I am a 3392nd PTCACE

I know, I know, that is a ridiculous title for anything. But just read on, and you will understand.

This blog pondering began with my pondering through Psalm 32. Specifically, verse one. Trying to get a better understanding of the word “transgression.”  While researching, I bumped into an interesting tidbit of useless information. I found a guy, perhaps a conservative Biblical scholar, who calculated the Creation date as October 23, 4004 BC. My suspicious mind wondered why he chose to use the Julian calendar rather than the Hebrew. (There is a point about human nature deftly revealed in his decision. But that is for you to chase. Maybe I will in a different post.)

The scholar does not speculate on the time zone of the Garden’s location. However, I assume the Garden was and is in the “fertile Crescent.” The nation of Iraq is in that “Fetal Crescent.” And Iraq runs on AST, Arabia Standard Time.

The International Date Line (IDL) is an imaginary line drawn on the earth establishing where each new day begins and the old day ends. It splits the Pacific Ocean, and the closest land mass on the line is Midway Island. If I were the one establishing the IDL, it would pass exactly down the ridge of my nose, through the space between my eyes wherever they open after I fall asleep. For accident Hebrews, each day ended with sunset. The new day began with “moon rise.”  I naturally fall into that rhythm. My days end when I get in bed and slip into a restful, although often turbulent, state of unconsciousness. Each new day begins when I wake up. The space in between is just that, a distance between my days.

 This same zealous (maybe overly so) student of the Bible has thus calculated the date that the Ten Commandments were given to Moses on Mount Sinai. My response was to bring up the calculator on my smartphone and do my calculation. According to my calculations based on his calculations, there were 2,558 years between God’s first word of instruction to humanity and his more detailed instruction. That is, between God telling Adam what their relationship would be like and a more detailed description of that relationship in God’s Top Ten.

I do not know if you knew this, but there are, as of January 2023, 3,469 years between the giving of the Ten Commandments and today. So, you can impress your coffee buddies with that!

As far as my theology goes, none of this date-setting matters. I do not see the necessity to have these kinds of facts. While I follow discoveries in Biblical archeology, my beliefs are not confirmed or debunked by what is found buried in the ground. My soul does not hunger for physical evidence of the eternally Divine. My soul craves for a Person to awaken and anoint it. So does yours. My brain, my mind, wants to know and be able to prove all the things it does not know. However, my soul desires long for and even demands the knowledge of its origin.

My greatest longing is to know my Creator as intimately as possible in this life. My mind wants tangible evidence. My soul wants profound contact. My mind wants to win all arguments. My soul wants to be joyously embraced. My mind wants to predict the future. My soul delights most in anticipating its present future.

Possessing a piece of the Ark, the crypt of an OT prophet, or a leather bag of Jesus’ fingernail trimmings is unimportant. What is essential is that our God, Yahweh, reveals Himself to every human. But, unfortunately, my mind, our minds, get in the way of realizing and resting in that truth. We want tangible proof upon which we can establish our faith.

The person of God is the proof of God’s existence. So don’t seek His stuff! Seek Him!

You will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart. (Jeremiah 29:13 CSB)

Finally, back to the title, I was born in 1946. That means I was born exactly 3392 years after Moses met with God on Mount Sinai and received the Ten Commandments. I am then the 3392nd commemorative anniversary celebration edition of the giving of the Ten Commandments. No wonder my birth mates are known as “Baby Boomers”! (PTCACE = Post Ten Commandments Anniversary Commemorative Edition)

Photo – Spring plumage on our pine tree on the west side of our home.