tumult

February 26, 2019

Jesus said that she was sleeping (Lk 8:52-8:52)

“They were all weeping.

And wailing

For her.

But Jesus said.

‘Do not weep!

She is not dead,

But sleeping.’”

 

ἔκλαιον δὲ πάντες καὶ ἐκόπτοντο αὐτήν. ὁ δὲ εἶπεν Μὴ κλαίετε· οὐκ ἀπέθανεν ἀλλὰ καθεύδει.

 

Luke said that all the people were weeping and wailing for the young girl (ἔκλαιον δὲ πάντες καὶ ἐκόπτοντο αὐτήν).  However, Jesus told them (ὁ δὲ εἶπεν) not to weep (Μὴ κλαίετε).  She was not dead (οὐκ ἀπέθανεν), but sleeping (ἀλλὰ καθεύδει).  This episode of the crowd outside the house of Jairus with the dead or sleeping girl is similar to what can be found in Mark, chapter 5:38-39, and Matthew, chapter 9:23-24.  Mark said that Jesus came to the house of this synagogue leader, where he saw this crowd commotion.  The people were weeping and wailing loudly, definitely mourning for the dead young girl.  Jesus then asked them why they were making such a big tumult?  Why were they weeping?  The girl was not dead, but only sleeping.  Matthew said that Jesus arrived at this leader’s house, where he saw the mourning flute players.  This is the only time that this word for flute players (αὐλητὰς) is found in the biblical literature.  Neither Mark or Luke mentioned anything about flute players.  The crowd was agitated.  Jesus told them to go away, since the girl was not dead, but only sleeping.  How do you handle the death of others?

May 9, 2017

The punishment for the city (Ezek 22:3-22:5)

“You shall say!

Thus says Yahweh God!

‘A city!

It sheds blood

Within itself!

Its time has come!

It is making idols.

It defiles itself.

You have become guilty

By the blood

That you have shed.

You have become defiled

By the idols

That you have made.

You have brought

Your day near.

The appointed time

Of your years

Has come.

Therefore,

I have made you

A disgrace

Before the nations.

I have made you

A mockery

To all the countries.

Those who are near,

Those who are far

From you,

Will mock you.

You infamous one!

You are

Full of tumult!’”

Yahweh told Ezekiel to speak to the city of Jerusalem because it was shedding blood within itself. Its time has come. It had been making idols and defiling itself. They have become guilty by the blood that they have shed. They have brought their day of punishment nearer. The appointed time of their years has come to an end. Yahweh was going to make them a disgrace and a mockery among the various nations and countries, whether they were near or far. Everyone would mock them as the infamous place full of tumult.

April 3, 2017

The end has come (Ezek 7:5-7:7)

“Thus says Yahweh God!

‘Disaster after disaster!

See!

It comes!

An end has come!

The end has come!

It has awakened

Against you!

See!

It comes!

Your doom has

Come to you!

O inhabitant of the land!

The time has come!

The day is near!

The day of tumult!

This is not a day

Of reveling

On the mountains.’”

Yahweh continued with his message of doom to Ezekiel. The end time has come upon them with disaster after disaster. In case Ezekiel did not get the message, Yahweh repeated himself again and again. The end has come! They are doomed. The inhabitants of the land should realize that their time has come to an end because the end day is near. This day was full of tumult, not for reveling on the mountains.

August 18, 2016

Restoration of Zion (Isa 33:3-33:6)

“At the sound of tumult,

People flee.

Before your majesty,

Nations scattered.

Spoil was gathered

As the caterpillar gathers.

As locusts leap,

They leaped upon it.

Yahweh is exalted.

He dwells on high.

He will fill Zion with justice.

He will fill Zion with righteousness.

He will be

The stability of your times,

The abundance of salvation,

The wisdom,

The knowledge.

The fear of Yahweh

Is Zion’s treasure.”

Clearly Yahweh was in charge. People and nations were fleeing before his majesty and the sound of tumult. They were gathering the spoils of the fleeing people like caterpillars, slow but sure. They were like locusts over everything. Yahweh was exalted on Mount Zion because of justice and righteousness. Yahweh brought stability to Mount Zion. There was an abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge. There was a final emphasis on the fear of the Lord as the great treasure at Mount Zion.

August 4, 2016

The day of confusion (Isa 22:5-22:8)

“Yahweh,

The God of hosts,

Has a day Of tumult,

Of trampling,

Of confusion

In the valley of Hinnom.

There is

A battering down of walls.

There is

A cry for help in the mountains.

Elam bore the quiver

With chariots,

With cavalry.

Kir uncovered the shield.

Your choicest valleys

Were full of chariots.

The cavalry

Took their stand

At the gates.

He has taken away

The covering of Judah.”

A lot of the action took place in the valley of Hinnom, outside the walls of Jerusalem on this invasion day, where there was tumult, trampling, and confusion. The walls of Jerusalem came tumbling down. There was a cry for help that went out from the mountains, but it was not good enough. Elam, the Assyrians, used their bows and arrows. They had chariots and cavalry, while the Moabite mercenary men from Kir had shields. The beautiful valleys of Judah were full of these foreign chariots. Meanwhile, the Assyrian cavalry stood at the gates as Judah was no longer protecting Jerusalem.

April 12, 2016

Evil consequences of the worship of false idols (Wis 14:22-14:26)

“Then it was not enough for them to err

About the knowledge of God,

But they lived in great strife due to ignorance.

They called such great evils peace.

Whether they killed children in their initiations,

Or celebrated secret mysteries,

Or held frenzied revels with strange customs,

They no longer keep

Either their lives pure

Or their marriages pure.

But they either treacherously killed one another,

Or grieved one another by adultery.

All was a raging riot

Of blood,

Of murder,

Of theft,

Of deceit,

Of corruption,

Of faithlessness,

Of tumult,

Of perjury.

There was confusion over what was good.

There was forgetfulness of favors.

There was pollution of souls.

There was sex perversion.

There was disorder in marriage.

There was adultery.

There was debauchery.”

What happens to those who worship false idols? They were ignorant of God (περὶ τὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ γνῶσιν). However, they lived in great strife and called it peace. They killed their children in strange initiation ceremonies. They celebrated secret mysteries (μυστήρια) with strange customs. Their lives and marriages were no longer pure. They killed each other. They committed adultery among themselves. They ended up in a riot of blood and murder. There was theft, deceit, corruption, faithfulness, tumult, perjury, sexual perversion, adultery, and debauchery. They did not know what was good.   They forgot favors. They defiled their souls.

August 1, 2015

Yahweh questions Job about wild asses (Job 39:5-39:8)

“Who has let the wild ass go free?

Who has loosed the bonds of the swift ass?

I have given the steppe for its home.

I have given the salt land for its dwelling place.

It scorns the tumult of the city.

It does not hear the shouts of the driver.

It ranges the mountains as its pasture.

It searches after every green thing.”

Once again there is a series of questions and answers about wild animals. This time it is the wild donkeys. Why are they so fast? Yahweh has given them a home in the steppe and the salt land. They live far from the tumult of the city and the shouts of drivers. They pasture in the mountains seeking green things. Somehow Yahweh wants to show the importance of wild animals.

June 27, 2015

The victory celebration (2 Macc 15:29-15:35)

“Then there was shouting and tumult. They blessed the Sovereign Lord in the language of their ancestors. Then the man, who was in body and soul the defender of his people, the man who maintained his youthful goodwill toward his compatriots, ordered them to cut off Nicanor’s head and his arm. They were to carry them to Jerusalem. When he arrived there, he called his compatriots together. He stationed the priests before the altar. He sent for those who were in the citadel. He showed them the vile Nicanor’s head and that profane man’s arm. This was the arm that had been boastfully stretched out against the holy house of the all powerful one. He cut out the tongue of the ungodly Nicanor. He said that he would give it piecemeal to the birds. He would hang up these rewards of his folly opposite the sanctuary. They all, looking to heaven, blessed the Lord who had manifested himself, saying.

‘Blessed is he who has kept his own place undefiled.’

Judas Maccabeus hung Nicanor’s head from the citadel, a clear and conspicuous sign to every one of the help of the Lord.”

Once again, this is similar to 1 Maccabees, chapter 7. In both 1 and 2 Maccabees, they cut off the head and the arm of Nicanor. Here they also cut out his tongue in the presence of the men from the citadel. As in 1 Maccabees, they hung the head of Nicanor, but here it is more specific from the hated citadel. Here there is more praise for Judas Maccabeus as the defender with good will towards his people. Here they pray in the language of their ancestors that may have been Hebrew, instead of the common language of Aramaic. As usual they were happy that the Temple had remained undefiled.

May 24, 2015

Simon takes Gazara (1 Macc 13:43-13:48)

“In those days Simon encamped against Gazara. He surrounded it with troops. He made a siege engine. He brought it up to the city so that he battered and captured one tower. The men in the siege engine leaped out into the city as a great tumult arose in the city. The men in the city, with their wives and children, went up on the wall with their clothes torn. They cried out with a loud voice, asking Simon to make peace with them. They said.

‘Do not treat us according to our wicked acts

But according to your mercy.’

So Simon reached an agreement with them. He stopped fighting against them. However, he expelled them from the city. He cleansed the houses in which the idols were located. He then entered it with hymns and praise. He removed all the wickedness from it. He settled in it men who observed the law. He also strengthened its fortifications. He then built in it a house for himself.”

Apparently this Gazara was Gaza. Simon surrounded it with his troops.   The siege war engine was like a tower on wheels with catapults and battering rams that could break fortifications. As the people in Gaza saw this, they tore their clothes and asked for mercy. Simon decided not to kill them, but to expel them from the Gaza strip. He then put law abiding Jewish people there and built a house for himself. Does that sound familiar? Before he entered the city of Gaza, he cleansed the houses that had idols so that all the wicked things were gone when he entered the town singing hymns.

April 1, 2015

The dream of Mordecai (Greek text only)

“This was the dream of Mordecai. Noise and confusion, thunders and earthquake, tumult upon the earth! Then two great dragons came forward, both ready to fight. They roared terribly! At their roaring every nation prepared for war, to fight against the righteous nation. It was a day of darkness and gloom, of tribulation and distress, affliction and great tumult upon the earth! The whole righteous nation was troubled. They feared the evils that threatened them. They were ready to perish. Then they cried out to God. At their outcry, as though from a tiny spring, there came a great river, with abundant water. Light came. The sun rose. The lowly were exalted. They devoured those held in honor.”

This Jewish Persian court official Mordecai had a dream. Would it be like the dream of Martin Luther King? This dream is about a time of confusion, thunder, earthquakes, and tumult on the earth. 2 great dragons came forward and roared. With these 2 dragons, everyone got together to fight a righteous nation. It was a dark gloomy day as the righteous nation was troubled and afraid of these threats. However, they cried out with a great cry to God. Suddenly, there was a spring of water than became a great river with abundant water. The sunrise brought great light so that the lowly were exalted. They then devoured those who were held in honor. Obviously, this is some kind of parable about a righteous nation.