Four Lakes Campground, Hastings, Florida
So both of Lot’s daughters became pregnant by their father. The older daughter had a son, and she named him Moab (means ‘from father’); he is the father of the Moabites of today. The younger daughter also had a son, and she named him Ben-Ammi (means ‘son of my people’); he is the father of the Ammonites of today. ~ Genesis 19:36-38 I’d like to share a brief history about these two people groups. The nations of Moab and Ammon both became bitter enemies of Abraham’s descendants. Moabites were mostly polytheists, worshipping Chemosh as their main god. They were in the practice of offering human sacrifices to Chemosh. King Solomon erected an altar to Chemosh on a hill near Jerusalem, which lasted for almost 300 years; until the time of King Josiah. They had their own priests, sorcerers, and prophets. Balaam (the talking donkey guy) was hired by the king of Moab to curse the Israelites as Moses led them through Moab on their way to the Promised Land. (Numbers 22-24) When God didn’t allow it, Balaam then turned to another tactic – he told the Moabites to send their women to Israel to corrupt the men, which they did. (Numbers 25 and 31) On a good note, Ruth (King David’s great-grandmother-Matthew 1:5-6) was a Moabitess. As for Ammon, their history isn’t quite as colorful. They too, were idol worshipers, but they seemed to get along a bit better with the Israelites. Still, the Law of Moses forbade them from “entering the assembly of the LORD, even down to the tenth generation (means forever).” Because they didn’t give a customary greeting to the Israelites on their way to the Promised Land. (Deuteronomy 23:3-4a) There were a good number of wars between Israel and Ammon, however King David had a good relationship with them until their then king died. When David sent emissaries to express his condolences to the former prince/now king, the Ammonites shaved off half their beards, cut off their garments halfway across their buttocks and sent them back home – in shame and disgrace. (II Samuel 10:1-4) Then the Ammonites had to contend with an angry David and his army. We don’t hear of Lot anymore, except in passing in later scriptures. However, in Deuteronomy 2:9 & 19, we learn that God instructed Moses and the wandering Israelites not to harass or provoke the Moabites or Ammonites as they passed through their land, because God gave the land to them. It’s one of those things I find a bit strange, given the circumstances surrounding them, and the fact that an all-knowing God already knew the trouble they’d cause His chosen people. But God always knows best! Isn’t that a wonderful reassurance?!?
When Blaine was on his long bike ride the other day, he noticed that the trail went over a river. Blaine being Blaine, researched and discovered the name of the river, and that you could kayak on it.
This is what we did today. It was a beautiful river, though not much in the way of wildlife. Then again, we’ve been spoiled ever since we paddled Silver Spring River in Florida (the one with the monkeys, remember?). 😊
It’s called Dry Creek and it actually goes all the way to the Saint Johns River (which is 310 miles of north-to-south-river near the coast), which would’ve been cool to see, but we’d been paddling an hour-and-a-half, and we were only about a third of the way there – one way. We had to turn around.
The wildlife? We saw two small gators swimming; a few turtles – usually just splashes as they jumped off their basking spots and hid in the water from us; one hawk, one Great Blue Heron, and several Little Blues and Little Whites. I think that’s it. None of them were happy that we disrupted their normal routines.
So peaceful . . . .
We saw no one the entire time, except a guy with a bike we waved to at the bridge. The same place Blaine stopped to look at the river.
Enjoy the float! It was beautiful!
