Seder 52: Exod 11-12---Departing with Treasure

 After nine plagues Egypt was reeling, but Pharaoh still pretended to himself that he was in control.  He threatened Moses when Moses would not agree to his demands, as if somehow Moses were his real problem (Exod 10:28-29).  

Moses announced that there would be one more plague.  At midnight God would kill all of the firstborn of people and livestock in Egypt, and then Egypt would beg the Israelites to leave (Exod 11;4-8).  

In preparation for leaving, the Israelites were to ask the Egyptians for their silver and gold jewelry, and for clothing.  Israel would then leave Egypt with great wealth.  This is a detail that the Bible mentions several times.  It was even prophesied to Abraham generations earlier.  (Gen 15:14; Exod 3:21-22; 11:2-3; 12:35-36)

Scholars refer to this event as the "despoliation of Egypt".  Why was it important?  There are several lessons that we can learn from it. 

1.   God is in control of history and keeps his promises (Gen 15:14; Exod 12:35-36).
2.   God is a God of justice.  The Egyptians had exploited the Israelites as slaves and were required to pay wages or reparations at the end.
3.   God was also requiring Eygpt to keep the Torah, which specifies that masters should provide servants with some financial help when they set them free (Deut 15:2-4).  
4.   God is consistent.  There is a pattern here.  Abram left Egypt with wealth (Gen 12-13).  Jacob left Laban with wealth (Gen 31:17-19).  The Philistines returned the ark of the covenant with golden treasure (1 Sam 6:8,11).  When Jews return from exile in Babylon, King Cyrus gives them gold and silver vessels that Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the Temple in Jerusalem (Ezra 1:7-11).  Finally, the prophets envision a future exodus from exile when those who afflict Israel "shall become plunder for those who served them " (Zech 2:9: 14:4).  

In a sermon on Seder 52 at Church of the Messiah on April 17, 2021, Kyle Kettering observed that the real treasure leaving Egypt were the people from Israel and the nations (Exod 12:37-38).  God's purpose is to use Israel to bring blessing to all nations, and the Exodus is one step in that program.  

A further step occurred at the Cross.  Kyle made a connection between Exod 11:1 and Jesus' statement on the Cross:  "It is finished" (John 19:30)  Since the time of Jesus, God has been claiming treasures from the nations for himself.  They leave slavery behind.  

As Paul envisioned it, the time had come for the nations to come to God.  They were not to convert to Judaism, but to walk alongside the Jews in following God.  This has been happening ever since.

Feast of Trumpets 2020: The Birth of Samuel

 The Bible chronicles a number of miraculous births, beginning with that of Isaac in the book of Genesis and continuing on to those of John the Baptist and Jesus in Luke 1-2.  

In between  falls the birth of Samuel, which has connections with both Genesis and Luke.  

The parallel family situations of  Abraham/Sarah and Elkanah/Hannah constitute one connection between Genesis and Samuel.  Abraham and Sarah are unable to have children, but Abraham has a son with a second wife, Hagar.  Similarly, Elkanah and Hannah are unable to have children, but Elkanah has children with a second wife, Peninnah (1 Sam 1).  

After the miraculous birth of his son Isaac, Abraham shows willingness to give up Isaac at God's command (Gen 22).  Similarly, Elkanah and Hannah willingly give up Samuel to God's service (1 Sam 1:21-28).  

After Samuel's birth Hannah's prayer concludes with a prophecy of a coming Messiah:  "The Lord will judge the ends of the earth; he will give strength to his king and exalt the horn of his anointed" (1 Sam 2:10).  Her prayer has much in common with Mary's prayer of thanksgiving in Luke 1:46-55.  Both prayers praise God for exalting the humble and humbling the proud. 

There are also a number of parallels between Samuel and Jesus and their families.  Like Mary and Joseph, Hannah and Elkanah made regular pilgrimages to worship God (1 Sam 1:3; Luke 2:41).  Samuel as a young boy served under Eli the priest (1 Sam 2:11), while Jesus discussed aspects of the Torah with teachers at the Temple in Jerusalem when he was 12 years old (Luke 2:46-47).  Luke seems to emphasize the connection between Samuel and Jesus when he writes in Luke 2:52 that "Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men," an apparent reference to 1 Sam 2:26.  

According to David Daube (The New Testament and Rabbinic Judaism, pp 13-14), there is also a rabbinic legend that the boy Samuel once corrected Eli on a technical point involving sacrificial regulations.  If this story was extant in the first century, it could further explain why Luke saw Samuel's boyhood as typical of Jesus' boyhood. 

Seder 24: Gen 25-26---Comparing Abraham and Isaac

 Chapters 25-26 of Genesis present a number of parallels between the lives of Abraham and Isaac, inviting the reader to compare the two.  Some of the comparisons are:

• Like Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah had fertility problems.  Unlike Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah did not resort to using a concubine.  
• Like Abraham, Isaac had to deal with famine.  Unlike Abraham, Isaac did not seek refuge in Egypt.
• Like Abraham, Isaac was wary of the people of surrounding cultures and did not trust them.  Like Abraham, Isaac claimed his wife was his sister because of this distrust.
• Like Abraham, Isaac was blessed with great wealth.
• As with Abraham, the leaders of Gerar were attracted to Isaac's wealth and sought a treaty with him.
• Isaac, like Abraham, had to cope with disputes over wells and water rights.
• Isaac, like Abraham, sought to have peace with those around him and distanced himself from conflict.

Seder 23: Gen 25:1-19---Abraham's Increase

 After Sarah's death, Abraham lived for another 38 years.  Through an additional wife, Keturah, he fathered six more sons.  Genesis 25 records more information about how Abraham became a father of many nations (Gen 17:4-6).  

The name Keturah is related to Hebrew words for "smoke" and "incense".  Historically her children are associated with the spice trade (Isa 60:6, e.g.).  

Gen 25 also shows how God's promises to Ishmael were carried out.  Ishmael was the father of 12 princes, as promised in Gen 17:20---see Gen 25:12-18.  They were known to be nomadic herders and merchants--see for example the biblical references to the tents and flocks of Kedar (Ps 120:5; Song 1:5; Isa 60:7; Ezek 27:21).  They seem to have had lots of interaction with the tribes that came from the sons of Keturah (e.g., Gen 37:25-28, 36).

Abraham continued to follow a policy of promoting peace by spreading his extended family out over a wide region.  Isaac and Ishmael came together to bury Abraham (Gen 25:9).  Later the Midianites from Jethro's family were friends of Israel.  On the other hand, other Midianites would later oppose Israel (Num 25; Judges 6).  

Only one of family lines descending from Abraham would lead to the Messiah---the line through Isaac---but God's plan is to bless all nations, and he has all of them in mind.  

Although the Bible tells us little about Keturah, she was important to Abraham.  In his sermon at Church of the Messiah on Aug 22, Kyle Kettering set aside time for men in the congregation to praise their wives. 

Seder 21: Gen 24---A Marriage Made in Heaven

 In Genesis 24 Abraham, at age about 140 (about 3 years after Sarah's death), sends his trusted servant on a long journey back to Abraham's homeland to find a bride for Isaac.  A woman willing to travel back with the servant and marry Isaac would have to be someone like Abraham (Gen 12:1-4), leaving family and homeland behind for a divine purpose.  

And indeed, this chapter emphasizes the parallels between Abraham and Rebekah, the woman brought back by the servant.  In particular, Rebekah exercises the kind of "radical hospitality" that characterized Abraham (vv 15-21).

The servant was convinced that God had chosen a special wife for Isaac, and he was determined to find that person with God's help.   He prayed for a very specific sign that would identify the right woman (vv 10-14).  And despite the servant's presumptuousness, God honored his prayer.  

Jack Starcher commented on this incident in a message at Church of the Messiah on Aug 8, 2020.  He noted God's commitment to working through his human "imagers" (Gen 1:28; 1 Cor 6:1-3).  He asserted that God has a "suggestion box" and invites us to use it.  If we pray according to his will, God will grant our request or do something even better.

Seder 21: Psalm 112---An Acrostic Wisdom Psalm

 Psalm 112 is a wisdom psalm, like Psalm 1.  And like Psalm 111 right before it, it is an acrostic psalm, consisting of 22 phrases whose first letters go through all the letters of the Hebrew alphabet in order.

Psalm 112 says that an attitude of proper fear of God leads to a number of good things.  Such an attitude leads one to heed God's word (v 1) and to grow in  wisdom (Ps 111:10), resulting in blessings in the present and future.   As 1 Tim 4:8 says, "Godliness is valuable in every way, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come." 

Some of the traditions surrounding Ps 112 involve Abraham and Sarah.  One midrash based on the acrostic nature of the psalm says that these two obeyed God "from aleph to tav" (we would say from A to Z).  And as a result they had mighty descendants (v 2).  In particular, Isaac prayed for Rebekah and she was able to conceive children (Gen 25:21).  And Isaac's son Jacob prevailed in wrestling with an angel (Gen 32).  

Ps 112 ascribes qualities usually attributed to God to people who fear God.  God's word reflects his character, and those who heed it become more like him.  For example, vv 3,9 say of those who fear God that "their righteousness endures forever."  They accumulate "treasure in heaven" for a lasting reward.

In Jesus' day "righteousness" (tzedekah in Hebrew)  was associated in particular with giving to the poor, a connection made in Ps 112:9.  Paul quotes this verse in 2 Cor 9:6-15, where he urges believers in Corinth to follow God's example of generosity and contribute to famine relief for those in Judea.  

With a firm foundation in God's word, those who fear God will not be shaken by hard times (vv 5-8).

Seder 20 Sermon: Five Questions About Abraham, Isaac, and Ishmael

On Aug 1, 2020, Rob Wilson preached a sermon at Church of the Messiah addressing five questions raised by the Genesis account of the life of the patriarch Abraham.  

The first is the question of child sacrifice, which God does not allow (Deut 18:10).  Why, then, did God test Abraham by asking him to sacrifice his son Isaac (Gen 22:2)?  Rob suggested that God wanted to teach something about the ultimate sacrifice that would later be made on the cross.  Also, Abraham had earlier resorted to human schemes to try to help carry out God's promises (Gen 16), but proved in Gen 22 that he had come to trust God enough to give up trying to do God's work for him.  

The second is the myth that hostility between Jews and Arabs goes all the way back to the days of Isaac and Ishmael.  Though there was antagonism between Sarah and Hagar (Gen 16:4-7; 21:9-10), Abraham remained close to Hagar and Ishmael, and we know that Isaac and Ishmael got together after Abraham's death to bury their father (Gen 25:9).  Hostility between Jews and Arabs dates back only to the founding of Islam in the seventh century AD.  

The third is the tendency to equate Arabs and Muslims.  But most Muslims are not Arabs, and some Arabs are not Muslims.  

The fourth is the question of how people hear from God.  Sometimes such communication is direct, other times more indirect---e.g., through human instruments.  In general, we should be slow to judge claims about whether a particular message comes from a divine source.

The fifth is the question of Abraham's striking silence in Gen 22.  The Bible does not tell us about Abraham asking any questions after God directs him to offer Isaac as a burnt offering.  Should Abraham be admired for his willingness to obey or questioned for his apparent lack of interaction with God in this situation?  This is another question that is difficult to answer, and people at Church of the Messiah have been contemplating it since Dr. Richard Middleton lectured on the subject in Dayton two years ago.  

Seder 18: Gen 20---Another Challenge to the Promise

God has promised Abraham and Sarah that they would have a son within a year.  That promise is put to the test in Gen 20, but again God shows his commitment to the promise. 

Chapter 20 begins with Abraham and his clan traveling west to Gerar, which is believed to have been about 9 miles from Gaza.  We are not told why they moved; perhaps they needed to find water and pasture land for their flocks. 

The medieval Jewish commentator Rashi speculated that they moved in order to distance themselves from Lot, whose reputation was not good after he had committed incest with his daughters.  The Bible does not say this, but Rashi's teaching raises an interesting question not addressed in Genesis:  What kind of contact did Abraham and Lot have after the destruction of Sodom?

At Gerar Abraham, fearing for his life, continued the ruse that he and Sarah were just brother and sister, not husband and wife.  This apparently was his custom (v 13), as Gen 12 and Gen 20 indicate.  We do not how many other times the issue might have arisen. 

We do know that Abimelech, the ruler of Gerar, proceeded to "take" Sarah (v 2).  (Was he in the habit of taking women from visitors?) As we will see in chapter 21, Abimelech apparently was interested in having a cooperative relationship with Abraham, presumably for economic benefit.  He may have hoped to solidify such a relationship by marrying Abraham's "sister."  Abraham seems to have felt powerless to stand in his way.

God soon intervened, telling Abimelech in a dream to return Sarah to Abraham right away, or he and his house would die (vv 3-7).  We see here another example of how God would deal with people according to the way they treated Abraham (Gen 12:3). 

Abimelech responded promptly (v 8), showing a willingness to accept correction that the cities of the plain had not exhibited.  Perhaps what happened to the cities of the plain also helped get Abimelech's attention, along with the fact that Abimelech and the other men in his household may have been suffering from a collective case of erectile dysfunction--vv 6,18. 

He sternly reprimanded Abraham for deceiving him and putting him in danger of committing adultery (vv 9-10).  Abraham responded that he did not trust Abimelech, who he thought might well be willing to commit murder in order to avoid the "great sin" of adultery.

This was a low point for Abraham.  His lack of faith had jeopardized the promise, and his example had not hallowed God's name. 

We see, though, that God did not give up on Abraham.  He held up Abraham as a prophet, raising his status before the people of Gerar (v 7).  For Abimelech to be forgiven, Abraham would have to pray for him (vv 7, 17).  It may be that the prayer included repentance on Abraham's part and helped achieve reconciliation with Abimelech.

This was a learning experience for Abraham, who at age 99 still had much to learn and a long way to go in his walk with God.  But God was not giving up on Abraham, and he does not give up on his people today. 

In a sermon on July 18, Kyle Kettering looked at the long journeys of faith traveled by Abraham, Jesus, and God's people today. 

Seder 17: Gen 18-19---The Trial of Sodom and Gomorrah

One biblical passage that may puzzle readers at first is Gen 18:20-21, where God says, "How great is the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah and how very grave their sin!  I must go down and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me; and if not, I will know."

At this point in the narrative, God has just demonstrated his omniscience by reading Sarah's mind (vv 12-15), so there is no question that he knows what is going on in Sodom and Gomorrah.  But it seems that he wants to model, for Abraham and all his descendants (vv 17-19), how to conduct a proper judicial proceeding, with a public trial based on the eyewitness testimony of multiple witnesses.  (One scholar who has explored this approach to Gen 18-19 is James Bruckner.)  Conducting such a trial also gives the people of Sodom and Gomorrah one more opportunity to repent.

The evidence is presented in Gen 19, when two angels arrive in Sodom.  The first person to be examined is Lot, who shows great hospitality to his guests (vv 1-3), much as Abraham had in Gen 18.

However, that night an angry mob came to Lot's house, demanding that Lot surrender his guests to them.  Lot could not dissuade the mob from its evil intentions, and the angels finally immobilized them by striking them blind.(vv 4-11).

At this point the evidence was in, and the cities of the plain were destroyed after Lot and his two daughters escaped to safety.

As readers we struggle to make a fair evaluation of Lot.  Lot initially settled at Sodom because of the wealth in that region (Gen 13:10-13).  Was he wrongly valuing wealth and ignoring the spiritual problems there?  The fact that he offers his virgin daughters to the mob (Gen 19:8) suggests that his own morality has been compromised by his time in Sodom.

The Genesis narrative implicitly compares Lot to Abraham in a number of places, and the comparisons tend to be unfavorable to Lot.  For example, while Abraham is a father of many nations (Gen 17:4-6), Lot is the father of two, and they both begin with acts of incest (Gen 19:30-38).  Lot is saved from the cataclysm partly for Abraham's sake (v 29). He seems to be an example of 1 Cor 3:15, someone who is saved but whose work does not survive the fire.

On the other hand, Lot can be seen as a kind of Noah figure, maintaining a righteous witness before a corrupt society.  The apostle Peter later described Lot as "a righteous man greatly distressed by the licentiousness of the lawless" (2 Peter 2:7).

Rob Wilson shared further reflections on Lot, Christian witness, and "radical hospitality" in a sermon on Seder 17 given on July 11, 2020.

Seder 15: Genesis 17---Sign of the Eternal Covenant

God revealed the details of his promise to Abram and Sarai in stages.  When Ishmael was 13 years old, God came to Abram again.  He repeated his promise that Abram would have many descendants (Gen 17:2).  He also expanded the promise.  Not only would Abram be the father of a great nation (Gen 12:2).  He would be Abraham, the father of many nations (Gen 17:4-5). 

Furthermore Sarai, who remained childless at age 90, would have a son within a year.  She would be Sarah, a mother of many nations. 

When Abraham heard this amazing news he laughed, wondering how such a thing could be possible, and God instructed him to name the promised son Isaac ("he laughs"). 

God emphasized that his covenant with Abraham and his descendants had no expiration date, and he introduced circumcision of males as a sign of the covenant.  This sign would dedicate each new generation of the family to God's service and be a continuing reminder of the miraculous birth that made the family possible.  Circumcision was performed in some other cultures---e.g., Egypt (Jer 9:25-26)---as a coming of age ritual, but in no other culture did the practice have this kind of religious purpose.

Abraham promptly carried out God's directive to circumcise himself and the males in his household (Gen 17:23-27), another example of his faithful obedience to God. 

Approximately two thousand years later, God granted his Spirit to people from outside Abraham's family, adding them to the people of God without a requirement of circumcision.  Paul asserted that those baptized into Christ had received a kind of spiritual circumcision (Col 2:11-15) and became spiritual children of Abraham (Gal 3:27-29).  He observed that in Gen 17, God had introduced circumcision as the sign of an already established covenant relationship with Abraham.  The essence of that relationship was Abraham's faithful allegiance to God, and that same kind of faith characterizes spiritual children of Abraham (Rom 4). 

In his Seder 15 sermon, Rob Wilson reflected on these matters, bringing in additional scriptures.

Seder 14: Sarah and Hagar in Gal 4:21-31

There are at least a couple of New Testament passages that refer to both a section from the Pentateuch and the corresponding reading from the Prophets in the Semiseptennial Cycle (see chapter 10 of  Lois Tverberg's Reading the Bible with Rabbi Jesus for further discussion).   One of those is Gal 4:21-31, where Paul presents an analogy involving Sarah and Hagar from Gen 16 and 21 and also quotes Isa 54, which is linked with Gen 16 in Seder 14.

To understand Paul's analogy, it will help to review the probable historical setting of the epistle to the Galatians.  Here I will follow the work of Mark Nanos and the insights of the scholars in the "Paul within Judaism" school of interpretation.

The primary venues for Paul's preaching of the Gospel were Diaspora synagogues (see Acts 13-14, e.g.).  These were the places where he could find the people who were most interested in the message of the Bible.  He announced in the synagogues that the promised Messiah had come and inaugurated the Kingdom of God.

His audiences consisted of (1) Jews and (2) Gentiles who were interested in the Bible, in adopting some parts of the Torah, and in supporting the synagogue.  These Gentiles were known as "God-fearers."  Synagogue communities didn't make great demands upon these Gentiles, but on the other hand didn't accept them as full-fledged members.  Socially they were on the fringes of synagogue communities.

After Paul visited a particular synagogue, a subgroup of Christ-followers---people who accepted Paul's Gospel message---formed within that synagogue community.  Within that subgroup the Gentile God-fearers were full-fledged members.  On the other hand, more was required of them by the Christ-followers.  They were expected to completely renounce the pagan activities that were expected of Gentiles in the Roman Empire, the everyday ways of honoring the many gods that were all around them in the Greco-Roman world.

Outside the community of Christ-followers, the Gentile Christ-followers didn't fit in.  They weren't completely accepted by other Jews in the larger synagogue community, and their Gentile friends and relatives didn't like the fact that they had begun ignoring their civic duty to honor the gods.

In Galatia, some Jews (Nanos uses the neutral term "influencers" to describe them) were promoting a way for the Gentile Christ-followers to resolve their precarious social situation.  Rather than sitting on the fence, why didn't they just go ahead and become full proselytes to Judaism?  (For males, this would mean, in particular, being circumcised.)  Then they would be fully accepted by the whole synagogue community and would have a legitimate reason to neglect the gods.  (In the Roman Empire, Jews were exempt from obligations to the gods.)

The influencers may have told the Gentile Christ-followers that in their present situation, they were sort of in the position of Ishmael in the family of Abraham---blessed to some degree, but outside of the chosen people.  Becoming full proselytes would give them the status of Isaac.

Paul strongly objected to the message of the influencers.  The Gentile Christ-followers were already full-fledged subjects of the Kingdom of God.  God had shown that by granting them the Holy Spirit (Acts 15:1-11).  They had been accepted by God on the basis of faith, as Abram had before the covenant sign of circumcision had been introduced (Rom 3-4).  For them to go on and become proselytes would be like denying what God had already done in their lives.  They were already part of God's New Covenant people.  They didn't need to do anything additional to earn covenant status with God.

Also, Paul believed that the days spoken of by the prophets had arrived when people from the nations would seek the God of Israel (e.g., Isa 2:1-4; Zech 8:20-23).  The prophets pictured people from all nations following God, not people giving up their national identities to follow God.  He wanted to follow God's will as revealed to the prophets.

In his analogy in Gal 4:21-31, Paul turned the tables on the influencers.  He told the Gentile Christ-followers that they already had the status of Isaac, the son of promise.  They were part of the New Covenant community, associated with Mt Zion and the future heavenly Jerusalem.

But if they through human effort decided to join the Sinai covenant, they would be like Ishmael, born through human effort, and connected to the present earthly Jerusalem, which was enslaved to Rome.

In Gal 4:27 Paul quoted Isa 54:1, seeing the prophecy as addressed to Sarah.  Just as Sarah could rejoice when Isaac was born, the Gentile Christ-followers could rejoice because they were the true children of Abraham through faith in Jesus the Messiah.     

In a sermon on Seder 14 on June 20, 2020, Kyle Kettering shared further thoughts on Gen 16, Isa 54 ,and Gal 4.

Seder 10: Psalm 45---A Royal Wedding Psalm

Psalm 45 falls into the category of "royal psalms", psalms connected to the kings of Israel.  Traditionally, many references to the Messiah, the ultimate Davidic king, have been seen in the royal psalms, and that is true of this one in particular.

The occasion for Psalm 45 seems to have been a royal wedding.  The psalm speaks to both the king (vv 2-9) and his bride (vv 10-15), reminding them of the special privileges and responsibilities that go with occupying the throne of David.

To the king, the psalmist declares that "God has blessed you forever," a reference to the Davidic covenant (2 Sam 7:16).  The king will be successful in battle as long as he is fighting for the cause of "truth and meekness and righteousness."  In meekness he should rely on God, the true King.

The message to the king points to an ideal of what the king of Israel should be.  The king is God's representative on earth, and he should be carrying out God's will, upholding righteousness (vv 6-7).

The bride is apparently from another nation, and the psalm instructs her to "forget your people and your father's house" (v 10), to follow the example of Abraham and Ruth.

The psalm concludes with God's promise that "I will cause your name to be remembered in all generations; therefore nations will praise you forever and ever" (v 17).  This is a reaffirmation of God's promise to Abraham (Gen 12:1-3).

This psalm can also be read in reference to the Messiah. What is an ideal for a human king is a description of the Messiah. This psalm is quoted in Heb 1:8-9 as part of a chain of scriptures that the author of Hebrews claims are statements made by God the Father about Jesus the Son.  Specifically, Hebrews 1 quotes Ps 45:6-7:

"Your throne, O God, is forever and ever.  The scepter of your kingdom is a scepter of uprightness; you have loved righteousness and hated wickedness.  Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions."

Early Christians noticed two divine figures in these verses, the God being addressed in verse 6 and the God who anoints that first God in verse 7.  They recognized this passage as an affirmation of the deity of Jesus.

If verses 2-9 of the Psalm can be seen as words about Christ, verses 10-11 can be seen as words about the Bride of Christ.  Like Abraham, Ruth, and the queen, Christians are called to be loyal first to the King and to submit to Him.