Forum regular JJ went hunting for the Japanese lunar explorer Kaguya impact site. Kaguya (or SELENE: SELenological and ENgineering Explorer) was launched 14 September 2007. Once in lunar orbit Kaguya released two smaller satellites into separate elliptical polar orbits: Okina (a relay satellite for communications) and Ouna (a Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) radio source satellite for supporting radio measurements). As well as its 2 sub-satellites Kaguya carried 13 scientific instruments including a lunar Magnetometer,  a Gamma ray spectrometer, a Lunar Radar Sounder and an Earth-looking Upper Atmosphere and Plasma Imager. the mission lasted 18 months after which Kayuya was sent into a series of lunar orbits prior to a controlled impact on 10 June 2009. The impact site was conveniently in darkness at the time allowing the impact flash to be seen from Earth. Okina impacted on the far side on February 12 2009. Ouna is still in orbit.

The Kaguya mission amongst other things has improved lunar global topography maps (also used by Google to make Google Moon 3D), a detailed gravity map of the far side, and the first optical observation of the permanently shadowed interior of south pole Shackleton crater.

The Kaguya impact coordinates are well documented but we couldn’t recall seeing a high resolution view of the impact site from LRO. What JJ was looking for was a small fresh impact which would have exposed some fresh lunar regolith leaving a white scar with a blackened centre where debris may remain.

The Kaguya website gives the impact coordinates as E80.4, S65.5. Here’s the location:

http://www.kaguya.jaxa.jp

This indicates an impact site on the wall of an unnamed crater near crater Gill. Part of crater Gill is top left of this image provided by ESA:

http://sci.esa.int

Using the ACT-REACT Quick Map tool JJ located the unnamed crater.

And found a likely impact site on the rim of a smaller crater within the unnamed crater.

And finally – a potential impact site with a centre geodetic diameter of 23m:

We think it’s definitely a contender.

ERV – 2Ki 6:32  The king sent a messenger to Elisha. Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him. Before the messenger arrived, Elisha said to the elders, “Look, that son of a murderer is sending men to cut off my head. When the messenger arrives, shut the door. Hold the door and don’t let him in. I hear the sound of his master’s feet coming behind him.”

ESV – 2Ki 6:32  Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him. Now the king had dispatched a man from his presence, but before the messenger arrived Elisha said to the elders, “Do you see how this murderer has sent to take off my head? Look, when the messenger comes, shut the door and hold the door fast against him. Is not the sound of his master’s feet behind him?”

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• Barnes – But Elisha sat … – Translate, “And Elisha was sitting in his house, and all the elders were sitting with him, when the king sent, etc.”

The “elders,” – either “the elders of the city” or “the elders of the land,” – who may have been in session at Samaria now, as they had been at the time of a former siege 1Ki_20:7 – had gone to Elisha for his advice or assistance. Their imminent peril drove them to acknowledge the power of Yahweh, and to consult with His prophet.

This son of a murderer – i. e. of Ahab, the murderer, not only of Naboth, but also of all the prophets of the Lord (marginal reference), whom be allowed Jezebel to slay.

Hold him fast at the door – The elders, public officials, not private friends of Elisha, could not have been expected to resist the entrance of the executioner at the mere request of the prophet. He therefore assigns a reason for his request – “the king is coming in person, either to confirm or revoke his order – will they detain the headsman until his arrival?”

• Clarke – This son of a murderer – Jehoram, the son of Ahab and Jezebel. But Ahab is called a murderer because of the murder of Naboth.

Shut the door – He was obliged to make use of this method for his personal safety, as the king was highly incensed.

The sound of his master’s feet behind him? – That is, King Jehoram is following his messenger, that he may see him take off my head.

• Gill – And Elisha sat in his house,…. In Samaria:

and the elders sat with him; not the elders of the city, or the magistrates thereof, but his disciples, as Josephus says (p), the eldest of them, whom he admitted to greater familiarity and converse with him:

and the king sent a man from before him; to execute what he had sworn should be done that day to the prophet:

but ere the messenger came to him, he said to the elders, see ye how this son of a murderer hath sent to take away mine head? which he knew by a spirit of prophecy, and spoke of it before the executioner came; he calls Joram the son of a murderer, because of his mother Jezebel, who killed Naboth, and the prophets of the Lord, and to which his father Ahab also consented, and therefore might be so called too; and he intimates hereby that he was of the same temper and disposition, and as the above oath, and his orders, showed:

look when the messenger cometh, shut the door, and hold him fast at the door; and not suffer him to come in:

is not the sound of his master’s feet behind him? that is, of Joram king of Israel, who followed the messenger, either to listen and hear what the prophet would say unto him; or repenting of his order, as Josephus (q) thinks, he followed him to prevent the execution.

(p) Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 9. c. 4. sect. 4.) (q) Ibid.

• Henry – The foresight Elisha had of the king’s design against him, 2Ki_6:32. He sat in his house well composed, and the elders with him, well employed no doubt, while the king was like a wild bull in a net, or like the troubled sea when it cannot rest; he told the elders there was an officer coming from the king to cut off his head, and bade them stop him at the door, and not let him in, for the king his master was just following him, to revoke the order, as we may suppose. The same spirit of prophecy that enabled Elisha to tell him what was done at a distance authorized him to call the king the son of a murderer, which, unless we could produce such an extraordinary commission, it is not for us to initiate; far be it from us to despise dominion and to speak evil of dignities. He appealed to the elders whether he had deserved so ill at the king’s hands: “See whether in this he be not the son of a murderer?” For what evil had Elisha done? He had not desired the woeful day, Jer_17:16.

• K & D – The elders of the city were assembled together in Elisha’s house, probably to seek for counsel and consolation; and the king sent a man before him (namely, to behead the prophet); but before the messenger arrived, the prophet told the elders of the king’s intention: “See ye that this son of a murderer (Joram, by descent and disposition a genuine son of Ahab, the murderer of Naboth and the prophets) is sending to cut off my head?” and commanded them to shut the door against the messenger and to force him back at the door, because he already heard the sound of his master’s feet behind him. These measures of Elisha, therefore, were not dictated by any desire to resist the lawful authorities, but were acts of prudence by which he delayed the execution of an unrighteous and murderous command which had been issued in haste, and thereby rendered a service to the king himself. – In 2Ki_6:33 we have to supply from the context that the king followed close upon the messenger, who came down to Elisha while he was talking with the elders; and he (the king) would of course be admitted at once. For the subject to וַיֹּאמֶר is not the messenger, but the king, as is evident from 2Ki_7:2 and 2 Kings 17. The king said: “Behold the calamity from the Lord, why shall I wait still further for the Lord?” – the words of a dispairing man, in whose soul, however, there was a spark of faith still glimmering. The very utterance of his feelings to the prophet shows that he had still a weak glimmer of hope in the Lord, and wished to be strengthened and sustained by the prophet; and this strengthening he received.

ERV – Eze 20:18  I spoke to their children and told them, “Don’t be like your parents. Don’t make yourselves filthy with their filthy idols. Don’t follow their laws or obey their commands.

ESV – Eze 20:18  “And I said to their children in the wilderness, Do not walk in the statutes of your fathers, nor keep their rules, nor defile yourselves with their idols.

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• Barnes – The book of Deuteronomy contains the address to “the children” of those who perished in the wilderness. The whole history of Israel was a repetition of this course. The covenant was made with one generation, broken by them, and then renewed to the next.

• Clarke – But I said unto their children – These I chose in their fathers’ stead; and to them I purposed to give the inheritance which their fathers by disobedience lost.

• Gill – But I said unto their children in the wilderness,…. Or, “then I said” (k); his judgments and statutes being neglected and despised by them, and good instructions and kind providences being of no use unto them, the Lord turns to their posterity while yet in the wilderness: what follows seems to refer to those directions, instructions, and exhortations given in the book of Deuteronomy by Moses, in the plains of Moab, a little before the children of Israel went over Jordan into the land of Canaan:

walk ye not in the statutes of your fathers, neither observe their judgments; they were not only not to imitate their parents in their open sins and transgressions of God’s law; but they were not to follow them in the observance of such rules of worship, which were of their own devising, and they had formed into a law: this makes greatly against such who think it a very heinous sin to relinquish the religion of their ancestors, or that in which they were brought up; but if this does not appear to be according to the word of God, the statutes and judgments of our fathers should stand for nothing, yea, should be rejected:

nor defile yourselves with their idols; idolatry, as it is abominable to God, is defiling to men, and renders them loathsome to him; and it being what their fathers practised will not excuse them; for, as it was defiling to their fathers, it is no less so to their children.

(k) ואמר “postea dixi”, Piscator.

• JFB – I said unto their children — being unwilling to speak any more to the fathers as being incorrigible.

Walk ye not in … statutes of … fathers — The traditions of the fathers are to be carefully weighed, not indiscriminately followed. He forbids the imitation of not only their gross sins, but even their plausible statutes [Calvin].

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Easter Sunday – May all of God’s blessings through His Son, our Lord and Saviour Jesus be yours today and forever.

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Matthew 28:1-10

King James Version (KJV)

28 In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre.

² And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it.

³ His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow:

⁴ And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men.

⁵ And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified.

⁶ He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.

⁷ And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead; and, behold, he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him: lo, I have told you.

⁸ And they departed quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great joy; and did run to bring his disciples word.

⁹ And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail. And they came and held him by the feet, and worshipped him.

¹⁰ Then said Jesus unto them, Be not afraid: go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me.

ERV – 1Sa 22:18  So the king gave the order to Doeg. Saul said, “Doeg, you go kill the priests.” So Doeg the Edomite went and killed the priests. That day he killed 85 men who were priests.

ESV – 1Sa 22:18  Then the king said to Doeg, “You turn and strike the priests.” And Doeg the Edomite turned and struck down the priests, and he killed on that day eighty-five persons who wore the linen ephod.

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• Barnes – We are not to suppose that Doeg killed them all with his own hand. He had a band of men under his command, many or all of whom were perhaps foreigners like himself, and very likely of a Bedouin caste, to whom bloodshed would be quite natural, and the priests of the Lord of no more account than so Early sheep or oxen.

• Clarke – And Doeg – fell upon the priests – A ruthless Edomite, capable of any species of iniquity.

Fourscore and five persons – The Septuagint read τριακοσιους και πεντε ανδρας, three hundred and five men; and Josephus has three hundred and eighty-five men. Probably the eighty-five were priests; the three hundred, the families of the priests; three hundred and eighty-five being the whole population of Nob.

That did wear a linen ephod – That is, persons who did actually administer, or had a right to administer, in sacred things. The linen ephod was the ordinary clothing of the priests.

• Gill – And the king said to Doeg, turn thou and fall upon the priests,…. For determined he was they should die; if one would not put them to death, another should, and who so fit for this bloody work as the false accuser of them, and false witness against them?

and Doeg the Edomite turned; immediately, he at once obeyed the king’s orders, as brutish as they were:

and fell upon the priests; with his sword in hand:

and slew on that day fourscore and five persons that did wear a linen ephod; not the ephod of Urim and Thummim, which was only worn by the high priest, but a garment wholly linen, worn by common priests; the Targum is,”who are fit to be clothed with a linen ephod;”not that they were clothed with it, but were deserving of it; or it designs the great and more honourable among the servants of the Lord, as Kimchi observes, for such were clothed with this garment, as Samuel and David; and he thinks it suggests, that more were slain than these; and the Septuagint version makes them to be eight hundred five, and Josephus (h) three hundred eighty five; in the slaying of whom, as the same writer says, Doeg was assisted by some wicked men like himself; and the slaughter did not end here, as the 1Sa_22:19 shows.

(h) Antiqu. l. 6. c. 12. sect. 6.

• JFB – the footmen that stood about him — his bodyguard, or his runners (1Sa_8:11; 2Sa_15:1; 1Ki_1:5; 1Ki_14:28), who held an important place at court (2Ch_12:10). But they chose rather to disobey the king than to offend God by imbruing their hands in the blood of his ministering servants. A foreigner alone (Psa_52:1-3) could be found willing to be the executioner of this bloody and sacrilegious sentence. Thus was the doom of the house of Eli fulfilled [1Sa_2:30-36].

• K & D – Saul then commanded Doeg to cut down the priests, and he at once performed the bloody deed. On the expression “wearing the linen ephod,” compare the remarks at 1Sa_2:18. The allusion to the priestly clothing, like the repetition of the expression “priests of Jehovah,” serves to bring out into its true light the crime of the bloodthirsty Saul and his executioner Doeg. The very dress which the priests wore, as the consecrated servants of Jehovah, ought to have made them shrink from the commission of such a murder.

• TSK – Doeg: 1Sa_22:9

he fell: 2Ch_24:21; Hos_5:11, Hos_7:3; Mic_6:16; Zep_3:3; Act_26:10-11

fourscore: The LXX read, τριακοσιους και πεντε ανδρας, “three hundred and five men;” and Josephus, “three hundred and eighty-five men.” Probably the eighty-five were priests and the three hundred the families of the priests; three hundred and eighty-five being the whole population of Nob. 1Sa_2:30-33, 1Sa_2:36, 1Sa_3:12-14

a linen ephod: 1Sa_2:28; Exo_28:40

ERV – 1Ki 15:24  He died and was buried in the City of David, his ancestor. Then Asa’s son Jehoshaphat became the new king after him.

ESV – 1Ki 15:24  And Asa slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father, and Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his place.

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• Barnes – Asa prepared his own sepulchre in his lifetime, as has been so often done by Oriental kings; and his funeral was conducted with great magnificence 2Ch_16:14.

• Clarke – Asa slept with his fathers – Of his splendid and costly funeral we read 1Ch_16:14.

• Gill – And Asa slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father,…. In a sepulchre there he himself had made, and in great pomp and solemnity, being laid on a bed filled with sweet odours and spices, prepared according to art, and which were burned for him, 2Ch_16:14,

and Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his stead; a very pious and worthy prince.

• Henry – The conclusion of his reign. The acts of it were more largely recorded in the common history (to which reference is here had, 1Ki_15:23) than in this sacred one. He reigned long, but finished at last with honour, and left his throne to a successor no way inferior to him.

• K & D – Of the other acts of Asa, the building of cities refers to the building of fortifications mentioned in 2Ch_14:5-6. The disease in his feet in the time of his old age commenced, according to 2Ch_16:12, in the thirty-ninth year of his reign; and he sought help from the physicians, but not from the Lord; from which we may see, that the longer he lived the more he turned his heart away from the Lord (compare 2Ch_16:10).

ERV – Ezr 10:4  Get up, Ezra. This is your responsibility, but we will support you. So be brave and do it.”

ESV – Ezr 10:4  Arise, for it is your task, and we are with you; be strong and do it.”

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• Clarke – Arise; for this matter belongeth unto thee – By the decree of Artaxerxes, he was authorized to do everything that the law of God required: see Ezr_7:23-28. And all officers were commanded to be aiding and assisting; hence Shechaniah says, We are with you.

• Gill – Arise,…. From the ground, where he lay prostrate:

for this matter belongeth unto thee; as a priest and scribe of the law, well versed in it, and therefore could direct what was to be done according to it; and as a ruler under the king of Persia, and a commissioner of his, to inquire whether the law of God was observed by the Jews, Ezr_7:14 and so had authority to put the law in execution:

we also will be with thee; to help and assist in the reformation of this evil:

be of good courage, and do it; do not despair of going through it, though there may be some opposition to it; begin, and doubt not of succeeding.

• Henry – He puts them in a good method for the effecting of this reformation, and shows them not only that it must be done, but how. “Let Ezra, and all those that are present in this assembly, agree in a resolution that this must be done (pass a vote immediately to this effect: it will now pass nemine contradicente – unanimously), that it may be said to be done according to the counsel of my lord, the president of the assembly, with the unanimous concurrence of those that tremble at the commandment of our God, which is the description of those that were gathered to him, Ezr_9:4. Declare it to be the sense of all the sober serious people among us, which cannot but have a great sway among Israelites

• JFB – yet now there is hope in Israel concerning this thing — This hope, however, depended on timely measures of reformation, and therefore, instead of surrendering themselves to despair or despondency, he counseled them to amend their error without delay, relying on God’s mercy for the past. Though the proposal may seem harsh and cruel, yet in the peculiar circumstances of the Jews it was just as well as necessary; and he urged the duty of seeing it executed on Ezra, as the only person competent to carry it into effect, being possessed of skill and address for so delicate and difficult a work, and invested by God, and under Him by the Persian king (Ezr_7:23-28), with the requisite authority to enforce it.

• K & D – “Up! for this matter concerns thee (thou art called to carry it out), and we are with thee (will assist thee therein); be strong (courageous) and do it.”

• TSK – Arise: Jos_7:10-26; 1Ch_22:16, 1Ch_22:19; Ecc_9:10

for this matter: By the decree of Artaxerxes, Ezra was authorised to do every thing that the law of God required. Ezr_7:23-28; Mar_13:34

we also will: Jos_1:16-18; 1Ch_28:10, 1Ch_28:21

be of good: Isa_35:3-4; Heb_10:24, Heb_12:12-13

ERV - Num 4:21-23  The LORD said to Moses, 22  “Count all the people of the Gershon family. List them by family and family group. 23  Count all the men who are from 30 to 50 years old who come to serve. These men will have the job of caring for the Meeting Tent.

ESV – Num 4:21-23  The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 22  “Take a census of the sons of Gershon also, by their fathers’ houses and by their clans. 23  From thirty years old up to fifty years old, you shall list them, all who can come to do duty, to do service in the tent of meeting

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• Gill – And the Lord spake unto Moses,…. Though Aaron is not mentioned here, he was concerned in taking the sum of the Gershonites, as well as of the Kohathites, as appears from Num_4:41,  saying; as follows.

Take also the sum of the sons of Gershon,…. As well as of the sons of Kohath; for though Gershon was Levi’s eldest son, yet his posterity were not excused from the service of the tabernacle, and bearing things of it in journeying:  throughout the houses of their fathers, by their families; all in their several houses, and in the several families in those houses, that were of the age next mentioned, were to be numbered.

From thirty years old and upward, until fifty years old,  shalt thou number them,…. Take an account how many there are of that age, and so fit for service (a); See Gill on Num_4:3,  to do the work in the tabernacle of the congregation; as the rest of the Levites; see Num_4:3;

(a) לצבא צבא “ad militandum militiam”, Montanus, Drusius.

• Henry – We have here the charge of the other two families of the Levites, which, though not so honourable as the first, yet was necessary, and was to be done regularly.

• K&D – The service of the Gershonites is introduced in Num_4:21-23 in the same manner as that of the Kohathites in Num_4:1-3; and in Num_4:24-26 it is described in accordance with the brief notice and explanation already given in Num_3:24-26.

• SB – They were not employed until 30 years old. This is not obligatory on Gospel ministers, but gives us a suggestion that ministers should not be novices but should be men of steadiness, and ripeness of judgment, knowing Christ well.

ERV – Jer 31:1  This is what the LORD said, “At that time I will be the God of all the tribes of Israel. And they will be my people.”

ESV – Jer 31:1  “At that time, declares the LORD, I will be the God of all the clans of Israel, and they shall be my people.”

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• Barnes – At the same time – literally, At that time, i. e., “the latter day.” mentioned in Jer_30:24.

• Clarke – At the same time – This discourse was delivered at the same time with the former; and, with that, constitutes the Book which God ordered the prophet to write.

Will I be the God of all the families of Israel – I shall bring back the ten tribes, as well as their brethren the Jews. The restoration of the Israelites is the principal subject of this chapter.

• Gill – At the same time, saith the Lord,…. The time of the Messiah, the Gospel dispensation, the latter days; when the Jews shall consider the prophecies of the Old Testament, and observe how they have been fulfilled in Jesus; and shall reflect upon their disbelief and rejection of him; and shall turn unto him, and serve the Lord their God, and David their king; see Jer_30:9;

will I be the God of all the families of Israel; not of some few persons only, or of one of a city, and two of a family, but of every family; and this will be when “all Israel” shall be converted and saved, and a nation shall be born at once; then will God show himself to them as their covenant God, manifest his love to them, and bestow the blessings of his grace upon them:

and they shall be my people; behave as such to him; own him to be their God, and serve and worship him.

Henry – God here assures his people. That he will again take them into a covenant relation to himself, from which they seemed to be cut off. At the same time, when God’s anger breaks out against the wicked (Jer_30:24), his own people shall be owned by him as the children of his love: I will be the God (that is, I will show myself to be the God) of all the families of Israel (Jer_31:1), – not of the two tribes only, but of all the tribes, – not of the house of Aaron only, and the families of Levi, but of all their families; not only their state in general, but their particular families, and the interests of them, shall have the benefit of a special relation to God. Note, The families of good people, in their family capacity, may apply to God and stay themselves upon him as their God. If we and our houses serve the Lord, we and our houses shall be protected and blessed by him, Pro_3:33.

• JFB – Continuation of the prophecy in the thirtieth chapter.

As in that chapter the restoration of Judah, so in this the restoration of Israel’s ten tribes is foretold.

At the same time — “In the latter days” (Jer_30:24).

the God of — manifesting My grace to (Gen_17:7; Mat_22:32; Rev_21:3).

all … Israel — not the exiles of the south kingdom of Judah only, but also the north kingdom of the ten tribes; and not merely Israel in general, but “all the families of Israel.” Never yet fulfilled (Rom_11:26).

ERV – Luk 24:49  Remember that I will send you the one my Father promised. Stay in the city until you are given that power from heaven.”

ESV – Luk 24:49  And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”

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• Barnes – The promise of my Father – The promise which the Father had made to them “through” the Saviour. See Mat_10:19; Joh_14:16-17, Joh_14:26. The promise was, that they should be aided by the power of the Holy Spirit. He also doubtless referred to the promise of God, made in the days of Joel, respecting the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. See Joe_2:28-29, compared with Act_2:16-21.

Endued with power from on high – The power which would be given them by the descent of the Holy Spirit – the power of speaking with tongues, of working miracles, and of preaching the gospel with the attending blessing and aid of the Holy Spirit. This was accomplished in the gift of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. See Acts 2.

• Clarke – The promise of my Father – That is, the Holy Ghost, promised, Joh_15:26. See Act_1:4; Act_2:33.

Until ye be endued with power – The energy of the Holy Ghost was to be communicated to them for three particular purposes.

1.            That he might be in them, a sanctifying comforter, fortifying their souls and bringing to their remembrance whatever Jesus had before spoken to them.

2.            That their preaching might be accompanied by his demonstration and power to the hearts of their hearers, so that they might believe and be saved.

3.            That they might be able to work miracles to confirm their pretensions to a Divine mission, and to establish the truth of the doctrines they preached.

• Gill – And behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you,…. By which is meant the promise of the Spirit, called the promise of the Father, because he was promised by the Father to be sent, and poured on the saints in the times of the Messiah, Isa_44:3 and because Christ promised to pray the Father for him, and to send him from him; and that the Father should send him in his name, who would fit and qualify them for, and assist them in bearing a testimony for him; since he would teach them all things, lead them into all truth, take of the things of Christ, and show them to them, and bring to their remembrance all things they had seen and heard: and this promise of the Father was to be sent in a very short time, in ten days time, as accordingly it was; and might be very properly said to be sent “upon” them, since, when he was sent down, he sat upon them in the appearance of fire; and this being a marvellous thing, as well as of great moment and importance, it is introduced with a “behold”, as a note both of admiration and attention.

But tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem; for the space of ten days; here they were to continue during that time, and not depart thence; yea, they were to sit there, as the word used signifies: they were to sit still, and be silent; they were not to begin to preach; they were only to attend to prayer and Christian conversation, and to wait for the Spirit, the promise of the Father; and who also is designed in the following clause:

until ye be endued with power from on high; the Spirit of God is a spirit of might, and of power, as well as of knowledge, of understanding, of counsel, of love, and of a sound mind; whereby they were to be fortified, and inspired with courage and greatness of soul, so as to look their greatest adversaries in the face with boldness and intrepidity, and freely, and without fear, speak unto them; and whereby their ministrations would be succeeded to the conversion of many souls; and accordingly so it was: for after the Spirit was poured out upon them, they who before were timorous and fearful, came forth publicly, with undaunted courage, and resolution, and boldness, to the amazement of their adversaries; and their preaching was with the demonstration of the Spirit, and of power; who may be said to be “from on high”, since he descended from heaven upon them; and they may be said to be “endued”, or “clothed” with him, since there was such an extra ordinary and plentiful effusion of his gifts and graces on them: and now they were to wait in Jerusalem for this, that in the place where the Spirit had been dishonoured and blasphemed, and the unpardonable sin against him had been committed by the Scribes and Pharisees, the might be in a most visible and signal manner honoured; and also, because the doctrine of the Lord was to go out of Zion, and the word of the Lord out of Jerusalem. The Vulgate Latin version leaves out the word “Jerusalem”, and reads only, “sit ye in the city until”, &c. but then no other city can be designed.

• RWP – Until ye be clothed (heōs hou endusēsthe). First aorist middle subjunctive of enduō or endunō. It is an old verb for putting on a garment. It is here the indirect middle, put on yourselves power from on high as a garment. They are to wait till this experience comes to them. This is “the promise of the Father.” It is an old metaphor in Homer, Aristophanes, Plutarch, and Paul uses it often.

ERV – Exo 20:25  But if you use stones to make an altar, then don’t use stones that were cut with an iron tool. If you do that, it will make the altar unacceptable.

ESV – Exo 20:25  If you make me an altar of stone, you shall not build it of hewn stones, for if you wield your tool on it you profane it.

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• Clarke – Thou shalt not build it of hewn stone – Because they were now in a wandering state, and had as yet no fixed residence; and therefore no time should be wasted to rear costly altars, which could not be transported with them, and which they must soon leave. Besides, they must not lavish skill or expense on the construction of an altar; the altar of itself, whether costly or mean, was nothing in the worship; it was only the place on which the victim should be laid, and their mind must be attentively fixed on that God to whom the sacrifice was offered, and on the sacrifice itself, as that appointed by the Lord to make an atonement for their sins.

• Gill – And if thou wilt make me an altar of stone,…. If they chose instead of an earthen one to make one of stone, as they might in rocky places, where they came, and in such an one where they now were, Mount Sinai, under which hill an altar was built, Exo_24:4,

thou shall not build it of hewn stone; which would require time and occasion expense, to hew and polish them in an artificial way; but it was to be built of rude and unpolished stones, just as they were taken out of the quarry, or found lying by the way, and which were laid up in an heap one upon another, and was done with little trouble, and without any ornament, and easily separated and thrown down, when become useless: the reason of this law, as given by Maimonides (w), is this,”because the idolaters of that time built their altars of hewn stones, therefore God forbad it, lest we should be like them, and that we might shun it in all things, he commanded the altar to be made of earth, as it is said, an altar of earth shalt thou make unto me; and if it could not be made without stones, that the stones should remain in their own natural form, and be neither hewn nor polished; as he after forbad a painted stone, and a plantation of trees by an altar; for in each of these there is one and the same intention and design, namely, that we might not worship him in the same manner in which idolaters used to worship their fictitious deities:”

for if thou lift up thy tool upon it; or, thy sword (x); it signifies any tool or instrument made of iron as a sword is, and here such an one as is used in hewing of stone; which, if lifted up on the altar, or on any of the stones of which it is built, to strike and hew them with:

thou hast polluted it; and so made it unfit for use: how this should be done hereby is not easy to say, no good reason seems to be assignable for it but the will and pleasure of God; who so appointed it, and reckoned that a pollution, and would have it so thought by others, which with men is accounted ornamental; his thoughts and judgment are not as man’s: the Targum of Jonathan is,”for if thou liftest up iron, of which a sword is made, upon a stone, thou wilt profane it;”the reason which the Misnic doctors (y) give, and Jarchi from them, is,”because iron was created to shorten the days of men, but the other was made to prolong the days of men: and therefore it cannot be just that that which shortens should be lifted up and agitated over that which prolongs:”but Maimonides gives a better reason of it, as Abarbinel understands him, which was to prevent persons making images in stones (z), which image making is the thing guarded against and forbidden in the context; but still better is that of Isaac Arama (a), that the hands of the artificer were to abstain from the stones of the altar, lest that good which men obtain of God at the altar should be attributed to any work of theirs: though, after all, it is right what Aben Ezra, says, that it does not belong to us to search after the reasons of the commands, at least not in too curious and bold a manner, and where God is silent and has not thought fit to give any.

(w) Moreh Nevochim, par. 3. c. 45. (x) חרבך “gladium tuum”, Montanus, Piscator, Cartwright. (y) Misnah Middot, c. 3. sect. 4. (z) Apud L’Empereur in Middot, ib. (a) Apud Rivet in loc.

• Henry – To make their altars very plain, either of earth or of unhewn stone, Exo_20:24, Exo_20:25. That they might not be tempted to think of a graven image, they must not so much as hew into shape the stones that they made their altars of, but pile them up as they were, in the rough. This rule being prescribed before the establishment of the ceremonial law, which appointed altars much more costly, intimates that, after the period of that law, plainness should be accepted as the best ornament of the external services of religion, and that gospel-worship should not be performed with external pomp and gaiety. The beauty of holiness needs no paint, nor do those do any service to the spouse of Christ that dress her in the attire of a harlot, as the church of Rome does: an altar of earth does best.

• JFB – thou shalt not build it of hewn stone, etc. — that is, carved with figures and ornaments that might lead to superstition.

Comments:  This is Gill’s recipe. The Gordon Ramsay recipe is similar, he uses panchetta. The volumes are taken from the Readers Digest South African cookbook. (See page 242) for about 100 variants. Gordon Ramsay makes his own pastry. Episode 12. He blind bakes the pastry.

Morning everyone! After the Country to Country Festival photo post yesterday, here’s an article from ukCOUNTRYmusic.net giving reviews/summaries of each act who performed at the festival, including a summary of the general event and the pop-up stage shows that went on.

I wrote the summaries for Carrie Underwood, Vince Gill, Tim McGraw, LeAnn Rimes, Brantley Gilbert and Darius Rucker. Check out this collaborative article!

ERV – Num 16:34  The Israelites heard the cries of the men being destroyed. So they all ran in different directions and said, “The earth will swallow us too!”

ESV – Num 16:26  And he spoke to the congregation, saying, “Depart, please, from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs, lest you be swept away with all their sins.”

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• Gill – And he spake unto the congregation,…. To the people of Israel assembled together on this occasion: some, out of ill will to Moses and Aaron, inclining to the side of Korah and his accomplices, and some out of curiosity to see the issue of this affair

saying, depart, I pray you, from the tents of these wicked men; these turbulent, seditious, and ill-designing men, disturbers of the commonwealth and church of Israel, enemies to the peace of its civil and ecclesiastic state: and when Moses desires the people to depart from their tents, he means not only that they would remove in person, and stand at a distance, but such who had their tents, and families, and substance near them, would take care to remove, lest they should be destroyed with them:

and touch nothing of theirs; not carry off anything belonging to them along with their own, being all devoted to destruction:

lest ye be consumed in all their sins; lest partaking of their sins they should of their plagues, and die in their sins, as they would, or for them.

• Henry –  Proclamation is made that all manner of persons, as they tendered their own safety, should forthwith depart from the tents of these wicked men (Num_16:26), and thus should signify that they deserted their cause and interest, detested their crimes and counsels, and dreaded the punishment coming upon them. Note, Those that would not perish with sinners must come out from among them, and be separate. In vain do we pray, Gather not our souls with sinners, if we save not ourselves from the untoward generation. God’s people are called out of Babylon, lest they share both in her sins and in her plagues, Rev_18:4.

• JFB – Speak unto the congregation, … Get you up from about the tabernacle — Moses was attended in the execution of this mission by the elders. The united and urgent entreaties of so many dignified personages produced the desired effect of convincing the people of their crime, and of withdrawing them from the company of men who were doomed to destruction, lest, being partakers of their sins, they should perish along with them.

• K & D – Jehovah then instructed Moses, that the congregation was to remove away (עָלָה, to get up and away) from about the dwelling-place of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram; and, as we may supply from the context, the congregation fell back from Korah’s tent, whilst Dathan and Abiram, possibly at the very first appearance of the divine glory, drew back into their tents. Moses therefore betook himself to the tents of Dathan and Abiram, with the elders following him, and there also commanded the congregation to depart from the tents of these wicked men, and not touch anything they possessed, that they might not be swept away in all their sins.

• Meyer – The doom of Korah and his fellow-conspirators was very terrible; but if they had been spared, the whole camp would have been infected, and God’s purposes frustrated. Those who suffer from the bubonic plague must be instantly separated from their fellows, for the sake of society! Remember, as Jude says, that the pit still devours, Jud_1:11. In these last days of the present age, and in view of the terrible records of this chapter, we may well ponder the summons of Rev_18:4. The congregation was spared, because of the divine compassion of which Moses had a true conception.

• TSK – I pray you: The rebels, with all that belonged to them, were, as an accursed thing, devoted to utter destruction (Lev_27:28-29. Jos_7:13-15, Jos_7:23-26). The people therefore were forbidden to touch anything belonging to them; that they might enter a solemn protest against their wickedness, acknowledge the justice of their punishment, and express their fear of being involved in it. Num_16:21-24; Gen_19:12-14; Deu_13:17; Isa_52:11; Mat_10:14; Act_8:20, Act_13:51; 2Co_6:17; 1Ti_5:22; Rev_18:4

ERV- Jer 50:27  Kill all the young men in Babylon. Let them be slaughtered like bulls. How terrible for them that their day of defeat has come! It is time for them to be punished.

ESV – Jer 50:27  Kill all her bulls; let them go down to the slaughter. Woe to them, for their day has come, the time of their punishment.

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• Barnes – Her bullocks – Her strong youths.

• Clarke – Slay all her bullocks – Princes, magistrates, etc., etc.

• Gill – Slay all her bullocks,…. Or, “all her mighty ones”, as the Targum and Vulgate Latin version; her princes and great men, as Jarchi, Kimchi, and Abarbinel; compared to bullocks for their strength, fatness, and fierceness; see Psa_22:12; this may well be applied to the slaughter of kings, captains, and mighty men, at the battle of Armageddon, Rev_19:18;

let them go down to the slaughter; to the place slaughter, as oxen do, insensible, and whether they will or not:

woe unto them, for their day is come, the time of their visitation; the time of their destruction, of visiting or punishing them for their sins, appointed by the Lord, which they could not pass; and so a woeful and dreadful time to them.

• Henry – Their princes and great men, who are fat and bulky, shall fall by the sword, not as men of war in the field of battle, which we call a bed of honour, but as beasts by the butcher’s hand (Jer_50:27): Slay all her bullocks, all her mighty men; let them go down sottishly and insensibly, as an ox to the slaughter. Woe unto them! their case is the more sad for the little sense they have of it. Their day has come to fall, the time when they must be reckoned with, and they are not aware of it.

• JFB – bullocks — that is, princes and strong warriors (Jer_46:21; Psa_22:12; Isa_34:7).

go down to … slaughter — The slaughterhouses lay low beside the river; therefore it is said, “go down”; appropriate to Babylon on the Euphrates, the avenue through which the slaughterers entered the city.

ERV - 2Sa 17:15-16  Hushai told the priests, Zadok and Abiathar, what was said. He told them what Ahithophel suggested to Absalom and the leaders of Israel. Hushai also told them what he himself had suggested. He said, 16  “Send a message to David now! Tell him not to spend the night at the places where people cross into the desert. Tell him to go across the Jordan River at once. If he crosses the river, the king and all his people will not be caught.”

ESV - 2Sa 17:15-16  Then Hushai said to Zadok and Abiathar the priests, “Thus and so did Ahithophel counsel Absalom and the elders of Israel, and thus and so have I counseled. 16  Now therefore send quickly and tell David, ‘Do not stay tonight at the fords of the wilderness, but by all means pass over, lest the king and all the people who are with him be swallowed up.’”

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• Barnes – Hushai, like a wise and prudent man, knowing, too, Absalom’s weak and fickle character, would not depend upon the resolution, taken at his instigation, not to pursue the king, but took instant measures to advertise David of his danger.

• Gill - Then said Hushai unto Zadok and to Abiathar the priests,…. After he was returned from the council board, he immediately went to these priests, who he knew were in the interest of David, and to whom he was to communicate, and by them transmit, what passed at Jerusalem, 2Sa_15:35,

thus and thus did Ahithophel counsel Absalom and the elders of Israel; relating to them in express words what he advised to:

and thus and thus have I counselled; telling them in what manner he had given his counsel. Now therefore send quickly and tell David,…. What has been advised to on both sides:

saying, lodge not this night in the plains of the wilderness; which reached to Jericho; this advice he gave, because he knew not whether his counsel would be abode by, though preferred; Absalom and the elders of Israel might change their minds, and Ahithophel might, by the strength of his oratory, prevail upon them after all to follow his advice; and therefore, to guard against the worst, he judged it most prudential in David to make all the haste he could from that place where he was, and not continue a night longer in it; for, if Ahithophel’s counsel should take place, he would be in pursuit of him that very night:

but speedily pass over; the river Jordan:

lest the king be swallowed up, and all the people that are with him: be destroyed by the forces Ahithophel should bring with him, which he would not be able to withstand.

• Henry – We must now leave David’s enemies pleasing themselves with the thoughts of a sure victory by following Hushai’s counsel, and sending a summons, no doubt, to all the tribes of Israel, to come to the general rendezvous at a place appointed, pursuant to that counsel; and we next find David’s friends consulting how to get him notice of all this, that he might steer his course accordingly. Hushai tells the priests what had passed in council, 2Sa_17:15. But, it should seem, he was not sure but that yet Ahithophel’s counsel might be followed, and was therefore jealous lest, if he made not the best of his way, the king would be swallowed up, and all the people that were with him, 2Sa_17:16.

• JFB – 2Sa_17:15-22. Secret intelligence sent to David.   send quickly, and tell David — Apparently doubting that his advice would be followed, Hushai ordered secret intelligence to be conveyed to David of all that transpired, with an urgent recommendation to cross the Jordan without a moment’s delay, lest Ahithophel’s address and influence might produce a change on the prince’s mind, and an immediate pursuit be determined on.

• K & D – David is informed of what has occurred. – 2Sa_17:15, 2Sa_17:16. Hushai communicated without delay to the priests Zadok and Abiathar the advice which had been given to Absalom both by Ahithophel and himself, and requested them to make it known to David as quickly as possible. “Stay not the night,” he said, “by the ferries (עַבְרֹות, as in 2Sa_15:28) of the desert; but rather go over, lest the king and all the people with him be destroyed.” וְגַם, “and indeed,” or after a negative clause, “but rather.” לַמֶּלֶךְ יְבֻלַּע is either “there will be a devouring,” i.e., destruction, to the king, it will fall upon him; of if we supply the subject from the previous clause תַּעֲבֹור עָבֹור as Böttcher proposes, “that it (the crossing over) may not be swallowed up or cut off from the king.” There is nothing to justify Ewald’s explanation, “it (misfortune) is swallowed by him.” Hushai recommended of course an immediate crossing of the Jordan; because he did not know whether Absalom would really act upon his advice, although he had expressed his approval of it, or whether he might not change his mind and follow Ahithophel’s counsel.

ERV - Mar 9:25  Jesus saw that all the people were running there to see what was happening. So he spoke to the evil spirit. He said, “You evil spirit that makes this boy deaf and stops him from talking–I command you to come out of him and never enter him again!”

ESV - Mar 9:25  And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.”

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• Clarke - I charge thee - Considerable emphasis should be laid on the pronoun: – Thou didst resist the command of my disciples, now I command thee to come out. If this had been only a natural disease, for instance the epilepsy, as some have argued, could our Lord have addressed it, with any propriety, as he has done here: Thou deaf and dumb spirit, come out of him, and enter no more into him? Is the doctrine of demoniacal influence false? If so, Jesus took the most direct method to perpetuate the belief of that falsity, by accommodating himself so completely to the deceived vulgar. But this was impossible; therefore the doctrine of demoniacal influence is a true doctrine, otherwise Christ would never have given it the least countenance or support.

• Gill - When Jesus saw that the people came running together,…. לותיה, “to him”, as the Syriac version adds, and so the Persic; upon hearing the vehement cry of the father of the child, and the earnest solicitations he made, expecting that something would be done:

he rebuked the foul spirit; that brought this disorder on the child, had continued it so long, and with so much violence. Matthew calls this foul spirit, “the devil”; see Gill on Mat_17:18,

saying unto him, thou dumb and deaf spirit; so calling him, not because the spirit was dumb and deaf, but because he had been the cause of dumbness and deafness in the child: he had at times taken away both his speech and hearing:

I charge thee come out of him, and enter no more into him. Christ, in an authoritative way, ordered the unclean spirit to leave his possession, and never attempt to regain it more. This he said, partly with regard to the devil, who would be desirous of repossession; and partly with respect to the disease, which had its intervals, and returned at certain times; and also with respect to the father of the child, to confirm his faith in the cure, and that he might be in no pain about the return of the disorder.

• Henry – The cure of the child, and the conquest of this raging devil in the child. Christ saw the people come running together, expecting to see the issue of this trial of skill, and therefore kept them in suspense no longer, but rebuked the foul spirit; the unclean spirit, so it should be rendered, as in other places. Observe,

What the charge was which Christ gave to this unclean spirit; “Thou dumb and deaf spirit, that makest the poor child dumb and deaf, but shalt thyself be made to hear thy doom, and not be able to say any thing against it, come out of him immediately, and enter no more into him. Let him not only be brought out of this fit, but let his fits never return.” Note, Whom Christ cures, he cures effectually. Satan may go out himself, and yet recover possession; but if Christ cast him out, he will keep him out.

• RWP - A multitude came running together (episuntrechei ochlos). A double compound here alone in the N.T. and not in the old Greek writers. Epitrechō occurs in the papyri, but not episuntrechō. The double compound vividly describes the rapid gathering of the crowd to Jesus and the epileptic boy to see the outcome.

Come out of him (exelthe ex autou). Jesus addresses the demon as a separate being from the boy as he often does. This makes it difficult to believe that Jesus was merely indulging popular belief in a superstition. He evidently regards the demon as the cause in this case of the boy’s misfortune.

• TSK - he rebuked: Mar_1:25-27, Mar_5:7-8; Zec_3:2; Mat_17:18; Luk_4:35, Luk_4:41, Luk_9:42; Jud_1:9

thou: If this had been only a natural disease, as some have contended, could our Lord with any propriety have thus addressed it? If the demoniacal possession had been false, or merely a vulgar error, would our Lord, the Revealer of truth, have thus established falsehood, sanctioned error, or encouraged deception, by teaching men to ascribe effects to the malice and power of evil spirits, which they had no agency in producing? Impossible! Such conduct is utterly unworthy the sacred character of the Redeemer. Isa_35:5-6; Mat_9:32-33, Mat_12:22; Luk_11:14

I charge: Luk_8:29; Act_16:18