Daily Old Testament: Isaiah 11-13 and My Own Book "Leadings: A Catholic's Journey Through Quakerism" (Part 18)

Isaiah 11 – The coming Messiah will spring from the stock of Jesse [David’s father]. The “Spirit of the Lord will rest on him – the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord” (11:2). 

He will not judge by appearances. Integrity will be his loincloth and faithfulness the “belt about his hips” (11:5). He will bring the peace of Eden: “In that day the wolf and the lamb will live together; the leopard will lie down with the baby goat. The calf and the yearling will be safe with the lion, and a little child will lead them all” (11:6).

“In that day the heir to David’s throne will be a banner of salvation to all the world” (11:10). He will bring back the scattered people of Judah and end the enmity between Judah and Ephraim. “The Lord will make a dry path through the gulf of the Red Sea. He will wave his hand over the Euphrates River, sending a mighty wind to divide it into seven streams so it can easily be crossed on foot” (11:15).

Isaiah 12 – A hymn of thanksgiving is offered up to the Lord. The anger of the Lord has been appeased. “The Lord is my strength and my salvation” (12:2). “With joy you will drink deeply from the fountain of salvation!” (12:3)

The great things the Lord has done shall be made know to all the world.

Isaiah 13 – This oracle on the kingdom of Babylon is about the judgment God will bring on them for their offenses: “I will punish the world for its evil-doing, and the wicked for their crimes, to put an end to the pride of arrogant men and humble the pride of despots” (13:11).

While the title and occasion reference make Babylon the target, the language of the oracle is more general – more world-wide. Towards the end, the city of Babylon seems more specifically the topic. The introductory note to the chapter says that the oracle was likely written during the exile.

From Leadings: A Catholic’s Journey Through Quakerism

Part 18

I don’t remember exactly how it started to change, but suddenly I began to see that this was a way of seeing the cross, a way that illuminated what we were going through day to day, what we were hoping for and waiting for. I was familiar with Christian language and teachings, but I had never heard of Christ spoken of in these terms. He had always been presented as an outward thing to me, a person crucified for sins long ago, or off in heaven somewhere at the right hand of God, wherever that was, or present in the Eucharist or in some other thing or place that was always outside of me. But Friends said Christ was in me. His crucifixion was something to be joined with in the depths of my being. What he was going in my life now was what he had come to do in history, and he was inviting me to be joined to him, to trust as he did in his Father to bring forth something good in his own time. It was startling to me to think of Christ as something present in me. Later, when I came to study what early Friends had taught, it was apparent that they had been started at the thought too. The following is Isaac Penington’s account of his own “convincement”:

         The Lord caused his holy power to fall upon me, and gave me such

an inward demonstration and feeling of the seed of life, that I cried

out in my spirit, This is he, this is he, there is not another, there never was another. He was always near me though I knew him not, not so sensibly, not so distinctly, as now he was revealed in me, and to me by the Father. (Isaac Penington, The Light Within and Selected Writings, 6).

I had experienced the nearness of God many times in my life: helping me overcome a tangle of lies so I could start life fresh in a new place, comforting me when I felt rejected or strange living apart from my parents, strengthening me when I was afraid of going to sleep, speaking to me out of the night sky when I needed my grandfather to not die, whispering to me in the words of a great poem. He was always near me though I knew him not, not so sensibly, not so distinctly, as now he was revealed in me . . .

On the simplest level, what I came to see and then to experience as I let my defenses down and opened myself to the possibility that God and Christ might be real and present to me in this interior kind of way were the two fundamental things early Friends taught: that the Christ of history, the Christ who suffered crucifixion and rose again—the light and word of God that John spoke of in his gospel—dwelled really and palpably in the depths of every human person, and that this Christ was not in us to merely be a presence or aura of some kind, but was a power working in us to redeem us from the spiritual death that is the “normal” or “natural” state of our existence in this world. Christ dwells within you, and he is there to lead you to life.

This was the Quaker Message—the early Quaker message.

Daily Bible Reading: Ezekiel 19-20 and John 15-16

Sorry for the two days without posts. I am on Long Island and we have been without power because of Hurricane Sandy. We are fortunate to have power back now; many are still without.

Ezekiel 19 – There follows here a poetic “dirge” lamenting the fall of Israel – King Jehoahaz is depicted as a young lion who learned to be a “man-eater” (19:3). “The nations combines against him; he was caught in their pit; they dragged him off with hooks to the land of Egypt” (19:4). This refers to the taking of King Jehoahaz into captivity in Egypt by Pharaoh Neco.

The lioness then took “another of her whelps and made a young lion of him” (19:5). This is said to refer to King Jehoiachin who was the king taken captive to Babylon in 597 BC. In between was King Jehoiachim, who died a natural death according to the Jerusalem Bible note.

The lioness, the mother of these kings, is the nation of Judah. She was “like a vine, planted beside the water, fruitful and leafy, because the water lowed so full. It put out strong branches that turned to royal scepters; they reached up, reached so high they touched the clouds; men admired them for their height and their thick foliage. But it was rooted up and thrown on the ground . . . Now it has been transplanted into the desert, the waterless country of drought; fire has come out f its stem, consumed its branches and fruit” (19:12-13).

Ezekiel 20 - It is in the summer of 591 BC. Ezekiel is told to speak to the Elders of Israel who have come to consult Yahweh.  Yahweh tells the prophet He will not permit them to consult with Him. They must be judged and confronted “with the filthy practices of their fathers” (20:4).

And then the whole story of Yahweh’s relations with this people is recounted. When they rebelled against him in Egypt, He stood by them, not so much because He wanted to but in order to show the nations that He stood by his covenant with them. The people rebelled again in the desert. “[T]hey refused to keep my laws, they scorned my observances, which must be practiced by all who wish to live, and they profaned my Sabbaths” (20:13).

A really mysterious passage then follows. It says, in the desert, “I even gave them laws that were not good and observances by which they could never live; and I polluted them with their own offerings, making them sacrifice all their first-born; which was to punish them, so that they would learn that I am Yahweh” (20:25-26). So the “pagan” practices we have been taught to associate with the Canaanite people in the area where Yahweh planted His “chosen” were not just a temptation they needed to turn away from; they were “given to them” by Yahweh. How are we supposed to deal with this?

The Jerusalem Bible note here indicates that what Ezekiel is referring to here is a passage in Exodus (22:28-29) where it says, “You must give me the first-born of your sons; you must do the same with your flocks and herds. The first-born must remain with its mother for seven days; on the eighth day you must give it to me.” What was probably meant here was simply the consecration of first-born and first-fruits to God, but some apparently interpreted this as approval for child sacrifice. But it is clear that here Yahweh takes responsibility for the mistake while at the same time holding the people responsible as well.

There is definitely a tension in the Old Testament between two compelling ideas: 1) that the Lord and Creator of all things is the source of ALL that happens – the good and the bad; and 2) that God’s ultimate creation – man – has reasoning powers and freedom of will such that he can and should be held responsible for what happens on the moral plane of his life. Is he ALONE responsible or is the responsibility held by the community of which he is a part?

We see this tension throughout the narrative, but here in Ezekiel we see the tension in both ideas. In Ezekiel, the Lord seems to take responsibility for this misinterpretation of His Law on to Himself. Most of Ezekiel’s prophecy, however, is based on the idea that people are responsible for the unfaithfulness that has happened. And there is a tension in Ezekiel about whether that responsibility should be borne by the individual or the group. I don’t think any of these things can be easily resolved.

The words of the prophet are beautiful here. The Lord refuses to let his people become “like the nations . . . worshipping wood and stone. As I live I swear it—it is the Lord Yahweh who speaks—I am the one who will reign over you, with a strong hand and outstretched arm, through the discharge of my anger . . . I will bring you out form the peoples and gather you together from foreign countries among which you have been scattered. . . .As I judged your fathers in the desert of the land of Egypt, so will I judge you . . . I mean to make you pass under my crook and I will bring a few of you back; I will sort out the rebels” (20:33-38). He will NOT ALLOW his people to be unfaithful; neither will he allow them to be unfaithful. It isn’t going to be pretty but HE ISN”T LETTING GO.

Eventually they will “stop profaning my Holy Name with your offerings and your idols. For on my holy mountain, on the high mountain of Israel . . . is where the whole House of Israel, resettled in the country, will worship me” (20:39-40). 

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John 15 – “I am the true vine,” Jesus says, and his father is the vine-grower (15:1). He prunes the vine so that the vine will give fruit. He compares the pruning to the cleansing Jesus brings them “by the word that I have spoken to you. “As a branch cannot bear fruit all by itself but must remain part of the vine, neither can you unless you remain in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me, with me in him, bears fruit in plenty” (15:4-5).

“As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love”(15:9). “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you”(15:12-14). Go and bear fruit that will last, he tells them. The world will hate them as it has hated him. You have to be “of the world” to be loved by the world. He reminds them of what he said to them when he washed their feet, that the servant is not greater than the master. “If they persecuted me, they will persecute you. The fact that he has come and been seen by the world increased its sin with respect to God (15:22). But the Advocate he will send will “testify on my behalf. You also are to testify because you have been with me from the beginning” (15:26-27).

This is the “Quaker chapter” if there is one in scripture. It is from this passage – “You are my friends if you do what I command . . .I call you friends, because I have made known to you everything I have learnt from my Father” (15:14-15). So Friends took this to means that if they did what Jesus commanded – namely “love one another” – they would bear the fruit that would last. I believe they did this big time in the 17^th century, 18^th century 19^th century. Whether they are doing it as well in the 20^th can 21^st centuries I think is more arguable. I think Friends need to consider this chapter more seriously in what it says in verses 4 and 5. After the quote above it goes on to say, “[C]ut off from me you can do nothing. Anyone who does not remain in me is like a branch that has been thrown away—he withers; these branches are collected and thrown on the fire, and they are burnt” (15:5-6).

Another aspect of this chapter that I find interesting is the end, which says, “When the Advocate comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who issues from the Father, he will be my witness. And you too will be witnesses, because you have been with me from the outset” (15:26-27). I see here mention of the two sources of revelation we have open to us—the Holy Spirit (the Advocate) AND the apostolic line/historic link.  These are the two able to testify on Jesus’ behalf.

John 16  - He says he tells them these things to keep them from stumbling. They will be put out of the synagogue [this happens around 80 AD]. He foretells a time of martyrdom, when those who kill them will think they are offering worship to God. He foretells these things so they will know that he knew of them in advance later on. He tells them again he will be leaving them, but that it is good that he is leaving, “for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you” (16:7). When he comes, it says in NRSV “he will prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment” (16:8) and then he goes on to say how in a way that is very confusing. “[A]bout sin, because they do not believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will see me no longer; bout judgment, because the ruler of this world has been condemned” (16:9-11).

He says he still has much to teach them but they can’t stand it now. “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth . . .he will take what is mine and declare it to you” (16:14).

“A little while, and you will no longer see me, and again a little while, and you will see me.” (16) His disciples cannot understand and he goes over it, but it remains obscure. Some day he will not speak to them (us) in figures of speech (16:25) but “plainly.” His disciples claim to understand him, but he treats the claim with loving irony: “Do you now believe?” (16:31)

“The hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each one to his home, and you will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone because the Father is with me” (16:32). He says this “so that in me you may have peace. In the world you face persecution. But take courage; I have conquered the world!” (16:33)

Friends took the sense of Jesus’ teaching here to be about the centrality of repentance in the convincement process. “The first way of meeting with the Spirit of God, is as a convincer of sin [see John 16:8]. Here is the true entrance; this is the key that opens into life eternal; he that can receive it, let him.  It is not by soaring aloft into his imaginations and forms of worship; but by coming down to this low thing.  This is the first and most proper work of the Spirit of God toward fallen man, whereby he makes way toward the writing of God’s law in the heart; namely, to convince of sin” (Penington).