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Sound & Season is a daily audio devotional designed to connect the routine moments of life to the rhythms of the Church seasons.
Just last year, researchers discovered the oldest piece of alphabetic writing ever found. It's believed to date to 2,005 hundred BCE, approximately 4,500 years ago. The clay cylinder was found in modern day Syria by a team from Johns Hopkins University. The discovery pushes back the previous evidence based date for the alphabet by half a millennium. The lead researcher, Glenn Schwartz, said, alphabets revolutionized writing by making it accessible to people beyond royalty and the socially elite.
Jeffrey Heine:Alphabetic writing changed the way people lived, how they thought, and how they communicated. Ancient Jewish tradition holds that King David wrote his poetic prayers and songs around January, and by that point, the Hebrew language and alphabet had developed considerably. Writing was no longer a rudimentary scratching of symbols, but an artistic expression with structure, verse, rhythm, and rhyme. Psalm one nineteen is the longest chapter of the entire Bible. The structure of this poem is a Hebrew alphabet acrostic, twenty two secondtions corresponding to the 22 letters of the alphabet, and each line within the section starts with the corresponding letter.
Jeffrey Heine:For example, every sentence within section e begins with a word that starts with the letter e, and now this complex artistic design does not translate perfectly to our modern English language in a one for one exchange, but the poem's original design helps us consider the intentions of this labor intensive and strikingly creative ancient endeavor. Not only is the poem structured around the alphabet, but the psalm's focus is also delighting in the revealed word of God. These letters and words and sentences are the tools through which God revealed himself speaking long ago at many times and in many ways through the prophets. The Psalm celebrates what God revealed to his people through his precepts, his commands, and his law. Throughout David's poetic prayer of praise, he marvels at God's goodness, his greatness, and his graciousness in revealing himself.
Jeffrey Heine:Through letters joined as words constructed as sentences, God pointed his people to life with him. This holy and divine speaking, the word through the prophets was in preparation, readying a people for the true word of God, the one who was in the beginning, the word who was with God and who was God, the word that became flesh and dwelt among us, the word who revealed God's glory full of grace and truth, Jesus the Christ. Here today, as those who are followers of the word incarnate, we know that God has revealed himself by speaking through his son, the heir of all things. This advent, as we remember and await the coming of the Christ child, the word made flesh, we will explore this ancient poem of praise and wonder together. We will move through the sections of delight at God's revelation, all the while knowing the ultimate word of God is Christ himself.
Jeffrey Heine:Starting tomorrow, join me each day of Advent as we prepare our hearts to celebrate and rejoice the word made flesh. Exploring Psalm one nineteen with a daily reading of each section, a brief reflection, and a prayer. May the Lord use our time together to ready us for the advent of Jesus, the unfailing word of the father. For Redeemer Community Church, I'm Jeffrey Heine This is Sound & Season.