1 Kings 3:5-14

5 At Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream by night; and God said, "Ask what I should give you." 6 And Solomon said, "You have shown great and steadfast love to your servant my father David, because he walked before you in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart toward you; and you have kept for him this great and steadfast love, and have given him a son to sit on his throne today. 7 And now, O LORD my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David, although I am only a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in. 8 And your servant is in the midst of the people whom you have chosen, a great people, so numerous they cannot be numbered or counted. 9 Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, able to discern between good and evil; for who can govern this your great people?"

10 It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this. 11 God said to him, "Because you have asked this, and have not asked for yourself long life or riches, or for the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right, 12 I now do according to your word. Indeed I give you a wise and discerning mind; no one like you has been before you and no one like you shall arise after you. 13 I give you also what you have not asked, both riches and honor all your life; no other king shall compare with you. 14 If you will walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your life." (1 Kings 3:5-14, NRSV)

The following comments on 1 Kings 3:1-15 are repeated here from August 24, 2005 (Wednesday of the week of the fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost, using Proper 16):

When we think of Solomon, we think of wisdom. In this reading, in a dream he is offered a request, when God says “Ask what I should give you” (1 Kgs. 3:5), and the Lord is pleased (v. 10) when Solomon says, “Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, able to discern between good and evil” (v. 9). But we might ask a few questions. How wise was it to begin his reign by marrying an Egyptian princess (v. 1)? Marriage with foreign wives was forbidden (Deut. 7:3, though the nations mentioned are principally the former inhabitants of Canaan). Or how wise was it to make an alliance with Egypt (v. 1) in the light of Deuteronomy 17:16? Earlier David’s advice to Solomon about dealing with Joab mentions Solomon’s “wisdom”: “Act therefore according to your wisdom, but do not let his [Joab’s] gray head go down to Sheol in peace” (1 Kgs. 2:6). By his earlier “wisdom” Solomon swiftly disposed of people who could potentially threaten his position as king. Iain W. Provan, in part anticipating tomorrow’s reading [i.e. the reading for Aug. 25, 2005], puts it this way: Solomon’s “old wisdom had led to the use of the sword only for arguably unjust executions. His new wisdom leads to a more positive use of his weapon (v. 24), threatening execution in order to achieve justice” (Iain W. Provan, NOAB, 3rd ed., on vv. 16-28). Solomon accomplished many things, some that David wanted, but was not allowed, to do. But it’s hard to think of these things without remembering the assessment of him in chapter 11–the dark side of his reign, so to speak. And one might say that shadows of this dark side appear right from the beginning. What was he doing in one of the “high places,” for goodness sake? Gibeon was “the principal high place” (1 Kgs. 3:4; cf. Deut. 12:2-7).

We should remember that 1 Kings and 2 Kings were a continuous story–and for that matter, so was Samuel-Kings. There are two books of each because an ancient scroll would only hold so much. The final authors/editors of Kings were concerned to understand the disaster of the Babylonian conquest and the demolition of the first temple. They represent a prophetic viewpoint and conclude that the disaster was God’s punishment for the sin of idolatry, forsaking the LORD their God. In their judgment, the kings of Israel and Judah bear primary responsibility for this idolatry and apostasy. And so these editors apparently took some pains to suggest that it began with Solomon. (There are those who think Deuteronomy wasn’t written yet, and Solomon is perhaps unjustly blamed by the standards of a later time. But idolatry is recurrent throughout the historical books–the ones the Jews call the “Former Prophets”–and it is denounced repeatedly by the prophets.)

James 4:13-17; 5:7-11

Presumption

13 Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a town and spend a year there, doing business and making money." 14 Yet you do not even know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15 Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wishes, we will live and do this or that." 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil. 17 Anyone, then, who knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, commits sin. (James 4:13-17, NRSV)

The following comments on James 4:13-5:6 are repeated here from September 2, 2005 (Friday of the week of the fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost, using Proper 17):

When James warns about presumption and making plans for the conducting of business (Jas. 4:13), it is not a warning against planning as such, but a rebuke for planning that disregards what “the Lord wishes” (v. 15). He has in mind merchants who travel “to such and such a town and spend a year there, doing business and making money” (v. 13), but, failing to appreciate the transience of their own lives (v. 14), their projection of future profitable business ventures amounts to arrogant boasting (v. 16). In any line of work, the Christian believer should live as unto the Lord. The one “who knows the right thing to do”–knowing that he or she should plan with God’s perspective in mind–“and fails to do it, commits sin” (v. 17). Compare the traditional definition of sin within the Wesleyan tradition, “a willful transgression of a known law” (Richard S. Taylor, “The Question of "Sins of Ignorance" in Relation to Wesley's Definition,” http://wesley.nnu.edu/wesleyan_theology/theojrnl/21-25/22-04.htm, consulted Sept. 1, 2005).

Patience in Suffering

7 Be patient, therefore, beloved, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious crop from the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains. 8 You also must be patient. Strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near. 9 Beloved, do not grumble against one another, so that you may not be judged. See, the Judge is standing at the doors! 10 As an example of suffering and patience, beloved, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. 11 Indeed we call blessed those who showed endurance. You have heard of the endurance of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful. (James 5:7-11, NRSV)

The following comments on James 5:7-11 are repeated here from comments on James 5:7-20 (omitting comments on vv. 12-20) used September 3, 2005 (Saturday of the week of the fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost, using Proper 17):

Previous verses conclude with warnings to rich people about their greed and trust in “gold and silver” which “have rusted,” producing evidence (the “rust”) against them in the coming judgment (Jas. 5:3). They have failed to heed the Lord’s advice to “store up . . . treasures in heaven” rather than “on earth” (Mt. 6:19-20). More than that, they have defrauded their laborers, keeping back their wages by fraud (v. 4). The reference to murder of “the righteous one,” says Cain Hope Felder,

rather than a cryptic allusion to Jesus . . . may be the editor’s reference to James himself [who was put to death in about A.D. 62]. The account of the crucifixion of Jesus, the stoning of Stephen (Acts 7:54-60), and the martyrdom of James (Josephus, Ant. 20.9.1; Eusebius, Eccl. Hist. 2.23.21) resemble one another in presenting the martyrs as innocent, prophetic, highly regarded by their followers, and killed without resisting by a sinful mob. Alternately, the righteous one may be the innocent laborer (v. 4) whose mistreatment is compared to murder; cf. Sir. 34:24-26). (NOAB, 3rd ed., on Jas. 5:6).

Today’s reading provides a contrast by beginning with encouragement for faithful people. Encouragement? Yes, but in a rather stern mode. They are to “be patient” (Jas. 5:7, 8) and “strengthen your hearts” in expectation of “the coming of the Lord” which “is near” (v. 8). They are not to “grumble against one another so that you may not be judged” for ”the Judge is standing at the door” (v. 9). The prophets and Job are presented as examples of “suffering and patience” (vv. 10-11).

John 5:1-15

Jesus Heals a Lame Man on the Sabbath

5:1 After this there was a festival of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

2 Now in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate there is a pool, called in Hebrew Beth-zatha, which has five porticoes. 3 In these lay many invalids-blind, lame, and paralyzed. 5 One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been there a long time, he said to him, "Do you want to be made well?" 7 The sick man answered him, "Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; and while I am making my way, someone else steps down ahead of me." 8 Jesus said to him, "Stand up, take your mat and walk." 9 At once the man was made well, and he took up his mat and began to walk.

Now that day was a sabbath. 10 So the Jews said to the man who had been cured, "It is the sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your mat." 11 But he answered them, "The man who made me well said to me, 'Take up your mat and walk.' " 12 They asked him, "Who is the man who said to you, 'Take it up and walk'?" 13 Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had disappeared in the crowd that was there. 14 Later Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, "See, you have been made well! Do not sin any more, so that nothing worse happens to you." 15 The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. (John 5:1-15, NRSV)

The following comments on John 5:1-18 are repeated here from February 23, 2005 (Wednesday of the week of the second Sunday in Lent):

Jesus goes up to Jerusalem for “a festival of the Jews” (Jn. 5:1). The festival is not specified, but various festivals have been suggested, for example, Tabernacles, Passover or Pentecost (cf. Raymond E. Brown, The Gospel According to John I-XII, Anchor Bible, 29, 206). But the focus of the narrative is on Jesus’ healing of the lame man (vv. 3-9), and the challenge of the Jews, first to the healed man, “It is the sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your mat” (v. 10), and then to Jesus, “because he was doing such things on the sabbath” (v. 16, cf. v. 18). Many have had special interest in the pool. “Excavations near the later Church of St. Anne have uncovered evidence of a second century CE healing sanctuary and pool with five porticoes” (Obery M. Hendricks, NOAB, 3rd ed.). Brown notes that “From patristic days (Tertullian, Chrysostom) a baptismal motif has been suggested for this story: this man whom the waters of Judaism could not heal has been cured by Christ” (p. 211). But Brown notes that “Not only do the waters not heal, but also vs. 4 was probably not part of the text of John.” (It is missing in most of the earlier manuscripts.) More to the point is the healing on the sabbath as a clue to Jesus’ identity, a theme of the debate which follows (vv. 19-46). “But Jesus answered them, ‘My Father is still working, and I also am working.’ For this reason the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because he was not only breaking the sabbath, but was also calling God his own Father, thereby making himself equal to God” (vv. 17-18).

Ronald D. Worden, Ph.D.

rdworden@hgst.edu

rworden@houston.rr.com