Archive for the ‘Genesis 13’ Tag
Above: Tear Ducts
Image in the Public Domain
The Tears of the Christ
SEPTEMBER 11, 2022
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Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning:
Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them,
that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of life,
which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns
with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
—The Book of Common Prayer (1979), page 236
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Genesis 13:1-16 or Ezra 1:1-7; 3:8-13
Psalm 136:1-9, 23-26
Revelation 7:9-17
John 11:1-3. 16-44
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Jesus wept.
–John 11:35, The New Jerusalem Bible (1985)
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They will never hunger or thirst again; neither the sun nor scorching wind will ever plague them because the Lamb who is at the throne will be their shepherd and will lead them to springs of living water; and God will wipe away all tears like their eyes.
–Revelation 7:16-17, The Jerusalem Bible (1966)
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I could take so many paths through the assigned readings for this week. These readings are rich texts. I will take just one path, however.
Before I do, here are a few notes:
- Abraham waited for God to tell him which land to claim. Abraham chose well.
- Lot chose land on his own. He chose poorly. However, at the time he seemed to have chosen wisely; he selected fertile land.
- I agree with Psalm 136. Divine mercy does endure forever.
- The chronology of the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah weaves in and out of those books. I know, for I blogged my way through them in chronological order at BLOGA THEOLOGICA last year.
For the record, the chronological reading order of Ezra-Nehemiah follows:
- Ezra 1:1-2:70; Nehemiah 7:6-73a;
- Ezra 3:1-4:5;
- Ezra 5:1-6:22;
- Ezra 4:6-24;
- Nehemiah 1:1-2:20;
- Nehemiah 3:1-4:17;
- Nehemiah 5:1-19;
- Nehemiah 6:1-7:5;
- Nehemiah 11:1-12:47;
- Nehemiah 13:1-31;
- Nehemiah 9:38-10:39;
- Ezra 7:1-10:44; and
- Nehemiah 7:73b-9:38.
I take my lead in this post from the New Testament readings. Tears are prominent in both of them. Tears are on my mind during the COVID-19 pandemic. They are also on my mind as I continue to mourn the violent death of my beloved. Her departure from this side of the veil of tears has left me shaken and as forever changed me.
The full divinity and full humanity of Jesus are on display in John 11. We read that Jesus wept over the death of his friend, St. Lazarus of Bethany. We also read of other people mourning and weeping in the immediate area. We may not pay much attention to that. We may tell ourselves, “Of course, they grieved and wept.” But two words–“Jesus wept”–remain prominent.
There is a scene in The Gospel According to Saint Matthew (1964) that fits this theme. At the time, Hollywood studios had recently released technicolor movies about a Jesus who had no tear ducts yet had an impressive command of Elizabethan English while resembling a Northern European. Yet Pier Paolo Pasolini, who committed about half of the Gospel of Matthew to film, presented a Jesus who had tear ducts. Immediately after the off-camera decapitation of St. John the Baptist, the next shot was a focus on Christ’s face. He was crying. So were the men standing in front of him.
Jesus wept.
We weep. Jesus weeps with us until the day God will wipe away all tears of those who have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JANUARY 23, 2021 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT JOHN THE ALMSGIVER, PATRIARCH OF ALEXANDRIA
THE FEAST OF CHARLES KINGSLEY, ANGLICAN PRIEST, NOVELIST, AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF EDWARD GRUBB, ENGLISH QUAKER AUTHOR, SOCIAL REFORMER, AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF JAMES D. SMART, CANADIAN PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER AND BIBLICAL SCHOLAR
THE FEAST OF PHILLIPS BROOKS, EPISCOPAL BISHOP OF MASSACHUSETTS, AND HYMN WRITER
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https://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2021/01/23/the-tears-of-the-christ/
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Above: Lot and His Daughters, by Lucas van Leyden
Image in the Public Domain
The Good Society
OCTOBER 31, 2022
NOVEMBER 1, 2022
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The Collect:
Merciful God, gracious and benevolent,
through your Son you invite all the world to a meal of mercy.
Grant that we may eagerly follow this call,
and bring us with all your saints into your life of justice and joy,
through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.
—Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 52
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The Assigned Readings:
Nehemiah 13:1-3, 23-31 (Monday)
Zechariah 7:1-14 (Tuesday)
Psalm 50 (Both Days)
1 Corinthians 5:9-13 (Monday)
Jude 5-21 (Tuesday)
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“When you see a thief, you make him your friend,
and you cast your lot in with adulterers.
You have loosed your lips for evil,
and harnessed your tongue to a lie.
You are always speaking evil of your brother
and slandering your own mother’s son.
These things you have done, and I kept still,
and you thought that I am like you.”
–Psalm 50:18-21, The Book of Common Prayer (1979)
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The Law of Moses teaches that, among other things:
- We humans depend on God for everything,
- We depend on each other also,
- We have no right to exploit each other,
- We are responsible to each other, and
- We are responsible for each other.
Thus hospitality is a great virtue, for it can make the difference between someone coming to harm or avoiding harm, as well as the difference between someone dying or living.
My summary of the forbidden behaviors in these days’ readings is that they are generally activities that harm others. I note that, in post-exilic zeal to obey the Law of Moses, many people went too far with regard to the treatment of foreigners. The Book of Jonah pushes back against such excesses. The Book of Ruth, in which a Moabite woman marries a Hebrew man and becomes an ancestor of King David, is probably another protest against such zealousness-turned-xenophobia, such as that praised in Nehemiah 13:1.
As for homosexual behavior (as opposed to homosexuality as a sexual preference, an understanding which did not exist until recent centuries), Jude 7 is the only verse in the Bible to make explicit the link between homosexual conduct and the story of Sodom in Genesis 19. In that chapter Lot, who has lived in the city since Genesis 13, presumably knows his neighbors well enough to understand what they like. Lot has taken in two angels. A mob gathers outside his door and demands that he send them outside to that they can gang rape the angels. Lot refuses the demands and offers to send his two virgin daughters out instead. (Bad father!) Fortunately for Lot’s daughters, the mob is not interested and the angels have a plan to save Lot and his family from the imminent destruction of the city. In the context of Genesis 19 the planned sexual activity is rape, not anything consensual; may nobody miss that point. The standard Biblical condemnations of the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah are like those in Ezekiel 16:48-50 and 3 Maccabees 2:5-6, where one reads that the cities’ sins were notorious and the people were arrogant and brazen in their iniquity. Ezekiel 16 adds to that description the neglect of the poor and the hungry–a lack of hospitality.
Zechariah 7:8-14 states that the pre-exilic Kingdoms of Israel and Judah violated the basic requirements of the Law of Moses, and paid the price. The societies, generally speaking, did not administer true justice and act kindly and compassionately. No, it oppressed widows, orphans, the poor, and resident aliens. The societies were unrepentant, and divine patience ran out.
Society is people. It shapes its members, who also influence it. May we–you, O reader, and I–influence society for the better–to care for the vulnerable, to resist bullying and corruption, to favor kindness and compassion, and to seek and find the proper balance between individual and collective responsibility. May we eschew bigotry in all forms, for we have a divine mandate to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. May we seek to love God and each other fully, manifesting respect for the image of God in each other, seeking to build each other up, for that is not only the path to the common good but is also godly.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
MAY 31, 2016 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF THE VISITATION OF MARY TO ELIZABETH
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https://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2016/05/31/the-good-society/
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Above: The Sacrifice of Isaac, by Caravaggio
Image in the Public Domain
Active Faith
AUGUST 8 and 9, 2022
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The Collect:
Almighty God, you sent your Holy Spirit to be the life and light of your church.
Open our hearts to the riches of your grace,
that we may be ready to receive you wherever you appear,
through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.
—Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 44
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The Assigned Readings:
2 Chronicles 33:1-17 (Monday)
2 Chronicles 34:22-33 (Tuesday)
Psalm 89:1-18 (Both Days)
Hebrews 11:1-7 (Monday)
Hebrews 11:17-28 (Tuesday)
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How blessed the nation that learns to acclaim you!
They will live, Yahweh, in the light of your presence.
–Psalm 89:15, The New Jerusalem Bible (1985)
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That is the theology in the accounts of Kings Manasseh and Josiah of Judah. We read of Manasseh (reigned 698/687-642 B.C.E.) in 2 Chronicles 33:1-20 and 2 Kings 21:1-18. The story in 2 Kings is more unflattering than the version in 2 Chronicles, for the latter mentions his repentance. Manasseh’s grandson, Josiah (reigned 640-609 B.C.E.) is on the scene in 2 Chronicles 34-35 and 2 Kings 22:1-23:30. His fidelity to the Law of Moses delays the destruction of Judah, we read.
Hebrews 11 focuses on faith. Verse 1 defines faith as
the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
—The New Revised Standard Version (1989)
In context this definition of faith is consistent with the understanding of St. Paul the Apostle, for whom faith was inherently active, hence the means of one’s justification with God. In the Letter of James, however, faith is intellectual, so justification comes via works. This is not a contradiction, just defining “faith” differently. Active faith is the virtue extolled consistently.
I argue with Hebrews 11:17-20. The near-sacrifice of Isaac (Genesis 22) was a form of child abuse. There was no way it did not damage the father-son relationship. Earlier in Genesis Abraham had interceded on behalf of strangers in Sodom (Chapter 18). Yes, he had relatives there (see Genesis 13, 14, and 19), but he argued on behalf of strangers. In Chapter 22 he did not do that for his son, Isaac. God tested Abraham, who failed the test; he should have argued.
Did I understand you correctly?
would have been a good start.
May we have the active faith to follow God. May we know when to question, when to argue, and when to act. May we understand the difference between an internal monologue and a dialogue with God. Out of faith may we act constructively and thereby leave the world better than we found it.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
MARCH 23, 2016 COMMON ERA
WEDNESDAY IN HOLY WEEK
THE FEAST OF GEORGE RUNDLE PRYNNE, ANGLICAN PRIEST, POET, AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF SAINT GREGORY THE ILLUMINATOR, PATRIARCH OF ARMENIA
THE FEAST OF HEINRICH VON LAUFENBERG, GERMAN ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF SAINT TURIBIUS OF MOGROVEJO, ROMAN CATHOLIC ARCHBISHOP OF LIMA
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https://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2016/03/23/active-faith-2/
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Above: The Parable of the Sower
Image in the Public Domain
Grace and Character Flaws
JULY 14-16, 2022
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The Collect:
Eternal God, you draw near to us in Christ, and you make yourself our guest.
Amid the cares of our lives, make us attentive to your presence,
that we may treasure your word above all else,
through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.
—Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 43
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The Assigned Readings:
Genesis 12:10-20 (Thursday)
Genesis 13:1-18 (Friday)
Genesis 14:1-16 (Saturday)
Psalm 15 (All Days)
Hebrews 5:1-6 (Thursday)
Ephesians 3:14-21 (Friday)
Luke 8:4-10 (Saturday)
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Yahweh, who can find a home in your tent,
who can dwell on your holy mountain?
Whoever lives blamelessly,
who acts uprightly,
who speaks the truth from the heart,
who keeps the tongue under control,
who does not wrong a comrade,
who casts no discredit on a neighbour,
who looks with scorn on the vile,
but honours those who fear Yahweh,
who stands by an oath at any cost,
who asks no interest on loans,
who takes no bribe to harm the innocent.
No one who so acts can ever be shaken.
–Psalm 15, The New Jerusalem Bible (1985)
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Abram (later Abraham) was a fascinating, contradictory, and frequently puzzling figure, for he was a human being. In Genesis 12-14 alone he pretended that Sarai (his wife) was his sister, lied to the Pharaoh (who, unlike Abram, suffered because of the lie), prospered (in large part due to that lie), remained in Canaan and engaged in warfare while Lot, his nephew, moved to Sodom. At the end of Chapter 14 Abram encountered Melchizedek, hence one reason for the reading from Hebrews 5, I suppose.
The traditional name of the reading from Luke 8 is the Parable of the Sower. Nevertheless, the emphasis in the story is the soils, so, as some commentators I have read have argued, we should refer to the Parable of the Four Soils. Each of us is, under the best circumstances, good soil, albeit not entirely so. That is a fact of human nature. Abram/Abraham and Sarai/Sarah had serious defects of character, as did St. Paul the Apostle. Likewise, you, O reader, and I have character flaws. Nevertheless, may the lovely prayer in Ephesians 3:14-21 be others’ prayer for us and our prayer for others.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
MARCH 16, 2016 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINTS ADALBALD OF OSTEVANT, RICTRUDIS OF MARCHIENNES, AND THEIR RELATIONS
THE FEAST OF SAINTS ABRAHAM KIDUNAIA, ROMAN CATHOLIC HERMIT, AND MARY OF EDESSA, ROMAN CATHOLIC ANCHORESS
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https://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2016/03/16/grace-and-character-flaws/
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Above: Golden Rule, by Norman Rockwell (1961)
Images of this painting are plentiful online, but I took it from http://gardenofpraise.com/art12.htm.
The Golden Rule
JUNE 27, 2023
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Holy Women, Holy Men: Celebrating the Saints (2010), of The Episcopal Church, contains an adapted two-years weekday lectionary for the Epiphany and Ordinary Time seasons from the Anglican Church of Canada. I invite you to follow it with me.
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Genesis 13:2, 5-18 (An American Translation):
Abram was now very rich in cattle, silver, and gold.
Lot, who accompanied Abram, also had flocks and herds, as well as tents. The land could not support them both; for their possessions were so great that they could not live together. Trouble arose accordingly between the herdsmen of Abram’s stock and those of Lot’s. (The Canaanites and the Perizzites were living in the land at that time.)
There simply must be no quarrel between you and me,
Abram said to Lot,
nor between your herdsmen and mine; for we are kinsmen. The whole land is open to you, is it not? Please part from me then. If you go to the left, I will go the right; or if you go to the right, I will go to the left.
Then Lot looked out, and saw that the whole basin of the Jordan was well watered everywhere (this was before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah) like the LORD’s own garden, like the land of Egypt in the vicinity of Zoar. So lot chose the whole Jordan basin. Lot set off eastward, and thus they parted from each other. Abram settled in the land of Canaan, while Lot settled in the cities of the Basin, extending his tents as far as Sodom. (Now the men of Sodom were wicked, being great sinners against the LORD.)
After Lot had parted from him, the LORD said to Abram,
Raise your eyes now, and look out from the place where you are, north, south, east, and west; for all the land that you see, I am going to give to you and your descendants for all time. I am going to make your descendants like the dust of the earth, so that it will be as possible to count the dust of the earth as to count your descendants. Go and travel the length and breadth of the land; for I am giving it to you.
So Abram moved his tent, and went to live beside the terebinth of Mamre at Hebron, where he built an altar to the LORD.
Psalm 15 (1979 Book of Common Prayer):
1 LORD, who may dwell in your tabernacle?
who may abide upon your holy hill?
2 Whoever leads a blameless life and does what is right,
who speaks the truth from his heart.
3 There is no guile upon his tongue;
he does no evil to his friend;
he does not heap contempt upon his neighbor.
4 In his sight the wicked is rejected,
but he honors those who fear the LORD.
5 He has sworn to do no wrong
and does not take back his word.
6 He does not give his money in hope of gain,
nor does he take a bribe against the innocent.
7 Whoever does these things
shall never be overthrown.
Matthew 7:6, 12-14 (An American Translation):
[Jesus continued,]
Do not give what is sacred to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, or they will trample them under their feet and turn and tear you in pieces….Therefore you must always treat other people as you would like them to have them treat you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.
Go in at the narrow gate. For the road that leads to destruction is broad and spacious, and there are many who go in by it. But the gate is narrow the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few that find it.
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The Collect:
O Lord, make us have perpetual love and reverence for your holy Name, for you never fail to help and govern those whom you have set upon the sure foundation of your loving-kindness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
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Many readers of the Bible (especially novices to the sacred anthology) become bogged down in the Hebrew Scriptures. My experience was different, for my first real reading of of any part of the Old Testament was the Joseph epic from Genesis. There are so many wonderful and epic stories in the Hebrew Scriptures.
Among these is the Abraham epic, through which the Canadian Anglican lectionary I am following guides a reader. Since our previous lection, famine has forced Abram (later to renamed Abraham) and his family into fertile Egypt. No sooner had they gone to collect on a divine promise than circumstances had forced them to delay claiming it. Abram was concerned that royal officials might kill him and claim his lovely wife, Sarai (later to be renamed Sarah), so he claimed that she was actually his sister. (This was partially true, for she was his half-sister. But a half-truth is still a half-truth.) Most English versions of the Bible use a euphemism for what happened next, for they claim that the Pharaoh took Sarai into his palace, his house, or his household. Kenneth N. Taylor’s The Living Bible, which cuts through euphemisms like a knife through butter, gets to the point:
…and she was taken into the harem. (12:15)
In exchange, the Pharaoh bestows upon Abram much livestock, silver, and gold.
Let us pause here. There are Bible stories and portions thereof that one does not find discussed often (or at all) in children’s Bible story books and in juvenile Sunday School classes. I understand why, for the Bible does not carry a “G” rating. But we are adults here, and we should be able to discuss the R-rated portions of the Bible intelligently and maturely. This portion of the story of Abram and Sarai has an unsavory taste about it. He benefited financially (as did she in the medium term and the long term, despite immediate risks) from her compromising situation.
This is an early example of Abram not trusting God to fulfill divine promises. It is not the most notable one. Even Abram, a great man of faith, was imperfect. And God still protected and blessed him. We can take comfort from that.
Genesis 12 tells us that God caused “great plagues” to befall the Phaoronic household, so the Egyptian monarch deported Abram, Sarai, and company–along with the livestock, silver, and gold. They returned (in Genesis 13) to Bethel, where there was too little space for Abram, his nephew Lot, and their livestock and herdsmen. So Abram and Lot parted company and relocated, so that each would have sufficient space and harmony might be preserved. Then God reiterated the divine promise to Abram.
Genesis 13 contains foreboding foreshadowing regarding Lot, but I will not discuss it here and now. I intend to follow the events of the Abraham epic in sequentially in this lectionary series.
Now I turn toward the excerpt from Matthew.
Matthew 7:6 is a difficult saying. Swine were unclean beasts, and dogs were wild scavengers, not beloved pets. So who among the humans were supposed to be the swine and dogs?
Reading in textual context is especially useful here. Matthew 7:6 follows 7:1-5, the “do not judge” teaching. Jesus reminds us that the standard we apply to others will apply to us, as well, and that we ought to notice and deal with our own faults before focusing on those of others. Then we have this admonition not to throw pearls before swine and to give dogs what is sacred.
I have consulted various books with regard to this verse. The best interpretation comes from W. Clyde Tilley in The Surpassing Righteousness: Evangelism and Ethics in the Sermon on the Mount (Smyth & Helwys, 1992). Tilley writes:
We cannot simply assume that all the beneficiaries of our good deeds, all of the hearers of our treasured teachings, will receive them with equal gratitude. We cannot even assume that they will be received at all….Now we are being reminded in this case that one’s own perception can be so distorted that the sharing of the sharing of true values with that person can may be hopeless for him and harmful to ourselves….Maybe the only certainty we can have here is that such persistent and final rejecters do exist, even if we must ever defer to God for the final judgment about who these are. (pages 149-150)
This interpretation is consistent with 7:13-14, the teaching about the narrow gate and the wide road.
In the middle of all this we have 7:12, the Golden Rule. God is the final judge, and we are not to judge others. We are called to love one another and ourselves actively, treating others at all times in ways we would want them to treat us. I recall the Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:3b-9, 18-23): many seeds will come to naught. But we have to try, do we not?
And, by the way, would not the world be a vastly better place if many more people went about practicing the Golden Rule? Try it on a smaller scale; practice the Golden Rule among all those with whom you come into contact. Witness the results, in full knowledge that, in a “do unto others before they do unto you” world, you might experience what state intelligence agents call blowback, or unintended negative consequences. But God is the final judge about who is worthy. Let us not play God.
Chiefly, may we trust God. Abram trusted God some of the time, as do we. Decisions he made when he did not trust God had bad consequences–sometimes for himself and other times for others. And, as we attempt to live according to the Golden Rule, may we trust that God is just, that our judgment and knowledge are limited, and that loving God and respecting human dignity are always good standards of ethical behavior.
KRT
http://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2012/02/05/the-golden-rule/
ORDINARY TIME DEVOTIONS 
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