Jeremiah 44:1-14

The Persistent Idolatry of the Judeans in Egypt

44:1 The word that came to Jeremiah for all the Judeans living in the land of Egypt, at Migdol, at Tahpanhes, at Memphis, and in the land of Pathros, 2 Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: You yourselves have seen all the disaster that I have brought on Jerusalem and on all the towns of Judah. Look at them; today they are a desolation, without an inhabitant in them, 3 because of the wickedness that they committed, provoking me to anger, in that they went to make offerings and serve other gods that they had not known, neither they, nor you, nor your ancestors. 4 Yet I persistently sent to you all my servants the prophets, saying, "I beg you not to do this abominable thing that I hate!" 5 But they did not listen or incline their ear, to turn from their wickedness and make no offerings to other gods. 6 So my wrath and my anger were poured out and kindled in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; and they became a waste and a desolation, as they still are today. 7 And now thus says the LORD God of hosts, the God of Israel: Why are you doing such great harm to yourselves, to cut off man and woman, child and infant, from the midst of Judah, leaving yourselves without a remnant? 8 Why do you provoke me to anger with the works of your hands, making offerings to other gods in the land of Egypt where you have come to settle? Will you be cut off and become an object of cursing and ridicule among all the nations of the earth? 9 Have you forgotten the crimes of your ancestors, of the kings of Judah, of their wives, your own crimes and those of your wives, which they committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 10 They have shown no contrition or fear to this day, nor have they walked in my law and my statutes that I set before you and before your ancestors.

11 Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: I am determined to bring disaster on you, to bring all Judah to an end. 12 I will take the remnant of Judah who are determined to come to the land of Egypt to settle, and they shall perish, everyone; in the land of Egypt they shall fall; by the sword and by famine they shall perish; from the least to the greatest, they shall die by the sword and by famine; and they shall become an object of execration and horror, of cursing and ridicule. 13 I will punish those who live in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem, with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence, 14 so that none of the remnant of Judah who have come to settle in the land of Egypt shall escape or survive or return to the land of Judah. Although they long to go back to live there, they shall not go back, except some fugitives. (Jeremiah 44:1-14, NRSV)

On October 22, 2007 (Monday in the week of the Twenty-first Sunday after Pentecost, references for the week of the Sunday closest to October 19, Year One), comments were repeated with editing and supplement from October 17, 2005 (Monday in the week of the Sunday closest to October 19, Year One); the revised comments are repeated here:

In notes yesterday on the alternative reading of the Presbyterian and Lutheran traditions, we saw that, as the Babylonians were preparing to take the people of Jerusalem captive to Babylon, Jeremiah was given a choice, to go to Babylon with favored status, or to remain in the custody of Gedaliah, whom the Babylonians had appointed as governor of Judah. He chose the latter (Jer. 40:1-6). In the meantime, Gedaliah is murdered by Ishmael (41:2), who takes a large group of Judeans captive (v. 10), but meets resistance from Johanan son of Kareah, who frees Ishmael’s captives (vv. 11-14), though Ishmael himself and eight men flee to the Ammonites (v. 15). The group led by Johanan consult Jeremiah about what to do (42:1-6), and Jeremiah, presenting the word of the LORD that came to him after ten days (v. 7), advises remaining in the land of Judah (vv. 9-12) and warns against their obvious desire to go to Egypt (vv. 13-17). “If you are determined to enter Egypt and go to settle there, then the sword that you fear shall overtake you there, in the land of Egypt; and the famine that you dread shall follow close after you into Egypt; and there you shall die” (vv. 15b, 16). Jeremiah compares the LORD’s anger against Judah which led to the Babylonian conquest to the LORD’s wrath that will be poured out on those who now flee to Egypt (vv. 18-22). But the people do not heed Jeremiah’s warning (43:1-4); but rather, call Jeremiah a liar (v. 2). And they proceed with the plan to go to Egypt (vv. 5-7).

Jeremiah is directed by the LORD to “Take some large stones in your hands, and bury them in the clay pavement that is at the entrance to Pharaoh’s palaces in Tahpanhes,” and to “Let the Judeans see you do it” (43:8-9). He is to interpret this action: “Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: I am going to send and take my servant King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon, and he will set his throne above these stones that I have buried, and he will spread his royal canopy over them” (v. 10). The oracle continues, predicting ravage and destruction in Egypt by Nebuchadrezzar (vv. 11-13). “This symbolic act and accompanying oracle is intended,” says Mark E. Biddle, “to show that Egypt is no safe refuge from Nebuchadrezzar (‘my servant,’ 25:9; 27:6), who led a successful raid against Amasis (Ahmosis II ( in 568/567 BCE, some years later than this oracle (46:13-26)” (NOAB, 3^rd ed., augmented, 2007, on Jer. 43:8-13).

This brings us to today’s reading. Jeremiah, now in Egypt with the Judeans who have settled in Egypt, continues to preach against idolatry. As today’s reading begins, we are presented with “The word (rbADAha, haddāvār) that came to Jeremiah for all the Judeans living in the land of Egypt at Migdol, at Tahpanhes, at Memphis, and in the land of Pathros” (Jer. 44:1). According to Marvin A. Sweeney, “Migdol was a city in Northern Egypt, possibly identified with Tel el-Hier” (The Jewish Study Bible, 2004, on Jer. 44:1). “Tahpanhes,” he says, was “an Egyptian stronghold in the northeast Nile Delta (Tel Deffeneh) that was intended to defend the Delta against foreign invasion” (ibid., on 43:7). Earlier, he says, “Noph and Tahpanhes refer to the Egyptian cities of Memphis, the ancient capital of Egypt, and Tahpanhes, a northeastern Nile Delta city fortified by Pharaoh Psammetichus I (664-610 BCE)” (ibid., on 2:16). “Pathros,” says Sweeney,

is identified with Upper Egypt to the south of the Delta region. . . . Excavations on the island of Elephantine (Yeb), located in the Nile opposite Aswan in upper Egypt, demonstrate the existence of Persian-period (6^th century BCE and later) Jewish settlements in Egypt that clearly originated in earlier times. The community was in communication with authorities in Jerusalem, although their religious practice was somewhat syncretistic. (ibid., on 44:1)

“Thus says (rmaxA-hKo, kōh-’āmar) the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: You yourselves have seen all the disaster that I have brought on Jerusalem and on all the towns of Judah” (Jer. 44:2a). He reminds the Judeans of their recent experience, from which they should have learned a lesson. “Look at them; today they are a desolation, without an inhabitant in them, because of the wickedness that they committed, provoking me to anger, in that they went to make offerings and serve other gods that they had not known, neither they, nor you, nor your ancestors” (vv. 2b, 3). The LORD, speaking through Jeremiah, reminds the people of his repeated warnings through the prophets. “Yet I persistently sent to you all my servants the prophets, saying, "I beg you not to do this abominable thing that I hate!” (v. 4). Jeremiah points out that the people did not heed his warnings. “But they did not listen or incline their ear, to turn from their wickedness and make no offerings to other gods” (v. 5). And he describes the consequence of this failure to heed. “So ( 0va, wat-) my wrath and my anger were poured out and kindled in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; and they became a waste and a desolation, as they still are today” (v. 6). Take note of the logical sequence here, as compared to the summary of the Northern Kingdom’s sin and fall earlier. The people practiced idolatry (“because,” Jer. 44:3; cf. “because,”2 Kgs. 17:7, cf. vv. 7-12); “yet” the LORD warned them through prophets (Jer. 44:4; cf. “yet,” 2 Kgs. 17:13); “but” (Jer. 44:5), cf. “They would not listen but . . .” (2 Kgs. 17:14, cf. vv. 14-17); “so” (Jer. 44:6), cf. “therefore” (2 Kgs. 17:18). The arguments are parallel, stating that the disastrous results are caused by the sin, in particular, the sin of idolatry. Sweeney has a similar observation. “Jeremiah continues to accuse the people of disobeying God and worshipping other deities as a means to explain their current plight. Theologically, this passage is very similar to 2 Kings ch. 17, which explains the earlier exile of the Northern Kingdom” (op. cit., on Jer. 44:2-14).

And Jeremiah, having stated this logical argument, accuses the Judeans who took him (unwillingly) to Egypt. Speaking for the LORD, he asks a series of pointed rhetorical questions. “And now thus says the LORD God of hosts, the God of Israel: Why are you doing such great harm to yourselves, to cut off man and woman, child and infant, from the midst of Judah, leaving yourselves without a remnant? Why do you provoke me to anger with the works of your hands, making offerings to other gods in the land of Egypt where you have come to settle? Will you be cut off and become an object of cursing and ridicule among all the nations of the earth?” The point is that they are persisting in the ways of the earlier Judeans, which will lead to equally disastrous results. They should have remembered the earlier disasters. “Have you forgotten the crimes of your ancestors,” asks Jeremiah, “of the kings of Judah, of their wives, your own crimes and those of your wives, which they committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?” (v. 9). Jeremiah refers in the third person to the earlier idolatrous Judeans, but in context, clearly includes those whom he is addressing in Egypt. “They have shown no contrition or fear to this day, nor have they walked in my law and my statutes that I set before you and before your ancestors” (v. 10).

 So the LORD, speaking through Jeremiah, points to the consequences of the present idolatry. “Therefore (NkelA, lākēn) thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; I am determined to bring disaster on you, to bring all Judah to an end” (v. 11). This “therefore,” perhaps should be compared to the “therefore” of 2 Kings 17:18, rather than the “so” of Jer. 44:6 (cf. above). “I will take the remnant of Judah who are determined to come to the land of Egypt to settle,” says the LORD through Jeremiah, “and they shall perish, everyone; in the land of Egypt they shall fall; by the sword and by famine they shall perish; from the least to the greatest, they shall die by the sword and by famine; and they shall become an object of execration and horror, of cursing and ridicule” (v. 12). It begins to sound like a broken record, as we used to say, but it is serious business. We know of course, as noted above, that Judeans continued to live in Egypt. But the LORD continues: “I will punish those who live in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem, with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence, so that none of the remnant of Judah who have come to settle in the land of Egypt shall escape or survive or return to the land of Judah. Although they long to go back to live there, they shall not go back, except some fugitives” (vv. 13-14). One would think they had long since learned their lesson! “In contrast to Isaiah, who saw the remnant of Israel as the basis for restoration” says Sweeney,

Jeremiah argues that the remnant of the people, as a result of their behavior, will die in Egypt. The prophet’s condemnation especially emphasizes the theme of famine and rebellious acts of the people. This contrasts with the wilderness traditions of the Torah in order to emphasize the reversal of the exodus from Egypt. Whereas God answered the people’s complaints about the lack of food by providing manna, water, and protection from enemies, etc. (Exod. chs. 16-17; Num. ch. 11), God would no longer provide such support in Egypt. (ibid., on v. 12)

Jeremiah 29:1, 4-14

Prepare for a Seventy-year Exile in Babylon

29:1 These are the words of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the remaining elders among the exiles, and to the priests, the prophets, and all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. (Jeremiah 29:1, NRSV)

4 Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce. 6 Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. 7 But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. 8 For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let the prophets and the diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream, 9 for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name; I did not send them, says the LORD.

10 For thus says the LORD: Only when Babylon's seventy years are completed will I visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. 11 For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the LORD, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. 12 Then when you call upon me and come and pray to me, I will hear you. 13 When you search for me, you will find me; if you seek me with all your heart, 14 I will let you find me, says the LORD, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, says the LORD, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile. (Jeremiah 29:4-14, NRSV)

NOTE: This passage, yesterday’s reading for the Episcopal tradition, is repeated by the Presbyterian and Lutheran traditions as an alternative today. For comments on this reading see the comments of yesterday (Oct. 18, 2009).

1 Corinthians 15:30-41

Call to Be Serious about the Gospel

30 And why are we putting ourselves in danger every hour? 31 I die every day! That is as certain, brothers and sisters, as my boasting of you-a boast that I make in Christ Jesus our Lord. 32 If with merely human hopes I fought with wild animals at Ephesus, what would I have gained by it? If the dead are not raised,

"Let us eat and drink,

for tomorrow we die."

33 Do not be deceived:

"Bad company ruins good morals."

34 Come to a sober and right mind, and sin no more; for some people have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame. (1 Corinthians 15:30-34, NRSV)

Explanation of The Resurrection Body

35 But someone will ask, "How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?" 36 Fool! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37 And as for what you sow, you do not sow the body that is to be, but a bare seed, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. 38 But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. 39 Not all flesh is alike, but there is one flesh for human beings, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. 40 There are both heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is one thing, and that of the earthly is another. 41 There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; indeed, star differs from star in glory. (1 Corinthians 15:35-41, NRSV)

On March 26, 2008 (Wednesday of Easter Week, Year Two), comments were repeated from October 22, 2007 (Monday in the week of the Sunday closest to October 19, Year One), when comments were repeated with editing and supplement from April 19, 2006 (Wednesday of Easter Week, Year Two), when comments were repeated from October 17, 2005 (Monday in the week of the Twenty-Second Sunday after Pentecost, Year One). The comments are repeated again here:

Paul continues to argue for the reality of the resurrection, with emphasis now on his commitment to the Christian gospel, facing “danger every hour” (1 Cor. 15:30). “He emphasizes this commitment, saying, “I die every day! That is as certain, brothers and sisters, as my boasting of you–a boast that I make in Christ Jesus our Lord” (v. 31). These struggles would be in vain if there is no resurrection, for, as he says, “If with merely human hopes I fought with wild animals at Ephesus, what would I have gained by it?” (v. 32a). Paul’s reference to fighting “with wild animals at Ephesus” (v. 32) points to serious opposition–possibly the disturbance described in Acts 19:23-41–but not literal facing of lions, as later Christians would in the Coliseum at Rome. Some see it as an indirect reference to imprisonment at Ephesus which, though not specifically mentioned in the New Testament, would be one of the many imprisonments mentioned in 2 Corinthians 11:23.

Paul uses lines about a kind of obstinate fatalism in rebellion against God–the very opposite of his own attitude–to illustrate this vanity “if there is no resurrection.” “Let us eat and drink, / for tomorrow we die” (1 Cor. 15:32b, citing Isa. 22:13d, e). The Corinthians are warned against such self-deception. “Do not be deceived,” says Paul (1 Cor. 15:33a), and he reinforces the warning with a proverbial saying, “Bad company ruins good morals,” according to Richard A. Horsley, citing “the fourth century BCE Greek poet Menander” (NOAB, 3^rd ed., augmented, 2007, on 1 Cor. 15:33). Paul calls on the Corinthians to be serious about their Christian commitment. “Come to a sober and right mind, and sin no more” (1 Cor. 15:34).

Paul then anticipates another question about resurrection. “But someone will ask,” he says, ‘How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?’ ” (v. 35). His response, “Fool!” (v. 36a) implies that it is not a fair question, but he proceeds with an illustration. “What you sow does not come to life unless it dies” (v. 36b). With that he introduces a comparison. When one dies, the body is placed in a grave, a procedure that is compared to the farmer’s sowing of seed. “And as for what you sow,” says Paul, “you do not sow the body that is to be, but a bare seed, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain” (v. 37). And remarkably, “God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body” (v. 38). Paul’s point is that we may compare the resurrection of a dead person’s body to the growth of a new plant from seed that has been sown (or buried). This is not explained in terms of natural processes, but as God’s gift. And Paul continues with a discussion of different kinds of bodies. “Not all flesh is alike,” he says, “but there is one flesh for human beings, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish” (v. 39). He contrasts “heavenly bodies” and “earthly bodies,” for which “the glory of the heavenly is one thing, and that of the earthly is another” (v. 40). “There is,” for example, “one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; indeed, star differs from star in glory” (v. 41).

The conclusion, that like the farmer’s seed, the body “is sown a physical body, [but] it is raised a spiritual body” (v. 44a), comes with further explanation in tomorrow’s reading. But, in light of the present reading and in anticipation of its conclusion tomorrow, we may note that the Hebrew conception of life after death envisioned a resurrection of the body. The Greek conception, at least for some, was of the spirit or soul separating from the body at death. This difference is evident in Socrates’ discussion of death in Plato’s Apology:

Let us reflect in another way, and we shall see that there is great reason to hope that death is a good, for one of two things: - either death is a state of nothingness and utter unconsciousness, or, as men say, there is a change and migration of the soul from this world to another. Now if you suppose that there is no consciousness, but a sleep like the sleep of him who is undisturbed even by the sight of dreams, death will be an unspeakable gain. For if a person were to select the night in which his sleep was undisturbed even by dreams, and were to compare with this the other days and nights of his life, and then were to tell us how many days and nights he had passed in the course of his life better and more pleasantly than this one, I think that any man, I will not say a private man, but even the great king, will not find many such days or nights, when compared with the others. Now if death is like this, I say that to die is gain; for eternity is then only a single night. But if death is the journey to another place, and there, as men say, all the dead are, what good, O my friends and judges, can be greater than this? (Cited from http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/apology.html, accessed again October 18, 2009. Find this part of the page with the “find” option, probably Ctrl F, looking for “utter unconsciousness” or another phrase from the paragraph.)

Matthew 11:16-24

Not Dancing to the Tunes of John or Jesus

16 "But to what will I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to one another,

17 'We played the flute for you, and you did not dance;

we wailed, and you did not mourn.'

18 For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, 'He has a demon'; 19 the Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, 'Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!' Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds." (Matthew 11:16-19, NRSV)

Woes to Unrepentant Cities (Gen 19.12-14; Lk 10.13-15)

20 Then he began to reproach the cities in which most of his deeds of power had been done, because they did not repent. 21 "Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the deeds of power done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. 22 But I tell you, on the day of judgment it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon than for you. 23 And you, Capernaum,

will you be exalted to heaven?

No, you will be brought down to Hades.

For if the deeds of power done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. 24 But I tell you that on the day of judgment it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom than for you." (Matthew 11:20-24, NRSV)

On May 21, 2008 (Wednesday in the week of the Sunday closest to May 18, Year Two), comments were repeated from October 22, 2007 (Monday in the week of the Sunday closest to October 19, Year One), though some use of comments from the perspective of Luke’s accounts was made. The comments are repeated here:

These texts from Matthew may be compared with corresponding texts from Luke as follows:

There are passages in Matthew and Luke with practically verbatim (identical) texts but differences in context. Compare, for example, Jesus’ teaching about anxiety in Matthew 6:25-34 and Luke 12:22-32. Both parts of Matthew’s reading for today have nearly verbatim parallels in Luke, but, whereas the first sections (Mt. 11:16-19; Lk. 7:31-35) come in similar contexts: after Jesus responds to the messengers who brought John the Baptist’s question, he talks about the significance of John; Luke’s parallel to Matthew’s second section (Lk. 10:12-15; Mt. 11:20-24) comes after Luke’s description of Jesus sending out the Seventy on mission (Lk. 10:1-12), for which, as such, there is no Matthean parallel. Luke 10:12, the end of the paragraph about the mission of the Seventy, sets the context for the Woes on the Galilean cities, but Matthew 11:20 connects these Woes to Jesus comments about John.

The point in both passages, however, is the failure of the people to respond either to John’s message or Jesus’ preaching. Jesus compares those who have heard his message but failed to respond to “children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to one another” (Mt. 11:16b; Lk. 7:32a). “We played the flute for you,” the children cry out, “and you did not dance; / we wailed, and you did not mourn” (Mt. 11:17; Lk. 7:32b). The people’s rejection is described as an apparent contradiction. “For John came neither eating nor drinking,” says Jesus, “and they say, ‘He has a demon’ ” (Mt. 11:18; cf. Lk. 7:33). But Jesus, “the Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say,

'Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!” (Mt. 11:19a; cf. Lk. 7:34). The paragraph concludes with an intriguing reference to “wisdom”: “Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds” (Mt. 11:19b); “Nevertheless, wisdom is vindicated by all her children” (Lk. 7:35). According to J. Andrew Overman, “Her deeds refers to ‘what the Messiah was doing’ (11:2),” and “Jesus is identified with wisdom in 11:28-30” (NOAB, 3^rd ed., augmented, 2007, on Mt. 11:19).

Matthew’s continuation with the woes against unrepentant cities, as noted above, comes in a different context in Luke. According to Matthew, Jesus “began to reproach the cities in which most of his deeds of power had been done, because they did not repent” (Mt. 11:20). This appears to refer in general to the reaction first to John’s preaching, and then to his own. In Luke, the context is within the instructions to the Seventy. Jesus raises the possibility that a town will not welcome the disciples, and the words, “I tell you, on that day it will be more tolerable for Sodom than for that town” (Lk. 10:12), refer specifically to “that town.” In both versions “Woe” is pronounced against “Chorazin” and “Bethsaida” (Mt. 11:21a; Lk. 10:13a), and an implied contrast is drawn. “For if the deeds of power done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago (‘sitting,’ Lk.) in sackcloth and ashes” (Mt. 11:21b; Lk. 10:13b). In consequence, says Jesus, “But I tell you, on the day of judgment it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon than for you” (Mt. 11:22; cf. Lk. 10:14). And Jesus includes the town in which he first settled, according to Matthew (Mt. 4:13), Capernaum: “And you, Capernaum, / will you be exalted to heaven? / No, you will be brought down to Hades” (Mt. 11:23a; Lk. 10:15). According to Overman,

The denunciation of the villages of Bethsaida, Chorazin, and Capernaum north of the Sea of Galilee (cf. Isa. 14:14-15) and the extolling of the non-Israelite coastal cities of Tyre and Sidon emphasize Jesus’ primary mission to Israel. Galilean towns that were home to Jesus and his first mission were granted unusual opportunities to see what was happening (see 10:15). Yet people in towns and regions peripheral to Jesus’ earliest work better appreciate its import. (ibid., on vv. 20-24)

As noted above, Luke refers to Sodom; but Matthew spells it out. “But I tell you that on the day of judgment it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom than for you” (Mt.11:24). The contrast with Sodom would be, in biblical perspective, even more severe than the comparison with Tyre and Sidon; the latter, at least, were still in existence. By describing the way that people ignored these prophetic messages in this way, and following with the passage on the woes directed against the Galilean cities, Matthew stresses the seriousness of this rejection. Luke, by putting this comparison in connection with the mission of Seventy, makes it applicable to acceptance and/or rejection of the missionary preaching of the early church, not merely that of John and Jesus.

Ronald D. Worden, Ph.D.

rdworden@hgst.edu

deanworden@comcast.net