Isaiah 6:1-13

A Vision of God in the Temple (Cp Ezek 1.4-28)

6:1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple. 2 Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. 3 And one called to another and said:

"Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts;

the whole earth is full of his glory."

4 The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke. 5 And I said: "Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!"

6 Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. 7 The seraph touched my mouth with it and said: "Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out." 8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I; send me!" 9 And he said, "Go and say to this people:

'Keep listening, but do not comprehend;

keep looking, but do not understand.'

10 Make the mind of this people dull,

and stop their ears,

and shut their eyes,

so that they may not look with their eyes,

and listen with their ears,

and comprehend with their minds,

and turn and be healed."

11 Then I said, "How long, O Lord?" And he said:

"Until cities lie waste

without inhabitant,

and houses without people,

and the land is utterly desolate;

12 until the LORD sends everyone far away,

and vast is the emptiness in the midst of the land.

13 Even if a tenth part remain in it,

it will be burned again,

like a terebinth or an oak

whose stump remains standing

when it is felled."

The holy seed is its stump. (Isaiah 6:1-13, NRSV)

On December 13, 2006 (Wednesday in the week of the Second Sunday of Advent, Year One), comments were repeated with revision and supplement from December 8, 2004, (Wednesday in the week of the Second Sunday of Advent, Year One)):

John Bright describes Isaiah’s “Inaugural Vision” (Peake’s Commentary on the Bible, 1962, reprint 1972, sec. 427b, p. 494 on Isa. 6:1-13):

The setting is the Temple, probably on some festal occasion . . . As the service progressed and the songs of massed choirs rang through the sanctuary, Isaiah, gazing toward the portals of the Debir [Holy of Holies], where stood Yahweh’s throne, seized with emotion, saw the visible scene replaced by a vision of Yahweh the king. There he was enthroned, with the seraph attendants about him hiding their faces that they might not behold his glory. The swirling incense-smoke which filled the Temple became the train of Yahweh’s robes, the antiphonal shouts of the choirs and the voices of the seraphim praising the God who is thrice holy, exalted, utterly unapproachable, whose glory fills all the earth. Isaiah was seized with terror at what he saw. A sinful man of a sinful people, he had penetrated the heavenly court and gazed on God face to face–a thing no man could do and live (Exod. 33:20). He cannot join the song of praise, nor have his people a right to do so. But then one of the seraphs flew to him, not to kill him but to touch his lips with a hot coal taken from the altar, thereby symbolically purging his sin. Thus purified, he could stand in the divine presence without fear. And as he stood on the outskirts of the heavenly company, he heard the voice of God himself speaking: Who will go for us and take our word to this people? And Isaiah in simple, unquestioning obedience, said, ‘Here am I; send me.’ With that he became a prophet, a messenger of God’s heavenly council to men (cf. Jer. 23:18, 22).

Joseph Blenkinsopp notes that “the purification of the lips prepared Isaiah for his prophetic mission, which he accepted eagerly, unlike Moses (Ex. 3:11), Jeremiah (Jer. 1:6), and Jonah (Jon. 1:3)” (NOAB, 3^rd ed., 2001, on Isa. 6:6-7).

After such a glorious vision and experience of cleansing, one might have expected a commission that would lead to glorious triumphs. But that is not what follows. Isaiah is to “Go and say to this people: ‘Keep listening, but do not comprehend; / keep looking, but do not understand’ ” (Isa. 6:9). “Make the mind of this people dull,” says the LORD, “and stop their ears, / and shut their eyes, / so that they may not look with their eyes, / and listen with their ears, / and comprehend with their minds, / and turn and be healed” (v. 10). According to Benjamin D. Sommer,

Shockingly, the prophet is not supposed to help the people understand the danger to which their sinfulness exposes them. Cf. 29:9-12. God no longer desires repentance; rather, God wants to vent divine anger on the nation. Some rabbinic commentators, unable to imagine such an interpretation, argue that the imperative verbs must be taken as future-tense verbs. Hence God does not order Isaiah to cause the people to misunderstand; rather God predicts that they will not achieve understanding in spite of Isaiah’s speeches, because the people do not want to acknowledge the truth. (The Jewish Study Bible, 2004, on Isa. 6:8-10)

Isaiah asks, “How long, O Lord?” (v. 11a), and the answer is, in a word, “exile.” “Until cities lie waste / without inhabitant, / and houses without people, / and the land is utterly desolate; until the LORD sends everyone far away, / and vast is the emptiness in the midst of the land” (vv. 11c, d, e, f, 12). The concluding verse seems to exclude all hope–or does it? “‘Even if a tenth part remain in it, / it will be burned again, / like a terebinth or an oak / whose stump remains standing / when it is felled’ / The holy seed is its stump” (v. 13). Consider the following alternative translation of this verse: “But while a tenth part yet remains in it, it shall repent. It shall be ravaged like the terebinth and the oak, of which stumps are left even when they are felled; its stump shall be a holy seed” (v. 13 NJPS 1985, 1999). Sommer comments at length:

According to the NJPS translation (which reads against the cantillation, the signs in the Massoretic biblical text which serve as punctuation marks as well as musical notations), a small remnant will repent after the disaster; from this kernel the nation will be renewed. The renewal involves not exiles who return from afar but survivors who remain in the land. Thus Isaiah’s notion of renewal differs from the vision of renewal in Ezekiel, Jeremiah, and Second Isaiah. Alternatively (and in accord with the cantillation), the first half of the verse can be translated much more negatively: ‘And when a tenth are left, they will again be burned.’ In this rendering, the few survivors are subject to additional disaster. The second half is also obscure, but it seems to refer to the fact that renewed life can come out of the stump of terebinth and oak trees. Here the notion of the remnant that is saved from a devastating calamity does appear, however subtly. (ibid., on Isa. 6:13)..

On either reading, one would think that, at this point, Isaiah would be overcome with despair. But in the following chapter he has the courage to confront King Ahaz, who will not accept his word from the LORD (7:10-11).

2 Thessalonians 1:1-12

Salutation

1:1 Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy,

To the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:

2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Thanksgiving

3 We must always give thanks to God for you, brothers and sisters, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of everyone of you for one another is increasing. 4 Therefore we ourselves boast of you among the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith during all your persecutions and the afflictions that you are enduring.

The Judgment at Christ's Coming

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 1:1-12, NRSV)

On April 24, 2008 (Thursday in the week of the Fifth Sunday of Easter, Year Two), comments were repeated from December 13, 2006 (Wednesday in the week of the Second Sunday of Advent, Year One), when comments were repeated from May 18, 2006 (Thursday in the week of the Fifth Sunday of Easter, Year Two). They are repeated again here:

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” (hJmw:n, 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).”

The thanksgiving (vv. 3-4) 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). The coming time “when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels” (v. 7b) will “give relief to the afflicted” (v. 7a), but “in flaming fire, [inflict] vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus” (v. 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., 2001, 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 ends 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).

John 7:53-8:11

The Woman Caught in Adultery

[[ 53 Then each of them went home,8 1 while Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2 Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him and he sat down and began to teach them. 3 The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery; and making her stand before all of them, 4 they said to him, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. 5 Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?" 6 They said this to test him, so that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. 7 When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her." 8 And once again he bent down and wrote on the ground. 9 When they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the elders; and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. 10 Jesus straightened up and said to her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" 11 She said, "No one, sir." And Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again."]] (John 7:53-8:11, NRSV)

On December 13, 2006 (Wednesday in the week of the Second Sunday of Advent, Year One), comments were repeated from comments combined with revision and supplement from December 8, 2004 (Wednesday of the week of the Second Sunday in Advent, Year One), and from December 30, 2004 (in the week of the First Sunday after Christmas, Year One), comments which were repeated on February 2, 2006 (Tuesday in the week of the Fifth Sunday of Epiphany, Year Two). The combined comments are repeated again here:

The square brackets around the above text, [[ . . . ]], are a reminder: “The most ancient authorities lack 7:53-8:11; other authorities add the passage here or after 7:36 or after 21:25 or after Luke 21:38, with variations of text; some mark the passage as doubtful” (NRSV text note k on Jn. 7:53-8:11). According to Donald G. Miller and Bruce M. Metzger, the story of how Jesus dealt with the Woman Caught in Adultery (Jn. 7:53-8:11), though “omitted in many ancient manuscripts, appears to be an authentic incident in Jesus’ ministry, though not belonging originally to John’s Gospel” (NOAB, 2^nd ed., on Jn. 7:53-8:11). This variation in New Testament manuscripts is understood to mean that the passage, while not a part of the original manuscript of John’s Gospel, describes an authentic event in Jesus’ ministry–he really was confronted by this situation. According to C. K. Barrett, “the story is probably ancient; there is evidence that Papias recorded a story ‘about a woman accused in the Lord’s presence of many sins’” (Peake’s Commentary on the Bible, 1962, reprint 1972, sec. 759d, p. 868, on Jn. 7:53-8:11).

Jesus was teaching in the temple (Jn. 8:2), and “the scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery; and making her stand before all of them, they said to him, ‘Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?’” (vv. 3-5). That she was “caught in the very act” (v. 4) “is significant . . . eyewitnesses were necessary if punishment was to be inflicted” (Barrett, loc. cit.). But the Mosaic Law about adultery calls for the death of both the man and the woman (Lev. 20:10; Deut. 22:22). If the woman is engaged, and both are guilty, they are to be stoned (Deut. 22:23-24). But if he forces her (v. 25), “then only the man who lay with her shall die.” “According to the Mishnah, stoning is the punishment when the woman is betrothed, strangling when she is married” (ibid.).

We are told that they, “the scribes and the Pharisees” (v. 3), “said this to test him, so that they might have some charge to bring against him” (v. 6a). Jesus’ first response is to bend down and write with his finger on the ground (v. 6b). “It is fruitless,” says Barrett, “to ask what Jesus wrote on the ground (6); he simply refuses to pass judgment” (ibid.). They persist in their questioning him, but he stands up and says, “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her” (v. 7), then bends down and continues writing (v. 8). After the accusers quietly slink away–that’s the word, isn’t it?–Jesus says, “Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again” (v. 11). We can be grateful for a Lord who regards sin as a serious matter, but who recognizes the supreme value of persons whom he seeks to redeem. That’s the problem with sin, you know. It injures persons created in God’s image.

Ronald D. Worden, Ph.D.

rdworden@hgst.edu

deanworden@comcast.net