Gen. 21:1-21

The Birth of Isaac (Heb 11.11)

21:1 The LORD dealt with Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did for Sarah as he had promised. 2 Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the time of which God had spoken to him. 3 Abraham gave the name Isaac to his son whom Sarah bore him. 4 And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. 5 Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. 6 Now Sarah said, "God has brought laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me." 7 And she said, "Who would ever have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age." (Genesis 21:1-7, NRSV)

Hagar and Ishmael Sent Away (Gal 4.21-30)

8 The child grew, and was weaned; and Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. 9 But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, playing with her son Isaac. 10 So she said to Abraham, "Cast out this slave woman with her son; for the son of this slave woman shall not inherit along with my son Isaac." 11 The matter was very distressing to Abraham on account of his son. 12 But God said to Abraham, "Do not be distressed because of the boy and because of your slave woman; whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for it is through Isaac that offspring shall be named for you. 13 As for the son of the slave woman, I will make a nation of him also, because he is your offspring." 14 So Abraham rose early in the morning, and took bread and a skin of water, and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, along with the child, and sent her away. And she departed, and wandered about in the wilderness of Beer-sheba.

15 When the water in the skin was gone, she cast the child under one of the bushes. 16 Then she went and sat down opposite him a good way off, about the distance of a bowshot; for she said, "Do not let me look on the death of the child." And as she sat opposite him, she lifted up her voice and wept. 17 And God heard the voice of the boy; and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven, and said to her, "What troubles you, Hagar? Do not be afraid; for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. 18 Come, lift up the boy and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make a great nation of him." 19 Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. She went, and filled the skin with water, and gave the boy a drink.

20 God was with the boy, and he grew up; he lived in the wilderness, and became an expert with the bow. 21 He lived in the wilderness of Paran; and his mother got a wife for him from the land of Egypt. (Genesis 1:8-21, NRSV)

The following comments are based on those of January 31, 2006 (Tuesday in the week of the Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany, Year Two):

The Daily Office Lectionary passes over Genesis chapter 20, perhaps because of the similarity of the two stories of the matriarch in danger, in Egypt (Gen. 12:10-20), and in Gerar (20:1-18). As today’s reading begins, Isaac, the promised son, is born to Sarah and Abraham. “The LORD dealt with Sarah as he had said,” says the narrator, “and the LORD did for Sarah as he had promised. Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the time of which God had spoken to him” (Gen. 21:1-2). For the words “as He had said,” Rabbi J. H. Hertz refers to 15:4 and 18:10 (Pentateuch & Haftorahs, 2^nd ed., 24^th printing, 1981, on Gen. 21:1). According to the narrator, “Abraham gave the name Isaac (qH!&c4y9, yitschāq) to his son whom Sarah bore him” (v. 3). And Abraham followed the instruction and “circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him” (v. 4; cf. 17:12). “The promise to Sarah [is] fulfilled at last,” says Jon D. Levenson; and he adds:

With its heavy emphasis on God’s fulfillment of His promise of a son to Sarah and Abraham (vv. 1-2) and its note that the father circumcised his son on the eighth day in accordance with God’s command (v. 3), this passage marks a major turning point in the story. Despite seemingly insurmountable obstacles (including Abimelech’s abduction of Sarah in the previous chapter), things have gone according to plan. A midrash reports that it was on Rosh Ha-Shanah that The LORD took note of Sarah (b. Rosh Hash. 11a); Gen. ch. 21 is thus the Torah reading for the first day of Rosh Ha-Shanah. (The Jewish Study Bible, 2004, on Gen. 21:1-8)

We are reminded of the physical difficulty of this birth in merely human terms, for “Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him” (v. 5). Levenson observes that “Abraham’s life divides into seven periods of 25 years each: three of them in Mesopotamia (12:4, one in Canaan without the promised son (21:5), and three in Canaan after Isaac’s birth (25:7. The period of his life in which Abraham lived with the promise unfulfilled, though the shortest, is the pivotal and central one and occupies the most space in the narrative” (ibid., on v. 5).

Sarah rejoices in the birth of Isaac (qH!&c4y9, yitschāq). “Now Sarah said, ‘God has brought laughter (qHoc4, ts ^echōq) for me; everyone who hears will laugh (qH!c4y9&, yitschāq) with me’ ” (v. 6). The laughter theme mentioned here connects with Sarah’s laughter when she first heard the news (18:12-15), and Abraham’s as well (17:17, compare the comments of last Friday and Saturday, January 29 and 30, 2010). “And she said, ‘Who would ever have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age’ ” (v. 7). Abraham celebrates the growth of Isaac. “The child grew, and was weaned,” we are told; “and Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned” (v. 8). According to Rabbi Hertz, a child was weaned “usually at two or even three years; cf. II Maccabees, VII, 26. Weaning a child is in the East still made the occasion of a family feast” (op. cit., on v. 8).

The narrative turns to conflict–should we say between Ishmael and Isaac, or rather between the mothers? “But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, playing (qH2%cam4, m ^etsachēq) with her son Isaac” (v. 9). In the NRSV, the words “playing with her son Isaac” (NRSV) translate the one word (qH2%cam4, m ^etsachēq), with “with her son Isaac” understood from the context. An intensive (pi‘ēl) form of the Hebrew word “laugh,” the verb is translated variously as “joke” (Gen. 19:14, ‘jesting’ NRSV), “play” (Gen. 21:9), “amuse oneself” (Ex. 32:6), “play around with” (Gen. 39:14, 17), and in similar ways, according to William L. Holladay (A Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, 1971, 10^th corrected impression 1988, s.v. qHc, ts-ch-q, piel). The AV/KJV translates with the one word “mocking” (so TNIV, cf. “making sport” JPS 1917; “playing” NJPS 1985, 1999). One might think it was mere child play, but Rabbi J. H. Hertz sees more: “making sport. ‘Mocking’ (RV [1884]). The Heb. term usually refers to an act of impurity or idolatry. Or, ‘Ishmael laughed derisively at the feasting and rejoicing over the child Isaac, inasmuch as he was the elder son and the heir to his father’s estate. Hence Sarah’s natural desire to drive him out of the house’ (Ehrlich)” (J. H. Hertz, Pentateuch & Haftorahs, on Gen. 21:9). And we read that “Sarah said to Abraham, ‘Cast out this slave woman with her son; for the son of this slave woman shall not inherit along with my son Isaac’ ” (v. 10). But Abraham hesitates. “The matter was very distressing to Abraham on account of his son” (v. 11).On the words, “the thing was grievous,” (JPS for “the matter was very distressing” NRSV), the Rabbi says, it was because “Abraham was attached to Ishmael; see XVII, 18” (ibid., on v. 11).

Christiana de Groot makes less of the jesting, but more of Sarah’s response. “No sooner is Isaac weaned than Sarah sees the two brothers playing, becomes jealous of Ishmael as a rival for the inheritance and orders that Hagar and her son be cast out (Gen. 21:8-10)” (The IVP Women’s Bible Commentary, p. 12, on Gen. 21). God’s reassurance to Abraham includes reassurance about the promise to be fulfilled through Isaac. “But God said to Abraham, ‘Do not be distressed because of the boy and because of your slave woman; whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for it is through Isaac that offspring shall be named for you” (v. 12). And God has a word of hope for Ishmael as well. “As for the son of the slave woman, I will make a nation of him also, because he is your offspring” (v. 13). In response, Abraham takes decisive action. “So Abraham rose early in the morning, and took bread and a skin of water, and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, along with the child, and sent her away. And she departed, and wandered about in the wilderness of Beer-sheba” (v. 14). “This time,” says de Groot, “Abraham does not so quickly defer to Sarah’s wishes because of his tie to Ishmael.” She notes that the provisions Abraham provided for Hagar and Ishmael, “bread and a skin of water” (v. 14), were “provisions for a day, perhaps” (ibid., p. 13). Levenson says, “There is room to wonder just how far Abraham expected Hagar and Ishmael to travel before the bread and skin of water gave out. Did he not realize that by provisioning them so slimly, he was putting them in mortal danger? Ibn Ezra, surmising that Sarah must have determined the provisions, concludes that had Abraham done otherwise, he would have violated God’s command” (op. cit., on v. 14).

“When the water in the skin was gone,” says the narrator, “she [i.e., Hagar] cast the child under one of the bushes. Then she went and sat down opposite him a good way off, about the distance of a bowshot; for she said, ‘Do not let me look on the death of the child’ ” (vv. 15, 16a). The picture is clearly one of despair. “And as she sat opposite him, she lifted up her voice and wept” (v. 16b). According to Levenson,

The narrator presupposes a child small enough to be carried by his mother. But since Ishmael was 13 before Isaac was even conceived (17:25), and Isaac’s weaning, which likely occurred at 3, has already taken place (21:8), Ishmael is at least 16. In an analysis informed by source criticism, the problem is easily explained, since the present narrative stems from E, but the chronology from P. Calculating Ishmael’s age as 27, a midrash takes a different tack: Sarah had cast the evil eye on him and made him ill, thus incapable of walking (Gen. Rab. 53:12). (ibid., on vv. 15-16).

But God intervenes. “And God heard the voice of the boy; and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven, and said to her, ‘What troubles you, Hagar? Do not be afraid; for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is’ ” (v. 17). Ronald Hendel says, Hagar’s

loud weeping (v. 16) is met, with a shift to Ishmael’s voice, when God heard the voice of the boy (v. 17). God’s response also fulfills Ishmael’s name, which means ‘God has heard.’ The moment when the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven echoes the parallel moment in the next story (22:11), saving the life of Isaac. God’s promise to make a great nation of Ishmael (v. 18) echoes the promise to Abraham (12:2). In all of these echoes, Ishmael is truly Abraham’s son, even though his descendants are a different nation. (HarperCollins Study Bible, rev. ed., 2006, on Gen. 21:15-21)

Rabbi Hertz says, of the words “heard the voice of the lad [JPS, for ‘boy’ NRSV],” that “God has pity on the anguish of the alien slave mother, and hears her prayer no less than that of an Abraham.” And, on the words “where he is,” he adds, “lit. ‘as he now is.’ The Rabbis deduce from this the doctrine that God, in answering prayer, judges the penitent worshipper as he is at that moment of his penitence” (op. cit., on v. 17). “Once again,” says de Groot, “the weak and lowly that Abraham and Sarah dispense with are cared for by God” (loc. cit.)

The angel continues, “Come, lift up the boy and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make a great nation of him” (v. 18). And it is reported that “God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. She went, and filled the skin with water, and gave the boy a drink” (v. 19). According to Rabbi Hertz, “She now perceived the well of water which was quite near her, but which in her anguish of mind she had overlooked. ‘The Hebrew phrase to open the eyes is exclusively employed in the figurative sense of receiving new sources of knowledge, not in that of regaining the sense of sight’ (Maimonides)” (op. cit., on v. 19).

The story is rounded off with, if not quite a “lived happily ever after ending,” at least a certain sense of well-being. “God was with the boy,” we are told, “and he grew up; he lived in the wilderness, and became an expert with the bow” (v. 20). “He lived in the wilderness of Paran; and his mother got a wife for him from the land of Egypt” (v. 21). According to Roger S. Boraas,

Paran [was] the wilderness site where the Israelites camped after they left Mount Sinai (Num. 12:11-12; 12:1;6), and from which spies were sent to reconnoiter Canaan (Num. 113:3-26). The return of the spies to Kadesh suggests that the location was south of Canaan along the north edge of the Sinai triangle. . . . If 1 Sam. 25:1 accurately reports David’s visiting the place after Samuel’s death, it suggests territory at the south edge of Judah. Similarly, if 1 Kings 11:18 accurately reflects the flight of Edomite Hadad from Midian through Paran to Egypt, it would confirm a location west of Edom and Midian in the same region. (Harper’s Bible Dictionary, rev. ed., 1996, s.v. Paran)

A question facing us in the twenty-first century is how to find peace and harmony as adherents of the three religions that trace their origins back to Abraham find it necessary to coexist in a shrinking world.

Heb. 11:13-22

13 All of these died in faith without having received the promises, but from a distance they saw and greeted them. They confessed that they were strangers and foreigners on the earth, 14 for people who speak in this way make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. 15 If they had been thinking of the land that they had left behind, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; indeed, he has prepared a city for them.

17 By faith Abraham, when put to the test, offered up Isaac. He who had received the promises was ready to offer up his only son, 18 of whom he had been told, "It is through Isaac that descendants shall be named for you." 19 He considered the fact that God is able even to raise someone from the dead-and figuratively speaking, he did receive him back. 20 By faith Isaac invoked blessings for the future on Jacob and Esau. 21 By faith Jacob, when dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, "bowing in worship over the top of his staff." 22 By faith Joseph, at the end of his life, made mention of the exodus of the Israelites and gave instructions about his burial. (Hebrews 11:13-22, NRSV)

The following comments are based on those of January 3, 2009 (Saturday in the week of the First Sunday after Christmas, Ref. for Jan. 3, Year One), when comments were repeated from January 3, 2007 (Wednesday in the Week of the First Sunday after Christmas, References for January 3, Year One), when they were repeated with some adaptation from January 3, 2005 (Monday of the week of the Second Sunday after Christmas, Year One). Compare also the comments of January 31, 2006 (Tuesday in the week of the Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany, Year Two), adapted from January 5, 2005 (Monday in the week of the Second Sunday after Christmas, Ref. for Jan. 5, Year One):

Yesterday’s reading from Hebrews included a paragraph on the faith of Abraham, and probably also that of Sarah, as they came to Canaan, “a foreign land, living in tents” (Heb. 11:8-9, and, miraculously, had a child in old age (vv. 11-12). Today’s reading begins with a summary paragraph (vv. 13-16), before returning to Abraham’s faith and obedience in response to God’s command to sacrifice Isaac (vv. 17-22, cf. Gen 22:1-19)

“All of these,” says the writer, with reference to Abel (Heb. 11:4), Enoch (v. 5), Noah (v. 7), Abraham (vv. 8-12), and, with preliminary reference to Isaac (v. 9, cf. v. 20) and Jacob (v. 9, cf. v. 21), “died in faith without having received the promises, but from a distance they saw and greeted them” (v. 13a). This statement probably anticipates those to be mentioned later, Joseph (v. 22), Moses (vv. 23-28) and the others down to and including the Maccabean martyrs (v. 36, cf. 2 Macc. 7:9, 14). “They confessed,” we are told, “that they were strangers and foreigners on the earth, for people who speak in this way make it clear that they are seeking a home land” (vv. 13b, 14). “For the status of being strangers and foreigners,” says Harold W. Attridge, “see Gen. 23:4; 47:4, 9, Lev. 25:23; 1 Cor. 29:15; Ps. 39:12; Eph. 2:19; 1 Pet. 1:1; 2:11” (HarperCollins Study Bible, rev. ed., 2006, on Heb. 11:13). The writer stresses the way these heroes of faith from the Hebrew Bible and the Apocrypha anticipated but did not receive “the promises.” To this we may compare what was said earlier about Abraham, who “looked forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God” (v. 10). According to Cynthia Briggs Kittredge, “the city [is] the heavenly Jerusalem” [cf. the heavenly sanctuary, 9:11, in ‘the heavenly Jerusalem,’ 12:22] and the “foundations [are] contrasted with tents (v. 9)” (NOAB, 3^rd ed., augmented, 2007, on Heb. 11:10). According to Attridge, “the city with divine foundations was traditionally Jerusalem; see Ps. 87:1; Isa. 54:11. Hebrews reinterprets such language in terms of a ‘heavenly’ reality; see 12:22)” (NOAB, 3^rd ed., augmented, 2007, on Heb. 11:10).

Hebrews offers proof that the people of faith in ancient Israel were looking forward to a heavenly homeland. The primary reference appears to be to Abraham. “If they had been thinking of the land that they had left behind [i.e., ‘Ur of the Chaldeans,’ and Haran, Gen. 11:31; 12:1], they would have had opportunity to return” (v. 15). Returning to Mesopotamia as captives of the Babylonian empire in the 6^th century B.C. would of course not count–rather that would be totally foreign to what the writer to the Hebrews is thinking. The writer infers that these ancient Israelites of faith desired “a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore,” he concludes, “God is not ashamed to be called their God; indeed, he has prepared a city for them” (v. 16).

Hebrews turns next to the Sacrifice of Isaac (Gen 22:1-19), which Jon D. Levenson calls “Abraham’s last and greatest test” (The Jewish Study Bible, 2004, on Gen. 22:1-19). “This magnificently told story, known in Judaism as the ‘Akedah’ (‘binding’),” he adds, “is one of the gems of the biblical narrative” (ibid.). “By faith (Pivstei, Pistei, dative case of pivstovV, pistos, ‘faith,’ used as a dative of means or instrument; cf. vv. 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 11, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31; cf. dia; pivstewV, dia pisteōs, ‘through faith,’ v. 33),” says the writer to the Hebrews, “Abraham, when put to the test, offered up Isaac” (v. 17a). We know that Abraham went “to the land of Moriah” as directed by God, to “offer him [i.e., Isaac] as a burnt offering” (Gen. 22:2). When they come near the intended place of the sacrifice, “on the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place far away” (v. 4). “Stay here with the donkey,” says Abraham to the “two of his young men” who have come with him; “the boy and I will go over there; we will worship, and then we will come back to you” (v. 5). Later, in answer to Isaac’s question (v. 7), Abraham says, “God himself will provide the lamb for a burnt offering, my son” (v. 8). According to David M. Carr, “Abraham’s promise that he and Isaac will return may suggest a faith that God will work out an alternative sacrifice (see v. 8)” (NOAB, 3^rd ed., 2001, on Gen. 22:5). Abraham and Isaac come “to the place that God had shown him, Abraham [builds] an altar there and [lays] the wood in order” (v. 9a). At that point “he bound (dqof3y01 v1, wayya ‘ ^aqōd) his son Isaac, and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood” (v. 9b). The verb translated “bound” here means “tie up (feet of sacrificial victim),” and appears only here in the Hebrew Bible (William L. Holladay, A Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, 1971, 10^th corrected impression 1988, s.v. dqf, ‘-q-d). Compare hd!yq2f3 (‘ ^aqêdāh, Heb.) and xT!d4yq2f3 (‘ ^aqêd^etā’, Aramaic), the noun “tying the sacrifice before slaughtering . . . especially . . . the attempted offering up of Isaac” (Marcus Jastrow, A Dictionary of the Targumim, the Talmud Babli and Yerushalmi, and the Midrashic Literature, vol. II, 1050, s.v. hd!yq2f3, ‘ ^aqêdāh, and xT!d4yq2f3, ‘ ^aqêd^etā’; cf. the quotation from Levenson, above).

Hebrews continues to describe Abraham’s actions on this occasion. “He who had received the promises was ready to offer up his only son, of whom he had been told, ‘It is through Isaac that descendants shall be named for you’ ” (Heb. 11:17b, 18, citing Gen. 21:12; cf. Rom. 9:7). And the writer defines Abraham’s faith, so to speak, saying, “He [i.e., Abraham] considered the fact that God is able even to raise someone from the dead–and figuratively speaking, he did receive him back” (v. 19). Compare Paul’s view of Abraham’s faith in the miracle of birth by aged parents (Rom. 4:19-20), “when he considered his own body, which was already as good as dead . . . or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb” (v. 19).

In the next three verses, Hebrews moves on to Isaac (v. 20), Jacob (v. 21), and Joseph (v. 22). “By faith (Pivstei, Pistei, see above) Isaac invoked blessings for the future on Jacob and Esau” (v. 20, with ref. to Gen. 27:27-29, 39-40). “By faith” says Hebrews, “Jacob, when dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph [cf. Gen. 48:15-16l], ‘bowing in worship over the top of his staff [Gen. 47:31 LXX]’ ” (v. 21). In conclusion of today’s reading, the writer says, “By faith Joseph, at the end of his life, made mention of the exodus of the Israelites and gave instructions about his burial (peri; tw:n ojstevwn, peri tōn osteōn, lit. ‘about the [= his] bones’)” (v. 22, with ref to Gen. 50:24-25; Exod. 13:19). In the case of the last three, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph, Hebrews appears to relate their “faith” to the “promises” (v. 17); made first to Abraham. Compare “blessings” (v. 20), Jacob’s blessing his sons (v. 21), and Joseph’s reference to the exodus (v. 22).

The promise first made to Abraham, “I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Gen. 12:2-3), is repeated to Jacob, “all the families of the earth shall be blessed in you and in your offspring” (Gen 28:14, cf. vv. 13-15). The promise of numerous offspring, “like the dust of the earth” (v. 15) is implied by “great nation” (Gen. 12:2), but explicit in Gen. 15:5, “Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them. . . . So shall your descendants be” (cf. 17:2, 3; 22:17). The promise of “land” to Jacob (Gen. 28:13) also reflects repeated promises to Abraham (Gen. 12:1; 15:7, 18-21; 17:8; cf. “your offspring shall possess the gate of their enemies,” 22:17). These promises were first repeated to Isaac (Gen. 26:3-5, 24). Frederick Buechner has written this about Jacob:

According to Frederick Buechner, “The Book of Genesis makes no attempt to conceal the fact that Jacob was, among other things, a crook. What's more, you get the feeling that whoever wrote up his seamy adventures got a real kick out of them” (Peculiar Treasures, New York: Harper and Row, 1979, p. 56). In his sermon on Jacob, Buechner points out that spiritual experiences such as Jacob's dream at Bethel are not necessarily withheld from those whose previous lives have not been totally upright. We may marvel at the way God's grace works in the life of a man like Jacob, but we cannot forget that he eventually spent the night wrestling with “a man” (Gen 32:24) who told him, “You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with humans, and have prevailed” (v. 28). And Jacob named the place “Peniel” [“the face of God” NRSV footnote n] and said, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved” (v. 30). Jacob's dream of the ladder to heaven (Gen. 28:12) is reflected in Jesus' words to Nathanael, “Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man” (Jn. 1:51). Jesus first description of Nathanael, “an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!” (Jn. 1:47), also refers to Jacob when, according to Donald G. Miller and Bruce M. Metzger, he says Nathanael has “no deceit, no qualities of Jacob before he became Israel (Gen. 27:35; 32:28)” (NOAB, 22^nd ed., on Jn. 1:47).

In his honor role of Old Testament heroes of faith, the writer to the Hebrews includes Jacob, whom Frederick Buechner called a “crook” (see above). Buechner, of courses, recognizes the work of grace in Jacob's life, and we know the rest of the story. Hebrews singles out Jacob's “bowing in worship” at the time when he blessed the sons of Joseph (Heb. 11:21; cf. Gen., chap. 48). Jacob's story is a reminder that God's grace is available to human beings like you and me. And the Lord knows, we surely need it!

John 6:41-51

41 Then the Jews began to complain about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 42 They were saying, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, 'I have come down from heaven'?” 43 Jesus answered them, “Do not complain among yourselves. 44 No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me; and I will raise that person up on the last day. 45 It is written in the prophets, 'And they shall all be taught by God.' Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. 46 Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. 47 Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” (John 6:41-51, NRSV)

The following comments are based on relevant comments from January 3, 2010 (the Second Sunday after Christmas, Year Two) and from January 7, 2010 (Thursday in the week of the Second Sunday after Christmas, Year Two). Earlier sources are indicated there.

Most of John, chapter six, is devoted to a discussion of Jesus with Jews of Galilee following–and in the main based upon–the Feeding of the Five Thousand (Jn. 6:1-15; cf. Mt. 14:13-21; Mk. 6:32-44; Lk. 9:10-17). This miracle, as is frequently pointed out, is the only miracle reported in each of the four Gospels (except, of course, the supreme miracle of Jesus’ resurrection). It is followed in three Gospels by the report of Jesus Walking on the Sea (Mt. 14:22-27; Mk. 6:45-51; Jn. 6:16-21). Luke omits most of the following material from Mark through the report of Healing a Blind Man at Bethsaida (Mk. 8:22-26), as he moves toward the Journey to Jerusalem (Lk. 9:51-18:14) and the preparation in Jesus’ Passion Predictions (Lk. 9:22; 43b-45; 18:31-34 and parallel passages).

Jesus’ discussion of the bread of life continues in John, chapter six. “Then the Jews began to complain about him,” we are told, “because he said, ‘I am the bread that came down from heaven’ “ (Jn. 6:41). We have taken note of a comparison of Jesus and the feeding of 5000 with Moses’ feeding of the Israelites with manna (cf. Jn. 6:14; Deut. 18:15, 18). Here, the Pharisees (“Jews”) object that Jesus is an ordinary human being. “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” (v. 42). The Evangelist John (i.e., the Gospel’s author) has already informed the readers that Jesus is “the one who comes from above . . . who comes from heaven” (3:31), the one “whom God has sent” (v. 34). Jesus responds to the Jews’ complaint, answering them, “Do not complain among yourselves” (6:43). He reiterates his claim. “No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me; and I will raise that person up on the last day” (v. 44). “Unless drawn by the Father,” says Obery M. Hendricks, means “allow themselves to hear God’s call through Jesus” (NOAB, 3^rd ed., augmented, 2007, on Jn. 6:44-45). Jesus alludes to support in the prophets, for those who will learn. “It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me” (v. 45; cf. Isa. 54:13). According to Donald G. Miller and Bruce M. Metzger, “They should have “heard and learned God’s voice in their scriptures” so they “would have recognized its accents in him who alone has direct communion with God” (NOAB, 2^nd ed., 2001, on Jn. 6:44-45). “Not that anyone has seen the Father,” says Jesus, “except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father” (v 46; cf. 1:18). Raymond E. Brown comments on “not that anyone has seen the Father,” saying, “This is the same theme as i 18; and the contrast with Moses suggested there . . . is probably in mind here as well, in view of vs. 32” (The Gospel according to John I-XII, Anchor Bible 29, 1966, on 6:46). So Jesus reiterates the claim that only he, who has come from God, has seen God (v. 46). And he repeats the promise, “Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life” (v. 47; cf. 3:16, 36; 4:14 and passim).

Jesus returns to the theme. “I am the bread of life” (v. 48, cf. v. 35). Brown calls this repetition, verses 48-50, “an inclusion” (ibid., on vv. 44-50). Earlier, it was the people who brought up Moses and the manna (v. 31), but now Jesus makes the comparison. “Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died” (v. 49). “This,” he says, still referring to his own “identity” as the bread of life, “is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die” (v. 50, cf. vv, 53-57). The theme, “I am the bread of life,” is now expressed as, “ I am the living bread that came down from heaven” (v. 51a). With all of this repetition, you would think that we would get the point, wouldn’t we? But there’s more. “Whoever eats of this bread will live forever” (v. 51b). It is through Christ, says John, that one can be related to God the Father and have eternal life (cf. 3:16, and various other passages in John’s Gospel). Due to the identification of Jesus as “the bread of life” (v. 41), affirmations here amount to saying “I [the bread of life] will raise that person [i.e. the one drawn by the Father] up on the last day” (v. 44), “whoever believes [in me, the bread of life] has eternal life” (v. 47), and “one may eat of it [i.e., the bread from heaven = Jesus] and not die” (v. 50). The words, “the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh” (v. 51) anticipate later references to eating Jesus’ “flesh” (e.g. vv. 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, cf. 57). Brown sees the Eucharist as “the exclusive theme” of verses 51-58, whereas it was only secondary in verses 35-50 (ibid., p. 284).

The first indication [that the Eucharist is in mind] is the stress on eating (feeding on) Jesus’ flesh and drinking his blood. This cannot possibly be a metaphor for accepting his revelation. . . . The second indication of the Eucharist is the formula found in vs. 51: “The bread that I shall give is my flesh for the life of the world.” If we consider that John does not report the Lord’s words over the bread and the cup at the Last Supper, it is possible that we have preserved in vi 51 the Johannine form of the words of institution. In particular, it resembles the Lucan form of institution: “This is my body which is given for you.” (ibid., 284-285)

On the other hand, John Wesley, for example, has a different understanding. Of verse 51 (and the larger context); he says,

If any eat of this bread–That is, believe in me: he shall live for ever–In other words, he that believeth to the end shall be saved. My flesh which I will give you--This whole discourse concerning his flesh and blood refers directly to his passion, and but remotely, if at all, to the Lord's Supper ( my emphasis by underlining). (Explanatory Notes on the New Testament, http://wesley.nnu.edu/john_wesley/notes/john.htm#Chapter+VI, accessed again February 2, 2010; you may have to copy and paste the URL in your browser)

Compare these words from John Calvin, in comment on verse 53:

The ancients fell into a gross error by supposing that little children were deprived of eternal life, if they did not dispense to them the eucharist, that is, the Lord’s Supper; for this discourse does not relate to the Lord’s Supper, but to the uninterrupted communication of the flesh of Christ, which we obtain apart from the use of the Lord’s Supper. Nor were the Bohemians in the right, when they adduced this passage to prove that all without exception ought to be admitted to the use of the cup. (John Calvin, Commentary on . . . John. Trans., William Pringle; vol. I, 1847, p. 265)

The Friends (Quakers) have usually agreed with Robert Barclay:

The communion of the body and blood of Christ is inward and spiritual, which is the participation of his flesh and blood, by which the inward man is daily nourished in the hearts of those in whom Christ dwells, of which things the breaking of bread by Christ with his disciples was a figure, which they even used in the Church for a time, who had received the Substance, for the sake of the weak: even as abstaining from things strangled, and from blood, the washing one another's feet, and the anointing of the sick with oil, all which are commanded with no less authority and solemnity than the former; yet seeing they are but shadows of better things, they cease in such as have obtained the Substance. (“The Thirteenth Proposition,” An Apology for the True Christian Divinity, 1676 [in Latin], English translation by himself [1678]; online edition at http://www.qhpress.org/texts/barclay/apology/prop13.html (accessed again Feb. 2, 2010).

The Friends have chosen to emphasize the inner spiritual reality, that our spiritual lives depend on Christ from start to finish. Eating his flesh and drinking his blood must be symbolic ways of referring to Christ as the source of our spiritual nourishment. In that much, at least, we agree, by and large, with the whole Christian tradition. (At least, it seems to be so, in my opinion.) It is through Christ, says John, that one can be related to God the Father and have eternal life (cf. 3:16, and various other passages in John’s Gospel).

Ronald D. Worden, Ph.D.

rdworden@hgst.edu

deanworden@comcast.net