lots of things have happened in the last few days, but the thing that has really surprised me is how good God is, how faithful and so forth. i don't know why this should surprise me because He always has been in the past but each time He does something it is like a fresh and surprising blessing.
on a different thought: in the past few months I have been reading some greek history; mainly about the peloponnesian war, alexander the great and so forth. one of the tales i read some months back was
herodotus' account of the battle of thermopylae, when 300 spartan warriors (all of whom had sons at home, to carry on the family name) held back may be up to 80 000 persian soldiers who were coming to attack greece. the greeks had (for once) managed to unite to repel the persian invaders (the king was xerxces) but they needed time to get their forces together. the spartans bought them this time by blocking the pass at thermopylae (through which the persians had to come)for a while, which allowed the athenian fleet to deal with the persian one and for the combined greek forces to defeat the persians at the battle of plaetae.
its an incredible story, all the more amazing because it sounds like a myth, but it is in all probability true - these men knew they were going to have to fight to the death, and supposedly, when they had exhausted all their weapons resorted to fighting with their teeth and nails. i was reminded of this because of a discussion on radio 4 this morning, but the thought i keep coming back to is that this incredible act, part of a sustained campaign from the persians (under 2 kings, darius and xexerces) doesn't get a mention in the Bible. (books it might be mentioned in might include daniel). what does that say about the enormity of the ever growing persian empire (which stretched from beyond india in the east, to ethiopia and libya in africa). we (or at least i) often see the greeks and romans as the forbears of civilisation and yet this advaced group of cities that began the system that we still call democracy today, was but an outpost on the edge of this colossal, exotic territory. so often we see the world as revolving around us in the west and i think that sometimes it is good to get a sense of perspective in the whole God scheme of things. at this stage in time, the focus was still very much on israel (judah) whether it was in exile or not whilst we, this once glorious protestant nation (cos legally we still are you know) at this time were barely able to read or write and spent a lot of time at a circle of stones!
and the usa had barely been dreamt of (even eric the red hadn't got there yet). it reminds me again why we should be humble and accept that other cultures, older than our own might have something to teach us
# posted by Nomes @ 1:59 PM
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