I guess 1 You expect us to mess up and sin since the devil is here to help us out in doing so, but if our sin was not for the purpose of defying you and we ask for forgiveness then You forgive us, as long as we are sincere in our heart.
And of course, You know if we are sincere or not – I mean, You’re God and You know everything.
After David’s acts of adultery and murder, did he fly right?
A clay tablet found in Ebla, Syria The Ebla tablets are a collection of as many as 1800 complete clay tablets, 4700 fragments and many thousand minor chips found in the palace archives of the ancient city of Ebla, Syria.
The tablets were discovered by Italian archaeologist Paolo Matthiae and his team in 1974–75 during their excavations at the ancient city of Tell Mardikh.
The tablets, which were found in situ on collapsed shelves, retained many of their contemporary clay tags to help reference them.
They all date to the period between ca. 2500 B.C. and the destruction of the city ca. 2250 BC.
Today, the tablets are being held in the Syrian museums of Aleppo, Damascus, and Idlib.
“And again the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them to say, Go, number Israel and Judah.
For the king said to Joab the captain of the host, which was with him, Go now through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan even to Beersheba, and number ye the people, that I may know the number of the people.
And Joab said unto the king, Now the Lord thy God add unto the people, how many soever they be, an hundredfold, and that the eyes of my lord the king may see it: but why doth my lord the king delight in this thing?” (2 Sam 24:1-3).
So Joab went out to number the people, passing over Jordan and pitching in Aroer. They went to Gilead and to the land of Tahtim-hodhi, and then to Dan-jaan, and Zidon.
Then they arrived to the strong hold Tyre, and all the cities of Hivites, and the Canaanites, to the south of Judah, and even to Beer-sheba.
Nine months and twenty days later they returned to Jerusalem with the results of their count, which was 1,300,000 fighting men, they didn’t count women and children.
“And David’s heart smote him after that he had numbered the people. And David said unto the Lord, I have sinned greatly in that I have done: and now, I beseech thee, O Lord, take away the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done very foolishly.
For when David was up in the morning, the word of the Lord came unto the prophet Gad, David’s seer, saying,
Go and say unto David, Thus saith the Lord, I offer thee three things; choose thee one of them, that I may do it unto thee.
So Gad came to David, and told him, and said unto him, Shall seven years of famine come unto thee in thy land? or wilt thou flee three months before thine enemies, while they pursue thee? or that there be three days’ pestilence in thy land? now advise, and see what answer I shall return to him that sent me (2 Sam 24:10-13).
David told Gad to have God choose which punishment so the Lord sent a pestilence that killed 70,000 men. When the angel stretched out his hand to destroy Jerusalem God stopped Him and said that was enough.
David then asked God to only punish him and Gad said to, Go up, rear an altar unto the LORD in the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite(2 Sam 24:18).
Lugal is the Sumerian term for “king, ruler”. Literally, the term means “big man.” In Sumerian, lu is “man” and gal is “great,” or “big.”
It was one of several Sumerian titles that a ruler of a city-state could bear (alongside en and ensi, the exact difference being a subject of debate). The sign eventually became the predominant logograph for “King” in general. In the Sumerian language, lugal is used to mean an owner (e.g. of a boat or a field) or a head (of a unit such as a family).
And David went up to do as the Lord had commanded. Araunah saw the king and his servants coming toward him and David said he wanted to purchase the threshing floor to build an altar unto the Lord so that the plague be stayed.
The Ebla Tablets Mystery January 15, 2016 ~ admin Tablets Ancient Explorers – Ancient Ebla was located in Northern Syria, approximately halfway between the modern cities of Hamath and Aleppo. Excavations at that site began in the 1960s, and in the 1970s a series of extraordinary tablets was discovered among the ruins of an ancient palace. These tablets became known as “The Ebla Tablets”, and they were originally discovered under the direction of two professors from the University of Rome – Dr. Paolo Matthiae and Dr. Giovanni Petinato. At this point, about 17,000 tablets from the ancient Eblaite Kingdom have been recovered. These tablets appear to have been written during the two last generations of ancient Ebla. This means that they probably come from some time around 2300 to 2250 B.C. But what is remarkable about the Ebla tablets is not how old they are, but rather the amazing parallels to the Bible that they contain.
Araunah offered to give David oxen, threshing instruments, wood, and other instruments for free.
“And the king said unto Araunah, Nay; but I will surely buy it of thee at a price: neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the LORD my God of that which doth cost me nothing. So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver…
And David built there an altar unto the LORD, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the LORD was intreated for the land, and the plague was stayed from Israel” (2 Sam 24:24-25).
The census David takes to count his fighting men is not in itself a sin (althoughI Chr 21:1tells us that Satan was the instigator). It seems that David’s motive in counting the men is the problem, although we’re not told what that is, since David did not answer Joab’s question inverse 3.
Perhaps he did the count as a way to gloat about in his military might. Whatever the reason, David realizes the census was a faithless, sinful act(v. 10)and indeed God is very displeased with David because of it.
1 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;
Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no differences:
For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God (Rom 3:21-25).
City of Ebla
Ruins of the outer wall and the “Damascus Gate” Ebla was one of the earliest kingdoms in Syria, located about 55 km (34 mi) southwest of Aleppo near the village of Mardikh.
It was an important center throughout the Third millennium B.C. to the end of the first half of the Second millennium B.C.
Started as a small settlement in the early Bronze Age, it developed into a trading empire and later turned into an expansionist power that imposed its hegemony over much of northern and eastern Syria.
Its language, the Eblaite language is now considered the earliest attested Semitic language, after Akkadian.
The site is most famous for the Ebla tablets, an archive of about 20,000 cuneiform tablets found there, dated from around 2350 B.C., written in both Sumerian and Eblaite languages and using the Sumerian Cuneiform which allowed a better understanding of Sumerian.
Excavating the city of Ebla (modern Tell Mardikh) in northwestern Syria, archaeologists have discovered the single largest collection of third-millennium B.C. cuneiform tablets unearthed to date.
Immensely important in the study of the ancient Near East, this site has yielded tens of thousands of complete texts and fragments.
Ebla was destroyed during the 23rd century B.C., it was then rebuilt and was attested in the records of the Third Dynasty of Ur.
The second Ebla was a continuation to the first Ebla, it was destroyed at the end of the second millennia B.C. which paved the way for the Amorite tribes to settle in the city and form the third Ebla.
The third kingdom flourished again as a trade center, it became a subject and an ally to Yamhad (modern Aleppo) until its final destruction by the Hittite king Mursili I in c. 1600 B.C.
Ebla maintained its prosperity through a vast trading network, artifacts from Sumer, Cyprus, Egypt and as far as Afghanistan were recovered from the palaces of the city.
The political organization of Ebla had unique features different from the Sumerian model.
Women enjoyed a special status, the queen had major influence in the state and religious affairs, the pantheon was mainly north Semitic and included deities exclusive to Ebla.
These texts, which include administrative, lexical, literary and diplomatic tablets, were discovered in the palace, which had been destroyed by fire.
Ironically, the conflagration may have helped to preserve the tablets by baking them, although some more important tablets would have been purposely hard-baked when created in order to preserve their information for generations.
The Eblaites utilized the Sumerian cuneiform writing system, adapting it to their Semitic language. This has made decipherment and translation of the texts both difficult and tedious.
In fact, early translations often vary drastically from more recent ones as more is learned about the Eblaite language.
As a result, earlier scholars believed they had found a text parallel to the familiar Biblical proverbs, while today this so-called proverbial text is considered to tie merely a list of Sumerian terms for cuts of meat.
Some scholars had thought they saw references to the patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac and Jacob/Israel) in the Ebla tablets, but this also has turned out to be a false lead.
At one point, ancient historians believed that information in the Ebla texts indicated that the city, during its zenith, controlled a vast empire from Egypt to the Persian Gulf.
Many of these early readings have now come under renewed scrutiny as well, with the result that the extent of Ebla’s former power remains in question.
The importance of the Ebla documents for Biblical studies probably lies in what they can tell us in general about life in 3rd millennium B.C.
Syria-Palestine, as opposed to their providing any specific parallels to the Bible, as had been hoped.
guess 1 You expect us to mess up and sin since the devil is here to help us out in doing so, but if our sin was not for the purpose of defying you and we ask for forgiveness then You forgive us, as long as we are sincere in our heart.
