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January 1, 2019

Judah and Perez (Lk 3:33-3:33)

“The son of Amminadab,

The son of Admin,

The son of Arni,

The son of Hezron,

The son of Perez,

The son of Judah.”

 

τοῦ Ἀμιναδὰβ τοῦ Ἀδμεὶν τοῦ Ἀρνεὶ τοῦ Ἐσρὼμ τοῦ Φαρὲς τοῦ Ἰούδα

 

The two genealogies of Matthew and Luke are almost the same from Judah to Amminadab.  Luke listed them as Nahshon, the son of Amminadab (τοῦ Ἀμιναδὰβ), the son of Admin (τοῦ Ἀδμεὶν), the son of Arni (τοῦ Ἀρνεὶ), the son of Hezron (τοῦ Ἐσρὼμ), the son of Perez (τοῦ Φαρὲς), the son of Judah (τοῦ Ἰούδα).  Clearly, Judah had become the dominant tribe by the time of Jesus.  The story of the children for Judah is a very interesting tale as portrayed in Genesis, chapter 38.  Judah married a Canaanite woman named Bathshuah in Adullam.  They had three sons, Er, Onan, and Shelah.  Then the story got more complicated.  Judah found a lady named Tamar to be a wife for his first-born wicked son Er, whom Yahweh put to death.  Then Judah sent Onan, his second son, to produce children for his brother from Tamar, Er’s wife.  However, Onan spilled his semen on the ground, so that he would not have any children.  Thus, Yahweh put him to death also.  Judah then told Tamar to live as a widow in her father’s house, until his youngest son Shelah was older and able to marry her.  Tamar, in the meantime, saw that Shelah had grown up, but was not being offered in marriage to her.  She decided to throw off her widow garments, put a veil on, and sit on the road from Adullam to Timnah.  Now Judah, whose wife Bathshuah had died, was on this same road and thought that she was a prostitute, because her face was covered.  He gave her his signature ring and the cord as a pledge that he would pay her later for her sexual favors.  They had sex and she conceived by him.  Three months later, Judah found out that his daughter-in-law Tamar was pregnant as a result of prostitution.  He wanted her immediately burned, but she told Judah that the owner of a ring and cord made her pregnant.  Judah admitted that she was right.  Tamar then had twins from this pregnancy, Perez and Zerah, who disputed about who was the first out of the womb.  Interesting enough, the line of Judah would have died out without this prostitute episode.  Thus, the sacred lineage of Judah goes through a father-in-law having paid sex with his daughter-in-law, Tamar, who was a Canaanite.  According to Genesis, chapter 46:12, Perez, the son of Judah, had 2 sons, Hezron and Hamul. who went with Jacob to Egypt.  From 1 Chronicles, chapter 2:9-17, we learn about the linage of Hezron.  He had 3 sons, Jerahmeel, Aram, and Chelubai.  This Aram, Arni, or Ram was the father of Aminadab or Amminadab.  Luke added an Admin who is not found elsewhere or maybe another name for Ram.  Amminadab had a daughter, Elisheba, who married Aaron, the brother of Moses, in Exodus, chapter 6:23.  Amminadab was the father of Nahshon, the brother-in-law of Aaron and Moses.

December 14, 2018

The child of Elizabeth (Lk 1:36-1:37)

“Now,

Your relative

Elizabeth

Has also conceived

A son,

In her old age.

This is the sixth month

For her

Who was said

To be barren.

Nothing is impossible

With God.”

 

καὶ ἰδοὺ Ἐλεισάβετ ἡ συγγενίς σου καὶ αὐτὴ συνείληφεν υἱὸν ἐν γήρει αὐτῆς, καὶ οὗτος μὴν ἕκτος ἐστὶν αὐτῇ τῇ καλουμένῃ στείρᾳ·

ὅτι οὐκ ἀδυνατήσει παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ πᾶν ῥῆμα

 

Next Luke made the connection between the upcoming birth of Jesus and that of John.  Elizabeth, although older, was a relative of Mary.  She could have been an aunt of a second cousin.  Their age differences would not make them first cousins.  Besides, they lived in different areas, Galilee and Judea.  Elizabeth was a daughter of Aaron, but there was no such claim for Mary.  Was this an attempt to link Mary to the Levitical priesthood via her Levitical relative?  Perhaps Luke wanted to show a closer relationship between John and Jesus.  Luke indicated that the Angel Gabriel told Mary about his previous mission to Zechariah and Elizabeth.  He told Mary that her relative Elizabeth (καὶ ἰδοὺ Ἐλεισάβετ ἡ συγγενίς σου) had also conceived a son (καὶ αὐτὴ συνείληφεν υἱὸν), in her old age (ἐν γήρει αὐτῆς).  She was, in fact, already six months pregnant (καὶ οὗτος μὴν ἕκτος ἐστὶν αὐτῇ).  Elizabeth had been called barren or sterile (τῇ καλουμένῃ στείρᾳ).  The Angel Gabriel concluded that nothing was impossible with God (ὅτι οὐκ ἀδυνατήσει παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ πᾶν ῥῆμα).  He could overcome old age and virginity to produce a son, just like Sarah in Genesis, chapter 18:14.  Now the plan of God was clear to Mary.  She had no reason to fear anything.

February 17, 2018

Source criticism

Critical study of the biblical sources is an attempt to trace the oral traditions before they were written down, since practically every oral story was older than its written text.  Thus, literary criticism in biblical studies has been designated as source criticism.  Examples of this include the Pentateuch four source theory and the two-source theory for the Gospels of Matthew and Luke.

April 24, 2017

Remember the covenant (Ezek 16:61-16:63)

“‘Then you will remember

Your ways.

You will be ashamed

When I take

Your sisters,

Both your elder

As well as your younger.

I will give them

To you

As daughters,

But not on account

Of my covenant

With you.

I will establish

My covenant

With you.

You shall know

That I am Yahweh.

Thus you may remember.

Thus you may be confounded.

Never open

Your mouth again

Because of your shame!

I will forgive you

All that you have done.’

Says Yahweh God.”

Yahweh told Jerusalem that she would remember her wicked ways. She should be ashamed. Yahweh was going to give her younger and older sister, Samaria and Sodom, as daughters to her, but not because of a covenant. Yahweh was going to establish his covenant with Jerusalem. She would know that he was Yahweh. She would remember that and be confounded. Jerusalem was never again to open her mouth because of her shame. Yahweh was going to forgive her for all that she had done.

August 4, 2016

Oracle against Sidon (Isa 23:2-23:4)

“Be still!

O inhabitants of the coast!

O merchants of Sidon!

Your messengers crossed

Over the sea.

They replenished you.

They were on many waters.

Your revenue

Was the grain of Shihor,

The harvest of the Nile.

You were

The merchant of the nations.

Be ashamed!

O Sidon!

The sea has spoken.

The fortress of the sea says.

‘I have neither labored

Nor given birth.

I have neither reared young men

Nor brought up young women.’”

Sidon was another Phoenician city about 25 miles north of Tyre. This maritime city is also on the southern Lebanon coastline today, mostly known for its fishing and trade. Sidon was also the name of the grandson of Noah, and thus older than Tyre. This oracle of Isaiah wants the people of Sidon to be still. Their sailors had traveled the great seas. In fact, they would bring the harvest of grain from the Nile via Shihor, a port town near Zoan in Egypt. They were the sea merchants to all the countries along the Mediterranean Sea. However, they should be ashamed. Sidon was going to be barren, no longer would young men and women be raised in Sidon, but without any explanation on why this was going to happen here.

April 18, 2016

Dreams of death (Wis 18:17-18:19)

“Then at once

Apparitions in dreadful dreams

Greatly troubled them.

Unexpected fears assailed them.

One here

Another there,

They were hurled down half dead.

They were made known why they were dying.

The dreams that disturbed them

Forewarned them of this.

Thus they might not perish

Without knowing Why they suffered.”

Apparently, this section is not really tied to the Exodus story, but does concern the problem of death. It is not clear what this refers to since most of the first-born killed were infants and not capable of knowing why they were perishing. However, it could have been the first-born grown children of some families whose first-born would have been older and thus capable of understanding what was happening. Anyway, dreadful or fearful (φόβοι) dreams or apparitions (φαντασίαι) definitely troubled these people before they were hurled half dead. They knew why they were dying because they had been warned. They knew why they were suffering.

July 25, 2015

Elihu was afraid to speak because of his young age (Job 32:6-32:10)

“Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite answered.

‘I am young in years.

You are aged.

Therefore I was timid and afraid

To declare my opinion to you.

I said.

‘Let days speak!

Let many years teach wisdom!’

But truly it is the Spirit in a mortal,

The breath of the Almighty Shaddai,

That makes him understand.

It is not the old that are wise.

The aged do not understand what is right.

Therefore I say.

‘Listen to me!

Let me also declare my opinion!’”

Elihu said that he was young, which is why he had not spoken yet. The others were older so that he was timid and afraid to insert his opinion. He had hoped that he could learn from their wisdom. However, their so-called aged wisdom was lacking. It was the breath and the Spirit of the almighty Shaddai that brought understanding and wisdom. Elihu went on the offensive as he said that old people are not wise. They do not understand what is right. He wanted them to listen to him and his opinion.

July 24, 2015

The intervention of the angry Elihu (Job 32:1-32:5)

“So these three men ceased to answer Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes. Then Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, became angry. He was angry at Job because he justified himself rather than God. He was angry also at Job’s three friends because they had found no answer, although they had declared Job to be in the wrong. Elihu had waited to speak to Job because they were older than him. When Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouths of these three men, he became angry.”

Now this author goes back to prose. This discourse of Elihu is often seen as an insertion in this book because it has a different style with many Aramaic words. On the other hand, it may be an answer to Job, before God answered him later. Who was this Elihu? One of Samuel’s ancestors in 1 Samuel, chapter 1, had the same name. This Elihu was a Buzite, someone from Buz, which was the name of the son of Nahor in Genesis, chapter 22. Thus Buz was the nephew of Abraham. His family probably migrated to Edom. As he is from the family of Ram he maybe an Aramean. He was angry at Job because he had spent too much time self-justifying himself rather than God. He was angry at the 3 friends since they had no solution to the problem of Job. As he was younger than the others, he waited his turn to speak until they were all done. Whether he observed all this, or just happened by is not clear from the text. He seems to imply that suffering can teach us things about God.

July 10, 2015

Eliphaz ridicules Job (Job 15:7-15:16)

“Are you the first man that was born?

Were you brought forth before the hills?

Have you listened in the council of God?

Do you limit wisdom to yourself?

What do you know that we do not know?

What do you understand that is not clear to us?

The gray-haired and the aged are on our side.

Those people are older than your father.

Are the consolations of God too small for you?

Are the word that deals gently with you too small for you?

Why does your heart carry you away?

Why do your eyes flash?

You turn your spirit against God.

You let such words go out of your mouth.

What are mortals?

Can mortals be clean?

God puts no trust even in his holy ones.

The heavens are not clean in his sight.

How much less one who is abominable and corrupt!

You are a man who drinks iniquity like water!”

Eliphaz now ridicules Job. He wanted to know if he was the first person born so that he was older than the hills. Was he some kind of conciliar to God? Did he think that he was the only person with wisdom? Did he think that he was smarter than everyone else? There were a lot older people living longer than Job’s father. Was God too small for Job? Why did he have flashing eyes? Why has he turned against God? Why has be spoken such words? Any mortal born of a woman is unclean and not righteous. God does not even trust his holy angels in heaven because there is uncleanness there. Job was drinking iniquity like water. Once again, this is a harsh condemnation of Job.