowing the skin to putrefy for several months then dipping it in a salt solution. After the hairs were loosened, the tanners scraped them off with a knife. Once the hair was removed, the tanners would “bate” (soften) the material by pounding dung into the skin, or soaking the skin in a solution of animal brains. Bating was a fermentative process which relied on enzymes produced by bacteria found in the dung. Among the kinds of dung commonly used were those of dogs or pigeons.
Sometimes, the dung was mixed with water in a large vat, and the prepared skins were kneaded in the dung water until they became supple from bacterial enzyme action, but not too soft. The ancient tanner might use his bare feet to knead the skins in the dung water, and the kneading could last two or three hours. This combination of urine, animal feces, and decaying flesh made ancient tanneries malodorous. Children employed as dung gatherers were a common sight in ancient cities. Also common were “piss-pots” located on street corners, where human urine could be collected for use in tanneries or by washerwomen. (Source)
It was all very gross. I included the longer version so you can get an idea of what Simon dealt with every day. Hard labor, marginalization, and smelly, chemical-y dung and urine filled processes.
So now we can understand perhaps why Luke included the fact that Peter stayed with Simon the Tanner and mentioned that Simon was a tanner three times in rapid succession. Here, finally, we see as with all walks of life, tanners were finally enjoying fellowship in faith with other disciples. Peter choosing to stay with Simon (Acts 9:43) certainly helped equalize the rungs on the ladder and pointed to the fact that Jesus and only Jesus was primary and exalted. Prostitutes, tax-collectors, dyers, and tanners were fully included in the faith as much as wealthy men (Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus), lawyers (Paul) and luxury merchants (Lydia).
The cross is the great equalizer, and Jesus is full of grace and mercy. The societal inclusion for Simon the Tanner must have been heart-warming to him and his love for Jesus must have abounded all the more. Here at last, he could worship among the faithful, and not in a separate synagogue. On his one day of rest, his voice raised in hymns of praise must have been forceful and joyous.
Sunday Word of the Week: Aseity
By Elizabeth Prata
The thread of Christianity depends on a unity from one generation to the next of mutual understanding of our important words. Hence the Word of the Week.
Aseity
When we affirm that God is eternal, we are also saying that He possesses the attribute of aseity, or self-existence. … Unlike creation, God is self-existent, uncaused, and independent. ~RC Sproul
What does it mean that He is self-existent? It means in simple language, go down to verse 4, here it is again, four words. I told you John’s economy of words is stunning. “In Him was Life.” In Him was Life. John 5:26 says it again, that in God is life and in the Son is life. This is an amazing statement. Life not bios, not just physical life, but zoe, the biggest, broadest term for all kinds of life. And what it’s saying is this. Life was in Him. What do you mean by that? Well look at it from a negative standpoint. He didn’t receive life from any other source. He didn’t develop life from some other power. This is self-existence. He wasn’t given life, He didn’t receive life, He possesses it as an essential of His nature. In Him was life. ~John MacArthur
Scriptures:
For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me. (Isaiah 46:9)
I AM who I AM. (Exodus 3:14)
For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. (John 5:26)
The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. (Acts 17:24-25)
the-end-time.org 