Tag Archive for: Garden of Eden

Isaiah 65:17-25

Reading

For I am about to create new heavens and a new earth;
the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind.
But be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating;
for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy, and its people as a delight.
I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and delight in my people;
no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it, or the cry of distress.
No more shall there be in it an infant that lives but a few days,
or an old person who does not live out a lifetime;
for one who dies at a hundred years will be considered a youth,
and one who falls short of a hundred will be considered accursed.
They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat;
for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be,
and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
They shall not labor in vain, or bear children for calamity;
for they shall be offspring blessed by the Lord — and their descendants as well.
Before they call, I will answer, while they are yet speaking, I will hear.
The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox;
but the serpent– its food shall be dust!
They shall not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain, says the LORD.

Commentary

The Book of Isaiah is a composite of writings from three distinct periods in Ancient Israel’s history. The writings were compiled from about 700 BCE to about 300 BCE.

Chapters 1-39 are called “First Isaiah” and are the words of a prophet (one who speaks for YHWH – translated as “LORD” in all capital letters in the NRSV) who called for Jerusalem to repent in the 30 years before Jerusalem came under siege by the Assyrians in 701 BCE. “Second Isaiah” is Chapters 40 to 55. In these chapters, a prophet brought hope to the Judeans during the Exile in Babylon (587 to 539 BCE) by telling them they had suffered enough and would return to Jerusalem. “Third Isaiah” is Chapters 56 to 66 in which a prophet gave encouragement to Judeans who had returned to Jerusalem (which was largely destroyed by the Babylonians in 587 BCE) after the Exile had ended.

Today’s reading is from Third Isaiah, and appears to be a late insert into Chapter 65. The first seven verses in the Chapter are a lament by YHWH that the people have not asked for assistance even though YHWH was ready to assist. The next ten verses are a statement by YHWH that those who are his servants shall prosper, but those who forsake YHWH and worship foreign gods will perish.

Verses 17 to 25 have an apocalyptic tone – the existing dire situation will be reversed because divine intervention will bring about a profound change. Similar eschatological motifs are found in the so-called “Isaiah Apocalypse” in Chapters 24 to 27.

The reading presents a “new world” in which there is no infant mortality and persons live more than 100 years. In particular, the eschatological vision reverses some of the consequences of the “Disobedience Event” in the Garden of Eden. Endless and sometimes futile toil (Gen. 3:17-18) becomes “you shall not labor in vain” (v. 23). As in the Garden of Eden before the Disobedience Event (Gen. 1:29-30), no creatures (human or animal) kill for food (v.25).

2 Thessalonians 3:6-13

Reading

Now we command you, beloved, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to keep away from believers who are living in idleness and not according to the tradition that they received from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us; we were not idle when we were with you, and we did not eat anyone’s bread without paying for it; but with toil and labor we worked night and day, so that we might not burden any of you.
This was not because we do not have that right, but in order to give you an example to imitate. For even when we were with you, we gave you this command: Anyone unwilling to work should not eat.
For we hear that some of you are living in idleness, mere busybodies, not doing any work.
Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living.
Brothers and sisters, do not be weary in doing what is right.

Commentary

Thessalonica, a port city in northern Greece, was capital of the Roman province of Macedonia in the First Century. Paul’s First Letter to the Thessalonians is the oldest part of the Christian Scriptures and was written by Paul before 50 CE, about 20 years before the first Gospel (Mark) was written. A principal theme of both 1 and 2 Thessalonians is the return of the Lord Jesus in the end time.

In 2 Thessalonians, however, there was an emphasis on living in the present and warnings about forgeries of Paul’s writings. For these reasons, many scholars conclude that 2 Thessalonians was written by one of Paul’s disciples after Paul’s death in 64 CE.

Today’s reading is from the final chapter in the letter and was an exhortation to the entire community. The writer presented his own behavior as the model for the community (v.7) and commanded that those who were able to work must do so (v.10).

The verses that follow today’s reading close the letter with a wish of peace for the community and an assertion by “Paul” that he wrote the letter with his own hand – a claim that ironically shows that the author was concerned about the authenticity and authority of the letter.