Obadiah 15-21

¹⁵ For the day of the Lord is near against all the nations.

As you have done, it shall be done to you;

your deeds shall return on your own head.

¹⁶ For as you have drunk on my holy mountain,

all the nations around you shall drink;

they shall drink and gulp down,

    and shall be as though they had never been.

¹⁷ But on Mount Zion there shall be those that escape,

and it shall be holy;

and the house of Jacob shall take possession of those who dispossessed them.

¹⁸ The house of Jacob shall be a fire,

the house of Joseph a flame,

and the house of Esau stubble;

they shall burn them and consume them,

and there shall be no survivor of the house of Esau;

 for the Lord has spoken.

¹⁹ Those of the Negeb shall possess Mount Esau,

and those of the Shephelah the land of the Philistines;

they shall possess the land of Ephraim and the land of Samaria,

and Benjamin shall possess Gilead.

²⁰ The exiles of the Israelites who are in Halah

shall possess Phoenicia as far as Zarephath;

and the exiles of Jerusalem who are in Sepharad

shall possess the towns of the Negeb.

²¹ Those who have been saved shall go up to Mount Zion

to rule Mount Esau;

and the kingdom shall be the Lord’s. (Obadiah 15-21, NRSV)

The following comments are repeated here with editing and supplement from November 23, 2005 (Wednesday in the week of the Sunday closest to November 23, Year One):

As the focus of Nahum is on Assyria, so the focus of Obadiah is on Edom. In both cases, the LORD’s judgment upon the enemy nation is relief for Israel. Obadiah rebukes Edom: “On the day that you stood aside,/on the day that strangers carried off his wealth,/and foreigners entered his gates/and cast lots for Jerusalem/you too were like one of them” (Obadiah 11). From Israel’s perspective, Edom stood by and watched the Babylonian destruction and captivity of Israel. “But you should not have gloated over your brother/on the day of his misfortune;/you should not have rejoiced over the people of Judah/on the day of their ruin;/you should not have boasted/on the day of distress” (v. 12). Edom added insult to injury by “gloating over Judah’s disaster” (v. 13), even hindering the flight of fugitives (v. 14).
Apparently, they even moved in to take over Jewish territory when the Jews were deported. (Compare the location of Edom on maps of the Old Testament period in your Bible, southeast of the Dead Sea, with the location of Idumea, a later name for Edomite territory, in Persian-Hellenistic times.)

The selection for today’s reading continues Obadiah’s rebuke and judgment of Edom (vv. 15-16). “As you have done, it shall be done to you; / your deeds shall return on your own head” (v. 15). “For as you have drunk on my holy mountain,” says the prophet, speaking for the LORD, “all the nations around you shall drink; / they shall drink and gulp down, / and shall be as though they had never been” (v. 16). Gregory Mobley compares this to such texts as Jeremiah 25:15-29; 49:12; and Lamentations 4:21 (NOAB, 3^rd ed., on Obadiah 16), where drinking the cup of the LORD’s wrath and the resulting drunkenness is a vivid picture of the LORD’s judgment and punishment. Jeremiah says, “For thus says the LORD: If those who do not deserve to drink the cup still have to drink it, shall you be the one to go unpunished? You shall not go unpunished; you must drink it” (Jer. 49:12).

But Obadiah has words of blessing for Israel. “¹⁷ But on Mount Zion there shall be those that escape, / and it shall be holy; / and the house of Jacob shall take possession of those who dispossessed them” (v. 17). The restoration of Israel will be a blessing for Israel, but at Edom’s expense. Israel is “a fire,” “a flame” and “the house of Esau stubble,” and Edom will be burned with “no survivor” (v. 18). Various Israelite tribes and groups will repossess land from Esau, the Philistines, Samaria and Gilead (v. 19), and others will repossess “Phoenicia as far as Zarephath,” and “the towns of the Negeb” (v. 20). “Those who have been saved [i.e. Israelites restored from captivity] shall go up to Mount Zion / to rule Mount Esau; / and the kingdom shall be the LORD’s” (v. 21).

1 Peter 2:1-10

            2:1 Rid yourselves, therefore, of all malice, and all guile, insincerity, envy, and all slander. 2 Like newborn infants, long for the pure, spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow into salvation— 3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.

            4 Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight, and 5 like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For it stands in scripture:

“See, I am laying in Zion a stone,

a cornerstone chosen and precious;

and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”

7 To you then who believe, he is precious; but for those who do not believe,

“The stone that the builders rejected

has become the very head of the corner,”

8 and

“A stone that makes them stumble,

and a rock that makes them fall.”

They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.

            9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

10 Once you were not a people,

but now you are God’s people;

once you had not received mercy,

but now you have received mercy.

On April 15, 2007 (the Second Sunday of Easter, Year One), comments were combined from April 21, 2004 (Wednesday of the week of the Second Sunday of Easter, Year Two), in an email sent April 18, 2004, for that week, comments that were repeated on April 26, 2006 (Wednesday of the week of the Second Sunday of Easter, Year Two), and from comments of April 3, 2005 (the Second Sunday of Easter, Year One), and of November 23, 2005 (Wednesday in the week of the Sunday closest to November 23, Year One). They are repeated here.

Chapter 2 of 1 Peter introduces a series of exhortations–advice about Christian living–that continue in much of the remainder of the Epistle. Peter urges Christians to “Rid yourselves...of all malice, and all guile, insincerity, envy, and all slander” (1 Pet. 2:1), but to “long for the pure spiritual milk, so that, by it you may grow into salvation” (v. 2). Peter H. Davids finds a “surprise” in verse 2,

for instead of a catalogue of virtues to replace the vices (as in Gal. 5), we discover a call to dependence on God. Since they have been reborn (cf. 1:2 for this image, which is a baptismal image), they are babies. Both the terms “newborn” and “babies,” which indicate a nursing infant, show this. Thus they should desire appropriate food, namely milk. (Peter H. Davids, The First Epistle of Peter, NICNT, 1990, p. 81 on 1 Pet. 2:2)

Then the imagery shifts to stones, “from that of nourishment to that of security and honor” (Davids on v. 4). Christ is “a living stone” who has been “rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight” (v. 4) and the readers, “like living stones,” are to “let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (v. 5). Quotations from the Old Testament about stones follow, illustrating the statement that Christian believers are “built into a spiritual house” (cf. Isa. 28:16; Ps. 118:22; Isa. 8:14). Davids comments:

The Christians are not naturally ‘living stones,’ but become such as they are joined to Christ in conversion and baptism (cf. 2 Cor. 3:18, for it is only as they come to him that this building is possible. Nor are they pictured as individually stones, lying apart in a field or building site, but collectively as part of God’s great temple. It is God, of course, who is building them together into this edifice of the end times, thus the verb (‘are being built’) is descriptive, not imperative (‘be built’ or ‘let yourselves be built,’ neither of which fits smoothly into the context). (pp. 86-87 on v. 5).

The cornerstone text which Peter cites in his address to the Council (Acts 4:11, citing Ps. 118:22, is used in his Epistle (1Pet. 2:7, citing Ps. 118:22). Another text is added, Isaiah 28:16, cited in 1 Peter 2:6. Peter is encouraging new Christians, “newborn infants” (1 Pet. 2:2), to “long for the pure, spiritual milk” and become mature Christians, “living stones” for “a spiritual house” (v. 5a), that is, a “temple” (M. Eugene Boring, NOAB, 3^rd ed.). Then the metaphor changes again. They are to be “a holy priesthood” (v. 5b). This imagery, which “modulates from birth and growth to the construction of a spiritual house(temple) and then to a holy priesthood,” pictures the “communal” aspect of the Christian life” (Boring). Elaboration of the thought uses “A chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people” (v. 9), “four honorific titles taken from Ex. 19:6; Isa. 43:20-21" (David L. Balch, HarperCollins Study Bible, on 1 Pet. 2:9), and quotations from Hosea 1:9; 2:23. Davids says these titles, “which are used elsewhere in the NT as well, particularly in Revelation (Rev. 1:6; 5:10; 20:6; cf. 1 Pet. 2:5), are woven together with a phrase taken first from Exodus (‘But you’), then from Isaiah (‘chosen people’), then Exodus again (‘royal priesthood’ and ‘holy nation’), and finally Isaiah (‘God’s own people . . . deeds,’ the grammar changed to suit the new context in 1 Peter), indicating a long period of meditation on and use of these texts in the church. The emphasis throughout is collective: the church as a corporate unity is the people, priesthood, nation, etc., rather than each Christian being such” (p. 91 on v. 9).

Peter H. Davids comments on the “stone” (v. 8) which “divides believers from unbelievers (including the persecutors of these Christian readers)” (The First Epistle of Peter, NICNT, 1990, p. 90 on 1 Pet. 2:9). Peter then

returns to the topic of their privileged position in God’s temple, using the emphatic “but you” to make the transition and contrast clear. This position is described by transferring to the church the titles of Israel in the OT (for the church is the true remnant of Israel, as the use of Israel’s titles from 1:1 on indicates), in particular the titles found in the Septuagint of Exod. 19:5-6 (cf. 23:22) and Isa. 43:20-21 (cf. Deut. 4:20; 7:6; 10:15; 14:2). (Davids, p. 90 on 1 Pet. 2:9)

Today’s reading concludes with “a poem based on Hos. 1:6, 9-10; 2:23” (Davids, p. 93 on 1 Pet. 2:10). Hosea’s unfaithful wife had children with symbolic names. “She conceived again and bore a daughter. Then the LORD said to him, “Name her Lo-ruhamah, for I will no longer have pity on the house of Israel or forgive them” (Hos. 1:;6). “When she had weaned Lo-ruhamah, she conceived and bore a son. Then the LORD said, “Name him Lo-ammi, for you are not my people and I am not your God” (Hos. 1:8-9). This judgment on Israel is reversed in Hosea 2:23: “And I will have pity on Lo-ruhamah,/and I will say to Lo-ammi, ‘You are my people’;/and he shall say, ‘You are my God’.”

Unlike Israel these Christians never experienced themselves as unfaithful to a covenant, but they did realize that they were once outside God’s favor, that is, rejected. Once they were “not a people,” for “the people of God” was a term reserved for Israel. . . . But now these Christians know they are elect–not just a people of God, but the people of God. They are the recipients of God’s mercy, that is, his care and concern. (Davids, p. 93 on 1 Pet. 2:10)

The closing quotation from Hosea emphasizes God’s mercy.

But now these Christians know they are elect–not just a people of God, but the people of God. They are the recipients of God’s mercy, that is, his care and concern. This poem sums up the election theme of this section and gives comfort to a suffering and rejected people who are to see that their earthly rejection is only earthly. In truth they are the accepted ones of God. (Davids, p. 93 on v. 10)

Matthew 19:23-30

23 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it will be hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven. 24 Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” 25 When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astounded and said, “Then who can be saved?” 26 But Jesus looked at them and said, “For mortals it is impossible, but for God all things are possible.”

27 Then Peter said in reply, “Look, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?” 28 Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man is seated on the throne of his glory, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold, and will inherit eternal life. 30 But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first. (Matthew 19:23-30, NRSV)

On June 24, 2007 (the Sunday closest to June 22, Year One), comments were based on those of June 19, 2005, two years earlier (the Sunday closest to June 22, Year One), those of November 23, 2005 (Wednesday of the week of the Sunday closest to November 23, Year One), and those of June 27, 2006 (Tuesday in the week of the Sunday closest to June 22, Year Two). Those comments are repeated here with some editing.

In the three Synoptic Gospels this passage (Mt. 19:23-30; Mk. 10:23-31; Lk. 18:24-30), addressed to the disciples, follows the account of Jesus advice to the Rich Young Ruler (Mt. 19:16-22; Mk. 10:17-32; Lk. 18:18-23), who “went away grieving, for he had many possessions” (Mt. 19:22). As noted yesterday, for recent comments on the account of the Rich Young Ruler, on Mark’s version, see the Archives for August 14 and 15, 2007 (Tuesday and Wednesday in the week of the Sunday closest to August 10, Year One). For recent comments on Luke’s version, see the Archive for June 9, 2007 (Saturday in the week of the Sunday closest to June 1, Year One). In both cases, the discussion of riches and the rewards of discipleship which follows is included. For parallel accounts of the text of this discussion, see the separate file, On Riches and the Rewards of Discipleship.

In reference to the saying about the camel and the needle’s eye, there’s no need to look for “doorways” in and around Jerusalem for which a camel would have to kneel and then barely make it through. Elton Trueblood takes the saying (Mt. 19:24; Mk. 10:25; Lk. 18:25) as an example of “the preposterous.” We fail, he says

to recognize that Christ used deliberately preposterous statements to get his point across. . . . “It is easier,” said Jesus, “for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God” (Mark 10:25). This categorical statement, given with no qualifications whatever, follows, in all three accounts, the story of a wealthy man who came to Jesus to ask seriously how he might have eternal life. He claimed to have kept the standard commandments, but he went away sorrowfully when told that , at least in his case, it would be necessary to divest himself of all of his possessions.

We are informed that Christ’s hearers were greatly astonished, and well they might have been, if they took the dictum literally, as they apparently did. Taken literally, of course, the necessary conclusion is that no one who is not in absolute poverty can enter the Kingdom, because most people have some riches, and it is impossible for a body as large as that of a camel, hump and all, to go through an aperture as small as the eye of a needle. . . . That the listeners failed to see the epigram about the needle’s eye as a violent metaphor is shown by their question, “Then who can be saved?” (Mark 10:26).

By making the statement in such an exaggerated form . . . Christ made sure that it was memorable, whereas a prosy, qualified statement would certainly have been forgotten. . . . Christ made his point, so that millions remember it today, though the first hearers misunderstood and kept it accurately only because it was so bizarre. (Elton Trueblood, The Humor of Christ, 46-48).

R. McL. Wilson, commenting on Mark 10:25, says “The saying about the eye of a needle should not be weakened by taking the ‘camel’ as a cable or the ‘needle’s eye’ as a postern gate; the saying is a vivid hyperbole to express what is humanly impossible.” He adds, “the whole passage [Mk. 10:17-31] contains in germ Paul’s doctrine concerning the law” (Peake’s Commentary on the Bible, sec. 106c, p. 811 on Mk. 10:25). In Matthew, Jesus adds that what is humanly impossible is possible for God (Mt. 19:26), “for God all things are possible” (v. 26), that is, for mortals, including the rich, to be saved (vv. 25-26). Dale C. Allison, Jr. summarizes what follows this comparison:

The disciples’ subsequent question, which uncritically presupposes (against the rest of Matthew) that wealth is a sign of divine favour, implies that if not even the rich man, blessed as he is by God, can enter the kingdom, who can? The answer lies in God’s omnipotence, which is antithetical to human impotence: regarding salvation only God has strength–just as, with regard to goodness, God and human beings belong to different categories (cf. V. 17). But note that v. 26 speaks only of the possible, not the probable. God’s omnipotence does not guarantee anyone’s salvation. v. 26 is not comfort for the rich; it does not cancel vv. 23-4. (Dale C. Allison, Jr., The Oxford Bible Commentary, p. 870, on Mt. 19:16-30)

Peter wonders what this means for himself and others who, not like the rich man, have left all to follow Jesus. He receives the promise of a “hundredfold” reward and “eternal life” (v. 29). Allison sees verse 28 as “crucial,” which

alludes to Dan. 7:9-27, [but] refers not to a one-time judgement but to lordship. The text is not about Israel’s condemnation at the consummation but the disciples’ exercise of authority in the future (cf. 20:20-1). As the twelve phylarchs [tribal leaders] once directed the twelve tribes under Moses, and as Israel was once ruled by judges, so shall it be at the end. Compare the Jewish prayer in the Shemoneh ‘’Esreh: ‘Restore our judges as in former times.’ (Ibid.)

J. Andrew Overman offers a similar interpretation: this means they will “assume the role of the twelve patriarchs (T. Jud. [i.e. Testament of Judah] 25:1-2)” (NOAB, 3^rd ed., on Mt. 19:28). Jesus adds, reassuring the disciples, “Everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold, and will inherit eternal life” (v. 29), but he also reminds them that “many who are first will be last, and the last will be first” (v. 30).

Ronald D. Worden, Ph.D.

rdworden@hgst.edu

deanworden@comcast.net