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Most of us have read our bible from cover-to-cover. At least most of us should. After all, what if I could prove to you that a story you learned back in Sabbath/Sunday school was not EXACTLY what you remember. Would that make you go pick up your bible and actually READ it, not just skim it? You may actually not have any preconceived notions of the basic bible stories, but I bet you do.

For this example, I’m asking if you recall the story of Jacob and Esau. One was prophesied to be over the other despite being the younger. The only way this could happen, in a sense, was to be the one who received the blessing from his father, Isaac. Jacob manages to purchase the birthright (physical inheritance) from his brother, Esau. Then later, Jacob steals the blessing (also physical inheritance and dominance though more is implied).

You’ve got the picture in your head. You remember hearing the story and have it in your mind that these were young kids who really didn’t know any better. You remember the coloring pages showing the two and they both looked to be teenagers?

What if I told you, your image of them was wrong?

Don’t believe me? I’ll let the scriptures prove it. Let us first state 3 VERY important facts:

• Jacob and Esau were fraternal twins (Genesis 25:21-26).
• Jacob bought the birthright from Esau (Genesis 25:29-34).
• Jacob tricked his father into giving him the blessing (Genesis 27:1-29).

Now you are probably wondering why I listed these three facts. Pay VERY CLOSE ATTENTION to where in Genesis each of these events occurred. This was all chronological. However, there was one other event that falls between the second and third events in my list.

Genesis 26:34-35
And Esau was forty years old when he took to wife Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Bashemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite:
Which were a grief of mind unto Isaac and to Rebekah.

It said that, before the events of Genesis 27, that Esau was 40 years old. Not some teenager. Now refer back to the first event I listed. Jacob was Esau’s fraternal twin. Jacob was also 40 years old.

This isn’t a bunch of kids who are whining, pouting and being devious. These are GROWN MEN.

How does that match up to what you coloring pages told you? Or to what you heard/read in Sabbath/Sunday school?

Now do you understand why you have to read your bible? Not everyone is being completely honest about what is in that book. You need to read for yourself what is in the scriptures. And for those of you who have read it from cover-to-cover, did you already know what I pointed out, or did you just skim? If you didn’t know what I pointed out, you just skimmed. Go back and read it, for the first time.

Before you make any assumptions, the Hebrew word “seder” means “order” as in the order of service. It has been brought to my attention recently of a controversy in the “seder” of keeping the Passover as the Messiah Yahshua implemented. More precisely, the controversy is over whether or not to do the foot washing before or after the bread/wine. I will do my best to summarize the gospels and get to the bottom of this issue.

First I will list each gospel account of that “last supper” and see what portions of the service are mentioned and in what order.

Matthew 26

1. v 20 - He sat down to the meal.
2. v 25 - Judas/Satan is given his charge.
3. v 26 - He broke bread.
4. v 27 - He distributed the wine.
5. v 30 - They went out after singing a hymn.

Mark 14

1. v 17 - He sat down to the meal.
2. v 20 - Judas/Satan is given his charge.
3. v 22 - He broke bread.
4. v 23 - He distributed the wine.
5. v 26 - They went out after singing a hymn.

Luke 22

1. v 14 - He sat down to the meal.
2. v 17 - He distributed the wine.
3. v 19 - He broke bread.
4. v 21 - Judas/Satan is given his charge.
5. v 39 - They went out.

John 13

1. v 4 - He proceeds with the foot washing.
2. v 27 - Judas/Satan is given his charge.
3. John 18:1 - They went out.

Now, of the four accounts, only two are eyewitnesses… Matthew & John… while the other two had heard the story at least second-hand. Thus, it is possible, in the telling, to get items out of order.

However, should we rearrange one of these recountings of the events (Luke 22), everything falls into place as so:

I find it fascinating that John did not mention the bread and wine while the other three have no mention of the footwashing ceremony.

Also, the other reason I feel correct in changing the order in Luke is because Yahshua was introducing a new priesthood as mentioned in Hebrews.

Hebrews 7:11-12
11 - If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, (for under it the people received the law,) what further need was there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchisedec, and not be called after the order of Aaron?
12 - For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law.

This priesthood would follow similar though spiritual forms of the rituals. In this case, they were about to partake of a sacrifice, HIS sacrifice, thus they must do the one thing that all priests must do before partaking of a sacrifice, to wash their feet and hands.

Exodus 30:20-21
20 - When they go into the tabernacle of the congregation, they shall wash with water, that they die not; or when they come near to the altar to minister, to burn offering made by fire unto Yahweh:
21 - So they shall wash their hands and their feet, that they die not: and it shall be a statute for ever to them, even to him and to his seed throughout their generations.

New priesthood requires new rituals. They used to wash their own feet, now they wash each other’s feet. They used to partake of animal sacrifice, now through other symbols, they partake of the greatest sacrifice ever made.

In what I hope will be an annual tradition, I organized the second annual hiking trip to Caprock Canyon State Park in Quitaque, TX (according to a sign outside the town, pronounced “kitty-qway”; but according to a reference online, pronounced “kee-tahk-way”; never heard a local pronounce it though). This year, in addition to my youngest brother, Chris, coming along, one of my best friends, Brent, also agreed. The following is a summary of the trip (please note that it is very long).
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There it is… I’ve drawn it on the ground… I’m refusing to cross it.

As is our weekly ritual, Amy and I got on the Wii Fit and weighed ourselves. In a drastic turn of events, I gained 6.4 pounds in one week. I honestly know that it was a combination of many bad food/drink choices (hello? I had two glasses of White Sangria on Friday night, then a large glass of Sangria and a Margarita on Saturday night; just as examples of the drink choices). I am truly glad I had not experienced a gout attack. I spent all day today making mostly healthy choices (onion rings and ice cream excepted) and drinking only water or unsweet tea.

And yet, here we are (or is that Wii are?). I stood on the Wii Fit board and it told me I had gained 6.4 pounds to weigh around 283 pounds. My old starting point was 319, which means I’m down 37 pounds… I have on my keyring a small token that proves that at one point while on WeightWatchers, I was down 50 pounds.

That means I’ve gained back 13 pounds. So I’ve drawn the line. That line is sitting on 284, and I’m NOT crossing it. I refuse.

My first decision immediately after that was to go to the kitchen and prepare 4 sandwiches for my lunches for the week. I’ve been eating out WAAAAY too much. It has to stop. My breakfasts will consist of either cold cereal at home or oatmeal at work; no more stopping at Chick-Fil-A or McDonald’s or Braum’s for “wreckfast”. I’m taking sandwiches and pickled okra (found I love the stuff and, other than high-sodium, is a good snacking choice). I will drink only water, unsweet tea, and 1% milk.

I need to stop working so much overtime (though I may see that drop some anyways unless another “high-crisis” project comes up this week). That’s been forcing me to pick up dinner and eat much too late. Either it’s dinner by 7pm or not at all.

Hello, sand? Yeah, I know… I messed up your surface a little bit, but I won’t be making any footprints on the other side of that line… I’m walking the other way.

(cross posted on fatbloggers.net)

Yeah, it’s a nice pun, but I wanted to make sure you knew that this has a somewhat positive outcome. After all, I did not complete the marathon yesterday. But before we get to that, let me go over the whole experience.
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