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Thread ID: 31871 2003-04-03 00:15:00 OT: Angels of the Lord rugila (214) Press F1
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133034 2003-04-03 00:15:00 Not (in this case) referring to the acolytes of Gates.

The King James Bible says:

”Then the angel of the Lord (aka Dubya these days) went forth, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians (these days – northern Iraqis) a hundred and fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.”
(Isaiah 37:36, also 2 Kings 19:35)

Now I wondered – how could they awake in the morning if they were all dead corpses? 		rugila (214)
133035 2003-04-03 00:56:00 Comments from random Biblical "scholars" (professional and amateur) include "I guess they woke up and said 'Shucks, I'm dead'."

"Don't you just hate those mornings"

I was figuring some kind of "out of the body experience" where their spirits 'arose' and looked down on their bodies.

Many such experiences are recorded by those who have gone through a period of "clinical death" - notably in the classic tome "The [depressing lack of] Varieties of Religious Experience" by the man my father used to call "Henry's even more boring brother, William" (William James).

BUT: the most ingenious explanation comes from the renowned Herodotus ("father of history" "father of lies") who cites a contemporary wall carving showing someone holding a mouse or rat.
Herodotus suggests an ancient form of "biological warfare" that the dead bodies were not those of the men but of the rodents, which harboured plague-carrying fleas. The men arose, said "heck what are all these mice doing here? Quite cute aren't they, really" (stroke). And in due course, the Assyrians woke up dead of the plague.

Believe it or Not (TM)

Argus 		argus (366)
133036 2003-04-03 01:02:00 > a hundred and fourscore and five thousand

185,000? That's a heck of a big army for those days.

Or maybe 5,180.

Argus 		argus (366)
133037 2003-04-03 01:14:00 > ... "Henry's even more boring brother, William" (William James).

Now is that any relation to Billy T ? 		rugila (214)
133038 2003-04-03 03:03:00 I think that's why he put the 'T' in; to distinguish W James the Comical from W James the Deadly Serious.

Any good literary dictionary will give you the lowdown on the James brothers (is there any imitation intended in Prince Charles's choice of names for his heirs, I wonder.)

Also MR (Montague Rhodes) James who wrote splendid Victorian/Edwardian ghost stories, and I suppose they'll get round to PD James eventually.

Not to mention, of course, James, I; who, with his wife VI, went in for Biblical translation - indeed possibly authored the quote we began with.

(I have seen, in several biographical indexes, the American short story writer O Henry, listed as Henry O - and in one case, I swear, "Henry 0 (zero)", immediately before Henries I-VIII.

As any competent indexer knows, he should actually come between Henry IV and Henry V.

Argus 		argus (366)
133039 2003-04-03 06:13:00 Wait just one moment please rugila :D

I will crawl down to the crypt and check. It is many years, nay, centuries since I checked my familial links and Henry might just be on the list of deceased.

Mind you, I'm a Billy not a William so perhaps I can be excused or exculpated or excavated or evacuated even.

I think I need a lie down :|

Cheers

Billy 8-{) B-) 		Billy T (70)
133040 2003-04-03 06:35:00 Billy T

No need to crawl into the crypt and go back centuries. Probably suffice to try Taupiri Mountain where the remains of the late Billy T James were interred about 12 years ago. ("If it wasn't for the Poms you'd all be the same colour as me, mate!", etc.)

I'm sure you'll excuse my somewhat indirect way of determining if any association.

Lie down by all means, but please not in the crypt since I wouldn't like to have you excised, excommunicated (doesn't quite fit but sounds good), exterminated (Daleks again) or expunged, and certainly not exhumed. 		rugila (214)
133041 2003-04-03 07:16:00 > Not (in this case) referring to the acolytes
> of Gates.
>
> The King James Bible says:
>
> ”Then the angel of the Lord (aka Dubya these
> days) went forth, and smote in the camp of the
> Assyrians (these days – northern Iraqis) a
> hundred and fourscore and five thousand: and when
> they arose early in the morning, behold, they were
> all dead corpses.”
> (Isaiah 37:36, also 2 Kings 19:35)
>
> Now I wondered – how could they awake in the morning
> if they were all dead corpses?

Never in that passage does it say that the angel of the Lord (definitely not Dubya) killed all the Assyrians - it says it killed a specific number of them (185,000), so all the rest of the people could arise and see the dead bodies. Makes sense to me :)

Mike. 		Mike (15)
133042 2003-04-03 09:05:00 Very misleading,I was quite worried there. Thomas (1820)
133043 2003-04-03 09:11:00 Had to keep out of the crypt, cat crept in before me and crapped. Couldn't cope with the colonic contamination so covered the conk and crawled out the corridor before I carked it. :p

Never felt the urge to climb Mt Taupiri (or be carried up it either) though I drive past it regularly and give old Billy a wave. A fine comedian with an unsurpassed gift.

Of course, it might have slipped your mind that Old BT was actually Billy T J, while I lay claim to Billy T, period.

Cheers

Billy 8-{) :D 		Billy T (70)
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