Bible Tuesday for Advent I, 2016
Isaiah 2:1-5
The word that Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. 2In days to come the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills; all the nations shall stream to it. 3Many peoples shall come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. 4He shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. 5O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord!
In verse one of this text, the second chapter of a 66 chapter book that spans some 90 years, the prophet Isaiah is introduced. Because this prophecy covers such a length of time, and because it falls into three sections of very different writing styles, many scholars think the book was written by three different people, master, student, and student of the student, or one person from a religious community, and two other individuals from that same community in subsequent generations.
While the prophecy of Isaiah proclaims judgement, and warning, it begins and ends with hope. The city of Jerusalem was built on a hill. Mt. Mariah, by the Canaanite peoples that built it originally. King David defeated them and took the city, making it his new capital. David had the Tent of Meeting, the portable “Temple” which predated the Temple first built by Solomon, on Mt. Zion which is immediately adjacent to Mt. Mariah.
In the above prophecy, the Temple will no longer be on little Mt. Zion admissible by the Israelites only, but will be on the highest mountain, (not for inaccessibility reachable only by the most skilled of mountain climbers). This elevated Temple image is intended to convey that the Temple will be visible by all peoples and used by all nations. God will be worshipped by all, arbitrating all conflicts and adjudicating all injustices.
If there is only one God and one religion, all peoples truly being brothers and sisters in Yahweh, then weapons are no longer needed and retooled for peaceful purposes.
“Oh House of Jacob, come! Let us walk in the light of the Lord!” The prophet calls all Israelites back to the purpose for which God called them, to be the conduit through which God would bless all people.
Psalm 122
1I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord!”
2Our feet are standing within your gates, O Jerusalem.
3Jerusalem—built as a city that is bound firmly together.
4To it the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord, as was decreed for Israel, to give thanks to the name of the Lord.
5For there the thrones for judgment were set up, the thrones of the house of David.
6Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: “May they prosper who love you.
7Peace be within your walls, and security within your towers.”
8For the sake of my relatives and friends I will say, “Peace be within you.”
9For the sake of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek your good.
This is a psalm of ascent. The lands of Israel were by and large at a lower elevation than Jerusalem atop Mt. Mariah. Therefore, when pilgrimage to the Temple is discussed in the Bible, it is frequently referred to as “going up” and “ascent”.
How ironic that this psalm, while lovely and a guide for prayer for all God’s children, also seems to directly illustrate that which the above Isaiah passage prophesies against, the ethnocentrism of Israel.
“House of David” refers to the dynasty of King David, second king of Israel and idealized as the greatest king of Israel. The book of II Samuel recounts that God promised to King David an everlasting dynasty. While it only took a few generations for David’s line to be broken with none of his descendants sitting on the throne of either the northern or southern kingdoms, nevertheless, Jews believed that the anointed one would come (“messiah” in Hebrew and “Christ” in Greek), a descendant of David’s, who would rally the people of Israel from where ever they were scattered and make of them a powerful dynasty again. Some contemporary Jews are still looking for such a messiah while others believe there will be a messianic age when Israel will be a great, benevolent, and powerful nation again.
Romans 13:11-14
Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; 12the night is far gone, the day is near. Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; 13let us live honorably as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy. 14Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.
In Paul’s letter to the congregation in Rome, Paul admonishes the congregation to urgently respond to their baptismal calling. There is in the passage a reiteration of the early Christian belief that “the Son of Man would come with all his angels” to judge the “sheep and the goats” at any minute. While some early believers saw this as a reason to just sit around watching the sky, Paul insists that Jesus’ imminent return was all the more reason to be about the work of God.
Matthew 24:36-44
“But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 37For as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 38For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, 39and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so too will be the coming of the Son of Man. 40Then two will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. 41Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken and one will be left. 42Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. 43But understand this: if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into.44Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.”
In Old Testament tradition, there is an event called “The Day of the Lord” which is described as a day when God will judge each person on the earth and punish evil deeds. It is also described as a day of blessing and wonder for those who are righteous before God. In the above verses, Jesus follows this ancient tradition and describes what that day will be like, but Jesus adds that the Day of the Lord will be when he, himself, will return to the earth. Of course Jesus’ disciples what to know when that day will be. Jesus answers in the first verse that no one knows when it will be except God the father.
“Days of Noah” – Genesis 6:5 “The Lord saw that the wickedness of humankind was great in the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually.” What Jesus is saying is that there will be nothing unusual about the days immediately preceding the Day of the Lord.
“Son of Man” – This is a term in Hebrew tradition that is synonymous with “messiah”. It means something like “a man among men, a hero above all human heroes.” Messiah does not mean God in Human Form. Nor does Christ. Messiah/Christ merely mean one who is anointed to be God’s agent on earth. The gospels tell us that Jesus was the real, true messiah and Christ, and even Lord and savior. Jesus was messiah, Christ, Son of Man, and God in flesh.
How curious that Jesus compares his coming to a thief coming in the night. But the images serves Jesus well if he is speaking about stealing into the realm of evil just when God is not expected. For this reason the faithful to God must also be alert.
“one will be taken and one will be left” – While those who subscribe to “rapture” theology read this and passages like it as a description of the rapture, there is no reason to read this as God taking the good ones and leaving the bad ones behind. It may be that evil will leave the earth and the faithful will remain to receive the new heavens and new earth that are described in Revelation, Isaiah, 2 Peter, and Hebrews.