READING ECCLESIASTICUS/SIRACH

PART XV

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Ecclesiasticus/Sirach 20:1-22:26

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“Sin” is a word with more than one definition in the Bible.  In the Johannine school of the New Testament, to sin is not to follow Jesus.  According to the Johannine definition, sin is a theological failure, not a moral one.  Yet, in most of the Bible, sin is a moral failure; it is missing the mark.  This is the definition of sin in Ecclesiasticus/Sirach.

Sin–as a category–may seem abstract.  A sin is not abstract; one can ponder it in a tangible context.  Poetic, symbolic language provides images for sin, though.  In Genesis 4:7, YHWH addresses Cain, about to murder Abel.  YHWH asks Cain:

Why are you angry and downcast?  If you are well-disposed, ought you not to lift up your head?  But if you are ill-disposed, is not sin at the door like a crouching beast hungering for you, which you must master?”

—The Jerusalem Bible (1966)

The poetic image of sin as a hungry, crouching beast waiting to ambush one fits with subsequent Eastern Orthodox theology of sin as an outside, invading force–what people do, not what they are.  Recall, O reader, that Original Sin and Total Depravity are doctrines alien to Judaism and Eastern Orthodoxy.

Sin is also a hostile, outside force which attacks, invades, and infiltrates in Romans 6 and 7.  (See Romans 7:17 in particular.)  Similar language for sin as an outside, hostile force exists in Ecclesiasticus/Sirach 21, also:

Have you sinned, my son?  Do so no more,

but pray about your former sins.

Flee from sin as from a snake;

for if you approach sin, it will bite you.

Its teeth are lion’s teeth,

and destroy the souls of men.

–21:1-2, Revised Standard Version–Second Catholic Edition (2002)

1 Peter 5:8 likens Satan to a prowling, roaring lion in search of someone to devour.

Ecclesiaticus/Sirach understands sin to be lawlessness (21:3):

All lawlessness is like a two-edged sword;

there is no healing for its wound.

—Revised Standard Version–Second Catholic Edition (2002)

This symbolic speech is reminiscent of Proverbs 5:4, which describes a loose woman as being as sharp as a two-edged sword.  And, of course, the word of God–that which God says–cuts like a two-edged sword in Hebrews 4:12.  The two-edged sword is a vivid metaphor.

When we sin against others, we may inflict lasting damage upon them.  The legacies of childhood bullies may persist well into adulthood, for example.  And one may learn from the examples of friends and relatives of murder victims and perceive partially how deep those emotional and spiritual wounds go.  So, I do not minimize the harm people can inflict upon each other.

I refuse to flee from the word “sin.”  I do seek, however, to apply it accurately.  I have a theory that sinning requires one to be in one’s right mind.  This is not a hypothetical scenario for me; I grieve my girlfriend,  who chose her time, place, and manner of death.  I grasp that mental illness clouded her mind at the time.  And I attest that the grief I carry for her feels like the wounds from a two-edged sword (not that anyone has stabbed me with a two-edged sword).  These wounds may never heal.

The way of sinners is smooth, we read in 21:10.  This may be a sly reference to Roman roads.  Or it may refer to a generic path–in this case, to an early death.  Recall, O reader, that Ben Sira did not believe in an afterlife.

The wise and the foolish belong to spiritual and moral categories.  The wise live in reverence of God and control their thoughts.  The keep the divine Law of Moses, according to Ben Sira.  They behave cautiously and respectfully.  And, although a wise man increases in knowledge like a flood, the mind of a fool is vacant, like an empty jar (21:14).  Furthermore, a wise man’s mouth is in his mind yet the the mind of a fool is in his mouth (21:26).

That last sentence has aged well, especially in the age of social media.

The Church has long called Sirach “Ecclesiasticus,” or “Church Book,” due to its value for moral instruction.  Most of the contents of the portion of the book for this post prove the wisdom of that point.

The language about an undisciplined son (22:3) balances the language regarding an imprudent daughter (22:5) and a shameful wife (22:4).  So, the misogyny factor is low in 22:3-5.

However, the meditation on the value of friendship is timeless.  And the condemnation of the indolent is vivid:

The indolent may be compared to a filthy stone,

and everyone hisses at his disgrace.

The indolent may be compared to the filth of dunghills;

anyone that picks it up will shake it off his hand.

–22:1-2, Revised Standard Version–Second Catholic Edition (2002)

Ben Sira knew how to turn phrases effectively.  And he addressed the wealthy sons of the elites of Jerusalem, circa 175 B.C.E.  Some of them may have been lazy.  Complaints about the idle rich are as old as antiquity.

Also, context is crucial.  One could ignore the context and mistake 22:1-2 for a condemnation of the lazy poor.  (In fact, the poor have long been some of the hardest working people within economic systems rigged against them.)  But, when one considers whom Ben Sira addressed, 22:1-2 takes on its intended meaning.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

AUGUST 31, 2023 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT NICODEMUS, DISCIPLE OF JESUS

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READING THE BOOK OF PROVERBS

PART XII

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Proverbs 23:12-35

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Proverbs 23:12-35 constitutes the second of three sections of the third collection in the Book of Proverbs, according to notes in The Jewish Study Bible, Second Edition (2014), whose lead I am following.

Circumstances change.  Geography varies, depending upon where one is.  Yet many principles are timeless.  The snares–including alcohol, whores, and bad company–against which the father lectures the son in Proverbs 23:12-35–are as contemporary as they are ancient.  And human nature does not change, either.

For the sake of thoroughness, I feel obligated to cover two other points, which I will address in order.

First, verse 16 speaks of the father’s kidneys (literally, in the Hebrew) exulting.  The metaphor refers to the folk belief that the kidneys were the seat of the conscience.  Some translations render the germane Hebrew word as “heart” or “inward parts.”  Foster R. McCurley, Jr., contextualizes this metaphor:

One aspect of the female image is related to the belief that various emotions were founded in specific organs of the human body.  The liver was the seat of joy; when it was poured it, the person was sad (Lam. 2:11).  The kidneys were the seat of conscience (Ps. 16:7), and the heart was the center of intellect, the mind (Prov. 16:9).  Thus, in a society where internal organs were of more interest psychologically than physiologically, it is consistent that “mercy” is related to the Hebrew term for the female anatomical part: “womb” (rehem).

—Ancient Myths and Biblical Faith:  Scriptural Transformations (1983; reprint, 2007), 97

Second, Proverbs 5:15 likens marital sexual relations to drinking water from one’s own well.  Proverbs 23:27 compares a whore to a deep ditch/pit and a narrow well, both of which are traps.  The metaphors in chapter 23 are counterpoints to the metaphor in chapter 5.  The wife’s proverbial well water may satisfy the husband’s sexual appetite, but the whore has no such water.

Furthermore, one may recall the Hebrew Biblical trope of meeting women and sometimes finding a wife at the well (Genesis 24:10f; Genesis 29:1-11; Exodus 2:15-22; 1 Samuel 9:3-12).  This trope is in the cultural background of the story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4.

When we zoom out from individual verses and focus on the proverbial forest of Proverbs 23:12-35, we may discover at least one overarching theme: master your appetites, or else they may master you.  That principle is timeless, too.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JULY 25, 2023 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT JAMES BAR-ZEBEDEE. APOSTLE AND MARTYR

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READING THE BOOK OF PROVERBS

PART V

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Proverbs 5:1-7:27

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When is adultery more than adultery?  Elsewhere in the Hebrew Bible, adultery is a metaphor for idolatry.  It may function that way here, too.  Yet adultery may also be adultery in these chapters, as well, as it is in Proverbs 2.  Either way, the plain message is to avoid committing it.

The overarching theme in Proverbs 5-7 is that God, who watches us, cares deeply about what we do.  God also punishes and rewards people.  And our misdeeds often set up our unfortunate fates, as in the financial ruin of those who foolishly cosign a loan (6:1-3).  So, we may punish ourselves more often than we may want to admit.

We may also read a list of seven things God loathes in 6:16-19.  I quote Robert Alter’s translation:

1. haughty eyes;
2. a lying tongue;
3. hands shedding innocent blood;
4. a heart plotting wicked designs;
5. feet hurrying to run to evil;
6. a lying deposer, a false witness; and
7. fomenting strife among brothers.

The references to body parts creates a composite picture of a human being.  The list, taken as a whole, describes one at odds with God.

You, O reader, may read that list and think of people you have known, whom you know, or of whom you know, who typify each item.  You may even identify someone whom the entire list describes.  Some people’s default mode is lying.  Some people are arrogant and haughty.  Some people habitually sow the seeds of discord wherever they go.  As my father taught me, troubled people cause trouble.  They, being at odds with themselves, cannot function as agents of divine shalom.  They are not equipped to do so.

Recall, O reader, that Biblical righteousness is right relationship with God, self, other people, and all of creation.  Those who fit the description of at least one of the seven items on that list cannot practice righteousness fully, by definition.  They cannot do so unless or until they repent–change their minds–and reform their behavior.  For, as we think, we are.

And God is watching us.  God understands that our actions and inaction affect others.  Do we grasp that they affect others?  And, if we do comprehend that, do we care?

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JULY 17, 2023 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF WILLIAM WHITE, PRESIDING BISHOP OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH

THE FEAST OF BENNETT J. SIMS, EPISCOPAL BISHOP OF ATLANTA

THE FEAST OF THE CARMELITE MARTYRS OF COMPIÈGNE, 1794

THE FEAST OF CATHERINE LOUISA MARTHENS, FIRST LUTHERAN DEACONESS CONSECRATED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

THE FEAST OF SAINT NERSES LAMPRONATS, ARMENIAN APOSTOLIC ARCHBISHOP OF TARSUS

THE FEAST OF STEPHEN THEODORE BADIN, FIRST ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST ORDAINED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

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READING THE BOOK OF PROVERBS

PART IV

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Proverbs 4:1-27

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The main themes in Proverbs 4 are to love wisdom, absorb its teachings, avoid the path of the wicked, take the path of wisdom, and eschew “crooked speech.”  Writing that list is easier than heeding that advice.  One may mean well, but one may also experience difficulty discerning good from evil.  And one may can carry on an internal dialogue with oneself and mistakenly perceive it as a conversation with God.

Touch of Evil (1958) demonstrates the ease with which one may cross the border separating good from evil.  Hank Quinlan is the chief of police in a town on the U.S.-Mexican border.  He, corrupt, plants evidence to frame those whom he believes to be guilty.  The movie reveals that Quinlan began to frame suspects after his wife’s murderer evaded justice.  The police chief cannot cross the border back into the territory of goodness, so he sets himself up for his fate.

We live in an imperfect world.  As those in authority understand, if they possess a conscience, getting dirty is frequently necessary to accomplish anything positive.  Yet when one gets too dirty, one can no longer work for the common good.  Realpolitik must not erode healthy idealism, just as healthy idealism must never transform into a facts-be-damned, rigid ideology.

Yes, avoiding the path of evil is more difficult than repeating the admonitions in Proverbs 4.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JULY 10, 2023 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF MYLES HORTON, “FATHER OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT”

THE FEAST OF SAINTS EUMENIOS AND PARTHENIOS OF KOUDOUMAS, MONKS AND FOUUNDERS OF KOUDOUMAS MONASTERY, CRETE

THE FEAST OF SAINT JOSEPH OF DAMASCUS, SYRIAN ORTHODOX PRIEST AND MARTYR, 1860

THE FEAST OF SAINT NICHOLAS SPIRA, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT

THE FEAST OF RUED LANGGAARD, DANISH COMPOSER

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READING THE BOOK OF PROVERBS

PART I

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Proverbs 1:1-33

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As Foster R. McCurley, Jr., and John Reumann tell us in Witness of the Word:  A Biblical Theology of the Gospel (1986), a range of genres exists in the Hebrew Bible.  Wisdom literature is one of these genres.

It seems that reason replaces drama in an attempt to deal with nature and God’s continuing world rule.

–228

The Book of Proverbs presents conventional piety, against which the Books of Job and Ecclesiastes (except for their tacked-on endings) protest.  The Book of Proverbs offers a “settled teaching,” to quote Walter Brueggemann and Tod Linafelt, An Introduction to the Old Testament:  The Canon and Christian Imagination, 3rd. Ed. (2020), 333.  The Books of Job and Ecclesiastes (except for their tacked-on endings) reflect an understanding that life is not settled.

The Book of Proverbs exists in tension with another strain in the Hebrew Bible.  The Torah (defined as the Books of Moses) holds that divine revelation is necessary.  However, the Book of Proverbs teaches that God gave people the rational capacity for wisdom, therefore divine revelation is not necessary.  People need merely to heed wisdom.  This does not represent hard tension the Torah, which also teaches that God planted the law within people, so keeping the Law is neither impossible nor unduly difficult.  Yet the Book of Proverbs does exist in tension with the Torah regarding the role and significance of Law as revealed teaching.

The Book of Proverbs contains six collections of wisdom sayings attributed to more than one author.  The final section (chapters 30 and 31) consists of four appendices.  The traditional attribution of much material to King Solomon is dubious, for the language and content of those verses does not fit Solomon’s time.  Regardless of authorship, these “memorable sayings” (literally) offer guides to life in community and originate from a range of centuries.  Scholarship dates the completion of the book to the time following the Babylonian Exile.

As we read the Book of Proverbs, may we ever remember the communal nature of the book.  My culture fixates on individualism, not communitarianism.  To bring Western assumptions antithetical to Biblical texts is easy to do.  One may do it unconsciously.  Assumptions can obscure the plan meanings of texts, which always exist in contexts.

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The first collection within the Book of Proverbs spans chapters 1-9.  The second collection spans 10:1-22:16.  Three other collections span 22:17 and the end of chapter 29.  However, the second collection may predate the first one.  We see an editor’s hand at work in the Book of Proverbs.  The arrangement of material as we find it is logical; chapters 1-9 function as an introduction to the rest of the book and provide interpretive context for the 10:1-22:16.

The voice in chapters 1-9 is that of a father lecturing his son.  Most lectures or discourses follow a three-part structure:

1. A call to attention,
2. A lesson, and
3. A conclusion.

The conclusion is absent sometimes.

Chapters 1-9 also include intervals between lectures or discourses.

1:2-6 explains the purpose of the Book of Proverbs:

…for education in wisdom and moral discipline, for the understanding of thoughtful speech, for training in discernment of what is right and proper and equitable; to sharpen the wits of the ignorant, to give youth knowledge and foresight (the scholar too may give heed and add to his store of knowledge, and the discerning man may find guidance); for the comprehension of proverb and metaphor, the words of the wise and their riddles.

—R. B. Y. Scott‘s translation (1965)

Then we arrive at 1:7.  Scott’s translation from the germane volume of The Anchor Bible reads:

The first principle of knowledge is to hold the Lord in awe;

They are fools who despise wisdom and instruction.

“Fools” here, as in Psalms 14 and 53, are morally defective.  In Psalms 14 and 53, fools deny that God cares.  They mistake God for an absentee landlord and imagine that they can get away with anything wrong.  In Proverbs 1:7, fools do not hold God in awe–or, in the familiar language, “fear God.”  Fear/awe/reverence of God is the first principle of Biblical wisdom.  Fear/awe/reverence of God is another term for conscience.  It grows within the pious and keeps them from evil.

“Evil,” in turn, is the attitude which refuses to recognize that God does care and is present, and that all people depend entirely upon God.  Evil leads to the mindset of “every man for himself” and the assumption that the ends justify the means.

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge.

Wisdom and reproof dolts despise.

–Robert Alter’s translation (2019) of Proverbs 1:7

In 1:8-19, the father instructs his son to obey both parents’ teaching.  The wife/mother is also a fountain of wisdom, albeit one channeled through the husband/father.  The counsel here is to keep company and to avoid gangs.  They victimize innocent people.  And, according to R. B. Y. Scott’s translation,

They are lurking against their own lives.

–1:18b

This advice, sadly, remains relevant.  Human nature is a constant force in society.  Whatever we do to others, we also do to ourselves.  This is a moral truth, one which irresponsible individualism and a lack of empathy (or sympathy, at least) ignore.

They shall eat the fruit of their ways,

And have their fill of their own counsels.

–Proverbs 1:31, TANAKH:  The Holy Scriptures (1999)

Or, to channel folk wisdom from a subsequent age, these scoffers will lie in the beds which they have made for themselves.

Notice, O reader, that the text personifies divine wisdom as feminine.  Later in the book, the text also personifies human folly as feminine.  Lady Folly is the counterpart to Lady Wisdom.  First, however, we meet Lady Wisdom.  Male voices provide instruction, but feminine wisdom speaks for herself in chapter 1.  I imagine that contributors to the genre of Hebrew wisdom literature–as in Proverbs, Ecclesiasticus/Sirach, and the Wisdom of Solomon–knew wise women in their families.

In 1:33, divine wisdom, personified as a woman, says:

But he who listens to me will dwell assured [in mind],

Untroubled by fear of calamity.

–R. B. Y. Scott’s translation (1965)

The problem with 1:33 is that reality does not support it.  The Books of Job and Ecclesiastes argue against the proposition until their tacked-on endings.  The long record of persecution and martyrdom also contradicts Proverbs 1:33.  In the Book of Tobit, the titular character suffers because he obeys divine commandments, in violation of human laws.  The New Testament and Jewish apocalyptic literature also understand that the pious may suffer for being pious.

I wish that life were as simple as Proverbs 1:33 pretends it is.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JULY 4, 2023 COMMON ERA

INDEPENDENCE DAY (U.S.A.)

THE FEAST OF SAINTS ADALBERO AND ULRIC OF AUGSBURG, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOPS

THE FEAST OF CHARLES ALBERT DICKINSON, U.S. CONGREGATIONALIST MINISTER AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF SAINT ELIZABETH OF PORTUGAL, QUEEN AND PEACEMAKER

THE FEAST OF JOHN CENNICK, BRITISH MORAVIAN EVANGELIST AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF SAINT PIER GIORGIO FRASSATI, ITALIAN ROMAN CATHOLIC SERVANT OF THE POOR AND OPPONENT OF FASCISM

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Above:  Icon of St. Lydia of Thyatira

Image in the Public Domain

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For the Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity, Year 2

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Lectionary from A Book of Worship for Free Churches (The General Council of the Congregational Christian Churches in the United States, 1948)

Collect from The Book of Worship (Evangelical and Reformed Church, 1947)

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Keep, we beseech thee, O Lord, thy Church with thy perpetual mercy;

and because the frailty of men without thee cannot but fail,

keep us ever by thy help from all things hurtful,

and lead us to all things profitable to our salvation;

through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

—The Book of Worship (1947), 210

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Proverbs 4:14-23

Psalm 19

Acts 16:1-18

Luke 17:11-19

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How grateful are we toward God–perhaps Jesus, in particular?

The reading from Luke 17 brings us to the familiar story of ten “lepers.”  Whatever medical condition they suffered from, it was not Hansen’s Disease.  It did, however, render the “lepers” ritually impure and separate them from their families and communities.  Their cleansing restored them to their families and communities.  Yet only one “leper” returned to express gratitude.

God, present in the Law of Moses and in the witness of the prophets, was also present in Jesus of Nazareth.  God was present, furthermore, in the witness of St. Paul the Apostle.  St. Lydia of Thyatira received the message of Jesus gratefully, then acted accordingly.

May we respond favorably to God every day.  “Thank you” is a good start.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JANUARY 21, 2021 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINTS MIROCLES OF MILAN AND EPIPHANIUS OF PAVIA, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOPS

THE FEAST OF SAINTS ALBAN ROE AND THOMAS REYNOLDS, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIESTS AND MARTYRS, 1642

THE FEAST OF EDGAR J. GOODSPEED, U.S. BAPTIST BIBLICAL SCHOLAR AND TRANSLATOR

THE FEAST OF SAINT JOHN YI YON-ON, ROMAN CATHOLIC CATECHIST AND MARTYR IN KOREA, 1867

THE FEAST OF W. SIBLEY TOWNER, U.S. PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER AND BIBLICAL SCHOLAR

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Above:  Christ Banishes Tradesmen from the Temple

Image in the Public Domain

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Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning:

Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them,

that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of life,

which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ,  who lives and reigns

with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

—The Book of Common Prayer (1979), page 236

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Amos 6:1-7 or Proverbs 6:6-22

Psalm 118:1-14

1 Timothy 4:1-16

John 2:13-25

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These five readings, taken together, remind individuals, communities, and populations to obey God’s laws, keep its ethical mandate of mutuality under God, and not to be arrogant while idling in obliviousness to consequences of disobeying divine ethical standards.  The Assyrians were on their way in Amos 6.  False teachers were troublesome in 1 Timothy 4.  Sacred rituals were not talismans in John 2.

Keeping the ethical mandates from God is not a talisman either.  One who reads the Gospel of John should notice that Gospel’s placement of the “Temple Incident” (as scholars of the New Testament call it) at the beginning of Christ’s ministry.  Such a reader also notices that, according to the Gospel of John, different groups tried for years to kill Jesus throughout the Fourth Gospel.  If righteousness were a shield against negative consequences, Jesus would have been the safest person who ever lived.

Unfortunately, old, false ideas remain persistent.  (Old, true ideas persisting is positive, of course.)  The idea that one is suffering, therefore must have sinned, is false.  So is the proposition that one is prosperous and secure, therefore must have done something right and righteous.  How many times must one read the Gospel of John, ponder the life of Christ, and read accounts of martyrs before one understands this?

The rain falls on the just and the unjust.  Many of the wicked prosper.  Many of the righteous struggle and suffer.  It is not fair.  Life is not fair.  Nevertheless, actions do have consequences in this life and in the afterlife.  Sometimes we also suffer because of the actions of others.  The problem of suffering is too complex for simple answers.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

DECEMBER 31, 2020 COMMON ERA

THE SEVENTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS

THE FEAST OF SAINT GIUSEPPINA NICOLI, ITALIAN ROMAN CATHOLIC NUN AND MINISTER TO THE POOR

NEW YEAR’S EVE

THE FEAST OF ROSSITER WORTHINGTON RAYMOND, U.S. NOVELIST, POET, HYMN WRITER, AND MINING ENGINEER

THE FEAST OF SAINT ZOTICUS OF CONSTANTINOPLE, PRIEST AND MARTYR, 351

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Adapted from these posts:

https://adventchristmasepiphany.wordpress.com/2020/12/31/devotion-for-the-fifth-sunday-after-the-epiphany-year-d-humes/

https://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2020/12/31/devotion-for-proper-3-year-d-humes/

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

Above:  Absalom Conspires Against David

Image in the Public Domain

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PART XLII

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2 Samuel 15:1-37

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For [the wicked] cannot sleep unless they have done wrong;

they are robbed of sleep unless they have made someone stumble.

For they eat the bread of wickedness

and drink the wine of violence.

–Proverbs 4:17-18, Revised Standard Version (1952)

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The framing of the story of King David in 2 Samuel, told via hindsight, pivots in Chapters 11 and 12.  After the murder of Uriah the Hittite and the seduction of Bathsheba, the narrative teaches us, David’s figurative chickens came home to roost.  One should, therefore, read the stories of Absalom in the context of 2 Samuel 12:9-12.

David was oblivious then shrewd in 2 Samuel 15.  He missed the signs of Absalom acting like a monarch and starting a rebellion until the time to prevent that insurrection had passed.  Yet David established a network of spies in Jerusalem after having fled the city.

David reaped what what he sowed.  He reaped what he sowed beyond the call back to Bathsheba and Uriah.  David also reaped what he sowed by having a terrible relationship with Absalom.  It was a two-way relationship, of course.  David did little or nothing to have a positive relationship with Absalom, even after pretending to reconcile with him.  If David had acted shrewdly vis-à-vis Absalom, the monarch would have kept at least as close an eye on him as he did on Mephibosheth.

Ironically, Ittai the Gittite, a foreigner, was loyal to David when Absalom and many Israelites were not.  Ittai remained loyal to David throughout the rebellion (see Chapter 18).

On a technical note, the proper passage of time in verse 7 is four years, not forty years.  TANAKH:  The Holy Scriptures (1985) has “forty,” but The New American Bible (1991) has “four.”  This sets the beginning of Absalom’s rebellion four years after the faux reconciliation at the end of Chapter 14, six years after Absalom’s return from exile, nine years after the murder of Amnon, and eleven years after the rape of Tamar (Chapter 13).  The narrative presents Absalom as a passionate, troubled man who had been stewing in the juices of resentment for years.  One may guess how long Absalom had resented David prior to Amnon’s rape of Tamar.  The narrative presets David and Absalom as being emotionally distant from each other.

One may recall a saying:  Before a man can command others well, he must command himself.  One may reasonably question the fitness of David and Absalom to command, based on that standard.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

OCTOBER 2, 2020 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF RALPH W. SOCKMAN, U.S. UNITED METHODIST MINISTER

THE FEAST OF CARL DOVING, NORWEGIAN-AMERICAN LUTHERAN MINISTER AND HYMN TRANSLATOR

THE FEAST OF JAMES ALLEN, ENGLISH INGHAMITE THEN GLASITE/SANDEMANIAN HYMN WRITER; AND HIS GREAT NEPHEW, OSWALD ALLEN, ENGLISH GLASITE/SANDEMANIAN HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF PETRUS HERBERT, GERMAN MORAVIAN BISHOP AND HYMNODIST

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Above:  Christ Pantocrator

Scan by Kenneth Randolph Taylor

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FOR THE NINTH SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY, ACCORDING TO A LECTIONARY FOR PUBLIC WORSHIP IN THE BOOK OF WORSHIP FOR CHURCH AND HOME (1965)

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God, you know that we are set amid so many and great dangers,

and that by reason of the frailty of our nature we cannot always stand upright.

Grant us to such strength and protection, as may support us in all dangers,

and carry us through all temptations;  through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

–Modernized from The Book of Worship for Church and Home (1965), page 86

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Proverbs 4:10-18

Psalm 3

1 Corinthians 2:1-16

Mark 1:14-22

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Two errors of the wicked are the assumptions that (A) they can rely on themselves alone and (B) that they must do so.  These errors lead to others, such as the exploitation of people.  In a dog-eat-dog world the wicked prefer to feast.  The righteous, however, seek God.

Unspiritual people, we read in 1 Corinthians 2, lack the mind of Christ, for they cannot grasp the Holy Spirit, which imparts the mind of Christ, which is superior to human wisdom.  The hidden wisdom of God is folly to the unspiritual.  Yet, throughout the Gospel of Mark (including in 1:23:28, which one should read after 1:22), we find that evil spirits (whatever that category translates into outside of the Hellenistic worldview of the time) recognized Jesus for what he was, unlike those closest to Christ.  Recognition does not necessarily lead to repentance, does it?

Whose authority do we acknowledge as being spiritually supreme?  Or do we recognize and accept any such authority?  To state that one follows God as the supreme authority is easy; to act on that is more difficult.  Furthermore, how does one tell the difference between what God commands and what one merely wants to hear?  We humans often create a concept of God that agrees with us.  How convenient for us, at least in the short term!  Not one of us is exempt from this trap all of the time.  Shall we be honest about that?

Good news is that we need not rely on our own power to deal effectively with this trap.  Nor can we do so anyway.  No, we need to rely on God, if we are to succeed in knowing the difference between divine dictates and human prejudices and other preferences.  I do not pretend to have mastered this matter.  I do, however, notice that the Golden Rule seems to be prominent.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

SEPTEMBER 4, 2017 COMMON ERA

LABOR DAY (U.S.A.)

THE FEAST OF PAUL JONES, EPISCOPAL BISHOP OF UTAH AND PEACE ACTIVIST; AND HIS COLLEAGUE, JOHN NEVIN SAYRE, EPISCOPAL PRIEST AND PEACE ACTIVIST

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Above:   Salt Shaker

Image Source = Dubravko Sorić

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The Collect:

O God our rock, your word brings life to the whole creation

and salvation from sin and death.

Nourish our faith in your promises, and ground us in your strength,

through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.  Amen.

—Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 38

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The Assigned Readings:

Proverbs 5:1-23

Psalm 1

Luke 14:35-35

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The wicked man will be trapped in his iniquities;

He will be caught up in the ropes of his sin.

He will die for lack of discipline,

Infatuated by his great folly.

–Proverbs 5:22-23, TANAKH:  The Holy Scriptures (1985)

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The brief lection from Luke 14 is about salt:

“Salt is good; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored?  It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; they throw it away.  Let anyone with ears to hear listen!”

–Verses 34-35, The New Revised Standard Version (1989)

Salt is indeed good.  It is also bad in excess.  Likewise, too little salt proves harmful also.  Salt is a preservative and an agent for amplifying favor.  It is an appropriate choice of material for a parable about what people of God are supposed to be and do.  They are here on the planet to add flavor, neither to shirk their responsibilities nor to get in God’s way.  Doing too little and too much are both negative.

Making those assertions is easy.  Recognizing the difference between enough and too little on one hand and enough and too much on the other hand, however, is more difficult.  May we, by grace, know what to do in each circumstance.  May we know what to do, and when to do it.  May we know when to act as God’s instruments of healing in the world and when to back off and get out of God’s way.  May we lead spiritually disciplined lives that bring glory to God and benefit our fellow human beings.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

FEBRUARY 27, 2016 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINTS ANNE LINE AND ROGER FILCOCK, ROMAN CATHOLIC MARTYRS

THE FEAST OF SAINT BALDOMERUS, ROMAN CATHOLIC MONK

THE FEAST OF GEORGE HERBERT, ANGLICAN PRIEST

THE FEAST OF SAINT VICTOR THE HERMIT

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Adapted from this post:

https://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2016/02/27/devotion-for-wednesday-after-proper-3-year-c-elca-daily-lectionary/

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