PILGRIM LUTHERAN CHURCH
  • Home
  • About Us
    • What We Believe
    • History
  • Events
    • Photo Gallery
  • Pastor's Blog
  • Bulletin
  • Contact

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 Just because we have an Old Testament, it does not mean that we call it the 'Outdated Testament'.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!

November 28th, 2020

11/28/2020

0 Comments

 
This Sunday is the First Sunday in Advent, and it starts the church year. It should not be too surprising that the Old Testament text is from Isaiah [64:1-9]. The Gospel according to Mark starts almost immediately with a quote from that book. This year three of the four Sundays in Advent will have the Old Testament text from Isaiah.

​The connections between Isaiah and the New Testament are numerous. One of the more interesting ones is calling God ‘Father’. This title is extremely rare in the Old Testament, but when it happens, Isaiah is often the place. And it happens most often at the end of the book.

Here is a somewhat literal translation of those verses where that occurs:

Nevertheless, you, Yahweh, our Father, although Abraham does not know us, and Israel does distinguish us; you, Yahweh, our Father, our Redeemer from of old is your name (63:16).

And now, Yahweh, our Father you are, we are the clay, and you are our potter, and the work of your hand is all of us (64:7).

The text for this Sunday contains the last time the phrase ‘Our Father’ will be used in the Old Testament when referring to God. It is indeed a very rare thing. It is so well known in the New Testament, especially since the Gospel according to Matthew is the first account that many people encounter. The Sermon on the Mount is Jesus’ first sermon in this gospel account, and the use of ‘Father’ within that sermon is extremely frequent. The Lord’s Prayer is within that sermon, and its importance is shown in that the use of the word ‘Father’ in the Lord’s Prayer is the middle use within the sermon.

The Lord’s Prayer is indeed a special prayer. A little less familiar fact regarding that prayer is the fact that the two words ‘the evil’ are the last two words of the prayer. Many people add a conclusion, or at least an ‘Amen’ to the end of the prayer. But the prayer in the text ends with the final petition to, literally, ‘deliver us from the evil’.

This makes the last word ‘evil’ and the official first word ‘Father’. The word ‘our’, both in the Hebrew and in the Greek, is after the word ‘Father’. What a contrast in this prayer between the beginning and the ending!

What is even more interesting than that is that, in the middle of the Lord’s Prayer, is the word usually translated as ‘daily’, which describes the bread for which we are asking. Unknown to many is that this word’s translation as ‘daily’ is only a good guess and is largely based on context. The word appeared nowhere else before its appearance in the New Testament. A better translation might be ‘supersubstantial’; that word was in a Latin translation. You might respond to that word by saying it is not really a word, but Jesus may have said a new word when he gave this prayer. An acceptable translation that would use a more familiar word might be the word ‘special’.

What the word does exactly halfway through the Lord’s Prayer is that it asks for something that is not completely understood by the Christian, but that is okay. What is requested is still asked for in confidence that it will be given, and the One who gives it and what is given is certainly special. And it certainly makes a difference when asking for it.

That kind of bread makes a difference because now on earth the sins committed by some Christians are forgiven by other Christians—that is the focus of the fifth petition. This kind of bread also makes a difference in that the Father is on the level of his people, and he certainly leads them, but he will not lead them into temptation—that is the sixth petition. On the contrary, he will deliver them from all evil—here is the seventh petition.

The special word ‘Father’ starts the Christian down a wonderful road. The end is in sight. And it is an exceedingly special one.

0 Comments

November 21st, 2020

11/21/2020

0 Comments

 
This Sunday, called the ‘Last Sunday of the Church Year’, is our last look for a while at the Gospel according to Matthew—although we have recently been looking at the Old Testament texts that are connected to the gospel text. There is much that could be the focus on this Sunday; considering the end of the universe is no small matter. But I would like to focus on the verb ‘to scatter’.

Sometimes a person can feel like a ‘scatterbrain’. I was looking at the word more closely because it appeared in the Old Testament text from Ezekiel [34:11-16, 20-24]. The word also appears several times in the New Testament. What I had forgotten is how many different words can mean to ‘scatter’.

What is important to keep in mind is that various things can be scattered. Sometimes it is a good thing that things get scattered. And sometimes it is a bad thing. And there are extremely different words for different types of scattered things.

Ezekiel 34:12 brings up the idea of being scattered twice:

‘As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness [English Standard Version, hereafter ESV; copyright 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.].’

It is not obvious with the English, but the two words for the scattered sheep are different words in Hebrew. The first one is not so bad and basically means to separate. The second one is worse, the one on the day of ‘clouds and thick darkness’; that one means to scatter.

I am glad that the Greek translation of the Old Testament, usually called the Septuagint, also makes a difference between these two words. And it is nice that the meaning essentially follows the Hebrew.

What is interesting is that the second word here, to scatter, also comes up in the New Testament. It is also a word that might be familiar to some—diaspora.

Sometimes scattering is seen as a bad thing. And it may LOOK like a bad thing. But there may be a significant amount of good behind it.

The idea of scattering is significant within the Book of Acts. In chapter 5, the author takes the time and space to quote Gamaliel, a Pharisee and teacher of the law, who, in the words of the author, was ‘honored by all the people’ (Acts 5:34). When the apostles were arrested and the council basically wants them killed, Gamaliel puts himself into the center of the struggle and makes a strong case not to kill them. While doing this, Gamaliel also mentions a couple groups of people who were eventually ‘scattered’ in some way, although the translations sometimes say something worse.

‘Men of Israel, take care what you are about to do to these men. For before these days Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody, and a number of men, about four hundred, joined him. He was killed, and all who followed him were dispersed and came to nothing. After him Judas the Galilean rose up in the days of the census and drew away some of the people after him. He too perished, and all who followed him were scattered. So in the present case I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone, for if this plan or this undertaking is of man, it will fail; but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You might even be found opposing God [ESV; Acts 5:35b-39a]!’

The word above translated ‘dispersed’ has, as its root, the verb ‘to destroy’. And the root of the word that is translated as ‘scattered’ is, surprisingly enough, the word ‘scorpion’. Those two words are obviously very bad scatterings.

Now when the Church is scattered in Acts 8, right after the killing of Stephen, the word there is a good type of scattering—the diaspora. With that word ‘scatter’, the root word there means to sow seed. When you are planting seeds, to scatter those seeds is certainly a good thing.

A good type of scattering happened back then. And good scatterings will continue, until we are finally all gathered together on that Final Day. On THAT day, no more separation, no more social distancing, and no more scatterings.
0 Comments

November 14th, 2020

11/14/2020

0 Comments

 
This Sunday, as we get to the end of the church year, we get to a ‘major’ topic from a ‘minor’ prophet. The Old Testament reading for this Sunday deals with the End Times and is from Zephaniah [1:7-16], the book of the Bible that is near the end of the Old Testament.

This prophet is sometimes confused with Zechariah. This prophet is earlier in time than Zechariah—Zephaniah is before the exile, whereas Zechariah is after it—and in the placement of the Old Testament books, Zephaniah is also before Zechariah. This short book of three chapters is hidden in between Habakkuk and Haggai. In fact, Zephaniah’s name means ‘Yahweh hides’. In the very first verse of the book, Zephaniah makes a ‘great reveal’, and his bloodline is connected to King Hezekiah.  

More important than that is the word of Yahweh that Zephaniah has to share. And it is a significant one.

This Sunday’s text is a significant one. It speaks of ‘the great day of the LORD’ (see verse 14). But I would like to suggest looking at the verses which come immediately after Zephaniah 1:1 and are right before this Sunday’s text. Looking over them would help to get an idea of the context and the bigger picture.

In one way, the following is NOT a literal translation of Zephaniah 1:2-6; most of the parts of this text were translated literally, but some words were translated in a way that would fit with their unique context and their placement within this text:

To gather things close, I will bring to a close everything from upon the face of the ground, declares Yahweh. I will bring to a close man and beast, I will bring to a close birds of the air and fish of the sea, and the building blocks with the wicked ones, and I will cut off the man from upon the face of the ground, declares Yahweh.

And I will stretch out my hand upon Judah and upon all the ones dwelling of Jerusalem, and I will cut off from this, the place, the remnant of the Baal, the name of the idolaters with the priests—and with ones bowing down upon the roofs, to the host of the heavens, and with the ones bowing down, the ones swearing to Yahweh, and the ones swearing by Molech—and with the ones turning back from after Yahweh, and who neither seek Yahweh nor do they ask of him.

The first paragraph of the above text is especially difficult to translate. In Hebrew, these two verbs are similar in sound but have a very different meaning: ‘to gather together’ and ‘to put to an end’. The word ‘close’ was used in two different ways (and is pronounced in two different ways) to reflect this unusual combination. I do NOT understand the Hebrew text to have a mistake.

The parts of creation mentioned in the first paragraph seem to be listed in the opposite order in which they were created. It is in the first chapter of Genesis that God created birds and fish, then beasts, and then man. The order in Zephaniah goes in the opposite direction, and during this part, it seems that the Hebrew text avoids the use of the definite article (‘the’), but then, when there is the phrase, ‘the building blocks with the wicked ones’, this definitely starts the use of the definite article.

What does a building block have to do with a wicked one? This is one of those verses that has the following footnote in the NIV (See the Concordia Self-Study Bible): ‘The meaning of the Hebrew for this line is uncertain.’ The ESV translates ‘building blocks’ as ‘rubble’ and has this footnote (See The Lutheran Study Bible): ‘Or stumbling blocks (that is, idols).’ The basic meaning of the word is to stumble or overthrow.

I did not choose to translate the phrase literally as ‘stumbling blocks’ because that does not fit well with the progression made with the list of created things. I used the words ‘building blocks’ to bring more prominence to the wicked and to fit with something that would still cause a significant amount of trouble, something that, in this case, would make a person stumble. This phrase is also something that would fit at the head of a list of things that were created. This is NOT to say that God did not create ex nihilo. But this IS to say that what is evil in this world is significant; we see that literally every day.
​
It is a good thing to remember that some things will not last forever … and that the good stuff will.

0 Comments

November 7th, 2020

11/7/2020

0 Comments

 
We are back to having Old Testament readings on this Sunday, the 23rd Sunday after Pentecost. And the text for this Sunday is from the so-called ‘minor’ prophet of Amos [5:18-24]. But you might say that he brings up a ‘major’ issue.
​
In the middle of this Sunday’s text is the following significant statement of Yahweh (verse 21): ‘I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies [English Standard Version—hereafter ESV; copyright 2001 by Crossway Bibles; used by permission].’

What is meant by that? The times that Israel gathered together for a religious festival were Yahweh’s idea in the first place. If his people were doing those feasts and those solemn assemblies, how could he hate AND despise them?

Yahweh is against those feasts and solemn assemblies because he calls them ‘yours’ and not ‘his’. In the verses which follow, Yahweh speaks out against Israel’s burnt offerings, grain offerings, peace offerings, the noise of songs and the melodies of harps, and every one of those things is described as ‘yours’ (Israel’s) in some way.

Then there is verse twenty-four, the last verse of our appointed text: ‘But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream [ESV].’ The point of this verse is to compare the justice and the righteousness that people have to the justice and righteousness of Yahweh. He has perfect justice and righteousness, and he has those things in a much fuller supply.

The verses which follow the text help to clarify this distinction between what is Israel’s and what is God’s. Here are the verses which follow verse twenty-four and which go to the end of the chapter and section:

Did you bring to me sacrifices and offerings during the forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? You shall take up Sikkuth your king, and Kiyyun your star-god—your images that you made for yourselves, and I will send you into exile beyond Damascus, says the LORD, whose name is the God of hosts [ESV].

The simple action of sacrificing animals and giving offerings is not the important thing; the children of Israel did not do that for forty years when they were in the wilderness. The problem is much bigger than that. Yahweh says that they will ‘take up’ other gods which they made for themselves. That goes to the heart of the problem—idolatry.
The true God lifts us up and carries us, as he does for all creation. False gods are made up and then lifted up and carried around by people.

Please do not get distracted by the names of the gods that are used in the above text. The important thing to note is that people make gods for themselves. Here, again, the focus is on ‘you’. The multiple references to ‘you’ in the following sentence are amazing, given its short length: ‘But YOU shall take up Sikkuth YOUR king, and Kiyyun YOUR star-god—YOUR images that YOU made for YOURSELVES.’

A point could be made that the stars and sun do rule, in a way. They are above us, in a sense. There needs to be some order in the universe, or there is chaos. If everything is equal, then there is mass confusion. Does that sound something like the year 2020?
In the first creation account, God begins to create things, and on the fourth day, God set the greater light to rule during the day and the lesser lights to rule at night. Then man was set to rule over the animals—although this is a different word for ‘rule’.

It should not be thought of as a coincidence that the thrones of those kings in that area of the world had symbols that were similar to some of the constellations that were in the heavens. A king in that part of the world could have sat down on his throne, and he could have seen the images of a man (Aquarius), a lion (Leo), an ox (Taurus), and an eagle, and he could have thought of the constellations in the heavens and the One who put them there in the first place. Or that king could start thinking about how great a person HE was. There is a huge difference between the ending places of those two lines of thought.
0 Comments

October 31st, 2020

10/31/2020

0 Comments

 
This Sunday, All Saints’ Day, is the second Sunday in a row that has a First Reading and not an Old Testament Reading. This week’s text, like last week’s, is from the book of Revelation [7:9-17; there is also the option of adding verses 2-8].

The text ends with one of the most beautiful pictures in all of Scripture, that of God wiping away tears from the eyes of his people. This is a wonderful picture because God is not showing his power and getting one of his angels to do such a work; he is showing his love and doing such a work himself. In this action he shows the depths of his kindness, his goodness, and especially his humanity.

This is a picture that is important enough to occur twice within the book of Revelation. It also occurs in 21:4. When God repeats himself, you know that is important.

And [God] will wipe off every tear out of their eyes, and death will not be any longer, nor sorrow, nor crying, nor pain will be any longer, because the first things have passed away [a somewhat-literal translation].

There is a lot of weeping going on within all of Scripture. And you probably could have guessed that these two occurrences are the last times that the word ‘tear’ is used in the New Testament. It is a word that frequently pops up in both the Psalter and the works of Jeremiah, who, by the way, is called ‘the weeping prophet’. And one would think that the word ‘tear’ is also in the first few books in Scripture. But the first time that word occurs in Scripture is in 2 Kings 20[:1-6]. And its appearance is somewhat significant.

In those days [King] Hezekiah became ill to die. And Isaiah, the prophet, the son of Amoz, came to him, and he said to him, ‘Thus Yahweh says, “Put in order your house, for you are dying, and you will not recover.” And he turned his face to the wall and prayed to Yahweh, saying, “Oh, Yahweh, oh remember how I walked before your face in faith and with a whole heart, and I did the good in your eyes.” And Hezekiah wept a bitter weeping. And Isaiah did not go out of the middle court, and the word of Yahweh came to him: “Return and say to Hezekiah, the leader of my people, ‘This Yahweh says, the God of David your father: I heard your prayer; I saw your tear. Behold, there will be healing to you. On the third day you will go up to the house of Yahweh, and I will add to your days fifteen years. And from the hand of the king of Assyria I will deliver you, and I will defend this city for my sake and for the sake of David, my servant [another somewhat-literal translation].’”

Obviously much could be said about this text. At the basis of this request is the verb ‘to remember’. We normally think of that as an action of the mind, but it is strongly connected to actions. This is especially seen in the book of Genesis. The action of remembering is worked out in physical action. God’s ears and eyes are involved.

The LORD added fifteen years to Hezekiah’s life, and that was enough time for him to have a son, Manasseh, be the king after him, and he was twelve years old when he began to reign, and, unfortunately, he was incredibly evil [see 2 Kings 21:1ff].

Things do not always work out as we expect them. But we are not God. But God is still involved with us; he still remembers. And his involvement in Jesus was certainly in a bodily form.

0 Comments

October 24th, 2020

10/24/2020

0 Comments

 
There is not an Old Testament text for this Sunday but only a ‘First Reading’. This Sunday is Reformation Sunday, when we celebrate the Reformation on the anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther’s posting of his ninety-five theses on the Wittenberg church door. Although a lot of wonderful events happened afterwards, that event in 1517 points to the start of something memorable and good. And perhaps the Old Testament may be thought of in the same way.

The First Reading for Reformation Sunday is from the book of Revelation [14:6-7], and that book has certainly a lot of Old Testament connections. In fact, it is difficult to get away from the Old Testament within many of the New Testament books, but especially with that book. With the background knowledge of the Old Testament, the entire New Testament makes a lot more sense.

It is critical, though, to have an Old Testament understanding with a New Testament book like Revelation. One of the misunderstandings that happens with this week’s Revelation reading is that, since that particular angel is described as having the ‘eternal gospel’, when the message of that angel is comprised of three commands, some people wonder how that can be called the gospel or ‘good news’.

It is important to remember that the word ‘gospel’ is an Old Testament word, a word that is very much connected to angels who are basically messengers. This is not just any messenger though. The Old Testament word ‘gospel’ often comes up when dealing with a message for a king. Whatever the news, it is ultimately important because the king is involved.

These days, with the high level of civil unrest that is seen in many places, there is a great amount of disrespect for those in authority. It might be good to go over the three commands that appear in the Revelation text. The three commands are these: Fear him, give him glory, and worship him. There is a definite progression here, and these three commands may be seen in the light of a person who is coming before a king.

Fear is a good starting point. Luther knew that. And with fear comes the realization that this person whom you are approaching has the power to kill you. If the fear is too great, you would never go into his presence. But if the fear is too little, you would probably go before the king and get into BIG trouble.

Giving glory to a king means that, as you come into his presence, you would acknowledge his authority in some special way. That shows the respect that you have. Entering the presence of the king, someone who could kill you, is a significant thing. When you do that, you follow his rules and not your own. If he wants you to do something that seems silly to you, I would strongly suggest doing it.

The final command, to worship, is undoubtedly the most significant. It is a special verb in the Old Testament, with a unique way of being written out in Hebrew. That uniqueness seems to be a reminder of how important it is.

These three things are seen in many places in scripture. But I would like briefly to look at their presence within the book of Esther. That book really does not get a lot of visibility in the three-year or even the one-year series; it NEVER appears as a reading. But it IS a good explanation of the Feast of Purim (see especially 9:24-28), but even THAT does not mean it is spoken when the time comes for the reading of the Old Testament text.

There is a lot of fear in Esther since she has not been asked to be before the king for thirty days. Here is the lengthy verse which gives that information, as well as the important aspect of the king holding out a scepter to someone (and someone touching that scepter; see 5:2). That is giving glory to someone, to acknowledge their authority. It seems like a silly thing, but a scepter really is like a fancy club. You would not want to be beaten by it—or anything else that the king has.

These are the words of Esther (in a somewhat literal translation):

“All the servants of the king and the people of the provinces of the king, the ones knowing that any man and woman who comes to the king in the inner court, who was not called, there is one law: to kill, except the one to whom the king extends the scepter of gold, he may live. And I was not called to go to the king these thirty days (4:11).”

In this book there are a lot of verses that talk about the king’s body position and those of the other people around him. This is a unique situation where someone is falling down before someone else. Here are somewhat literal translations of what happened after Mordecai was humiliated after Haman was exalted (and this first verse appears right after the middle point between the two mentions of Purim in 3:7 and 9:24); you might notice how many times people are falling in these verses, but especially in this first one:

And Haman recounted to Zeresh, his wife, and to all his loved ones all that had happened to him, and his wise men and Zeresh, his wife, said to him, ‘If Mordecai, before whom you have begun to fall before his face, is from the seed of the Jews, you will not be able to stand against him, more specifically, you will surely fall before his face (6:13).’

And the king returning from the garden of the palace to the house to the banquet of wine, and Haman was falling on the couch where Esther was…(7:8a).

And Esther did again, and she spoke before the face of the king, and she fell before the face of the king, at his feet…(8:3a).

Worship is sometimes done in a prostrate position, when a person is on his face on the ground before the face of a very important person. This may get us ready for the significance of the New Testament.
​
This angel with an eternal gospel is getting us ready for a God who comes to us in the form of a servant—from the seed of the Jews—as the reference goes in Esther. Now THAT is good news! 
0 Comments

October 17th, 2020

10/17/2020

0 Comments

 
The Old Testament text for this Sunday is Isaiah 45[:1-7], and one of the most amazing things about this text is that it names the king who will allow the Israelites to come back to their country about two hundred years before the event actually happens.

The Lutheran Study Bible does a good job in laying out the ways that people have tried to explain away this amazing prediction (see footnote for 44:27-28). It also gives a few details that do not appear in the Concordia Self-Study Bible, such as how Cyrus took over Babylon.

Here is that text and the footnote for 45:2-3 The LORD is talking here:

“I will go before you
            and level the exalted places,
I will break in pieces the doors of bronze
            and cut through the bars of iron,
I will give you the treasures of darkness
            and the hoards in secret places,
that you may know that it is I, the LORD,
            the God of Israel, who call you by your name.”

In 539 BC, when Cyrus surrounded the city of Babylon, the priests of Marduk submitted and declared him to be Marduk’s chosen monarch. They then opened the city gates to allow him and his army to enter peacefully. Jesus is the ultimate Anointed One, who opens the gates of hell (Rv 1:8) and sets prisoners free (Jn 8:36) [The Lutheran Study Bible, published by Concordia Publishing House in 2009; St. Louis, Missouri; page 1164].
A lot of historical information goes along with this text. And there are some literary aspects as well. It is interesting that, with part of the above text, there is a strong similarity to a part of Psalm 107. Below are literal translations of the texts that are so similar:

…I will shatter the doors of bronze, and I will cut through the bars of iron…(Isaiah 45:2b).
For he shatters the doors of bronze, and he cuts through the bars of iron (Psalm 107:16).

The differences are extremely small, small enough for the following statement regarding 107:16 to be essentially in BOTH the Concordia Self-Study Bible and The Lutheran Study Bible. What is here is from the latter when dealing with Psalm 107:16 (page 953):

Either this verse is quoted from Is 45:2 or both verses quote an established saying. doors of bronze. City gates are normally made of wood; here proverbially they are bronze, the strongest gates then imaginable (Jer 1:18). bars of iron. Bars that secured the city gates (Dt 3:5; Jer 51:30) were usually made of wood (Na 3:13) but sometimes of bronze (1 K 4:13).

Psalm 107 is well-loved by many. In it there are four examples of people who are in trouble, and then they are helped. The LORD turns their situations around. In the Concordia Self-Study Bible there is an extensive (and helpful) introduction to that Psalm in the footnotes. Here is just a small part of that introduction:

Of the four remaining stanzas (marked by recurring refrains: vv. 6, 13, 19, 28; vv. 8, 15, 21, 31), the first and last refer to God’s deliverance of those lost in the trackless desert (vv. 4-9) and those imperiled on the boisterous sea (vv. 23-32). The two central stanzas celebrate deliverance from the punishment of foreign bondage (vv. 10-16) and from the punishment of disease (vv. 17-22). Of the concluding lines to these four stanzas, the first two (vv. 9, 16) and the last two (vv. 22, 32) are similar. The verse pattern of these four stanzas (six-seven-six-ten) makes deliberate use of the significant numbers seven and ten.

Here is a somewhat literal translation of some of those verses that are being discussed; note that, of the four pairs, the first is exactly the same, and then there are four different reasons for giving thanks:

Verse 8: Let them give thanks to Yahweh, his mercy and his wonderful deeds for the sons of man….
Verse 9: …for he satisfies the throat, the one thirsting, and the hungry throat, he fills with good.
Verse 15: Let them give thanks to Yahweh, his mercy and his wonderful deeds for the sons of man….
Verse 16: …for he shatters the doors of bronze, and he cuts through the bars of iron.
Verse 21: Let them give thanks to Yahweh, his mercy and his wonderful deeds for the sons of man….
Verse 22: …and let them sacrifice offerings of thanksgiving, and let them announce his works with a song of joy.
Verse 31: Let them give thanks to Yahweh, his mercy and his wonderful deeds for the sons of man….
Verse 32: …and let them exalt him in the assembly of the people and let them praise him in the council of elders.

The similarities between the first pair and second pair are certainly there, as is mentioned above in the quote, but I would like to propose something more.

I see within these four reasons a hint of the four living creatures that are found elsewhere in both Testaments. They are most familiar in this order: man, lion, ox, and eagle. And the emphases that you might see in each of these verses follow that same order.

Verse 9: When the throat is satisfied, you would think that someone just drank something. This word for ‘throat’ also means ‘soul’, and you can see that in some translations (I am thinking here particularly of the NASB). And with such a translation, you certainly would think of a person.
Verse 16: When something is broken, that is one thing, but when that thing is shattered, the emphasis is definitely on power. And lions are known for their power.
Verse 22: The two verbs, one of sacrifice and one of announcing, both involve some sort of difficult action. And a domesticated ox is the one animal that the farmer would look to for help when it comes to difficult actions. And a bull, a male ox, is also one of the animals sacrificed (see Leviticus 4).
Verse 32: To ‘exalt’ is to lift something up high, and the eagle is the only one of the four to be able to be in the air.

In this country, we are not used to a king, and we are definitely not used to the meaning of a throne. A throne shows the king’s authority, and these four emphases show the LORD’s authority. These four emphases are not meant to be connected only to the four gospel accounts; these are a theme of the LORD’s actions through the entire scriptures, literally from Genesis to Revelation. This is meant to be comforting, that the LORD works in a specific way when needed, a way that truly helps to turn things around. Sometimes it is as a man, sometimes as a powerful lion, sometimes as a sacrificial and obedient animal, and sometimes with a much higher perspective. All those perspectives are special in their own way, and in the Light of the New Testament, we can say that the LORD is certainly special.
0 Comments

October 10th, 2020

10/10/2020

0 Comments

 
The Old Testament text for the previous Sunday was in Isaiah 5, and for this coming Sunday it will be in Isaiah 25[:6-9]. And next Sunday will be Isaiah 45. Should so many weeks with such a book be so surprising? The book of Isaiah is amazing.
Last week’s writing focused on the alliteration and assonance at the end of the text, and the following translation was my first attempt:

…and he looked for a judgment order, but behold, disorder; for what is right, but behold, a riot (Isaiah 5:7b).

Very near the text for this Sunday is another example of the poetic potency of this Old Testament writer, and both of these examples are indicated in the Concordia Self-Study Bible (see pages 1051-1052). That work even includes some of the spellings in Hebrew that are given below:

Isaiah 24:16a:
I waste away, I waste away! Woe to me!
Razi li, razi li! Oy li!
Verse 16b
The treacherous betray! With treachery the treacherous betray!
Bogedim bagadu! Ubeged bogedim bagadu!
Verse 17
Terror and pit and snare [await you, O people of the earth.]
Pahad wapahat wapah

Perhaps you can see that these last three words (terror, pit, snare) are very similar in Hebrew. (The ‘wa’ at the beginning of the second and third words is only the word ‘and’.) That similarity makes them very special, AND they were even special enough to be used by others (see Jeremiah 48:43).

So, what was attempted last week will also be attempted this week. Are there accurate English words that will adequately match these three similar Hebrew words? ‘Terror’, ‘pit’, and ‘snare’ are not too similar sounding.

A first step is to look at Holladay’s Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament (published by Eerdmans in 1971, pages 290-291). Here is what is given: Trembling, terror’ for the first word; ‘pit’ for the second, and ‘bird trap’ for the third. The definitions are, as the title of the book says, certainly concise.

The simple definition of the third word does not leave us with many possibilities. Therefore, a good next step may be to look at The Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon (published by Hendrickson in 1996, page 809). It gives the same thing—‘bird-trap’, but it also makes this distinction: ‘1. Literally…. 2. Usually figuratively…. a. of calamities and plots…. b. source or agent of calamity….

We have somewhat-related words that start with ‘p’ for the second and third words (pit and plots). How about finding a word that starts with ‘p’ for the first word, ‘terror’? This would even make it similar to the Hebrew.

In desperation, I picked up The New American Roget’s College Thesaurus in Dictionary Form (published by the New American Library, 1958, page 365). Under ‘terror’ were these synonyms: FEAR, dread; fright, alarm; dismay, horror; panic.

You might say that the last word provided a ‘perfect’ answer (in an extremely imperfect world).

‘Panic and pit and plots await you….’

(Please share with me if you find a better solution.) And this is certainly not the entire picture that Isaiah portrays. In Isaiah 25:6-9, the text for this Sunday, the beautiful and concrete promise is that the LORD will wipe away tears from all the faces of his people. This action will be referenced in three Sundays from this Sunday, on All Saints’ Day with the first reading, from Revelation 7. This may be a good thing to cover in more detail when we arrive at that place in the church year.
0 Comments

October 3rd, 2020

10/3/2020

0 Comments

 
There is an aspect of the biblical languages that is usually overlooked these days. And I should, at the start, thank one of my teachers at Concordia Seminary, Dr. Paul Raabe, for his emphasis on such a thing.​

You could say that some of the writers of Old Testament poetry were really masters of the language. They were extremely careful with their words. And sometimes they would pick two words that were similar in sound but very opposite in their meanings. When one would hear the phrase in Hebrew, it would sound so nice. But its meaning would be so much the opposite. Something like that gets your attention quite quickly.

This happens at the end of the Old Testament text for this Sunday [Isaiah 5:1-7], the last half of verse 7 (English Standard Version):

‘…and he looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed; for righteousness, but behold, an outcry!’

The footnotes at the bottom of the text are somewhat helpful (unfortunately they do not appear in the bulletin insert for this Sunday). “The Hebrew words for justice and bloodshed sound alike.” And hopefully you could have predicted the second one: “The Hebrew words for righteous (sic) and outcry sound alike.”

What to do? Usually the translation follows the meaning of the words, and should not that always be the case? But perhaps there could be a set of words that would be closer in sound than another set.


To give you an idea of how they sound, here is my try at a phonetic spelling of these four words, along with the vast majority of the main definitions as they appear in Holladay’s A Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 1971):

Mish-paht: 1. Decision by arbitration, legal decision 2. Legal case 3. Legal claim 4. Conformity
Mis-pah: breach of law
Tse-theh-kah: 1: Righteousness = blameless behavior, honesty 2. Righteousness 3. Justice (of a human judge) 4. Justice (characteristic of God the divine judge) 5. Righteousness = godliness….
Tse-ah-kah: Cry out, raise a cry of wailing, call for help

Dr. Raabe was very encouraging when he proposed one solution for the second pair of words that is below. Perhaps people could think of other possible translations that would be both close in meaning and in sound. I am proposing the first pair. And perhaps you could think of another for that one; it is certainly not as good as the one proposed by Dr. Raabe. 

'...and he looked for a judgment order, but behold, disorder; for what is right, but behold, a riot!'

Now to think about just one small passage of scripture for a while is certainly not a bad thing.
0 Comments

September 26th, 2020

9/26/2020

0 Comments

 
The Old Testament text for this Sunday [Ezekiel 18:1-4, 25-32] starts with a proverb, and a proverb is a good place to start—in more ways than one. The book of Proverbs may be a place where one starts to read the scriptures. Proverbs may be a good thing to start memorizing, since many of them still have a say in our 21st-century life today. And it may be a place where we start to see some of the intricate structures of these wonderful scriptures.

The proverb in the text is this: ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge (verse 2).’ In other words, problems are passed down from generation to generation. While this is most certainly true, this proverb can also be used as an excuse that something is ‘not my fault, but my father’s fault.’ Things that are true can become things that are false, if they are pushed too far.

Good words can be twisted. Proverbs can be twisted. Things that belong to the LORD can be twisted to become our own.

Perhaps that is why the LORD is so prominent in the book of Proverbs. I should say here that it is not at all obvious that the LORD is so central and foundational in Proverbs. When it comes to proverbs, we can easily make ourselves the center. So, perhaps these points may be helpful.

The book starts out by saying that these are the ‘proverbs of Solomon’. The words which follow give a somewhat ‘biblical’ variety of what is given in wisdom; the first two words after that introduction give us a good starting point, ‘to know wisdom’. And at the end of that long statement is the declaration that the ‘fear of Yahweh is the beginning of knowledge’ (1:7). This is echoed at the end of this large, first main section of the book, with the words, ‘the starting point of wisdom is the fear of Yahweh (9:10).’ Note the differences in those two statements, but the similarities should also be noted. The LORD plays a prominent part. And fear is a good first step—this is especially important in light of the proper distinction between law and gospel.

I must admit I was a bit surprised the first time I read one of the Concordia Self-Study Bible notes which summarizes this next section (10:1-22:16) in this way: ‘The numerical values of the consonants in the Hebrew word for ‘Solomon’ total 375—the exact number of verses in 10:1-22:16; 375 of Solomon’s proverbs were selected from a much larger number (Concordia Self-Study Bible, Copyright 1986 by Concordia Publishing House, page 959).’

The English language does not have a close connection to numbers like the Hebrew language does. The letters of the name Solomon in Hebrew are basically the consonants—somewhat similar to the English language, and you may get an idea of their placement in the alphabet. The consonants have these values: s =  300, l = 30, m = 40, h = 5. So, it tells us that the name of Solomon also gives us the number 375.

I must also admit that I was a bit surprised when at the middle of these 375 proverbs there was an unequaled emphasis on the LORD--seven mentions in a row. At the middle of 375 things is the 188th thing. And the 188th proverb is 16:4. And before that proverb and after it are both sets of three proverbs with the name of the LORD (Yahweh) in each one. Here they are, in a somewhat literal translation:
​
To a man, plans of the heart, and, from Yahweh, the answer of the tongue.
All of the ways of a man are innocent in his eyes, but the one weighing motives is Yahweh.
Commit to Yahweh your deeds, and your plans will succeed.
Yahweh works out everything for his end, and also the wicked for the day of disaster.
Yahweh detests all of the proud of heart; hand upon hand, he will not go unpunished.
In love and faithfulness, sin is atoned, and in the fear of Yahweh one avoids evil.
In pleasing Yahweh, the ways of a man, even his enemies make peace with him.

Right at the beginning of these seven proverbs is another mention of Yahweh and fear, but this time in this way: The fear of Yahweh is the teaching of wisdom (15:33). When you compare this statement to the earlier ones, you can see a definite progression. And this is a progression that focuses ultimately on the LORD, not on Solomon. So, this is a foundation that is built on something much better than ourselves.
0 Comments
<<Previous

    Archives

    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
  • About Us
    • What We Believe
    • History
  • Events
    • Photo Gallery
  • Pastor's Blog
  • Bulletin
  • Contact