Ezra 9:1-15

Mixed Marriages

9:1 After these things had been done, the officials approached me and said, "The people of Israel, the priests, and the Levites have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands with their abominations, from the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites. 2 For they have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and for their sons. Thus the holy seed has mixed itself with the peoples of the lands, and in this faithlessness the officials and leaders have led the way." 3 When I heard this, I tore my garment and my mantle, and pulled hair from my head and beard, and sat appalled. 4 Then all who trembled at the words of the God of Israel, because of the faithlessness of the returned exiles, gathered around me while I sat appalled until the evening sacrifice.

Ezra's Prayer

5 At the evening sacrifice I got up from my fasting, with my garments and my mantle torn, and fell on my knees, spread out my hands to the LORD my God, 6 and said,

"O my God, I am too ashamed and embarrassed to lift my face to you, my God, for our iniquities have risen higher than our heads, and our guilt has mounted up to the heavens. 7 From the days of our ancestors to this day we have been deep in guilt, and for our iniquities we, our kings, and our priests have been handed over to the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, to plundering, and to utter shame, as is now the case. 8 But now for a brief moment favor has been shown by the LORD our God, who has left us a remnant, and given us a stake in his holy place, in order that he may brighten our eyes and grant us a little sustenance in our slavery. 9 For we are slaves; yet our God has not forsaken us in our slavery, but has extended to us his steadfast love before the kings of Persia, to give us new life to set up the house of our God, to repair its ruins, and to give us a wall in Judea and Jerusalem.

10 "And now, our God, what shall we say after this? For we have forsaken your commandments, 11 which you commanded by your servants the prophets, saying, 'The land that you are entering to possess is a land unclean with the pollutions of the peoples of the lands, with their abominations. They have filled it from end to end with their uncleanness. 12 Therefore do not give your daughters to their sons, neither take their daughters for your sons, and never seek their peace or prosperity, so that you may be strong and eat the good of the land and leave it for an inheritance to your children forever.' 13 After all that has come upon us for our evil deeds and for our great guilt, seeing that you, our God, have punished us less than our iniquities deserved and have given us such a remnant as this, 14 shall we break your commandments again and intermarry with the peoples who practice these abominations? Would you not be angry with us until you destroy us without remnant or survivor? 15 O LORD, God of Israel, you are just, but we have escaped as a remnant, as is now the case. Here we are before you in our guilt, though no one can face you because of this." (Ezra 9:1-15, NRSV)

The following comments are repeated here with editing and supplement from November 5, 2005 (Saturday in the week of the Sunday closest to November 2, Year One):

In yesterday’s reading we were told about Ezra’s arrival in Jerusalem with a group of returnees from Babylon with much treasure, “six hundred fifty talents of silver, and one hundred silver vessels worth . . . talents, and one hundred talents of gold, twenty gold bowls worth a thousand darics, and two vessels of fine polished bronze as precious as gold” (Ezra 8:26-27). The priests who were charged with this treasure gave an accounting upon their arrival in Jerusalem (vv. 33-34).

After the initial events celebrating their arrival (cf. 8:35), and their delivery of “the king’s commissions to the king’s satraps and to the governors of the province Beyond the River” (v. 36), Ezra is met with a problem. “the officials approached me. says Ezra, saying, “The people of Israel, the priests, and the Levites have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands with their abominations, from the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites” (9:1). These officials explain: “For they have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and for their sons. Thus the holy seed has mixed itself with the peoples of the lands, and in this faithlessness the officials and leaders have led the way” (v. 2). The phrase, “the holy seed,” says David J. A. Clines, is “a phrase from Isa. 6:13, with overtones of the language of the blessings to Abraham (e.g. 12:7; 13:14-16; 17:1-9).” He adds, “The exclusivist language expresses a concern with religious rather than simply ethnic identity, but whether that makes it better or worse is a matter of opinion” (HarperCollins Study Bible, rev. ed., 2006, on Neh. 9:2). Tamara Cohn Eskenazi explains, “To ensure survival as a small (see Ezra 9:8) minority in the midst of surrounding cultures, Ezra-Nehemiah advocates separatist policies” (NOAB, 3^rd ed., on Ezra 9:1-15). The rule of Deuteronomy 7:3-4 (cf. vv. 1-5) is thus violated. Upon hearing of this, Ezra “responds with mourning (9:3-5) and a prayer of repentance (9:5-13), since he feels that the people as a whole have been implicated in this breach of the law” (Clines, on Ezra 9:1-10:34).

When I heard this, I tore my garment and my mantle, and pulled hair from my head and beard, and sat appalled. Then all who trembled at the words of the God of Israel, because of the faithlessness of the returned exiles, gathered around me while I sat appalled until the evening sacrifice. (Ezra 9:3-4, NRSV)

In the face of this crisis, Ezra says, “At the evening sacrifice I got up from my fasting, with my garments and my mantle torn, and fell on my knees, spread out my hands to the LORD my God” (v. 5). The content of his prayer continues through the chapter (vv. 6-15). According to Eskenazi, “more a sermon than a confession, the prayer teaches values and history in order to alter community behavior.” She adds that Ezra, “like the prophets and the Deuteronomistic History [esp. Judges, Samuel and Kings] . . . interprets Israel’s political devastation as the consequence of religious and moral failings by Israel, and uses the fear of a recurrence to motivate the community” (on Ezra 9:5-15).

Ezra begins by confessing his own shame and embarrassment before God, “for our iniquities have risen higher than our heads, and our guilt has mounted up to the heavens” (v. 6). He admits that Israel, “from the days of our ancestors,” has been guilty, and that “our kings, and our priests have been handed over to the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, to plundering, and to utter shame, as is now the case” (v. 7). Eskenazi, commenting ou the words, “as is now the case,” says, “the end of exile is understood as a result of divine forgiveness, not Israel’s changed behavior” (on v. 15). Ezra is grateful for the small “remnant,” the present people of Judah, to whom “favor has been shown by the LORD our God, who has left us a remnant, and given us a stake in his holy place, in order that he may brighten our eyes and grant us a little sustenance in our slavery” (v. 8). Ezra acknowledge that, though Judah is under Persia’s control, a situation which he characterizes as “slavery,” nevertheless, “our God has not forsaken us in our slavery, but has extended to us his steadfast love (chesed) before the kings of Persia, to give us new life to set up the house of our God, to repair its ruins, and to give us a wall in Judea and Jerusalem” (v. 9).

The prayer, or “sermon” (see above), turns to confession of the present situation.

And now, our God, what shall we say after this? For we have forsaken your commandments, which you commanded by your servants the prophets, saying, 'The land that you are entering to possess is a land unclean with the pollutions of the peoples of the lands, with their abominations. They have filled it from end to end with their uncleanness. Therefore do not give your daughters to their sons, neither take their daughters for your sons, and never seek their peace or prosperity, so that you may be strong and eat the good of the land and leave it for an inheritance to your children forever. (Ezra 9:10-12, NRSV)

Eskenazi calls verses 11-12 “a paraphrase of Lev. 18:24-30 and Deut. 7:3-4,” and adds, “Such blending of Priestly and Deuteronomic material characterizes this new period, when the Torah as a book is authoritative” (on vv. 11-12). Clines sees here rather more diffuse allusion to the Pentateuch (Torah): “The words quoted by Ezra come mostly from the Pentateuch, so he must regard Moses as a prophet (as does Deut. 18:15; 34:10); there are allusions to Deut 7;1; Lev. 18:14-30; Deut. 18:9; 2 Kings 21:16; Deut. 7:3; 23:9; 11:8; 6:11; 1:38-39).

Ezra’s prayer continues with a rhetorical question. “After all that has come upon us for our evil deeds and for our great guilt,” he begins, and concedes that “you, our God, have punished us less than our iniquities deserved and have given us such a remnant as this” (v. 13), before asking, “shall we break your commandments again and intermarry with the peoples who practice these abominations? Would you not be angry with us until you destroy us without remnant or survivor?” (v. 14). Ezra’s prayer closes with emphasis on Judah’s guilt before God. “O LORD, God of Israel, you are just, but we have escaped as a remnant, as is now the case. Here we are before you in our guilt, though no one can face you because of this” (v. 15).

The resulting remedy, with mass divorces and the break-up of families (10:44) seems very harsh to modern people, but the community apparently felt that its identity was being threatened. In the complaint that the people “have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands with their abominations, from the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites” (Ezra 9:1),

The implication is that the planned second exodus is not being carried out with the same attention to purified peoples as the original Exodus. . . . To understand this action, we must think in terms of minority consciousness of perceived threat and the response to insulate themselves from threatening influences. Mal. 2:10-16 even suggests that some of the Jewish women were first abandoned so that the men could take on the foreign wives.” (Daniel L. Smith-Christopher, The Oxford Bible Commentary, 317, on Ezra 9:1-15)

Tomorrow’s reading will present the response and proposed remedy in some detail.

or Ezra 6:1-22 (alternative reading, Presbyterian and Lutheran traditions)

For the text and comments of this reading see the text and comments of Wednesday, October 31, 2007, ten days ago.

Revelation 17:1-14

The Great Whore and the Beast

17:1 Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, "Come, I will show you the judgment of the great whore who is seated on many waters, 2 with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and with the wine of whose fornication the inhabitants of the earth have become drunk." 3 So he carried me away in the spirit into a wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names, and it had seven heads and ten horns. 4 The woman was clothed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her fornication; 5 and on her forehead was written a name, a mystery: "Babylon the great, mother of whores and of earth's abominations." 6 And I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of the saints and the blood of the witnesses to Jesus.

When I saw her, I was greatly amazed. 7 But the angel said to me, "Why are you so amazed? I will tell you the mystery of the woman, and of the beast with seven heads and ten horns that carries her. 8 The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to ascend from the bottomless pit and go to destruction. And the inhabitants of the earth, whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, will be amazed when they see the beast, because it was and is not and is to come.

9 "This calls for a mind that has wisdom: the seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman is seated; also, they are seven kings, 10 of whom five have fallen, one is living, and the other has not yet come; and when he comes, he must remain only a little while. 11 As for the beast that was and is not, it is an eighth but it belongs to the seven, and it goes to destruction. 12 And the ten horns that you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but they are to receive authority as kings for one hour, together with the beast. 13 These are united in yielding their power and authority to the beast; 14 they will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with him are called and chosen and faithful." (Revelation 17:1-14, NRSV)

On November 10, 2006(Friday in the week of the Sunday closest to November 2, Year Two), comments were combined with revision and supplement from November 5, 2004 (Friday of the week of the Sunday closest to November 2, Year Two) and from comments on Revelation 17:1-14 from November 5, 2005 (Monday of the week of the Sunday closest to November 2, Year One). The combined comments are repeated here:

Following an Old Testament pattern of describing godless cities, John pictures Rome as “the great whore” (Rev. 17:1; D. E. Aune, Harper-Collins Study Bible, on Rev. 17:1-18, and B.M. Metzger, NOAB, 2^rd ed., on Rev. 17:1). “Come,” says one of the angels, “I will show you the judgment of the great whore who is seated on many waters” (Rev. 17:1b). The waters are explained as “peoples and multitudes and nations and languages” (v. 15). The reference to “fornication” which “the kings of the earth have committed” with her (v. 2), refers to “sexual misconduct applied metaphorically to the city’s international commercial and political dealings, which are judged illicit and unjust” (Jean-Pierre Ruiz, NOAB, 3^rd ed., on Rev. 17:2). John is shown “Babylon the great, mother of whores and of earth’s abominations” (v. 5) “sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names” (v. 3). The blasphemous names are “divine titles given to Roman emperors.” (Metzger on v. 3). The Scarlet Beast is the Roman Empire, who “combines the powers of the four beasts of Dan., ch. 7" (Metzger, on Rev. 13:1-10). The angel tells John that “The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to ascend from the bottomless pit and go to destruction” (17:8a). This beast “now represents the Emperor Nero, commonly expected to return to life and power (v. 11)” (Metzger, on v. 8). Richard Bauckham elaborates:

Revelation takes up the popular expectation that the emperor Nero, thought not to be dead but to have fled secretly east to the Parthian empire, would return, with allies from the east, to wreak vengeance on Rome. This expectation, kept alive by a series of pretenders claiming to be the returning Nero, was a matter of eager hope for many in the eastern part of the Roman empire, who saw it as the resurgence of the power of the east against the west. The expected returning Nero was thus a kind of messianic figure. By alluding to this myth, Rev. 17 can take in a different direction the Christological parody which was a feature of the portrayal of the beast in ch. 13. Whereas there the healing of the wound the Roman power suffered at the death of Nero parodies the resurrection of Jesus, here the return of Nero parodies the parousia of Jesus. Thus in v. 8 the beast is twice described in terms which echo one of Revelation’s key designations for God: ‘the one who was and is and is to come’ (1:4-8). The description of the beast differs in that the middle term is negative: ‘is not’. Unlike God, the beast is not eternal. (The Oxford Bible Commentary, p. 1300)

The angel adds that “the inhabitants of the earth, whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, will be amazed when they see the beast, because it was and is not and is to come” (v. 8b). The beast and his cohorts, the “ten horns,” the “kings for one hour” (v. 12), “will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with him are called and chosen and faithful” (v. 14). Metzger describes this as “the victory of Christ over the empire of the Antichrist” (on v. 14). The “then horns” of the scarlet beast (v. 3), along with the beast, “will hate the whore; they will make her desolate and naked; they will devour her flesh and burn her up with fire” (v. 16). This, explains the angel, is because “God has put it into their hearts to carry out his purpose by agreeing to give their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God will be fulfilled” (v. 17). “By divine over-ruling,” says Metzger, “the forces of iniquity fulfill the purposes of God” (on v. 17).

Matthew 14:22-36

Today’s reading from Matthew and the parallel texts in Mark and John are presented in the following table:

For recent comments on these passages from the perspective of Mark’s version, see the Archive for August 1, 2007 (Wednesday in the week of the Sunday closest to July 27, Year One); for recent comments from the perspective of John’s version, see the Archive for March 20, 2007 (Tuesday in the week of the Fourth Sunday of Lent, Year One). On June 9, 2006 (Friday in the week of the Sunday closest to June 1, Year Two), comments were repeated with some editing and supplement from November 5, 2005 (Saturday in the week of the Sunday closest to November 2, Year One). Those comments are repeated here:

After being present at the feeding of the five thousand, you would think the disciples would begin to understand–but they did not (Mk. 6:52). Jesus had sent them across the sea in the boat (v. 45), but when he observed their difficulty “he came towards them early in the morning, walking on the sea” (v. 48). That “he intended to pass them by” (v. 48) is explained as describing “the way Jesus appeared to his disciples” (Elwyn E. Tilden and Bruce M. Metzger, NOAB, 2^nd ed., on Mk. 6:48). But they thought they were seeing “a ghost” (v. 49) and cried out in terror. He calmed them by saying “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid” (v. 50). Apparently they were still lacking in faith, for “they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened” (v. 52). But the next scene, when many were healed (vv. 53-56) ought to have been an encouragement to their faith. How easy it is to let our own faith dwindle when we face “an adverse wind” (v. 48).

At this point in a parallel version of the Gospels such as Aland’s (see the table), it is remarkable to find parallel versions of events in Matthew, Mark and John, but not in Luke. In general, the narratives Jesus’ public ministry in Mark and Luke run parallel up to and including the Feeding of the Five Thousand (Mk. 1:14-6:44 and Lk. 4:14-9:17) and, after a gap in Luke, the pattern continues (Mk. 8:27-9:41 and Lk. 9:18-50; Mk. 10:13 to the the Passion Narrative and Lk. 18:15 to the Passion Narrative). There are, of course, a number of incidental differences within these overall narratives, but two significant variations in the pattern stand out. The first has been called Luke’s major omission: on the assumption that Mark is one of his sources, he omits Mark 6:45-8:26, beginning with the account of Jesus Walking on the Water (Mk. 6:45-52). The second is Luke’s “Travel Narrative,” the account of Jesus final journey from Galilee to Jerusalem (Lk. 9:51-18:14).

John, however, who often goes his own way, presents a sequence of events at this point that has been compared to the Synoptic tradition, that is, a block of material with a common sequence is shared by the Mark-Matthew tradition (or the “pre-Markan” tradition, if you will) and the Johannine tradition. Vincent Taylor says of Mark’s account of “the Landing at Gennesaret” (Mk. 6:53-56):

This section is a narrative composed by Mark on the basis of tradition. [In other words, he did not find it in its present form in one of his sources.] In this respect it resembles iii. 7-12. Cf. Dibelius, 224; Bultmann, 366. It is not, however, a purely literary and imaginative sketch. There are good reasons for this view. The connexion with the preceding story of the Crossing is good, and there is reason to believe that the Feeding of the Five Thousand, the Crossing, and the Landing, attested twice over by Mark (vi. 30-56 and viii. 1-10) and by John (vi. 1-25), formed a fixed series in the earliest tradition. (Vincent Taylor, The Gospel According To St. Mark, 1959, p.331 on Mk. 6:53-56; cf. pp. 628-632)

For John, these events essentially bring the period of Jesus’ Galilean ministry to a close–or at least, most of the activity beginning with John chapter 7 (as some of the earlier material in chapters 2, 3 and 5 as well) is located in Judea. The note about Jesus’ withdrawal when “they were about to come and take him by force to make him king” (Jn. 6:15) is one indication of this transition.

After Feeding the Five Thousand, Jesus puts the disciples in a boat and sends them ahead across the lake, “while he dismissed the crowds” (Mt. 11:22). He “went up the mountain by himself to pray” (v. 23), but the boat, “battered by the waves, was far from land, for the wind was against them” (v. 24). “And early in the morning he came walking toward them on the sea” (v. 25). “But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, ‘It is a ghost!’ And they cried out in fear” (v. 26). But Jesus’ words are reassuring, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid” (v. 27). So far, the story is closely parallel to the versions of Mark (Mk. 6:45-52) and John (Jn. 6:16-21, briefer, but basically the same so far). The most dramatic feature of the story–found only in Matthew–is Peter’s attempt to come to Jesus on the water. “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water” (Mt. 14:28). When Jesus said, “Come,” Peter “got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came toward Jesus. But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, ‘Lord, save me!’” (vv. 29-30). We know that Jesus “reached out his hand and caught him” (v. 31), but we may ponder Jesus’ words, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” For Mark and John the point of the story is the miracle itself. Here is “the man who walks on water.” We borrow the phrase, “So and so can walk on water!” But with Jesus it is amazing. For John it is one of the signs (semeia) that he begins to enumerate: Water to Wine as the first sign (ch. 2), Healing the Official’s Son as the second (ch. 4), after which the enumeration breaks off. But he summarizes the book, or a significant part of it, as a selection of signs (Jn. 20:30-31). In the three accounts Jesus says “It is I” (Mt. 14:27; Mk. 6:50; Jn. 6:20) but the words (ego eimi) could be translated “I am” (cf. NRSV notes in Mark & John), alluding to the divine name given to Moses (Ex. 3:14).

As for the Walking on the Water miracle, if we believe that “all things came into being through him [i.e. the Logos = Jesus]” (Jn. 1:3), that he is one with the Father, of whom the Psalmist said:

When the waters saw you, O God,

When the waters saw you, they were afraid;

The very deep trembled.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Your way was through the sea,

Your path, through the mighty waters;

Yet your footprints were unseen. (Ps. 77:16, 19, NRSV)

why can’t we believe that Jesus really did walk on water? But there are respectable and responsible scholars who are generally traditional and “conservative” in their approach to controversial issues of biblical criticism who nevertheless give consideration to other explanations. Vincent Taylor says:

For the modern reader the point of difficulty is the walking on the water. A not negligible objection is the fact that it cannot be said that the intervention of Jesus meets a desperate need. The disciples are distressed by the wind, but they are not in jeopardy of their lives. . . . Most difficult of all is the objection that a docetic view of the person of Christ appears to be implied. (op. cit., 326-327, on Mk. 5:45-52).

William Barclay, whose conclusion is less decisive against the miracle, suggests that the key phrase in Matthew 14:25, epi tēn thalassan, can equally mean either “over the sea” or “towards the sea,” and that epi tēs thalassēs (v. 26), “on the sea” is used in John 21:1 for “at the sea,” that is, “by the seashore, of Tiberias” (The Gospel of Matthew, Daily Study Bible, rev. ed., 1975, p. 105 on Mt. 14:22-27), which he interprets as “a real difficulty in knowing what happened,” since “there are two perfectly possible interpretations of this passage. He adds:

But, whatever interpretation of the Greek we choose, the significance is perfectly clear. In the hour of the disciples’ need Jesus came to them. When the wind was contrary and life was a struggle, Jesus was there to help. No sooner had a need arisen, than Jesus was there to help.

In life the wind is often contrary. There are times when we are up against it and life is a desperate struggle with ourselves, with our circumstances, with our temptations, with our sorrows, with our decisions. At such a time no man need struggle alone, for Jesus comes to him across the storms of life, with hand stretched out to save, and with his calm clear voice bidding us take heart and have no fear. (Barclay, op. cit., pp. 105-106)

Only Matthew includes the part about Peter stepping out of the boat to come to Jesus. But Jesus’ words to him come to us as well, especially when we face challenges that seem insurmountable in human terms. “Come. . . . You of little faith, why did you doubt” (Mt:14:29, 31). But after reflection on this event, and perhaps in his preaching, Matthew thought about Peter’s actions as typical of many Christians. They make a good beginning, but doubt overcomes faith, and they falter. They need to learn to sing:

When the storms of life are raging/Stand by me/When the storms of life are raging/Stand by me

When the world is tossing me/Like a ship out on the sea/Thou who rulest wind and water/Stand by me

Ronald D. Worden, Ph.D.

rdworden@hgst.edu

deanworden@comcast.net