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)

The following comments are repeated here with editing and supplement from November 7, 2005 (Monday in the week of the Sunday closest to November 9, Year One):

Ezra’s prayer of confession in Ezra 9:5-15 focused specifically on the problem of mixed marriages (see text and comments for Saturday, November 10, 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). The context of this reading in the Book of Nehemiah makes it appear to follow Ezra’s public reading of the law (Neh. 8:1-8, cf. vv. 9-12), and the celebration of the Festival of Booths (vv. 13-18). The reading of the law took place on the first day of the seventh month, Tishrei, or September-October (Neh. 7:73b). On the second day of the month, “the heads of ancestral houses, priests and Levites studied “the words of the law” (8:13) and read about the Festival of Booths, “the festival of the seventh month” (v. 14). After suitable preparation, “all the assembly of those who had returned from the captivity made booths and lived in them/ for from the days of Jeshua son of Nun to that day the people of Israel had not done so. And there was very great rejoicing” (v. 17). (For more details about this celebration see the reading for Wednesday of this week, November 14, 2007.)

The text of Nehemiah does not give day-of-the-month dates for this festival, but assumes that the Festival of Booths began on the fifteenth day of Tishri (cf. Lev. 23:39-43), and continued for seven days (Tishri 15-21), followed by the “solemn assembly” on the eighth day (Neh. 8:18b), which would be Tishri [Sept.-Oct.] 22. At the beginning of today’s reading, the day reference fits with this understanding. “Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month [i.e., 2 days later] the people of Israel were assembled with fasting and in sackcloth, and with earth on their heads” (Neh. 9:1). “Two days later,” says David J. A. Clines, assuming the above sequence, “a day of penitence is held ([Neh. 9:]1-4, and the prayer of the Levites is reported (vv. 5-37).” But he also notes the absence of reference to the Day of Atonement. “Strangely, the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) on the tenth has not been mentioned; perhaps the ceremony of the twenty-fourth replaces it, or perhaps the narrative deliberately downgrades cultic activities in favor of an increased annual role for scripture” (HarperCollins Study Bible, rev. ed., 2006, on Neh. 9:1-37). According to Hindy Najman, “This passage suggests that a festival similar to Yom Kippur is observed on the 24^th day of Tishri, after the celebration of Sukkot, not on the 10^th of Tishri, as reflected in other biblical texts (Lev. 16:29; 23:27-28; 25:9; Num. 29:7) and later rabbinic traditions” (The Jewish Study Bible, 2004, on Neh. 9:1-5).

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). Eight persons are named (unless the two references to “Bani” are duplicates; but the name occurs more than once in this period, cf. Harper’s Bible Dictionary, 1985, s.v. Bani) who “stood on the stairs of the Levites and cried out with a loud voice to the LORD their God” (v. 4). Immediately we are told that eight Levites, five of the preceding list, and three with different names, 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” (v. 5).

In the Hebrew text, the prayer continues, led by these Levites. But in the Septuagint (Greek translation), the wording of the prayer is attributed to Ezra. The apparatus in R. Kittel, ed., Biblia Hebraica, 22^nd ed., in effect says to “insert with the Greek xr!z4f@ rm@xY0ov1” (wayyō’mer ‘ezrā’), which is followed by the NRSV, “And Ezra said, ‘You are the LORD, you alone . . .’ ” (Neh. 9:6 NRSV; contrast NJPS, which follows the Hebrew text). Tamara Cohn Eskenazi goes with the Hebrew text:

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. (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 (alternative reading, Presbyterian and Lutheran traditions)

For the text and comments of this reading see the text and comments of Friday, November 2, 2007, ten days ago.

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)

On November 11, 2006 (Saturday in the week of the Sunday closest to November 2, Year Two), when the reading was Revelation 18:1-14, comments were combined with revision and supplement from November 6, 2004 (Saturday of the week of the Sunday closest to November 2, Year Two), from November 7, 2005 (Monday of the week of the Sunday closest to November 9, Year One), and from September 17, 2006 (the Sunday closest to September 14, Year Two). Relevant parts of those comments are repeated here with further editing and supplement:

In Saturday’s reading (Nov. 10, 2007), 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 theme 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). The song is introduced by “another angel [who comes] down from heaven, having great authority,” and by his coming “the earth was made bright with his splendor” (v. 1).

 “Fallen, fallen is Babylon [i.e. Rome] the great! / It has become a dwelling place of demons,” says the angel, “a haunt of every foul spirit, / a haunt of every fowl bird, / a haunt of every foul and hateful beast” (v. 2). “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” (v. 3). According to David E. Aune, “Fornication” here is a “metaphor for political and religious subservience to Rome,” and “Merchants . . . have grown rich [means that] Wealthy Romans bought expensive products from everywhere (see vv. 11-13).” Aune adds, “Though Rome is implicitly condemned for economic exploitation, the criticism is softer than one might expect” (HarperCollins Study Bible, rev. ed., 2006, , on Rev. 18:3). Then John hears “another voice from heaven” that calls upon God’s people to “Come out of her . . . so that you do not take part in her sins, / and so that you do not share in her plagues” (v. 4). There is retribution for “her sins” which “are heaped high as heaven.” for “God has remembered her iniquities” (av. 5). Instruction is given (to the judgmental process?): “Render to her [Babylon = Rome] as she herself has rendered, / and repay her double for her deeds; / mix a double draught for her in the cup she mixed” (v. 6). Reference is made here to Jeremiah 51:9 by Aune (on v. 6) and by Jean-Pierre Ruiz (NOAB, 3^rd ed., on Rev. 18:6). The angel’s voice continues: “As she [Babylon = Rome] glorified herself and lived luxuriously, / so give her a like measure of torment and grief” (v. 7a, b). Words are put in her mouth, as Aune says, “The fatal pride of Rome is personalized in this brief hubristic soliloquy” (on v. 7): “Since in her heart she says, / ‘I rule as a queen; / I am no widow, / and I will never see grief’ ” (v. 7c, d, e, f). God’s people are well warned to leave her (v. 4, above), for, because of these sins “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” (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.' "

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 15:1-20, NRSV)

On June 10, 2006 (Saturday in the week of the Sunday closest to June One, Year Two), comments were combined with some revision from June 5, 2004 (Saturday of the week of Pentecost, Year Two) in an email sent June 2, 2004 for June 3-6), and from November 7, 2005 (Monday of the week of the Twenty-Fifth Sunday after Pentecost, Year One). The revised comments are repeated here with some further editing and supplement. These readings from Matthew have close parallels in Mark, but only limited echoes in Luke. For parallel passages, see the separate file, Defilement - Traditional and Real. For recent comments from the perspective of Mark’s version, see the Archive for August 2, 2007 (Thursday in the week of the Sunday closest to July 27, Year One):

Matthew and Mark begin by telling us that Pharisees and scribes have come to Jesus from Jerusalem (Mt. 15:1; Mk. 7:1). Compare the setting in Luke when Jesus is invited to dine with a Pharisee (Lk. 11:37). In Matthew, the question to Jesus is direct. “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands before they eat” (Mt. 15:2). Before Mark presents the question, he tells us that the Pharisees and scribes notice “that some of his [i.e., Jesus’] disciples were eating with defiled hands, that is, without washing them” (Mk. 7:2; cf. the amazement reported by Luke 11:38). Mark’s form of the question, “Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?” (Mk. 7:5), is preceded by 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. 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).

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). In this passage “the tradition of the elders” (Mt. 15:2), or “your tradition” (3, 6) is set in contrast with “the commandment of God” (vv. 3, 4) or “the word of God” (v. 6). Mark’s version (Mk. 7:1-23) has the same contrast, “tradition of the elders” (Mk. 7:3, 5) or “traditions” (v. 4), or “human tradition” (v. 8), or “your tradition” (v. 13) versus “the commandment of God” (vv. 8, 9), or “word of God’ (v. 13). C. G. Montefiore, who wrote a commentary on the Synoptic Gospels from the Jewish perspective, notes that Matthew emphasizes “the divineness of the Pentateuchal Law (not merely of the Decalogue, for Exodus xxi. 17 is cited as well as xx. 12)” (The Synoptic Gospels, The Library of Biblical Studies, vol. 2, 1968, p. 223 on Mt., chap. 15.) He notes that Matthew stresses this divineness “by the substitution of ‘God’ for ‘Moses’ in [verse] 4.” “For God said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’ [Ex. 20:12; Deut. 5:16] and, ‘Whoever speaks evil of father or mother must surely die’ ” (Mt. 15:4, citing Ex. 21:17; cf. Lev. 20:9) Montefiore discusses the problem of using later evidence (Mishnah, Talmud) to understand what the Gospels say about the Pharisees (for which he has been criticized–unjustly, he thinks). He says, “I have said, and I repeat, that Jesus put his finger upon the dangers of Rabbinic religion and of ‘legalism.’ There were doubtless some ‘formalists’ in the Rabbis of his time, some Rabbis who cleansed the outside of the cup and left the inside dirty, some Rabbis who neglected ‘mercy,’ but were, nevertheless, sanctimonious and self-righteous” (p. 225). But he adds that “We must always use the Gospel evidence as regards Pharisaism with great caution, because it is the product of antagonists” (Ibid.). I would agree that what Jesus said applies to some (but not all) Pharisees of his time. Montefiore has other objections, but his comments on verse 18 (Mt. 15:18) are noteworthy.

This verse puts the point clearly. But the opposition between ‘into the mouth’ and ‘from the mouth’ carries the redactor [i.e. editor of Matthew’s Gospel, following a Protestant scholar] too far. For what comes ‘from the man’ (so Mark) is wider than what comes ‘from the mouth.’ Yet though Matthew throughout presses ‘from the mouth’ instead of the more general ‘from the man,’ he includes in his catalogue of sins many which do not literally proceed from the mouth, though they do proceed from the man. To eat with unwashed hands is no ‘sin of the heart,’ and therefore cannot defile. (Montefiore, p. 224, on Mt. 15:18)

The Rabbinical traditions later compiled in the Mishnah included a major section entitled "Purities" (Tohorot; cf. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tohorot, accessed again Nov. 11, 2007). Jesus apparently took note of an obsession with ritual purity on the part of some Pharisees. “The attitude of Jesus is not that such observances are wrong, but that they are receiving a disproportionate attention, to the neglect of things which really matter” ( R. McL. Wilson, Peake's Commentary on the Bible, sec. 703a, p. 807, on Mk. 7:1-23).

Ronald D. Worden, Ph.D.

rdworden@hgst.edu

deanworden@comcast.net