Nehemiah 9:1-15 (16-25)

National Confession

9:1 Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the people of Israel were assembled with fasting and in sackcloth, and with earth on their heads. 2 Then those of Israelite descent separated themselves from all foreigners, and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their ancestors. 3 They stood up in their place and read from the book of the law of the LORD their God for a fourth part of the day, and for another fourth they made confession and worshiped the LORD their God. 4 Then Jeshua, Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani stood on the stairs of the Levites and cried out with a loud voice to the LORD their God. 5 Then the Levites, Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah, said, "Stand up and bless the LORD your God from everlasting to everlasting. Blessed be your glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise."

6 And Ezra said: "You are the LORD, you alone; you have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. To all of them you give life, and the host of heaven worships you. 7 You are the LORD, the God who chose Abram and brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans and gave him the name Abraham; 8 and you found his heart faithful before you, and made with him a covenant to give to his descendants the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Jebusite, and the Girgashite; and you have fulfilled your promise, for you are righteous.

9 "And you saw the distress of our ancestors in Egypt and heard their cry at the Red Sea. 10 You performed signs and wonders against Pharaoh and all his servants and all the people of his land, for you knew that they acted insolently against our ancestors. You made a name for yourself, which remains to this day. 11 And you divided the sea before them, so that they passed through the sea on dry land, but you threw their pursuers into the depths, like a stone into mighty waters. 12 Moreover, you led them by day with a pillar of cloud, and by night with a pillar of fire, to give them light on the way in which they should go. 13 You came down also upon Mount Sinai, and spoke with them from heaven, and gave them right ordinances and true laws, good statutes and commandments, 14 and you made known your holy sabbath to them and gave them commandments and statutes and a law through your servant Moses. 15 For their hunger you gave them bread from heaven, and for their thirst you brought water for them out of the rock, and you told them to go in to possess the land that you swore to give them.

16 "But they and our ancestors acted presumptuously and stiffened their necks and did not obey your commandments; 17 they refused to obey, and were not mindful of the wonders that you performed among them; but they stiffened their necks and determined to return to their slavery in Egypt. But you are a God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and you did not forsake them. 18 Even when they had cast an image of a calf for themselves and said, 'This is your God who brought you up out of Egypt,' and had committed great blasphemies, 19 you in your great mercies did not forsake them in the wilderness; the pillar of cloud that led them in the way did not leave them by day, nor the pillar of fire by night that gave them light on the way by which they should go. 20 You gave your good spirit to instruct them, and did not withhold your manna from their mouths, and gave them water for their thirst. 21 Forty years you sustained them in the wilderness so that they lacked nothing; their clothes did not wear out and their feet did not swell. 22 And you gave them kingdoms and peoples, and allotted to them every corner, so they took possession of the land of King Sihon of Heshbon and the land of King Og of Bashan. 23 You multiplied their descendants like the stars of heaven, and brought them into the land that you had told their ancestors to enter and possess. 24 So the descendants went in and possessed the land, and you subdued before them the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, and gave them into their hands, with their kings and the peoples of the land, to do with them as they pleased. 25 And they captured fortress cities and a rich land, and took possession of houses filled with all sorts of goods, hewn cisterns, vineyards, olive orchards, and fruit trees in abundance; so they ate, and were filled and became fat, and delighted themselves in your great goodness. (Nehemiah 9:1-25, NRSV)

On November 12, 2007 (Monday in the week of the Twenty-fourth Sunday after Pentecost, references for the week of the Sunday closest to November 9, Year One), comments were repeated with editing and supplement from November 7, 2005 (Monday in the week of the Sunday closest to November 9, Year One); the comments are repeated again here with editing and supplement:

Ezra’s prayer of confession in Ezra 9:5-15 focused specifically on the problem of mixed marriages (see text and comments for Saturday, November 7, 2009). Today’s reading from Nehemiah continues the story of Ezra’s leadership with a more general prayer of national repentance in the manner of some historical Psalms (e.g. Psalm 106). The context of this reading in the Book of Nehemiah makes it appear to follow Ezra’s public reading of the law (Neh. 8:1-8, cf. vv. 9-12), and the celebration of the Festival of Booths (vv. 13-18). The reading of the law took place on the first day of the seventh month, Tishrei, or September-October (Neh. 7:73b). On the second day of the month, “the heads of ancestral houses, priests and Levites studied “the words of the law” (8:13) and read about the Festival of Booths, “the festival of the seventh month” (v. 14). After suitable preparation, “all the assembly of those who had returned from the captivity made booths and lived in them/ for from the days of Jeshua son of Nun to that day the people of Israel had not done so. And there was very great rejoicing” (v. 17). (For more details about this celebration see the reading for Wednesday of this week, November 11, 2009.)

The text of Nehemiah does not give day-of-the-month dates for this festival, but assumes that the Festival of Booths began on the fifteenth day of Tishri, September-October (cf. Lev. 23:39-43), and continued for seven days (Tishri 15-21), followed by the “solemn assembly” on the eighth day (Neh. 8:18b), which would be Tishri [Sept.-Oct.] 22. At the beginning of today’s reading, the day reference fits with this understanding. “Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month [i.e., 2 days later] the people of Israel were assembled with fasting and in sackcloth, and with earth on their heads” (Neh. 9:1). “Two days later,” says David J. A. Clines, assuming the above sequence, “a day of penitence is held ([Neh. 9:]1-4, and the prayer of the Levites is reported (vv. 5-37).” But he also notes the absence of reference to the Day of Atonement. “Strangely, the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) on the tenth has not been mentioned; perhaps the ceremony of the twenty-fourth replaces it, or perhaps the narrative deliberately downgrades cultic activities in favor of an increased annual role for scripture” (HarperCollins Study Bible, rev. ed., 2006, on Neh. 9:1-37). According to Hindy Najman, “This passage suggests that a festival similar to Yom Kippur is observed on the 24^th day of Tishri, after the celebration of Sukkot, not on the 10^th of Tishri, as reflected in other biblical texts (Lev. 16:29; 23:27-28; 25:9; Num. 29:7) and later rabbinic traditions” (The Jewish Study Bible, 2004, on Neh. 9:1-5).

Preparations for the prayer include fasting and sackcloth and “earth on their heads” (Neh. 9:1), and separation of the Israelites “from all foreigners”: “Then those of Israelite descent separated themselves from all foreigners, and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their ancestors” (v. 2). “This,” says Clines, “is not the divorcing of foreign wives as in Ezra 9-10, but it reflects the same concern for religious distinctiveness. Though Foreigners living in Judea could participate in the festival (Deut. 16:14) and were obliged to keep the law (Num. 15:15-16), they had no need to confess Israel’s sins as their own” (op. cit., on v. 2; cf. Arthur Jeffrey and John J. Collins, NOAB, 2^nd ed., on Neh. 9:2). We are told that the Israelites “stood up in their place and from the book of the law of the LORD their God for a fourth part of the day, and for another fourth they made confession and worshiped the LORD their God” (v. 3). Tamara Cohn Eskenazi says, “The combination of prayer and Torah reading would characterize later synagogue worship” (NOAB, 3^rd ed., augmented, 2007, on Neh. 9:3). “This passage,” says Najman, “is cited in rabbinic literature as an example of how one should divide one’s day between study and prayer. One should divide the period from midday until the evening into to parts. in the first part, one should study the weekly portion of the Torah and the haftarah. In the second part, one should confess one’s sins to God (b Meg. 30b; b. Ta‘an. 12b). Eight persons are named who “stood on the stairs of the Levites and cried out with a loud voice to the LORD their God” (v. 4). The two names “Bani” may be duplicates, but the name apparently occurs more than once in this period (cf. Harper’s Bible Dictionary, rev. ed., 1996, s.v. Bani, nos. 2 and 3). Immediately we are told that eight Levites, five of the preceding list (v. 4), and three with different names, said, “Stand up and bless the LORD your God from everlasting to everlasting. Blessed be your glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise” (v. 5). According to Eskenazi, “Some of the Levites who shared the platform with Ezra earlier (8:4, 7) now lead the congregation without him” (op. cit., on vv. 4-5). Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah (9:4, 5), and Hodiah (9:5) also appear in the earlier list (8:7).

Najman calls verse 5 the “introduction to the confession. Cf. Dan. 2:20-23.” And she adds, “The Rabbis comment that Neh. 9:5 reflects the fact that in the Temple liturgy the people did not respond to blessings with ‘Amen,’ but rather gave praise to God following each blessing (b. Ber. 63a; b. Sot. 40b; and the more extensive discussion of Temple liturgy in b. Ta‘an. 16b)” (op. cit., on v. 5). In the Hebrew text, the prayer continues, led by these Levites. But in the Septuagint (Greek translation), the wording of the prayer is attributed to Ezra. “And Ezra said: (kai; ei\pen EsdraV, kai eipen Esdras, LXX II Esdras 19:6; the phrase is lacking in Heb. Neh. 9:6) ‘You are the LORD, you alone; you have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them’ ” (v. 6a). The apparatus in R. Kittel, ed., Biblia Hebraica, 22^nd ed., in effect says to “insert with the Greek xr!z4f@ rm@xY0ov1” (wayyō’mer ‘ezrā’), which is followed by the NRSV, “And Ezra said, ‘You are the LORD, you alone . . .’ ” (Neh. 9:6 NRSV, RSV; contrast NJPS, which follows the Hebrew text, as do AV/KJV, NEB, NIV, TNIV, and others). Tamara Cohn Eskenazi goes with the Hebrew text:

And Ezra said. Not in the Hebrew version. [Cf. NRSV, text note b.] Although Greek versions insert Ezra’s name, in the Hebrew Ezra’s role concluded when he placed the Torah into the care of the community (8:13) and trained others to guide the community accordingly. The great prayer in the Hebrew Bible is thus assigned to the community and its representatives. (op. cit., on Ezra 9:6)

The prayer addresses the LORD, who “alone” is LORD, who “made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them” (v. 6a). For Jewish returnees from Mesopotamia, where astral bodies were worshiped, it is noteworthy that they pray to the LORD who created them. “To all of them you give life,” the prayer continues, “and the host of heaven worships you” (v. 6b). “The prayer begins,” says Najman,

with a declaration of God as creator. This relies mainly on the Priestly account of creation in Gen. 1:1-2:4. The highest heavens, and all their host is found elsewhere, though these are not Priestly terms (see, e.g., Deut. 10:14; 1 Kings 8:27; 2 Chron. 6:18). The author of this prayer is thus combining concepts from originally separate sources that have become integrated in the Torah. R. Oshawa uses this verse as a proof that the ‘Shekhinah’ (divine presence) is in every place (b. B. Bat. 25a). (op. cit., on Neh. 9:6)

The prayer recites the history of God’s choice of Abram.”You are the LORD, the God who chose Abram and brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans and gave him the name Abraham; and you found his heart faithful before you, and made with him a covenant to give to his descendants the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Jebusite, and the Girgashite; and you have fulfilled your promise, for you are righteous. Najman summarizes: “The prayer alludes to the following events: Abraham was brought out of Ur (Gen. ch. 12), God changed Abram’s name to Abraham (Gen. ch. 17); Abraham’s heart was found to be faithful (Gen. ch. 22); God made a covenant with Abram to give him and his descendants the land of the surrounding peoples (Gen. ch. 15). As in later retellings of biblical events, the order of events may be rearranged” (ibid., on vv. 7-8).

So far, the prayer follows the narrative in Genesis, but it continues with events during and following the exodus from Egypt. “The prayer continues,” says Najman, “with the retelling of the miraculous exodus from Egypt. The relatively extensive space given to the exodus reflects its general importance in the biblical tradition and its special significance for those who have undergone an ‘exodus’ of their own” (ibid., on vv. 9-12). “And you saw the distress of our ancestors in Egypt and heard their cry at the Red Sea” (v. 9). “Here,” says Najman, “the prayer alludes to God’s speech to Moses at the burning bush in Exod. 3:7 and later in the exodus narrative, Exod. 14:10” (ibid., on v. 9; cf. Clines, op. cit., on v. 9). The prayer continues: “You performed signs and wonders against Pharaoh and all his servants and all the people of his land, for you knew that they acted insolently against our ancestors. You made a name for yourself, which remains to this day” (v. 10). This refers, among other things to the plagues (Exod., 7-12). “The language in Nehemiah,” says Najman, “seems closest to Exod. 9:16” (op. cit., on v. 10). “And you divided the sea before them, so that they passed through the sea on dry land, but you threw their pursuers into the depths, like a stone into mighty waters” (v. 11). For this Clines refers to Exodus 14:21-23 (op. cit., on v. 11). “In Nehemiah’s recounting of the splitting of the sea,” says Najman, “Moses’ role is limited, as in Ps. 78:13. In the exodus narrative Moses plays a much more active role (Exod. 14:16, 21, 27)” (op. cit., on v. 11). “Moreover,” continues the prayer, “you led them by day with a pillar of cloud, and by night with a pillar of fire, to give them light on the way in which they should go” (v. 12). And for this Clines refers to Exodus 13:21; Numbers 14:14) (ibid., on v. 12). “The language here,” says Najman, “is almost a verbatim quotation from Exod. 13:21” (op. cit., on v. 12).

“You came down also upon Mount Sinai,” continues the prayer, “and spoke with them from heaven, and gave them right ordinances and true laws, good statutes and commandments, and you made known your holy sabbath to them and gave them commandments and statutes and a law through your servant Moses” (vv. 13-14). According to Eskenazi, “Unlike some of the earlier historical summaries (e.g., Deut. 26:5-9; Josh 24:2-13), this one mentions the revelation at Sinai” (op. cit., on v. 13). “Here,” says Najman, “Nehemiah preserves, side by side, two different accounts of the Sinai theophany. You came down on Mount Sinai reflects the tradition in Exod. 19:11, 20 where God is said to have come down on Mount Sinai. And spoke to them from heaven reflects the tradition in Exod. 20:19 that God communicated to Israel from the heavens and not from an earthly location” (op. cit. on v. 13a). For the commandment about the sabbath, Clines refers to Exodus 20:8-11 (op. cit., on v. 14). The prayer remembers God’s sustaining the Israelites in the wilderness. “For their hunger,” they pray, “you gave them bread from heaven, and for their thirst you brought water for them out of the rock, and you told them to go in to possess the land that you swore to give them” (v. 15). Clines says, “See Ex. 16:4; 17:6” (ibid., on v. 15).

The prayer of confession and historical review continues in the parenthetical reference section of today’s reading (vv. 16-25) and tomorrow’s reading (vv. 26-38). Further reference is made to the story of events on the journey from Egypt to Canaan (vv. 16-23) and the conquest (vv. 24-25). Israel’s presumption and disobedience along the way are acknowledged (vv. 16-17a), including their desire to return to Egypt (v. 17b) and the incident of the golden calf (v. 18). But God’s “great mercies” are remembered (v. 19, cf. v. 17), as well as other blessings (vv. 19-21) and victories over their enemies (v. 22).

or Nehemiah 2:1-20 (alternative reading, Presbyterian and Lutheran traditions)

For the text and comments of this reading see the text and comments of Friday, October 30, 2009, ten days ago.

Revelation 18:1-8

The Fall of Babylon

18:1 After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority; and the earth was made bright with his splendor. 2 He called out with a mighty voice,

"Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great!

It has become a dwelling place of demons,

a haunt of every foul spirit,

a haunt of every foul bird,

a haunt of every foul and hateful beast.

3 For all the nations have drunk

of the wine of the wrath of her fornication,

and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her,

and the merchants of the earth have grown rich from the power of her luxury."

4 Then I heard another voice from heaven saying,

"Come out of her, my people,

so that you do not take part in her sins,

and so that you do not share

in her plagues;

5 for her sins are heaped high as heaven,

and God has remembered her iniquities.

6 Render to her as she herself has rendered,

and repay her double for her deeds;

mix a double draught for her in the cup she mixed.

7 As she glorified herself and lived luxuriously,

so give her a like measure of torment and grief.

Since in her heart she says,

'I rule as a queen;

I am no widow,

and I will never see grief,'

8 therefore her plagues will come in a single day-

pestilence and mourning and famine-

and she will be burned with fire;

for mighty is the Lord God who judges her." (Revelation 18:1-8, NRSV)

On November 8, 2008 (Saturday in the week of the Sunday closest to November 2, Year Two), when the reading was Revelation 18:1-14, comments were based on those of November 11, 2006 (Saturday in the week of the Sunday closest to November 2, Year Two), comments that were repeated from earlier, as noted there, and from comments on Revelation 18:1-8 from September 14, 2008 (the Sunday closest to September 14, Year Two), and earlier comments as noted there. The following are based on relevant comments from these earlier comments:

Today’s reading continues the series of readings from the Book of Revelation. For today’s reading, the three series of judgments are past, the seven seals (Rev. 6:1-17; 8:1-5), the seven trumpets (8:6-9:21; 11:4-19), and the “seven bowls of the wrath of God” (16:1, cf. vv. 1-21). One of the angels invites John to see “the judgment of the great whore “ (Rev. 17:1), “which,” according to Bruce M. Metzger, “is Rome, the city on seven hills (17:9, 18) and the archpersecutor of the saints (17:6)” (Bruce M. Metzger, NOAB, 2^nd ed., 1994, on 17:1-18:24). Final judgments remain, over “the kings of the earth, who committed fornication with her [i.e. with Babylon = Rome]” (18:9), the merchants (vv. 11, 15, 17, etc.), and the final victories of chapters eighteen and nineteen.

But, according to Metzger, the present reading presents a “dirge over the fallen city (Rome) with echoes from the taunt songs in Isa. chs. 23-24; ch. 47; Jer. chs 50-51; Ezek. chs 26-27)” (ibid., on Rev. 18:1-24). The song is introduced by “another angel [who comes] down from heaven, having great authority,” and by his coming “the earth was made bright with his splendor” (18:1). “Fallen, fallen is Babylon [i.e. Rome] the great! / It has become a dwelling place of demons,” says the angel, “a haunt of every foul spirit, / a haunt of every fowl bird, / a haunt of every foul and hateful beast” (v. 2). “For all the nations have drunk / of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, / and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, / and the merchants of the earth have grown rich from the power of her luxury” (v. 3). According to David E. Aune, “Fornication” here is a “metaphor for political and religious subservience to Rome,” and “Merchants . . . have grown rich [means that] wealthy Romans bought expensive products from everywhere (see vv. 11-13).” Aune adds, “Though Rome is implicitly condemned for economic exploitation, the criticism is softer than one might expect” (HarperCollins Study Bible, rev. ed., 2006, on Rev. 18:3). Then John hears “another voice from heaven” that calls upon God’s people to “Come out of her . . . so that you do not take part in her sins, / and so that you do not share in her plagues” (v. 4). There is retribution for “her sins” which “are heaped high as heaven.” for “God has remembered her iniquities” (av. 5). Instruction is given (to the judgmental process?): “Render to her [Babylon = Rome] as she herself has rendered, / and repay her double for her deeds; / mix a double draught for her in the cup she mixed” (v. 6). Reference is made here to Jeremiah 51:9 by Aune (op. cit., on v. 6) and by Jean-Pierre Ruiz (NOAB, 3^rd ed., augmented, 2007, on Rev. 18:6). The angel’s voice continues: “As she [Babylon = Rome] glorified herself and lived luxuriously, / so give her a like measure of torment and grief” (v. 7a, b). Words are put in her mouth, as Aune says, “The fatal pride of Rome is personalized in this brief hubristic soliloquy” (on v. 7): “Since in her heart she says, / ‘I rule as a queen; / I am no widow, / and I will never see grief’ ” (v. 7c, d, e, f). God’s people are well warned to leave her (v. 4, above), for, because of these sins “her plagues will come in a single day–pestilence and mourning and famine–and she will be burned with fire; / for mighty is the Lord God who judges her” (v. 8).

“Ch[apter] 18,” says Richard Bauckham,

draws on all the OT prophetic oracles against Babylon (Isa. 13:1-14:23; 21:1-10; 47; Jer. 25:12-38; 50:1) and against Tyre (Isa. 23; Ezek. 26-8). John’s oracle gathers up all that his prophetic predecessors had said against these two cities, in order to portray Rome as the culmination of all the evil empires of history and therefore subject like them to judgment. (Compare the way the beast (13:1-2) combines the features of all four beasts in Daniel’s vision (Dan7:3-8.). OT Babylon prefigures Rome’s political supremacy and oppression, but OT Tyre prefigures Rome’s economic power and oppression. Hence the importance of Ezek. 26-8 as a model for John’s oracle against Babylon (vv. 9-20. At the same time, prophetic precedents are selected and adapted to fit the realities of contemporary Rome. (The Oxford Bible Commentary, 2001, p. 1301, on Rev. 18:1-3, cf. the chap.)

N. Turner finds a certain irony in this chapter, which he calls “a recital of Rome’s expected doom . . . [but] the event proved it to be no more than wishful thinking as far as the immediate future was concerned, and in the long run as a matter of fact the very reverse happened; the Christian Church actually won over ‘the great harlot’ to the side of Christ!” (Peake’s Commentary on the Bible, 1962, reprint 1972, p. 1055, on Rev. chap. 18). Turner cites E. F. Scott, who “claims that the feeling of this chapter is not simply one of vengeance but rather the joy of knowing that God is just, that he will defend the weak and punish the wicked. But that is best left in his hands, not made the subject of our prayers. Moreover E. F. Scott discovers in the writer’s words a tribute to the grandeur of Rome. That is the best that can be said of it. It is extravagant to claim that ‘no one has ever written a more generous epitaph on a fallen foe’. If so, the cynic may well claim that Paul urged in vain: ‘Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them’ [Rom. 12:14]” (ibid.).

Should we who live in a world of consumer goods undreamed of even by the Roman elite take something of a warning from this indictment for their fixation on such luxuries? The good life with its amenities is not a bad thing in and of itself, but it becomes deadly when it is gained at the expense of oppressed peoples, slaves and working conditions that border on slavery. The God who pronounced such judgment on the ancient “Babylon” still lives, and is still in control, even in an age of modern Babylons.

Matthew 15:1-20

The Tradition of the Elders (Mk 7.1-13)

15:1 Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, 2 "Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands before they eat." 3 He answered them, "And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? 4 For God said, 'Honor your father and your mother,' and, 'Whoever speaks evil of father or mother must surely die.' 5 But you say that whoever tells father or mother, 'Whatever support you might have had from me is given to God,' then that person need not honor the father. 6 So, for the sake of your tradition, you make void the word of God. 7 You hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied rightly about you when he said:

8 'This people honors me with their lips,

but their hearts are far from me;

9 in vain do they worship me,

teaching human precepts as doctrines.' "

Things That Defile (Mk 7.14-23)

10 Then he called the crowd to him and said to them, "Listen and understand: 11 it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles." 12 Then the disciples approached and said to him, "Do you know that the Pharisees took offense when they heard what you said?" 13 He answered, "Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. 14 Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if one blind person guides another, both will fall into a pit." 15 But Peter said to him, "Explain this parable to us." 16 Then he said, "Are you also still without understanding? 17 Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth enters the stomach, and goes out into the sewer? 18 But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles. 19 For out of the heart come evil intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. 20 These are what defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile." (Matthew 15:1-20, NRSV)

On June 7, 2008 (Saturday in the week of the Sunday closest to June 1, Year Two), comments were repeated from November 12, 2007 (Monday in the week of the Sunday closest to November 9, Year One), when they were repeated with editing and supplement from June 10, 2006 (Saturday in the week of the Sunday closest to June One, Year Two), when they were combined with some revision from June 5, 2004 (Saturday of the week of Pentecost, Year Two) in an email sent June 2, 2004 for June 3-6), and from November 7, 2005 (Monday of the week of the Twenty-Fifth Sunday after Pentecost, Year One). This reading from Matthew has a close parallel in Mark, but only limited echoes in Luke. For parallel passages, see the separate file, Defilement - Traditional and Real. For recent comments from the perspective of Mark’s version, see the Archive for July 30, 2009 (Thursday in the week of the Thursday closest to July 27, Year One).

Matthew and Mark begin by telling us that Pharisees and scribes have come to Jesus from Jerusalem (Mt. 15:1; Mk. 7:1). Compare the setting in Luke when Jesus is invited to dine with a Pharisee (Lk. 11:37). In Matthew, the question to Jesus is direct. “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands before they eat” (Mt. 15:2). Before Mark presents the question, he tells us that the Pharisees and scribes notice “that some of his [i.e., Jesus’] disciples were eating with defiled hands, that is, without washing them” (Mk. 7:2; cf. the amazement reported by Luke 11:38). Mark’s form of the question, “Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?” (Mk. 7:5), is preceded by a parenthetical explanation of the question from the Pharisees and scribes (Mk. 7:1):

For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they thoroughly wash their hands, thus observing the tradition of the elders; and they do not eat anything from the market unless they wash it, and there are also many other traditions that they observe, the washing of cups, pots, and bronze kettles. (Mark 7:3-4, NRSV)

The need for this explanation suggests the difference between Mark’s Gentile readership (audience) and Matthew’s, which is at least in close proximity to Jewish culture. According to J. Andrew Overman, Matthew and Mark refer to “the tradition of the elders” (Mt. 15:2; Mk. 7:5), that is, “regulations not found in the written Torah (Josephus, Ant. 13.297)” (NOAB, 3^rd ed., augmented, 2007, 3^rd ed., 2001, on Mt. 15:2). These would be the interpretations of biblical commandments given by rabbis in Jesus’ time. Matthew (15:8, 9) and Mark (Mk. 7:6-7) both quote Isaiah 29:13 in the Septuagint version (cf. K. Aland and others, The Greek New Testament, 3^rd ed., 1975, note on Mt. 15:8-9, and Overman, op. cit., on vv. 8-9), but in Matthew this follows the charge of breaking the Fifth Commandment (Mt. 15:4-6), whereas Mark’s Isaiah quotation precedes the charge of breaking the Fifth Commandment (Mk. 7:8-13), and includes korba:n (korban), the Aramaic word for “offering” (v. 11). “Jesus focuses the dispute in concrete economic terms on the commandment of God concerning Honor your father and your mother (cf. Ex. 20:12; 21:17), which includes economic support in their declining years. He claims that the Pharisees make it void with their tradition of Corban, encouraging people to dedicate the produce of their land to the Jerusalem Temple–thus siphoning off produce that otherwise could have been used to support parents” (Richard A. Horsley, NOAB, 3^rd ed., 2001, on Mk. 7:9-13).

Only Matthew relates the Disciples’ report to Jesus, asking, “Do you know that the Pharisees took offense when they heard what you said?” (Mt. 15:12), which introduces a saying (v. 13) that alludes to Isaiah 60:21, “They [your people] are the shoot that I planted, the work of my hands,” and a saying about “blind guides” (v. 14; cf. Lk. 6:39). Jesus is asked what he means by “his disciples” (Mk. 7:17), or specifically by “Peter” (Mt. 15:15), and responds by emphasizing “what comes out of the mouth” as the source of defilement (v. 18; cf. Mk. 7:20), not “whatever goes into the mouth” (Mt. 15:17; cf. Mk. 7:18). What comes out is then defined as a stream of evil: “evil intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander” (Mt. 15:19; cf. Mk. 7:21-22). In this passage “the tradition of the elders” (Mt. 15:2), or “your tradition” (3, 6) is set in contrast with “the commandment of God” (vv. 3, 4) or “the word of God” (v. 6). Mark’s version (Mk. 7:1-23) has the same contrast, “tradition of the elders” (Mk. 7:3, 5) or “traditions” (v. 4), or “human tradition” (v. 8), or “your tradition” (v. 13) versus “the commandment of God” (vv. 8, 9), or “word of God’ (v. 13). C. G. Montefiore, who wrote a commentary on the Synoptic Gospels from the Jewish perspective, notes that Matthew emphasizes “the divineness of the Pentateuchal Law (not merely of the Decalogue, for Exodus xxi. 17 is cited as well as xx. 12)” (The Synoptic Gospels, The Library of Biblical Studies, vol. 2, 1968, p. 223 on Mt., chap. 15.) He notes that Matthew stresses this divineness “by the substitution of ‘God’ for ‘Moses’ in [verse] 4.” “For God said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’ [Ex. 20:12; Deut. 5:16] and, ‘Whoever speaks evil of father or mother must surely die’ ” (Mt. 15:4, citing Ex. 21:17; cf. Lev. 20:9) Montefiore discusses the problem of using later evidence (Mishnah, Talmud) to understand what the Gospels say about the Pharisees (for which he has been criticized–unjustly, he thinks). He says, “I have said, and I repeat, that Jesus put his finger upon the dangers of Rabbinic religion and of ‘legalism.’ There were doubtless some ‘formalists’ in the Rabbis of his time, some Rabbis who cleansed the outside of the cup and left the inside dirty, some Rabbis who neglected ‘mercy,’ but were, nevertheless, sanctimonious and self-righteous” (p. 225). But he adds that “We must always use the Gospel evidence as regards Pharisaism with great caution, because it is the product of antagonists” (ibid.). I would agree that what Jesus said applies to some (but not all) Pharisees of his time. Montefiore has other objections, but his comments on verse 18 (Mt. 15:18) are noteworthy.

This verse puts the point clearly. But the opposition between ‘into the mouth’ and ‘from the mouth’ carries the redactor [i.e. editor of Matthew’s Gospel, following a Protestant scholar] too far. For what comes ‘from the man’ (so Mark) is wider than what comes ‘from the mouth.’ Yet though Matthew throughout presses ‘from the mouth’ instead of the more general ‘from the man,’ he includes in his catalogue of sins many which do not literally proceed from the mouth, though they do proceed from the man. To eat with unwashed hands is no ‘sin of the heart,’ and therefore cannot defile. (p. 224, on Mt. 15:18)

The Rabbinical traditions later compiled in the Mishnah included a major section entitled “Purities” (compare Aaron Rothkoff, “Tohorot,” Encyclopaedia Judaica, 2008, on the Internet at the Jewish Virtual Library, at

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0020_0_19914.html, accessed November 8, 2009). Jesus apparently took note of an obsession with ritual purity on the part of some Pharisees. “The attitude of Jesus is not that such observances are wrong, but that they are receiving a disproportionate attention, to the neglect of things which really matter” ( R. McL. Wilson, Peake's Commentary on the Bible, 1962, reprint 1972, sec. 703 a, p. 807, on Mk. 7:1-23).

Ronald D. Worden, Ph.D.

rdworden@hgst.edu

deanworden@comcast.net