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A Sabbath Day's Journey

By: Rev. Paul Landgraf
What is a Sabbath day's journey? First of all, it is a Jewish expression. We measure distances in meters or yards. The Jews had a certain distance that they could walk on Saturday before it would be considered work. So their synagogues that they went to on Saturday could not be very far away. The word appears only in Acts 1:12 and indicates a distance of about three-quarters of a mile.

With that in mind, I think it is important to remember the origins of Christianity. Just because we have an Old Testament, it does not mean that we call it the 'Outdated Testament'. Much of the Old Testament has a literary structure that we are not aware of because of our modern emphasis on chapter and verse divisions. Within many of these blogs, I try to get the reader to see a bigger picture, a larger perspective that often includes the Old Testament and the environment that was present when the New Testament was seeing the Light of the day.

Second, a Sabbath day's journey is intentionally short. These 'journeys' with a text, almost always one of the three readings for that Sunday, are deliberately brief discussions. This blog was never designed to be a comprehensive look at any text. Sometimes a specific word is studied in detail. But, as a whole, a blog entry, by itself, is meant to be quite brief.

Finally, since the term 'Sabbath day's journey' appears in Acts, it is meant to appeal to a wide variety of people. This blog is meant for those who cannot come on Sunday mornings. And it is also for those who do come on Sunday mornings but would also like a further study of the text. It is also for those who live somewhere else in the world (besides Drake and Freedom, Missouri, USA) and would simply like a further study of the text. It was meant to get these different groups of people to start thinking about the biblical texts. Part of the reason for this blog is that I am not able to have a bible class on Sunday mornings with either congregation, and so, to have a blog like this seemed like a good idea. I hope it is helpful for you, in whatever situation you may be.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. And thank you for taking the time to read this!

August 14th, 2022

8/14/2022

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Our ‘journey’ continues this Sunday with the Old Testament text from the book of the prophet Jeremiah [23:16-29], although there will be little reference to that text in this writing. Last week I did mention that the book of Jeremiah does contain a LOT of ‘Thus says the LORD…’ statements. Perhaps it is not at all surprising that some of these statements did not carry over into the Greek translation of the Old Testament (usually called the Septuagint) that was completed in the centuries after the Greek empire was at its height and before Jesus’ birth. Could it possibly be that people were getting tired of hearing what the LORD had to say???

Does the LORD get tired of saying the same thing over and over again? Obviously not, especially since there are four gospel accounts, and three of them are quite similar. And we ourselves get bad news not just from the devil, but from the world and our own sinful nature.

Last week I also mentioned that sometimes in the original text the verb is in the present tense when you would normally expect the past. Instead of the writer writing that Jesus ‘did’ something, he wrote that he ‘does’ something. This is called the historical present. And these historical presents occur in the four gospel accounts with four different emphases. That makes each of them special and important, even though some very similar things are repeated. (By the way, the only translation I know of that does point out these historical presents—and it is simply done with an asterisk after the verb given in the past tense—is the New American Standard Bible.)

To help make sense of these different emphases in the different gospel accounts, I thought it would be helpful to look a little bit more closely at the few occurrences of the historical present in the book of Genesis. The book of Genesis is an important one, and it is probably one of the first ones to be translated into Greek. Last week’s Old Testament text—in its translation into the Greek language—looked at the first occurrence of this phenomena in Genesis 15:2. According to Dr. Wim Hendriks (in his article “Das Praesens Historicum in der Septuaginta,” he gives a list of the historical presents that he has found in the Old Testament; see the Revue Biblique of 2017; volume 124, part 3, pages 381-420), the historical present appears in the book of Genesis only in these six places: 15:2, 15:12, 29:2, 32:7 (6 in the English), 33:17, 37:29, and 39:16.

The first occurrence was covered last week. After the LORD had spoken, Moses’ response was to say something in the present tense. How are the other occurrences similar? Below are the other occurrences (in a somewhat-literal translation of the Greek translation), given along with their context.

15:12    This chapter contains the oft-quoted statement that basically ‘Abraham believed the LORD and it was credited to him as righteousness.’ This was Abraham’s response to the LORD’s promise of many descendants. Then the topic turns to the ownership (or rather the STEWARDSHIP) of the land. The LORD is about to give another promise. And so the LORD has Abraham bring some animals, and he has him cut most of them down the middle, and then verse 12 reads as follows:

And about at the setting of the sun, an ecstasy fell on Abram, and, behold, a great gloomy fear falls on him.

29:2      Jacob, Abraham’s grandson, just had the significant dream at Bethel of the angels of God ascending and descending. He was running from Esau, his brother, whose birthright Jacob had stolen. And he was about to find a wife. The previous verse indicates that he was in the area of the ‘eastern peoples’, and Jacob finds someone who is related to him. The verse describes what he saw:

And he looks, and, behold, a well in the plain. And there were there three flocks of sheep resting on it; for out of that well they watered the flock. And there was a great stone at the mouth of the well.

32:7      Jacob ends up having a big family, and at the very end of the previous chapter Jacob and his father-in-law part company. After meeting some angels of God, Jacob is getting ready to meet his brother, Esau. He just sent some messengers to Esau, hoping that he is on good terms with Jacob. But he does not know what to expect. And verse 6 (in the English) is what the messenger has in his report back to Jacob:

And the messengers returned to Jacob saying, ‘We came to your brother, Esau, and, behold, he comes to meet you, and four hundred men with him.

33:17    In this chapter, Jacob finally meets Esau, and it seems to be a very positive thing. In fact, Jacob says that seeing Esau’s face is like seeing the face of God (see verse 10). Immediately prior to the verse with the historical present, the writer relates that Esau returned back to his home. Verse 17 is as follows:

And Jacob departs to his tents, and he made for himself homes there; and for his cattle he made booths; therefore, he called the name of that place ‘booths’.

37:29    With the twelve sons of Jacob, you can be sure there was a competitive nature among them. And Jacob, the father, did not help things by giving Joseph a special gift—and the LORD also gave him a special gift, that of interpreting dreams. Almost all of his brothers had first agreed to kill him, but then most of them decide to sell him to some Ishmaelites who were headed to Egypt. Verse 29 describes the situation when Reuben comes back—he was planning on rescuing Joseph:

And Reuben returned to the pit, and he sees not Joseph in the pit; and he tore his clothes.

39:16    We fast-forward to Joseph and some of the details while in Egypt. He was bought by Potiphar and was REALLY liked by his wife. Joseph tried to get away from her, and he left his clothes in her hand and ran out of the house. In the verses prior to 16, Potiphar’s wife was telling her side of the story—with an extremely slanted perspective—to her household servants. Verse 16 is as follows:

And she leaves the clothes by her, until the lord came into his house.

In the case of all of these examples of the historical present in Genesis, they all have a strong connection to what is going on around them. Did you notice the connections when it came to vocabulary? In the two occurrences in chapter 15, there was the duplication of speaking and falling. In chapter 29, there was a connection between looking and beholding. In chapter 32, there were the messengers coming and Esau coming. In chapter 33, Esau ‘returned’ and Jacob ‘departs’. In chapter 37, there was the duplication of the word ‘pit’—admittedly a noun and not a verb. And in chapter 39, Joseph left his cloak, and Potiphar’s wife also leaves it.

Although there is a connection to the events around it, having the verb in the present tense brings attention to the event. More specifically, there are significant ramifications for the event happening in the historic present. Some were positive, and some were negative.

It is significant that, in all of these occurrences, something important is about to happen. The LORD is about to say something important regarding Abraham’s future. Jacob is about to meet his wife, he is also about to meet up with Esau again, and then he leaves him—still alive! Joseph is about to go to Egypt, then he is about to go to jail—which starts the way to save the rest of his family from a famine.

In a concrete way, the similarity among all these instances is one of significance. And another way to look at significance is to speak of weightiness or heaviness. Something happens, and then something else happens that is strongly connected to that first event. The phrase ‘to throw one’s weight around’ may have some significance here.
And that idea of heaviness is closely connected to the word ‘glory’ in the Old Testament. It is very close to the Hebrew word for ‘heavy’. And this word ‘glory’ is strongly connected to the LORD and what he does.

The LORD has glory; he has weight; he has significance. If Jesus would have come down and thrown his weight around while he was alive, that would be a different thing. But he shows his significance in slightly different ways in the four gospel accounts. And each account leads to the cross. And that is when he truly threw his weight against sin, death, and all that the devil has to say. And that has some significance for right now, at this very moment in time.

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August 06th, 2022

8/6/2022

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Our ‘journey’ continues this Sunday, again with a Genesis text [15:1-6]. But this text is significantly different, at least in its historical terms.

Sometimes even the mention of ANY word related to ‘history’, and some people will immediately lose interest. Thinking of history as ‘His story’ may be a better starting point. It may also keep things in perspective, since it is so easy to focus on ourselves after a while. We would like history to be OUR story.

When it comes to the book of Genesis, there is a lot that could be said about its perspective. It has two creation accounts for a reason, even multiple reasons. Much could also be said about the start of the New Testament. Having four accounts about Jesus may be too much for some. Again, there is a possible loss of interest. With four different accounts, things can get too complicated quite easily.

The Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew, and the New Testament, in Greek. The Greek language was very popular right before the time of Jesus, largely due to Alexander the Great and the Greek conquests. In the centuries before the New Testament, the entire Old Testament was also translated into Greek.

I write all of this to make the point that, with the four accounts of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, there are very significant differences among these four accounts when it comes to the use of what is called the ‘historical present’. The historical present is when you would expect a verb to be in the past tense, but, amazingly enough, it is in the present. In other words, instead of reading that ‘Jesus said…’, the text would say that ‘Jesus says….’

An easy way to explain this away would be to say that the writer simply got caught up with the excitement of what he was relating and could not help but use the present tense in describing what happened. Such a perspective is understandable since the focus of these four accounts is the unique God-man, Jesus. But perhaps there could be at least another reason.

A fuller explanation might take into account more of the evidence. I write that because the Greek translation of the Old Testament contains historical presents as well, and these were written centuries before Jesus was born. And we know that at least some of the New Testament writers had a knowledge of this Old Testament translation because it is sometimes used when quoting the Old Testament.

Years ago I thought that the only occurrences of the historical present in the Old Testament were when this familiar text came up: ‘Thus says the LORD….’ That verb is certainly in the present text, but a historical present is when a past tense is EXPECTED, but a present tense occurs. We may be looking at some of those occurrences in other parts of the Old Testament in the coming weeks.

The first five books of the Old Testament are considered very important, and they were probably the first books to be translated into Greek. And the very first use of the historical present appears in the first part of the text for this Sunday. What follows is a somewhat-literal translation of the first three verses of the Hebrew, and then an attempt at the same thing for the Greek:

Hebrew:
After these things, the word of Yahweh was to Abram in the vision to say, “Do not fear, Abram, I, a shield to you, your reward, to make very great.”

And he said, Abram, “Lord Yahweh, what will you give to me, and I, going childless, and son of inheritance of my house, he, Damascus Eliezer.” And he said, Abram, “Behold, to me you have not given a seed, and behold, son of my house, one inheriting, me.”

And behold, the word of Yahweh to him to say, “He, this, will not be heir of you; specifically, rather who will come out from your body, he himself will be your heir.”

Greek:
And after these things, a word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not fear, Abram, I myself am shielding you; your reward will be very great.”

And he says, Abram, “Master, Lord, what will you give to me? And I myself am departing childless; and the son of Masek, of my homeborn, this Damascus Eliezer.” And he said, Abram, “Because you have not given a seed to me, but my homeborn will inherit me.”

And immediately a voice of the Lord came to him, saying, “This one will not inherit you; but on the contrary, the one who will come out of you, this one will inherit you.”

The use of the historical present has to do with a result of an important action rather than the important action itself. In the same way, the statement of ‘Thus says the LORD,’ can be considered a response as well. In that case, the LORD says something in response to something else that has happened.

In the case above, Abram says something in response to the LORD having said something. Responses are important, especially when it comes to the things of God
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July 30th, 2022

7/30/2022

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Our ‘journey’ continues this Sunday with something that could be called a substantial turn when it comes to the Old Testament text. With the Gospel reading, we are, of course, still continuing through that central and significant portion of the Gospel according to Luke [12:13-21], but this time our look back into the Old Testament takes us into the book of Ecclesiastes [1:2, 12-14; 2:18-26]. The previous Sundays of the Old Testament text were a look into Genesis, and the Sunday which will follow after this Sunday will again look into Genesis, but for this Sunday, you might say that we are looking into the ‘genesis’ or the beginning of Ecclesiastes.

Beginnings are important, as is attested by the number of times we look at the book of Genesis. But the beginnings of the books of scripture are important as well since there was often a hint of what would be the more important messages of the work.

There are many things that could be said regarding the beginning of this book, but what follows is a somewhat-literal translation of the first verses of the text and a few verses around that text; and do not forget that this style of language is a bit more difficult than a simple history lesson of what happened [1-4, 9-13]:

Words of the Gatherer, son of David, king in Jerusalem:

“Breath of breaths,” he says, the Gatherer, “Breath of breaths, the whole breath. What gain to the man with all of his work which he works under the sun? A generation going and a generation coming, and the earth for the ages standing….”

“What that he was, he that he will be, and what that he has done, he that he will be done, and there is not any of a new one under the sun. Is there a thing which he says, ‘See, this is new’? It already has been to the ages, that was from before our faces. There is not a remembrance to the first ones and also to the later ones, who they shall be, not he will be to them a remembrance to them, with who they will be to the later.”

“I, the Gatherer, I have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. And I gave myself to seek and to search out by the wisdom on all that which he himself has done under the heavens, this one. Burden of bad God gave to sons of the man to be afflicted with him.”

The section which was left out simply has a few examples of how things in creation do not change. It may still be difficult to see the progression of the verses above.

But there is a significant difference between what is first mentioned, something happening ‘under the sun’, and what is happening ‘under the heavens’. In the last part of the quote above, there is the statement by the ‘Gatherer’ that he gave his ‘self’, and that could refer to his heart, mind or will—basically his inner self—to searching out the wisdom of God. This is something more important than having things that are ‘under the sun’.

There is a significant progression from being, at first, ‘under the sun’, and then being ‘under the heavens’. This second phrase is extremely rare within this book, while the former one is extremely common and appears approximately thirty times.

Very soon after that phrase ‘under the heavens’, there is the phrase, ‘burden of bad’. This is a reference to the work of the Law which the LORD uses to bring us to repentance. At the end of this book of Ecclesiastes, there is the command to ‘Fear God…(12:13).’ This is basically the very same emphasis at the very end of the book.

This is also not something new for those who are Lutherans and familiar with Martin Luther’s Small Catechism (see the meanings of the Ten Commandments). We are troubled because of our sin. We should fear God. But, as Martin Luther points out, we should also love him, and this is especially because of what he has done in Jesus Christ.

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July 23rd, 2022

7/23/2022

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Our ‘journey’ continues this Sunday through that central and significant portion of the Gospel according to Luke [11:1-13], this time with an emphasis on prayer, although the more general emphasis on words still continues. Last week Mary was sitting at Jesus’ feet and listening to his words, and this week the disciples want hear some words from Jesus about prayer. And he responds by putting some words into their mouths. Either way there is an emphasis on words.

This week in the Old Testament text, the words also continue, essentially from where we left off last week. The text is Genesis 18:20-33, with the optional addition of the verses 17 through 19 before the text, and this addition is just a little while after the optional ending for last Sunday. I hope it is obvious that Genesis is an important book with some important words.

Last week there was an emphasis on the words in Genesis which described the times that the LORD God would also appear basically as a man as well. They were, in a sense, somewhat confusing texts, and many people have written many things about them.

Last week there were summarized appearances from Genesis 16, 18-19, 24, and 32. And this might be a good place to point out that these significant appearances may have some significant connections to the four gospel accounts. We think of the four gospel accounts being connected to the four living creatures of the LORD’s throne in Ezekiel or in Revelation, but having them connected to his various actions in Genesis is a step in a slightly different but important direction. This emphasis may help us to understand that God’s gracious help is quite multi-faceted. The Bible is not necessarily a boring lesson in history but the wonderful story of salvation.

This occasion might be good for looking at the first appearance of those four, when the angel of the LORD comes to Hagar in Genesis 16, and we may see some connections to a gospel account, in this case, the Gospel according to Matthew. This text does not appear in any Old Testament text in any year of any series.

Here is the text as it appears in Genesis 16:7-13, and it is given in a somewhat-literal translation:

And he found her, angel of Yahweh, upon a spring of water, in the wilderness, upon the spring on the road of Shur. And he said, “Hagar, servant of Sarai, where from this you came? And where, now, you go?”

And she said, “From the face of Sarai, my mistress, I myself am running.”

And he said to her, angel of Yahweh, “Return to your mistress and submit yourself under her hands.” And he said to her, angel of Yahweh, “To increase, I will increase your seed, and not it will be counted from many.” And he said to her, angel of Yahweh, “See, you, with child, and you will beget a son, and you will call his name Ishmael, for he heard, Yahweh, to your affliction. And he himself will be a wild donkey of man, his hand against all, and hand of all against him, and against faces of all his brothers he will dwell.”

And she called, name of Yahweh, the One speaking to her, “You, God of sight.” For she said, “Now, here, I saw the back of the One seeing me.”

This is a lot of detail for someone who is not going to be mentioned a lot more times in the Bible. And this is probably why this text has not been designated for any Sunday in the church year.
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The name Hagar happens to be mentioned in Galatians 4:24 & 25, when comparing Sarah and Hagar and the old and new covenants, and the name is also mentioned in a genealogy in Genesis 25:12, and the only other place is a time in Genesis 21, where this time Hagar and her son are SENT away (rather than her running away), and this time an angel of GOD calls from heaven—instead of just showing up. And this time it is said that God (and not the LORD) was with Ishmael.

It hopefully is obvious that the angel of Yahweh showing up to Hagar is an important thing. He did not have to do that. And obviously, since the angel is just doing some teaching, he did not need to show up or be seen. In the second account, when Hagar and her son were sent away, they needed some help, and the text says that God opened Hagar’s eyes (see 21:19). That seems to have been done by ‘long distance’.

The angel basically gives commands only at the beginning of his talk with Hagar. It is interesting that he starts the conversation with a couple of questions—although he probably already knew the answers. But the point was that this was going to be his focus. The angel, after giving the commands, gives a promise, that he would essentially GREATLY increase Hagar’s descendants. And he predicts several other things which only God would know. 

The angel of the LORD seems to be a teacher in this appearance, and within the Gospel according to Matthew, Jesus also seems to be a teacher. As Hagar’s eyes were opened, so may our eyes be opened to the LORD’s teachings—but especially his promises.
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July 16th, 2022

7/16/2022

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Our ‘walk’ continues this Sunday through that central and significant portion of the Gospel according to Luke [10:38-42], and with the Old Testament text we arrive at what is often considered the most significant book of the Old Testament, the book of Genesis. (The text is Genesis 18:1-10a, with the optional addition of 10b-14.) And we will be staying in Genesis for a little while.

Last week’s writing made the point that the first words of Adam at Genesis 2:23 had the same beginning, middle, and end. And there is a somewhat-similar theme that shows up at the beginning, middle, and end of Genesis. At the Fall into sin, the serpent said to the woman that to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, she would become like God (3:5). And after the Fall into sin, both Adam and Eve, along with all their descendants, have had to deal with the problem of sin and trying to be like God.

As the nation of Israel slowly began to grow, Rachel, the wife of Jacob (Israel) who is without any children, strongly demands some children from her husband. And Jacob’s response was ‘Am I in the place of God (Genesis 30:1-2)?’ That very same response is said by Joseph very near the end of the book, when he ending up having a lot of power in Egypt, and his brothers—the mean brothers who were almost going to kill him years ago—fell down before him (a very significant position), and they basically said that they would agree to be his slaves. And Joseph said, ‘Do not be afraid; am I in the place of God (Genesis 50:18-19)?’

These three significant points help to keep one’s perspective on the situation that is being laid out in the text, especially since the original text did not have chapter or verse divisions. You might think of the entire book as basically one EXTREMELY long chapter.
Last week I also mentioned that things in the middle can easily be overlooked. And that happens especially when something is confusing. At the beginning of the account, at the creation of the universe, the One who is doing everything is obviously God. But things can get somewhat confusing soon afterwards.

This happens in the text when sometimes it seems like God, the LORD, is doing the action in some instances. And then it seems like, at other times, a person (or an angel, a messenger) is doing the action.

Below are four instances in Genesis where this happens [the texts are, for the most part, summaries; when there is a quotation, as it was above, the words will be a somewhat-literal translation of the original text]. The contrasts are given in the order in which the verses appear in the text. And an attempt was made to show the most significant contrasts between a ‘God emphasis’ and a ‘man emphasis’. This may help get you ready for the next week’s text—which is also from the rest of Genesis 18. And this may also get you ready for God to come down and also to be a true man in Jesus Christ. He is the descendent of Adam and Eve who dealt with that huge problem of sin and our wanting to be like God. And hopefully you have already heard about the ending of that situation.

Genesis 16:
The text says that the angel of the LORD finds Hagar, the Egyptian maidservant of Sarah/Sarai, the wife of Abraham/Abram). The angel tells her that he is going to greatly increase her descendants, and he also tells her what her son is going to do. Then the text says this: She gave this name to the LORD who spoke to her. “You are the God who sees me. I saw the back of the One seeing me.”

Genesis 18-19
The chapter (and the reading for this Sunday) starts out by saying that the LORD appeared to Abraham. Then the text goes on to say that three men meet Abraham. Then, a little while later, the text says that the LORD spoke to Abraham. The LORD said that he knew that Sarah laughed. And the text says in 18:22 that Abraham remained standing before the face of the LORD. At 19:27 Abraham goes to the place where it says ‘he stood there, at the face of the LORD’.

Genesis 24
Abraham is, at this point, VERY old, and his son, Isaac, still does not have a wife. Abraham is convinced that, in a very similar way to the LORD bringing him to this Promised Land, the LORD would ‘send his angel before his [the servant’s] face and get a wife (v. 7)’ for his son. Later, the servant finds one and says that ‘the LORD has led me… (v. 27). When permission is given for Rebekah to be Isaac’s wife, the text says that the servant ‘bowed to the ground to the LORD (v. 52).’
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Genesis 32
Jacob, Isaac’s younger son, was having issues with his older brother, Esau, and before he meets him again, with Isaac’s huge family, he wrestles with a strange man through the night. When that man saw that he was not going to overcome him, he touched the socket of his hip and wrenched it out. The ‘man’ gives a blessing to Jacob, and he renames him Israel, for ‘you struggled with God and with men, and you overcame (v. 29).’ Israel ends up naming that place Peniel, because, he said, ‘I saw God, face to face, and my life was spared (v. 31).’
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July 9th, 2022

7/9/2022

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Our ‘walk’ through a significant portion of the Gospel according to Luke [10:25-37] continues on this Sunday, and there is, once again, a significant jump in the Old Testament text for this Sunday. Two Sundays ago, the text was from 1 Kings. Last Sunday, the text was from Isaiah. And this Sunday (‘Proper 10’) the text is from Leviticus 19:9-18, and there is also the possible additional reading of Leviticus 18:1-5. That variety within the Old Testament texts attests to THE great uniting factor within the New Testament, Jesus Christ.

This Sunday is one of three times within the entire three-year series that the text is from the book of Leviticus. And with the additional reading, this is the closest text to the middle of the work.

The middle of a literary work is usually bypassed because it is in the middle. A lot of other things are going on. Why bother with something in the middle? And how often have you wanted to sneak a peek at what the ending is going to be? The middle certainly helps with the structure, and the structure often helps with the message.

One of the best and easiest examples to give is that of the first man and his statement about the first woman. In the following verse, he shows her importance and gives the reason for her name. In the Hebrew, the first word, the middle word, and the end word are essentially the same. And here is a somewhat-literal translation of the Genesis 2:23 [and the designations of chapter and verse certainly give a structure to the text, although that structure may sometimes be distracting from the message]:

This, the now, bone from my bones and flesh from my flesh; to this, she shall be called woman, for from man she was taken, this.

In the Lord’s Prayer, as it is given in Matthew 6[:9-13], there is a significance and a significant difference in those same three points. The first word is ‘Father’, a very comforting word. The last word is quite the opposite, ‘evil’. And the middle word is a word that we are not sure of its meaning. It is the word ‘daily’ in ‘daily bread’, but it may mean something like ‘supersubstantial’ (that word happens to be basically a Latin translation of the unknown Greek word). That word might be a helpful way to understand the great gifts our loving Father gives out in the face of so much evil in the world.

Middle things are important. The entire book of Leviticus is important because it is the middle book of the Pentateuch. And near the middle of that middle book is the important chapter on the Day of Atonement [16], one of the very few times in which someone entered into the Most Holy Place, the Holy of Holies. There are also the prohibitions in the following chapters that play an important role, especially for non-Jews, in Acts 15.

An important middle may not be the only important thing. An important middle may also divide the book into two parts, both of which may also have important middle points.

The way in which the book of Leviticus begins seems to point to the importance of the LORD speaking to Moses. So the first verse is given in a somewhat-literal translation below, and all the similar wording that occurs in the rest of the book will follow, again in somewhat-literal translations. What seems to make a difference in the progression is when a bad thing happens, and in this case, there are two of them. At the beginning of chapter 10, there is the death of Nadab and Abihu, and at the end of chapter 24, a blasphemer is stoned to death.

1:1       And he called to Moses and he spoke, the LORD, to him, from the tent of meeting, to say….

4:1       And he spoke, the LORD, to Moses, to say [also 5:14, 6:1, 6:8, 6:19, 6:24, 7:22, 7:28, & 8:1]….

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10:8     And he spoke, the LORD, to Aaron, to say….

11:1     And he spoke, the LORD, to Moses and to Aaron, to say….

12:1     And he spoke, the LORD, to Moses, to say….

13:1     And he spoke, the LORD, to Moses and to Aaron, to say….

14:1     And he spoke, the LORD, to Moses, to say….

14:33   And he spoke, the LORD, to Moses and to Aaron, to say [also 15:1]….

16:1     And he spoke, the LORD, to Moses, after to die, two of the sons of Aaron, when they approached the face of the LORD, and they died. And he said, the LORD, to Moses….

17:1     And he spoke, the LORD, to Moses, to say [also 18:1, 19:1, 20:1]….

21:1     And he said, the LORD, to Moses….

21:16   And he spoke, the LORD, to Moses, to say [also 22:1, 22:17, 22:26, 23:1, 23:9, 23:23, 23:26, 23:33, 24:1, 24:13]….

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25:1     And he spoke, the LORD, to Moses, on Mount Sinai, to say….

27:1     And he spoke, the LORD, to Moses, to say….
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Why do the bad things mark the transition to get us along farther into the book and closer to the LORD, starting at the tent of meeting and then getting to where he is on Mount Sinai? That seems to be what Jesus’ death does for us, when he is on the cross. His sacrifice brings us face-to-face with God.
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July 2nd, 2022

7/2/2022

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This Sunday continues our ‘walk’ through a significant portion of the Gospel according to Luke [10:1-20], and this Sunday, once again, has an important Old Testament text that relates to a very important account, detailing the actions of the world’s Savior. And this Sunday is ‘Proper 9’ of the ‘C Series’.

This Sunday’s Old Testament text is from Isaiah 66:10-14, and although this is a significantly different book from last week’s text of 1 Kings 19, it continues with much the same theme. There is a place where one can meet with the LORD and receive the gifts he has to give. Elijah reached that place when he came to Horeb, the ‘mountain of God [1 Kings 19:8]’. This week in Isaiah, it happens in the special city of Jerusalem.

Ancient Jerusalem was not special because it was ancient or even because it was the place of kings. It was truly the place of the KING OF KINGS. When the temple was in Jerusalem, that made it a hugely significant place. That was the place where the God of the universe met with mankind.

Last week the point was brought up that within the Greek translation of the books of 1 Samuel through 2 Kings, there are two styles of translation, and a layout of the tabernacle or temple may be seen in the alternation between those two styles. The more Hebrew style of translation imitates the significant parts of the tabernacle and the other style contains the ramifications of that important object (and it also contains the historical presents of many verbs, and these special verbs point to the glory of the One behind it all). With the more Hebrew style, there were two places, a place of sacrifice and a place where one entered to be with the LORD, where the LORD was. That tabernacle or temple was an incredibly important thing, important enough to have it echo in various translation styles.

The Greek translation of Isaiah is important as well because of how incredibly close it is to the New Testament. It is almost as if Isaiah could see quite clearly the person of Jesus. An interesting facet of the New Testament connection that is found in Isaiah is its connection to the four gospel accounts. It is certainly a sign of notoriety that the name of this Old Testament prophet appears in ALL FOUR gospel accounts. (Matthew 3:3, 4:14, 8:17, 12:17, 13:14, 15:7; Mark 7:6; Luke 3:4, 4:17; John 1:23, 12:38, 12:39, 12:41). Very few Old Testament people are mentioned this often.

Although it would be helpful to look at all these connections to the four gospel accounts, I thought that the connection to the Gospel according to John was particularly interesting. Nowhere else are there three mentions of the name of Isaiah so close to one another.

Whatever literary structure is suggested for the Gospel according to John, a significant change happens in John 12. It would take too long to go over those significant changes. But significant differences are also present in the other gospel accounts as Jesus gets closer to Jerusalem.

Below is a somewhat-literal translation of the verses and the surrounding context of the three Isaiah mentions. The context is noteworthy. Usually, in the other gospel accounts, a voice is heard from heaven at Jesus’ baptism. Mention is not made of that in the Gospel according to John, but there is a voice from heaven near the middle of the account.

Now obviously this is a long text, and there are many important things happening in this chapter—Jesus’ famous entrance into Jerusalem, his declaration that ‘his hour has come’ (verse 23), and the fact of his being ‘lifted up’ (verses 32-33). But hopefully what follows are helpful words.

This is what is said after there is a voice from heaven, and people said that an angel had spoken to Jesus [12:30-43]:

Jesus answered and said, “Not because of me this voice has happened, but on the contrary, because of you. Now Judgment is of this world, now the ruler of this world shall be cast out, outside. And I, if I am lifted out of the earth, all I will draw to myself.” And this he said, signifying by what kind of death he was about to die.

Therefore the crowd answered him, “We ourselves heard out of the law that the Christ remains into the age, and how do you yourself say that it is necessary to be lifted up, the Son of Man? Who is this Son of Man?”

Therefore Jesus said to them, “Still a little time the light is in you. Walk as you have the light, in order that darkness not overtakes you, and the one walking in the darkness knows not where he is going. As you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.”

These things Jesus spoke, and, going away, he was hidden from them. But while having done many signs before them, they did not believe in him, that the word of Isaiah, the prophet, might be fulfilled, which he said, “Lord, who believed the report of us? And the arm of the Lord to whom was it revealed?” Therefore, they were not able to believe, because again Isaiah said, “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, that they might not see with the eyes and understand with the heart, and might turn, and I will cure them.” These things Isaiah said because he saw his glory, and he spoke about him. Nevertheless, however, even of the rulers, many believed in him, but on the contrary, because of the Pharisees, they did not confess, in order that not put out of the synagogue they should become; for they loved the glory of men rather than the glory of God.

The last paragraph is a long one, and it was brought together to help see the connection between the points made by Isaiah. And his name is in bold as well. What is also interesting about these occurrences is that, in the Greek text, they are each twenty-five words apart. Isaiah first appears, and then there are twenty-five words, then the next use of the word Isaiah, and then, after another twenty-five words, the last Isaiah. And the last occurrence of the name gives you an idea of how significant this prophet really is.

Like the structure of the Old Testament tabernacle or temple, the counting of words is a very Jewish thing. They had no extra set of numbers in contrast to letters. The writer gives the reader an extra bonus, something to consider, since this is such a significant event.
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But sometimes things change very little. As the text ends, some did not believe. And that action certainly continues today. But people can change. One might consider that God changed when he became man and dwelt among us (John 1:14).
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June 25th, 2022

6/25/2022

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This Sunday continues our ‘walk’ through a significant portion of the Gospel according to Luke, and the Sunday has an important Old Testament text that relates to that very important account regarding the Savior of the world. And this Sunday is ‘Proper 8’ of the ‘C Series’.

This Sunday the Old Testament text is from 1 Kings 19[:9b-21], and this is the start of the transition between Elijah and Elisha. There are many similarities between these two that could be made with the John and Jesus of the New Testament. Even their names have some similarities.

What is also an important aspect is to look at some of the negative things that have happened to some of these prophets. We often picture those on God’s side as having no problems or difficulties. Jesus certainly had an EXTREMELY negative time when he was on the cross, paying for the sins of all! There was no other more important time. And John the Baptist had some of his disciples come and ask Jesus if he was the long-expected Messiah or should they start looking for someone else—although John may have sent those disciples just to get them used to following Jesus instead of himself. Some of the prophets of the Old Testament basically had a terrible time for a significant amount of time.

At the start of 1 Kings 19, right before the text for this Sunday, Elijah was having a very terrible time and was ready to retire—permanently. There was just a great victory over the prophets of Baal, a false god, but then things turned quite badly rather quickly. Elijah thought he was about to be killed by an extremely powerful person, queen Jezebel—the wife of Ahab, the current king of Israel. And many other extremely negative experiences with other prophets in the Old Testament could be mentioned as well.

Going back to the extremely negative event of Elijah’s depression in 1 Kings 19, it is interesting to follow the progression after that event. Brief summaries of the various sections are given here:

     1 Kings 20:1-12 Ben-Hadad, king of Aram, starts a war against Samaria. [Bad news.]
     1 Kings 20:13-22 Ahab, king of Israel, defeats Ben-Hadad in battle. [Good news.]
     1 Kings 20:23-30 Ahab’s army AGAIN defeats Ben-Hadad’s [More good news.]
     1 Kings 20:31-34 Ahab and Ben-Hadad make a treaty. [Is this good news?]
     1 Kings 20:35-42 Ahab did something wrong; Ben Hadad SHOULD have been killed.
     1 Kings 20:43 Ahab, the king is ‘stubborn and angry’.
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     1 Kings 21:1-2 ‘And it was after these things’, Ahab, the king, wants Naboth’s vineyard.
     1 Kings 21:3 Naboth refuses to give it to him.
     1 Kings 21:4 Ahab is, again, ‘stubborn and angry’.
     1 Kings 21:5-16 Jezebel, Ahab’s wife, gets it for him, and Naboth is killed.
     1 Kings 21:17-26 Elijah’s job is to confront Ahab.
     1 Kings 21:27-29 Ahab repents, and the LORD delays his punishment.

With these two narratives there is both a significant similarity and a significant difference. The similarity is that the king is described as both ‘stubborn’ and ‘angry’. The difference is very significant. In the first narrative, an evil person should have been killed and was not. In the second, a nice person—one who valued his ancestors and his inheritance—is killed.

Now it is interesting that the translation of these two narratives into the Greek language, which happened sometime between the rise of the Greek Empire (and its language) and the rise of the Roman Empire (which was the time of Jesus’ birth), this translation is in their opposite order. The narrative in chapter 21 becomes chapter 20, and vice versa. That is a strange thing and there may have been many reasons for this change.

One change that should NOT be considered is a chronological change. In the Hebrew text, the first event in chapter 20 is before the second in chapter 21. At 1 Kings 21:1-2, the text says, ‘And it was after these things….’ But ultimately a chronological order is only the most important when the scriptures are primarily a history lesson. Other things should be considered to be more important.

Another difference that the Greek translation has is that there have been considered to be two translators of the four books of 1-2 Samuel and 1-2 Kings. It switches after a while to a different translation, a more literal one (and without historical presents), and then it goes back again, and then goes back one more time to the different translation at the end. [For those who are interested in such a thing, this more literal, Hebrew translation is sometimes called KAIGE.] An EXTREMELY approximate pattern is like this [and each letter is very approximately about 5 pages of text]:

      OOOOOOOOOO XXXXX OOOOOOO XXXXXXX

Another proposal has been that the same person or persons who translated these chapters have also turned these chapters around. But there could also be another reason that the switch of the two chapters has been made. There may be a literary structure in the text that fits better with switching the two stories around.

It is obviously difficult to see something within such a structure, but it may be helpful to remember two important things: First of all, it is important to remember that the progression of an ancient book is not found within a separate outline before the text begins. That happens in our modern age since the price of paper is incredibly cheap. A second thing to remember is that the form of an ancient book can imitate the structure of the tabernacle or temple that gave a visual piece of theology, what it means to come into the presence of the LORD—since these words are so important.

 The first set of X’s is a starting point, the point of a sacrifice, a negative experience (especially toward the animal or thing that was sacrificed), and that event allows the progression to continue. The next set of X’s is the point of the building, either the tabernacle or the temple. And that is the special place where the presence of the LORD becomes a significant thing. And, therefore, the point right before that change is important.

This is the approximate point where chapters 20 and 21 change in the Greek translation of these books. A nicer entrance at 2 Kings 22 is made regarding the LORD’s presence. Instead of the Israelite king killing an innocent person, the Israelite king fails to kill an evil, foreign king. When a less-terrible thing is done, that makes it easier to enter and be with the King of the Universe. 
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June 18th, 2022

6/18/2022

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The title for this Sunday is the Second Sunday after Pentecost. And depending on the date of Easter, the readings begin a ‘walk’ through most of the Gospel according to Luke. For those who are more familiar with this setup, the texts for this Sunday are also called ‘Proper 7’ of the ‘C Series’.

The Old Testament text is designed to fit together with the reading from the Gospel, and that Old Testament reading may not only be unfamiliar, but its connection to the Gospel text may not be very clear. Looking a bit closer at the Old Testament text may therefore be helpful to understanding its connection to both the Gospel text and the Gospel itself. You might call this a short ‘bible study’ (or ‘a Sabbath Day’s Journey with a text’). There may also be an appropriate connection, not only to the Christian Church found in Acts, but to the present Church today.

The Gospel text for this Sunday is Luke 8:26-39, Jesus healing a man with demons. The Old Testament text is from Isaiah 65[:1-9], and this is very near the end of the entire book. Some people think that later parts of the book were written later in history, mainly because they are filled with such good news when Isaiah the prophet was in the middle of such bad news. This text also has both good news and bad news in and around it.

The previous chapter to the text, chapter 64, might be a good chapter to read sometime, especially because of the use of the name ‘Father’ when referring to God within that chapter. That title is extremely rare in the Old Testament. And the last couple of lines [the verses are numbered differently in the Hebrew] before the Old Testament reading may also be helpful in getting a proper context. In a somewhat-literal translation, the text reads in this way, and this is basically Israel’s perspective when talking to Yahweh, the LORD:

House of our holiness and our beauty, where our fathers praised you, it is as burned of fire, and all of our desirable things, it is as a ruin. Will you, upon these things, restrain yourself, Yahweh? Will you be silent and afflict us to an extreme?

Those verses end with Isaiah asking Yahweh if he will be silent. And chapter 65 starts with Yahweh’s answer. He ends up not being silent. But how he reveals himself is different from what a person might expect. Here are the first couple of lines of the text (and, again, in a somewhat-literal translation), of his answer:

I revealed myself to not they asked; I was found by those who sought me not; I said, “Here I; here I,” to a nation not he was called by my name.

If you would compare other translations to the above text, you might notice a slight difference. In the text above, negatively stated of course, he WAS CALLED by my name. In other readings, he basically CALLED on his name. Those other readings make the second line similar to the previous one, again negatively stated, those SEEKING the LORD (not those who are BEING SOUGHT by him). To make a long story short, in the Hebrew language, the meaning could be either way. (To be more specific, for those who are familiar with the Hebrew, when the vowels were added, the meaning was declared to be ‘he was called’.)

You may appreciate the fact that, in the end, there is no difference to being called or to call. Whether a person is called by the LORD’s name or calls on his name, from what we know of ourselves and our good works—which could be called ‘forgiven’ works, and THAT’s the reason they could be called ‘good’—we do not deserve any attention from the Lord of the universe. Anything that happens is ultimately a gift—although sometimes it CERTAINLY does not seem that way. As the man possessed by demons needed help, so do we. And he does. And everything is suddenly different because Jesus enters the picture, since his name means ‘savior’ or ‘rescuer’.
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Perhaps that is the reason why the name of Jesus is so important in the early church in Acts. It is even said that people are baptized in the name of Jesus (see Acts 2:38). The preposition is not the same though, as was given at the end of the Gospel according to Matthew, where Jesus tells his followers to baptize INTO the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The preposition, when dealing with the name of Jesus, means basically ‘UPON’, on the basis of, and the position is the important thing with this preposition. And Jesus/salvation/rescue is a great position for the work of something that encompasses the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
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June 12th, 2022

6/12/2022

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This is the first Sunday after Pentecost, and the title for this Sunday is usually considered to be ‘The Holy Trinity’. It is basically the only Sunday when a teaching of the Church is the theme, although the teachings of the Church certainly play a significant role EVERY Sunday.

Now I am not saying that the doctrine of the Trinity is simply something to be learned, but it basically describes the way things are. The word ‘trinity’ is an extremely brief description of who God is—he is three in one, ‘tri’ and ‘unity’. So I can certainly understand why a special word was formed to show how special our God is.

This teaching is meant to be a positive thing in Christianity, although it is certainly not meant to be understood or comprehended. We do not say that we ‘understand’ God, we say that we ‘believe’ in him. In other words, we are ready to receive the gifts that he gives. And that usually happens after hearing the Law.

The reading from Acts 2 for this Sunday [14a, 22-36] basically continues where the previous Sunday left off. In this text, Peter continues preaching, and at the very end of the text for this Sunday, there is a powerful message of Law from God through the mouth of Peter to the various Jews who were gathered in Jerusalem (and what follows is a somewhat-literal translation of verse 36):

Therefore, assuredly, let all the house of Israel know that both Lord and Christ—God made him, this Jesus, whom you yourselves crucified.

The response of the people is noteworthy and will be our focus for a short while. The text says that they were ‘stung in the heart’ (verse 37a). And they want to know what they should do.

This word, to be ‘stung’, only appears here in the New Testament. It may be difficult to understand what that was like or what they were feeling.

The original language of the New Testament is Greek, and the Old Testament was originally in Hebrew, but then it was translated into Greek when the Greek language was important—right before the Roman Empire became important. It may be helpful to see how the word was used in the Old Testament after it was translated into the language of the New Testament. Here the word is used in a few historical situations, and this may help to give you an idea of its significance and meaning. It should be noted that the following descriptions are based on the Greek translation of the text.

In Genesis 27:38, the word is used when Isaac found out he unknowingly blessed Jacob (the younger son) instead of Esau (the older son).

In Genesis 34:7, the word is used when the sons of Jacob found out something REALLY bad happened to their sister. (This is a chapter that is usually left out of the Bible story books.)

In Leviticus 10:3, after Aaron’s two sons die because they offered a ‘strange fire’ before the Lord, Moses said these words of the LORD to Aaron: ‘For those who come near to me, I will be sanctified, and in all the congregation, I will be glorified.’ And Aaron’s response was to be ‘stung’. (This is also a negative chapter.)

In 3 Kings 20:27-29 [1 Kings 21:27-29] The Lord’s prophet told King Ahab of Israel that some REALLY bad things are going to happen to him. Ahab ended up being sorry for what he did, and the Lord sent the prophet again to say that these things would happen during the reign of Ahab’s son instead.

Is this positive to be ‘stung’? It certainly is, because that is not the end of the story. Something gets done after these people were stung. The people repent and believe. In Acts 2, the hearers of this message are described as no longer ‘far away’ (see Acts 2:39). The Lord, our God, calls the repentant to himself. That is certainly describing Christianity in a positive ‘Way’ (see Acts 9:1-2).
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