Psalm 46 (Year A May 29-June 4) is a song of Zion, where the city seems inviolable, a theology consistent with other Zion hymns and Isaiah. However, many consider it a psalm of confidence. It inspired both “A Mighty Fortress is our God,” by Martin Luther, and “Be Still, My Soul,” by Catherine von Schlegel. The theme of this psalm is the intrepid confession of faith in God. It expresses the confidence the community in God. The three parts of the psalm focus on creation, history, and eschatology. The affirmation that God is our refuge, as in Psalm 62:9, may reflect the deliverance of Jerusalem from Sennacherib in 701. The superscription addressed the leader of the music in the Temple. If accurate, the reference to Korahites would make this a post-exilic psalm (II Chronicles 20:19). It is played to the tune of Alamoth. It is part of the Elohistic Psalter (42-83). Verses 1-3 offer a confession of faith rising above the raging of nature at creation. The theme of the psalm is that God our refuge, strength, and therefore a needed and real help in trouble (18:2). Therefore, the total collapse of what is finite cannot frighten the faithful. It takes great boldness to declare that they will not fear when the world is falling apart. The mythological language goes back to Canaanite traditions and subduing monsters in creation. God is our rock of secure footing, of joy, and of strength from which to deal with the problems of life. God protects us by equipping us to face that which cannot be avoided. Such a refuge does not go away and does not change. Verses 4-7 offer confession of faith above the assaults of the nations in history. Since there is no river in Jerusalem, a mythological rising of Eden is possible when it refers to a river whose streams make glad the city of God, which is the habitation of the Most High (Elyon). This contrasts with the desolation mentioned previously, for God has domesticated the waters of chaos. No catastrophe threatens the rule of God. God is the one on whom Jerusalem relies, not military might. The psalmist envisions God as dwelling in Jerusalem. As the dangerous night ends, the psalmist envisions an opportune time, a time when deliverance comes. The reference to the nations roaring suggests a siege of the city, the historical event taking on cosmic significance. The Lord (Yahweh) of hosts refers to the Ark, the Lord becoming a warrior who is with them, the God of Jacob being a refuge. Verses 8-11 are a testimony to God, who rises above the battlefield to establish the kingdom of peace. The work of the Lord brings desolations on the earth, to which the enemy is a witness. The Lord destroys armaments, testifying that God does not want war. God will end all war, as any true military leader would want to do. Isaiah 2:4 and Micah 4:3 contain a similar affirmation. The political leaders in Jerusalem should cease military alliances, step back and let go of the panic attack the enemy has caused, recognizing in that pause the presence and power of God. The exhortation is to stop waging war and let the world know God and submit. God’s kingdom will come, and it will bring peace. Not a dream, but strong faith. It suggests the enthusiastic response of the people. They have communion with God and God protects them. There is expectation of future fulfillment of these promises. The refrain of the psalm is its conclusion: the Lord of hosts is with us and the God of Jacob is our refuge.
Genesis 6:11-22, 7:24, 8:14-19 (Year A May 29-June 4) is part of the flood story. Its source is the Mesopotamian story in the 11th tablet of the Epic of Gilgamesh, but there are stories of such floods in Ireland, among Native Americans, and in the outback of Australia. Archeology has shown that a great saltwater sea flooded the area of the Black Sea around 5000 BC. In the opening of Genesis, the relationship between God and creation is that of punishing-then-promising. Three characteristics distinguish Noah from his contemporaries: He was righteous, blameless, and he "walked with God," a phrase used only of Noah and Enoch (5:22, 24, also from the Priestly tradition). In this story, the earth is at fault before God, so God will destroy the earth (6:11-13, 17), corresponding to "wickedness" in 6:5. God brought the flood due to the corruption and violence of “all flesh” (including that of animals). The earth and all living things are corrupt, entangled in the guilt that brings the judgment of the flood. God made the world good, but creatures have corrupted it.[1] God tells Noah of the divine decision to destroy all living things, for the earth is full of violence or lawlessness. The destructive waters of chaos falling from the heavens and rising from the earth will return to the earth to its original uninhabited state when the wind or spirit of God moved over the primordial deep (1:2). He receives specific instructions for the construction of the Ark. God will destroy all living things in which is the breath (spirit) of life, showing that all life is intimately connected with the Spirit, humans sharing with animals what separates them from other parts of creation. [2] For the first time in the canonical order, God will establish a covenant with Noah. The various covenants recorded in the biblical record will have a variety of forms, here preceding instructions for Noah to save himself, family, and animal life. Linking of humanity and animal is familiar in the Old Testament, viewing animals as a prefiguration of humanity.[3] The commission of dominion does not have in view a dominion of force, but a relation such as we find with domestic animals or flocks, which includes caring for the continued existence of animals.[4] This ordering of the elements of the passage make clear that the covenantal act on God's part is the preservation of a righteous remnant from the midst of comprehensive perdition. Noah is faithful to what God commanded. The waters filled the earth. When the earth was dry, God has Noah and his family leave the Ark with every living thing so that they can fulfill the first command to all living creatures to be fruitful and multiply (1:22). Thus, only after the flood is the blessing extended to animals. The concluding verse of the passage, mirroring the opening of the passage, confirms the instructions given by God, and those saved from the flood, human and animal, depart from the ark "by families," preserving the Priestly tradition's emphasis on making careful distinctions. The most important distinction in that tradition in the present passage, of course, is the distinction between the faithful Noah and those surrounding him who lacked that saving faith.
Following the lectionary, we do not publicly read that “the Lord was sorry that he had made humankind on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. So the Lord said, ‘I will blot out from the earth the human beings I have created’” (Genesis 6:6-7). Nor do we ever read the repeated theme of Genesis 7:21-23: “[A]ll flesh died that moved on the earth.” The story is terrible and frightening. There is lots of death and destruction in this story. It takes sin and evil seriously. Some aspects of our culture cannot imagine taking sin this seriously, for we are all doing the best we can. We do not have the right to judge. Our post-modern age is more comfortable with judging anyone who disagrees with our political agenda, since implementing our agenda is power and power is all that is important, since our agenda is righteous and just, and therefore, the agenda of the other is evil and unjust. In either setting, the church needs to take its stand with truth and goodness, an implication of which is that the immediate impact of its proclamation and action may not be about reconciliation, love, and comfort. The flood story invites us to reflect upon the human condition. Read the morning paper and it will have stories of death, chaos, and destruction through our wickedness. We prefer to think we are endless victims of sinister victimizers. Racial animosity has its origin here. Hatred of Jews begins here. It might be capitalists, the wealthy, the white men, and the list goes onward. If we are endlessly victims, we need affirmation and support from the rescuing therapist, for we need a liberator from the right political tribe. The truth that we are sinners is takes each of us seriously. It takes our reality seriously. We may well need to return to seeing the truth of who we are and therefore the harsh reality that we are sinners.[5]
We must never forget that along with the judgment the flood represents, but Noah and his Ark represent a path of redemption. He fills up his boat with a future.
Psalm 33:1-12 (Year A June 5-11) is part of a psalm used during a festival for the New Year.[6] It praises the faithful care of the Lord and the joy of trusting in the Lord. The creator of the world maintains control of it. All human power pales in significance to divine power. As a joyful hymn, it celebrates the gracious action of the Lord in creation and in the life of the world. Verses 1-5 are an introduction that calls hearers to sing a hymn, indicating worship is the focus. Rejoicing and offering praise are in parallel construction, both suggesting a relationship to the Lord that is intensely personal and transforming. The appeal is to the righteous and upright, also in parallel construction, describing those who gather those for worship. The psalmist then reveals the corporate worship context of this psalm by naming the instruments and tunes to be sued. The word and work of the Lord, in parallel construction is upright and faithful, suggesting a total view of the acts of God as a sequence or series in which we can well speak of the history of the acts of God.[7] The world that the Lord created by a word, which is right, is full of the faithful care of the Lord. As a result of how it was created (verse 6), the world is a place of rightness, justice, and hesed (verse 5). In verses 6-9, the hymn testifies to the power of the word of the Lord at creation. Note the parallel construction of word and breath here. [8] Word and Spirit are divine creative activity.[9] As in Genesis 1, creation is by the divine word, the making of the heavens, the confinement of the chaotic waters, and the peopling of the earth. All inhabitants of the world must be in awe of the creator. In an impressive formulation of the creative power of the word of the Lord, the Lord spoke and it was done. The Lord commanded and it stood fast.[10] The creative power of the word is structurally different from the prophetic word in verse 9.[11] Verses 10-12 refer to the counsel of the Lord in history. Human plans can easily come to nothing while the plans of the Lord are eternal. This portion of the psalm ends by stressing the special relation of the Lord with Israel. We do need to note the sharp contrast between “the nations” and “the peoples” on the one hand and Israel on the other. While the Lord frustrates one, the chosen people are happy. Behind the apparent disorder of history, the poet sees the hand of God with the eyes of faith. From Israel first emerged a great vision of the divine purpose inherent in history.
Genesis 12:1-9 (Year A June 5-11) relates the call of Abram in the J document (verses 1-4a, 6-9) with an insertion from the P document (verses 4b-5). Up to this point in the Bible, J has painted history in the broadest possible strokes. He has taken a universal view, showing humanity has failed in relation to the Lord and to each other. Adam and Eve were unable to obey one simple command. They experienced exile, the woman would have pain in childbirth, and produce from the land would be difficult. Humanity would continue its course of wickedness to which the Lord will respond with judgment. Most recently, the expression of arrogance in building the tower of Babel resulted in the judgment of the confusion of human language and separation into nations. Was such judgment the final word from the Lord? The story of human origins to this point in J wants to present us with the urgency of this question.[12] From this point on, J will view and interpret history through the slim opening of a single social line, the seed of Abram, chosen by the Lord to be a blessing to all the families of the earth. The point of the call of Abram is to heal the breach between the Lord and the nations. In a mere four verses, we have described the creation of an entire people and the establishment of a radically new kind of relationship between humanity and divinity. The “call of Abram” does more than separate a lone herdsman from his ancestral family. This “call” separates the old animistic, anthropocentric notions of the universe from a remarkably new way of viewing the divine/human or creator/creation relationship. Abram’s family was from Ur, a large city and a major center for the worship of the moon-god Sin. The Lord promises to Abram that which we all seek: a place, family, and fullness of life. In the promise that a nation shall arise out of him, a nation not named in the previous list of the nations, we find the Lord willing to do something new. The text does not yet suggest the reason for the choice of Abram. The Lord has decided by grace to work with a family that will be the beginning of a people and eventually a nation. What would have happened if Abram had stayed home? That would have been natural in his culture. Typically, one stayed with the clan and the religion of the clan. Abram, in letting go of his home, liberated himself to create a new home. He became free to worship and serve the Lord in his own way. In this powerful word from the Lord, “Go, you,” the Lord is creating something new. It is a dramatic divine summons upon the life of Abram. Direct divine-human communication is presented matter-of-factly throughout much of the Hebrew Bible, with dreams, visions and similar accoutrements of divine-human interaction being depicted as common but not necessary. the Lord is asking Abram/Abraham to give up his own identity as a symbol of his commitment to the Lord Yahweh. In Genesis 12:1, the Lord asks Abram to give up his entire past; in Genesis 22, Abraham is asked to give up his future. "Go, you!" severs Abram/Abraham from everything human he would cling to for security and identity. In both cases the lech lecha order leaves Abram/Abraham solely with the Lord -- no past, no future, no family, no land, no people. Just the Lord. He is to go from his country and the house of father decisively and deliberately. While it is unclear exactly what prompted the initial move of Terah from Ur to Haran, there is no ambiguity about what inspired the move of Abram. The Lord’s directive to Abram is straightforward, both in its demand and in its promises. Understanding this call in the context of the ancient household may help. It was the basic domestic unit of the agricultural and nomadic economy. It was a cooperative unit of uncles, aunts, nephews, slaves, and their families. The large group was the primary way they could provide enough food and money for each other. Thus, we can see the dramatic nature of this call to leave the home of the father.[13] This call suggests that to establish his identity and find his place in the plan of the Lord, he had to leave his familiar surroundings. He must deliberately “Go” to fulfill the call of the Lord upon his life.[14] Abram awakens to the call of the Lord. He must pass from a well-known past to a future that is only just opening to him. We can properly look upon this text as analogous to the spiritual journey from the old self to the new self. [15] None of us knows precisely what following the call of the Lord will mean or what places that call may take us. The call of the Lord demands with increasing urgency detachment from strong ties to land as well as from kinship and the family.[16]Going to the land the Lord will show him begins a recurring theme of the Torah. The Lord will make out of a great nation, one not yet named in the list of nations previously in Genesis, progeny being another of the themes of the Torah, and the Lord will bless him and make his name great. These promises come unexpectedly as an act of grace. Abram has no merit that we know of that would be a reason for this divine choice. In 11:4, the people want to make a name for themselves by building a tower to challenge God. Here, the Lord will give him a name as he fulfills his calling. Other texts related to David and the sacral kingship seem to have similar language. In II Samuel 7:9, the Lord says David will have a great name. Psalm 71:17 refers to the name of the king enduring forever. The elect community is an anticipation of the future of human fellowship with God and with each other. The full significance of the passing notation of Sarai's barrenness in 11:31 now becomes clear, as Abram is promised not only land, but descendants to fill it, a theme that runs through Genesis. The purpose of these descendants is to be a blessing. Abram becomes a witness to the Lord as he moves toward the goal. He bears this witness, not only to the people of his hometown and to the inhabitants of Canaan, but also to the estranged Sarah, to the unsuspecting Isaac, and to all those implicated in his history. He is this quite simply by doing what the Lord tells him to do in strict obedience and blind trust. He emerges as one who is called by the Lord to represent and reveal by way of anticipation what the Lord wills to do and will do, even though the Lord begins to do it in great concealment.[17] The call itself comes naturally, as if Abram has known the Lord throughout his life. The call relies upon what Abram already knew of the Lord.[18] The Lord bless those who bless him and curse those who curse him, and in Abram the families of the earth shall be blessed, making the offspring of Abram for the benefit of all the families of the earth, Israel becoming the bridge between humanity, whom the Lord judged at the Tower of Babel, and the Lord who is preparing a path of redemption for humanity. Like Noah, Abram does what the Lord commanded, although he is unlike many biblical characters who object to their calling. The narrator dismisses as unimportant any struggle of soul that might have occurred. He portrays the fact of mute obedience in simplicity. With this emigration begins his great alien existence and that of his descendants.[19] Despite his willingness to go where the Lord told him to go, fight whom he had to fight; despite his faithful altar-building activities and his sacrificial devotion to the Lord, whom he was only beginning to know, Abram could not help but notice that his life lacked a crucial component necessary for him to become the father of this promised "great nation." He had no son, no heir, no one to whom to pass on any inheritance. Verses 4b-5 shows the obedience of Abram. He becomes a model Israelite. To expect the ancients to leave ancestral bonds was almost impossible. Without cavil, Abram obeys the divine summons. The inconspicuous detail of mentioning the purchase of slaves in Haran indicates both Abram's growing wealth and power, and the growing diversity of his household, for we later learn that his chief steward is from Damascus, 300 miles of Haran, and the bearer of his first son, Hagar, is Egyptian. Abram's household reflects the universality of the blessing originating with it. The text concludes in verses 6-9 by showing the geographical progress. Shechem would be important throughout the early biblical period, the oak of Moreh was a cult center for the Canaanites and appropriated by the Patriarchs. The note that reminds readers that the Canaanites were then in the land means that such a time is a distant memory for the author and readers. The Lord appearing to Abram is an analogy to and important background for the appearing of the risen Lord to the disciples in the New Testament. The Lord promises that the offspring of Abram will receive this land, so Abram builds an altar where the Lord appeared to him, displaying exemplary piety in doing so, despite the promise of what is now an impossible future. He then goes to Bethel and worships there by invoking the name of the Lord. He continues south to the Negev.
The image of Abram traveling 500 miles has become an important analogy for the journey in which most of our lives consist of. We are drawn to stories of people on the road. Migration is part of human history. Walt Whitman wrote "Song of the Open Road," Jack London penned The Road, and then in the late 1940s. Americans are on the move every 5.2 years. Some have dreams of living on Mars or Europa. The grass is not always on the greener on the other side of the fence – but it might be, so we keep moving. One can reach such a destination, remembering that it happens one step at a time. Faith means taking out on a journey which means leaving all that is familiar and secure and gives us identity. Faith means heading out for destinations we cannot see. The focus of our attention needs to be on where God is leading and guiding us. To receive a blessing from the Lord is never the end game. The Lord chose Israel to be “a light to the nations” (Isaiah 49:6). Jesus “came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). Followers of Christ are “to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last” (John 15:16). The Lord blesses those who engage the Lord in their journey of life, but the purpose of such blessing is never to cling to them as if they are a personal possession. We receive them in that moment, but we also learn to share them with others whose unique journeys overlap with our journey. There is a wonderful hymn that reminds us how important it is to experience God as the source of our lives.
Guide me, O thou great Jehovah,
pilgrim through this barren land.
I am weak, but thou art mighty;
hold me with thy powerful hand.
Bread of heaven, bread of heaven,
feed me till I want no more;
feed me till I want no more.
Psalm 116:1-2, 12-19 (Year A June 12-18, added verses 3-4 in Year A Third Sunday of Easter) is a hymn of thanksgiving for recovery from serious illness. He must face his recent suffering and impending death, but he relies upon the Lord for help and deliverance. He can rely upon the Lord because the Lord is gracious, righteous, and merciful. The help the Lord provides transforms him. He has kept the faith even while going through affliction. He knows his weakness, but he focuses upon faithfulness. The author places himself before the Lord as a servant, offering thanks to the Lord. He has a fear of death. He is aware that death surrounds him and the suffering of Sheol, a common symbol for dire sickness or trouble, lays hold of him. He suffers distress and anguish. The poet is helpless and relies upon God. The Lord can deliver. The Lord has answered his cry for help in the past and now he calls upon the help of the Lord again. In verse 12, thus, in answer to his prayer, the Lord transforms his being. He wonders what he can give to the Lord to express his gratitude. The cup refers to part of the libation that accompanies the offering of thanksgiving. The death of the faithful is precious to the Lord because death is costly. The Lord does not wish those who adhere to the Lord to die. Therefore, the poet is assured that the Lord keep him alive. He expresses humility as he becomes a servant of the Lord the rest of his life. The Lord has freed him from the bondage of his illness or trouble, so he will offer his thank offering at the Temple.
Genesis 18:1-15 (Year A June 12-18) relates an appearance of the Lord to Abraham. We see the ancient Israelite tradition struggling with the forms of that divine manifestation and divine work may take in the world. We see the transcendent and immanent elements at work. The story focuses on the human side of wrestling with the delay of the fulfillment of the promise for a son. The question in the mind of Abraham and Sarah is whether the Lord is good, for the good person keeps a promise. The Lord appears to Abraham, anticipating and providing the background for the account of the appearances of the risen Lord in the New Testament. This appearance was near the oaks of Mamre, as he sat by the entrance of his tent in the heat of the day. Although he sees three men, the Lord appears in all three visitors. Yet, the relationship is unclear. What seems important here from a Christian perspective is that the Old Testament is already struggling with the forms that divine manifestation and divine work in the world. The Lord is transcendent, of course, but also immanent. Angels have special relation to God in that God is directly present in them as divine instruments and messengers. In this case, the author is not clear if the appearance involves God or someone different from God.[20] Abraham was consistent with the emphasis on hospitality when he met them and bowed to the ground. Only slowly does Abraham realize to whom he is talking. Abraham emphasizes his humility by referring to himself as a servant of the Lord. He offers water and drink to the Lord, which is unusual, but they affirm that he does what he said. What Abraham prepares exceeds his modest offer. One of the three said that in he would return and Sarah will have a son. Sarah seems down-to-earth, impulsive, and deceptive. They are meddlesome travelers. Her laughter brings her close to unbelief. [21] Unbelief by Sarah is understandable, as it always is. Yet could the laughter be surprise at the extraordinary announcement? Human beings need to laugh at themselves. Laughter due to the distance between the giver and gift on the one hand and oneself on the other is quite appropriate.[22] The climax of the story is in the question the Lord asks Abraham: Is anything to wonderful for the Lord? Sarah denies that she laughed. The author of the J document takes great interest in the human side of this story, especially in the delay of the fulfillment of the promise.
Psalm 86:1-10, 16-17 (Year A June 19-25) is an individual lament. It calls on the help of the Lord.Several of the appeals to God include a reason God should answer the prayer, based either on the character/qualities of God or upon the fidelity of the poet to God. Verses 1-7 is a prayer of supplication derived from the liturgy rather than personal experience, phrasing its thought in general terms. Not appealing to his personal piety, the poet knows God is the only one who can make him godly by teaching and help. Although referring to himself as poor and needy may refer to his socioeconomic status, they may also be literary tropes to signify the absence of protection the poet feels. See parallels in Psalms 40:17 and 70:5. Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit” (Matthew 5:3a). The implication is that it is only those who know and express their need for God who will receive what they need. The priestly blessing of Numbers 6:24 is for the Lord to keep the congregation, and here, the poet asks for that keeping/preserving action of the Lord. He testifies that he is devoted (Hasid, holy/godly) toward the Lord, and thus asks the Lord to save this servant of the Lord who trusts and is confident in the Lord. The Lord is his God, so he asks that the Lord be gracious to him since he persists in crying to the Lord all day. He asks the Lord to gladden the soul of this servant, since he lifts his soul to the Lord. The basis of his appeal is that to those who call upon the Lord, the Lord is good, forgiving, which is a quality of the Lord this poet emphasizes, abounding in steadfast love/hesed, representing the covenant loyalty connected with the relationship between the Lord and the people of the Lord. This is an amazing gift because most of the love we experience in life is fleeting and emotional. However, the love of God is steadfast and consistent, firm and unwavering. It has its basis on the character of God, and it expresses the generosity, faithfulness, and mercy of God. A key description of the character of the Lord is in Exodus 34:6-7, where God is merciful, gracious, abounding in hésed and faithfulness, keeping hésed for many generations and forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin, even while not clearing the guilty. Thus, he asks the Lord to listen to his petition. In the day of his trouble he calls upon the Lord, for the he has confidence the Lord will answer him. Verses 8-10 are a hymn of praise that derive from the liturgy rather than personal experience. Worship has nourished the piety of this poet. In facing the majesty of God, the worshipper sees his own inadequacy. Thus, there is none like the Lord among the gods, a henotheistic statement. The nations shall recognize that the Lord has made them and shall bow before the Lord and glorify the name of the Lord. He then says that the Lord has done great and wondrous things and is alone God, suggesting monotheism. Paraphrasing the middle of the priestly blessing in Numbers 6:25, verses 16-17 urge the Lord to turn to him and gracious to him, giving strength to this servant of the Lord, asking the Lord to save, rescue, or deliver this servant who is humble, meek, and low before the Lord. He asks for a sign of favor that the Lord will help him, so that those who hate him will see it and be put to shame, since the Lord has helped and comforted him.
Genesis 21:8-21 (Year A June 19-25) is the story of the dismissal of Hagar and Ishmael. Paul will deal with this theme in Galatians 4:21-30. In the Quran, Abraham takes Hagar and Ishmael to Mecca and establishes them in that place. The text uses the term Elohim for God. The turning points in the story involve “seeing” and “hearing.” It suggests the importance of what we choose to see and hear as well. The story is distressing regarding the character of Abraham and Sarah. I have no interest in protecting the character of either patriarch or matriarch. Other scenes in their story show a questionable quality of character. However, this scene may not be such an example, as much as a surface reading may suggest or an untrusting reading of the witness of the text. The occasion is the weaning of Isaac (I Samuel 1:23-24; I Kings 11:20; Hosea 1:8), which in the ancient Near East may not take place until a child is 3 years old, by which time Abraham may have concluded that Isaac was past the critical first years of life and was likely to reach adulthood, a genuine cause for celebration. The Bible pays little attention to this stage of life, since so many children died in infancy and early childhood. Sarah observes Isaac and Ishmael playing together and wants Abraham to cast them into the wilderness. What she saw is ambiguous. Did she observe molestation? We do not know. To the credit of Abraham, her request concerning his son distresses him. Yet, he still does as she requests. At this point, we as readers can adopt the stance of trusting the witness of the text. The text is clear that God assures Abraham that Hagar and Ishmael will be all right. In fact, Ishmael, like Isaac, will be the father of a great nation. It was this promise that assures Abraham that God wanted him to agree with Sarah. Thus, from what human beings can see, I suppose, Abraham appears weak in agreeing with Sarah. However, the text allows us to see that once again God takes a direct interest in Abraham and communicates directly with him. God has a plan, and once again, Abraham agrees to the plan. However, things become desperate for mother and son as they wander in the wilderness. Mother places her child in the bushes because she does not want to watch him die. She weeps. Here is one of the places in the Old Testament where the text moves between “angel of God” and “God,” God being so present in the angel as to make an encounter with one an encounter with both. Such a text prepares us for the Christian view of the Trinity as seeking to resolve the tension between the transcendence and immanence of God. In any case, she hears from the divine from heaven a promise that her son will be the ancestor of a great nation. She opens her eyes and sees water, which shares with her son. The boy becomes the ancestor of the Bedouins, hunters, and plunders. The story reminds us that God protects those whom human beings reject. It hints that God has a plan and blessing for all peoples and not just for Israel.
The story of Hagar and Sarah finds an allegorical interpretation in Galatians 4:21-31. Paul likens Hagar to “Mount Sinai” or the law, or “present Jerusalem,” but Sarah is compared to the “Jerusalem above.” The one is a slave, the other is a “free woman.” In a letter in which Paul is teaching the Galatian community how to crawl out from under the oppressive thumb of the law, he uses Hagar to remind us that we are children not of the “slave” but of the “free woman.” The child of a slave must worry about what not to do; the child of a “free woman” — if she worries at all — worries about what it is possible to do. Both by nature (see chapter 3 and Paul’s discussion of “adoption”) and by circumstance, we are called children of God; the filial relationship was not earned by merit, but by grace. Paul will go on to describe the fruit of such a relationship in Chapter 5. Paul turns to the allegory to help the Galatian Christian to stop listening to the voices of the so-called Judaizers, and to listen instead to the voice of the Spirit calling them to freely express the grace and work of Jesus Christ.
Psalm 13 (Year A June 26-July 2) is an individual lament, the prayer of a sick person, uttered in the sanctuary where the psalmist presumes the Lord is present. The psalm is an expression of grief by an Israelite experiencing a sense of spiritual abandonment, as in the more famous opening line of Psalm 22. It is also a plea for a restoration of the relationship with the divine that the psalmist had once enjoyed. In such individual laments, we have an expression of individuality that we do not usually find in the Old Testament, given its usual communal context. We find literature that expresses personal and private hope, fear, anguish, confusion, and rage. Such “spiritual laments of the individual” became the single most common psalm type by expressing for so many “the perennial misery of life.”[23] It has the theme of a person on the verge of death and harboring doubts about the goodness and presence of the Lord. The repetition of “How long” forms a refrain, emphasizing the long-standing sense of abandonment by the poet. The concern that the Lord will forget the poet and hide the face of the Lord from the poet is a concern regarding the present relationship the Lord has with the poet. Almost half the psalms are focused on God’s apparent absence and on the writers’ cries for help. The poet wrestles with his thoughts, having an internal conversation and dealing with internal sorrow. We learn again that doubt is not the enemy of faith. The psalter invites us to wrestle with faith and doubt. In fact, doubt and questioning can lead us deeper. The unnamed enemy has power over him. If the Lord considers and answers him, it will allow him to return to strength. Without this consideration, the poet will sleep the sleep of death, representing the separation that occurs between the Lord and humans that occurs in death. This lack of consideration from the Lord will mean the enemy will prevail. In contrast to his enemies, he trusts in the hesed/steadfast love and loyalty of the Lord, his heart rejoices with a lightened burden in the salvation the Lord brings. The Lord chooses to simply come alongside humanity with trustworthy love, taking on our suffering and redeeming it. Such an “answer” to the question of suffering, evil, and divine absence is admittedly frustrating. For the person of faith, it offers profound comfort that from the outside will be mystifying. God is one who is with us always and everywhere. God does not care occasionally. Many people of faith have learned that God is present in the deepest depths of our sorrowing and questioning hearts, as well as in the heights of assurance. God is present in a deeper and more profound way than the person ever knew before. We need God most when we are stumbling along and in pain.[24] His response will be to sing to the Lord because of the generous dealing of the Lord with him.
Genesis 22:1-14 (Year A June 26-July 2) is the story of the near-sacrifice by Abraham of his son Isaac. The full story extends to verse 19, an E story, but with elements of J at verses 11, 14, 15, and 18. It has parallels with the E story of the near-death of Ishmael. It raises questions regarding the call of God, obedience to God, and the providence of God. The theme of this story is that of God testing Abraham. The call to leave home for an unknown future, the childlessness of his wife, his fear of for his life due to the admiration of a ruler (12:10-20 and 20:1-18), were also tests of Abraham. The test involves the trust Abraham would have in the goodness of God and the extent he was willing to obey. Will he become a man of faith? Since the Old Testament has such profound abhorrence of child sacrifice, we as readers ponder why God tests Abraham in this way. Our horror in reading the story is a reminder that God calls no one to sacrifice a child or loved one. The system of animal sacrifice in the Old Testament in part is a setting aside of the practice of child sacrifice that was part of the religious system of the neighbors of Israel. For Christians, this story provided images and metaphors for the significance of the cross of Jesus, the beloved Son of the Father, setting aside the violence of animal sacrifice. What the Father did not allow Abraham to do, the Father did in the giving of the Son to the point of his death. The story troubles us because we wonder if God could ask us to do an abhorrent thing. The point of the ethical stipulations in both testaments is to give content to what means to love God and neighbor. This ought to draw us closer to God and neighbor. However, in extreme cases, we may need to suspend the ethical for the sake of our vocation before God. When the moment involves Nazi Germany, could a pastor have a calling to play a minor role in assassinating Hitler? The suspension of the ethical for the sake of the call of God is a serious test of who and whose we are. The narrator lets us as readers off the hook because we know it is just a test. For Abraham, this call from God, this event, this moment, must be taken seriously. Will he give up the child of promise? Will Abraham trust the goodness of God? He does not argue with God for strangers, as he did in Chapter 18, where the question involved is whether God is just, but does not argue for his beloved son of promise, for here the issue is not the execution of his son but the unblemished sacrifice of the child of promise. Isaac wonders where the animal to sacrifice is, carrying the wood that would become the altar on which he will lay, making him a participant in the sacrifice of his own life. He obeys silently and without question. He meticulously prepares the altar and raises the knife, the narrator building suspense to the point where the angel of the Lord interrupting him. The angel knows that he fears God, and thereby passes the test in not withholding that which most precious to him. The story raises the question of how precious the finite and temporal relationships we have with things and people have become to us. Death is our enemy because some of these relationships end too early, and we must live our lives without persons we have loved. This reminds us that we will die and the relationships that are precious to us will end. The Christian hope is that we will find peace, justice, and reconciled relationships in the eternal and infinite presence of God. The provision of the ram caught in a bush foreshadows the paschal lamb in Exodus 12. There is no way to avoid the troubling nature of this story, and in fact, the best interpretation may well be the one makes it more troubling for our time.
Psalm 45:10-17 (Year A July 3-9) breathes the spirit of the festive joy of the wedding ceremony. It shares with other royal psalms an affirmation of the might and justice of the king and concludes by saying the nations shall praise him. It calls upon the queen to forget her past, especially her people and her father's house, so that she would give herself totally to the king. The poet gives comfort in that the loss of home is compensated for by loyalty of new subjects. In the ancient Near East, wives were subservient to their husbands, and abandoned the practices and religion of their birth family for those of their husbands. Even queens must do so.
The Song of Solomon (2:8-13 Year A July 3-9) is an ode to erotic love. The passionate longings of its characters give us important insights into the nature of human desire and the nature of God's desire for us. The references to vineyards and gardens in the Song may refer to the Garden of Eden. That story did not end happily. It ended with alienation and separation. This Song suggests restoration of the intimacy that existed there, between man and woman and between humanity and God.[25] In some ways, the Freudian openness regarding sexuality allows us to see the honesty regarding romantic love contained in this book better than the ancient church. We are ensouled bodies (Barth), and thus are not whole persons if we ignore either aspect of who we are. The intimate relationship between man and woman is a gift of creation. God has an interest in us as whole persons. Granting that the relationship between Adam and Eve in both its intimacy and its alienation is the story of every male and female relationship, then the poetry of the Songs of Songs reflects the redemption of intimacy and sexuality. The couple is naked in the garden and enjoying each other fully and thoroughly. The book contains a celebration of sexuality and caution regarding it.
I invite you to reflect upon the discipleship dimension of our enjoyment of the pleasures of this life. The text properly focuses upon sexuality. Most of the Bible seems content to refer to sex either with prohibitions or with the restrained references to marriage and posterity. The church hesitates to talk about sexual love. We are rightfully modest about these matters. Such things are private and reserved for the intimate relationship between couples. Yet, our society forces us to think about sexual matters in an increasingly public way. Since the beginning of the 20th century, our culture has compulsively talked more about sex than it has anything else. We have become so preoccupied with sex, and yet, derive so little meaning, happiness, and fun from having it. Yet, the Song of Solomon revels in the “more” of romantic, sensual love. This fact could be a doorway for us as followers of Jesus to enjoy not only sexual pleasure, but also other pleasures of this life that may come our way as well. To state the obvious, we ought not to derive our meaning and purpose from finite pleasures. Of course, one could become addicted to any of these pleasures. Any designed pleasure can become a path to self-destruction. Such is the power of sin. Yet, the danger ought not to keep us from genuine enjoyment. Such reminders represent the modesty we need to have regarding our desires. However, we would hardly be disciples who have learned to express gratitude if we did not enjoy the pleasures of this life. It seems quite right to offer to the Lord the right-minded desires of our hearts (Psalm 20:4). The Lord withholds no good thing from those who live rightly (Psalm 84:11). The fulfillment of the desires of the heart becomes a tree of life (Proverbs 13:12). A realized desire is sweet to the soul (Proverbs 13:19). Rightly ordered desire ends only in good (Proverbs 11:23). God will grant rightly ordered desire (Proverbs 10:24). Of course, the rightly ordered desire of our hearts do not always find fulfillment. Such experiences are part of the suffering and struggle of this life. Even then, our desire may well have dictated certain courses of action that proved their worth. Sexual desire, rightly ordered, leads to an encounter that a man and a woman have the privilege of enjoying. My suggestion is that if that is true, then other desires of our hearts are also important to God. If we have some good fortune, we may find that desire fulfilled as well.
Sensuality and the dual reproductive apparatus provide for new human beings in succession. Inescapably, the vagina and the penis are made for each other. Sexuality is this coincidence of sensuality and male-female differentiation. The union that occurs is not an impersonal event, but an event in which we captivate each other and become bodily present to the other. Sexuality rescues the human communal character from being a mere ideal. We have no choice but to be fellow-human, and this receives emphasis in that we cannot say “human” without saying man and woman. The woman is for this man, and the man is for this woman, which is the eminent and decisive fellow-human moment. This difference is the only structural difference between human beings, for all other distinctions are human creations. One may hate the shape of one’s body, but maleness or femaleness are not the product of malleable or contingent psychology or social construction. Such givenness of our maleness or femaleness does not allow us to shirk the responsibility of embracing the task and opportunity of being the man or woman whom God has called us to be.[26] A consequence of this sexual reality is that the family is the essential institution of any community. The laws that regulate sexuality, that stipulate what constitutes a family and enforce its integrity, are a condition of all other law-making. Laws regarding sexuality are the reality test of law, for the future of society is at stake. Since the stability of satisfying sexual desire encourages cultural stability, sexual anarchy will lead to rule by arbitrary force, for it brings with it the weakening of the home. A second consequence of sexuality is its humanizing rule. Intercourse is a gesture toward another, a promise of shared life, as one body engulfs another and that body enters another, abolishing the distance between the two. Intercourse is something less than this type of communication, for sin touches it as well. A final consequence of this view of sexuality is that a society will do all it can to encourage heterosexual monogamy. A form of serial polygamy occurs as divorce legislation liberalizes. [27]
The Song of Solomon itself is a reminder of the power of sexual desire.[28] As part of a sacred text, it points to both romantic love and the divine reflection of that love.
First, the Song reminds us that sex is good and is a gift of God. At the same time, the collection of songs expresses the elusiveness of love, the blessedness of beauty, the importance of devotion, and that love is lasting until death. This text reminds us that sexuality for us is not simply a biological urge to merge. It represents so much more than that. This text celebrates romantic love. God created us with sexual desire, including passion and romance. The story communicates the elusiveness of romantic love. Sexual love is desire, and as such, it will not bring fulfillment into our lives. I grant that in romance novels people speak of romantic love as if it brings union with another human being. The quest for oneness with another human being always ends with the awareness that you are still two persons who must work out the complexities of a relationship. As important as romance may be to us, we recognize at some level that we need more than romance. True lovers seek to bring pleasure to the other person. Yet, too often, our expression of sexual desire is little more than getting the other to meet our needs. In the Song of Solomon, we find love woven with play, imagination, and delight — a nudity that it both exalted and desired. Moreover, there is no guilt found anywhere regarding the body or sexual desire. Considering this song invites us to consider the good gift of God that sex is.
Second, as a gift from God, this little Song invites us to honor our sexuality. The Bible and the church are not against sex, although it can feel like it at times. Christians have been part of movements that have banned books due to their sexual content. Yet, discomfort with sexual content is unfortunate because it causes us to miss the wider value of these banned books and to see the role that sexual material plays in the larger stories. At the same time, the Bible and the church have a profound respect for the power of sex. It can give life or death. It can heal and destroy. Yet, this Song can become quite steamy. The woman says, "Your love is better than wine, your anointing oils are fragrant, your name is perfume poured out; therefore, the maidens love you .... I held him, and would not let him go until I brought him into my mother's house, and into the chamber of her that conceived me." The man says, "Your two breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle, which feed among the lilies .... How sweet is your love, my sister, my bride! How much better is your love than wine, and the fragrance of your oils than any spice." The woman says, "My beloved thrust his hand into the opening, and my inmost being yearned for him. I arose to open to my beloved, and my hands dripped with myrrh, my fingers with liquid myrrh, upon the handles of the bolt. ... I am faint with love." Yes, this Song can get steamy. I wonder how many Christians would want it banned! Yet, these words come from Holy Scripture (Song of Songs (Solomon) 1:2-3; 3:4; 4:5, 10; 5:4-5, 8). Sex motivates us consciously or unconsciously when we fall in love. If the relationship continues long enough, we will fall out of love. Sexual love needs time to mature into real love as a couple works at building an enduring relationship. Otherwise, all sexual attractions end in disappointments and disaster.[29] The Song is a reminder of the human fear of isolation, aloneness, and separation that forms the foundation of much our anxiety. We long for an encounter that will address our anxiety. Yet, we avoid a genuine encounter when we lose ourselves in work, pleasing others, popularity, and wealth. We long for an encounter with something greater than we are. Yet, we focus upon and cling to finite things. Our longing may result in the false encounters created by addiction to drugs, alcohol, sexuality, or religion. We might even submerge our individual longing into those of the crowd and identify with its customs and beliefs. Such attempts to overcome our fear of aloneness are futile because they seek fulfillment in finite things. As important and valuable as finitude is, it derives its meaning from a connection from the Infinite and Eternal. The finite can only be a partial answer to the longings of the human heart. It ought not to surprise us that we find a hint of the answer to our longing for an encounter in love.[30]
Third, the Song hints at the discipline we need as we experience sexual desire. It hints at the genuinely enjoyable nature of our sexuality. It suggests that our desires are strong enough that they may occur outside of a committed relationship. When we consider the rest of Scripture, we need to remember that the happiness of a home outweighs the momentary nature of sexual desire. We need to note the close connection between God and Eros. This Song stands as a long description of the rapture, the unquenchable yearning and the restless willingness and readiness, with which both partners in the covenant hasten towards an encounter. With this covenant in view, man and woman must hasten toward an encounter despite any hindrance and restriction.[31]Thus, the recurring themes of waiting and longing are not forms of punishment to these lovers. There is no sense of “wanting it all and wanting it now” with them. Instead, the lovers are willing to wait for one another because they know that each is fully committed to the relationship. They can dream of one another, wax poetic about each other, search for one another, even risk harm for one another (5:7), all because each knows that the other is waiting. This is no one-night stand, no dark-alley tryst — it is about unbridled passion found within the bonds of committed love. The truth is that real intimacy (and good sex, by association) is the result of a lot of time and energy invested in commitment, loving our partners with our hearts long before loving them with our bodies. They delay consummation of their love and sexual gratification in favor of a playful and passionate sense of anticipation. Throughout the Song, the lovers move toward and away from one another, in a sense revealing that desire and anticipation are often more intoxicating than instant gratification!
When we make love, the instinct, rhythm, and radiance of the human body come alive. The wisdom of the body has its own grace, ease, and joy. Making love is rich in symbolism and ambivalence. It arises on the threshold between solitude and intimacy, skin and soul, feeling and thought, memory and future. As an expression of love, it becomes an act of great beauty that brings celebration, wonder, delight, closeness, and shelter. If we are ensouled bodies (Barth), then making love is the entwining of two souls.[32]
Making love is that moment when everything seems okay with the world. Its brief moments become an escape from the pain, suffering, and brokenness of life. The world seems right for a brief time, even if things are falling apart. The longing contained within the act of making love is start to again, to give yourself away, to at least make oneself available for hope, healing, and restoration. Sex is so powerful because it provides a glimpse into the world we desire but cannot seem to create.[33]
In the Song of Songs, we can see the basis for sex being a sacramental act. It gives us a glimpse, taste, and sense of the love of God. Divine and human love are embodied, particular, passionate, and playful. Such love is full of hyperbole, longing, and surprise. We best evoke such love with the language of eros. Human eros points us toward God, and in that sense, is sacramental. It becomes such in the context of genuine care, tenderness, and fidelity because God is caring, tender, and faithful. As such, we are not trifle with sex. We need to treasure it, nurture it, and give it room to grow.[34]
Divine and human intimacy share dynamics that make one a school for the other. The safety of the embrace helps us to keep growing and changing.[35] Understanding intimacy in this way takes us beyond the simply sexual. In a culture so obsessed with sex, it desperately lacks intimacy. If we view the sex act itself as the height of intimacy, then we will miss the true gift of intimacy. Human sexuality is itself the desire for intimacy with another, of which the act of sex is only a part.[36] Thus, sharing moments of life, whether it be what happened while apart, sharing housework and raising children, play, and so on, are important ways of developing intimacy that can culminate in the act of making love. Our cultural image is that the best sex is occurring among the wild and free single crowd. Yet, studies regularly show that as a rule, the most satisfied people with their sex life is occurring between two people who are married, over 30, faithful to each other, and who enjoy marriage.[37] Real intimacy (and really good sex) is the result of a lot of time and energy invested in commitment, loving our partners with our hearts long before loving them with our bodies.
Genesis 24: 34-38, 42-49, 58-67 (Year A July 3-9) is the story of the marriage of Isaac. Abraham must get his affairs in order, and part of that process is a suitable marriage partner. The story is from J. The story of this family continues with the common, mundane problem of a wife for the child of Abraham. We need the reminder this story provides of the importance of simple values like family. Any hope we have for the future may well be in recovering a sense of personal responsibility that this story suggests. We find meaning in part by connecting with the sacred character of a human community rather than simply doing our own thing. While money can certainly contribute to our sense of meaning and wellbeing, we will need meaningful relationships to complete the picture. Such little, insignificant matters do not play well on the big screen of world history. Yet, this simple story shows that the Lord has an abiding interest in our personal lives. The things that concern us most are those closest to us. The rich detail of the story of the marriage of Rebekah and Isaac shows the immense importance that the biblical writers placed on marriage customs. The marriage of Isaac and Rebekah is really the first official story of a marriage taking place after the Lord’s covenant with Abraham. This story establishes the favored marriage pattern for Israel, namely, that one marry a cousin, however near or distant, rather than a complete foreigner. The individuals in the story reveal their character in their actions. In this story, the field of divine activity is the internal of the human heart, as God works, guides, and removes resistance. To provide an analogy, people who love theater do not necessarily love being on stage. Yet, what happens on stage in view of the audience could not happen without backstage help. There are many theater students today who aspire not to the stage but to the backstage work on sound, lights, props, backdrops, sets, designs and so on. In this story, God, who has been on stage in so many of the stories in Genesis, suddenly goes backstage, and a humble and obedient servant takes over the stage. Abraham will find a suitable mate among his people from a distant land. God is present in the story of the courtship of Isaac and Rebekah, but in subtle ways. Such is often the case today with the ways of love and romance. We may see divine guidance, or the failure to properly listen to such guidance, only in hindsight. The story reaches a tender climax with the first meeting of Isaac and Rebekah. The field of activity for the Lord is the internal realm of the human heart in which God works, visioning, guiding, and removing resistance. This conception of faith is that of guiding and removing resistance. It represents a contrast with Yahweh acting in miracles or the leaders with charisma, or the cult with ritual practices. No one stands beyond the sweep of the Lord’s providence: man, woman, child, master, servant, husband, wife, son or daughter. The Lord takes care of the people of the Lord. In this case, the Lord brought to Isaac the object of his love's affection. Love is one of the Lord’s sweet gifts, and by grace, it reveals itself in many ways. In marriage, we discover the Lord’s design for two people to share their lives, to support each other through whatever great plan God has created for them. When Isaac looked up and saw camels coming, he could not know that what was also coming was his future, his destiny, his great love. When Rebekah looked up and caught a glimpse of the one she had heard about, she prepared to meet him face to face. In Sarah's tent, Rebekah received love. Isaac received comfort. The Lord had given them new reasons to live. A profound lesson here is that the relationships close to us is the way in which our faith, hope, and love get us through the trials and struggles of life. Gentleness is everywhere in daily life, which is itself a sign that faith rules through ordinary things like cooking, small talk, storytelling, making love, raising children, laughter, fishing, caring for pets and plants, even our love sports, music, and books. Faith is part of our everyday life, the ordinary events and relationships of life. This is where the grace of God shines through.[38]
Psalm 119:105-112 (Year A July 10-16) is the fourteenth stanza devoted to the Hebrew letter nun. It is part of the longest psalm in the Old Testament, having the central theme the word and law of God are decisive in every sphere of life. the psalm is a remarkable example of Israelite devotion to the law. It becomes a hymn in praise of God’s law and a sustained meditation on the role of that law in the life of the person of faith. At least eight different words appear throughout that refer to the Torah or law of God: law, decrees, statutes, commandments, ordinances, word, precepts, and promise. This psalm is an assertion of steadfast devotion to God’s law in the face of affliction. No matter what happens, the psalmist asserts, he will remain devoted to doing what God has instructed. the law is glorious because it gives Israel a direction it is to gladly hear and obey because in it God has revealed divine mercy.[39] The word (davar) has an enormous range of meaning, including speech, command, message, report, thing, and matter. We find the usual reference to divine communication here as well, but the reference to this word being a word of the Lord is a favorite of this psalm. The totality of the divine word is what is a lamp and light that guides the feet of the poet and sheds light on his course of life. In the darkness we will attempt to orient ourselves, but if we are to receive light in the darkness we must rely upon the word of God.[40] One can sit in the dark quite nicely and easily, but if one is moving, one needs a light. Life often has a darkness and an unknown quality to it. Life as we live it is often in the shadows. We are in the dark. We are clueless. We are in uncharted territory. Such times in our lives can be terrifying. They often immobilize a person. Life comes to a standstill. The darkness of this world will never go away. Once a person becomes disoriented, once they lose a sense of where they are, and what it is that lurks in the dark around them, or where the next crevasse or wall or attack may be coming from — once they can no longer feel in control of their physical surroundings — a person loses a sense of self.[41] Lamps are helpful to illuminate the path. This divine communication is a light for all situations and contingencies. The Bible often expresses concern that some things in life cause us to trip and stumble. We want light on this path to make sure we can avoid a tree root, a jutting rock, or a rotting log. We want to have some advance notice of the terrain ahead, to avoid stepping headlong into a ditch, or worse, an abyss. We want to know if dangers, hazards, or problems lie imminently before us. To walk in God’s path of right living means that we need to “see” or be aware of these hazards. The word of God casts light on these obstacles to wholesome living. The Ten Commandments are a good place to start. Paul warns often of the vices that can afflict us, the “works of the flesh” being a temptation and obstacle. He has publicly committed himself to observe the righteous ordinance of the Lord and is finding it difficult to honor that commitment. The parallel in our time to making an oath in an oral culture would be to sign our name to a notarized document that commits us to a course of action. He admits his severe affliction because of the strain of having adhered to the law, so his prayer is to give him life in accord with the word of the Lord. He asks that the Lord accept his offering of praise and teach him the ordinances of the Lord. He presents his life to the Lord along with his offering of praise, but he does not forget the law. His issue is that the wicked have laid a snare for him, such as one used to trap birds, but he refuses to stay from the precepts of the Lord. The decrees of the Lord are his heritage, the accepted body of religious instruction that he has received, for they are the joy of his heart, so he inclines his heart to perform the statutes of the Lord forever. The text also naturally raises the question of what it is that we have taken to light our way in the journey of life. It raises the question of what principle, philosophy, or faith governs our thinking, planning, behavior, and relationships. It also raises the question of how that light is working for us. Has it led to the flourishing of our lives? Given the context, not just any light will do.
Isaiah 55:10-13 (Year A July 10-16) closely relates to the theme of the life-giving power of the word of the Lord. The prophet declares that those who thirst and have no money in verse 1 will find confirmation of the pledge of refreshment. The refreshment of melting snow and rain for the fruitfulness of the earth becomes metaphor for the fact that the commanding word of the Lord will not return to the Lord empty. The Word will be fruitful in the announcement of the restoration of Israel to the Promised Land and its happening in history. The Word becomes a personification of a messenger that has the purpose of restoring Israel. The speech and act of God merge so that the prophet proclaims the power of the Word to rule. The speech of God is divine action as well. The Word makes history is therefore also act. The Word is not empty but confronts humanity.[42] God does not speak the Word in vain. God has made time for humanity. Therefore, God is patient in granting time and space.[43] The Word gives life. The restoration of Israel will bring a response from nature. Of course, this is a metaphor. Yet, the theological point is significant in that the restoration of Israel has an impact upon nature. The same God who is the source of life and nature is also the God who guides history. Clearly God is judge in the exile, but also merciful in restoring Israel. God has a called a people to serve the purpose of bearing the Word or command of God among the peoples of the earth. God chose what would become a nation, Israel, out of grace. This grace is the origin of the forgiveness Israel experiences now. The exile, a time of judgment, is past. Forgiveness opens the door for a new possibility in the future.
Genesis 25:19-34 (Year A July 10-16) contains a simple accounting of the genealogy of Isaac from the P document (verses 19-20, 26b). It stresses the importance of Arameans to the ancestry of the Patriarchs (see Deuteronomy 26:5). He was 40 when married to Rebekah and another 20 years elapsed before the birth of Jacob and Esau, childlessness being a theme in the narratives of the Patriarchs. This text also includes a J story (verses 21-26a) of Esau and Jacob. The arena of divine activity is that of family conflict and reconciliation. The text undoubtedly emphasizes some character traits of the two brothers, eponymous ancestors of rival nations (v. 23) to the point of exaggeration by the narrator. The story raises some interesting questions I want to pursue. One is the problem that answered prayer can present. We need to be careful of that for which we pray! The answer may not be peace and harmony. The story pointedly raises the question of our birthright. Many people have a wonderful family heritage. Sadly, they squander it. One could also suggest that Americans have received a heritage of liberty and are in danger of squandering it. The theme of the childless wife is prominent in the stories of the Patriarchs. Only here does the husband pray for the wife to have a child. In other cases, the wife prays. In this case, the point of the story is the close kinship that Israel and Edom share. Their shared history is one of struggle over proper borders and who is supreme. The Lord answered the prayer of Isaac, but the answer involved conflict between him and his wife; the answer will involve tension between the twins. The difficulty of the birth prophesied the difficult relationship these two nations would have. Rebekah inquired of the Lord at a local shrine and received her answer. Again, the answer to her prayer is that conflict will be the theme of the relationship between the twins she carried in her womb. The blessing of children and answered prayer will become a burden in life. The younger, Jacob, would be supreme over Esau, the elder. God subverts long-held cultural traditions and laws establishing the priority of the eldest. The tension between the settled farmer, which would be the destiny of Israel, and the semi-nomadic hunter, was typical of the stories of the ancient world. A family conflict between Jacob and Rebekah will center on their evaluation of Jacob and Esau. Jacob is something of a mama’s boy, the mother attuned to the purpose of God while the husband is oblivious to it. We then read a story of the example that illustrates the difference between the twins. Jacob valued his family connections, his birthright, while Esau did not. True, Jacob was a trickster. Yet, the story raises the question of what is of value to us. Most of us own something that we would find difficult to sell. Yet, hopefully, some things are beyond sale, like our integrity. The pressures and stresses of the moment can catch us off guard. We may act hastily and rashly, as Esau did. We may say or do things in such moments that we will regret later.
Psalm 139:1-12, 23-24 (Year A July 17-23) deals with the theological concepts of the omnipresence and omniscience of God. Although the idea of God having knowledge of our thoughts seems commonplace to contemporary readers of the Bible, and although the notion is not unique to this psalm, it is not a common motif in the OT, which focuses far more of its attention on human acts rather than on their underlying motives. Psychological “roundedness,” of the sort that modern anthropology takes for granted, is not a theme we find widely in the Old Testament, occurring in the books of Job and Jeremiah. For example, we might note Jeremiah 17:10, “I the Lord test the mind / and search the heart, // to give to all according to their ways, / according to the fruit of their doings”. Since one of the provocative questions of human existence concerns how a woman or a man may find a place in an often-hostile universe, the enthusiasm with which readers over the generations have responded to Psalm 139 is understandable. This wonderful hymn of Israel sings not just of a God who cares, but also of a God whose being has such an intimate connection with our own being that God forms part of the fabric of each of us. We sense that the author finds amazement that God has such intimate knowledge of him as an individual. Yet, we also wonder if he has some fear that God knows him so well. The searching and examining that God performs on him, and on us, is not always welcome. We are naked before God, but we may want to conceal some things. We do conceal some things from others and even from ourselves. The author reminds us that we can conceal nothing from God. In fact, as God seeks me and finds me, I discover my identity. God has an all-embracing knowledge of us as individuals that rests upon the presence of God with all creation. In other words, the omnipresence of God is the basis for the omniscience of God. The author seems amazed and a little frightened by all this. Yet, in the end, he invites God to search, know, and test him. He invites God to question, probe, and engage in a detailed investigation of him. Yet, the purpose is simple. In welcoming such examination, the psalmist can be the person God wants him to be. He moves toward his true self as God intended. The Psalmist then offers the classical expressions of the inescapability of the presence of God.[44] The Lord has knowledge of the everyday activities of the poet, as well as inner thoughts and not-yet-uttered words. He marvels that the Lord knows him in such a personal way. As the Lord has searched him and found him, he discovers his identity as the beloved child of the Lord. One can go nowhere to escape this divine presence, which, at heart, the psalmist does not wish to escape. To use a modern analogy from physics, the Spirit of God is like the force field of the mighty presence of God. This unique understanding of the Spirit of God leads on to what this psalm says about the all-embracing knowledge of God, which rests indeed on the presence of God with all the creatures of God. [45] The Old Testament viewed Sheol as a shadow world separate from the life-giving power of God. However, this poet, with rhetorical overstatement, says that even there, the presence of the Lord reaches the individual. There are no barriers to the Lord’s power. There are no borders around God's presence. [46] While human beings can hide from each other in the darkness, there is no such hiding place from the Lord. God is ever-present to the author, wherever he may be. Moreover, in God’s presence the author (and we) can always find safe refuge. The final verses of this reading become a petition for guidance. He returns to the theme of knowledge, as an all-knowing God surely knows the righteousness of the poet. The poet expresses willingness to listen, to be malleable, and to be changed. 23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts. The psalm ends as it begins, with a focus on searching, knowing, and testing. “Test” in this case refers to assaying precious metals or to examine and put to the test. 24 See if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. God amazes (and frightens) the author, but he ends up inviting God to do what God already has been doing all the author’s life. This required a lot of confidence in God, did it not it? Dare we believe that God will do in our lives what God did in the life of the author? God already knows us better than we know ourselves. The omniscience of God is the basis for the trust exhibited here. Yet, do we trust God enough to invite God to search, know, and test us, to see if there is any wicked, hurtful way in us? The poet knows he has faults.
Genesis 28:10-19a (Year A July 17-23) is the story of the dream of Jacob. The E document (verses 10-12, 17-18) has Jacob finding a little place in the middle of nowhere to rest for the night. He uses a sone for a pillow. As occurs often in these stories, we have an account of a dream and a dreamer. The “ladder” is a stairway or ramp, like the Babylonian ziggurat. It extended from earth to heaven. As is also typical of the stories in E we see angels. This time, angels, messengers from God, ascended and descended upon the stairway. These heavenly beings go out from the presence of God to do work on earth. The mystery of the divine comes near to us.[47] If you do not have a personal experience with angels, you are with most believers. The point is always whether we have encountered God.[48] We have here a unique moment of revelation for Jacob. Yes, God is present everywhere, which one affirms with the notion of the omnipresence of God. However, we also need events that disclose who God is and what God wants of us. God is present in this place and in this unique way for Jacob. The God of the covenant becomes the God of Jacob.[49] This revelation occurs in a vision or illumination that communicates the divine will.[50] The subjective response of Jacob was fear, a hint of ancient piety as the immediate response to the experience of the divine. Jacob had this experience in the middle of nowhere. Jacob refers to the place as “awesome” or “fearful.” He made an altar and poured oil over it. An event occurs in a moment and at a place. Such an event can be anywhere. Such an event is an encounter with God.[51] The God of the covenant becomes the God of Jacob.[52] This revelation occurs in a vision or illumination that communicates the divine will.[53] The revelation is first of the Lord standing beside Jacob. The promise of the presence of the Lord is a keynote of the Bible. The Presence is enigmatic, surprising, and dangerous. Yet, the Presence is also for our good. Jacob has discovered the accompanying presence of the Lord when he least expected it. We have the assurance of divine accompanying in times of turmoil or in times of quiet. Jacob the deceiver receives a word of grace. We are right to affirm the omnipresence of the Lord. Yet, we need such events in our lives when God shows up.[54]The Lord is also the God of Abraham and Isaac. Jacob is not receiving a revelation from a new divine being. This revelation relies upon prior knowledge of the God of Abraham and Isaac.[55] In the canonical context, the promise is still land and progeny. The promises of God on this point are unconditional. Genesis 28:13-16, 19 has the Lord suddenly standing beside Jacob. The story is from J. The Lord takes a stand beside Jacob and identifies whom the Lord is. The Lord is also the God of Abraham and Isaac. Jacob is not receiving a revelation from a new divine being. This revelation relies upon prior knowledge of the God of Abraham and Isaac.[56] The covenant the Lord made with Abraham and Isaac becomes real for Jacob as well. Had the Lord not been at this place in this way, and had it not really been this Beth-El, then the dreams of this man, Jacob, that he had at this place, would have been idle fancies. The covenant would quickly become empty. Without such events of revelation, the whole covenant between God and humanity as a definite covenant with definite people would have been invalid both at that time and for all time.[57] To put it directly, if the covenant of God with humanity does not have the fullness and meaning of a particular time and place, it would become an empty and formless universality.
Psalm 105 is an historical hymn that continues through 106 which the lectionary will include as it follows the unfolding story of Genesis and the patriarchs. I Chronicles 16:8-22 quotes 105:1-15 at a festival. Psalm 78 is like this psalm in its focus upon the mighty deeds and miracles of the Lord. It invokes selected authoritative Torah tradition alone with exegetical comments on them in praise of the Lord. The primary theme is the covenant with Abraham to him the Promised Land. This theme is popular in post-exilic times. This covenant was eternal and unconditional. It was still in effect despite the exile and the fact that Jews within and outside the land lived under Persian rule. It provides encouragement and assurance to the post-exilic audience that they are entitled to the land of Israel by divine right. While both psalms present a theological interpretation of the history of Israel, that interpretation includes a confession of the sins of Israel that led to judgment and punishment. This view of Israel's history - that faithfulness leads to blessing and prosperity, while unfaithfulness leads to punishment and suffering - is the dominant theological view of the OT. Only rarely does anyone question it. Most famously, this questioning occurs in the Book of Job. However, even an acknowledgment of Israel’s sins cannot squelch the spirit of thankfulness that characterizes Psalm 105. The psalm must have been part of the covenant festival. The focus of the festival was to help people today remember what God had done among the people of God in the past. This psalm offers a good word, a eulogy, for the Lord.
Psalm 106:1-6 (Year A July 24-30, August 7-13, August 28 – September 3, September 18-24) are an introduction to the hymn, a call to give thanks and to call upon the Lord. The focus of worship is to re-direct our attention from our natural inclination to focus upon ourselves and to direct our attention to the Lord. Such re-centering, recognizing the center of our lives is outside us, is vital to our spiritual growth. The deeds or wonderful works of the Lord, a summarizing phrase for creation, the patriarchs, the formation of the Israelites under Moses and his successors, are recorded in the Torah, which the psalm goes on to recite and reinterpret. The poet knew some form of the Torah traditions, which had already become authoritative. Such remembrance is to bring a focusing of the minds and hearts of the people upon the Lord. Theological and biblical remembering involves being reconnected and re-placed in the event in a way that its original power is once again re-created. When we do all the things the psalmist asks us to do, we are enabled to better step into the salvific events he described and, thus, better able to appreciate and to praise what God has done for us. They are to seek the Lord continually in the Temple. They are to recall the wonderful works of the Lord, and the miracles the Lord performed in deliverance from Egypt, and the judgments the Lord uttered in the giving of the Law, referring to the Ten Commandments, the Book of the Covenant, the Holiness Code, and the Deuteronomic Code. The poet refers to the offspring of Abraham, the children of Jacob, as the chosen ones of the Lord, emphasizing the continuity between the patriarchs and the present generation. The psalm affirms that the promises of the Lord had small beginnings in that they begin with blessing a family. At the same time, those now gathered for worship are just has chosen as are the patriarchs. The people in the sanctuary assemble as the inheritors of the promises to Abraham and the patriarchs.[58] Even the Patriarchs received the benefit of election or choice of a people.[59]
In Psalm 105:7-11 (Year A July 24-30) the Lord is mindful of the covenant and given the land through the relationship established made Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. In particular, the covenant involved the divine promise of a piece of land, as in Genesis 15, 17:7-8, 28:13-14, as well as Deuteronomy 32:9, giving the land of Canaan as their inheritance. The poet strengthens the bond between Israel and its land. Those gathered for worship inherit the promise.
In Psalm 105:16-22 (Year A August 7-13) tell the story of Joseph, recounting Genesis 37, 38-50, a portion of which will be the Old Testament reading for this Sunday, one of the mighty acts of the Lord. The reference to breaking every staff of bread during the feminine in Egypt links the experience of the ancestors with those in the post-exilic period (Ezekiel 4:16, 5:16, 14:13). The description of the slavery experience of Joseph is more like that of the exiles than what we read in Genesis. Joseph's message was vindicated by the word of the Lord, and as a result, the Pharaoh elevated him, and we know the rest: he is released, the king made him lord of his house and ruler of his possessions, and taking on the role of a wisdom teacher he instructed the officials of the king at his pleasure and taught the elders wisdom. Of course, Joseph while in prison could not have known when or how this vindication would take place, and there are times when he no doubt wondered when it would happen. Joseph's life is a lesson about doing and saying the right thing when there is no hope of vindication in sight.
45bPraise the Lord!
Genesis 29:15-28 (Year A July 24-30) is part of the story of Jacob making his way to the land of the east and the people of Laban. Jacob receives his comeuppance. Jacob experiences the principle of “eye for eye, tooth for tooth,” in that he had deceived his brother, Esau and his father. The family of Jacob will have its problems. Dysfunctional families have an abundance of trust and anger issues. We will find both in the family of Jacob. In a sense, Jacob has greatness in his heredity. Psalm 105 refers to the descendants of Abraham as the chosen ones of the Lord. It also refers to the covenant made with Abraham and the promise of land to Isaac and Jacob. The story of Jacob makes it clear that divine election is a matter of the choice of God rather than the virtue of Jacob. Yet, that blessing of election may not express itself the way Jacob might have planned. The text refers to the love of Jacob for Rachel, one of the few references to romantic love in the Old Testament, among them the love Isaac had for Rebekah. The service Jacob rendered for seven years of Rachel seemed to him but a few days because of the love he had for her. Here is an interesting comment on our experience of time. A moment can feel like it lasts forever. If the moment is a good one, we would like it to last forever. If we are bored, a moment can feel like a burden that lasts forever. For Jacob, the experience is the opposite direction. He is so full of passion for Rachel and the goal of his daily work that the seven years seemed like a moment. Laban can trick Jacob due to the feast prior to the wedding night, at which we can assume some alcoholic drink and a late night. Jacob trusts Laban at a critical moment when he needed to be more alert to the possibility of deception. The disgust Jacob has toward Laban because of the deception of marrying off Leah first has a touch of irony, given the deception Jacob has practiced. The story presses home the irony. Jacob tricked his older brother out of his birthright and the paternal blessing, but Laban upholds the custom of the priority of the eldest. Jacob easily and cheaply bought the birthright, but he will not easily or cheaply attain the woman he loved. When Jacob later receives Rachel as his second wife, the story goes against Leviticus 18:18, which forbade marriage to a sister because of the potential rivalry between them. Given the dysfunction of this family, it can surprise us that this family is the beginning of something big from the perspective of salvation history, the beginning of the people of Israel. The 12 sons born to Jacob and his four wives become the ancestors of the 12 tribes of Israel. God worked with this messed up family. The story of this messed up family reminds us that good things come from ragged beginnings. Rather than live our today with a spirit of blaming our origin for who we are today, we need to recognize that we have gone through that dysfunction, but refuse to allow it define us today. We need to move beyond it. Roger Rosenblatt had a little book on aging, in which was one of the sayings: It is unseemly to blame your parents when you are over 30. In small print underneath that saying, he wrote, “Make that 25.” Whatever beginnings we may have had, do not keep looking back. Look forward, to the new things God wants to do in our lives. We will be surprised at the freedom we will experience. We can grab hold of a new, unshaped future. Bad beginnings do not have to lead to bad endings. Along with the love and joy, we may remember the pain, hurts, and deceptions, as well as a long history of disappointment and disagreement. That is the way of families. God meets us where we are and can bring us to places where we can find our vocation in life and fulfill it. In “Spirit Song,” we find these lyrics:
O come and sing this song with gladness
As your hearts are filled with joy
Lift your hands in sweet surrender
To His name
O give Him all your tears and sadness
Give Him all your years of pain
And you'll enter into life
In Jesus' name
Psalm 17:1-7, 15 (Year A July 31-August 6) is part of a psalm of innocence and a lament from the period before the fall of the northern kingdom in 721 BC. It reveals the writer as one falsely accused of worshiping idols. The word “just” frames the psalm, offering a summary of sorts: a just God may not let the just suffer. Acknowledging the Lord as judge is a subtle demand that the Lord adjudicate fairly. The Lord is free to examine him in a way that determines his essential qualities, especially integrity.[60] Sometimes, the translation is “test” (Psalm 139:23-24). The Lord can assay me in a way comparable way as one would test the quality or genuineness of precious metals. The Lord tested Abraham in this way regarding the sacrifice of his son Isaac (Genesis 22:1). The Lord tests Israel to see if they would observe the commandments and rely upon God and to see what was in their hearts (Deuteronomy 8:2). The Lord even tests them with the gift of manna (Exodus 16:4). Confident of his innocence, he invites the Lord to cross-examine him. The Lord will find no wickedness or transgression. He has followed the path the Lord has determined. When he says that his feet have not slipped, I am confident many of us who read it as modern persons would wish we could say that. Most of can think of the ways in which we have slipped and not held fast to the paths of the Lord in our lives, and we can point to today as an example. The idea of the cocking of the head to hear better as applied to God has some humor attached to it, but it refers to the desire that God pay attention and listen carefully now, for he needs God to show hesed, covenant faithfulness, in this moment. The poet concludes by referring to the appearance of God in Temple worship, for this desire for a theophany becomes a mystical yearning to behold the face of God, thereby beholding the likeness of God.
Genesis 32:22-31 (Year A July 31-August 6) is an account of an encounter between God and Jacob. It occurs at night, while Jacob is alone, with no support or reinforcement. The story is like a later J account of a strange encounter between the Lord and Moses (Exodus 4:24-26). Does Jacob wrestle with a man, with himself, or with an angel? If an angel, it is watching over the interests of Esau. This encounter tests the character of Jacob. Even with an injury, Jacob stands his ground, desiring the man to bless him. The man asks his name, and changes it from Jacob to Israel, may El preserve. The mysterious encounter with a supernatural being becomes an encounter with divinity that transforms Jacob from a trickster and cheat into one who is the parent of the twelve tribes of the chosen people. The anticipation is that Jacob is a new, powerful person after this encounter. He transforms from a deceiver to a forthright and resolute fighter. The formerly deceitful Jacob will condemn, as Israel, Simeon and Levi in chapter 34 for their deceitfulness. The name will now symbolize a new nation and a new people. This new identity appears is a prize -- a trophy for Jacob's willingness to wrestle with all that comes his way, divine and human. Jacob wants to know the name of this divine being, an indication of the human longing for the divine. He pulls free, preserving mystery and freedom. In the refusal to do so, the divine remains mysterious.[61] The uniqueness of God focuses on the name. On an ancient view of knowledge of the name gives power over the one who bears it. For that reason, deity refuses to give its name, as we find here.[62] Only now do we learn that the encounter with the man was an encounter with God, as he named the place Peniel, since he has seen God face to face, and his life is preserved. In most cases in the Bible, one cannot see God and live because we need a radical change to participate in the eternity of God.[63]The visitor has the power to make Jacob give honest responses, to receive his name, and to give him a new name, a new character. This human being, alone with God, must learn the purpose God has for him. This moment became definitive in the life of Jacob. A new Jacob is in the making. Encounters with the divine can be unexpected and dangerous. They contain a risk if one embraces the encounter. The unexpectedness and mystery of the encounter are typical of how God often interjects divine power and presence into human life to transform a fearful, uncertain future into a future of promise and possibility. Since God wants a divine-human encounter to transform people into new persons, God wants to engage people in battle. A chapter in the spiritual biography of every believer needs to have the title, “My struggle with God.” Such a movement is not always a pleasant experience. We must beware of presenting a relationship with God as too rosy and clear. A relationship with God is far from easy. God can grab us, fight with us, and jerk us all the way around, to move us toward a new path we never dreamed of taking.[64] Life is not so simple for Jacob; it is not just the matter of getting past Esau. Jacob must deal with God because God has an interest in what is happening between Esau and Jacob.[65]
Genesis 37:1-4, 12-28 (Year A August 7-13) is the beginning of the story of Joseph. The story of Joseph reads like a little novel that reflects the values of the wisdom tradition in Israel. Each scene is part of the whole, in contrast to the episodes in the lives of the patriarchs thus far. The final canonical text connects some wisdom themes newly emerging during the reign of Solomon. It is an artfully crafted and engaging piece of literature that stands out within the literature of the Old Testament. The story is like other Patriarchal stories in that a parent often favors one child over another, and problems are the result. It contains identifiable literary dramatic elements, such as foreshadowing, word plays, irony, suspense, and vivid characterizations. It has a riches to rags to riches life story that has inspired many readers. It is a story with all the requisite dramatic parts of envy, conspiracy, conflict, sibling rivalry, deception, lust, despair, recovery, justice, reconciliation and more. It concludes the story of the Patriarchal founders and forms a bridge to the story of the hardship and struggle for the liberation of Israel that we will find in the rest of the Torah. While his dream can appear arrogant and inappropriate, we steadily learn that it was a prophetic dream from God, receiving a literal fulfillment at the end of the story. Joseph will endure slavery and imprisonment before the dream becomes reality. Since Joseph had dreams, the brothers wanted to kill him and claim that an animal had killed him. Reuben objected, wanting to throw him into a pit and then rescue him later. They sell him to Midianite traders for 20 pieces of silver, reminding Christians of the betrayal of Jesus by Judas for 30 pieces of silver.
The story involves family dysfunction, violence, and the activity of God in and through all things. It provides a classic example of how God works in all things for those who love God (Romans 8:38). Since God is active and present in all things, even when we are not aware of it, we can affirm the providential care of God for the people of God. Families often struggle with their relationships. These intimate relationships can be the source of great happiness, as well as the source of great pain. Yet, even with the sickness we often see in the family, God can bring us to novel places of healing. In fact, through such pain, God can help us become agents of healing to others. “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,” begins Reinhold Niebuhr’s famous “Serenity Prayer,” a favorite text of those in Alcoholics Anonymous and other 12-step recovery groups. Things we cannot change. These are the annoyances, the obstacles, the stumbling-blocks that stymie us. Some things in life are susceptible to change. A great many others are not. Our personal histories are a prime example. “If I Could Turn Back Time,” sang Cher, in a 1989 pop hit: “If I could find a way; I'd take back those words that hurt you; And you’d stay.” But none of us can turn back time. The way to healing painful memories of the past lies through spiritual practices like Niebhur’s “Serenity Prayer.” After replaying the tape of that painful memory countless times in our head, the only way to new life is to simply accept it. Nurturing past grievances is not only a waste of time, but a positive danger to our spiritual lives. This short exchange from Lewis Carroll’s Through The Looking Glass sums it up:
“‘The horror of that moment,’ the King said, ‘I shall never, never forget.’
“‘You will, though, if you don’t make a memorandum of it.’”
The story of Joseph tells us that the development of skills, ethics, morality, and faith is the way we form a partnership with providence and align ourselves with what God is doing in the world. When Joseph was dragged down to Egypt, he remained faithful to the Lord, strong in the face of sexual temptation, courageous in prison and consistently discerning and wise in his dealings with Pharaoh. The result was that he became Pharaoh's right-hand man, the most powerful figure in the land of Egypt (chapters 39-41).
The story of Joseph invites us to reflect upon the role of dreams. We must not dwell on dreams in a way that makes us to forget to live.[66] Yet, the genuine dream can give us a sense of the potential of the future. Such a dream can keep us young and passionate. We see the possibilities contained within the moment. Possibility becomes the sparkling, fragrant, and intoxicating wine of our life.[67] We must not dwell on dreams in a way that makes us to forget to live.[68] Yet, the genuine dream can give us a sense of the potential of the future. Such a dream can keep us young and passionate. We see the possibilities contained within the moment. Possibility becomes the sparkling, fragrant, and intoxicating wine of our life.[69] This prophetic dream threatens the status quo and envisions a new way of life. To be clear, there may be some things worthy of defense in the status quo, in the norms that govern the way things are. The record of rebellion against the way things are is not always a positive one. It often allows a form of anarchy that destroys the lives of people. At the same time, the status quo always changes, for that is the nature of history. Each historical moment confronts the status quo to challenges to which it must adapt. The story of Joseph confirms that setbacks may just be setups for a comeback, for dreamers do not give up easily.[70] Abraham Lincoln had a dream of a reconciled nation. George Bernard Shaw memorably wrote: "You see things; and you say ‘Why?' But I dream things that never were; and I say ‘Why not?'" This saying became a favorite of Robert F. Kennedy. Martin Luther King, Jr had a dream he famously shared powerfully and memorably. The substance of the American dream is simple and found in the Declaration of Independence: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." This is a dream. This dream is universal in that everyone has certain basic rights that are not conferred by the state. Slavery and laws of institutionalized segregation were always in contradiction to a dream that founded a nation on this principle of God creating all persons equally. The challenge before the nation is to make the dream reality. [71] The mission of the nation in world history is to find ways, unique to the variety of histories and cultures in the world, in which all peoples can experience this form of respect by their government of their basic rights as individuals.
Psalm 133 (Year A August 14-20) is a wisdom psalm that takes a feature of family life and makes it the subject of teaching. We might remember the stories of the difficult relationships within the extended families of the Patriarchs in Genesis or later the family of David and the kings of Israel. The verse is a reference to the typical tribal patterns of living, especially when male relatives shared grazing land for their sheep and cattle. Recall the Genesis accounts of Abraham and Lot, and Jacob and Esau. Often, sharing land resulted in nasty internecine squabbles and an eventual parting of the ways. Abraham and Lot could not live together, nor could Jacob and Esau. The story of Joseph and his brothers is an extended reflection on the danger of not living in harmony as brothers as well as how good and pleasant it is with the restoration of such relationships. When the siblings or kindred parted, often it was not a pleasant scene. Abraham and Lot were the exception, thanks primarily to Abraham’s remarkable wisdom and gentle disposition. He fixes his eye on the ideal of the extended family. Most of us have families dysfunctional enough to know that of which the writer speaks. Yet, when families that have a history of animosity change to a culture of acceptance and cooperation, we agree that goodness has entered. Others will take notice. Capulets sit down with Montagues, Hatfields with the McCoys, Catholics with Protestants, Jews with Muslims, conservatives with liberals, Democrats with Republicans, then we know something remarkably pleasant has happened. It makes for the good and pleasant in this life. Notice the text does not say that there is anything salvific or theologically redemptive about this. It is just good. It is pleasant. Of course, that is redemptive, and it might even result in the salvation of lives. Certainly, it would be true in the Middle East. Nevertheless, the psalmist is not trying to make a case for ecumenism, theological unity, or sharing doctrinal positions. Rather, this speaks to issues of long-standing estrangement. This speaks to the possibility of reconciliation. He is aware of the spiritual value of ancient traditions. Precious oil will show hospitality for guests. The anointing of priests brings divine blessing to Mount Zion. Such goodness and pleasantness in such relationships will lead to the preservation of their lives in the eternity of God. Actions that lead to goodness and pleasantness in this life will have a saving and redemptive result for eternity.
Genesis 45:1-15 (Year A August 14-20) is part of the final narrative sequence in the story of the founders of Israel as the story of Joseph concludes. Joseph’s revelation is a fitting climax to the series of family stories that form the bulk of the Bible’s beginning. It brings together many of the themes that link the disparate materials in Genesis. Among the themes are the nature of human society and its relation to the natural world, the complexities of family dynamics, the struggle for group identity and survival, the competing demands of insiders and outsiders, the interplay of loyalty, betrayal, selfishness, and altruism, and most important of all, the nature of divine intention and God’s interaction with the world. Joseph's revelation of himself to his brothers brings to its fullness, with emotional power, psychological insight and theological acumen, a tale of folly, favoritism, jealousy, deceit, cowardice, malevolence, and injustice.
What unfolds in the episode is the theological truth of divine providence: neither external circumstances nor twisted human wills can finally thwart the purposes of a loving God who acts in human history. Providence is an abstract notion of divine activity in human affairs. A hidden power is at work, an awareness of which involves a grand but hidden divine plan. Providence involves the divine overruling that brings good out of evil, which is the supreme art of the governing of the world by God. God directs the course of world events to the goal ordained in the act of creation. The hidden quality of this providence is not complete, for we can look back and see traces of this divine movement toward a goal.[72] Through a series of tests (Genesis 42-44), Joseph discovers that his brothers, once capable of murdering their own flesh and blood, have become men of honor and compassion. To these strangers, bewildered by events they neither control nor understand, Joseph reveals himself as kin. We see the hand of the narrator strongly here. The hand of God has directed all the confusion of human guilt toward a gracious goal. So much has been said about the action of people. It is surprising that Joseph now says the real actor has been God. If we want to know truth, we will need to acknowledge the presence of the mighty works of God.
Human life is often so messy. We might like everything in our lives to be far more clear and distinct, the next step in our lives to be obvious, and the way forward that we should travel marked clearly. We might prefer human life lived on level, smooth places. However, it does not take long in life to know that the terrain of human life is rocky, hilly, and difficult. There are many twists and turns in life. Other people act upon us, sometimes graciously and sometimes not. We act upon the lives of others, sometimes with grace and kindness, and sometimes not. Amid the confusion of human life, we may wonder where God has been. Of course, it takes a mature faith, meditation, and openness, to see the ways of God amid it all. We can often look back on paths that, at the time, we thought of as painful and difficult. Yet, God has used those paths to bring us to a gracious, healing end. The end human beings seek is often self-centered, self-destructive, evil, and hateful. Yet, the end God seeks is reconciliation and peace. God seeks the preservation of life. God is so sovereign that even mixed human motives God can work through to bring people reconciliation. Of course, the fact that reconciliation does not always happen on this earth means that some healing of relationships is a promise that will not occur except in eternity.
God has acted to preserve life, a theme that runs prominently but not straightforwardly throughout Genesis. Even though Cain killed Abel, God preserved his life with a mark that protected him. The flood story, which includes so much destruction of life, is about the preservation of a remnant so that life may continue. The theme is prominent in the story of Jacob’s family. Even the account of Judah and Tamar in Genesis 38 — which many scholars regard as an intrusion into an otherwise coherent narrative sequence — turns on Tamar’s determination to preserve life through a male descendant, even if that means sleeping with her negligent father-in-law. In the Joseph story, worldwide famine threatens the theme of preserving life, becoming the occasion for Joseph’s rise to greatness, on the one hand, and his reunion with his family, on the other. The narrative expresses the concern to preserve life several times: 41:36; 42:2, 18, 20; 43:8. God has taken the brother's hate and turned it into good. The providence of God operates in ways mysterious to us. Yet, some scholars find the "remnant" God has preserved through Joseph for his brothers, while clear in the narrative, is contextually unexpected. The concept of a remnant (righteous or otherwise) is common enough in later, especially prophetic literature (e.g., throughout the book of Isaiah), but this is the only occurrence of the word in the Pentateuch. Even more noteworthy is the fact that the author pairs the word with "survivors," as it is in Isaiah 10:20, 15:9, 37:32. This striking coincidence between this purportedly early material (the bulk of the Joseph story comes from the 10th-9th century B.C.) and late prophetic idiom has led some scholars to conclude that the verse is an insertion in an earlier novella.[73] It first achieves prominence in Israelite thought with the rise of classical prophecy, where the Hebrew word becomes a technical term (e.g., Isaiah 37:4, 32; Micah 2:12; 4:6, 5:7; 7:18; Jeremiah 23:3; 31:7; etc.). What is of paramount importance, he now sees, is life, and not mere human life itself — for life is cheap in Pharaoh’s Egypt — but the life of God’s chosen people. Joseph now realizes that his life’s vocation — quite apart from all he has done for Pharaoh and for Egypt — is to preserve God’s covenant, to be the living instrument by which the promise is passed on to the next generation. The way of the world is often the way of revenge. He could have demanded some form of justice from his brothers, as in “eye or eye, tooth for tooth” type of thinking. He could have made them slaves. He could have demanded some form of restitution or reparation. My point is simple. When a wrong has been committed, the only pathway to peace and reconciliation is stop the demand for justice, acknowledge the steps taken toward repentance and a new life, and extend a hand of forgiveness. I stress that this responsibility lies with the wronged person! It will take replacing hatred and bitterness with grace and love to take such a step. It will take qualities in the wronged against that were not shown by the person committing wrong. Joseph demonstrates a higher way, the way of forgiveness. He used his power and influence, not for revenge, but to preserve this family of Jacob/Israel. It truly is good and pleasant for brothers to dwell in unity (Psalm 133). Forgiving others — especially when the wound is deep — is one of the most difficult things any of us will ever be called upon to do. Yet few tasks are more important, not only for the person being forgiven, but also for the person doing the forgiving. A wise person has said, “Forgiveness is when you set a prisoner free — and then you realize the prisoner is yourself.” To fail to forgive is to undermine the health and coherence of one’s body as one opens oneself to heart attacks, strokes, and depression. In that sense, forgiveness is profoundly practical. Having been happily reunited with his brothers, Joseph’s is reunited with his aged father (46:28-30) rounding out the denouement of his captivating story. More importantly for the biblical story, the author has set the stage for the next moment of historical significance for Israel, the period of the sojourn in Egypt. Although particular details of the biblical account of Israel's centuries-long existence in Egypt are impossible to confirm historically, the widespread presence of peoples of Semitic origin in Egypt from about 2200-1550 B.C. is documented abundantly in both the literary and archaeological record of Egypt from the period, and cautions against an excessively skeptical stance toward the biblical narrative.[74]
There is a story from the Native American tradition that makes a similar point. A boy comes to his grandfather, filled with anger at another child who has done him an injustice. “Let me tell you a story,” says the grandfather. “I too, at times, have felt great hatred for those who have taken so much, with no sorrow for what they do. But hatred wears you down and does nothing to hurt your enemy. It’s like taking poison and wishing your enemy would die. I have struggled with these feelings many times.” He continues, “It is as if there are two wolves inside me; one is good and does no harm. He lives in harmony with all around him and takes no offense when no offense is intended. He will only fight when it is right to do so, and in the right way. But the other wolf, ah, that is a different matter! That one is full of anger. The smallest irritation will set him into a fit of rage. He fights everyone, all the time, for no good reason. He cannot think clearly because his anger and hatred are so overwhelming. It is hard to live with these two wolves inside me, for both of them wish to dominate my spirit.” The boy’s eyes have by now grown wide. “Which one wins, Grandfather?” The grandfather solemnly replies: “The one I feed.”
A factor in the growing resentment, anger, and violence in America is the fading of forgiveness in society. It is not a promoted value. A society that has lost the ability to extend and receive forgiveness risks being crushed by the weight of recriminations and score settling. The commitment to justice often results in viewing oppressors as objects of hate and deserving of violence. Such an approach fails to see that oppressors are in bondage and are in need of liberation. Social media contributes as people make impulsive posts that are never forgiven. Where does this culture hear a genuine conciliatory and forgiving voice? When we do hear such a word, it can sound like a shallow and weak both-sideism that lacks principle and courage. Yet, one cannot sustain any relationship or community without forgiveness. Centuries-long cycles of retaliation, violence, and genocide will repeat themselves without it. [75]
The story of Joseph, if we let it, will touch us at profound levels. We long for reconciliation, but we often do not want to travel the path it will take to get us there, such as developing character, extending an invitation to the offender, forgiveness, seeing the fingerprints of God in it all, and seeking the good of others. Too often, we want to hold on to the bitterness and anger, exacting what we think is justice in the relationship. Reflecting on the story of Joseph can help us overcome this desire. Imagine the depth of scarring in the brothers that would lead them to plot the death of Joseph. Imagine the many days that Joseph suffered as a slave at the hands of his brothers. We can imagine the thought process of Joseph through those years. Yet, at some point, he begins to heal. In the moment when he finally reveals himself to his brothers and has a plan for his family to return, the healing of the scars seems clear. God can create a life in which God transforms our wound into something good, and God propels us toward new and abundant life. Of course, the question is how this can happen. In his classic book The Wounded Healer, Henri Nouwen reflects on what it means to minister in a hurting and alienated society. How do we minister in a world gone so wrong? He recommends prayer, not as a "decoration of life," but as the breath of human existence. A Christian community is a healing community, says Nouwen, not because wounds are cured and pains are alleviated, but because wounds and pains become openings or occasions for a new vision.
[1] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 2, 163.
[2] Pannenberg Systematic Theology Volume 2, 186, 189.
[3] Barth Church Dogmatics III.1 [41.2] 180.
[4] Pannenberg Systematic Theology Volume 2, 132.
[5] Inspired by Gerhard Forde, “On Being a Theologian of the Cross,” Christian Century, October 22, 1997, pp. 947-949.
[6] The date is uncertain. It is too general in terms to refer to some great act of deliverance. Nor is it eschatological.
[7]
[8]
[9]
[10]
[11]
[12]
[13] L.E. Stager, "The archaeology of the family in ancient Israel," Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 260 (1985), 18-23.)
[14] According to T. Muraoka, in B.K. Waltke and M. O'Connor, Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax [Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 1990], 208, and note their example, 34).
[15]
[16]
[17]
[18]
[19]
[20]
[21] Von Rad.
[22]
[23] German biblical scholar, Hermann Gunkel.
[24] Madeleine L’Engel in Two-Part Intervention.
[25] Phyllis Trible, “A Love Story Gone Awry” (in God and the Rhetoric of Sexuality, Fortress Press, 1978).
[26]
[27]
[28] The Sumerians had similar love poems, Dumuzi and Inanna being one and Set Me Free, My Sister is another.
[29] Scott Peck, in The Road Less Traveled,
[30] Eric Fromm, The Art of Loving, 78
[31] Barth, Church Dogmatics, III.1 [41.3] 313-5.
[32] —John O’Donohue, Beauty: The Invisible Embrace (Harper Perennial, 2005).
[33] —Rob Bell, Sex God: Exploring the Endless Connections Between Sexuality and Spirituality (Zondervan, 2008), 166-167.
[34] —Elizabeth Myer Boulton and Matthew Myer Boulton, “Sacramental sex: Divine love and human intimacy,” The Christian Century, March 11, 2011.
[35] —Adapted from Richard Rohr: Essential Teachings on Love, eds. Joelle Chase and Judy Traeger (Orbis Books: 2018), 149-150, 52-53.
[36] —Corey Farr, “Singles Myth: The Intimacy Challenge,” Patheos.com, January 10, 2020. https://www.patheos.com/blogs/jesuscreed/2020/01/10/singles-myth-the-intimacy-challenge/ Retrieved February 3, 2020.
[37] —Tim Gardner, “Exposing the Sex Lie,” Christianity Today International/Marriage Partnership magazine, Summer 1998, Vol. 15, No. 2, 72.
[38] (Garrison Keillor, We Are Still Married)
[39] Barth, Church Dogmatics IV.2 [66.5] 591.
[40]
[41] —Joan Chittister, Between the Dark and the Daylight (Crown, 2015), 17-18.
[42]
[43]
[45]
[46]
[47] Adolph Schlatter in his book on Christian Dogma in 1923, p. 87.
[48]
[49]
[50]
[51]
[52]
[53] (
[54]
[55]
[56]
[57]
[58]
[59]
[60] TWOT (article 230)
[61]
[62]
[63]
[64] Elizabeth Achtemeier, “The Wrestling.”
[65] Frederick C. Holmgren, “Holding Your Own Against God!” Interpretation, May 1988.
[66] It does not do well to dwell on dreams and forget to live, remember that. --Dumbledore to Harry, in J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Scholastic, 1998).
[67] If I were to wish for anything, I should not wish for wealth and power, but for the passionate sense of the potential, for the eye which, ever young and ardent, sees the possible. Pleasure disappoints, possibility never. And what wine is so sparkling, what so fragrant, what so intoxicating as possibility! --Søren Kierkegaard, Either/Or: A Fragment of Life (Penguin, 2004).
[68] It does not do well to dwell on dreams and forget to live, remember that. --Dumbledore to Harry, in J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Scholastic, 1998).
[69] If I were to wish for anything, I should not wish for wealth and power, but for the passionate sense of the potential, for the eye which, ever young and ardent, sees the possible. Pleasure disappoints, possibility never. And what wine is so sparkling, what so fragrant, what so intoxicating as possibility! --Søren Kierkegaard, Either/Or: A Fragment of Life (Penguin, 2004).
[70] Inspired by but also taken in a different direction from Luke Powery, "Daring to Dream," sermon delivered at the 2014 Festival of Homiletics in Minneapolis, Time, May 25, 2014. time.com. Retrieved August 9, 2017.
[71] --Martin Luther King Jr., "The American Dream," address given on February 5, 1964, at Drew University. drew.edu. Retrieved August 9, 2017.
[72]
[73] (See Roland E. Murphy in The New Jerome Biblical Commentary, ed. Raymond E. Brown, Joseph A. Fitzmyer, Roland E. Murphy [Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1990], 40).
[74] (For a detailed review of the evidence and scholarship, concluding in favor of the essential historical reliability of the biblical material, see James K. Hoffmeier, Israel in Egypt [New York: Oxford University Press, 1996], especially pp. 52-76.)
[75] Timothy Keller, “What Too Little Forgiveness Does to Us,” The New York Times, December 3, 2022.
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