Tag Archive for: scribes

TODAY’S READINGS IN CONTEXT
NOVEMBER 7, 2021

During this Pentecost Season, there are two “Tracks” of Scriptures that are offered, and congregations may choose which Track they will follow. The first two readings presented are the readings from Tracks 1 and 2, respectively. The third and fourth readings are the same in both Tracks.

Ruth 3:1-5, 4:13-17

Reading

1 Naomi her mother-in-law said to Ruth, “My daughter, I need to seek some security for you, so that it may be well with you. 2 Now here is our kinsman Boaz, with whose young women you have been working. See, he is winnowing barley tonight at the threshing floor. 3 Now wash and anoint yourself put on your best clothes and go down to the threshing floor; but do not make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking. 4 When he lies down, observe the place where he lies; then, go and uncover his feet and lie down; and he will tell you what to do.” 5 She said to her, “All that you tell me I will do.”

4:13 So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. When they came together, the LORD made her conceive, and she bore a son. 14 Then the women said to Naomi, “Blessed be the LORD, who has not left you this day without next-of-kin; and may his name be renowned in Israel! 15 He shall be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age; for your daughter-in-law who loves you, who is more to you than seven sons, has borne him.” 16 Then Naomi took the child and laid him in her bosom and became his nurse. 17 The women of the neighborhood gave him a name, saying, “A son has been born to Naomi.” They named him Obed; he became the father of Jesse, the father of David.

Commentary

The Book of Ruth is one of the shortest books of the Bible (four chapters) and is a beautiful story of a Moabite woman (Ruth) and her devotion to her Jewish mother-in-law, Naomi. In the last chapter of the story, Ruth (with Naomi’s assistance) married a Judean relative of Naomi’s and became the great-grandmother of King David.

It is important to note that the Moabites were always regarded as dire enemies of Judah, and likely despoiled Jerusalem after the conquest of Judea by the Babylonians in 587 BCE.

The story is set (v.1) in the time of the Judges (1200 to 1025 BCE), a period of great turmoil and moral backsliding in Israel. In the Christian Scriptures, the book is placed after Judges as if it were an historical book, but in the Hebrew Bible it is placed among the Writings.

There is no consensus on when the book was written. Some suggest that its emphasis on the genealogy of David dates it to the period between the death of Solomon (930 BCE) and the conquest of Northern Israel by the Assyrians in 722 BCE.

The weight of scholarly analysis, however, dates the book to the Persian Period — after the end of the Exile (539 BCE) and before the conquest by Alexander the Great in 333 BCE. At this time (5th Century BCE), there was a conflict in Judea between the “exclusivists” (Ezra and Nehemiah) who required that all foreign wives (and their children by these women) be sent away, and the “inclusivists” such as the author of Ruth, who was presented as the great-grandmother of the great King David (even though she was a Moabite). The exclusivist/inclusivist controversy continued into the time of Jesus of Nazareth, and beyond.

In last week’s reading, Naomi (whose name means “Pleasantness”), her husband, and their two sons (whose names mean “Sickly” and “Frail”), left Bethlehem and went to Moab because of a famine in Judea. (Ironically, “Beth-lehem” means “House of Bread/Food.”)

In Moab, Naomi’s husband died, and the two sons married Moabite women, Ruth and Orpah. Ten years later, the two sons (not surprisingly) died, and the three women were left destitute.

Naomi decided to return to Judea (where the famine had ended) and urged Ruth and Orpah to stay with their own people in Moab and remarry. Orpah decided to remain in Moab, but Ruth “clung” to Naomi and swore “your people shall be my people and your God my God” (v.16).

After going to Judea with Naomi, Ruth gleaned the already harvested fields belonging to Boaz, a kinsman of Naomi’s, to obtain grain for herself and Naomi.

In today’s reading, Naomi instructed Ruth to go to the threshing floor where Boaz would be sleeping and “uncover his feet” (v.4). This could be understood literally, but most commentators point out that “feet” is a euphemism in Hebrew for private parts. In the same scene, Ruth asked Boaz to “spread his robe” (v.9) over her – a formal act of a proposal of marriage.

Boaz redeemed land that had been owned by Naomi’s husband Elimelech and married Ruth. Commentators agree that it is not likely that Naomi became Obed’s wet nurse, but that the child symbolized the complete reversal of Naomi’s fortunes. The Jewish Study Bible speculates that “the association of the child with Naomi rather than Ruth is meant to remove the taint of foreign birth from the child.”

Ruth is one of four women included in the genealogy of Jesus of Nazareth in Matthew’s Gospel. The others are Tamar (who seduced her father-in-law, Judah, and bore him two sons), Rahab (a prostitute in Jericho who was the mother of Boaz), and Bathsheba (the mother of Solomon who was married to Uriah when David seduced her).

1 Kings 17:8-16

Reading

8 The word of the LORD came to Elijah, saying, 9 “Go now to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and live there; for I have commanded a widow there to feed you.” 10 So he set out and went to Zarephath. When he came to the gate of the town, a widow was there gathering sticks; he called to her and said, “Bring me a little water in a vessel, so that I may drink.” 11 As she was going to bring it, he called to her and said, “Bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.” 12 But she said, “As the LORD your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of meal in a jar, and a little oil in a jug; I am now gathering a couple of sticks, so that I may go home and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it, and die.” 13 Elijah said to her, “Do not be afraid; go and do as you have said; but first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me, and afterwards make something for yourself and your son. 14 For thus says the LORD the God of Israel: The jar of meal will not be emptied and the jug of oil will not fail until the day that the LORD sends rain on the earth.” 15 She went and did as Elijah said, so that she as well as he and her household ate for many days. 16 The jar of meal was not emptied, neither did the jug of oil fail, according to the word of the LORD that he spoke by Elijah.

Commentary

Elijah and his successor, Elisha, were two of the great prophets (speakers for YHWH) in Jewish History. They opposed the (mostly) Baal-worshiping kings in Northern Israel for 90 years (from approximately 873 to 784 BCE), and their stories comprise about 40% of the Book of Kings.

The authors of the Book of Kings were also the authors of the books of Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges and Samuel. These books were given their final form around 500 BCE – long after the events they described. The authors used the stories in these books to demonstrate that it was the failures of the Kings of Israel and the Kings of Judea to worship YHWH and obey God’s commands that led to the conquest of Northern Israel in 722 BCE by the Assyrians and the conquest of Judea by the Babylonians in 597 BCE. (The conquests were not seen as the result of the Assyrians’ and Babylonians’ greater wealth and more powerful armies.)

Elijah and Elisha are both credited with numerous healings, restoring people to life, and other extraordinary events involving food, such as the one recounted in today’s reading.

Just prior to today’s reading, Elijah confronted the Baal-worshiping King Ahab (873 to 852 BCE) and told Ahab that there would be no rain in Israel until YHWH decided to make it rain (v.1). This pronouncement was fully consistent with one of the major themes of the Book of Kings – that YHWH is in control of everything, rather than the kings or their false gods.

In today’s reading, YHWH directed Elijah to walk about 80 miles from east of the River Jordan to Zarephath (v.9), which is on the Mediterranean coast near Sidon (in modern Lebanon). This area was a center of Baal worship, and the story of the continued supply of meal and oil for the widow shows that YHWH’s powers extend even beyond the lands of Judea and Israel.

Hebrews 9:24-28

Reading

24 Christ did not enter a sanctuary made by human hands, a mere copy of the true one, but he entered into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. 25 Nor was it to offer himself again and again, as the high priest enters the Holy Place year after year with blood that is not his own; 26 for then he would have had to suffer again and again since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the age to remove sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27 And just as it is appointed for mortals to die once, and after that the judgment, 28 so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin, but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

Commentary

The Letter to the Hebrews was an anonymous sermon addressed to both Jewish and Gentile Jesus Followers which urged them to maintain their Faith in the face of persecution.

Although the Letter to the Hebrews is sometimes attributed to Paul, most scholars agree that it was written sometime after Paul’s death in 63 CE, but before 100 CE. The letter introduced many important theological themes.

The author, in large part, interpreted the life, death, and heavenly role of Jesus through the category of the “high priest’ who perfected the ancient sacrificial system of Judaism which ended when the Temple was destroyed in 70 CE.

Earlier parts of the letter emphasized that Jesus (as high priest) was able to sympathize with our weaknesses because he (as a human) had been tested as we are. The presentation of Jesus as high priest in the Letter to the Hebrews is unique in the Christian Scriptures and reflected the continuing process in early Christianity of developing images to describe who and what Jesus of Nazareth was (and is).

Today’s reading continued discussing the theme of Jesus of Nazareth as the high priest and uses this image as another way to convey to the Jesus Follower Community “who and what” Jesus was (and is). The author focused on the “once and for all” (v.26) aspects of Jesus’ Death and Resurrection and emphasized that Jesus was both priest and sacrifice in the Crucifixion.

The reading concluded with an allusion to the Second Coming – a theological recognition that not all of Ancient Israel’s (and the Jesus Follower Community’s) expected outcomes of the Messianic Age were accomplished in Jesus’ lifetime or even after the Destruction of the Temple by the Romans in 70 CE.

Mark 12:38-44

Reading

38 As Jesus taught, he said, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, 39 and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets! 40 They devour widows’ houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.”

41 He sat down opposite the treasury and watched the crowd putting money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. 42 A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which are worth a penny. 43 Then he called his disciples and said to them, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. 44 For all of them have contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”

Commentary

The Gospel According to Mark was the first Gospel that was written and is usually dated to the time around the Destruction of the Temple in 70 CE. Mark’s Gospel is the shortest gospel and forms the core for the Gospels According to Matthew and Luke (both of which were written around 85 CE). Over 50% of the material in those two Gospels is based on Mark. Because these three Gospels follow similar chronologies of Jesus’ life and death, they are called “Synoptic Gospels” for the Greek words meaning “Same Look/View.”

Today’s reading comes after a short passage in Mark in which Jesus confounded the scribes by asking them how it can be that the Messiah is David’s son if David (in Psalm 110) referred to the Messiah as LORD. Mark said that this was to the “delight” of the large crowd (Mk. 12:35-37).

Following that exchange, Jesus criticized the scribes for their pretensions (vv.38-39) and the economic hardships they imposed on the poor (v.39). In both Matthew and Luke, the Pharisees were included for condemnation for their pretensions and imposing economic hardship (Mt. 23; Lk 11:43 and 20:46).

The Pharisees were included in this criticism in Matthew and Luke because the Pharisees, after the Destruction of the Temple in 70 CE, were the only other group in Judaism (besides the Jesus Followers) to survive. For the next 30 years, the Jesus Followers and the Pharisees contested for the leadership of Judaism — including who would be able to use the synagogues, who would decide which scriptures were authoritative, and how to interpret them.

The contribution by the widow to the Temple is interpreted by the commentator in the New Oxford Annotated Bible as further condemnation of the scribes for “inducing the poor to give their meagre resources to the Temple.” The Jewish Annotated New Testament disagrees and notes that “the text does not suggest that. The Temple is a place where both rich and poor can contribute.”