Fourth Day of Christmas

Here's what AI says about it:

AI Overview

The fourth day of Christmas is the Feast of the Holy Innocents, also known as Childermas, and takes place on December 28th. It's a day to remember the children who were killed in Bethlehem by King Herod when he was trying to kill baby Jesus. 

The four calling birds on the fourth day of the song "The 12 Days of Christmas" are said to represent the four Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. These Gospels spread the good news of Jesus' life and teachings. 

Something I read, and linked here yesterday, said the original song was four colly birds and that colly meant black, so called referring to the coal of the coal mining district in Britain.

What kind of birds would they be? Crows? Four and twenty blackbirds baked into a pie? Starlings, grackles, ravens? 

Down in the lower part of our backyard on Conodoguinet Creek in Harrisburg, I once watched from our kitchen window as four large black birds, I think they were grackles, surrounded a baby bird of another species, maybe a blue jay, I don't recall, then attack it, peck it to death in a bloody flurry of feathers, and eat it. It was horrifying to see, but creatures live by their evolved nature. As I've remembered, the predatory nature of creation was a problem for Charles Darwin's experience with Christianity, although his wife and children continued in the faith.  

January 2025 begins a new era. Some will be watching to see who gets bullied. Bullies like to pick on others, and they like it best when they are in charge and can be authoritarian without challenge.

Speaking of black birds, here's a black parade car.  

Here's our gospel for today, Holy Innocents: Matthew 2:13-18

When the wise men had departed, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, "Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him." Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt, and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, "Out of Egypt I have called my son."

When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he was infuriated, and he sent and killed all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had learned from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah:

"A voice was heard in Ramah,

wailing and loud lamentation,

Rachel weeping for her children;

she refused to be consoled, because they are no more."

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Hosea was not prophesying about Jesus. Here's an AI explanation, which shows among other things that AI gets down to the bare basics:

AI Overview

The New Testament Use of the Old Testament [Part 5 in the ...

"Out of Egypt I called my son" is a phrase from the Bible, specifically from Hosea 11:1, where God is speaking about calling Israel, represented as his son, out of Egypt, signifying a deliverance from oppression; this phrase is later referenced in the New Testament (Matthew 2:15) to signify Jesus' flight to Egypt as a fulfillment of this prophecy. 

Jeremiah was not prophesying about Jesus. In fact, here's what AI says about the passage:

AI Overview

A Voice is Heard in Ramah

“A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be consoled, because they are no more” is a quote from the prophet Jeremiah in the Bible, Jeremiah 31:15-17. 

Here's some more information about the quote: Ramah was a deportation center where Israelites were taken from their homes, families, and the land of promise. Rachel represents her descendants, especially the women who lost their children.

Matthew does masterful work in lifting passages from the Septuagint and using them out of context as messianic prophecy. The best known of Matthew's examples is Matthew 1:18f

18 Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be pregnant from the Holy Spirit. 19 Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to divorce her quietly. 20 But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet:

23 “Look, the virgin shall become pregnant and give birth to a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,”

which means, “God is with us.”

Which Matthew lifts from Isaiah 7:14, where Isaiah says "Behold, הָעַלְמָ֗ה hā·‘al·māh, the maiden, the young woman, shall conceive and bear a son ..." but Matthew is not using the Hebrew bible, he is using the LXX, the Greek language translation of the Hebrew bible, which translates הָעַלְמָ֗ה as παρθένος, parthenos, virgin. From this comes our Doctrine of the Virgin Birth. 

This is no big news, it's well known among Bible students. And it's okay, we sing the hymns, and we say the creeds, and we hold to the doctrine even knowing its tentative origins, because it's part of our story that makes us who and what we are. 

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Saturday: hazy and low ceiling, 

the porch deck is wet, meaning it rained during the night. Up at four o'clock to a magic mug of hot & black Club Coffee and the last bite of the pecan pie that was cut for Christmas dinner. Saturday breakfast: sandwich of thinly sliced asiago bread, mayo, and one can of Fishwife brand anchovies. Excellent.

Blessings and Peace,

RSF&PTL

T89&c