Deuteronomy 11 – The people must remember that these
memories are theirs - the knowledge of the Lord’s “discipline” (Schocken 11:2 –
what he did to the sons of Reuben during the rebellion of Korah) is theirs, not
their children’s). I will add more about this rebellion, which for early Quakers,
especially George Fox, had an importance that many do not understand. So this is the challenge to the Jewish
people is how to pass down the memory of what happened in the exodus and the
devotion to the covenant that grew out of that.
From age to
age, the love of the Lord’s precepts must be passed from parent to child, from
one generation to another
(11:18-21). How can this be done?
The author suggests that they “take
these words of [Moses] into [their] heart and soul. Bind them on [their] wrist as a sign . . .”etc (11:18).
The living
touch you cannot give to your children – alas, though it is our greatest treasure;
but the rudiments and the example we can give by the depth of devotion we
show. We can pass along the memory
passed down to us, the memory of men and women without number who did find
their lives in the Lord. I recently read another writer who said this even
better. God has no grandchildren; I read it in Richard Rohr, but I think the
sentence has been out there for a while. I don’t know who first said it.
It is
interesting to compare the passages here to the promise of the new covenant in
Jeremiah 31:31. The depth of
knowledge alluded to here is not really different from what is described
there. Both are talking about a
knowledge that is “written on the heart;” the circumcision is meant to be a
circumcision of the heart. But the
outward signs adopted for these inward realities (the outward circumcision, the
outward tefillim and tablets, come over time to supplant the inward devotion that
Moses is encouraging here. So is
the new covenant so new and different? Or is really—like most of the prophetic
calls—mostly a cry from the heart to return to the reality intended from the
beginning.
Moses sets
before the people “a blessing and a curse,” a blessing if they obey and a curse
if they do not. The blessing is to
be pronounced on Mt. Gerizim and the curse of Mt. Ebal, both in Samaria—there
was a deep ravine between these mountains. They “frame the important political and cultic center of
Shechem (today Nablus).”
Matthew
26:47-75 - Judas arrives with a large crowd armed with
swords and clubs, sent by the chief priests. He kisses Jesus (49), and someone steps forward, laying
hands on Jesus to arrest him. One of Jesus’ disciples draws a sword and cuts off the
man’s ear. Jesus scolds him,
saying “Put your sword back. . .for all who take the sword will perish by the
sword.” Then he says he could escape through the Father’s power,
but “then how would the scriptures be fulfilled which say that it must come to
pass in this way?”(54).
· Is this an absolute rule on use of the sword for self-defense, or
is it not more complex than that.
Jesus seems to be renouncing violence to permit his own destiny to be
fulfilled, not making a rule for everyone. Twice here Jesus refers people (first his disciple, then the
people around them) to the writings of the prophets, to their fulfillment (54
and 56).
He is taken
to Caiaphas (high priest) where many leaders are assembled to try him (even
though it is night). Peter
follows. Two witnesses come forward to recount some of Jesus’ words—that he
said he would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days. Caiaphas
directly asks him if he is the messiah, but unlike the response he gives in
Mark, Jesus gives an indirect response (64)
· There are aspects of the procedure here, which run against the
rules followed by Jewish law—trial on a feast day, a night session, a verdict
in the same session as when testimony is heard; but we’re not sure these rules
were in force at this time. Or the
author could be combining elements of several sessions.
· Also see Jer 7:14 where that prophet has God threaten destruction
of the Temple in Jerusalem and reminds them how He destroyed the sanctuary at
Shiloh. In Jer 26:1-7, these words are repeated and it is clear they think
Jeremiah is deserving of death for having said them.
They mock and slap Jesus (68). Then we turn to Peter, who does just
what Jesus predicted he would and denies his friend three times.
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