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I guess the concept of afterlife was foreign to them [ancient Hebrews], so you would have to kinda question what role religion would have in that context?
I’m been scared of death off and on, I guess, pretty much my whole life. When I was age 6, I asked my Dad if people dreamed when they were dead. He said no.

So yeah, I’m interested that the ancient Hebrews didn’t exactly worry about it all that much. Please tell me a little more if you can.
ya, i wish i could, but idk; my guess is that they most likely had the same thoughts, and ran on a bell curve just like we do? The official religion doesnt mean that thats how the hoi polloi felt i guess? Plus the Bible records their forays into other gods; the priest having to destroy Nehushtan (the Snake on a Pole) comes to mind, chiefly.

Which i meant to mention to Scooter, but we just never got that far. But the clear inference is that we are to destroy Nehushtan ourselves. Of course you have to identify him first, the caduceus, etc, and Jesus conflating Himself with the Snake on a Pole, sort of. Which i would say is enough evidence to suggest that they thought about it plenty?

Of course the associations of Promised Land to heaven are pretty…rife, i guess, and ive read some stuff about Moses not making it that is interesting; basically they suggested that that was a perennial struggle, and even the source of the conflicts between the Israelites and Yah that caused the diasporas.

Which its kind of hard to illustrate how believing in Jesus—or really more like worshipping Jesus—might cause a rift between us and Yah, huh? But it continues to today, as you maybe even witness between Scooter and i, or between the Bible and Christianity even; one v in The Rev is taken literally, while the many other vv suggesting otherwise are disregarded?

I can tell you what little i know, from experience, that being that idk anything you dont, and im pretty sure that the Bible authors would agree there, as the many vv that suggest that even more or less blantantly confess, 9So we aspire to please Him, whether we are here in this body or away from it—the culmination of the “absent from the body” passage, which can only be misapplied by a worshipper of Nehushtan, as the judgement seat of Christ will also be, the next v.

The cure would be to put on immortality right now, but the Bible doesnt really describe the process lol. At least not in that passage
I mean, the ancient Egyptians certainly worried about the afterlife a lot.
and based on those books that i read forty years ago i suspect that their preoccupation with it was pretty common in Israel, too, and likely a reason for the rejection of it in Judaism? When you read the Exodus on a…less literal level, as crossing the sea of reeds and even taking many Egyptians with them, a picture of a struggle to get free of Egyptian hegemony, really mental at least as much as literal, starts to come into focus.

I would even say that its a bit strange that Egypt still exists? Nothing like their former glory, but still
 
But the clear inference is that we are to destroy Nehushtan ourselves. Of course you have to identify him first, the caduceus, etc, and Jesus conflating Himself with the Snake on a Pole, sort of.
I know the symbol for modern medicine and healing involves a snake. I think from the Greeks.

will pull reference


Star_of_life2.svg



And there’s another symbol involving two snakes.
 

verse 5 — And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread.

6 — And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died.

7 — Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord, and against thee; pray unto the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people.

8 — And the Lord said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.

9 — And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.


- King James Version

————————

So, if you’re bitten by a snake and you look at a brass snake on a pole, you’re healed ? ! ?

This is as much a magic amulet as anything i’ve ever heard of. And if someone wants to call this a “graven image,” I think that’s accurate.

It also sounds a whole lot like the “Law of Attraction” and “The Prosperity Gospel” — if you have negative thoughts, the Universe will punish you. And conversely, if you have positive thoughts, the Universe will reward you.
 
Plus the Bible records their forays into other gods; the priest having to destroy Nehushtan (the Snake on a Pole) comes to mind, chiefly.
I have not heard the word “Nehushtan.” And where in the Bible is this Snake on a Pole destroyed?

Maybe it’s in the Talmud, which is the Jewish commentary on the first 5 books of the Bible, plus the law generally I think.
 
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The best known anecdote concerning Hillel and Shammai is the story about a heathen who stated that he would embrace Judaism provided it could be explained to him while he stood on one foot. After Shammai had failed to satisfy the request, Hillel answered: “Do not unto thy fellows what is hateful unto you; this is the whole law; the rest is commentary.” The heathen did give serious consideration to Hillel’s “Golden Rule” and later became a convert.

—————

I consider this a much more positive story. :)

And this is one of my favorite versions of the Golden Rule.
 
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In my library I read from Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole, Warren Weirsbe, J.Vernon McGee, Augustus Strong and numerous others.
Thank you. And in the future when the time’s right, if you might include a sentence or two, I’m pretty good at taking a phrase and doing a “Google books” search.

And/or some of these people may have websites.
 
Plus the Bible records their forays into other gods; the priest having to destroy Nehushtan (the Snake on a Pole) comes to mind, chiefly.
I have not heard the word “Nehushtan.” And where in the Bible is this Snake on a Pole destroyed?

Maybe it’s in the Talmud, which is the Jewish commentary on the first 5 books of the Bible, plus the law generally I think.
4He removed the high places, shattered the sacred pillars, and cut down the Asherah poles. He also demolished the bronze snake called Nehushtanb that Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had burned incense to it

but i noticed in the search that there’s also mention of some girl, Nehushta? Which i knew nothing about and would possibly add to the story
 
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The best known anecdote concerning Hillel and Shammai is the story about a heathen who stated that he would embrace Judaism provided it could be explained to him while he stood on one foot. After Shammai had failed to satisfy the request, Hillel answered: “Do not unto thy fellows what is hateful unto you; this is the whole law; the rest is commentary.” The heathen did give serious consideration to Hillel’s “Golden Rule” and later became a convert.

—————

I consider this a much more positive story. :)

And this is one of my favorite versions of the Golden Rule.
thats another that ive like barely heard of, ill check it out, tks
 
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Catching up on the good convo here!
 
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But the clear inference is that we are to destroy Nehushtan ourselves. Of course you have to identify him first, the caduceus, etc, and Jesus conflating Himself with the Snake on a Pole, sort of.
I know the symbol for modern medicine and healing involves a snake. I think from the Greeks.

will pull reference


Star_of_life2.svg



And there’s another symbol involving two snakes.
well, we often associate it with healing, yes; but allopathy is about symptom relief, not really healing. Which ends up being the lesson about the snake on a pole
 
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