Ezra 1:1-11

End of the Babylonian Captivity (2 Chr 36.22-23)

1:1 In the first year of King Cyrus of Persia, in order that the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, the LORD stirred up the spirit of King Cyrus of Persia so that he sent a herald throughout all his kingdom, and also in a written edict declared:

2 "Thus says King Cyrus of Persia: The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem in Judah. 3 Any of those among you who are of his people–may their God be with them!–are now permitted to go up to Jerusalem in Judah, and rebuild the house of the LORD, the God of Israel–he is the God who is in Jerusalem; 4 and let all survivors, in whatever place they reside, be assisted by the people of their place with silver and gold, with goods and with animals, besides freewill offerings for the house of God in Jerusalem."

5 The heads of the families of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and the Levites–everyone whose spirit God had stirred–got ready to go up and rebuild the house of the LORD in Jerusalem. 6 All their neighbors aided them with silver vessels, with gold, with goods, with animals, and with valuable gifts, besides all that was freely offered. 7 King Cyrus himself brought out the vessels of the house of the LORD that Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem and placed in the house of his gods. 8 King Cyrus of Persia had them released into the charge of Mithredath the treasurer, who counted them out to Sheshbazzar the prince of Judah. 9 And this was the inventory: gold basins, thirty; silver basins, one thousand; knives, twenty-nine; 10 gold bowls, thirty; other silver bowls, four hundred ten; other vessels, one thousand; 11 the total of the gold and silver vessels was five thousand four hundred. All these Sheshbazzar brought up, when the exiles were brought up from Babylonia to Jerusalem. (Ezra 1:1-11, NRSV)

On October 25, 2007 (Thursday 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 minor editing from October 20, 2005 (Thursday in the week of the Sunday closest to October 19, Year One); the comments are repeated here with editing and supplement.

The Old Testament reading moves on today from the time of the Babylonian capture of Jerusalem and its aftermath to the time of restoration and return. The opportunity for Judeans exiled to Babylonia to return home is presented as the work of the LORD, the God of Israel, but from the human point of view the main character–if not the hero–was Cyrus II of Persia. Conditions in Babylon changed dramatically during the “seventy year period” of the Babylonian captivity of the Judeans (as predicted by Jeremiah, cf. Jer. 25:11-12; 29:10). Evil-merodach (Babylonian name, Amēl-Marduk), the king who released Jehoiachin from prison (2 Kgs. 25:27-30), reigned only two years (561-560 B.C.). The next king, Neriglissar (559-556 B.C.) “apparently assassinated Amēl-Marduk” (Bill T. Arnold, Who were the Babylonians? 2004, p. 100; selections are available on the internet at http://books.google.com (accessed Oct. 21, 2009). And, according to Arnold, the next king, Nabonidus (556-539 B.C.) “was a usurper with no hereditary claim to the throne; that is, he was not from the royal family and could claim no support for the throne. He was a leading figure in the murder of Nebuchadnezzar’s grandson Labashi-Marduk, being part of a disenchanted faction blocked by the dynastic succession of Amēl-Marduk” (ibid.). So Nebuchadnezzar’s Neo-Babylonian Empire lasted less than a century, 625-539 B.C.

In the meantime, during these declining years of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, Cyrus II of Persia (Cyrus the Great) building his empire with conquests as distant as western Asia Minor. He had conquered territories as far west as south central Asia Minor before he bothered to invade and conquer neighboring Babylon, whose empire was clearly on its last legs, so to speak. Persia is modern Iran and Babylon is modern Iraq. According to Richard N. Frye, Cyrus, “when he reached manhood in Persis [i.e., ‘the modern Fārs province of Iran’], revolted against his maternal grandfather and overlord. Astyages marched against the rebel, but his army deserted and surrendered to Cyrus in 550 BC” [“Cyrus II (king of Persia),” Britannica Online Encyclopedia, on the Internet at http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/148758/Cyrus-II, accessed Oct. 21, 2009). According to Frye, the conquests of Cyrus continue:

After inheriting the empire of the Medes, Cyrus first had to consolidate his power over Iranian tribes on the Iranian plateau before expanding to the west. Croesus, king of Lydia in Asia Minor (Anatolia), had enlarged his domains at the expense of the Medes when he heard of the fall of Astyages, and Cyrus, as successor of the Median king, marched against Lydia. Sardis, the Lydian capital, was captured in 547 or 546, and Croesus was either killed or burned himself to death, though according to other sources he was taken prisoner by Cyrus and well treated. The Ionian Greek cities on the Aegean Sea coast, as vassals of the Lydian king, now became subject to Cyrus, and most of them submitted peacefully. Several revolts of the Greek cities were later suppressed with severity. Next Cyrus turned to Babylonia, where the dissatisfaction of the people with the ruler Nabonidus gave him a pretext for invading the lowlands. The conquest was quick, for even the priests of Marduk, the national deity of the great metropolis of Babylon, had become estranged from Nabonidus. In October 539 BC, the greatest city of the ancient world fell to the Persians.

If biblical scholars who attribute the writing of Isaiah, chapters 40-55, to a “Second Isaiah,” otherwise unknown, who lived during the Babylonian exile of the Judeans, are correct, then it is not difficult to imagine that this prophet could, with inspired foresight, have expected the Persian conquest of Babylon (539 B.C.). He calls Cyrus by name. He says of “the LORD, your Redeemer” (Isa. 44:24),

who says of Cyrus, ‘He is my shepherd,

and he shall carry out all my purpose’;

and who says of Jerusalem, ‘It shall be rebuilt,’

and of the temple, ‘Your foundation shall be laid.’

Thus says the LORD to his anointed (OHyw9m4l9, lim ^ešîchô, i.e., ‘to his H1yw9mA,, māšîach,’ i.e., cristovV, Christos, ‘Christ’), to Cyrus,

whose right hand I have grasped

to subdue nations before him

and strip kings of their robes,

to open doors before him–

and the gates shall not be closed:

I will go before you

and level the mountains (Isa. 44:28-45:2b, NRSV)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

It is this Cyrus whom we meet in the opening of today’s reading. Cyrus could act in brutal ways to maintain his power and authority, but his empire is remembered as treating conquered peoples more humanely than the Assyrians and Babylonians had done before him. Conquered peoples were allowed to practice their own religions, a policy that is reflected in the decree of Cyrus which allows Jewish persons to return from captivity to Jerusalem and Judea. According to David B. Weisberg, “Cyrus’s policy toward the peoples of his empire was one of tolerance and understanding. His authorization of the rebuilding of the Jerusalem Temple by returning Judeans . . . accords well with what we know from contemporaneous documents” (Harper’s Bible Dictionary, rev. ed., 1996, s.v. Cyrus). Weisberg adds that “Cyrus II’s reign has been characterized as ‘a great turning point in ancient history’ by the modern historian Richard N. Frye” (ibid.).

The Book of Ezra begins with information parallel to the end of 2 Chronicles. “In the first year of King Cyrus of Persia, in order that the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, the LORD stirred up the spirit of King Cyrus of Persia so that he sent a herald throughout all his kingdom, and also in a written edict declared: ‘Thus says King Cyrus of Persia: The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem in Judah’ ” (Ezra 1:1-2; cf. 2 Chron. 36:22-23a; Ezra 6:4). These accounts date the decree “in the first year of King Cyrus of Persia” (2 Chron. 36:22; Ezra 1:1), which is understood to mean 538 B.C., the first year of his domination of Babylon, which followed the earlier conquests of Media and Lydia

As quoted in the Hebrew Bible, the decree provided for the return of the Judean exiles. “Any of those among you who are of his people–may their God be with them!–are now permitted to go up to Jerusalem in Judah, and rebuild the house of the LORD, the God of Israel–he is the God who is in Jerusalem; and let all survivors, in whatever place they reside, be assisted by the people of their place with silver and gold, with goods and with animals, besides freewill offerings for the house of God in Jerusalem” (Ezra 1:3-4). In 2 Chronicles, this portion is brief: “Whoever is among you of all his people, may the LORD his God be with him! Let him go up” (2 Chron. 36:23b). The Ezra chapter 1 version makes brief reference to assistance “with silver and gold, with goods and with animals, besides freewill offerings” for the rebuilt temple (Ezra 1:4), but the chapter 6 version, in a context specifically devoted to the rebuilding of the temple, refers to the temple treasures taken by the Babylonians. “Moreover, let the gold and silver vessels of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took out of the temple in Jerusalem and brought to Babylon, be restored and brought back to the temple in Jerusalem, each to its place; you shall put them in the house of God” (Ezra 6:5). According to Hindy Najman, “The narrative of Ezra understands Cyrus’s decree to rebuild the Temple to require all of the Jewish exiles to support the rebuilding of the Temple, but not necessarily to return to Judah. It appears from Ezra-Nehemiah that many exiles were reluctant to give up the lives they had established for themselves in Babylonia and to return to Judah where their sustenance and future seemed less certain” (The Jewish Study Bible, 2004, on Ezra 1:3-4).

The initial return of Jews from Babylon under “Sheshbazzar the prince of Judah” (Ezra 1:8) was a good beginning, for “The heads of the families of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and the Levites–everyone whose spirit God had stirred–got ready to go up and rebuild the house of the LORD in Jerusalem” (1:5; cf. 2 Chron. 36:23b). “All their neighbors aided them,” says the narrator, “with silver vessels, with gold, with goods, with animals, and with valuable gifts, besides all that was freely offered” (v. 6). Najman says, “Whoever shares Cyrus’s divine inspiration returns. Those who choose to remain in exile, although they support the rebuilding project financially, are implicitly reproached” (ibid., on vv. 5-6). “King Cyrus himself,” we are told, “brought out the vessels of the house of the LORD that Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem and placed in the house of his gods” (v. 7; cf. 6:5). According to David J. A. Clines, the words, “Nebuchadnezzar had carried away, [are] a reference either to pillaging during the capture of Jerusalem in 597 BCE (2 Kings 24:13) or to the final plundering of the temple in 587 BCE (25:13-15; see also 2 Chr. 36:10, 18; Jer. 52:17-19)” (HarperCollins Study Bible, rev. ed., 2006, on Ezra 1:7). “King Cyrus of Persia had them released,” says the narrator, “into the charge of Mithredath the treasurer, who counted them out to Sheshbazzar the prince of Judah” (Ezra 1:8). “Sheshbazzar,” says Tamara Cohn Eskenazi,” was “possibly a davidic descendant” (NOAB, 3^rd ed., augmented, 2007, on Ezra 1:8). Clines says, “Sheshbazzar, was “perhaps Shenazzar, a son of Jehoiachin, the exiled king of Judah (1 Chr. 3:18). See also note on 5:14” (op. cit., on Ezra 1:8). The verse to which he refers says, “Moreover, the gold and silver vessels of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple in Jerusalem and had brought into the temple of Babylon, these King Cyrus took out of the temple of Babylon, and they were delivered to a man named Sheshbazzar (h0mew4 rc0ab0aw4wel4, l ^ešēšbatsar š ^emēh, lit. ‘to Sheshbazzar his name’) whom he had made governor” (Ezra 5:14). On that Eskenazi says, “A man named Sheshbazzar seems deliberately disrespectful; the idiom is often found in Aramaic papyri in reference to slaves. The term translated governor may not mean ‘provincial ruler’ (as in v. 6; Neh. 5:14), but simply ‘commissioner’ for this project” (ibid., on Ezra 5:14). While the expression may be disrespectful, as Eskenazi says, the Aramaic word for “man” (i.e. wn!x$, ’ ^enoš) does not occur in it. In any event, he is entrusted with considerable treasure as listed in” the inventory”: “And this was the inventory: gold basins, thirty; silver basins, one thousand; knives, twenty-nine; gold bowls, thirty; other silver bowls, four hundred ten; other vessels, one thousand; the total of the gold and silver vessels was five thousand four hundred” (Ezra 1:9-11a). According to Najman, “Cyrus’s return of the Temple vessels is also reported in Ezra 5:14; 6:5. A corroborating account of Nebuchadnezzar’s removal of the temple vessels appears in 2 Chron. 36:10, 18. The removal is also reported in 2 Kings 24:13, but ther it also notes that Nebuchadnezzar ‘stripped off’ the gold from all of the temple vessels. This is not mentioned in Ezra, which has as a major theme the continuity between the Second Temple and the preexilic past” (op. cit., on vv. 7-11). Clines notes some discrepancies in the numbers of vessels given. “The number of items in the inventory comes to 2, 499, which differs from the total given as 5,400. The RSV translation emended the 30 gold basins to 1,000 (as in the parallel 1 Esd. 2:13), the 410 silver bowls to 2,410 (as in 1 Esd. 2:13), and the total to 5,469 (as in 2 Esd 2:14)” (op. cit., on Ezra 1:9-11). “All these,” says the narrator, “Sheshbazzar brought up, when the exiles were brought up from Babylonia to Jerusalem” (v. 11b).

or Jeremiah 42:1-22 (alternative reading, Presbyterian and Lutheran traditions)

Jeremiah Advises Survivors Not to Migrate

42:1 Then all the commanders of the forces, and Johanan son of Kareah and Azariah son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from the least to the greatest, approached 2 the prophet Jeremiah and said, "Be good enough to listen to our plea, and pray to the LORD your God for us–for all this remnant. For there are only a few of us left out of many, as your eyes can see. 3 Let the LORD your God show us where we should go and what we should do." 4 The prophet Jeremiah said to them, "Very well: I am going to pray to the LORD your God as you request, and whatever the LORD answers you I will tell you; I will keep nothing back from you." 5 They in their turn said to Jeremiah, "May the LORD be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act according to everything that the LORD your God sends us through you. 6 Whether it is good or bad, we will obey the voice of the LORD our God to whom we are sending you, in order that it may go well with us when we obey the voice of the LORD our God."

7 At the end of ten days the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah. 8 Then he summoned Johanan son of Kareah and all the commanders of the forces who were with him, and all the people from the least to the greatest, 9 and said to them, "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your plea before him: 10 If you will only remain in this land, then I will build you up and not pull you down; I will plant you, and not pluck you up; for I am sorry for the disaster that I have brought upon you. 11 Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon, as you have been; do not be afraid of him, says the LORD, for I am with you, to save you and to rescue you from his hand. 12 I will grant you mercy, and he will have mercy on you and restore you to your native soil. 13 But if you continue to say, 'We will not stay in this land,' thus disobeying the voice of the LORD your God 14 and saying, 'No, we will go to the land of Egypt, where we shall not see war, or hear the sound of the trumpet, or be hungry for bread, and there we will stay,' 15 then hear the word of the LORD, O remnant of Judah. Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: If you are determined to enter Egypt and go to settle there, 16 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. 17 All the people who have determined to go to Egypt to settle there shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence; they shall have no remnant or survivor from the disaster that I am bringing upon them.

18 "For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Just as my anger and my wrath were poured out on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so my wrath will be poured out on you when you go to Egypt. You shall become an object of execration and horror, of cursing and ridicule. You shall see this place no more. 19 The LORD has said to you, O remnant of Judah, Do not go to Egypt. Be well aware that I have warned you today 20 that you have made a fatal mistake. For you yourselves sent me to the LORD your God, saying, 'Pray for us to the LORD our God, and whatever the LORD our God says, tell us and we will do it.' 21 So I have told you today, but you have not obeyed the voice of the LORD your God in anything that he sent me to tell you. 22 Be well aware, then, that you shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence in the place where you desire to go and settle." (Jeremiah 42:1-22, NRSV)

On October 25, 2007 (Thursday 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 20, 2005 (Thursday in the week of the Sunday closest to October 19, Year One); they are repeated again here:

As we see from yesterday’s “alternative” reading, Johanan and his group have already begun their migration to Egypt. They have “set out, and stopped at Geruth Chimham near Bethlehem, intending to go to Egypt” (Jer. 41:17). Their former leader, Gedaliah, has been killed (41:2), and they fear the Chaldeans (Babylonians) (v. 18). But before proceeding, Johanan, the commanders and the people turn to the prophet Jeremiah for advice (42:1). “Be good enough to listen to our plea,” they say, “ and pray to the LORD your God for us–for all this remnant. For there are only a few of us left out of many, as your eyes can see” (v. 2). They specifically ask for the LORD’s guidance. “Let the LORD your God show us where we should go and what we should do” (v. 3). Jeremiah agrees to do as they have requested. “Very well,” he says; “I am going to pray to the LORD your God as you request, and whatever the LORD answers you I will tell you; I will keep nothing back from you” (v. 4). And they vigorously affirm their intention to follow the LORD’s direction in this matter, “whether it is good or bad” (v. 6): “May the LORD be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act according to everything that the LORD your God sends us through you. Whether it is good or bad, we will obey the voice of the LORD our God to whom we are sending you, in order that it may go well with us when we obey the voice of the LORD our God” (vv. 5-6). According to Iain W. Provan, “Jeremiah was evidently one of the captives freed by Johanan (41:16). He was asked to intercede for the group, who were uncertain what to do” (NOAB, 3^rd ed., augmented, 2007on Jer. 42:1-6). Marvin A. Sweeney says, “The narrative especially emphasizes the people’s oath to do what god asks in order to highlight their disobedience in the following vv.” (The Jewish Study Bible, 2004, on Jer. 42:5-6).

After ten days Jeremiah has an answer for them, “the word of the LORD” (v. 7). “It is quite remarkable,” says Sweeney,

that God does not immediately answer the prophet. Abravanel therefore understands the ten days to be reckoned from the 1^st of Tishri when Gedaliah was assassinated (41:1). Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement falls on the 10^th of Tishri (Lev. 23:26-32; Num. 29:7-11). Jeremiah’s oracle would therefore have come immediately following Yom Kippur (cf. Ezek. 40:1, which places Ezekiel’s vision of the Temple on Yom Kippur). Such a reckoning of the date would emphasize the theme of the people’s repentance, which of course does not take place in the following vv. However, there is no explicit indication that Yom Kippur was observed in this period. (ibid., on v. 7)

Jeremiah summons Johanan’s group (v. 8) and says,

Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your plea before him: If you will only remain in this land, then I will build you up and not pull you down; I will plant you, and not pluck you up; for I am sorry for the disaster that I have brought upon you. Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon, as you have been; do not be afraid of him, says the LORD, for I am with you, to save you and to rescue you from his hand. I will grant you mercy, and he will have mercy on you and restore you to your native soil. (Jer. 42:9-12, NRSV)

Sweeney says, “Jeremiah’s oracle again repeats the basic verbs of his prophetic commission, abuild . . . not overthrow . . . plant . . . not uproot (1:10), to emphasize that the time for punishment is over and that the time for rebuilding is at hand. The oracle emphasizes God’s own regret to emphasize divine empathy for the suffering of the people” (ibid., on v. 10 NJPS 1984, 1999). So Jeremiah’s advice to Johanan, as earlier to Zedekiah, is to submit to the Babylonians and live in the land under tolerable conditions. According to Provan, “Jeremiah offered this remnant of Judah (vv. 15, 19) the same chance for restoration offered to the Babylonian exiles (29:14)” (op. cit., 2007, on Jer. 42:10). But he warns against going to Egypt:

But if you continue to say, ‘We will not stay in this land,’ thus disobeying the voice of the LORD your God and saying, ‘No, we will go to the land of Egypt, where we shall not see war, or hear the sound of the trumpet, or be hungry for bread, and there we will stay,’ then hear the word of the LORD, O remnant of Judah. Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: 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. 13-16)

Jeremiah emphasizes the disaster that will come upon them for disobeying. “All the people who have determined to go to Egypt to settle there shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence; they shall have no remnant or survivor from the disaster that I am bringing upon them” (v. 17). Jeremiah compares their fate if they go to Egypt to the recent destruction of Jerusalem. “For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel,” says Jeremiah, “Just as my anger and my wrath were poured out on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so my wrath will be poured out on you when you go to Egypt. You shall become an object of execration and horror, of cursing and ridicule. You shall see this place no more” (v. 18). The LORD has warned this “remnant of Judah” not to go to Egypt (v. 19), which would be “a fatal mistake,” and contrary to their earlier vow. “For you yourselves set me to the LORD our God,” says Jeremiah, saying “Pray for us to the LORD our God, and whatever the LORD our God says, tell us and we will do it” (v. 20). Jeremiah anticipates their refusal to obey (chap. 43), as he says, “So I have told you today, but you have not obeyed the voice of the LORD your God in anything that he sent me to tell you” (42:21). And he concludes with a final warning. “Be well aware, then, that you shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence in the place where you desire to go and settle” (v. 22). As we know from looking ahead, just as with Zedekiah earlier, Johanan and his people did not follow Jeremiah’s advice. The future of Israel lay with the Judeans in Babylonian exile, not with the people left behind.

1 Corinthians 16:1-9

The Collection for the Saints

16:1 Now concerning the collection for the saints: you should follow the directions I gave to the churches of Galatia. 2 On the first day of every week, each of you is to put aside and save whatever extra you earn, so that collections need not be taken when I come. 3 And when I arrive, I will send any whom you approve with letters to take your gift to Jerusalem. 4 If it seems advisable that I should go also, they will accompany me.

Plans for Travel (Cp Acts 19.21)

5 I will visit you after passing through Macedonia–or I intend to pass through Macedonia– 6 and perhaps I will stay with you or even spend the winter, so that you may send me on my way, wherever I go. 7 I do not want to see you now just in passing, for I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord permits. 8 But I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost, 9 for a wide door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many adversaries. (1 Corinthians 16:1-9, NRSV)

On October 25, 2007 (Thursday 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 some editing from October 20, 2005 (Thursday in the week of the Sunday closest to October 19, Year One); the revised comments are repeated again here:

Paul’s collection for the saints was his way of fulfilling his agreement with leaders in Jerusalem (Gal. 2:10). Here he gives instructions to the Corinthians about collecting money for this project. Instructions continue in 2 Corinthians, chapters 8 and 9, but in Romans 25:15-19, he reports that the collection is completed and he is ready to take the money to Jerusalem. At this point, however, he urges the Corinthians to participate. “Now concerning (peri; dev, peri de) the collection for the saints: you should follow the directions I gave to the churches of Galatia” (1 Cor. 16:1). “These instructions,” says Victor Paul Furnish, “presuppose that the Corinthians already know about Paul’s collection project” (HarperCollins Study Bible, rev. ed., 2006, on 1 Cor. 16:1-4).

He explains the directions. “On the first day of every week, each of you is to put aside and save whatever extra you earn, so that collections need not be taken when I come” (v. 2). Paul plans to have representatives of the Corinthian church go with letters and take their gift to Jerusalem (v. 3). “If it seems advisable,” he says, in something of an understatement, he will go with the those appointed from Corinth to go (v. 4). Having representatives of Corinth accompany Paul, is an appropriate measure for responsible accounting. Richard A. Horsley notes that the collection “indicates the economic dimension of this international movement” (NOAB, 3^rd ed., augmented, 2007, on 1 Cor. 16:1-12). “In the end,” says Furnish, “Paul does take the Corinthians’ gift to Jerusalem; see Rom. 15:25-29” (op. cit., on vv. 3-4).

Paul outlines some of his travel plans with a promise to visit the Corinthians. “I will visit you after passing through Macedonia–or I intend to pass through Macedonia–and perhaps I will stay with you or even spend the winter, so that you may send me on my way, wherever I go” (vv. 5-6). According to Ben Witherington III, “The second part of v. 6 may be seen as an attempt to meet the Corinthian desire to give Paul some financial support. He will not accept support for preaching there or an offer of patronage that would make him someone’s in-house teacher or rhetor, but he will accept provisions and aid so that he can get to his next destination, thus not violating his plan to offer the gospel free of charge” (Community & Conflict in Corinth, 1994, p. 316, on 1 Cor. 16:1-12). However, he doesn’t want his projected visit to be brief. “ I do not want to see you now just in passing, for I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord permits” (v. 7). And for now, he plans to stay in Ephesus, for as he says, “ I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost, for a wide door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many adversaries” (vv. 8-9). As we learn later, there were some changes of plans with regard to his visiting Corinth. In a later communication, he says, “I wanted to visit you on my way to Macedonia, and to come back to you from Macedonia and have you send me on to Judea” (2 Cor. 1:16). At some point there was a change of plans. “Was I vacillating,” he asks, “when I wanted to do this? Do I make my plans according to ordinary human standards, ready to say ‘Yes, yes’ and ‘No, no’ at the same time?” (v. 17). After claiming God’s leading in these matters (cf. vv. 18-22), he says, “But I call on God as witness against me; it was to spare you that I did not come again to Corinth” (v. 23). So one trip to Corinth was cancelled, but there was another visit. “So I made up my mind not to make you another painful visit” (2:1), and the unhappy circumstances of the painful visit likely led to the cancellation of another visit. But all of this is in the future at the writing of 1 Corinthians. And Luke’s account in Acts does not spell out all the comings and goings, but apparently simplifies with a general report. Acts 19:21 states that Paul had plans (1) “to go through Macedonia and Achaia,” (2) “and then to go on to Jerusalem” (cf. 1 Cor. 16:5). Here he adds that he will visit the Corinthians “after passing through Macedonia.

Paul’s reference to “many adversaries” at Ephesus (1 Cor. 16:9) probably refers to the difficulties recounted in Acts 19:23-41, perhaps even imprisonment at Ephesus. No New Testament text mentions imprisonment of Paul at Ephesus, but scholars have suggested that one or more of the “Prison Epistles” (Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Philemon) was written from Ephesus rather than from Rome. The various travels back and forth mentioned in Philippians would favor imprisonment closer to Philippi, as in Ephesus, rather than in Rome. Onesimus, the runaway slave from Philemon of Colossae, may well have headed for the nearest large city, Ephesus, about 110 miles from Colossae. The “far more imprisonments” mentioned in 2 Corinthians 11:23 would not include the imprisonments of Paul that we know of in Jerusalem, Caesarea or Rome. Of what we know, only the night that Paul and Silas spent in the Philippian jail would precede Paul’s reference to “far more imprisonments” in 2 Corinthians 11:23.

Matthew 12:15-21

God's Chosen Servant

15 When Jesus became aware of this, he departed. Many crowds followed him, and he cured all of them, 16 and he ordered them not to make him known. 17 This was to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah:

18 "Here is my servant, whom I have chosen,

my beloved, with whom my soul is well pleased.

I will put my Spirit upon him,

and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles.

19 He will not wrangle or cry aloud,

nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets.

20 He will not break a bruised reed

or quench a smoldering wick

until he brings justice to victory.

21 And in his name the Gentiles will hope." (Matthew 12:15-21, NRSV)

On January 6, 2009 (Epiphany, Year One), comments on Matthew 12:14-21 were based on those of January 6, 2008 (the Epiphany, the Second Sunday after Christmas, Year Two), when comments were based on earlier comments, from October 25, 2007 (Thursday in the week of the Sunday closest to October 19, Year One), when comments were based on those of October 20, 2005 (Thursday in the week of the Sunday closest to October 19, Year One), and comments on Matthew 12:14-21 from January 6, 2006 (Epiphany, Year 2). On January 6, 2007 (the Epiphany, Saturday in the week of the First Sunday after Christmas, Year One), comments were combined with revision and supplement from January 6, 2005, (Epiphany, Thursday in the week of the First Sunday after Christmas, Year One), and from comments on Matthew 12;15-21 October 20, 2005 (Thursday in the week of the Sunday closest to October 19, Year One), clearly with some overlap. The comments of January 6, 2009, are repeated here:

Matthew presents a series of episodes in chapters twelve and thirteen which follow Mark’s content and sequence in chapters two to four rather closely, except that, for Matthew, this whole block of material has been included later, after the Sermon on the Mount (chaps. 5-7), for example, and an earlier block of Markan material in Matthew, chapters eight and nine (cf. Mk. 1:40-2:22). Matthew has listed the Twelve later in general in reference to Mark and Luke, but earlier in reference to the present context (Mt. 10:1-4; Mk. 3:13-19a; Lk. 6:12-16). This oversimplifies the situation somewhat (cf. Kurt Aland, ed., Synopsis of the Four Gospels, Rev. ed., 1985, in his Index of Gospel Parallels, pp. 344-346), but helps to explain common sequence here, though the material in Matthew is later in his overall outline. For parallel passages to the reading from Matthew, see the separate file Jesus Heals Multitudes by the Sea.

Following two accounts in which Pharisees accuse Jesus of sabbath-breaking, but Jesus gives priority to human need, they “went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him” (Mt. 12:14; cf. Mk. 3:6; Lk. 6:11). Matthew then summarizes more of Jesus' healing ministry (Mt. 12:15-16; cf. Mk 3:7-12; Lk. 6:17-19). In so doing, Matthew passes over most of the details in Mark’s summary account of many healings of people from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, beyond the Jordan, and the region around Tyre and Sidon (Mk. 3:8, cf. vv. 7-12). Matthew condenses this to the following: “When Jesus became aware of this, he departed. Many crowds followed him, and he cured all of them, and he ordered them not to make him known (Mt. 12:15-16). The omission of reference to Gentile territories may fit Matthew’s understanding of Jesus’ mission as focused only on Israel (Mt. 10:5-6), but in the quotation from the Hebrew Bible which follows, there are two references to the “Gentiles” (Mt. 12:18, 21). As one of his “formula quotations (e.g., Mt. 1:22-23; 2:17-18; 4:14-16, etc.), Matthew cites Isaiah 42:1-4, 9 (cited in Mt. 12:17-21). The citation has no parallel in Mark or Luke. The quotation supplies a kind of description of Jesus’ ministry. The Spirit of God is upon Jesus as he proclaims “justice to the Gentiles” (v. 18). He will be peaceful (v. 19) and gentle, but will bring “justice to victory” (v. 20). According to Dennis C. Duling, “Isa. 42:1-4 is here freely rendered from Hebrew, emphasizing major themes in Matthew” (HarperCollins Study Bible, 2^nd ed., 2006, on Mt. 12:17-21 The words “my chosen, in whom my soul delights” (Isa. 42:1b) become “whom I have chosen, my beloved, with whom my soul is well-pleased” (Mt. 12:13), echoing the words from heaven at Jesus' baptism (Mt. 3:17). Reference to the Spirit, justice, not crying aloud and not breaking a bruised reed reflect Isaiah's language. Proclaiming “justice to the Gentiles” (Mt. 12:18) reflects bringing forth “justice to the nations (My9OGl1, laggôyim, LXX e[qnesin, ethnesin, dative plural of e[qnh, ethnē, ‘nations, gentiles’),” and reminds us of Matthew's great commission, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations (pavnta ta; e[qnh, panta ta ethne)” (Mt. 28:19). Healing for the nations is not the whole Christian gospel, but in recent times that have seen many major catastrophes–fires, hurricanes, tornadoes, not to mention wars–one takes special note of the connection Matthew made between the healing ministry of Jesus and the passage from Isaiah 42. “He will bring forth justice to the nations” (Isa. 42:1d).

Ronald D. Worden, Ph.D.

rdworden@hgst.edu

deanworden@comcast.net