The Moabite Stone

AKA Mesha Stele

Come to the Louvre to see it

Is it ancient Hebrew, or Phoenician?

Mesha, King of Moab

Dated about 840 BC, quite a bit older that the accounts of Moab in Jeremiah (630 to 580 BC).

The ancient texts of the Hebrews have been preserved and appropriated by many peoples and cultures.  Here is a text that presents a different side to the well known story.  There are always many sides to every story so  to provide some balance, I will give it the same treatment that I have given to Jeremiah.

I am Mesha, the king of Moab,  My father reigned over Moab for thirty years. I have built this sanctuary in praise to the creator who saved us from all aggressors, and made me look on all enemies with contempt. 

Israel, the oppressor took the land of Madeba for forty years. The king of Israel fortified Ataroth. I assaulted the wall and captured it, and killed all the warriors of the city to the glory of the creator and Moab, and I removed from it all the spoil, and offered it to the creator in worship. And the creator spoke saying, "Go take Nebo against Israel", and I went in the night and I fought against it from the break of day till noon, and I took it: and I killed in all seven thousand men, but I did not kill the women and maidens, for I devoted them to the creator; and I took from it the vessels of Jehovah, and offered them before the creator.

And the king of Israel fortified Jahaz, and occupied it. He made war against me, and the creator drove him out before me.  I took from Moab two hundred men in all, and placed them in Jahaz, and took it to annex it to Dibon. I built Karchah the wall of the forest, and the wall of the Hill. I have built its gates and I have built its towers. I have built the palace of the king, and I made prisons for the criminals within the wall. There were no wells in the interior of the wall in Karchah. And I said to all the people, ‘Every man is to make a well in his house.’ And I dug the ditch for Karchah with the chosen men of Israel. I built Aroer, and I made the road across the Arnon. I took Beth-Bamoth for it was destroyed. I built Bezer for it was cut down by the armed men of Daybon, for all Daybon was now loyal; and I reigned from Bikran, which I added to my land. And I built Beth-Gamul, and Beth-Diblathaim, and Beth Baal-Meon, and I placed there the poor people of the land. And as to Horonaim, the men of Edom lived there.

And the creator said to me, "Go down, make war against Horonaim, and take it."  And I assaulted it, And I took it, restored it in my days. Wherefore I made.... ...year...and I....

The story of how the stone was found, and what happened to it is also an epic.  

It is a story of how an ancient text was preserved for 1868 years + 840 years = 2708 years, only to be smashed to pieces.  Not before a 'squeeze' was made of the stele, preserving the original text in the form of papier mache.  Read more about the stone here.

Churches of North-Central Suffolk

Eye - St Peter and St Paul 

Eye

Yaxley - St Mary

Dennington - St Mary

Framlingham - St Michael

Framlingham

Wingfield - St Andrew

Withersdale Street - St Mary

Withersdale Street

Blythburrgh - Holy Trinity

Southwold

Southwold - St Edmund

Alderburgh Catholic Church

Bramfield - St Andrew

Bramfield - St Andrew

Woolpit - St Mary

.

Thranston - St Margaret of Antioch

Thranston - St Margaret of Antioch

A New International Society

The Independent Society of Eco Gannetry

A society founded as a response to reports that 30% of fresh food is thrown away.
The societies aim to encourage less food waste though:

• Advice on the use of scraps including on-line recipes.
• Advice about easy medical cures to food poisoning.

People naturally drawn to this society pathologically hate wasting things (anything).

They are not perfectionists, and are willing to spoil a prefect pie by sticking the off-cuts on the top forming some curious pattern.

The entry fee is zero pounds, because these people are to tight to ever be willing to spend money on joining a society.  They are not naturally 'clubbable', and membership is observed by behaviour rather than any formal membership scheme.

Membership is also secret, because members realise that this is really a private passion, and bears little relation to ending world poverty.

The Independent Society of Eco-Gannetry
Motto - They might hope

Other  closely related societies:-

• ANTIPLASTIK-   The society for Abolition of Plastic.  Plastic Pollution Coalition
• The National Allotment Society
• The International Society for the Abolition of Exams  (As described to me by my old Educational Psychology Lecturer.)
• The National Pedant Society

Are you a Recabite?

This is an ancient and marvellous story
found in chapter 35 of Jeremiah, (in the Bible).
It goes like this:

Jeremiah was just about the only person around who was honest and brave.  He had been chosen by the Creator of  all things (in Britain we still use the Norse term 'God') to be the person who would hear important messages and convey them to the leaders and the people.

The city was brewing for an almighty fight with the neighbouring superpower.  A group of nomadic Gypsies, called the Racabites had come into the city to try to find safety.  The Racabites lived in the surrounding deserts in tents.  They took an oath abstinence from alcohol.  We might call them 'Bedouin' today.

Jeremiah invited the Racabites to attend a feast in the palace.  These people must have been somewhat bemused because their life was not one of grandeur.  Jeremiah set out a feast for them with plenty of wine.  He invited them to enjoy themselves.  To a person they refused to drink alcohol, making clear that they would never break their oath, not even for kings and rulers.  Jeremiah was very impressed by their strength of character.  These people were exceptional, proving that it was still possible to be uncorruptible.  Their example was explained to the people as an illustration what the Creator was requiring of them.  All along these people had been assured that if they would turn from evil and corruption they would protect their lives from the impending catastrophe.  Sadly the people assumed these were just words, but they were wrong.  Their city was overrun and most of the people were carried off to a different county.

In 1835, as part of a Victorian campaign against corruption, and to find ways to protect financial investments from being tainted by unethical practices, the Independent Order of Rachabites was created.  It continued well into the twentieth century in the English speaking world.  Here are objects now found in museums.

Our Bedouin Forefathers

David Cannadine (Historian) recalled be taken to a meeting with
 his grandparents in Birmingham. 

The meeting places were called 'tents'.
Account of the meeting house in Canterbury is here.

Gilsland- A good place to stay

The Accommodation

The River

The Map

The route of the wall passes through the farm!

Local Walking Map

Rolands Gil

Lanercost Priory

Other sites to see- Vindolanda, Housesteads Fort, Talkin Tarn, Nothumbria Nation Park Visitors Centre.
Further away- Carlisle, Hexham, Wetheral Priory Gatehouse, Wreay St Mary (Arts and Crafts) Church, Brampton St Martin (Arts and Crafts) Church, Kilder Reservoir.
St Cuthberts Churchyard, Bewcastle. 

Kirkandrew C of E in Scotland

Footbridge over to the church

St Andrew's Church Kirkandrew

The Bewcastle Runes
(7th or 8th Century)

Eat: Benkinsopp Castle

Housesteads  11miles

Vindolanda 9 miles

Hexham  21 miles

Carlisle 19 miles

Haltwhistle 5 miles

Nearby – Birdowald Roman Fort (Booked visits), National Park visitors centre

Kielder Water – 1:30 hours to 1 hour away.

Lannercost Priory -  8 miles

Gazing back at the future

Bolwoningen 

A housing estate in Den Bosch, a city near the Belgium border. 

Avlala Tower Belgrade 

Extraordinary modernist tower 

Rondo House, near Freiburg, Germany

Futuro House, on the move.

Better than a static caravan

Curse the Idolaters

(Inspired by a morning walk and reading Jeremiah)

Cursed be the dog walker who left on a seat,
A forgotten dog offering in black bag replete.

Launched from a window of a passing car,
Plastic tributes to a Burger King star.

All hail great king where the holy will sup,
Stoop in submission the offering to pick up.

Woe to the gardeners, grinding tree stumps at 7:00,
When the school year's just ended and all should be heaven.

On becoming an IT expert

What I have learned so far:

We are all like babies, born into a world that is already taking place.  It is like being given a grand piano without lessons.  We learn through experimentation.  Sometimes it works! And we are delighted.  Sometimes it sounds awful (especially our expletives.)  Like babies, there is no point fighting it; no one is listening and all expect us to get the hang of it.  Are you meeting your IT milestones?

As with all language, understanding key terms is very helpful in moving forward.  As with other languages there are dictionaries, and we should remember to use them.  One key term is 'browser'.  I have been getting no where for ages in the wrong browser.  I have sorted out now and am moving forward rapidly.

We are all like doctors.  So what might the problem be?  Is it software (the brain) or hardware (the body)?  The best doctors take advice from their colleagues.  They do not jump to conclusions quickly.  They are aware of their gut instinct and balance it with their head knowledge.  They are positive, but honest. 

If I can be bothered there is so much help out there.  There are helplines.  There are people who for a fee are willing to help.  How much do I want to be helped?  How bothered am I.

If I can type into the search box on youtube what my problem is, some kind soul in some part of the world will offer free advice.  If I don't understand them, I can move onto the next one. 

However you are, you deserve a certificate. (Make your own at https://certificatemagic.com/)