Category Archives: Section Two

Romans, Part 59

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The most obvious translation of Do not lag in zeal[1] (τῇ σπουδῇ μὴ ὀκνηροί) is something like “this haste not slothful.”  Thus we urged Titus, Paul wrote the Corinthians, that, just as he had previously begun this work, so also he should complete this act of kindness for you.  But as you excel in everything – in faith, in speech, in knowledge, and in all eagerness (σπουδῇ) and in the love from us that is in you – make sure that you excel in this act of kindness too.  I am not saying this as a command, but I am testing the genuineness of your love by comparison with the eagerness (σπουδῆς, a form of σπουδή) of others.[2]

The translation of σπουδῇ and σπουδῆς as eagerness above is not wrong if I recognize that Paul’s concern was the timeliness of completing this act of kindness rather than an emotional affect.  Certainly Paul was also interested in the Corinthians’ emotional affect, but he used a different word for that (2 Corinthians 8:10b-12 NET):

It is to your advantage, since you made a good start last year both in your giving and your desire to give, to finish what you started, so that just as you wanted to do it eagerly (προθυμία), you can also complete it according to your means.  For if the eagerness (προθυμία) is present, the gift itself is acceptable according to whatever one has, not according to what he does not have.

The Greek words σπουδῇ and σπουδῆς seem to refer here to the fact that the Corinthians made a good start last year but had failed thus far to finish what [they] started.  I know your eagerness (προθυμίαν, a form of προθυμία) to help,[3] Paul assured them.  The Corinthians’ προθυμία and προθυμίαν were not at issue.  It was σπουδῇ and σπουδῆς they lacked or needed to address (2 Corinthians 9:2b-4 NET):

I keep boasting to the Macedonians about this eagerness of yours, that Achaia has been ready to give since last year, and your zeal (ζῆλος) to participate has stirred up most of them.  But I am sending these brothers so that our boasting about you may not be empty in this case, so that you may be ready just as I kept telling them.  For if any of the Macedonians should come with me and find that you are not ready to give, we would be humiliated (not to mention you) by this confidence we had in you.

As a description of love “this haste not slothful” makes a good deal of sense.  A feigned or hypocritical love, the love of an actor, wearing a false face, speaking another’s lines, will tend to be too fast or too slow in action.  While the Love…without hypocrisy (ἀνυπόκριτος),[4] the fruit of the Holy Spirit, is timely, at a measured pace, this haste not slothful, full of the recognition that love unfeigned lasts a lifetime and beyond.

“This haste not slothful,” however, makes a terrible rule.  Here is a listing of various English translations.

Romans 12:11a

Bible Version
Never be lacking in zeal… New International Version
Never be lazy… New Living Translation
Do not be slothful in zeal… English Standard Bible
Do not become apathetic… Berean Study Bible
not lagging in diligence… Berean Literal Bible
not lagging behind in diligence… New American Standard Bible, NASB 1977
Not slothful in business… King James Bible, KJV 2000, American KJV, Webster’s Bible Translation
Do not lack diligence… Holman Christian Standard Bible
Never be lazy in showing such devotion. International Standard Version
Be diligent and do not be lazy… Aramaic Bible in Plain English, GOD’S WORD Translation
not slothful in earnest care… Jubilee Bible 2000
in diligence not slothful… American Standard Version, English Revised Version
In carefulness not slothful. Douay-Rheims Bible
as to diligent zealousness, not slothful… Darby Bible Translation
Do not be indolent when zeal is required. Weymouth New Testament
not lagging in diligence… World English Bible
in the diligence not slothful… Young’s Literal Translation

I won’t take issue with translating σπουδῇ (a form of σπουδή) abstractly as diligent or diligence: if it is leadership, he must do so with diligence (ὁ προϊστάμενος ἐν σπουδῇ).[5]  I do question translating it zeal or zealousness.  Paul did not write ζῆλος.  Matthew, Mark and John recounted two different occasions when Jesus demonstrated a godly zeal.

Matthew

 Mark

John
Then Jesus entered the temple area and drove out all those who were selling and buying in the temple courts, and turned over the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those selling doves.

Matthew 21:12 (NET)

 Then they came to Jerusalem. Jesus entered the temple area and began to drive out those who were selling and buying in the temple courts. He turned over the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those selling doves, and he would not permit anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts.

Mark 11:15, 16 (NET)

 Now the Jewish feast of Passover was near, so Jesus went up to Jerusalem.  He found in the temple courts those who were selling oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers sitting at tables.  So he made a whip of cords and drove them all out of the temple courts, with the sheep and the oxen. He scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables.

John 2:13-15 (NET)
And he said to them, “It is written, ‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are turning it into a den of robbers!”

Matthew 21:13 (NET)

 Then he began to teach them and said, “Is it not written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have turned it into a den of robbers!”

Mark 11:17 (NET)

 To those who sold the doves he said, “Take these things away from here! Do not make my Father’s house a marketplace!”

John 2:16 (NET)

 
The chief priests and the experts in the law heard it and they considered how they could assassinate him, for they feared him, because the whole crowd was amazed by his teaching.

Mark 11:18 (NET)

 His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal (ζῆλος) for your house will devour me.”

John 2:17 (NET)

 

Paul actually distinguished between this kind of zeal and love: Shall I come to you with a rod of discipline or with love (ἀγάπῃ, a form of ἀγάπη) and a spirit of gentleness?[6]  And though I have no doubt that Jesus consciously fulfilled Scripture, the incidents were also remarkable because they were uncharacteristic and atypical of Him.  The religious mind is all too eager to consider hostilities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish rivalries, dissensions, factions, and envying[7] righteous indignation or zeal for God.  Paul gave no law encouraging the religious mind not to lag in this kind of zeal.

The description continues, be enthusiastic in spirit (τῷ πνεύματι ζέοντες [a form of ζέω]), literally “this spirit boils” or “this boiling spirit.”  If I put it back together I have, this haste not slothful, this boiling spirit.  These words make sense if applied to a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria.[8]  He was an eloquent speaker, well-versed in the scriptures.  He had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and with great enthusiasm (ζέων, another form of ζέω) he spoke and taught accurately the facts about Jesus (KJV: the Lord), although he knew only the baptism of John.[9]

The danger of this kind of enthusiasm wasn’t actually revealed until the next chapter of Acts:  Paul found some disciples in Ephesus and said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?”  They replied, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”[10] It gives me a different impression when Apollos began to speak out fearlessly (παρρησιάζεσθαι, a form of παῤῥησιάζομαι) in the synagogue.[11]  I contrast it to Paul and Barnabas in Iconium, παρρησιαζόμενοι ἐπὶ τῷ κυρίῳ (literally, “speaking freely upon the Lord”).  Here, I think, Paul and Barnabas relied on the Lord rather than their own “fearlessness” and He testified to the message of his grace, granting miraculous signs and wonders to be performed through their hands.[12]

Priscilla and Aquila, who had spent time with Paul,[13] slowed Apollos’ haste (without dampening his enthusiasm): when Priscilla and Aquila heard him [speak out fearlessly in the synagogue], they took him aside and explained the way of God to him more accurately.[14]  Apollos traveled from Ephesus to Achaia.  When he arrived, he assisted greatly those who had believed by grace,[15] the sexually immoral, idolaters, adulterers, passive homosexual partners, practicing homosexuals, thieves, the greedy, drunkards, the verbally abusive, and swindlers[16] who had responded to Paul’s presentation of the Gospel.[17]  (No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, Jesus said, and I will raise him up at the last day.[18])  Apollos greatly assisted them, not by browbeating them to live better lives, but by preoccupying those who might have done so: for he refuted the Jews (Ἰουδαίοις, a form of  Ἰουδαῖος) vigorously in public debate, demonstrating from the scriptures that the Christ was Jesus.[19]

This haste not slothful, this boiling spirit, serve (δουλεύοντες, a form of δουλεύω) the Lord,[20] or serving the Lord,[21] or “this Lord enslaved,” or “enslaved to this Lord.”  Ordinarily I might think of being enslaved as a negative thing.  But Paul compared the slavery of righteousness to the slavery of sin (admittedly, speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh), just as you once presented your members as slaves (δοῦλα, a form of δοῦλος) to impurity and lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves (δοῦλα, a form of δοῦλος) to righteousness leading to sanctification.[22]

For we too were once foolish, Paul wrote to Titus, disobedient, misled, enslaved (δουλεύοντες, a form of δουλεύω) to various passions and desires, spending our lives in evil and envy, hateful and hating one another.[23]  If I think of serving (δουλεύοντες, a form of δουλεύω) the Lord or being enslaved to the Lord as something like the work I do to please my employer, I will think that I am obeying a rule: serve the Lord.  If on the other hand I think of serving (δουλεύοντες, a form of δουλεύω) the Lord or being enslaved to the Lord as something more like being enslaved (δουλεύοντες, a form of δουλεύω) to various passions and desires, well, that’s more like what I did on the weekends after work.

And I think that is more like the δουλεύοντες Paul described here, the natural (super-natural) outpouring of this boiling spirit.  In fact, I should work for my employer in this same way and not like I used to work before I was enslaved to the Lord.  Slaves, obey (ὑπακούετε, a form of ὑπακούω) your human masters with fear and trembling, Paul wrote the Ephesians, in the sincerity (ἁπλότητι, a form of ἁπλότης) of your heart (καρδίας, a form of καρδία) as to Christ, not like those who do their work only when someone is watching – as people-pleasers – but as slaves (δοῦλοι, a form of δοῦλος) of Christ doing the will of God from the heart (ψυχῆς, a form of ψυχή).  Obey with enthusiasm (εὐνοίας, a form of εὔνοια), as though serving (δουλεύοντες, a form of δουλεύω) the Lord and not people…[24]

Part of the definition of ἁπλότητι in the NET is “free from pretence and hypocrisy,” “not self seeking.”  This ἁπλότητι comes from the love that is not self-serving.[25]  All of this is accomplished as slaves (δοῦλοι, a form of δοῦλος) of Christ, not as someone in some wretched social condition but as one whose attitudes and actions are produced by the fruit of the Holy Spirit: For the love of Christ controls (συνέχει, a form of συνέχω) us…[26]  Doing the will of God from the heart[27]…with enthusiasm (or, good will), as[28]… serving (or, enslaved to) the Lord and not people.  We have died to what controlled (κατειχόμεθα, a form of κατέχω) us, so that we may serve (δουλεύειν, a form of δουλεύω) in the new life of the Spirit and not under the old written code.[29]

And so I have, “this haste not slothful, this boiling spirit, enslaved to the Lord.”  Transforming a description of Love…without hypocrisy into three rules—Do not lag in zeal, be enthusiastic in spirit, serve the Lord—may be equivalent to the παρρησιάζεσθαι of Apollos in the synagogue, but it will never rival the παρρησιαζόμενοι ἐπὶ τῷ κυρίῳ of Paul and Barnabas in Iconium.  For it lacks all the power of God.

[1] Romans 12:11a (NET)

[2] 2 Corinthians 8:6-8 (NET)

[3] 2 Corinthians 9:2a (NET)

[4] Romans 12:9a (NET)

[5] Romans 12:8 (NET)

[6] 1 Corinthians 4:21b (NET)

[7] Galatians 5:19, 20 (NET)

[8] Acts 18:24a (NET)

[9] Acts 18:24b, 25 (NET) Table

[10] Acts 19:2 (NET)

[11] Acts 18:26a (NET)

[12] Acts 14:3 (NET)

[13] Acts 18:2, 3 (NET)

[14] Acts 18:26b (NET)

[15] Acts 18:27b (NET)

[16] 1 Corinthians 6:9b, 10a (NET) Table

[17] 1 Corinthians 6:11 (NET)

[18] John 6:44 (NET)

[19] Acts 18:28 (NET)

[20] Romans 12:11 (NET) Table

[21] Romans 12:11 (NAS)

[22] Romans 6:19 (NET)

[23] Titus 3:3 (NET)

[24] Ephesians 6:5-7 (NET)

[25] 1 Corinthians 13:5 (NET)

[26] 2 Corinthians 5:14a (NET)

[27] The NET note on obey in verse 7: “Though the verb does not appear again at this point in the passage, it is nonetheless implied and supplied in the English translation for the sake of clarity.”

[28] I don’t see anything to translate though in the Greek.  This is not something to be faked as though, but is the real righteousness of God, the love that is the fulfillment of the law..

[29] Romans 7:6b (NET)

Romans, Part 58

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In this essay I’ll continue looking at the aftermath of Jesus feeding five thousand plus people in the light of his assessment of the Jewish leaders (Ἰουδαῖοι, a form of Ἰουδαῖος)[1] as an answer to how the Father seeking his own is not self-seeking.  And ultimately it is a continuing part of my attempt to view—Do not lag in zeal, be enthusiastic in spirit, serve the Lord[2]—as a definition of love (ἀγάπη) rather than as rules.  Jesus spoke to those who followed Him not because [they] saw miraculous signs, but because [they] ate all the loaves of bread [they] wanted[3] after they began complaining about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven”[4] (John 6:43-45 NET):

Do not complain about me to one another.  No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day.  It is written in the prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’  Everyone who hears and learns from (παρὰ) the Father comes to me.

As I’ve written elsewhere the translation draws may be understating the case a bit if I think in terms of the hymn, “Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling.”[5]  The Greek word ἑλκύσῃ (a form of ἑλκύω) translated draws above means something more like drags more often than not in the New Testament.  No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me [drags] him gives a little different picture of the situation.

Jesus’ summary of the prophets—‘And they will all be taught by God’—was translated as follows in the KJV: And they shall be all taught of God.  Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me.[6]  To a contemporary ear this may sound like “they will all be taught about God” and “Everyone who has heard and learned about the Father, comes to Jesus.”  The editors of the NKJV, aware of this quirk of contemporary English, clarified the meaning of the text:  ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’  Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me.[7]  And it becomes doubly clear when I recognize that Jesus, the Holy Spirit and John felt the need to include the parenthetical: Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from (παρὰ) God – he has seen the Father.[8]

I don’t want to pass by too quickly without examining Jesus’ summary of the prophets: ‘And they will all be taught by God.’  A note in the NET claimed this as a quotation of Isaiah 54:13.  So I’ll look at that chapter a bit (Isaiah 54:4-13a NET):

Don’t be afraid, for you will not be put to shame!  Don’t be intimidated, for you will not be humiliated!  You will forget about the shame you experienced in your youth; you will no longer remember the disgrace of your abandonment.  For your husband is the one who made you – the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) who commands armies is his name.  He is your protector, the Holy One of Israel.  He is called “God (ʼĕlôhı̂ym, אלהי) of the entire earth.”

“Indeed, the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) will call you back like a wife who has been abandoned and suffers from depression, like a young wife when she has been rejected,” says your God (ʼĕlôhı̂ym, אלהיך).  “For a short time I abandoned you, but with great compassion I will gather you.  In a burst of anger I rejected you momentarily, but with lasting devotion I will have compassion on you,” says your protector, the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה).

“As far as I am concerned, this is like in Noah’s time, when I vowed that the waters of Noah’s flood would never again cover the earth.  In the same way I have vowed that I will not be angry at you or shout at you.  Even if the mountains are removed and the hills displaced, my devotion will not be removed from you, nor will my covenant of friendship be displaced,” says the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה), the one who has compassion on you.

“O afflicted one, driven away, and unconsoled!  Look, I am about to set your stones in antimony and I lay your foundation with lapis-lazuli.  I will make your pinnacles out of gems, your gates out of beryl, and your outer wall out of beautiful stones.  All your children will be followers of the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה)…

And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: “The Deliverer will come out of Zion; he will remove ungodliness from Jacob.  And this is my covenant with them, when I take away their sins.”[9]

“Indeed, a time is coming,” says the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה), “when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah.  It will not be like the old covenant that I made with their ancestors when I delivered them from Egypt.  For they violated that covenant, even though I was like a faithful husband to them,” says the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה).  “But I will make a new covenant with the whole nation of Israel after I plant them back in the land,” says the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה).  “I will put my law within them and write it on their hearts and minds.  I will be their God (ʼĕlôhı̂ym, לאלהים) and they will be my people.

“People will no longer need to teach their neighbors and relatives to know me.  For all of them, from the least important to the most important, will know me,” says the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה).  “For I will forgive their sin and will no longer call to mind the wrong they have done” [Table].

The Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) has made a promise to Israel.  He promises it as the one who fixed the sun to give light by day and the moon and stars to give light by night.  He promises it as the one who stirs up the sea so that its waves roll.  He promises it as the one who is known as the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) who rules over all.[10]

A note in the NET acknowledges that, Everyone who hears and learns from the Father comes to me, might have been translated “listens to the Father and learns.”  The latter translation actually fits the Greek word order (πᾶς ὁ ἀκούσας παρὰ τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ μαθὼν ἔρχεται πρὸς ἐμέ) better than the former.  I’m pleasantly surprised that it was translated as it was.

A narrow path is created by 1) No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him; 2) ‘And they will all be taught by God;’ and 3) Everyone who hears and learns from the Father comes to me.  I definitely relate this to, So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word (ρήματα, a form of ῥῆμα) of God.[11]  If everyone who hears from God also learns from God, they will all be taught by God carries a different weight than everyone who hears from God must learn on his own to come to Jesus.[12]

I found a thoughtful sermon online from John Piper that accurately portrays the teaching of my religion:

In John 6:44, Jesus says, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.” And in John 12:32, Jesus says, “I will draw all people to myself.” So John 6:44 teaches, I argued last week, that the Father draws people triumphantly to the Son, and all whom he draws come, because the drawing is decisive. And John 12:32 teaches that Jesus draws all to himself.[13]

The solution to this dilemma (dilemma because my religion rejects the notion of universal salvation) is that all in John 12:32 (NET)—And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself—does not mean all people (people is not in the original text).  All means “all the children of God” or “all of my sheep.”[14]  To my mind this limitation disregards, Let God be proven true, and every human being shown up as a liar, just as it is written: “so that you will be justified in your words and will prevail when you are judged.”[15]

If the Lord does not wish (βουλόμενος, a form of βούλομαι) for any to perish but for all to come to repentance,[16] we need to consider these “couplets,” as I think of them, in another way.  No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him;[17] And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.[18]  So then, it does not depend on human desire or exertion, but on God who shows mercy;[19] For God has consigned all people to disobedience so that he may show mercy to them all.[20]  And consider these in the light of his unilateral declaration: I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.[21]

All the Lord has to do is declare that these words justify Him to call as many, up to and including all, to repentance as He desires and John Piper and I have no way to contradict Him.  There are three reasons I won’t go all the way and say I believe in universal salvation: 1) I have no standing to tell the Lord He must save all; 2) my own theory how this might be possible, that universal salvation entails universal condemnation, while intellectually satisfying, is emotionally horrifying; and 3) it seems to me that the arguments of Scripture lock me out from determining such a thing at the same time they free me to pray for “the mercy on which everything depends, for it does not depend on human desire or exertion but on You who shows mercy, and You have consigned all to disobedience so that You may show mercy to all.”

Jesus continued (John 6:47-51 NET):

I tell you the solemn truth, the one who believes has eternal life.  I am the bread of life (Ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ἄρτος τῆς ζωῆς).  Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died.  This is the bread that has come down from heaven, so that a person may eat from it and not die.  I am the living bread that came down from heaven.  If anyone eats from this bread he will live forever.  The bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.

Then the Ἰουδαῖοι began to argue with one another, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”[22]  The Church’s answer to their question was Transubstantiation.  If Transubstantiation is Jesus’ answer, too, then He might have said: “You will walk to the front of the congregation and kneel before the priest who will give you a morsel of bread and a sip of wine, the substance of which he has changed into my literal body and blood respectively, but it will still look and taste like bread and wine.”  And I’ll read what He actually said in that light (John 6:53-58 NET):

I tell you the solemn truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in yourselves.  The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.  For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink [Table].  The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood resides in me, and I in him.  Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so the one who consumes me will live because of me.  This is the bread that came down from heaven; it is not like the bread your ancestors ate, but then later died.  The one who eats this bread will live forever.

In this case I would assume that Jesus deliberately used offensive language to thin the herd of his followers.  If, on the other hand, I believe that Jesus’ answer to their question—How can this man give us his flesh to eat?—came later in the text when He spoke privately with his disciples, I will have a different perspective: The Spirit is the one who gives life; human nature (σὰρξ) is of no help![23]  The words (ρήματα, a form of ῥῆμα) that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.[24]

I may still wonder if He spoke something like a parable that may have been misunderstood by others, that He explained to his core disciples, but I also recognize that He spoke of something deeper than my ability to learn in my natural self from spiritual teaching.  And I recall that the concept of eating the words of God was familiar to Jesus’ audience (Ezekiel 3:1-4 NET):

He said to me, “Son of man, eat what you see in front of you – eat this scroll – and then go and speak to the house of Israel.”  So I opened my mouth and he fed me the scroll.

He said to me, “Son of man, feed your stomach and fill your belly with this scroll I am giving to you.”  So I ate it, and it was sweet like honey in my mouth.

He said to me, “Son of man, go to the house of Israel and speak my words to them.”

In this case his hearers may not have been offended because they thought Jesus spoke of cannibalism.  They understood his allusion.  They were offended because Jesus didn’t hand them the law of Moses to eat, but Himself and his own teaching as the Spirit words to be ingested.  They rejected Him not because they were confused but because they understood Him perfectly and their hearts were hardened (Ezekiel 3:5-7 NET):

For you are not being sent to a people of unintelligible speech and difficult language, but to the house of Israel – not to many peoples of unintelligible speech and difficult language, whose words you cannot understand – surely if I had sent you to them, they would listen to you!  But the house of Israel is unwilling to listen to you, because they are not willing to listen to me, for the whole house of Israel is hard-headed and hard-hearted.

 After this many of his disciples quit following him and did not accompany him any longer.  So Jesus said to the twelve, “You don’t want to go away too, do you?”[25]

Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom would we go?  You have the words (ρήματα, a form of ῥῆμα) of eternal life.  We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God!”[26] 

If Jesus were only seeking those who have come to believe and to know that [He is] the Holy One of God, then I’m not sure if that would be self-serving or not.  If He is serious about seeking those who are his own in name only but in actual point of fact are hardened and reject Him, it is clear that seeking his own is not self-seeking, but clearly an act of the love that is not self-serving.[27]

[1] John 5:16-47 (NET) Now because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders (Ἰουδαῖοι) began persecuting him (verse 16) [Table].

[2] Romans 12:11 (NET) Table

[3] John 6:26 (NET)

[4] John 6:41 (NET)

[5] http://library.timelesstruths.org/music/Softly_and_Tenderly/

[6] John 6:45 (KJV)

[7] John 6:45 (NKJV)

[8] John 6:46 (NET)

[9] Romans 11:26, 27 (NET)

[10] Jeremiah 31:31-35 (NET)

[11] Romans 10:17 (NKJV)

[12] Even the KJV translators chose this path: Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me (John 6:45b KJV).  Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me (John 6:45b NKJV).  I’m afraid I would have assumed in the past that learned was my own work, to blunt the impact of And they will all be taught by God (e.g., only those who learned by whatever wisdom or virtue they possessed innately would benefit from being taught by God or having heard from God).

[13] http://www.desiringgod.org/messages/they-will-all-be-taught-of-god

[14] http://www.desiringgod.org/messages/they-will-all-be-taught-of-god

[15] Romans 3:4 (NET)

[16] 2 Peter 3:9b (NET)

[17] John 6:44a (NET)

[18] John 12:32 (NET)

[19] Romans 9:16 (NET) Table

[20] Romans 11:32 (NET)

[21] Romans 9:15 (NET)

[22] John 6:52 (NET)

[23] ἡ σὰρξ οὐκ ὠφελεῖ οὐδέν appears almost as a double negative: “the flesh, no, it assists (is useful, advantageous or profitable, to) no one.”

[24] John 6:63 (NET)

[25] John 6:66, 67 (NET)

[26] John 6:68, 69 (NET)

[27] 1 Corinthians 13:5 (NET)

Romans, Part 57

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In this essay I’m looking at the aftermath of Jesus feeding five thousand plus people in the light of his assessment of the Jewish leaders (Ἰουδαῖοι, a form of Ἰουδαῖος)[1] as an answer to how the Father seeking his own is not self-seeking.  And ultimately it is a continuing part of my attempt to view—Do not lag in zeal, be enthusiastic in spirit, serve the Lord[2]—as a definition of love (ἀγάπη) rather than as rules.  Matthew and Mark end this thread of their narratives focused on people who did not eat from the five loaves and two fish.

Matthew

Mark
After they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret.  When the people there recognized him, they sent word into all the surrounding area, and they brought all their sick to him.  They begged him if they could only touch the edge of his cloak, and all who touched it were healed.

Matthew 14:34-36 (NET)

 After they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret and anchored there.  As they got out of the boat, people immediately recognized Jesus.  They ran through that whole region and began to bring the sick on mats to wherever he was rumored to be.  And wherever he would go – into villages, towns, or countryside – they would place the sick in the marketplaces, and would ask him if they could just touch the edge of his cloak, and all who touched it were healed.

Mark 6:53-56 (NET)

John grappled with the more distressing story of many who did eat from the five loaves and two fish (John 6:22-24 NET).

The next day the crowd that remained on the other side of the lake realized that only one small boat had been there, and that Jesus had not boarded it with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone.  But some boats from Tiberias came to shore near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks.  So when the crowd realized that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and came to Capernaum looking for Jesus.

When they found him on the other side of the lake, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”[3]

Jesus didn’t answer their question.  Instead He said to those who were part of the crowd… following him because they were observing the miraculous signs he was performing on the sick,[4] who saw the miraculous sign that Jesus performed, [and] began to say to one another, “This is certainly the Prophet who is to come into the world,”[5] who were going to come and seize him by force to make him king:[6] I tell you the solemn truth, you are looking for me not because you saw miraculous signs (σημεῖα, a form of σημεῖον), but because you ate all the loaves of bread you wanted.[7]

They didn’t argue with Him about it.  In fact, they said something a bit later that confirms his assessment of their motives.[8]  And I’m reminded of Mark’s Gospel narrative, they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened.[9]  Who and what did they believe instead of Jesus?

I’ll hazard a guess that they were afraid (ἐφοβοῦντο, a form of φοβέω) of the Jewish (Ἰουδαίους, a form of Ἰουδαῖος) religious leaders.  For the Jewish leaders (Ἰουδαῖοι, another form of Ἰουδαῖος) had already agreed that anyone who confessed Jesus to be the Christ would be put out of the synagogue.[10]  We are disciples of Moses, the Ἰουδαῖοι said.  We know that God has spoken to Moses!  We do not know where this man comes from![11]

Jesus didn’t walk into anyone’s place of employment, interrupt him and say, Do not work for the food that disappears.  Instead, He said it to those who had spent their time, their effort and their money to follow Him not because [they] saw miraculous signs, but because [they] ate all the loaves of bread [they] wanted: Do not work for the food that disappears, but for the food that remains to eternal life – the food which the Son of Man will give to you.  For God the Father has put his seal of approval on him.[12]

I played the organ, and sometimes the piano, at a downtown mission the summer after I got my driver’s license.  The man who ran the mission was a nice enough guy in everyday life but an angry[13] preacher.  I felt sorry for the homeless men, sometimes a few women, sitting through that angry tirade everyday for the free meal that followed.  But as I look at it in this light, maybe they got what they paid for, indigestion.

Those who followed Jesus not because [they] saw miraculous signs, but because [they] ate all the loaves of bread [they] wanted seemed to grasp his meaning when He told them to work… for the food that remains to eternal life.

What must we do to accomplish the deeds God requires?[14] they asked.

This is the deed God requires, Jesus answered, to believe in the one whom he sent.[15]

They understood that Jesus claimed to be the one God sent: Then what miraculous sign will you perform, so that we may see it and believe you?  What will you do?[16]  Here they unmasked themselves, for they already had a sign in mind.  Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, just as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’[17]  In other words, give us more free food and we’ll believe you.

I’m going to hazard another guess that what they really wanted wasn’t free food.  What they really wanted was confirmation of their own goodness and acceptability in God’s sight (Deuteronomy 28:12, 13 NET):

The Lord will open for you his good treasure house, the heavens, to give you rain for the land in its season and to bless all you do; you will lend to many nations but you will not borrow from any.  The Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you will always end up at the top and not at the bottom, if you obey his commandments which I am urging you today to be careful to do.

Let me put this back in perspicuous form:  If you obey his commandments, the Lord will make you the head and not the tail.  If you obey his commandments, you will always end up at the top and not at the bottom.  Those who followed Jesus not because [they] saw miraculous signs, but because [they] ate all the loaves of bread [they] wanted didn’t feel like they were the head, at the top, under Roman rule.  It was a jarring, glaring, living example of denying the consequent, modus tollens, a deductively valid argument that they were not obeying the Lord’s commandments.  And it wasn’t from a lack of trying.  That needs to be clearly understood.

The Jewish Encyclopedia online defines Zealots (Hebrew, Ḳanna’im) as follows: “Zealous defenders of the Law and of the national life of the Jewish people; name of a party opposing with relentless rigor any attempt to bring Judea under the dominion of idolatrous Rome, and especially of the aggressive and fanatical war party from the time of Herod until the fall of Jerusalem and Masada. The members of this party bore also the name Sicarii, from their custom of going about with daggers (‘sicæ’) hidden beneath their cloaks, with which they would stab any one found committing a sacrilegious act or anything provoking anti-Jewish feeling.”[18]

“This unfailing ‘zeal for the Law’ became the standard of piety in the days of the Maccabean struggle against the Hellenizers. Thus it is asserted that when Mattathias slew the Jew whom he saw sacrificing to an idol, ‘he dealt zealously for the law of God, as did Phinehas[19] unto Zimri the son of Salu’; and Mattathias’ claim of descent from Phinehas implies that, like the latter, he obtained for his house the covenant of an everlasting priesthood (I Macc. ii. 24, 26, 54).”[20]

“‘Ḳanna’im’ was the name for those zealous for the honor and sanctity of the Law as well as of the sanctuary, and for this reason they at first met with the support and encouragement of the people and of the Pharisaic leaders, particularly those of the rigid school of Shammai.[21] It was only after they had been so carried away by their fanatic zeal as to become wanton destroyers of life and property throughout the land that they were denounced as heretic Galileans (Yad. iv. 8) and ‘murderers’ and that their principles were repudiated by the peace-loving Pharisees.”[22]

Jesus’ disciples were steeped in this milieu.  Lord, is this the time when you are restoring the kingdom to Israel?[23]  This question was foremost in their minds moments before Jesus’ ascension.  And Jesus’ response to his faithful followers was, You are not permitted to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority.  But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you…[24]

So Jesus instructed them to wait in Jerusalem for the promised Holy Spirit, the source of the love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control[25] that is the fulfillment of the law.[26]  Jesus was focused on the work his Father had sent Him to accomplish (Matthew 5:17-20 NET):

Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets.  I have not come to abolish these things but to fulfill them.  I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth pass away not the smallest letter or stroke of a letter will pass from the law until everything takes place.  So anyone who breaks one of the least of these commands and teaches others to do so will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever obeys them and teaches others to do so will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.  For I tell you, unless your righteousness goes beyond that of the experts in the law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

So how did Jesus respond to those who followed Him not because [they] saw miraculous signs, but because [they] ate all the loaves of bread [they] wanted?

I tell you the solemn truth, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but my Father is giving you the true bread from heaven.  For the bread of God (ἄρτος τοῦ θεοῦ) is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.[27]

Give us today our daily bread (ἄρτον, a form of ἄρτος).[28]  I wouldn’t alter the translation but it’s important to realize that as I pray this I’m asking, Give us today our daily Jesus, the fruit of his Spirit.  Sir (κύριε, a form of κύριος), give us this bread all the time,[29] those who followed Jesus not because [they] saw miraculous signs, but because [they] ate all the loaves of bread [they] wanted said.

Outwardly, they appeared to be doing right, following Jesus.  They said the right words: Sir (literally, Lord), give us this bread all the time.  The note in the NET reads: “The Greek κύριος (kurios) means both ‘Sir’ and ‘Lord.’ In this passage it is not at all clear at this point that the crowd is acknowledging Jesus as Lord. More likely this is simply a form of polite address (‘sir’).”  And I agree, for when Jesus clearly identified Himself as the ἄρτος τοῦ θεοῦ saying, I am the bread of life (ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ἄρτος τῆς ζωῆς),[30] they began complaining about him.[31]

I am the bread of life.  The one who comes to me will never go hungry, and the one who believes in me will never be thirsty.  But I told you that you have seen me and still do not believe.  Everyone whom the Father gives me will come to me, and the one who comes to me I will never send away.  For I have come down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of the one who sent me.  Now this is the will of the one who sent me – that I should not lose one person of every one he has given me, but raise them all up at the last day.  For this is the will of my Father – for everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him to have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.[32]

Then the Jews who were hostile to Jesus (Ἰουδαῖοι, a form of Ἰουδαῖος) began complaining about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven…”[33]  The note in the NET reads: “Grk ‘Then the Jews.’ In NT usage the term ᾿Ιουδαῖοι (Ioudaioi) may refer to the entire Jewish people, the residents of Jerusalem and surrounding territory, the authorities in Jerusalem, or merely those who were hostile to Jesus…Here the translation restricts the phrase to those Jews who were hostile to Jesus (cf. BDAG 479 s.v. ᾿Ιουδαῖος 2.e.β), since the ‘crowd’ mentioned in 6:22-24 was almost all Jewish (as suggested by their addressing Jesus as ‘Rabbi’ (6:25). Likewise, the designation ‘Judeans’ does not fit here because the location is Galilee rather than Judea.”

Yes, I get it.  The Jews who responded to Jesus this way were hostile or hardened.  There were other Jews who were not so hostile, who had heard and learned from the Father.[34]  But I think another important point that John and the Holy Spirit have made here is that it was “Jewishness” that began complaining about him because he said…  It was the religious mind, and the religious mind comes in many flavors, even scientific, even atheist, even Christian flavors.

Romans, Part 58

[1] John 5:16-47 (NET) Now because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders (Ἰουδαῖοι) began persecuting him (verse 16).

[2] Romans 12:11 (NET) Table

[3] John 6:25 (NET)

[4] John 6:2 (NET)

[5] John 6:14 (NET)

[6] John 6:15 (NET)

[7] John 6:26 (NET)

[8] John 6:31 (NET)

[9] Mark 6:52 (NET)

[10] John 9:22 (NET)

[11] John 9:28b, 29 (NET)

[12] John 6:27 (NET)

[13] James 1:20; 3:17, 18 (NET)

[14] John 6:28 (NET)

[15] John 6:29 (NET)

[16] John 6:30 (NET)

[17] John 6:31 (NET)

[18] Kaufmann Kohler,  ZEALOTS, Jewish Encyclopedia

[19] Numbers 25 (NET)

[20] Kaufmann Kohler,  ZEALOTS, Jewish Encyclopedia

[21] An interesting insight on Paul: Paul: At the Feet of Gamaliel?  In my zeal for God I persecuted the church (Philippians 3:6a NET).

[22] Kaufmann Kohler,  ZEALOTS, Jewish Encyclopedia

[23] Acts 1:6 (NET) Table

[24] Acts 1:7, 8a (NET) Table

[25] Galatians 5:22, 23a (NET)

[26] Romans 13:10b (NET)

[27] John 6:32, 33 (NET)

[28] Matthew 6:11 (NET)

[29] John 6:34 (NET)

[30] John 6:35a (NET)

[31] John 6:41a (NET)

[32] John 6:35-40 (NET)

[33] John 6:41 (NET)

[34] John 6:45

Romans, Part 56

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Ezekiel prophesied: For this is what the sovereign (ʼădônây,  אדני) Lord (yehôvih, יהוה) says: Look, I myself will search for my sheep and seek them out.  As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his scattered sheep, so I will seek out my flock.   I will rescue them from all the places where they have been scattered on a cloudy, dark day.[1]  I will seek the lost and bring back the strays; I will bandage the injured and strengthen the sick, but the fat and the strong I will destroy.   I will feed them – with judgment![2]

I will save my sheep; they will no longer be prey.  I will judge between one sheep and another.  I will set one shepherd over them, and he will feed them – namely, my servant David.  He will feed them and will be their shepherd.  I, the Lord (yehôvâh,  יהוה), will be their God, and my servant David will be prince among them; I, the Lord (yehôvâh,  יהוה), have spoken![3]

This is a fitting introduction to this section of the story of Jesus feeding five thousand plus people in the light of his assessment of the Jewish leaders (Ἰουδαῖοι, a form of Ἰουδαῖος)[4] as an answer to how the Father seeking his own is not self-seeking.  And ultimately it is a continuing part of my attempt to view—Do not lag in zeal, be enthusiastic in spirit, serve the Lord[5]—as a definition of love (ἀγάπη) rather than as rules.

Matthew Mark Luke

John
And they said, “Should we go and buy bread for two hundred silver coins and give it to them to eat?”  He said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go and see.”

Mark 6:37, 38a (NET)

 They replied, “We have no more than five loaves and two fish – unless we go and buy food for all these people.”

Luke 9:13b (NET)
They said to him, “We have here only five loaves and two fish.”  “Bring them here to me,” he replied.

Matthew 14:17, 18 (NET)

 When they found out, they said, “Five – and two fish.”

Mark 6:38b (NET)

 One of Jesus’ disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, “Here is a[6] boy who has[7] five barley loaves and two fish, but what good are these for so many people?” [Table]

John 6:8, 9 (NET)

If I accept John’s contention that— Jesus, when he looked up and saw that a large crowd was coming to him, said to Philip, “Where can we buy bread so that these people may eat?”[8]—I get a slightly different picture of the situation.  I suspect that while Jesus taught and healed the people his disciples, anticipating, were on the lookout for food.  They didn’t really expect to spend two hundred silver coins, the amount Phillip assessed earlier that day: Philip replied, “Two hundred silver coins worth of bread would not be enough for them, for each one to get a little.”[9]

Later that evening when they came to Jesus and said—This is an isolated place and the hour is already late.  Send the crowds away so that they can go into the villages and buy food for themselves[10]—their compassion for the people was tinged by their perceived failure to find a sufficient supply of food.  Mark captured their astonishment when Jesus replied—You give them something to eat—Should we go and buy bread for two hundred silver coins [recalling Philip’s earlier assessment] and give it to them to eat?[11]

How many loaves do you have? Jesus asked.  Go and see.[12]

Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, “Here is a boy who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what good are these for so many people?”[13]

Matthew

 Mark Luke

John
Then he instructed the crowds to sit down on the grass.

Matthew 14:19a (NET)

 Then he directed them all to sit down in groups on the green grass.  So they reclined in groups of hundreds and fifties.

Mark 6:39, 40 (NET)

 Then he said to his disciples, “Have them sit down in groups of about fifty each.”  So they did as Jesus directed, and the people all sat down.

Luke 9:14b, 15 (NET)

 Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” (Now there was a lot of grass in that place.)  So the men sat down…

John 6:10a (NET)
He took the five loaves and two fish, and looking up to heaven he gave thanks and broke the loaves.  He gave them to the disciples, who in turn gave them to the crowds.  They all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up the broken pieces left over, twelve baskets full.

Matthew 14:19b, 20 (NET)

 He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. He gave them to his disciples to serve the people, and he divided the two fish among them all.  They all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up the broken pieces and fish that were left over, twelve baskets full.

Mark 6:41-43 (NET)

 Then he took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven he gave thanks and broke them. He gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd.  They all ate and were satisfied, and what was left over was picked up – twelve baskets of broken pieces.

Luke 9:16, 17 (NET)

 Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed the bread to those who were seated.  He then did the same with the fish, as much as they wanted.  When they were all satisfied, Jesus said to his disciples, “Gather up the broken pieces that are left over,[14] so that nothing is wasted.”  So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with broken pieces from the five barley loaves left over by the people who had eaten [Table].

John 6:11-13 (NET)
Not counting women and children, there were about five thousand men who ate.

Matthew 14:21 (NET)

 Now there were five thousand men who ate the bread.

Mark 6:44 (NET)

 (Now about five thousand men were there.)

Luke 9:14a (NET)

 … about five thousand in number.

John 6:10b (NET)

I have nothing to add to this scene except the words of yehôvih (יהוה) through the prophet Ezekiel: In a good pasture I will feed them; the mountain heights of Israel will be their pasture.  There they will lie down in a lush pasture, and they will feed on rich grass on the mountains of Israel.  I myself will feed my sheep and I myself will make them lie down, declares the sovereign (ʼădônây,  אדני) Lord (yehôvih).[15]  Only John’s Gospel narrative picked up on this.

Matthew

 Mark Luke

John
Now when the people saw the miraculous sign that Jesus performed, they began to say to one another, “This is certainly the Prophet who is to come into the world.”

John 6:14 (NET)
Immediately (εὐθέως) Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of him to the other side, while he dispersed the crowds [Table].

Matthew 14:22 (NET)

 Immediately (εὐθὺς) Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, to Bethsaida, while he dispersed the crowd.

Mark 6:45 (NET)
And after he sent the crowds away, he went up the mountain by himself to pray.

Matthew 14:23a (NET)

 After saying good-bye to them, he went to the mountain to pray.

Mark 6:46 (NET)

 Then Jesus, because he knew they were going to come and seize him by force to make him king, withdrew again up the mountainside alone.

John 6:15 (NET)

Luke’s Gospel abandoned this particular narrative thread.

Matthew

 Mark

John
When evening came, [Jesus] was there alone.  Meanwhile the boat, already far from land, was taking a beating from the waves because the wind was against it.

Matthew 14:23b, 24 (NET)

 When evening came, the boat was in the middle of the sea and he was alone on the land.  He saw them straining at the oars, because the wind was against them.

Mark 6:47, 48a (NET)

 Now when evening came, his disciples went down to the lake, got into a boat, and started to cross the lake to Capernaum.  (It had already become dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them.)  By now a strong wind was blowing and the sea was getting rough.

John 6:16-18 (NET)

John’s Gospel narrative gives me the impression that Jesus’ disciples waited around for Him a bit longer than Matthew’s εὐθέως (translated, immediately NET or straightway KJV) or Mark’s εὐθὺς (translated, immediately NET or straightway KJV) led me at first to believe.  As I look at it now I think εὐθέως and εὐθὺς spoke more to Jesus’ urgency dismissing his disciples because he knew [the people who saw the miraculous sign] were going to come and seize him by force to make him king.

Matthew

 Mark

John
As the night was ending, Jesus came to them walking on the sea.  When the disciples saw him walking on the water they were terrified and said, “It’s a ghost!” and cried out with fear.  But immediately (εὐθὺς) Jesus spoke to them: “Have courage! It is I.  Do not be afraid.”

Matthew 14:25-27 (NET)

 As the night was ending, he came to them walking on the sea, for he wanted to pass by them.  When they saw him walking on the water they thought he was a ghost.  They cried out, for they all saw him and were terrified.  But immediately (εὐθὺς) he spoke to them: “Have courage!  It is I.  Do not be afraid.”

Mark 6:48b-50 (NET)

 Then, when they had rowed about three or four miles, they caught sight of Jesus walking on the lake, approaching the boat, and they were frightened.  But he said to them, “It is I.  Do not be afraid.”

John 6:19, 20 (NET)

Only Matthew recorded what happened next.  I wonder if the tax collector’s prayer Jesus spoke[16] about was Matthew’s (also known as Levi).[17]

Matthew Mark

John
Peter said to him, “Lord, if it is you, order me to come to you on the water.”  So he said, “Come.” Peter got out of the boat, walked on the water, and came toward Jesus [Table].  But when he saw the strong wind he became afraid. And starting to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!”  Immediately (εὐθέως) Jesus reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, “You of little faith (ὀλιγόπιστε, a form of ὀλιγόπιστος), why did you doubt?”

Matthew 14:28-31 (NET)

I have written about this before.[18]

Matthew

 Mark

John
When they went up into the boat, the wind ceased.  Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

Matthew 14:32, 33 (NET)

 Then he went up with them into the boat, and the wind ceased. They were completely astonished, because they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened.

Mark 6:51, 52 (NET)

 Then they wanted to take him into the boat, and immediately (εὐθέως) the boat came to the land where they had been heading.

John 6:21 (NET)

Matthew wrote, Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”  Mark wrote, They were completely astonished, because they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened.  And John let both stand without comment.  This was curious until I stepped back into the scene.

If I crawl into the boat and look first through Matthew’s eyes as he watched Peter get out of the boat at Jesus’ command and walk on the water toward Him, it’s immaterial to me that Peter began to flounder.  Of course he did.  What was astonishing was that he stood and walked at all!  Truly, Jesus is the Son of God.

If, on the other hand, I get out of the boat with Peter (the presumed source of Mark’s Gospel narrative) and take those few tentative steps, see the wind whipping up the waves, fear and begin to sink… While it is not immaterial that Jesus reached out his hand and caught me, my focus is his question: why did you doubt?  And until the Holy Spirit was given, truly, Peter’s heart was hardened, as were the hearts of all the rest of Jesus’ disciples and all Israel (Isaiah 6 NET): it does not depend on human desire or exertion, but on God who shows mercy.[19]

I’ll continue this thread in the next essay.

Romans, Part 57

[1] Ezekiel 34:11, 12 (NET)

[2] Ezekiel 34:16 (NET)

[3] Ezekiel 34:22-24 (NET)

[4] John 5:16-47 (NET) Now because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders (Ἰουδαῖοι) began persecuting him (verse 16).

[5] Romans 12:11 (NET) Table

[6] The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had εν here.  The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 did not.

[7] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had ὃς here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had ο (KJV: which).

[8] John 6:5 (NET)

[9] John 6:7 (NET)

[10] Matthew 14:15 (NET)

[11] Mark 6:37 (NET)

[12] Mark 6:38a (NET)

[13] John 6:8, 9 (NET)

[14] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had ἐπερίσσευσαν here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had επερισσευσεν (KJV: remained over and above).

[15] Ezekiel 34:14, 15 (NET)

[16] Luke 18:9-14 (NET)

[17] Compare: Matthew 9:9-13, Mark 2:14-17, Luke 5:27-32 (NET)

[18] Romans, Part 17

[19] Romans 9:16 (NET) Table

Romans, Part 55

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I am continuing my attempt to view—Do not lag in zeal, be enthusiastic in spirit, serve the Lord[1]—as a definition of love (ἀγάπη) rather than as rules.  This particular essay is focused on the story of Jesus feeding five thousand plus people in the light of his assessment of the Jewish authorities (Ἰουδαῖοι) as an answer to how the Father seeking his own is not self-seeking.  I don’t know the official status of the “Jewish authorities.”

The  Ἰουδαῖοι (translated, Jewish leaders) sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask [John the Baptist], “Who are you?”[2]  I’ve assumed that the Ἰουδαῖοι called out the big guns (though they may have sent their servants to do their bidding).  In the story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman John explained, For Jews ( Ἰουδαῖοι) use nothing in common with Samaritans.[3]  This sounds like a description of “Jewishness.”  The  Ἰουδαῖοι (translated, Jewish leaders) said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath, and you are not permitted to carry your mat.”[4]  The healed man didn’t immediately drop his mat, but he didn’t blow off the Ἰουδαῖοι completely either.  He felt obliged to answer their charges in some fashion, at least to turn their gaze (and wrath) toward Jesus.

I certainly think of the Jewishness of the moment as the true adversary in this story (and perhaps all of John’s gospel narrative).  I might be more accurate to call these “authorities” accepted exemplars of then current Jewishness, but I’ll probably stick with  Ἰουδαῖοι for now.

It’s getting pretty deep here.  I need to remind myself what is at stake just to follow through with this level of detail.  First is my own issue:  Rules leap off the page and dance lewdly before my eyes.  Love and grace have always been more difficult for me to see in the Bible.  I’ve already written about how 1 Corinthians served to undo almost everything I thought I had learned in Romans.  Perceiving Romans 12:9-21 as rules to be obeyed clearly began that process.

My reason these days almost shouts, “Of course these are definitions of love.  How could the one who said of God’s law—no one is declared righteous before him by the works of the law[5]—turn back, institute his own rules and expect any sane person to take him seriously?”  My experience of human nature, however, argues that we perceive that fault in others of which we are most guilty.  It makes perfect sense then that one who accused others of ignoring the righteousness that comes from God, and seeking instead to establish their own righteousness[6] would deny the efficacy of God’s law vis-a-vis righteousness only to establish his own rules of righteousness.  These arguments are mutually canceling.  I need to do the work studying the words to find the love and grace embedded in these apparent rules.

Here I want to recount what Jesus said about the Ἰουδαῖοι of the only God-ordained religion on the planet[7]:

1) You people have never heard [the Father’s] voice nor seen his form at any time, nor do you have his word residing in you, because you do not believe the one whom he sent.[8]

2) You study the scriptures thoroughly…it is these same scriptures that testify about me, but you are not willing to come to me so that you may have life.[9]

3) If you believed Moses, you would believe me, because he wrote about me.[10]

On point number 3 I want to clarify my own thinking.  The Bible begins: In the beginning ʼĕlôhı̂ym created the heavens and the earth.[11]  Then in chapter 2 one [Addendum (April 26, 2023): Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Part 7] of the ʼĕlôhı̂ym is specified: This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created – when the yehôvâh ʼĕlôhı̂ym made the earth and heavens.[12]  From this point on the Bible becomes his story.  If you believe (as I did) that yehôvâh ʼĕlôhı̂ym corresponds to the Father in the New Testament, Eric Chabot has an article online detailing the few times Moses wrote about Jesus.

These days I am thinking that yehôvâh ʼĕlôhı̂ym corresponds to the Son in the New Testament.  I think that was Jesus’ point when He said, I tell you the solemn truth, before Abraham came into existence, I am![13]  God (ʼĕlôhı̂ym) said to Moses, “I am (hâyâh) that I am.”  And he said, “You must say this to the Israelites, ‘I am (hâyâh) has sent me to you.’”  God (ʼĕlôhı̂ym) also said to Moses, “You must say this to the Israelites, ‘The Lord (yehôvâh)– the God (ʼĕlôhı̂ym) of your fathers, the God (ʼĕlôhı̂ym) of Abraham, the God (ʼĕlôhı̂ym) of Isaac, and the God (ʼĕlôhı̂ym) of Jacob – has sent me to you.  This is my name forever, and this is my memorial from generation to generation.’”[14]

I think this was John’s point when he penned: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was fully God.  The Word was with God in the beginning.  All things were created by him, and apart from him not one thing was created that has been created.[15]  Now the Word became flesh and took up residence among us.  We saw his glory – the glory of the one and only, full of grace and truth, who came from the Father.[16]

And I think this was Paul’s point when he prophesied of Jesus: who though he existed in the form of God did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking on the form of a slave, by looking like other men, and by sharing in human nature.  He humbled himself, by becoming obedient to the point of death – even death on a cross!  As a result God exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow – in heaven and on earth and under the earth – and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.[17]

What this means to me here is that I take Eric Chabot’s list and add virtually everything else Moses wrote to it.  In this light I’ll continue to look into the feeding of the five thousand men plus women and children.

Jesus and his disciples left by boat for an isolated place outside of Bethsaida.  But when the crowd heard about it, they followed him on foot from the towns, and arrived there ahead of them.  John added the reason they followed Him: they were observing (ἐθεώρουν, a form of θεωρέω) the miraculous signs (σημεῖα, a form of σημεῖον) he was performing on the sick.

Matthew Mark Luke

John

Now when Jesus heard this he went away from there privately in a boat to an isolated place.

Matthew 14:13a (NET)

 Then the apostles gathered around Jesus and told him everything they had done and taught.  He said to them, “Come with me privately to an isolated place and rest a while” (for many were coming and going, and there was no time to eat).  So they went away by themselves in a boat to some remote place.

Mark 6:30-32 (NET)

 When the apostles returned, they told Jesus everything they had done.  Then he took them with him and they withdrew privately to a town called Bethsaida.

Luke 9:10 (NET)

 After this Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee (also called the Sea of Tiberias).

John 6:1 (NET)
But when the crowd heard about it, they followed him on foot from the towns.

 Matthew 14:13b (NET)

 But many saw them leaving and recognized them, and they hurried on foot from all the towns and arrived there ahead of them.

Mark 6:33 (NET)

 But when the crowds found out, they followed him.

Luke 9:11a (NET) Table

 A large crowd was following him because they were observing the miraculous signs he was performing on the sick.

John 6:2 (NET)

Though Jesus had gone away with his disciples for rest and perhaps an opportunity to grieve,[18] when He got out of the boat he saw the large crowd, and he had compassion on them.  He welcomed them, spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and cured those who needed healing.  He had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd (ποιμένα, a form of ποιμήν).

Matthew

 Mark

Luke
As he got out he saw the large crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick.

Matthew 14:14 (NET)

 As Jesus came ashore he saw the large crowd and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd.  So he taught them many things.

Mark 6:34 (NET)

 He welcomed them, spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and cured those who needed healing.

Luke 9:11b (NET) Table

The people had many  Ἰουδαῖοι who did not have God’s word residing in them,  though the  Ἰουδαῖοι studied the Old Testament scriptures thoroughly, because they thought in them they possessed eternal life.  The  Ἰουδαῖοι functioned as thought police not as shepherds of the people.  Thought police exert their influence from the outside.  Shepherds feed the sheep.

I didn’t always recognize this distinction.  I remembered that the good shepherd breaks the legs of lambs that wander away from the flock.  I had to decide whether I would believe the shepherd lore I was taught as a child or the Word of God, as shepherds must decide whether they will feed the lambs shepherd lore or the Word of God (John 21:15-17 NET). Table

Then when they had finished breakfast [that Jesus had prepared for them], Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love (ἀγαπᾷς, a form of ἀγαπάω) me more than these do?”  He replied, “Yes, Lord, you know I love (φιλῶ, a form of φιλέω) you.”  Jesus told him, “Feed (βόσκε, a form of βόσκω) my lambs.”  Jesus said a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love (ἀγαπᾷς, a form of ἀγαπάω) me?”  He replied, “Yes, Lord, you know I love (φιλῶ, a form of φιλέω) you.”  Jesus told him, “Shepherd (ποίμαινε, a form of ποιμαίνω) my sheep.”  Jesus said a third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love (φιλεῖς, another form of φιλέω) me?”  Peter was distressed that Jesus asked him a third time, “Do you love (φιλεῖς, another form of φιλέω) me?” and said, “Lord, you know everything.  You know that I love (φιλῶ, a form of φιλέω) you.”  Jesus replied, “Feed (βόσκε, a form of βόσκω) my sheep.

The Word of God does its work from the inside, unleashing the power of God (Hebrews 13:20, 21 NET):

Now may the God of peace who by the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead the great shepherd (ποιμένα, a form of ποιμήν) of the sheep, our Lord Jesus Christ, equip (καταρτίσαι, a form of καταρτίζω) you with every good thing (ἀγαθῷ, a form of ἀγαθός) to do (ποιῆσαι, a form of ποιέω) his will, working (ποιῶν, another form of ποιέω; in other words doing) in us what is pleasing before him through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever.  Amen.

And, of course, every shepherd must decide for himself whether he trusts God’s power enough to forego leg-breaking and thought police (Hebrews 13:20, 21 CEV).

God gives peace, and he raised our Lord Jesus Christ from death.  Now Jesus is like a Great Shepherd whose blood was used to make God’s eternal agreement with his flock.  I pray that God will make you ready to obey him and that you will always be eager to do right.  May Jesus help you do what pleases God.  To Jesus Christ be glory forever and ever!  Amen.

Here, I think, is a prime example of Bible translation as interpretation tailored to fit a lesser[19] confidence in God’s power.  My obedience is the real key.  And I think it entirely fair to ask why Jesus, who only may…help, should rob me of my glory for my obedience.  This is the second-chance-gospel I grew up believing, a second chance to keep the law.  It is not God Himself doing in us what is pleasing before Him.

When evening arrived, [Jesus’] disciples came to him saying, “This is an isolated place and the hour is already late.  Send the crowds away so that they can go into the villages and buy food for themselves.”  But he replied, “They don’t need to go.  You give them something to eat.”  On this Matthew, Mark and Luke agree.

Matthew Mark

Luke
When evening arrived, his disciples came to him saying, “This is an isolated place and the hour is already late.  Send the crowds away so that they can go into the villages and buy food for themselves.”  But he replied, “They don’t need to go.  You give them something to eat.”

Matthew 14:15, 16 (NET)

 When it was already late, his disciples came to him and said, “This is an isolated place and it is already very late.  Send them away so that they can go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy something for themselves to eat.”  But he answered them, “You give them something to eat.”

Mark 6:35-37a (NET)

 Now the day began to draw to a close, so the twelve came and said to Jesus, “Send the crowd away, so they can go into the surrounding villages and countryside and find lodging and food, because we are in an isolated place.”  But he said to them, “You give them something to eat.”

Luke 9:12, 13a (NET)

It left me with the impression that after Jesus spent a long day doing the will of the one who sent[20] Him, having food to eat that they knew nothing about,[21] it fell to his disciples to consider the practical matter of feeding so many hungry people.  But as I turn to John’s Gospel narrative I think this is precisely the false impression he wrote to correct.

John didn’t reiterate that Jesus healed the sick or taught the people many things about the kingdom of God.  That had been written already.  He wrote that Jesus went on up the mountainside and sat down there with his disciples.[22]  Then Jesus, when he looked up and saw that a large crowd was coming to him, said to Philip, “Where can we buy bread so that these people may eat?”  (Now Jesus said this to test him, for he knew what he was going to do.)[23]

Jesus was concerned about feeding the people from the very moment he saw them following him because they were observing the miraculous signs he was performing on the sick.  It is exactly what He had promised them in the name of his Father (Matthew 6:25-33 NET):

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear.  Isn’t there more to life than food and more to the body than clothing?  Look at the birds in the sky: They do not sow, or reap, or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Aren’t you more valuable than they are?  And which of you by worrying can add even one hour to his life?  Why do you worry about clothing?  Think about how the flowers of the field grow; they do not work or spin.  Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his glory was clothed like one of these!  And if this is how God clothes the wild grass, which is here today and tomorrow is tossed into the fire to heat the oven, won’t he clothe you even more, you people of little faith (ὀλιγόπιστοι, a form of ὀλιγόπιστος)?  So then, don’t worry saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’  For the unconverted pursue these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.  But above all pursue his kingdom and righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

I’ll take this up again in the next essay.

[1] Romans 12:11 (NET) Table

[2] John 1:19 (NET)

[3] John 4:9b (NET) Table

[4] John 5:10  (NET) Table

[5] Romans 3:20a (NET)

[6] Romans 10:3a (NET)

[7] I am beginning to think that might be overstated.  Don Richardson, for instance, might argue that with me.  I would listen to him, but for now I will stick with this understanding of the Old Testament.

[8] John 5:37b, 38 (NET)

[9] John 5:39, 40 (NET)

[10] John 5:46 (NET)

[11] Genesis 1:1 (NET)

[12] Genesis 2:4 (NET)

[13] John 8:58 (NET) Table

[14] Exodus 3:14, 15 (NET)

[15] John 1:1-3 (NET)

[16] John 1:14 (NET)

[17] Philippians 2:6-11 (NET)

[18] John 14:10-13 (NET)

[19] 2 Timothy 3:5 (NET)

[20] John 4:34 (NET) Table

[21] John 4:32 (NET)

[22] John 6:3 (NET)

[23] John 6:5, 6 (NET)

Fear – Numbers, Part 5

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The Hebrew word yârê does not occur in the story of the waters of Meribah (either time).  Still, it seemed important to me to study the story I alluded to earlier.  I want to compare and contrast the two stories.  The first in Exodus involves Moses and the parents who left Egypt while the second in Numbers involves Moses with their children, some of whom were not yet born at the time of the first incident forty years earlier.

Exodus

Numbers
The whole community of the Israelites traveled on their journey from the Desert of Sin according to the Lord’s instruction, and they pitched camp in Rephidim.

Exodus 17:1a (NET)

 Then the entire community of Israel entered the wilderness of Zin in the first month, and the people stayed in Kadesh.

Numbers 20:1a (NET)
Miriam died and was buried there.

Numbers 20:1b (NET)
Now there was no water for the people to drink.  So the people contended with Moses, and they said…

Exodus 17:1b, 2a (NET)

 And there was no water for the community, and so they gathered themselves together against Moses and Aaron.  The people contended with Moses, saying…

Numbers 20:2, 3a (NET)

So far the stories are quite similar, except that Moses’ sister Miriam died in the later story.

Exodus

Numbers
“Give us water to drink!”  Moses said to them, “Why do you contend with me?  Why do you test the Lord?”

Exodus 17:2b (NET)
But the people were very thirsty there for water, and they murmured against Moses and said, “Why in the world did you bring us up out of Egypt – to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?”

Exodus 17:3 (NET)

 “If only we had died when our brothers died before the Lord!  Why have you brought up the Lord’s community into this wilderness?  So that we and our cattle should die here?  Why have you brought us up from Egypt only to bring us to this dreadful place?  It is no place for grain, or figs, or vines, or pomegranates; nor is there any water to drink!”

Numbers 20:3b-5 (NET)

In the later story Moses had learned apparently not to argue with a mob.  I think it’s also worth noting that the parents in the former story murmured against Moses.  They had some respect for him, maybe even some fear of the Lord, though I can see it is clearly arguable whether that fear entailed any reverence: How long must I bear with this evil congregation, the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, that murmurs against me?  I have heard the complaints of the Israelites that they murmured against me.[1]

The children, however, grew up hearing their parents’ complaints more openly.  To them these complaints were simply facts.  They saw no reason to murmur facts.  They declared them openly: If only we had died when our brothers died before the Lord!  Why have you brought up the Lord’s community into this wilderness?  So that we and our cattle should die here? 

Apparently, the fact that the Lord gave them water from the rock through Moses did not get as much play in the tents of the Exodus as did the complaints against Moses (or against the Lord, as He clearly took it).  At least that fact did not make as indelible an impression on the children.  And Egypt, a place of slavery most had never seen or known, had become a fairy land of myth by comparison: Why have you brought us up from Egypt only to bring us to this dreadful place?  It is no place for grain, or figs, or vines, or pomegranates; nor is there any water to drink!

Exodus

Numbers
Then Moses cried out to the Lord, “What will I do with this people? – a little more and they will stone me!”

Exodus 17:4 (NET)

 So Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the entrance to the tent of meeting.  They then threw themselves down with their faces to the ground, and the glory of the Lord appeared to them.

Numbers 20:6 (NET)

In the first story Moses sounded distressed, fearful even for his own life.  Forty years later both Moses and Aaron have been here and done this before.

Exodus

Numbers
The Lord said to Moses, “Go over before the people; take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand your staff with which you struck the Nile and go.  I will be standing before you there on the rock in Horeb, and you will strike the rock, and water will come out of it so that the people may drink.”

Exodus 17:5, 6a (NET)

 Then the Lord spoke to Moses: “Take the staff and assemble the community, you and Aaron your brother, and then speak to the rock before their eyes.  It will pour forth its water, and you will bring water out of the rock for them, and so you will give the community and their beasts water to drink.”

Numbers 20:7, 8 (NET)

In the earlier story the Lord gave Moses a bit of theater to perform.  It was reminiscent of the first plague in Egypt (Exodus 7:15-18 NET):

“Go to Pharaoh in the morning [the Lord said to Moses] when he goes out to the water.  Position yourself to meet him by the edge of the Nile, and take in your hand the staff that was turned into a snake.  Tell him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to you to say, “Release my people, that they may serve me in the desert!”  But until now you have not listened.  Thus says the Lord: “By this you will know that I am the Lord: I am going to strike the water of the Nile with the staff that is in my hand, and it will be turned into blood.  Fish in the Nile will die, the Nile will stink, and the Egyptians will be unable to drink water from the Nile.”’”

He instructed Moses to take the same staff, strike the rock as he struck the Nile, and potable water rather than blood would pour forth from it.

In the later story the Lord gave Moses a different bit of theater to perform.  This time he should speak to the rock rather than strike it with his staff.  The children believed the harsh words they learned from their parents.  Speaking to a rock is a futile enterprise ordinarily, but God would intervene here and water would pour forth from the rock as Moses spoke to it.

Exodus

Numbers
And Moses did so in plain view of the elders of Israel.

Exodus 17:6b (NET)

 So Moses took the staff from before the Lord, just as he commanded him.  Then Moses and Aaron gathered the community together in front of the rock, and he said to them, “Listen, you rebels, must we bring water out of this rock for you?”  Then Moses raised his hand, and struck the rock twice with his staff.  And water came out abundantly. So the community drank, and their beasts drank too.

Numbers 20:9-11 (NET)

The earlier story ends much like the incident at the Nile: Moses…did so, just as the Lord had commanded.[2]  The later story is more nuanced.  Moses took the staff just as he commanded him.  He and Aaron gathered the people as the Lord commanded them.  But instead of speaking to the rock they spoke to the people (Numbers 20:10b NET):

Listen, you rebels, must we bring water out of this rock for you?

Moses’ words conveyed an attitude toward the people’s thirst.  I’m leaving aside for the moment any conjecture whether he actually believed it was the Lord’s attitude or simply went rogue.  But the Lord demonstrated that it was not an attitude He wanted conveyed.

Exodus

Numbers
Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust me enough to show me as holy before the Israelites, therefore you will not bring this community into the land I have given them.”

Numbers 20:12 (NET)

Aaron’s inclusion here makes me suspect that he was still speaking on Moses’ behalf.[3]  Both stories conclude in a similar manner.

Exodus

Numbers
He called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the contending of the Israelites and because of their testing the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”

Exodus 17:7 (NET)

 These are the waters of Meribah, because the Israelites contended with the Lord, and his holiness was maintained among them.

Numbers 20:13 (NET)

What holiness was maintained by the Lord’s promise to remove Moses and Aaron from their places of leadership before the people entered the promised land?  Jesus stated it explicitly (Matthew 6:31, 32 NET):

So then, don’t worry saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’  For the unconverted pursue these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.

With all of this laid out for me so plainly and beautifully, I still find myself murmuring and wondering, who can possibly please this God?  But the point is well-taken, my bad attitude notwithstanding (Romans 8:8, 9a NET):

Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.  You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you.

Only God can please God.  I have been crucified with Christ, Paul wrote, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.  So the life I now live in the body, I live because of the faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.  I do not set aside God’s grace, because if righteousness could come through the law, then Christ died for nothing![4]

The final occurrence of yârêʼ in Numbers is: And the Lord said to Moses, “Do not fear (yârêʼ) him [King Og of Bashan], for I have delivered him and all his people and his land into your hand.  You will do to him what you did to King Sihon of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon.”[5]

I have no idea why Moses might have feared King Og of Bashan who marched out with all his forces to face Israel.[6]  I find it hard to believe that Og’s stature[7] alarmed Moses at this late date.  Aaron had died (or was executed) on Mount Hor.  Moses would die (or be executed) soon.  He seems to me like a man with absolute freedom, with nothing left to lose.  And I don’t know why God thought Moses feared Og.

The rabbis who translated the Septuagint chose φοβηθῇς here.  The only occurrence of φοβηθῇς in this form in the New Testament is (Matthew 1:19, 20 NET):

Because Joseph, her husband to be, was a righteous man, and because he did not want to disgrace her, he intended to divorce her privately.  When he had contemplated this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid (φοβηθῇς) to take Mary as your wife, because the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit” [Table].

Joseph’s fear here was a moral scruple.  I would certainly like to think that Moses’ fear was of the same kind.  So they defeated Og, his sons, and all his people, until there were no survivors, and they possessed his land.[8]

Fear – Deuteronomy, Part 1

[1] Numbers 14:27 (NET)

[2] Exodus 7:20a (NET)

[3] Exodus 4:14-16 (NET)

[4] Galatians 2:20, 21 (NET)

[5] Numbers 21:34 (NET)

[6] Numbers 21:33b (NET)

[7] Deuteronomy 3:11 (NET) – Only King Og of Bashan was left of the remaining Rephaites. (It is noteworthy that his sarcophagus was made of iron.  Does it not, indeed, still remain in Rabbath of the Ammonites?  It is thirteen and a half feet long and six feet wide according to standard measure.)

[8] Numbers 21:35 (NET)

Romans, Part 54

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To continue my attempt to view—Do not lag in zeal, be enthusiastic in spirit, serve the Lord[1]—as a definition of love (ἀγάπη) rather than as rules, I’ll turn to the next item on the table I constructed: Love is…not self-serving[2] (οὐ ζητεῖ τὰ ἑαυτῆς; literally, “not seek itself”).

If someone owns a hundred sheep, Jesus said, and one of them goes astray, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go look for (ζητεῖ, a form of ζητέω) the one that went astray?[3] He made it clear He was not talking only about sheep and shepherds.  Looking at children, He added, In the same way, your Father in heaven is not (οὐκ, a form of οὐ; the absolute negation[4]) willing (θέλημα) that one of these little ones be lost[5] (ἀπόληται, a form of ἀπόλλυμι).  This is Jesus’ expression of David’s confidence, Surely your goodness and faithfulness will pursue me all my days…[6]

Still, I began to wonder in what sense the Father seeking his own was not self-serving or love seeking itself. I found a satisfying distinction in the story of Jesus feeding the five thousand men plus women and children.

Matthew

 Mark Luke

John
Now when Jesus heard [about John the Baptist’s death] he went away from there privately in a boat to an isolated place.

Matthew 14:13a (NET)

 Then the apostles gathered around Jesus and told him everything they had done and taught.  He said to them, “Come with me privately to an isolated place and rest a while” (for many were coming and going, and there was no time to eat).  So they went away by themselves in a boat to some remote place.

Mark 6:30-32 (NET)

 When the apostles returned, they told Jesus everything they had done.  Then he took them with him and they withdrew privately to a town called Bethsaida.[7]

Luke 9:10 (NET)

 After this Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee[8] (also called the Sea of Tiberias).

John 6:1 (NET)

Matthew, Mark, Luke and John took pains to place the story in space and time. In Matthew’s Gospel narrative Jesus went to an isolated place after He heard of John the Baptist’s death.[9] John’s disciples came and took the body and buried it and went and told Jesus.[10]  Mark pointed out that this coincided with the return of the twelve,[11] the apostles Jesus had sent out two by two.  The purpose of this trip was rest and relaxation for the twelve and perhaps a moment for Jesus to grieve over the beheading of his cousin.  Luke added the destination, Bethsaida, and John added the body of water traversed, the Sea of Galilee (also called the Sea of Tiberias).

John didn’t mention the apostles’ return (or that they were sent out for that matter). John didn’t make much of John the Baptist’s death.  He was still alive in chapter three[12] and spoken of in the past tense in chapter five.[13]  John set the story conceptually, if you will.

The fifth chapter of John’s Gospel account begins with a curious healing. A man lay by a pool in Jerusalem, believing apparently that if he were first to enter its waters after they were stirred up[14] (ταραχθῇ, a form of ταράσσω) he would be healed.  At least, that’s how his answer to Jesus question— Do you want to become well?[15]—sounds to me.[16]  Jesus healed him apparently by simple command (John 5:8, 9 NET):

Jesus said to him, “Stand up!  Pick up your mat and walk” [Table].  Immediately the man was healed, and he picked up his mat and started walking.  (Now that day was a Sabbath.)

Perhaps I should see this as a living expression of God’s grace as totally unmerited favor, but I can’t help but see Jesus as provocateur here, since the most important part of this story is the parenthetical—Now that day was a Sabbath.

When the religious leaders saw the man walking carrying his mat on the Sabbath, they said, “It is the Sabbath, and you are not permitted (οὐκ ἔξεστιν) to carry your mat.”[17]

“The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’”[18]

“Who is the man who said to you, ‘Pick up your mat and walk’?”[19]

The man didn’t know Jesus, nor could he point Him out, since He had slipped out[20] among the crowd gathered in Jerusalem for a Jewish feast.[21]  After this Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, “Look, you have become well. Don’t sin any more, lest anything worse happen to you.”  The man went away and informed the Jewish leaders that Jesus was the one who had made him well. Now because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began persecuting him [Table].[22]

John had a long lifetime to consider with the Holy Spirit what Jesus had said and done before he wrote his Gospel narrative. He related this story of the healing of a man by a command to break the Sabbath (as the religious authorities interpreted the Law) a man so ignorant of Jesus he could not even implicate Him when the religious authorities questioned him.  So Jesus met him again in the temple, all to orchestrate an opportunity for Jesus to say to the religious authorities, My Father is working until now, and I too am working.[23]

The religious authorities reacted exactly as one would expect religious authorities to react when confronted with a knowledge of God superior to their own, if the religious authorities in question were self-serving rather than God-serving: For this reason the Jewish leaders were trying even harder to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was also calling God his own Father, thus making himself equal with God.[24]

Jesus had a lot more to say to these religious authorities (John 5:19-23 NET):

I tell you the solemn truth, the Son can do nothing on his own initiative, but only what he sees the Father doing.  For whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise.  For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything he does, and will show him greater deeds than these, so that you will be amazed.  For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whomever he wishes.  Furthermore, the Father does not judge (κρίνει, a form of κρίνω) anyone, but has assigned all judgment (κρίσιν, a form of κρίσις) to the Son, so that all people will honor the Son just as they honor the Father.  The one who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.

I can do nothing more than listen to Yahweh come in human flesh speaking to religious authorities, THE religious authorities of the only religion ever authorized by the One living and true God (John 5:24-30 NET):

I tell you the solemn truth, the one who hears my message and believes the one who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned (εἰς κρίσιν οὐκ ἔρχεται; literally, “into judgment is not coming”), but has crossed over from death to life.  I tell you the solemn truth, a time is coming (ἔρχεται) – and is now here – when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.  For just as the Father has life in himself, thus he has granted the Son to have life in himself, and he has granted the Son authority to execute judgment (κρίσιν, a form of κρίσις), because he is the Son of Man.

Do not be amazed at this, because a time is coming (ἔρχεται) when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and will come out – the ones who have done what is good to the resurrection resulting in life, and the ones who have done what is evil to the resurrection resulting in condemnation (κρίσεως, a form of κρίσις, or, judgment).  I can do nothing on my own initiative.  Just as I hear, I judge (κρίνω), and my judgment (κρίσις) is just, because I do not seek my own will, but the will of the one who sent me.

Here is a powerful clue to the meaning of a love that is not self-seeking: I do not seek (ζητῶ, another form of ζητέω) my own will (θέλημα), but the will (θέλημα) of the one who sent me.  Jesus continued speaking to the religious authorities (John 5:31-40 NET):

If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true.  There is another who testifies about me [the Father, I assume], and I know the testimony he testifies about me is true.  You have sent to John [the Baptist], and he has testified to the truth [John 1:19-37].  (I do not accept human testimony, but I say this so that you may be saved.)  He was a lamp that was burning and shining, and you wanted to rejoice greatly for a short time in his light.

But I have a testimony greater than that from John.  For the deeds that the Father has assigned me to complete – the deeds I am now doing – testify about me that the Father has sent me.  And the Father who sent me has himself testified about me.  You people have never heard his voice[25] nor seen his form at any time, nor do you have his word residing in you, because you do not believe the one whom he sent.  You study the scriptures thoroughly because you think in them you possess eternal life, and it is these same scriptures that testify about me, but you are not willing to come to me so that you may have life.

I’ll take a moment to highlight what Jesus said about the authorities of the only God-ordained religion on the planet:

1) You people have never heard his voice nor seen his form at any time, nor do you have his word residing in you, because you do not believe the one whom he sent.  Contrast this to his words to Philip, John 14:8-14.

2) You study the scriptures thoroughly…it is these same scriptures that testify about me, but you are not (οὐ, the absolute negation) willing (θέλετε, a form of θέλω) to come to me so that you may have life.  This is utterly self-serving. For ignoring the righteousness that comes from God, Paul wrote, and seeking instead to establish their own righteousness, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.[26]

Jesus concluded his discourse with the religious authorities (John 5:41-47 NET):

I do not accept praise from people, but I know you, that you do not have the love of God within you.  I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not accept me.  If someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him.  How can you believe, if you accept praise from one another and don’t seek the praise that comes from the only God?

Do not suppose that I will accuse you before the Father.  The one who accuses you is Moses, in whom you have placed your hope.  If you believed Moses, you would believe me, because he wrote about me.  But if you do not believe what Moses wrote, how will you believe my words?

Here I’ll add a third item to the list:

3) If you believed Moses, you would believe me, because he wrote about me.

In this light I’ll continue to look into the feeding of the five thousand men plus women and children in the next essay.

[1] Romans 12:11 (NET) Table

[2] 1 Corinthians 13:5 (NET)

[3] Matthew 18:12b (NET)

[4] I will leave it to others to debate whether the Father’s unwillingness was limited only to the children present at the time and place Jesus spoke.

[5] Matthew 18:14 (NET)

[6] Psalm 23:6a (NET)

[7] http://bibleatlas.org/bethsaida.htm

[8] http://www.bible-history.com/geography/ancient-israel/sea-of-galilee.html

[9] John 14:10, 11 (NET)

[10] Matthew 14:12 (NET)

[11] Mark 6:7-13 (NET)

[12] John 3:22-36 (NET)

[13] John 5:31-36 (NET)

[14] John 5:7 (NET)

[15] John 5:6 (NET)

[16] The explanation given in the KJV (John 5:4)—For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had—has been rejected as not original to the text by most contemporary Bible scholars.

[17] John 5:10 (NET) Table

[18] John 5:11 (NET) Table

[19] John 5:12 (NET) Table

[20] John 5:13 (NET)

[21] John 5:1 (NET)

[22] John 5:14-16 (NET)

[23] John 5:17 (NET) Table

[24] John 5:18 (NET)

[25] The Father’s voice, that is: Exodus 20:1, 19; Deuteronomy 4:12; 5:24.  I assume the voice they heard was Yahweh’s, the Son.

[26] Romans 10:3 (NET)

Fear – Numbers, Part 4

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To Korah the Levite, the Reubenites Dathan, Abiram and On, and the 250 leaders of the community[1] who accused Moses and Aaron of exalting themselves above the community of the Lord,[2] Moses said (Numbers 16:16, 17 NET):

You and all your company present yourselves before the Lord – you and they, and Aaron – tomorrow.  And each of you take his censer, put incense in it, and then each of you present his censer before the Lord: 250 censers, along with you, and Aaron – each of you with his censer.

The first time Moses said this[3] I wrote it off as sarcasm.  Here it sounds more like a princely summons to appear at their own executions, considering what happened to Nadab and Abihu, authorized priests who presented unauthorized fire before the Lord.  They appeared as commanded, and not only those who were summoned.  When Korah assembled the whole community against them at the entrance of the tent of meeting, then the glory of the Lord appeared to the whole community.[4]

In the Septuagint the whole community assembled was τὴν πᾶσαν αὐτοῦ συναγωγὴν (literally, “the all here synagogue”).  And the glory of the Lord appeared to πάσῃ τῇ συναγωγῇ (literally, “all the synagogue”).  The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, Separate yourselves from among this community (Septuagint, τῆς συναγωγῆς), that I may consume them in an instant.[5]  It’s probably worth mentioning that this story recounts yehôvâh’s frustration, patience and mercy with condemned Israel rather than redeemed Israel (Numbers 14:28-30a):

As I live, says the Lord, I will surely do to you just what you have spoken in my hearing.  Your dead bodies will fall in this wilderness – all those of you who were numbered, according to your full number, from twenty years old and upward, who have murmured against me.  You will by no means enter into the land where I swore to settle you.

A note in the NET suggests that this community meant only “people siding with Korah… an assembly of rebels.”  Moses and Aaron, however, didn’t take it that way: they threw themselves down with their faces to the ground and said, “O God, the God of the spirits of all people (Septuagint, τῶν πνευμάτων καὶ πάσης σαρκός; literally, “the spirits and all flesh”), will you be angry with the whole community (Septuagint, πᾶσαν τὴν συναγωγὴν) when only one man sins?”[6]

I find it particularly affecting that Aaron, who was once on the side of his rebellious people and in need of Moses’ intercession, joined Moses here in intercession. And despite Aaron’s former rebelliousness, the Lord answered them favorably. “Tell the community (Septuagint, τῇ συναγωγῇ): ‘Get away from around the homes of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram (Septuagint, τῆς συναγωγῆς Κορε; literally, “the synagogue of Korah”).’”[7]  Moses did as the Lord commanded him (Numbers 16:25-27 NET):

Then Moses got up and went to Dathan and Abiram; and the elders of Israel went after him.  And he said to the community (Septuagint, τὴν συναγωγὴν), “Move away from the tents of these wicked men, and do not touch anything they have, lest you be destroyed because of all their sins.”  So they got away from the homes of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram on every side, and Dathan and Abiram came out and stationed themselves in the entrances of their tents with their wives, their children, and their toddlers.

In my estimation Moses tried diligently to make what transpired next explicitly clear to all the community (Numbers 16:28-30 NET).

“This is how you will know that the Lord has sent me to do all these works, for I have not done them of my own will (Septuagint, ἐμαυτοῦ; literally, “myself”).  If these men die a natural death, or if they share the fate of all men, then the Lord has not sent me.  But if the Lord does something entirely new, and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them up along with all that they have, and they go down alive to the grave (Hebrew, sheʼôl; Septuagint, ᾅδου; literally, “to Hades”), then you will know that these men have despised the Lord!”

On cue, the earth split open. They and all that they had went down alive into the pit (Hebrew, sheʼôl; Septuagint, ᾅδου), and the earth closed over them. So they perished from among the community[8] (Septuagint, ἀπώλοντο ἐκ μέσου τῆς συναγωγῆς; literally, “they perished out of the midst of the synagogue”).  The rest of the community didn’t feel particularly pious.  They ran, saying, “What if the earth swallows us too?”[9]  With a surgical precision that honored the intercession of Moses and Aaron, a fire went out from the Lord and devoured the 250 men who offered incense.[10]

In their reaction the next day the whole community of Israelites offers the most valid and poignant measure of the sanctifying power of scary stuff.  I call it scary stuff because yârêʼ, the Hebrew word translated fear, which seems to entail reverence for God and appears to stand as the Old Testament equivalent of New Testament faith, makes no appearance in the telling of this story.  The rest of the community either misunderstood or ignored Moses’ explanation of the previous day’s events.  They thought he did a magic trick, black magic at that: on the next day the whole community of Israelites (Septuagint, υἱοὶ Ισραηλ; literally, “sons of Israel”) murmured against Moses and Aaron, saying, “You have killed the Lord’s people (Septuagint, τὸν λαὸν κυρίου)!”[11]

Scary stuff doesn’t produce fear, not the fear of the Lord.  That fear, it seems, like faith only comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.[12]  And the Lord, it seems, was prescient when He wanted to destroy the whole community the day before.

Again, He said to Moses and Aaron, Get away from this community (Septuagint, τῆς συναγωγῆς), so that I can consume them in an instant![13]  Again, Moses and Aaron threw themselves down with their faces to the ground[14] but made no insinuation that the Lord might be destroying the innocent along with the guilty.

Then Moses [the prophet] said to Aaron [the priest], “Take the censer, put burning coals from the altar in it, place incense on it, and go quickly into the assembly and make atonement for them, for wrath has gone out from the Lord – the plague has begun!”  So Aaron [the priest] did as Moses [the prophet] commanded and ran into the middle of the assembly, where the plague was just beginning among the people. So he placed incense on the coals and made atonement for the people.  He stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was stopped.  Now 14,700 people died in the plague, in addition to those who died in the event with Korah.[15]

Again, the Lord responded favorably to Moses’ intercession. Through the very same act that fried 250 others He spared the vast majority of the people when Aaron the authorized priest responded obediently to the word of the authorized prophet.  Contrast this to a more “successful” rebellion in the time of Jeremiah, just prior to the Babylonian captivity of Judah, the southern part of the divided kingdom of Israel (Jeremiah 2:12, 13, 29, 30; 4:21, 22; 5:30, 31 NET).

Be amazed at this, O heavens!  Be shocked and utterly dumbfounded,” says the Lord.  “Do so because my people have committed a double wrong: they have rejected me, the fountain of life-giving water, and they have dug cisterns for themselves, cracked cisterns which cannot even hold water.”

“Why do you try to refute me?  All of you have rebelled against me,” says the Lord.  “It did no good for me to punish your people.  They did not respond to such correction.  You slaughtered your prophets like a voracious lion.”

“How long must I see the enemy’s battle flags and hear the military signals of their bugles?”  The Lord answered, “This will happen because my people are foolish.  They do not know me.  They are like children who have no sense.  They have no understanding.  They are skilled at doing evil.  They do not know how to do good.”

“Something horrible and shocking is going on in the land of Judah: The prophets prophesy lies.  The priests exercise power by their own authority.  And my people love (Septuagint, ἠγάπησεν, a form of ἀγαπάω) to have it this way.  But they will not be able to help you when the time of judgment comes!

You unbelieving (ἄπιστος) generation! How much longer must I be with you?  How much longer must I endure you?[16] This was Jesus’ response to an argument He walked into after his transfiguration.  Actually this is Mark’s version of his response.  Matthew’s and Luke’s are quite similar except for διεστραμμένη (a form of διαστρέφω). You unbelieving (ἄπιστος) and perverse (διεστραμμένη, a form of διαστρέφω) generation! How much longer must I be with you?  How much longer must I endure you?[17]  They were not merely unbelieving but were distorting, turning aside from, opposing and plotting “against the saving purposes and plans of God,” according to the definition in the NET.

On the surface of it this doesn’t sound like a promising prelude to the healing of the boy at the center of the story. Jesus didn’t do many miracles in his hometown of Nazareth because of their unbelief (ἀπιστίαν, a form of ἀπιστία).[18]  Yet all three Gospel writers record essentially the same thing, Bring him here to me,[19] Jesus continued.

Matthew Mark Luke
I brought him to your disciples, but they were not able to heal him.”  Jesus answered, “You unbelieving (ἄπιστος) and perverse (διεστραμμένη, a form of διαστρέφω) generation!  How much longer must I be with you?  How much longer must I endure you?

Matthew 17:16, 17a (NET)

 I asked your disciples to cast it out, but they were not able to do so.”  He answered them, “You unbelieving (ἄπιστος) generation!  How much longer must I be with you?  How much longer must I endure you?

Mark 9:18b, 19a (NET)

 I begged your disciples to cast it out, but they could not do so.”  Jesus answered, “You unbelieving (ἄπιστος) and perverse (διεστραμμένη, a form of διαστρέφω) generation!  How much longer must I be with you and endure you?

Luke 9:40, 41a (NET)
Bring him here to me.”

Matthew 17:17b (NET)

 Bring him to me.”

Mark 9:19b (NET)

 Bring your son here.”

Luke 9:41b (NET)

In Matthew’s most abbreviated account, Jesus rebuked the demon and it came out of him, and the boy was healed from that moment.[20]  While this is true to the other accounts, Matthew left out some of the detail and some of the nuance of the story. As the boy was approaching, Luke wrote, the demon threw him to the ground and shook him with convulsions. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, healed the boy, and gave him back to his father.[21]  Luke captured a bit more of the drama of the story but still left out some of the details.

So they brought the boy to him, Mark wrote.  When the spirit saw him, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell on the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth.[22]  Though the sight of Jesus set the spirit off, Jesus didn’t immediately rebuke the spirit and heal the boy.  He paused to take what sounds to a modern ear like a medical history: Jesus asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood.  It has often thrown him into fire or water to destroy him.”[23]  It becomes obvious later that Jesus arrived at a diagnosis based on this one question, but it elicited something else as well.

But if you are able to do anything, the boy’s father continued, have compassion on us and help us.[24]  Here is the dilemma for Jesus.  The father’s words were not an expression of faith but something more like putting the Lord to the test (Matthew 4:5-7 NET).

Then the devil took him to the holy city, had him stand on the highest point of the temple, and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down.  For it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you’ and ‘with their hands they will lift you up, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”  Jesus said to him, “Once again it is written: ‘You are not to put the Lord your God to the test.’”

This becomes clearer if I contrast the father’s words to the faith of the Roman centurion.

The Boy’s Father

The Roman Centurion
But if you are able to do anything, have compassion on us and help us.

Mark 9:22b (NET)

 But the centurion replied, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof.  Instead, just say the word and my servant will be healed.  For I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me.  I say to this one, ‘Go’ and he goes, and to another ‘Come’ and he comes, and to my slave ‘Do this’ and he does it.”

Matthew 8:8, 9 (NET) Table

If Jesus had required this kind of faith as a prerequisite to healing someone, He would have healed no one in Israel at all: When Jesus heard [the centurion’s faith] he was amazed and said to those who followed him, “I tell you the truth, I have not found such faith in anyone in Israel!”[25]  And as a rule He didn’t require those possessed by evil spirits to exhibit any faith at all.  On the contrary, He seemed to want to silence the evil spirits.  Still, the boy’s father (inadvertently, I assume) had challenged Jesus’ authority.  So Jesus fed him the correct answer: Then Jesus said to him, “‘If you are able?’ All things are possible for the one who believes (πιστεύοντι, a form of πιστεύω).”[26]

Concerned for his son’s welfare this father didn’t look a gift horse in the mouth: Immediately the father of the boy cried out and said, “I believe (πιστεύω); help (βοήθει, a form of βοηθέω) my unbelief (ἀπιστίᾳ, a form of ἀπιστία)!”[27]  Medical science has begun to grasp the importance of faith in the context of the natural healing process.  But I don’t think Jesus was interested in the placebo effect here.  I think He would have questioned and instructed this father more on the subject of faith in God and miraculous healing if the boy’s antics hadn’t drawn a crowd (Mark 9:25-27 NET).

Now when Jesus saw that a crowd was quickly gathering, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “Mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.”  It shrieked, threw him into terrible convulsions, and came out.  The boy looked so much like a corpse that many said, “He is dead!”  But Jesus gently took his hand and raised him to his feet, and he stood up.

Two different versions of Jesus’ disciples asking Him privately (κατ᾿ ἰδίαν) what they did wrong follow (Matthew 17:19, 20 NET).

Then the disciples came to Jesus privately (κατ᾿ ἰδίαν) and said, “Why couldn’t we cast it out?”  He told them, “It was because of your little faith (ὀλιγοπιστίαν, a form of ὀλιγόπιστος).  I tell you the truth, if you have faith (πίστιν, a form of πίστις) the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; nothing will be impossible for you.”

This was the more public privately.  Jesus was clearly concerned that bystanders grasped the importance of faith even as He healed a man’s son who had challenged (tested, or tempted) Him more than he had trusted Him.  The key here is ὀλιγοπιστίαν (a form of ὀλιγόπιστος).

In a world where “faith” is the work we do to merit heaven and distinguish ourselves from those sinners condemned to hell, the translation of ὀλιγόπιστοι (another form of ὀλιγόπιστος) as you people of little faith[28] sounds like the harshest slander and condemnation.  But the disciples saw Jesus’ face and heard the tone in his voice when He said it, and knew that ὀλιγόπιστοι was one word in the Greek language, and that He used that word like a pet name[29] for them.  Because they knew this they were not afraid to ask Him the very same question again, a more private privately (Mark 9:28, 29 NET).

Then, after he went into the house, his disciples asked him privately (κατ᾿ ἰδίαν), “Why couldn’t we cast it out?”  He told them, “This kind can come out only by prayer.”

And here I have Jesus’ diagnosis derived during that brief medical history.

 

As an aside, I read something online about Amen.  The writer was concerned that we who used it at the end of our prayers were invoking an ancient Egyptian deity, a demon in other words.  I thought that was silly even as I read it, but I couldn’t come up with any compelling reason to end my prayers in tongues, a foreign language.  So I began to end them with “I believe,” the translation of Amen as I understood it.  Though I hadn’t really considered it when I prayed Amen, praying “I believe” seemed quite disingenuous at times.  So I amended my prayers then to “I believe; please help my unbelief.”  This is, of course, exactly what Jesus does through his Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22, 23 NET).

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness (πίστις), gentleness, and self-control.  Against such things there is no law.

 

[1] Numbers 16:2 (NET)

[2] Numbers 16:3 (NET)

[3] Numbers 16:6, 7 (NET)

[4] Numbers 16:19 (NET)

[5] Numbers 16:21 (NET)

[6] Numbers 16:22 (NET)

[7] Numbers 16:24 (NET)

[8] Numbers 16:33 (NET)

[9] Numbers 16:34 (NET)

[10] Numbers 16:35 (NET)

[11] Numbers 16:41 (NET)

[12] Romans 10:17 (NKJV)

[13] Numbers 16:45a (NET)

[14] Numbers 16:45b (NET)

[15] Numbers 16:46-49 (NET)

[16] Mark 9:19a (NET)

[17] Matthew 17:17a (NET)

[18] Matthew 13:58 (NET)

[19] Matthew 17:17b (NET)

[20] Matthew 17:18 (NET)

[21] Luke 9:42 (NET)

[22] Mark 9:20 (NET) Table

[23] Mark 9:21, 22a (NET)

[24] Mark 9:22b (NET) Table

[25] Matthew 8:10 (NET) Table

[26] Mark 9:23 (NET) Table

[27] Mark 9:24 (NET) Table

[28] Matthew 6:30 (NET)

[29] Matthew 8:26; 14:31 (ὀλιγόπιστε, another form of ὀλιγόπιστος); 16:8 (NET)

Romans, Part 53

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So, how can I view—Do not lag in zeal, be enthusiastic in spirit, serve the Lord[1]—as a definition of love (ἀγάπη) rather than as rules?  Again, I’ve constructed the following table to help.

The Fruit of the Spirit

Galatians 5:22, 23 (NET)

love (ἀγάπη)
Therefore, since we have been declared righteous by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in the hope of God’s glory.  Not only this, but we also rejoice in sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance, character, and character, hope.  And hope does not disappoint, because the love (ἀγάπη) of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.[2] Love (ἀγάπη) does no wrong (κακὸν, a form of κακός) to a neighbor. Therefore love (ἀγάπη) is the fulfillment of the law.[3] Knowledge puffs up, but love (ἀγάπη) builds up.[4]
Love (ἀγάπη) is…

1 Corinthians 13:4-7 (NET)

 …not self-serving (οὐ ζητεῖ τὰ ἑαυτῆς; literally, “not seek itself”)…

1 Corinthians 13:5 (NET)
If someone owns a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go look for (ζητεῖ, a form of ζητέω) the one that went astray?[5]  But above all pursue (ζητεῖτε, another form of ζητέω) his kingdom and righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.[6]
This Love Without Hypocrisy…

Romans 12:9-21 (NET)

 Do not lag in zeal (σπουδῇ, a form of σπουδή), be enthusiastic (ζέοντες, a form of ζέω) in spirit…

Romans 12:11a (NET)

 …serve (δουλεύοντες, a form of δουλεύω) the Lord.

Romans 12:11b (NET)
But as you excel in everything – in faith, in speech, in knowledge, and in all eagerness (σπουδῇ) and in the love from us that is in you – make sure that you excel in this act of kindness too.[7] Now a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, arrived in Ephesus.  He was an eloquent speaker, well-versed in the scriptures.  He had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and with great enthusiasm (ζέων, another form of ζέω) he spoke and taught accurately the facts about Jesus (KJV: the Lord), although he knew only the baptism of John.[8] Slaves, obey your human masters with fear and trembling, in the sincerity of your heart as to Christ, not like those who do their work only when someone is watching – as people-pleasers – but as slaves of Christ doing the will of God from the heart.  Obey with enthusiasm (εὐνοίας, a form of εὔνοια), as though serving (δουλεύοντες) the Lord and not people, because you know that each person, whether slave or free, if he does something good (ἀγαθόν, a form of ἀγαθός), this will be rewarded by the Lord.[9]

In the previous essay it seemed to make intuitive sense to place cling to what is good[10]under that aspect of the fruit of the Spirit translated goodness.  Here it may seem like begging the question[11] to simply place—Do not lag in zeal, be enthusiastic in spirit, serve the Lord—under love.  In one sense love (ἀγάπη) is the master key that can stand for all aspects of the fruit of the Spirit.  I think John used ἀγάπη that way often, but I want to follow Paul’s thinking here.

Therefore, since we have been declared righteous by faith (πίστεως, a form of πίστις), he wrote.  By our own faith?  I think not, for πίστις[12] is an aspect of the fruit of the Spirit.  Since we have been declared righteous by faith we have peace (εἰρήνην, a form of εἰρήνη) with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.[13]  Again, peace (εἰρήνη) is an aspect of the fruit of his Spirit.  Through our Lord Jesus Christ we have also obtained access by faith (πίστει, another form of πίστις) into this grace (χάριν, a form of χάρις) in which we stand.  And by grace, though Paul may mean more, I think he cannot mean less than the credited righteousness of God, this very fruit of God’s Holy Spirit.  And we rejoice in the hope of our glory!  But that’s not what Paul wrote.  And we rejoice (καυχώμεθα, a form of καυχάομαι) in the hope of God’s glory.[14]

Though the NET translators chose rejoice for καυχώμεθα here and in the next verse, boast is a more obvious meaning.  I say again, let no one think that I am a fool.  But if you do, then at least accept me as a fool, so that I too may boast (καυχήσωμαι, another form of καυχάομαι) a little.  What I am saying with this boastful (καυχήσεως, a form of καύχησις) confidence I do not say the way the Lord would.  Instead it is, as it were, foolishness.  Since many are boasting (καυχῶνται, another form of καυχάομαι) according to human standards, I too will boast (καυχήσομαι, another form of καυχάομαι).[15]  By the way, according to human standards is κατὰ σάρκα in Greek, according to the flesh (NKJV).

It gives me the sense that Paul meant we boast in the hope of God’s glory.  We boast in the hope that God will be glorified by the lives we live in the flesh (not according to the flesh), crucified with Christ (it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me),[16] living by the Spirit,[17] not by the works of the flesh.[18]  Translated that way we might be less likely to gloss over it and boast in the hope of our own glory.  Not only this, Paul continued, but we also rejoice (καυχώμεθα, a form of καυχάομαι; or, boast) in sufferings.[19]  So where does Paul get off writing this wacko stuff?

If I must boast (καυχᾶσθαι, another form of καυχάομαι), I will boast (καυχήσομαι, another form of καυχάομαι) about the things that show my weakness (ἀσθενείας, a form of ἀσθένεια).[20]  There was method to Paul’s madness.  For the Lord said to him, “My grace is enough for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness (ἀσθενείᾳ).” So then, Paul concluded, I will boast (καυχήσομαι) most gladly about my weaknesses (ἀσθενείαις), so that the power of Christ may reside in me.[21]  And in Romans we find a similar method to his madness: we also rejoice (or, boast) in sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance, character, and character, hope.[22]  And here I get a beautiful glimmer of an understanding why the NET translators chose rejoice over boast.

We don’t rejoice or boast in our own suffering because of a rational understanding: knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance, character, and character, hope.  We can only rejoice or boast in our own suffering because we are filled with the joy (χαρὰ) of God, another aspect of the fruit of his Spirit.  And rejoice hearkens back to that fact better than boast ever could.  I am confident they chose rejoice for this reason because of a note on the next verse.

And hope does not disappoint, Paul concluded, because the love (ἀγάπη) of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.[23]  The note in the NET reads: “The phrase ἡ ἀγάπη τοῦ θεοῦ (…‘the love of God’) could be interpreted as either an objective genitive (‘our love for God’), subjective genitive (‘God’s love for us’), or both (M. Zerwick’s ‘general’ genitive [Biblical Greek,§§36-39]; D. B. Wallace’s ‘plenary’ genitive [ExSyn 119-21]). The immediate context, which discusses what God has done for believers, favors a subjective genitive, but the fact that this love is poured out within the hearts of believers implies that it may be the source for believers’ love for God; consequently an objective genitive cannot be ruled out. It is possible that both these ideas are meant in the text and that this is a plenary genitive: ‘The love that comes from God and that produces our love for God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us’ (ExSyn 121).”

Here is one place I can say with confidence the NET translators really got what Paul was saying.  This love (ἀγάπη), which has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us, does no wrong (κακὸν) to a neighbor.  Therefore love (ἀγάπη) is the fulfillment (πλήρωμα) of the law.[24]  Pouring this love out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us is what Jesus meant when He said: Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets.  I have not come to abolish these things but to fulfill (πληρῶσαι, a form of πληρόω, the verb from which the noun πλήρωμα is derived) them.[25]

I want to spend some time with κακὸν (a form of κακός) since this ἀγάπη does (or, works) no wrong (or, harm) to a neighbor.  The first time κακὸν occurs in the New Testament was from the mouth of the Roman governor.  Pilate said to them, “Then what should I do with Jesus who is called the Christ?”  They all said, “Crucify him!”  He asked, “Why? What wrong (κακὸν) has he done?” But they shouted more insistently, “Crucify him!”[26]  Though Pilate found no κακὸν in Him under Roman law the chief priests and elders of Israel had accused Him of many things: “Don’t you hear how many charges they are bringing against you?”[27] Pilate asked.  When Jesus was accused by the chief priests and the elders, he did not respond.[28]

Now, with 20-20 hindsight I can see Jesus consciously fulfilling Scripture: He was treated harshly and afflicted, but he did not even open his mouth.  Like a lamb led to the slaughtering block, like a sheep silent before her shearers, he did not even open his mouth.[29]  At the time in the moment, however, He appeared obstinate, belligerent and disdainful of authority.  Consider his teaching (Matthew 23:1-12 NET).

Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, “The experts in the law and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat.  Therefore pay attention to what they tell you and do it.  But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they teach.  They tie up heavy loads, hard to carry, and put them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing even to lift a finger to move them.  They do all their deeds to be seen by people, for they make their phylacteries wide and their tassels long.  They love the place of honor at banquets and the best seats in the synagogues and elaborate greetings in the marketplaces, and to have people call them ‘Rabbi.’  But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one Teacher and you are all brothers.  And call no one your ‘father’ on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven.  Nor are you to be called ‘teacher,’ for you have one teacher, the Christ.  The greatest among you will be your servant.  And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

Even here there is a very rough edge that is disdainful of human authority.  More to the point, perhaps, Jesus did nothing that would inhibit his progress toward the cross.  My commandment (ἐντολὴ, a form of ἐντολή) is this, He also said, to love (ἀγαπᾶτε, a form of ἀγαπάω) one another just as I have loved (ἠγάπησα, another form of ἀγαπάω) you.  No one has greater love (ἀγάπην, a form of ἀγάπη) than this – that one lays down his life for his friends.  You are my friends if you do what I command (ἐντέλλομαι) you.[30]  Hanging on the cross, after thirty plus years of human experience, eating it, drinking it, pissing and shitting it, Jesus prayed what I consider the real prayer of salvation: Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.[31]

My point here, I suppose, is that the love that does (or, works) no wrong (or, harm) to a neighbor may not always appear to all the people all the time to be doing or working no wrong or harm to a neighbor.  By his own admission Jesus’ death on a cross was not his will but his Father’s.[32]  Like most human beings Jesus wanted to live; whoever is among the living has hope; a live dog is better than a dead lion.[33]  Perhaps I’ve overstated the case.  Jesus was not suicidal as He hung on the cross.

I want to follow this just a bit farther (Luke 16:25 NET).

Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things (ἀγαθά, another form of ἀγαθός) and Lazarus likewise bad things (κακά, another form of κακός), but now he is comforted here and you are in anguish.’

When I considered this in the light of the gospel I gleaned from my religion,[34] Abraham’s words seemed like karmic nonsense.  But in the light of the knowledge of God I’m compelled to reconsider.  God is love (ἀγάπη).[35]  Love (ἀγάπη) does no wrong (κακὸν, a form of κακός) to a neighbor.[36]  (And this is οὐκ the absolute negation, modifying ἐργάζεται [a form of ἐργάζομαι] apparently not κακὸν.)  So while I might be intellectually stimulated to wonder what role God’s love played in Lazarus’ life, the Holy Spirit reminds me that Knowledge puffs up, but love (ἀγάπη) builds up.[37]  All in all it is simpler then to assume that God’s love was revealed after Lazarus’ death.  This is in accord with Jesus’ knowledge of God: he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for all live before him.[38]  And it is prudent to accept that I do not dictate when God reveals his love to anyone (or, in anyone for that matter).

I’ll continue looking into—Do not lag in zeal, be enthusiastic in spirit, serve the Lord—as a definition of love rather than as rules in the next essay.

[1] Romans 12:11 (NET) Table

[2] Romans 5:1-5 (NET)

[3] Romans 13:10 (NET)

[4] 1 Corinthians 8:1b (NET)

[5] Matthew 18:12b (NET)

[6] Matthew 6:33 (NET)

[7] 2 Corinthians 8:7 (NET)

[8] Acts 18:24, 25 (NET) Table

[9] Ephesians 6:5-8 (NET)

[10] Romans 12:9b (NET)

[11] Fallacy: Begging the Question

[12] Galatians 5:22 (NET) translated faithfulness

[13] Romans 5:1 (NET)

[14] Romans 5:2 (NET)

[15] 2 Corinthians 11:16-18 (NET)

[16] Galatians 2:20 (NET)

[17] Galatians 5:16 (NET)

[18] Galatians 5:19 (NET)

[19] Romans 5:3a (NET)

[20] 2 Corinthians 11:30 (NET)

[21] 2 Corinthians 12:9 (NET)

[22] Romans 5:3, 4 (NET)

[23] Romans 5:5 (NET)

[24] Romans 13:10 (NET)

[25] Matthew 5:17 (NET)

[26] Matthew 27:22, 23 (NET)

[27] Matthew 27:13 (NET)

[28] Matthew 27:12 (NET)

[29] Isaiah 53:7 (NET)

[30] John 15:12-14 (NET)

[31] Luke 23:34a (NET) Table

[32] Luke 22:42 (NET)

[33] Ecclesiastes 9:4 (NET)

[34] “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ before you die or burn in hell for all eternity.”

[35] 1 John 4:8, 16 (NET) Table

[36] Romans 13:10a (NET)

[37] 1 Corinthians 8:1b (NET)

[38] Luke 20:38 (NET)

Fear – Numbers, Part 3

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Now Korah son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth, who were Reubenites, took men and rebelled against Moses, along with some of the Israelites, 250 leaders of the community, chosen from the assembly, famous men.[1]

Fear, the Hebrew word yârêʼ, doesn’t appear in the story of Korah’s rebellion.  That in itself is instructive.  Though there is plenty to be frightened of, there is no fear of the Lord here; it is difficult to find even a hint of reverence for God.  The rebels confronted Moses and Aaron and said, “You take too much upon yourselves, seeing that the whole community is holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them.  Why then do you exalt yourselves above the community of the Lord?”[2]

Accusing Moses of exalting himself above the community of the Lord was hitting below the belt.  He was the most reluctant Messiah: “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, or that I should bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”[3] he had said.  Then he had caviled, “If I go to the Israelites and tell them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ – what should I say to them?”[4]  He had fretted, “And if they do not believe me or pay attention to me, but say, ‘The Lord has not appeared to you’?”[5]  He had made excuses, “O my Lord, I am not an eloquent man, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant, for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.”[6]  He had all but refused to serve, angering[7] the Lord in the process, “O my Lord, please send anyone else whom you wish to send!”[8]

He had wholeheartedly admitted that he was burdened excessively, beyond [his] strength, so that [he] despaired even of living:[9] I am not able to bear this entire people alone, Moses had cried out to the Lord, because it is too heavy for me!  But if you are going to deal with me like this, then kill me immediately.  If I have found favor in your sight then do not let me see my trouble.[10]  And his most profound hope was that all Israel would know the Lord and be holy in fact: “Are you jealous for me?” he had said when Joshua was offended because Eldad and Medad had prophesied in the camp.[11]  “I wish that all the Lord’s people were prophets, that the Lord would put his Spirit on them!”[12]

With his body Moses fell down with his face to the ground[13] when he heard the rebels’ accusation, but I wonder about his heart (Numbers 16:5-7 NET).

Then he said to Korah and to all his company, “In the morning the Lord will make known who are his, and who is holy.  He will cause that person to approach him; the person he has chosen he will cause to approach him.  Do this, Korah, you and all your company: Take censers, put fire in them, and set incense on them before the Lord tomorrow, and the man whom the Lord chooses will be holy.  You take too much upon yourselves, you sons of Levi!”

I’ll be the first to admit that it doesn’t pay to be too subtle with Moses’ matter-of-fact writing style,[14] but the brute fact of goading Korah and his accomplices into presenting strange fire before the Lord[15] sounds like sarcasm to me.  Moses spoke to Korah and the sons of Levi, but he summoned[16] Dathan and Abiram as a prince would summon unruly subjects.  They refused his summons and said, Is it a small thing that you have brought us up out of the land that flows with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness?  Now do you want to make yourself a prince over us?  Moreover, you have not brought us into a land that flows with milk and honey, nor given us an inheritance of fields and vineyards.  Do you think you can blind [continue to deceive] these men?[17]

It was another low blow.  It hadn’t been that long since Moses had interceded[18] for Dathan and Abiram, when the Lord wanted to strike them with the pestilence and disinherit them[19] after they had refused to enter the promised land because they feared the people living there rather than the Lord.  Reading the Bible in faith I am privy to the secret communication between the Lord and Moses that Dathan and Abiram heard about only through Moses.  Granted, they had rejected the privilege of hearing from the Lord when they said to Moses, “You speak to us and we will listen, but do not let God speak with us, lest we die.”[20]  Still, I want to consider the truth of Dathan’s and Abiram’s accusations, both literal and perceptual.

Is it a small thing that you have brought us up out of the land that flows with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness?  Yes, Moses had led them out of Egypt, and, yes, they were going to die in the wilderness (Numbers 14:28-30a):

As I live, says the Lord, I will surely do to you just what you have spoken in my hearing.  Your dead bodies will fall in this wilderness – all those of you who were numbered, according to your full number, from twenty years old and upward, who have murmured against me.  You will by no means enter into the land where I swore to settle you.

Now do you want to make yourself a prince over us?  Moses had summoned them as a prince.

Moreover, you have not brought us into a land that flows with milk and honey, nor given us an inheritance of fields and vineyards.  True, under Moses’ tenure as leader Dathan and Abiram would not inherit fields and vineyards in the promised land.  Their children might have: But I will bring in your little ones, whom you said would become victims of war, and they will enjoy the land that you have despised,[21] the Lord promised.  Dathan and Abiram, however, would die in the wilderness.

Do you think you can blind [continue to deceive] these men?  Slavery in Egypt didn’t seem so bad any longer.  But here they were wrong.  Moses had not deceived anyone.  Dathan and Abiram added up all the facts they perceived but came to the wrong sum.  How do I know?  Through faith, the very faith Dathan and Abiram did not have, though they saw with their eyes, and lived through, the circumstances I can only read about.

Moses was very angry…[22]  Perhaps I should accept his anger as righteous indignation and let it go at that.  I certainly have in the past.  I would be willing to do so again, if not for the Scripture the Holy Spirit brings to my mind: Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters!  Let every person be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger.  For human anger does not accomplish God’s righteousness.[23]  Have no respect for their offering! Moses “interceded” with the Lord.  I have not taken so much as one donkey from them [no one accused him of stealing anything], nor have I harmed any one of them![24]

Let me say before I go any farther down this road, that apart from the Spirit of God raising the dead, I would have folded long before this if I were under Moses’ pressures.  But I do wonder here if Moses was concerned with justifying the Lord or himself.  And I probably ask the question because I’ve spent so much of my time and energy trying to justify myself.  Be that as it may, I can’t help but wonder if I am staring at the terminal moraine, if you will, of the most humble man in the world.[25]  Is this the foreshadowing of what would become explicit at the waters of Meribah?[26]

I am foreshadowing for those who know the story and will be explicit for any who do not.  Even Moses could not enter the promised land.  “Then who can be saved?”[27] Jesus’ astonished disciples exclaimed on a different subject.  But I think his answer still applies: “This is impossible for mere humans, but not for God; all things are possible for God.”[28]  And don’t fret too much for Moses.  He came back in the sequel (Luke 9:28-31 NET).

…Jesus took with him Peter, John, and James, and went up the mountain to pray.  As he was praying, the appearance of his face was transformed, and his clothes became very bright, a brilliant white.  Then two men, Moses and Elijah, began talking with him.  They appeared in glorious splendor and spoke about his departure that he was about to carry out at Jerusalem.

This followed Jesus’ promise, I tell you the truth, there are some standing here who will not experience death before they see the Son of Man coming (ἐρχόμενον, a form of ἔρχομαι) in his kingdom,[29] as Matthew recalled it.  The definition of ἔρχομαι in the NET lists “to appear, make one’s appearance…come forth, show itself” and “become known” as possible meanings.  These make some sense of Mark’s Gospel account (which I assume was Peter’s recollections), there are some standing here who will not experience death before they see the kingdom of God come (ἐληλυθυῖαν, another form of ἔρχομαι) with power.[30]  The vision[31] (ὅραμα) of not just one but three glorified sons of man was overwhelming to Peter in its power (Luke 9:32, 33 NET).

Now Peter and those with him were quite sleepy, but as they became fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him.  Then as the men were starting to leave, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good for us to be here.  Let us make three shelters, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah” – not knowing what he was saying.

For they were afraid (ἔκφοβοι, a form of ἔκφοβος) Mark wrote, and he did not know what to say.[32]  But God, the Father, made sure there was no confusion in the matter (Luke 9:34, 35 NET).

As [Peter] was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them, and they were afraid (ἐφοβήθησαν, a form of φοβέω) as they entered the cloud.  Then a voice came from the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, my Chosen One.  Listen to him!”

It’s a beautiful picture of the kingdom of God.  And the hope of, not being afraid,[33] but walking among them as one of them is wonderful beyond description.  It’s an occupational hazard of studying the Bible I suppose, but Jesus, Moses, Elijah, Peter, Paul, Abraham, David, Jephthah’s daughter, Mary and Abigail are more vibrant and alive to me than most of the people I see every day.  I can only imagine what it was like for Jesus to step out of that vision and back into the here and now.  I know what was on his mind.  The Scriptures make it abundantly clear that He was concerned that his disciples understood his departure that he was about to carry out at Jerusalem.  The clock was ticking loudly then.

As they were coming down from the mountain, he gave them orders not to tell anyone what they had seen until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead.  They kept this statement to themselves, discussing what this rising from the dead meant.[34]  But while the entire crowd was amazed at everything Jesus was doing, he said to his disciples, “Take these words to heart, for the Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men.”  But they did not understand this statement; its meaning had been concealed from them, so that they could not grasp it.  Yet they were afraid (ἐφοβοῦντοto, another form of φοβέω) to ask him about this statement.[35]  They went out from there and passed through Galilee.  But Jesus did not want anyone to know, for he was teaching his disciples and telling them, “The Son of Man will be betrayed into the hands of men.  They will kill him, and after three days he will rise.”  But they did not understand this statement and were afraid (ἐφοβοῦντο, another form of φοβέω) to ask him.[36]  When they gathered together in Galilee, Jesus told them, “The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men.  They will kill him, and on the third day he will be raised.”  And they became greatly distressed.[37]

Finally they began to hear Him.  They became greatly distressed which is understandable, maybe even commendable, but completely beside the point!  So with the foreknowledge of their unbelief weighing on his mind, Jesus walked down the mountain of transfiguration into an argument (Mark 9:14-18 NET).

When they came to the disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and experts in the law arguing with them.  When the whole crowd saw him, they were amazed and ran at once and greeted him.  He asked them, “What are you arguing about with them?”

A member of the crowd said to him,[38] “Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that makes him mute [Table].   Whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams at the mouth, grinds his teeth, and becomes rigid.  I asked your disciples to cast it out, but they were not able to do so.”

Then the Son of Man vented his own frustration, You unbelieving generation!  How much longer must I be with you?  How much longer must I endure you?[39]

[1] Numbers 16:1, 2 (NET)

[2] Numbers 16:3 (NET)

[3] Exodus 3:11 (NET)

[4] Exodus 3:13 (NET)

[5] Exodus 4:1 (NET)

[6] Exodus 4:10 (NET)

[8] Exodus 4:13 (NET)

[9] 2 Corinthians 1:8b (NET)

[10] Numbers 11:14, 15 (NET)

[11] Numbers 11:27 (NET)

[12] Numbers 11:29 (NET)

[13] Numbers 16:4 (NET)

[16] Numbers 16:12 (NET)

[17] Numbers 16:13, 14a (NET)

[20] Exodus 20:19 (NET)

[21] Numbers 14:31 (NET)

[22] Numbers 16:15a (NET)

[23] James 1:19, 20 (NET) Table

[24] Numbers 16:15b (NET)

[27] Mark 10:26b (NET)

[28] Mark 10:27 (NET)

[29] Matthew 16:28 (NET)

[30] Mark 9:1 (NET)

[32] Mark 9:6 (NET)

[34] Mark 9:9, 10 (NET)

[35] Luke 9:43b-45 (NET)

[36] Mark 9:30-32 (NET)

[37] Matthew 17:22, 23 (NET)

[39] Mark 9:19a (NET)