I've come across mentions of phoenixes four times in books recently. Three were references to the mythologicial rebirth of the phoenix, and the other one spent several pages on the history of Tyrian purple dye--Tyre being the chief city of the ancient Phoenicians--and how the origins of the words phoenix and Phoenicia were closely connected with the idea of the dye.
Tyrian purple, from murex shells, was typically a reddish purple, but could range from very pale tints to very dark purples. The dye was more valuable by weight than gold.
I also read 2 Chronicles 2, where Huram (Hiram) of Tyre assisted Solomon with the building of the Temple. In 2 Chronicles 2:12, Huram acknowledges that the God of Israel is creator of heaven and earth.
Other sources say that the chief Phoenician god was Melqart, which has some correspondence with Biblical accounts of Moloch and Baal worship. Greeks tended to see Melqart as Hercules. The Phoenicians practiced child sacrifice.
This was in something like 960 B.C. Israel was at its peak, and Tyre was approaching a peak of its own.
There is much to be gleaned from old books. Today I learned that the cutting to pieces of Rahab in Isaiah 51 can be understood as part of God's work in parting and securing a passage across the Red Sea for the escape of the Israelites from Egypt.
They weren't just fleeing the Egyptians; there were principalities and powers at work then, just as now.
The Israelites were significantly reminded of the Red Sea passage as they entered the Promised Land, Joshua 4 says, when God stopped the flow of the Jordan River for them to cross over.
There's also the prostitute Rahab who assisted the Israelites, whose God had easily defeated her namesake.
"Three souls flying home because I stayed behind"
One of the souls I've helped toward salvation suddenly flew home recently. This song helped me to really cry for the first time over it.
I happened to read about the Gadarene swine in Mark 3 this morning before coming across this piece, which mentions it.
David Clements mentions Michael Cocchini. A quick internet search tells me that they've worked together before, and that a different Michael Cocchini--and a Susan Clements--went fatally missing in the Smoky Mountains. At separate times.
Feels like a rabbit hole.
Much like Jonathan Cahn connects the major demons of ancient Israel to today's United States, Clements says that the spirits of the Nephilim are here and active.
https://joehoft.com/attorney-david-clements-mkultras-shadow-a-demonic-war-for-humanitys-mind/
