The VEXED Soul

 And when she came to the mountain to the man of God, she caught hold of his feet. And Gehazi came to push her away. But the man of God said, "Leave her alone, for she is in bitter distress, and the LORD has hidden it from me and has not told me."

 2 Kings 4:27 

Take some time to read this story, it is a telling one. It may seem a little confusing, and it involves Elisha, Gehazi, and a Shunammite woman. I don't know all the ins and outs of the customs of the day, but there are some practical things that are stated in this chapter that we can all learn from

1. Vs.27 (quoted above) Elisha tells Gehazi to leave the woman alone because as the KJV puts it, she is "vexed" in her soul. The ESV quoted above, defines this as in "bitter distress."  We could focus on Elisha's statement, that God had hidden this from him, but if we do, we will miss the point. Whatever is happening to the woman, it is upsetting to her to the point that she is "stressing out" about it.
2. What we might miss, is that in vs.26 when she is directly asked about her state, she maintains “all is well.”  Now, how do we reconcile this with what Vs.27 reveals? Is she adapting the typical human response when asked how we are and we dont' want people to know - we tell them, "I'm ok?" Is she lying? or, has she adapted a frame of mind that even though there are things in life that are stressful and cause us to be troubled, we are "alive and well, therefore it is a good day?"

I will leave it to you to read the chapter and come to your own conclusions. Here is what I do know. Regardless of how bad things are for you, they could be far worse! In our plights of life, we often lose perspective because we get caught up in the stress of the moment and do not take the time to realize that things could be even worse. We don't take the time to realize that even though things are bad, I may be suffering, hurting crying - I have life and I have God - ALL IS WELL. 

On Nov.2, 1873, a ship called Villa de Havre (1) collided with another ship and sank within

Ville de Havre

twelve minutes. Three hundred and thirteen passengers were on board, among which were Rufus Wheeler Peckham a congressman and judge from New York. Hamilton Murray and his sister, for whom the Hamilton Murray Theater at Princeton is named. Lesser known, was the wife of a man, Horatio Spafford, Anna and their four daughters. Anna survived the wreck, but the four daughters did not. Anna was found unconscious, floating on a plank. Picked up by the crew of the Loch Earn, she was carried to Cardiff, Wales in the UK where she then sent telegram to her husband who could not join them on the trip, "Saved alone....what shall I do..."  Horatio Spafford who was in Chicago, left immediately to join to his wife in Cardiff. On the Atlantic, the Captain of the ship called Spafford to the bridge, where he told him that they were passing over the place where his daughters had drowned. He wrote to Anna's half-sister, "On Thursday we passed over the spot where she went down, in mid-ocean, three miles deep. But, I do not think of our dear ones there. They are safe, folded, the dear lambs."  It would be later, that Spafford would write what would become a well known hymn, "It Is Well With My Soul."  Phillip Bliss originally composed the music to the song, that was originally called, "Ville de Havre." But the cry of the song was so great, that it became known by the title which it now bears.

"Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come, Let this blest assurance control, That Christ hath regarded my helpless estate, And hath shed His own blood for my soul!"  

So, no matter what they cry, what the sorrow, plague, hurt, torment, stress of life, know this. It could be worse. If nothing else today, know that God has looked upon your helpless estate and given you a pearl of great price. You can languish in your circumstance, or you can understand, that even if you die today, if you are in Christ you have everything. What is worse? Not the circumstance you find yourself in, but to for you to allow that circumstance to keep you from seeing the one most valuable thing in front of you. The estate of your soul now and in eternity.

Jim

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FOOTNOTES

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Ville_du_Havre 

https://ferrelljenkins.wordpress.com/2016/03/12/roman-road-from-elah-valley-to-bethlehem/

Roman road from Elah valley to Bethlehem

Posted on March 12, 2016 | Leave a comment

Portions of roads from the Roman period are found throughout Israel, and we have posted about several of them.

One interesting Roman road is the stepped road leading from the Valley of Elah up to Bethlehem. This photo was made 4.2 km west of Mata on Highway 375. I am not sure of the date of this unusual stretch of Roman Road, but I think most of the Roman roads date to the late first century or the second century A.D.

These steps would have made the trip up into, and down from, the mountains of Judea easier for both man and beast. This is likely the same route, centuries before the Romans controlled the area, taken by David as he went from Bethlehem to take some special provisions to his brothers on the firing line in the Valley of Elah (1 Samuel 17:15-22). Note especially verse 15:

… but David went back and forth from Saul to feed his father’s sheep at Bethlehem. (1 Samuel 17:15 ESV)

Roman Road 4.2 km W of Mata on Hwy 375. S of Hwy. Photo by Ferrell Jenkins.

When David was in the cave at Adullam he wished for a drink of water from “the well of Bethlehem that is by the gate.”  The Biblical text records that three of his mighty men, without the knowledge of David, made their way to Bethlehem to bring him some of that water (2 Samuel 23:15-17). David refused to drink the water and poured it out to the LORD. I think the three mighty men would have used this same route.

BOOK REVIEW: From The Cross To The Church by: A.C.Graziano

From The Cross To The Church by: A.C.Graziano

As an amatuer historian and archaeological enthusist,  especially of biblical things I was drawn to this book by its title and subject matter. The author tries to present what many have written volumes on in a concise volume. A daunting task to say the least. I am writing this review being now only part way through the book  because I wanted to capture thoughts while they were fresh on my mind.

I have found the book interesting and frustrating at the same time. Even at this point in the book I would not recommend it to a novice. What I am sure was meant to be presented as factual..matter of fact, I found to be chaotic and having to go back and reread to make sure of things. There are assertions made with no footnote or reference to back it up, only to have it explained a little better later on and then more doubt cast after that. The book is good if you are delving into the origins of suspicions and thoughts surrounding them. It is good if you are researching some of the background of the development of trends that lead to reactions, that lead to development of human doctrine. But as a critical reference, it takes too much for granted to be a single volume and leaves little critical evidence or citation to substantiate it. It is footnoted in places and that I appreciated. But there are not near enough.

If you are versed in history and the facts surrounding biblical events, then you could find the book engaging. If you are not or are thinking about recommending it to someone who is not - don't. 

DO-RE-MI - A Brief History of Shape Note Singing

If you mention music to most people, the most common thought is High School Band or a music class you had in school at some point.  Many of us do not know how to read music, much less, read shape note (1) music. We have all grown up listening to music that is based on the Major Diatonic Scale (2). If you can sing at all, you can sing this scale. The tones of this scale and the syllables we use for the names of those tones are most commonly heard in "DO-RE-MI" by Rogers and Hammerstein’s “The Sound of Music.”  In the movie, this song was used to teach the children to sing. These same syllables are still used today to teach people to sight read music.

Guido of Arezzo

The practice of singing music to syllables designating pitch goes back to about AD 1000 with the work of Guido of Arezzo (3) ; other early work in this area includes the cipher notation of Jean-Jacques Rousseau (18th century), and the tonic sol-fa of John Curwen  (19th century). 

Shape notes (4) proved popular in America, and quickly a wide variety of hymnbooks were prepared making use of them. The shapes were eventually extirpated in the northeastern U.S. by a so-called "better music" movement, headed by Lowell Mason. But in the South, the shapes became well entrenched, and multiplied into a variety of traditions. Ananias Davisson's (5) Kentucky Harmony is generally considered the first Southern shape-note tune book.   Singing schools became a popular thing in pre-Revolutionary days, with many English colonists bringing their knowledge to America and incorporating it in America's earliest churches, without the accompaniment of musical instruments. 

All "church music" was originally sung “a capella” or without instrumental musical

 Vitalian of Capua

accompaniment. For the first 1000 years in the history of Christianity, this was so. While it varies upon locality, generally in the 6th Century the first instrumental accompaniments began to appear in churches.  Pope Vitalian (6) is regarded to have first introduced organs into some of the churches of Western Europe around 670 A.D.; but the earliest trustworthy account is that of one sent as a present by the Greek emperor Constantine Copronymus to Pepin, King of Franks in 755 A.D (7). 

There were instruments of music of many and various kinds that were in use during the age of Jesus as well as the apostles. Their never being introduced into the worship service by Jesus, the apostles or the early Christians, either by commandment or example,  is evidence that they were were not seen as a means of expressing praise, nor did they seem to be required. Whether we wish to debate the scriptural use is another discussion. This is to simply look at the history surrounding the development of singing and "music" in the "Christian" setting. It should be noted though, that Paul states in Eph.4 and 5 the intent is to edify, teach and build the assembly. It is not to entertain, nor is it to show off. The rules of 1 Corinthians seems to apply in this instance, even if it is viewed as exercising a gift, that if it doesn't edify, teach and encourage the fellowship of the group, then it is perhaps best not done.  

Shape Notes, with the advent of standardized written music composition, was adapted as a means to educate people. The idea behind shape notes was and is that the parts of a vocal work can be learned more quickly and easily if the music is printed in shapes that match up with the syllables with which the notes of the musical scale are sung. It would enable harmony and melody. When a song is first sung this method normally employs singing the syllables (reading them from the shapes) to solidify their command over the notes. Next, they sing the same notes to the words of the music. 

Some think it archaic, others think it is enlightening. Either way, we cannot deny that God wishes us to raise our voice in song unto the heavens and declare His praise. We cannot deny, the joyous song that leaps into our hearts when we come to know the true freedom that God has given us in His Son. We cannot deny, that even in pain, the heart can express itself in song to God. Some of the greatest songs we sing are not the compositions of masters, but the mere tunes of everyday  ordinary people, trying to express what is on their hearts to God. Because the first place that music had, was between man and God!

Jim

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Footnotes

(1) The shape-note method of singing from written music first appeared in a book called "The Easy Instructor, printed in 1801, although the teaching of it started much earlier in the United States as a means of helping the common person to read music.

(2) MAJOR DIATONIC SCALE - In music theory, a diatonic scale (from the Greek διατονικός, meaning "[progressing] through tones", also known as the heptatonia prima and set form 7-35) is a seven note musical scale comprising five whole steps and two half steps, in which the half steps are maximally separated. Thus between each of the two half steps lie either two or three whole steps, with the pattern repeating at the octave. The term diatonic originally referred to the diatonic genus, one of the three genera of the ancient Greeks.

(3) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guido_of_Arezzo

(4)  There is a distinction between this and another common version of shape note singing called “Sacred Harp.” Sacred Harp style of singing stems from singing schools that were conducted in the colonial period of the US, and preserved in the rural South.

(5) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ananias_Davisson 

(6)   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Vitalian

(7 )  The American Encyclopedia, Vol. 7, page 688