READING ECCLESIASTICUS/SIRACH

PART XXIX

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Ecclesiasticus/Sirach 50:25-51:30

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The ending of Ecclesiasticus/Sirach consists of “bits and bobs” to use an Anglo-Saxon expression.  The book, having achieved its epic, “Let us now praise famous men” climax, has assorted material left.  The anticlimax fills 50:25-51:30.

The denouement begins with 50:25-26, one of those numerical proverbs one encounters occasionally in the Books of Proverbs and Ecclesiasticus/Sirach.  Ben Sira has a vexed soul.  Two nations–the Idumeans (in former Edom) and the Hellenized people in Philistia vex him.  So do the Samaritans, whom he describes as “no nation” and “a foolish people.”  The historical background is conflict with each group.  One may read 2 Maccabees 10:14-17; 1 Maccabees 5:68; 3:10; Deuteronomy 32:21; 2 Kings 17:24-41; Ezra 4:1-3; and Nehemiah 3:33-35.  Ben Sira’s nationalism is evident.

Next we have a natural conclusion to the book in 50:27-29.  Ben Sira identifies himself, blesses God, and encourages readers to heed his teachings:

Blessed is he who concerns himself with these things,

and he who lays them to heart will become wise.

For if he does them, he will be strong for all things,

for the light of the Lord is his path.

–50:28-29, Revised Standard Version–Second Catholic Edition (2002)

Yet Ecclesiasticus/Sirach, as we have it, continues for one more chapter.  We read twelve verses of thanksgiving to God for deliverance from “the snare of a slanderous tongue” (v. 2).  Anyone who has studied and read the Book of Psalms will readily recognize the tone of 51:1-12.

The book concludes with an acrostic poem in twenty-three lines.  (It is a Hebrew acrostic poem.)  Here we have another echo of the Books of Psalms and Proverbs.  Wisdom is feminine, metaphorically.  We read of the author’s life-long dedication to divine wisdom. For the misogynistic Ben Sira, divine wisdom is the most desirable woman.  She speaks in verses 23-30 in an echo of Proverbs 9:4-6.

The personification of divine wisdom as a woman makes sense to me.  I recall having met more wise women than wise men.  I remember a history lesson about the role of wise women in keeping men in check in the constitution of the Iroquois Confederacy.  And, despite my egalitarian tendencies, I suspect that women, in some ways, are superior to men.  (I admit my bias.)  I have always preferred female company; the magnetism of the distaff persuasion has long exerted its pull on me.

Anyway, the inconsistency of Ben Sira regarding women is a major motif in Ecclesiasticus/Sirach.  He blamed women for being sexually distracting to men while he pursued and revered feminine wisdom.  The cognitive dissonance was staggering.

Thank you, O reader, for joining me for this journey through Ecclesiasticus/Sirach.  I have no successor project related to blogging planned, although I do have options.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

SEPTEMBER 14, 2023 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF THE HOLY CROSS

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READING ECCLESIASTICUS/SIRACH

PART XVII

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Ecclesiasticus/Sirach 24:1-34

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The contents of Ecclesiasticus/Sirach 24:1-34 should sound familiar to scholars and serious students of Hebrew wisdom literature.  There is nothing new here, except phrasing.  Divine wisdom, personified as feminine, is the first creation of God.  Wisdom was present and active in the creation of the world.  This sounds like Proverbs 8:22 so far.  Divine wisdom also exists in the Law of Moses, as in Baruch 3:37-4:1.  Ben Sira could not have imagined the application of this language about divine wisdom to Jesus (John 1 and 1 Corinthians 1:30, minus the Arianism) and the Blessed Mother of God (the “Seat of Wisdom”).

Other parallels exist.  Some of the language echoes praises of the Egyptian goddess Isis.  There are also allusions to Exodus 13:21-22; 14:19-20; and other verses in Proverbs 8 and Baruch 3, among other cultural references.

We read that divine wisdom sought (24:7) and found (24:10-12) a dwelling place among people.  We read language reminiscent of the tent in the wilderness (Exodus 25:8-9).  The author of 1 Enoch took a different position, though:

Wisdom could not find a place in which she could dwell;

but a place was found (for her) in the heavens.

Then Wisdom went out to dwell with the children of the people,

but she found no dwelling place.

(So) Wisdom returned to her place

and she settled permanently among the angels.

Then Iniquity went out of her rooms,

and found whom she did not expect.

And she dwelt with them,

like rain in a desert,

like dew on a thirsty land.

–1 Enoch 42:1-3, translated by E. Isaac

Wisdom is also like six types of trees, we read (24:13-17).  She is like a majestic cedar of Lebanon, a cypress, a palm tree, a rosebush, an olive tree, and a plane tree.  Wisdom, in other words, is like perfumes and spices used to make anointing oil and temple incense; she has priestly attributes.

Wisdom–like Jesus, later, relative to 175 B.C.E.–invites her disciples to approach her and eat their full of her fruit (24:19).

References and allusions to the Hebrew Bible abound.  I choose not to list most or all of them in this post.  I may have even detected one which two commentaries I consulted did not mention.  In Ezekiel 2:3, the scroll of divine judgment tasted sweet as honey.  And we read in Ecclesiasticus/Sirach 24:20 that the teaching of divine wisdom is sweeter than honey.

The Christological parallels to divine wisdom interest me more than likening that wisdom to six rivers.  So, I return to Christological parallels.  We read in 24:21 that those who consume the fruit of wisdom will hunger for more wisdom and that those who drink wisdom will thirst for more wisdom.  This is a partial parallel of sorts to a subsequent work, the Gospel of John.  Jesus is the bread from Heaven in John 6:22f.  Yet he, the bread of life, forever quenches the hunger and thirst of all who eat and drink of Jesus (6:35).  And everyone who drinks the living water will never thirst again (John 4:3-14).  Just as the Logos of God (John 1) is greater than yet similar to the wisdom of God, the bread of life and the water of life are greater than yet similar to the fruit and water of wisdom.

We are deep in the territory of metaphors, of course.  Metaphors which differ superficially may point in the same, pious direction.  Seek God and divine wisdom, we read; feast on it.

The human race has nothing to boast about to God, but you, God has made members of Christ Jesus and by God’s doing he has become our wisdom, and our virtue, and our holiness, and freedom.

–1 Corinthians 1:29-30, The Jerusalem Bible (1966)

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

SEPTEMBER 4, 2023 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

THE FEAST OF SAINT BIRINUS OF DORCHESTER, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP OF DORCHESTER, AND “APOSTLE OF WESSEX”

THE FEAST OF E. F. SCHUMACHER,GERMAN-BRITISH ECONOMIST AND SOCIAL CRITIC

THE FEAST OF SAINT GORAZD OF PRAGUE, ORTHODOX BISHOP OF MORAVIA AND SILESIA, METROPOLITAN OF THE CZECH LANDS AND SLOVAKIA, HIERARCH OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCH IN CZECHOSLOVAKIA, AND MARTYR, 1942

THE FEAST OF WILLIAM MCKANE, SCOTTISH PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER AND BIBLICAL SCHOLAR

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READING THE BOOK OF PROVERBS

PART VI

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Proverbs 8:1-9:18

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Given that wisdom literature personifies divine wisdom as feminine, also personifying her opposite as feminine works well, from a rhetorical angle.  And juxtaposing Lady Wisdom and Lady Folly with admonitions against committing adultery–which may, in this case, double as idolatry–heightens the contrast between Lady Wisdom and Lady Folly.  We are travelers in the land of metaphors.  God is no more anthropomorphic or masculine than wisdom is necessarily feminine.  Yet I enjoy metaphors and accept them for what they are.  Symbolic language is frequently the only type of language sufficient to verbalize truths which would otherwise be indescribable.

In the original, gendered Hebrew text, Lady Wisdom raises her voice and calls out to men and mankind.  She describes her audience as “dullards” to knowledge.  This is moral, liked knowledge, as in Genesis 2 and 3.  This knowledge is divine wisdom, the fruit of which is better than all fine gold (8:19).  We read a repetition of the injunction to love wisdom, and she refers to her lovers (8:17, 21).  Lady Wisdom refers to herself as the first of God’s creations (8:22), present at the creation of the world.

And I was by Him, an intimate, I was His delight day after day, playing before Him at all times, playing in the world, His earth, and my delight with humankind.

–Proverbs 8:30-31, Robert Alter

The metaphorical language of Lady Wisdom, present at the creation of the world, informed early Christology.  So, at the end of the first century C.E., the author of the Gospel of John (without referring to the Logos of God as a created being), applied many of those elements to the Second Person of the Trinity, incarnated as Jesus.

Accepting discipline/reproof is another recurring motif.  Lady Wisdom disciplines/reproves, for the sake of those who receive this treatment.  We must distinguish between abuse and discipline/reproof.  Lady Wisdom seeks to guide people on the correct path, but Lady Folly knowingly leads people to their destruction.  Some people cannot learn wisdom, sadly (9:7-10); they lack the requisite awe of God.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JULY 18, 2023 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF BARTHOLOMÉ DE LAS CASAS, “APOSTLE TO THE INDIANS”

THE FEAST OF ARTHUR PENRHYN STANLEY, ANGLICAN DEAN OF WESTMINSTER, AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF EDWARD WILLIAM LEINBACH, U.S. MORAVIAN MUSICIAN AND COMPOSER

THE FEAST OF ELIZABETH FERARD, FIRST DEACONESS IN THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND

THE FEAST OF JESSAMYN WEST, U.S. QUAKER WRITER

THE FEAST OF R. B. Y. SCOTT, CANADIAN BIBLICAL SCHOLAR, HYMN WRITER, AND MINISTER

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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 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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According to the Inter-Lutheran Commission on Worship (ILCW) Lectionary (1973), as contained in the Lutheran Book of Worship (1978) and Lutheran Worship (1982)

Above: Calvary Episcopal Church, Americus, Georgia, December 24, 2017

Photographer = Kenneth Randolph Taylor

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Proverbs 9:1-6

Psalm 34:9-14

Ephesians 5:15-20

John 6:51-58

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Almighty and ever-loving God,

you have given great and precious promises to those who believe. 

Grant us the perfect faith, which overcomes all doubts,

through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

—Lutheran Book of Worship (1978), 26

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Merciful Father,

since you have given your only Son as the sacrifice for our sin,

also give us grace to receive with thanksgiving

the fruits of this redeeming work

and daily follow in his way;

through your Son, Jesus Christ,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and forever.  Amen.

—Lutheran Worship (1982), 75-76

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The four assigned readings, taken together, proclaim a straight-forward message:  Listen to God.  Receive divine wisdom.  Love righteousness, not evil ways.  All that is easier to summarize than to do.

Defining some terms may help to elucidate this matter.

1. Righteousness is right relationship with God, self, others, and all of creation.  Biblically, righteousness and justice are interchangeable.
2. Wickedness is the rejection of divine generosity.  Therefore, the wicked cannot be generous.  They also deny that they depend upon God for everything, so they imagine that they must take care of themselves.  This attitude opens the door to amoral, harmful, and exploitative actions toward others.  The wicked perform evil deeds–bad, malicious, and perverse actions.  Yet they take care of themselves.  Or do they, ultimately?

The beginning of wisdom and morality, therefore, is the acknowledgment of (a) complete dependence on God, and (b) mutuality.  We all depend upon God and each other.  We are all responsible to and for each other, also.  What one person does affects others.  And nobody has the moral right to exploit anyone.

Food is a theme in Proverbs 9 and John 6.  Proverbs 9 tells of two banquets.  Lady Wisdom invites people to her banquet in verses 1-12.  Then Lady Folly’s banquet fills verses 13-18.  Lady Wisdom invites people to eat her food and drink her wine.  The first chapter of the Gospel of John links Jesus (the Logos, or Word, of God) to Lady Wisdom.  (However, Sarah Ruden’s lively translation translates Logos in John 1 as “true account.”)  Jesus, in John 6, speaks at length about the bread of life and the flesh and the blood of the Son of Man.  This language is unmistakably Eucharistic.  I, having Anglo-Catholic tendencies, affirm Transubstantiation.

Another link between Proverbs 9 and John 6 stands out in my mind.  Those who attend Lady Folly’s banquet at in Sheol (Proverbs 9:19).  Yet:

Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day.

–John 6:54, The New American Bible–Revised Edition

I immediately recall the refrain to Suzanne Toolan’s hymn, “I Am the Bread of Life,” based on John 6:

And I will raise you up,

And I will raise you up,

and I will raise you up on the last day.

–Quoted in Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006)

The crucifixion of Jesus carries more than one meaning simultaneously.  One of these meanings is the reminder that Jesus died unjustly.  The Gospel of Luke drives this point home; a veritable parade of people attests to the innocence of Jesus in the Lucan Passion narrative.  How often do we perpetuate injustice, perhaps in the name of God and Christ?  As often as we do so, we act as the wicked do; we join the ranks of the evil and the guests at Lady Folly’s banquet.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

APRIL 13, 2023 COMMON ERA

THE FIFTH DAY OF EASTER

THE FEAST OF JOSEPH BARBER LIGHTFOOT, BISHOP OF DURHAM

THE FEAST OF HENRI PERRIN, FRENCH ROMAN CATHOLIC WORKER PRIEST

THE FEAST OF JOHN GLOUCESTER, FIRST AFRICAN-AMERICAN PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER

THE FEAST OF LUCY CRAFT LANEY, AFRICAN-AMERICAN PRESBYTERIAN EDUCATOR AND CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST

THE FEAST OF SAINT MARTIN I, BISHOP OF ROME, AND MARTYR, 655; AND SAINT MAXIMUS THE CONFESSOR, EASTERN ORTHODOX MONK, ABBOT, AND MARTYR, 662

THE FEAST OF SAINT ROLANDO RIVI, ROMAN CATHOLIC SEMINARIAN AND MARTYR, 1945

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Adapted from this post

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READING JEREMIAH, PART XII

Above:  Icon of Jeremiah

Image in the Public Domain

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Jeremiah 17:1-20:18

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The Hebrew prophetic books are repetitive.  When one reads the genre methodically, one realizes this.  Pardon me, therefore, O reader, for not explaining every repeated theme in Jeremiah 17:1-20:18.

Jeremiah 17:1-4 uses powerful imagery to condemn illegitimate worship at cultic sites.  Proverbs 3:3 and 7:3 refer to the tablet of the heart, on which the divine commandments are inscribed.  Yet in Jeremiah 17:1, those tablets are inscribed with the guilt of Judah instead.  Such a heart symbolizes disobedience to God in Ezekiel 2:4 and 3:7.  Eventually, God will make a new covenant, one inscribed on the hearts of the people (Jeremiah 31:31-34).  For now, however, repentance is not an option.  The sins of Judah, not the reparation blood (Leviticus 4:1-7, 13-20), are on the stones of the altar.

2 Kings 22-23 tells of the religious reformation of King Josiah (r. 640-609 B.C.E.).  One may read Jeremiah 17:1-4 and surmise that 17:1-4 predates those reforms or that his four successors presided over a rollback of those reforms.  Either option is feasible.  The second option may be more likely.

God is faithful and forever.  Even the most pious and benevolent people, those who keep the covenant, are not forever.  The Book of Jeremiah focuses on God and on those who are neither pious nor benevolent, though.

Returning to the imagery of the human heart in 17:9-10, we read that the human heart is crooked and deceitful.  The germane Hebrew word, suggestive of deceit, means “crooked.”  The human heart is the most crooked thing, we read.  This is a spiritual and moral pathology.

Jeremiah 17:11 speaks for itself.

Jeremiah’s desire for vengeance (17:18) was predictable.  I have known the same desire under less severe circumstances.  Maybe you have, also, O reader.

The Deuteronomic perspective in the Book of Jeremiah and other Hebrew prophetic books teaches that the (northern) Kingdom of Israel and the (southern) Kingdom of Judah declined and fell because of persistent, unrepentant, collective disregard for the moral mandates of the Law of Moses.  This is the perspective written into much of the Old Testament, from the perspective of the editors after the Babylonian Exile.  Jeremiah 17:19-27 singles out violations of the Sabbath (Deuteronomy 5:14)–especially commercial transactions–as being emblematic of widespread, systemic disregard for the covenant.

Sabbath-keeping has long been a feature of Judaism and Christianity.  Keeping the Sabbath–a sign of freedom in the Law of Moses–has been a way of emulating God.  On the seventh day, in mythology, God created the Sabbath (Genesis 2:1-3).  Sabbath-keeping has always been challenging, in practical terms.  Stopping all work on that day (however one defines it) has always been impossible.  Certain work has always been crucial to perform on the Sabbath, and members of the clergy have had to take their Sabbath some other time in the week.  The Hasmoneans, zealous keepers of the Law of Moses, bowed to reality and engaged in defensive combat (1 Maccabees 2:31-48; 1 Maccabees 9:23-73; 2 Maccabees 15:1-19).  If they had done otherwise, they would have lost battles and lives needlessly.

Sabbath-keeping works to the benefit of people.  Everyone needs to take time off to live.  One should work to live, not live to work.  Structural economic factors may restrict one’s options in keeping the Sabbath as one would prefer to do.  Also, the common good requires, for example, that public health and safety continue on the Sabbath.  Time off is a mark of freedom.  Slavery assumes many forms; one can be a wage slave.

The prophecy of the potter (Jeremiah 18:1-12) is familiar, and popular with lectionary committees.  I have written about it while blogging through lectionaries.  I bring your attention, O reader, to a key point:  God, the Creator, is free to handle His creation as He sees fit.  I am a piece of pottery, not the potter.

People kept plotting against Jeremiah.  Had I been Jeremiah, I would have complained to God, too.  I would have prayed to God to show no mercy on the plotters, also.  I, too, may have rued the day of my birth.  Jeremiah was only human.  God knew that before calling Jeremiah to be a prophet.

Jeremiah made no allies by following God’s instructions in Chapter 19 and symbolically smashing a jug.  That act led to a flogging and a brief incarceration.  Jeremiah suffered intensely and briefly, but Passhur the priest was going to experience “terror all around.” Judah was failing; nobody could change that.

Many people in authority like to maintain their power.  Some of them peacefully resign themselves to the realities of age, health, constitutional term limits, and election results; others do not.  Many people in authority are servant leaders; others are tyrants or would-be despots.  I suppose that nobody in authority wants to hear that the institution, nation-state, kingdom, empire, et cetera, is doomed.  Yet how one handles that news is a test of character.  Besides, power reveals a person’s character.  And, as Heraclitus said,

A man’s character is his fate.

I wonder how Passhur the priest felt in 586 B.C.E., after the Fall of Jerusalem.  I wonder if he remembered the words of Jeremiah and wept bitterly.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JUNE 10, 2021 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT JAMES OF NISIBIS, BISHOP; AND SAINT EPHREM OF EDESSA, “THE HARP OF THE HOLY SPIRIT”

THE FEAST OF FREDERICK C. GRANT, EPISCOPAL PRIEST AND NEW TESTAMENT SCHOLAR; AND HIS SON, ROBERT M. GRANT, EPISCOPAL PRIEST AND PATRISTICS SCHOLAR

THE FEAST OF SAINTS OF GETULIUS, AMANTIUS, CAERAELIS, AND PRIMITIVUS, MARTYRS AT TIVOLI, 120; AND SAINT SYMPHROSA OF TIVOLI, MARTYR, 120

THE FEAST OF SAINT LANDERICUS OF PARIS, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP

THE FEAST OF THOR MARTIN JOHNSON, U.S. MORAVIAN CONDUCTOR AND MUSIC DIRECTOR

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Better a little with righteousness

Above:  The Temple of Artemis (1886), Richard Knab

Image in the Public Domain

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For the Seventeenth 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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Lord, we beseech thee, grant thy people grace to withstand

the temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil;

and with pure hearts and minds to follow thee, the only true God;

through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

—The Book of Worship (1947), 216

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Proverbs 16:1-9

Psalm 107:1-16

Acts 19:21-41

Luke 14:1-14

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The teachings and commandments of God may fall on deaf ears for many reasons.  One reason is that they constitute either a real or a perceived threat.  They may threaten ego or economic status, for example.

Ephesus was the site of a temple to Artemis.  This temple was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.  Ephesian silversmiths had a vested interest in the continuation of the cult of Artemis, obviously.

Above:  The Ruins of the Temple of Artemis

Image Source = Google Earth

Relativizing commandments was a common practice in Second Temple Judaism.   Whenever practical considerations brushed up against provisions of the Law of Moses, selective violations of that Law may have occurred.  Saving lives was a frequently-cited justification for violating Sabbath laws, for example.  Christ’s healings on the Sabbath exceeded saving lives.  His Sabbath healings threatened perceptions of righteousness.

Christ’s subsequent teaching in Luke 14 threatened egos, too.

This seems like a good time to quote Proverbs 9:

Than a large income with injustice.

A man may plot out his course,

But it is the LORD who directs his steps.

–Verses 8-9, TANAKH:  The Holy Scriptures (1985)

Wealth and human ego may be the two most popular idols.  I am uncertain which one of the two is more popular than the other.

Properly, a Christian’s identity relies on Jesus, not any other factor.  This is a lesson I grasp intellectually yet not psychologically.  Knowing what to do is the first step in accomplishing it.  Knowing what to do is also easier than accomplishing it.  I am working on this matter, by grace.

Perhaps you, O reader, are also struggling with the issue of proper Christian identity.  If so, do not give up.  Hang in there and trust God.  If, however, you do not have this problem, you have received a great blessing.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JANUARY 24, 2021 COMMON ERA

THE THIRD SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY, YEAR B

THE FEAST OF THE ORDINATION OF FLORENCE LI-TIM-OI, FIRST FEMALE PRIEST IN THE ANGLICAN COMMUNION

THE FEAST OF GEORGE A. BUTTRICK, ANGLO-AMERICAN PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER AND BIBLICAL SCHOLAR; AND HIS SON, DAVID G. BUTTRICK, U.S. PRESBYTERIAN THEN UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST MINISTER, THEOLOGIAN, AND LITURGIST

THE FEAST OF SAINT MARIE POUSSEPIN, FOUNDRESS OF THE DOMINICAN SISTERS OF CHARITY OF THE PRESENTATION OF THE VIRGIN

THE FEAST OF THE MARTYRS OF PODLASIE, 1874

THE FEAST OF SAINT SURANUS OF SORA, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT AND MARTYR, 580

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The beginning of wisdom is fear of the LORD,

Above:  The Great Commission

Image in the Public Domain

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For the Second 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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O Lord, who never failest to help and govern those

whom thou dost bring up in thy steadfast fear and love;

make us to have a perpetual fear and love of thy holy Name;

through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

—The Book of Worship (1947), 186

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Proverbs 9:1-10

Psalm 76

Romans 10:1-15

Matthew 9:35-10:1

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These four readings combine to form a call for evangelism.  As Proverbs 9:10 tells us,

And knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

—TANAKH:  The Holy Scriptures (1985)

Psalm 76:11a reads:

Make vows to the LORD your God, and keep them;

let the peoples all around him bring their tribute….

—The Revised English Bible (1989)

St. Paul the Apostle criticized Second Temple for lacking Jesus, not for being a legalistic, works-based-righteousness religion.  (Read E. P. Sanders, Paul and Palestinian Judaism, 1977, O reader.)  In that context, St. Paul dictated:

But how can they call on him in whom they have not believed?  And how can they believe in whom of whom they have not heard?  And how can they hear without someone to preach?

–Romans 10:14, The New American Bible–Revised Edition (2011)

Finally, Matthew 9:37-38 tells us:

Then [Jesus] said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.

—The New Revised Standard Version (1989)

One could add the next step, discipling:

…Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.

–Matthew 28:19-20a, The New Revised Standard Version (1989)

Each of us has a set of spiritual gifts.  I, as an introvert, become nervous at the thought of knocking on someone’s door.  In fact, I prefer that people not knock on my door when I am home.  When I am home, I prefer to stay away from the outside world, at least physically.  Going around, even in a team, and knocking on doors, for the purpose of evangelism, is not my style.

My Episcopal parish in Athens, Georgia, had begun a process of discerning God’s call upon the congregation, establishing goals, and working backward from those goals to develop strategies when the COVID-19 pandemic started.  Our goals fell into three headings:  Nourish, Go, and Grow.

My spiritual gifts fall primarily under the “Nourish” heading.  Discipleship is where I come into the picture most of the time.  That is fine; all spiritual gifts are necessary, and nobody has all of them.

I pray, O reader, that at least one of my devotional posts helps you along your walk with God in Christ.  And if, by blogging, I commit evangelism (not just discipling), so much the better.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JANUARY 13, 2021 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT HILARY OF POITIERS, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP OF POITIERS, “ATHANASIUS OF THE WEST,” AND HYMN WRITER; AND HIS PROTÉGÉ, SAINT MARTIN OF TOURS, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP OF TOURS

THE FEAST OF CHRISTIAN KEIMANN, GERMAN LUTHERAN HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF GEORGE FOX, FOUNDER OF THE RELIGIOUS SOCIETY OF FRIENDS

THE FEAST OF MARY SLESSOR, SCOTTISH PRESBYTERIAN MISSIONARY IN WEST AFRICA

THE FEAST OF SAMUEL PREISWERK, SWISS REFORMED MINISTER AND HYMN WRITER

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Above:  Icon of the Holy Trinity, by Andrei Rublev

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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Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31

Psalm 29

Romans 5:1-5

John 14:23-27

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I have written many devotions for Trinity Sunday over more than a decade.  Not repeating myself has become impossible,

Here it goes, then.

Many people think of the doctrine of the Trinity as theological prose.  They are mistaken; it is theological poetry.  I do not presume to claim to understand the mechanics of the Trinity.  No human brain can grasp those details.  And, if one consults a history of Christian theology, one will read that Trinitarian heresies originated with attempts to explain it.

Love God and enjoy the theological poetry, O reader.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JANUARY 12, 2021 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT BENEDICT BISCOP, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT OF WEARMOUTH

THE FEAST OF SAINT AELRED OF HEXHAM, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT OF RIEVAULX

THE FEAST OF SAINT ANTHONY MARY PUCCI, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST

THE FEAST OF HENRY ALFORD, ANGLICAN PRIEST, BIBLICAL SCHOLAR, LITERARY TRANSLATOR, HYMN WRITER, HYMN TRANSLATOR, AND BIBLE TRANSLATOR

THE FEAST OF SAINT MARGUERITE BOURGEOYS, FOUNDRESS OF THE SISTERS OF NOTRE DAME

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Adapted from this post:

https://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2021/01/12/devotion-for-trinity-sunday-year-d-humes/

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