I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving with family or friends. There are so many things we can be thankful for that it’s easy to take for granted. Did you know that American Thanksgiving likely has specific connections to the Bible beyond the general platitudes of gratitude to God? At the end of the harvest in 1621, Christian colonists joined with natives to thank God for a successful harvest with a bountiful meal. Where else do we encounter a group of religious travelers praising God with a meal for an abundant harvest? A Harvest Festival Celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles […]
Tag Archives: Thanksgiving
Thanksgivukkah
Praise the LORD. Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.Who can proclaim the mighty acts of the LORD or fully declare his praise? Psalm 106:2 The holiday season is upon us in full spring. Today is Thanksgiving. It is also the first day of Hanukkah this year. These holidays rarely coincide. While Thanksgiving has devolved into “Turkey Day” and the beginning for the Christmas shopping season, it was originally created as a day to give thanks to God. Consider this excerpt from Abraham Lincoln’s original proclamation 150 years ago: (emphasis mine) I do therefore […]
Parchment Praise
Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift! 2 Corinthians 9:15 Since getting back from Jordan, much of my days could be summed up in the simple phrase “writing papers”. With four papers due by Monday, it’s been a lot of work. I had started before Jordan, but it’s been a lot of work still. I’m now nearing done. I have written about the Hyksos in Egypt, the physical geography of the Coastal Plain and Negev, the archaeology/history surrounding the exodus, and rabbinic interpretations of the early part of Exodus. Thursday evening we celebrated Thanksgiving. It isn’t a holiday in […]