Vine

This blog explores more hidden references in the text to the Vine, especially a reference in Jonah and then again in the NT. Before that, some shop status. Finally comments on a few headlines that caught my attention.

Shop Status

A week ago I finished the first draft 3d print for the Vine item for the Tent of Time. This is the second of the big exhibits for the alphabet related 3d models. There are more to come.

As I explained in a previous blog, the Megiddo Mosaic has a stick figure representation of this item buried in one of the inscriptions. My surprise over that figure involved the placement of limbs on either side of the central shaft of that model.

I would have expected the side with 7 branches to be on the left, not the right, in the final model. Yet that mosaic floor clearly showed it on the right. This unexpected detail meant I had some sort of left/right design issue that I did not fully understand.

It was easy enough to rearrange the limbs on the 3d printed vine exhibit to follow the pattern from history. I did that as the Vine itself was being printed. But this is not the same as understanding what design principle demands that the side with 7 limbs should be on the right.

What was really going on is that I was mixing up the left and right sides. Said another way, I was like the Ninevites who did not know their left hand from their right. Let me return to the Ninevites below.

In proof reading last week's blog, while still thinking about the left/right issue on this item, a different story from the text came to mind. Let me share that with you here, it is the textual story explaining this design detail for the Vine.

Jacob Blesses Ephraim and Manasseh

The link here is to Chapter 48 in the BRB. This chapter is the story of when Jacob blessed Joseph's 2 sons, Ephraim and Manasseh. Remember, Manasseh is the older and Ephraim the younger.

By vs. 13 the stage is set for the blessing. Joseph has arranged Manasseh to be on Jacob's right, so under his right hand of blessing, and Ephraim on the left.

At this point Jacob crosses his hands, apparently trading the blessings.

Jacob knows the exhibit items. He is using them in his daily life. He is modeling his actions after these items. In Genesis 49:22, in Hebrew based translations of the OT, we learn that Joseph is a fruitful vine, planted near a spring whose branches climb over a wall.

That term vine is assigning tribes to items, and the vine exhibit item itself is likely matching the tribe of Joseph. So the 2 sides of the vine, where Jacob crossed his arms, is indicating the sides of the vine, which go with Joseph's sons.

This story in Genesis 49 also opens up the idea that each tribe will eventually go with the major exhibits, suggesting around 12 such exhibits when finished. But lets stay on the Vine for now.

The Original Dream

All of this work began with a series of dreams in August of 2009. We had taken a Hebrew class. We had been introduced to Paleo Hebrew, and were about to build a font so we could see Paleo Hebrew in our software systems.

In the first dream, of a series that would run for about 3 weeks, I was shown how what is now the silver set of 3d items is rediscovered given the 2d drawn forms of the alphabet. Paleo Hebrew is not perfect for this, to finish the riddle would require reviewing many other ancient alphabets, but Paleo Hebrew was the starting point, it provided the alphabetic order.

In that dream I saw the alphabet written out from left to right in alphabetic order. Then at the middle of the alphabet, the gap between Ku and Lu, I watched as that gap was pulled towards me.

The entire series was going through an animation. I will need to build that animation and show it eventually. Each letter was on something like a tile. They were now sliding back to form cubes directly in front of me.

The first step to find 3d objects was to create the cubes that surround each object. The letters were folding onto the fronts of unseen cubes that eventually hold 3d items behind each 2d drawn form. Those cubes are now called bird cages in the design files.

Once the cubes are formed, the 2d drawn form tiles are in the way of seeing the 3d item, so those 2d forms move to the back of those cubes. Those 2d tiles are now called leaves on the vine.

When those 2d forms move to the back, they also, and importantly, exchange sides. This is exactly like Jacob crossing his arms.

All the letters on the left side of the alphabet show up on the right side of the cubes, eventually the right side leaves on the vine. The same goes the other way around. All the letters late in the alphabet, so the right side of the alphabet, show up on the left side, so early in the alphabetic order.

That dream was giving what has been an overlooked design principle for the vine exhibit itself. Each 3d item sits in a flower with the letters transposed and placed on leaves that sit behind. The leaves are in transposed alphabetic order. I am currently reprinting most of the parts for the vine, in a second major iteration, and will pick up this detail during this print.

This also explains the Megiddo Mosaic's placement of the singleton 3d items on the right side of the tree. The first 3d letters in an alphabetic sense claim a position on the right side of the tree. Letters that follow are relegated left, and for the mirror image versions of certain models, those essentially extra models are relegated behind the tree.

Back To Jacob

The story in Genesis 48 could have involved Jacob asking Joseph to trade positions for his 2 sons. This would perhaps have been more conventional. But the story of these blessings was written as it is because it is containing a veiled reference to the Vine item, which has this crossed arm design principle.

Once we see the left/right crossed arm story in Jacob's account, we then want to think about anywhere else that left/right trading is going on. Perhaps the best known is found in the book of Jonah. We turn there next.

Jonah's Tent

The link here is to Jonah chapter 4 in the BRB. But let me briefly review what we think the inspired core of the Book of Jonah may be. Jonah is a prophet out of the heirs of Jacob. He was sent to Nineveh, located near Mosul in what is now the northern reaches of Iraq, close to the Syrian border.

We do not expect the story of the whale to be inspired. This is not the key point of the Book of Jonah. This is not what was being referenced in the NT, which I will return to below.

Once Jonah has warned the Ninevites about destruction in 40 days, Jonah then goes outside of the city and sets up his tent. This is the chapter in the link above. Jonah is going to wait and see what happens to Nineveh. He only has 40 days to wait this out, figuring they will not listen, then he can presumably return home.

Jonah does seem to have had some sort of attitude problem. These Ninevites are enemies, so that is perhaps 1 reason. Another may be in part because his own people back home probably did not listen to Jonah either. Prophets rarely get the honor they deserve in their home towns. Think Nazareth. But Jonah may not yet know that. Instead, his thinking was that if the heirs of those who set up the Tent of Time in Moses' day will not listen, why would anyone else?

So while Jonah is waiting, there is a conversation that takes place, itself centered around a vine, see vs. 6. The NIV, based in Hebrew, uses the term vine, the BRB is using gourd. Vine is the likely correct English, but what might be going on in the original languages is beyond our scope here.

This is another story where we as readers are supposed to think about the exhibits we used when we learned to read Paleo. We were in a classroom, so a meeting tent, and we had a vine. Just like Jonah is dealing with here.

In the case of Jonah's vine it grows up in a day. It also seems to wither in a day. Vines that grow up fast are rare. The Seattle area has a local variety of wild Black Berry that can grow many feet in single a day during the growing season. This is an example of fast growing vines, they are not unheard of.

But the other type of vine that can grow up in a day is the Vine item in the set of exhibits that are part of the tent. Depending on methods and materials it may be setup in under an hour, like 3d printed plastic, but if it required threading of clay birds each time it was setup it might take most of a day for this vine to grow. It would also take another day to take it down and put it away. All of this is similar to the care surrounding fancy and expensive ornaments displayed on a Christmas Tree.

By the last verse in this chapter we can see how, in divine voice, there is a reference back to the 120,000 Ninevites who do not know their right hand from their left.

That left/right problem is keying directly back to Jacob's crossed arms and it is keying directly back to the vine item in the set of exhibits in the Tent of Time. That element at the end of the Book of Jonah is indicating that this final story in the Book of Jonah is all about the exhibits, but especially the first exhibit, the Vine. That 2009 dream was only the very start of my own journey through the exhibits.

Let me suggest what that chapter is indicating to readers formally trained with the exhibits. Jonah has taken the entire set of exhibits and their tent. Presumably he has set up at least the Vine, the starting exhibit, and he is waiting to see if anyone comes out from town to listen to him and understand.

Did the Ninevites come out to see Jonah's tent?

The Book of Jonah does not answer that question. That question is answered in the NT. Let me turn there now.

Tree By Fruit

The sign of Jonah is given in both Matthew and Luke. The link here is to the passage ahead of the story that references the sign of Jonah in Matthew, so it links to Matthew 12:22, where Joshua heals a man who was both mute and blind.

The people who see this miracle start wondering about Joshua himself, wondering who he could be, perhaps someone descended from David.

Joshua answers the David accusation by reminding everyone that David's kingdom divided against itself in Rehoboam's day and eventually fell. So their accusation that he is related to David is false, that kingdom fell.

By vs. 33 Joshua then shifts to how a tree is known by its fruits. A good tree produces good fruits, while a bad tree produces bad fruits.

The remnants of David's fallen kingdom was replaced by those who returned in Ezra's day. They had switched trees, and no longer used the Vine nor the Fig Tree. David's tent was fallen. The crowds venerating David are from the wrong tree, the edited text. He closes this subject by indicating how the tradition that venerates David will eventually answer for their work on the day of judgment.

By vs. 39 the topic has continued, and the scribes and Pharisees want a sign. Joshua answers that the only sign given will be the sign of Jonah.

Note that vs. 40 is how everyone reading this blog, who has any familiarity with the Bible, will answer that sign. The sign of Jonah is said to be that just as Jonah was 3 days in a fish, so too there will be the 3 days Joshua was in the tomb before he came out of the tomb alive.

The problem with vs. 40 is that it interprets the sign of Jonah within the book of Matthew itself. No prophetic writing is interpreted within its own writing. Readers must fill in that sign from other sources. Usually clues are given nearby as they are in this story itself. Ananias added this fish story so readers would not study deeply and figure out the real sign of Jonah.

So skipping that verse we continue with vs. 41, and Joshua closes his thought on Jonah, and indicates that men of Nineveh will rise up and find the current generation guilty, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now one greater than Jonah is here.

Joshua is adding details not found in the Book of Jonah itself. They did eventually listen to Jonah, not only that, but they will judge the generation that was around Joshua. So some Ninevites became what we call walk-offs, they did not die.

So we can now fill in details missing in the Book of Jonah itself. Those men of Nineveh did come visit Jonah at his special tent. They listened to what he had to say, which was to teach them the systems of inspired text.

But, this leaves off the question. What was the sign of Jonah?

Joshua explained that sign back in vs. 33. It was the good tree that Jonah brought to Nineveh, that is the sign that Jonah himself used. The Vine seems to be the first important exhibit because it explains the constraint on the 2d drawn forms, and it explains the drawn forms of the vowels and how the vowels are shared with certain other letters.

Even worse for those listening to Joshua that day, was that Joshua had given even more evidence than just the Vine. So those listening to Joshua are even more guilty because they had even more compelling evidence than Jonah had offered the men of Nineveh.

This story looks to be part of a longer sequence of manuscript related parables that continue into Chapter 13 of Matthew. That chapter carries the more famous parable of the sower, which inspired much of our work around here.

Sower Steps

Let me suggest an interpretation for the Sower parables at the start of Matthew 13.

1) Vs. 3, A sower goes out to sow. (Joshua leaves Eden.)

2) Vs. 4, Some falls on the roadside, birds eat it. (The star item is a singleton 3d item, in should normally be in the skies, where birds fly. The road from Eden is by flight.)

3) Vs. 5 and 6, Some falls on the rock, not into deep ground. Second description is that when the sun shone, it dried up, no deep root. (The Rock item is also known as the Mount of Olives. 2 halves, that carry the gold series.)

4) Vs. 7, Other falls among thistles. (Called the Bramble in Judges 7, a Brier Rabbit hangout of thorns. The interior of the Table item.)

5) Vs. 8, Other fell on good soil and bore fruit, some 100, some 60, some 30. (The River, the largest item, which deals with well watered soil and fruit bearing trees. Budding rods is a theme. It is on the way back to Eden.)

At vs. 10 his disciples asks why he speaks to the crowds in parables. This question suggests they know full well what he is talking about. They know the items.

Hopefully, we will also know all of those items here soon, hopefully even be able to touch them and talk about them.

Headline Review

I am spending most waking hours in the shop dealing with 3d design, 3d printing, and the fabrication of those items. I am only scanning news in a cursory way. Here are some items that caught my attention this week.

Glenn Beck: Ark Location

The link here is to a Glenn Beck interview of the City of David Foundation’s Director of International Affairs, Ze’ev Orenstein. The conversation is 12 minutes long. It mostly deals with current status of digs in Jerusalem looking for the remains of the original old city of Jerusalem, this from King David's Day, and of course from Solomon's era forward.

This video was interesting to me because of Glenn's obvious excitement over what is being found in and around Jerusalem. This is of course preparatory work for rebuilding the temple. That project should show up on the charts in early 2026, so this is important to track.

The problem, of course, and why this video is also interesting, is that even if Glenn has ever read the last 3 chapters of Judges, he has not integrated it into his world view. These are Jebusites, this is not a work of faith. This is a dangerous project underway now in Israel.

Cure for Cancer

The Covid vaccine continues to kill people who received it. The alternative medical world has been looking seriously at medications that might work against the effects of that vaccine.

The drugs that have some hope for this also turn out to cure pretty much everything. Ivermectin and Fenbendazole taken together is one such concoction. I would add this may be the same biological process as simple Vitamin C, but in any case there is plenty of alternative media attention around the incompetence of the established medical community and the wonder drugs that would put many out of business. This is a good example.

LA Fires

The link here is to a Tucker Carlson interview with Michael Shellenberger who is familiar with the political situation in California (as is Tucker.) The thrust of the argument here is that political incompetence is mostly responsible for the lost of 15K+ structures and hundreds of lives in Southern California.

Every generation inherits an infrastructure from former generations. That infrastructure must be cared for in the same way as the original builders intended for them to be maintained. When that is lost, those assets are lost as well. Ditto here in California, which is built with infrastructure that requires a functioning government to keep the place from burning down.

California is currently unable to handle its built out heritage. It will slowly disappear to dust unless there is a major revival.

Hoover Institution: Marc Andreessen

The link here is to an interview by Peter Robinson of Marc Andreessen. Marc is best known for producing the first commercial web browser, Netscape, back in 1993. He is now an investor in Silicon Valley and knows the inside scoop on many tech businesses.

Marc is now spending time as an advisor with the team behind the scenes of DOGE. This is Elon Musk's effort to balance the US Federal budget. The interview gives many recent legal reasons why success is a possible outcome for the work going on to try and avert the collapse of the US Dollar early in Trump's next term.

The interview covers many details, including changes after Nixon's resignation which removed budget responsibility from the president. This is why there is nobody able to balance the budget. There has also been a series of US Supreme court rulings that should restore control of the budget back to the US President. Trump and his team are expected to test those court decisions soon. Watch the video for details.

This story is very important to the prophetic timeline for the USA. There is a date series used to align the inspired calendar with the Julian calendar. It begins with the resignation of Nixon late July, 1974. This resignation was Adam's fall for the USA.

There should be a 70 year prophetic timeline for the USA that began that date. It should end at 70 years, so 2044, with the restoration of Adam again.

I am waiting until models are finished and manuscript is recovered before returning to the timeline studies. The timeline work needs the inspired text to be recovered so that work can be done once and correctly. Thus the wait.

What matters right now is we are just past the 50 year anniversary of the start of that series. 50 years is usually when debt should be canceled. I suspect Musk decided to step into this problem around the 50th anniversary of Nixon's resignation, itself roughly in July of 2024.

Under normal rules of the text, debt is to be canceled outright. But nobody who purchased US Bonds knew there was a possible expiration date on those bonds. The entire western financial system risks severe collapse if this problem is not fixed, and soon. As the interview explains, debt is going up $1T USD every 100 days, but the rate is going up with shorter cycles for each new cycle of $1T USD government bonds. This is how currencies collapse. When that cycle time reduces to 10 days, the currency is over.

Besides the war fronts in Ukraine and Israel, US government debt is the other most serious headline in the world.

In the interview they also discuss other matters involving the collapse of the industrial economy of the USA. I doubt this will ever be revived. The whole world itself is industrializing, no country will ever lead in that way again. China has the advantage because of the size of its internal economy. The USA is no longer a world leader in technology.

Workers paid in fiat reserve currency usually cannot compete with other workers in the world. There are centuries of support for this thesis. Closing the gold window is why American prosperity ended in Nixon's day.

Again, this is perhaps one of the most interesting interviews I have seen in awhile.

More Later,

Phil