Hope is distinct from optimism or idealism. It
has nothing to do with wishing. It references reality at every turn and reveres
truth. It lives open eyed and wholehearted with the darkness that is woven
ineluctably into the light of life and sometimes seems to overcome it. Hope,
like every virtue, is a choice that becomes a practice that becomes spiritual muscle
memory. It’s a renewable resource for moving through life as it is, not as we
wish it to be. (Becoming Wise: An Inquiry
into the Mystery and Art of Living by Krista Tippett; p. 233.)
The witnesses, laying their coats at the feet of Saul, were the men that would cast the first stones at Stephen in Acts 7. Why did they all lay their coats at Saul’s feet? The Talmud contains a very interesting account of the act of stoning that may provide the answer. “When the trial was over, they take him [the condemned person] out to be stoned. The place of stoning was at a distance from the court, as it is said, ‘Take out the one who has cursed.’ [i] A man stands at the entrance of the court; in his hand is a signaling flag [Hebrew sudarin = sudar , ‘scarf, sweater’]. A horseman was stationed far away but within sight of him. If one [of the judges] says, ‘I have something [more] to say in his favor,’ he [the signaler] waves the sudarin , and the horseman runs and stops them [from stoning him]. Even if [the condemned person] himself says, ‘I have something to say in my favor,’ they bring him back, even four of five times, only provided that there is some substance to...
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