Leviticus- Worship, atonement and consecration

 Reading the first six chapters of Leviticus and it brings back memories of what is allowed and what is not allowed except I was raised Christian so only heard that expressed as what the people of Israel had to do to be able to be close to God and to live in His presence. For God was with the people of Israel as a cloud by day and fire by night. Always with them; God wanted the world to know that He was the only God.  God brought the Israeli people out of slavery and bondage in Egypt and back to the Promised Land where the bones of their forefather Jacob had been taken four hundred years or more earlier after he died in Egypt. This total surrender by the people of Israel to God's commands was their way forward into time so long ago now but they did it and brought to us now in the present the Old Testament so that we too can learn the history of Homo sapiens with respect to our God. 

Perhaps it is being Christian that I interpret all of this in the fashion that I do. Still in the back of my brain are my grandfather's stories about the early peoples in England being one of the Lost Tribes of Israel. The Western Hunter Gatherer DNA that my brothers carry is ancient to the British Isles and indeed other old family names in the Andover to Basingstoke area of Hampshire also carry Western Hunter Gatherer DNA which is fascinating and one can think that the depth of their habitation in this area is known by family lore as being ancient to this land. What is ancient to the British Isles. The British Isles was covered by ice likely to a depth of 1 kilometer during the Last Ice Age so nothing likely lived on the British Isles prior to that date but one is left to wonder did those Hunter Gatherers retreat to the south during the Ice Age and then return home as it receded thousands of years later. There is much to learn in the archaeological digs of the British Isles. Why do we carry (my siblings and I) both Neanderthal (2%) and Denisovan (3%)  DNA material from these two earlier groups of Homo? What is it telling us? Many carry these two in varying amounts. But primarily all of my autosomal lines are ancient to the British Isles - one line back in the late 1400s came to Dunster, Somerset from France (Huguenot). 

Tomorrow I continue reading Leviticus which I always consider to be one of the most difficult chapters in the Bible perhaps because we are learning about communion with God and how it is achieved. No ideas on that really as it belongs to the past; a very long time ago and Jesus came to bring an easier shorter list of commandments - love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and love our neighbour as ourself. That way wars can end and the world can find that peaceful plain where all prosper and evil is gone. He is the God of the Jews, of the Christians and of the Muslims and they are the only religions that I know and primarily I am familiar with the Christian religion principally. 

Yesterday was a moving day as we shifted work desks about to make our task of working much easier and even streamlined. I need to downsize and it has taken me five years to accept that I need to downsize and this summer will see me send material that belongs to the Kipp family and it will be in the Archives where anyone can look at it or use it. I also sent links to Edward's work online and anyone can download that. It is his gift to the Kipp family of which he was a member. I suppose in my mind I kept thinking maybe one of his own would contact me and say we want all that material. But no one did and so I must make the move forward to place it where it can be seen. I am also thinking of now getting rid of my Fiche Reader back to the OGS where it belongs and the fiche will go to the Anglican Church Archives which I set up a number of years ago as at the time of purchase from various repositories in England I agreed to place the material in an appropriate place which the Anglican Church Archives at my church is certainly appropriate. They already have a number of holdings. I will check to make sure they still want them. Each move forward brings me closer to my one room theory of how I eventually need to live. 

My grandfather would have loved all this knowledge. He loved to read and the same for my grandmother. Both encouraged me to read and to write and to learn as much as I could. 

Solitaire puzzles next.  

Prayers continuing for the people of Venezuela

 Prayers for those injured and trapped following the earthquakes in Venezuela. May God be with them.

Read the remainder of the Chapter of Exodus. The Israelites have annoyed God but Moses has been able to convince God not to punish them severely for making a golden calf and worshiping it as a God claiming that it brought them out of Egypt. God commanded that they create a place of worship for God and that they consecrate Aaron and the sons of Aaron as a perpetual priesthood. All this is done and they did not move from where they were camped all of this time. Then God entered the completed Tabernacle as a cloud and when He was in the Tabernacle no one could enter nor could they move forward on their way to the Promised Land. When God was not in the Tabernacle then He would be again ahead of them as they moved forward towards the Promised Land. The rules that the people of Israel must follow are very strict. The next Chapter is Leviticus and I will read part of that chapter tomorrow. The word of God preserved by the peoples of Israel and passed down through the ages to us in the present. 

Working on the Probate list for wills probated at Winchester that I collected as images from the Family History Library a few years ago (it is a secondary record as it was prepared in the present by individuals). I have all of these wills for the most part and many of them are transcribed.  All Andover and area wills have been transcribed. I returned to the early pages I glanced at the other day and the Blake mentions were all for Boldre, Hampshire. This is in the New Forest/Christchurch area of Hampshire. The first entry at Enham in the Andover area was for Robert in 1522 and for Richard also in 1522 but Richard is recorded several items further down from Robert. There is an entry for Matilda Blake at Enham in 1525 and for Johanna Blake at Enham in 1527 (her will has Jone Blake as her name within the body of the will). There is a Johanna Blake at Winton (Winchester) in 1534 (again quite a bit to the south of Andover in Hampshire). Robertus at Enham in 1542. At Quarley Henricus Blake and Agnes Blake in 1546 (this is closer to the Wiltshire border and to the south west of Andover). Checking the location for all records on these pages Enham only refers to Blake thus far in this probate list. Walterus Blake and Robertus Blake at Christchurch in 1547. In 1558 at Christchurch Richardus Blake. A Johannis Blake in 1558 at Alden (sp). Johanna Blake in 1563 at Alton. In 1565 Richardus Blake at Christchurch. In 1568 Willimus Blake at Brading (Brading is on the Isle of Wight about 10 kilometres to the east of Newport (west part of the Island). In 1569 Willimus Blake at Limington. In 1570 Johannes Blake at Limington. Gilbertus Blake in 1575 at Quarlie (9 kilometres west of Andover). Augustine Blake in 1578 at West Titherlie (near the Wiltshire border but to the south of Andover (opposite Salisbury). In 1593 at Ellingham (New Forest, Hampshire area)  Michael Blake. In 1593 Thomas Blake at Boldre. In 1593 Johnannes Blake Senior at Penton Mewsie (about 3 kilometres northwest of Andover) . In 1601 Robertus Blake at Enham. Dorothie Blake widow at Bishops Waltham (about 15 kilometres southeast of Winchester) in 1602. The place Enham only occurs with Blake is this particular transcription. 

Searching the National Archives of the UK Wills there are seventeen wills with Enham as the place. The Kingsmill family were at Enham between the 1670s and 1730s, the Coxe family was at Enham in 1577 and will download this will to have a look at it. James Blake was the last Blake, as far as I can tell thus far, to be on the property at Enham  with his will probated 1734. One will was for a Nicholas Dickocks a tailor at Knight Enham. William Woodman is a husbandman at Knights Enham with his will probated in 1656. The remainder are later in time after the probate of James Blake's will in 1734 living at Knight Enham. The will of Nicholas Blake of Enham was probated in 1547 and he is the known son of Jone (Johanna Blake) who left her will as a widow in 1527. 

A little work on the genealogical chart in Legacy completed yesterday. Soon I shall start to make time for Pincombe in the work week. I am at the same place really with regard to writing. However I have more of a Pincombe tree completed from the 1700s on. 

Sunday today and off to Church at 10:30 online. 

Tea all drank and solitaire puzzles to do.  

Prayers continuing for Venezuela

Prayers for those still trapped in the wreckage of their homes and other dwellings in Venezuela. God be with them and with the searchers as they try to save them. 

I remember as a child and this memory came back to me as I read the next chapters of Exodus. After the Communion Service in my Anglican Church any left over bread or wine which had been prepared for the people had to be either eaten and/or drank. For this is holy as it is consecrated to the Memory of Jesus who died for our sins. These chapters I read today talk about consecration and the establishment of the priesthood of Aaron and his sons within Judaism. God has shown the people of Israel (the children of Jacob) His omnipotence as well as the world that was watching at the time of the Exodus from Egypt and now He establishes the rules of worship and adoration to Him. These rules were precise down to the last measurement. I continue the readings tomorrow of Exodus. 

A lovely day yesterday and I worked away on the Probate list for Hampshire dating back to the late 1400s. I noted that Robert Blake's will was probated before Richard's will in this chart. That verifies my thought that he had died before his son died. All of these little verifications are needed for me to proceed with the Genealogical Table coming down from Robert Blake of Knights Enham near Andover. There were other Blake wills earlier in this list and I will see if I have transcribed them as it is a long time since I did all of these transcriptions. That will be my task for today along with continuing to create the Genealogical Tree in Legacy. 

Went out and pulled more weeds although some of these I do have an allergy to as I feel the effect of their pollen likely. I wore a mask today outside as I pulled weeds. The lawns are now cut for another couple of weeks. We have been leaving them a bit longer than  we were as the birds, squirrels, bunnies are enjoying all of the pollen and bugs out there. The gardens are so unlike the look they had when Edward was tending them. More grass needs to be put in and will do that next year likely. The tomato plants are growing quickly now with lots of flowers on them. 

A lovely walk on the beach yesterday after the heavy rain. It was most pleasant as I walked quickly around the path and according to the AI on my FitBit this was my fastest circuit thus far at just over 10 minutes to the kilometer. The AI on the FitBit is interesting but I make my own decisions however I will listen to the accumulation of data as it saves me looking all of that up if I become curious. There are days that I am not curious and so the information sent to my on my FitBit gets ignored but other days I do respond to questions or queries. 

Interacting with digital thoughts is interesting in itself. However one must guard against thinking this is one's thoughts as they are foreign to the individual receiving them and simply contain the information that exists on my FitBit and could include extraneous thoughts perhaps which one must be careful to separate out. One mention of say doing jumping jacks results in a continuous referral to jumping jacks which I actually tend to only do in the winter as my summer is very active. I do not do jumping jacks if I am running in a day. But the summary of facts is very interesting and it would take me time to go back and forth collecting that data and noting any changes. Functionally it does serve as a good look at one's overall daily health reports with regard to the amount of exercise. As well one could record one's diet and have that opinion but I avoid that as it seems like one is permitting another whether it be digital or human to manage one's life. One must manage one's own life until you are ready to assign it to your heirs because you lack the ability to manage in a prudent way. 

Re-reading the Bible continues to be a thoughtful part of my day as God has been part of my day all of my life and it is good to re-read the interactions that were recorded and passed down through the ages of the interaction between God and Homo sapiens. Although He chose the Israelites to be His people He wanted the entire world to know that He was the one God, the only God in this world. But He did want to establish a Holy Priesthood and the Twelve Tribes of Israel (Jacob's twelve sons) to bring the Holy Word to all the peoples of the earth. But God sets the rules and over time He had the prophets tell of the coming of the Saviour which is Jesus Christ to create the Christians of the world. And these two great religions are the best known to me. I was though very lucky when I was working to have discussions with members of the Muslim faith and did learn more about the beliefs of Islam and I do believe that this third great religion of the world shares the same God as the Jewish peoples and the Christian peoples. We must move forward all of us to find that peaceful plain where the children of the world can feel safe in as much as that is possible given our lack of knowledge of what is out there in the universe. But fearing that is  not a good use of our time better to be ready for whatever we need to do in the future to protect the children of the future. Thank you God for another beautiful day in your world. 

Tea all drank and now the solitaire puzzles to do.  

 

 

 

Earthquakes in Venezuela

 Prayers for the souls of the people who lost their lives in the earthquakes in Venezuela. Prayers for those injured and those still trapped in the wreckage. God be with them. 

I continued reading Exodus and completed to the end of Chapter 20. Chapter 20 contains the Ten Commandments. God gave to the Israelites many many laws that they must follow all the days of their lives and to teach them to their children and so that has been done by the peoples that He rescued from slavery under the Egyptians. It is an interesting thought that the Israelites had begun their lives in Egypt as free people who came because of Joseph, son of Jacob, who had been sold into slavery by his older brothers and then managed to become a great man in Egypt and save that country from starvation. Indeed Egypt prospered greatly because of Joseph and his plan to save grains for the period of seven years when no crops would grow that followed seven years of plenty as he managed the storage of the grains to sell to the world. But a wonderful relationship turned sour over four hundred years later and God decided that it was time for the Israelites to return to the Promised Land where Jacob was buried and the bones of Joseph were carried with the Israelites to be buried with his people. God was showing the peoples of the world that only He was God, the Creator God who had given them this world to live in. The trials through which the Israelites lived on the way to the Promised Land are recorded in the chapters that will follow. It was not an easy march. 

It has been a wonderful walk through time reading the Bible. I am glad I decided to re-read from the beginning chapter by chapter. I do have a Concordance  of the Bible which I can use if I begin to wonder the thoughts of others as I read. But the sense in my brain is that I just want to read the words once again from beginning to end. These words have traveled through time and history first by word of mouth and then written down by scribes and recopied through many years by scribes and then printed as the Gutenberg Bible in the 1600s. That was the way of life as I learned from my grandfather in particular who passed on to me the stories of his family that had been passed to him. He told me of a family that was ancient to the lands where he lived near Andover until he moved to his older brother's house in the late 1890s to begin work as a blacksmith for the Railway. His brother also worked for the Railway as a Guard. I have no idea what that was actually; a blacksmith I understand. He married a few years later and my father their only child was born at Eastleigh. But the stories he told me and repeated time and again were always the same; no changes. That was how the stories passed from generation to generation for many many centuries. It was his story saying that the peoples of England were descendant of one of the Lost Tribes of Israel that very much stuck with me through the years. Those stories are ahead of me as I read through the Bible and it is a while since I have read the entire Bible cover to cover. 

Yesterday I gardened pulling weeds left and right. Edward would not recognize his gardens now sadly but I was never a gardener for sure and my daughter is limited in how much she can help me with that because of allergies. She spends most of her summer in doors working on her projects. That was true even when she was a child. Her time outside was always limited. 

 Received a demand for money by email to protect me from a very evil person presumably who said that he/she/whomever would claim that I visited porn sites. It was interesting that the email right before it was from The Ottawa Hospital which reminded me that I had donated last year and hoped that I would do that again which I will. The amount of money was so similar but the satanic letter that I received from the evil person just the opposite of the letter that I received from the Ottawa Hospital which told of their desire to make hospital care even better here in the Ottawa region. It is a pity that evil people like that live in our world. I marked it as spam and deleted it. Evil swirls around us at all times. Hopefully marking it that way as spam takes it somewhere that AI or a person searches and finds that evil person and puts them away somewhere that they do a decent day's work!  I would never waste money that way; how ignorant some people are really. These sites abuse children which is really disgusting and I think people are children right up to their early thirties! The gift of policing is to entirely eliminate these sites which take up space in our world and get rid of the evil people who create them.  Data centres would certainly make it easier to track them down and destroy them!

Good idea of the Prime Minister to call for donations to repair and upgrade 24 Sussex Drive. I think it would make a great Museum of Canadian political history myself but leave that up to the people. The Museums in Ottawa are first rate and we visited them many many times through the years. Prime Minister Carney is a very interesting politician. He has lived a full life working in a number of places and brings so much knowledge to the table. I do not believe in career politicians. I am not convinced they serve Canada best as they are Ivory Tower Politicians who have never worked outside of the political life. Particularly those who choose to attack rather than support and work with people who need help. The House of Commons is now on summer recess and the opportunity it there for politicians to seek out methods of working particularly with people who need jobs helping them to rework their lives to get jobs. This actually works by the way helping people that way as I was involved with a program at my Anglican Church in the 80s (after I was no longer a volunteer secretary at my husband's United Church) as I used to attend both Churches on Sunday. A lot of people lost jobs during the recession in the 1980s and helping them work on their CVs and potential interviews was very helpful to them. A number of us did do that. 

Today is technically a working day and we will see how much I accomplish. I spend a lot of hours on the computer for sure as I am at this point of producing a genealogical chart of the Blake family of Andover. It seems clear cut actually and will contain comments where I have thoughts on the direction but I would  like to discover Blake at Andover between 1300 and the mid 1400s. We will see what I find. 

Tea all drank, solitaire puzzles are next.  

 

 

 

 

 

Exodus and the first nine plagues

 God the Creator saw the generations of the descendants of  Abraham, of Isaac and of Jacob living in the land of the Egyptians. The generations of Jacob were no longer guests in the land of Egypt but rather they were now slaves to till the land, build buildings and any other work demanded by the Pharaoh of Egypt. The Pharaoh commanded the Egyptian midwives to kill any of the male children of the descendants of Jacob at birth and God once again looked upon the generations of Abraham, of Isaac and of Jacob. They had been safe in Egypt but that safety net disappeared and now God needed to move them back to the Promised Land and to bury Joseph with his ancestors. It needed to be powerful to ensure that all of the descendants of Jacob left Egypt and returned to the Promised Land as God had a purpose in that. 

The first purpose was to let the people of all Earth know that He was God, the only God. Once again mankind had drifted away from the true God and once again the message had to be so overwhelming that all would heed it. I think that is what I take from the ten plagues visited on Egypt. Chapter 12 is the Tenth Plague and will be the beginning of my reading tomorrow. The first nine plagues did not force Pharaoh to let the Israeli people go but the tenth is to be that happening that results in everyone descendant of Jacob to return to the Promised Land. We do know in these first eleven chapters of Exodus that this was foretold by Joseph before he died in Chapter 50 of Genesis. At this time and in this place God the Creator once again proves His omnipotence to the peoples of the world. Word of mouth remains a powerful tool amongst Homo sapiens. There is only one God the Creator and we Homo sapiens must follow His wishes. But first He needs to move the descendants of Abraham, of Isaac and of Jacob as he promised Jacob back in Genesis Chapter 50 Verses 24- 25: 24: 'Then Joseph said to his brothers', "I am about to die, but God will surely come to you, and bring you up out of this land to the land that he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob." 25: 'So Joseph made the Israelites swear, saying', "When God comes to you, you shall carry up my bones from here." 

It took a long time before we, Homo sapiens, learned to understand what God the Creator intended for us: Jesus, His only Son, brought us those words from God - to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and to love our neighbour as ourself (two thousand plus years ago). At first after the return to the Promised Land there were so many rules (The Ten Commandments and many other rules to follow) but Homo sapiens was incapable of following so many rules and the prophecy promised a Saviour and Jesus came into our midst and brought us those two rules/commandments to follow and if we follow them then we can find that uplifted plain of peace. God no longer destroys earth in order to rid earth of the sins of Homo sapiens. He wants us to survive and we need to follow the simple commandments given to do that. Christianity, Islam and Judaism, the three great religions known to me, follow this known God the Creator but the whole world was created by God. Reading the Gospel of Jude will awaken in us once again the omnipotence of God the Creator and that is still to come in the reading just before Revelations. 

These two Chapters (Genesis and Exodus) are powerful and span a very long period of time. At 80 plus years my lifespan is but a mere wink of the eye in that entire length of time.  Prayers that we can find that uplifted plain of peace. I do believe that the Second World War brought us to Armageddon but we fought hard and we survived but once again that quasi peace that was created with the United Nations is no longer the shield that it was (antisemitism has crept back in (the attack on Israel in 2023) along with and in conjunction with lack of respect for one's neighbours; Russia's cruel war against Ukraine (which began in 2022). We must eliminate such happenings from our world to have peace. 

Yesterday I did work on the Blake matches and made some interesting discoveries. The Blake matches that appear ancient are quite fascinating. Family trees on Ancestry that have early American families tend towards the Somerset Blake family as their thoughts on the emigrant family that came to America, however there are some that also choose the Wiltshire Blake family and again long trees with the early American families. I still have most of them to review and will continue that today. Why do I do that? The beginning of the Andover Blake family tree lies with Robert who left his will as an elderly person in 1521 according to my research. It is stated that the peoples of England did not have surnames until the arrival of the Normans. The surname Blake/Blak does not appear in the Domesday Books with that spelling.  The decision I am making is at what point do I begin the Genealogical Family Tree for the Blake Family of Andover. Presumably I will choose Robert who left his will in 1521 but now I am looking at the various histories that give some thoughts to the children of Robert living at Enham near Andover (generally thought to be Knights Enham). The Y-DNA of my Blake line is Western Hunter Gatherer which points to a very early arrival in the British Isles. There are a number of Western Hunter Gatherer families in this beautiful part of Hampshire extending over towards London. The item that still mystifies me somewhat is why chose Blake as that surname was by the 1300s coming into England from the Continent. I sense that the choice arose and was accepted because the benefit in particular of being related to the Normans or those they chose to put into positions of power was particularly advantageous. Makes sense to me but time and history will show whether I am right or wrong. 

Breakfast time, tea all drank and must do my solitaire puzzles.