Seder 90: Psalm 22---Preview of the Cross

In Christianity, Psalm 22 is the most famous of the individual lament psalms.  Jesus quoted the beginning of this psalm on the cross, and evangelists describe the crucifixion with an emphasis on the events mentioned in it (see Mt 27:32-46).  The division of Jesus' garments (Psalm 22:18) and the derision of onlookers (Ps 22:6-8) are two notable examples.  

In Psalm 22, the psalmist alternates between the agony of his present situation and what he knows about God.  God has done mighty works on behalf of his people (vv 3-5).  God created and sustained the psalmist and had always been with him in the past (vv 9-11), so he prays that God will rescue him once again.  

As in a number of lament psalms, there is a transition from supplication to thanksgiving, as the psalmist either states that he has been rescued or looks forward confidently to his deliverance.  He looks forward to praising God publicly (v 22) and calls upon others to join him (v 23).  He affirms that all people in the past, present, and future will submit to God.  

Psalm 22 is also quoted in the New Testament outside of the passion accounts.  In Heb 2:10-12, the author quotes Ps 22:22 in making the point that Jesus, in humbling himself to take on the burden of our sins, is not ashamed to call human beings his brothers.  

Here, as in several others places in the Heb 1-2, the author asserts that Jesus is the speaker in Ps 22:22,   We might imagine that Jesus prayed through all of Psalm 22 on the cross, expressing how he honestly felt at that point and perhaps looking forward to the time when he would be resurrected and speak with his brothers again.

On Feb 5, 2022, Kyle Kettering gave a sermon on Psalm 22 at Church of the Messiah.  He pushed back at the idea that the Father ever abandoned Jesus as he took on himself the sin that alienates us from God.  But Jesus would have felt particularly alone at that time.  

Seder 83: Understanding Ritual Impurity

 The middle chapters of Leviticus, with their discussion of ritual purity and impurity, constitute one of the most obscure parts of the Bible for modern readers.  But they lie behind a number of incidents recorded in the Gospels, and understanding them can teach us more about who Jesus was and what he came to do.

In the time of Moses and in the time of Jesus, to be ritually pure meant to be allowed to participate in worship at the tabernacle or temple.  To be ritually impure meant that one was not allowed to be in contact with holy places or things, much as antimatter is not allowed to contact matter in a science fiction story.

Some things to understand about ritual impurity:

• Becoming ritual impure happened to everybody and was just a part of life.  Ritual impurity was not usually something to avoid and only became a problem if it came in contact with the holy.
• Ritual impurity usually was not a matter of sin, hygiene, or public health.
• Ritual impurity was not just a "Jewish thing."  Other cultures in the ancient Near East of Moses' time and the Mediterranean world of Jesus' time had similar restrictions on access to temples.

All of the sources of ritual impurity have some connection to death or human mortality.  So ritual impurity was a reminder of the limitations of being human and the great gulf between mortal humans and an immortal, holy God.  Appearing before God was a privilege not to be taken lightly.  (Today we approach the throne of grace boldly, but not nonchalantly.)

Dealing with a temporary ritual impurity involved two simple ingredients---water and time.  For example, if one came in contact with the carcass of a dead animal, one picked up a minor ritual impurity, which could be dealt with by washing.  After one washed, the period of ritual impurity ended that evening (Lev 11;24-28).  

One who was in the same room with a dead human body contracted a major ritual impurity.  One dealt with it in a 7-day procedure, with washings and application of the ashes of a red heifer on days 3 and 7 (Num 19).  

This is a challenging topic, as evidenced by some misconceptions and misunderstandings surrounding it.  For example, there is a widespread "urban legend" that Jewish shepherds in the time of Jesus were treated as outcasts because they were often ritually impure.  However, the minor ritual impurities that shepherds encountered were easily dealt with, and there was no need for anyone to avoid contact with them.  

A major book on ritual impurity in the Gospels has been published recently:  Jesus and the Forces of Death by Matthew Thiessen of McMaster University (Baker Academic, 2020).  Thiessen explains the concepts of ritual purity and impurity in the Bible and the ancient world and discusses how they were applied in the time of Jesus.  Thiessen shows that Jesus was a Torah observant Jew who did not ignore or oppose Jewish law on this subject.  What he did do repeatedly was to remove the sources of major ritual impurity when he encountered them.  

For example, when Jesus came in contact with corpse impurity, he brought corpses back to life (Mark 5:21-24; 35-43; Luke 7:11-17; John 11:38-44).  As the "Holy One of God" (Mark 1:24), he exerted a powerful force of holiness that erased corpse impurity.  

When Jesus died, a number of dead saints came back to life (Matt 27:51-53).  Usually when someone died, the person's body was a source of ritual impurity that spread to people nearby.  But when Jesus died, others came back to life.  A key message of the Gospels is that Jesus came to defeat death and the forces of death.

Seder 65: Exodus 26-27---Three Tabernacle Curtains

Israel's tabernacle in the wilderness included three dividing curtains that marked off different "zones" of sacred space:

• One curtain separated the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place inside the tabernacle (Ex 26:31-35).
• There was a second curtain at the entrance to the tent, dividing the courtyard from the Holy Place (Ex 26:36-37).
• There was a third curtain at the entrance of the courtyard, dividing the courtyard from the rest of the world (Ex 27:16).

Israelites who were ritually clean could enter the courtyard and offer sacrfices.  Priests could cross the second curtain and enter the tabernacle.  Only the high priest could cross the inner curtain and enter the Most Holy Place, and he could only do this once a year on the Day of Atonement (Lev 16).

The structure here mirrors what was going on at Mount Sinai while Moses was conferring with God at the top of the mountain.  Sacrifices were offered at an altar at the foot of the mountain (Ex 24:4-5).  Moses and Aaron, Nadab, Abihu and seventy elders went part way up the mountain to have a covenant meal in the presence of God (vv 9-11).  Then Moses alone went further up the mountain to receive revelation from God (vv 12-18).      

The tabernacle has often been described as a "portable Sinai," through which God would continue to be present among his people and provide continuing revelation to them.  

The various curtains were "embroidered with needlework" (Ex 26:36).  In a sermonette at Church of the Messiah on  July 24, 2021, Jack Starcher focused on the Hebrew word here, raqam, which connotes something being skillfully woven together.  In the section of Exodus detailing the tabernacle and its construction, this word is used seven more times---Ex 27:16; 28:39; 35:35; 36:37; 38:18,23; 39:29.

Jack explained that this word is used only one other time in the Hebrew Scriptures, in Psalm 139:15.  Here the psalmist prays, 

"My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth."

So the tabernacle curtains were woven together in the same way that God crafted the human body.  And as the tabernacle was designed for divine habitation, so were our bodies---see 1 Cor 3:16,17; 6:19.

There were curtains analogous to the tabernacle curtain in the first and second temples.  In a sermon on July 24, 2021, Kyle Kettering noted a teaching in the Talmud (b. Tamid 29b) that during the time of the second temple, two new inner curtains were made each year by a group of 82 maidens, and 300 priests immersed each of these for purification.  In those days, with the ark gone, there was nothing behind the curtain.  God's Shekinah had never come to the Second Temple.  

The Gospels record that at the time when Jesus died on the cross, the inner curtain ripped in two (Matt 27:51-54; Mark 15:38; Luke 23:45).  A wealth of meaning has been attached to this symbolic event.  Kyle reflected on the interpretation of the torn curtain as a time marker.  The Messianic era had come, and people from all nations can approach God through Jesus, our high priest in the heavenly tabernacle (Heb 10:19-22).  

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.