Bachelor’s in the Bible

Posted on August 15, 2019 | 3 comments

This is a flower grown from seeds on my back porch. It is called a Bachelor’s button (Centaurea cyanus) and cornflower. Although it grows in Europe and the United States, I am not sure if it ever grew in the Middle East. Its colors are purple, blue, and pink.

I have been attempting to name bachelor’s in the Bible. In the Old Testament, Abel may have been a bachelor. Definitely, Jeremiah was a bachelor.

In the New Testament: Jesus was a bachelor as was John the Baptist. Can you think of any other Bible characters who were bachelors?

Bachelor men and women contributed to the spread of Christ’s kingdom.

Reflection: If God has called you to an unmarried state in life, identify ways that you can honor God in your bachelorhood.

Copyright July 30, 2019; Carolyn A. Roth

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Jointed Anabis, Desert Thistle

Posted on August 10, 2019 | 5 comments

Bible References: Genesis 46.16; Numbers 26.15.

The Antabasis articulata is a plant in search of a home. It has been identified as both a thistle and an herb; yet, herb societies refuse to list it. Antabasis articulata doesn’t even have a well-known common name, i.e., the jointed anabis and berry bearing glasswort. I am going to put it in the thistle category, despite it not having sharp pointed projections of  more-notable thistle species. Israeli plant data bases and Hebrew scholars6,7 claimed that the Arabic word shenan is a cognate of the biblical proper name Shuni. Shuni was the third son of Gad (Jacob’s son) and head of the Shunite clan. This plant is an example of a plant named for a notable person, or possibly Shuni was named for the plant.

The jointed anabis is a desert plant found in northern Africa and nations that border the eastern Mediterranean Sea. In Israel, it is located south of Jerusalem in the arid En Gedi region. A number of Bedouin livestock (camels, goats) graze on the jointed anabis. The plant is used to cure at least one type of parasite that affects desert animals.  Bedouin women burn the plant and use ashes for laundry soap. The jointed anabis kills insects and repels rodents. Humans don’t eat this plant. More recently, the jointed anabis is being studied as a way to protect the liver from fibrosis and  to lower blood sugar.

In first year-or-two of growth, jointed anabis is green, but, soon becomes woody, dry, and brown. Stems are leafless. When young, jointed anabis resembles a succulent. Flowers are small and can be green, red, or yellow. Flowers appear in early winter when small amounts of rain falls on their habitat. The fruit is small and appears to grow as two flowers joined together. Each seed has small membranous wings which aids dispersion.

If I considered plants to grow on earth, the jointed anabis wouldn’t come to mind. It doesn’t seem to have any characteristics to recommend it. The jointed anabis is a reminder that inconspicuous individuals have a purpose in God’s creation.

Do you have anyone in your church that is consistently there, but is inconspicuous to most people? I think of two women in my church, both in their 60s, who I saw Sunday morning-after-Sunday morning  for about five years, but never talked to. In the past two years, I  made a point to get to know them. They are both sweet, caring individuals. One is a prayer warrior. The other has started to spend Thanksgiving with us. Both are fun and sincere. I love to spend time with them.

God has blessed me by putting both women in my life. But, I could have overlooked them in my routine of talking to other friends. God wants me and you to embrace individuals who don’t stand out in our world. These individuals are the sheep of Jesus’s pasture.

Reflection: Who is similar to a jointed anabis in your neighborhood, your job site, your church? Who are you and other congregates ignoring? What would Jesus do if he came to your church?

http://www.Copyright May 20, 2019; Carolyn Adams Roth

http://www.CarolynRothMinistry.com

 

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Good News in Nature

Posted on August 3, 2019 | Leave a comment

Published book on plants Jesus encountered and used in his ministry on earth.

Purchase at http://www.CarolynRothMinistry.com or on Amazon.

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Reputation of Fruit

Posted on July 30, 2019 | Leave a comment

Bible Reference:  Matthew 7.15-20.

This teaching is labeled “A Tree and Its Fruit” (NIV). Jesus began with “Watch out for false prophets” (Matthew 7.15 NIV). Then, he told hearers the reason for his warning: false prophets were ferocious wolves that acted like gentle sheep. The good news was that people could recognize false prophets by their fruit—by looking at both their words and  actions. Just as a man can’t pick figs from a thistle, neither can a false prophet produce good fruit. False prophets could appear humble and mild like Jesus, or even blunt and rough like John the Baptist; yet, their words are filled with lies.

When Jesus compared words of false prophets to thistles, he was teaching in Galilee. Primarily, his listeners were from rural areas and small towns. They had experience growing and picking figs and grapes. They knew about productive and non-productive trees and plants, including thistles. They were well aware that thistles could be attractive to the eye, but had little value.

The plant associated with the thistle in Matthew 7.15-20 is the Centaurea iberica, known as the Spanish thistle or Iberian star thistle. The Spanish thistle grows in Israel from the northern Golan and Hermon areas, through the central mountains and plains including the Mediterranean coast, to the northern Negev Desert area. Spanish star thistle is an invasive plant that replaces pasture lands and displaces forage for livestock. The plant’s sharp spines impede recreational use and restrict access by wildlife. Seeds are spread by livestock, vehicles, equipment, and contaminated hay and seed crop. Seeds can be transported on clothes.

Jesus told followers that both plants and prophets could be recognized by what they produce. When we recognize someone, we are familiar with them, distinguish them from others, and comprehend what they do and say. God gave some guiding principles to differentiate between a true versus a false prophet.

1. A true prophet acknowledges that the historic Jesus is the son of God.  When prophets, pastors, or theologians say that it isn’t important whether Jesus was truly God or in some way deny the deity of Jesus, they are false prophets.

2. True prophets read and obey God’s word. They preach the Bible because it contains God’s truths for personal salvation and for successful everyday life. Believers need to discerningly read the scriptures so they don’t get taken in by words of false prophets.

3. False prophets are recognized by sin in their lives. A prophet who breaks God’s commandments consistently and without repentance is a false prophet.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus outlined expectations for followers. Today’s false prophets contend that these standards are unrealistic; they are so high that people can’t meet them. False prophets argue these moral-ethical standards that Jesus described will only be achieved when Jesus returns to earth the second time. Prophets or pastors who advocate this view are denying Jesus’s teachings. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus outlined how individuals should live now, not in the new heaven and the new earth. False prophets commit sin, then and now, when they deny God’s word.

Reflection: List at least four activities/behaviors in your life that you could or will change so others more consistently recognize Jesus’s teachings in your life.

http://www.CarolynRothMinistry.com

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Posted in Plants in Christ' Ministry in Perea & Judea

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Land Overgrown with Thistles

Posted on July 20, 2019 | Leave a comment

Bible Reference: Isaiah 32.13-14.

The globe thistle is frequently planted for its beauty. When we visited Greenbrier Resort in the West Virginia Appalachian Mountains, globe thistles were carefully cultivated in gardens.  Blossoms can be white, blue, or purple and looks like a three-dimensional globe.

In contrast to gardener’s deliberate planting of globe thistles is the way the globe thistle was used by Bible prophets in Judah and Israel. Isaiah prophesied that the land would be overgrown with thistles as fortresses were abandoned and citadels and watchtowers turned into wastelands.

A contemporary of Isaiah who lived in Israel (Northern Kingdom), the prophet Hosea predicted that  high places of idol worship would be destroyed. These altars will be abandoned and thistles will grow up and cover the altars. God planned to destroy the kingdom of Israel (Northern Kingdom) because of its idol worship and failure to obey God’s commandments. Hosea said that the Northern kingdom planted wickedness and reaped evil. They depended on their own strength, rather than God’s protection.

Globe Thistle

The genus of  Israelite globe thistles is Echinops. In Israel, the globe thistle is Echinops viscosus, commonly called viscous globe-thistle. Traditional Jewish texts claim that the E. viscosus was native to Palestine and Babylon. Several flower heads grow on each stem. In Israel, the color of most globe thistle flowers is metallic blue.  Heads are two-to-three inches in diameter. Globe thistle grows best in humid habitats such as treed hills, i.e., Mount Hermon, and Golan Heights. In present-day Israel, globe thistle blooms in June and July. As summer progresses, flowers turn tan/brown.

Application

As I studied “bad plants” in the Bible, I became fearful. Behaviors of both Northern and Southern Kingdom Israelites—idol worship, not caring for the poor, lack of justice in society and courts—have parallels in United States’ society in the twenty-first century. The difference is  names of these behaviors. We attempt to sanitize current behaviors by giving them politically correct names. We worship the idols of money which provide a big house, nice car, and a comfortable life style. We love the prestige of belonging to a country club, having a series of letters after our name, and working in academe or a well-known corporation. Those who have less money are “unfortunate,” sometimes even “unmotivated” because they didn’t work hard enough, plan, save, etc. White collar crime (embezzlement, lying to stock holders, misrepresenting on tax forms) often goes unpunished, or is under-punished, in comparison to outright burglary.

Reflection: Contemporary United States society isn’t all that different from the first millennium before Jesus in Israel. Ponder how God punished Judah/Jerusalem for discounting, even killing, his Son. Don’t you become concerned that God may punish the United States for discounting his Son? What can you do to stop this downward spiral from God in current society?

Copyright May 18, 2019; Carolyn Roth Ministry.

http://www.CarolynRothMinistry.com

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Posted in Plants & the Promised Land, Plants & the Southern Kingdom - Judah

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Lobster claw flower

Posted on July 10, 2019 | 1 comment

A beautiful display of Lobster Claw flowers ~ Heliconia rostrata. In the garden, these beauties attract butterflies and hummingbirds.

Image may contain: plant and flower

I know nothing about this plant. My cousin posted it on Facebook and I copied it. Remember: lobster is a shellfish; thus, ancient Israelites would have been prohibited from eating it. I guess we can still enjoy the beauty of the blooms.

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Thistle Riddle

Posted on June 30, 2019 | Leave a comment

Bible References:  2 Kings 14; 2 Chronicles chapter 25.

The spotted golden thistle is part of a riddle that King Jehoash (Northern Kingdom, Israel, 798-782 BC) sent to King  Amaziah (Southern Kingdom, Judah, 796-767 BC). The background to this Bible narrative has two distinct parts. First, when King Amaziah planned a military campaign against Edom, he recruited 100,000 mercenaries from Israel. Warned by a prophet to not allow Northern Kingdom mercenaries to march with him, King Amaziah dismissed them. Despite being paid, soldiers were furious. Northern Kingdom soldiers knew that they lost out on plunder of Edom. In response they plundered and murdered in Judah while King Amaziah battled in Edom. Second, when King Amaziah returned to Jerusalem after a successful campaign against Edom, he brought back Edomite idols. Instead of destroying these false gods as Mosaic law required, King Amaziah bowed down and worshiped them.

King Amaziah knew he had to respond to Northern Kingdom soldiers’ killing and plundering Judah while he battled Edom. King Amaziah sent a challenge to King Jehoash to meet him in battle. King Jehoash sent a riddle and a warning back to King Amaziah. The riddle was:

A thistle in Lebanon sent a message to a cedar in Lebanon, ‘Give your daughter to my son in marriage.’ Then, a wild beast in Lebanon came along and trampled the thistle underfoot (2 Chronicles 25.18 NIV).

Then, Jehoash warn Amaziah that because he defeated Edom, he was haughty and proud. King Amaziah was asking for trouble if he persisted in challenging King Jehoash.

The interpretation of Jehoash’s riddle was that he and the Northern Kingdom was a majestic cedar of Lebanon, while King Amaziah and Judah was an insignificant thistle. The demand, give to me your daughter in marriage, could have meant that  Israelite soldiers return plunder taken from Judah’s lands. Alternatively, this part of King Jehoash’s riddle was a further insult. In Old Testament times, a king  gave his daughter to another kingdom for marriage only if the two countries were equal in power. King Jehoash insulted King Amaziah by saying Israel was much more powerful than Judah, i.e., the Northern Kingdom was a cedar and the Southern Kingdom a thistle. King Jehoash would trample King Amaziah and Judah underfoot.

Despite King Jehoash’s warning, King Amaziah moved his army against Israel. A battle ensued where King Jehoash defeated King Amaziah. With King Amaziah of Judah a prisoner, King Jehoash proceeded to Jerusalem. There, Jehoash seized Temple gold, silver, and other valuables, the palace treasury, and hostages. King Jehoash had 600 feet of the Jerusalem wall destroyed. Despite King Jehoash’s victory, he allowed King Amaziah to live.

King Jehoash wasn’t a king who obeyed God;  he did evil in God’s eyes. Jehoash continued the idol worship started by the first king of Israel, Jeroboam I. King Jehoash wouldn’t have won the battle over King Amaziah, but for Amaziah’s sin of rejecting God and worshiping Edomite idols.

In Jehoash’s riddle, the Hebrew word for thistle is choâch or hoah and is associated with the Scolymus genus of plants.7 When Jehoash named Amaziah a thistle, possibly he was thinking of the spotted golden thistle, Scolymus maculatus. The spotted golden thistle was a common plant throughout Israel, growing everywhere except along the extreme Mediterranean seashore. Although occasionally cultivated, more often the spotted golden thistle is found in uncultivated lands and along paths and trails. In very hot temperatures, these thistles grow rapidly. Leaves (or bract) have tooth shaped margins tipped with spines and a white vein all around their outline

In this incident, the spotted golden thistle can be associated with several

concepts, i.e., pride, insult, and insignificance; however, in this story reject or rejection are the best symbols. Examples of rejection include Amaziah’s rejection of the 100,000 Israelite Kingdom mercenaries; Amaziah rejecting God in favor of Edomite idols; Jehoash’s willingness to excuse (or reject) Amaziah’s challenge; and Jehoash’s rejecting the sanctity of God’s Temple.

This Bible episode typifies the Northern Kingdom’s rejection of God. They rejected God’s decrees, the covenant he made with their fathers, and warnings he gave them through prophets. The Northern Kingdom rejected God by plundering his home, the Jerusalem Temple. Eventually, God rejected Northern Kingdom tribes as they first rejected him. God allowed Assyria to destroy the Northern Kingdom.

How do we, living in the twenty-first century, reject God? We do it by not setting aside time to spend with God every day, i.e., failing to have daily Bible study and prayer time. We make the decision to skip Sunday church services, identifying that we are just too tired after a busy work-week. We reject God when we reject other persons for whatever reason, i.e., they are just not our type, we have nothing in common with them, they are poor, they look disheveled.

Reflection: A couple of months ago I determined to start my day with God, reading the Bible and praying. I even identified which book of the Bible to read and contemplate one chapter a day. My good intention lasted about twenty-five days. Then, I defaulted to first making a cup of coffee and second checking what was new on my computer. I rejected God by not putting him first. How about you? Do you ever reject God? How do you start your day?

Copyright May, 6, 2019; Carolyn A. Roth

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Posted in Plants & the Northern Kingdom - Israel, Plants & the Southern Kingdom - Judah

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