19th Sunday After Pentecost, 2003

Translation

Notes

7:1-6, 9-10

(1) And the king and Haman came to drink with Esther the queen.  (2) And the king said to Esther on the second day as well during the banquet of wine, “What is your request, Queen Esther, and it will be granted to you?  What is your petition? It will be done, even up to half of the kingdom!” (3) And Queen Esther answered and said, “If I have found favor in your sight, Oh King, then if it seems good to the king let my life be granted at my request, and my people at my petition.  (4) For we have been sold, I and my people, to be destroy and to be killed and to perish.  Now if we had just been sold for manservants and maidservants, I would have kept silent, for that would not be a matter adequate to the king?s trouble.  (5) And King Ahasuerus spoke and he said to Esther the Queen, “Who is this guy, and where is he, who has filled his heart to act in this way?”  (6) And Esther said, “It is a foe and enemy, this wicked Haman.?  And Haman was terrified before the king and queen.

(9) And Harbonah, one of the eunuchs before the king said, “Also, behold there is the gallows which Haman built for Mordecai, who spoke good of the king, standing in the house of Haman 50 cubits high.”  And the king said, “Hang him on it.”  (10) And they hung Haman upon the gallows which he had made for Mordecai, and the king calmed down somewhat.

9:20-22

(20) And Mordecai wrote these words, and he sent copies to all the Jews who were in all the provinces of king Ahasuerus, both near and far.  (21) To establish an observance among them of 14th of the month of Adar and also the fifteenth day every year.  (22) According to the days in which the Jews got rest from their enemies, and the month which was turned from sorrow into rejoicing for them, and from mourning into a good day, to observe them as a day of feasting and joy, and of sending gifts, each person to his neighbor, and also to the poor.

Note that this is the second banquet.  Esther has built up suspense.

Haman probably has no idea of his danger up to this point, so the next revelation is a shock.

I suspect that Harbonah was aware both of what Mordecai had done, and of Haman?s enmity.  He takes the chance here both to get back at his enemy and to ingratiate himself with the king and queen.

You reap what you sow!

Do we have enough joyous celebrations?

Translation

Notes

(1) A song of ascents for David.

If it had not been YHWH who was on our side, Let Israel say,

(2) If it had not been YHWH was on our side

when human enemies rose against us,

(3) Then they would have consumed us alive

in the heat of their anger against us.

(4) Then the waters

would have overwhelmed us,

a stream passed over us.

(5) Then the raging waters would have swept over us.

(6) Blessed is YHWH who has not appointed us as prey for their teeth.

(7) Our lives have been rescued like a bird from a trap.  Those who set the trap have been shattered, and we have escaped.

(8) Help us in the name of YHWH.

Maker of heaven and earth.

Dahood [AB Psalms III] has some excellent comments on this Psalm.  He notes that we should understand this comment as YHWH being on the side of Israel as opposed to some other God, such as Baal or Maruk.  If it has not been YHWH and instead had been one of these other gods, Israel would have been in trouble.  This is one of those cases where the use of God?s name, as opposed to the title ?God,? is important to the meaning of the text.

Translation

Notes

11:4-6, 10-16, 24-29

(4) And the foreign group that was in their midst longed for choice items, and they returned and the children of Israel also wept and they said, “Who will give us flesh to eat.”  (5) We remember the fish which we ate in Egypt freely, the cucumbers, the melons and the leeks, and the onions and the garlic.  (6) And now our souls are dry, and there is nothing except this manna before our eyes.

(10) And Moses heard the people weeping by their clans, each in the door of his tent, and the anger of YHWH burned greatly,

and it was evil in the eyes of Moses.  (11) And Moses said to YHWH, “Why have you treated your servant so badly, and why have I not found favor in your eyes?  You have placed the burden of this whole group of people on me!  (12) Did I conceive all these people? Did I give birth to them, that you say to me, take them to your breast like a nurse to the nursing child, unto the land which you swore to their fathers?  (13) Where will I get meat to give to all this people who cry unto me, saying, ?Give us meat that we may eat!???.  (14) As for me, I can?t carry this whole group of people alone, because they are too heavy (a burden) for me.  (15) So if you’re treating me this way, Just kill me now, if I’ve found favor in your eyes, and I will not see all my trouble.?

(16) And YHWH said to Moses, “Gather to me seventy men from the elders of Israel, whom you know, that they are elders of the people and who are leading, and bring them to the tent of meeting, a have them stand there with you.

(24) And Moses went out and spoke to the people the words of YHWH, and he gathered seventy men from the elders of the people, and he had them stand around the tent.  (25) And YHWH came down in the cloud, and spoke to him, and took some of the spirit which was upon him and he put it on the seventy men,  the elders,

and when the spirit rested on them  they prophesied

and they did not stop (LXX).

And two men had remained in the camp, named Eldad and Medad, and the spirit came to rest on them (they were among those invited, but they didn’t go to the tent) and they prophesied in the camp.  (27) And a young man ran and told Moses, saying, ?Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp!  (28) And Joshua son to Nun (the servant of Moses from among his young men) said in response, “My Lord Moses, Stop them!”  (29) But Moses said to him, “Are you jealous for me?  I wish that all the people of YHWH were prophets, and that YHWH would put his Spirit upon them!?

There are several topics in this passage:

1.  Grumbling and complaining

2.  Leadership (combined with Esther)

3.  Trust in God

4.  Honesty in Prayer

5.  Freedom to Work in the Spirit.

The complaint is common.  Ask yourself why God?s anger would burn because people are complaining about their diet.

In every church there is a ?back to Egypt? committee, the group of people that opposes every new thing, and sometimes every new person.  ?We?ve never done it that way before? and ?we?ve always done it this way? are the watch-phrases of this group.  The Israelites are going on to the promised land, to freedom.  The effort was worth the goal, but too often it?s just too easy to stop where we are and refuse to take the next steps in faith.

It sounds almost like an organized whine-in.  Picture them standing in the doors of their tents looking out and shouting complaints to one another and weeping.

God is angry, and so is Moses.  But Moses is angry that God has put him in this position where he has to try to solve the problems of the people wandering in the desert.  This is a truly amazing prayer.  Moses is so angry with God that he asks God to kill him so he won?t have to experience any more trouble.

What could it be about a person?s prayer life that would make it possible for him or her to talk to God in this way?  Why is it that God is angry with the people, but he practically ignores the tone Moses has taken with him in this prayer and simply goes on the solve the problem?  Isn?t Moses whining too?

I?m not sure what the answer is, but God is willing to accept the honest outpouring of Moses? heart, whereas the people?s complaints don?t come up to the same standard.

God completely ignores Moses? problem as Moses has stated it, and instead of removing the burden, he provides help.  In fact, the wording suggests that Moses already had help available.  (See devotional ?You?re Not All That.?)

Someone who is striving for personal standing might object to the obvious passing on of God?s Spirit to other leaders.  If you preached last week from Mark 9:30-37, and dealt with the question of who is the greatest, you could continue the topic with the way in which Moses shares his power with others without complaint. Of course, God is actually doing the sharing, but Moses is clearly happy with it.  We already know he?s willing to complain!

In fact, right here we may find the reason why God will listen to Moses? complaints while he is angry with those of the Israelites.  Moses is prepared to accept a solution.  The only solution the Israelites want at this point is a return to slavery.

Friedman (Commentary on the Torah.  San Francisco:  HarperCollins, ISBN:  0-06-050717-9) makes some interesting comments on the characteristics of Hebrew prophecy.  Since prophecy was not primarily prediction as can be observed simply by reading the prophets, how did you tell one was prophesying?  Friedman doesn?t think that they were in some kind of ecstatic trance.  I?m not certain he?s right about that.  He also believes that speaking in poetry was a characteristic of Hebrew prophecy.  That also can be observed by reading the Hebrew prophets.  In that case, we would have seventy men, or as we note in a couple of verses 68 here and two elsewhere, speaking in poetry at once!  It must have been a very interesting display.

Practically every translation and commentary reads ?but they did not do it again? or something similar.  It?s interesting to note that the change of a single vowel point in the Hebrew text will result in ?and they did not stop? which seems to me to fit in the context.  This also fits with the translation of the LXX.  I?m not suggesting that they went on prophesying forever, but rather that they continued prophesying for a substantial period of time, long enough for Joshua to call on Moses to make them (in this case probably just the two) stop.

A characteristic of leadership is often jealousy.  If they don?t do it our way, they must be bad.  But here we have a show of good leadership.  Moses is happy for anyone to receive God?s Spirit and be able to prophesy.  There are many reasons to object?they aren?t following the right form, they aren?t with the group, they didn?t come when they were supposed to, how can we check on what they?re saying, others might follow their example?but Moses is just happy for what they?re doing.

Translation

Notes

(13) Is anyone among you suffering?  Let him pray.  Is anyone joyful?  Let him sing!  (14) Is anyone among you sick?  Let him call the elders of the church and let them pray over  him, having anointed him with oil in the name of the Lord.  (15) And the prayer (petition) of faith (the faithful petition) will save (heal) the sick person and the Lord will raise him up, and any sin he might have committed will be forgiven him.  (16) Confess your sins to one another and prayer for one another so that you might be healed.   The entreaty of a righteous person works very effectively.

(17)  Elijah was a man with similar emotions to ours, and he prayed that it might not rain, and it did not rain upon the land for three years and six months.  (18) And again he prayed, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.

(19) My brothers, if anyone among you is deceived (led astray from) the truth, and somone brings him back, (20) let him be aware that the one who brings back a sinner from the wandering of his way will save his soul (life) from death and will cover a multitude of sins.

There is some controversy over whether anointing with oil is a medical procedure or a spiritual ceremony.  I?m not sure it makes any difference.

It?s interesting that the Old Testament doesn?t tell the story precisely this way.  Here we have the focus on the answer to prayer, not on the sovereignty of God over the situation.  Quite a different perspective, isn?t it?

Helping one another is the key.  See the introduction to this passage.

Translation

Notes

John said to him, Teacher, we saw a certain man casting out demons in your name and we hindered him, because he doesn’t follow with us.  (39)  But Jesus said, Don’t hinder him.  For there is who will do a miracle in my name and will be able immediately to speak evil of me.  (40) For whoever is not against us is for us. 

(41) For whoever gives you a cup of water in the name because you are of Christ, truly I tell you that he will certainly not lose his reward.

(42) And whoever is makes one of these little ones who believe on me stumble, it would be better if a millstone were put around his neck and he were to have been thrown into the sea. 

(43) And if your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off.  It is better for you to enter into life crippled, than to go out into hell, into the unquenchable fire, with two hands.  (45) And if your foot makes you stumble, cut it off.  It is better for you to go into life lame, than to be thrown into hell having two feet.  (And if your eye cases you to stumble, throw it out.  It is better for you to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than to be thrown with two eyes into hell, (48) where their worm doesn’t die and the fire is not quenched.  (49) For everyone will be salted with fire.

(50) Salt is good, but if the salt becomes saltless, how can it be re-seasoned? You have salt in yourselves so be at peace with one another.

A key point of the context here is that the person is freeing people from the power of evil, and thus is doing a good deed to people.  Thus Jesus has a good reason to consider him an ally even though he hasn?t met him.

Jesus suggests that good deeds done by anyone are accounted by God.

Jesus takes a dim view of causing people to stumble, especially of the innocent.  We would do well to be careful how we treat those who are weak.

This is one of the ?hard sayings.?  If you don?t believe that Jesus can use hyperbole, you may not want to read this.  Jesus is saying that the most important thing is not to stumble in our spiritual walk.  In context, I think that includes our treatment of others.  If we are inclined for some reason to be hurtful, we need to take serious action to change our ways.  It?s clear Jesus is using hyperbole to make his point.

This probably reflects the Levitical requirement of salt with the sacrifices.  Christians act as a sacrifice?bringing God in touch with humanity?in the world.  But that activity brings trial and testing.

Because of those trials we should be at peace with one another, and indeed with everyone possible.