Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) 7:4-14

4 Do not seek from the Lord high office,

or the seat of honor from the king.

5 Do not assert your righteousness before the Lord,

or display your wisdom before the king.

6 Do not seek to become a judge,

or you may be unable to root out injustice;

you may be partial to the powerful,

and so mar your integrity.

7 Commit no offense against the public,

and do not disgrace yourself among the people.

8 Do not commit a sin twice;

not even for one will you go unpunished.

9 Do not say, “He will consider the great number of my gifts,

and when I make an offering to the Most High God, he will accept it.”

10 Do not grow weary when you pray;

do not neglect to give alms.

11 Do not ridicule a person who is embittered in spirit,

for there is One who humbles and exalts.

12 Do not devise a lie against your brother,

or do the same to a friend.

13 Refuse to utter any lie,

for it is a habit that results in no good.

14 Do not babble in the assembly of the elders,

and do not repeat yourself when you pray. (Ecclesiasticus 7:4-14, NRSV)

On October 25, 2006 (Wednesday in the week of the Sunday closest to October 19, Year Two), comments were repeated with revision and supplement from October 20, 2004 (Wednesday in the week of the Sunday closest to October 19, Year Two). The revised comments are repeated again here:

The reading from Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) comes from a long list of mostly negative instructions that sometimes include an explanation, while other advice is given to stand on its own merits without explanation. The advice not to “seek from the Lord high office, / or the seat of honor from the king” (Sirach 7:4; cf. Jesus’ parable on humility, Lk. 14:7-11 and Mt. 23:6; Mk. 12:39; Lk. 20:46; ) is followed by advice not to do things that might lead to such promotion. “Do not assert your righteousness before the Lord, or display your wisdom before the king” (v. 5). Ben Sira continues in this vein: “Do not seek to become a judge,” the negative injunction, “or you may be unable to root out injustice; / you may be partial to the powerful, / and so mar your integrity,” the explanation (Ecclus. 7:6). According to Burton L. Mack, revised by Benjamin G. Wright III, “This admonition against seeking high office in the court of a king or as a judge is most curious, since both offices were traditional goals of scribal education. It cautions against presumption, as in Prov. 25:6-7, but may also reflect the political circumstances of Ben Sira’s day; cf. 11:9” (HarperCollins Study Bible, rev. ed., 2006, on Ecclus. 7:4-7).

Negative admonitions continue. “Commit no offense against the public,” says Ben Sira, “and do not disgrace yourself among the people” (v. 7). Mack and Write characterize the following as “admonitions concerning careless performance of basic ritual and ethical prescriptions. “Do not commit a sin twice” Ben Sira adds, because “not even for one will you go unpunished” (v. 8). One should not presume that God will overlook sin simply because of “the great number of [one’s] gifts” (v. 9). One should persist in prayer (v. 10a) and other pious acts such as giving alms (v. 10b), which shows that the primary motivation is not enlightened self-interest, but altruism is invoked. Jesus, who warns against making a public display of one’s almsgiving (Mt. 6:2-4), would nevertheless agree with its importance. One should not ridicule an “embittered” person, “for there is One [God] who humbles and exalts” (v. 11). One should live as under God. One should not “devise a lie” against a brother or friend (v. 12); in fact, one should not “utter any lie, / for it is a habit that results in no good” (v. 13). Nor should one “babble in the assembly of the elders,” nor “repeat” oneself in prayer (v. 14). To the latter Harold C. Washington suggests comparison with this from Ecclesiastes: “Never be rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be quick to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven, and you upon earth; therefore let your words be few” (Eccl. 5:2, referenced by Washington, NOAB, 3^rd ed., 2001, on Ecclus. 7:14).

Micah 3:19-4:5 (Presbyterian and Lutheran traditions–see the comments for Friday, October 10, 2008, twelve days ago.)

Revelation 8:1-13

The Seventh Seal and the Golden Censer

8:1 When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. 2 And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them.

3 Another angel with a golden censer came and stood at the altar; he was given a great quantity of incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar that is before the throne. 4 And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel. 5 Then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth; and there were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.

The Seven Trumpets

6 Now the seven angels who had the seven trumpets made ready to blow them.

7 The first angel blew his trumpet, and there came hail and fire, mixed with blood, and they were hurled to the earth; and a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up.

8 The second angel blew his trumpet, and something like a great mountain, burning with fire, was thrown into the sea. 9 A third of the sea became blood, a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.

10 The third angel blew his trumpet, and a great star fell from heaven, blazing like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. 11 The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, and many died from the water, because it was made bitter.

12 The fourth angel blew his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, and a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of their light was darkened; a third of the day was kept from shining, and likewise the night.

13 Then I looked, and I heard an eagle crying with a loud voice as it flew in midheaven, “Woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth, at the blasts of the other trumpets that the three angels are about to blow!” (Revelation 8:1-13, NRSV)

On October 25, 2006 (Wednesday in the week of the Sunday closest to October 19, Year Two), comments were repeated from October 20, 2004 (Wednesday in the week of the Sunday closest to October 19, Year Two), with an added quotation; those comments are repeated here:

In Revelation, the seventh seal (Rev. 8:1-2) becomes a transition to the seven trumpets. The seven seals were opened by the Lamb, seals one to six in chapter 6 and seal seven here. An angel “with a golden censor” offers “a great quantity of incense . . . with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar that is before the throne” (Rev. 8:3). After the “smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God” (v. 4), the angel takes fire from the altar and throws it on the earth, resulting in “peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake” (v. 5). Four of the seven trumpets follow in chapter 8. Earlier, when the Lamb opened each seal, the result was judgment, a white horse representing warfare for the first seal (Rev. 6:1-2), a red horse representing death in battle for the second seal (Rev. 6:3-4), and so on. Richard Bauckham says,

Trumpets were used in holy war against Israel’s and God’s enemies, herald divine judgement (e.g. Joel 2:1), and feature especially in the story of the fall of Jericho (Josh. 6), which makes them appropriate in Revelation, although we do not yet know that these judgments will lead to the fall of another great city (16:19). (The Oxford Bible Commentary, 2001, p. 1294, on Rev. 8:6:12)

When the first angel blows the first trumpet, the result is “hail and fire, mixed with blood” and the devastation (burning) of a third of the earth (Rev. 8:7). When the second angel blows his trumpet, fire devastates a third of the sea, a third of the sea creatures and a third of the ships (v. 8-9). And this continues as well, summed up as “Woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth” (v. 13). It’s a very dark picture that is painted for us here, but we should remember the protection by sealing of the martyrs (the 144,000) and the redeemed multitude from every nation (chap. 7). Revelation describes the battle between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan in very graphic terms, but closes with new heavens and earth, a new Jerusalem, and a peaceful setting in which the “temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb” (Rev. 21:22), “the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb” (v 23). Paradise is restored, nourished by “the river of the water of life” and “the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit” (22:1, 2).

Luke 10:17-24

The Return of the Seventy

17 The seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!” 18 He said to them, “I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning. 19 See, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing will hurt you. 20 Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

Jesus Rejoices (Mt 11.25-27)

21 At that same hour Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. 22 All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”

23 Then turning to the disciples, Jesus said to them privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! 24 For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it.” (Luke 10:17-24, NRSV)

On May 4, 2008 ( the Seventh Sunday of Easter, Year Two), comments were based on those of May 11, 2005 (Wednesday in the week of the Seventh Sunday of Easter, Year One), of May 28, 2006 (the Seventh Sunday of Easter, Year Two) and May 23, 2007 (Wednesday in the week of the Seventh Sunday of Easter, Year One, when reference is made to earlier comments). The comments of May 4, 2008, are repeated here:

On Luke 10:17-20

Just as the report of the Commissioning and Mission of the Seventy is reported only by Luke (Lk. 10:1-12)so is the report of the Return of the Seventy. These narratives come early in what has been called Luke’s Travel Narrative (Lk. 9:51-18:14). This reading from Luke reports the return of the seventy, who rejoice in their recent experiences. “Lord in your name even the demons submit to us!” (Lk. 10:17). Jesus responds by saying, “I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning” (v. 18). And he adds, “See, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing will hurt you” (v. 19; cf. Mk. 16:[17-18], which is absent from the older and better mss. of Mk.). This apparently represents a battle victory in the war between the two kingdoms (God’s and Satan’s), but Jesus tells them to “rejoice that your names are written in heaven” (v. 20). According to Marion Lloyd Soards, “Jesus did not regard exorcism in itself as a sign of God’s kingdom (11:19)” (NOAB, 3^rd ed., 2001, on Lk. 10:20). But Jesus’ emphasis on the long-range value of citizenship in Heaven (cf. Phil. 3:20; Heb. 11:10), is a useful reminder for us.

Eric Franklin comments:

When the missionaries return (v. 17), and rejoice that they have had power over the demons, the Lord bids them to raise their sights and to see that what has happened on earth is a reflection of, and a pointer to, something even more sublime in heaven: ‘I watched Satan falling like lightning from heaven.’ What is ultimately real and final takes place in heaven, and it is this, as it is reflected on earth, that enables the world to be more open to God’s rule. Luke has a strong sense of the transcendence of God’s kingdom. It is the victory in that sphere that enables Jesus to bring about God’s redemption on earth. They are to rejoice that their names are written in heaven (v. 20). (The Oxford Bible Commentary, 2001, on Lk. 10:1-24)

On Luke 10:21-24

The return of the Seventy is followed by a section on Jesus’ Thanksgiving to the Father, and the Blessedness of the Disciples, which has parallels in Matthew and John, as presented in the following table.

In Luke’s narrative the report of Jesus’ thanksgiving follows the return of the seventy and their report that “in your name even the demons submit to us!” (Lk. 10:17), which in Luke separates two sections assigned by scholars to the “Q” source, the Woes Pronounced on Galilean Cities (Mt. 11:20-24; Lk. 10:12-15) and this thanksgiving. Note that here, apart from minor differences in the introduction, the words of Jesus are essentially identical. “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth,” says Jesus, “because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will” (Lk. 10:21 = Mt. 11:25-26). Note that Luke’s narrative supplies a reason for this rejoicing in the positive report of the returning seventy. Jesus affirms his authority as derived from the Father in words shared by Matthew and Luke with echoes in John. “All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him” (Lk. 10:22 = Mt. 11:27; cf. Jn. 17:2; 13:3; 7:29),

The blessing on those who have seen what the disciples have seen appears in Matthew’s collection of parables (Mt. 13:16-17; cf. vv. 1-53). The wording is not quite verbatim in Matthew and Luke, but the wording as well as the idea is quite similar. According to Luke, Jesus says, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it” (Lk. 10:23-24). Matthew puts the first part more directly in the second person, “But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear” (Mt. 13:16). In Luke’s version, it is “many prophets and kings” who have “desired to see what you see” (Lk. 10:24), but in Matthew’s version, “many prophets and righteous people” have so desired; they have “longed to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it” (Mt. 13:17b; cf. Lk. 10:24b).

Jesus rejoices as much in the experience and insight gained by the disciples as in the results of their ministry. “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants” (v. 21; cf. Mt. 11:25). Jesus’ further comments speak of the Son as revealing the Father (v. 22; cf. Mt. 11:27) and of how his disciples see what the prophets “desired to see . . . but did not see” (v. 24; cf. Mt. 13:17), that is, “the fulfillment of the messianic age” (David L. Tiede, HarperCollins Study Bible, 1^st ed., 1993, on Lk. 10:24). It is a privilege to participate in the Lord’s ministry. We are reminded that it is his ministry, and we, as the disciples, should rejoice in our relation to him. “Rejoice that your names are written in heaven” (Lk. 10:20). Jesus rejoices in what has happened, not only in the disciples’ mission, but in the insight it has provided for them. He says (v. 22), as noted by Franklin,

in a saying in which Jesus reveals himself in terms that, going beyond what is usually found in the Synoptic Gospels, comes close to his self-revelation in John. The Father has ‘handed over all things’ to the Son to give him an authority that is close to his own. That authority is centered on the act of redemption. The Father alone is the one who really knows the Son. Equally, it is the Son alone who really knows the Father. Such is his knowledge of the Father that he is able to make him known to anyone he chooses. Revelation of God through Jesus is not an idea that is elsewhere embraced in Luke. The section ends by pointing out how blessed the disciples are to have shared in this revelatory moment. The whole section has emphasized the reality of the heavenly Kingdom and its influence upon and future presence in the world. (loc. cit.).

Two thousand years later, we too are blessed! We have seen the gospel of the Kingdom spread throughout the World. Of course, we have seen terrible problems as well, the devastation spread by people under Satan’s control, it seems, and we must continually return to the Lord to be filled by the Holy Spirit and to rejoice in what he can do.

Ronald D. Worden, Ph.D.

rdworden@hgst.edu

deanworden@comcast.net