The father of the American space program died this day, June 16, 1977. He developed the famed V-2 rocket for Germany before emigrating to the US, where in 1958, he launched America's first satellite. He became the director of NASA, the U.S. guided missile program and founded the National Space Institute. His name was Wernher von Braun, who stated: "The laws of nature that enable us to fly to the Moon also enable us to destroy our home planet… The guidelines of what we ought to do are furnished in the moral law of God."

Federer, B. (2003). American minute. St. Louis, MO.: Amerisearch, Inc.

God,
that dumping ground of our dreams.
--- Jean Rostand, Carnets d'un Biologiste, 1962

... from here, there and everywhere

15 Laziness makes people fall asleep,
and an idle person will go hungry.

16 He who keeps a mitzvah keeps himself safe,
but he who doesn’t care how he lives will die.

Stern, D. H. (1998). Complete Jewish Bible-OE
: An English version of the Tanakh (OT) and
B'rit Hadashah (NT) (1st ed.). Clarksville, Md.: Jewish
New Testament Publications.

                         What do you make of this

     Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friend … I have called you friends.
--- John 15:13, 15.

     Jesus does not ask me to die for Him, but to lay down my life for Him. Peter said—"I will lay down my life for Thy sake," and he meant it; his sense of the heroic was magnificent. It would be a bad thing to be incapable of making such a declaration as Peter made; the sense of our duty is only realized by our sense of the heroic. Has the Lord ever asked you—"Wilt thou lay down thy life for My sake?" It is far easier to die than to lay down the life day in and day out with the sense of the high calling. We are not made for brilliant moments, but we have to walk in the light of them in ordinary ways. There was only one brilliant moment in the life of Jesus, and that was on the Mount of Transfiguration; then He emptied Himself the second time of His glory, and came down into the demon-possessed valley. For thirty-three years Jesus laid out His life to do the will of His Father, and, John says, "we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren." It is contrary to human nature to do it.

      If I am a friend of Jesus, I have deliberately and carefully to lay down my life for Him. It is difficult, and thank God it is difficult. Salvation is easy because it cost God so much, but the manifestation of it in my life is difficult. God saves a man and endues him with the Holy Spirit, and then says in effect—'Now work it out, be loyal to Me, whilst the nature of things round about you would make you disloyal.' "I have called you friends." Stand loyal to your Friend, and remember that His honour is at stake in your bodily life.

Chambers, O. (1993). My Utmost for His Highest

And I went and put my hands
into the ground, and they took root
and grew into a season's harvest.
I looked behind the veil
of the leaves, and heard voices
that I knew had been dead
in my tongue years before my birth.
I learned the dark.

I let go all holds then, and sank
like a hopeless swimmer into the earth,
and at last came fully into the ease
and the joy of that place,
all my lost ones returning.

R.S. Thomas

          Healer, heal your limp!

     BIBLE TEXT / Genesis 4:23–25 / And Lamech said to his wives,
   "Adah and Zillah, hear my voice;
   O wives of Lamech, give ear to my speech.
   I have slain a man for wounding me,
   And a lad for bruising me.
   If Cain is avenged sevenfold, Then Lamech seventy-sevenfold."
     Adam knew his wife again, and she bore him a son and named him Seth, meaning, "God has provided me with another offspring in place of Abel," for Cain had killed him.

     MIDRASH TEXT Genesis Rabbah 23, 4 And Lamech said to his wives, "Adah and Zillah, hear my voice." Rabbi Yosé bar Ḥanina said, "He demanded of them 'use.' They [Lamech's wives] said to him [Lamech], 'Tomorrow a flood will come. If we listen to you, will we be fruitful and multiply for a curse?' He [Lamech] said to them [his wives], 'I have slain a man for wounding me, because of him I will be wounded. And a lad for bruising me, because of him I will be bruised. How strange! Cain slew and it was suspended for him for seven generations, and I who did not slay, isn't it right that it be suspended for me?' " Rabbi said, "This is a kol va-ḥomer of darkness [a logical argument which remains obscure]." If so, when can the Holy One, praised is He, collect His writ of debt? Rabbi Yaakov bar Idi asked Rabbi Yoḥanan, "If 'a man' why 'a lad'? And if 'a lad,' why 'a man'?" He said to him, "He was a man according to his size, but a lad year-wise." He [Lamech] said to them [his wives], "Let's go to Adam." They went to Adam. He [Adam] said to them [Adah and Zillah], "Do yours and the Holy One, praised is He, will do His." And they [Adah and Zillah] said to him [Adam], "Healer, heal your limp! You have been separated from Eve one hundred and thirty years just so that she won't have a child. How strange!" Because he heard this, he joined to produce future generations.

     CONTEXT / The Rabbis were puzzled by these verses: Why does Lamech say "I have slain a man for wounding me," when there is no record in Genesis of Lamech slaying anyone? And what is Lamech referring to when he says "and a lad for bruising me"? This chapter describes early human history—Lamech's two wives, Adah and Zillah; Adah's son Jabal, who "was the ancestor of those who dwell in tents and amidst herds"; and her other son, Jubal, who was "the ancestor of all who play the lyre and pipe." These ancient traditions speak of events that are virtually beyond human memory. Of course, this did not stop the Rabbis from filling in the details of the lives of these people and the events to which this story refers.

     According to Rabbi Yosé bar Ḥanina, He [Lamech] demanded of them [his wives, Adah and Zillah] "use," the rabbinic abbreviation for "use of the bed," a euphemism for sexual relations. They, his wives, Adah and Zillah, said to him, Lamech, "Tomorrow a flood will come in the time of Noah." The flood appears in Genesis 6, soon after the story of Lamech and his wives. "If we listen to you, will we be fruitful and multiply, give birth, for a curse," that is, will we have children who will die in the impending flood? Apparently, they knew of God's anger toward humanity and the flood that God would bring about in several generations. The curse is bringing children into the world just to have them killed in the flood.

     He [Lamech] said to them [his wives], "I have slain a man for wounding me," because of him I will be wounded. There is another Midrash that asserts that the blind Lamech accidentally killed his grandfather Cain. Lamech asks, "If Cain slew Abel and it, the judgment against Cain, was suspended for him for seven generations because there is no death sentence carried out against Cain himself, and I who did not slay intentionally, but accidentally, isn't it right that it be suspended for me for my accidental killing of Cain?" Since the Rabbis place these words in Lamech's mouth, he speaks using a kol va-ḥomer, a logical argument from a minor principle (kol) to a major principle (ḥomer), sometimes called an argument a fortiori. If a certain rule applies in the lesser (less significant, less important, less inclusive) case (hence kol, light or minor), then it applies in another case that is more significant, important, or inclusive (ḥomer, heavy or major)! In other words, "Don't worry. We can have sexual relations and children because I won't be punished; neither will my children be punished." Of course, this is the way the Rabbis read the text. The P'shat or contextual reading seems to have Lamech admitting his guilt. The Rabbis read "avenged sevenfold … seventy-sevenfold" as "judgment suspended seven generations … seventy-seven generations."

     Rabbi Yehudah ha-Nasi, head of the Jewish community in Israel, preeminent teacher of his time, and compiler of the Mishnah, known simply by his title of "Rabbi," said, "This is a kol va-ḥomer of darkness," an illogical argument. To Rabbi Yehudah ha-Nasi, this argument doesn't hold water: Just because Lamech wasn't punished is no proof of what will happen in the future. Perhaps his children will continue their father's evil ways, and they themselves will eventually be punished. That Lamech has not been punished (yet) is not proof that his future generations will not eventually be punished! If so, when can the Holy One, praised is He, collect His writ of debt, that is, the debt that is owed to God because of the evil that previous generations committed? Rabbi Yaakov bar Idi asked Rabbi Yoḥanan, "If 'a man' why 'a lad'? And if 'a lad,' why 'a man'?" Why does Lamech use both seemingly contradictory terms, man and lad? The Rabbis identify this man/lad as Abel, the brother slain by Cain. He [Rabbi Yoḥanan] said to him [Rabbi Yaakov bar Idi], "He, Abel, was a man according to his size, literally, "according to his limbs," but a lad year-wise, literally, "according to his years." (The translation attempts to retain the rhyme of the Hebrew phrase.) Abel, the slain brother, was a large person, looking like a man, but he was in actuality only a lad. He [Lamech] said to them [his wives], "Let's go to Adam." Lamech proposes having Adam, their ancestor, settle their argument about past sins and future punishments. If Cain was his grandfather, then Adam was his great-grandfather and he would be very, very old. This doesn't seem to bother the Rabbis. They went to Adam. He [Adam] said to them [Adah and Zillah], "Do yours and the Holy One, praised is He, will do His." Judgment is God's business; producing future generations of children is ours. If God will exact punishment, there is nothing we can do about it, even though we are afraid of what might happen in the future. And they [Adah and Zillah] said to him [Adam], "Healer, heal your limp!" (similar to "Physician, heal thyself!" of Luke 4:23). They accuse Adam of being a hypocrite: While telling Adah and Zillah to procreate, Adam himself has been separated from Eve one hundred and thirty years. This is based on a Midrash, cited in Genesis Rabbah 20:11 and 21:9, that Adam avoided sexual contact with Eve so that she [wouldn't] have a child. This was done out of fear: Adam was able to see into the future, and he knew that his descendants would be sinners, to be punished in Gehenna (hell). (This, of course, is not in the biblical text but is a Rabbinic legend, which doesn't prevent Adah and Zillah from knowing about it as well.) Adah and Zillah accuse Adam of hypocrisy in telling them to have children but in refusing to do so himself.

     This Midrash may seem to come out of nowhere, but it's actually based on an odd proximity of verses. The Rabbis noticed not only the strange nature of Lamech's speech, which is not connected to any event in Genesis, but also what happens right after Lamech finishes his speech to his wives. The text continues that "Adam knew [in the biblical sense: had sex with] his wife again, and she bore a son." Why, they wondered, did the text move from Lamech's speech to Adam's relations with Eve and the birth of another son? The Rabbis reasoned that Adah and Zillah called Adam's bluff and said, in effect, "Put up or shut up! If you're telling us to have faith in the future, you'd better also!" Adam, though still mourning the death of Abel, had to face the future and confront reality and produce future generations.

Katz, M., & Schwartz, G. Searching for Meaning in Midrash: Lessons for Everyday Living Philadelphia, PA: The Jewish Publication Society.

     Even in darkness light dawns for the upright. --- Psalm 112:4

     If someone inquired, "Do you see the answer to the riddle of life and the mystery of sorrow?" we would answer "No, I do not see it." Classic Sermons on Suffering (Kregel Classic Sermons Series) But if the inquirer went on to ask, "Do you see any points of light, any places where the mystery is not quite so dark?" some of us would reply, "I think I do." Consider now some of these beams of light. For the darkness in which we walk is not impenetrable gloom, and the night—thank God—has stars.

     The first beam of light is the goodness of unbending law. Even though the physical laws of the universe may work out tragically for people, yet if we could choose to live in a world without these laws, our predicament would be infinitely worse.

     Sometimes it would facilitate things vastly if the laws of nature would bend back and let us dodge them. We all wish feverishly that they would do that sometimes. And yet, what kind of universe would it be in which nature were erratic and capricious? It would be a madhouse of a world.

     The second beam of light is what the apostle Paul described as our membership of one another. If one person plays the fool, a dozen or a score or a thousand may be ruined. If one country breaks faith, the whole world may be plunged in cataclysm. But over against it you have to set this compensating consideration, that our mutual interdependence—which is responsible for so much of the sheer tragedy of life, is also responsible for life's greatest glory.

     Think what you owe to this perilous fact of belonging to the human community. You cannot share the blessings and shirk the risks.

     The third beam of light is the wisdom of the divine impartiality.

     Most of us would say that the real crux of the whole problem of evil, the cruel sting of the thing, is the absolutely indiscriminate way in which trouble aims its blows with appalling indifference at those who deserve them and at those who do not deserve them in the least.

     If a Christian escaped the troubles that visit other folk, if religion "got you off," religion would become a commercial transaction. And that would be the ruin of religion and character forever. No, far better that troubles should come and the heavens crash and fall than that righteousness should be sought for any reason except for righteousness' sake alone.
--- James S. Stewart

Wallis, D. (2001). Take Heart: Daily Devotions with the Church's Great Preachers

     Watching the Day of the Lord
If there had been newspapers in Joel's day, the headlines might have read:
LOCUSTS INVADE THE LAND!
NATION FACES SEVERE ECONOMIC CRISIS
No End to Drought in Sight

     A wise preacher or teacher will get the people's attention by referring to something they're all concerned about. In this case, the people of Judah were talking about the economic crisis, so the Lord led Joel to use that event as a the background for his messages. The people didn't realize it, but they were watching the Day of the Lord unfold before their very eyes, and the Prophet Joel explained it to them.

     The name "Joel" means "the Lord is God." Like all true prophets, Joel was commissioned to call the people back to the worship of the true God; and he did this by declaring "the word of the Lord" (1:1; see Jer. 1:2; Ezek. 1:3; and the first verses of Hosea, Micah, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi). It was the task of the priests to teach the people the Law, and it was the responsibility of the prophets to call the people back to the Lord whenever they strayed from His Law. The prophets also interpreted historical events in the light of the Word of God to help the people understand God's will for their lives. They were "forth-tellers" as well as "foretellers."

     Joel wanted the people of Judah to understand what God was saying to them through the plague and the drought. In our own times, the nations of the world are experiencing severe droughts and famines, frightening epidemics, unexpected earthquakes, devastating floods, and other "natural disasters," all of which have greatly affected national and global economy; yet very few people have asked, "What is God saying to us?" Joel wrote his book so the people would know what God was saying through these critical events.

     As you can see from the suggested outline of Joel's book, the prophet announced "the Day of the Lord" and applied it to three events: the plague of locusts, the future invasion of the Assyrians, and the distant judgment that the Lord would send on the whole world. In this chapter, we want to focus on the first two applications of "the Day of the Lord."

     1. The Immediate Day of the Lord (Joel 1:1–20)

     When you're in a crisis, you'll hear all kinds of voices interpreting what's going on and telling you what to do. The optimists will say, "This crisis isn't going to last. Be brave!" The pessimists will sob, "It's going to get worse and there's no escape! We're done for!" The alarmists will see the enemy behind every tree, and the scoffers will question the news reports and shrug their shoulders saying, "What difference does it make anyway?"

     But Joel was a realist who looked at life from the standpoint of the Word of the Lord. He addressed himself to five groups of citizens and gave them four admonitions from the Lord.

     The elders and citizens in general: "Hear this!" (Joel 1:2–4) He addressed the old men (In the KJV, the Hebrew word is translated "old men" in 1:2 and 2:28, and "elders" in 1:14 and 2:16. The NIV uses "elders" everywhere except 2:28, where the contrast between "young men" and "old men" is quite obvious. It's possible that the "old men" were indeed the official elders of the land.) first for probably two reasons: they had long experience and could authenticate what he was saying, and they were respected citizens in the land. With their support, Joel wasn't just a voice crying in the wilderness. They agreed with the prophet that the nation faced a catastrophe of monumental proportion such as they had never seen before. It was something people would tell to their children and grandchildren for years to come.

     Joel used four different words to describe the plague (v. 4; see 2:25), and it's been suggested that they represent four stages in the life cycle of the locusts. However, the words probably convey the idea of successive swarms of locusts invading the land, each swarm destroying what the others had left behind. A swarm of locusts can devastate the vegetation of a countryside with amazing rapidity and thoroughness, and nothing can stop them (Ex. 10:1–20).

     To the drunkards: "Wake up and weep!" (Joel 1:5–7) Except for pointing out the insincerity of some of the worshipers (2:12–13), drunkenness is the only sin that Joel actually names in his book. However, this was a serious sin that the prophets often condemned (Hosea 7:5; Amos 4:1). Perhaps the drunkards represented all the careless people in the land whose only interest was sinful pleasure.

     These people had good reason to weep because there was no wine and wouldn't be any more until the next season, if there was a next season. Because of the locusts and the drought, "the new wine is dried up … the vine is dried up" (Joel 1:10, 12). Keep in mind that bread and wine were staples in the Jewish diet, so that even the people who didn't get drunk were affected by the loss.

     Joel compared the locusts to an invading nation and to hungry lions with sharp teeth (v. 6; see 2:2, 11). They attacked the vines and the fig trees, two things essential to Jewish life. Having one's own vineyard and fig trees was a symbol of success and contentment in the East (2:22; Isa. 36:16; Amos 4:9; Ps. 105:33). Note how Joel uses the personal pronoun my as he speaks of the land and its vegetation, for all of it belonged to the Lord, and He had a right to do with it whatever He pleased.

     To the farmers: "Despair and wail!" (Joel 1:8–12) Joel named some of the crops that had been ruined: the grain (wheat and barley), the new wine, the oil, and the fruit from the pomegranate, palm, and apple trees. From season to season, the locusts ate whatever was produced, and the drought kept the soil from producing anything more. In verses 18–20, Joel includes the flocks and herds and their pastures. All that the farmers could do was express their grief and lament like an engaged girl whose fiancé had died. It seemed a hopeless situation.

     To the priests: "Call a fast!" (Joel 1:13–20) Not only were the people in need, but so was the temple. Nobody could bring the proper sacrifices because no meal, wine, or animals were available. Joel called the priests to lament and pray, including those who worked "the night shift" (Ps. 134:1). (The phrase "your God" is used eight times in this book to remind the people of their personal relationship to Jehovah and their accountability to Him (1:13–14; 2:13–14, 23, 26–27; 3:17).)

     The Jews were required to observe only one fast, and that was on the annual Day of Atonement (Lev. 16:29, 31). But the religious leaders could call a fast whenever the people faced and emergency and needed to humble themselves and seek God's face (Jud. 20:26; 2 Chron. 20:3; Ezra 8:21; Neh. 9:1–3; Jer. 36:9). This was such an emergency. "Gird yourself" (Joel 1:13) means "Put on sackcloth!" (See Jer. 4:8 and 6:26). It was time for the people to humble themselves and pray (2 Chron. 7:14).

     In Joel 1:15–18, we have the lament of the nation, and in verses 19–20, the prayer of the prophet as he interceded for the nation. The lament is a vivid description of the sad condition of the land, the crops, the flocks, and the herds; for "the Day of the Lord" had come to the nation. The immediate reference is to the assault of the locusts and the devastating effects of the drought, but later, Joel uses the phrase to describe the terrible "Day of the Lord" when the nations will be judged. God is the Lord of creation, and without His blessing, nature cannot produce what we need for sustaining life (Pss. 65; 104:10–18, 21; 145:15). We should never pray lightly, "Give us this day our daily bread," for only God can sustain life (Acts 17:25, 28).

     "How the cattle moan!" (Joel 1:18, NIV) This reminds us that all creation "groans and labors" because of the bondage of sin in the world (Rom. 8:18–22; Gen. 3:17–19). Creation longs for that day when the Creator will return to earth and set it free from sin's shackles, and then "the wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad … and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom like the rose" (Isa. 35:1).

     It wasn't enough for the people to humble themselves and lament; they also had to pray. This is what God required in His covenant with His people (2 Chron. 6:26–27; 7:12–15; see Deut. 28:23–24). Joel didn't ask God for anything; he simply told the Lord of the suffering of the land, the beasts, and the people, knowing that God would do what was right. "The fire" (Joel 1:20) refers to the drought, which left the land looking like it had been burned.

     Too often we drift along from day to day, taking our blessings for granted, until God permits a natural calamity to occur and remind us of our total dependence on Him. When water is rationed and food is scarce, and when prices for necessities escalate, then we discover the poverty of our artificial civilization and our throwaway society. Suddenly, necessities become luxuries, and luxuries become burdens.

     God didn't have to send great battalions to Judah to bring the people to their knees. All He needed was a swarm of little insects, and they did the job. Sometimes He uses bacteria or viruses so tiny that you need a special microscope to see them. He is the "Lord of hosts," the Lord of the armies of heaven and earth. He is "the Almighty" (v. 15) and none can stay His powerful hand. ("Almighty" is a translation of the Hebrew word Shaddai, which is related to the Hebrew word for "breast." He is the all-sufficient One, the bountiful One, the God who can do anything. The name is found forty-eight times in the Old Testament, thirty-one of them in the Book of Job, where the greatness of God is one of the major themes. "Almighty" is used eight times in the Book of Revelation.)

W. W. Wiersbe, (1996) Be Amazed (Minor Prophets): Restoring an Attitude of Wonder and Worship (The BE Series Commentary)