Isaiah 9:8-17

Judgment on Arrogance and Oppression

8 The Lord sent a word against Jacob,

and it fell on Israel;

9 and all the people knew it-

Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria-

but in pride and arrogance of heart they said:

10 “The bricks have fallen,

but we will build with dressed stones;

the sycamores have been cut down,

but we will put cedars in their place.”

11 So the LORD raised adversaries against them,

and stirred up their enemies,

12 the Arameans on the east and the Philistines on the west,

and they devoured Israel with open mouth.

For all this his anger has not turned away;

his hand is stretched out still.

13 The people did not turn to him who struck them,

or seek the LORD of hosts.

14 So the LORD cut off from Israel head and tail,

palm branch and reed in one day-

15 elders and dignitaries are the head,

and prophets who teach lies are the tail;

16 for those who led this people led them astray,

and those who were led by them were left in confusion.

17 That is why the Lord did not have pity on their young people,

or compassion on their orphans and widows;

for everyone was godless and an evildoer,

and every mouth spoke folly.

For all this his anger has not turned away;

his hand is stretched out still. (Isaiah 9:8-17, NRSV)

On December 20, 2006 (Wednesday in the week of the Third Sunday of Advent, Year One), comments were repeated from December 15, 2004 (Wednesday in the week of the Third Sunday of Advent, Year One). The comments are repeated again here with editing and supplement:

Today’s lesson is the first two of four stanzas which denounce sins of the northern Israelite kingdom (Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria, Isa. 9:9; including Manasseh, 9:21). Each stanza concludes with the refrain, which is also used in 5:25:

            For all this his anger has not turned away;

               his hand is stretched out still. (Isa. 9:12c,d, 17e,f, 21c,d; 10:4c,d; cf. 5:25f,g NRSV)

The refrain’s second line announces judgment, referring to a practice “common in the ancient Near East (apparently originating in Egypt) to represent the king holding a mace in his raised hand beating down his enemies . . . Israel (and Judah) have become God’s enemies” (John Oswalt, The NIV Application Commentary, 2003, based on the NIV translation, “his hand is still upraised”).

The first stanza is introduced as a “word” (rb1D!, dāvar) of the Lord (yn!dox3, ’ ^adōnāy): “The Lord sent a word against Jacob, / and it fell on Israel” (Isa. 9:8 NRSV = Heb. v. 8). For “word” (rb!D!, dāvar), the Septuagint has “death” (qavnatoV, thanatos), apparently reading rb!D! (dāvar) as rb@D@ (dever, ‘plague,’ cf. 1 Kgs. 8:37), which would be identical in an unpointed text (i.e., a consonantal text without the vowel signs) (cf. K. Elliger and W. Rudolph, edd., Isaiah, Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia [BHS], 1968, apparatus to Isa. 9:7). The recent Jewish translation says, “My Lord / ^dLet loose a word^d against Jacob / And it fell upon Israel,” and text note d says, “Septuagint reads ‘Let loose pestilence’; cf. Amos 4:10. In vv. 7-20 Isaiah alludes to and builds upon Amos 4:10-20) (Isa. 9:7 NJPS 1985, 1999 = NRSV v. 8). But J. J. M. Roberts, who reads it as “word”–or follows the NRSV–calls it a “word,” that is, a “prophetic announcement of judgment that sets in motion the judgment it proclaims (55:10-11; Jer. 23:18-20)” (HarperCollins Study Bible, rev. ed., 2006, on Heb. 9:8 NRSV). Joseph Blenkinsopp explains, “LXX has thanaton [accusative case], ‘death’ as a translation of deber, ‘pestilence,’ but the stanza does not describe a pestilence” (Isaiah 1-39, Anchor Bible, vol. 19, 2000, p. 217, on Isa. 9:7 Heb. = v. 8 NRSV).

The people have attempted to address the problem, but in the wrong way. “And all the people new it,” says the prophet, “Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria–but in pride and arrogance of heart they said: / ‘The bricks have fallen, / but we will build with dressed stones; / the sycamores have been cut down, / but we will put cedars in their place” (vv. 9-10 NRSV = Heb. vv. 8-9). According to Roberts, “bricks [and] sycamores [are] common building material [but] dressed stones [and] cedars [are] expensive material used in palaces” (op. cit., on Isa. 9:10). This “pride and arrogance of heart” (v. 9c NRSV = v. 8c Heb.) does not represent faith but defiance, “So the LORD raised adversaries against them, / and stirred up their enemies, / the Arameans on the east and the Philistines on the west, / and they devoured Israel with open mouth” (vv. 11, 12a, b NRSV = Heb. 10, 11a, b). Joseph Blenkinsopp sums this up as “judgment through earthquake followed by military disaster from Arameans (Syrians) in the northeast and Philistines in the west” (NOAB, 3^rd ed., 2001, on Isa. 9:10-12 NRSV). And the stanza ends with the refrain, as noted above.

The second stanza reports that the judgments announced in the first had no effect. “The people did not turn to him who struck them, or seek the LORD of hosts” (v. 13 NRSV = Heb. v. 12). So, in consequence, “the LORD cut off from Israel head and tail, / palm branch and reed in one day” (v. 14 NRSV = Heb. v. 13). Although the next verse interprets the “head” as the “elders and dignitaries” (v. 15a NRSV = Heb. v. 14a), and the “tail” as “prophets who teach lies” (v. 15b NRSV = Heb. v. 14b), one might see the “tail” as the misled people; because, as the prophet’s interpretation continues, he says, “for those who led this people led them astray, / and those who were led by them were left in confusion” (v. 16 NRSV = Heb. v. 15). According to Blenkinsopp, verse 15 (NRSV) is “perhaps a gloss, giving a later twist to the phrase head and tail” (ibid., on v. 15). Based on verse 15, where the “tail” represents false prophets, the next verse condemns the “whole animal,” so to speak, for leading the people astray. Either way, the leaders are denounced for misleading the people. According to Benjamin D. Sommer, “the second section refers to the chaos in the Northern Kingdom during the coups and massacres described in the mid-740s (see 2 Kings ch. 15)” (The Jewish Study Bible, 2004, on Isa. 9:12-17 NJPS = Heb. = NRSV vv. 13-18). The NJPS version prints v. 17a, b, c, d (= NRSV v. 18a, b, c, d) as a separate stanza, and also the refrains as separate two line stanzas. The NJPS move the second line from the end of v. 16 (NRSV v. 17) to the end of v. 17 (NRSV v. 18), as the text note e says, “moved down from v. 16 for clarity.”

Prior to the refrain, as noted above, the NRSV stanza draws the conclusion: “That is why the Lord did not have pity on their young people, / or compassion on their orphans and widows; / for everyone was godless and an evildoer, / and every mouth spoke folly” (v. 17a, b, c, d NRSV = Heb. v. 16a, b, c, d). Israel may have blamed Assyria for her troubles, but Isaiah reminds them that judgment is coming from the hand of God. Assyria is God’s instrument for punishment, his “rod” (10:5, 15), “ax,” “saw” and “staff” (10:15).

2 Peter 2:1-10a

False Prophets and Their Punishment

2:1 But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive opinions. They will even deny the Master who bought them-bringing swift destruction on themselves. 2 Even so, many will follow their licentious ways, and because of these teachers the way of truth will be maligned. 3 And in their greed they will exploit you with deceptive words. Their condemnation, pronounced against them long ago, has not been idle, and their destruction is not asleep.

4 For if God did not spare the angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of deepest darkness to be kept until the judgment; 5 and if he did not spare the ancient world, even though he saved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood on a world of the ungodly; 6 and if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction and made them an example of what is coming to the ungodly; 7 and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man greatly distressed by the licentiousness of the lawless 8 (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by their lawless deeds that he saw and heard), 9 then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trial, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment 10 –especially those who indulge their flesh in depraved lust, and who despise authority. (2 Peter 2:1-10a, NRSV)

On December 20, 2006 (Wednesday in the week of the Third Sunday of Advent, Year One), comments were repeated from December 15, 2004 (Wednesday in the week of the Third Sunday of Advent, Year One); they are repeated again her with editing and supplement:

Having reminded his readers that the tradition received from the Apostles is trustworthy (Tuesday’s Epistle reading), Peter warns them about the false prophets and teachers “who will secretly bring in destructive opinions,” and “will even deny the Master” (2 Pet. 2:1). “Many will follow their licentious ways” and “the way of truth will be maligned” (v. 2). “In their greed they will exploit you with deceptive words” (v. 3a). They have long since been condemned. “Their condemnation, pronounced against them long ago, has not been idle, and their destruction is not asleep” (v. 3b). These false prophets and teachers will be like “false prophets” who “also arose among the [ancient Israelite] people” (v. 1). The consequences in the past, God’s casting “the angels” who sinned “into hell” (v. 4; cf. Jude 6), his not sparing Noah’s generation from the flood, “even though he saved Noah” (v. 5), and his destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (v. 6; cf. Jude 7), though he rescued Lot (v. 7), need not come upon the Christian’s who heed Peter’s warning. For, as Lot’s case shows, “the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trial, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment” (v. 9). Lot is characterized as “a righteous man greatly distressed by the licentiousness of the lawless” (v. 7), and it is explained that “that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by their lawless deeds that he saw and heard” (v. 8), “especially those who indulge their flesh in depraved lust, and who despise authority” (v. 10a).

Mark 1:1-8

1:1 The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

2 As it is written in the prophet Isaiah,

“See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,

who will prepare your way;

3 the voice of one crying out in the wilderness:

‘Prepare the way of the Lord,

make his paths straight,’ “

4 John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. 6 Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. 7 He proclaimed, “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. 8 I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” (Mark 1:1-8, NRSV)

On February 11, 2008 (Monday in the week of the First Sunday of Lent, Year Two), comments on Mark 1:1-11 were based on comments of December 20, 2006 (Wednesday in the week of the Third Sunday of Advent, Year One), when comments were combined with revision and adaptation from December 15, 2004, (Wednesday in the week of the Third Sunday of Advent, Year One), and from earlier comments as noted there. Relevant comments for Mark 1:1-8 are repeated here:

Mark’s Gospel starts with a striking phrase–begins with a bang, as they say. “The beginning of the good news [text note a ‘Or gospel’] of Jesus Christ [the Son of God]” (Mk. 1:1). This title sums up his message, “The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God” (Mk. 1:1). The words “Son of God” (uiJou: qeou:, huiou theou) are absent in a few ancient authorities (cf. NRSV text note b), but with six Greek words in a row ending in ou (ou), accidental omission is certainly possible (cf. Bruce M. Metzger, Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, 1971, on Mk. 1:1). “On the other hand, however,” adds Metzger, “there was always a temptation (to which copyists often succumbed) to expand titles and quasi-titles of books” (Ibid.). Assuming that Mark wrote the phrase, it is interesting to find it echoed in the words of the Centurion, “Truly this man was God’s Son” (Mk. 15:39). Mark surely knew what he was doing. These two sayings form a frame, or “bookends,” for the Gospel in which it seems to take the disciples forever–not to mention Jesus’ opponents–to get the point. He is the Son of God, something which the unclean spirit recognizes at the outset (Mk. 1:24). The quotation (vv. 2-3) which introduces John the baptizer (v. 4) combines Malachi 3:1 and Isaiah 40:3 (cf. Ex. 23:20), but is cited as from “the prophet Isaiah” (v. 2). Matthew tailors the quotation to fit the reference (Mt. 3:3), and so does Luke, but he expands the Isaiah quotation to Isaiah 40:3-5, cited in Luke 3:4-6.

John the Baptist’s ministry of preparation for Jesus’ coming, his preaching of repentance, is briefly summarized by Mark as “a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness [remission] of sins” (Mk. 1:4). Matthew records more of John’s preaching (Mt. 3:7-12), and Luke even more (Lk 3:7-17). But all report John’s activity as pointing to the coming and ministry of Jesus.

Mark tells us little about himself in his Gospel. Mark may have referred to himself in his account of Jesus’ arrest: “A certain young man was following him, wearing nothing but a linen cloth. They caught hold of him, but he left the linen cloth and ran off naked” (Mk. 14:51-52). We know that when Peter was arrested in the time of Herod Agrippa’s persecution (Acts 12), and was released by an angel (Acts 12:7-11), “he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John, whose other name was Mark” (v. 12). The young man who fled, leaving his linen cloth behind is not identified. Elwyn E. Tilden and Bruce M. Metzger say, “Perhaps he was sleeping in the house where Jesus ate the Last Supper and rose hastily from bed to follow Jesus to Gethsemane. If the house was that of Mary . . . it is possible that the young man was the Evangelist himself” (NOAB, 2^nd. ed., 1994, on Mk. 14:49)

We also know that Mark accompanied Barnabas and Paul on their first missionary journey (Acts, chaps. 13-14), though he turned back at Paphos (Acts 13:13). The Coptic Christians of Egypt credit Mark with being the Evangelist who brought the gospel to them. Saint Mark Coptic Orthodox Church of Houston, 424 Mulberry Lane, is one of many Coptic Orthodox Churches, including many in Egypt, dedicated to his memory. An early Christian tradition (Papias, Bishop of Hierapolis, in his Exegesis of the Lord’s Oracles, c. A.D. 140, cited by Eusebius in the 4^th century in his Historia Ecclesiastica) says that Mark was Peter’s interpreter, and after Peter died, Mark wrote what Peter had preached:

For information on these points, we can merely refer our readers to the books themselves; but now, to the extracts already made, we shall add, as being a matter of primary importance, a tradition regarding Mark who wrote the Gospel, which he [Papias] has given in the following words]: And the presbyter said this. Mark having become the 155 interpreter of Peter, wrote down accurately whatsoever he remembered. It was not, however, in exact order that he related the sayings or deeds of Christ. For he neither heard the Lord nor accompanied Him. But afterwards, as I said, he accompanied Peter, who accommodated his instructions to the necessities [of his hearers], but with no intention of giving a regular narrative of the Lord’s sayings. Wherefore Mark made no mistake in thus writing some things as he remembered them. For of one thing he took especial care, not to omit anything he had heard, and not to put anything fictitious into the statements. (cited from http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf01.vii.ii.vi.html, accessed again Dec. 16, 2008; you may have to copy and paste the URL)

If Peter was thus the source of information for much of Mark’s material, Mark may nevertheless have reported his own experience at the arrest of Jesus. But Mark focuses on “the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God” (Mk. 1:1), not his own story.

The effect of John’s preaching of repentance is dramatic: “And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins” (Mk. 1:5). John’s clothing is described; he is “clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey” (v. 6), which reminds us of Elijah, who is described to King Ahaziah as “a hairy man, with a belt around his waist” (2 Kgs. 1:8; cf. Mk. 9:11-13).

Today’s reading concludes with John’s witness about Jesus: “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. 8 I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” As we look ahead, Jesus comes to be baptized by John in the Jordan (1:9).

Ronald D. Worden, Ph.D.

rdworden@hgst.edu

deanworden@comcast.net