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| (Biblebios.com) |
If God used Balaam’s donkey to get that prophet’s attention, I guess he can use me to get yours. May these periodic postings on the second and fourth Mondays of each month (God willing) generate fruitful discussion and faithful change.
One of my favorite characters in the Old Testament (2 Maccabees 6:18-31) is Eleazar, a ninety year old Jewish scribe, a “teacher of the Law.” He was ordered to eat pork in violation of the Mosaic Law or be killed. He preferred death rather than offend God.
He was well respected not only among the Jews but even by some of those charged with killing him. They pulled him aside, spoke to him outside the hearing of his fellow Jews and urged him to eat some other type of meat not prohibited by Jewish dietary law and pretend it was pork. They advised him to act this way not only because they wanted to save his life, but because they assumed most of his fellow Jews, believing their well-respected leader ate pork to save his life, would follow his example.
This too Eleazar refused to do since he would thereby “offend God, bring dishonor to himself and lead other Jews astray.” He knew full well that while participating in this ruse would spare him from the punishment of men, he would never escape eternal punishment. Instead, he chose to “leave to the young a noble example of how to die willingly and generously for the revered and holy laws”.
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