Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) 36:1-17

A Prayer for God's People

36:1 Have mercy upon us, O God of all,

2 and put all the nations in fear of you.

3 Lift up your hand against foreign nations

and let them see your might.

4 As you have used us to show your holiness to them,

so use them to show your glory to us.

5 Then they will know, as we have known,

that there is no God but you, O Lord.

6 Give new signs, and work other wonders;

7 make your hand and right arm glorious.

8 Rouse your anger and pour out your wrath;

9 destroy the adversary and wipe out the enemy.

10 Hasten the day, and remember the appointed time,

and let people recount your mighty deeds.

11 Let survivors be consumed in the fiery wrath,

and may those who harm your people meet destruction.

12 Crush the heads of hostile rulers

who say, “There is no one but ourselves.”

13 Gather all the tribes of Jacob,

16 and give them their inheritance, as at the beginning.

17 Have mercy, O Lord, on the people called by your name,

on Israel, whom you have named your firstborn, (Ecclesiasticus 36:1-17, NRSV)

The following comments are repeated with revision and supplement here from October 31, 2004, two years ago (Monday of the week of the Sunday closest to November 2, Year Two):

Ben Sira offers "a prayer for the deliverance and restoration of Israel" (Bruce M. Metzger & Roland E. Murphy, NOAB, 2^nd ed., on Sirach 36:1-22). He prays, "Have mercy upon us, O God of all, / and put all the nations in fear of you. / Lift up your hand against foreign nations / and let them see your might" (vv. 1-2), with particular reference to the Seleucids (i.e. Hellenistic Syrians), who took control of Israel from the Ptolemies (i.e. Hellenistic Egyptians) after 198 B.C. Ben Sira prays that the Lord will “Lift up your hand against foreign nations / and let them see your might” (v. 3). He continues by stating that the Lord has used Israel to show the nations his holiness, and petitioning that God will “use them to show your glory to us” (v. 4). In this way, the truth of Israel’s monotheism will become known. “Then they will know, as we have known / that there is no God but you, O Lord” (v. 5). The “new signs” and “other wonders” he requests, which will “mak your hand and right arm glorious” (vv. 6-7), which Burton Mack calls “common shorthand allusions to the exodus story of deliverance from Egypt (The HarperCollins Study Bible, on Sirach 36:6-7), are to be expressed as the Lord is asked to “Rouse your anger and pour out your wrath; / destroy the adversary and wipe out the enemy” (vv. 8-9).

Ben Sira’s prayer asks God to “Hasten the day, and remember the appointed time, / and let people recount your mighty deeds” (v. 10 NRSV). Verse seven is the equivalent verse in the Septuagint, rendered as verse eight in the King James Version Apocrypha, “Make the time (kairos) short, remember the covenant, and let them declare thy wonderful works.” Harold C. Washington comments, “The appointed time [refers to] the awaited deliverance from domination by foreign rulers” (NOAB, 3^rd ed. on Sirach 36:10 NRSV). Compare Paul’s statements that “the appointed time (kairos) has grown short” (1 Cor. 7:29, and his reference to “a plan for the fullness of time” (oikonomian tou plērōmatos tōn kairōn, Eph. 1:10). In a similar reference in Galatians, Paul uses a different word for “time”: “But when the fullness of time (plērōma tou chronou) had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law” (Gal. 4:4).

We may infer that early Christians applied Jewish expectations of the time of deliverance from their enemies to their own understanding that in Christ the times of deliverance were being fulfilled; the powers of darkness were defeated and the time of salvation had come. But ben Sira’s prayer continues in terms of Israel’s deliverance from their enemies. “Let survivors be consumed in the fiery wrath,” he prays, with reference of course to survivors among the enemy, “and may those who harm your people meet destruction” (v. 11). “Crush the heads of hostile rulers / who say, ‘There is no one but ourselves’” (v. 12). At this point ben Sira’s attention turns from the enemy to Israel itself. “Gather all the tribes of Jacob,” he prays, “and give them their inheritance, as at the beginning” (vv. 13, 16–though verse numbers 14 and 15 are not used, “no text is missing,” NRSV text note e). He refers to the allotment of land to the tribes in the Book of Joshua. The prayer continues, but the reading concludes, “Have mercy, O Lord, on the people called by your name, / on Israel, whom you have named your firstborn” (v. 17. The prayer was answered to some extent a few years later, after the Maccabean Revolt, when Israel would be free and independent again for a few decades, until General Pompey and the Romans took control of them in 63 B.C.

Zephaniah 1:1-6 (Presbyterian and Lutheran traditions–This passage is not included in the Daily Office Lectionary of the Book of Common Prayer.)

1:1 The word of the LORD that came to Zephaniah son of Cushi son of Gedaliah son of Amariah son of Hezekiah, in the days of King Josiah son of Amon of Judah.

The Coming Judgment on Judah

2 I will utterly sweep away everything

from the face of the earth, says the LORD.

3 I will sweep away humans and animals;

I will sweep away the birds of the air

and the fish of the sea.

I will make the wicked stumble.

I will cut off humanity

from the face of the earth, says the LORD.

4 I will stretch out my hand against Judah,

and against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem;

and I will cut off from this place every remnant of Baal

and the name of the idolatrous priests;

5 those who bow down on the roofs

to the host of the heavens;

those who bow down and swear to the LORD,

but also swear by Milcom;

6 those who have turned back from following the LORD,

who have not sought the LORD or inquired of him. (Zephaniah 1:1-6, NRSV)

Zephaniah is called the “son of Cushi son of Gedaliah son of Amariah son of Hezekiah,” apparently the king of Judah in the times of Isaiah, and his work is dated “in the days of King Josiah” (Zephaniah 1:1). Due to “Zephaniah’s condemnation of practices prohibited by Deuteronomy ([Zeph.] 1:4-6, 8-9, 12; 3:1-13),”Gregory Mobley infers that “he prophesied before Josiah’s reforms of 621 BCE (2 Kings 23)” and dates the oracles “perhaps, to 630-620 . . . roughly contemporaneous with those in Nahum” (NOAB, 3^rd ed. in the Introduction to Zephaniah).

Following the prose introduction in verse one, Zephaniah presents an oracle of judgment with broad, even universal scope. “I will utterly sweep away everything / from the face of the earth, says the LORD. / I will sweep away humans and animals; / I will sweep away the birds of the air / and the fish of the sea” (vv. 2, 3a, b, c). The LORD “will make the wicked stumble. / [He] will cut off humanity / from the face of the earth” (v. 3d, e, f). Mobley sees here “the scope of the destruction and the echoes of Genesis (cf. 1:2 with Gen. 7:23),” and adds that “the sequence humans, animals, birds, fish reverses the order of Gen. 1:20-26), [thus suggesting] the undoing of creation (cf. Jer. 4:23-26)” (on Zeph. 1:2-3).

But the oracle turns specifically against Judah. “I will stretch out my hand against Judah, / and against all the inhabitants from Jerusalem” (v. 4a, b). The LORD “will cut off . . . every remnant of Baal,” he says, “and the name of the idolatrous priests” (v. 4c, d). They have worshiped “the host of heaven,” that is “astral deities” (Mobley on v. 5), and though they “swear to the LORD,” they “also swear by Milcom, the “chief deity of Ammon” (Mobley). These are further defined as “those who have turned back from following the LORD, / who have not sought the LORD or inquired of him” v. 6). In contrast to these priests, when the Amalekites burned Ziklag, before David pursued them and rescued their captives, he directed the priest Abiathar to “Bring me the ephod,” which Abiathar did, and “David inquired of the LORD, ‘Shall I pursue this band?’” And the LORD answered, “Pursue; for you shall surely overtake and shall surely rescue” (1 Sam. 30:7-8).

1 Corinthians 12:27-13:13

27 Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. 28 And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers; then deeds of power, then gifts of healing, forms of assistance, forms of leadership, various kinds of tongues. 29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? 30 Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? 31 But strive for the greater gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way.

13:1 If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

4 Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. 7 It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

8 Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. 9 For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; 10 but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. 13 And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love. (1 Corinthians 12:27-13:13, NRSV)

The following comments are combined with revision and supplement here from October 31, 2004, two years ago (Monday of the week of the Sunday closest to November 2, Year Two), and from later comments on all or part of this passage, from October 8, 2005 (Saturday of the week of the Sunday closest to October 5, Year One), from October 10, 2005 (Monday of the week of the Sunday closest to October 12, Year One), and from March 31, 2006 (Friday of the week of the Fourth Sunday of Lent, Year Two):

Paul will emphasize the relative importance of the gift of prophecy as compared to the gift of tongues in 1 Corinthians, chapter 14. In today’s reading the transition begins to prepare for that, but first directs our attention to the supreme importance of love, the “still more excellent way” (12:31 and chapter 13). Without love (agape), the best speaking in tongues is “a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal” (13:1) and the best of prophetic powers is “nothing” (13:2).

Paul’s initial list of gifts of the Spirit (1 Cor. 12:8-10), first stated in terms of functions, is now repeated by reference to the persons with the gifts (vv. 28-30). The fact that the two lists correspond approximately, but not exactly, suggests that they are not comprehensive and definitive. We might compare the references to “prophets” and “teachers” (vv. 28, 29) to the gifts of “utterance of wisdom” and “utterance of knowledge” (v. 8). Note especially “prophets” (vv. 28, 29) and “prophecy” (v. 10), “deeds of power” (v. 28) or “miracles” (v. 29) and “working of miracles” (v. 10), “gifts of healing” (vv. 28 and 9), speaking “in tongues” (v. 30) and “various kinds of tongues” (v. 10), and interpretation (v. 30, ‘Do all interpret’) and “the interpretation of tongues” (v. 10). Two items from the later list, “forms of assistance” and “forms of leadership” (v. 28) have no direct correlate in the earlier list, nor does “faith” (v. 9) in the later list. One might suppose that faith would be a factor in the exercise of all the gifts.

Although Paul says to “strive for the greater gifts” (v. 31), nothing from these lists is singled out as “greater.” (Later he will emphasize the value of “prophecy” for “upbuilding and encouragement and consolation,” 14:3, in a way that suggests “preaching.”) The “more excellent way” is “love” (chapter 13), which is not one of the gifts, but should characterize the exercise of all of the gifts, whether “prophetic powers” or “faith, so as to remove mountains” (13:2), or, presumably, any of the other gifts. Whether we discuss the character of God or of Christian holy living, love is fundamental.

Paul’s statement that “love is the fulfilling of the law” (Rom. 13:10) echoes the centrality of love within the Judeo-Christian tradition, from the Shema (Deut. 6:4-9) to Jesus’ response to the question about the “greatest commandment” (Mt. 22:34-40 and parallels) and beyond. But in this eloquent praise of love (1 Cor. 13), Paul outdoes himself. It is important to recognize this as God-given love that transcends the “natural loves” to which C. S. Lewis compares it. He discusses romantic love (eros), affection (storgē, which occurs in compounds in the NT, e.g. philostorgoi, “with mutual affection, Rom. 12:10), friendship (philia) and God’s kind of love (agapē). Lewis says:

The invitation to turn our natural loves [affection, friendship, eros] into Charity [agape] is never lacking. It is provided by those frictions and frustrations that meet us in all of them; unmistakable evidence that (natural) love is not going to be ‘enough'–unmistakable, unless we are blinded by egotism. . . . ‘If only I had been more fortunate in my children (that boy gets more like his father every day) I could have loved them perfectly.' . . . ‘If only my wife had fewer moods and more sense, and were less extravagant' . . . But in everyone, and of course in our selves, there is that which requires forbearance, tolerance, forgiveness. The necessity of practicing these virtues first sets us, forces us, upon the attempt to turn–more strictly, to let God turn–our love into Charity [agape]" (The Four Loves, p. 186)

Paul describes this kind of love: it is patient, kind, not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It is unselfish, not irritable or resentful. One wonders if we can live up to this standard. But within this description of love, it is clear that Paul is making a comparison with the spiritual gifts. In fact, the placement of the this description between the discussion of gifts and church unity in chapter 12 and the comparison of tongues and prophecy in chapter 14 makes it clear that love is the supreme value. Prophecy and understanding, even with faith, are nothing without love (1 Cor. 13:2). What could be better than faith, hope and love? But “the greatest of these is love” (v. 13). The text of 1 Corinthians, chapter 13, is superimposed on the wedding picture on the home page of this web site, showing Mark and Lori Worden and Pastor Robert Creech. "Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends . . . ." (1 Cor. 13:4-8).

The following texts and comments are combined with revision and supplement here from October 31, 2004, two years ago (Monday of the week of the Sunday closest to November 2, Year Two), from November 19, 2005 (Saturday of the week of the Sunday closest to November 16, Year One), and June 23, 2006 (Friday of the week of the Sunday closest to June 15, Year Two):

Matthew 18:21-35

Forgiveness

21 Then Peter came and said to him, "Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?" 22 Jesus said to him, "Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times.

Peter asks if he should forgive another member of the church “as many as seven times” (Mt. 18:21). According to William Barclay,

Peter thought that he was being very generous. . . . [He] was not without warrant for this suggestion. It was Rabbinic teaching that a man must forgive his brother three times. Rabbi Jose ben Hanina said, ‘He who begs forgiveness from his neighbour must not do so more than three times.’ Rabbi Jose ben Jehuda said, ‘If a man commits an offence once, they forgive him; if he commits an offence a time, they forgive him; if he commits an offence a third time, they forgive him; the fourth time they do not forgive.’ The Biblical proof that this was correct was taken from Amos. In the opening chapters of Amos, there is a series of condemnations on the various nations for three transgressions and for four (Amos 1:3, 6, 9, 11, 13; 2:1, 4, 6). From this it was deduced that God’s forgiveness extends to three offences and that he visits the sinner with punishment at the fourth. It was not to be thought that a man could be more gracious than God, so forgiveness was limited to three times. (William Barclay, The Gospel of Matthew, The Daily Study Bible Series, rev. ed., 1975, vol. 2, p. 135 on Mt. 18:21-35).

Barclay suggests that Peter thought he was being more than generous, “for he takes the Rabbinic three times, multiplies it by two [and] for good measure adds one, and suggests, with eager self-satisfaction, that it will be enough if he forgives seven times” (Ibid.). Jesus responds with a multiple of seven: “seventy-seven times” (v. 22; or seventy times seven NRSV note). Whether that amounts to seventy-seven (77) or seventy times seven (490), it’s a very large number for this context. Luke presents a version of this saying (Lk. 17:3) which was compared with the instruction on dealing with “another member of the church [who] sins against you” (Mt. 18:15, cf. vv. 15-20) yesterday: “And if the same person sins against you seven times a day, and turns back to you seven times and says, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive” (Lk. 17:4). Compare the previous verse, “Be on your guard! If another disciple sins, you must rebuke the offender, and if there is repentance, you must forgive” (v. 3). Luke’s version of Jesus’ response, “seven times a day” (Lk 17:4), has no cut-off point. Seven times a day for how long? It wouldn’t take long to exceed four hundred ninety (490) times. In both Gospels, Jesus essentially says, forgiveness should be unlimited when there is repentance. “In other words, there is no reckonable limit to forgiveness” (Barclay, p. 135, on Mt. 18:21-35).

The emphasis is placed on forgiveness as “the guiding principle in church relations and resolving conflict” (J. Andrew Overman, NOAB, 3^rd ed., on Mt. 18:21). Similar numbers appear in Genesis 4:24 (Overman), but in that context vengeance, not forgiveness, is the subject.

Whereas God avenged the death of Abel, Lamech takes vengeance into his own hands; he exacts death only for an injury; he appropriates God’s own measures and intensifies the level of retribution, so much so that only a blood feud could ensue (see Matt. 18:21-22 for Jesus’ reversal of Lamech’s boast). The song shows how Cain’s violence had been intensified through the generations. Progress in sin and its effects matches the progress in civilization. (Terence E. Fretheim, on Gen. 4:17-26 in The New Interpreter’s Bible, vol. 1, 1994, p. 375).

The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant

23 "For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. 24 When he began the reckoning, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him; 25 and, as he could not pay, his lord ordered him to be sold, together with his wife and children and all his possessions, and payment to be made. 26 So the slave fell on his knees before him, saying, 'Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.' 27 And out of pity for him, the lord of that slave released him and forgave him the debt. 28 But that same slave, as he went out, came upon one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and seizing him by the throat, he said, 'Pay what you owe.' 29 Then his fellow slave fell down and pleaded with him, 'Have patience with me, and I will pay you.' 30 But he refused; then he went and threw him into prison until he would pay the debt. 31 When his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their lord all that had taken place. 32 Then his lord summoned him and said to him, 'You wicked slave! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. 33 Should you not have had mercy on your fellow slave, as I had mercy on you?' 34 And in anger his lord handed him over to be tortured until he would pay his entire debt. 35 So my heavenly Father will also do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart." (Matthew 18:23-35, NRSV)

The point of Jesus’ exchange with Peter about how many times one should forgive another church member is illustrated by a story, the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant (Mt. 18:23-35, not reported in the other Gospels). A king "wished to settle accounts with his slaves" (v. 23), and when one slave pleaded for mercy, the king forgave his debt of "ten thousand talents" (10,000 times 15 years of wages for a laborer; “a talent was worth more than fifteen years’ wages of a laborer,” NRSV text note I on Mt. 18:24). But when the slave refused to show similar mercy to another for a debt of "a hundred denarii" (100 days' wages; “The denarius was the usual day’s wage for a laborer,” NRSV text note j on v. 28), the king revoked his original forgiveness and "handed him over to be tortured until he would pay his entire debt" (v. 34). The parable comes to a point in the king's rebuke: "You wicked slave! I forgave you all that debt [10,000 talents, v. 24] because you pleaded with me. Should you not have had mercy on your fellow slave, as I had mercy on you?" (vv. 32-33). Because a single talent was worth more than fifteen years' wages of a laborer, “ten thousand talents is an unimaginable amount" (D. C. Duling, HarperCollins Study Bible, on Mt. 18:24). At these rates, the larger debt was 150,000 years’ wages! When we are forgiven, are we not to pass it on? I guess one ought to be more than ready to forgive!

Ronald D. Worden, Ph.D.

rdworden@hgst.edu

rworden@houston.rr.com