Tirzah – The Noontimes

1 Kings 15: Delight – Part II

1 Kings 15: Delight – Part II

Wednesday, December 28, 2022

The significance of the name Tirzah in Hebrew is “favorable” or “she is my delight”; yet we have the picture in today’s reading of something once valued being left behind for richer fields and stronger walls. If we were to name our own capital, what would it be? Would there be sacred places within the limits of this city along with places of commerce? Would these places welcome all and be a gathering place where new ideas are as important as tradition, and old wisdom as important as new growth? When later generations excavated, would they find a site with remnants of a life well lived, open in hospitality to weary strangers who harbored there awhile before moving on?

Tirzah, a place of favor and delight, but abandoned. What happens with us that we tire so quickly of a place and her people that we move on without taking much time to think?

Consulting a concordance, we find a great number of times that writers of the sacred text use the word delight. God delights in Jesus. The crowds listened to Jesus with delight. We delight in God, God’s Law, and God’s holy ones. We delight in our salvation and vindication by God, God’s justice, mercy, righteousness and kindness. With St. Paul in his letters to Corinthians, we even delight in the weakness, hardships, persecutions and difficulties suffered for Christ’s sake. (2 Corinthians 12) We find delight in our family, friends and work. We may delight in the obstacles, hardships and rejections. And we must certainly delight in all gifts we receive from God.

We can spend hours with this word and still not plumb its depths, but let us linger a bit longer over the words of the prophet Zephaniah (3:17) who tells us: The Lord your God is with you, God is mighty to save. God will take delight in you, God will quiet you with love, God will rejoice over you with singing.

So we may want to return to the places of Tirzah that we have abandoned. We may want to excavate the secrets that lie hidden there, the secrets that we ourselves have left behind. And in these hidden places, we may once again realize just how much God takes delight in us.

For a quick analysis of how the population in the USA sees God, click on the image below. As a Christmas gift to ourselves, we might want to reflect on our own view of God and the world we inhabit.

Tomorrow, as we end another year and prepare to celebrate newness, a prayer for a fuller understanding of God’s delight in us.

Adapted from a favorite written on December 22, 2009.

Images from: http://thepreachersword.com/2013/03/20/whats-your-view-of-god/ and https://dailybible.co/p/HkbSZDfoEg/web/

December 28, 2022

2 Corinthians 12, Isaiah 62:4, secrets, Tirzah, Zephaniah 3:17

1 Kings 15: Delight – Part I

1 Kings 15: Delight – Part I

Tuesday, December 27, 2022

As we move through the Christmas season, let us pause to consider what delight we take in God’s great gift of self to humanity, and what gift we give to God in return.

Tirzah, located in the Manasseh tribal region, rose to importance under King Baasha (900 – 877 B.C.E.). This king was buried in Tirzah and is, in fact, the only Israelite king whom the Bible specifically states was interred in the city. Tirzah’s significance dwindled after Omri shifted the northern kingdom’s capital to Samaria. At that time Tirzah was abandoned as is evidenced by materials left behind: partly-dressed masonry blocks alongside well-dressed masonry, and the absence of ruins. “Song of Songs 6:4 sets Tirzah alongside Jerusalem as one of Israel’s two great cities, indicating that the Song was written during Tirzah’s glory days”. (Zondervan 509)

This city, once so important that the king wishes to be buried within her precincts, is later abandoned and we do not know why. We might use this Noontime to examine the history we see attached to people and places. It also calls us to examine our own contribution to the common history we leave behind. What will future excavators find when they exhume our lives? Will they find forsaken shells of something once important? Are songs written to our beauty? Do we leave a legacy that indicates that we were once loyal and faithful followers of Christ? What is the treasure we have amassed? Does it have a positive influence here in this world? Does it live forever in the next? What is the significance the sum total of our actions? What is the name with which we tag the space and time we have occupied here on earth? Is there anything about this record of ourselves that we wish to change?

Tomorrow, gifts accepted, and gifts abandoned.

For Biblewalk through the Tirzah Valley, click on the image above or visit: http://www.biblewalks.com/Sites/Makhruk.html

ARCHAEOLOGICAL STUDY BIBLE (NIV). Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2005. 509. Print.

Adapted from a favorite written on December 22, 2009.

December 27, 2022

King Baasha, King Omri, legacy, Songs 6:4, Tirzah

1 Kings 14: Death of Abijah

1 Kings 14: Death of Abijah

Sunday, November 24, 2019

mmmmmm17[1] — *The nameless woman returns to her city and as her foot touches the threshold . . .*

This is a story which tells of the two kings of the split kingdom of David – Israel with her king Jeroboam in the north and Judah with her king Rehoboam in the south. Notes, websites and histories can give us a visual of the lineages and a few are listed below.

What we miss when we read history without scripture is the detail, and we have it in abundance in this short chapter. There is the child, Abijah, the two kings, the wife who is not named and Naamah, the mother who is. There are other ancillary characters. http://bible.cc/1_kings/14-1.htm

There are place names: Shiloh, Tirzah, Jerusalem. Maps can help us find these places to see how they relate in space. http://bibleatlas.org/

We can put ourselves in the timeline and in the space to try to see, hear, smell and hear these sights and these people . . . but what strikes me is this . . . this is a story which might happen to any one of us. And who am I?

Am I the nameless wife and mother who fears the death of her child? Am I married to the son of Solomon who finds his kingdom split? Am I the besieged king or the aggressor, the shield maker, the guard, the prophet, the chronicler? Do I have a loyalty to the north or south? Do I believe Jeroboam to be maligned or do I know him to worship idols? Do I follow Rehoboam blindly or do I question? In this vivid picture . . . Where am I? Who am I? What am I doing?

We know that Jeroboam feared re-unification of these split kingdoms because he would no longer collect the temple worship taxes which he now did since setting up his own capital. We know that Rehoboam, son of Solomon, scrambled to keep these two territories united, fearing invasion from Assyria, Persia, Egypt and others. We know that one king was buried with honor and the other was not. And we know why.

I have such empathy for the nameless woman in this story. She dies as she is bidden yet she is powerless before these men and apparently before her God. She moves like a shadow.

I also have empathy for the woman Naamah whose son leads Judah to do evil in the sight of the Lord. What does she think of the cult prostitutes the leadership has encouraged? Does she agree that they are a means to worshiping God? Does she dare to speak if she disagrees?

What do these women think? What do they say? What do they hold dear?

Today’s story calls us to think of our journey . . . do we travel light . . . do we travel alone . . . where do we stop along the way . . . what waters and feeds us?

The nameless woman in today’s story is told that her child will pass away as she returns home . . . so in that moment she knows that she will not see him again. What does she feel?

The nameless woman in today’s story returns to her city and as her foot touches the threshold . . . her child dies. What does she say?

The nameless woman in today’s story sees her child buried . . . with all of Israel mourning. What does she pray?

Oh, Father in heaven, spare us from the tragedies which are too hard to bear. Save us from the people from whom we might suffer irreparable damage. Keep us always close to you. Protect the ones we love. Save us from harm. Feed us. Nourish us. Be our column of smoke and fire and protect us on our way as you did the Israelites who journeyed out of slavery and into freedom with you always guiding. Alert us to the dangers. The noise of this world is sometimes so overwhelming. Sound the alarm when we stray. Hold us closely. You are our rock and our refuge. We give thanks to you, our awesome God. Amen.

Written on January 13, 2008 and posted today as a Favorite.

Image from: http://www.womeninthebible.net/women-bible-old-new-testaments/naamah/

Other resources are: http://www.kchanson.com/CHRON/isrkings.html and http://www.bible-history.com/map_israel_judah/ and http://larryavisbrown.homestead.com/files/OT_history/unit1/Unit1a_geography.htm and http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/directory/A/1 and http://bibleatlas.org/ and http://bibledictionaries.com/ and http://www.womeninthebible.net/

November 21, 2019

Assyria, Egypt, Jeroboam, Jerusalem, Naamah, Persia, Rehoboam, Shiloh, Tirzah

Tag: Tirzah

1 Kings 15: Delight – Part II

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1 Kings 15: Delight – Part I

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1 Kings 14: Death of Abijah

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