In 1620, 102 Pilgrims, Separatists from the Church of England sailed east across the Atlantic aboard the cramped 100 ft. "Mayflower" in a voyage that if compared with today, would be like a voyage to the moon. For 66 days they lived in an ill-lighted, close-quartered, rolling, pitching, stinking, over-heated "below-decks"; the hatches battened down, the smell of the bilge in their nostrils, and the crew hostile towards Separatists. Cloistered in a space the size of a volleyball court, 102 people with their spiritual leader William Bradford endured the unendurable. Bradford spoke of this voyage in his and Edward Winslow's work: Thanksgiving Readings, also with his first-hand account of the first harvest celebration in America. And in it, he makes a direct connection with the Hebrew experience of the Exodus from Egypt. In his account, he uses the language of Jewish Sukkot:The Feast of Tabernacles. How did Bradford see both events as similar? Tune in and take notes! Your host, Rev. Rick Anderson, on "Jewish Roots", each Thursday at 9:30 pm, EST at www.ScripturesDramatized.com. Internet Podcast.
Thanksgiving Readings from William Bradford's Of Plymouth Plantation
"What could now sustain them but the Spirit of God and His grace? May not and ought not the children of these fathers rightly say: 'Our fathers were Englishmen which came over this great ocean, and were ready to perish in this wilderness; but they cried unto the Lord,and He heard their voice and looked on their adversity.' (Deut. 26:5-7), etc. 'Let them therefore praise the Lord, because He is good: and His mercies endure forever. Yea, let them which have been redeemed of the Lord, shew how He hath delivered them from the hand of the oppressor.' When they wandered in the desert wilderness out of the way, and found no city to dwell in, both hungry and thirsty, their soul was overwhelmed in them. 'Let them confess before the Lord His loving-kindness and His wonderful works before the sons of men.' " (Ps. 107: 1-8)
Thanksgiving Readings from William Bradford's Of Plymouth Plantation
"What could now sustain them but the Spirit of God and His grace? May not and ought not the children of these fathers rightly say: 'Our fathers were Englishmen which came over this great ocean, and were ready to perish in this wilderness; but they cried unto the Lord,and He heard their voice and looked on their adversity.' (Deut. 26:5-7), etc. 'Let them therefore praise the Lord, because He is good: and His mercies endure forever. Yea, let them which have been redeemed of the Lord, shew how He hath delivered them from the hand of the oppressor.' When they wandered in the desert wilderness out of the way, and found no city to dwell in, both hungry and thirsty, their soul was overwhelmed in them. 'Let them confess before the Lord His loving-kindness and His wonderful works before the sons of men.' " (Ps. 107: 1-8)
