Amos 6:1-14

6:1 Alas for those who are at ease in Zion,

and for those who feel secure on Mount Samaria,

the notables of the first of the nations,

to whom the house of Israel resorts!

2 Cross over to Calneh, and see;

from there go to Hamath the great;

then go down to Gath of the Philistines.

Are you better than these kingdoms?

Or is your territory greater than their territory,

3 O you that put far away the evil day,

and bring near a reign of violence?

4 Alas for those who lie on beds of ivory,

and lounge on their couches,

and eat lambs from the flock,

and calves from the stall;

5 who sing idle songs to the sound of the harp,

and like David improvise on instruments of music;

6 who drink wine from bowls,

and anoint themselves with the finest oils,

but are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph!

7 Therefore they shall now be the first to go into exile,

and the revelry of the loungers shall pass away.

8 The Lord GOD has sworn by himself

(says the LORD, the God of hosts):

I abhor the pride of Jacob

and hate his strongholds;

and I will deliver up the city and all that is in it.

9 If ten people remain in one house, they shall die. 10 And if a relative, one who burns the dead, shall take up the body to bring it out of the house, and shall say to someone in the innermost parts of the house, "Is anyone else with you?" the answer will come, "No." Then the relative shall say, "Hush! We must not mention the name of the LORD."

11 See, the LORD commands,

and the great house shall be shattered to bits,

and the little house to pieces.

12 Do horses run on rocks?

Does one plow the sea with oxen?

But you have turned justice into poison

and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood-

13 you who rejoice in Lo-debar,

who say, "Have we not by our own strength

taken Karnaim for ourselves?"

14 Indeed, I am raising up against you a nation,

O house of Israel, says the LORD, the God of hosts,

and they shall oppress you from Lebo-hamath

to the Wadi Arabah. (Amos 6:1-14, NRSV)

The following comments are repeated here from December 4, 2007 (the Second Sunday of Advent, Year Two):

Amos addresses “those who are at ease in Zion,” that is the well-to-do inhabitants of Jerusalem, and “those who feel secure on Mount Samaria,” that is, upper class people in the capital of the northern kingdom (Amos 6:1). He begins with an interjection, “alas! woe!” (hôy), used “in lament, 1 Kgs. 13:26" and “in prophetic threat” as here (William L. Holladay, Lexicon, s.v. hôy). They are not condemned merely for being rich, but for gross injustice. “But you have turned justice into poison/and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood” (Amos 6:12b) in ways considered as absurd as horses running on rocks or people plowing the sea with oxen (v. 12a). Previous readings from Amos have pointed out injustice, for example, “Therefore because you trample on the poor/and take from them levies of grain” (5:11) and “you who afflict the righteous, who take a bribe,/and push aside the needy in the gate” (5:12; cf. last Friday’s reading). But the emphasis today is on “conspicuous consumption” by the “elite classes of the capitals” (Gregory Mobley, NOAB, 3^rd ed., on 6:1-7). He condemns those who “lie on beds of ivory,/and lounge on their couches” (6:4a), whose diet beyond the means of the poor that includes “lambs from the flock,/and calves from the stall” (v. 4b). They “sing idle songs” and “improvise on instruments of music” (v. 5), and “drink wine from bowls, and anoint themselves with the finest oils” (v. 6a, b), but “are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph!” (v. 6c). For such reasons “they shall now be the first to go into exile” (v. 7a), for “the revelry of the loungers shall pass away” (v. 7b).

The reading continues with judgment proclaimed against Israel, “If ten people remain in one house, they shall die” (Amos 6:9). Care must be taken in disposing of the bodies. The phrase “burns the dead probably refers to practices employed to stop the spread of infection. In this extremity, the few survivors dare not mention the name of the LORD, out of fear of inviting their own destruction from a deity still intent on destruction” (Moberly, on v. 10). The nation being raised up against Israel is Assyria (v. 14).

2 Thessalonians 1:5-12

5 This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, and is intended to make you worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering. 6 For it is indeed just of God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, 7 and to give relief to the afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels 8 in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 These will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, separated from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, 10 when he comes to be glorified by his saints and to be marveled at on that day among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed. 11 To this end we always pray for you, asking that our God will make you worthy of his call and will fulfill by his power every good resolve and work of faith, 12 so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. (2 Thessalonians 1:5-12, NRSV)

The following comments are based on comments from December 4, 2005 (the Second Sunday of Advent, Year Two) and comments on 2 Thessalonians 1:1-12 from May 18, 2006 (Thursday in the week of the Fifth Sunday of Easter, Year Two). Some of those comments were repeated from an email sent December 5, 2003, for the weekend.

Second Thessalonians begins with a salutation (2 Thess. 1:1-2) that is very similar to that of First Thessalonians. Second Thessalonians has “God our Father” (v. 1b) for “God the Father” (1 Thess. 1:1b), and where First Thessalonians has “Grace to you and peace” (1 Thess. 1:1c), Second Thessalonians adds “from God our father and the Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thess. 1:2), repeating from verse 1, thus adding a total of nine Greek words to the salutation, seven of which are repeated. The two instances of “our” (hēmōn), including one in the repeated phrase, represent the only significant difference. This close similarity “makes it appear [to some] that the author of the second letter is dependent on the literary form of the first, unlikely if Paul is the author of both,” according to Paul J. Achtemeier, Joel B. Green and Marianne Meye Thompson (Introducing the New Testament, 2001, p. 444). But they respond to that by saying, “Yet the letter opening is a Pauline stereotype, and in fact the salutation in the second letter (1:2) is more in accord with normal Pauline practice than the salutation in the first letter (1:1).”

In his customary opening thanksgiving, Paul has commended the Thessalonian believers for a growing faith and “the love of everyone of you for one another” (2 Thess. 1:3). He has boasted of their “steadfastness and faith during all your persecutions and the afflictions that you are enduring” (v. 4). The thanksgiving appears to be a condensed version of the thanksgiving in 1 Thessalonians (1:2-10). Many think that it was written shortly after 1 Thessalonians, which would explain the similarities, including the same senders (Paul, Silvanus, Timothy). and the abbreviated thanksgiving. Paul reminds them that their “persecutions and the afflictions that you are enduring” (2 Thess. 1:4) are “evidence of the righteous judgment of God,” “intended to make you worthy of the kingdom of God” (v. 5). While Paul made more explicit reference to the Thessalonians’ suffering in the first letter (1 Thess. 2:14-16), the problem has apparently persisted, so Paul continues with reference to God’s repaying “with affliction those who afflict you” (v. 6). This retribution for the oppressors and comfort for the afflicted is related to the end times “when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus” (vv. 7-8). These unbelievers “will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, separated from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might” (v. 9). Abraham Smith finds here “vivid descriptions first applied to God in the Hebrew Bible,” which “now communicate something about the end-time appearance of Jesus” (NOAB, 3^rd ed., on 2 Thess. 1:7-10). Smith refers to “the angels in Zech. 14:5; the flaming fire in Isa. 66:15-16; [and] glorified in Ps. 89:7.” And so, “the return of Jesus will mean affliction for those who afflict the Christians, and their destruction and exclusion from the presence of God” (Achtemeier-Green-Thompson, p. 440). One would think that some at Thessalonica had more questions than answers about the end-time after reflecting upon Paul’s first letter to them. The next chapter will address more of these concerns. But the present chapter end with Paul’s prayer for the Thessalonians, “that our God will make you worthy of his call and will fulfill by his power every good resolve and work of faith” (v. 11), with the result “that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ (v. 12).

Luke 1:57-68

The Birth of John the Baptist

57 Now the time came for Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son. 58 Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown his great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her.

59 On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him Zechariah after his father. 60 But his mother said, “No; he is to be called John.” 61 They said to her, “None of your relatives has this name.” 62 Then they began motioning to his father to find out what name he wanted to give him. 63 He asked for a writing tablet and wrote, “His name is John.” And all of them were amazed. 64 Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue freed, and he began to speak, praising God. 65 Fear came over all their neighbors, and all these things were talked about throughout the entire hill country of Judea. 66 All who heard them pondered them and said, “What then will this child become?” For, indeed, the hand of the Lord was with him.

The Benedictus (Zechariah’s Benediction and Prophecy)

67 Then his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke this prophecy:

68 “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,

for he has looked favorably on his people and redeemed them. (Luke 1:57-68, NRSV)

The following comments are based on comments of December 4, 2005 (the Second Sunday of Advent, Year Two), and comments on Luke 1:57-66 from December 22, 2005 (Friday in the week of the Fourth Sunday of Advent, Year Two), when comments were repeated from an E-mail sent December 22, 2003, for December 23, 2003.

Parents look forward to the child's first words, don't they? They marvel at simple expressions. But when an older man is struck dumb for a while, his later utterances may count as something of a miracle. But his first spoken words of which we know are the prophecy known as the Benedictus (Lk. 1:67-79. (The Benedictus is the reading for Friday in the week of the Fourth Sunday of Advent, Year Two, which will be superceded by the Christmas week readings this year. For brief comments on the Benedictus, see the Archive for Friday, December 23, 2005.) So the birth of John the Baptist (Lk. 1:57) fulfills the promise made to Zechariah by the angel Gabriel while he was fulfilling his priestly duties in the temple (vv. 8-20). It completes the narrative which includes Elizabeth’s conception (v. 24) and the joy that she shared with Mary as “the child leaped in her womb” (v. 41).

Because Zechariah could not believe Gabriel's promise of the birth of John, he emerged from his service in the sanctuary unable to speak (Lk. 1:18-20). Later his first words were written, "His name is John" (v. 63). The act of writing this, it seems, opened his mouth and freed his tongue (v. 64). When the child was to be circumcised and named, “they were going to name him Zechariah, after his father” (v. 59). But the mother knew otherwise; the father, “mute, unable to speak,” because he did not believe Gabriel’s promise” (v. 20), wrote the name John on a writing tablet (v. 63). By this act he confirmed his faith and submission to God’s plan, “his mouth was opened . . . and he began to speak, praising God” (v. 64). The reading concludes with the opening lines of the Benedictus, one of a series of hymnic poems found in Luke’s Infancy Narratives (cf. the Magnificat, Lk. 1:46-55; the Benedictus, 1:67-79; the angels’ song, Gloria in excelsis, 2:14; and the Nunc dimittis, 2:29-32, each so named from the opening words in Latin).

Ronald D. Worden, Ph.D.

rdworden@hgst.edu

deanworden@comcast.net