Daily Bible Reading: Amos 2 and John 2

Amos 2 – Amos continues to “channel” God’s words to the wicked nations of Moab, Judah and Israel.

Judah has “rejected the Law of Yahweh and failed to keep his precepts, because the false gods which their ancestors followed have led them astray” (2:4).

Israel’s crimes are laid out in great detail: they have “sold the virtuous man for silver and the poor man for a pair of sandals” (2:6). They “trample on the heads of ordinary people and push the poor out of their path” (2:7). They have engaged in the practice of “sacred prostitution” even though it is part of the religious practice of people overthrown by God when the Jews took possession of their lands. “I raised up prophets from your sons and nazirites from your young men” (2:11). Nazirites were young men who pledged themselves to a consecrated, holy life, which did not include any drinking of wine or cutting of hair, unless the hair was offered up as part of a sacrifice to God.

Now Israelites have forced Nazirites to drink wine and forbidden prophets to prophesy (2:12). For these sins God intends to “crush you into the ground” (2:13). 

John 2 – “On the third day there was a wedding . . .” (2:1). The wine gives out and Jesus’ mother says to him, “They have no wine” (2:4). It must be pregnant with meaning for Jesus when she says this, because he responds with a non sequitur—“Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come” (2:4). She ignores him and says to a servant, “Do whatever he tells you” (2:5).

Why does he call her “woman”? Why does she ignore his reservation? Is this supposed to have humor in it—Jewish mother humor? There may be some of that in their interaction, but there is also some very profound stuff in this gospel about what is happening here. Jesus’ use of the term “woman” would make sense if he is preparing us to see her as the “woman” of Revelation 12:13, and I would add the “woman” reference in Genesis 3:15 – the “protoevangelium” that plays such an important part in John’s gospel. The “seed” [offspring] of the woman is Christ but Brown would say not only Christ but the Christian believers who are His body in the world – the “beloved disciples.” I have written a whole article that is posted here - "Genesis and John" - and I will make reference to it as I go along here.

Jesus does the miracle, turning six 20-30 gallon stone jars of water into fine wine. The result of it all is that Jesus reveals “his glory” here very early in his ministry, “and his disciples believed in him” (2:11). This level of comprehension and acceptance does not come anywhere near this early or easy in any of the other gospels.  In Mark, Jesus dies deserted.  In Matthew and Luke, his disciples’ comprehension does not come until after the resurrection or just before the ascension.

Jesus goes from Cana to Capernaum with his mother, brothers, and disciples. The Passover celebration is near and Jesus goes to Jerusalem.  He finds people in the Temple selling cattle, sheep and doves.  He makes a whip out of cord and drives the merchants and moneychangers out of the Temple.  His disciples immediately connect his act with the prophecy “Zeal for your house will consume me” (2:17 quoting Psalm 69:9).

The Jews ask him what “sign” he can show them and he responds, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (2:19). They are astonished that a temple that took 46 years to build could ever be rebuilt so quickly, but John tells us that he does not mean the outward temple, but the “temple of his body” (2:21). In Jerusalem, many respond to his signs, but he does not trust them “because he knew all people . . . knew what was in everyone” (2:25).

Daily Bible Reading: Amos 1 and John 1:29-51

Introduction to the Book of the Prophet Amos: Amos is the oldest of the “minor prophets” included in the Hebrew canon. The “minor prophets” were not necessarily less important than the “major prophets” but the texts were shorter. There were twelve book of “minor prophets” included in the Hebrew canon.

Amos was a shepherd from the town of Tekoa on the western bank of the Jordan in the northern kingdom where the religious center was Bethel. He preached under Jeroboam II (783-743 BC). The Jerusalem Bible says he was a “true son of the desert, rough, direct, proud, rich in the images natural to the desert dwellers” (1134). He condemned the corruption more associated with urban life, and preached against social injustice.

Amos tells us that the “day of the Lord [Yahweh]” will be a dark time when God will wreak vengeance on those who have been unfaithful; and God will summon a “nation” [Assyria] to fulfill this task. Amos tries to kindle a degree of hope by assuring us that there will be a “remnant” that will be the seed of hope for the future. Both terms – the Day of Yahweh and the “remnant” – are used for the first time in scripture in Amos’ writing.

There are problems apparently with the text of the prophet’s words left to us. There is likely a mix of authors and the order of the verses is also somewhat problematic. Laurence Boadt says in his book, Reading the Old Testament, that scholars have wondered why the words of Amos were preserved at all; apparently this was not something done for the earliest prophets like Elijah. He speculates it was because Amos’ words were directed to the people as a whole, not to any ruler or king. “Amos strikes out in a new direction. No longer will God punish only the king or leader for a nation’s evil, but he will hold the people as a whole responsible” (Boadt 319).  He also notes that the ending (Amos 9:11-15) were probably words added on by others to leave a degree of hope.

Amos 1 – These are the words of Amos, one of the shepherds of Tekoa, words about a vision he had at the time when Jereboam was king of Israel (8^th century BC). The vision concerns not only Israel but the nations all around them. This “universal” reach of Israel’s God is something new in Hebrew Scriptures.

For the crimes of Damascus, I [the Lord] am going to break down the gates of the city and take down its king; the people shall “go captive to Kir, says Yahweh” (1:5).

For the crimes of Gaza, “because they have deported entire nations as slaves to Edom, I am going to hurl fire on the walls of Gaza to burn up her palaces” (1:6). God is going to take down her rulers and “turn [His] hand against Ekron” (1:7).

For the crimes Tyre has committed, “because he has persecuted his brother with the sword . . . persistently nursing his fury” (1:11), God is going to destroy her.

Phoenicia, Edom and Ammon are also condemned for their crimes.

John 1:29-51 - When John the Baptist sees Jesus, he says “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (1:29) John is not seen baptizing Jesus in this gospel. John only testifies that he saw “the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him.” God reveals to John that Jesus is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit, the Son of God (1:34).

The day after, John and two of his disciples see Jesus, and when John repeats his testimony, his disciples leave him and go after Jesus.  One of the two is Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother.  The other is not identified. Andrew believes Jesus is the Messiah and brings Simon to Jesus, and Jesus changes his name to Cephas (1:42).

                 

The next day they go to Galilee. Philip is recruited from Bethsaida (Andrew and Peter’s home) and Philip finds Nathanael and tells him Jesus is the one Moses and the prophets wrote about.

The prophet like Moses and the Messiah are here seen as one and the same—interesting that these and being David’s descendant are all conflated even at this early date-—in the first hundred years it looks like all the types and figures were seen brought together in Jesus. Ray Brown points out in his book The Community of the Beloved Disciple, that in John’s gospel, we see a movement from what he calls a “low Christology” where Jesus is seen as messiah, prophet like Moses, son of Joseph, or Son of Man – all Old Testament “figures” that he was thought to have embodied - to a “high Christology” where he is seen as Word made flesh.

Nathanael responds to Philip’s claim that Jesus is the “son of Joseph from Nazareth” (1:45) by saying, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” (1:46) Nathanael is curious to know where it was Jesus got “to know” him.  When Jesus tells him, he proclaims him Son of God and King of Israel.  Jesus is amazed that it takes so little to win Nathanael over. 

Daily Bible Reading: 1 Maccabees 15-16 and John 1:1-28

1 Maccabees 15 –Antiochus VII Sidetes, the younger brother of Demetrius II, sends a letter to Simon, asking for his help in re-establishing Seleucid strength. He promises to continue tax remissions that the Jews have enjoyed and he says he will permit them to mint their own coinage and to forgive all their debt. Some texts open the chapter with a reference to “Antiochus, son of King Demetrius” making it very confusing. They are both children of Demetrius I.

In 138 BC, Antiochus begins his drive to restore the kingdom, and soldiers join with him enthusiastically. He pursues Trypho. Meanwhile, Jewish ambassadors return from Rome with letters warning all the powers threatening Judea to back off.

           

Simon sends Antiochus 2000 men to support his fight against Trypho, but Antiochus turns on the Jews. He repudiates all his agreements and demands 1000 talents to repay damage done to towns in his kingdom (or he can turn over the towns and their revenues). Most of the towns, Simon replies are part of the Jewish inheritance. Only Joppa and Gezer were taken and they had attacked Israel. He offers 100 talents for them.

1 Maccabees 16 – Simon’s son John Hyrcanus takes over leadership from Simon at this point. Simon and his other two sons, Mattathias and Judas are killed by Ptolemy VII. The Second Book of Maccabees, takes up with the reign of John Hyrcanus.

John 1:1-28 -  “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was with God in the beginning” (1:1). John’s great prologue: “All that came to be had life in him and that life was the light of men, a light that shines in the dark, a light that darkness could not overpower” (1:4-5).

“He was in the world that had its being through him, and the world did not know him. He came to his own domain and his own people did not accept him. But to all who did accept him he gave power to become children of God” (10-11).

                 

He speaks of the testimony of John the Baptist; John was not the Messiah, not Elijah and not “the prophet” [“like Moses” Deut. 18:15] only the “voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’” (1:23).

The priests and Levites who question John are sent by the Pharisees. John is at Bethany where he is baptizing.