{"id":190,"date":"2008-07-25T09:42:00","date_gmt":"2008-07-25T09:42:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/touchstonemag.com\/daily_reflections\/?p=190"},"modified":"2024-05-05T23:15:02","modified_gmt":"2024-05-06T04:15:02","slug":"july-25-augus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.touchstonemag.com\/daily_reflections\/2008\/07\/25\/july-25-augus\/","title":{"rendered":"July 25 – August 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

Friday, July 25<\/strong><\/p>\n

Acts 21:1-14: Luke now carefully traces the stages of Paul\u2019s journey southward, first noting his arrival at Cos that Sunday evening.  This island, dedicated to Asklepios, the god of healing, was perhaps special to the \u201cbeloved physician\u201d as the homeland of Hippocrates, the father of Greek medicine, who sat under the famous plane tree and instructed his medical students in the art of healing. <\/p>\n

Paul\u2019s company arrives at Rhodes on Monday and at Patara on Tuesday. Leaving this coastline vessel, they embark on a sea-going ship on their way to the Phoenician city of Tyre, some four-hundred nautical miles to the southeast, sailing around Cyprus. Finding Christians at Tyre (cf. 15:3), they remain for a week. They then press on to Ptolemais, twenty-five miles to the south, and then Caesarea, forty miles further (or thirty-two miles if they went by land). <\/p>\n

One nearly gains the impression that Luke is copying out notes from a journal that he maintained on the trip, and one of the general effects of this listing of ports is to heighten the suspense of Paul\u2019s approach to Jerusalem. Even back at Miletus he had spoken of the prophetic warnings that he was receiving with respect to this trip to Jerusalem (20:23), warnings later repeated at Tyre (21:4). Here at Caesarea, however, such forebodings are intensified by the prophecies of Agabus, whom we met earlier in 11:27, and the daughters of Philip the deacon (21:8-11). <\/p>\n

Finally, Luke\u2019s attention to detail, with which he narrates each step of this journey, renders all the more remarkable the omission of Antioch. After both the first (14:25) and second (18:22) missionary journeys, Paul took care to report back to the church at Antioch, but on this occasion, and with only a hint of explanation (20:16), he does not do so. Clearly, Paul is looking elsewhere now; his eyes are on Rome, as he had recently suggested in a letter to that city (Romans 15:22-28).<\/p>\n

Saturday, July 26<\/strong><\/p>\n

Acts 21:15-25: The day after his arrival in Jerusalem, Paul goes to pay his respects to James, the Lord\u2019s \u201cbrother,\u201d who appears to be the chief pastor of the church in that city and the leader of its presbyters. This impression is consonant with the early preserved lists of the bishops of the churches, where James is invariably listed as Jerusalem\u2019s first bishop (along with Mark as Alexandria\u2019s, Evodius as Antioch\u2019s, Linus as Rome\u2019s, and so on). <\/p>\n

Unlike the earlier gathering at Jerusalem in Acts 15, this meeting does not mention the \u201capostles.\u201d These latter have by now all left Jerusalem and have gone to preach the Gospel in other lands, some of which have preserved memories of earlier apostolic evangelization. There is evidence that the apostle Thomas preached in India, for example, Philip in Phrygia, Matthew in Syria and Ethiopia, and Andrew in Thrace. The apostle Peter had moved westward by this time, but the absence of his name from Paul\u2019s letter to the Romans indicates that he had not yet reached the Empire\u2019s capital, where he would, along with Paul, suffer martyrdom. <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, at Jerusalem Paul\u2019s report greatly heartens James and the presbyters (verses 19-20), but they express concern about certain misrepresentations of Paul being circulated among the Jewish Christians. Because of Paul\u2019s frequent encounters with hostile Jews in various cities, he can hardly be surprised by such reports, and James is eager to put them to rest. Paul, desiring to be all things to all men (1 Corinthians 9:19-23; Romans 7:12), acquiesces in James\u2019s suggestion for how to go about neutralizing the rumors current among the \u201ctens of thousands\u201d (myriads<\/em> \u2014 verse 20) of Jewish Christians. This suggestion involves the rather elaborate public fulfillment of a Nazirite vow (verses 23-24; Numbers 6:1-21). <\/p>\n

Sunday, July 27<\/strong><\/p>\n

Acts 21:26-34: On the next day Paul begins daily worship in the temple as the sponsor of the four men under vow, to provide the offering required on such occasions (verse 26). A week later he is recognized in the temple by some of the same Asian Jews with whom he has already had so many painful experiences (verse 27; 18:19; 20:19). <\/p>\n

It is important to observe that the objections to Paul at Jerusalem do not come from the Jewish Christians living there, but from the Diaspora Jews, whose presence in Jerusalem is occasioned by the feast of Pentecost (20:6,16), a normal time for pilgrimage to the temple. On the streets of the city they had already recognized Trophimus, a Christian from Asia, who accompanied Paul to Jerusalem for the purpose of transporting the collection of money for the poor (20:4; cf. also 2 Timothy 4:20). The Jews from Ephesus accuse Paul of introducing this Gentile into the temple beyond the Court of the Gentiles. <\/p>\n

The gravity of their accusation is indicated in the inscription, written in both Greek and Latin, which separated that court from the Court of Women (Josephus, Jewish War<\/em> 5.5.2; Antiquities<\/em> 15.11.5 [417]; cf. also Ephesians 2:14). That inscription, discovered by C. S. Clermont-Ganneau in 1871, says: \u201cNo foreigner [non-Jew] is to enter within the balustrade and the embankment that surrounds the sanctuary. If anyone is apprehended in the act, let him know that he must hold himself to blame for the penalty of death that will follow.\u201d <\/p>\n

After ejecting Paul from the temple, his accusers close the gates to prevent his seeking refuge therein (verse 30). Because such riots in the temple are by no means rare, particularly during pilgrimages, a Roman guard of a thousand men is stationed in the nearby Fortress Antonia, and news of the disturbance reaches the commander of this unit, Claudius Lysias (23:26), who promptly takes Paul into custody to prevent his being murdered. It was at this very place that an earlier crowd of Jews had insisted to Pilate, \u201cTake Him away!\u201d [Aire touton<\/em> in Luke 23:18] with respect to Jesus, the same insistence now being made with respect to Paul [Aire auton<\/em> in Acts 21:36].<\/p>\n

Monday, July 28<\/strong><\/p>\n

1 Kings 18: Elijah was a robust sort of fellow, but this had been a very strenuous day. It began early that morning, when he met on Mount Carmel with King Ahab, two groups of the prophets of Baal totaling eight hundred and fifty, and an apparently large number of other Israelites. This ecumenical convention, which Elijah himself had suggested to the king, had a very practical purpose. After forty-two months without rain (James 5:17), a terrible drought lay on the land, and something simply had to be done about it. Elijah suggested a plan for putting an end to the problem, and Ahab was sufficiently desperate to try just about anything. <\/p>\n

Elijah proposed that they choose two bulls to be offered in sacrifice, one by the prophets of Baal and one by himself. This recommendation met everyone\u2019s approval. The prophets of Baal (with whom, it may be said, Elijah already had a somewhat strained relationship) should have suspected something sly was afoot, when they themselves were obliged to supply Elijah with a bull. He had not brought one. <\/p>\n

However, for two reasons, these gentlemen were a bit overconfident. First, Baal was a storm god, who knew a thing or two about rain. Elijah\u2019s Lord, on the other hand, had revealed Himself in the desert, where water was scarce. This God was presumed not know much about storms, atmospheric conditions, and that kind of thing. Second, the prophets of Baal enjoyed both royal patronage and the advantage of numbers. This would not be much of a contest, they were sure. Moreover, Elijah even agreed to let them go first. <\/p>\n

It did not take the eight hundred and fifty very long to cut up their bull for sacrifice, and, while they were doing it, Elijah announced \u201cno fire.\u201d They would have to persuade Baal, who was a storm god, after all, to send down lightning to get the flames going. Strangely, no one objected. <\/p>\n

They worked hard all morning, trying to draw Baal\u2019s attention to the matter at hand, yelling out their prayers, jumping up and down on the altar, and making a general commotion. (Baalism, you understand, was a seeker-friendly religion.) Finally, they took knives and began to gash themselves (well, so much for seeker-friendly). Apparently somebody declared this had worked in the past. It was no go today, however. <\/p>\n

Elijah appeared to enjoy the show, cheering the Baalists on to greater exertions, suggesting that Baal was perchance asleep, or having a conversation with some other god perhaps, or maybe was on a trip. Elijah encouraged them to yell louder. <\/p>\n

Finally, when they were rather worn out by mid-afternoon, Elijah suddenly announced, \u201cMy turn!\u201d He jumped up, constructed a rather impressive altar, and cut up the second bull on it. Then, he had twelve barrels of seawater dragged up the side of Mount Carmel and poured all over the sacrifice. The prophets of Baal thought this last maneuver was a bit show-offy. <\/p>\n

From this point on, everything started to happen all at once. Elijah said a quick two-verse prayer, and abruptly, from a cloudless sky, there fell a bolt of fire that \u201cconsumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood and the stones and the dust, and it licked up the water\u201d (1 Kings 18:38). <\/p>\n

The theological question of the day being thus settled, Elijah had the crowd round up the Baalist prophets, who were promptly marched down the northeast corner of Mount Carmel to the dry bed of the Kishon
\nRiver, where they were all put to death. Elijah was not a man of half-measures. He well knew that this was the very place where Barak\u2019s army had defeated the forces of Sisera centuries before. <\/p>\n

Elijah himself stayed on the mountain and gave himself to prayer. Notwithstanding that impressive bolt of lightning, after all, there was still no rain! He prayed seven times (three times had been enough to raise a dead person in the previous chapter), and then they saw the first cloud, \u201csmall as a man\u2019s hand,\u201d coming from over the sea. \u201cBetter head for home,\u201d Elijah said to Ahab, while the sky grew black with clouds and wind. At this point, indeed, Elijah himself jumped up and ran out ahead of Ahab\u2019s chariot. The mind\u2019s eye may see him even now, this wild prophet with streaming hair, rushing through the thunder and the lightning bolts, running well ahead of the panicking, wide-eyed, panting, galloping horses, racing through the darkness and the rain, all those seventeen miles from Mount Carmel to Jezreel. <\/p>\n

Recalling the scene a millennium later, St. James calmly remarked that Elijah \u201cwas a man with a nature like ours\u201d (James 5:17). I am grateful to James for making that point, because, to tell the truth, I think I might have missed it. James himself, I am prepared to believe, may have been of like nature with Elijah. As for anybody else I know, well, I am not so dead sure about it. (From P. H. Reardon, Christ in His Saints<\/em>)<\/p>\n

Tuesday, July 29<\/strong><\/p>\n

Psalm 61: Combining petition and confidence, Psalm 61 (Greek and Latin 60) is one of the simplest and easiest prayers of the entire Psalter.<\/p>\n

\u201cHear my petition, O God,\u201d we begin, \u201cattend to my prayer. From the ends of the earth I called out to you, when my heart was anxious.\u201d Already is introduced here the first part of a contrast between \u201cfar\u201d and \u201cnear.\u201d In anxiety of heart we cry out to God \u201cfrom the ends of the earth,\u201d but by the very act of doing so we then find ourselves saying: \u201cI will abide in Your temple forever; I will be protected in the shadow of Your wings.\u201d <\/p>\n

The movement from \u201cfar\u201d to \u201cnear,\u201d which is the whole business of prayer, is a great deal more than a mere psychological experience. It has to do, rather, with the mystery of redemption: \u201cBut now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ\u201d (Eph. 2:13). It is not a matter here of our \u201cfeeling far off.\u201d Our feelings on the point are futile and unreliable. It is not a feeling but a fact that without Christ, we are far off, and the anxiety of heart, mentioned here as characteristic of our being far from God, is well founded: \u201cAt that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world\u201d (Eph. 2:12). <\/p>\n

Now classical paganism did think of itself as hopeful. Even when Pandora opened the jar and released the many plagues that beset the human race, wrote Hesiod, \u201chope alone yet remained . . . by the will of Zeus the aegis-bearer.\u201d This, said Pindar, is the \u201chope that principally governs the fickle mind of mortals,\u201d and Aristophanes spoke of \u201cthe great hopes stirred within us by longing.\u201d Rome had several temples dedicated to the goddess Hope, and its citizens celebrated her annual feast on August 1. As far as paganism could tell, there was every reason for continuing to hope. A certain healthy kind of hope, after all, is built into the very structure of the rational mind, and the saner sort of paganism, especially on the northern rim of the Mediterranean, paid that hope its proper heed.<\/p>\n

Yet, in that text from Ephesians cited above, the Apostle Paul, unwilling to accept paganism\u2019s own assessment of its expectations, described those outside of Christ as \u201chaving no hope.\u201d Whatever classical paganism thought of itself, its prospects were really quite hopeless. Having been \u201cbrought near by the blood of Christ,\u201d the Christian is keenly aware that such a drawing near is quite beyond his natural ability even to hope.<\/p>\n

Our true hope is founded, then, not in the native aspirations of the human spirit but in the redemption wrought by the God to whom we say in our psalm: \u201cFor You have become my hope.\u201d Our Christian hope is described as \u201ca better hope, through which we draw near to God\u201d (Heb. 7:19), and of the man who has this hope our psalm says: \u201cHe will live forever in the presence of God.\u201d<\/p>\n

Our drawing near to God in prayer is based on His drawing near to us in Christ, who is the one place where God and man meet: \u201chaving a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart\u201d (Heb. 10:21, 22). No prayer goes to God except through Christ. It is Christ who gives both foundation and form to our \u201cdrawing near\u201d to God, for \u201cwe have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God\u201d (Rom. 5:1, 2). In Christ is \u201cthe hope set before us. This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil\u201d (Heb. 6:18, 19).<\/p>\n

Christ is the King, likewise, of whom this psalm says that He \u201cwill live forever in the presence of God.\u201d Indeed, this King has entered once into the Holy of holies, now to make intercession on our behalf and \u201cwhose years,\u201d our psalm says again, \u201cwill endure from generation to generation.\u201d<\/p>\n

In one of the more tender sentiments of the Psalter, this psalm tells God: \u201cI will be protected in the shadow of Your wings.\u201d This is indeed \u201cthe inheritance of those who fear Your name.\u201d We finish on the resolve of praise: \u201cSo I will sing to Your name forever and ever, and pay my devotion day by day.\u201d (From P. H. Reardon, Christ in the Psalms)<\/p>\n

Wednesday, July 30<\/strong><\/p>\n

Acts 22:30\u201423:10: Luke does not tell us if Claudius Lysias interrogated Paul further, but it is reasonable to think that he did. He would not have learned from Paul, however, any solid information that would clarify the legal situation. The fortress commander thus finds himself in a dilemma. He has arrested a prisoner on the basis of no identifiable offense. This is all quite embarrassing. How would he ever explain this serious irregularity to the authorities at Caesarea when official inquiries were made? If, on the other hand, Claudius Lysias were simply to release Paul, he may be setting free a criminal, possibly a revolutionary and subversive. Caught in this conflict, Lysias determines to consult the Sanhedrin, Judaism\u2019s highest governing spiritual authority. <\/p>\n

Thus, Paul must now defend himself before the Sanhedrin, and he does this masterfully. Well aware of the major theological division of that body into Sadducees and Pharisees (verse 6), Paul goes to some lengths to identify himself with the latter party. Why, after all, is he being held as a prisoner? Is it not because of his affirmation of the resurrection from the dead? And is not the coming resurrection from the dead one of the major and characteristic features of Pharisaic belief? <\/p>\n

By this insistence, therefore, Paul succeeds in dividing his opponents (verses 7-10), this time not among a rioting mob but within the highest and most dignified religious body in Judaism. Lysias, frustrated that he has no more reliable information than he had before, has Paul locked up again. That night, when the Lord speaks to strengthen His apostle, He sets in parallel Paul\u2019s preaching in Jerusalem with his coming preaching in Rome. Paul\u2019s journey to Rome has been decreed by God (dei<\/em>, \u201cit is necessary,\u201d in verse 11), no matter what strange human circumstances may serve to bring it about.<\/p>\n

Thursday, July 31<\/strong><\/p>\n

1 Kings 21: Naboth was a conservative. He could even be called a hopeless conservative, because he was also an anachronism. The moving times had passed him by, and his desperate cause was doomed from the start. <\/p>\n

But even to speak of Naboth\u2019s \u201ccause\u201d is probably misleading, for he was certainly no activist nor agitator, no reactionary nor leader of a movement. On the contrary, Naboth was a quiet, private man who wanted only to be left alone, free to grow his grapes on the little plot his fathers had planted for roughly three centuries. <\/p>\n

There had been a time, and not so very long before, when Naboth\u2019s modest aspirations represented an ideal. Even a century earlier, during the reign of Solomon (961\u2013922 BC), it was said that \u201cJudah and Israel dwelt safely, each man under his vine and his fig tree\u201d (1 Kings 4:25). Truth to tell, the Mosaic ordinance, taken literally, prescribed that no man\u2019s farm, the land bequeathed by his father, should ever pass definitively out of the family. In due course, rather, those same inherited fields would be handed on to the next generation, so that household and real estate would remain forever inseparable (Leviticus 25:23; Numbers 36:7). <\/p>\n

But by Naboth\u2019s day the times had changed, and fewer folks felt tied so to their land. Indeed, in large measure Solomon himself, by introducing new mercantile enterprises and fiscal policies, had been responsible for the change. Thanks to the peace that David\u2019s sword had brought to the region, international trade started to boom in the second half of the tenth century before Christ. By shrewd geopolitical maneuvers, Solomon joined the vast shipping interests of the Mediterranean to the extensive mercantile empire of Sheba, spread through the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden, the Arabian Sea, the Indian Ocean, the Bay of Bengal, and waters more exotic still. <\/p>\n

As a consequence of these adventures, new and lucrative employment was to be had in Israel\u2019s expanding cities, jobs much easier than the long hours and back-bending labor of the small family farm. Little wonder, then, that many Israelites began to adopt a less-than-literal understanding of the ancient rules about not letting their land be lost from the family. Attracted by the prospect of a brighter future in the city, working at any of the scores of new professions spawned by Solomon\u2019s economic success, many citizens simply forfeited the inheritance of their fathers. <\/p>\n

This rich economic development meant, of course, fewer farmers and larger farms. This adjustment created no immediate problems of labor, nonetheless, because the larger farms were more efficiently cultivated with tools made from a recently smelted metal called iron. Plowshare blades, axes, hoes, and scythes were sturdier than ever. Furthermore, farmers learned to seal the walls of their wells and cisterns with calcium oxide, thus preserving the precious water needed for irrigation. Food production increased enormously. <\/p>\n

The enhanced nutrition not only lowered the infant mortality rate, it also led to earlier puberty and menarche, thus increasing the birth rate. The larger and healthier population provided the expanding work force needed for the economic boom. In short, as far as the bankers and financiers were concerned, the times were bright, and the future looked brighter. Seldom any more did one hear his elders talk of \u201cthe good old days\u201d prior to this new, advanced era. <\/p>\n

Not every man, however, fell into step with the march of progress, and a hundred years later there were still some stubborn, godly souls who, reading the Mosaic mandates rather close to the letter, maintained the homesteads very much as their forebears had done. Naboth, whose story is told in today\u2019s Daily Chapter<\/em>, was one of these dogged holdouts. When King Ahab, coveting Naboth\u2019s vineyard in Jezreel, sought to buy or swap for it, he was met by the owner\u2019s emphatic \u201cNo!\u201d <\/p>\n

Because Ahab\u2019s queen was a ruthless woman, not scrupulous about such matters as suborned perjury and the shedding of blood, Naboth paid for his conservatism with the price of his life. Like his contemporary Elijah, this brave vine-grower stood defenseless but defiant before raw power and cruel injustice. This baffling Naboth\u2019s hearty answer to Ahab (21:3) may serve as a battle cry for every true conservative: \u201cThe Lord forbid that I should give the inheritance of my fathers to you!\u201d<\/p>\n

Friday, August 1<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mark 11:1-11: We should begin our consideration of this story by recalling that the coming Messiah was expected to purge the Temple. Earlier suggestions of this idea include Isaiah 56:7, which is quoted by the Gospels as a prophecy fulfilled on this occasion: \u201cEven them I will bring to My holy mountain, \/And make them joyful in My house of prayer. \/Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices \/Will be accepted on My altar; \/For My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations.\u201d In this text the Temple is \u201cpurged\u201d in the sense of being rebuilt after its destruction by the defiling Babylonians.  Our Lord also indicates His fulfillment of prophecy on this occasion by justifying His action with a reference to Jeremiah 7:11: \u201c\u2018Has this house, which is called by My name, become a den of thieves in your eyes? Behold, I, even I, have seen it,\u2019 says the Lord.\u201d<\/p>\n

Perhaps even more to the purpose, however, were the words of Malachi, referring to the Messiah\u2019s coming to the Temple in order to purge it: \u201c\u2018Behold, I send My messenger, \/And he will prepare the way before Me. \/And the Lord, whom you seek, \/Will suddenly come to His temple, \/Even the Messenger of the covenant, \/In whom you delight. \/Behold, He is coming,\u2019 \/Says the Lord of hosts. \/\u2018But who can endure the day of His coming? \/And who can stand when He appears? \/For He is like a refiner\u2019s fire \/And like launderers\u2019 soap. \/He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver; \/He will purify the sons of Levi, \/And purge them as gold and silver, \/That they may offer to the Lord \/An offering in righteousness. \/Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem \/Will be pleasant to the Lord, \/As in the days of old, \/As in former years\u201d (Malachi 3:1-4).  The context of this purging foreseen by Malachi was the sad state of Israel\u2019s worship, to which he was witness (1:6-10,12-14).<\/p>\n

The Temple\u2019s expected \u201cpurging\u201d by the Messiah had mainly to do with ritual and moral defilements, much as Judas Maccabaeus had cleansed from the Lord\u2019s house after its defilement by Antiochus Epiphanes IV. This purging was completed with the Temple\u2019s rededication on December 14, 164 B. C. (1 Maccabees 4:52).<\/p>\n

As described in the New Testament, however, the \u201cdefilement\u201d does not appear to have been so severe. It apparently consisted of the noise and distractions occasioned by the buying and selling of sacrificial animals necessary for the Temple\u2019s ritual sacrifice. John describes the scene in greater detail: \u201cAnd He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers doing business. When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers\u2019 money and overturned the tables\u201d (John 2:14-15).<\/p>\n

To grasp this context we should bear in mind that the greater part of the people in the Temple during the major feasts (and all the Evangelists place this incident near Passover) came from great distances. Naturally they brought no sacrificial animals with them, reasonable expecting that local vendors on the scene would meet their needs. These vendors brought the necessary herds and kept them in the immediate vicinity of the Temple. Indeed, without their mercantile provision, the ritual sacrifices of the Temple would have been rendered impossible, and the activity associated with this arrangement was considered part of the normal business of the Temple, rather much as the sale of Bibles, prayer books, icons, and rosaries in the shops near St. Peter\u2019s in Rome. The action of Jesus, then, was not directed against ritual and moral pollutions but against the normal business of the Temple.<\/p>\n

Hence, what the Lord did in this respect was more symbolic than practical. There is no evidence that this action of Jesus amounted to more than a slight disturbance to the daily activity of the Temple, nor does Jesus seem to have persisted in it. He intended, rather, to enact a prophecy, much in line with sundry similar actions by the Old Testament prophets. Those who were witnesses to the event discerned this significance, recognizing it as a \u201cMessianic sign.\u201d This recognition explains the menacing reaction of the Lord\u2019s enemies (Mark 11:18; Luke 19:47).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Friday, July 25 Acts 21:1-14: Luke now carefully traces the stages of Paul\u2019s journey southward, first noting his arrival at Cos that Sunday evening.  This island, dedicated to Asklepios, the god of healing, was perhaps special to the \u201cbeloved physician\u201d as the homeland of Hippocrates, the father of Greek medicine, who sat under the famous … Continue reading July 25 – August 1<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.touchstonemag.com\/daily_reflections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.touchstonemag.com\/daily_reflections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.touchstonemag.com\/daily_reflections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.touchstonemag.com\/daily_reflections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.touchstonemag.com\/daily_reflections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=190"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.touchstonemag.com\/daily_reflections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2417,"href":"https:\/\/www.touchstonemag.com\/daily_reflections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190\/revisions\/2417"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.touchstonemag.com\/daily_reflections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.touchstonemag.com\/daily_reflections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.touchstonemag.com\/daily_reflections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}