crying out

March 7, 2019

Jesus cures the son (Lk 9:42-9:42)

“While the boy

Was coming to Jesus,

The demon threw him down

With convulsions.

But Jesus rebuked

The unclean spirit.

He healed the boy.

He gave him back

To his father.”

 

ἔτι δὲ προσερχομένου αὐτοῦ ἔρρηξεν αὐτὸν τὸ δαιμόνιον καὶ συνεσπάραξεν· ἐπετίμησεν δὲ ὁ Ἰησοῦς τῷ πνεύματι τῷ ἀκαθάρτῳ, καὶ ἰάσατο τὸν παῖδα καὶ ἀπέδωκεν αὐτὸν τῷ πατρὶ αὐτοῦ.

 

Luke said that while the young man was coming to Jesus (ἔτι δὲ προσερχομένου αὐτοῦ), the demon threw him down to the ground (ἔρρηξεν αὐτὸν τὸ δαιμόνιον) with convulsions (καὶ συνεσπάραξεν).  But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit (πετίμησεν δὲ ὁ Ἰησοῦς τῷ πνεύματι τῷ ἀκαθάρτῳ).  He healed the boy (καὶ ἰάσατο τὸν παῖδα).  He gave him back to his father (καὶ ἀπέδωκεν αὐτὸν τῷ πατρὶ αὐτοῦ).  Both Matthew, chapter 17:18 and Luke here have a summary of a more detailed longer statement from Mark, chapter 9:20-27, about this mute epileptic boy.  Mark said that they brought the boy to Jesus.  However, when the evil spirit saw Jesus, it immediately convulsed the boy.  The boy fell on the ground and began to roll around, foaming at the mouth.  In fact, Jesus got to see what the father had described to him earlier.  Jesus asked the father of this boy how long had these convulsions been happening to him.  The father said that it had been happening since his childhood.  This evil spirit would often cast him into both fire and water, as Matthew had mentioned, in order to destroy him.  Then the father asked Jesus, if he was able to do anything to help his son.  He wanted Jesus to have pity and compassion on him and his son.  Jesus said to him that all things could be done for the one who believed.  Belief was the key ingredient for any success in this area.  The father of the child cried out that he believed, but he wanted help with his unbelief.  This was a strong statement of belief that also recognized unbelief at the same time.  Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit.  He directly commanded this unclean evil spirit that had kept this boy from speaking and hearing to come out of him, never again to enter him.  Jesus then got rid of the unclean spirit that was in this boy in a public act in front of a crowd.  After crying out and terribly convulsing the boy with spasms, the evil spirit came out of the boy, who became a corpse.  Most of the people said that the boy was dead.  Could this boy live without the evil spirit in him?  Jesus took the boy by the hand.  He lifted him up, so that he rose up, and was able to stand up on his feet by himself.  The boy was not dead.  There was a clear equivalence between the illness of epilepsy and demonic possession.  Once the devil or evil spirits had left the boy, he was cured of his various ailments.  Have you ever dealt with an epileptic?

October 2, 2018

Was the boy dead? (Mk 9:26-9:26)

“After crying out

And convulsing him

Terribly,

The spirit came out.

The boy was

Like a corpse.

Thus,

Most of them said.

‘He is dead.’”

 

καὶ κράξας καὶ πολλὰ σπαράξας ἐξῆλθεν· καὶ ἐγένετο ὡσεὶ νεκρὸς, ὥστε τοὺς πολλοὺς λέγειν ὅτι ἀπέθανεν.

 

This is unique to Mark.  After crying out (καὶ κράξας) and terribly convulsing the boy with spasms (καὶ πολλὰ σπαράξας), the evil spirit came out of the boy (ἐξῆλθεν), who became a corpse (ὡσεὶ νεκρὸς).  Most of the people said that the boy was dead. (ὥστε τοὺς πολλοὺς λέγειν ὅτι ἀπέθανεν).  Could this boy live without the evil spirit in him?

August 12, 2018

The voice in the wilderness (Mk 1:3-1:3)

“He is the voice

Of one crying out

In the wilderness.

‘Prepare the way

Of the Lord!

Make his paths

Straight!’”

 

φωνὴ βοῶντος ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ Ἑτοιμάσατε τὴν ὁδὸν Κυρίου, εὐθείας ποιεῖτε τὰς τρίβους αὐτοῦ,

 

Just as in Matthew, chapter 3:3, Mark has this citation from Isaiah about John the Baptist.  Both Mark and Matthew have this exact same quotation, word for word from Isaiah, chapter 40:3.  John, chapter 1:23, and Luke, chapter 3:4, have this very same quotation.  John used it as an explanation of who John the Baptist was.  Originally in Deutero-Isaiah, this was about preparing a new path or a way out of the Exile, just as there was the path of the Exodus.  In this wilderness or desert, they were to make a straight path, like a highway for God or the holy way to prepare a path for Yahweh.  However, it is clear that John the Baptist was the messenger being sent ahead.  He was a voice crying out in the wilderness (Φωνὴ βοῶντος ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ) to prepare the way of the Lord (Ἑτοιμάσατε τὴν ὁδὸν Κυρίου,).  He was going to make the paths straight (εὐθείας ποιεῖτε τὰς τρίβους αὐτοῦ).  Clearly, there was a connection between John the Baptist and Isaiah the prophet.

June 7, 2018

The chief priests were angry (Mt 21:15-21:15)

“The chief priests

And the Scribes

Saw the amazing things

That Jesus did.

The children were crying out

In the Temple.

‘Hosanna to the Son of David!’

They became angry.”

 

ἰδόντες δὲ οἱ ἀρχιερεῖς καὶ οἱ γραμματεῖς τὰ θαυμάσια ἃ ἐποίησεν καὶ τοὺς παῖδας τοὺς κράζοντας ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ καὶ λέγοντας Ὡσαννὰ τῷ υἱῷ Δαυείδ, ἠγανάκτησαν,

 

This is unique to Matthew, who said that the chief priests and the scribes saw all the amazing and wonderful things that Jesus did (ἰδόντες δὲ οἱ ἀρχιερεῖς καὶ οἱ γραμματεῖς τὰ θαυμάσια ἃ ἐποίησεν).  The children were crying out in the Temple (καὶ τοὺς παῖδας τοὺς κράζοντας ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ).  They were saying to Jesus “Hosanna to the son of David (καὶ λέγοντας Ὡσαννὰ τῷ υἱῷ Δαυείδ)!”  These little children seem to praise Jesus and ask him to save them.  Obviously, this made the priests and scribes angry (ἠγανάκτησαν).  Matthew always pitted the Jewish leaders against Jesus since Jesus seemed to challenge their authority.

October 5, 2017

They have turned against God (Hos 7:14-7:16)

“They do not cry to me

From the heart.

But they wail

Upon their beds.

They gash themselves

For grain,

For wine.

They rebel against me.

I trained them.

I strengthened

Their arms.

Yet they devise evil

Against me.

They turn to Baal,

A useless unprofitable god.

They have become

Like a defective bow.

Their officials

Shall fall

By the sword,

Because of the rage

Of their tongues.

So much for babbling

In the land of Egypt.”

The Israelites were not crying out to Yahweh from their hearts. Instead they were weeping and wailing in their own beds. They gashed themselves that had been forbidden by the law of Moses, hoping for grain and wine. They had rebelled against Yahweh. Yet it was Yahweh who had trained them and strengthened their arms. However, they continually devised evil against Yahweh, turning to the useless Baal gods. They had become defective bows that could not shoot arrows. Thus, their officials would fall by the sword. Their raging tongues sent them babbling to the Egyptians.

January 29, 2017

Desolate Moab towns (Jer 48:34-48:34)

“Heshbon cries out.

Elealeh cries out.

As far as Jahaz,

They utter their voice,

From Zoar

To Horonaim,

To Eglath-shelishiyah.

Even the waters of Nimrim

Have become desolate.”

This continues with the same ideas as in Isaiah, chapter 15. Everybody was crying out from the towns of Heshbon and Elealeh, in the Israelite Reuben territory, upper Moab. This crying could be heard 25 miles away north in Jahaz, a Levitical city near Gilead that was given to Gad in Joshua, chapter 21. These Moabite fugitives fled south to the tip of the Dead Sea near Zoar, which is on the southeast end of the Dead Sea. They also fled to the surrounding towns of Eglath-shelishiyah and Horonaim, near the ascent of the Luhith hills, in southern Moab near Zoar. The cries of the Moabites could be heard everywhere. The waters of Nimrim were desolate with nothing growing beside it. Only Jeremiah and Isaiah make any reference to these waters of Nimrim.

November 6, 2016

Yahweh is not listening (Jer 11:14-11:14)

“As for you,

Do not pray for this people!

Do not lift up a cry!

Do not lift up a prayer

On their behalf!

I will not listen

When they call to me

In the time of their trouble.”

Yahweh told Jeremiah not to waste his time praying or crying out for these people. He was not to lift up a prayer for them. Yahweh was not going to listen when they called him if they were in trouble.

August 27, 2016

The sign of the sundial (Isa 38:7-38:8)

“Isaiah said.

‘This is the sign to you

From Yahweh.

Yahweh will do this thing

That he has promised.

See!

I will make the shadow

Cast by the declining sun

On the dial of Ahaz

Turn back ten steps.’

So the sun turned back

On the dial

The ten steps

By which it had declined.”

This passage seems out of place here, since the healing of King Hezekiah is at the end of this chapter. This backwards moving of the sundial is the sign that Isaiah was to give to King Hezekiah. Instead of Isaiah crying out, this is an abbreviated version of what appeared to 2 Kings, chapter 20, with just the simple statement of Isaiah. This sundial had been installed by King Hezekiah’s father, King Ahaz (736-716 BCE). Since moving forward would not be difficult and was normal. However, if the shadow moved backward, that would be a strange. Thus the sundial moved back 10 intervals, indicating that the sun had moved backwards, which would have been miraculous. If they only knew that the earth was moving and not the sun, they would have been even more astonished.

February 17, 2016

The weary man (Prov 30:1-30:1)

“Thus says the man.

I am weary.

O God!

I am weary.

O God!

How can I prevail?”

This is the opening statement of Agur. Some have interpreted this as the names of people, Ithiel and Ucal. Nevertheless, this is a weary man who is crying out to God. Notice that it is not Yahweh. He wants to know how he can prevail in this life.