Just before the Sunrise this morning I looked out my back door window and saw a very bright waning moon with Jupiter shining congenially nearby. It is a beautiful sight. This should be visible for a day or two yet. Look to the Southwest just before sunrise and it is pretty hard to miss.
Jupiter was the King of the god’s in the Roman world. He was also called Zeus by the Greeks and also Jove. He was a god of light and lightening and places where lightening had struck were considered property of the god’s and walled off with circular stones. His animals were eagles and the eagles that led the Roman armies to victory are considered his representatives.
When Paul and Barnabas healed a lame man at Lystra the townsfolk called Barnabus Jupiter, and Paul Mercury because he was preaching. Later in Acts 19 we learn that in Ephesus they worshipped Diana (Artemis, daughter of Jupiter and also goddess of the moon) and the “object that fell from Jupiter”. Scholars say that the idea that the Ephesians worshipped something that fell from the sky is only found in the book of Acts. What is more interesting is the fact that this temple was considered one of the seven wonders of the world. It was at Ephesus that a silversmith caused a riot because of Paul’s preaching about Jesus. There was such a commotion that a great crowd gathered at the theatre in Ephesus but they didn’t know what they were rioting about. Acts 19;32 says, “some therefore cried one thing, and some another: for the assembly was confused; and most of them did not know why they were there and why they had come together.” Sounds like a church convention or your local rent a mob.
This is the kind of thing that happens to me when I look out my window before I have my first cup of coffee. One thought leads to another and another and……………………….
