Seder 23: Luke 12:22-34---Trusting God in the Midst of Uncertainty

 After Sarah's death, Abraham remarried and had several children with Keturah  Keturah was a concubine, a wife of lower status than Sarah, and Abraham gave gifts to her children but left the bulk of his estate to Isaac (Gen 25:1-6).  

Abraham was to be a father of many nations, and the nations that sprang from these children were among them.  Specifically, these were peoples in Arabia who were prominent in the spice trade, for example.  Isaiah 60:1-7 pictures these nations joining with Israel in the messianic era.  

King David, after he began to reign from Jerusalem, added more wives and children to his family, including four sons with Bathsheba (2 Sam 5:13-16).  2 Samuel 5:13-6:1 is a haftarah reading connected with Genesis 25:1-19 in an ancient Jewish lectionary.  

While Abraham and David could add to their families, there were lots of things that were beyond their control.  In a sermon at Church of the Messiah on April 20, 2024, Kyle Kettering observed that the very reason we should not worry about the future is that the future is uncertain.  We can't control it.  We should plan for the future, but not count on those plans, as James 4:13-15 counsels.  We should place our lives in God's hands, as the psalmist did in Psalm 71:1-3.  God will take care of us, as Jesus taught in Luke 12:22-34.  

Seder 155: Psalm 39---Wrestling with the Transitory Nature of Life

 Psalm 39 is a personal lament associated with David.  The superscript directs it "to the choirmaster:  to Jeduthun."  Jeduthun was one of three men, along with Asaph and Heman, that David placed in charge of what we would call "music ministry" for the tabernacle (1 Ch 25:1-6).  

David is greatly troubled by something, but he determines not to speak about it, afraid that he would be misunderstood or that the wicked might twist his words (v 1).  Here we are reminded of proverbs about the power of our words, both for good and for evil.  "Death and life are in the power of the tongue," we read in Proverbs 18:21.   

But as he thought about the thing that troubled him, David found it harder and harder to remain quiet, so he took the matter to God in prayer.  His worries had much in common with those of Solomon that prompted the writing of the book of Ecclesiastes.  He wants to know how to understand life and how to live, given life's fleeting nature.  Even when we think we are strong and in control, our lives are short.  We work hard to accomplish something but have no control over what will happen to the fruits of our labor (v 6; cf. Lk 12:13-21; Ja 4:13-17).  

He concludes, as Solomon would later, that he will place his hope in God (v 7).  

Reminded of his own weaknesses and shortcomings, he asked for deliverance from his sin and its consequences.  He hopes for reconciliation with God.  

Verses 9-13 of Psalm 39 parallel verses 1-8.  He asks God to remove his judgment so that he can experience joy again in God's presence.  

Seder 152/153: Deuteronomy 23---Holiness of the Assembly and Camp of Israel; Resisting Evil

 Being in God's holy presence is not a matter to be taken lightly.  In Deuteronomy 23, Moses communicates some guidelines for Israel's assembly and military camp.  

Questions are often raised about the prohibition in verse 3: "No Ammonite or Moabite may enter the assembly of the Lord."  Since Ruth was a Moabite and an ancestor of David, were Ruth and David excluded from the assembly?  

Here it is important to understand that Israel has always been a multi-ethnic entity, absorbing people from many nations who decide to serve the God of Israel.  (Remember, for example, the "mixed multitude" that departed from Egypt along with ethnic Israelites on the Exodus--Ex 12:38.)  When someone like Rahab or Ruth decided to follow Yahweh, that person became an Israelite.  Once Ruth made that commitment (Ruth 1:16-17), she was no longer a Moabite in the sense intended in Deuteronomy 23:3.  The Moabites excluded from the assembly were those who had not made such a commitment and were presumably still serving Chemosh (see Nu 21:29).   

Another passage that raises questions is Deuteronomy 23:19-20, which prohibits charging interest on a loan to an Israelite but allows charging interest on a loan to a foreigner.  Loans to Israelites, including people from other nations who had decided to join Israel, were personal loans for permanent residents of the land who were in difficult financial straits.  Foreigners tended to be more affluent temporary residents, and loans to them would have been business loans.  So the distinction in verses 19-20 really is between personal loans and business loans.

Deuteronomy 23:9-14 gives another reminder of the special nature of warfare for Israel.  Because God would be present with them, fighting their battles, Israel's military camp was to be a holy place comparable to the tabernacle or temple.  

At Church of the Messiah on July 22, 2023, the text for Kyle Kettering's sermon was Deuteronomy 23:9:  "When you are encamped against your enemies, then you shall keep yourself from every evil thing."  Kyle posed the question: "Can I keep myself from evil?"  He explained that the fight against evil involves both God's help (which is why we pray "deliver us from evil--Mt 6:13) and our own efforts.  James and Peter both instruct Christians to "resist the devil" (Ja 4:7; 1 Pe 5:8-9). 

Seder 111: Numbers 11---Support for Moses

 In response to Moses' plea for help, God directed Moses to gather "seventy men of the elders of Israel" who would be empowered to provide extra support for Moses (Num 11:16).   

"I will take some of the Spirit that is on you and put it on them," God told Moses.  Some have actually seen this as a punishment to Moses, as if the Spirit were some subtance that he possessed in a finite quantity and would subsequently possess in a lesser quantity.  Instead, as Jewish commentator Joseph H. Hertz has observed, the situation can be likened to a candle, which can be used to ignite other candles and continue to burn as brightly as before.  

When these elders received the Spirit, they prophesied (v. 25).  The end of verse 25 has been translated in two different ways.  Most translations say that the elders "did not continue doing it" (ESV).  Others---KJV, Targums, Vulgate, Martin Luther---say instead that the elders did not cease prophesying.  In any case, the elders were equipped to assist Moses.  

The names of two who were not standing with Moses and also prophesied were given in verse 26---Eldad and Medad.  Opinions differ as to whether Eldad and Medad were among the 70 or were in addition to the 70.  One tradition proposes that six elders were chosen from each tribe, and that then 70 were chosen from those 72.  In this scenario, Eldad and Medad were the two "extras."  

Joshua expressed concern to Moses about what Eldad and Medad were doing.  Apparently he was worried that they were undermining Moses' authority. Moses, however, was not concerned.  He knew that the more people who were led by the Spirit, the better.  In his wish that all of the Israelites could be led by the Spirit, he anticipated events prophesied later ( Deut 30:6; Jer 31:33-34; Ezek 11:19-20; Joel 2:28-29).

There is a parallel event in the ministry of Jesus, where Jesus' disciples worried about the fact that someone outside of their group was casting out demons in the name of Jesus (Luke 9:49).  Jesus' response was, "Do not stop him, for the one who is not against you is for you: (v 50).  

Because of Joshua's concern about Eldad and Medad, there has been much speculation about the content of the prophecy of Eldad and Medad.  For example, there is a (now lost) book called the Book of Eldad and Modad (Medad was also known in Greek as "Modad") that apparently discussed what they prophesied.  We know about this book from the Shepherd of Hermas, a Christian work from the second century AD, which gives a quote from it:  "The Lord is near to those who turn to him."  This thought is similar to James 4:8:  "Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you."  

We do know some Jewish traditions about what Eldad and Medad prophesied.  One says that they called upon Israelites to repent of their gluttony.  Another says that they were talking about Gog and Magog (i.e., end-time prophecy).  A third tradition says that they predicted Moses would die before the Israelites reached the Promised Land and Joshua would be the one to lead them there.  This third one is meant to explain why Joshua was upset.  

If Eldad and Medad were calling for repentance, not everyone listened.  God sent judgment against those consumed by gluttony (vv 31-35).