BIBLE STORIES:
Isn't it interesting what we dimly recall from Sunday School and/or Church services? I always loved the Old Testament. But as Paul Harvey talked about there is always The Rest of The Story.
I started out in the entirely wrong direction trying to remember the name of the woman banned and I waded around in Genesis and found Bilhah and that was quite wrong.
I Facebooked a friend who is a much better Church goer than I and she replied that it was probably Hagar who bore a child for Sarah and Abraham.
Got it! So the basic story was that God promised Abraham that he would be the Father of many nations. However, Sarah did not have a son. Hagar was um, recruited, and she gave birth to Ishmael. Then in a few years Sarah finally gave birth to Isaac. The relationship deteriorated and Sarah demanded that Abraham cast her out.
She set off with food and water and Ishmael. She ran out of water and began running back and forth for seven miles between two hills. She cried out to God who heard her and sent an angel. The angel struck the ground and a well sprang forth. The angel also told him that God would make Ishmael into a great nation. Hagar found him a wife.
That is all Genesis says about Hagar and Ishmael. Abraham produced many nations and that part of the Old Testament rolled on into the rest of the vast history to the present day.
So here is the rest of the story. We do not learn this in Sunday School and more rarely never hear this story in Church.
The well which the Angel, Gabriel, caused to come forth is the well of ZamZam. It is located a few meters from the Kabba. The water that comes forth is pure and in high volume to this day. It serves the thirsty pilgrims who go on Hajj to Mecca. Hajj occures once a year based on the moon and Hajj is a moveable pilgrimage and advances about 11 days per year. Hajj lasts for a week.
Muslims are encouraged to attend Hajj if possible. There are several tasks performed by the pilgrims. First and foremost is prayer. There are specific prayers involved. All of the men wear a simple two piece white toga type garment. The ladies wear black. Some children do attend.
One of the ceremonies is where everyone circles the Kabba. Another is a seven mile round trip walk between the two hills that Hagar searched for water. That part is now partially covered with vast folding umbrellas. Another ceremony involves casting stones at the devil. There is currently a very large oval shaped pillar for everyone to cast stones.
There is also a requirement for sacrifice of a sheep or camel. This is done very efficiently. The pilgrim orders the sacrifice by smart phone. They are notified when it is done and the meat is given to the poor. That is a lot of sheep and camel. Most of the men get the hair shaved off their head. The barbers shave a lot of heads and the razors get dull. The pilgrims also climb a mountain and pray.
The folks who organize the Hajj are always looking for ways to improve the safety and efficiency of the annual event. It was explained by a narrator of a video I watched that hosting the Hajj was like holding ten super bowls in one week. There is now a high speed train from Mecca to the site and they move five hundred thousand people a day.
Thus Ishmael's many nations and the rest of the story. Inshallah.
ps: I also wish to politely point out that the Old Testament was first written in Aramaic (I think) and has been translated into many other languages and there have been a few mistranslations from Aramaic to Greek and so on. The big difference with the Koran is that it has always been written in the same script and has never changed. All of the many Islamic nations can read the Koran but speak their native tongue. And there have been no mistranslations.
Isn't it interesting what we dimly recall from Sunday School and/or Church services? I always loved the Old Testament. But as Paul Harvey talked about there is always The Rest of The Story.
I started out in the entirely wrong direction trying to remember the name of the woman banned and I waded around in Genesis and found Bilhah and that was quite wrong.
I Facebooked a friend who is a much better Church goer than I and she replied that it was probably Hagar who bore a child for Sarah and Abraham.
Got it! So the basic story was that God promised Abraham that he would be the Father of many nations. However, Sarah did not have a son. Hagar was um, recruited, and she gave birth to Ishmael. Then in a few years Sarah finally gave birth to Isaac. The relationship deteriorated and Sarah demanded that Abraham cast her out.
She set off with food and water and Ishmael. She ran out of water and began running back and forth for seven miles between two hills. She cried out to God who heard her and sent an angel. The angel struck the ground and a well sprang forth. The angel also told him that God would make Ishmael into a great nation. Hagar found him a wife.
That is all Genesis says about Hagar and Ishmael. Abraham produced many nations and that part of the Old Testament rolled on into the rest of the vast history to the present day.
So here is the rest of the story. We do not learn this in Sunday School and more rarely never hear this story in Church.
The well which the Angel, Gabriel, caused to come forth is the well of ZamZam. It is located a few meters from the Kabba. The water that comes forth is pure and in high volume to this day. It serves the thirsty pilgrims who go on Hajj to Mecca. Hajj occures once a year based on the moon and Hajj is a moveable pilgrimage and advances about 11 days per year. Hajj lasts for a week.
Muslims are encouraged to attend Hajj if possible. There are several tasks performed by the pilgrims. First and foremost is prayer. There are specific prayers involved. All of the men wear a simple two piece white toga type garment. The ladies wear black. Some children do attend.
One of the ceremonies is where everyone circles the Kabba. Another is a seven mile round trip walk between the two hills that Hagar searched for water. That part is now partially covered with vast folding umbrellas. Another ceremony involves casting stones at the devil. There is currently a very large oval shaped pillar for everyone to cast stones.
There is also a requirement for sacrifice of a sheep or camel. This is done very efficiently. The pilgrim orders the sacrifice by smart phone. They are notified when it is done and the meat is given to the poor. That is a lot of sheep and camel. Most of the men get the hair shaved off their head. The barbers shave a lot of heads and the razors get dull. The pilgrims also climb a mountain and pray.
The folks who organize the Hajj are always looking for ways to improve the safety and efficiency of the annual event. It was explained by a narrator of a video I watched that hosting the Hajj was like holding ten super bowls in one week. There is now a high speed train from Mecca to the site and they move five hundred thousand people a day.
Thus Ishmael's many nations and the rest of the story. Inshallah.
ps: I also wish to politely point out that the Old Testament was first written in Aramaic (I think) and has been translated into many other languages and there have been a few mistranslations from Aramaic to Greek and so on. The big difference with the Koran is that it has always been written in the same script and has never changed. All of the many Islamic nations can read the Koran but speak their native tongue. And there have been no mistranslations.
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