READING HAGGAI-FIRST ZECHARIAH, PART IV

Above:  Haggai

Image in the Public Domain

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Haggai 2:1-9

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Many of the priests and Levites and heads of families, who were old enough to have seen the former house, wept and wailed aloud when they saw the foundation of this house were laid, while many others shouted for joy at the tops of their voices.  The people could not distinguish the sound of the shout of joy from the weeping and the wailing, so great was the shout which the people were raising, and the sound could be heard a long way off.

–Ezra 3:12-14, The Revised English Bible (1989)

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

But [the shouts] of the priests, Levites, and heads of families who were old enough to have seen the former house came to the building of this house with cries of lamentation.  Though many were shouting and sounding the trumpets loudly for joy–so loudly as to be heard from afar–the people could not hear the trumpets for the noise of lamentation.

–1 Esdras 5:63-65, The Revised English Bible (1989)

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The Second Temple, again under construction, was not going to be as large and impressive as the First Temple, destroyed in 586 B.C.E.  (See 1 Kings 5:1-6:38; 1 Kings 7:13-51; 2 Chronicles 2:1-4, 22.)  In Jerusalem, on October 17, 520 B.C.E., the question in many anxious minds was:

Will the Second Temple be good enough?

God answered affirmatively.  Also, God was with the people building the Second Temple.  That temple would be good enough because God would make it so.  God would fill the Second Temple (built on a more modest budget) with wealth and splendor acquired by the divine “shaking” of the nations.  The Second Temple was to be grander than the First Temple.

Jerusalem, October 17, 520 B.C.E.–the seventh day of Sukkot, the Festival of Booths (Leviticus 23:33-36, 39-43; Numbers 29:12-38).  The festival, eight days long, was rich with meaning.  It, a harvest festival, celebrated divine, sustaining care.  Sukkot also commemorated the arrival of the Ark of the Covenant into the First Temple, as well as the dedication of the First Temple (1 Kings 8:1-13, 62-66; 2 Chronicles 5:2-7:22).  Furthermore, the festival commemorated the divine liberation of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, and their dwelling in boots as they traveled to Sinai (Leviticus 23:42-43).  The festival of Sukkot, 520 B.C.E., was replete with meaning.

Compared to God, all human beings and efforts are subpar and inadequate.  That does not mean that we should do nothing, of course.  No, we ought to trust in God and do our best–collectively and individually–for God’s glory.  God will take care of the rest.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JULY 12, 2021 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINTS JASON OF TARSUS AND SOSIPATER OF ICONIUM, COWORKERS OF SAINT PAUL THE APOSTLE AND EVANGELISTS OF CORFU

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

READING 1-2 SAMUEL, 1 KINGS, 2 KINGS 1-21, 1 CHRONICLES, AND 2 CHRONICLES 1-33

Above:  Building Solomon’s Temple

Image in the Public Domain

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

PART LVIII

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

1 Kings 6:1-7:51

2 Chronicles 3:1-4:22

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

How dear to me is your dwelling, O LORD of hosts!

My soul has a desire and longing for the courts of the LORD;

my heart and my flesh rejoice in the living God.

The sparrow has found her a house 

and the wallow a nest where she may lay her young;

by the side of your altars, O LORD of hosts,

my King and my God.

Happy are they who dwell in your your house!  

they will always be praising you.

Happy are people whose strength is in you!

whose hearts are set on the pilgrims’ way.

–Psalm 84:1-4, The Book of Common Prayer (1979)

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

If one permits one’s eyes to glaze over, one may miss a crucial detail in 1 Kings:  the construction of the First Temple took about seven years yet the building of King Solomon’s palace required about thirteen years.  King Solomon did not live simply.  The people paid the price for his elaborate lifestyle.  Those Israelites (1 Kings 5:13/27, depending on versification) and foreigners (2 Chronicles 2:16) conscripted into labor paid another price, too.

Much of the Hebrew Bible (including the two Books of Kings) has existed in its current, edited, cut-and-pasted form since sometime after the Babylonian Exile.  The editor (perhaps Ezra) employed hindsight.

Then the word of the LORD came to Solomon, “With regard to this House you are building–if you follow My laws and observe My rules and faithfully keep My commandments, I will fulfill for you the promise that I gave to your father David:  I will abide among the children of Israel, and I will never forsake My people Israel.”

–1 Kings 6:11-13, TANAKH:  The Holy Scriptures (1985)

Regardless of how literally accurate a historical account may be, the interpretive lens of the author, reader, or hearer is his or her present-day vantage point.  Imagine, O reader, how Jews heard the old stories in the context of the Babylonian Exile.  Imagine, O reader, how those Jews understood that passage when Jerusalem was a ruin and the Temple had long been rubble.

“If” is a crucial word.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

OCTOBER 21, 2020 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF GEORGE MCGOVERN, U.S. SENATOR AND STATESMAN; AND HIS WIFE, ELEANOR MCGOVERN, HUMANITARIAN

THE FEAST OF DAVID MORITZ MICHAEL, GERMAN-AMERICAN MORAVIAN MUSICIAN AND COMPOSER

THE FEAST OF JAMES W. C. PENNINGTON, AFRICAN-AMERICAN CONGREGATIONALIST AND PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER, EDUCATOR, AND ABOLITIONIST

THE FEAST OF SAINT LAURA OF SAINT CATHERINE OF SIENA, FOUNDRESS OF THE WORKS OF THE INDIANS AND THE CONGREGATION OF MISSIONARY SISTERS OF IMMACULATE MARY AND OF SAINT CATHERINE OF SIENA

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

READING 1-2 SAMUEL, 1 KINGS, 2 KINGS 1-21, 1 CHRONICLES, AND 2 CHRONICLES 1-33

Above:  The Temple of Solomon

Scan by Kenneth Randolph Taylor

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

PART LVII

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

1 Kings 5:1-18 (Protestant)

1 Kings 5:15-32 (Jewish and Roman Catholic)

3 Kingdoms 5:15-32 (Eastern Orthodox)

2 Chronicles 2:1-18

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Those who act deceitfully shall not dwell in my house,

and those who tell lies shall not continue in my sight.

–Psalm 101:7, The Book of Common Prayer (1979)

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Given that I have already covered the problems of forced labor and of the discrepancies between 1 Kings 5:13/27 (depending on versification) and 2 Chronicles 2:16, I choose to focus on another passage.

Yet who is really able to build [God] a house, since the heavens and even the highest heavens cannot contain him?

–2 Chronicles 2:5a, The New American Bible (1991)

I have stood inside magnificent, beautiful cathedrals.  I have felt spiritually at home in them, for I understand the liturgical importance of sacred space.  I admit without any reluctance that I am a ritualist.  Architecture and liturgy, hand-in-hand, set the stage properly.  They take one of ordinary life.  I also know that, in the case of many medieval cathedrals, the construction of those edifices was an expression of faith.  I eschew the Puritanical-Pietistic suspicion of “externals” that minimizes the importance of sacred spaces and proper rituals.

At the same time, I take King Solomon’s point.  Even the vault of heaven cannot contain God.  No structure, therefore, regardless of how grand it is, can contain God, either.  However, containing God is not the purpose of such buildings.  Yes, the First Temple contained the Ark of the Covenant and was the site of sacrifices.  God did not dwell solely at the First Temple, though.

I can find God in many places.  God speaks to me in my thoughts, via the Bible, by means of people, in rituals, and via nature.  God has more than one channel, so to speak.  And nothing–no building, no denomination, no intellectual category, no aspect of nature–can contain God.  God can, however, speak through them.  And we ought to listen.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

OCTOBER 21, 2020 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF GEORGE MCGOVERN, U.S. SENATOR AND STATESMAN; AND HIS WIFE, ELEANOR MCGOVERN, HUMANITARIAN

THE FEAST OF DAVID MORITZ MICHAEL, GERMAN-AMERICAN MORAVIAN MUSICIAN AND COMPOSER

THE FEAST OF JAMES W. C. PENNINGTON, AFRICAN-AMERICAN CONGREGATIONALIST AND PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER, EDUCATOR, AND ABOLITIONIST

THE FEAST OF SAINT LAURA OF SAINT CATHERINE OF SIENA, FOUNDRESS OF THE WORKS OF THE INDIANS AND THE CONGREGATION OF MISSIONARY SISTERS OF IMMACULATE MARY AND OF SAINT CATHERINE OF SIENA

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

READING 1-2 SAMUEL, 1 KINGS, 2 KINGS 1-21, 1 CHRONICLES, AND 2 CHRONICLES 1-33

Above:  The Judgment of Solomon, by William Blake

Image in the Public Domain

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

PART LV

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

1 Kings 3:1-28

1 Kings 4:29-34 (Protestant)

1 Kings 5:9-14 (Jewish and Roman Catholic)

3 Kingdoms 5:9-14 (Eastern Orthodox)

2 Chronicles 1:2-17

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Give the King your justice, O God,

and your righteousness to the King’s Son;

That he may rule your people righteously and the poor with justice;

That the mountains may bring prosperity to the people,

and the little hills bring righteousness.

He shall defend the needy among the people;

he shall rescue the poor and crush the oppressor.

–Psalm 72:1-4, The Book of Common Prayer (1979)

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

One should read scripture in various contexts.  The historical record is such a context.  Other contexts include geography, cultural anthropology, and human psychology.  And other scripture provides essential contextualization, too.

Both 1 Kings and 2 Chronicles tell the story of the dream encounter between Solomon and God.  The petition for wisdom, to rule justly, sounds good, does it not?  One could forget the bloody purge in 1 Kings 2.  One could also ignore the foreshadowing of trouble and idolatry evident in King Solomon’s marriage to an Egyptian princess.  Furthermore, 1 Kings 5 and 2 Chronicles 2 refer to the use of forced labor to construct the First Temple.  The account in 2 Chronicles 2 minimizes this problem by stating that the burdens of forced labor fell solely on foreigners.  However, 1 Kings 5:13/27 (depending on versification) tells us that the monarch imposed forced labor on “all Israel.”

Perhaps we would all feel better if we were to focus on the dream vision and on how King Solomon determined which prostitute was lying to him about being the baby’s mother.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

OCTOBER 21, 2020 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF GEORGE MCGOVERN, U.S. SENATOR AND STATESMAN; AND HIS WIFE, ELEANOR MCGOVERN, HUMANITARIAN

THE FEAST OF DAVID MORITZ MICHAEL, GERMAN-AMERICAN MORAVIAN MUSICIAN AND COMPOSER

THE FEAST OF JAMES W. C. PENNINGTON, AFRICAN-AMERICAN CONGREGATIONALIST AND PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER, EDUCATOR, AND ABOLITIONIST

THE FEAST OF SAINT LAURA OF SAINT CATHERINE OF SIENA, FOUNDRESS OF THE WORKS OF THE INDIANS AND THE CONGREGATION OF MISSIONARY SISTERS OF IMMACULATE MARY AND OF SAINT CATHERINE OF SIENA

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

READING 1-2 SAMUEL, 1 KINGS, 2 KINGS 1-21, 1 CHRONICLES, AND 2 CHRONICLES 1-33

Above:  Icon of Kings David and Solomon with the Madonna and Child

Image in the Public Domain

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

PART XXXIV

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

2 Samuel 7:1-29

1 Chronicles 17:1-27

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The LORD has sworn an oath to David,

in truth, he will not break it:

“A son, the fruit of your body,

will I set upon your throne.

If your children keep my covenant

and my testimonies that I shall teach them,

their children will sit upon your throne for evermore.”

–Psalm 132:11-13, The Book of Common Prayer (1979)

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

This is a familiar story.  When reading a familiar story, one ought to read it closely, for one may not know it as well as one imagines.

I like wordplay, for I am a notorious punster.  Imagine my delight, O reader, in the wordplay regarding bayit, or house.  We read that King David dwelt in a bayit (palace), but God had no bayit (temple).  Extremely attentive readers of the Hebrew Bible may recall the references to the House of the LORD in 1 Samuel 1.  Nevertheless, 2 Samuel 7:6 has God deny ever having had a house.  This is a minor matter, but one worth mentioning, for the sake of thoroughness.  A note in The Jewish Study Bible points out that God had a house as well as a tent (Joshua 18:1; 1 Samuel 2:22), the tent indicating that

the LORD is not restricted to one fixed place.

The wordplay with bayit continues with God establishing a covenant and making David the founder of a house (dynasty).  The texts allude to King Solomon presiding over the construction and dedication of the first Temple (See 1 Kings 6:1-8:66; 1 Chronicles 28:1-29:9; 2 Chronicles 2:1-7:22).  One ought to know that hindsight is the lens through which people recall the past.

God changes the divine mind sometimes, according to scripture.  One example is 1 Samuel 2:30-31.  Keep the divine tendency to change the divine mind in your mind, O reader, when reading David’s prayer (2 Samuel 7:25-29; 1 Chronicles 17:23-27).

What am I, O Lord GOD, and what is my family, that You have brought me this far?

–2 Samuel 7:18b, TANAKH:  The Holy Scriptures (1985)

Covenants are not contracts.  Covenants do not entail quid pro quos.  Covenants do entail grace, which, in turn, imposes obligations.  Many people are comfortable with quid pro quos and uncomfortable with grace.  Perhaps grace reminds them of this unworthiness.  Perhaps they prefer to have earned something.  Perhaps the obligations that accompany grace put them ill at ease.  Grace is free, not cheap.

I, having read the rest of the story of David and his dynasty, cannot reread these two versions of this portion of the narrative without feeling sadness over the wasted potential.  I know the rest of the story.  I know of the abuses of David and Solomon.  I know that scripture gives most of their successors negative reviews.  I know about the division of the kingdom and the fall of both successor kingdoms.  I know that David’s lineage continued, but that the dynasty ended.  And I, as a Christian, link this portion of the narrative (in two versions) with Jesus, not Just Solomon and the other Davidic kings.

We are all unworthy.  Grace is our only hope.  This realization may threaten our egos.  On the other hand, this realization may prompt us to live gratefully and to seek to honor God in our own lives, as we relate to God and other human beings.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

AUGUST 30, 2020 COMMON ERA

PROPER 17:  THE THIRTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST, YEAR A

THE FEAST OF SAINT JEANNE JUGAN, FOUNDRESS OF THE LITTLE SISTERS OF THE POOR

THE FEAST OF JOHN LEARY, U.S. ROMAN CATHOLIC SOCIAL ACTIVIST AND ADVOCATE FOR THE POOR AND THE MARGINALIZED

THE FEAST OF KARL OTTO EBERHARDT, GERMAN MORAVIAN ORGANIST, MUSIC, EDUCATOR, AND COMPOSER

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++