Posted on 07/29/2006 7:36:51 PM PDT by Iam1ru1-2
'Psalm in a bog' linked to Israel's current war
By Joe Kovacs © 2006 WorldNetDaily.com
The "miraculous" find of ancient psalms in an Irish bog has some wondering if there's any special modern relevance, since the discovery dealt with the enemies of Israel attempting to destroy the nation.
A construction worker in Ireland came across the ancient 20-page book dated to the years 800-1000 A.D. while driving his backhoe's shovel into the mud last week. Experts say it's impossible to say how the manuscript ended up there, but speculate it may have been lost in transit or dumped after a raid some 1,000 to 1,200 years ago.
The National Museum of Ireland issued a statement saying, "In discovery terms, this Irish equivalent to the Dead Sea Scrolls is being hailed by the museum's experts as the greatest find ever from a European bog."
"It is not so much the fragments themselves, but what they represent, that is of such staggering importance," said the museum's director, Pat Wallace. "In my wildest hopes, I could only have dreamed of a discovery as fragile and rare as this. It testifies to the incredible richness of the Early Christian civilization of this island and to the greatness of ancient Ireland."
Wallace called it a "miracle find," telling the Associated Press, "it's unlikely that something this fragile could survive buried in a bog at all, and then for it to be unearthed and spotted before it was destroyed is incalculably more amazing."
But it's the fact the book was discovered opened to Psalm 83 that is attracting attention across the globe.
The ancient psalm deals with a plea to God not to let the enemies of Israel eradicate God's chosen nation.
Keep not thou silence, O God: hold not thy peace, and be not still, O God. For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult: and they that hate thee have lifted up the head. They have taken crafty counsel against thy people, and consulted against thy hidden ones. They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance. (Psalm 83:1-4)
It then lists a number of Israel's ancient enemies bent on its destruction.
Stan Goodenough, a South African journalist living in Israel for the past 12 years calls the timing of the discovery "incredible."
For right now Israel's enemies are again united in their desire to "cut Israel off from being a nation, that the name of Israel may be remembered no more." They purpose to take for themselves the "pastures of God for a possession." And that they are in league – or in a confederacy – is clear.
From Gaza, supported by most of the Arab states, the violence is being directed by the Palestinian Arab terrorist groups: the PLO, Hamas, the Palestine Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front For the Liberation of Palestine and the popular resistance Committees.
In the north, the Lebanese group [Hezbollah], supplied and enabled by Syria and the non-Arab but also Islamic Iran, is raining rockets down on Israel.
This, given the current situation, makes Psalm 83 a fascinating and fitting read, the ancient find nothing short of a phenomenon.
Goodenough points out the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in 1947, just as the modern state of Israel was being formed.
The bog find was heralded by the museum on Tuesday, one day after a call for global prayer on behalf of Israel. Psalm 83 was one of three psalms recited at locations worldwide Tuesday at the request of the governing council of Israel's Chief Rabbinate.
In his book, "Israel in Crisis," author David Dolan dedicates an entire chapter to Psalm 83.
"I detail who the protagonists are in the psalm, and then go on to talk about when it might be fulfilled," he told WND.
The website A Christian Witness previously put Psalm 83 into a musical Flash presentation, demonstrating how timely the ancient song is with news images documenting the current threat facing Israel, linking the ancient peoples mentioned in the psalm to modern political states.
Messageboards are filled with comments of news watchers who feel there's a timely significance to the discovery, while others think it's mere coincidence.
"This is the eeriest discovery I've ever heard of, especially given current events. It actually sends chills up my spine."
"I have read Psalms many times, and never has it just about screamed its relevance to the Middle East. God is really speaking to us through His Word right nowif we'll listen."
"I think this is one of the best news stories that I have read in quite some time. Those who seek Him, find Him. To those of us who believe, this is very uplifting!"
"For this to have been an act of God, God would have to have been all-knowing, foreseen this very conflict roughly 1,000 years before it occurred, foreseen the bog market, foreseen the use of power tools, foreseen the individual working the equipment and ensured this particular one was working that part of that bog that day, have created the book of its various parts (leather, the paper within) in the first place, have placed it in that place for 1,000 years of earthquakes and various other acts of God, foreseen the person who purchased the land would happen to be of the save artifacts mindset (not common among money-hungry landowners) and foreseen the need to it open to that page on that day. I don't know, seems all haphazard to me."
You could always post your jawbone spam...?
It worked so well for King Saul that we have an entire market for it now!
Ah, I think your tagline says it all. You're one of those Polyanna types that think mankind is going to usher in peace into the world and then the Messiah will come....no such thing as The Tribulation, The Mellenium, Judgement, Hell, Satan. It's all in the mind, RIGHT?
War, in the Middle East? Never saw that coming...
I rest my case!!
How about those who believe this is all an accident of entropy? Stupreme faith in absurdity? Or just once again the nature of the way we were created with FREE WILL to choose, even wrongly.
What is the value of the gift from a slave, compared to a gift given freely by the FREE?
islime IS SLAVERY! Free the slaves! They have no free will! They cannot give freely to GOD!
Who said anything about doom and gloom. Try reading Ezekiel 38. God will supernaturally intervene on behalf of "The Apple of His Eye" Israel, and destroy the muslim/arab coalition along with Russia. And from the looks of things, this may lead to the fullfilment of that prophecy.
A construction worker in Ireland came across the ancient 20-page book dated to the years 800-1000 A.D. while driving his backhoe's shovel into the mud last week.
Does this sound like an archaeologist on a relic finding dig? You may have read it, but nothing seems to have been absorbed. It's one thing to eat something, it's another thing to absorb it.
I read the article.
The fact that somebody backhoes out something from underground does not impress me. Happens all the time. I dig things up myself all the time.
If you want to make something mystical about the page to which this find was opened, be my guest. It had to be open to some page, or closed. No big deal either way--unless you have some evidence that the article does not mention.
What are you on?
You must be one of those who believe in evolution because it seems everything to you is by accident, not by providence.
Which would be business as usual at any point since this thing was written.
If you -- and, possibly, the Messiah -- will excuse me, I have a lot of "trees" to plant.
UPDATE... Psalm found is not King James 83 rather 84.
And you are one of those cheerleaders for Satan's team who holds God's grace in contempt, and anticipates no long-run victory over the world, the flesh, and the devil this side of the eschaton. Whose "gospel" consists of nothing but spiritual masturbation, and speculative mind-games, since it has no application to real-world issues today.
Tell you what -- you can ahead and amuse yourself by playing iwth yourself in the corner, exciting yourself with ever-more extravagant fantasies. I have a God to serve, and a world to serve Him in, instructions on what He wants, and the confidence that those who serve Him can enjoy His blessings in this life as well as the next.
Maybe, if you want to be REALLY spiritual, you can live on a pillar in the desert!
The Tribulation is historical fact, the prophetic seal on the authenticity of our Lord's ministry. The millenium is the present reign of the saints. The Last Day will bring about the resurrection of the dead, and the life everlasting, Amen. Meanwhile, let the dead bury the dead. The living have work to do.
But historical fact is so BORING when compared to apocalyptic speculation. And if God Himself has ordained the failure of His Gospel and His people within history, then I have a perfect excuse for personal mediocrity. The kind of mediocrity which almost universally characterizes CHristian endeavor today.
You're update is about to be ignored.
You must have been living in a cave. Israel didn't even exist for over 1500 years until June of 1948, so it wasn't "business as usual since this thing was written, which shows to go ya that you don't know much about Israel's history.
When a people missed the coming of their Messiah, it's not too hard to reply with such a statement. It's probably his way of suggesting that the Messiah will never come.
I do archaeology for a living. I stick to facts and good, well researched theory.
If I go off on a tangent (hypothesis or speculation) in one of my reports, it has some good basis to it, and you can be sure it is identified as such.
And your comment about "belief" is unfounded. Scientists stick to facts and theory, things about which we can have some confidence.
Religion is more likely to be associated with belief or faith.
The strangest thing aboutthe new psalm was the last line of it which roughly trandlates into "Bush's fault".
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