Daily Scripture Readings |
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Tuesday (November 22, 2005) |
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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 |
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Unless otherwise indicated, the scripture texts quoted are from The New Revised Standard Version (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers), 1989. |
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According to Proper29* |
According to Proper 29* |
According to Proper 28* |
Tuesday AM Psalm [120], 121, 122, 123 PM Psalm 124, 125, 126, [127] Nahum 1:1-13 1 Pet. 1:13-25 Matt. 19:13-22 [C. S. Lewis]: http://www.satucket.com/lectionary/cslewis.htm Psalm 139:1-9 1 Peter 1:3-9; John 16:7-15 |
Morning: Psalm 12:1-8 Nahum 1:1-13 1 Peter 1:13-25 Matthew 19:13-22 Evening: Psalm 36:1-12 |
Tuesday Morning Pss.: 12, 146 Evening Pss.: 36, 7 |
Nahum 1:1-13
1:1 An oracle concerning Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum of Elkosh.
2 A jealous and avenging God is the Lord,
the Lord is avenging and wrathful;
the Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries
and rages against his enemies.
3 The Lord is slow to anger but great in power,
and the Lord will by no means clear the guilty.
His way is in whirlwind and storm,
and the clouds are the dust of his feet.
4 He rebukes the sea and makes it dry,
and he dries up all the rivers;
Bashan and Carmel wither,
and the bloom of Lebanon fades.
5 The mountains quake before him,
and the hills melt;
the earth heaves before him,
the world and all who live in it.
6 Who can stand before his indignation?
Who can endure the heat of his anger?
His wrath is poured out like fire,
and by him the rocks are broken in pieces.
7 The Lord is good,
a stronghold in a day of trouble;
he protects those who take refuge in him,
8 even in a rushing flood.
He will make a full end of his adversaries,
and will pursue his enemies into darkness.
9 Why do you plot against the Lord?
He will make an end;
no adversary will rise up twice.
10 Like thorns they are entangled,
like drunkards they are drunk;
they are consumed like dry straw.
11 From you one has gone out
who plots evil against the Lord,
one who counsels wickedness.
12 Thus says the Lord,
“Though they are at full strength and many,
they will be cut off and pass away.
Though I have afflicted you,
I will afflict you no more.
13 And now I will break off his yoke from you
and snap the bonds that bind you.”
The Book of Nahum, three chapters, focuses on the downfall of the Assyrian Empire in the late seventh century B. C. Her downfall is judgment and punishment from “the LORD,” who “takes vengeance on his adversaries/and rages against his enemies” (Nahum 1:2). “Who can stand before his indignation?/Who can endure the heat of his anger?/His wrath is poured out like fire,/and by him the rocks are broken in pieces” (v. 6). What is bad news for Assyria is good news for Judah. “Though I have afflicted you [Judah]/l will afflict you no more./And now I will break off his yoke from you/and snap the bonds that bind you” (vv. 12b, 13). But for the most part it is Nineveh, not Jerusalem, that is addressed. And, whereas the Book of Jonah holds out hope to Nineveh, Nahum “asserts boldly that the LORD is the avenger of cruelty and immorality” (Gregory Mobley, NOAB, 3rd ed., Introduction to Nahum).
As in many of the other prophetic books, much of the text of Nahum is in poetic lines. (More than 80% of Isaiah, for example, is printed as poetic lines in modern versions of the Bible. I once counted the verses in prose and poetry in the RSV text of Isaiah.) In Nahum, 1:1, which serves as a title, is in prose, as is 2:13; all the rest is in poetic lines. Poetic parallelism is evident in verse 6, for example (quoted above), and in verse 5, “The mountains quake before him,/and the hills melt;/the earth heaves before him, the world and all who live in it.” But a more striking example of poetic style, found in today’s reading, is the alphabetic acrostic pattern—somewhat broken and a little out of order, to be sure, but evident all the same—in 1:2-10. (It’s a pattern found in Psalms 9-10, 25, 34, 37, 111,112, 119, 145, Lam. 1-4, and Prov. 31:10-31.) Verse 2a begins with the first letter, aleph; verse 3b with beth; and successive lines continue the alphabet to verse 8b, which begins with the letter kaph. Lamed (v. 9b) and mem (v. 9a) are transposed, and followed by samek (v. 10b), which should be preceded by nun, which appears in verse 2b, apparently out of place. Moving the nun (“N”) line down would make verses 2 and 3 read as follows (NRSV):
2 A jealous and avenging God is the Lord,
the Lord is avenging and wrathful;
the Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries
and rages against his enemies.
3 The Lord is slow to anger but great in power,
and the Lord will by no means clear the guilty.
The line printed here in “strike-out” type would follow verse 9, “Why do you plot against the LORD?/He will make an end;/no adversary will rise up twice.”
The acrostic pattern breaks off in verse 10, and does not resume. Verses 12-13 are addressed to Judah with the comforting thought that her enemy (Assyria) “will be cut off and pass away” (v. 12b). “Though I have afflicted you,/I will afflict you no more” (v. 12c). “And now I will break off his [i.e. the Assyrian’s] yoke from you/and snap the bonds that bind you” v. 13).
In an email message of November 24, 2003, for November 25, 2003, I commented as follows on this passage from Nahum:
We might think that Nahum gets a little too much pleasure from the expected downfall of Israel's terrible enemy, Assyria. But K.H. Richards calls attention to "bold metaphors" and "the interplay between God's judgment and salvation" (HarperCollins Study Bible). Nahum announces God's judgment upon Nineveh (1:1; 2:8), the capital of Assyria, which had overthrown the northern kingdom of Israel. "A jealous and avenging God is the LORD,/the LORD is avenging and wrathful;/the LORD takes vengeance on his adversaries/and rages against his enemies" (Nahum 1:2). This is good news, a blessing and protection for Judah. "The LORD is good,/a stronghold in a day of trouble;/he protects those who take refuge in him,/even in a rushing flood./He will make a full end of his adversaries,/and will pursue his enemies into darkness" (vv. 7-8). Richards suggests that this prophecy was given a few years before the fall of Nineveh in 612 B.C./B.C.E. An oblique warning to Judah, which would fall to the Babylonians within a few decades, reminds them that "The Lord is slow to anger but great in power,/and the LORD will by no means clear the guilty (v. 3).
1 Peter 1:13-25
13 Therefore prepare your minds for action; discipline yourselves; set all your hope on the grace that Jesus Christ will bring you when he is revealed. 14 Like obedient children, do not be conformed to the desires that you formerly had in ignorance. 15 Instead, as he who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct; 16 for it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
17 If you invoke as Father the one who judges all people impartially according to their deeds, live in reverent fear during the time of your exile. 18 You know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without defect or blemish. 20 He was destined before the foundation of the world, but was revealed at the end of the ages for your sake. 21 Through him you have come to trust in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are set on God.
22 Now that you have purified your souls by your obedience to the truth so that you have genuine mutual love, love one another deeply from the heart. 23 You have been born anew, not of perishable but of imperishable seed, through the living and enduring word of God. 24 For
“All flesh is like grass
and all its glory like the flower of grass.
The grass withers,
and the flower falls,
25 but the word of the Lord endures forever.”
That word is the good news that was announced to you.
The following is also from my comments sent by email November 24, 2003, for November 25, 2003:
Having described salvation as "a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead" (1 Pet. 1:3) as a reason for joy in the midst of trials (v. 6), Peter presents a call to holy living: "Like obedient children, do not be conformed to the desires that you formerly had in ignorance. Instead, as he who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct; fir it is written, 'You shall be holy, for I am holy'" (vv. 14-16). Peter points out their former "futile ways inherited from your ancestors" (v. 18) and reminds them of their being ransomed "with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish" (v. 19). One consequence should be mutual love: "Now that you have purified your souls by your obedience to the truth so that you have genuine mutual love, love one another deeply from the heart" (v. 22).
Matthew 19:13-22
13 Then little children were being brought to him in order that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples spoke sternly to those who brought them; 14 but Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs.” 15 And he laid his hands on them and went on his way.
The Rich Young Man (Mk 10.17—31; Lk 18.18—30)
16 Then someone came to him and said, “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?” 17 And he said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.” 18 He said to him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said, “You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; 19 Honor your father and mother; also, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 20 The young man said to him, “I have kept all these; what do I still lack?” 21 Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” 22 When the young man heard this word, he went away grieving, for he had many possessions.
The following is also from my comments sent by email November 24, 2003, for November 25, 2003:
Jesus blesses the children: "Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs" (Mt. 19:14). Then he answers the rich young man's question, "Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?" (v. 16). Jesus quotes some of the Ten Commandments--commandments about relationships among human beings--to which the young man responds, "I have kept all these; what do I still lack?" (v. 20). If I had been there, my reply might have been, "What about the other commandments? The ones about having no other gods, or honoring the sabbath, for example. But Jesus seems to have put his finger on the young man's crucial issue, "sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor...then come, follow me" (v. 21). It is not necessarily true that he would demand the same from each of us--"sell your possessions"--but he would point us to God as the center of meaning and value. "But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness..." (Mt. 6:33).
Ronald D. Worden, Ph.D.
rdworden@hgst.edu
rworden@houston.rr.com