Happy birthday to a first-ballot, hall-of-fame Mom (BRENDA POLLARD), who turns none of your business today in Fayetteville, NC. Here's the bread...
WILL WE FARE BETTER THAN CAESAR?
Bill Becker
Bill Becker
In William Shakespeare's play, Julius Caesar, a soothsayer cries out, "Beware the Ides of March" to alert Caesar to an unknown danger. In reality, Caesar would not have recognized in the word "ides" any inherent danger at all. There is no specific threat or fear implied in the term. It simply means "the fifteenth."
The Roman calendar used three terms to express different times of the month. Kalends (from which our word "calendar" comes), meant the first day of the month; Nones meant the seventh day of the month; Ides meant the fifteenth day of the month. This was true of March, May, July and October. In the other months of the year Nones meant the fifth day of the month and Ides the thirteenth day of the month.
The other days of the month were not numbered. One kept track of them by subtracting from the Nones or Ides of the month. "V Ides of March," for example, would mean March 11 ("V" being the Roman equivalent of the number 5 which is subtracted from Ides).
So even if a soothsayer had actually proclaimed to Caesar "Beware the Ides of March" all he would have known is that on March 14 he should be alert to the possible arrival of some unknown danger which he, at the time, could not identify.
With regard to spiritual matters, the situation is somewhat reversed. We know the specific event which is coming, but not the time of its arrival. The 'event,' of course, is the day of Judgment. We all know its coming is certain (Heb. 9:27), we know it will be a day of rejoicing for the faithful and weeping and gnashing of teeth for others (Matt. 24:45-51), and we know it will be a day of separation (Matt. 25:31-46).
Yes, we know many things about the day of Judgment, but not when it is coming. Unlike Caesar, who knew the day of a great unknown danger for which he was to be prepared, we must be prepared every day for an event we know. Are you prepared?
The Roman calendar used three terms to express different times of the month. Kalends (from which our word "calendar" comes), meant the first day of the month; Nones meant the seventh day of the month; Ides meant the fifteenth day of the month. This was true of March, May, July and October. In the other months of the year Nones meant the fifth day of the month and Ides the thirteenth day of the month.
The other days of the month were not numbered. One kept track of them by subtracting from the Nones or Ides of the month. "V Ides of March," for example, would mean March 11 ("V" being the Roman equivalent of the number 5 which is subtracted from Ides).
So even if a soothsayer had actually proclaimed to Caesar "Beware the Ides of March" all he would have known is that on March 14 he should be alert to the possible arrival of some unknown danger which he, at the time, could not identify.
With regard to spiritual matters, the situation is somewhat reversed. We know the specific event which is coming, but not the time of its arrival. The 'event,' of course, is the day of Judgment. We all know its coming is certain (Heb. 9:27), we know it will be a day of rejoicing for the faithful and weeping and gnashing of teeth for others (Matt. 24:45-51), and we know it will be a day of separation (Matt. 25:31-46).
Yes, we know many things about the day of Judgment, but not when it is coming. Unlike Caesar, who knew the day of a great unknown danger for which he was to be prepared, we must be prepared every day for an event we know. Are you prepared?
--The Reminder, Moulton, Alabama
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