Dissecting Psalm 100

Dissecting Psalm 100

¹Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth.
²Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs,
³Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
⁴Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.
⁵For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.

Who is this psalm for? ALL THE EARTH

What are the commands? SHOUT! WORSHIP! COME! KNOW! ENTER! GIVE THANKS! GIVE PRAISE!

How should we do these? WITH GLADNESS, WITH SONGS, WITH THANKSGIVING, WITH PRAISE

What would your shout be? (personal answer here – mine would be HALLELUJAH or HE IS RISEN or PRAISE GOD or JESUS IS KING or THANK YOU, LORD!)

Why should we shout and praise and worship and give thanks? BECAUSE THE LORD IS GOOD AND HIS LOVE ENDURES FOREVER! (verse 5)

When should we do these things? WHEN WE ENTER HIS PRESENCE (church)

Share at least two things for which you are thankful to God. (personal answer here – mine would be FORGIVENESS and MY EYESIGHT)

Who Decided Which Books Go in the Bible?

In 90-95 AD there was a Jewish council called the Council of Jamnia which met to revise the Books of the Canon, i.e., the Old Testament. The word “canon” comes from the root word “reed”. The reed was used as a measuring rod and came to have the added meaning of “standard”. Hence the word “canon” implies that for a book to be added to Scripture it had to meet the standard.

The next question would be: what are the standards for a book, say Lamentations, Job, Malachi, etc., to be included in the Old Testament?

1. The books had to conform to the Pentateuch. The Pentateuch means the first five books: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. 
2. The books had to be written in Hebrew. 
3. The books had to be written in Palestine.
4. The books had to be written before 400 B.C.

Wouldn’t you like to know how many and which books didn’t make it? I’ll tell you: fourteen books, known as the Apocrypha were removed. The books in the Apocrypha were never quoted by Jesus, or any of the New Testament authors.

Jesus gave divine endorsement to the Old Testament Canon in Luke 24: 44:

He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.” 

Cool Stuff in the Bible

There are 66 books in the Bible, 39 in the Old Testament and 27 in the New Testament. There are 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet. You know what’s cool? There’s an amazing relationship between the 22^nd book, the 44^th book, and the 66^th book.

The 22^nd book is Song of Songs, the last of the Wisdom Books.

The 44^th book is the Acts of the Apostles, the last book of New Testament History.

The 66^th book is the book of Revelation, the last book of the Bible.

The theme of Song of Songs is the King receives his Bride and he is set as a seal upon her heart.

The theme of Acts is God seals His Bride the Church.

The theme of Revelation is Christ receives His Bride the Church. An angel comes with the seal of the living God; he who sits on the throne holds a scroll sealed with seven seals.

Oh, and about that 22^nd Hebrew letter that lines up with these books … it’s the last letter: tav, which has the symbolic meaning of mark, sign, or cross. Tav represents the ideas of consummation, completion, covenant and sealing. Rabbinic tradition calls the letter Tav the “Seal of Creation” and the “Seal of Truth”.

Cool, huh?

ALL AUTHORS BLOG BLITZ

Guest Post from Y. Correa

Hello one and all,

I am so happy and honored to be here visiting with you all.

For all of you who do not know me, I am Y. Correa, author, literary advocate, professional reviewer and

CEO/Founder of All Authors Publications and Promotions, which entails:

• All Authors Support Group

• All Authors Magazine

• All Authors Publishing House

• All Authors Graphic Design

• AND, the All Authors Blog Blitz

I have authored a hand full of short stories, some of which include, “A.L.O.M”, “The G Particle”, “Ryan”

and “Loving...them!” At this current juncture, I'm working on the second and final installment of

“MarcoAntonio & Amaryllis” as well as a stand alone Sci­Fi Romance which I've titled “Genesis

Ellipses...”

Today in celebration of the All Authors Blog Blitz, I've opted to give everyone a taste of MarcoAntoino

and Amaryllis. Following is an excerpt:

Finding My Inspiration, part 2

Like Edge of Escape, my next two YA novels, The Guardian’s Diary and Sheltered, were set in suburban high schools and I also loosely based some of the characters on my students. But for A Soul’s Kiss my inspiration came from – this is going to sound strange – STD’s.

Here’s the thought pattern: I wish I knew what other people were thinking … I wish I could be that person for a day … What if your body could release your spirit and you could inhabit their body? Yes, I know, that's been done a dozen times – body swapping. Freaky Friday, Disney movies, etc. Now for the inspiration: What if my main character didn't swap bodies? What if she just left behind others’ thoughts and dreams? Like an STD.  Ooo, think of the implications: she'd pick up their secrets and unknowingly drop them off in the minds of those who shouldn't know those secrets. The novel evolved from there with sub-themes of bullying, hidden crushes, and even racial tolerance. 

I wonder where I'll get my next inspiration from ... oh, wait ... got it.  You'd be amazed at how one tiny little fact can grow into not one, but two complete novels. More about that when I finish.

Finding My Inspiration, part 1

Every time I read a book with a great theme I think wow, why didn't I come up with that? After all, there are roughly forty billion novel ideas floating around in the air just above our heads, right? Well, I’ve written almost twenty books in various genres and have plucked those themes from said air. The tricky part once I grabbed a theme was getting my muse to cooperate. Let me give you an example of how I get my inspiration.

For my first young adult novel, Edge of Escape, the idea came to me as I sat in the passenger seat staring at a green line of trees. My husband and I were heading home from a weekend in the quiet woods of northern Michigan, aiming the car toward the traffic-crammed streets of suburban Detroit where we both taught in a large high school. The idea struck: What if a misunderstood teen set his sights on a popular girl and took her to the woods we just left? Well, that wasn’t quite earth shattering enough. Here was where the inspiration fairy needed to do her thing.

And poof! I thought of a particular student I had: tall, dark, handsome, but with some emotional problems. He didn’t interact with the other kids; he ate lunch with the special needs kids; and his mother had arranged for individualized treatment from his teachers, including me. She was a bully and I didn't believe that her son needed all the pampering or the individualized quizzes and tests she demanded. The kid was smart; his real problem was that he was a social misfit. So I thought: What if his simple crush on a girl developed into a plan to kidnap her and make her like him back? Aha, almost there.  

I observed this smart but emotionally impaired individual and actually spied on him in other classes and in the cafeteria. He was the perfect inspiration for innocent adoration that escalates into stalking and abduction - Edge of Escape.

Excerpt from A SOUL'S KISS

"A SOUL'S KISS delivers the right balance of romance, suspense, and the paranormal."

Synopsis:

Seventeen-year-old Jessica thinks high school would be perfect if she could win over Hannah’s boyfriend, Michael, but a horrible accident changes everything.  Jessica’s physical body falls into a coma while her spirit splits off to invade the thoughts and dreams of those around her, including Michael, Hannah, and even Tyler, who has a crush on Jessica.

As she harvests slivers of others’ souls she also learns everyone’s secret memories and starts to suspect that Michael isn't as wonderful as she thinks he is. 

When she invades Hannah, she has a chance to be with Michael, but now Hannah is interested in Tyler. 

Excerpt:

I think about Michael, but Hannah’s face keeps interrupting every memory. I think about Rashanda and Tyler, but again Hannah’s voice splits my thoughts in two. Her voice. And what I last heard her say as I sat behind her in her friend’s car. Last night: “We could make Andrew the next victim if you want.”

“We could make Andrew the next victim if you want.”

It echoes. I can remember the entire conversation. And more. I can remember touching my forehead to the back of her head. I got inside, but she would not acknowledge me. I could not get past the boxes of darkness that litter her head. It was like there were doors and more doors, all of them closed, and I didn’t have the keys to open any of them.

And now I'm stuck. There’s no pulling back out of her mind. Last night I felt her nausea, her migraine. I heard Brittany’s voice, took in their conversation, their good-byes, the walk into the house. I saw her father, felt Hannah’s disappointment – a mixture of repulsion and love as she sneaked past the snoring hulk sprawled on the living room couch. I remember her, us, getting ready for bed.

And then this blackness.

My heart, or maybe it’s Hannah’s, stutters to life in a race to beat my mind to a horrible conclusion: I am stuck in Hannah and Hannah is waking up.

(A SOUL'S KISS is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo and Smashwords.)

My Cool Stupeflix Video

The Book of Ecclesiastes, part 3

After bewailing the vanity of life and arguing that there is nothing better than to be happy and do good, Solomon continues in chapter 9 of Ecclesiastes:

 11 I have seen something else under the sun:

   The race is not to the swift
   or the battle to the strong,
nor does food come to the wise
   or wealth to the brilliant
   or favor to the learned;
but time and chance happen to them all.

Time and chance – that’s an interesting translation. The original Hebrew has “the time of mischance comes to us all” meaning that we all die. “Mischance” was a euphemism for death. Yet wise old Solomon wasn’t completely sold on hopelessness. His conclusion finishes out the book. Read 12: 13, 14:

13 Now all has been heard;
   here is the conclusion of the matter:
Fear God and keep his commandments,
   for this is the duty of all mankind.
14 For God will bring every deed into judgment,
   including every hidden thing,
   whether it is good or evil.

Whew! That will sober you up.

The Book of Ecclesiastes, part 2

After all the disappointment and feelings of meaninglessness in the first two chapters of Ecclesiastes the next three chapters look at earthly happiness, its difficulties and means of advancement. Read 3: 1-8:

1 There is a time for everything,
   and a season for every activity under the heavens:

 2 a time to be born and a time to die,
   a time to plant and a time to uproot,
 3 a time to kill and a time to heal,
   a time to tear down and a time to build,
 4 a time to weep and a time to laugh,
   a time to mourn and a time to dance,
 5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
   a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
 6 a time to search and a time to give up,
   a time to keep and a time to throw away,
 7 a time to tear and a time to mend,
   a time to be silent and a time to speak,
 8 a time to love and a time to hate,
   a time for war and a time for peace.

Pete Seeger adapted these verses into the lyrics for the song Turn, Turn, Turn, sung by The Byrds.

The Book of Ecclesiastes, part 1

We don’t know who wrote Ecclesiastes, but tradition assigns authorship to Solomon. The word Ecclesiastes comes from the Greek word Ekklesiastes which means “speaker of a called out assembly”. The Hebrew Bible calls this book Qoheleth from the word in verse 1, chapter 1, that many translations have as “preacher”:

1 The words of the Teacher, son of David, king in Jerusalem:

or as you see here “teacher”, but the original means “assembler” or “collector” of wisdom. Who was a collector of wisdom and son of David? Solomon seems to be the obvious answer. After his scandalous backsliding he made public what he learned from his experiences. Whereas in Proverbs he reveals God’s wisdom, in Ecclesiastes he despairs over the complexity of life, the failure of natural wisdom and the futility of looking for truth and happiness apart from God. The major theme of the book is that without God’s blessing nothing satisfies, not wisdom, power, pleasure or riches. In fact, without God those things bring disillusionment and disappointment.

The Book of Leviticus, part 2

Chapter 23 of Leviticus starts with what I think is a pleasant contrast to all the previous negative prohibitions and sacrifices. The Lord appoints some feasts: The Passover, Feast of Unleavened Bread, Firstfruits, Feast of Weeks, Feast of Trumpets, Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) and the Feast of Tabernacles. These are wonderful “parties” and have special significance to Israel, but even more significance to Christians. Why? Because they have been or will be fulfilled in Christ.

First of all Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread and Firstfruits fall on the 14th, 15th and 17th of the Jewish calendar month of Nisan. These are spring feasts. Pentecost is 50 days later on the 6th of Sivan, a summer month. The last three feasts are all autumn festivals falling on the 1st, 10th and 15th of Tishri.

Today is Brought to You by the book of Leviticus, part 1

Leviticus (Va’yikra in Hebrew) means “and He called”, which is how verse one starts. We call this book Leviticus because it records the duties of the Levites. The Hebrew title is representative of the content and purpose of the book, namely the calling of God’s people, and in particular the calling of the Levites, to minister before Him.

This book was written by Moses and its major themes are like an instruction manual for morals and ethics. There are civil, sanitary, ceremonial, moral and religious regulations for the nation of Israel. There are also instructions for making offerings (burnt, meat, peace, sin, trespass, grain). We have the ordination of Aaron and his son, rules and laws for purification, regulations for atonement, rules for sexual relationships, provisions for festivals, and final instructions and warnings.