Isaiah 26:1-9 (Episcopal), 26:1-6 (Presbyterian and Lutheran)

Judah's Song of Victory

26:1 On that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah:

We have a strong city;

he sets up victory

like walls and bulwarks.

2 Open the gates,

so that the righteous nation that keeps faith

may enter in.

3 Those of steadfast mind you keep in peace–

in peace because they trust in you.

4 Trust in the LORD forever,

for in the LORD GOD

you have an everlasting rock.

5 For he has brought low

the inhabitants of the height;

the lofty city he lays low.

He lays it low to the ground,

casts it to the dust.

6 The foot tramples it,

the feet of the poor,

the steps of the needy.

7 The way of the righteous is level;

O Just One, you make smooth the path of the righteous.

8 In the path of your judgments,

O LORD, we wait for you;

your name and your renown

are the soul's desire.

9 My soul yearns for you in the night,

my spirit within me earnestly seeks you.

For when your judgments are in the earth,

the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness. (Isaiah 26:1-9, NRSV)

The following comments are repeated with editing and supplement from December 31, 2004 (Friday in the week of the First Sunday after Christmas, references for December 31, Year One):

On Isaiah 26:1-6

Isaiah begins here by announcing, “On that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah” (Isa. 26:1a), and the song begins: “We have a strong city; / he sets up victory / like walls and bulwarks” (v. 1b, c, d). The words “on that day” occur earlier (24:21) and here, as well as there, continue to look forward to the eschatological future described in the “Isaiah Apocalypse” (Isa. 24-27, so named by Victor R. Gold and William L. Holladay, NOAB, 2^nd ed., on Isa. 24-27). The song of chapter 26 continues, “We have a strong city; / he sets up victory / like walls and bulwarks” (26:1b, c, d). Gold and Holladay call these verses a “song of victory . . . a processional psalm, sung on entering Jerusalem, the strong city (v. 1; compare Ps. 24:7-10), celebrating God’s victory (salvation) over the enemies of Judah, the righteous nation” (ibid., on Isa. 26:1-6).

“Open the gates,” continues the psalm (v. 2a), echoing “Lift up your heads, O gates! / and be lifted up, O ancient doors!” (Ps. 24:7a, b, repeated in v. 9a, b). In the Psalm, the entrance is for “the King of glory” (Ps. 24:7, 8, 9, 10), that is, “the LORD, strong and mighty, / the LORD, mighty in battle” (v. 8b, c), “the LORD of hosts” (v. 10b). Robert C. Dentan calls Psalm 24 “a liturgy on entering the sanctuary, probably used in connection with a procession of the ark” (NOAB, 2^nd ed., on Ps. 24), and says, “the choir outside the gates, presumably accompanied by the ark, now requests to be admitted” (ibid., on vv. 7-10). But in Isaiah’s psalm, the request to “open the gates” is “so that the righteous nation that keeps faith / may enter in” (Isa. 26:2). He looks forward to Israel’s redemption and return from captivity.

The LORD is addressed, describing those whom he blesses. “Those of steadfast mind you keep in peace–in peace because they trust in you” (v. 3). Because this is so, the people are exhorted: Trust in the LORD forever, / for in the LORD GOD (hv!hy4 h0y!B4, b^eyāh YHWH, cf. oJ qeo;V oJ mevgaV oJ aijwvnioV, ho theos ho megas ho aiōnios, ‘great eternal God,’ LXX; cf. NRSV text note q ‘Heb. in Yah, the LORD) / you have an everlasting rock” (v. 4). D. Winton Thomas suggests omitting h0y!B4 (b^eyāh) with reference to the Septuagint reading (Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia [BHS], 1968, apparatus to Isa. 26:4). Dittography–accidental repetition of similar letters, is certainly a possibility here. The reference is clearly to the God of Israel who “has brought low / the inhabitants of the height; / the lofty city he lays low” (v. 5a, b, c). This “lofty city” the LORD “lays . . . low to the ground, / casts it to the dust. / The foot tramples it, the feet of the poor, / the steps of the needy” (vv.5d, e, 6). The “lofty city,” according to Joseph Blenkinsopp, is an “alien city,” as he describes these verses as “a psalm in praise of Zion (cf. Ps. 48; ;76; 84; 87; 122) in contrast to the alien city now destroyed (24:10-13; 25:2), which will be trampled by the poor and needy” (NOAB, 3^rd ed., 2001, on Isa. 26:1-6).

On Isaiah 26:7-9

The chapter continues with what Gold and Holladay call an “apocalyptic psalm” (op. cit., on vv. 7-19; so Blenkinsopp, “an apocalyptic psalm with attached commentary,” op. cit., on 26:1-27:1). The LORD is addressed again, this time as the “Just One”: “The way of the righteous is level; / O Just One, you make smooth the path of the righteous” (v. 7). Blenkinsopp says “the psalm is in the form of a lament” (ibid.), perhaps because longing for God is expressed. “In the path of your judgments, / O LORD, we wait for you; / your name and your renown / are the soul’s desire. / My soul yearns for you in the night, / my spirit within me earnestly seeks you” (vv. 8, 9a, b). But both requests for future help (vv. 11, 12) and reports of past help (vv. 14, 15) are included. And portion included for today’s reading concludes with an expression of confidence. “For when your judgments are in the earth, / the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness” (v. 9c, d).

2 Corinthians 5:16-6:2

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16 From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way. 17 So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. 20 So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

6:1 As we work together with him, we urge you also not to accept the grace of God in vain. 2 For he says,

"At an acceptable time I have listened to you,

and on a day of salvation I have helped you."

See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation! (2 Corinthians 5:16-6:2, NRSV)

Relevant comments are repeated here with some editing from comments on 2 Corinthians 5:11-6:2 of June 4, 2007 (Monday in the week of Trinity Sunday, references for the week of the Sunday closest to June 1, Year One), when comments were combined with revision and supplement from May 30, 2005 (Monday in the week of the Sunday closest to June 1, Year One), and from February 19, 2006 (the Second Sunday after the Epiphany, Year Two):

In this passage Paul brings an extensive discussion in reflection on his ministry to a climax. After telling the story of his recent relationship to the Corinthian church in chapters one and two, he breaks off to discuss his ministry beginning in chapter three, a ministry “of a new covenant, not of letter but of spirit” (2 Cor. 3:6), “a treasure in clay jars” (4:7), a ministry which tries “to persuade others” (5:11), before resuming the narrative (7:5). The “clay jar” (4:7) becomes Paul's “earthly tent” (5:1), his clothing (5:2-4), all representing his frail humanity, his mortality, but he looks forward “to be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life” 5:4). Paul has been reflecting on his ministry in 2 Corinthians, chapters 3, 4 and 5. Some have challenged his credentials, “Surely we do not need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you or from you, do we?” (2 Cor. 3:2), but the discussion of his ministry goes beyond a response to that challenge. A much stronger and more direct response to criticism comes in chapters 10-13. But the focus here has been on a contrast between “a new covenant, not of letter but of spirit” (3:6) and “the ministry of death” under Moses (v. 7, cf. 3:6-18), on his “open statement of the truth” and refusal “to practice cunning or to falsify God’s word” (4:2, cf. vv. 1-6), on his treasure, the gospel, held in human frailty (the “clay jar,” 4:7, cf. vv. 7-12), his hope for resurrection (4:14), the cure for human mortality (the “earthly tent” that is being destroyed, 5:1) and his confidence in Christ (5:6-11).

Paul further describes his ministry, keeping in mind the charges of his opponents that he will address more specifically later. His is a ministry that works by persuasion. “Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we try to persuade others” (v. 11). He is Christ’s ambassador (v. 20). Some “boast in outward appearance and not in the heart” (v. 12), but “the love of Christ urges us on [in ministry]” (v. 14).

The content of Paul’s gospel message is about Christ, who “died for all, so that those who live might live no longer for themselves but for him who died and was raised for them” (v. 15). Paul’s ministry is a “ministry of reconciliation” based on “new creation” in Christ. It amounts to a reversal of the fall of humankind, a “new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!” (v. 17). It is a message of reconciliation, of God “who reconciled us to himself through Christ” (v. 18), and incidentally, a reconciliation of Paul’s Corinthian converts to himself and to God, after the destructive inroads of the false apostles. But the essence of the gospel is presented in verse 19: “in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us.” “So we are ambassadors for Christ,” says Paul, “since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God” (v. 20).

After this appeal, Paul further defines the work of Christ: “For our sake he [i.e., God] made him [i.e., Christ] to be sin (aJmartiva, hamartia) who knew no sin (aJmartiva, hamartia), so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (v. 21).

John Wesley translates aJmartiva (hamartia) in 2 Corinthians 5:21 as “sin offering” (cf. Bauer-Arndt-Gingrich-Danker, A Greek-English Lexicon, 2^nd ed., 1979, p. 43, s.v. aJmartiva, hamartia, 3. “[God] has made him to be sin [i.e. subject to death] who knew no sin, for our sakes 2 Cor. 5:21. Or ha[martia] may = sin-offering here, as Lev. 4:24  . . .  or Jesus is viewed as representative and bearer of the world’s sin . . .”). Ben Witherington III simplifies this a little: “The sinless one has been made sin, so that believers might become the righteousness of God” (Community & Conflict in Corinth, 1995, p. 397). In a footnote on the word “sin” he adds, “Perhaps this means ‘was made a sin offering’ (cf. Isa. 53:10), or it might mean that Christ was given the position of a sinner and treated as such. Wesley’s comment on verse 21 is as follows:

He made him a sin offering, who knew no sin - A commendation peculiar to Christ. For us - Who knew no righteousness, who were inwardly and outwardly nothing but sin; who must have been consumed by the divine justice, had not this atonement been made for our sins. That we might be made the righteousness of God through him - Might through him be invested with that righteousness, first imputed to us, then implanted in us, which is in every sense the righteousness of God. (John Wesley, Explanatory Notes on the New Testament, http://wesley.nnu.edu/john_wesley/notes/2Corinthians.htm, accessed again December 29, 2008)

The reading concludes with further appeal: “As we work together with him, we urge you also not to accept the grace of God in vain. For he says, ‘At an acceptable time I have listened to you, / and on a day of salvation I have helped you.’ See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation!” (6:1-2, citing Isa. 49:8).

John 8:12-19

Jesus the Light of the World

12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.” 13 Then the Pharisees said to him, “You are testifying on your own behalf; your testimony is not valid.” 14 Jesus answered, “Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is valid because I know where I have come from and where I am going, but you do not know where I come from or where I am going. 15 You judge by human standards; I judge no one. 16 Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is valid; for it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent me. 17 In your law it is written that the testimony of two witnesses is valid. 18 I testify on my own behalf, and the Father who sent me testifies on my behalf.” 19 Then they said to him, “Where is your Father?” Jesus answered, “You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.” (John 8:12-19, NRSV)

On August 30, 2008 (Saturday in the week of the Sunday closest to August 24, Year Two), comments were repeated with some editing from August 26, 2007 (the Sunday closest to August 24, Year One), when comments were repeated from March 14, 2007 (Wednesday in the week of the Third Sunday of Lent, Year One), when comments were combined from December 31, 2004, from March 2, 2005 (Wednesday of the week of the Third Sunday of Lent, Year One), from August 21, 2005 (the Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Year One), from February 8, 2006 (Wednesday in the week of the Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany, Year Two), and from September 2, 2006 (Saturday in the week of the Sunday closest to August 24, Year Two). The combined comments are repeated again here:

In John's Gospel, the occasion of Succoth (the Feast of Tabernacles), which featured the drawing and pouring out of water, provides a setting for Jesus claim, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, 'Out of the believer's heart shall flow rivers of living water'” (Jn. 7:37-38). As discussion and debate with Pharisees continues, the emphasis upon light, “I am the light of the world” (8:12), leads to the healing of the blind man (chap. 9), with its question about who was really blind, the blind man whom Jesus healed, or the unbelieving Pharisees (9:40-41). And the Feast of Dedication (10:22), which we know as Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights, continues the reference to “light.” The Feeding of the 5000 in John, chapter six, followed by Jesus' claim, “I am the bread of life” (6:35) and comparison with the “manna in the wilderness” (v. 49) reminds some of the Christian Eucharist and associations with the Passover. But the reference to Moses (v. 32) suggests an association with Shavuot (the Feast of Weeks, remembered by Christians as Pentecost), at which Jews celebrate the giving of Torah:

Shavuot is the holiday Jews universally accept as the day when G-d gave the Jewish people the Torah following Moses’ descent from Mount Sinai. However, nowhere in the Torah is the holiday of Shavuot actually linked to Matan Torah, the giving of the Torah. (“History and Origin of Shavuot,” on the Internet at http://www.netglimse.com/holidays/shavuot/history_and_origin_of_shavuot.shtml, accessed again Dec. 29, 2008 [address changed from March 11, 2007]–Copy and paste the URL).

John's Gospel seems to progress through the Jewish calendar: Passover and/or Shavuot (chap. 6), Sukkoth (chap. 7), discussion of light and blindness (chaps. 8, 9), Hanukkah (chap. 10), and Passover again, in relation to the Christian Holy Week. Jesus uses these connections to present himself as the one sent by the Father (8:16). “If you knew me, you would know my Father also” (8:19).

According to Rabbinic tradition, a part of the celebration of bet hashshoebah was a ceremony of lights–torches carried in an evening procession to the temple–which would light up the city. Jesus thus claims to be the true light, the fulfilment of that aspect of the Feast of Tabernacles. This is one aspect of the presentation of his divinity in John’s Gospel, and the point of contention in the “testimony” which the Pharisees claim “is not valid” (v. 13). Jesus says that his claims have the testimony of two witnesses (v. 17; cf. Deut. 19:15). Moreover, merely human testimony would be invalid; Jesus comes from above (v. 14; cf. 3:31-33). “He alone knows who he is (Obery M. Hendricks, Jr., NOAB, 3^rd ed., 2001, on Jn. 8:13-18). So the testimony that counts is his own and that of “the Father who sent me” (vv. 16, 18).

The Mishnah’s description of celebration at the Festival of Tabernacles continues with the playing of instruments (harps, lyres, cymbals, trumpets, and other musical instruments) by Levites standing on the steps which go down from the Israelites’ court to the women’s court, singing the “fifteen Songs of Ascents which are in the Book of Psalms,” followed by sustained shofar blasts. (People of Houston may be reminded of the annual but brief “Lighting of Houston” celebration in November.)

5:1 A. Flute playing is for five or six days;

B. This refers to the flute playing on bet hashshoebah.

C. which overrides the restrictions of neither the Sabbath nor of a festival day.

D. They said: Anyone who has not seen the rejoicing of bet hashshoebah in his life has never seen rejoicing.

5:2 A. At the end of the first festival day of the Festival [the priests and Levites] went down to the women’s courtyard.

B. And they made a major enactment [by putting men below and women above],

C. And there were golden candleholders there, with four gold bowls on their tops, and four ladders for each candlestick.

D. And four young priests with jars of oil containing a hundred and twenty logs [i.e., about 40 liters], [would climb up the ladders and] pour [the oil] into each bowl.

5:3 A. Out of the worn-out undergarments and girdles of the priests they made wicks,

B. and with them they lit the candlesticks.

C. And there was not a courtyard in Jerusalem which was not lit up from the light of bet hashshoebah.

5:4 A. The pious men and wonder workers would dance before them with flaming torches in their hand.

B. and they would sing before them songs and praises. (Mishnah, Sukkah 5:1-4, trans. Jacob Neusner, 1988, pp. 288-289)

The Gospel of John continues in 8:12 within the context of the Festival of Tabernacles (following the story of the Woman taken in Adultery, 7:53-8:11). If the people of Jerusalem celebrated in the manner described in the passage from the Mishnah cited above, lighting up every “courtyard in Jerusalem,” that is, lighting up their “world,” then it was very bold of Jesus to assert, “I am the light of the world” (Jn. 8:12). But it fits with earlier claims made for Jesus, and by Jesus, in the Gospel of John. “Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life. As before, Jesus’ claim is disputed by the Pharisees: “You are testifying on your own behalf; your testimony is not valid” (Jn. 8:13), an objection which was anticipated by Jesus already in 5:31-47. In chapter eight Jesus claims the testimony of two witnesses, that of himself and that of his Father (8:18), citing the validity of the testimony of two witnesses (v. 17, referring to Deut. 19:15). The lighting up of Jerusalem was apparently glorious for a time, but as with our holidays, over all too soon. But Jesus remains as the light of the world.

Ronald D. Worden, Ph.D.

rdworden@hgst.edu

deanworden@comcast.net