Daily Bible Reading: Sirach [Ecclesiasticus] 48-49 and Acts 23:11-35

Sirach 48 – Elija – A prophet who “arose like a fire” brought famine on the land for the sins committed. He was “taken up in the whirlwind of fire, in a chariot with fiery horses” (48:8-9). And there is an allusion to immortality for those who fall asleep “in love” [of God]. They “too will have life” (48:11).

Then Elisha – He was filled with Elijah’s spirit. “No task was too hard for him, and even in death his body prophesied” (48:13) for that the dead were restored to life.

The people, however, remained unfaithful until they were scattered.

Hezekiah “fortified his city and laid on a water supply inside it; with iron he tunneled through the rock and constructed cisterns” (48:17). Sennacherib invaded, but the people were “delivered” by the hand of Isaiah (48:20).

Isaiah was “Trustworthy in his vision” (48:22). “He revealed the future to the end of time, and hidden things long before they happened” (48:25).

Sirach 49 – Josiah – Memory of him is sweet: “[H]e set his heart on the Lord, in godless times he upheld the cause of religion” (49:3).

Aside from these celebrated men, the people “all heaped wrong on wrong. . .they disregarded the Law of the Most High” (49:4), and so they finally disappeared. “The holy, chosen city was burnt down, her streets were left deserted, as Jeremiah had predicted” (49:6).

Nehemiah is remembered for rebuilding the walls and reestablishing the city.

Then in an apparent retrospect, the author returns briefly to a few names already mentioned: “No one else has ever been created on earth to equal Enoch, for he was taken up from earth. And no one else ever born has been like Joseph, the leader of his brothers, the prop of his people; his bones were honored. Shem and Seth were honored among men, but above every living creature is Adam” (49:14-16).  It’s a little confusing to have this retrospect and puzzling that Adam should now be on the list. Perhaps the author is just celebrating “man” for Adam certainly is mostly remembered for his “fall” and not for any real accomplishment. 

Acts 23:11-35 – The Roman commander who had originally taken Paul into custody when the controversy among Jews of different persuasions had become a threat to the peace now realizes Paul will likely not survive the battle that has broken out. He orders Paul taken to a Roman fort nearby.

Here, in the fort, the Lord comes to Paul and assures him: “Don't be afraid! You have given your witness for me here in Jerusalem, and you must also do the same in Rome” (23:11).

A conspiracy to kill Paul develops among the Jews, involving more than 40 men. They ask to have Paul brought before the Sanhedrin again “to get more accurate information about him” (23:15) – they will kill him then. Paul’s nephew hears about the plot and goes to the centurions. The commander – Claudius Lysias - orders some 300 soldiers to escort Paul to the Governor – Antoninus Felix – in Caesarea. He was Roman Governor between 52 and 59 or 60 AD. He orders Paul to be kept under guard in his headquarters until Paul’s accusers can be sent for.

 

Daily Bible Reading: Sirach [Ecclesiasticus] 46-47 and Acts 23:1-10

Sirach 46 – Celebrating Joshua, Moses’ successor and one “mighty in war” (46:1).  “He himself waged the wars of the Lord” (46:3). This is not translated as “holy war” and the note to this line says the words really say that the Lord handed enemies over to him [Joshua]. Joshua’s name means Yahweh saves and the Greek for the name is Jesus. Interesting! The text says he “deserved his name” because he “was a great savior of the Chosen People (46:2). He was said to have stopped the sun in its place to keep the day longer.

Then comes Caleb who, with Joshua “did devoted service . . .by opposing the whole community” (46:7). He prevented the people from rebelling. Only he and Joshua were “brought into their inheritance” (46:8), into the land “where milk and honey flow” (46:9).

The Judges are celebrated next. They were men who responded to God’s call and “never turned their backs on the Lord” (46:11).  “May their bones flower again from the tomb” (46:12).

Samuel is next. He was “the beloved of his Lord; prophet of the Lord, he instituted the kingdom, and anointed rulers over his people” (46:13). Even after his death, “he lifted up his voice from the earth in prophecy, to blot out the wickedness of the people” (46:20).

Sirach 47 – Nathan is the next great man, and then David. His victory against Goliath, his addition of music to worship and his many victories over the enemies his people are celebrated. In return the Lord “took away his sins, and exalted his horn forever; he gave him a royal covenant, and a glorious throne in Israel” (47:11).

Solomon was his wise son. He “reigned in a time of peace and God gave him peace all round so that he could raise a house to his name and prepare an everlasting sanctuary” (47:13).  He was loved for the peace he brought. He brought much wealth in and gave his body over to women; he “became [a] slave to [his] appetites” (47:19), profaning his honor, and bringing wrath on his descendants (47:20). The kingdom was split but the Lord did not abandon the “line”.

Rehoboam, “stupidest member of the nation” (47:23) followed, and the people rebelled. Then Jeroboam “made Israel sin” to excess, finally resulting in their being exiled.

Acts 23:1-10 – Ananias, the High Priest, orders him struck [also against the Law in dealing with a Roman citizen]. The Sanhedrin is part Sadducee, part Pharisee. He tells of his Pharisee roots and tells them it “is for our hope in the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial” (23:6). Sadducees did not believe in angels, in the resurrection of the dead or in the retribution of God in the afterlife. The Pharisees do, though, and Paul gets them to support him.

 

Daily Bible Reading: Sirach [Ecclesiasticus] 44 and Acts 21:1-25

Sirach 44 – He turns to the praise of famous men: James Agee got the title of his 1941 book about sharecroppers in the South from this part of Sirach – Now Let Us Praise Famous Men. There have been men of authority, intelligent advisers and prophets, musicians and poets. “Some of them left a name behind them, . . .while others have left no memory, and disappeared as though they had not existed, it is now as though they had never been, and so too, their children after them” (44:8-9).

Among those named are Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Moses, Aaron, Phinehas, Joshua, Caleb, the judges, Samuel, Nathan, David, Solomon and others will take up the remaining chapters.

Abraham is revered for how he “observed the Law of the Most High” but the Mosaic Law was not given in his time. I wonder what “Law” meant in the mind of the writer when applying it to Abraham’s time – maybe the experiential guidance of the God who Abraham felt had reached out to him and brought him to live by faith. 

Acts 21:1-25 – Paul tears himself away from Ephesus, and goes by sea to Cos, Rhodes, Patara and south of Cyprus to Tyre. He stays a week there, and the people urge him not to go on to Jerusalem. He goes to Ptolemais and stays a day there and then heads to Caesaria where he stays with Philip, the Apostle.

Philip is said to have four virgin daughters who are prophets and they foretell Paul’s fate in Jerusalem, that he will be handed over to pagans, but Paul is ready for this too. They go on to Jerusalem, lodging en route with Cypriot Mnason, a very early convert. They are warmly greeted by disciples in Jerusalem.

He visits with James and the elders. He reports on the ministry he’s done. “Staunch Law keepers” have heard that Paul instructs “all Jews living among the pagans to break away from Moses” (21:21). They want Paul to try to persuade these staunch Jews that he is not trying to undermine Mosaic Law by taking part in a purification vow over seven days and paying for the expenses four men have incurred to do this. They remind him that it was decided that all Christian converts from paganism would observe abstention from things sacrificed to idols, from blood and the meat of strangled animals and from “fornication” or marrying close relatives. Paul does take part in the purification ceremony and pays what they ask him to pay.