Hosea 2:14-23

14 Therefore, I will now allure her,

and bring her into the wilderness,

and speak tenderly to her.

15 From there I will give her her vineyards,

and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope.

There she shall respond as in the days of her youth,

as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt.

16 On that day, says the LORD, you will call me, “My husband,” and no longer will you call me, “My Baal.” 17 For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they shall be mentioned by name no more. 18 I will make for you a covenant on that day with the wild animals, the birds of the air, and the creeping things of the ground; and I will abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the land; and I will make you lie down in safety. 19 And I will take you for my wife forever; I will take you for my wife in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love, and in mercy. 20 I will take you for my wife in faithfulness; and you shall know the LORD.

21 On that day I will answer, says the LORD,

I will answer the heavens

and they shall answer the earth;

22 and the earth shall answer the grain, the wine, and the oil,

and they shall answer Jezreel;

23 and I will sow him for myself in the land.

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.” (Hosea 2:14-23, NRSV)

The following comments are repeated here from October 2, 2006 (Monday in the week of the Sunday closest to September 28, Year Two):

Today’s reading predicts a reversal of the divorce and punishment of Israel by the LORD, a reversal anticipated by the inclusion of Hosea 2:14 (Heb. v. 16) in yesterday’s reading, which, by inclusion today as well, links the two readings. The LORD will now court his divorced “wife”: “I will now allure her, / and bring her into the wilderness, / and speak tenderly to her” (v. 14/Heb. v. 16). The reference to the “wilderness,” explicit in verse 15c, d/17c, d, reminds us of the beginnings of Israel’s national existence as, after the exodus, they spent forty years in the wilderness under Moses’ leadership. If her “vines and her fig trees” have been laid waste (v. 12/14), now from the wilderness the LORD “will give her her vineyards (v. 15a/17a). He will “make the Valley of Achor [rOkf!, ‘ākôr, ‘trouble’ NRSV text note a on Josh. 7:26, cf. vv. 22-26] a door of hope (hv!q4T9, tiqwāh)” (v. 15b/17b).

The poetic lines (vv. 2-15 NRSV / 4-17 Heb.) give way in the NRSV to a prose paragraph (vv. 16-20 NRSV / 18-22 Heb.), the first two verses of which (vv. 18-19 Heb.) are continued as poetry in the NJPS. “On that day, says the LORD, you will call me, ‘My husband’ (yw9yx9, ’ î š î), and no longer will you call me, ‘My Baal’ (yl9f4B1, ba‘l î). According to Gregory Mobley, “in secular usage, ‘baal’ could also mean ‘husband’. In this word play, Israel is to address the LORD as ‘husband’ (Heb. ‘Ish’), not as ‘husband’ (Heb. ‘baal’)” (NOAB, 3^rd ed., 2001, on v. 16). Ehud Ben Zvi comments on this word play. “‘You will call Me “my Man” (or husband), and no more will you call Me “my Baal” (or husband).’ Although the two terms can both mean ‘husband,’ their connotations are very different. The text uses the wordplay to project an image of a future rejection of the cult of Baal (i.e., a Phoenician and Canaanite god) and Israel’s acceptance of the LORD as her ‘Man’” (The Jewish Study Bible, 2004, on Hos. 2:18 NJPS = v. 16 NRSV). “For,” says the LORD, “I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they shall be mentioned by name no more” (v. 17/19). The LORD will renew the covenant with Israel. “For I will make (yT9r1k!v4, w^ekārattî) for you a covenant (tyr9B4, b^erîth),” but he describes it as “a covenant . . . with the wild animals, the birds of the air, and the creeping things of the ground” (v. 18a/20a), phrases which “recall Gen. 1:27-31 and suggest a return to a state of blessing. See also Lev. 26:6” (Mobley on v. 18). Peace is indicated because the LORD “will abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the land; and . . . will make you lie down in safety” (v. 18b/20b). Israel is to be the LORD’s “wife forever,” his “wife in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love, and in mercy” (v. 19/21, cf. v. 20/22).

In the return to poetic lines, the scope of the projected reversal is broadened. The LORD “will answer the heavens” (v. 21b / 23b), “and they shall answer the earth” (v. 21c / 23c). This will extend to blessings of “the grain, the wine, and the oil” (v. 22a / 24a), reversing the implications of the name Jezreel (“God sows” NRSV note a on v. 22, cf. 1:4-5). The negative implications of the names of each of the children, Jezreel (v. 22 / 24), Lo-ruhamah (v. 23b / 25b), and Lo-ammi (v. 23c / 25c) are reversed:

and I will sow him [Jezreel] for myself in the land.

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.” (Hos. 2:23, NRSV)

Hosea 2:2-15 (Presbyterian and Lutheran traditions–see yesterday’s comments on Hosea 2:2-14.)

Acts 20:17-38

Paul Speaks to the Ephesian Elders

17 From Miletus he sent a message to Ephesus, asking the elders of the church to meet him. 18 When they came to him, he said to them:

“You yourselves know how I lived among you the entire time from the first day that I set foot in Asia, 19 serving the Lord with all humility and with tears, enduring the trials that came to me through the plots of the Jews. 20 I did not shrink from doing anything helpful, proclaiming the message to you and teaching you publicly and from house to house, 21 as I testified to both Jews and Greeks about repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus. 22 And now, as a captive to the Spirit, I am on my way to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there, 23 except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and persecutions are waiting for me. 24 But I do not count my life of any value to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the good news of God’s grace.

25 “And now I know that none of you, among whom I have gone about proclaiming the kingdom, will ever see my face again. 26 Therefore I declare to you this day that I am not responsible for the blood of any of you, 27 for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God. 28 Keep watch over yourselves and over all the flock, of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God that he obtained with the blood of his own Son. 29 I know that after I have gone, savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. 30 Some even from your own group will come distorting the truth in order to entice the disciples to follow them. 31 Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to warn everyone with tears. 32 And now I commend you to God and to the message of his grace, a message that is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all who are sanctified. 33 I coveted no one’s silver or gold or clothing. 34 You know for yourselves that I worked with my own hands to support myself and my companions. 35 In all this I have given you an example that by such work we must support the weak, remembering the words of the Lord Jesus, for he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

36 When he had finished speaking, he knelt down with them all and prayed. 37 There was much weeping among them all; they embraced Paul and kissed him, 38 grieving especially because of what he had said, that they would not see him again. Then they brought him to the ship. (Acts 20:17-38, NRSV)

On August 13, 2007 (Monday in the week of the Sunday closest to August 10, Year One), comments were repeated with editing and supplement from October 2, 2006 (Monday in the week of the Sunday closest to September 28, Year Two), when comments were repeated from August 8, 2005 (Monday of the week of the Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost, Year One). The revised comments are repeated again here.

Saturday’s reading concluded with a brief itinerary that brought Paul from Troas, bypassing Ephesus, to Miletus (Acts 20:13-16). But he does not neglect Ephesus, for “from Miletus he sent a message to Ephesus, asking the elders of the church to meet him” (v. 17). Miletus is one of the ports of call on his journey back to Israel and Jerusalem. While at Miletus, as Luke reports, Paul makes an extended speech of farewell to the Ephesian elders, which describes his ministry there. We are told that Paul spent three months Paul “spoke out boldly” in the synagogue at Ephesus (19:8), and when he left the synagogue, he “argued daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus” (v. 9) for an extended period of “two years” (v. 10a, cf. the “three-year” total in v. 31). Ephesus became an important center from which “all the residents of [the Roman province of] Asia, both Jews and Greeks, heard the word of the Lord” (v. 10b). The church was established in Colossae by Paul’s coworker Epaphras (Col. 1:7-8), and later seven churches in seven cities of Asia are addressed by John in Revelation, chapters 2 and 3. Paul’s ministry in Ephesus was apparently effective over a wide area, with lasting results.

At Miletus, to the Ephesian elders, Paul says, “You yourselves know how I lived among you the entire time from the first day that I set foot in Asia, serving the Lord with all humility and with tears, enduring the trials that came to me through the plots of the Jews” (vv. 18b-19). “I did not shrink,” he says, “from doing anything helpful, proclaiming the message to you and teaching you publically and from house to house” (v. 20). In the process he “testified to both Jews and Greeks about repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus” (v. 21). Christopher R. Matthews points out that “Paul’s mission has been consistently portrayed as directed to both Jews and Greeks” (NOAB, 3^rd ed., 2001, on Acts 20:21).

But the speech at Miletus really is a farewell speech: “And now,” Paul says, “as a captive to the Spirit, I am on my way to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and persecutions are waiting for me” (Acts 20:22-23). Later, Luke will present an example of such prophecy, from Agabus (21:10-14). Paul does not discount these predictions, but comes close, as it were, to presenting his own obituary. “But I do not count my life of any value to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the good news of God's grace” (20:24; cf. 2 Tim. 4:6-8). Paul knows, he says, “that none of you, among whom I have gone about proclaiming the kingdom, will ever see my face again” (v. 25). He wants to clear the record, in case that is needed, by affirming the commitment and effectiveness with which he carried out his mission among them. “Therefore I declare to you this day that I am not responsible for the blood of any of you, for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God” (vv. 26-27). He urges these church leaders (presbuvteroi, presbyteroi, “elders,” v. 17) to “Keep watch over yourselves and over all the flock, of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers (ejpivskopoi, episkopoi), to shepherd the church of God that he obtained with the blood of his own Son” (v. 28).

Paul warns these leaders of false teachers that will cause trouble for the church–as they already have as we know from Paul’s own Epistles (e.g., Galatians, 1 and 2 Corinthians). “I know that after I have gone, savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock” (v. 29). Luke may well have had further experience after Paul’s passing of false teaching within the churches. “Some,” says Paul, “even from your own group will come distorting the truth in order to entice the disciples to follow them” (v. 30). John, speaking for “him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands” (Rev. 2:1) will later commend the Ephesian church. “I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance. I know that you cannot tolerate evildoers; you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them to be false. I also know that you are enduring patiently and bearing up for the sake of my name, and that you have not grown weary” (vv. 2-3). And John’s rebuke, “that you have abandoned the love you had at first” (v. 4), is milder than that given to most of the other churches in Revelation. This is probably because some of these leaders at Ephesus took Paul’s warnings seriously. “Therefore be alert,” says Paul, “remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to warn everyone with tears” (v. 31). He adds his blessing. “And now I commend you to God and to the message of his grace, a message that is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all who are sanctified.” (v. 32).

Paul also asserts his own integrity in his ministry at Ephesus. “I coveted no one's silver or gold or clothing. You know for yourselves that I worked with my own hands to support myself and my companions” (vv. 33-34). This, and the earlier description of Paul’s ministry in Ephesus (vv. 20-21), reminds us of a similar summary of ministry at Thessalonica in one of his earlier letters.

You remember our labor and toil, brothers and sisters; we worked night and day, so that we might not burden any of you while we proclaimed to you the gospel of God. You are witnesses, and God also, how pure, upright, and blameless our conduct was toward you believers. As you know, we dealt with each one of you like a father with his children, urging and encouraging you and pleading that you lead a life worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory. (1 Thess. 2:9-12, NRSV)

“In all of this,” says Paul to the Ephesian elders, “I have given you an example that by such work we must support the weak, remembering the words of the Lord Jesus, for he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive’ ” (v. 35). The context shows that this blessing is not merely for those who contribute money, but for those who labor in ministry according to Paul’s example.

If there were any doubt that this is Luke’s presentation of Paul’s farewell, his description of the emotional response to Paul’s farewell speech should make it clear. They prayed together (v. 36), and “There was much weeping among them all; they embraced Paul and kissed him, grieving especially because of what he had said, that they would not see him again” (vv. 37, 38a). But then “they brought him to the ship” (v. 38b).

We must remind ourselves that Luke’s purpose in writing the Acts of the Apostles was not to present a biography of Paul. His two volume work traces the development of God’s plan of salvation for the world through the life, ministry, crucifixion, resurrection and ascension of Jesus, and the work of the apostles in spreading this gospel from Jerusalem through Judea and Samaria “to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). Peter and Paul have major roles in this process, and Acts devotes more material to Paul’s work than any other single Apostle, but even so it is the story of the spreading of the gospel of Jesus Christ under the leadership of the Holy Spirit, not Paul’s life story. With Paul’s arrival and ministry in Rome (Acts 28:16-31), the gospel has reached the “capital” of the known world, to which “all roads lead,” if not “the ends of the earth,” and Luke’s story is complete. But he surely was moved to present Paul’s farewell to the Ephesian elders in this way, that indicates that he knew more about the end of Paul’s ministry and life than he includes in Acts. Paul had said “that they [the Ephesian elders] would not see him again” (Acts 20:38). Luke may have been waiting on the ship when they brought Paul there (v. 38), or he may have accompanied Paul to the place where they met the Ephesian elders. Notice the references to “we” and “us,” including Luke, in the previous paragraphs (Acts 20:5, 6 [twice], 7, 8, 13, 14, 15 [four times], and also in the report of Paul’s departure (21:1, 2, 3, 4 and so forth, about twenty-one times through v. 21).

Luke 5:1-11

Jesus Calls the First Disciples (Mt 4.18-22; Mk 1.16-20)

5:1 Once while Jesus was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, 2 he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. 3 He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. 4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” 5 Simon answered, “Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.” 6 When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. 7 So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink. 8 But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” 9 For he and all who were with him were amazed at the catch of fish that they had taken; 10 and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Then Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.” 11 When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him. (Luke 5:1-11, NRSV)

On September 30, 2007 (the Sunday closest to September 28, Year One), comments were repeated with editing and supplement from October 2, 2006 (Monday in the week of the Sunday closest to September 28, Year Two), when they were repeated from April 14, 2005 (Thursday of the week of the Third Sunday of Easter, Year One). The revised comments are repeated again here:

Consider this passage and a similar passage from John’s Gospel:]

In Luke this account of the Miraculous Draught of Fish comes within a series of episodes in which he clearly follows Mark’s order: the Healing of Peter’s Mother-in-law (Mk. 1:29; Mt. 8:14-15; Lk. 4:38-39), the Sick Healed at Evening (Mk. 1:32-34; Mt. 8:16-17; Lk. 4:40-41), Jesus Departs from Capernaum (Mk. 1:35-38; Lk. 4:42-43), the First Preaching Tour in Galilee (Mk. 1:39; Mt. 4:23; Lk. 4:44) . . . the Cleansing of the Leper (Mk. 1:40-45; Mt. 8:1-4; Lk. 5:12-16), and the Healing of the Paralytic (Mk. 2:1-12; Mt. 9:1-8; Lk. 5:17-20) (cf. Aland, secs. 37-43, pp.35 -41).

In response to some critics, I. Howard Marshall denies that Luke has “created his story simply on the basis of what he read in Mk.:

The fact that Luke has omitted Mark’s story of the call of the four fishermen shows clearly that he regarded this story as equivalent to it. . . . [for] the facts that it occurs at a different position in the narrative and that its contents go well beyond Mk. prove this point. Nevertheless, it is clear that Luke knew Mark’s account and that it has influenced his own telling of the story; parallelism with Mk. can be seen in vs. 1-3, 10f., and many scholars would claim that Luke has drawn on Mk. for most or all of the material in these verses. (Commentary on Luke, NIGTC, 1978, p. 199 on Lk. 5:1-11)

But more significant, perhaps, is what Marshal calls the

parallel to the part of the incident not recorded in Mk., namely the miraculous catch of fish, in Jn. 21:1-14. The two stories show a considerable amount of agreement in detail: after fishing all night, the disciples have caught nothing. Jesus commands them to let the nets down. They do so, and make an enormous catch. The effect on the nets is noted. Peter (in Jn., the beloved disciple) reacts to the miracle. Jesus is called Lord. The other fishermen present say nothing. The motif of following Jesus is present, and the catch of fish is symbolic of missionary success. (ibid., pp. 199-200, on Lk. 5:1-11, citing Brown, John, II, 1090)

Remarkably, while Luke’s account of Jesus calling four disciples (cf. Mark 1:16-20) comes here, the part about the miraculous draught of fish, which has no parallel in Mark, is similar to an account which John puts after the resurrection of Jesus in a kind of epilogue (Jn., chap. 21). In Luke, Jesus gets into the boat and teaches the crowds on the shore (Lk. 5:3), whereas, in John, Simon Peter and six other disciples have gone fishing (Jn. 21:2-3a), and Jesus appears later on the beach (v. 4). In both accounts, the disciples have apparently spent the previous night fishing with no success (Lk. 5:5; Jn. 21:3b), but they are directed to try again. “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch,” says Jesus, according to Luke (Lk. 5:4). A similar instruction is given in John’s account after a question about their fishing success, a question that implies a negative answer (introduced in Greek by the negative particle mhv (mē), “Children, you have no fish, have you?” (Jn. 21:5). In John, Jesus knows what people are thinking (cf. 2:24-25). “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch,” says Jesus to Simon in Luke (Lk. 5:4). In John, he says, “Cast the net to the right side of the boat, and you will find some” (Jn. 21:6a). In both accounts the result is a miraculous catch, more than the fishermen can handle. “When they had done this,” says Luke, “they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break” (Lk. 5:6). After calling for help from “their partners in the other boat” (v. 7a), they “filled both boats, so that they began to sink” (v. 7b). John’s report of the success is brief. “So they cast it [the net, on the right side of the boat as directed], and now they were not able to haul it in because there were so many fish” (Jn. 21:6b).

There are significant differences between the two reports, of course, not least in the setting. In Luke, in human terms, at least, the disciples know from the beginning with whom they are dealing–at least they know that it is Jesus. Even so there is recognition involved. When Simon Peter sees the miraculous catch, he falls to his knees, and says, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” (Lk. 5:8). The statement is more about Peter’s humility and sense of inadequacy than about his desire for Jesus to leave. In John’s account, it is at this point that Peter, prompted by the “disciple whom Jesus loved,” recognizes the Lord (Jn. 21:7). In John’s account, Jesus invites the disciples to breakfast on the beach (vv. 9-10), and we are told the size of the catch, “large fish, a hundred fifty-three of them,” but “though there were so many, the net was not torn” (v. 11). In Luke’s account, after noting the disciples amazement (Lk. 5:9-10), Jesus, in a statement that relates to Mark’s account of the call of the disciples (Mk. 1:16-20, esp. v. 19), says to Peter, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people” (Lk. 5:10). And the result is stated: “When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him” (v. 11; cf. Mk. 1:20; Mt. 4:22). This also relates to the context in John, where the breakfast is followed by Jesus’ conversation with Peter, asking about Peter’s love for him, and urging him to “Feed my lambs/sheep” (Jn. 21:15, 16, 17).

Marshall leaves aside “the analysis of John’s narrative, since there is no evidence,” he says, “that Luke was dependent upon it. The question is rather that of the relation between the traditions used by the two Evangelists” (Ibid., p. 200). He does note that the “motif of following Jesus is present [in both accounts], and the catch of fish is symbolic of missionary success” (ibid., p. 200 on Lk. 5:1-11, citing Brown, John, II, 1090). He notes that Luke’s account

singles out one particular episode by the Lake of Gennesaret, and then lets the spotlight fall upon one particular group of hearers, Simon and his companions, who not only listened to his preaching, but also responded to his command to go and fish in an unpropitious situation. When their obedience resulted in a miraculous catch of fish, Simon was overwhelmed with a sense of the holiness of Jesus as the Lord. But Jesus summoned him to join him in a new task of ‘catching’ men, and Simon and his companions (including the sons of Zebedee) abandoned their previous way of life to join him in his mission. (op. cit., 199)

Ronald D. Worden, Ph.D.

rdworden@hgst.edu

deanworden@comcast.net