Zechariah 1:7-17 or Jeremiah 45:1-5

See the text and comments for October 24, one week ago.

Revelation 1:4-20

See the text and comments for October 24, one week ago.

Matthew 12:43-50

See the text and comments for October 24, one week ago.

Nehemiah 6:1-19

6:1 Now when it was reported to Sanballat and Tobiah and to Geshem the Arab and to the rest of our enemies that I had built the wall and that there was no gap left in it (though up to that time I had not set up the doors in the gates), 2 Sanballat and Geshem sent to me, saying, "Come and let us meet together in one of the villages in the plain of Ono." But they intended to do me harm. 3 So I sent messengers to them, saying, "I am doing a great work and I cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it to come down to you?" 4 They sent to me four times in this way, and I answered them in the same manner. 5 In the same way Sanballat for the fifth time sent his servant to me with an open letter in his hand. 6 In it was written, "It is reported among the nations--and Geshem also says it--that you and the Jews intend to rebel; that is why you are building the wall; and according to this report you wish to become their king. 7 You have also set up prophets to proclaim in Jerusalem concerning you, 'There is a king in Judah!' And now it will be reported to the king according to these words. So come, therefore, and let us confer together." 8 Then I sent to him, saying, "No such things as you say have been done; you are inventing them out of your own mind" 9 --for they all wanted to frighten us, thinking, "Their hands will drop from the work, and it will not be done." But now, O God, strengthen my hands.

10 One day when I went into the house of Shemaiah son of Delaiah son of Mehetabel, who was confined to his house, he said, "Let us meet together in the house of God, within the temple, and let us close the doors of the temple, for they are coming to kill you; indeed, tonight they are coming to kill you." 11 But I said, "Should a man like me run away? Would a man like me go into the temple to save his life? I will not go in!" 12 Then I perceived and saw that God had not sent him at all, but he had pronounced the prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. 13 He was hired for this purpose, to intimidate me and make me sin by acting in this way, and so they could give me a bad name, in order to taunt me. 14 Remember Tobiah and Sanballat, O my God, according to these things that they did, and also the prophetess Noadiah and the rest of the prophets who wanted to make me afraid.

The Wall Completed

15 So the wall was finished on the twenty-fifth day of the month Elul, in fifty-two days. 16 And when all our enemies heard of it, all the nations around us were afraid and fell greatly in their own esteem; for they perceived that this work had been accomplished with the help of our God. 17 Moreover in those days the nobles of Judah sent many letters to Tobiah, and Tobiah's letters came to them. 18 For many in Judah were bound by oath to him, because he was the son-in-law of Shecaniah son of Arah: and his son Jehohanan had married the daughter of Meshullam son of Berechiah. 19 Also they spoke of his good deeds in my presence, and reported my words to him. And Tobiah sent letters to intimidate me. (Nehemiah 6:1-19, NRSV)

Finishing the work on the wall (Neh. 6:15) was anticipated in the comments for last Saturday (Oct. 29, 2005), where it is reported that the work began (4:7-10). It was also noted there that the work was only completed after Nehemiah and his people endured a series of troubles. Yesterday’s reading from chapter 5 focused on difficulties within the Jewish community itself. Troubles from outside began in chapter, where it is reported that Sanballat, Tobiah and associates are angered by news of Nehemiah's beginning the work (4:7-10) and plotted against him to prevent his success (4:8) and harm him (6:2-13). When Nehemiah declined Sanballat’s first invitation to a “meeting” (6:3), Sanballat eventually responds with a letter accusing Nehemiah of intending rebellion against the Persian Empire (v. 6), and plans to proclaim a king in Judah (v. 7). Nehemiah responds with a denial (v. 8) and attributes the charges to Sanballat’s attempt to frighten the Jews and stop the work on the wall (v. 9). The next attempt to get Nehemiah to meet with Sanballat and Tobiah in the temple was perhaps an ambush. Perhaps they did want to kill him, but the statement to that effect, "tonight they are coming to kill you" (6:10), comes from Shemaiah, "the enemy within the camp" (A. Jeffery, J. J. Collins, NOAB, 2^nd. ed.), who intended "to make me [Nehemiah] sin" (v. 13) by entering the temple as a lay person (v. 11) for refuge "so they could give me a bad name, in order to taunt me" (v. 13). But Nehemiah saw these plans for what they were. “Then I perceived and saw that God had not sent him at all, but he had pronounced the prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him” (v. 12). Nehemiah was not intimidated by this opposition and “So the wall was finished on the twenty-fifth day of the month Elul, in fifty-two days” (v. 15). “The nations around us . . . perceived that this work had been accomplished with the help of our God” (v. 16).

or Ezra 3:1-13

3:1 When the seventh month came, and the Israelites were in the towns, the people gathered together in Jerusalem. 2 Then Jeshua son of Jozadak, with his fellow priests, and Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel with his kin set out to build the altar of the God of Israel, to offer burnt offerings on it, as prescribed in the law of Moses the man of God. 3 They set up the altar on its foundation, because they were in dread of the neighboring peoples, and they offered burnt offerings upon it to the LORD, morning and evening. 4 And they kept the festival of booths, as prescribed, and offered the daily burnt offerings by number according to the ordinance, as required for each day, 5 and after that the regular burnt offerings, the offerings at the new moon and at all the sacred festivals of the LORD, and the offerings of everyone who made a freewill offering to the LORD. 6 From the first day of the seventh month they began to offer burnt offerings to the LORD. But the foundation of the temple of the LORD was not yet laid. 7 So they gave money to the masons and the carpenters, and food, drink, and oil to the Sidonians and the Tyrians to bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the sea, to Joppa, according to the grant that they had from King Cyrus of Persia.

Foundation Laid for the Temple

8 In the second year after their arrival at the house of God at Jerusalem, in the second month, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Jeshua son of Jozadak made a beginning, together with the rest of their people, the priests and the Levites and all who had come to Jerusalem from the captivity. They appointed the Levites, from twenty years old and upward, to have the oversight of the work on the house of the LORD. 9 And Jeshua with his sons and his kin, and Kadmiel and his sons, Binnui and Hodaviah along with the sons of Henadad, the Levites, their sons and kin, together took charge of the workers in the house of God.

10 When the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the LORD, the priests in their vestments were stationed to praise the LORD with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, according to the directions of King David of Israel; 11 and they sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the LORD,

"For he is good,

for his steadfast love endures forever toward Israel."

And all the people responded with a great shout when they praised the LORD, because the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid. 12 But many of the priests and Levites and heads of families, old people who had seen the first house on its foundations, wept with a loud voice when they saw this house, though many shouted aloud for joy, 13 so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the joyful shout from the sound of the people's weeping, for the people shouted so loudly that the sound was heard far away. (Ezra 3:1-13, NRSV)

For comments on Ezra 3:1-13, see the comments for Friday, October 21, 2005, ten days ago.

Revelation 10:1-11

The Angel with the Little Scroll

10:1 And I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, wrapped in a cloud, with a rainbow over his head; his face was like the sun, and his legs like pillars of fire. 2 He held a little scroll open in his hand. Setting his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land, 3 he gave a great shout, like a lion roaring. And when he shouted, the seven thunders sounded. 4 And when the seven thunders had sounded, I was about to write, but I heard a voice from heaven saying, "Seal up what the seven thunders have said, and do not write it down." 5 Then the angel whom I saw standing on the sea and the land

raised his right hand to heaven

6 and swore by him who lives forever and ever,

who created heaven and what is in it, the earth and what is in it, and the sea and what is in it: "There will be no more delay, 7 but in the days when the seventh angel is to blow his trumpet, the mystery of God will be fulfilled, as he announced to his servants the prophets."

8 Then the voice that I had heard from heaven spoke to me again, saying, "Go, take the scroll that is open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land." 9 So I went to the angel and told him to give me the little scroll; and he said to me, "Take it, and eat; it will be bitter to your stomach, but sweet as honey in your mouth." 10 So I took the little scroll from the hand of the angel and ate it; it was sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach was made bitter.

11 Then they said to me, "You must prophesy again about many peoples and nations and languages and kings." (Revelation 10:1-11, NRSV)

Saturday’s reading, (Rev. 7:4-17, Oct. 29, 2005) was from an interlude between the sixth (Rev. 6:12-17) and seventh(8:1-5) seals; today’s is part of the interlude between the sixth (9:13-21) and seventh (11:14-19) trumpets. All of these, the seals, the trumpets, and the bowls of wrath to come (chap. 15-16), portend destruction, judgment and woes. There are interludes with hopeful symbols, for example, the “two witnesses” (11:3), “the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah” (11:15), “God’s temple in heaven” with “the ark of the covenant” (11:19, the woman (12:1) and the child (12:2, 4-5), the Lamb on Mount Zion with the 144,000 redeemed (14:1), and the angel with “the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth” (14:6). But in chapter 10, John is given a scroll which “will be bitter to your stomach, but sweet as honey in your mouth” (10:9). With the scroll came another commission for John. “You must prophesy again about many peoples and nations and languages and kings” (v. 11). “You must, in accord with the divine will, prophecy again; the second part of the book (chs. 12-22) contains these prophecies” (Bruce M. Metzger, NOAB, 3^rd ed., on Rev. 10:11).

Matthew 13:36-43

The Parable of the Weeds Interpreted

36 Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples approached him, saying, "Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field." 37 He answered, "The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man; 38 the field is the world, and the good seed are the children of the kingdom; the weeds are the children of the evil one, 39 and the enemy who sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. 40 Just as the weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. 41 The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers, 42 and they will throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Let anyone with ears listen! (Matthew 13:36-43, NRSV)

There is no parallel in the Canonical Gospels to Matthew’s Parable of the Weeds (Mt. 13:24-30), but, as noted last Friday (October 28, 2005), there is a close parallel in the Gospel of Thomas. Matthew’s version seems longer because he includes details that are assumed in the Gospel of Thomas version. Matthew’s version says, “So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared as well” (Mt 13:26), which Thomas’ version assumes. Where Thomas has “The man did not allow them to pull up the weeds” followed by his instruction, Matthew has a dialogue initiated by “the slaves of the householder (Mt. 13:27). There is little significant difference in substance between the two versions of the parable. It seems apparent to me that Thomas has abbreviated Matthew’s version, or the version in the source which Matthew used. But Thomas has nothing comparable to Matthew’s account of Jesus’ interpretation of the parable.

In the interpretation (today’s reading), the Son of Man “sows the good seed” (Mt. 13:37) in the “field” which “is the world.” “The good seed are the children of the kingdom” but “the weeds are the children of the world” (v. 38). The “enemy” is “the devil,” and the “harvest” is reaped by “angels” at “the end of the age” (v. 39). At that time the “evildoers” (v. 41) will be thrown “into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (v. 42), but “the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father” (v. 43). The Gospel of Thomas version does mention the harvest, “ For on the day of the harvest the weeds will be plainly visible, and they will be pulled up and burned.,” which indicates separating out the weeds for burning, but this one sentence is about as close as the Gospel of Thomas comes to using any of the eschatological themes and motifs that are prominent in Matthew and the other Canonical Gospels. Many regard the Gospel of Thomas as a later work with Gnostic tendencies characteristic of second century Gnosticism. The point of Jesus’ interpretation as presented by Matthew is to answer the call to be a part of God’s kingdom as “good seed,” not “evildoers.”

Ronald D. Worden, Ph.D.

rdworden@hgst.edu

rworden@houston.rr.com