Daily Bible Reading: 2 Kings 3 and Luke 6:27-49

2 Kings 3 – Joram [or Jehoram in some versions], Ahab’s son, becomes king in Samaria and reigns 12 years [Jerusalem Bible notes says it was really only eight years—849 to 842 BC]. He did what was evil “though not like his father and mother, for he removed the pillar of Baal that his father had made” (3:2). Still, he “clung to the sin of Jeroboam” (3:3). It doesn’t say how – golden calves? high places?  

King Mesha of Moab, a sheep breeder, used to provide Ahab with lambs and wool, but now he rebels. Jerusalem Bible notes indicates that a stele, discovered at Dibon in 1868, 12 miles east of the Dead Sea and four miles north of the Arnon River, mentions this Moabite “war of liberation” but omits this episode. Joram secures the aid of Jehoshaphat of Judah and the king of Edom in this effort to subdue the Moabites.  Jehoshaphat says to him, “I am with you, my people are your people, my horses are your horses” (3:7).

They go by way of Edom, south and east of the Dead Sea. The king of Edom is an ally. Lacking water for seven days, they fear defeat at the hand of Moab, so they consult Elisha. Elisha tries to put Joram off by saying “What have I to do with you? Go to your father’s prophets or to your mother’s” (3:13). But Elisha finally yields to him because of his respect for Jehoshaphat (3:14).

Elisha asks for a musician, and while the musician plays, “the power of the Lord came on him” (3:15). He prophesies that the wadi would be filled with water (without wind or rain) and that the Lord will hand Moab over to them.  The next morning they see water flowing from the direction of Edom until it fills the country.  The Moabites prepare to fight, but see the reflection of the water “as red as blood” (3:22). They think it is because the three kings have fought amongst themselves, and killed one another, so the Moabites go against them.  When they arrive they are attacked and defeated. 

In a desperate attempt to halt the attack, the King of Moab offers up his first-born son as a burnt offering on the wall to the god of the Moabites [Chemosh]. Interesting differences arise in the translations at this point. Some say this act brought “great wrath” down on the Israelites; others say “great terror” struck them. The result is the same. The attackers halt their invasion. “[T]hey drew back from the city and returned to their own country” (3:27).

The Jerusalem Bible notes that some interpreters think that there is reference here to the fury of Chemosh, god of the Moabites; but that is problematic.  It is basically accepting that the Moabite god responded to the sacrifice of the king’s son by helping them fend off the Israelites. Isaac Asimov (359) indicates that most cultures at this time were “henotheistic,” that is they believed in the idea that each territory had its own powerful god to protect it; so that even if Israelites were not worshippers of Chemosh, they might have believed that the sacrifice to him in his own territory would likely bring that god into the fray in a powerful way. But you would think this an unlikely passage in the Old Testament – unless the firm monotheism of later generations of Jewish chroniclers was not yet firmly in place.

There are a multitude of complicated historical and theological questions related to this event, which you may read about in the following article posted on the internet: http://www.biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/bbr/2kings3_sprinkle.pdf

Luke 6:27-49 - The teaching goes on to speak of loving our enemies (6:27); blessing those who curse you (6:28) and praying for those who mistreat you.

Jesus speaks of those who hear his words and build on them as people who set their lives on a foundation of rock—when floods arise, the rivers will burst against them, but they will not be shaken (6:48). None of these teachings are in Mark.

The rewards promised to those who would be children of the Most High are not the rewards the world has to give like power, wealth, praise, status, but the rewards only God can give like deep joy, integrity, dignity, peace of mind and heart.

Jesus tells the people that now they must learn to see the splinters in their own eyes before they can see to correct the defects in others’ eyes.  There is an implied promise that when they are “trained” they will be able to see in a discerning way.  One knows what a person is by the “fruit” each produces.  We are to be doers of the word, not sayers only.  “The one who listens and does not act is like a person who built a house on the ground without a foundation.  When the river burst against it, it collapsed at once and was completely destroyed” (6:49). 

It is interesting in Luke that he focuses so intently on how important “the fruits” are in a person’s life—what it is they DO.  In Mark there is so little emphasis on this; it is remarkable.  Maybe this is one of the things Luke felt was missing from Mark.  Again Mark is really more Pauline in focusing on the ”gnosis” the gospel gives us and on the inner transformation it involves—Paul also talks about fruits, about behavior; but I think his emphasis is on the change in “being” that occurs in the person of faith, not primarily on the change in behavior.

Reflection:  For Luke, Jesus holds out for us a new way of life, a way of life built on sincerity of faith and obedience to God.  These are not just idealistic precepts or a way of life impossible for us to reach.  But we must learn to see in the way God meant for us to see and overcome the impediments to faithful action.  It is not what we feel or think that mark us as children of the Most High, but real differences in our lives.  The fruit, whether of deeds or words or work must grow from the tree of life Christ brings to fruition in us.

Daily Bible Reading: 2 Kings 1 and Luke 5

Introduction to 2 Kings: The original scrolls of what we call 1 and 2 Kings did not make any division. Together, they tell the story of the kingdom’s division after Solomon’s death, around 931 BC, and the series of kings who ruled over the northern kingdom (Israel) and the southern kingdom (Judah). 2 Kings picks up the story around 853 BC with the rule of Ahaziah in the north and the continued rule of Jehoshaphat in the south. It will take us to the final conquest of Judah by the Neo-Babylonians (or Chaldeans) in 586 BC.

2 Kings 1 – Moab rebels against the northern kingdom of Israel. Moab was directly east of the Dead Sea in what is now Jordan. The people of Moab were polytheistic, and Chemosh was their main god. Apparently Solomon [builder of the Jerusalem Temple and gifted with great wisdom] had constructed a “high place” near Jerusalem in honor of Chemosh – probably to satisfy one of his many [estimate 700] wives. Associated with Chemosh was the consort goddess Ashtar. Human sacrifice was part of the religion.

 

Ahab’s son Ahaziah is now king of the northern kingdom. He is injured in a fall from the balcony of his palace’s roof, and he wants his men to consult Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, a Philistine town just west of Jerusalem, if he will recover or not.

 

An angel comes to Elijah and tells him he should go and meet the men and ask them “Is there no God is Israel that you are going to inquire of Baal-zebub. . .?” (1:3) and to tell Ahaziah that he will NOT recover.  They go back and tell him. Ahaziah knows it’s Elijah when they describe him.  He sends men out to talk to him, but the first two contingents end up consumed by fire called down on them.  The third contingent of fifty begs for Elijah’s favor and Elijah finally goes back with them to see the king.  He tells him he will not recover and he dies.  Ahaziah’s brother Joram [also called Jehoram] succeeds as king because Ahaziah has no son.

Luke 5 - Simon, James and John (the sons of Zebedee) are cleaning their nets after having been out fishing most of the night.  It has been a poor outing and they have little to show for their work.  But Jesus tells them to put out again and go to a certain place.  There they find the fish and haul in several loads, almost enough to swamp their boats.  Jesus does this as a way of demonstrating to them that he will make the harvest of men plentiful.  He asks them to follow him and become fishers of men and they go without looking back. 

This account expands somewhat what Mark tells us in 1:16 of his gospel. Jesus demonstrates here with fish what he knows will happen when he sends his disciples out to catch people in the net of faith.  Another difference is that before Peter follows him here, we hear him confess his unworthiness in the manner of Isaiah.

Jesus continues his ministry to the unclean and the sick by his cleansing of the leper. This too is taken from Mark (1:40). In both accounts the healed man is told not to tell, but here it is not recounted that he disobeys.

In Luke’s account of the man brought down through the roof, Luke makes sure to place Pharisees and teachers in the house where Jesus is; they just appear in Mark. They have come from everywhere.  The entire story is repeated here much as it is in Mark. The interesting thing to me is the fact that Jesus seems to equate the healing of disease with the forgiveness of sins.  We are kept in our blindness and our deafness and lameness by our sins.  This is the ultimate disability Jesus came to deal with.

Then comes the call of Levi, the tax collector, and the banquet in Levi’s home where Jesus mixes with the crowd of tax collectors, those in need of the physician God has sent, and the comment on fasting—that the guests will not fast until the bridegroom is taken away from them. Then follows the parable of the new wine in old wineskins, just as in Mark.

What is happening with Jesus’ ministry is a new thing.  It cannot be made to fit the old “pair of pants” or the “old wine.”  The creation of something new requires the introduction of things, which are totally new to contain them.