April 27

OT -- Judges 8:18-9:21
Wow, 70 sons plus one from a concubine. Don't know how many wives he had but that seems like a ton of boy babies. I'm thinking there must have been a goodly number of girl ones too. It was probably a good thing he shared in the plunder, although I wish he hadn't tried to make Jether kill the jerks who killed his brothers. Gideon sometimes does not show a lot of forethought.
And Abimelech. Even his name sounds wretched. Clearly, he carried a ton of resentment for being the only son who didn't live with his dad in the compound. Still doesn't give him the right to chop everyone's head off. And what do you think *he* did with the girls? I am not thinking pretty thoughts here.
My reading cuts the story off right at the apex and it is taking a lot of resolve for me not to read on but I am resisting.

NT -- Luke 23:44-24:12
What an impossible story! Who would believe the women? They didn't even believe themselves and had to have angels appear. One of the practical commentaries that I read about this passage talked about the spices and perfumes. In that climate, a day and half old dead body is absolutely, horrifyingly smelly and bug filled. For the women to even think that they could place spices and perfumes on the body was a show of how much they loved and adored Jesus. No one would open a tomb that soon. You couldn't physically stand it. But there they were, with their bowls and baskets, ready to take care of their Lord. What incredible faith.

Read the next part only if you want to get the CSI details. Otherwise, skip to the Psalms.
"Let me tell you briefly what putrefactive changes are. When a person dies, his body can no longer defend itself against the bacteria - both inside and outside his body. Our environment is full of millions of bacteria although we can not see them. If they could have their way, they would invade our body immediately. But the defence mechanisms of our body keep them at bay. After death they attack the body both from outside and within and cause it to deteriorate. By their actions on the body tissues they form a gas called hydrogen sulphide. When eggs get rotten, same gas is liberated. The peculiar smell of rotten eggs is due the hydrogen sulphide only. This gas interacts with the haemoglobin present within the red blood cells, and forms a greenish coloured compound sulphmethaemoglobin. This compound is greenish black in colour. Because of this the body assumes a greenish colour. The first part of body to become green is the right lower side of abdomen. This colour appears 12 to 24 hours after death. Thus if we see the greenish discolouration of the right lower side of the abdomen in a dead body, we can say that the person must have been dead for at least 12-24 hours. In the next 24 hours i.e. after 36 to 48 hours after death, the whole body turns greenish-black. Around the same time another peculiar change appears in the dead body. It is called marbling. In this change several parts of the body such as legs, arms, shoulders and chest show long tortuous greenish coloured streaks. These streaks are nothing but veins, which are stained by the sulpmethaemoglobin produced within the body. After death, the red blood cells break down, and haemoglobin from them is released. This haemoglobin combines with hydrogen sulphide gas and forms sulphmethaemoglobin as already explained. This compound then stains the vessels of the skin, in much the same way ink stains your hands. Thus the veins, which are normally invisible become visible as green streaks. Marbling begins in about 24 hours and is well pronounced in 36-48 hours. When I see pronounced marbling in a dead body, I can say that the person must have been dead for almost 36 to 48 hours!

Another putrefactive change is the appearance of gases. When bacteria feed on body tissues, they release foul smelling gases. These gases collect beneath the tissues, and bloat the features of the dead person. The tongue may begin to protrude. The features may become so distorted that even close relatives find it hard to identify the dead body.

After about 36 hours, flies lay eggs around the natural orifices of the body such as nose, mouth, eyes, ears, anus and vagina. These places provide a safe nidus for the young ones of insects and they choose these places quite instinctively. In the next 24 hours, maggots come out of these eggs. These maggots look very much like miniature earthworms. Each maggot is of the size of a rice grain, and is seen wriggling leisurely. Thousands of such worms may be found wriggling all over the body. This is not a very pleasant sight, and most persons will begin to retch at such a sight. Only a forensic pathologist is well trained to stand such a ghastly sight. These maggots become pupa in the next 4-5 days, and in another 4-5 days, the pupa becomes the adult fly and flies away from the dead body. Thus we can roughly calculate the time of death from the appearance of these maggots."

Psalm 99:1-9
Thank goodness that we have a glory psalm after Jesus' death. I think that is important to remember when we are in the depths of some of these passages -- God is the King and He rules over everything, including death, injustice, and cruelty.
And He is a good God. He loves justice, mercy, and kindness. He is not vicious or cruel. He forgives us over and over and over. And most of all, He loves us. He loved Gideon. He loved Abimelech. And He loves you and me. How fortunate we are that He is our God.

Selah