Nehemiah 6:1-19 or Ezra 3:1-13

See the text and comments for October 31, one week ago.

Revelation 10:1-11

See the text and comments for October 31, one week ago.

Matthew 13:31-35

See the text and comments for October 31, one week ago.

Nehemiah 9:1-15 (16-25)

National Confession

9:1 Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the people of Israel were assembled with fasting and in sackcloth, and with earth on their heads. 2 Then those of Israelite descent separated themselves from all foreigners, and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their ancestors. 3 They stood up in their place and read from the book of the law of the LORD their God for a fourth part of the day, and for another fourth they made confession and worshiped the LORD their God. 4 Then Jeshua, Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani stood on the stairs of the Levites and cried out with a loud voice to the LORD their God. 5 Then the Levites, Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah, said, "Stand up and bless the LORD your God from everlasting to everlasting. Blessed be your glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise."

6 And Ezra said: "You are the LORD, you alone; you have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. To all of them you give life, and the host of heaven worships you. 7 You are the LORD, the God who chose Abram and brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans and gave him the name Abraham; 8 and you found his heart faithful before you, and made with him a covenant to give to his descendants the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Jebusite, and the Girgashite; and you have fulfilled your promise, for you are righteous.

9 "And you saw the distress of our ancestors in Egypt and heard their cry at the Red Sea. 10 You performed signs and wonders against Pharaoh and all his servants and all the people of his land, for you knew that they acted insolently against our ancestors. You made a name for yourself, which remains to this day. 11 And you divided the sea before them, so that they passed through the sea on dry land, but you threw their pursuers into the depths, like a stone into mighty waters. 12 Moreover, you led them by day with a pillar of cloud, and by night with a pillar of fire, to give them light on the way in which they should go. 13 You came down also upon Mount Sinai, and spoke with them from heaven, and gave them right ordinances and true laws, good statutes and commandments, 14 and you made known your holy sabbath to them and gave them commandments and statutes and a law through your servant Moses. 15 For their hunger you gave them bread from heaven, and for their thirst you brought water for them out of the rock, and you told them to go in to possess the land that you swore to give them.

16 "But they and our ancestors acted presumptuously and stiffened their necks and did not obey your commandments; 17 they refused to obey, and were not mindful of the wonders that you performed among them; but they stiffened their necks and determined to return to their slavery in Egypt. But you are a God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and you did not forsake them. 18 Even when they had cast an image of a calf for themselves and said, 'This is your God who brought you up out of Egypt,' and had committed great blasphemies, 19 you in your great mercies did not forsake them in the wilderness; the pillar of cloud that led them in the way did not leave them by day, nor the pillar of fire by night that gave them light on the way by which they should go. 20 You gave your good spirit to instruct them, and did not withhold your manna from their mouths, and gave them water for their thirst. 21 Forty years you sustained them in the wilderness so that they lacked nothing; their clothes did not wear out and their feet did not swell. 22 And you gave them kingdoms and peoples, and allotted to them every corner, so they took possession of the land of King Sihon of Heshbon and the land of King Og of Bashan. 23 You multiplied their descendants like the stars of heaven, and brought them into the land that you had told their ancestors to enter and possess. 24 So the descendants went in and possessed the land, and you subdued before them the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, and gave them into their hands, with their kings and the peoples of the land, to do with them as they pleased. 25 And they captured fortress cities and a rich land, and took possession of houses filled with all sorts of goods, hewn cisterns, vineyards, olive orchards, and fruit trees in abundance; so they ate, and were filled and became fat, and delighted themselves in your great goodness. (Nehemiah 9:1-25, NRSV)

Ezra’s prayer of confession in Ezra, chapter 5, was focused specifically on the problem of mixed marriages (see text and comments for Saturday, November 5, 2005). Today’s reading from Nehemiah continues the story of Ezra’s leadership with a more general prayer of national repentance in the manner of some historical Psalms (e.g. Psalm 106). Preparations for the prayer include fasting and sackcloth and “earth on their heads” (Neh. 9:1), separation of the Israelites “from all foreigners” (v. 2), for “the confession was something in which non-Jews might not participate” (Arthur Jeffrey and John J. Collins, NOAB, 2^nd ed., on Neh. 9:2). We are told that the Israelites spent “a forth part of the day” reading from “the book of the law of the LORD their God,” and “for another fourth they made confession and worshiped the LORD their God” (v. 3). But the actual wording of the prayer is attributed to Ezra (v. 6, NRSV) in the Septuagint (Greek translation), though not so in the Hebrew version.

And Ezra said. Not in the Hebrew version. [Cf. NRSV, text note b.] Although Greek versions insert Ezra’s name, in the Hebrew Ezra’s role concluded when he placed the Torah into the care of the community (8:13) and trained others to guide the community accordingly. The great prayer in the Hebrew Bible is thus assigned to the community and its representatives. (Tamara Cohn Eskenazi, NOAB, 3^rd ed., on Ezra 9:6)

The prayer addresses the LORD, who “alone” is LORD, who “made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them” (v. 6a). For Jewish returnees from Mesopotamia, where astral bodies were worshiped, it is noteworthy that they pray to the LORD who created them. “The host of heaven worships you” (v. 6b). The prayer recites the history of God’s choice of Abram, changing his name to Abraham (v. 7), and making “with him a covenant to give to his descendants the land. The prayer continues, “you have fulfilled your promise, for you are righteous” (v. 8). So far, the prayer follows the narrative in Genesis, but it continues with events during and following the exodus from Egypt. God heard the cry of the ancestors “at the Red Sea” (v. 9, performed “signs and wonders against Pharaoh and all his servants and all the people of his land” (v. 10), divided the sea (v. 11), led the people “by day with a pillar of cloud, and by night with a pillar of fire” (v. 12), revealed “right ordinances and true laws, good statutes and commandments” upon Mount Sinai (v. 13), and “made known your holy sabbath to them and gave them commandments and statutes and a law through y9our servant Moses” (v. 14). The prayer also mentions the “bread from heaven” (v. 15) and “water for them out of the rock” (v. 15).

The prayer continues in the next paragraph (vv. 16-25, listed in parentheses in the lectionaries), with the story of events on the journey from Egypt to Canaan (vv. 16-23) and the conquest (vv. 24-25). Israel’s presumption and disobedience along the way are acknowledged (vv. 16-17a), including their desire to return to Egypt (v. 17b) and the incident of the golden calf (v. 18). But God’s “great mercies” are remembered (v. 19, cf. v. 17), as well as other blessings (vv. 19-21) and victories over their enemies (v. 22). The confession combined with historical review continues in tomorrow’s reading.

or Nehemiah 2:1-20

The following text and comments on Nehemiah 2:1-20 is repeated here from Friday, October 28, 2005.

Nehemiah Sent to Judah

2:1 In the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was served him, I carried the wine and gave it to the king. Now, I had never been sad in his presence before. 2 So the king said to me, "Why is your face sad, since you are not sick? This can only be sadness of the heart." Then I was very much afraid. 3 I said to the king, "May the king live forever! Why should my face not be sad, when the city, the place of my ancestors' graves, lies waste, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?" 4 Then the king said to me, "What do you request?" So I prayed to the God of heaven. 5 Then I said to the king, "If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor with you, I ask that you send me to Judah, to the city of my ancestors' graves, so that I may rebuild it." 6 The king said to me (the queen also was sitting beside him), "How long will you be gone, and when will you return?" So it pleased the king to send me, and I set him a date. 7 Then I said to the king, "If it pleases the king, let letters be given me to the governors of the province Beyond the River, that they may grant me passage until I arrive in Judah; 8 and a letter to Asaph, the keeper of the king's forest, directing him to give me timber to make beams for the gates of the temple fortress, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall occupy." And the king granted me what I asked, for the gracious hand of my God was upon me.

9 Then I came to the governors of the province Beyond the River, and gave them the king's letters. Now the king had sent officers of the army and cavalry with me. 10 When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard this, it displeased them greatly that someone had come to seek the welfare of the people of Israel.

Nehemiah's Inspection of the Walls

11 So I came to Jerusalem and was there for three days. 12 Then I got up during the night, I and a few men with me; I told no one what my God had put into my heart to do for Jerusalem. The only animal I took was the animal I rode. 13 I went out by night by the Valley Gate past the Dragon's Spring and to the Dung Gate, and I inspected the walls of Jerusalem that had been broken down and its gates that had been destroyed by fire. 14 Then I went on to the Fountain Gate and to the King's Pool; but there was no place for the animal I was riding to continue. 15 So I went up by way of the valley by night and inspected the wall. Then I turned back and entered by the Valley Gate, and so returned. 16 The officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing; I had not yet told the Jews, the priests, the nobles, the officials, and the rest that were to do the work.

Decision to Restore the Walls

17 Then I said to them, "You see the trouble we are in, how Jerusalem lies in ruins with its gates burned. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, so that we may no longer suffer disgrace." 18 I told them that the hand of my God had been gracious upon me, and also the words that the king had spoken to me. Then they said, "Let us start building!" So they committed themselves to the common good. 19 But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official, and Geshem the Arab heard of it, they mocked and ridiculed us, saying, "What is this that you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king?" 20 Then I replied to them, "The God of heaven is the one who will give us success, and we his servants are going to start building; but you have no share or claim or historic right in Jerusalem." (Nehemiah 2:1-20, NRSV)

While we are in the world (cf. Matthew’s parable, the Weeds among the Wheat, below), we would do well to emulate Nehemiah’s courage and determination, not to mention his faith, “God . . . will give us success” (Neh. 2:20). He requests and is granted permission to travel from the palace in Susa, where he was a servant of the Persian emperor, to Jerusalem, “to the city of my ancestors’ graves, so that I may rebuild it” (Neh. 2:5). He also requests letters from the emperor (king) which, upon his arrival, disturb the local leaders, Sanballat (governor of Samaria according to a papyrus found in Egypt, A. Jeffery, J. J. Collins, NOAB, 2^nd ed.) And Tobiah (“apparently an Ammonite official in Persian service,” (Jeffrey-Collins). Accompanied by Jewish leaders Nehemiah surveys the situation and encourages rebuilding. The leaders respond with, “Let us start building!” (v. 18) and, in spite of mocking and ridicule from the non-Jewish provincial leaders, he adds: “The God of heaven is the one who will give us success, and we his servants are going to start building; but you (i.e. Sanballat, Tobiah and Geshem the Arab) have no share or claim or historic right in Jerusalem” (v. 20).

Revelation 18:1-8

The Fall of Babylon

18:1 After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority; and the earth was made bright with his splendor. 2 He called out with a mighty voice,

"Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great!

It has become a dwelling place of demons,

a haunt of every foul spirit,

a haunt of every foul bird,

a haunt of every foul and hateful beast.

3 For all the nations have drunk

of the wine of the wrath of her fornication,

and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her,

and the merchants of the earth have grown rich from the power of her luxury."

4 Then I heard another voice from heaven saying,

"Come out of her, my people,

so that you do not take part in her sins,

and so that you do not share

in her plagues;

5 for her sins are heaped high as heaven,

and God has remembered her iniquities.

6 Render to her as she herself has rendered,

and repay her double for her deeds;

mix a double draught for her in the cup she mixed.

7 As she glorified herself and lived luxuriously,

so give her a like measure of torment and grief.

Since in her heart she says,

'I rule as a queen;

I am no widow,

and I will never see grief,'

8 therefore her plagues will come in a single day-

pestilence and mourning and famine-

and she will be burned with fire;

for mighty is the Lord God who judges her." (Revelation 18:1-8, NRSV)

In Saturday’s reading (Nov. 5, 2005), one of the angels invites John to see “the judgment of the great whore “ (Rev. 17:1), “which is Rome, the city on seven hills (17:9, 18) and the archpersecutor of the saints (17:6)” (Bruce M. Metzger, NOAB, 2^nd ed., on 17:1-18:24). That reading continues through much of chapter 17. Today’s reading presents a “dirge over the fallen city (Rome) with echoes from the taunt songs in Isa. Chs. 23-24; ch. 47; Jer. Chs 50-51; Ezek. Chs 26-27)” (Metzger on Rev. 18:1-24). Babylon (Rome) becomes “a dwelling place of demons,/a haunt of every foul spirit,/a haunt of every fowl bird,/a haunt of every foul and hateful beast” (Rev. 18:2). There is retribution for “her sins” which “are heaped high as heaven” (v. 5), including “fornication” (alliances?) with “the kings of the earth” (v. 3). God’s people are urged to leave the city (v. 4). to escape the “plagues” that “will come in a single day” when “she will be burned with fire” (v. 8).

Matthew 15:1-20

The Tradition of the Elders (Mk 7.1-13)

15:1 Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, 2 "Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands before they eat." 3 He answered them, "And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? 4 For God said, 'Honor your father and your mother,' and, 'Whoever speaks evil of father or mother must surely die.' 5 But you say that whoever tells father or mother, 'Whatever support you might have had from me is given to God,' then that person need not honor the father. 6 So, for the sake of your tradition, you make void the word of God. 7 You hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied rightly about you when he said:

8 'This people honors me with their lips,

but their hearts are far from me;

9 in vain do they worship me,

teaching human precepts as doctrines.' " (Matthew 15:1-9, NRSV)

These readings from Matthew have close parallels in Mark, but only limited echoes in Luke. Mark adds a parenthetical explanation of the question from the Pharisees and scribes (Mk. 7;1):

For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they thoroughly wash their hands, thus observing the tradition of the elders; and they do not eat anything from the market unless they wash it, and there are also many other traditions that they observe, the washing of cups, pots, and bronze kettles. (Mark 7:3-4, NRSV)

The need for this explanation suggests the difference between Mark’s Gentile readership (audience) and Matthew’s, which is at least in close proximity to Jewish culture. For Luke, the saying about cleansing the inside of the cup as well as the outside (Lk. 11:39-40) is set in the context of a dinner with a Pharisee (v. 37). Matthew and Mark refer to “the tradition of the elders” (Mt. 15:2; Mk. 7:5), that is, “regulations not found in the written Torah (Josephus, Ant. 13.297)” (J. Andrew Overman, NOAB, 3^rd ed., on Mt. 15:2). These would be the interpretations of biblical commandments given by rabbis in Jesus’ time. Matthew and Luke both quote Isaiah 29:13 (“in the Septuagint,” Overman) (Mt. 15:8, 9; Mk. 7:6-7), but in Matthew this follows the charge of breaking the Fifth Commandment (Mt. 15:4-6), whereas Mark’s Isaiah quotation precedes the charge of breaking the Fifth Commandment (Mk. 7:8-13), and includes the Aramaic word for “offering” (v. 11). “Jesus focuses the dispute in concrete economic terms on the commandment of God concerning Honor your father and your mother (cf. Ex. 20:12; 21:17), which includes economic support in their declining years. He claims that the Pharisees make it void with their tradition of Corban, encouraging people to dedicate the produce of their land to the Jerusalem Temple–thus siphoning off produce that otherwise could have been used to support parents” (Richard A. Horsley, NOAB, 3^rd ed., on Mk. 7:9-13).

Things That Defile (Mk 7.14-23)

10 Then he called the crowd to him and said to them, "Listen and understand: 11 it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles." 12 Then the disciples approached and said to him, "Do you know that the Pharisees took offense when they heard what you said?" 13 He answered, "Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. 14 Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if one blind person guides another, both will fall into a pit." 15 But Peter said to him, "Explain this parable to us." 16 Then he said, "Are you also still without understanding? 17 Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth enters the stomach, and goes out into the sewer? 18 But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles. 19 For out of the heart come evil intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. 20 These are what defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile." (Matthew 15:10-20, NRSV)

Only Matthew relates the Disciples’ report to Jesus, asking, “Do you know that the Pharisees took offense when they heard what you said?” (Mt. 15:12), which introduces a saying (v. 13) that alludes to Isaiah 60:21, “They [your people] are the shoot that I planted, the work of my hands,” and a saying about “blind guides” (v. 14; cf. Lk. 6:39). Jesus is asked what he means by “his disciples” (Mk. 7:17), or specifically by “Peter” (Mt. 15:15), and responds by emphasizing “what comes out of the mouth” as the source of defilement (v. 18; cf. Mk. 7:20), not “whatever goes into the mouth” (Mt. 15:17; cf. Mk. 7:18). What comes out is then defined as a stream of evil: “evil intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander” (Mt. 15:19; cf. Mk. 7:21-22).

Ronald D. Worden, Ph.D.

rdworden@hgst.edu

rworden@houston.rr.com