05/26/2023 – “The Voice of Gomer” – Level XI – 684 – 605 B.C.E. – Chapter Six / Group Fellowship and Discussion
“The Voice of Gomer” – Level XI – 684 – 605 B.C.E. – Chapter Six
Gomer, who had told Yahweh that she could tear down just about anything for Him, but
She could not cast out her beloved daughter-in-law Mikal, who had loved her and served
Her. In the end, she trusted God and obeyed, and was martyred for her obedience.
I think of Mark 8:35, the Christian Gospel message: “For whoever desires to save his life
Will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s, will save it.”
Dennis Prager was asked once: What distinguished the Christian from the Jew, and vice-versa.
I was surprised at this forthright answer: “A Christian can even see suffering as an opportunity to glorify God,
To a Jew, suffering is awful across the board!” (Paraphrased).
On pg. #360, God counters Gomer’s initial refusal to obey Him: “I am striving for the salvation of a people,” the
Voice said, “Do you suppose I find joy in ordering these things.” I heard a preacher say once: “God the father
Had more than just a stake in suffering, seeing as how he put His beloved Son on the cross, even going dark
On Him, seeing as how he took on the entire load of our sins.
And as Gomer prophesied as God’s messenger to Babylon and Nebuchadrezzar: “How brief will be your
Triumph, Imperial One, how brief your pause at the apex. And so was to be the case of the Persians, their
Conqueror, just a relative breath behind them with the conquest of Alexander the Great.
On pg. #344, Michener notes that 800 people had lived in side the walls in comfortable houses during King
David’s time (1000 B.C.E. , fewer than five hundred now (7th Century B.C.E)
And Rimmon , son of Gomer, was the commander of Maker. Even though Rimmon recognized that it
Wasn’t his mother Gomer speaking to him, when through her voice, Yahweh proclaimed to him: “look not to the walls
Rimmon son of Gomer… The terrible Assyrian needed only to press against those pink-gray walls, and Jerusalem
Was his that he might crush the temple and destroy the sons of Judah forever. But at the middle of the night, I
Moved among the tents of the Assyrians. More powerful than chariots was I that night, more deals than arrows
Tipped with iron, and in the morning death was upon the host and it melted away.” And it is said that Rimmon did
Not want to believe that Yahweh was speaking to him, for he could not consider him.” And Gomer shared that
Belief as well, Michener says “Gomer and her son drew away from any assumption of prophecy. In the end, the
Holy Spirit led Gomer to the path least traveled, to glory but not stated here or suggested by Michener.
So Michener must look upon Gomer as a heroine as well, no? For we know the prophecy of Babylon’s impending
Doom was to come true, so she had to speaking for God. For who would have predicted that at that point of history?
But a narrator opinion is not stated explicitly at the end. A heroine by the grace of God, how else could a person
Accomplish the mission?
Thoughts? Reflections?
Soli Deo Gloria!
FYI – Repeat Introduction as follows:
Chapter – ending pg. # / Yrs. Span
-The Tell – 77
-Level XV – The Bee Eater – 113 / Artifacts: 9831 – 9811 B.C.E. – Chapter Two
-Level XIV – Of Death and Life – 165 -/Artifacts: 2204 – 2202 B.C.E… – Chapter Three
-Level XIII – An Old Man and His God – 235 -/ Artifacts: 1427 – 1419 B.C.E – Chapter Four
-Level XII – Psalm of the Hoopoe Bird – 326 / Artifacts: 966-963 B.C.E.
-Level XI – The Voice of Gomer – 369 – / Artifacts : 684- 605 B.C.E.
-Level X – In the Gymnasium – 418 / Artifacts: 184 – 167 B.C.E.
-Level IX – King of the Jews – 445 / Artifacts: 4 – 20 B.C.E.
-Level VIII – Yigal and His Three Generals – 500 / Artifacts: 67 – 74 C.E.
-Level VII – The Law – 594 /335 – 352 C.E.
-Level VI – A Day in the Life of a Desert Rider – 636 / Artifacts: 644 – 1099 C.E.
-Level V – Volkmar – 693 / Artifacts: 1124 C.E.
-Level IV – The first of Ma Coeur – 752 / Artifacts: 1271 – 1291 C.E.
-Level III – The Saintly Men of Safed – 861 / Artifacts: 1240 – 1559 C.E.
-Level II – Twilight of an Empire – 919 / Artifacts: 1004 – 1880 C.E.
-Level I – Rebbe Itzik and the Sabra – 1007 / Artifacts: 1943 – 1948 C.E.
-The Tell – 1080
Introduction post:
James Michener_ The Source_review:
The study guide _ The Source
http://www.bookrags.com/studyguide-the-source-a-novel/chapanal001.html#gsc.tab=0
The free quiz from the study guide – 25 q
http://www.bookrags.com/studyguide-the-source-a-novel/free-quiz.html#gsc.tab=0
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/129178.Best_of_James_A_Michener