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In Bangor Worldwide Missionary Convention 2008, Tuesday, September 2. 2008, I wrote -

A few weeks ago, however, a gentleman by the name of Martin Goldsmith preached in our church. Of Jewish non-observant background, Goldsmith and his wife became Christian missionaries in Indonesia where, Goldsmith claimed, in an overwhelmingly Muslim nation, there are more "active Christians" than in Western Europe. Goldsmith described his role in founding "All Nations College", of which I had never before heard.

In his sermon, Goldsmith told us that he was Jewish by birth but had converted to become a Christian early in life. Goldsmith's wife , Elizabeth, spoke as well, and after the service they were available in the church's Welcome Area (which some visitors continue to call by the old name 'vestibule') selling their autobiographies. There were -

Life's Tapestry: Reflections and Insights from my life, Martin Goldsmith, OM Publishing, 1997; and

God can be trusted: God's faithfulness to a child, wife and mother, Elizabeth Goldsmith, Authentic Media, 1974, 3rd Edition 1996

The blurb for Martin's book had - As a Jewish Christian he is Vice President of The Church's Ministry among Jews and serves on the board of the European Jews for Jesus; while that for Elizabeth's had - Brought up by missionary parents in China, and losing her mother during five years separation by the war, Elizabeth Goldsmith's childhood years gave her many opportunities to see God's faithfulness in action. and Elizabeth Goldsmith is an associate lecturer at All Nations Christian College, where she and her husband, Martin, taught for 24 years.

I was particularly keen to speak to Martin because of his Jewish background and my interest in Richard Wurmbrand, another Jewish convert to Christianity. For Wurmbrand, a crunch issue was Chapter 53 of the Book of Isaiah and its prophecies (see Footnote).

I was anxious to question Goldsmith about his conversion and on Isaiah Chapter 53 in particular to which the Rabbis whom Wurmbrand met had no answer. Goldsmith replied to my query "They will now!".

I'll possibly write some more about Goldsmith's conversion, but it was certainly not as spectacular as Wurmbrand's.

To my great surprise, the current July/August 2010 issue of RELEASE magazine (which doesn't yet appear to be available online at the RELEASE INTERNATIONAL site ) announces that Martin Goldsmith has now become a Patron of Release International, the UK branch of the mission founded by Richard Wurmbrand.

Footnote

From Isaiah and Richard Wurmbrand Part 1, Friday, October 2. 2009 -

The Ethiopian eunuch was reading the 53rd chapter of the book of the Prophet Isaiah (see below). That reminded me of what Richard Wurmbrand had to say about these prophecies of Isaiah, in CHRIST ON THE JEWISH ROAD ( Voice of the Martyrs, 1970). Richard Wurmbrand writes (p 20) -

I was sitting at the house of a rabbi who was one of the outstanding personalities of Rumanian Judaism. I had come to tell him why I believed in Jesus as the Messiah.

Rabbi H. officiated at my marriage: I was married in the synagogue, for the family's sake. He knew then that I was a militant atheist and an anarchic element. Yet he made not the slightest attempt to tell me anything about God. He carried out the ceremony, and that was all.

No I had come to God by way of Jesus, he was displeased. He asked me: "What makes you believe in Christ?"

I told him that the prophecy of Isaiah, about eight hundred years before Jesus, particularly struck me. Reading this prophecy, in the fifty-third chapter, I had the impression that, centuries before the birth of the Saviour, the prophet had forseen His entire life, and depicted it in outline, so that the Jews should reecognise Him when he came.

The rabbi stroked his beard, and said to us (my wife was also present): "You should not have read that. That chapter is forbidden to you."

I have subsequently verified this ban in the calendars issued by the Orthodox Jewish congregations, which give the texts from the prophets to be read at public services in the synagogue (the so-called Haltorahs). After the part of the Law of Moses called Shophtim, Isaiah Chapters 51 and 52 are to be read. On the next Sabbath there follows Chapter 54. Chapter 53 has been omitted. the prophecy about Jesus contained in this chapter is too revealing.

The rabbi urged us: "My children, leave these things alone!"

I answered: "I should like to do so, but the prophecies will not leave me in peace. What other interpretation of this part of the Bible can you give me?"

The rabbi shook his head sadly, and dismissed us without trying to give an explanation. I don't know why.

Isaiah 53 (New International Version)

1 Who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?

2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.

3 He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.
Like one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

4 Surely he took up our infirmities
and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God,
smitten by him, and afflicted.

5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.

6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.

7 He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before her shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.

8 By oppression [a] and judgment he was taken away.
And who can speak of his descendants?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people he was stricken.

9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.

10 Yet it was the LORD's will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.

11 After the suffering of his soul,
he will see the light of life and be satisfied;
by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities.

12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,
and he will divide the spoils with the strong,
because he poured out his life unto death,
and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.

Swifts, for me, are the birds of our Irish summers. They are the latest of migrants to arrive - rarely before the last few days of April - and the earliest to leave - in mid-August, departing for their African home. The Swift, apus apus, Mauersegker, 'wall-sailor', to the Germans, are not in fact closely related to the common swallow, Hinrundo rustica.

My Readers's Digest Book of British Birds (1969) has -

'No birds are more aerial in their habits than swifts. Their legs have becomne sop weak, because theyt are so seldom used, that the birds are helpless and easily caught once on the ground; but swifts never alight on the ground except by accident. They feed on the wing, sometrimes mate on the wing, and even sleep on the wing. At dusk, swifts circle higher and higher until they disappear from sight. It used to be thought that they returned after dark to roost at their nests, but it is now known that those which are not incubating eggs or brooding young remain aloft until sunrise, probably cat-napping on currents of rising air between short spells of flapping to gain height.

'To countrymen, the swift is knopwn as the 'devil bird', because of its habit of flying screaming round houses during late spring and early summer evenings.

'.... Swifts appear to pair for life; and they have two courtship displays. On the nest, mating occurs after mutual crooning and preening; in the air there is a spectacular chase before the birds mate on the wing.

'Recognition: black-brown plumage, except for white chin-patych; long, scythe-shaped wings; forked tail; sexes alike.'

In "Swifts": a poem, by Ruth Pitter (Friday, December 12. 2008) I posted a poem by Ruth Pitter, who was a contemporary and friend of C.S. Lewis -

SWIFTS

Low over the warm roof of an old barn,
Down in a flash to the water, up and away with a cry
And a wild swoop and a sharp turn
And a fever of life under a thundery sky,
So they go over, so they go by.

And high and high and high in the diamond light,
Soaring and crying in sunshine when heaven is bare,
with the pride of life in their strong flight
And a rapture of love to lift them and carry them there,
High and high in the diamond air.

And away with the summer, away life the spirit of glee,
Flashing and calling, strong on the wing, and wild in their play,
With a high cry to the high sea,
And a heart for the south, a heart for the diamond day,
So they go over, so go away.

Ruth Pitter

And I added -

So for me the swifts represent high summer. On our sunny days I see them gambolling in the high air, pursuing their insect prey. Then swooping low over the grass, memorably in my youth during long cricket matches. I was fielding in the outfield as, in a sense, so were the swifts.

Continued from Part 2:

Part 3

We know of course, the story of how Tristan won Esyllt. The story is essentially British and ancient in origin. Kenneth Hurlstone Jackson has translated from the old Welsh as follows:

At that time Trystan ap Tralluch and Esyllt the wife of March ap Meirchion went wandering as outlaws in the wood of Celyddon, with Golwg-Hafddydd as her handmaid, and Y Bach Bychan as his page carrying pasties and wine, together with them; and a bed of leaves was made for them. And March ap Meirchion went to Arthur to complain of Trystan and to entreat him to avenge the insult against him, since he was more nearly related to Arthur than Trystan was; for March ap Meirchion was cousin to Arthur, ‘to seek for you either satisfaction or its refusal.’ And then they surrounded the wood of Celyddon.

Now it was a magic property in Trystan that whoever drew blood from him died, and whoever he drew blood from died. And when Esyllt heard the noise and the talking on all sides of the wood, she trembled in Trystan’s arms, and Trystan asked her why she trembled, and she said it was through fear for him...And then Trystan rose up and took his sword in his hand, and made for the fight as fast as he could, til he met March ap Meirchion, and March ap Meirchion said, ‘Even though I kill him, it would cause my own death.’ And at that the other men said, ‘Shame on us if we bestir ourselves for him.’ And then Trystan went through the three armies unharmed.

Then March ap Meirchion went to Arthur again, and complained to him that he got neither compensation for his wife nor its refusal. ‘I know no council for you but this,’ said Arthur, ‘to send harpers to play for him from far off; and after that to send poets and eulogists to praise him and turn him from his anger and his wrath..’ And this they did. And after that Trystan called the minstrels to him and gave them handfuls of gold and silver; and then the chief peacemaker was sent to him, that is, Gwalchmai ap Gwyar....

And then Trystan and Gwalchmai went to Arthur, and there Arthur made peace between him and March ap Meirchion. And Arthur spoke with the two of them in turn, but neither of them was willing to be without Esyllt; and then Arthur awarded her to the one of them while the leaves should be on the trees and the other while the leaves should not be on the trees, the married man should choose. And he chose when the leaves should not be on the trees, because the nights would be the longest at that time, and Arthur told that to Esyllt. And she said, ‘Blessed be the judgement and he who gave it;’ and Esyllt sang this song:

‘There are three trees that are good,

Holly and ivy and yew;

They put forth leaves while they last,

And Trystan shall have me as long as he lives.’

And so March ap Meirchion lost Esyllt for good.

And then there were the linkage between the Arthurian tales and the story of Suibhne Geilt, one of a series of sagas engendered by the Great Battle of Moira 637AD. Nikolai Tolstoy in The Quest for Merlin writes “fortunately, it is not necessary to rely solely on deductive analysis to show that Geoffrey of Monmouth did not invent the Merlin stories, since there is evidence that much of it was already in existence well before his time.” Tolstoy names three other bodies of work as providing such evidence.

“Thus the four distinct versions of the Prophet’s career have survived; the Vita Merlini of Geoffrey of Monmouth, the Welsh Myrddin poems, the Lailoken episodes, and the story of Sweeney’s frenzy. That they all ultimately represent the same saga (though obviously with accretions and distortions acquired along the way) is abundantly clear and is accepted by the best authorities.

In his own translation of Buile Suibhne, Seamus Heaney says “It is possible....to dwell upon Sweeney’s easy sense of cultural affinity with both Western Scotland and Southern Ireland as exemplary for all men and women in contemporary Ulster, or to ponder the thought that the Irish invention may well have been the development of a British original, residually present in the tale of the madman called Alan”.

I myself believe that if the citizens of Northern Ireland could become more fully aware of the extent of their inter-related characteristics, not just with each other, but with other peoples of these islands then a symbiosis of their respective identities could be established which would provide a solid foundation for the peace they so richly deserve.

Code:Picts

Links

Part 1

Part 2

To be continued