Tag Archives: Torah

James 2: 1-13 Faith, Favoritism and the Royal Law of Liberty

Fresco of Lazarus and the Rich Man at the Rila Monastery.

James 2: 1-13

¹ My brothers and sisters, do not claim the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ of glory while showing partiality. ² For if a person with gold rings and in fine clothes comes into your assembly, and if a poor person in dirty clothes also comes in, ³ and if you take notice of the one wearing the fine clothes and say, “Have a seat here in a good place,” while to the one who is poor you say, “Stand there,” or, “Sit by my footstool,” ⁴ have you not made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? ⁵ Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters. Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him? ⁶ But you have dishonored the poor person. Is it not the rich who oppress you? Is it not they who drag you into the courts? ⁷ Is it not they who blaspheme the excellent name that was invoked over you?
⁸ If you really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you do well. ⁹ But if you show partiality, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. ¹⁰ For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it. ¹¹ For the one who said, “You shall not commit adultery,” also said, “You shall not murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery but you murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. ¹² So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty. ¹³ For judgment will be without mercy to anyone who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.

Bolded words have notes on translation below.

One thing I do not want to do in these reflections is to distort the simplicity of the ideas James is conveying to his readers. James maintains that claiming the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ is incompatible with actions that show favoritism to the rich over the poor. For James the faith of Jesus is a faith that keeps the whole law in a merciful manner. Like Matthew’s gospel, I think the letter of James is often misunderstood as rigid and legalistic. James is attempting to shape his readers into an authentic practice of faith which shows mercy to the neighbor without favoritism. The law is not an unbearable burden for James, but it is the law of liberty, it is the way of wisdom which leads to a whole life.

Faith is an important concept to James, especially in this chapter where it occurs thirteen times. In the previous chapter I quoted Joel Green’s note that faith for James was more akin to confidence, which makes sense in chapter one where faith is contrasted with doubt, but as James focuses intensely on faith in this chapter I find this previous definition of faith incomplete. Although two of the thirteen uses of faith in this chapter are in the first thirteen verses (the remainder are in the second half of the chapter) I want to highlight that for James, in addition to confidence, faith is connected to practice. Faith for James is connected with the Jewish idea of ‘halakha’ which in not merely about knowing but about walking in the way of the law. That is why confidence and belief are inseparable from concrete actions towards one’s neighbor.

If a person with gold rings and a person with dirty clothes comes into their synagogue[1] (NRSVue assembly) they are not to make distinctions between the two. The person with gold rings and fine clothing may not be a part of their community and they like the person in dirty clothes have come in for various reasons. James does not exclude the person whose appearance indicates wealth, he just states that granting favoritism to the wealthy visitor over the poor visitor is incompatible with the faith in Jesus. In James’s world of reversals, the poor are rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom in language that echoes the blessings of Jesus on the poor (Matthew 5:3; Luke 6:20). Ultimately the prejudices of the society around them are likely so ingrained in this gathering of people who are likely predominantly poor that James’s community needs to be instructed in the way faith causes these practices to be overturned. The rich ones are like those in the prophets who oppressed the poor, aliens, widows, and orphans as Martha L. Moore-Keish explains:

The term translated in the NRSV as “oppress” (katadunasteuo) is particularly significant, because it is the same word used by the prophets in the Greek version of the Old Testament for the oppressive actions of the rich against the poor, aliens, widows, and orphans (see Jer. 7:6; Ezek. 18:12; Amos 8:4). James 2:6 also resonates closely with the language in Proverbs about dishonoring the poor and God’s threat to take the offenders to court (e.g., Prov. 14:31; 17:5 a; 22: 23-24). In all these passages, katadunasteuo is a strong word with violent implications. “It is also significant that in the only other place the word is used in the New Testament, the ‘devil’ is the subject (Acts 10:38).” (Moore-Keish, 2019, p. 89)

We do not know what prompts this specific warning against favoritism towards the rich in James’s letter. It is possible that this could be like Jesus’s use of the parable of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16: 19-31) which puts two opposing characters alongside one another as an object lesson for the audience. It is possible that James is working in a synagogue where Sadducees and Pharisees are present and his words may be echoing Jesus’s words of condemnation about the Pharisees seeking places of honor and respect (Matthew 23: 6-7). Regardless of where others in James’s community see this favoritism modeled, James views it as incompatible with the faith in Jesus.

I serve in Frisco, Texas, a very prosperous suburb of Dallas and an area where the vast majority of my congregation would be considered incredibly wealthy by the standards of James original audience. I have also spent my entire ministry in suburban areas (North Little Rock, AR, Edmond, OK, and Papillion, NE). I am aware of the tension that these words evoke in me as a person who is very intentional about how I dress and present myself. Yet, this section also has made me reflect upon a moment several years ago in my ministry here where an older member in one of my communities, who was also one of the least well off members of my community, remarked to a young woman approaching the congregation for the first time and wearing jeans that were fashionably ripped, “Girl, go put some pants on.” I apologized to the visitor and immediately pulled the member aside and was very emphatic that she could never do that again because it was the opposite of the welcome we wanted anyone to feel. I was irate because I felt like the words, which she later claimed were a joke, indicated to this woman that she was unwelcome in our midst. I would not share this story if the person who said these words was still alive and it doesn’t completely correlate with James’s words but for me it shows how even those among us with the least may look for opportunities to place themselves in a position of judgment over others.

James joins Jesus and several other New Testament authors in finding Leviticus 19:18 as the central concept of the law. As Scot McKnight says,

Several New Testament writings…quote Leviticus 19:18…Paul explicitly makes it the fundamental rule of life (Rom 12:19; 13:9; Gal 5:14), while Peter hedges in that direction (1 Pet 4:8) and John explodes into full focus on love (John 13: 34-35; 1 John 3:11; 4;17). It is not without significance that James is the only person in the New Testament after Jesus who quotes both sides of the Jesus Creed; loving God in 1:12 and 2:5 and loving others as oneself here in 2:8. (McKnight, 2011, p. 208)

Leviticus 19:18 may be the ‘royal law’ in James, but James also connects loving neighbor as requiring compliance with all the commandments. James noting of the commandments on adultery and murder may reflect Jesus’s expansion of these commandments in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5: 21-30) or an exposition on Leviticus 19 which brackets the love command in verse eighteen with,

“You shall not hate in your heart anyone of your kin; you shall reprove your neighbor, or you will incur guilt yourself. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord. Leviticus 19:17

It is plausible that James may be referring back to Leviticus 19 throughout this reflection, especially in the previous section Leviticus 19:15 is relevant:

“You shall not render an unjust judgment; you shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great: with justice you shall judge your neighbor. Leviticus 19:15

Although, Leviticus 19:20 does deal with sexual relations with a slave, James here appeals to the commandment on adultery (along with murder) rather than the specific case highlighted in Leviticus. It is likely that James, like Jesus, expands the view of adultery beyond the limits envisioned in Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy.

The royal law on loving the neighbor as oneself, which includes adherence to the commandments, is also the law of liberty. James’s vision of a community of living and authentic faith is a place where the poor are not discriminated against, and the neighbor is loved and protected. Yet, James like the other New Testament authors view the commandments through the lens of mercy. Again, James echoes ideas Jesus articulates in the Sermon on the Mount:

“Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy. Matthew 5:7

but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. Matthew 6:15

James is not attempting to articulate anything novel when it comes to the faith of these followers of Jesus but instead is selecting key practices which are critical to the walk of faith. Faith for James is composed of both certainty and practiced consistent with the values centered on the loving the neighbor as oneself in a merciful and life-giving way.

[1] James knows the word for church (ekklesia) and uses it in 5:14, so calling the assembly ‘your synagogue’ is intentional. As I mention in the introduction, my assumption is that James the brother of Jesus is the author of this letter and we are given a window on early Christianity contemporaneous with Paul’s letters and the boundaries between Christianity and Judaism are probably not as rigid as they will be later.

James 1: 16-27 Religion that Cares for the Vulnerable

Leave a reply

Martyrdom of James the Just By Authors of Menologion of Basil II (circa 985 AC, Constantinople), Byzantine manuscript illuminators

James 1: 16-21

Words highlighted have notes below on translation.

¹⁶ Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers and sisters. ¹⁷ Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. ¹⁸ In fulfillment of his own purpose he gave birth to us by the word of truth, so that we would become a kind of first fruits of his creatures.

¹⁹ You must understand this, my beloved brothers and sisters: let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger, ²⁰ for human anger does not produce God’s righteousness. ²¹ Therefore rid yourselves of all sordidness and rank growth of wickedness, and welcome with meekness the implanted word that has the power to save your souls.

In contrast to the desire, sin, death conception metaphor in the previous section we now have the first fruits among God’s creatures of those who have received both a birth from above and gifts from above. In contrast to desire which is from this world is generosity and every ‘perfect’ (teleios) gift which comes from the Father above. Verse seventeen is one of the frequently used verses of James, particularly in the Eastern church where it is a part of the Divine Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom, and its sentiment that every good gift comes from above is clear. The title Father of lights likely relates to God as the creator of the sun, moon, and stars, but I also wonder if James is intentionally using the binary light and darkness to contrast the desire, sin, death path of darkness to the generosity and perfect gifts path of light. Also continuing the thought of God not being the source of temptation/testing now the Father of lights has no shadow and no variation. James does seem to lean into a more philosophical conception of God as the ultimate good and unchanging than many other parts of the scriptures, but James is also working in the binary language of the wisdom tradition: wicked/righteous, death/life, light/darkness.

God giving birth to us from above follows a similar metaphor to Jesus’s dialogue with Nicodemus in John’s gospel where one must be born from above.[1] Paul also uses the language of ‘first fruits’ to talk about both Jesus[2] and these followers of the way of Jesus.[3] Whether the word of truth is the teachings of Jesus, some direct revelation from God, or the law (Torah) is not clear, but it connects to the implanted word of verse 21 which comes from outside of us and gives birth to this new creation in the midst of the world. James is likely less concerned with the mechanism of how God transforms people from those on the path of desire, sin, and death to generosity and life than the fruits of that transformation. As Bede the Venerable, a well-known eight century English monk, stated:

God has changed us from being children of darkness into being children of light, not because of any merits of our but by his own will, through the water of regeneration…we have become ‘the first fruits of his creatures,’ which means that we have been exalted over the rest of creation.” (Moore-Keish, 2019, p. 57)

To be the first fruits of creation for James means a transformed way of living. James in Acts is often portrayed as a peacemaker finding a way for the church and Jerusalem to accept the mission of Paul and others among the Gentiles. Anger is antithetical to James’s view of God’s righteousness. This pairs with Jesus’s teaching on anger in the Sermon on the Mount[4] where reconciliation is more important than sacrifice or worship. James, like Jesus and the prophets, does look for right practice more than right worship or right confession. The way of James is a way of listening, being slow to speak and slow to anger. Being slow to anger also echoes the characteristics of God given to Moses in Exodus 34, “The LORD, the LORD, A God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness” (Exodus 34: 6).

Throughout the New Testament there are multiple times where newborn believers are called to change their ways, particularly in relation to anger. Two examples would be:

But now you must get rid of all such things: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive language from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have stripped off the old self with its practices and have clothed yourselves with the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator. Colossians 3: 8-10

Rid yourselves, therefore, of all malice and all guile, insincerity, envy, and all slander. Like newborn infants, long for the pure, spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow into salvation. 1 Peter 2: 1-2

These first fruits are to root out the sordidness and wickedness clearing the ground for the implanted word that brings this new growth and fruit. James uses multiple interlocking metaphors to contrast the way of death with the way of life. Birth and field metaphors come together. Unlike Jesus’s parable of the wheat and the tares[5] where the good and the unrighteous grow together, James envisions a world where the field has been cleared of the bad growth which strangles the harvest so that there can be a full harvest of the first fruits of the seeds God has sown in the lives of the faithful.

James 1: 22-27

²² But be doers of the word and not merely hearers who deceive themselves. ²³ For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look at themselves in a mirror; ²⁴ for they look at themselves and, on going away, immediately forget what they were like. ²⁵ But those who look into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and persevere, being not hearers who forget but doers who act—they will be blessed in their doing.
²⁶ If any think they are religious and do not bridle their tongues but deceive their hearts, their religion is worthless. ²⁷ Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

James and Paul are often portrayed in conflict, where Paul talks about faith and James talks about works. It is plausible that James is aware of Paul’s teachings and is issuing a corrective note to those who have become overfocused on knowledge or wisdom to the exclusion of practice, but James’s language here would not be alien to Paul, “For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous in God’s sight but the doers of the law who will be justified.” (Romans 2:13) The reformation/counterreformation debates about faith opposed to works were focused on the wrong works, from the perspective of James. For James these works continue the concern of the law, the prophets, and Jesus to care for the vulnerable, to live a life in harmony with God’s will for the world, and to show mercy. Hearing and knowledge for James are not enough, but his teaching here again echoes Jesus.

“Everyone, then, who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall because it had been founded on rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell—and great was its fall!” Matthew 7: 24-27 parallel Luke 6: 46-49

But he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it!” Luke 11:28

James jumps to an additional metaphor of a person looking at themselves in the mirror and forgetting what they see being like the person who hears and does not act. What the NRSVue, along with most translations, render as ‘themselves’ is the Greek phrase to prospon tes geneseos, literally ‘the face of their origin (beginning).’ James may be wanting to indicate that the person looks at their ‘true self’ and then walks away from their true self into the paths that corrupt that self. But those who look at themselves in the light of God’s perfect (teleios) law of liberty and work (NRSVue act) in harmony with that law are happy/blessed their existence.

James turns to the topic of religion with two statements that look back on the previous argument and ahead to the remainder of the letter. James’s comments on bridling the tongue look back to his words of being quick to listen and slow to speak in verse nineteen and ahead to his lengthier discourse on the tongue in 3: 1-12. James’s pure and undefiled religion which cares for the vulnerable looks ahead to 2:14-17 and back to the reversals of 1:9-11.

Care for the vulnerable, particularly the orphan and the widow, is frequently highlighted in the law and the prophets:

You shall not abuse any widow or orphan. Exodus 22:22

who executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and who loves the strangers, providing them food and clothing. Deuteronomy 10:18

James, like several of the prophets, argues for an understanding of religion that is less about acts of sacrifice in the context of the temple and centrally focused on the justice lived in society. Religion is not to bribe God with one’s gifts but instead to live in obedience with God’s will as expressed in the law. A mark of the faithfulness of one’s religious work is the way the vulnerable of the surrounding society are cared for in James’s view. A religion of unrestrained speech and ignored widows and orphans is a defiled faith to James.

[1] John 3: 1-10.

[2] 1 Corinthians 15:20.

[3] Romans 16:5; 1 Corinthians 16:15; 2 Thessalonians 2:13.

[4] Matthew 5: 21-26.

[5] Matthew 13: 24-30.

2 Kings 23 The Reforms and Death of Josiah

1 Reply

The Death of Josiah By Francesco Conti – http://www.christies.com/lotFinder/lot_details.aspx?intObjectID=3957236 2012-07-05, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=20143783

2 Kings 23: 1-3 Attempting to Recreate the Covenant

¹ Then the king directed that all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem should be gathered to him. ² The king went up to the house of the LORD, and with him went all the people of Judah, all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the priests, the prophets, and all the people, both small and great; he read in their hearing all the words of the book of the covenant that had been found in the house of the LORD. ³ The king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the LORD, to follow the LORD, keeping his commandments, his decrees, and his statutes, with all his heart and all his soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. All the people joined in the covenant.

King Josiah responded to the rediscovered book of the law of Moses with repentance and seeking God’s will through the prophet Hulda. After learning that his understanding of the judgment that hangs over the people is confirmed by God and learning that God has seen and responded to the king’s action of mourning and repentance Josiah initiates his reforms by gathering the leaders and the people of Judah in an action to recommit the people to the covenant. The action echoes the creation of the covenant between God and the people by Moses (Exodus 24: 4-8), the recommittal to the covenant preceding Moses’ death (Deuteronomy 29:2-29)[1] and finally when Joshua renews the covenant in the promised land (Joshua 8:30-35). Throughout the narratives of the book of Judges, 1&2 Samuel, and 1&2 Kings this is the only instance of covenant renewal of this type. Other kings have attempted to renew the worship in the temple or the building of the temple, but only here in the time of kings are the people reconnected to the law in this manner.[2] This will also happen when the temple is rebuilt and the people are regathered in Jerusalem under the governor Nehemiah and the priest Ezra (Nehemiah 8). King Josiah seems to understand that his personal repentance may be enough for his own reign, but the only chance for the people lies in reestablishing the practices that were designed to make the people of Judah into the people of the LORD the God of Israel.

2 Kings 23: 4-14 Reforming the Practices in Judah

⁴ The king commanded the high priest Hilkiah, the priests of the second order, and the guardians of the threshold to bring out of the temple of the LORD all the vessels made for Baal, for Asherah, and for all the host of heaven; he burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron and carried their ashes to Bethel. ⁵ He deposed the idolatrous priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained to make offerings in the high places at the cities of Judah and around Jerusalem, those also who made offerings to Baal, to the sun, the moon, the constellations, and all the host of the heavens. ⁶ He brought out the image of Asherah from the house of the LORD, outside Jerusalem, to the Wadi Kidron, burned it at the Wadi Kidron, beat it to dust, and threw the dust of it upon the graves of the common people. ⁷ He broke down the houses of the illicit priests who were in the house of the LORD, where the women did weaving for Asherah. ⁸ He brought all the priests out of the towns of Judah and defiled the high places where the priests had made offerings, from Geba to Beer-sheba; he broke down the high places of the gates that were at the entrance of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were on the left at the gate of the city. ⁹ The priests of the high places, however, did not come up to the altar of the LORD in Jerusalem but ate unleavened bread among their kindred. ¹⁰ He defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of Ben-hinnom, so that no one would make a son or a daughter pass through fire as an offering to Molech. ¹¹ He removed the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun at the entrance to the house of the LORD, by the chamber of the eunuch Nathan-melech, which was in the precincts; then he burned the chariots of the sun with fire. ¹² The altars on the roof of the upper chamber of Ahaz that the kings of Judah had made and the altars that Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the Lord he pulled down from there and broke in pieces and threw the rubble into the Wadi Kidron. ¹³ The king defiled the high places that were east of Jerusalem, to the south of the Mount of Destruction, which King Solomon of Israel had built for Astarte the abomination of the Sidonians, for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. ¹⁴ He broke the pillars in pieces, cut down the sacred poles, and covered the sites with human bones.

The list of idolatrous images and practices that Josiah attempts to eradicate is encyclopedic in nature and paints the picture of the pervasive perversity of the people. Baal, Asherah, and the host of heaven have all been attractive alternatives for the leaders and people of Israel throughout their history as well as the worship at the high places by local priests and leaders who may not have been committed exclusively to the LORD. The ‘illicit priests’ (NRSVue) of verse seven is rendered ‘male prostitutes’ in many translations[3] and may indicate a linkage between some of these idolatrous religious practices and sexual practices. The list is similar to the list of abominable practices in the temple in Ezekiel 8 and it is likely that even during Josiah’s life many of these practices endured even if they were done in secret. Some of these idolatrous practices go back to the time of King Solomon (1 Kings 11: 1-13) and King Josiah forms a faithful contrast to Solomon. The actions of removing and destroying these idolatrous imagery and practices in a public and cultic manner is intended to purge these images from the practices of Judah. Josiah attempts to eradicate these practices, both long standing and recent, and attempt to recenter worship in a purged temple with administered by the priests who are faithful to the LORD in Jerusalem.

The reading of the covenant is not enough. Josiah seems to understand that only a complete abandonment of the idolatrous practices of his ancestors and the people may turn away the anger of the LORD. His work of purging the temple, the countryside, and the people is a model of what is expected in the law (Deuteronomy 12: 1-12), but despite the extreme actions to purge these images and practices from Judah the renewal will not survive his death. There is an optimism in the time of Josiah that is reflected in the prophet Jeremiah, but Jeremiah will also see that the reforms do not run deep enough and the people quickly return to the practices that Josiah attempted to eradicate.

2 Kings 23: 15-20 Reforming the Practices in Israel

¹⁵ Moreover, the altar at Bethel, the high place erected by Jeroboam son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin—he pulled down that altar along with the high place. He burned the high place, crushing it to dust; he also burned the sacred pole. ¹⁶ As Josiah turned, he saw the tombs there on the mount, and he sent and took the bones out of the tombs and burned them on the altar and defiled it, according to the word of the LORD that the man of God proclaimed when Jeroboam stood by the altar at the festival; he turned and looked up at the tomb of the man of God who had proclaimed these things. ¹⁷ Then he said, “What is that monument that I see?” The people of the city told him, “It is the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and proclaimed these things that you have done against the altar at Bethel.” ¹⁸ He said, “Let him rest; let no one move his bones.” So they let his bones alone, with the bones of the prophet who came out of Samaria. ¹⁹ Moreover, Josiah removed all the shrines of the high places that were in the towns of Samaria that kings of Israel had made, provoking the LORD to anger; he did to them just as he had done at Bethel. ²⁰ He slaughtered on the altars all the priests of the high places who were there and burned human bones on them. Then he returned to Jerusalem.

I intentionally separated this section from the previous section because the actions here are occurring in Northern Israel/Samaria. Jeremiah also indicates that during the time of Josiah there was a hope for a reunification of the two halves of Israel that had broken apart after Solomon (1 Kings 12). It is difficult to peer this far back into history since we have few historical witnesses from this point but it is plausible with Assyrian power in decline that Josiah may have had a window where he could assume control over portions of Northern Israel/Samaria and attempt to bring the people who now live there into the worship of the LORD. Bethel is mentioned, but the altar in Dan is not. However, the story takes us back to the strange story of the unnamed prophet who testifies against the altar at Bethel and foretells its destruction under Josiah and then is later buried in the city. (1 Kings 13) The method of defiling the altars that Josiah practices to bring about ritual uncleanness is not specifically outlined in the law, although contact with a dead body did bring about ritual uncleanness. The killing of the idolatrous priests, however, is consistent with the expectations of Deuteronomy 13: 13-19 for a man who has led people to follow other gods.

2 Kings 23: 21-23 Reestablishing the Passover

²¹ The king commanded all the people, “Keep the Passover to the LORD your God as prescribed in this book of the covenant.” ²² No such Passover had been kept since the days of the judges who judged Israel, even during all the days of the kings of Israel and of the kings of Judah, ²³ but in the eighteenth year of King Josiah this Passover was kept to the Lord in Jerusalem.

Passover is the ritual that reminds the people of Israel of their identity, an identity that goes to the heart of the law. They are descendants of a people enslaved and liberated by the LORD’s powerful actions to deliver them from Egypt. This central festival in the life of the people of God is mentioned here for the first time in the books of 1 & 2 Kings and is not mentioned in Judges or 1 & 2 Samuel either. The last time the scriptures note the people celebrating the Passover prior to Josiah was in Joshua when the people celebrated at Gilgal.[4] There is an attempt to reconnect the people to their story through the renewal of the covenant, the removal of idolatrous alternatives, and the reinstatement of the rituals which help provide meaning. It is possible that Passover celebrations have continued through the story of Israel with or without royal institution, but I do believe that 2 Kings is attempting to show a drastic contrast between the loss of communal identity in the practices that surround the practice of the commandments, statutes, and ordinances of the law. Something central to the life of the people, in the view of 2 Kings, has been lost for many generations and for a brief window under Josiah there is the potential to rediscover the life the people were intended to live in the promised land.

2 Kings 23: 24-30 The Death of Josiah, a Final Word on both Josiah and Judah

²⁴ Moreover, Josiah put away the mediums, wizards, teraphim, idols, and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, so that he established the words of the law that were written in the book that the priest Hilkiah had found in the house of the LORD. ²⁵ Before him there was no king like him who turned to the LORD with all his heart, with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses, nor did any like him arise after him.
²⁶ Still the LORD did not turn from the fierceness of his great wrath by which his anger was kindled against Judah because of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked him. ²⁷ The LORD said, “I will remove Judah also out of my sight, as I have removed Israel, and I will reject this city that I have chosen, Jerusalem, and the house of which I said, ‘My name shall be there.’ ”

²⁸ Now the rest of the acts of Josiah and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Annals of the Kings of Judah? ²⁹ In his days Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt went up to the king of Assyria to the River Euphrates. King Josiah went to meet him, but when Pharaoh Neco met him at Megiddo, he killed him. ³⁰ His servants carried him dead in a chariot from Megiddo, brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own tomb. The people of the land took Jehoahaz son of Josiah, anointed him, and made him king in place of his father.

Josiah’s actions to restore the nation of Judah to the expectations of the words of the law are shown in the book as an example of what a good king was expected to be. Yet all the works of Josiah are not enough to turn aside the anger of the LORD. They delay the anger and provide a window of perceived prosperity during the lifetime of this king but ultimately it seems that the wickedness of Manasseh have a greater impact on the future of the people than the reforms of Josiah. Josiah may be portrayed alongside Moses, Joshua, David, and Hezekiah as shining examples of leaders seeking God’s ways but ultimately these leaders were unable to undo the corruption among the people.

The prophet Jeremiah, when writing about the time of Josiah, shares the early optimism of what could be with this reformer king but quickly realizes that the reforms did not change the practices of the people. Josiah may be able to capture a hope of a reunification of Israel and a return to their previous relationship with their God but the rituals, the readings of the law, and the removal of the idols do not ultimately change the hearts of the people and the leaders who will follow him. Just as Hezekiah was followed by Manasseh, so Josiah will be followed by leaders who are unable or unwilling to continue his actions.

The Deuteronomic history and 2 Kings is written from the perspective of the exile of Judah and wants to understand how the people of Israel could fall from their pinnacle under David and Solomon to the moment where they are exiles in a foreign land. 2 Kings like the prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel points to the wickedness of Manasseh but also a wickedness that goes back to Solomon’s betrayal under the influence of his wives. On the one hand, from the perspective of the narrator, the LORD has been incredibly patient with both Israel and Judah waiting for generations for them to live into their identity and willing to postpone God’s wrath for the sake of these moments of repentance. On the other hand, the narration of the unfaithful history of Judah and Israel in the words of 1 & 2 Kings helps to provide meaning and context for a people who have lost their land, their king, and their temple.

Josiah’s death occurs abruptly in the text and brings an end to this time of possibility. We can only hypothesize why Josiah would go out to meet Pharoah Neco at Megiddo. Assyria is in decline and by 610 BCE is beginning to lose ground to the Babylonians. Pharoah Neco at this time is a relatively new king and leads a force northward to help the Assyrians when Josiah meets him at Megiddo. Could Josiah be forming an alliance with Babylon against Assyria? It is possible. It is also possible that this king who has experienced success in regaining territory in Northern Israel to bring about the possibility of a reunited kingdom may view himself as divinely authorized to protect the land from any invasion even if Pharoah’s armies were only intending to pass through Judah on their way to the conflict in the north. Ultimately the critical reality is that Josiah dies at the hands of Pharoah Neco and this brings about the end of this final promising moment in the history of Davidic kings. Josiah is buried but ultimately does not die in peace as the prophet Huldah had stated and his death brings about the rapid descent of Judah towards its exile under Babylon.

2 Kings 23: 31-37 The Brief Reign of Jehoahaz and the Transition to Jehoiakim

³¹ Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign; he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. ³² He did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, just as his ancestors had done. ³³ Pharaoh Neco confined him at Riblah in the land of Hamath, so that he might not reign in Jerusalem, and imposed tribute on the land of one hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold. ³⁴ Pharaoh Neco made Eliakim son of Josiah king in place of his father Josiah and changed his name to Jehoiakim. But he took Jehoahaz away; he came to Egypt and died there. ³⁵ Jehoiakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh, but he taxed the land in order to meet Pharaoh’s demand for money. He exacted the silver and the gold from the people of the land, from all according to their assessment, to give it to Pharaoh Neco.

³⁶ Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he began to reign; he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Zebidah daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah. ³⁷ He did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, just as all his ancestors had done.

Jehoahaz, whose birth name seems to be Shallum[5] reigned for only three months before he was removed by Pharoah Neco and replaced by Jehoiakim as a more palatable leader to Egypt who now extends control over Judah and requires a heavy tribute[6] on the people. The death of Josiah has not only brought about an end to the reforms of his reign but has also changed the political situation of the people. We don’t know what Jehoahaz did in his three-month reign, which was evil in the sight of the narrator of 2 Kings, but his unfaithfulness is implied to be linked to the decline of the people as we move into the final two chapters of the narrative.

Jehoiakim, Josiah’s second born son, is chosen to succeed Jehoahaz by Pharoah Neco. This is an area where the chapter break would make sense to come two verses earlier since Jehoiakim’s story follows in the coming chapter. At this point it is worth noting the narrator’s judgment of Jehoiakim as one who did evil in the sight of the LORD and then end this discussion to resume his story in the following chapter.

[1] The narrative setting of the book of Deuteronomy paints the book as a witness of Moses’ public restatement of the law before the people which the people assent to at the end of the book.

[2] Many biblical scholars from the historical critical and source critical schools would argue that the law as we have it in Genesis-Deuteronomy is a later document. Their arguments are cogent, but ultimately, I do think it is likely that even if Genesis-Deuteronomy will reach their final form in the time of exile there is some pre-existing collection of the commandments which is active here and earlier through the story of Israel and Judah.

[3] The Hebrew qesesim refers to ‘sacred males.’ “It is an open question whether these persons were or were not male “cult prostitutes.” (Cogan, 1988, p. 286)

[4] Joshua 5: 10-12. 2 Chronicles 30 mentions a celebration of Passover under King Hezekiah, but in the Deuteronomic History (Joshua-2 Kings) this is the first mention since the time of Joshua

[5] Jeremiah 22: 11-12. 1 Chronicles 3:15 indicates that he was Josiah’s fourth son.

[6] A talent is around 70 pounds, so a tribute of roughly 7,000 pounds of silver and 70 pounds of gold in the text.

2 Kings 22 King Josiah and the Rediscovery of the Law

4 Replies

Josiah Hearing the Book of the Law (1873) Unknown author – The story of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation

2 Kings 22

¹ Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign; he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jedidah daughter of Adaiah of Bozkath. ² He did what was right in the sight of the LORD and walked in all the way of his father David; he did not turn aside to the right or to the left.

³ In the eighteenth year of King Josiah, the king sent Shaphan son of Azaliah son of Meshullam, the secretary, to the house of the LORD, saying, ⁴ “Go up to the high priest Hilkiah and have him add up the entire sum of the silver that has been brought into the house of the LORD that the keepers of the threshold have collected from the people; ⁵ let it be given into the hand of the workers who have the oversight of the house of the LORD; let them give it to the workers who are at the house of the LORD repairing the house, ⁶ that is, to the carpenters, to the builders, to the masons; and let them use it to buy timber and quarried stone to repair the house. ⁷ But no accounting shall be asked from them for the silver that is delivered into their hand, for they deal honestly.”
⁸ The high priest Hilkiah said to Shaphan the secretary, “I have found the book of the law in the house of the LORD.” When Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, he read it. ⁹ Then Shaphan the secretary came to the king and reported to the king, “Your servants have melted down the silver that was found in the house and have delivered it into the hand of the workers who have oversight of the house of the LORD.” ¹⁰ Shaphan the secretary informed the king, “The priest Hilkiah has given me a book.” Shaphan then read it aloud to the king.
¹¹ When the king heard the words of the book of the law, he tore his clothes. ¹² Then the king commanded the priest Hilkiah, Ahikam son of Shaphan, Achbor son of Micaiah, Shaphan the secretary, and the king’s servant Asaiah, saying, ¹³ “Go, inquire of the LORD for me, for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that has been found, for great is the wrath of the LORD that is kindled against us, because our ancestors did not obey the words of this book to do according to all that is written concerning us.”
¹⁴ So the priest Hilkiah, Ahikam, Achbor, Shaphan, and Asaiah went to the prophet Huldah the wife of Shallum son of Tikvah son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe; she resided in Jerusalem in the Second Quarter, where they consulted her. ¹⁵ She declared to them, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Tell the man who sent you to me: ¹⁶ ‘Thus says the LORD: I will indeed bring disaster on this place and on its inhabitants—all the words of the book that the king of Judah has read. ¹⁷ Because they have abandoned me and have made offerings to other gods, so that they have provoked me to anger with all the work of their hands, therefore my wrath will be kindled against this place, and it will not be quenched.’ ¹⁸ But as to the king of Judah who sent you to inquire of the LORD, thus shall you say to him: ‘Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Regarding the words that you have heard, ¹⁹ because your heart was penitent and you humbled yourself before the LORD, when you heard how I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and because you have torn your clothes and wept before me, I also have heard you, says the LORD. ²⁰ Therefore, I will gather you to your ancestors, and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace; your eyes shall not see all the disaster that I will bring on this place.’ ” They took the message back to the king.

The thirty-one years of King Josiah’s reign in Jerusalem are a final window of hope for Judah. Even though as readers of 2 Kings we know that shortly after Josiah’s death we will reach the end of the story of the kings of the line of David and enter into the time of exile in Babylon, for the author of 2 Kings this is a moment of hope for a rediscovery of faithfulness, restoration of the temple, recommittal to the covenant, and even a hope for the reunification of Israel and Judah. The parallel telling of the story of the reign of King Josiah in 2 Chronicles 34-35 has the reformation of Josiah beginning in his twelfth year, but for 2 Kings the critical event is the discovery of the law in the eighteenth year[1] which initiates a period of repentance for the king and a recommittal to the covenant.

The characterization of King Josiah as one who ‘did not turn aside to the right or the left’ echoes the language of Deuteronomy calling for covenant obedience.[2] His obedience to the covenant links him to Moses, and then the text continues to link him to his ancestor David. Then the text takes us to the repair of the temple in language which parallels the actions of King Jehoash in 2 Kings 12: 1-16. In inquiring of the LORD through the prophet he, like his great-grandfather Hezekiah who sought God’s word through the prophet Isaiah. By his actions Josiah is shown embodying the actions of the good kings and leaders that have come before him. Although the prophet Jeremiah is not mentioned in this narrative, we also know that Jeremiah’s ministry begins in the thirteenth year of Josiah’s reign.[3]

The king sends Shaphan, the scribe or secretary, to the high priest Hilkiah[4] to instigate the utilization of the funds brought into the temple for the temple’s repair. As mentioned above, the narrative is similar to the rebuilding under Jehoash, but at this moment there is a critical discovery that is shared by Hilkiah with Shaphan and eventually with the king, the rediscovered book of the law. Shaphan reads this book to the king who responds by rending his garments in an act of mourning and repentance. Walter Brueggemann draws an insightful contrast between this action by Josiah and an opposite reaction by his son Jehoiakim:

Josiah, the good king, hears the scroll and tears his garment in a dramatic act of repentance (22:11). In Jeremiah 36:23, Jehoiakim, Josiah’s son who is a bad king, hears the scroll of Jeremiah and “cuts” the scroll and not his garments; that is, he does not repent but seeks to dispose of the troublesome scroll. (Brueggemann, 2000, p. 545)

Yet Josiah as a king who upon hearing the words of the law humbles himself and seeks God’s guidance is the model of what a good king is supposed to be.

The book of the law mentioned in this portion of 2 Kings has traditionally been thought of as Deuteronomy in some form. Deuteronomy is the only book among the torah[5] that specifically expects worship being concentrated in the city that God places God’s name upon. Deuteronomy also has lengthy sections of ‘curses’ that result from covenant disobedience. (Cogan, 1988, p. 294) We will never know whether the ‘law’ is Deuteronomy, the torah as a whole, or some proto-Deuteronomic document[6] but what 2 Kings wants us to understand is that Josiah received these words as the covenantal expectations of God and responded to them with the appropriate repentance and rigor.

The high priest Hilkiah, the scribe Shaphan, as well as Ahikam and Achbor are sent to the prophetess Hulda to seek God’s will. Ahikam, the son of Shaphan may be the son of the secretary and another advisor to the king, although some scholars are confused by Ahikam’s position in the list ahead of his father if they are related.[7] Ahikam son of Shaphan will be instrumental in preserving the prophet Jeremiah’s life during the reign of Jehoiakim.[8] In contrast Achbor’s son Elnathan will be charged with capturing the prophet Uriah and returning him to King Josiah for execution.[9] Like Josiah and Jehoiakim fathers and sons can take very different paths.

Hulda is the only woman prophet mentioned in either Israel or Judah, and yet she is trusted by the king and his men to speak the words of the LORD. Her message is ominous and hopeful. It is ominous because the king has heard the threats for covenant disobedience in the law correctly and the actions, particularly of Manasseh, have kindled an unquenchable wrath in God against the people. It is also hopeful because the actions of the king have been seen and appreciated by God. The king’s heart was penitent (literally soft in Hebrew) and tore his clothes and wept. God has postponed the disaster and held back the wrath during the reign of Josiah.

The humility and repentance of the king open the possibility for the repentance of the people. God’s judgment has been postponed, and there remains a hope that continued obedience can avert the disaster on the horizon. Jeremiah will continue to testify to the people after Josiah’s death to try to prevent the destruction that comes with this judgment enacted through the Babylonians. Yet Jeremiah will also see that the reforms enacted by Josiah will not change the heart of the people. Just as the people, in the narrative of 2 Kings, were quick to embrace the corruption of Manasseh the reforms of Josiah will unfortunately not survive his death. Yet 2 Kings wants to continue to celebrate this final good king who like Moses, David, Jehoash, and Hezekiah attempted to follow God’s will and to turn neither to the left or right.

[1] King Josiah would be roughly twenty-six at the time of the discovery of the law in the text.

[2] Deuteronomy 5:32; 17:20; 28:14.

[3] Josiah would have been 21-22 at the call of Jeremiah, five years before the rediscovery of the book of the law. Jeremiah is portrayed as a young, ‘only a boy’ in the narrative of his call. Jeremiah 1:6.

[4] Hilkiah is also the name of the prophet Jeremiah, but Jeremiah’s father is a priest at Anathoth, and it is likely that he is the son of a different Hilkiah than the high priest in this story.

[5] Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.

[6] Scholars of the source critical school popular in the middle 20^th century were focused on trying to find the source material behind the text. They had some good insights but ultimately, they tended to divide up the text into sections rather than engage the text as it has been received.

[7] Age does normally grant a person higher respect and status in ancient cultures, but Ahikam may also be a contemporary and valued advisor to this king who began his reign as a young boy.

[8] Jeremiah 26: 24.

[9] Jeremiah 26:22.

Psalm 119 An Artistic Articulation of Life Under the Law

Leave a reply

The Hebrew Alphabet. Hebrew reads right to left so it begins with Aleph and ends with Tet

Psalm 119

Introduction to Psalm 119

I’m going to modify my normal pattern of having the text first and then a reflection due to the length of Psalm 119 which is longer than several biblical books. Many readers find Psalm 119, “boring, repetitious, and without plot development.” (Bellinger, 2014, p. 519) Translations of this psalm lose the key organizational feature of Psalm 119 which its acrostic organization and that in combination with the length of the psalm makes it difficult for many readers to fully appreciate. Also hindering the hearing of this psalm dedicated to a “Torah piety” or “law piety” is a lingering stigma of legalism associated with Judaism. Yet, what this psalm advocates for in its language and organization is a joyful way of life organized around God’s guidance to God’s people.

I have spent far more time in Hebrew acrostic poetry in the past year than the average person spends in a lifetime having worked through Lamentations, Psalm 111, 112, and now 119 this year. Psalm 119 is the acrostic of acrostics intensifying the form to have eight lines begin with each letter of the Hebrew alphabet (from Aleph to Tav) for a total of 176 verses. The acrostic form is a way of indicating a complete poetic treatment of a topic, and the intensification of this psalm of an eight-fold acrostic is designed to convey a complete treatment of a life faithfully and joyfully lived in relation to God through the law. In addition to the eight-fold repetition of a common letter to start each group of lines are the eight synonyms for the law utilized throughout the poem: law, decrees (or statutes), ordinances, statutes, word, precepts, and promises. One of these synonyms occurs in every verse except verses 3, 37, 90 and 122. In the 176 verses there are five verses where two synonyms occur compared to the four where none occur. The repetition is intentional to reinforce the central position of the law in the relationship between God and the people.

Psalm 119 begins with the Hebrew asre (‘happy’ NRSV) which is a common word in wisdom literature, just as the acrostic is a common wisdom literature form. Psalm 1 and Psalm 19 are the other two psalms primarily associated with a ‘Torah piety’ and both psalms share both vocabulary as well as a common vision of what a wise life consists of. The similarities between Psalm 1 and Psalm 119, some of which will be noted below, were strong enough that Claus Westermann could suggest that they once formed the beginning and end of the psalter. (Bellinger, 2014, p. 520)

For the reflections below I will take each eight-verse portion of the acrostic as a unit for reflection. On the one hand the psalm is designed to be viewed as an entire unit held together by its acrostic organization and focal vocabulary. On the other hand, the psalm is daunting for its length, and I will follow the habit of many other scholars in attempting to look at the psalm in its components and then have some final reflections. Dietrich Bonhoeffer in 1939-1940 considered his work on Psalm 119 to be “the climax of his theological life.” (Bethge, 2000, p. 667) Yet even Bonhoeffer in his reflections only made it to verse twenty-one. For me this may be a high mountain to climb, but hopefully there are many more pinnacles in my life of reflection.

Aleph[1]

¹ Happy are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the LORD.

² Happy are those who keep his decrees, who seek him with their whole heart,

³ who also do no wrong, but walk in his ways.

⁴ You have commanded your precepts to be kept diligently.

⁵ O that my ways may be steadfast in keeping your statutes!

⁶ Then I shall not be put to shame, having my eyes fixed on all your commandments.

⁷ I will praise you with an upright heart, when I learn your righteous ordinances.

⁸ I will observe your statutes; do not utterly forsake me.

As mentioned in the introduction there is a strong connection between Psalm 1, 19 and Psalm 119. They share a common vision of what leads to happiness or contentment (Hebrew asre) but they also share a common vocabulary. As J. Clinton McCann, Jr. notes, “every word of v. 1 occurs in either Psalm 1 or Psalm 19.” (NIB IV: 1168) Dietrich Bonhoeffer in his reflection on verse one uses the terms ““complete”, “whole,” undivided, unassailable” for the term the NRSV translates ‘blameless’ and he notes that Luther in his 1521 translation of the psalm says, “the wholly healthy ones.” (DBWE 15: 500) The Hebrew concept of ‘blameless’ or ‘without fault’ is not the legalistic perspective often (wrongly) attributed to Jewish thought. It is clear as you progress through the poem that the psalmist does not consider themselves without fault, and yet they desire to be steadfast in their adherence to God’s vision for the world. They are seeking a way of life in harmony with God’s will for the world, and they seek that harmony through God’s revealed will in the Torah.

Beth

⁹ How can young people keep their way pure? By guarding it according to your word.

¹⁰ With my whole heart I seek you; do not let me stray from your commandments.

¹¹ I treasure your word in my heart, so that I may not sin against you.

¹² Blessed are you, O LORD; teach me your statutes.

¹³ With my lips I declare all the ordinances of your mouth.

¹⁴ I delight in the way of your decrees as much as in all riches.

¹⁵ I will meditate on your precepts, and fix my eyes on your ways.

¹⁶ I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word.

Throughout the law there is a concern for passing on the practices from generation to generation. This is perhaps best illustrated in the verses that immediately follow the Shema in Deuteronomy 6:

Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Recite them to your children and talk abou them when your are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. Deuteronomy 6: 6-7.

The book of Proverbs is also an attempt to pass on wisdom to the next generation. How are young people to keep their way pure, by remaining attentive to the word, commandments, statutes, ordinances, decrees, and precepts (all synonyms mentioned in this section). This shares a common vision with Matthew’s parable of the treasure found in the field[2] where the object (here the law) is to become the thing which the individual gives up all other things to possess and guard. It becomes the treasure of the heart, the words upon the lips, the delight of life, and that which is meditated on. The young person learns to center their life on God’s law and God’s word.

Gimel

¹⁷ Deal bountifully with your servant, so that I may live and observe your word.

¹⁸ Open my eyes, so that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.

¹⁹ I live as an alien in the land; do not hide your commandments from me.

²⁰ My soul is consumed with longing for your ordinances at all times.

²¹ You rebuke the insolent, accursed ones, who wander from your commandments;

²² take away from me their scorn and contempt, for I have kept your decrees.

²³ Even though princes sit plotting against me, your servant will meditate on your statutes.

²⁴ Your decrees are my delight, they are my counselors.

For the first time the notes of lament make their way into the psalm. Living in attentive service to the way of God in the law does not guarantee a life free of struggle. Yet even in the midst of the struggle the psalmist remains focused on the ordinances of God and the way of life they outline. It is possible that Psalm 119 comes from the time of the exile where the person may have lived as an alien in the land of Babylon, but it also may come from a time where they feel alienated from the community. Even in the space where the psalmist is a stranger receiving scorn and contempt from those who have power in the land, they trust that the God who gave the law will continue to provide for this seeker after God’s decrees.

Daleth

²⁵ My soul clings to the dust; revive me according to your word.

²⁶ When I told of my ways, you answered me; teach me your statutes.

²⁷ Make me understand the way of your precepts, and I will meditate on your wondrous works.

²⁸ My soul melts away for sorrow; strengthen me according to your word.

²⁹ Put false ways far from me; and graciously teach me your law.

³⁰ I have chosen the way of faithfulness; I set your ordinances before me.

³¹ I cling to your decrees, O LORD; let me not be put to shame.

³² I run the way of your commandments, for you enlarge my understanding.

Dust, as J. Clinton McCann, Jr. notes, is elsewhere associated with death.[3] (NIB IV: 1169) The Hebrew word nephesh (NRSV soul) is not the Greek idea of a eternal soul that is separate from the physical body but rather the essence of life or center of life. Yet in a time where life is clinging to death God revives with the word. Life seeking understanding is the way of the psalmist. God can strengthen with the word, teach this student the law, and keep this seeker from shame. They know that life is found in these commandments of God, but they also seek for God to continue to enlarge their understanding of this gracious gift that God has bestowed to the people. The LORD is a God who can bring life from the dust, strength from sorrow, and honor from shame.

³³ Teach me, O LORD, the way of your statutes, and I will observe it to the end.

³⁴ Give me understanding, that I may keep your law and observe it with my whole heart.

³⁵ Lead me in the path of your commandments, for I delight in it.

³⁶ Turn my heart to your decrees, and not to selfish gain.

³⁷ Turn my eyes from looking at vanities; give me life in your ways.

³⁸ Confirm to your servant your promise, which is for those who fear you.

³⁹ Turn away the disgrace that I dread, for your ordinances are good.

⁴⁰ See, I have longed for your precepts; in your righteousness give me life.

The verbs that drive this section ask for the LORD to take control of the petitioner’s ways: teach, give, lead, turn the heart and eyes, confirm, and turn away from the things that lead to disgrace. The poet seeks right understanding, right willing (the heart as the seat of will), right seeing, a right practice of faith and life that leads to a wise path instead of the foolish path that leads to disgrace. The psalmist desires that which is life giving and yet knows that there are temptations which can turn the heart, eye, and mind to the path of the wicked. Yet, the psalmist desires to hold fast to the good that God has revealed to the people.

Waw

⁴¹ Let your steadfast love come to me, O LORD, your salvation according to your promise.

⁴² Then I shall have an answer for those who taunt me, for I trust in your word.

⁴³ Do not take the word of truth utterly out of my mouth, for my hope is in your ordinances.

⁴⁴ I will keep your law continually, forever and ever.

⁴⁵ I shall walk at liberty, for I have sought your precepts.

⁴⁶ I will also speak of your decrees before kings, and shall not be put to shame;

⁴⁷ I find my delight in your commandments, because I love them.

⁴⁸ I revere your commandments, which I love, and I will meditate on your statutes.

A note of lament returns with those who taunt the psalmist, but the dominant chord of this refrain is continued trust in God. A faithful life will always be lived in the midst of those who seek different sources of security. To those involved in the court of the king the psalmist’s trust in God’s ways may seem naïve in a world of politics and intrigue. Yet, the psalmist asks for their words of their mouth to be their LORD’s words of truth. They seek to fulfill the intention of Deuteronomy 17: 14-20 by becoming a living breathing law which continually is before the king reminding them of God’s way. This way of life, which reveres and meditates on the law is an act of love for the poet.

Zayin

⁴⁹ Remember your word to your servant, in which you have made me hope.

⁵⁰ This is my comfort in my distress, that your promise gives me life.

⁵¹ The arrogant utterly deride me, but I do not turn away from your law.

⁵² When I think of your ordinances from of old, I take comfort, O LORD.

⁵³ Hot indignation seizes me because of the wicked, those who forsake your law.

⁵⁴ Your statutes have been my songs wherever I make my home.

⁵⁵ I remember your name in the night, O LORD, and keep your law.

⁵⁶ This blessing has fallen to me, for I have kept your precepts.

This verse moves between the poet’s request for God to remember to the poet’s repeated remembering.[4] When God remembers in the Hebrew Scriptures it leads to God acting. For example, the story of Noah, when God sees the bow in the clouds God remembers (Genesis 9:16) or in Egypt when God hears the cries of the people God remembers (Exodus 20:8). The psalmist calls on God to remember as they are remembering God’s ordinances and God’s name. The second half of verse 54 reads literally, “in the house of my sojourning” (NIB IV: 1170) and may reflect a situation of displacement, perhaps in exile, of the psalmist. Yet, wherever the psalmist finds themselves they attempt to live a wise life which leads them into conflict with the wicked and arrogant in their midst. Perhaps in a time of exile and confusion they are attempting to hold on to the covenant while others are turning away from the way of God’s law. Yet, in the dark of the night this psalmist remembers and maintains their way of obedience.

Het

⁵⁷ The LORD is my portion; I promise to keep your words.

⁵⁸ I implore your favor with all my heart; be gracious to me according to your promise.

⁵⁹ When I think of your ways, I turn my feet to your decrees;

⁶⁰ I hurry and do not delay to keep your commandments.

⁶¹ Though the cords of the wicked ensnare me, I do not forget your law.

⁶² At midnight I rise to praise you, because of your righteous ordinances.

⁶³ I am a companion of all who fear you, of those who keep your precepts.

⁶⁴ The earth, O LORD, is full of your steadfast love; teach me your statutes.

It is likely that this psalm was written by a Levite, and the initial verse of this section which declares the LORD is the portion for this poet would recall the division of the land in Numbers and Joshua where the Levites do not have a share in the land, instead the LORD is their portion.[5] But if this psalm is written in exile, now the entirety of the people is left with the LORD as their portion. The poet again alludes to a situation where they need the LORD to act upon the covenant for their rescue, to remember as requested in the previous section. The poet is keeping the commandments, now they implore the LORD to do the same as they are ensnared by the cords of the wicked. The psalmist trusts the LORD and there are others who apparently share this trust, but the poem alludes to a world where the faithful are not the powerful and they are vulnerable to the actions of the wicked.

Teth

⁶⁵ You have dealt well with your servant, O LORD, according to your word.

⁶⁶ Teach me good judgment and knowledge, for I believe in your commandments.

⁶⁷ Before I was humbled I went astray, but now I keep your word.

⁶⁸ You are good and do good; teach me your statutes.

⁶⁹ The arrogant smear me with lies, but with my whole heart I keep your precepts.

⁷⁰ Their hearts are fat and gross, but I delight in your law.

⁷¹ It is good for me that I was humbled, so that I might learn your statutes.

⁷² The law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces.

The word ‘good’ (Hebrew tob) occurs six times[6] in these eight verses. The LORD is good and does good and deals well (good) with the servant of the LORD. In echo the servant desires to learn good judgment and the good law of God’s mouth and can even view it as good that they have been humbled. In contrast the arrogant have hearts that are gross and fat. Their words are lies instead of the good words of the law. This is the binary language of wisdom literature: good and wicked, faithful and foolish. Yet even the poet went astray and had to be humbled to find the good. The psalmist has not lived a perfect life and had to have a time of repentance. But now they keep the word and know the value of this treasure their LORD has provided.

Yodh

⁷³ Your hands have made and fashioned me; give me understanding that I may learn your commandments.

⁷⁴ Those who fear you shall see me and rejoice, because I have hoped in your word.

⁷⁵ I know, O LORD, that your judgments are right, and that in faithfulness you have humbled me.

⁷⁶ Let your steadfast love become my comfort according to your promise to your servant.

⁷⁷ Let your mercy come to me, that I may live; for your law is my delight.

⁷⁸ Let the arrogant be put to shame, because they have subverted me with guile; as for me, I will meditate on your precepts.

⁷⁹ Let those who fear you turn to me, so that they may know your decrees.

⁸⁰ May my heart be blameless in your statutes, so that I may not be put to shame.

The psalmist taps into the poetic imagery of the Hebrew scriptures of God not only as the creator of the heavens and the earth, but the craftsman or potter that fashioned each individual person. They as a creature are completely in God’s hands and even though their suffering may be at the hands of the wicked it is still tied into God’s judgments. Yet, the psalmist trusts in the attributes of God: God’s steadfast love (hesed) and mercy. The psalmist trusts that this moment where the arrogant are able to bring them shame will be reversed in God’s justice. They seek a place of leadership in the community, but they also seek a heart that is fixed on the statutes of God.

Kaph

⁸¹ My soul languishes for your salvation; I hope in your word.

⁸² My eyes fail with watching for your promise; I ask, “When will you comfort me?”

⁸³ For I have become like a wineskin in the smoke, yet I have not forgotten your statutes.

⁸⁴ How long must your servant endure? When will you judge those who persecute me?

⁸⁵ The arrogant have dug pitfalls for me; they flout your law.

⁸⁶ All your commandments are enduring; I am persecuted without cause; help me!

⁸⁷ They have almost made an end of me on earth; but I have not forsaken your precepts.

⁸⁸ In your steadfast love spare my life, so that I may keep the decrees of your mouth.

The perilous condition reaches its pinnacle in these eight verses as the psalmist wastes away.[7] The nephesh (NRSV soul)[8], the very life of the person and the vision of the psalmist are all failing. They wonder how much longer they can endure in this situation without God’s intervention on behalf of the faithful one. The poet needs God to act to counteract the actions of the wicked which threaten their life. The remain steadfast in their adherence to the commandments and throw themselves on the steadfast love (hesed) of their God.

Lamedh

⁸⁹ The LORD exists forever; your word is firmly fixed in heaven.

⁹⁰ Your faithfulness endures to all generations; you have established the earth, and it stands fast.

⁹¹ By your appointment they stand today, for all things are your servants.

⁹² If your law had not been my delight, I would have perished in my misery.

⁹³ I will never forget your precepts, for by them you have given me life.

⁹⁴ I am yours; save me, for I have sought your precepts.

⁹⁵ The wicked lie in wait to destroy me, but I consider your decrees.

⁹⁶ I have seen a limit to all perfection, but your commandment is exceedingly broad.

The poem transitions from its lowest point to its highest. The psalmist previously had been wasting away but now they turn their eyes to the eternal LORD. Their faith rests not on their own strength but the faithfulness of God and the goodness of God’s eternal law. The psalmist trusts that this law of God will provide them deliverance from the wicked who attempt to destroy them. The meaning of the word translated perfection in verse 96 (Hebrew tikla) is not entirely clear but the overall direction of the final verse is to compare the greatness of God’s commandments and ways to the transitory nature of the wicked.

Mem

⁹⁷ Oh, how I love your law! It is my meditation all day long.

⁹⁸ Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies, for it is always with me.

⁹⁹ I have more understanding than all my teachers, for your decrees are my meditation.

¹⁰⁰ I understand more than the aged, for I keep your precepts.

¹⁰¹ I hold back my feet from every evil way, in order to keep your word.

¹⁰² I do not turn away from your ordinances, for you have taught me.

¹⁰³ How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!

¹⁰⁴ Through your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way.

The effusive language of these eight verses now focuses on the psalmist’s love of the law. Love is not a common word in the psalter, and it takes on a sensual tone with language similar to the Song of Songs in talking about the words being sweeter than honey. This zealous adherent to the law of God seeks to surpass their teachers and elders by focusing on God’s law as the center of their life. The psalmist may be a young person (v.9) and this may be the zeal of youth, but their direction focused in the right direction. Whatever their age, they are seeking ardently the wise way of God’s law.

Nun

¹⁰⁵ Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

¹⁰⁶ I have sworn an oath and confirmed it, to observe your righteous ordinances.

¹⁰⁷ I am severely afflicted; give me life, O LORD, according to your word.

¹⁰⁸ Accept my offerings of praise, O LORD, and teach me your ordinances.

¹⁰⁹ I hold my life in my hand continually, but I do not forget your law.

¹¹⁰ The wicked have laid a snare for me, but I do not stray from your precepts.

¹¹¹ Your decrees are my heritage forever; they are the joy of my heart.

¹¹² I incline my heart to perform your statutes forever, to the end.

This group of verses begins with the most well-known verse of the psalm, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” The way or law of God is the guide for the psalmist’s life, but they remain imperiled by the actions of the wicked. Previously the LORD was lifted up as the heritage of the psalmist (NRSV portion) and now the decrees of God are the heritage of the poet. Yet even in this situation where the wicked imperil the poet they lift up an offering of praises and continue to incline their heart to the performance of God’s law. Praise and obedience continue even in threatening times.

Samekh

¹¹³ I hate the double-minded, but I love your law.

¹¹⁴ You are my hiding place and my shield; I hope in your word.

¹¹⁵ Go away from me, you evildoers, that I may keep the commandments of my God.

¹¹⁶ Uphold me according to your promise, that I may live, and let me not be put to shame in my hope.

¹¹⁷ Hold me up, that I may be safe and have regard for your statutes continually.

¹¹⁸ You spurn all who go astray from your statutes; for their cunning is in vain.

¹¹⁹ All the wicked of the earth you count as dross; therefore I love your decrees.

¹²⁰ My flesh trembles for fear of you, and I am afraid of your judgments.

This section begins with the contrast between the hate of the ‘double-minded’ and the love of the law. The evildoers attempt to pull the faithful one away from the commandment, but God is the hiding place and shield, a frequent image in scripture. The psalmist fears God far more than the wicked who are valued as dross. The psalmist continues to trust that God’s judgment between the foolish/double-minded/wicked ones and themselves will come to pass.

Ayin

¹²¹ I have done what is just and right; do not leave me to my oppressors.

¹²² Guarantee your servant’s well-being; do not let the godless oppress me.

¹²³ My eyes fail from watching for your salvation, and for the fulfillment of your righteous promise.

¹²⁴ Deal with your servant according to your steadfast love, and teach me your statutes.

¹²⁵ I am your servant; give me understanding, so that I may know your decrees.

¹²⁶ It is time for the LORD to act, for your law has been broken.

¹²⁷ Truly I love your commandments more than gold, more than fine gold.

¹²⁸ Truly I direct my steps by all your precepts; I hate every false way.

The poet lifts us their justice (mishpat) and righteousness (tsedeq) and implores the LORD to do good (tob) and show steadfast love (hesed). Yet once again the eyes of the psalmist are in danger of failing as they watch in hope for God’s rescue and fulfillment of the promises of the law. But the psalmist cries to God that the time has indeed come to act on behalf of this one who treasures the law more than gold. Their life rests in the hands of the God of the law.

¹²⁹ Your decrees are wonderful; therefore my soul keeps them.

¹³⁰ The unfolding of your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple.

¹³¹ With open mouth I pant, because I long for your commandments.

¹³² Turn to me and be gracious to me, as is your custom toward those who love your name.

¹³³ Keep my steps steady according to your promise, and never let iniquity have dominion over me.

¹³⁴ Redeem me from human oppression, that I may keep your precepts.

¹³⁵ Make your face shine upon your servant, and teach me your statutes.

¹³⁶ My eyes shed streams of tears because your law is not kept.

The poet finds the commandments of God as wonderful, but they live in a time where the law is not kept. They are attempting to live as a faithful servant of God in an unfaithful time. They continue to long for and pant for God’s commandments and they trust that God will be faithful to them and redeem them from their trouble. Yet, they cry for the unfaithfulness of the world around them. They and perhaps a minority among the people continue to seek God’s way.

Tsadhe

¹³⁷ You are righteous, O LORD, and your judgments are right.

¹³⁸ You have appointed your decrees in righteousness and in all faithfulness.

¹³⁹ My zeal consumes me because my foes forget your words.

¹⁴⁰ Your promise is well tried, and your servant loves it.

¹⁴¹ I am small and despised, yet I do not forget your precepts.

¹⁴² Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and your law is the truth.

¹⁴³ Trouble and anguish have come upon me, but your commandments are my delight.

¹⁴⁴ Your decrees are righteous forever; give me understanding that I may live.

God is righteous and God’s decrees are righteous, and this righteousness of God and God’s decrees is the repetitive image throughout this section. The servant of God may be small and despised but they are zealous for God’s ways. They continue to seek God’s righteous and good way and trust in God’s promise even though they may be insignificant. Their trust remains in the righteousness of God and God’s law.

Qoph

¹⁴⁵ With my whole heart I cry; answer me, O LORD. I will keep your statutes.

¹⁴⁶ I cry to you; save me, that I may observe your decrees.

¹⁴⁷ I rise before dawn and cry for help; I put my hope in your words.

¹⁴⁸ My eyes are awake before each watch of the night, that I may meditate on your promise.

¹⁴⁹ In your steadfast love hear my voice; O LORD, in your justice preserve my life.

¹⁵⁰ Those who persecute me with evil purpose draw near; they are far from your law.

¹⁵¹ Yet you are near, O LORD, and all your commandments are true.

¹⁵² Long ago I learned from your decrees that you have established them forever.

The psalm continues its movement from petition to trust as it oscillates through the experience of life where the faithful one is not surrounded by a community that practices the law. The ones who persecute this faithful poet are near to them but far from God’s law. The psalmist’s whole heart is crying out for God’s attention to the difference between the psalmist’s life and the lives of the ones who threaten them. Yet, ultimately, they trust in God and God’s law.

Resh

¹⁵³ Look on my misery and rescue me, for I do not forget your law.

¹⁵⁴ Plead my cause and redeem me; give me life according to your promise.

¹⁵⁵ Salvation is far from the wicked, for they do not seek your statutes.

¹⁵⁶ Great is your mercy, O LORD; give me life according to your justice.

¹⁵⁷ Many are my persecutors and my adversaries, yet I do not swerve from your decrees.

¹⁵⁸ I look at the faithless with disgust, because they do not keep your commands.

¹⁵⁹ Consider how I love your precepts; preserve my life according to your steadfast love.

¹⁶⁰ The sum of your word is truth; and every one of your righteous ordinances endures forever.

The psalmist continues to pray that God preserve their life. I like Nancy deClaissé-Walford’s translation of this phrase as cause me to live. (Nancy deClaisse-Walford, 2014, pp. 880-881) If God will look on their misery, rescue them, plead their cause and redeem them, then God will cause them to live according to the promises God has made. God’s mercy, justice, and precepts will cause this poet to live even in the face of their many persecutors and adversaries. The poet trusts that God’s word is truth that will triumph over the falsehoods of their oppressors.

Sin and Shin

¹⁶¹ Princes persecute me without cause, but my heart stands in awe of your words.

¹⁶² I rejoice at your word like one who finds great spoil.

¹⁶³ I hate and abhor falsehood, but I love your law.

¹⁶⁴ Seven times a day I praise you for your righteous ordinances.

¹⁶⁵ Great peace have those who love your law; nothing can make them stumble.

¹⁶⁶ I hope for your salvation, O LORD, and I fulfill your commandments.

¹⁶⁷ My soul keeps your decrees; I love them exceedingly.

¹⁶⁸ I keep your precepts and decrees, for all my ways are before you.

Although this penultimate group of verses begins with one final reminder of the powerful enemies who oppress the psalmist the bulk of this section is devoted to praise. Princes in a monarchical society were people with power, but the poet trust in God and God’s promises instead of princes. For the first time the word praise (hallel) occurs in the psalm. Seven times a day may reflect a regular pattern of praise or it may indicate a continual life of praise. Those who love the law have peace (shalom) and live their lives before God.

Taw

¹⁶⁹ Let my cry come before you, O LORD; give me understanding according to your word.

¹⁷⁰ Let my supplication come before you; deliver me according to your promise.

¹⁷¹ My lips will pour forth praise, because you teach me your statutes.

¹⁷² My tongue will sing of your promise, for all your commandments are right.

¹⁷³ Let your hand be ready to help me, for I have chosen your precepts.

¹⁷⁴ I long for your salvation, O LORD, and your law is my delight.

¹⁷⁵ Let me live that I may praise you, and let your ordinances help me.

¹⁷⁶ I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek out your servant, for I do not forget your commandments.

The closing verse of this psalm which repetitively speaks of the psalmist’s obedience to the law is striking because of it using language used elsewhere to describe the wicked. (NIB IV: 1175) The word the NRSV translates as ‘lost’ (Hebrew ‘obed) has its root meaning in ‘perish.’ This final verse uses the familiar metaphor of God as a shepherd who seeks out the sheep. Yet, this one who has gone astray is the same one who seeks and does not forget the commandments. James L. Mays articulates the place of the poet well when he reminds us:

The word of God is given but never possessed…It is there, objectively available in all the forms of God’s communication. But it must be sought and constantly studied in prayer in order to be taught, to learn with the help of God to receive the gift of understanding. (Mays, 1994, p. 385)

This massive psalm which intensifies the acrostic form attempts to bring a sense of completeness to this treatment of life under the law, decrees (or statutes), ordinances, statutes, word, precepts, and promises of God. It is a life of seeking and learning that trusts God’s faithfulness in an unfaithful world. It is an act of faith transmitted through artistry for the purpose of teaching and worship. It is seeking the peace, the steadfast love, the mercy, and the rescue of God as the faithful one attempts to live in harmony with God’s will.

[1] I will follow the NIV’s practice of including the letter of the Hebrew alphabet which begins each of the eight verses in each section of the acrostic. I am using the NIV’s spelling for the letters of the Hebrew alphabet.

[2] Matthew 13:44.

[3] Psalm 22: 15, 29.

[4] The NRSV obscures this by translating v. 52 “When I think on your ordinances from of old” instead of “I have remembered your ordinances.”

[5] Numbers 18:20; Joshua 15:13; 18:7; 19:9.

[6] ‘Dealt well’ in verse 65 and ‘is better to me’ in verse 72 are also the Hebrew tob. The NRSV translation is smoother, but it obscures this repetition.

[7] Languishes (v.81), fail (v. 82), made an end of me (v.87) are all the same word in Hebrew kalah which means waste away, fail, be finished, to be spent.

[8] See my comments on vv. 25-32 for additional reflections on the Hebrew idea of nephesh.

Psalm 112 An Authentic Life Shaped by Wisdom

1 Reply

The Presentation of the Torah By Édouard Moyse – Own work Musée d’art et d’histoire du Judaïsme, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=41893002

Psalm 112

¹Praise the LORD! Happy are those who fear the LORD, who greatly delight in his commandments.
²Their descendants will be mighty in the land; the generation of the upright will be blessed.
³Wealth and riches are in their houses, and their righteousness endures forever.
⁴They rise in the darkness as a light for the upright; they are gracious, merciful, and righteous.
⁵It is well with those who deal generously and lend, who conduct their affairs with justice.
⁶For the righteous will never be moved; they will be remembered forever.
⁷They are not afraid of evil tidings; their hearts are firm, secure in the LORD.
⁸Their hearts are steady, they will not be afraid; in the end they will look in triumph on their foes.
⁹They have distributed freely, they have given to the poor; their righteousness endures forever; their horn is exalted in honor.
¹⁰The wicked see it and are angry; they gnash their teeth and melt away; the desire of the wicked comes to nothing.

Psalm 112 and Psalm 111 share a lot of commonalities. Both are acrostic poems with each cola beginning with successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet. They share commonalities in vocabulary[1] with each other and with wisdom literature in general. If Psalm 111 is the beginning of wisdom then Psalm 112 would be a life lived in wisdom. The fear of the LORD[2] here leads to a delighting in the commandments of the LORD and a life that is authentic and in harmony with God, society, and the creation.

Like Psalm 111 and 113, the first word of the psalm is Hallelujah (NRSV Praise the LORD). The acrostic poem begins with the second word asre (NRSV happy) which is a common indicator of wisdom literature. Like Psalm 1, which also begins with asre we are examining the contrast between a righteous life in harmony with God’s will for the world and a wicked life in conflict with God’s will. The Hebrew asre often translated ‘happy’ or ‘blessed’ or even ‘contented’ but the concept in Hebrew thought is closer to ‘wholeness’ or ‘completeness.’ This integrated life is a life of shalom, itself a word that has a much larger function than the standard English translation of peace. The way of wholeness and completeness is the way of wisdom. Those who ‘fear’ the LORD greatly delight in the LORD’s commandments. This is not a burdensome set of commands but the boundaries which provide the safe space where an individual can live a whole and integrated life.

The blessings of this whole person reflect the ideals of Hebrew thought. Abraham when he begins his journey with God is promised descendants, a blessing, house, land and prosperity and through his household all the nations will be blessed. For the ‘happy’ ones who follow the way of wisdom their descendants are mighty, their generation is blessed, their households are prosperous, and their righteousness endures. The Hebrew scriptures trust that God will provide for the righteous ones who follow God’s ways. Those who fear, love, and trust the LORD above all things will find that they have enough and even an abundance beyond what they need.

These wise and righteous ones reflect the God who they worship and serve. In Psalm 111 the LORD’s righteousness endures forever, and in verse three now the righteousness of these ‘happy’ ones endures forever. In Psalm 111 God was characterized as gracious and merciful and now these ones who fear the LORD are also gracious, merciful, and righteous. They become the image of the LORD they fear, obey, and worship. They become a light that reflects the light of the LORD for the upright in the darkness of the world.

This life of faithfulness is a life of generosity. They do not hoard what they have but deal generously and lend. They distribute freely and give to the poor trusting that God will provide what they need. They conduct their affairs in justice/righteousness[3] and that justice/righteousness has a gracious and merciful character. Their practices remain constant throughout their lives and they are examples who are remembered of a life well lived. They trust in the LORD and even in evil/wicked times they remain secure in their trust. Their horn, which is reflective of power and status, is exalted in honor.

In classical wisdom literature duality these ‘happy’ ones are contrasted with the wicked. The wise and the wicked are opposing ways of life. The wise life is generous and merciful while the wicked one does not care for the poor, does not live generously, and may aggressively attempt to take advantage of both the vulnerable and the generous righteous ones. Yet, the anger and aggression of the wicked melts away before the sustaining power of the LORD that the wise ones fear. The desire of the wicked comes to nothing.[4]

The way of wisdom in the Hebrew scriptures is a way of life that lives in harmony with God’s commandments. The law and wisdom are connected in Hebrew thought. The law provides the vision of a society where the weak are protected and harmony and peace are possible. A way that is wise fears and reverences the LORD, the God of Israel and reflects the generous and merciful nature of that God. It trusts that even when the wicked seem to prosper that their foolish path will lead to their demise.

[1] Nancy deClaissé-Walford notes eleven key terms and phrases that occur in both relatively short psalms including: fear, delight in, upright, good, gracious, merciful, righteousness, remember, steady, give, and for all time. (Nancy deClaisse-Walford, 2014, p. 843)

[2] See the discussion of the Hebrew word yare translated fear in English in my notes on Psalm 111.

[3] The Hebrew tsaddik is a key idea in the Hebrew Scriptures. Both justice and righteousness emerge from the family of terms in Hebrew, like the Greek dikaios/dikaisune.

[4] This is the same word that ends Psalm 1, ‘abad which means to perish.

Review of The English Koren Tanakh: The Magerman Edition

Leave a reply

The English Koren Tanakh: The Magerman Edition The Hebrew Bible in a New English Translation. Translated by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, Rabbi Tzvi Weinreb, et. al. Jerusalem: Koren Publisher, 2021

The Magerman Edition of the English Koren Tanakh is a beautifully put together volume. This translation of the Hebrew Scriptures done by Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Hirsch Weinreb and several other distinguished Jewish scholars does a good job of capturing both the richness of the Hebrew language in an understandable English syntax. As a Christian reader who has some fluency in the Hebrew language it is a gift to have the loving work of this dedicated group of scholars. This is one of translations I now use when doing a close reading of a text.

One of the gifts of doing work on the scriptures that we share with our Jewish ancestors is being aware of some of the differences in form and structure between how Christian and Jewish interpreters have approached these holy books that we share. The Jewish organization of scripture divides the scripture into three sections: Torah (Genesis-Deuteronomy), Prophets (Joshua-Kings, Isaiah-Malachi excluding Daniel), and Writings (Wisdom literature, Ruth, Lamentations, Esther, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, Chronicles, and Daniel). The introductions also give several insights into how the scriptures are used in both personal devotion and corporate worship by our Jewish counterparts. The translations themselves capture balance the Hebrew syntax with English flow and readability and manage to capture the form of poetry and prose. The casual English reader will quickly realize that the names of individuals and places have been transliterated from the Hebrew rather than using the English traditional renderings of these names and places which date bank to the original English translations and are often significantly different than the Hebrew pronunciation. Even the layout of the text on the page is attractive to the eye and large enough to easily read. The maps, diagrams, and images at the end of the book are also very well done.

I’ve used several resources from Koren Publishers in the past and they have consistently been insightful and readable. I was given a copy of the Magerman Edition of the English Koren Tanakh to share an honest review of the resource and for those who are interested in a readable translation of the Hebrew Scriptures to inform their reading, devotions, and study I highly recommend this work.

Matthew 5: 13-20 A Visible Vocation Connected to Scripture

5 Replies

Sermon on the Mount by Carl Bloch (1877)

Matthew 5: 13-20

Parallel Mark 9:49-50 and 4:21, Luke 14: 35-35, 8: 16, 11:33 and 16: 16-17

Highlighted words will have comment on translation below

¹³ “You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot.

¹⁴ “You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. ¹⁵ No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. ¹⁶ In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.

¹⁷ “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. ¹⁸ For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. ¹⁹ Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. ²⁰ For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Both Mark and Luke have individual sayings from this portion of the Sermon on the Mount scattered throughout their gospels, but Matthew places them in a crucial place immediately after the opening of the Sermon to help frame the identity the community is to adopt and to connect it with the scripture. As mentioned earlier, Jesus probably used these sayings multiple times, but Matthew has given us a tightly woven net composed of these saying to capture men and women who are being called into the community of disciples. They have been called to choose the wisdom of the Sermon, to embrace the blessedness or happiness of the kingdom of heaven and now they are called to their vocation and connected with the gift and vocation of Israel.

Salt in the modern world is a seasoning, salt in the ancient world was a preservative and that is a critical distinction. Salt is not what keeps the world tasting better, followers of Christ were not called to be the spice of life for the world. Instead salt in a world before refrigeration was that which preserves the earth. They are not called to become salt, they already are. The throughout this section is plural so ‘all of you’ are the salt of the earth and the light to the world. Even though salt is primarily for preservation it does have a distinctive taste, it does make itself tasted with the rest of the meal that is to be consumed. The disciples and hearers are not given a choice of whether they will accept the vocation of being salt, but they can choose the foolish path of not living as salt. The word translated ‘lost its taste’ is the Greek world moraino which literally means to become foolish. This is the verbal form of the word we get the English moron from. As I mentioned in the previous discussion of the Beatitudes an underappreciated linkage of the Sermon on the Mount is to wisdom literature with its choices between the wise and foolish, righteous or wicked and here salt of the earth and foolish salt. There is a vocation in the kingdom of heaven for the sake of the world for the hearers of Jesus’ words who live according to them, but for those who take the path of becoming foolish there is no longer a use for them, they are not called to be salt for their own sake but for the sake of the earth. They, like Israel before them, were given their vocation to be a blessing to all the nations of the earth and if they choose to live in a way that is not distinctive from the earth that they serve then they are no longer good for anything.

Light is another frequent image in scripture for the vocation of the people of God. For example:

I am the LORD, I have called you in righteousness, I have taken you by the hand and kept you; I have given you as a covenant to the people, a light to the nations, to open the eyes of the blind, to bring out from the prison those who sit in darkness. (Isaiah 42: 6-7 emphasis mine)

he says, “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the survivors of Israel; I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth. (Isaiah 49:6, emphasis mine)

We have already had Jesus identified as a great light (Matthew 4: 16 quoting Isaiah 9:2) and here the vocation of light is granted to those gathered around Jesus and hearing these words. In combination with the image of light is the image of the city on a hill which is meant to be visible. This also taps into Isaiah’s imagery of Jerusalem being a place where the nations are drawn to:

In the days to come the mountain of the LORD’s house shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills; all the nations shall stream to it. May people will come and say, “Come, let us go to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. (Isaiah 2:2-3)

But now the mountain is not the temple mount in Jerusalem but the mountain of the Sermon on the Mount near Capernaum. The transition back to the choice of wisdom literature between wise and foolish is presented. The people do not have the choice to be light, but one can make the foolish choice to put a light under a bushel basket instead of on a light stand. As Dietrich Bonhoeffer would remind his students, “The followers are the visible community of faith: their discipleship is a visible act which separates them from the world—or it is not discipleship.” (DBWE 4:113) The community of disciples is to be light in the midst of the darkness, they are the light of the world and the city on the hill, they are visible to the world around them and their good works give glory to the God they serve.

One of the struggles that many Christians, myself included, wrestle with is the visible nature of their faith in a secular world. For people in the United States, faith has mainly been consigned to the private or spiritual realm, but it was never intended to be so. I know this is one of the things I struggle with as a private person and even as a pastor. As a pastor people do tend to watch my actions and words much closer than the average person of faith and I’m OK with that, but a salty, city on the hill, light of the world faith is much more visible than what I or my congregation often live. That type of faith will meet resistance and even persecution, and I’ve met that type of resistance in congregations I’ve served and from those in the community who disagreed with the hermeneutic of mercy that shapes my understanding of how we are to live our calling. I do struggle with the vanilla nature of the church as it actually exists, and while I’m not willing to embrace the model of some churches which pull away from society it is a challenge to continue to be salt and light in the midst of the world without being shuttered or made foolish. The Sermon on the Mount does not grant us a complete ethical system which can help us answer every question but it does, like all good wisdom literature and attempts to interpret scripture, point us toward the path of wisdom and help us begin to imagine what a life informed by the kingdom of heaven might look like.

The vocation of the hearers of the Sermon on the Mount relates to the vocation of the people of Israel. In being connected with the vocation of Israel the hearers are also connected with the scriptures of Israel. For Matthew it is critical for the reader to see the connection between Jesus and the scriptures, that is one of the reasons he continually alludes and quotes the scriptures to help us understand who Jesus is and what the vocation he calls us into looks like in the world. As we prepare to hear Jesus show us how to hear the scripture, we are not called to forget what came before but instead to hear and learn from it, to preserve and honor it, and to live lives that show forth a righteousness that is different from the scribes and Pharisees. Again we are framed with the question of wisdom literature in terms of the ones who breaks the commandments and teaches others (by words or actions) to do the same is the least while the one who keeps the commandments and teaches other to keep them is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. This keeping of scripture will be a visible witness which brings glory to God but may also bring persecution to the one living this public faith.

Before we move into hearing Jesus interpreting scripture a brief pause to frame the way Jesus will read scripture. This is often heard as legalistic or pointing towards a type of moralistic perfection and the interpretation below will run counter to this path. A helpful question when approaching either the law in the Hebrew Scriptures or Jesus’ interpretation of it in the Sermon on the Mount is: What type of community/society are they trying to create/imagine? That doesn’t mean that what lies ahead is easy to live into, I struggle with it, but it does give us a different horizon to hear the law within. The law is about a society where my neighbor’s best life is possible. One of the key differences between the scribes and the Pharisees as they are represented in Matthew’s gospel and Jesus is mercy being a central part to understanding what righteousness is about. As we now enter Jesus’ interpretation of the law and prophets which are connected to our vocation may we apply that merciful and, dare I say, gracious hermeneutic to our neighbors and to ourselves.

Book of Deuteronomy

5 Replies

Grigory Mekheev, Exodus (2000) artist shared work under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0

These are my reflections on the book of Deuteronomy from February 2015 to April 2016. As a process of cleaning up my index and making posts more accessible.

Deuteronomy 1: Retelling The Story For A New Time
Deuteronomy 2: The Warrior God
Deuteronomy 3: Visions Of A Future Land
Deuteronomy 4: A Story Formed People And An Imageless God
Deuteronomy 5: The Ten Commandments Revisited
Deuteronomy 6: The Center Of The Faith
Deuteronomy 7: A People Set Apart
Deuteronomy 8: The Dangers Of Abundance
Deuteronomy 9: The Promise Of God And A Stubborn People
Deuteronomy 10: The Covenant Renewed
Deuteronomy 11: Blessings And Curses
Deuteronomy 12: Expounding On The Law
Deuteronomy 13: The Challenge Of Exclusivity
Deuteronomy 14: Boundary Markers And Celebrations
Deuteronomy 15: A Life Of Covenant Generosity
Deuteronomy 16: Celebrations, Remembrance And Justice
Deuteronomy 17: A Society Structured Around One Lord
Deuteronomy 18: Priests, Prophets And Forbidden Magic
Deuteronomy 19: Justice, Refuge And Grace
Deuteronomy 20: The Conduct Of War
Deuteronomy 21: Death, Rebellious Children, Captured Women And Inheritance
Deuteronomy 22: Miscellaneous Laws
Deuteronomy 23: Boundaries, Purity, Interest, Vows And Limits
Deuteronomy 24: Divorce, Purity And Justice
Deuteronomy 25: Punishment, Justice And The Enemy
Deuteronomy 26: Bringing The Story Into Liturgy
Deuteronomy 27: Preserving The Law
Deuteronomy 28: Blessings And Curses
Deuteronomy 29: A Final Address
Deuteronomy 30: Hope Beyond The Curse
Deuteronomy 31: Preparing For Life After Moses
Deuteronomy 32: The Last Song Of Moses
Deuteronomy 33: A Final Poetic Blessing
Deuteronomy 34: The Death Of Moses
Reflections From A Year Spent With Deuteronomy

Exodus 20- The Decalogue

22 Replies

Rembrandt, Moses with the Ten Commandments

Exodus 20: 1-17 The Ten Words

Then God spoke all these words:

² I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; ³ you shall have no other gods before¹me.

⁴ You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. ⁵ You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me, ⁶ but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation¹of those who love me and keep my commandments.

⁷ You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not acquit anyone who misuses his name.

⁸ Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. ⁹ Six days you shall labor and do all your work. ¹⁰ But the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God; you shall not do any work — you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. ¹¹ For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it.

¹² Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.

¹³ You shall not murder.¹

¹⁴ You shall not commit adultery.

¹⁵ You shall not steal.

¹⁶ You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. ¹⁷ You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

The Ten Commandment, or the Ten Words (Decalogue) occur both here and in Deuteronomy 5 in slightly different forms. I highlight the differences in my discussion on Deuteronomy and here I will focus more on the commandments themselves and the role they have played within both Judaism and Christianity. One of the issues that has been wrestled with across time is how to divide the list into ten with different solutions based upon one’s theology. Is verse two the first commandment of a prologue to the list of commandments (many Jewish traditions), is verse three through six all one commandment (Catholic, Lutheran traditions) or is there a break between verse three and four (Reformed traditions). Ultimately the division into ten probably serves as an easy way to remember these central precepts that all the rest of the law will unfold from and regardless of how they are divided it is ultimately the way they become internalized and lived which will become the primary goal for these words.

When historical critical methods were the favored tool scholars loved to debate whether the Ten Words evolve over time or whether they borrowed from other law codes of the ancient near east (most notably the Code of Hammurabi has been noted for some parallels between what will follow in the next chapters). Ultimately historical questions reaching thousands of years back into history become incredibly difficult to answer and what we have are the Decalogue as they have been handed down in the books of Exodus and Deuteronomy as they are in their final form. For both Jews and Christians, they have served to both pass on the faith and to give some key principles to form their ethics and life from.

The initial statement at the beginning of these words take us back into the narrative of Exodus. The LORD makes a claim upon them, the LORD is their God and the LORD is known by what has occurred. The bringing out of the people from Egypt and God’s choice of them gives the LORD sole claim upon their allegiance and worship. The existence of other gods is not denied here, in the worldview of the time it is assumed and other nations served them (the prophets will later move towards a view we would recognize as monotheistic) but these other gods are not to be worshipped or followed by the people of Israel. The people have been redeemed out of Egypt and are in a covenantal relationship with the LORD their God.

The worship of the LORD is unusual in the ancient world. They are not to use images to represent the LORD their God, and this will be what is at stake in the incident of the golden calf in Exodus 32. The LORD is not to be reduced to the likeness of anything in the creation. The expounding on this prohibition below in verse 23 reinforces this. There will be beauty in the space that will be constructed to worship, but nothing within that space and no other item is to contain God’s image. Perhaps there is a remembrance of the creation narrative where humanity in some manner bears the image of God, but ultimately even humanity it not to be cast in metal and lifted up as a representation of God. The LORD is an impassioned God and does not enter this covenant easily or lightly. God’s vulnerability is highlighted using the term ‘jealous’ and while we may be uncomfortable with the language of punishment we will see that the breaking of this relationship, as will be seen in Exodus 32 and in prophets like Jeremiah and Hosea, brings out an intensely emotional side of God. The LORD presented in the Hebrew Bible is never some unmoved mover or unattached stoic grandfatherly god, the LORD is a God who desires to draw near but who also is vulnerable to being wounded by the unfaithfulness of the people.

The name in the ancient world is a powerful thing. As I discussed in Exodus 3 there is both necessity in a name but especially in the ancient world there was power. The four-letter name of God, transliterated as YHWH (or Yahweh- Jehovah was an old mispronunciation of these letters) is not said by the Jewish people in their worship in respect for keeping the name holy will always say Adonai (and the vowels, which are added above and below the consonants reflect the vowels for Adonai while the consonants are YHWH), in English this is why you see LORD in all caps (frequently with ORD in a smaller font if possible). The name of God was not to be used as a magical incantation, like some other cultures would do when they called upon the names of their gods, but was to be honored and respected.

Sabbath here is linked to creation and the rhythm of the LORD’s work being a model for human life. This is one of the unique portions of the Ten Commandments, since Sabbath is primarily about rest-not worship. It also is essential in the construction of a different type of society than the Egyptian society they came out of. In Egypt they were slaves, forced to work without brake for as long as their taskmasters demanded, but here children, slaves and even animals are commanded to rest. Ultimately, they were not to place their own ability to produce at the center of their lives but they were to learn to rest and trust that the LORD would provide for them and they were to rest with the LORD on this day that has been blessed and consecrated.

The command to honor father and mother, as I mention in Deuteronomy 5, is probably less about young children being obedient to parents and more about older children continuing to respect, honor and care for their parents in their older age. There will always be the temptation to look upon those who are past their prime as a burden to society but here they are commanded to be honored.

I once heard Rolf Jacobson, who teaches Hebrew Bible at Luther Seminary, state that the Ten Commandments are not about my best life now, they are about ‘my neighbor’s best life now.’ Murder, and although I grew up with the King James ‘thou shalt not kill’ the word murder is probably a better word for what is intended, prevents my needs from becoming more important than my neighbor’s life. There are times where the Scriptures do talk about capital punishment or serving in warfare and these may be viewed within the scriptures as times where the greater community is protected by the act of the one being killed or killing others but these actions are not to be the rule of life in the community, they are the exception. Adultery, which in our current culture portrays as a crime where no one gets hurt, is taken with the utmost seriousness. The punishment for those who commit adultery will be death and this may seem in our time overly harsh. Yet, in ancient times there was, “a severe rupture of trust in family trust and structure as well as in patterns of inheritance.” (Myers, 2005, p. 176) After working with couples for years as a pastor and my own personal experiences there is wisdom to learn from the seriousness cultures took adultery. I am not advocating a return to stoning or harsh punishment, but I’ve seen too often the damage that what a person thought was a simple act of pleasure does to their health, finances, to family and to their children. Adultery is one of those acts that can shatter the trust of a family and have profound and long consequences. Similarly stealing can have life threatening consequences in a culture where people are living at a subsistence level and even in our time. In a society where neighbors relied upon one another, theft could fracture the fabric of that community. When one’s home or automobile has been broken into it feels like a violation of one’s safety and security. In some cases, the loss of security may be greater than the physical loss. In other cases, where greed or theft on a large scale has endangered a person’s retirement accounts or even the money that a person needs to pay for food or medical expenses the theft can literally steal life from another person.

For a just society one of the essential elements is truthful speech. Bearing false witness, whether in a legal setting or in casual gossip can cause heavy damage to an individual. In an age where we can see the how gossip, intentional falsehoods, and cyber-bullying in personal relationships in addition to the erosion of trust in our public institutions I do think there is a longing for truthful speech, but also there is a desire for the salacious rumor and it sometimes becomes difficult to tell the two apart. Perhaps Martin Luther’s wisdom of “interpreting my neighbor’s action in the best possible light” may be helpful here as we wrestle with finding true words in a suspicious and distrusting time.

Finally coveting, and the word for coveting is more than just the natural desire of seeing someone or something one finds attractive. Chamada, the Hebrew word behind coveting is, “an intense desire, generated by passion that is not easily controlled.” (Myers, 2005, p. 178 quoting TDOT) The word for house is more than the physical building, it is one’s household which would include the other items listed behind household: spouse, servants, livestock, etc. This type of intense and open desire would erode the trust between neighbors.

Attempting to write about the Decalogue is a challenge, partially because almost every major figure in Judaism and Christianity at some point writes in detail about the commandments. They are a source of catechetical instruction in the basics of the faith for both traditions. Here I have been in more of an exegetical mode attempting to understand and compare what the commandments meant to their original audience and compare that to our time. At other points, if I was trying to instruct someone on how the commandments would impact their faith I would probably highlight different points.

Exodus 20: 18-21 Moses the Mediator

¹⁸ When all the people witnessed the thunder and lightning, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking, they were afraid¹and trembled and stood at a distance, ¹⁹ and said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, or we will die.” ²⁰ Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid; for God has come only to test you and to put the fear of him upon you so that you do not sin.” ²¹ Then the people stood at a distance, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was.

Moses by Victorvictori, permission granted by author through WikiCommons

The approach of the LORD is a powerful thing and the people are overwhelmed. Although there will be times where Moses’ role as a leader is challenged the people do not want to stand in Moses’ place before God. They desire someone to mediate the divine presence. Moses will spend his life as a person caught between God and God’s people. Even when God’s intention is to graciously draw close it can be terrifying and frequently people want a predictable and not too close God. Ultimately the God of Israel is a God who is not controllable or tame, who is passionate. Moses is somehow safer, more understandable and therefore God’s presence continues to be mediated by the messenger.

Exodus 20: 22-26 How to Worship the LORD

²² The LORD said to Moses: Thus you shall say to the Israelites: “You have seen for yourselves that I spoke with you from heaven. ²³ You shall not make gods of silver alongside me, nor shall you make for yourselves gods of gold. ²⁴ You need make for me only an altar of earth and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your offerings of well-being, your sheep and your oxen; in every place where I cause my name to be remembered I will come to you and bless you. ²⁵ But if you make for me an altar of stone, do not build it of hewn stones; for if you use a chisel upon it you profane it. ²⁶ You shall not go up by steps to my altar, so that your nakedness may not be exposed on it.”

The worship of the LORD is both incredibly simple and very challenging. It is simple in the reality that they don’t need images of silver or gold to represent their God. It is challenging because the people will show that they desire some physical representation of their God they can focus on and can manipulate. Idolatry will be more than just worshipping other gods, it will also be any attempt to make an image of the imageless God of Israel. It will be any attempt to limit the ways in which God can present Godself or to even metaphorically limit God’s image to being something in heaven or on earth or in the sea. It is simple that the LORD does not require elaborate tables or structures to offer sacrifices, simply an altar of earth or unhewn stones that is not set above everyone else. The worship of the LORD is to be done at a level where the priests do not ascend above the people to offer sacrifices but stand at their level. It will be a challenge not to emulate the practices of other nations that place the divine above and have their priests ascend to offer sacrifices. It is the paradox of transcendence in the mundane parts of life. God’s desire is to come down to the people’s level and to dwell, but the desire of the people tends to be to send a representative up to mediate the space between God and themselves.

Sign of the Rose

Searchings: Sacred and Secular

Tag Archives: Torah

James 2: 1-13 Faith, Favoritism and the Royal Law of Liberty

James 2: 1-13

James 1: 16-27 Religion that Cares for the Vulnerable

James 1: 16-21

James 1: 22-27

2 Kings 23 The Reforms and Death of Josiah

2 Kings 23: 1-3 Attempting to Recreate the Covenant

2 Kings 23: 4-14 Reforming the Practices in Judah

2 Kings 23: 15-20 Reforming the Practices in Israel

2 Kings 23: 21-23 Reestablishing the Passover

2 Kings 23: 24-30 The Death of Josiah, a Final Word on both Josiah and Judah

2 Kings 23: 31-37 The Brief Reign of Jehoahaz and the Transition to Jehoiakim

2 Kings 22 King Josiah and the Rediscovery of the Law

2 Kings 22

Psalm 119 An Artistic Articulation of Life Under the Law

Psalm 119

Introduction to Psalm 119

Psalm 112 An Authentic Life Shaped by Wisdom

Psalm 112

Review of The English Koren Tanakh: The Magerman Edition

Matthew 5: 13-20 A Visible Vocation Connected to Scripture

Matthew 5: 13-20

Parallel Mark 9:49-50 and 4:21, Luke 14: 35-35, 8: 16, 11:33 and 16: 16-17

Book of Deuteronomy

Exodus 20- The Decalogue

Exodus 20: 1-17 The Ten Words

Exodus 20: 18-21 Moses the Mediator

Exodus 20: 22-26 How to Worship the LORD