At World End - Part 1

I thought with all the stuff going on in the Middle East I would make a series of posts on stuff going on in the news that would have to do wil the world ending and Jesus returning.

Here is some news that I find really neat below, This article can be found on Fox News'es website.

Medieval Psalmbook Dug Out of Irish Bog

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Associated Press

DUBLIN, Ireland - Irish archaeologists Tuesday heralded the discovery of an ancient book of psalms by a construction worker who spotted something while driving the shovel of his backhoe into a bog.

The approximately 20- page book has been dated the years 800-1000. Trinity College manuscripts exper Bernard Meehan said it was the first discovery of an Irish early medieval document in two centuries.

"This is really a miracle find," said Pat Wallace, director of the National Museum of Ireland, Which has the book stored in refrigerator and facing years of painstaking analysis before being put on public display.

"There's two sets of odds that make this discovery really way out. First of all, it's unlikely that something this fragile could survive buried in a bog at all, and then for it to be unearthed and spotted before it was destroyed is incalculably more amazing."

He said an engineer was digging up bogland last week to create commercial pottting soil somewhere in Ireland's midlands when, "just beyond the bucket of his bulldozer, he spotted something."

Wallace would not specify where the book was found because a team of archaelogists is still exploring the site.

"The owner of the bog has had dealings witth us in past and is very much in favor of archaeological discovery and reporting it, "Wallace said.

Crucially, he said, the bog owner coverd up the book with damp soil.

Had it been left exposed overnightm he said, "It could have dried out and just vanished, blown away."

The book was found open to a page describing, in Latin script, Psalm 83, in which God hears complaints of other nations' attempts to wipe out the name of Israel.

Wallace said several experts spend Tuesday analyzing only that page - the number of letters on each line, lines on each page, size of page - and the book's binding and cover, which he described as "leather velum, very thick wallet in appearance."

It could take months of study, he said, just to identify the safest way to pry open the pages without damaging or destroying them. He ruled out the use of X-rays to investigate without moving the pages.

Ireland already has several other holy books from early medieval period, including the ornately illustrated Book of Kells, which has been on display at Trinity College in Dublin since the 19tth century.

The link to this artical is here.

Now! What does Psalm 83 say? Well I happen to have my handy dandy Bible here.

Psalm 83

O God, Do not remain quiet; Do not be silent and, O God, do not be still. For behold, Your enemies make an uproar, And those who hate You have exalted themselves. They make shrewd plans against Your people, And conspire togethor against Your people, And conspire togethor against Your treasured ones. They have said, "Come, and let us wipe them out as a nation, That the name of Israel be remembered nor more." For they have conspired together with one mind; Against You they make a covenant: The tents of Edon and the Ishmaelites, Moab and Hagrits; Gebal and Ammn and Amalek, Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre; Assyria also has joined with them; They have become a help to the children of Lot. Deal with them as with Midian, As with Sisera and JAbin at the torrent of Kibshon, Who were destroyed at En-dor, Who became as dung for the ground. Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb And all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna, Who said, "Let us possess for ourselves The pastures of God." O my God, make them like the whirling dust, like chaff before the wind. Like fire that burns the forest. And like a flame that sets the mountains on fire, So pursue them with Your tempest And terrify them with Your storm. Fill their faces with dishonor, That they may seek Your name, O Lord. Let them be ashamed and dismayed forever, And let them be humiliated and perish, That they may know that You alone, whose name is the Lord, Are the Most High over all the earth.

I find this very interesting!