Isaiah 1:1-9

1:1 The vision of Isaiah son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

The Wickedness of Judah

2 Hear, O heavens, and listen, O earth;

for the LORD has spoken:

I reared children and brought them up,

but they have rebelled against me.

3 The ox knows its owner,

and the donkey its master’s crib;

but Israel does not know,

my people do not understand.

4 Ah, sinful nation,

people laden with iniquity,

offspring who do evil,

children who deal corruptly,

who have forsaken the LORD,

who have despised the Holy One of Israel,

who are utterly estranged!

5 Why do you seek further beatings?

Why do you continue to rebel?

The whole head is sick,

and the whole heart faint.

6 From the sole of the foot even to the head,

there is no soundness in it,

but bruises and sores

and bleeding wounds;

they have not been drained, or bound up,

or softened with oil.

7 Your country lies desolate,

your cities are burned with fire;

in your very presence

aliens devour your land;

it is desolate, as overthrown by foreigners.

8 And daughter Zion is left

like a booth in a vineyard,

like a shelter in a cucumber field,

like a besieged city.

9 If the LORD of hosts

had not left us a few survivors,

we would have been like Sodom,

and become like Gomorrah. (Isaiah 1:1-9, NRSV)

The following comments are repeated here with revision and supplement from November 28, 2004, two years ago (the First Sunday of Advent, Year One):

The superscription (title) of the Book of Isaiah identifies it as a vision “which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah (Isa. 1:1). Since the report of Isaiah’s vision in the temple and his “call” to prophesy (chap. 6) is dated “in the year that King Uzziah died” (6:1), one should assume that Isaiah’s career began late in the reign of Uzziah, or immediately after, and spanned much of the latter part of the Eighth Century B.C. Joseph Blenkinsopp gives dates for the four lings listed from 785 to 698 or 687, adding that “the chronology is disputed.” He says that identifying the “entire book as a vision” corresponds to “late biblical usage [in which the term] has the broad sense of divine revelation” (NOAB, 3^rd ed., on Isa. 1:1).

Following the superscription, the message of Isaiah begins with “a poem of indictment and hope” (Benjamin D. Sommer, The Jewish Study Bible, p. 784, on Isa. 1:2-31). He adds:

some view this ch. As a single speech that is especially comprehensive in subject matter and biting in tone. Alternatively, it may be a summary of the contents of the book as a whole, written especially to be an introduction, probably to chs. 1-33, but perhaps to the final form of the book (cf. 1:28-31 with 66:24). Much of this chapter (vv. 1-27) is read as the haftorah, or prophetic reading, on the Sabbath preceding Tish‘ah be’av, which commemorates the destruction of the Temple. This section is thus seen as offering theological justification for that event. (Ibid.)

Isaiah begins with the LORD’s complaint: After calling upon the heavens and the earth to “hear” and “listen,” he says “the LORD has spoken” (Isa. 1:2a, b). “I reared children and brought them up,” says the LORD, “but they have rebelled against me. / The ox knows its owner, / and the donkey its master’s crib; / but Israel does not know, / my people do not understand” (vv. 2c, d, 3). The prophet addresses Israel as a “sinful nation,” a “people laden with iniquity, / offspring who do evil, / children who deal corruptly” (v. 4a, b, c, d). His charge is that they “have forsaken the LORD,” and “have despised the Holy One of Israel, [and thus] utterly estranged!” (v. 4e, f, g). According to Blenkinsopp, “the prophet indicts Israel for religious infidelity” (on vv. 2-31). “The rhetorical call for attention appeals to heaven and earth to witness the LORD’s grievance against his people in the context of a lawsuit concerning Israel’s violation of the covenant . . . The idea of rebellious children recalls the penalty of death imposed on the rebellious son (Deut. 21:18-21).” Blenkinsopp adds that “the appeal to animal behavior is the first of many examples of Isaiah’s appropriation of the didactic tradition of Israel’s sages (e.g., Prov. 6:6-8)” (Blenkinsopp, on vv. 2-3; cf. Sommer on 2-4)

The continuation describes this “sinful nation” that has “despised the Holy One of Israel” (v. 4), as deathly ill “from the sole of the foot even to the head” (vv. 5-6), nothing “but bruises and sores / and bleeding wounds” (v. 6). Their country “lies desolate,” says the prophet; “your cities are burned with fire” (v. 7a, b). The land is devoured “in your very presence,” and lies “desolate, as overthrown by foreigners” (v. 7c, d, e). When the prophet says that “daughter Zion is left / like a booth in a vineyard, / like a shelter in a cucumber field” (v. 8a, b, c), he implies the deserted state after the harvest; the booth is an empty shell, as the final line shows, “like a besieged city” (v. 8d). The prophet seems to put words in the mouths of the people. “If the LORD of hosts / had not left us a few survivors, / we would have been like Sodom, / and become like Gomorrah” (v. 9). Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed, of course, in the days of Abraham and Lot (Gen. 19).

Desolation described, for “aliens devour your land,” which is “overthrown by foreigners” is related by Victor R. Gold and William L. Holladay to “a people heedless of the significance of Judah’s devastation by Tiglath-Pileser III (734-733 B.C.; 7:1-2) or Sennacherib (701 B.C.; 36:1)” (NOAB, 2^nd ed., on Isa. 1:4-9). The past tense here apparently anticipates future invasion; otherwise the call to repentance (vv. 16-20) would seem pointless. Specific sins are mentioned later, especially in Tuesday’s reading (vv. 21-23, 29-30); today’s reading focuses on the desolation.

2 Peter 3:1-10

The Promise of the Lord’s Coming (Gen 6.5-8.22)

3:1 This is now, beloved, the second letter I am writing to you; in them I am trying to arouse your sincere intention by reminding you 2 that you should remember the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets, and the commandment of the Lord and Savior spoken through your apostles. 3 First of all you must understand this, that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and indulging their own lusts 4 and saying, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since our ancestors died, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation!” 5 They deliberately ignore this fact, that by the word of God heavens existed long ago and an earth was formed out of water and by means of water, 6 through which the world of that time was deluged with water and perished. 7 But by the same word the present heavens and earth have been reserved for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the godless.

8 But do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day. 9 The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fire, and the earth and everything that is done on it will be disclosed. (2 Peter 3:1-10, NRSV)

The following comments are combined with revision and supplement here from November 28, 2004, two years ago (the First Sunday of Advent, Year One), and from November 30, 2005 (Wednesday in the week of the first Sunday in Advent, Year Two):

By calling his letter “the second letter I am writing to you” (2 Pet. 3:1) the writer identifies with Peter and the First Epistle of Peter. He refers again to two primary sources for his instruction, “the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets,” in other words, the Hebrew Bible (our Old Testament), especially the prophetic books, and the apostolic witness to “the commandment of the Lord and Savior” (v. 2). Chapter 2 of Second Peter warns about false teachers in a manner closely similar to the Book of Jude; but it is passed over here. But the present reading is particularly concerned with “the promise of his [i.e. the Lord’s] coming” (2 Pet. 3:4). There will be “scoffers” who “indulging their own lusts” (v. 3) will ask, “Where is the promise of his coming?” (v. 4). They will point to the passage of time as “all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation!” (v. 4). The reading from Second Peter defends the Christian hope for Christ’s Second Coming against “scoffers” who “will come, scoffing and indulging their own lusts and saying, ‘Where is the promise of his coming [parousia]” (vv. 3-4). The scoffers continue, “For ever since our ancestors died, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation!” (v. 4). But Peter responds by referring to the creation of the earth “out of water” (v. 5 ), and its destruction by water (v. 6). There was judgment then, when “the world of that time was deluged with water and perished” (v. 6). This was “by the word of God” (v. 5), and the prediction of judgment is “by the same word” (v. 7). Although delayed, the next judgment will be with “fire,” for the heavens and earth are “being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the godless” (v. 7). God’s time is not counted as our time, for “with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day” (v. 8). Judgment and “destruction of the godless” (v. 7) have been delayed, for the Lord wants “all to come to repentance” (v. 9). It “will come” (v. 10), though the Lord “is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance” (v. 9). G. H. Boobyer (Peake’s Commentary on the Bible, sec. 904a, p. 1033, on 2 Pet. 3:1-13) sees in this passage an echo of a theme from chapter one, “For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming [parousia] of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1:16). He notes the term parousia in 1:16 and 3:4. The Latin Vulgate has praesentiam in 1:16, but adventus in 3:4, but whether 1:16 refers to the first “Advent” or the second, the connection with the Advent season is apparent. If you think about it, the “coming” (advent) is a precondition of the “presence” (parousia).

Matthew 25:1-13

The Parable of the Ten Bridesmaids

25:1 “Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this. Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. 2 Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. 3 When the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them; 4 but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. 5 As the bridegroom was delayed, all of them became drowsy and slept. 6 But at midnight there was a shout, ‘Look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ 7 Then all those bridesmaids got up and trimmed their lamps. 8 The foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ 9 But the wise replied, ‘No! there will not be enough for you and for us; you had better go to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.’ 10 And while they went to buy it, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went with him into the wedding banquet; and the door was shut. 11 Later the other bridesmaids came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’ 12 But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I do not know you.’ 13 Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour. (Matthew 25:1-13, NRSV)

The following comments are combined with revision and supplement here from November 28, 2004, two years ago (the First Sunday of Advent, Year One), from December 15, 2005 (the First Sunday of Advent, Year Two), when some use was made of an E-mail sent December 17, 2003, and from July 17, 2006 (Monday of the week of the Sunday closest to July 13, Year Two), which also made use of an E-mail sent earlier (July 12, 2004):

Matthew’s Parable of the Wise and Foolish Bridesmaids (Mt. 25:1-13) shares a theme, the need for watchfulness, and some motifs with passages in other Gospels. Emphasis is put on watchfulness for the unexpected return of “the master of the house” (Mk. 13:35) who goes on a journey (v. 34, cf. vv. 33-37). Luke 12:35-38 blesses “those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes” (v. 37a). If he finds them alert, “he will have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them” (v. 37b). According to Marion Lloyd Soards, “The language suggests the messianic banquet (13:29; 14:15; 22:16) to which a marriage feast served as an analogy” (NOAB, 3^rd ed., on Lk. 12:37). Luke also includes what looks like Matthew’s parable in miniature. “Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit; be like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks” (v. 35-36).

In Matthew’s Parable of the Wise and Foolish Bridesmaids (Mt. 25:1-13), the focus is again on the delay of the “coming,” the bridegroom’s coming. Coming as it does after the eschatological teaching of chapter twenty-four, Jesus’ parable of the wise and foolish bridesmaids has the obvious sense, “Be ready for the coming of the Lord!” Krister Stendahl points out, “While the parables about the Kingdom in ch. 13 were introduced by the formula ‘The Kingdom of Heaven is like . . .’ we read here ‘Then the Kingdom of Heaven shall be like . . .” (Peake’s Commentary on the Bible, sec. 692 [letter] l, p. 794 on Mt. 25:1-13). One should note the wisdom of the five wise bridesmaids in careful planning, providing extra oil for the lamps. Some would allegorize and say that the oil signifies the Holy Spirit, understanding, as Paul said, “Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him” (Rom. 8:9). But the main point is to Be ready! The final warning, “Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour” (v. 13), “is repeated as a refrain from the preceding chapter, but does not fit too well for the details of the Matthean parable since all ten fell asleep (v. 5)” (Ibid.). “The point in Matthew is made by stressing the wisdom of five of the maidens.” The coming of the bridegroom, surely a reference to the Lord’s coming, is delayed (v. 5), but he does come (v. 10). Let us keep our hearts prepared for his coming!..

Some who read Jesus' parable of the wise and foolish bridesmaids (Mt. 25:1-13) are inclined to interpret it as an allegory, letting the oil which the wise bridesmaids took with them, and the foolish bridesmaids neglected, represent the Holy Spirit. Having the oil, that is, the Holy Spirit, makes all the difference in the outcome. Dale C. Allison, Jr., calls the parable

an allegory of the parousia of Christ, the heavenly bridegroom: the virgins represent the Christian community, the delay of the bridegroom is the delay of the Son of Man’s return, the sudden coming is the unexpected arrival of his parousia, and the spurning of the foolish virgins is the great assize [judgment]. (Dale C. Allison, Jr., The Oxford Bible Commentary, p. 878, on Mt. 25:1-13)

Allison adds that the delay of the parousia “means yet again that no one knows the date of the Son of Man’s parousia,” that the wise virgins “reveal that religious prudence will gain eschatological reward,” and that the foolish virgins “reveal that those unprepared at the end will suffer eschatological punishment” (Ibid.).

I would see the main point of the parable as emphasizing the need to be ready when the Lord comes. But if for Zerubbabel, it was "not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, says the LORD," how much more is it so for us? Jesus said, "I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate [or Helper], to be with you forever" (Jn. 14:16). He "will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you" (Jn. 14:26). "When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth" (Jn. 16:13). May you know the spiritual power that comes through God's Spirit, and find renewal and refreshment in this Christmas season.

Ronald D. Worden, Ph.D.

rdworden@hgst.edu

rworden@houston.rr.com