Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) 31:12-18, 25-32:2

12 Are you seated at the table of the great?

Do not be greedy at it,

and do not say, “How much food there is here!”

13 Remember that a greedy eye is a bad thing.

What has been created more greedy than the eye?

Therefore it sheds tears for any reason.

14 Do not reach out your hand for everything you see,

and do not crowd your neighbor at the dish.

15 Judge your neighbor’s feelings by your own,

and in every matter be thoughtful.

16 Eat what is set before you like a well brought-up person,

and do not chew greedily, or you will give offense.

17 Be the first to stop, as befits good manners,

and do not be insatiable, or you will give offense.

18 If you are seated among many persons,

do not help yourself before they do. (Ecclesiasticus 31:12-18, NRSV)

Temperance in Drinking Wine

25 Do not try to prove your strength by wine-drinking,

for wine has destroyed many.

26 As the furnace tests the work of the smith,

so wine tests hearts when the insolent quarrel.

27 Wine is very life to human beings

if taken in moderation.

What is life to one who is without wine?

It has been created to make people happy.

28 Wine drunk at the proper time and in moderation

is rejoicing of heart and gladness of soul.

29 Wine drunk to excess leads to bitterness of spirit,

to quarrels and stumbling.

30 Drunkenness increases the anger of a fool to his own hurt,

reducing his strength and adding wounds.

31 Do not reprove your neighbor at a banquet of wine,

and do not despise him in his merrymaking;

speak no word of reproach to him,

and do not distress him by making demands of him.

32:1 If they make you master of the feast, do not exalt yourself;

be among them as one of their number.

Take care of them first and then sit down;

2 when you have fulfilled all your duties, take your place,

so that you may be merry along with them

and receive a wreath for your excellent leadership. (Ecclesiasticus 31:25-32:2, NRSV)

On November 2, 2006 (Thursday in the week of the Sunday closest to October 26, Year Two), comments were repeated with revision and supplement from October 28, 2004, (Thursday of the week of the Sunday closest to October 26, Year Two); the revised comments are repeated here with some editing and supplement:

Today’s lesson is the “Ben Sira Diet,” a generous serving of advice about self-control in food and drink, seasoned with a dash of table manners. “Are you seated at the table of the great?” he asks. “Do not be greedy at it, / and do not say, ‘How much food there is here!’ ” (Sirach 31:12). Ben Sira warns against “a greedy eye” (v. 13a), explained by the admonition, “Do not reach out your hand for everything you see, / and do not crowd your neighbor at the dish” (v. 14). Even at table–or perhaps especially–one should consider the feelings of others. “Judge your neighbor’s feelings by your own, / and in every matter be thoughtful” (v. 15). “Eat what is set before you like a well brought-up person, / and do not chew greedily, or you will give offense” (v. 16) Ben Sira advises that one should exercise restraint: “Be the first to stop, as befits good manners, / and do not be insatiable, or you will give offense” (v. 17). “If you are seated among many persons,” he adds, “do not help yourself before they do” (v. 18).

In the interval, verses passed over in the references for this reading, Ben Sira points out some of the benefits from the moderation he advises. Discipline in eating promotes good sleep, for one “does not breath heavily when in bed” (v. 19), but with “moderate eating,” one “rises early, and feels fit” (v. 20). On the other hand, one who is “overstuffed with food” will need to “get up to vomit, and . . . have relief” (v. 21). So Ben Sira advises moderation, so that “no sickness will overtake you” (v. 22). He contrasts those who generously share their food with those who are stingy about it. People “bless the one who is liberal with food,” but complain of the one who is stingy with food” (vv. 23-24).

Ben Sira warns about excessive drinking. “Do not try to prove your strength by wine-drinking,” he says, “for wine has destroyed many” (v. 25). Wine works like a furnace, he says: “As the furnace tests the work of the smith, / so wine tests hearts when the insolent quarrel” (v. 26). He finds that wine used in moderation is beneficial (v. 27a, b); it even makes people happy (v. 27d). When “drunk at the proper time and in moderation,” he says, wine “is rejoicing of heart and gladness of soul” (v. 28), but “Wine drunk to excess leads to bitterness of spirit, / to quarrels and stumbling” (v. 29). “Drunkenness increases the anger of a fool to his own hurt, / reducing his strength and adding wounds” (v. 30).

The reading closes with advice about behavior at a banquet of wine. One should not reprove or reproach his neighbor in that setting (v. 31). “If they make you master of the feast,” says Ben Sira, “do not exalt yourself; / be among them as one of their number” (32:1a. b). A good leader does his duty, but takes his place among the people (vv. 32:1c, 2a), “so that you may be merry along with them / and receive a wreath for your excellent leadership” (v. 2b, c).

Modern Christians will assess his advice about moderation in light of their experience and convictions, with awareness that alcohol has serious consequences in various situations, especially automobile driving, unknown to Ben Sira.

Nahum 1:15-2:12 (Presbyterian and Lutheran traditions–This passage is not included in the Daily Office Lectionary of the Book of Common Prayer.)

15 Look! On the mountains the feet of one

who brings good tidings,

who proclaims peace!

Celebrate your festivals, O Judah,

fulfill your vows,

for never again shall the wicked invade you;

they are utterly cut off.

2:1 A shatterer has come up against you.

Guard the ramparts;

watch the road;

gird your loins;

collect all your strength.

2 (For the LORD is restoring the majesty of Jacob,

as well as the majesty of Israel,

though ravagers have ravaged them

and ruined their branches.)

3 The shields of his warriors are red;

his soldiers are clothed in crimson.

The metal on the chariots flashes

on the day when he musters them;

the chargers prance.

4 The chariots race madly through the streets,

they rush to and fro through the squares;

their appearance is like torches,

they dart like lightning.

5 He calls his officers;

they stumble as they come forward;

they hasten to the wall,

and the mantelet is set up.

6 The river gates are opened,

the palace trembles.

7 It is decreed that the city be exiled,

its slave women led away,

moaning like doves

and beating their breasts.

8 Nineveh is like a pool

whose waters run away.

“Halt! Halt!”-

but no one turns back.

9 “Plunder the silver,

plunder the gold!

There is no end of treasure!

An abundance of every precious thing!”

10 Devastation, desolation, and destruction!

Hearts faint and knees tremble,

all loins quake,

all faces grow pale!

11 What became of the lions’ den,

the cave of the young lions,

where the lion goes,

and the lion’s cubs, with no one to disturb them?

12 The lion has torn enough for his whelps

and strangled prey for his lionesses;

he has filled his caves with prey

and his dens with torn flesh. (Nahum 1:15-2:12, NRSV)

The following comments are repeated here with some editing from November 2, 2006 (Thursday in the week of the Sunday closest to October 26, Year Two):

Nahum has announced the destruction of Nineveh. “The LORD has commanded concerning you: / ‘Your name shall be perpetuated no longer; / from the house of your gods I will cut off / the carved image and the cast image, / I will make your grave, for you are worthless’” (Nahum 1:14). Now Nahum turns to an oracle of promise for Judah. They are to celebrate because their enemy will not come against them again. “Look! On the mountains the feet of one / who brings good tidings, / who proclaims peace! / Celebrate your festivals, O Judah, / fulfill your vows, / for never again shall the wicked invade you; / they are utterly cut off” (v. 15 = Heb. 2:1). But the attention turns back to Nineveh, called “a shatterer” (v. 2a Heb. = v. 1a NRSV, based on a conjecture, CP2m1, mappēts, conjecture [apparatus in BHS = Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 2^nd ed., emended, 1983; cf. NRSV text note a on v. 1 NRSV = v. 2 Heb.); the Hebrew text is Cyp9m2, mēfîts, which the NRSV text note translates as “scatterer). Nineveh is warned to “Guard the ramparts; / watch the road; / gird your loins; / collect all your strength” (2:1b, c, d, e NRSV = Heb. v. 2b, c, d, e). These warnings anticipate the coming of the LORD of Israel against Assyria in vengeance, working, of course, through an attacking army (vv. 3-12). But before proceeding to describe the attack upon Assyria, a parenthetical remark (note the parentheses in NRSV), says “the LORD is restoring the majesty of Jacob, / as well as the majesty of Israel” (v. 2a, b NRSV = Heb. v. 3a, b) in spite of the devastation of the “ravagers” (v. 2c, d NRSV = Heb. v. 3c, d). According to Gregory Moberly, “This parenthetical observation suggests that the fall of Assyria inspired hope for the release and repatriation of the Ephraimites exiled in 722. Jacob here refers to the Northern Kingdom (Am. 6:8; 8:7)” (NOAB, 3^rd ed., 2001, on Nah. 2:2 NRSV).

The description of Assyria’s destruction is vivid and graphic. “The shields of his [i.e. the invading army’s] warriors ar red; / his soldiers are clothed in crimson. / The metal on the chariots flashes / on the day when he musters them; / the chargers prance” (v. 3 NRSV = Heb. v. 4). The chariots are said to “race madly through the streets,” rushing “to and fro . . . like torches, / they dart like lightning” (v. 4 NRSV = Heb. v. 5). Assyria’s officers “stumble as they come forward” (v. 5b NRSV = Heb. v. 6b), and attempt in vain to defend against the attack “they hasten to the wall, / and the mantelet (j`k2S0o, sōkēk) is set up” (v. 5c, d NRSV = Heb. v. 6c, d). Of “mantelet,” NRSV text note c says, “Meaning of Heb. uncertain,” but sōkēk is defined as “mantelet, i.e. portable roofing to protect besiegers” (William L. Holladay, A Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, 1971, 4<sup>th</sup> impression 1978 s.v. j`k2S, sōkēk, where the dagger † indicates that the only occurrence is here, Nah. 2:6 [Heb. verse no. = v. 5 NRSV]). One would expect the mantelet to be put up by the attackers, not the defenders. And the text apparently continues to describe measures of attack. “The river gates are opened,” says Nahum’s oracle, and “the palace trembles” (v. 6 NRSV = Heb. v. 7). “It is decreed that the city be exiled, / its slave women led away, / moaning like doves / and beating their breasts” (v. 7 NRSV = Heb. v. 8). Nineveh seems to be flooded by the opening of the [Tigris] river gates: “Nineveh is like a pool / whose waters run away. / ‘Halt! Halt!’ – but no one turns back” (v. 8 NRSV = Heb. v. 9; cf. v. 6 NRSV = Heb. v. 7). “Plunder the silver, / plunder the gold!” exults the attacking army. “There is no end of treasure!” they say, “an abundance of every precious thing!” (v. 9 NRSV = Heb. v. 10).

The next lines describe the “devastation, desolation, and destruction” of Nineveh. “Hearts faint and knees tremble,” says Nahum; “all loins quake, / all faces grow pale!” (v. 10 NRSV = Heb. v. 11). Nahum asks, “What became of the lions’ den (tOyr!x3 NOfm4, m ^e ‘ôn ’^arāyôth)?” (v. 11a NRSV = Heb. v. 12a). Note the plural form “lions’.” According to Gregory Mobley, “The lion was a popular symbol of the Assyrian court” (NOAB, 3^rd ed. on Nahum 2:11 NRSV). Nahum continues with a taunt, describing the lion’s care for its cubs: apparently the lion “has torn enough for his whelps,” and “strangled prey for his lionesses” (v. 12a, b NRSV = Heb. v. 13a, b). “Nineveh’s treasures,” says Mobley, “plundered and extorted from its vassals, are likened to prey” (ibid., on vv. 12-13 NRSV).

Revelation 12:7-17

Michael Defeats the Dragon

7 And war broke out in heaven; Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. The dragon and his angels fought back, 8 but they were defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. 9 The great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world–he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.

10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, proclaiming,

“Now have come the salvation and the power

and the kingdom of our God

and the authority of his Messiah,

for the accuser of our comrades has been thrown down,

who accuses them day and night before our God.

11 But they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb

and by the word of their testimony,

for they did not cling to life even in the face of death.

12 Rejoice then, you heavens

and those who dwell in them!

But woe to the earth and the sea,

for the devil has come down to you

with great wrath,

because he knows that his time is short!”

The Dragon Fights Again on Earth

13 So when the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. 14 But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle, so that she could fly from the serpent into the wilderness, to her place where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time. 15 Then from his mouth the serpent poured water like a river after the woman, to sweep her away with the flood. 16 But the earth came to the help of the woman; it opened its mouth and swallowed the river that the dragon had poured from his mouth. 17 Then the dragon was angry with the woman, and went off to make war on the rest of her children, those who keep the commandments of God and hold the testimony of Jesus. (Revelation 12:7-17, NRSV)

On November 2, 2006 (Thursday in the week of the Sunday closest to October 26, Year Two), comments were repeated with revision and supplement from October 28, 2004, (Thursday of the week of the Sunday closest to October 26, Year Two). The following comments are based on those of November 2, 2006, with some comparison with comments on November 7, 2007 (Wednesday in the week of the Sunday closest to November 2, Year One), when the reading was Revelation 12:1-12. (Some of the latter were used yesterday.)

The Battle continues on a cosmic scale. “War broke out in heaven; Michael and his angels fought against the dragon” (Rev. 12:7a). According to Bruce M. Metzger, “Michael [is] an archangel and the champion of Israel (Dan. 10:13, 21; 12:1; Jude 9)” (NOAB, 2^nd ed., 1994, on Rev. 12:7). “The dragon and his angels fought back,” says John, “but they were defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven” (v. 7b, 8). John explains, “The great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world–he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him” (v. 9).

Although the dragon and his angels, when thrown down to earth, pose a deadly threat, at this moment the victory in heaven is celebrated. John says he “heard a loud voice in heaven proclaiming,

‘Now have come the salvation and the power

and the kingdom of our God

and the authority of his Messiah,

for the accuser of our comrades has been thrown down,

who accuses them day and night before our God’ ” (Rev. 12:10 NRSV)

The “accuser,” says Metzger alludes to “Job 1:9-11” (ibid., on v. 10). “Satan,” says David E. Aune, “means accuser in Hebrew (Job 1:9-11; Zech. 3:1). The song of victory continues in heaven.

“But they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb

and by the word of their testimony,

for they did not cling to life even in the face of death.” (Rev. 12:11 NRSV)

“They have conquered” says Metzger, “through both divine and human effort” (op. cit., on v. 11). Jean-Pierre Ruiz puts it this way: “They have conquered, the paradoxical victory of the crucified Christ [he refers here to 5:6] and of the martyrs, who were faithful unto death” (NOAB, 3^rd ed., 2001, on Rev. 12:11). While the celebration in heaven continues for a couple lines, it takes note in a “woe” of the threat to earth when the devil comes down.

“Rejoice then, you heavens

and those who dwell in them!

But woe to the earth and the sea,

for the devil has come down to you

with great wrath,

because he knows that his time is short!” (Rev. 12:12 NRSV)

To this call for rejoicing, Metzger compares the following: “Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; / let the sea roar, and all that fills it; / let the field exult, and everything in it” (Ps. 96:11); and “Sing for joy, O heavens and exult, O earth; / break forth, O mountains, into singing! / For the LORD has comforted his people, / and will have compassion on his suffering ones” (Isa. 49:12).

But the joy in heaven stands in contrast to woes on earth. “So when the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child” (Rev. 12:13, cf. vv. 4-6). “But the woman,” says John, “was given the two wings of the great eagle, so that she could fly from the serpent into the wilderness, to her place where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time” (v. 14, cf. 11:2-3 and the “forty-two months”). Then she is threatened, as John tells us, “from his mouth thwe serpent poured water like a river after the woman, to sweep her away with the flood” (v. 15). But, as Metzger points out, “aid comes from an unexpected quarter” (op. cit., on v. 16): “But the earth came to the help of the woman; it opened its mouth and swallowed the river that the dragon had poured from his mouth” (v. 16). “Earth helps the woman,” says Ruiz, “as in Ex. 15:12 the earth swallows up the pursuing Egyptian armies” (op. cit., on v. 16). So the frustrated dragon vents his anger by making “war on the rest of her children, those who keep the commandments of God and hold the testimony of Jesus” (v. 17; cf. 14:12, ref. by Ruiz, op. cit., on 12:17).

Luke 11:53-12:12

53 When he went outside, the scribes and the Pharisees began to be very hostile toward him and to cross-examine him about many things, 54 lying in wait for him, to catch him in something he might say.

A Warning against Hypocrisy

12:1 Meanwhile, when the crowd gathered by the thousands, so that they trampled on one another, he began to speak first to his disciples, “Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees, that is, their hypocrisy. 2 Nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known. 3 Therefore whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered behind closed doors will be proclaimed from the housetops.

Exhortation to Fearless Confession (Mt 10.26-33)

4 “I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that can do nothing more. 5 But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him! 6 Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten in God’s sight. 7 But even the hairs of your head are all counted. Do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.

8 “And I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before others, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God; 9 but whoever denies me before others will be denied before the angels of God. 10 And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. 11 When they bring you before the synagogues, the rulers, and the authorities, do not worry about how you are to defend yourselves or what you are to say; 12 for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that very hour what you ought to say.” (Luke 11:53-12:12, NRSV)

The following comments are repeated here from November 2, 2006 (Thursday in the week of the Sunday closest to October 26, Year Two):

When one compares the successive paragraphs in this reading from Luke to the parallel passages in Matthew and Mark (and a verse in John), the different contexts and sequences might suggest that Luke has pieced this section together from different sources. See the separate file Luke 11:53-12:12. That may be true, to some extent, but Luke has here material parallel to three or four different contexts in Matthew, and Matthew clearly uses topical arrangement in putting his material together. But for Luke, the severe criticism of Pharisees and lawyers that began at dinner with a Pharisee in yesterday’s reading (Luke 11:37-52) continues the “sustained series of teachings critical of the Pharisees” noted in yesterday’s comments.

As Jesus was leaving the Pharisee’s house, “the scribes and the Pharisees began to be very hostile toward him and to cross-examine him about many things, lying in wait for him, to catch him in something he might say” (Lk. 11:53-54; cf. [Jn. 8:6]). There are earlier intimations of Pharisaic hostility to Jesus in Luke (e.g. Lk. 5:21, 30; 6:2, 7), but this seems to mark a decisive turning of them against him. In Mark, the Pharisees turn against Jesus very early. After his healing of the man with the withered hand on the sabbath (Mk. 3:1-5), “The Pharisees went out and immediately conspired with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him” (v. 6; cf. Mt. 12:4). In Luke’s parallel account, he notes that the Pharisees watched Jesus “to see whether he would cure on the sabbath, so that they might find an accusation against him” (Lk. 6:7; cf. Mk. 3:2), and when the hand was restored (Lk. 6:10), “they were filled with fury and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus” (v. 11); but Luke does not use the word “destroy” (ajpovllumi, apollymi, Mk. 3:6; Mt. 12:14).

The warning to “beware of the yeast of the Pharisees” (Lk. 12:1), which in Mark follows the Feeding of the Four Thousand (Mk. 8:1-10; Mt. 15:32-39) and the episode in which the Pharisees seek a sign (Mk. 8:11-13; Mt. 16:1-4; 12:38-39; Lk. 11:16; 12:54-56; 11:29; Jn. 6:30), follows Luke’s account of Jesus’ dinner with the Pharisee, including the woes against the Pharisees and lawyers (Lk. 11:37-54; cf. Mk. 7:1-9; Mt. 15:1-9 and chap. 23). In Mark and Matthew, the disciples’ forgetting to bring bread leads to the warning about the “yeast of the Pharisees” (Mt. 16:6) or the “yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod” (Mk. 8:15). Luke’s version of the warning seems to come from Jesus encounter with the Pharisees and lawyers at the dinner. Only Luke reports his interpretation of “their yeast” as “their hypocrisy” (Lk. 12:1). This is perhaps another indication of Luke’s sensitivity to what we might call spiritual values, whether positive, as in the reference to prayer as the medium of revelation at the Transfiguration (Lk. 9:29), or negative here (hypocrisy).

In a different context, Jesus’ instructions to the Twelve about their mission, Matthew has Jesus encourage the disciples to “have no fear of them” (Mt. 10:26), that is, the ones who “have called the master of the house Beelzebul” (v. 25), before continuing with the explanation that “nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered” (v. 26; cf. Mk. 4:22, ‘there is nothing hidden, except to be disclosed,” cf. Lk. 8:17). But the parallels between Luke 12:2-9 and Matthew 10:26-33 (likely the “Q” version, as opposed to the version from the Markan tradition), are intriguing both for the similarities of wording, and for the differences in application. In Matthew, Jesus says, “What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops” (Mt. 10:27). This seems to be a call to proclaim openly what the master has taught them privately, motivated by the following exhortation: “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell” (Mt. 10:28; cf. Lk. 12:4-5). Luke seems to understand the secrets (Lk. 12:2) that are “said in the dark,” “behind closed doors” (v. 3) as examples of the “hypocrisy” against which Jesus has just warned (v. 1), and so as transgressions that might lead to punishment in hell. But both versions indicate that a proper respect for God as the true authority will lead to protection. “Are not five sparrows (Lk.), two sparrows (Mt.) Sold for two pennies (Lk.), a penny (Mt.)? Yet not one of them is forgotten in God’s sight” (Lk. 12:6). “. . .Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your father (Mt. 10:29). We are told that “even the hairs of your [our] head are all counted,” so we should not be afraid, because we “are of more value than many sparrows” (Lk. 12:7; Mt. 10:30-31). On that basis, one should bravely confess Christ before others. “And I tell you, everyone (Lk.), Everyone, therefore (Mt.), who acknowledges me before others, the Son of Man (Lk.), I (Mt.) also will acknowledge before the angels of God (Lk.), before my Father in heaven (Mt.); but whoever denies me before others will be denied (Lk.), I also will deny (Mt.) before the angels of God (Lk.), before my Father in heaven (Mt.)” (Lk. 12:8-9; Mt. 10:32-33).

At this point Luke includes the warning against blaspheming against the Holy Spirit (Lk. 12:10), which Mark and Matthew report in connection with the Beelzebul controversy (Mk. 3:28-30; Mt. 12:31-37; cf. Mk. 3:22-27; Mt. 12:22-30; 9:32-34; Lk. 11:14-15, 17-23). Speaking “a word against the Son of Man” (Lk. 12:10a) is the opposite of acknowledging Jesus before others, and thus being acknowledged by the Son of Man before the angels of God (v. 8); even so, it “will be forgiven,” on repentance, of course, whereas “whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven” (v. 10b). As noted above, this comes in a context in which a series of Jesus’ teachings are directed against the Pharisees, but the versions in Mark and Matthew are pointedly directed against those who attribute Jesus’ exorcisms to Beelzebul.

This reading closes with encouragement of the disciples for times “when they bring you before the synagogues, the rulers and the authorities” (Lk. 12:11; cf. Mk. 13:11; Mt. 10:19). Luke’s fuller description of such occasions anticipates events he will report in Acts when Peter and John are brought before the Council (Acts 4-5), and later when Paul has such experiences (Acts 22-26). Jesus says, “the Holy Spirit will teach you at that very hour what you ought to say” (Lk. 12:12; cf. Mk. 13:11; Mt. 10:19; Lk. 21:14-15; Jn. 14:26). In such circumstances, one is probably prevented from the kind of preparation need for regular preaching and teaching responsibilities. This promise of the Spirit’s assistance in such times of distress is no excuse for lack of normal preparation in different circumstances.

Ronald D. Worden, Ph.D.

rdworden@hgst.edu

deanworden@comcast.net