Friday, May 13<\/b><\/p>\n
Ezekiel 28: This chapter contains two oracles: one against Tyre, the other against the Phoenician city of Sidon. In the first, no particular king of Tyre is indicated; the message is directed, rather, at that monarchy itself, as an embodiment of wealth and power in idolatrous rebellion against God. Idolatries of wealth invariably become idolatries of power, and in this respect it is significant that the king of Tyre is also indicted for cruelty.<\/p>\n
The king, in addition, represented the nation itself, given over to economic aggrandizement and the love of power. As in individuals, so in nations, economic prosperity tends to breed pride, and Tyre, as we have seen, was very prosperous. Quite self-satisfied, it was no longer subject to the Divine Authority that rightly holds sway over the nations, whose eternal law is written into the structure of the world as binding on all men, and before whose Throne the peoples of the earth will in due course be summoned for judgment.<\/p>\n
Tyre, in short, thought of itself as a god, and in this respect it was a political form of man\u2019s initial rebellion in Eden. Satan had tempted Tyre as he had tempted Eve, and Tyre, succumbing to the temptation, now thought itself a god. Fallen like Adam, Tyre must now be expelled from the rock garden of Eden. \u201cStones of fire\u201d (28:13f)\u2014a most striking image\u2014pictures the gold and precious stones of Genesis 2:11f as still being in their molten stage, still radiant with the heat that formed them. (Those stones will appear again in the final chapters of the Book of Revelation.)<\/p>\n
The second oracle in this chapter, directed against the Phoenicians\u2019 alternate capital of Sidon, is supplemented by a prose message of hope, renewal, and restoration for Israel. The editorial juxtaposition of these texts creates a literary irony that opposes Tyre\u2019s expulsion from the garden of Eden with Israel\u2019s restoration to its land to plant and care for its vines (verse 26). No longer will Israel be obliged to contend with the thorns and briars of Adam\u2019s fall (verse 24).<\/p>\n
Psalms 33 (Greek & Latin 32): Here, for the first time, the Book of Psalms uses an important expression\u2014\u201cnew song,\u201d shir chadash<\/i>—which will later appear four more times in the Psalter and once in Isaiah: \u201cSing to Him a new song\u201d (see Psalms 96:1; 98:1; 144:9; 149:1; Is. 42:10). The praise of the righteous, of the just man to whom the Lord imputes no guilt and in whose mouth is no deceit, is characterized by a particular kind of newness, of renewal, of new life, inasmuch as \u201cHe who sat on the throne said, \u2018Behold, I make all things new\u2019\u201d (Rev. 21:5). The song of the believers is always a new song, because it springs from an inner divine font. It is the song of those who are born again in Christ and therefore \u201cwalk in newness of life\u201d (Rom. 6:4). The song of the Lord\u2019s redeemed is a new song, for they adhere to the new covenant in Christ\u2019s blood and \u201cserve in the newness of the Spirit\u201d (Rom. 7:6).<\/p>\n
All Christian praise of God is a participation in the liturgy of heaven where the saints gather in glory about the Lamb in the presence of the Throne. According to Revelation 5:9, our \u201cnew song\u201d has to do with the opening of the seals of the great scroll by the Lamb who gave His life for our redemption: \u201cYou are worthy to take the scroll, \/ And to open its seals; \/ For You were slain, \/ And have redeemed us to God by Your blood.\u201d The new song is for those who have been made \u201ckings and priests to our God\u201d (5:10). The new song is \u201cthe song of the Lamb\u201d (15:3). The new song, according to Revelation 14:1\u20133, is sung by the redeemed as they gather about the Lamb on Mount Zion. This is the folk of whom our psalm says: \u201cBlessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people He has chosen as His own inheritance.\u201d<\/p>\n
Saturday, May 14<\/b><\/p>\n
Ezekiel 29: The prophet\u2019s attention is now turned southward, to Egypt, the land where Israel of old had first learned the ways of idolatry. In Ezekiel\u2019s eyes Egypt is worthy of special blame for enticing Judah into rebellion against Babylon (verse 16).<\/p>\n
This first oracle (29:1-16) was delivered on January 7, 587 (verse 1), when the siege against Jerusalem was in progress. Two years earlier, in 589, King Zedekiah of Judah had turned to Egypt for help against Babylon. In response, Pharaoh Hophra (known outside the Bible as Apries, 589-570) sent an army, which had temporarily driven off the Babylonians and made Jerusalem feel safe. But when the Babylonians came back in force, the Egyptian army fled, and the siege was renewed in earnest (cf. Jeremiah 37:5-10). Such were the events that prompted the present condemnation of Egypt, a nation that proved to be a broken reed. (To complete our story of him, Hophra was not fortunate in his attempts to help his allies. The Greeks at Cyrene later defeated him when he tried to come to the aid of his friends the Libyans. In 570 he was deposed by Amasis [\u2019Ahmose-si-neit], who replaced him as pharaoh and reigned from 570-526.)<\/p>\n
In Ezekiel\u2019s present oracle, the pharaoh embodies the nation, just as the king of Tyre represented the Phoenicians in the previous chapter and, like the king of Tyre, the pharaoh, too, is condemned for his arrogance. The dragon of the Nile, the crocodile, is the pharaoh\u2019s mythic symbol, which also represents the ancient serpent of Eden (cf. Revelation 12). As the kingdom of Judah was beginning to sink, it had unwisely reached out and grabbed this reed to keep from drowning, but the reed broke at once.<\/p>\n
For Egypt\u2019s sin Ezekiel prophesies forty years of suffering, including refugee status for many of its citizens. Never again, says Ezekiel, will Egypt be a great political power.<\/p>\n
This chapter\u2019s second oracle, much shorter (verses 17-21), was delivered much later, on April 26, 571. Indeed, this is the latest of all the oracles for which Ezekiel provides a specific date. According to the historian Josephus, the Babylonians had maintained a siege of thirteen years against Tyre, and by 571 the siege had ended without Ezekiel\u2019s predicted fall of Tyre (verse 18). We may imagine what this circumstance did to Ezekiel\u2019s reputation as a prophet. Had not Deuteronomy commanded that a prophet be stoned to death if his prophecy did not come to pass?<\/p>\n
Ezekiel addresses these concerns in the present oracle, arguing that the Lord would give Egypt to the Babylonians in recompense for their failure to take Tyre (verses 19-20). In short, the Lord is free to change His mind. In this instance the evils prophesied against Tyre have been transferred to Egypt. Prophecy, which is, after all, a great deal more than factual prediction, is often founded on an hypothesis\u2014an \u201cif\u201d\u2014even though that \u201cif\u201d may be only implicit. We recall that Jonah learned this lesson in his dealings with the Ninevites.<\/p>\n
Sunday, May 15<\/b><\/p>\n
1 Corinthians 12.12-19: Continuing to address the schismatic spirit at Corinth in the the more recent chapters of this epistle, Paul has concentrated on the \u201cgood order\u201d (taxsis<\/i>) requisite in Christian congregational worship. In chapter ten, he began to focus his attention on the Lord\u2019s Supper, that solemn rite around which all of Christian worship is centered—from which it flows and towards which it tends.<\/p>\n
In the mystery of the Lord\u2019s bodily presence in the Eucharist, Paul found the source of the unity of the Church. Jesus had identified the eucharistic bread as his own body. Jesus said it; Paul believed it. Moreover, he took it as a starting point to address the problems at Corinth: \u201cThe bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ (koinonia tou somatos tou Christou<\/i>)? For we many are one bread, one body, because we all partake of that one bread\u201d (10.16-17).<\/p>\n
When Paul speaks of the Church as the body of Christ, he does not understand this as a figurative or metaphorical speech, no more that Jesus, when he spoke of eating his body as a figure or metaphor. Jesus\u2019 \u201chard saying\u201d (skleros estin ho logos toutos<\/i>) in John 6.60 becomes, for Paul, a principle of ecclesiology. If all of us truly eat the body of Christ, then, in some way passing understanding, we all become<\/i> the body of Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n
And if we are<\/i> the body of Christ, Paul continues in these verses, Christian unity is organic. Each Christian is to find, in the body of Christ, the specific place and ministry that God has assigned him, because the parts of any body are diverse.<\/p>\n
Ezekiel 30: There are two parts in this chapter, the first of which (verses 1-19) is a series of short oracles directed against the cities of Egypt and Sudan (Kush, which is inaccurately translated as Ethiopia in several modern versions), to regions with close political and economic ties.<\/p>\n
The second part (30:20-26) is an oracle delivered on April 29, 587 (verse 20). The \u201cbroken arm\u201d of the pharaoh refers to the recent defeat of the Egyptian army near Jerusalem when that army was driven away by the Babylonians who had returned to renew their siege of the city. Egypt, Ezekiel foresees, will share in Judah\u2019s exile in some measure.<\/p>\n
It is not surprising that some ancient Christian liturgical texts took inspiration from this chapter, especially verse 13, to speak of Jesus\u2019 flight into Egypt as narrated by St. Matthew.<\/p>\n
Monday, May 16<\/b><\/p>\n
1 Corinthians 12.20-31: The Church of Jesus Christ is not an abstract, spiritual entity. It is not some general conceptual reality. It is a concrete, visible organism. (Purely spiritual realities, invisible realities, do not have the sorts of problems prevalent at Corinth.) The Church is an \u201corganized\u201d religion, in the sense of an \u201corganism,\u201d originally a Greek word (organismos<\/i>) derived from the noun, organon<\/i>, meaning \u201cinstrument.\u201d An instrument, an organon<\/i>, is something constructed according to a plan and for a purpose. Just as the growing fetus growing in the womb, even at the zygote stage, is not just a mass of disorganized cells, so the members of the Church are not just a bunch of individuals thrown together. Their unity is organic; they belong to a concrete reality, constructed according to a plan and for a purpose.<\/p>\n
The Church is the body<\/i> of Christ, not the soul; it is a corporate<\/i> entity, \u201cknit together by joints and ligaments\u201d (Colossians 2.19); it is \u201cthe whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the construction of itself in love\u201d (Ephesians 4.16).<\/p>\n
It is of the essence of a \u201cbody,\u201d says Paul, that the parts of it work together, each organ, limb, and cell taking care of one another. This is the model he holds out to the Corinthians.<\/p>\n
Ezekiel 31: The oracle in this chapter is dated June 21, 587 B.C. (verse 1). It is constructed of a lengthy and highly detailed poem describing Egypt as a large, imperial tree, dominating the landscape and offering shelter to all the nations (31:1-9). In his portrayal of this tree, Ezekiel once again resorts to the imagery of paradise (verses 8-9).<\/p>\n
This poem is followed by a commentary in prose (verses 10-18), prophesying the downfall of Egypt. The great height of the tree, reaching up into the clouds, symbolizes man\u2019s political and economic endeavors to attain heaven on earth by his own resources. To Ezekiel it is a symbol of arrogance, which he describes in terms reminiscent of the Tower of Babel. The cedar, which in olden times was symbolic of great longevity, represents man\u2019s quest for a utopian permanence, a quest common to political idolatry.<\/p>\n
Throughout the entire chapter the reader will observe in particular the image of water, bearing in mind Egypt\u2019s long-time reliance on the Nile River and its highly developed system of irrigation.<\/p>\n
Tuesday, May 17<\/b><\/p>\n
1 Corinthians 13.1-13: It is a is stark fact that Paul accords the supremacy to love, not to faith. Let me suggest that if Paul had not made this point explicitly, there is reason to suspect that certain later readers of his epistles might have concluded, “and the greatest of these is faith.” My speculation here is justified by the plain fact that some of Paul’s later readers really did attempt to condense his teaching on justification by coining the expression “faith alone.”<\/p>\n
Whereas Paul never claims, “faith loves all things,” he emphatically does assert, “love believes<\/i> all things.” What else can this mean except that real Christian love—agape<\/i>—-includes faith?<\/p>\n
I would not insist on this point, except that Paul himself appears to do so when, by way of hypothesis, he speaks of faith without love: “. . . and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing” (13:2). That is to say, Paul is able to conjecture a faith separate from love, whereas he never supposes a love without faith.<\/p>\n
In summary, then, a reliable adherence to the Apostle Paul’s teaching on the matter would prompt us to avoid theological expressions that obscure his teaching that “the greatest of these is love.”<\/p>\n
Ezekiel 32: This chapter contains Ezekiel\u2019s final two oracles against Egypt.<\/p>\n
The first of these (though given later than the one that follows it), is dated on March 3, 585 (verse 1). Although it was delivered during the winter that followed the downfall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians, no reference is made to that event. Some of the imagery of this oracle recalls the plagues with which the Lord had long before struck the land of Egypt: the floods of blood and the great darkness (the first and ninth plagues). The great sin of Egypt declared in this oracle was pride.<\/p>\n
The second (and earlier) of these two oracles was delivered on April 27, 586, prior to Jerusalem\u2019s downfall. In his massive and detailed description of the nether world, Ezekiel sounds a theme from classical literature; the attentive reader can hardly fail to notice the similarities that this oracle has to the nether world descriptions in the Odyssey and the Aeneid.<\/p>\n
Ezekiel\u2019s description is similarly preoccupied with the thought of warfare and conquest. As Homer and Virgil portrayed the netherworld in the context of the fall of Troy, Ezekiel portrays it in the context of the fall of Jerusalem. Thus, it is in the netherworld, the realm of death, that the prophet finishes his oracles against those nations that rose up in rebellion against God\u2019s authority over history. This second part of the Book of Ezekiel comes to an end.<\/p>\n
Wednesday, May 18<\/b><\/p>\n
Ezekiel 33: This chapter has four parts. In the first (verses 1-9) the prophet is portrayed as a watchman keeping vigil over a city, responsible for warning the citizens of any impending peril. It is not the concern of the watchman whether or not the citizens pay him any heed; his responsibility is simply to sound the warning. The remaining responsibility belongs to the citizens themselves. The dominant images in this part are the sword and the trumpet.<\/p>\n
This theme of warning is what joins the first part to the second (verses 10-20). In biblical prophecy there is often an implied hypothesis: \u201cSuch-and-such will happen, unless . . .\u201d Many prophetic predictions contain, by implication, a conditional clause: \u201cIf . . . then . . .\u201d<\/p>\n
In this second part of the chapter Ezekiel repeats much of the message that we saw in Chapter 18 — namely, it is not what a man was<\/i> that is important, but what he becomes<\/i>. Consequently, neither former good nor former evil will be credited to a man who has changed his ways.<\/p>\n
The third part of this chapter (verses 21-22) takes up the narrative of Ezekiel\u2019s life, broken off after Chapter 24 by the insertion of the oracles against the nations (Chapters 25-32). We recall that Ezekiel\u2019s wife had died, leaving him struck dumb with grief. At that time the Lord foretold to him that he would recover his speech when a messenger arrived to tell of Jerusalem\u2019s downfall (24:25-27).<\/p>\n
This third part of Chapter 33 now tells of the arrival of that messenger on January 8, 585, narrating Jerusalem\u2019s fall the previous summer. The walls of Jerusalem had been breached in July (cf. Jeremiah 39:2; 52:6f), and a month later the temple had been deliberately destroyed (2 Kings 25:8f; Jeremiah 52:12). When this news reaches him, Ezekiel\u2019s tongue is loosened, and he is once again ready to be God\u2019s spokesman.<\/p>\n
Therewith follows the fourth part of this chapter (verses 23-33), which blames the desolation of the Holy Land on the sins of its inhabitants. Ezekiel\u2019s fellow hostages in Babylon love to hear him for his eloquence, and they come often to listen to him. But it will do them no good, for they refuse to repent. Too late will they learn what they missed.<\/p>\n
Thursday, May 19<\/b><\/p>\n
John 10.22-30: In describing this encounter, with its further short discourse on the theme of the Good Shepherd, John is specific with respect to its place and time.<\/p>\n
The place was \u201cSolomon\u2019s Porch,\u201d a large colonnade on the eastern side of the Temple\u2019s outer court, the Court of Women. This \u201cporch,\u201d or portico, was a double cloister constructed on an earthworks that Solomon had added to the Temple Hill itself. Bounded by the ancient wall on its east side (a wall that stands to this day and is often called \u201cthe Wailing Wall\u201d), this portico was open, on its other sides, to the whole Temple complex, which Herod had extended in the other three directions (cf, Flavius Josephus, Jewish Wars<\/i>, 5.5.1; Antiquities<\/i> 15.11.3).<\/p>\n
After Jesus\u2019 departure from history, Solomon\u2019s Porch became a favorite gathering place for Christians; the Apostles preached there and healed the sick (Acts 5.12-16).<\/p>\n
The time as the Feast of Hanukkah (\u201cdedication\u2019), a winter festival also called \u201cThe Feast of Lights\u201d; it was a relatively recent feast that annually celebrated the purging and re-consecration of the Temple at the time of the Maccabees.<\/p>\n
In John\u2019s chronology, the words and event of this section happened during Jesus\u2019 final winter on earth.<\/p>\n
Ezekiel 34: Ezekiel knows that the recent disaster at Jerusalem and its dire consequences, such as the scattering of God\u2019s people, were in large measure the fault of those appointed to care for them: the royal house and the government, the priesthood, the teachers. All of these were Israel\u2019s shepherds, commissioned by God to tend, govern, and feed the sheep. Not only did they fail to do so, but also they used their relationship to God\u2019s people in order to serve themselves.<\/p>\n
Thus, unfed and without guidance, the flock had \u201cbeen scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness.\u201d God Himself, however, will come to shepherd them, and He will do so through His Anointed One\u2014the new David\u2014who will inherit the promises made to his ancient forebear (2 Samuel 7; Psalm 89 [88]). This imagery and its promise will in due course be taken up by that new David who, in John 10, describes Himself as the Good Shepherd.<\/p>\n
Ezekiel then (verses 17-22) criticizes some of the sheep themselves, who have exploited and ill-treated one another. God will judge them, not by classes, but as individuals (\u201csheep by sheep\u201d) responsible for their decisions and their behavior.<\/p>\n
The final section of this chapter (verses 25-30) describes the coming care of the Good Shepherd in terms reminiscent of paradise (compare Psalm 72 [71]).<\/p>\n
Friday, May 20<\/b><\/p>\n
Ezekiel 35: In this chapter we find expressed toward the Edomites, symbolized in Mount Seir, that same spirit of bitter condemnation that inspired the entire prophecy of Obadiah and the last several verses of Psalm 137 (136).<\/p>\n
The material here expands on ideas found in a seminal form in Ezekiel 25:12-14. Edom has assisted and cheered on the Babylonians in their wanton destruction of the temple (cf. 1 Esdras 4:45). Ezekiel is our witness that the Edomites hoped to annex territory left open by the destruction of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah (verse 10), but they will not do so, he tells us, because God has other plans for that land. Those plans of God form the substance of the next chapter.<\/p>\n
The Edomites in the Bible comprised what we may call . . . well, a special case. Israel did not like them very much. Indeed, the Lord had to command Israel not to despise the Edomites (Deuteronomy 23:7), a thing they were prompted to do, perhaps, on the excuse that the Lord Himself was said to hate<\/i> Esau, the father of the Edomites (Malachi 1:2; Romans 9:13). Truth to tell, the Edomites were not easy to love. They had obstructed Israel\u2019s path from Egypt during the days of Moses (Numbers 20:21). They were known to be without pity (Amos 1:11) and engaged in international slave trade (1:6,9). For Ezekiel, as for Obadiah, however, the major sin was their attempt to exploit Babylon\u2019s destruction of Judah.<\/p>\n
Psalms 49 (Greek & Latin 48): This psalm calls upon the human mind, any human mind, to think deeply about certain universal facts and phenomena of human life. The poet invites all mankind to meditate with him on a specific but universal problem. He is also going to take his time with the matter, for this is a deep and enigmatic concern, not a subject to be hurried. No fewer than four times the psalmist declares what he is about to do: (1) \u201cMy mouth shall speak wisdom; [2] and the concern of my heart, understanding. [3] I will bend my ear to a puzzle; [4] I shall broach my riddle in a ballad.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now the thing that most strikes the psalmist about human existence is that it ends in death, and he is a fool who forgets or neglects this truth. Human beings tend to take too seriously the wealth and other sorts of honor that this world gives, for death will make it all come to nothing. This ill-placed confidence is no basis for a wise life. Halfway through and again at the end, our psalm comes back to a refrain on this theme: \u201cAbiding in honor, man has failed to understand. He has come to resemble the witless beasts, and to be compared with them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Graves tending to be dug to roughly the same depth, death has been called the great leveler. Rich and poor, great and small, suffer an identical fate. Cemeteries are very democratic places, so this psalm is addressed to \u201cwealthy and poor alike.\u201d<\/p>\n
The psalmist is particularly struck by the irony that some individuals become so powerful and famous that regions of the world are called by their names. Whatever claim these folk make upon the earth, he says, the earth will eventually make its own claim on them: \u201cTheir graves are their homes forever, their dwelling places from generation to generation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Worldly power takes itself very seriously and throws its weight around, but no amount of prestige or riches can save a man from his appointed fate. So God\u2019s servant does not fear what such people may do to him. In contrast to the wealthy presumptuous man who \u201ccannot redeem his soul,\u201d he sings out: \u201cGod will redeem my soul from the hand of Hades, when He receives me.\u201d This latter verb is the same used for God\u2019s \u201creceiving\u201d such just men as Enoch (Gen. 5:24) and Elijah (2 Kin. 2:9\u201311).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Friday, May 13 Ezekiel 28: This chapter contains two oracles: one against Tyre, the other against the Phoenician city of Sidon. In the first, no particular king of Tyre is indicated; the message is directed, rather, at that monarchy itself, as an embodiment of wealth and power in idolatrous rebellion against God. Idolatries of wealth … Continue reading May 13 – May 20, 2022<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.touchstonemag.com\/daily_reflections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1856"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.touchstonemag.com\/daily_reflections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.touchstonemag.com\/daily_reflections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.touchstonemag.com\/daily_reflections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.touchstonemag.com\/daily_reflections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1856"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.touchstonemag.com\/daily_reflections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1856\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1857,"href":"https:\/\/www.touchstonemag.com\/daily_reflections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1856\/revisions\/1857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.touchstonemag.com\/daily_reflections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.touchstonemag.com\/daily_reflections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.touchstonemag.com\/daily_reflections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}