NOTE: Some of this material is taken with a few changes from a Devotional Email that I sent out to several people on Monday, October 27, 2003, based on the readings for the following day. RW

5:1 Now the prophets, Haggai and Zechariah son of Iddo, prophesied to the Jews who were in Judah and Jerusalem, in the name of the God of Israel who was over them. 2 Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Jeshua son of Jozadak set out to rebuild the house of God in Jerusalem; and with them were the prophets of God, helping them.

3 At the same time Tattenai the governor of the province Beyond the River and Shethar-bozenai and their associates came to them and spoke to them thus, "Who gave you a decree to build this house and to finish this structure?" 4 They also asked them this, "What are the names of the men who are building this building?" 5 But the eye of their God was upon the elders of the Jews, and they did not stop them until a report reached Darius and then answer was returned by letter in reply to it.

6 The copy of the letter that Tattenai the governor of the province Beyond the River and Shethar-bozenai and his associates the envoys who were in the province Beyond the River sent to King Darius; 7 they sent him a report, in which was written as follows: "To Darius the king, all peace! 8 May it be known to the king that we went to the province of Judah, to the house of the great God. It is being built of hewn stone, and timber is laid in the walls; this work is being done diligently and prospers in their hands. 9 Then we spoke to those elders and asked them, 'Who gave you a decree to build this house and to finish this structure?' 10 We also asked them their names, for your information, so that we might write down the names of the men at their head. 11 This was their reply to us: 'We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and we are rebuilding the house that was built many years ago, which a great king of Israel built and finished. 12 But because our ancestors had angered the God of heaven, he gave them into the hand of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, the Chaldean, who destroyed this house and carried away the people to Babylonia. 13 However, King Cyrus of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, made a decree that this house of God should be rebuilt. 14 Moreover, the gold and silver vessels of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple in Jerusalem and had brought into the temple of Babylon, these King Cyrus took out of the temple of Babylon, and they were delivered to a man named Sheshbazzar, whom he had made governor. 15 He said to him, "Take these vessels; go and put them in the temple in Jerusalem, and let the house of God be rebuilt on its site." 16 Then this Sheshbazzar came and laid the foundations of the house of God in Jerusalem; and from that time until now it has been under construction, and it is not yet finished.' 17 And now, if it seems good to the king, have a search made in the royal archives there in Babylon, to see whether a decree was issued by King Cyrus for the rebuilding of this house of God in Jerusalem. Let the king send us his pleasure in this matter." (Ezra 5:1-17, NRSV)

The Ezra story returns to 520 B.C., the time of Haggai, Zechariah, Jeshua and Zerubbabel (Ezra 5:1-2). Before building the temple can proceed, however, they have to get the “building permit” cleared with “City Hall;,”: so to speak. In this case, City Hall is hundreds of miles to the East in Babylon. Tattenai is governor of the province Beyond the River (Ezra 5:3), which means that part of the Persian Empire west of the Euphrates River, of which Judah was a small part. (In the Gospels, the phrase “beyond the Jordan” (peran tou Iordanou) means the area east of the Jordan [Mt. 4:25; Mk. 8:13], called Peraia, Lk. 6:17, a few witnesses, including x.) Tattenai challenges the right of the Jews to build and sends a letter to King Darius. (This letter and the letter to Artaxerxes, 4:11-23 are in Aramaic in the Hebrew Bible; in fact, all of 4:8 to 6:18 is in Aramaic, which was the official language of the Persian Empire, at least in the west.) So Tattenai’s challenge is carried to Babylon, and his letter reports the interrogation of the Jewish Elders: “Who gave you a decree to build this house and to finish this structure?” (V. 9). It then reports the Elders’ reply (vv. 11-16), which cites the decree of King Cyrus (v. 13, cf. Vv. 15, 17) and Sheshbazzar’s initial actions to fulfill it. Tattenai’s letter concludes by requesting an investigation to verify or disprove the Jewish claims (v. 17). Certification will come, but that’s in Wednesday’s reading (Ezra 6:1-22).

4:1 After this I looked, and there in heaven a door stood open! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, "Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this." 2 At once I was in the spirit, and there in heaven stood a throne, with one seated on the throne! 3 And the one seated there looks like jasper and carnelian, and around the throne is a rainbow that looks like an emerald. 4 Around the throne are twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones are twenty-four elders, dressed in white robes, with golden crowns on their heads. 5 Coming from the throne are flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder, and in front of the throne burn seven flaming torches, which are the seven spirits of God; 6 and in front of the throne there is something like a sea of glass, like crystal.

Around the throne, and on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind: 7 the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with a face like a human face, and the fourth living creature like a flying eagle. 8 And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and inside. Day and night without ceasing they sing,

9 And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to the one who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, 10 the twenty-four elders fall before the one who is seated on the throne and worship the one who lives forever and ever; they cast their crowns before the throne, singing,

The readings from Revelation continue with the visions of “what must take place after this” (Rev. 4:1) with a scene in the throne room of heaven that recalls Ezekiel’s vision of the glory of God, the throne-chariot vision of Ezekiel, chapter 1, complete with flashing fire (Ezek. 1:4) or lightning (Rev. 4:5), the four living creatures with the faces of (Ezek.) Or simply “like” a lion, an ox, a human, and an eagle (Ezek. 1:10; Rev. 4:7), with wings (8 = 4x2 in Ezek., 24 in Rev.), and so on. Over the heads of the living creatures is a “dome, shining like crystal” (Ezek. 1:1`0; Rev. 4:7), upon which was the throne (v. 26). There is more, but Ezekiel pictures “the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD” (v. 28). In Revelation, the crystal dome has become “something like a sea of glass, like crystal” (Rev. 4:6). Around God’s throne are twenty-four thrones, upon which are twenty-four elders “probably angelic beings of the heavenly court, symbolizing the twelve patriarchs of the Old Testament and the twelve apostles of the New Testament” (B. M. Metzger, NOAB, 2^nd ed., on v. 4; cf. Jean-Pierre Ruiz, NOAB, 3^rd ed., on v. 4).. The heavenly hymn (v. 11) is, “You are worthy, our Lord and God,/to receive glory and honor and power,/for you created all things,/and by your will they existed and were created.”

The Parable of the Sower*
Matthew 13:1-9	Mark 4:1-9	Luke 8:4-8
13:1 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. 2 Such great crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there, while the whole crowd stood on the beach. 3 And he told them many things in parables, saying: "Listen! A sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seeds fell on the path, and the birds came and ate them up. 5 Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil. 6 But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and since they had no root, they withered away. 7 Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. 8 Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. 9 Let anyone with ears listen!"	4 Again he began to teach beside the sea. Such a very large crowd gathered around him that he got into a boat on the sea and sat there, while the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. 2 He began to teach them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them: 3 "Listen! A sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and it sprang up quickly, since it had no depth of soil. 6 And when the sun rose, it was scorched; and since it had no root, it withered away. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. 8 Other seed fell into good soil and brought forth grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirty and sixty and a hundredfold." 9 And he said, "Let anyone with ears to hear listen!"	4 When a great crowd gathered and people from town after town came to him, he said in a parable: 5 "A sower went out to sow his seed; and as he sowed, some fell on the path and was trampled on, and the birds of the air ate it up. 6 Some fell on the rock; and as it grew up, it withered for lack of moisture. 7 Some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew with it and choked it. 8 Some fell into good soil, and when it grew, it produced a hundredfold." As he said this, he called out, "Let anyone with ears to hear listen!"
Kurt Aland, Synopsis of the Four Gospels*, 1982, sec. 122, pp. 113-114.

There is a version of the Parable of the Sower in the Gospel of Thomas, an early non-canonical gospel with certain Gnostic tendencies. The following is the Gospel of Thomas, no. 9 (trans. Bruce M. Metzger):

Jesus said: Behold, the sower went out, he filled his hand, he sowed (the seed). Some (seeds) (+ mevn) fell on the road. The birds came (and) gathered them up. Others fell on the rock (pevtra) and did not send a root down into the earth, and did not send an ear up to heaven. And others fell among thorns. They choked the seed, and the worm ate it (lit. them). And others fell among thorns. They choked the seed, and the worm ate it (lit. them). And others fell upon the good earth; and it brought forth good fruit (kavrpo~) up to heaven. It bore sixty-fold and one hundred and twenty-fold.

In the Canonical Gospels, the Parable of the Sower is followed by an explanation of the purpose of parables (Mt. 13:10-17; Mk. 4:10-12; Lk. 8:9-10) and an interpretation of the Parable of the Sower (Mt. 13:18-23; Mk. 4:13-20; Lk. 8:11-15). There is no interpretation in the Gospel of Thomas, which in any case is mainly a series of sayings of Jesus introduced simply by “Jesus said,” or variations such as “and he said.” Occasionally a question from the disciples leads into the saying, but there is no narrative as such to speak of. There are a few who regard the version of the parable in the Gospel of Thomas as more original, that is, closer to what Jesus actually said. If so it varies little from the parable as such in the Canonical Gospels. (The phrase “up to heaven” might suggest an interpretation with spiritual overtones.) These would consider the interpretation in the Gospels (Mt. 13:18-23; Mk. 4:13-20; Lk. 8:11-15) something added later in the light of actual experience within the early Christian community. But there is no reason to think that Jesus would not have anticipated such responses to the Christian gospel; indeed, he was meeting such responses during the course of his earthly ministry. It is likely that the compiler or compilers of the Gospel of Thomas didn’t see the interpretation as agreeing with their religious ideas, or fitting the format of their collection of sayings.

Daily Scripture Readings
Tuesday (October 25, 2005)
Daily Office Lectionary, The Book of Common Prayer, the Episcopal Church in the U.S.A.	Daily Lectionary, The Book of Worship, the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.	Daily Lectionary, Book of Worship Inter-Lutheran Commission on Worship, c. 1978 (2002 printing)
http://www.satucket.com/lectionary/index.htm http://www.pcusa.org/cgi-bin/lectiond.cgi
Unless otherwise indicated, the scripture texts quoted are from The New Revised Standard Version (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers), 1989.
According to Proper25*	According to Proper 25*	According to Proper 24*
Tuesday AM Psalm 45 PM Psalm 47, 48 Ezra 5:1-17 Rev. 4:1-11 Matt. 13:1-9	Morning: Psalm 12:1-8 Ezra 5:1-17 or Lamentations 1:1-5 (6-9) 10-12 Revelation 4:1-11 Matthew 13:1-9 Evening: Psalm 36:1-12	Morning Pss.: 12, 146 Lamentations 1:1-5 (6-9) 10-12 or Jeremiah 40:7-41:3 1 Corinthians 15:41-50 Matthew 11:25-30 Evening Pss.: 36, 7
*For this week (of the Twenty-third Sunday after Pentecost): the Lutheran tradition remains a week behind the Episcopal and Presbyterian traditions.