2 Kings 19:21-36

21 This is the word that the LORD has spoken concerning him:

She despises you, she scorns you–

virgin daughter Zion;

she tosses her head–behind your back,

daughter Jerusalem.

22 "Whom have you mocked and reviled?

Against whom have you raised your voice

and haughtily lifted your eyes?

Against the Holy One of Israel!

23 By your messengers you have mocked the Lord,

and you have said, 'With my many chariots

I have gone up the heights of the mountains,

to the far recesses of Lebanon;

I felled its tallest cedars,

its choicest cypresses;

I entered its farthest retreat,

its densest forest.

24 I dug wells

and drank foreign waters,

I dried up with the sole of my foot

all the streams of Egypt.'

25 "Have you not heard

that I determined it long ago?

I planned from days of old

what now I bring to pass,

that you should make fortified cities

crash into heaps of ruins,

26 while their inhabitants, shorn of strength,

are dismayed and confounded;

they have become like plants of the field

and like tender grass,

like grass on the housetops,

blighted before it is grown.

27 "But I know your rising and your sitting,

your going out and coming in,

and your raging against me.

28 Because you have raged against me

and your arrogance has come to my ears,

I will put my hook in your nose

and my bit in your mouth;

I will turn you back on the way

by which you came.

29 "And this shall be the sign for you: This year you shall eat what grows of itself, and in the second year what springs from that; then in the third year sow, reap, plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. 30 The surviving remnant of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward; 31 for from Jerusalem a remnant shall go out, and from Mount Zion a band of survivors. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.

32 "Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the king of Assyria: He shall not come into this city, shoot an arrow there, come before it with a shield, or cast up a siege ramp against it. 33 By the way that he came, by the same he shall return; he shall not come into this city, says the LORD. 34 For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David."

Sennacherib's Defeat and Death (Isa 37.36-38; 2 Chr 32.20-23)

35 That very night the angel of the LORD set out and struck down one hundred eighty-five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians; when morning dawned, they were all dead bodies. 36 Then King Sennacherib of Assyria left, went home, and lived at Nineveh. 37 As he was worshiping in the house of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer killed him with the sword, and they escaped into the land of Ararat. His son Esar-haddon succeeded him. (2 Kings 19:21-36 (37), NRSV)

The following comments are repeated here with editing and supplement from October 6, 2007 (Saturday in the week of the Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost, references for the week of the Sunday closest to September 28, Year One):

This reading from 2 Kings has an essentially duplicate reading in Isaiah, practically verbatim, as is evident in the parallel columns in the separate file, Isaiah’s Poem of Reassurance to Hezekiah. In 2Kings 19:21-37, the differences from Isaiah 37:22-38 amount to a total of eight words (as shown in boldface in the table. This nearly identical wording from these two books has continued through most of this week’s readings, from 2 Kings 18:13 and Isaiah 36:1, with the exception of 2 Kings 18:14-16, which is not found in Isaiah. On the other hand, most of today’s reading has no counterpart in 2 Chronicles (cf. 2 Kgs. 19:35-37 and 2 Chron. 32:20-23), where the Chronicler omits the number of Assyrian casualties (185,000, 2 Kgs. 19:35; Isa. 37:36), and, while emphasizing the “disgrace” of Sennacherib as he returns, he does not name the sons who assassinated him (2 Chron. 32:21; cf. 2 Kgs. 19:37; Isa. 37:38). But the Chronicler adds an emphasis on the LORD’s protection of Jerusalem and the consequent rejoicing and recognition by the nations (2 Chron. 32:22-23). It is apparent that the account in 2 Kings is a source used by the Chronicler, with abbreviation, addition and omission. But by the text itself, it would be difficult to decide whether the accounts in 2 Kings are the source for Isaiah’s accounts, or derived from Isaiah. It would seem to be the latter, since Isaiah of Jerusalem was a contemporary of Hezekiah in the eighth century B.C., whereas the Books of Kings bring the story down to the time of captivity in the sixth century B.C.

The poetic portion of today’s reading begins with reference to Assyria in the third person, who “despises you, she scorns you– / virgin daughter Zion; / she tosses her head–behind your back, / daughter Jerusalem” (2 Kgs. 19:21; Isa. 37:22). But the poem quickly addresses Assyria herself, in the first place in response to the challenge of the Rabshakeh’s speech (spoken, of course, in the name of Sennacherib, 18:19-25, 27-35), but more particularly in response to the letter sent by Sennacherib from Libneh (19:10-13). “Whom have you mocked and reviled? / Against whom have you raised your voice / and haughtily lifted your eyes? / Against the Holy One of Israel!” (2 Kgs. 19:22; Isa. 37:23). Note the use of a favorite phrase from Isaiah, “the Holy One of Israel” in reference to God (Isa. 1:4; 5:19, 24; 10:20, etc.). The poem, in addressing Assyria, seems to single out Sennacherib who, by his “messengers/servants,” has “mocked the LORD” (2 Kgs. 19:23a; Isa. 37:24a). The poem is called “the word of the LORD” (2 Kgs. 19:21a; Isa. 37:22a), and it is the LORD who returns the challenge to Sennacherib. The LORD recites his exploits. He has “felled” the cedars and cypresses of Lebanon (2 Kgs. 19:23; Isa. 37:24). One might think of the lumber for Solomon’s temple, but the tone here suggests rather the LORD’s creative power and control of all of nature. He controls the water supply, wells and foreign (2 Kgs.) waters, and dries up “the streams of Egypt” (2 Kgs. 19:24; Isa. 37:25). It’s as though the LORD says to Sennacherib, “Who are you to challenge the LORD of all creation?”

The LORD reminds Sennacherib that his conquests are only carrying out what the LORD himself has planned “long ago,” that is, “from days of old” (2 Kgs. 19:25 Isa. 37:26). It is true that Sennacherib’s victims “are dismayed and confounded,” that “they have become like . . . grass on the housetops, / blighted before it is grown” (2 Kgs. 19:26; Isa. 37:27). But the LORD control’s Sennacherib’s coming and going (2 Kgs. 19:27; Isa. 37:28), and he says to Sennacherib, “Because you have raged against me / and your arrogance has come to my ears, / I will put my hook in your nose / and my bit in your mouth; / I will turn you back on the way / by which you came” (2 Kgs. 19:28; Isa. 37:29).

When the text returns to prose, it is Judah, not Assyria, that is addressed. Judah is given a sign. “This year you shall (2 Kgs.) eat what grows of itself, and in the second year what springs from that; then in the third year sow, reap, plant vineyards, and eat their fruit” (2 Kgs. 19:29; Isa. 37;30). Iain W. Provan explains, “Recovery in Judah will be slow but certain. The people will be able to survive (v. 29) because of the crops that spring up from what is already in the ground; and ‘in the third year’ it will be possible to resume normal agricultural practice” (NOAB, 3^rd ed., augmented, 2007, on 2 Kgs. 19:29). In spite of the devastation of Sennacherib’s conquests (“all the fortified cities of Judah,” 2 Kgs. 18:13; Isa. 36:1), there will be a surviving “remnant,” a “band of survivors” (2 Kgs. 19:30-31; Isa. 37:31-32). According to the word of the LORD, the Assyrian will not enter Jerusalem, attack with a shield, “or cast up a siege ramp against it” (2 Kgs. 19:32; Isa. 37:33). “By the way that he [the Assyrian] came,” says the LORD, “by the same he shall return” without entering the city, because the LORD “will defend this city to save it, for [his] own sake and for the sake of [his] servant David” (2 Kgs. 19:33-34; Isa. 37:34-35).

What happens next is most surprising. “That very night (then, Isa.) the angel of the LORD set out and struck down one hundred eighty-five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians; when morning dawned, they were all dead bodies” (2 Kgs. 19:35; Isa. 37:36). The Chronicler puts it this way: In response to the prayer of King Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah (2 Chron. 32:20), “the LORD sent an angel who cut off all the mighty warriors and commanders and officers in the camp of the king of Assyria” (v. 21a). Ziony Zevit points out that “There is no tradition of such a plague other than here and in Isa. 37:36” (The Jewish Study Bible, 2004, on 2 Kgs. 19:35). Provan comments:

Sennacherib’s own records are silent about the circumstances under which the assault upon Jerusalem concluded, leaving the city unscathed, in contrast to the details these records provide about the capitulation of other kings in the region. The biblical text relates a mysterious reversal suffered by the Assyrians while Jerusalem lay at their mercy. Some commentators suggest that natural causes, such as plague may lie behind the reference to the action of the angel of the LORD.” (on vv. 35-36)

Sennacherib’s own records boast of a very different outcome of his attack upon Judah:

As for Hezekiah the Judahite, who did not submit to my yoke: forty-six of his strong, walled cities, as well as the small towns in their area, which were without number, by leveling with battering-rams and by bringing up siege-engines, and by attacking and storming on foot, by mines, tunnels, and breeches, I besieged and took them. 200,150 people, great and small, male and female, horses, mules, asses, camels, cattle and sheep without number, I brought away from them and counted as spoil. (Hezekiah) himself, like a caged bird I shut up in Jerusalem, his royal city. I threw up earthworks against him— the one coming out of the city-gate, I turned back to his misery. His cities, which I had despoiled, I cut off from his land, and to Mitinti, king of Ashdod, Padi, king of Ekron, and Silli-bêl, king of Gaza, I gave (them). And thus I diminished his land. I added to the former tribute, and I laid upon him the surrender of their land and imposts—gifts for my majesty. As for Hezekiah, the terrifying splendor of my majesty overcame him, and the Arabs and his mercenary troops which he had brought in to strengthen Jerusalem, his royal city, deserted him. In addition to the thirty talents of gold and eight hundred talents of silver, gems, antimony, jewels, large carnelians, ivory-inlaid couches, ivory-inlaid chairs, elephant hides, elephant tusks, ebony, boxwood, all kinds of valuable treasures, as well as his daughters, his harem, his male and female musicians, which he had brought after me to Nineveh, my royal city. To pay tribute and to accept servitude, he dispatched his messengers. (“Fallen Empires; Archaeological Discoveries and the Bible,” Sennacherib’s Hexagonal Prism, http://www.bible-history.com/empires/prism.html, accessed again October 1, 2009. This web site says of the above citation, “Complete translations of the records of Sennacherib can be found in Daniel D. Luckenbill, Ancient Records of Assyria and Babylonia, vol. 2, and in James Pritchard's Ancient Near Eastern Texts [1950].)

One would not expect Sennacherib to make an engraved record of the defeat at Jerusalem as recorded in today’s reading from 2 Kings. According to Norman H. Snaith,

This wholesale slaughter of the Assyrian army is without any extrabiblical confirmation. It is scarcely to be expected that the Assyrian records would refer to it. There is, however, an Egyptian legend of an overwhelming defeat which Sennacherib suffered at the hands of the Egyptians. According to Herodotus (History II. 141), the Assyrian army was routed at Pelusium because their bowstrings and the thongs of their shields had been devoured overnight by an army of field mice. The details of this tradition have little in common with the biblical story except in the matter of the tremendous Assyrian losses, but it is difficult to account for such traditions, although they may have a common basis of fact. It may well be that Sennacherib did suffer a disastrous defeat in an attempted invasion of Egypt, if not in 701 B.C., at least in 691 B.C., when he made a successful campaign against Judah’s southern neighbors. For the idea of the angel of the LORD as God’s active agent in a destructive pestilence see II Sam. 24:16. The migration of rodents at a time of plague is a well-known fact. (“Exegesis” of 1 Kings, The Interpreter’s Bible, III (1954), pp. 303-4 on 2 Kgs. 19:35-37)

We are told that he left Jerusalem and went home (2 Kgs. 19:36; Isa. 37:37), and, while “worshiping in the house of his god Nisroch,” he was assassinated by his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer,” and succeeded by another son, Esar-haddon” (2 Kgs. 19:37; Isa. 37:38).

1 Corinthians 10:1-13

10 I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, 2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 and all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. 5 Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them, and they were struck down in the wilderness.

6 Now these things occurred as examples for us, so that we might not desire evil as they did. 7 Do not become idolaters as some of them did; as it is written, "The people sat down to eat and drink, and they rose up to play." 8 We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. 9 We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did, and were destroyed by serpents. 10 And do not complain as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer. 11 These things happened to them to serve as an example, and they were written down to instruct us, on whom the ends of the ages have come. 12 So if you think you are standing, watch out that you do not fall. 13 No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it. (1 Corinthians 10:1-13, NRSV)

On March 1, 2008 (Saturday in the week of the Third Sunday of Lent, Year Two), comments were repeated from October 6, 2007 (Saturday in the week of the Sunday closest to September 28, Year One), when comments were repeated that were combined and revised on October 22, 2006 (the Sunday closest to October 19, Year Two) from October 17, 2004 (the Sunday closest to October 19, Year Two), and from March 25, 2006 (Saturday in the week of the Third Sunday of Lent, Year Two). The combined and revised comments are repeated again here with some editing:

“I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters,” says Paul, that our ancestors were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea” (1 Cor. 10:1, alluding to Exod. 13:21, 22 for the “cloud,” and to Exod. 14:22-29 for passing “through the sea”). John Knox and John Reumann call this passage, “a warning against overconfidence,” adding, “baptism and partaking the Lord’s supper do not guarantee salvation, any more than corresponding acts sufficed for the ancient Hebrews” (NOAB, 2^nd ed. on 1 Cor. 10:1-13). Paul continues his reference to Moses and the Israelites, with a metaphorical (not to say, spiritual) interpretation, saying, “all [i.e., all of the Israelites] were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea” (1 Cor. 10:2). As an aside, one might suggest that it’s an interesting form of baptism “in the sea” where one does not get wet! The figure suggests that they were immersed in the leadership of Moses–or should have been, given the sorry outcome (v. 5). According to Richard A. Horsley, “baptized . . . in the cloud and in the sea [is] probably another symbol o0f immortality given by Wisdom, considering the Corinthian emphasis on ‘baptism for the dead’ in 15:29, and Paul’s de-emphasis on baptism in 1:14-17” (NOAB, 3^rd ed., augmented, 2007, on 1 Cor. 10:2). Paul adds that they “all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink” (vv. 3, 4a). Clearly he is spiritualizing his account of the biblical narrative with reference to the manna and quails (Exod. 16:4, 35; Num. 11; Deut. 8:3; Ps. 78:24-29) and water from the rock (Exod. 17:6; Num. 20:11; Ps. 78:15). The “spiritual rock . . . followed them,” says Paul, “and the rock was Christ” (1 Cor. 10:4b). According to Victor Paul Furnish, “Although the OT says nothing about a rock that followed the Israelites in the wilderness, a later rabbinic tradition did say this about a well (see Num. 21:16-18). Since Paul identifies the rock with Christ, he probably views the Israelites’ eating and drinking as a kind of Lord’s Supper (see vv. 16-17)” (HarperCollins Study Bible, rev. ed., 2006, on 1 Cor. 10:4).

But Paul points out that these blessings were not sufficient to sustain the people’s faith and loyalty. “Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them, and they were struck down in the wilderness” (1 Cor. 10:5; cf. Num. 14:16, 23, 29-30; Ps. 78:31). Paul takes these events as warnings against various sins, “examples for us, so that we might not desire evil as they did” (v. 6). Horsley counts “five exhortations” introduced by “We must not/Do not . . . as some [of the ancestors] did” (op. cit., on 1 Cor. 10:6b-10), framed by references to the events as examples (vv. 5a, 11). The first of these would be the warning against desiring evil, “Now these things occurred as examples for us, so that we might not desire evil as they did (v. 6; cf. Num. 11:4, 34; Ps. 106:14). Another warning is against committing idolatry, “Do not become idolaters as some of them did; as it is written, ‘The people sat down to eat and drink, and they rose up to play’ ” (v. 7, citing Exod. 32:;6). And another, against sexual immorality, “We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day” (v. 8; cf. Num. 25:1, 9). Paul warns against putting “Christ to the test,” “We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did, and were destroyed by serpents” (v. 9; cf. Num. 21:5-6); and complaining, “And do not complain as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer” (v. 10; cf. Num. 14:2, 36; 16:41-49; Ps. 106:25-27). Horsley adds: “That Paul actually cites scripture (Ex. 32:6) only in connection with idolatry indicates that this is his major concern; see v. 14” (ibid.).

But Paul says that “these things happened to them to serve as an example, and they were written down to instruct us, on whom the ends of the ages have come” (1 Cor. 10:11; cf. 2 Tim. 3:16-17; 1 Pet. 4:7). The warning concludes with the admonition, “So if you think you are standing, watch out that you do not fall” (v. 12), and the encouragement, “No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it” (v. 13).

We note that the larger context of these warnings is in the part of 1 Corinthians where Paul answers questions from Corinthian people. Note the beginning, “Now concerning the matters about which you wrote . . .” (1 Cor 7:1), and about the subject of food sacrificed to idols, “Now concerning food sacrificed to idols” (8:1), which is treated in chapters 8-10, more specifically in 8:1-13 and 10:14-33. Some feel that they have the right to participate in meals in the pagan temples because “we know that ‘no idol in the wold really exists,’ and that ‘there is no God but one’” (8:4, where Paul quotes their slogan). While Paul’s treatment of the subject in chapter 8 implies some difference in people’s understanding and conscience on these matters, he clearly rejects any association with pagan idolatry in chapter 10. Ben Witherington III says,

Here as before Paul is largely arguing against those who wrote to him, who were claiming the right to eat in pagan temples. He warns them in particular of possible serious spiritual consequences. Possibly the Corinthians had a magical view of the Christian sacraments and thought that since they had partaken of the Christian initiation rite (baptism) and the Christian communion rite (the Lord’s Supper) they were immune to spiritual danger at pagan feasts. They seem to have held to some form of an ‘eternal security by means of sacraments’ view. Paul is trying to dissuade them from this false sense of security. (Conflict & Community in Corinth, p. 220 on 1 Cor. 10:1-11:1).

Specific application of this warning against idolatry to the context of the Lord’s Supper is presented in the next lesson from 1 Corinthians (October 5, 2009, Monday of next week).

Matthew 8:18-27

Would-Be Followers of Jesus (Lk 9.57-62)

18 Now when Jesus saw great crowds around him, he gave orders to go over to the other side. 19 A scribe then approached and said, "Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go." 20 And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head." 21 Another of his disciples said to him, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father." 22 But Jesus said to him, "Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead." (Matthew 8:18-22, NRSV)

Jesus Stills the Storm, (Mk 4.35-41; Lk 8.22-25)

23 And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. 24 A windstorm arose on the sea, so great that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep. 25 And they went and woke him up, saying, "Lord, save us! We are perishing!" 26 And he said to them, "Why are you afraid, you of little faith?" Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a dead calm. 27 They were amazed, saying, "What sort of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?" (Matthew 8:23-27, NRSV)

On May 6, 2008 (Tuesday in the week of the Seventh Sunday of Easter, Year Two), comments were repeated from October 6, 2007 (Saturday in the week of the Sunday closest to September 28, Year One), when comments were repeated from May 30, 2006 (Tuesday in the week of the Seventh Sunday of Easter, Year Two); they are repeated again here with editing and supplement. The two passages in today’s reading are compared to the parallel accounts in the separate file, Would-be Followers’ Excuses.

On the Would-Be Followers of Jesus

In Matthew’s account of a series of events, including several miracles (chaps. 8, 9), someone, apparently impressed by Jesus demonstrations of power, comes and says, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go (Mt. 8:19; cf. Lk. 9:57). Matthew calls him a “scribe,” and though scribes are sometimes included among Jesus’ opponents within the Jewish leadership, according to Krister Stendahl, they are also “potential and actual disciples” (Peake’s Commentary on the Bible, 1962, reprint 1972, sec. 682 g, p. 781, on Mt. 8:18). In a certain sense, scribes make the best Christians! “Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old” (Mt. 13:52). Could it be that Matthew cites this from Jesus as an appeal to a Jewish or Jewish Christian audience?

In Luke, near the beginning of his “Travel Narrative” (Lk. 9:51-18:14), between the account of the Samaritans’ rejection of Jesus (9:52-56), with an inadequate response from the first disciples (v. 54) and the sending out of the seventy in pairs (10:1-12), someone volunteers to follow Jesus using the same words as the scribe cited by Matthew (“I will follow you wherever you go,” Lk. 9:57; cf. Mt. 8:19). In both cases, Jesus responds in a way that, in effect, asks, “Are you able to endure the hardships that discipleship will entail.” He says, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head” (Mt. 8:20 = Lk. 9:58). This would be follower of Jesus does not offer an excuse, but the others do. Luke reports that Jesus initiates the call of another to discipleship. “Follow me,” says Jesus (Lk. 9:59), and the person apparently responds, but seeks to delay his “following.” He says, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father” (Lk. 9:59; cf. Mt. 8:21). Matthew begins with the same excuse or delaying tactic, which implies either that the second person volunteered or, as Luke, reports, Jesus initiated the call. Marion Lloyd Soards says of Luke 9:59, “From the statement that follows (v. 60), the man’s father was almost certainly not yet dead; rather, the man used this responsibility to procrastinate complete commitment to discipleship (NOAB, 3^rd ed., augmented, 2007, on Lk. 9:59). He adds that “Let the dead bury their own dead [Lk. 9:60], suggests that the spiritually dead should be left to bury the physically dead” (on v. 60).

Luke provides a third example–not included by Matthew–in which, as in the first instance, the person volunteers. “I will follow you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my home,” he says (Lk. 9:61), but Jesus responds, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God” (v. 62). Robert H. Stein comments on “the extreme harshness of these sayings [in Luke],” which, he says, “is the best proof of their authenticity” (Luke, The New American Commentary, 1992, p. 302 on Lk. 9:57-62). “The issue,” he says, “involves priorities”:

In both the second and third sayings the individual’s ‘first’ priority was clearly something other than following Jesus. For Luke allegiance to Jesus required loving one’s parents and honoring them in the ways described in 9:59, 61. He did not mean that his readers should refrain from performing such duties. Rather he chose a particularly forceful way to demonstrate that discipleship requires a radical shift in priorities. Jesus must be ‘first.’ He will not accept second place to anyone or anything. (ibid.)

Matthew’s version does not elaborate this aspect so much, but the saying, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead” (Mt. 8:22), clearly has the same import. J. Andrew Overman says, “The primacy and immediacy of discipleship is captured in this hard and hyperbolic scenario (cf. the call of Elisha, 1 Kings 19:19-21)” (NOAB, 3^rd ed., augmented, 2007, on Mt. 8:22). In the case of Elisha, when he was called by Elijah, that is, when Elijah “threw his mantle over him” (1 Kgs. 19:19), Elisha asks for a delay–a temporary delay, as it turns out. “He left the oxen [with which he was plowing, v. 19], ran after Elijah, and said, ‘Let me kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow you’ ” (v. 20a). That does not seem like the delay of saying, “Let me go and bury my father” (Mt. 8:21; Lk. 9:59), but Elijah takes it as hesitation. “Then Elijah said to him, ‘Go back again; for what have I done to you?’ ” (1 Kgs. 19:20b). But Elisha’s next action clearly demonstrates his commitment to the call of Elijah. Elisha “returned from following him, took the yoke of oxen, and slaughtered them; using the equipment from the oxen, he boiled their flesh, and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he set out and followed Elijah, and became his servant” (v. 21). According to Iain W. Provan, “He decisively turns his back on his old way of life by destroying his previous means of sustenance (cf. 1 Sam. 11:5-7” (NOAB, 3^rd ed., augmented, 2007, on 1 Kgs. 19:19-21).

On Jesus’ Stilling of the Storm

Matthew moves on to another miracle, Jesus’ stilling of the storm. As noted above, the parallel accounts in Mark and Luke are included in the separate file Would-be Followers’ Excuses. The settings are described differently. In Matthew, Jesus has completed the Sermon on the Mount (chaps. 5-7), a series of miracles (8:1-17), and the exchange with would-be followers (vv. 18-22). Mark presents the occasion of the stilling of the storm after a series of parables (Mk. 4:1-34; cf. Mt. 13; Lk. 8:4-18). “On that day, when evening had come,” says Mark, “he said to them, ‘Let us go across to the other side” (Mk. 4:35). In Luke, following Mark’s sequence, the stilling of the storm also follows the series of parables (Lk. 8:4-18), after a brief reference to Jesus’ family’s desire to reach him (Lk. 8:19-21; cf. Mk. 3:21, 31-35). “And leaving the crowd behind,” says Mark, “they [i.e., the disciples] took him [i.e., Jesus] with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats went with him” (Mk. 4:36; cf. “So they put out,” Lk. 8:23b). Anticipating information that comes later in Mark and Matthew, Luke informs us that “while they were sailing he [i.e., Jesus] fell asleep” (v. 23a). All the Synoptic Gospels describe the windstorm and its danger. According to Matthew, “A windstorm (seismo;V mevgaV, seismos megas) arose on the sea, so great that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep” (Mt. 8:24). In Mark, it is a “great windstorm” (lai:lay megavlh ajnevmou, lailaps megalē anemou), in which “the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped” (Mk. 4:37). In Luke, the “windstorm” (lai:lay ajnevmou, lailaps anemou) “swept down” bringing “danger” (Lk 8:23). In each account the disciples awaken the Lord with a call for help. “Lord, save us! We are perishing!” (Mt. 8:25). “Master, Master, we are perishing!” (Lk. 8:24a). Mark puts it as a question, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” (Mk. 4:38). In all of the accounts the Lord rebukes the winds and calms the sea (Mt. 8:26b; Mk. 4:39; Lk. 8:24b), and asks about the disciples’ faith (Mt. 8:26a; Mk. 4:40; Lk. 8:25a). And all the accounts describe the disciples’ amazement (Mt. 8:27; Mk. 4:41; Lk. 8:25b). Craig L. Blomberg notes that “Matthew places Jesus’ rebuke [for their ‘little faith’] before the miracle, while Mark reverses the sequence” (Matthew, The New American Commentary, vol. 22, 1992, p. 149 on Mt. 8:26). I would suggest that Matthew reverses Mark’s sequence. In any event, Blomberg adds:

Yet even though Matthew’s narrative reads more naturally, it is hard to believe that he is trying to present the disciples in a more positive light. ‘Little faith’ simply stresses their lack of faith; it scarcely improves on Mark’s ‘no faith.’ The ‘rebuke’ of the elements employs the same term (epitimaō) used elsewhere in exorcism stories (Mark 1:25; 9:25; Luke 4:41). Jesus demonstrates power over the destructive forces of nature, which remain under the devil’s sway. As with his healings, Jesus’ ‘cure’ takes effect immediately. (ibid., pp. 149-150 on Mt. 8:26)

Blomberg downplays, but does not rule out, the understanding of this story as “a lesson about Jesus ‘stilling the storms’ of our lives.” The focus, he says, is “Christological–on who Christ is, not on what he will do for us” (p. 150 on v, 27). But William Barclay chooses to emphasize the latter:

But the meaning of this story . . . is not that Jesus stopped a storm in Galilee; the meaning is that wherever Jesus is the storms of life become a calm. It means that in the presence of Jesus the most terrible of tempests turns to peace.

When the cold, bleak wind of sorrow blows, there is calm and comfort in the presence of Jesus Christ. When the hot blast of passion blows, there is peace and security in the presence of Jesus Christ. When the storms of doubt seek to uproot the very foundations of the faith, there is a steady safety in the presence of Jesus Christ. In every storm that shakes the human heart there is peace with Jesus Christ. (The Gospel of Matthew, The Daily Study Bible, rev. ed., vol. 1, 1975, p. 318 on Mt. 8:23-27)

Ronald D. Worden, Ph.D.

rdworden@hgst.edu

deanworden@comcast.net