Seder 80: 1 John 2:18-27---Anointed Followers of the Anointed One

 In his first epistle, John wrote to a community that was experiencing division.  Some people had left them.  John describes them as "antichrists"---opponents of Christ.  

John recognized this kind of opposition as characteristic of the "last hour"---i.e., the time after Christ's resurrection and before his return(1 Jn 2:18).  Jesus had predicted in his Olivet Discourse that such conflict would occur  (Mt 24; Mk 13; Lk 21), and so the apostles were not surprised by it (e.g., 1 Ti 4:1; 2 Pe 3:3-7; Jude 18).   

John describes some of the beliefs of those who are antichrists.  They deny that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ, the Anointed One or Messiah (2:22-23).  In particular, they do not believe that Jesus is the Word made flesh (Jn 1:1-18; 1 Jn 4:2-3; 2 Jn 7).  

Those who do believe in the Jesus the Messiah as portrayed in John's Gospel "have an anointing from the Holy One," John says (1 Jn 2:20).  Believers are themselves "anointed ones."  They have received the gift of the Holy Spirit, who guides believers into all truth (Jn 14:17, 26; 15:26; 16:13), and so they have no need for some alleged "new truth" that their opponents might be offering.  

Seder 155: Deuteronomy 24:19-25:19---Responsibility for the Welfare of Others

 Moses lays out several cases in this section of Deuteronomy.  In 24:19-22, farmers are told to not harvest every bit of a crop, but to leave some for the poor.  We see this instruction in action in Ruth 2, where Boaz leaves grain in his field for Ruth to glean.  

In commenting on this passage at Church of the Messiah on August 5, 2023, Frank Fenton observed that a person who obeys this instruction is, in effect, giving some of one's life to one's friends (Jn 15:13).

Deuteronomy 25:1-3 places limitations on a punishment for wrongdoing so as not to humiliate the criminal.  For a beating, the stated limit is 40 lashes.  In practice the limit was set at 39 in order to make sure that the number did not exceed 40 by mistake. 

Paul later made reference to this practice in 2 Corinthians 11:24 when he mentioned, "Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one."  In a sermon at Church of the Messiah on August 5, 2023, Kyle Kettering pointed out this example as further evidence for a Torah-observant "Paul within Judaism." In receiving such a punishment, Paul was submitting to the authority of a local synagogue, an indication that he was still working within synagogue communities when he planted his congregations. 

Deuteronomy 25:4 is a principle stated as a proverb:  "You shall not muzzle an ox when it is treading out the grain."  This principle is applied in the New Testament to argue that church workers are entitled to be supported by their congregations (1 Cor 9:1-14; 1 Tim 5:17-18).  

 Deuteronomy 25:5-10 deals with the ancient institution of levirate marriage, where if a man died childless, his brother might marry his widow in order to continue the man's family line.  We see an example of this institution in Ruth 4, where Boaz marries Ruth to perpetuate the line of Elimelech.  There is another example in Genesis 38, where Tamar, the wife of Judah's oldest son Er, makes sure that Judah carries out this responsibility after he and his other sons neglect it. 

Deuteronomy 25:11-12 is another case meant to ensure that family lines are continued.  Verses 13-16 emphasize the importance of honest weights and measures.  Finally, verses 17-19 are on Israel's responsibility to punish the Amalekites for their unwarranted attack on the Israelites shortly after their departure from Egypt (Ex 17).  This attack was, in effect, an attempt to thwart God's plan to bless all nations through the descendants of Abraham.  Moses also mentions here that the Amalekites took advantage of the weak in their cowardly offensive.

Seder 94: Psalm 35---Lament and Imprecation

 Psalm 35 is a psalm of David and an individual lament.  He begins by imploring God to plead his cause:  "Contend, O Lord, with those who contend with me."  Here the midrash notes that God is indeed "your God who pleads the cause of his people" (Isa 51:22).  

David uses both military language and courtroom language to call on the Divine Warrior for help (vv 1-3).  Asserting his innocence (v. 7), he prays that God will make things right by bringing his persecutors to justice (vv 4-8).  As with other imprecations in the psalms, David is not seeking personal vengeance.  Those who turn against him often are opposing the progress of God's plan, and David is seeking for God to make things right.  (Many are praying with Psalm 35 in early 2022 during Russia's invasion of the Ukraine.) 

 He anticipates publicly praising God when his deliverance comes (vv 9-10, 18, 28).

As in other laments of a righteous sufferer, Christians see in Psalm 35 a foreshadowing of the later experience of Jesus.  The malicious witnesses in verse 11 remind us of Jesus' experience on the eve of his crucifixion (Mark 14:55-59).  

Moreover, in John 15:25, Jesus said, "But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled:  'They hated me without a cause.' " Here the reference is either to Psalm 69:4 or Ps 35:7,19, and Jesus was viewing one of those two psalms as a prophecy about himself. 

Seder 64: Psalm 69---Lament of a Righteous Sufferer

 Psalm 69 is traditionally associated with David and is attributed to him by Paul in Romans 11:9.  

David comes to God in an unidentified desperate situation, likening himself to a drowning man.  He has calling out to God to no avail.  He has been enduring false accusation and suffering for God's sake, and he worries about the effect his situation will have on other followers of God (vv 1-6).  While he has been at the temple, praying and fasting, others make fun of him (vv 9-12).  David asks God to deal justly with his tormentors (vv 22-28).  He looks forward to the time when he has been delivered and publicly thanks and praises God, giving encouragement to others who suffer (vv 30-36).  

Christians from the beginning have seen David's experience here as a type of the experience of Jesus, the ultimate righteous sufferer.  In the New Testament six different passages from Psalm 69 are referenced:

• John 2:17 quotes Ps 69:9a (``zeal for your house has consumed me'') in connection with Jesus' first temple cleansing incident.
• In John 15:25 Jesus seems to be referring to Ps 69:4 (or perhaps Ps 35:7) in discussing the fact that his disciples could expect to be persecuted because he was.  The fact that David was hated without a cause indicates that the Messiah would be also.
•  In John 19:28-30 reference is made to Ps 69:3, 21 when Jesus is given sour wine on the cross.  Similarly, Matt 27:34 refers to Ps 69:21.
• In Acts 1:20 Peter applies the imprecation in Ps 69:25 to Judas, Jesus' betrayer.
• In Romans 11:9-10, Paul applies Ps 69:22-23 to describe the temporary stumbling of those in Israel who did not recognize Jesus as Messiah.
• In Romans 15:3 Paul applies Ps 69:9b ("the reproaches of those who reproached you have fallen on me") to Jesus in holding up Jesus' endurance of suffering without a cause as a moral example for his followers.

Not all of the material in Psalm 69 seems to apply to Jesus.  For example, David's admission of his sins in verse 5 is not something Jesus would have said.  Jesus on the cross did not level imprecations at his persecutors---in fact, just the opposite (Luke 23:34).  The New Testament writers applied Psalm 69 selectively, as Ben Witherington points out in his book Psalms Old and New.

Seder 24: Psalm 80---The Son of Man at God's Right Hand

 In Psalm 80, Israel prays for restoration and blessing at a time when it is threatened by enemies.  Those enemies may have been the Assyrians.  (The LXX adds the phrase "concerning the Assyrians" to the superscription, and there are references to the northern tribes in verses 1-2).

The refrain in verses 3 and 7 says, "Restore us, O God; let your face shine, that we may be saved!" These words remind us of the Aaronic blessing.  

The third stanza (vv 8-14a) likens Israel to a grapevine, with God as the vinedresser who had planted the vine in the land and guided its growth until it spread from the Mediterranean to the Euphrates (v 11) in the time of David and Solomon.

But at the time the psalm was written, the vine was threatened by "the boar from the forest" (v 13), an enemy nation.  Israel beseeches God to "visit this vine" (v 14).

The most striking verse in the prayer, especially for Christian readers, is verse 17:  "But let your hand be on the man of your right hand, the son of man you have made strong for yourself!"

When we hear of "the man of your right hand," we think of David's "Lord" in Ps 110:1.  When we hear about "the son of man", we think in part of the supernatural figure of Daniel 7.   Ps 80:17 is the first place in the Bible where the two figures are mentioned together.

In the prayer, Israel is asking for help through the Davidic king, and ultimately, praying for the coming of the Messiah. 

We know that Jesus later identified himself as both David's Lord and son of man.  He combines the two in Mark 14:62, for example, when he is asked at his trial if he is the Messiah.  Ps 80 may be in the background here.

Another place where Ps 80 may be in the background is in John 15, where Jesus describes himself as "the true vine", the one who personifies and completes Israel's mission.  Israel placed its hopes in the Messiah in Ps 80, and we still do so today.

 There is a fairly recent dissertation on Ps 80 and its possible New Testament connections, written by Christian scholar Andrew Streett. I would like to check it out when I have time.