Daily Bible Reading: 1 Maccabees 6:1-17 and Titus 1-2

1 Maccabees 6:1-17 – Meanwhile, King Antiochus IV tries to take and plunder a rich city in Persia—Elymais—but fails. He receives word that the Jews have used all the plunder they have won to strengthen their towns and that they have torn down the “abomination” in their Temple. He is shaken by both these things and feels that he has failed. He becomes depressed.

The tone of the passage is interesting because he is, after all, the enemy of the Jews; but they seem to see him sympathetically here. He is seen as repentant. He says, “now I remember the wrong I did in Jerusalem when I seized all the vessels of silver and gold there, and ordered the extermination of the inhabitants of Judah for no reason at all. This, I am convinced, is why these misfortunes have overtaken me, and why I am dying of melancholy in a foreign land” (6:12-13).

He calls for Philip, a friend, and gives him the crown and authority to guide his son, whose name is also Antiochus – Antiochus V - until he is old enough to rule. The young Antiochus is eight years old when he becomes king. Lysias, the general who is presently charged with caring for the king’s son, calls the boy Eupater, and when Antiochus dies, he is established as his father’s successor. There is another man – Philip – whom Antiochus’ wanted to watch over his son and these two will later come into conflict.

Introduction to the Epistle to Titus: This “pastoral” letter is also ascribed to Paul though there are scholars who doubt his authorship. Its main concerns are similar to those expressed in 1 Timothy, namely the kind of “church order” that should be established in these more recently converted communities, concerns over “false teachings” that threaten the core Christian message, and the kind of community culture that should be established. Titus is never mentioned in Acts. Here he is described as a convert of Paul’s, brought to the Jerusalem meeting in AD 49 to show how “genuine a Christian an uncircumcised Gentile could be” (Raymond Brown 640).

This letter “assumes that Paul has been in Crete with Titus and has left him there to correct anything that is still defective, specifically to appoint presbyters (Brown 641).

Titus 1 – Paul writes this letter to Titus who is on the island of Crete. He opens the letter by describing himself as an “apostle of Jesus Christ” who has been charged with brings “whose whom God has chosen to faith and to the knowledge of the truth that leads to true religion; and to give them the hope of the eternal life that was promised so long ago by God” (1:1-2). He calls Titus “true child of mine in the faith that we share” (1:4).

He has left Titus in Crete to “get everything organized there and appoint elders [presbyters] in every town” (1:5). Elders must be men of “irreproachable character” (1:6), married no more than once. His children “must be believers and not uncontrollable or liable to be charged with disorderly conduct” (1:6).

The elder is seen as “God’s representative” (1:7) so he has to be “irreproachable.” And “he must have a firm grasp of the unchanging message of the tradition, so that he can be counted on for both expounding the sound doctrine and refuting those who argue against it” (1:9).

Apparently in Crete, there are many people whom the writer thinks should be “disciplined,” “silenced” because they are teaching “things that they ought not to, and doing it with the vile motive of making money” (1:11). Cretans apparently have a reputation for being corrupt and untrustworthy that the writer here believes is accurate. The corrupt influences are working their bad stuff in the community of the faithful and they need to be dealt with.

Titus 2 – Paul instruct Titus to focus on the “behavior” that goes with correct doctrine. The behavior of men and women should be a model for all to follow. Older men should be “reserved, dignified, moderate, sound in faith and love and constancy”  (2:2). Older women should be religious and not “scandal-mongers,” known for drinking too mush wine and misbehaving. Young men should be models of good behavior as well.

“You see, God’s grace has been revealed, and it has made salvation possible for the whole human race and taught us that what we have to do is to give up everything that does not lead to God, and all our worldly ambitions; we must be self-restrained and live good and religious lives here in this present world, while we are waiting in hope for the blessing which will come with the Appearing of the glory of our great God and savior Christ Jesus” (2:11-13).

Daily Bible Reading: Judith 15-16 and 1 Timothy 1

Judith 15 – As the men hear of the situation, there is a complete rout and slaughter. This is not a book pacifists will enjoy at all unless they can see it as an allegory for spiritual faithfulness, courage and ingenuity. The Israelite warriors seize enormous amounts of loot from abandoned camps.

Joakim, the high priest, and all the members of the Council of Elders come to see the riches and bless Judith with a song of praise. “The people looted the camp for thirty days. They gave Judith the tent of Holofernes, all his silver plate, his divans, his drinking bowls and all his furniture” (15:11). The women of Israel “formed choirs of dancers in her honor. Judith distributed branches to the women who accompanied her; she and her companions put on wreaths of olive” (15:12). Then she and all the people of Israel join in a hymn that concludes this book.

Judith 16 – What is interesting about the hymn that concludes the Book of Judith is that it celebrates a God who is the “shatterer of war.” We must remember that while the story involves a plot to kill an attacking general, a gruesome beheading and a slaughter that results in the looting of worldly treasure, it is a fiction. It is an allegory, if you will, of the victory that comes from spiritual faithfulness.

“Praise my God with the tambourine, sing to the Lord with the cymbal, let psalm and canticle mingle for him, extol his name, invoke it! For the Lord is a God who shatters war; he has pitched his camp in the middle of his people to deliver me from the hands of my enemies” (16:1-2).

“[T]he Lord Almighty has thwarted [the Assyrian multitudes] by a woman’s hand” (16:5).

“I will sing a new song to my God. Lord, you are great, you are glorious, wonderfully strong, unconquerable. May your whole creation serve you! For you spoke and things came into being, you sent your breath and they were put together, and no one can resist your voice” (16:13-14). For three months the people “gave themselves up to rejoicings in Jerusalem before the Temple” and Judith remained with them. 

 

When the celebration is over, everyone returns home. Judith is courted by many men but remains faithful to the memory of her deceased husband, Manasseh. She lives to the age of 105.

1 Timothy 1 – Paul addressing this epistle to Timothy, “true child of mine in the faith” (1:2). Paul calls himself an “apostle of Christ Jesus appointed by the command of God” (1:1).

He is concerned about people “teaching strange doctrines” – namely the “taking notice of myths and endless genealogies” (1:4 ) that are probably only going to “raise irrelevant doubts instead of furthering the designs of God which are revealed in faith” (1:4), and he asking Timothy to remain at Ephesus the help deal with this. It isn’t clear what false teachings Paul is concerned about according to Raymond Brown – see his section on 1 Timothy and the other “pastoral letters” in his Introduction to the New Testament, pg. 643.

Paul does not want Christian believers to become wrapped up in “endless speculation” (1:6) about the Law. The Law deals with obvious acts of immorality like murder, sexual predation and people who lie, etc. The Law does not help us to understand the “Good News of the glory of the blessed God, the gospel that was entrusted to me” (1:11) concerning Christ.

He thanks Christ for having changed his life and “called him into his service” (1:12). And he puts forth as fundamental doctrine that “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1:15), and Paul is “the greatest of them” (1:15). And he believes that Christ brought him in “to make me the greatest evidence of his inexhaustible patience for all the other people who would later have to trust in him to come to eternal life” (1:16)

Paul asked Timothy to “fight like a good soldier with faith and a good conscience for your weapons” (1:19) for the gospel truths that are the fundamentals of the gospel. It’s interesting to me that he uses this language in light of the Old Testament book of Judith we've been dealing with.