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Thursday, September 16, 2010

Prophecy

Contrary to our way of looking at things, most prophetic statements have not been very specific; they have held little specific detail. They are big on sound and fury and painting large pictures of casts of  thousands of Assyrians coming down on the flocks, but don't spend a lot of time on what Asshurbanipal had for breakfast that auspicious day.

In fact, the more detail the worse it would  be, for it would be forgotten! People would believe what they wanted, having not made the effort to recall whatever the detailed Jeremiah told them, and it would all be for nought.

One of the few times details worked to move men was when Jesus wrote in the sand.....
and even that was not a forecast but a history of the sins of his auditors.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Is that what it was? Who knew?

Montag said...

I always think of that particular scene as a painting by Thomas Hart Benton: a bunch of locals like the rubes in "Susanna and the Elders" watching their lubricious urgings take form in the sand...

And come to think of it, there wuz gonna be a stoning! An adultress was to be stoned.
I think this would make an interesting study: to trace the Jewish law on this particular sin from that time through the Diaspora and see how it changed and what caused the change.