Rainbow Springs State Park, Dunnellon, Florida
After this, he (Antiochus The Great) will turn back toward the fortresses of his own country, but will stumble and fall, to be seen no more. ~ Daniel 11:19
- The terms of surrender at the Battle of Magnesia included a payment of 15,000 talents over a period of 12 years, surrender of all Antiochus’s elephants and fleet, and he had to furnish hostages including his own son, Antiochus IV Epiphanes (188BC)
- Remember Antiochus IV Epiphanes as being a hostage – we’ll see much more of him
- Antiochus III The Great was murdered in 187BC while plundering a Baal temple in Susa (in modern-day Iran) to exact tribute for much needed revenue
- FYI – 15,000 talents is the approximate equivalent of 225,000 years wages. In today’s terms, if you made $8/hour and worked a forty-hour week, your annual wage would be $15,000. 150,000 years wages would equal $2,250,000,000 (two billion, two hundred fifty million dollars). So now you know . . . you only have to work for 75,000 years at minimum wage to become a billionaire! (Can you tell I did this research a few years ago? 😊)
Finally, I have a story to share! Our drive from Rainbow to Silver Springs was very short (about 30 minutes) and very uneventful.
Except for discovering that Burger King now sells ice. When did that happen????
Silver Springs State Park, Ocala, Florida
As per our usual on moving days, we partook of an early dinner, then went for a walk to check out the river where we’ll be kayaking. This is the place where we’ve always seen lots of wildlife – reptiles, birds, manatees and monkeys!
When we arrived at the dock, there were several boats sitting on the launch area, and several young girls speaking French. We weren’t sure if they were actually from France, or if they maybe belonged to a French club at school. There was also a man in a single-person kayak paddling around near the dock paddling around like he was waiting for them to leave so he could get out of the water. So far, not much of a story is it?
Then we saw a powered boat approaching. It had a Silver Springs State Park sign on it and it pulled right up to the dock! We thought the girls had paid for a shuttle service, but no. Somehow they got stranded and it was a rescue mission. The girls kept apologizing and the Park staff said little, except “You’re not the first ones ever”. They seemed pretty unhappy with the girls.
Once they all left, the kayak guy came back and I asked him how long he’d been waiting for them to leave. He was kinda grumpy and said he wasn’t waiting on them, but “they’ve got the mentality of 12 year olds.”
And that’s how our week at Silver Springs began. 😊
Wonder what other stories and adventures our Father has lined up for us?