I love olive oil...in salads, with fish, on labnah, even law ghamesto lwa7do! Lucky that i am livinh now in the biggest oil producing country world wide :) Last night refilling our olive oil jar, made me look back when this product meant business..it was again one of these state controlled commodities during Roman times. It was used for eating, annointing, religiuos rituals, even for oil lamps. It was VITAL!
To my wonder, i read about its history, and came to find about a small hill in Rome called "Monte Testaccio"..probably you havent heard of it yet as well! it s an artificial hill in Rome with a circumference of nearly a kilometre and stands 35 metres high, though it was probably considerably higher in ancient times, composed almost entirely of fragments of broken amphorae (clay vessels-fokhar) used for olive oil transport dating from the time of the Roman Empire, containing the remains of an estimated 53 million empty useless vessels! It stands a short distance away from the east bank of the River Tiber, near the Horrea Galbae where the state-controlled reserve of olive oil was stored in the late 2nd century AD.
!يعني من الاخر كان اكبر مقلب زبالة في هذا الزمن
Basically, with all the production/imports they had during the Roman empire, they had quite a problem of recycling their packaging material! These vessels at the end didnt mean anything, it was cheaper to throw them away..eventually creating this hill! Cause their value is in WHAT THEY CONTAIN and the SOURCE it came from!
Wow..this brought a total new perspective of what Saint Paul refers to, talking about what we really are..and where our power/value comes from. He wrote it perfectly in his letter to Corinthians:
"However, we possess this precious treasure [the divine Light of the Gospel] in [frail, human] vessels of earth, that the grandeur and exceeding greatness of the power may be shown to be from God and not from ourselves. (2 Corinthians 4:7 AMP)"
It was that clear to him that the value created in you and I..the value we bring to others around us, the good works we struggle to spread and the unhuman forgiveness we are to offer..is coming from our God..dwelling in us, through His Holy Spirit..it can not just come from these fragile clay breakable vessles!
Dear God, I thank you today knowing that it does not depend on me, but the power comes from a Higher source, i pray that I am filled everyday with your Holy Spirit, the Oil of your presence making it known that this vessel is just uncapable ALONE of going the extra mile you asked us to go. In Jesus name, Amen!
To my wonder, i read about its history, and came to find about a small hill in Rome called "Monte Testaccio"..probably you havent heard of it yet as well! it s an artificial hill in Rome with a circumference of nearly a kilometre and stands 35 metres high, though it was probably considerably higher in ancient times, composed almost entirely of fragments of broken amphorae (clay vessels-fokhar) used for olive oil transport dating from the time of the Roman Empire, containing the remains of an estimated 53 million empty useless vessels! It stands a short distance away from the east bank of the River Tiber, near the Horrea Galbae where the state-controlled reserve of olive oil was stored in the late 2nd century AD.
!يعني من الاخر كان اكبر مقلب زبالة في هذا الزمن
Basically, with all the production/imports they had during the Roman empire, they had quite a problem of recycling their packaging material! These vessels at the end didnt mean anything, it was cheaper to throw them away..eventually creating this hill! Cause their value is in WHAT THEY CONTAIN and the SOURCE it came from!
Wow..this brought a total new perspective of what Saint Paul refers to, talking about what we really are..and where our power/value comes from. He wrote it perfectly in his letter to Corinthians:
"However, we possess this precious treasure [the divine Light of the Gospel] in [frail, human] vessels of earth, that the grandeur and exceeding greatness of the power may be shown to be from God and not from ourselves. (2 Corinthians 4:7 AMP)"
(ولكن لنا هذا الكَنزُ في أوانٍ خَزَفيَّةٍ، ليكونَ فضلُ القوَّةِ للهِ لا مِنّا. (كورِنثوس الثّانيةُ
It was that clear to him that the value created in you and I..the value we bring to others around us, the good works we struggle to spread and the unhuman forgiveness we are to offer..is coming from our God..dwelling in us, through His Holy Spirit..it can not just come from these fragile clay breakable vessles!
Dear God, I thank you today knowing that it does not depend on me, but the power comes from a Higher source, i pray that I am filled everyday with your Holy Spirit, the Oil of your presence making it known that this vessel is just uncapable ALONE of going the extra mile you asked us to go. In Jesus name, Amen!
