thin king

Hi to all ye colleagues,
Remember our College song in the 1950s,
and later the Singapore army song 1970s ?
Now here's Singapore song, version 2000s.
Ron


Oh Singapura no !

They say that in Singapura, life is mighty fine
You earn a thousand dollars, and spend thousand five
Gee whiz this is not my life, Oh ma I want to go
But they say it's no no, oh please, I wanna go home

They say that in Singapura, the roads mighty fine
You turn left you turn right, gantries hit your eyes
Gee whiz I don't want to drive, Oh ma I want to go
But they say it's no no, oh please, I wanna go home

They say that in Singapura, laksa's mighty fine
Some milk comes from China and there is melamine
Gee whiz I do need some wine, Oh ma I want to go
But they say it's no no, oh please, I wanna go home

They say that in Singapura, the taxis mighty fine
You wait before midnight, there's none you can find
Gee whiz I do need transport, Oh ma I want to go
But they say it's no no, oh please, I wanna go home

They say that in Singapura, nightlife's mighty fine
There is bar top dancing, but none stripping kind
Gee whiz I need to let off, Oh ma I want to go
But they say it's no no, oh please, I wanna go home

They say that in Singapura, living is mighty fine
You rise before sunrise, can't get to work on time
Gee whiz I fear the crowd, Oh ma I want to go
But they say it's no no, oh please, I wanna go home

Add on along

"A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour.


May you always have

Love to Share,

Health to Spare,

and Friends that Care."

Judith - a story from the Bible

Nebuchadnezzar the Assyrian king, in the seventeenth year of his reign, defeated King Arphaxad. He then planned to take revenge on all those countries that rejected his call to help. He appointed Holofernes, the general in chief, to take possession of all those who surrender but to lay waste all those who resisted.

Holofernes devastated all those territories and destroyed their gods of the earth to make them worship Nebuchadnezzar alone as a god. Finally Holofernes arrived before the Judean mountains. The Israelites were in extreme fear, but they prepared for war, stored up provisions, fortified their villages and posted guards on all the summits of the high mountains. Joakim the high priest, the senate of Israel and all of Israel cried to God with great fervour and did penance, girded themselves with sackcloth, prostrated themselves in front of the temple building with ashes strewn on their heads, offered the daily holocaust and cried to the Lord with all their strength to look with favour on the whole house of Israel.

Holofernes, in great anger, summoned all the satraps around to find out about these Israelites who dared to oppose him. Achior, the leader of all the Ammonites, told him everything about the history of the Israelites who were finally settled in this land by their God for being faithful. He warned Holofernes not to attack them while they were faithful to their God but to wait for them to sin against their God who would then allow them to be conquered and scattered. But Holofernes ridiculed and deported Achior to the Israelites, threatening to kill him there later.

The Israelites welcome Achior who informed them of what had happened and the boasting threats of Holofernes. At this the Israelites fell prostrate, worshiped God and prayed for help.

The next day Holofernes advanced and the huge army encamped in the valley while the Israelites kept vigilance in the high mountains, despite knowing that the enemy would devour the whole country as neither the high mountains nor the valleys and hills could support them. But upon advice, Holofernes seized the water sources and besieged the Israelites instead of attacking upwards which would be disastrous.

Thirty-four days later the Israelites, without water, went into despair and cried out to Uzziah and the rulers of the city to surrender. But Uzziah asked for five days more for their God to show His mercy; and throughout the city they were in great misery.

In those days Judith, daughter of the lineage of the son of Simeon of Israel, was a widow of Manasseh of her own tribe and clan, who died from sunstroke while supervising the barley harvest. Judith was beautiful and lovely to behold. She performed her duties of widowhood diligently; she was a very God-fearing woman, and no one had a bad word to say about her. Her husband had left her gold and silver, servants and maids, livestock and fields, which she was maintaining.

When Judith heard what had happened, she arranged for Uzziah and the elders of the city to visit her. She pointed out their impropriety with God by laying down conditions and putting God to the test. She talked about God having his own ways and not to anger God, but to be thankful instead for being put to the test like their forefathers. Uzziah praised her for her prudence and wisdom, saying these corresponded to the worthy dispositions of her heart.

Then Judith told them that she would do something that would go down from generation to generation among the descendants of their race. She asked them to let her pass through the gate with her maid that night; so that, within the days specified to surrender the city, the Lord would rescue Israel by her hand. Uzziah and the rulers told her to go in peace and pleaded the Lord to help her take vengeance upon their enemies; then they left.

Judith threw herself down prostrate with ashes strewn upon her head and wearing nothing over her sackcloth. And Judith prayed to the Lord with a loud voice, recalling how the Lord, God of her forefather Simeon, had been with them in their battle against their enemies. She prayed God to grant her, a widow, the strong hand to execute her plan to deliver them from the enemy out to destroy their covenant, holy temple, Mount Zion, and the homes they had inherited.

Having thus prayed, Judith quickly bathed and anointed herself with rich ointment, changed her garments, arranged her hair, wore sandals, put on anklets, bracelets, rings, earrings, and all her other jewelry. She made herself very beautiful, to captivate the eyes of all the men who should see her. Then having had her maid prepared all the provisions they went through the gate out of the city, leaving Uzziah and the elders astounded at her beauty.

Judith passed the Assyrian outpost with her story of escaping the Israelites about to be punished by God, and of her intention to reveal to Holofernes the secret to conquer the mountain without a fight nor injury nor loss of life. Her words and beauty struck them such that they detailed a hundred of their men to escort her and her maid to the tent of Holofernes.

When Holofernes and his servants beheld Judith, they all marveled at the beauty. She threw herself down prostrate before him, but his servants raised her up. Judith praised Holofernes greatly for his wisdom, sagacity and distinguished military strategy, and that everything would live for Nebuchadnezzar, king of all the earth, through him. She told him that what Achior had informed him was true, but since the Israelites determined to consume all the things which God forbade them to eat because their food gave out and all their water ran low, the wrath of their God would be upon them. She said that the day the messengers to Jerusalem brought back the authorization from the council of the elders and they acted upon it, they would be handed over for destruction. And she had fled to perform God's work with Holofernes, being a God-fearing woman, serving God faithfully.

Judith said that she would remain with him, but each night she would have to go out to the ravine and pray to God to be told when the Israelites have sinned which she would inform him. And she would lead him to destroy the Israelites as she was sent to do. Her words, well spoken by one so fair to behold, pleased Holofernes who said that when it was done, her God would be his God, and she would dwell in the palace of King Nebuchadnezzar, and be renowned throughout the earth.

Judith declined the room set for her with all the silverware, delicacies and wine, saying it could be an occasion of sin and that she was amply supplied by herself. She slept in the tent till midnight, then she rose and went out to pray, Holofernes having ordered his bodyguard not to hinder her. Thus she stayed in the camp three days. Each night she went out to the ravine of Bethulia, she washed herself at the spring of the camp, and besought the Lord to direct her way for the triumph of His people. Then she returned purified to the tent, and remained there until her food was brought to her toward evening.

On the fourth day Holofernes gave a banquet for his servants only, and he sent Bagoas to invite Judith to enjoy life like one of the Assyrian women who live in the palace of Nebuchadnezzar. She replied that she could not refuse her lord and would do whatever was pleasing to him promptly; also it would be a joy for her till the day of her death.

Thereupon she proceeded to put on her festive garments and all her feminine adornments. Meanwhile her maid went ahead and spread out on the floor for her in front of Holofernes the fleece Bagoas had furnished for her daily use in reclining at her dinner. Then Judith came in and reclined on it. The heart of Holofernes was in rapture over her, and his spirit was shaken. He was burning with the desire to possess her, for he had been biding his time to seduce her from the day he saw her.

Holofernes said to her, "Drink and be merry with us!" Judith replied, "I will gladly drink, my lord, for at no time since I was born have I ever enjoyed life as much as I do today." She then took the things her maid had prepared, and ate and drank in his presence.

Holofernes, charmed by her, drank a great quantity of wine, more than he had ever drunk on one single day in his life. When it grew late, everybody left, and Bagoas closed the tent from the outside. Judith was alone in the tent with Holofernes, who lay prostrate on his bed, sodden with wine. She had ordered her maid to wait outside the bedroom as on the other days, for she would be going out for her prayer. She had also said this to Bagoas.

Judith stood by Holofernes' bed and prayed to God to look graciously on her undertaking for the exaltation of Jerusalem. Then she took Holofernes's sword, and with all her might she struck him twice in the neck and cut off his head. She rolled his body off the bed and took the canopy from its supports. Soon she came out and handed the head of Holofernes to her maid who put it into her food pouch; and the two went off together as they were accustomed to do for prayer.

They passed through the camp, and skirting the ravine, reached Bethulia on the mountain. As they approached its gates, Judith shouted to the guards from a distance, "Open! Open the gate! God, our God, is with us. Once more he has made manifest his strength in Israel and his power against our enemies; he has done it this very day."

All the people, from the least to the greatest, hurriedly assembled, for her return seemed unbelievable. They opened the gate and welcomed the two women. They made a fire for light and gathered around them. Judith showed them the head of Holofernes and the canopy under which he laid in his drunkenness. She said the Lord had protected her, and it was her face that seduced Holofernes to his ruin, adding that he did not sin with her to her defilement or disgrace.

Then Judith told them to hang the head on the parapet of the wall, and at daybreak to let everyone seize his weapons and rush out of the city under command of a captain as if to attack the advance guard of the Assyrians, but without going down.

She also called for Achior who fainted when he saw the head of Holofernes, and on recovering he said, "Blessed are you in every tent of Judah; and in every foreign nation, all who hear of you will be struck with terror." That very day he became one of them.

At daybreak, as Judith had said, when the Assyrians saw the advancing Israelites, they notified their captains who, in turn, went to the generals and division leaders and all their other commanders; and they came to the tent of Holofernes. And, when Bagoas went in, he found a headless corpse. And unable to find Judith he broke into a loud clamor of weeping, groaning and howling, rent his garments and cried out to the troops, "The slaves have duped us! A single Hebrew woman has brought disgrace on the house of King Nebuchadnezzar. Here is Holofernes headless on the ground!"

And panic struck the enemy, they scattered in all directions, and fled along every road, both through the valley and in the mountains. All the Israelites, with one accord, attacked them and cut them down. For thirty days the whole populace plundered and acquired great riches till the towns and villages in the mountains and on the plain were crammed with the enormous quantity of booty they had seized. They gave Judith the tent of Holofernes, with all his silver, his couches, his dishes, and all his furniture, which she accepted. She harnessed her mules, hitched her wagons to them, and loaded these things on them.

The high priest Joakim and the elders of the Israelites with one accord blessed her, saying, "You are the glory of Jerusalem, the surpassing joy of Israel, you are the splendid boast of our people." Judith led all Israel in a song of thanksgiving, and the people swelled this hymn of praise. Judith dedicated, as a votive offering to God, all the things of Holofernes that the people had given her, as well as the canopy that she herself had taken from his bedroom. For three months the people continued their celebration in Jerusalem before the sanctuary, and Judith remained with them.

Judith remained on her estate in Bethulia, renowned throughout the land. She gave herself to no man all the days of her life from the time of the death and burial of her husband, Manasseh. She lived to the advanced age of a hundred and five and was buried in the tomb of her husband, Manasseh. Before she died, she distributed her goods to the relatives of her husband, Manasseh, and to her own relatives; and to the maid she gave her freedom.

During the life of Judith and for a long time after her death, no one again disturbed the Israelites.

A story of Gideon, son of Joash the Abiezrite.

The Israelites, by worshiping Baal, offended the LORD and were delivered into the power of Midian who held them subjects. They lived in fear, took refuge in the caves and the strongholds, and established fire signals on the mountains. For seven years, Midian, Amalek and the Kedemites plundered and destroyed their crops as far as the outskirts of Gaza, leaving no sustenance in Israel, nor sheep, oxen or asses. Reduced to misery by Midian, the Israelites cried out to the LORD.

The LORD sent a prophet who reminded them that the LORD had freed them
from slavery in Egypt, gave them their land by driving out their enemies, and forbade them to worship other gods but The LORD, and yet they disobeyed.

Then the LORD sent an angel to Gideon; the angel said, "Go with the strength you have and save Israel from the power of Midian." Gideon asked how he could do that, being the most insignificant in the meanest family in Manasseh. However, Gideon prepared an offering and asked for a sign to show that the LORD was with him. The angel touched the offering with his staff and thereupon a fire came up from the rock and consumed the meat and unleavened cakes; then the angel disappeared.

Gideon was afraid, having thus seen the angel of the LORD face to face. But the LORD assured him that he would not die, and told him to destroy his father's altar to Baal with the seven-year-old spare bullock and instead build the proper kind of altar; and then offer the bullock as a holocaust on the wood from the sacred pole of Baal to the LORD. Gideon did as he was told but at night instead for fear of his family and the people.

When the townspeople found out the deed the next morning they demanded of Joash his son's life. But Joash said that if Baal whose altar had been destroyed was a god he should act for himself, and any man acting for him would be put to death. So, on that day Gideon was called Jerubbaal, meaning "Let Baal take action against him since he destroyed Baal's altar."

The spirit of the LORD enveloped Gideon; he blew the horn and summoned
Abiezer; he sent messengers and the tribes throughout Manasseh, Asher, Zebulun and Naphtali gathered to follow him.

But Gideon asked of the LORD, "If indeed you are going to save Israel through me as you promised, let dew come on the woolen fleece alone while all the ground is dry." The next morning he wrung from the fleece a bowlful of water while the ground was dry. Still, he asked the LORD to let the fleece alone be dry but dew on all the ground; and the fleece alone was dry while there was dew on all the ground that night.

Early the next morning Gideon encamped by Enharod with all his soldiers. The camp of Midian was in the valley north of Gibeath-hammoreh. The Midianites, Amalekites, and all the Kedemites were as numerous as locusts; their camels could not be counted, for these were as many as the sands on the seashore.

The LORD told Gideon to reduce the size of his army as He did not want Israel to vaunt itself against the LORD that its own power gained the victory. So when Gideon, as instructed, asked those who were afraid to leave, twenty-two thousand of the soldiers left, but ten thousand remained. But the LORD said that that was still too many. So Gideon led the soldiers down to the water to drink. Almost all the soldiers knelt down to drink the water, but there were three hundred who lapped like dogs the water raised by hand to their mouths. Gideon picked exactly these three hundred and sent the rest home as the LORD had instructed him.

The LORD told Gideon to attack, else if he was afraid to go with his aide Purah to spy first. When they reached the camp they heard one said, "I had a dream that a round loaf of barley bread was rolling into the camp of Midian. It came to our tent and struck it, and turned the tent upside down." The other replied, "This can only be the sword of the Israelite Gideon, God has delivered Midian and all the camp into his power."

Gideon understood, and he prostrated himself; then returning to the camp of Israel, he said, "Arise, for the LORD has delivered the camp of Midian into your power." He divided the three hundred men into three companies, and provided them all with horns and jars with torches inside the jars. When Gideon and the men came to the edge of the enemy camp at the beginning of the middle watch, all three companies blew their horns and broke the jars and cried out, "For the LORD and for Gideon !" They held the torches in their left hands, and in their right hands the horns they were blowing, crying out, "A sword for the LORD and Gideon!" They all remained standing in place around the camp, while the whole camp fell to running and shouting and fleeing. But the three hundred men kept blowing the horns, and throughout the camp the LORD set the sword of one against another. The enemy fled as far as Beth-shittah in the direction of Zarethan, near the border of Abel-meholah at Tabbath.

The Israelites from Naphtali, from Asher, and from all Manasseh, were called to arms, and they pursued Midian. Gideon also sent messengers throughout the mountain region of Ephraim to say, "Go down to confront Midian, and seize the water courses as far as Beth-barah, as well as the Jordan." So all the Ephraimites came and seized the water courses as far as Beth-barah, and the Jordan as well.

They captured the two princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb, killing Oreb at the rock of Oreb and Zeeb at the wine press of Zeeb. Then they pursued Midian and carried the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon beyond the Jordan.

Good morning,
At a casual gathering on Wednesday, The Bible was lightly referred to.
Gathering and putting my thoughts together, here goes:

What is The Bible?

The Bible is one gigantic cornucopia from which flows the perfect philosophy for living.
It gives us a road map for the testing journey of life.
It is a guide book for everyday living, guidelines for knowing right from wrong, standards for our conduct, and the principles to walk the steady path.
It is a refuge for us in times of tribulation; it offers hope, comfort and salvation in suffering, in sickness, in mourning, in persecution, in despair.

The Bible is the most widely published book;
it is an amazing collection of many books by different authors over many eras.
The Bible is a Book of prophecy.
The Bible is a Book of history.
The Bible is a Book of battles.
The Bible is a Book of Jesus.
The Bible is a Book of miracles.
The Bible is a Book of parables.
The Bible is a Book of saints.
The Bible contains a Book of wisdom.
The Bible contains a Book of proverbs.
The Bible contains a Book of psalms.

The Bible contains stories of great people of colourful characters:
Samuel, Elizah, Moses, Esther, Joanna, Samson, Gidgeon, David, Daniel, Solomon, Goliath, Noah, Joseph, Jonah, Job, Joshua, Saul of Tarsus and more;
and of people and places: the Tower of Babel, the Walls of Jerico, the Red Sea crossing, Sodom and Gomorrah, Manna in the desert, etcetera.

Many famous movies were based on characters in the The Bible:
The Robe, The Silver Chalice, Quo Vadis, Samson & Delilah, Ben Hur, The Ten Commandments and others. Cecil deMille made many movies from The Bible, and he is known to have said that he could make one from just turning its pages.

Strangely, The Bible is the most owned but not as that well read book.
In every day life, people quote from the Bible, often out of context because of this.
People who own but do not read the Bible often feel that it is always there when they need it. This is not wise and a great loss, as the need is often overlooked.

The Bible is available free, online at: http://www.nccbuscc.org/nab/bible/

Wear shoes at the beginning, not at the end, of a journey.

Peace be with you !
Ron