Seder 94: Luke 9:57-63---Setting Priorities

 In chapters 9-19 of the Gospel of Luke, Jesus is on the way to Jerusalem, where he will face his crucifixion.  On the journey, he prepares his disciples for what lies ahead.  

Jesus lets his disciples know that following him will mean facing rejection.  "Foxes have holes, and bird of the air have nests," he tells a potential disciple, "but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head" (9:58).  

Disciples will also have to make God's Kingdom their highest priority.  One potential disciples responds to Jesus' invitation by saying, "Lord, let me go first and bury my father" (v. 59).  Jesus responds, "Leave the dead to bury their own dead.  But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God" (v. 60).

Different explanations have been offered for what Jesus means by the saying, "Leave the dead to bury their own dead."  Perhaps Jesus is saying, "Leave the spiritually dead to bury the dead."  Another explanation is based on first-century burial practices in Jerusalem.  If a family had a family tomb, they placed the body there.  A year later they gathered up the bones and placed them in a stone ossuary.  In this context Jesus may be saying that the other bodies in the family tomb should take care of these details.  

In any case this is one of Jesus' "hard sayings," because taking care of a parent's burial was an important part of honoring a parent.  Jesus is saying that one's commitment to God is even more important than that commitment to parents. 

The following exchange is similar to this one.  Another potential disciple says, "I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home" (v 62).  Jesus answers, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God" (v 63).  

This answer reminds us of an incident from the lives of the prophets Elijah and Elisha (1 Ki 19:19-21).  When Elijah picks Elisha to succeed him, Elisha is doing some plowing.  Elisha asks Elijah for permission to first wrap up some details, including saying farewell to his parents.  Elijah agrees, and Elisha quickly settles his affairs.  Here Elisha is not trying to delay; he is clearly committed to accepting his calling.  Disciples of Jesus can look to his example and imitate his commitment.  Jesus is not telling us to neglect our families, but to have our priorities in order.

New Testament scholar Paul Sloan points out that in Jewish tradition, if one is authorized to carry out some important task, the things needed to carry out that task take precedence over other Torah obligations.  Jesus had been sent by the Father as a herald of the Kingdom of God to the nation of Israel (see Luke 4:43).  People's lives depended upon their response to his message (Lk 13:3).  So the task of proclaiming the kingdom was even more important than the responsibility of burying one's father.  Jesus was not showing disdain for the Torah here, as some commentators have claimed.  

Seder 98: Lev 25---Land Sabbaths and the Year of Jubilee

The sabbath and festivals wouild provide regular rhythms of rest and worship in Israel.  The land Sabbath--Ex 23:10-11; Lev 25:1-7---is also part of that picture.  Every seventh year the land was to receive a rest from cultivation, giving a break to both people and animals.  Today there are some in Israel who are keeping the sabbatical year again.  In general, those who follow this sabbatical principle experience blessing.  (By the way, 2021-2022 is a sabbatical year in Israel.)  

Leviticua 25 also describes the year of Jubilee, to be held either on every seventh sabbatical year or on the year after every seventh sabbatical year.  During a Jubilee year personal debts are forgiven and families regain ancestral lands that they have lost.  

In the ancient Near East kings sometimes declared times of debt forgiveness.  Interest rates were high (e.g., in Mesopotamia 1/60 of the principal of a loan was due every month, a 20% annual interest rate).  In these cultures, a lot of the debt being forgiven was owed to the king.  Kings drew their armies from landholders, and a landholder couldn't go out to battle if he was working to pay off a debt to someone else.  So this policy was in a king's best interest.  The Lev 25 Jubilee was intended to put this kind of clean slate on a regular schedule.  

The Bible does not tell us about any Israelite Jubilees.  That does not mean that none were held. Still, it seems likely that the Jubilee was too often a gift that remained unwrapped.  A Jubilee would have alleviated the economic oppression that led to the division of Israel into northern and southern kingdoms during the reign of Rehoboam (1 Kings 12), for example.  Later prophets would call the elite of Israelite society to account for their lack of help for the poor.

In his Nazareth synagogue sermon (Luke 4), Jesus declared a kind of Jubilee in which good news would be announced to the poor and captives would be freed.  

In a sermon at Church of the Messiah on April 2, 2022, Kyle Kettering called upon the congregation to practice the Jubilee principle.   

Seder 75: Exodus 39-40---Completing the Work of the Tabernacle

 Exodus 39:32 begins, "Thus all the work of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting was finished...."  

We are reminded of Gen 2:1:  "Thus the heavens and the earth were finished...."  

Building the tabernacle was a kind of creation.  Humans are made in the image of God, and God has given us the ability to do some creating. 

When the work was done, Moses inspected the finished product.  Verse 43 says, "And Moses saw all the work, and behold, they had done it.  As the Lord had commanded, so had they done it."  Moses "saw that it was good" so to speak, reminding us of Gen 1:31.

Chapter 39 concludes by mentioning that "Moses blessed them."  According to the medieval Jewish commentator Rashi, the blessing Moses gave was the one in Ps 90:17:  "Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands!"

In his Exodus commentary, Dennis Prager cites a saying that "a mitzvah is attributed to the one who completes it."  Lots of people begin projects, but projects are often left unfinished.  This was a project that was completed in fine style and in a timely manner.

Everything was finished, in fact, by the first day of the first month of year 2 of the Exodus (Ex 40:2), so the work of constructing the tabernacle had required about 6 months.  

God put his stamp of approval on the constructed by filling the tabernacle with his glory (v. 34).  Israel had been completely forgiven after the sin of the golden calf.  The Exodus could proceed as planned.

In a sermon on Seder 75 at Church of the Messiah on Oct 16, 2021, Kyle Kettering highlighted a motif that carries forward from Torah to Prophets to Gospels:

• When the work on the tabernacle was finished, the Israelites brought their work to Moses for inspection.  The tabernacle was made of treasures contributed by Egyptians.
• The treasures of the nations are brought to God's sanctuary in the prophecy of Isa 60---see vv 13-14.
• People in need of healing (another kind of treasure) were brought to Jesus during his Galilean ministry--Luke 4:40-41.

These readings from the Torah and prophets are another candidate for the readings on the day that Jesus preached in the Nazareth synagogue (Luke 4).

Seder 61: Psalm 91---A Comprehensive Divine Protection Plan

 In Psalm 91:1-13 the psalmist urges God's people to follow his example and place their trust in God, who gives protection through the trials of life.  He compares God to a giant bird who offers protection under his wings, and to a strong fortress where one can find refuge.  

God's faithfulness to his covenant is compared to "a shield and buckler."  A midrash likens the Torah to a coat of armor.  We are reminded of the "whole armor of God" in Ephesians 6.  

The psalm pictures God's protection giving 24-hour security, being active both day and night (vv 5-6).  

In verses 14-16, God affirms the assertions of the psalmist, affirming protection for those who place their trust in him.  The psalm is not saying that the righteous suffer no trials, but that the safest place to be is in God's hands. Wisdom psalms do not state mathematical laws; instead, they point to the path of wisdom, which tends to give the best results.   

The trials described in Psalm 91 involve war and pestilence.  In the ancient Near East there were deities associated with these things, and the psalm is saying that God is in control of all forces, natural and supernatural.  

During the Second Temple period, this psalm was often used in exorcisms.  We know this from the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Targums.  A tradition reflected in the Targums has David as the author of the Psalm speaking to Solomon.  (Michael Heiser devoted Episode 324 of his Naked Bible Podcast to Psalm 91 and covers these things and many others.)

Given that this psalm was used in exorcisms, it is ironic that Satan tried to use Ps 91:11-12 against Jesus during the wilderness temptation (Matt 4:5-7; Luke 4:9-13), urging Jesus to jump from the top of the Temple and take advantage of angelic assistance.  Jesus, who had set aside certain divine capabilities during his time on earth, countered with Deut 6:16.     

Matthew's account (Matt 4:11) mentions that angels did indeed come to Jesus' aid after the temptation.  The use of Ps 91:11-12 in Matthew 4 and Luke 4 implies that Psalm 91 was understood messianically in the first century, and that such an understanding is correct.  

Luke's account just says that the devil "departed from him until an opportune time" (Luke 4:13).  One such time may have been at the Nazareth synagogue, where a mob took Jesus to the edge of a cliff, intending to throw him off.  Jesus, however, escaped from that threat, perhaps with angelic assistance.

Later in Luke's Gospel, Jesus applies Psalm 91:13 to the seventy (or seventy two) disciples that he has sent out (Luke 10:17-20).  Note that the kind of authority that Jesus had granted them is something only God can grant.

Ben Witherington mentions an additional possible echo of Psalm 91 in Luke 13:34, where Jesus compares himself to a hen who could gather chicks under her wings, as in Psalm 91:4.

Seder 38: Psalm 146---Praising God as a Reliable Helper of Those in Need

 Psalms 146-150 all begin and end with calls to praise God.  In Psalm 146, God specifically is praised as the eternal Creator and Ruler of the universe, the only one "who keeps faith forever" (v 6).   In contrast it is not wise to place trust in human rulers, whose power and influence are temporary (vv 3-4).   

These ideas were expressed well by Mattathias the priest, the father of the five Maccabee brothers.  Shortly before his death in 166 BC he told his sons, 

"And so observe, from generation to generation, that none of those who put their trust in him will lack strength.  Do not fear the words of sinners, for their splendor will turn into dung and worms.  Today they will be exalted, but tomorrow they will not be found, because they will have returned to the dust, and their plans will have perished" (1 Macc 2:61-63).  

Mattathias was right.  The persecution of the Jews by the Seleucid emperor Antiochus IV was temporary.  In 164 the Jerusalem Temple was taken back and rededicated, as commemorated at Hanukkah.

Psalm 146 lists a number of groups of people for whom God is especially looking out, including

• the oppressed;
• the hungry;
• the prisoners;
• the blind;
• those who are bowed down;
• the strangers;
• the orphan;
• the widow.

This list reminds us of the Messianic agenda laid out in Isa 61:1-2 and Luke 4, and the definition of "pure relgion" in James 1:27.  We see an example of God's love in Gen 41, where God frees Joseph from prison and places him in a position to feed the hungry.