Fooling God
MY GRANDFATHER was buried in Jewish cemetery. Walking to the grave I noticed a wire, suspended on poles, along the side of the path. I turned to the rabbi and asked him what it was for. He explained that when they built the cemetery they made the paths only four feet wide. It says in […]
Red herring miracle
THE NOTED THEOLOGIAN Thomas Aquinas died in 1274, and in 1319 the Catholic Church wanted to make him a saint. There are two criteria for this most exalted of positions: either you must have been martyred, or you had to have performed at least one miracle. Aquinas, a Dominican Friar, lived a cosy life as […]
The age problem, solved
METHUSELAH WAS THE OLDEST person in the bible, reaching the rather splendid age of 969. He’s otherwise only of interest for being Noah’s grandfather, and Noah obviously inherited his genes – he made it to 950. Elsewhere, we read that Adam lasted to 930, while his third son Seth achieved an impressive 912 years. So why […]
Noah’s dilemma
THE WORLD’S MOST CELEBRATED SHIPBUILDER certainly had his work cut out. Not only did he have to build a 50-cubit long boat, he also had to fill it with two of everything. Two lions, two antelopes, two zebra finches, and so on. Two mosquitoes. Really? Couldn’t he have missed out the mosquitoes? Two iguanas, two lemurs, […]
The first Mrs Adam
ADAM AND EVE were, as everyone knows, the first happy couple. Except that they weren’t the first couple. That would be Adam and Lilith. Adam’s first wife doesn’t get a lot of coverage in the Bible. She’s been almost comprehensively expunged, edited out of history with an efficiency Lenin would have envied. Almost. There are […]