When teaching a new book in the Bible we develop an introduction that covers the background, authorship, context and main themes of the work. The following is a link to our introduction to the book of 1 Timothy.

We've place this here as PDF so all formatting and footnoting remains intace.

An Introdution to 1 Timothy

There are many ways one might gain insight into the culture and way of life of a community. You might take a photo of an instance in time where people are living a story in a certain place. You might send that to friends by sharing it online, making some comments, clicking on like buttons and hearts. You might share a short video saying hello for a few seconds. Yet, long before Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter, and texting people would write to one another. These letters would give insight into the people and their lives. In many ways letters and journals have served for thousands of years as great snapshots into the hearts and souls of people and their communities.

In the ancient city of Thessalonica the gospel of Jesus Christ had given birth to a new church; a community of Christians living out the gospel and the mission of God together. We have two letters in the New Testament written to this people by an early influential Christian leader. This summer we will look at first of these letters to see the heart of a people.

In our study we will feel the flow of this new Christian community and see how it instructs us as a young community of faith living in the 21st century. By seeing their concerns and the teaching they received, we will see how God might have us live together in our generation.

This essay will give us a brief overview of the background of the people and places involved in gospel mission in the first generation of Christians after the resurrection of Jesus. I will first lay out the ancient context of the City of Thessalonica. Second, we will look at the birth of the church in that city, the authors of the first Thessalonian letter as well as the timeframe and socio-rhetorical circumstances surrounding its composition. Finally, I will conclude with a discussion of the theological themes which will be before our hearts and minds as we travel through this book together.

Our story begins with God’s work to send a people to a place with good news. So we will now look to that ancient city where new life through Jesus Christ was birthed in Jew and Gentile alike.

The Ancient City of Thessalonica

The city of Thessalonica has a long and storied history so we will but skip along the top of the depths of the historical sea in that place[1]. The city was strategically located along the Via Egnatia, the great eastern road of the ancient Roman and Byzantine Empires. Along this prominent trade route from west to east it was a prominent city in the ancient world. Furthermore, it was accessible by sea as it located at the northern end of the gulf of Therma.[2] The city has a history that spans well over two thousand years founded in 316BC by the Macedonian military leader Cassander.[3] The city was named after his wife Thessaly who was also the ½ sister of Alexander the Great.[4] In 146 BC it became the capital of the new joint Roman province of Macedonia cementing its influential role in the Greco-Roman world which was the stage for the first coming of Jesus the Messiah. In 42 BC it sided with Octavian in the Roman civil war and as a result was given the status of a free city which governed its own affairs.[5] According to Luke in Acts 17, the city was led by five politarchs or political leaders which were responsible for the city.[6] As a city located on the sea and along an important trade route it would have had a cosmopolitan feel where the peoples of the world flowed together. Its Jewish population was large enough to justify a formal synagogue[7] yet it was a center of gentile culture and trade. It was in this world that a church, a new community made of both Jew and Gentile, would become one new man[8] in Jesus Christ. The influence of this area of the world has continued into the modern area with the city of Thessaloniki being the second most influential in Greece today. It was around the middle of the first century that the city received its first encounter with the gospel of Jesus Christ as the church expanded outward from its birthplace in Jerusalem.

The Birth of Churches in Maceonia

The Narrative

After Jesus was crucified, buried and raised from the dead by the mighty working of God he unleashed his church into the world on his mission to seek and to save lost people and love and serve the world in his name. The narrative of this expansion of Jesus’ work is found in the New Testament Book of Acts. A crucial aspect of the story was Jesus saving, forgiving and calling one of the church’s arch enemies to be a leader and preacher of the faith. This man, Saul of Tarus, was sent into the world as the messenger Paul, a man called to proclaim the good news to the non-Jewish world. The narrative of Acts takes a turn when the Spirit of God called Paul and his two friends Silas and Timothy to preach the gospel in the province of Macedonia (modern day Greece). At this point the Gospel made its first foray into the continent of Europe and begins to transform its people and culture.

The first city they visited was Philippi and the gospel took root there in profound way. God saved a prominent businesswoman, they started a church in her house, rescued a demon possessed slave girl, endured a quick riot, the men were beaten and imprisoned and the local corrections officer at the jail gets saved after God did some work. It was a great beginning for the friends of mission and they would depart Philippi to preach the gospel in Thessalonica.

Acts 17 records Paul beginning his work in the city by preaching in the synagogues on three successive Sabbaths. He explained from the Old Testament that the Christ (or Messiah) was to suffer and rise from the dead. He then taught them how Jesus is this divinely appointed Christ and some of the people believe and join up with the missionary band. The first Christians in the city were described as Jews, many God-fearers and some prominent women of the City. As was the case in much of Paul’s work the “God-fearers” or “Devout Greeks” were numerous among the first converts. These people were those who were monotheistic worshippers of YHWH, the one true God, but had not fully converted yet to Judaism. Probably because of the circumcision thing as many likely wanted to keep their man business intact.[9] Leon Morris describes their social situation well:

These people were dissatisfied with the low standards of pagan morality and with the idol worship that fostered them. They were attracted by the monotheism and lofty morality of Judaism, but repelled by its narrow nationalism and ritual requirements. In Christianity they found a faith that satisfied.[10]

What we see is that the church in Thessalonica from the beginning was made up of Jews and Gentiles, males and females and likely both poor and rich.[11] Paul’s synagogue preaching lasted roughly a month but there is good reason to think his ministry among the gentiles took place over several months.[12]

The success of the mission in the city brought strong opposition from some of the Jewish leaders and the Christians were also accused of denying loyalty to Caesar due to their allegiance to King Jesus. As a result Paul and Silas were slipped out of town to Berea but the mob followed them there as well. Paul was then smuggled off to Athens and called for Timothy and Silas to rendezvous with him there. As Paul had observed great fruit from the gospel coming forth in Thessalonica he was concerned for the baby Christian community in the town. Once they reconnected in Athens, Paul dispatched Timothy back to Thessalonica to see how everyone was doing. While waiting in Athens he preached the gospel there as well and had some powerful interactions with the intellectuals on Mars Hill. Paul then moved out to Corinth the next city on his missional journey.

Timothy brought a good report about the faith, hope and love of the Thessalonian church and their ministry to others in the province of Macedonia. Apparently he also brought some of the needs and questions that they had as new Christians to Paul for his reply. This good report and interaction which came from Timothy served as the impetus for Paul’s first letter to them in roughly AD 50-51.

Authorship of 1 Thessalonians

The authorship of 1 Thessalonians receives universal attribution to the pen of the Apostle Paul. The letter begins with a very clear attribution:

Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, to the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace.

As noted by Gordon Fee, the letter should be identified as having come from all three of the men involved in the first gospel mission to the City. It is a letter of profound friendship from men who were personally involved in the mission of God with the people. So it is proper for us to say that Paul, Silas and Timothy wrote the letter expressing their joint concern for the church planted in Thessalonica. It is also clear that Paul most likely dictated the letter himself and at times speaks in the first person singular in the text.[13] Remarkably, Pauline authorship is not in question today by either believer or unbelieving New Testament scholarship. It is one of the New Testament letters whose authorship has a strong and almost unanimous scholarly opinion. Most also agree that the triple threat team of Paul/Silas/Timothy was in Corinth when writing the letter and the time frame may be isolated pretty well to around AD 50 when Paul first arrived in that city (see Acts 18).[14]

Social and Rhetorical Context of these Writings

The content of the letter gives us some insight into the social setting and context of early Thessalonican Christianity. First, we see that Paul was apparently defending himself, his way of life and his ministry against some form of slander. During his long opening recount thanking God for the Thessalonians and his work among them, we see him talk about the sincerity and purity of his work (1 Thessalonians 2:2-12). Perhaps there were still voices questioning his motive among the church’s opponents in the city and Paul indirectly answers these criticisms to reassure the nascent church.[15] Second, the church had to stand firm in its new Christian identity among an unbelieving world. They were dealing with persecution from both pagan and Jewish communities (1 Thessalonians 3:1-5, Acts 17:1-6). They were also learning to live differently in a culture of sexual perversion (1 Thessalonians 4:1-8) by seeing our bodies and interactions with one another through the lens of holiness not hotness. Much like our lives in New Jersey, they were called to be different from the world around them while living in that world on mission for Jesus. Paul offers them encouragement for that social context. Third, there were misunderstandings in the new church about the nature of the second coming of Jesus. No way!? Apparently they had their own Harold Campings[16] around at that time preying on people’s ignorance about the end times. Paul does much to help them understand the true nature and purpose of the coming Kingdom for Christians living on mission. Finally, Paul addresses a young church family growing up in their faith and influence. Learning how to grow up as a new church is an important thing that Paul communicated in this letter. This community of Jew/Gentile, Men/Women, Rich/Poor had to find its way forward together in the calling of Jesus Christ. This is partially why we are studying this letter at Jacob’s Well today. We are growing and maturing as a congregation and there is much work the Father has for us to do. It was into this social context that Paul and his friends spoke deep personal and theological truths. We will close our essay here by looking at a few of those together.

Personal, Theological Themes

The emphasis on our time together in 1 Thessalonians will cover many subjects pertinent to our walks with God in our time. Though the following are not exhaustive, these are some of the main themes we will study in our journey.

Evangelism and Conversion

One cannot miss this theme in 1 Thessalonians because it is the first memory of this church for which Paul gives thanks in chapter one. People got saved in Thessalonica. They heard the gospel, repented of sins, turned from idols to the living God and were rescued from the coming wrath. Yet they also took up the same missional cause and put their faith, love and hope to work. They influenced others and the gospel sounded forth from them and they evangelized their region. To such Paul could only say “Boom!” or something like this. We too must be converted by the gospel in a powerful way so that we desire to extend its hope to others. Friends, let us not be stingy with the truth and take up our own work of faith and labor of love in our time.

The Theological Virtues

The great medieval theologian and philosopher Thomas Aquinas spoke of man possessing the capacity for virtue. He spoke of ethical and intellectual virtues following many other thinkers throughout history. Yet as a Christian he could say more. He could speak of virtues directly associated with God and revealed to us in the divine revelation of Scripture. He could speak of faith, hope and love and how we relate to God. Many are familiar with these from the wonderful treatment about love in the thirteenth chapter of the first letter to the Corinthians. That chapter ends: So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love. Many have read that chapter or at least heard in overtly romanticized at a wedding. What many do not realize is that faith, hope and love are in full effect in Paul’s theology in 1 Thessalonians a few years before telling us all about love. Faith, hope and love drive our lives and relationship with Jesus. We will look at these during our jaunt through 1 Thessalonians.

Church and Ministry as Family

God’s calling of families together for his purposes is a great theme in the Bible. We have just taken a good look at this at Jacob’s Well. In chapter 2 of 1 Thessalonians Paul chooses family metaphors: father, mother, children, brothers and sisters to describe the church and gospel work and ministry. What a great privilege to see our life and work together. We are family and should fight, labor, reconcile and persevere together as such on the earth.

Eschatology, Eschatology Everywhere

It’s the end of the world as we know it…and I feel fine. So sang the great 1980s band REM on their album Document[17]. How should we feel about the end of the world? Fine? Freaked out? Funny? It’s an interesting question that is taken up in the Thessalonian letters. The end of history is a subject that has entered the brains of people from various cultures throughout history; most recently famous were the Mayans. Jesus taught us something about a coming Kingdom of God that shapes the reality of our lives now. Far too often Christians get caught up in hysteria about end times, signs of the end, bar codes and bad Christian movies about such things. Is there any sane way to both expect his coming and live fully present in our mission today? Yes, a resounding Yes! I hope we will see that eschatology,[18] they study of last things, is not merely about Armageddon but is profoundly about the time between Jesus first and second advents. Our lives should be informed by his coming and glory and this should be a source of holiness and hope…not hysteria.

New Testament professor G.K. Beale describes the biblical emphasis on eschatology quite well:

This means that the doctrine of eschatology in New Testament theology and systematic theology books should not merely be one among many doctrines nor addressed at the end as though it describes only the very end of the world as we know it. Rather, the doctrine of eschatology should be part of the title of such a textbook, since every doctrine breathed the air of a latter-day atmosphere... In light of what has been said, the overriding idea of New Testament theology can be stated as follows: Christ's life, death and resurrection through the Spirit launched the end-time new creational Kingdom for God's glory. The kingdom of the new creation is the controlling conception of eschatology, and all other eschatological ideas flow out of it.[19]

In this light, eschatology is much more than who the anti-Christ is and what the mark of the beast is. In this light, the death, burial, resurrection and return of Jesus define us now so we live in light of his coming and glory. The judgment of God at the end also should flow into our now so that we are confident in the Day of Judgment. So we have sung often in our day: No guilt in life, no fear in death, this is the power of Christ in me.[20] No fear friends. He is with us, he has called us by name, we belong to God (See Isaiah 43). This is our song, not freaking out about everything when some so called prophet of the end gets the church whipped up into end-times frenzy. Obviously we have much more to say about this and, by God’s grace, we will when we travel through this letter together.

Whole Life Holiness

Modern people love to compartmentalize life. This is my work-life, family-life, personal-life, sex-life, etc. The Scriptures call us to see our community as living all of life under the rule and reign of King Jesus. Furthermore, how we live and what we do will be judged by God. 1 Thessalonians has a strong calling to live together in light of the gospel in a manner worthy of God. It specifically called the Thessalonians to live different in relationship to God’s design for human sexuality. The world around them was freaky-deaky. We have something to learn about whole life holiness from the teaching given to this new church. God’s design and instruction on sex is a prophetic call to us in our own perverted day.

The Local Church

I have chosen to close with our final theme and simply state the obvious. 1 Thessalonian is teaching for local churches. It is written to people saved by Jesus, living out gospel mission in community among the peoples of the world. John Stott, the eminent 20th century pastor and theologian, sums this point up so well so I will let him exhort us before we close:

Secondly, these letters address a local church, and the life of the local church is increasing concern to many people today. When we affirm (as we should) that the church is central to the historical purpose of God, we are not referring only to its universal aspect, but also to its concrete, local, colourful manifestations. But what is to be our vision for the local church, and how is its life to be developed? Paul's letters to the Thessalonian church throw valuable light on such aspects as its continuous evangelism, pastoral care, ethical standards, reciprocal fellowship, public worship, obedience to apostolic teaching, and future hope. I cannot imagine how any church member or leader could fail to find both direction and inspiration in these letters for the life of their local church.[21]

Yes! We love the local church and we want to learn and be inspired by this letter to shape the life of our community here in central New Jersey.

Conclusion

As we conclude I want to offer one simple reminder as we dive into the depths of the Thessalonian literature. The themes in this book are not simply abstract theological concepts but rather truth from God to be lived out by persons. Namely: us. They are personal. They are to be known in truth, felt deeply and lived courageously in every epoch of history until Kingdom come. Our time is now, our flow is gospel, let us rep his rule, reign and mission now in our generation.

For the Glory of God, the Good of the City by extending Hope through the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Pastor Reid

© 2013 Jacob’s Well

Bibliography

Beale, G. K. 1-2 Thessalonians The Ivp New Testament Commentary Series. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2003.

Fee, Gordon D. The First and Second Letters to the Thessalonians The New International Commentary on the New Testament. Grand Rapids, Mich.: William B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 2009.

Green, Gene L. The Letters to the Thessalonians The Pillar New Testament Commentary. Grand Rapids, Mich. Leicester, England: W.B. Eerdmans Pub; Apollos, 2002.

Keith Getty, Stuart Townend. In Christ Alone. Kingsway Music, 2001.

Morris, Leon. 1 and 2 Thessalonians : An Introduction and Commentary Tyndale New Testament Commentaries. Nottingham, England. Downers Grove, Ill.: Inter-Varsity Press; Intervarsity Press, 2009.

REM. Its the End of the World as We Know It (and I Feel Fine). 1987.

Stott, John R. W. The Gospel & the End of Time : The Message of 1 & 2 Thessalonians : Includes Study Guide for Groups or Individuals The Bible Speaks Today Series. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1991.

"Thessaloniki." Wikipedia (2013). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thessaloniki [accessed June 13, 2013].

Endnotes

[1] For a good sketch and overview see this wiki "Thessaloniki," Wikipedia (2013). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thessaloniki (accessed June 13, 2013).

[2] Gene L. Green, The Letters to the Thessalonians, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, Mich. Leicester, England: W.B. Eerdmans Pub; Apollos, 2002), 2.

[3] John R. W. Stott, The Gospel & the End of Time : The Message of 1 & 2 Thessalonians : Includes Study Guide for Groups or Individuals, The Bible Speaks Today Series (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1991), 17.

[4] Gordon D. Fee, The First and Second Letters to the Thessalonians, The New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, Mich.: William B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 2009), 5.

[5] Ibid.

[6] Leon Morris, 1 and 2 Thessalonians : An Introduction and Commentary, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (Nottingham, England. Downers Grove, Ill.: Inter-Varsity Press; Intervarsity Press, 2009), 18.

[7] Stott, 18.This was unlinke Philippi, an inland city in Macedonia where a small community gathered only informally for prayer. See Acts 16.

[8] See the wonderful phrase “one new man” in Ephesians 2. God’s purpose was to unite Jew and Gentile in one family of faith and this indeed took place when the gospel came to ancient Thessalonica.

[9] G. K. Beale, 1-2 Thessalonians, The Ivp New Testament Commentary Series (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2003), 15.

[10] Morris, 19.

[11] Ibid.

[12] Fee, 6.

[13] Ibid., 4.

[14] Morris, 21. We know Paul was brought before a man named Gallio who was proconsul in Greek province Achaia. He was leading in the area around AD 52-53. A we know Paul served in Corinth for 18 months we can estimate he arrived into that City in the first part of AD 50. He would have written 1 Thessalonians just after this time.

[15] Ibid., 25, 26.

[16] Some of you may remember Harold Camping proclaiming to the world that all would end on May 21st 2011. If you must, see the brief wiki at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Camping and please move along quickly.

[17] REM, Its the End of the World as We Know It (and I Feel Fine).

[18] The word eschatology is derived from the Greek words for last (eschaton) and word or study (the word logos). Taken together we use the word eschatology for the study of last things.

[19] Beale, 22, 23.

[20] Stuart Townend Keith Getty, In Christ Alone (Kingsway Music).

[21] Stott, 9, 10.Emphasis added. Stott’s colorful spelling of colourful indicates his use of the Queen’s English.

For these reasons, this year, we pray that our Advent devotionals exalt the birth of Christ and the Advent season. While we should continue sending Christmas cards and enjoying front yard scenes with shepherds and wise men, let us do so by saturating the Christmas story with longstanding truth. So, let each week’s entry lift our response to Jesus’ first coming and fuel eager expectation for his return.

This week, we introduce the backstory on “baby Jesus.” That is, we survey Scripture to appreciate the gravity of Advent, namely the manner in which it braids the declaration of Christ’s birth with divine declarations of war and victory. In this way, Jesus is no mere baby, but instead, the promised warchild that brings resolution to cosmic conflict through divine judgment and blessing. To understand how, we go back to “the beginning,” the place where paradise was found…and lost.

In Gen. 3, things that were once good – even very good – turned bad. Humanity, the crown and caretaker of creation became co-conspirators in a plot to overturn God’s desires and designs to bless the world. How did this happen? After his ominous introduction (3:1), the cunning serpent stirred the pot and caused God’s people to second-guess their creator’s guidance. As a result, conspiracy began and mutiny followed. But, suddenly, the Lord arrived and war broke out.

Gen. 3:8 recounts the Lord’s coming. But, “the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day” is not the language of a welcome breeze in a well-manicured garden. Rather, it is a gale-force wind, the frightening tempest of God’s Spirit coming to bear on those who have turned his world upside down. Quite literally, God comes to hold court. So, blessing has given way to judgment as Gen. 3:8 previews what Scripture later calls the [judgment] day of the Lord.

However, both judgment and blessing reside in Gen. 3:14-15. Both arise out of history’s great conflict, a cosmic war between the hero, “the seed of the woman,” and the villain, “the seed of the serpent.” Eventually, God’s victory and humanity’s vindication result as the seed of the woman crushes the head of the serpent, albeit with battle wounds and the casualties of war. So, this passage contains not only a death sentence for humanity and the serpent, but also the promise of a great pardon for God’s people. The theological term for this redemptive announcement is the protoevangelium. It means the “first mention of the Gospel” (“proto” means “first,” “evangelium” means “preaching” or “preaching the Gospel”). Here, the Gospel is merely the announcement that God’s victory and kingdom will emerge through judgment and blessing amidst the war between the two seeds.

At this point, a few questions emerge. Who is the seed and how will he bring victory? From Gen. 3 on, Scripture sets out to answer such questions.

First, the instantaneous outworking of the two seeds begins with the story of two brothers, Abel and Cain. Cain kills Abel in a fit of jealousy and murderous rage (Gen. 4:1-16; cf. John 8:44), a pattern of sibling rivalries that repeats itself with Isaac and Ishmael as well as Jacob and Esau. One seed trusts God’s promises while the other relies on lesser things (Gen 21:9–10, 12; cf. Rom 9:7). Then, the book of Exodus chronicles Egypt’s attempts to destroy Israel’s male children (Exod 1:16, 22) while God liberates his son (Exod 4:23) by waging war on Egypt’s firstborn sons. This conflict between the seeds continues throughout the OT, in the books of the kings, the former and latter prophets, and so on.

But, Scripture not only narrates the conflict between the seeds, but the nature of the battle and especially, the hero’s crushing victory. For instance, Joshua leads Israel to victory and together, they celebrate triumph by placing their feet on the necks of the defeated kings (Josh 10:24). Similarly, David proclaims that his enemies fell under his feet (2 Sam 22:39; Ps 18:39). Lastly, the conquering warrior of Isa 63 “treads the winepress,” not a winepress one filled with grapes, but rebellious people (63:3-6). These and other accounts reveal what it looks like for the seed of the serpent to be under the foot of the seed of the woman.

Eventually, this Old Testament background steps into the New Testament foreground. The battle-filled backstory continues as a new tyrant threatens the Holy Family (Matt. 2). Not Pharoah, but King Herod rightly understands the announcement of Christ’s birth as a clarion call for war. However, instead of responding with worship, he leads with murderous intent. But, God is faithful to his promise. The babe in the manger transforms God’s declaration of war into a declaration of victory. The seed of the woman has arrived on the scene, not primarily to crush the head of Herod, but the ancient serpent’s power to oppress people through sin, shame, and fear. Indeed, joy has come to the world! Victory is here, and it has come through God’s warchild, the one “baby Jesus.”

But, has the battle ceased and is the victory won? Yes…and no. “Yes” because Christ has dealt the decisive blow, crippling the forces of darkness and death and raising up God’s light and life. But, the answer is also “no.” Although he is the true human, Christ’s person and work does not place humanity’s crown solely on his head. Rather, he has fit us for it and now commissions us to advance his victory and roll back the remaining seed of the serpent.

This Christmas, as we sing those great songs and re-read the story of Christmas, let us keep this backstory in mind. Let us remember the narrative of warfare and its central figure. But, we must do more than remember. After all, though D-day has come in Christ’s first advent, we long for the V-Day of his second advent. In the meantime, Christ gave us his Spirit so that we might engage in the battle. Now, ironically, as God gave the first mention of the Gospel through humanity’s defeat and disobedience, he now proclaims it freely through the victorious work of Christ and the advancing march of his Spirit-filled people. So, remember…God has decided the outcome and assured us the victory. Surely, he has promised us that he will soon crush that ancient serpent, not only under Christ’s feet, but ours as well (Rom 16:20).

For Discussion

1. Read Gen. 2:4-3:15; Matt. 1-2
2. Comb through Scripture and recall as many instances of the battle between the seeds as possible (note: there are more than you think).
3. Name 1-3 specific ways in which Christ’s first advent reveals his victory in your life.
4. In Christ, you are part of the “seed of the woman.” Name 1-3 specific areas in which you are engaging this conflict against the “seed of the serpent” in your life, communities, etc.
5. Name 1-3 specific ways in which Christ’s Second Advent fuels your hope for ultimate victory and the eradication of all evil.

Endnotes

1. Commentators suggest that Gen. 3:8 is depicting a terrifying storm-theophany (“appearance of God”) comparable to the Lord’s manifestation at Sinai. For example, Jeffrey Niehaus translates “in the cool of the day” as “in the wind of the storm,” a motif of divine judgment that associates the Lord’s voice with “thunder” in poetic texts (Ps. 18:14, 46:7, 77:17), prophetic literature (Jer. 10:13, 51:16) and in the Pentateuch (Exod 20:18; Deut 5:25). So, essentially, the OT Law, Prophets, and Writings – the entire Jewish Bible – provides warrant for seeing Gen. 3:8 as a kind of judgment day.
2. Meredith G. Kline, “Primal Parousia” WTJ 40 (1977/78): 245-280.

Motherhood is no easy task, and here this young girl from Galilee was chosen to be Jesus’ mother. Mary was Just an ordinary, everyday girl from a normal little town. It baffles me that God didn't choose a woman from an upscale home, someone with wealth, someone with prestige, someone with experience. God always blows my mind when he chooses the ordinary. It is just His way of shining his glory in the midst of the everyday ordinary human and doing something unexpected.

When an angel came to Mary and called her "favored one," and said "the Lord is with you”, it amazes me. The fact that God called her favored is incredible. What was his favorite part of her I wonder? Does He call us favored? What was so special about her? And then that the angel was sure to add: "the Lord is with you." God is constantly reminding us of His presence. He is all around us in everything. It can be in simple things like looking at your own hands and seeing the veins and thinking of the process of our circulatory system and how He designed all of our body systems. Or even when you watch a sunrise or sunset and you see the beauty in nature, or the power of the waves on the shore. I am constantly reminded of Him when I hold my newborn. She is so small, and needy, and perfect, and I think of how amazing it is that God knew her before she was born, that He knows how many hairs are on our heads, that he knew our names. To know that that same God of the universe cares about us...and is always with us and knowing that He loves us is mind blowing.

He is always with us. It goes against everything society says about us. We aren't favored unless we are beautiful, wealthy or brilliant, but here, God chose a young, poor girl, who honored Him, and He called her "favored". Basically, she was special because God said so. She had value because He created her for a purpose. She was favored not because of what she could offer but because of who made her and because of His plan for her life.

The angel goes on to tell her that "you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the most High." She finds out that she is having a baby while she isn't even married. Her question to the angel is..."How can this be since I am a virgin?" I love the simplicity of Mary's question...How is this even possible? And then I think of verse 37 "for with God nothing will be impossible." So often I think we get stuck in the thought of the impossible. We can't even wrap our brains around how God works, how He can make tough situations good, or how He can change a simple heart of stone to a heart of flesh.

Mary was so unselfish. She didn't protest or tell God, "Look this isn't in my plan! I am not ready to have a baby!" How did she know that God's plan was even bigger than she could imagine? How did she know to just accept it and move forward without fear? How was she able to be the Mother of Jesus and have the wisdom to raise the Son of God? Wasn't she overwhelmed with the thought of all that was expected of her? She simply says, "Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word."
That was it. She listened. She trusted, and she moved forward in obedience. Mary was ordinary, yes, but she was willing. She was obedient to God's plan and His calling on her life, even though it would be difficult, and she praised and glorified His name.

So often I feel very stuck in this life. The days are long and hard and extremely lonely as a stay at home mom of 4 kids. There are so many tasks before me and it is easy to feel overwhelmed, discouraged, and hopeless, but then I am reminded of my purpose. I am reminded that I am not alone (God is always with me) and I don't need to be afraid (or worry). I am still in awe of this young girl Mary, Jesus' mother. She was pretty amazing.

"My soul magnifies the Lord. And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant; for behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed. For He who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name. And his mercy is on those who fear Him from generation to generation." Luke 1: 46-50

Questions to think about…

• Mary made major sacrifices to be the mother of Jesus. It was a huge calling. What sacrifices does God ask of us daily? or personally?
• Mary faced the shame/ridicule of being pregnant before being married...do you ever face shame/ridicule to be a follower of Jesus, what is your response?
• Mary trusted God so easily. Do you find it easy/difficult to trust?

The child that was born in a mere manger grew to be a man. A man who experienced the vulnerability of infancy and childhood, the joy and trial of family dynamics, the rough, physical work of carpentry, and the love and loss of close family and friends. In Jesus we see the person we were meant to be but never could achieve ourselves.

His humanity is on full display in the gospel accounts of his final days. When Jesus is praying in the Garden of Gethsemane, the reality of the cross looms over him. Matthew notes that Jesus is sorrowful and troubled, and Jesus tells his disciples that his “soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death,” (Matt. 26:38; Mark 13:34). When praying by himself he even asks God to “Take this cup from [him],” if possible, and Luke notes that the prayer is so earnest and anguished that “his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground,” (Matt. 26:29; Mark 14:36; Luke 22:42,44).

In Hebrew scripture, “cup” is used as a metaphor for God’s just judgment against evil.1 In this case, the cup that Jesus holds means that God’s righteous judgment for the sin and brokenness of the world- for us- will instead fall on Jesus. Jesus is being completely honest in these last moments with his disciples, his friends. He is about to experience not only extreme physical pain, but also the pain of being separated from the love of the Father and it is scary.

Jesus’s response to this enormous task is not to run. He is resolved in his prayer to the Father, saying, “yet not my will, but yours be done,” (Luke 22:42). The Gospel of John tells us that Jesus also took the time to pray for his disciples and future believers. In his final hours before his arrest and sham of a trial, when he is already feeling the weight of the cross on his back, Christ is praying for us.

The gospel accounts of the crucifixion are heavy with irony. Jesus is mocked, flogged, spit upon, and his clothing is divided among the soldiers. A flyer above his head mockingly calls him the King of the Jews. When on the cross, the witnesses hurl insults at him, saying “Save yourself!” “Come down from the cross if you are the Son of God!” (Matt. 27:40). In his last moments, Jesus says, “It is finished,” (John 19:30). The original word for this phrase is tetelestai, a financial and accounting term that means “paid in full.” Jesus stares down at those mocking him, his accusers, and simply says, “your debt has been paid.” It is exactly because Jesus is the Son of God that he did not come down from that cross.

It is not a matter of his ability. In the garden of Gethsemane, when Peter cuts off the ear of one of the High Priest’s servants, he says, “Do you not think I can call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?” (Matt. 26:53). This is Jesus who has performed miracle after miracle, who literally demonstrated his dominion over creation by instantly quieting the winds and causing the sea to be as still as glass, just by his words.

Jesus also turns down the offer of gall (in Mark it’s myrrh) mixed with wine before being nailed to the cross. Gall in this case is a bitter addition to the wine that would make it more like a narcotic. Yet Jesus refuses the wine when he realizes what is in it. Jesus does not want to be drugged. He feels every ounce of pain possible for the human body to experience.
What is even more astounding is why Jesus does this. N.T. Wright says, “On the cross, Jesus is lifted up as the true revelation of God, lifted up in the supreme work of love, of gentle and heartfelt compassion, the place and posture which now symbolize the yearning love of the creator for his lost and self-destructive world.”2 As Jesus commits his spirit to the Lord and breathes his last, the curtain of the temple is torn in two. The curtain that separated Israel, us, from the presence of God is eradicated. Sin and death are defeated so that we might be in close, intimate relationship with God. Jesus himself sacrifices this relationship for a time so that we might have it eternally.

The story still does not stop here. Sometimes we focus so strongly on the crucifixion, we forget to talk about the resurrection. Friday afternoon, before the Sabbath, Jesus is placed in a tomb belonging to Joseph of Arimathea. When the women come Sunday morning to finish anointing the body, they find it empty. An angel tells them that Jesus of Nazareth has risen. Did you hear that? Jesus’s resurrection means that he is alive. Jesus is alive! We can hold fast to the knowledge that God is sovereign over everything- even death (Acts 2:24).

Jesus entered and lived in the world with quiet strength and utmost humility- completely opposite of what the Jews had thought their avenging, warrior King would be. In fact, when he appears to his disciples (they are kept from recognizing him) after his death they lament saying, “we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel,” (Luke 24:21). Hope-d. Past tense. To them, “a crucified messiah is by definition a failed Messiah.”3 He did not come as expected: guns blazing, ready to overthrow the Romans. They failed to understand that He fought a greater enemy than one the passing of time could cure: death.

The resurrection is fundamental to our faith. Paul says in 1 Cor. 15:13-14 that, “if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.” In John 11:25-26, Jesus himself says, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.” Through Christ’s death and resurrection we are given the amazing, precious gift of eternal life in the presence of God.
So in this holiday season, whether things get easy, tough, tearful, or joyous, turn your eyes to Christ with great hope and humility. Your God knows your suffering and your joy. He has explored every inch of pain in the human experience. He endured not only the physical pain of death but also the heart wrenching, horrifying reality of being separated from the Father so that we may never be separated from Him. Jesus’s death and resurrection ushered in a new covenant between God and his people. It is where sin and death have been utterly and wholly defeated by the blood sacrifice of the most perfect, spotless lamb. He tells us in John 16:33b, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” Our God is sovereign over all things. So carry this like a banner into the Christmas season: The child who was born is the Son of God who has overcome the world.

Discussion Questions

• How might Jesus’s humanity be a comfort during difficult circumstances?
• Why was it so important that Jesus be clear headed during the crucifixion (in turning down the gall)?
• Why might we need to experience suffering in full?
• Jesus says that our debt is paid in full. If one truly believes that their debt is satisfied, what does their life look like? How might people use works as a way to appease guilt for sin that is already been paid?
• In his book, Jesus the King, Tim Keller says: “Live in the light of the resurrection and renewal of this world and of yourself.” How are you living in the light of the resurrection?

Endnotes

1. Tim Keller, Jesus the King: Understanding the Life and Death of the Son of God (New York: Penguin, 2011), 159-160.
2. N.T. Wright, Following Jesus: Biblical Reflections on Leadership (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1995), 37.
3. Wright, Following Jesus: Biblical Reflections on Leadership, 48.

GOING FIRST

To say someone was one of the first to do something is a pretty big deal. To say someone was the first American of African descent to do something in our country is a really big deal. Many times those who are the first in this way are said to break a color barrier as African Americans were required to play by different rules, subject to different laws and under extreme prejudice and injustice for centuries on this continent. In preparing this brief biographical sketch on a man from the earliest days of America I was saddened that I knew more about Jackie Robinson than Jupiter Hammon. If you know not either Jackie or Jupiter, I’m happy you are taking the time to hear of Mr. Hammon first.

BASIC BIOGRAPHY

Jupiter Hammon lived his life as the owned property of other human beings. He lived through the era of imperial rule in the Americas, through the revolutionary days into the earliest dawn of the United States. He lived not far from us here in New Jersey growing up and living most of his life on Long Island, NY. He lived his entire life as a slave in the service of the Lloyd family. The Lloyds were a wealthy household and Hammon served as a tutor to children as well as a business clerk and bookkeeper. 1 Hammon was educated by Harvard graduate Nehemiah Bull and a missionary named Daniel Denton. 2 Though a slave in the temporal and natural sense of the word he was, however, possessed by another master as he saw his life ultimately belonging to Jesus Christ. His dedication to the Lord was demonstrated by his taking on extra work simply to earn money to purchase his own Bible. It was this book that occupied so much of his thought, heart and devotion and it is reflected throughout his work.3 The Lord he loved inspired him to write poetry. His work was so compelling that he became one of the first published African American authors in North America in 1769.4

HAMMON’S WORKS

Hammon’s best known works are An Evening Thought: Salvation by Christ, with Penitential Cries 5 and his Address to the Negroes in the State of New York.6 The former was the poem which was his first published work in 1769. The latter as it was his most enduring and wide read address. An Evening Thought is a clear and resounding work of gospel clarity and devotion. Hammon was a convert to Jesus through the spiritual awakenings in the colonies in the 1730s and 1740s.7 In a day when black people were seen by many as inferior to their European masters, Hammon’s thoughts drew his readers up to our common creator, judge and savior Jesus Christ. Hammon wrote in such a way that people were apparently doubtful that his work was the product of a slave. Even his printers included a disclaimer which was published as a header to his most famous work “An address to the Negroes in the State of New York.” The disclaimer read as follows in the original.

As this address is wrote in a better style than could be expected from a slave, so maybe ready to doubt the genuineness of the production. The author, as he informs in the title page, is a servant of Mr. Lloyd, and has been remarkable for his Fidelity and abstinence from those vices, which he warns his brother in against. The manuscript wrote in his own hand, is in our possession. We have made no material alterations in it, except in the spelling, which we found needed considerable correction. 8

HAMMON ON SLAVERY

Hammon’s views of slavery may sound strange for some of us to understand. In his address to his fellow African Americans in New York, he shared that his desire was to remain as a servant to his masters. He expressed he had no desire to be free though he encouraged others towards freedom if they could gain it honestly.9 This however must be coupled with a few observations. First, Hammon apparently had a good relationship and situation with the Lloyd family of Long Island. It seemed they both viewed and treated him as a trusted part of their household and family. Furthermore, he seemed to have held two truths in tension. First, how slaves should relate to their earthly masters and second, whether or not people were morally right in taking others as slaves. He viewed the latter as morally evil while encouraging those who were slaves to show honor and obedience to their masters. For example, in his “Address to the Negroes” we read the following doubt of the institution’s morality, while affirming the honoring of masters. He wrote:

“Now whether it is right, and lawful in the sight of God, for them to make slaves of us or not, I am certain that while we are slaves it is our duty to obey our masters, in all their lawful commands, and mind them unless we are bid to do what we know to be sin, or forbidden in God’s word.” 10

Finally, a more recently discovered manuscript makes it resoundingly clear that Hammon viewed slavery as “a manmade evil.” 11 Many of his works were also published by the Quakers a group firmly on the side of the full abolition of the institute of slavery in America.

THINGS I LEARNED

In reading Hammon’s work I learned a few things and was impacted in several ways. First, Hammon was a realist about the fallenness of this word astutely observing that “I have had more experience in the world than most of you, and I have seen a great deal of the vanity, and wickedness of it.”12 Second, even though he existed under a system of utter injustice and slavery he did not see that as a reason to sin and disobey God. It seems he understood the Lord Jesus who taught us to love our neighbors and even our enemies. He even gave fellow slaves counsel on how following the Lord, doing right and honoring others, and not stealing would be of more benefit to them than sinning against a harsh master. He condemned theft and being unfaithful to others in the strongest of terms.13 Third, he put the honor of God and God’s name above all. His exhortation against swearing or taking God’s name in vain was unambiguous. He even dissuaded those who would use the example of swearing white masters as an excuse for their language. He reminded them that there is a higher authority always with each of us: “God is greater than all other beings, and him we are bound to obey. To him we will give an account for every idle word we speak.”14 Finally, though he desired freedom for the coming generation of black people in America, he continued to point to the great reality of spiritual and eternal freedom as the greatest concern. I think he just dropped the mic after this one: “We cannot be happy if we are ever to so free, or ever so rich, while we are servants of sin and slaves to Satan.”15

It is clear from reading Hammon’s poetry and addresses that he was first and foremost concerned with the Kingdom of God and people coming to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. He even encouraged freed blacks in his day to use their new freedom for the study of the Bible and to promote of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. To the freedmen he said plainly “You have more time to read God’s holy word, and to take care of the salvation of your souls. Let me beg of you to spend your time in this way, or it will be better for you, if you had always been slaves.” Whether this was said as hyperbole or simply from a strong set of eternal values, Hammon saw the preeminence of Christ and his Kingdom. This comes through pointedly in his first published poem which begins with these words:

SALVATION comes by Jesus Christ alone,
The only Son of God;
Redemption now to every one,
That love his holy Word.
Dear Jesus we would fly to Thee,
And leave off every Sin,
Thy tender Mercy well agree;
Salvation from our King.
Salvation comes now from the Lord,
Our victorious King;
His holy Name be well ador'd,
Salvation surely bring.
Dear Jesus give thy Spirit now,
Thy Grace to every Nation,
That han't the Lord to whom we bow,
The Author of Salvation.
Dear Jesus unto Thee we cry,
Give us thy Preparation;
Turn not away thy tender Eye;
We seek thy true Salvation.16

We do seek the same King today that he so strongly pointed his world to in America’s early days.

Lord, do Give us thy preparation,
Reid S. Monaghan

Notes

1. Nancy I. Sanders, America’s Black Founders, Revolutionary Heroes and Early Leaders, 26.
2. Henry Louis Gates Jr, African American Lives, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004), Kindle edition, location 18342.
3. Sanders, 26.
4. Gates, kindle edition, location 18396.
5. Jupiter Hammon, An Evening Thought: Salvation by Christ, with Penitential Cries, Available online at http://xtf.lib.virginia.edu/xtf/view?docId=chadwyck_aap/uvaGenText/tei/chaap_D046.xml
6. Jupiter Hammon, Address to the Negroes in the State of New York. 1787. Sabin Americana, Print Editions 1500-1926.
7. Gates, kindle edition, 18360.
8. Preface to Hammon, Address to the Negroes in the State of New York. 1787.
9. Hammon, 13.
10. Hammon, 7.
11. Bridget Lewis “UT ARLINGTON PROFESSOR, GRADUATE STUDENT DISCOVER POEM WRITTEN BY 18TH CENTURY SLAVE FROM NEW YORK”, http://www.uta.edu/news/releases/2013/02/Jupiter%20Hammon%20poem.php. Published on Feb 5, 2013. Accessed Feb 25, 2013.
12. Hammon, 7.
13. Hammon, 8, 9.
14. Hammon, 12.
15. Hammon, 19.
16. An Evening Thought

Download: This paper is available as a printable PDF file here.

During the long travails of human history there has been an ongoing battle between the dominion of darkness and the Kingdom of God. The human race, fallen from its created purpose, has been in perpetual rebellion against our creator and has seen constant warfare, difficulty and struggle. Into the brokenness of creation, God promises redemption and initiates a relationship with his people. He calls them to faithfulness in his eternal purposes and their own joy in knowing Him. Yet we trust in our own devices and desires and we seek identity, peace and deliverance from a world of earth bound warriors, political powers, money men and kings.

Long ago God’s people were delivered from slavery in Egypt into the land of God’s promise. They were called to live as a distinct people among a swarm of warring and idolatrous tribes. Welcome home to a world that swirled as a mixture of ISIS and Mad Max. God’s people were to be a unique and holy people not giving way to the corruption around them. They were called to secure a victory that would permit peace, human flourishing and the redemptive work of God to advance in all creation. Enter the time of the Judges; the dark and chaotic age before the age of Kings of Israel.

This summer we will look together at the narrative of God’s people who are called to faithfulness but find themselves foolishly turning from God, wandering into the subjection and oppression of men. Where their victories and faithfulness was not constant nor final, we see the constancy of the faithful victories of God in providing a Savior for all.

In this essay I hope to introduce you to the Book of Judges, its narrative world and its theological themes and vision. In doing so I pray we prepare our hearts and minds to engage the story of God in a unique way. We must come to Judges in humility and a willingness to have it be a mirror to our lives and even our historical epoch. Without such humility we may just engage the stories as watchers, bystanders or as an academic. If we do that we miss the ride. For in Judges I pray we may engage the coming King as learners and followers.

Some Basics of The book of Judges

What’s in a Name?

The stories in the Book of Judges recount the historical period following the conquest of the Promised Land under the Joshua up until the time of the prophet/judge Samuel. The name of the book arises from the Hebrew word “שָׁפַט” or šāpaṭ which describes a sort of tribal chieftain or ruler in the ancient near eastern world. This title describes the central figures in this collection of stories. The word “judge” is described in context in Judges Chapter 2.

16 Then the LORD raised up judges, who saved them out of the hand of those who plundered them. 17 Yet they did not listen to their judges, for they whored after other gods and bowed down to them. They soon turned aside from the way in which their fathers had walked, who had obeyed the commandments of the LORD, and they did not do so.

Judges 2:16, 17

In this passage we see the basic role or function of a “judge” in Israel was saving and ruling. The English term “judge” might lead us to the idea of person who merely adjudicates in disputes or one who directs legal proceedings. Yet the ancient judge occupied a more holistic role in the community. Old Testament scholar Daniel Block captures the role and function of the ancient “judges”:

Since the judges functioned as princes, rulers, and chieftains over specific territories and clans, the term šōpĕṭîm is best understood generally to mean “tribal rulers, leaders, governors” rather than “judges,” so the name of the book is better rendered “The Book of Tribal Rulers.”¹

So the ancient judges were tribal rulers who were raised up by God to deliver/save his people and then lead them in faithfulness to God and his covenant. Yet as we see in the verse cited above, God’s people “whored after other gods” in false worship and walked in disobedience to the ways and will of God. This is the tension we find in the pages of Judges.

Dating and Historical Era

The Book of Judges represents a rather dark day in the history of Israel in that it is an era of chaos and instability. The book begins with the death of the conquering hero Joshua (Judges 1:1) who had led the people into the Promised Land after the death of Moses. The period runs up until the time of the emergence of the kings of Israel as the latter chapters of Judges repeatedly echo the phrase “in those days there was no king in Israel” (Judges 17:6; 18:1; 19:1; 21:25). Depending on how one estimates the dating of the events in the Book of Exodus ² the Judges runs from roughly from the 15th century B.C. to the coronation of Saul as first King of Israel in the last half of the 11th century B.C.

Though the historical period can be roughly inferred from the biblical texts, scholars put the compilation of these stories at a later date. The book seems to be recounting an earlier period of history in order to advocate for a certain political framework that was lacking during the time of the judges. Some see the book as being written down during the time when Saul and David, along with their relative factions, were contending for power in Israel. The late Dr. Alan Groves argued for this sort of date in light of the "anti-Benjamite" (Saul being of the tribe of Benjamin) and "pro-Judahite" (David being of the tribe of Judah) nature of overall narrative of Judges.³ I find this argument compelling.

Redemptive Historical Context

The narrative arc of the Scriptures takes us through many varied parts of the work of God in redeeming the world. The Bible begins with a good creation, humans in relationship with God and one another as his vice-regents, sin and the curse coming in and God initiating his plans and promises to redeem. There are always two important “wheres” we should ask in relationship to events in the Bible. Where did it happen on earth and “where” in the larger redemptive story of Scripture did this take place. The first is geographical, the second temporal. With Judges, we enter into an important time in redemptive history. God’s people have been freed from bondage in Egypt and freed by God to be his worshippers. He’s broken the chains that held them fast and bound them to himself through his covenant in law. The promise of the security and provision of the land is before the people. What will they do? Who will they follow? Who will they worship and in whom will they place their trust?

During the narrative of the Judges we find that the mantle of leadership has landed upon the tribe of Judah, prefiguring the coming of King David. This King, would be God’s chosen leader who according to 1 Kings 15:5 "had done what was right in the eyes of the Lord." David himself would receive an additional facet of God’s covenant in that he receives the promise that his offspring will forever occupy his throne, ruling the people of God (2 Samuel 7). Judah’s leadership in Judges will point us forward to the rule of David, David’s leadership in 1 and 2 Samuel will point forward to Jesus the eternal leader of God’s people. Yes Jesus…the root of David, the great lion of the tribe of Judah. (Revelation 5:5)

Situated in this time and place of redemptive history, we find the book of Judges to be marked by a certain theology and vision of God’s dealings with humanity. Judges is marked by Deuteronomic theology that has the Torah and the covenant at Sinai, as its backdrop. As such, the theology of Judges shows God's relationship to people being covenantal, worship to be centered in Jerusalem and idolatry as central sin in breaking faithfulness to YHWH. Furthermore, the fear of the Lord and following him is the key to the blessings of God and disobedience and unfaithfulness leads only to judgment and calamity.⁴

Not Rated G

As we enter a reading of the Book of Judges this summer I want to give a heads up that it does not read like a happy ending Pixar movie. It is gritty, real and reflective of the violent nature of the human race. It reflects a time when the people of Israel crossed into a land that was full of warring tribes and idolatrous practices; it was a blood thirsty and brutal time. It should be noted that the inhabitants in the ancient land of Canaan were not cub scouts who were wanting to simply pass the peace pipe when Israel arrived to the land. They were anything but innocent bystanders and the situation would be more akin to Israel rolling in to an ISIS war camp than arriving at a friendly backyard barbeque.⁵

We must also realize that the Bible does not show God’s people as the good guys and everyone else as the bad guys. There is enough sin to go around for all and not everything the Bible records is said to be a good thing. In fact, the only sinless figure in the Bible is Jesus the Messiah, who was God incarnate. God – he’s the good guy. All others, the Judges of Israel included, were very flawed human beings. Dr. Tim Keller, Pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York describes what we find in the Book of Judges quite well:

And so Judges can be described as "despicable people doing deplorable things" and as "trashy tales about dysfunctional characters." As the history unfold even the "heroes," the judges, become increasingly flawed and failing. They do many appalling things, and their efforts have less and less redemptive effect. It is a dismal story – and it is all history. So the reader will be led to ask, again and again: what in the world is this doing in the Bible? The answer is an important one – it is the gospel!⁶

In Judges we are going to see some shocking and awful things go down. It’s not pretty. It’s not meant to be. And there is a message to hear in this.

Major Themes

Although the book of Judges has many varied themes, I want to highlight just a few of them for us as we begin our journey through its pages. These themes will go with us as we travel into and through the Book of Judges in the weeks and months ahead.

Cyclical Structure

Judges is a very repetitive book. It is structured with an introduction to the incomplete conquest of Canaan, a middle section with stories of the various judges/deliverers and then a few chapters of crazy to wrap up. In the middle section there are six longer stories and six short stories about various judges/rulers. As we read we won’t even need to think “did we just read something like this earlier?” The repetition is glaring and we must embrace it. The cycle we see over and over is itself a literary message. As human beings we are prone to wander and forget and need some wake up calls to bring us back to repentance, faith, hope and love. The cycle of judges is a very familiar; you may have experienced it yourself in your own journey in life. Dr. Tim Keller puts this cycle in a helpful graphical form as follows:

Figure 1 – The Cycle of the Judges ⁷

The victories of the Judges, however grand in scope, are what we are calling “partial” for they prove only temporary and incomplete. Even the victories of the Judges are not sufficient to fully change the hearts of God’s people. So the cycle repeats itself ever fueled by the unfaithfulness and idolatry of men.

Key Phrases

Two of the three major sections of the book are marked out for us with two memorable, repeated and striking phases. The first marks the repeated cycle in the book and shows us the repeated folly of God’s people in her pursuits of joy apart from Him and his covenant. It is found in Judges 2:11, 3:7, 3:12, 4:1, 6:1, 10:6 and 13:1: “And the people of Israel did what is evil in the sight of the Lord”

The second phrase marks the chaotic final portion of Judges where the lack of a King and lack of divine guidance is put wildly on display. This phrase, coupled with the first really tells us, with some precision, what the book of Judges is all about. It appears in Judges 17:6, 18:1, 19:1, 21:25:"In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes"

This phase reflects an aspect of Judges brought which is highlighted by a keen observation by the Reverend Michael Wilcock. In the time of the Judges, the people could no longer blame Moses or blame their King for their problems. They had to learn to judge with right judgment themselves and make responsible decisions before God. Judges shows “how helpless man is in trying to live by such judgments, and how faithful God is in preserving his people in spite of that…”⁸ Even though they did what was right in their own eyes, resulting in failure, God did not forsake or give up on his people. Grace wins.

The Importance of Leadership

The Book of Judges reflects an absence far too often found in our world. A lack of leadership. We can see this in families, in political realms, in business and in civic and recreationally oriented organizations. When there is no leadership, clear voice or present direction people tend to wander around lost. To use Jesus’ terminology, people are like sheep without a shepherd. God has never despised leadership in either the Old or New Testaments. In fact, the sending of godly leaders is a sign of his grace and care for humanity. The Scriptures call parents (with a specific calling to fathers – see Psalm 78, Deuteronomy 6:4-9, Ephesians 6:1-4) to teach the things of God to their children. The Bible call leaders to lead with wisdom and humility for the good of their people and the glory of God (1 Kings 3). Leaders who do well shepherd the people with both the skilled hand and a pure heart (Psalm 78:70-72). When the ways of God are not passed on to the next generation and when leadership becomes foolish and ungodly, the only thing that lies ahead is disaster. (See 1 Kings 12). The importance of leadership and generational following of God is on display in Judges where the people forget, sin greatly, are given leaders, who in turn point to the greatest leader of all.

The Spirit of the Lord

If you read Judges without pause and without careful observation you may miss one of the key actors on the scene in the age of the Judges. In 3:10, 6:34, 11:29, 13:25, 14:6, 14:9 and 15:14 we see another repeated phrase in various forms. Over and over again we find “the Spirit of the Lord” being the one who moves upon, rushes upon and clothes the Judges for action and their saving work. Though the unambiguous dwelling of God’s Spirit would not be given to believers until Pentecost (see Acts 2) the Spirit comes upon individuals in the Old Testament and we see this prominently on display in Judges.⁹Though Israel lacked leadership, the Spirit of the Lord imparts the authority of God to the judges thereby showing that the victory came from God and not the people.¹⁰In our day, when the Spirit has been given to all who believe, we would be wise to yield to his leading and empowerment in life and in mission for all things. Going forth into the battles of our day, relying only on our own strengths, talents and abilities, is a fool’s errand indeed.

Strong, Bold, faithful women

A unique feature in the narrative of Judges is the prominent place that strong women occupy in the story. This should be noticed and is a striking feature found in this ancient writing. In the modern world communities were fragmented by people “going off to work” and others “working at home.” In the ancient world people, families and clans worked together to farm, defend and raise families. Everyone certainly had a role to play and there was much work to be done just to survive each season and year of life. Yes, there were roles to households where fathers and mothers worked together and the patriarch was the leader of the clan. Men also rightly took the lead in the military. Yet there were also times when God used strong women even in the arenas of battle and the Book of Judges records such occasions. Interestingly, some have conjectured that the use of women to win victories and kill major opposing military leaders is a sign of shame upon a fearful and cowardly leadership of men in the stories.¹¹Others clearly acknowledge the story as simply highlighting the bold and gifted leadership of the women urging the men to follow God’s call.¹²I tend to simply marvel at how God uses a diverse crew in Judges and he certainly uses some strong, bold women to deliver his people. This was also true in the life of Jesus on the earth. His earliest followers included women who funded his mission (Luke 8:1-3) and first announced the good news of the empty tomb which marked the dawn of a new age (See Luke 23-24 for the resurrection narrative). The following bold women had a prominent place in the book of Judges and they exhibited courage and skill in the face of great opposition.

• Deborah – A prophetess and political leader who commanded and unified Israel in its battle against a daunting foe of superior military force. She gives courage to the commander Barak to move forward with his military responsibilities before God and the people.
• Jael – is the one who kills the powerful opposing general Sisera in the narrative of Deborah/Barak. She is the one God uses to take out the commander and the glory for the event is remembered around her and not Barak (Judges 4:9)
• The Rocker – The final woman is unnamed so I’m simply calling her “the rocker” because she rocks with bold courage. I’m also calling her that because she drops a big stone on the head of a bad guy named Abimelech. (Judges 9)

The Point of This?

As the Book of Judges proceeds from recounting the conquest of the land to the end of the book the story actually goes from bad to worse. As a unit the Book of Judges is pretty depressing and crazy stuff. There is some great evil in there and some sad tales of depravity. As we look at the stories we may be scratching our heads wondering, “What’s the point of this story!?” A few things to remember as we go along.

These stories are part of a bigger story.

Even though Judges goes from bad to worse, “The Story” of Scripture goes from bad in Judges to awesome in Jesus. The Story of God moves from brokenness to full healing, from darkness to light, from death to life, from chaos to a Kingdom of love and beauty. To understand the sinfulness of sin and the hardness of the human heart we need to get real sometimes. Many times we have to be roused from our beds of ignorance and sin before we cry out for deliverance. The answer to the pain of Judges is the love of Christ Jesus.

Onward to the Saving King.

The cycle of Judges points us to our deep need for a full and final victory over idolatry and sin. We need a leader who can help us break free from the cycle of the Judges. Such a leader would lead God's people in keeping covenant and worshiping YHWH for it's by his might, his Spirit and his faithfulness that we are rescued and see our enemies defeated. It is longing for Judah's king, David and the one who would finally sit upon his throne forever that is provoked in reading these tales. Alan Groves said this so well:

According to judges, they need a King – from Judah. By providing mixed accounts of the judges – faith and failure – with the repeated refrain in the closing chapters "in those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit "(17:6; 18:1; 19:1; 21:25) – judges is arguing that a king is a better kind of leader. Not just any King would accomplish this, of course. It is essential that he be a God-fearing, covenant–keeping King, who would help the people themselves keep covenant.¹³

Friends, meet King Jesus, the one we all really need.

Conclusion

Just prior to the time of the Judges, the Book of Joshua ended with a promise from the people of God that they would never forsake their Lord and would be always faithful. Let’s just say that Joshua was a bit skeptical (Joshua 24:16-20)¹⁴. Though their cry was Semper Fi ¹⁵, the history that followed them was anything but faithful. Yet today we have the wonderful privilege of looking at the years of the Judges so that we might understand the Gospel and its depth. Whereas the people in those days did what was right in their own eyes and were lost like sheep without a shepherd, we have the privilege of following the King of Kings. Furthermore, he has placed his Spirit within us to allow us to follow faithfully in his name. When looking at stories of unfaithfulness in the Old Testament, or at the stories on the news today, we must be reminded of what the apostle Paul told a community of early Christians long ago:

11 Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come. 12 Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. 13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

1 Corinthians 10:11-13

It is our hope that we learn together from our reading of Judges to faithfully follow Jesus. Our own world has many troubles, dangers, trials and temptations. We would do well to walk in both repentance and faith as the truest deliverer and judge has already set us free. For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. Galatians 5:1

Standing firm with you,

Pastor Reid S. Monaghan

Endnotes

1. Daniel Isaac Block, Judges, Ruth, The New American Commentary (Nashville, Tenn.: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1999), 25.
2. See discussion of the dating of Exodus in Tremper Longman, Raymond B. Dillard, and Raymond B. Dillard, An Introduction to the Old Testament, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 2006), 65-69.
3. See Alan Groves “Judges” in Kevin J. Vanhoozer et al., Dictionary for Theological Interpretation of the Bible (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Academic, 2005), 413.
4. Ibid.
5. For a discussion of the warfare and conflict in taking the promised land, see Appendix: The Issue of Holy War in Keller, Timothy Keller, Judges for You (The Good Book Company, 2013), 211-215. and Matthew Flannagan and Paul Copan, “Does the Bible condone Genocide” in Steven B. Cowan and Terry L. Wilder, In Defense of the Bible : A Comprehensive Apologetic for the Authority of Scripture (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishing Group, 2013), 301-303.
6. Keller, 9.
7. Ibid., 207.
8. Michael Wilcock, The Message of Judges : Grace Abounding, The Bible Speaks Today (Leicester, England ; Downers Grove, Ill., U.S.A.: InterVarsity Press, 1992), 16.
9. Andrew E. Hill and John H. Walton, A Survey of the Old Testament, 3rd ed. (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan Publishing House, 2009), 244.
10. Ibid., 245.
11. See B. Lindars, “Deborah’s Song” Women in the Old Testament” cited in K. Lawson Younger, Judges and Ruth, The Niv Application Commentary (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 2002), 141.
12. J.D. Greear, "The Church Needs More Deborahs," in J.D. Greear - Pastor, Author, Theologian (2015).
13. Groves in Vanhoozer et al., 413.
14. Hill and Walton, 236.
15. From the Latin Semper Fidelis – always faithful. Our marine corp friends can teach us more.

Bibliography

Block, Daniel Isaac. Judges, Ruth The New American Commentary. Nashville, Tenn.: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1999.

Cowan, Steven B. and Terry L. Wilder. In Defense of the Bible : A Comprehensive Apologetic for the Authority of Scripture. Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishing Group, 2013.

Greear, J.D. "The Church Needs More Deborahs." In J.D. Greear - Pastor, Author, Theologian, 2015, 2015.

Hill, Andrew E. and John H. Walton. A Survey of the Old Testament. 3rd ed. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan Publishing House, 2009.

Keller, Timothy. Judges for You: The Good Book Company, 2013.

Longman, Tremper, Raymond B. Dillard and Raymond B. Dillard. An Introduction to the Old Testament. 2nd ed. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 2006.

Vanhoozer, Kevin J., Craig G. Bartholomew, Daniel J. Treier and N. T. Wright. Dictionary for Theological Interpretation of the Bible. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Academic, 2005.

Wilcock, Michael. The Message of Judges : Grace Abounding The Bible Speaks Today. Leicester, England ; Downers Grove, Ill., U.S.A.: InterVarsity Press, 1992.

Younger, K. Lawson. Judges and Ruth The Niv Application Commentary. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 2002.

© 2015, Reid S. Monaghan, Jacob’s Well

Jacob – Genesis 32

22 That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two maidservants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 23 After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions. 24 So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. 25 When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob's hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. 26 Then the man said, "Let me go, for it is daybreak." But Jacob replied, "I will not let you go unless you bless me." 27 The man asked him, "What is your name?" "Jacob," he answered. 28 Then the man said, "Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, [5] because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome." 29 Jacob said, "Please tell me your name." But he replied, "Why do you ask my name?" Then he blessed him there. 30 So Jacob called the place Peniel, [6] saying, "It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared."

Moses Exodus 33

12 Moses said to the LORD, "You have been telling me, 'Lead these people,' but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You have said, 'I know you by name and you have found favor with me.' 13 If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people." 14 The LORD replied, "My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest." 15 Then Moses said to him, "If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. 16 How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?" 17 And the LORD said to Moses, "I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name." 18 Then Moses said, "Now show me your glory." 19 And the LORD said, "I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD , in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. 20 But," he said, "you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live." 21 Then the LORD said, "There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. 22 When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. 23 Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen."

Hannah - 1 Samuel 2:1-10

[1] And Hannah prayed and said,

“My heart exults in the LORD;
my horn is exalted in the LORD.
My mouth derides my enemies,
because I rejoice in your salvation.

[2] “There is none holy like the LORD:
for there is none besides you;
there is no rock like our God.
[3] Talk no more so very proudly,
let not arrogance come from your mouth;
for the LORD is a God of knowledge,
and by him actions are weighed.
[4] The bows of the mighty are broken,
but the feeble bind on strength.
[5] Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread,
but those who were hungry have ceased to hunger.
The barren has borne seven,
but she who has many children is forlorn.
[6] The LORD kills and brings to life;
he brings down to Sheol and raises up.
[7] The LORD makes poor and makes rich;
he brings low and he exalts.
[8] He raises up the poor from the dust;
he lifts the needy from the ash heap
to make them sit with princes
and inherit a seat of honor.
For the pillars of the earth are the LORD's,
and on them he has set the world.

[9] “He will guard the feet of his faithful ones,
but the wicked shall be cut off in darkness,
for not by might shall a man prevail.
[10] The adversaries of the LORD shall be broken to pieces;
against them he will thunder in heaven.
The LORD will judge the ends of the earth;
he will give strength to his king
and exalt the horn of his anointed.”

Hezekiah - 2 Kings 19

14 Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it. Then he went up to the temple of the LORD and spread it out before the LORD. 15 And Hezekiah prayed to the LORD: "O LORD, God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. 16 Give ear, O LORD, and hear; open your eyes, O LORD, and see; listen to the words Sennacherib has sent to insult the living God.

17 "It is true, O LORD, that the Assyrian kings have laid waste these nations and their lands. 18 They have thrown their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods but only wood and stone, fashioned by men's hands. 19 Now, O LORD our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all kingdoms on earth may know that you alone, O LORD, are God."

Solomon’s Prayer – 2 Chronicles 6

12 Then Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in front of the whole assembly of Israel and spread out his hands. 13 Now he had made a bronze platform, five cubits [1] long, five cubits wide and three cubits [2] high, and had placed it in the center of the outer court. He stood on the platform and then knelt down before the whole assembly of Israel and spread out his hands toward heaven. 14 He said:

"O LORD , God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven or on earth-you who keep your covenant of love with your servants who continue wholeheartedly in your way. 15 You have kept your promise to your servant David my father; with your mouth you have promised and with your hand you have fulfilled it-as it is today. 16 "Now LORD , God of Israel, keep for your servant David my father the promises you made to him when you said, 'You shall never fail to have a man to sit before me on the throne of Israel, if only your sons are careful in all they do to walk before me according to my law, as you have done.' 17 And now, O LORD , God of Israel, let your word that you promised your servant David come true. 18 "But will God really dwell on earth with men? The heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built! 19 Yet give attention to your servant's prayer and his plea for mercy, O LORD my God. Hear the cry and the prayer that your servant is praying in your presence. 20 May your eyes be open toward this temple day and night, this place of which you said you would put your Name there. May you hear the prayer your servant prays toward this place. 21 Hear the supplications of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray toward this place. Hear from heaven, your dwelling place; and when you hear, forgive. 22 "When a man wrongs his neighbor and is required to take an oath and he comes and swears the oath before your altar in this temple, 23 then hear from heaven and act. Judge between your servants, repaying the guilty by bringing down on his own head what he has done. Declare the innocent not guilty and so establish his innocence. 24 "When your people Israel have been defeated by an enemy because they have sinned against you and when they turn back and confess your name, praying and making supplication before you in this temple, 25 then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel and bring them back to the land you gave to them and their fathers. 26 "When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because your people have sinned against you, and when they pray toward this place and confess your name and turn from their sin because you have afflicted them, 27 then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel. Teach them the right way to live, and send rain on the land you gave your people for an inheritance. 28 "When famine or plague comes to the land, or blight or mildew, locusts or grasshoppers, or when enemies besiege them in any of their cities, whatever disaster or disease may come, 29 and when a prayer or plea is made by any of your people Israel-each one aware of his afflictions and pains, and spreading out his hands toward this temple- 30 then hear from heaven, your dwelling place. Forgive, and deal with each man according to all he does, since you know his heart (for you alone know the hearts of men), 31 so that they will fear you and walk in your ways all the time they live in the land you gave our fathers. 32 "As for the foreigner who does not belong to your people Israel but has come from a distant land because of your great name and your mighty hand and your outstretched arm-when he comes and prays toward this temple, 33 then hear from heaven, your dwelling place, and do whatever the foreigner asks of you, so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your own people Israel, and may know that this house I have built bears your Name. 34 "When your people go to war against their enemies, wherever you send them, and when they pray to you toward this city you have chosen and the temple I have built for your Name, 35 then hear from heaven their prayer and their plea, and uphold their cause. 36 "When they sin against you-for there is no one who does not sin-and you become angry with them and give them over to the enemy, who takes them captive to a land far away or near; 37 and if they have a change of heart in the land where they are held captive, and repent and plead with you in the land of their captivity and say, 'We have sinned, we have done wrong and acted wickedly'; 38 and if they turn back to you with all their heart and soul in the land of their captivity where they were taken, and pray toward the land you gave their fathers, toward the city you have chosen and toward the temple I have built for your Name; 39 then from heaven, your dwelling place, hear their prayer and their pleas, and uphold their cause. And forgive your people, who have sinned against you. 40 "Now, my God, may your eyes be open and your ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place.

41 "Now arise, O LORD God, and come to your resting place, you and the ark of your might. May your priests, O LORD God, be clothed with salvation, may your saints rejoice in your goodness. 42 O LORD God, do not reject your anointed one. Remember the great love promised to David your servant."

Asa King of Judah - 2 Chronicles 14:11, 12

11 Then Asa called to the LORD his God and said, "LORD, there is no one like you to help the powerless against the mighty. Help us, O LORD our God, for we rely on you, and in your name we have come against this vast army. O LORD , you are our God; do not let man prevail against you."

Jehoshaphat – 2 Chronicles 20

5 Then Jehoshaphat stood up in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem at the temple of the LORD in the front of the new courtyard 6 and said:

"O LORD, God of our fathers, are you not the God who is in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. Power and might are in your hand, and no one can withstand you. 7 O our God, did you not drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham your friend? 8 They have lived in it and have built in it a sanctuary for your Name, saying, 9 'If calamity comes upon us, whether the sword of judgment, or plague or famine, we will stand in your presence before this temple that bears your Name and will cry out to you in our distress, and you will hear us and save us.' 10 "But now here are men from Ammon, Moab and Mount Seir, whose territory you would not allow Israel to invade when they came from Egypt; so they turned away from them and did not destroy them. 11 See how they are repaying us by coming to drive us out of the possession you gave us as an inheritance. 12 O our God, will you not judge them? For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon you."

Jeremiah 14

7 Although our sins testify against us, O LORD, do something for the sake of your name. For our backsliding is great; we have sinned against you. 8 O Hope of Israel, its Savior in times of distress, why are you like a stranger in the land, like a traveler who stays only a night? 9 Why are you like a man taken by surprise, like a warrior powerless to save? You are among us, O LORD, and we bear your name; do not forsake us!

Daniel 9

I prayed to the LORD my God and confessed:

"O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with all who love him and obey his commands, 5 we have sinned and done wrong. We have been wicked and have rebelled; we have turned away from your commands and laws. 6 We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. 7 "Lord, you are righteous, but this day we are covered with shame-the men of Judah and people of Jerusalem and all Israel, both near and far, in all the countries where you have scattered us because of our unfaithfulness to you. 8 O LORD , we and our kings, our princes and our fathers are covered with shame because we have sinned against you. 9 The Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against him; 10 we have not obeyed the LORD our God or kept the laws he gave us through his servants the prophets. 11 All Israel has transgressed your law and turned away, refusing to obey you. "Therefore the curses and sworn judgments written in the Law of Moses, the servant of God, have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against you. 12 You have fulfilled the words spoken against us and against our rulers by bringing upon us great disaster. Under the whole heaven nothing has ever been done like what has been done to Jerusalem. 13 Just as it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us, yet we have not sought the favor of the LORD our God by turning from our sins and giving attention to your truth. 14 The LORD did not hesitate to bring the disaster upon us, for the LORD our God is righteous in everything he does; yet we have not obeyed him. 15 "Now, O Lord our God, who brought your people out of Egypt with a mighty hand and who made for yourself a name that endures to this day, we have sinned, we have done wrong. 16 O Lord, in keeping with all your righteous acts, turn away your anger and your wrath from Jerusalem, your city, your holy hill. Our sins and the iniquities of our fathers have made Jerusalem and your people an object of scorn to all those around us. 17 "Now, our God, hear the prayers and petitions of your servant. For your sake, O Lord, look with favor on your desolate sanctuary. 18 Give ear, O God, and hear; open your eyes and see the desolation of the city that bears your Name. We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy. 19 O Lord, listen! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, hear and act! For your sake, O my God, do not delay, because your city and your people bear your Name."

Nehemiah 1

4 When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven. 5 Then I said:

"O LORD , God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and obey his commands, 6 let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer your servant is praying before you day and night for your servants, the people of Israel. I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my father's house, have committed against you. 7 We have acted very wickedly toward you. We have not obeyed the commands, decrees and laws you gave your servant Moses. 8 "Remember the instruction you gave your servant Moses, saying, 'If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations, 9 but if you return to me and obey my commands, then even if your exiled people are at the farthest horizon, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen as a dwelling for my Name.' 10 "They are your servants and your people, whom you redeemed by your great strength and your mighty hand. 11 O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of this your servant and to the prayer of your servants who delight in revering your name. Give your servant success today by granting him favor in the presence of this man."

Ezra 9

5 Then, at the evening sacrifice, I rose from my self-abasement, with my tunic and cloak torn, and fell on my knees with my hands spread out to the LORD my God 6 and prayed:

"O my God, I am too ashamed and disgraced to lift up my face to you, my God, because our sins are higher than our heads and our guilt has reached to the heavens. 7 From the days of our forefathers until now, our guilt has been great. Because of our sins, we and our kings and our priests have been subjected to the sword and captivity, to pillage and humiliation at the hand of foreign kings, as it is today. 8 "But now, for a brief moment, the LORD our God has been gracious in leaving us a remnant and giving us a firm place in his sanctuary, and so our God gives light to our eyes and a little relief in our bondage. 9 Though we are slaves, our God has not deserted us in our bondage. He has shown us kindness in the sight of the kings of Persia: He has granted us new life to rebuild the house of our God and repair its ruins, and he has given us a wall of protection in Judah and Jerusalem. 10 "But now, O our God, what can we say after this? For we have disregarded the commands 11 you gave through your servants the prophets when you said: 'The land you are entering to possess is a land polluted by the corruption of its peoples. By their detestable practices they have filled it with their impurity from one end to the other. 12 Therefore, do not give your daughters in marriage to their sons or take their daughters for your sons. Do not seek a treaty of friendship with them at any time, that you may be strong and eat the good things of the land and leave it to your children as an everlasting inheritance.' 13 "What has happened to us is a result of our evil deeds and our great guilt, and yet, our God, you have punished us less than our sins have deserved and have given us a remnant like this. 14 Shall we again break your commands and intermarry with the peoples who commit such detestable practices? Would you not be angry enough with us to destroy us, leaving us no remnant or survivor? 15 O LORD , God of Israel, you are righteous! We are left this day as a remnant. Here we are before you in our guilt, though because of it not one of us can stand in your presence."

Habakkuk 3

2 LORD, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, O LORD. Renew them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy…18 yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior. 19 The Sovereign LORD is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go on the heights.

Reid S. Monaghan

Introduction

Words. Words are some of the most powerful things in the universe. Human beings use them every day to do both good and evil. Many of us: educators, ministers, business leaders, politicians and certainly parents even make speeches with them. Even as a person who gives many sermons and instruction in words, I am no fool to think that any one speech I give changes the course of history. Yet there are such times when even a very brief compilation of words profoundly impacts the destiny of the world.

In our own culture one can think of Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg address or Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech or Ronald Reagan’s “Mr. Gorbachev tear down this wall” in front of Brandenburg Gate towards the end of the Cold War. My mind also goes to King George VI of England in 1939 and the speech he gave to rally a nation in the defense of their island and civilization against the Nazi aggressor. Many of us are aware of this speech due to the 2010 Academy award-winning film “The Kings Speech.” This powerful film brought that impactful speech, from a stuttering and unassuming King, to the masses of a new generation.

Yet there is another, still greater king, who gave a still greater speech long ago. A humble Jewish teacher took his place on a hillside and took his followers and many a listening ear to school. This speech, the words of the King of Kings, was written down and transferred to millions in the inspired Word of God in the Scriptures. This speech has changed the world perhaps more than any words in all of history. And by that I do not mean to exaggerate. The teaching of Jesus Christ unleashed a revolution in the world and showed us a different path to walk amidst the greedy, violent and self-exalting human race.

This year at Jacobs Well we will study the King’s speech and go to school with Jesus. As God permits, from September until Easter we will walk in the words of the Sermon of the Mount found in the Gospel of Matthew. We will by no means be able to exhaust its riches together, but I do pray that its gold would shine forth for all who are hungry and thirsty for a renewed life and mission together.

In this introduction I have but a few simple goals. I want to introduce all of us to the Gospel of Matthew, albeit at a very cursory level. Matthew’s gospel is the soil in which the Sermon on the Mount finds its biblical roots. We will then look at the nature of the sermon within the itinerant ministry of Jesus of Nazareth. We will also look at various hermeneutic positions related to the Sermon on the Mount. My hope is that we will see this teaching as life shaping for the church that reflects the eternal realities of the Kingdom. Finally, we will make note of why this teaching is essential for a gospel community living out the mission of Jesus in our own age and culture. So let us begin our journey by taking a quick peak at the Gospel of Matthew.

The Gospel of Matthew

The Sermon on the Mount is comprised of some of the most central and core teachings that Jesus imparted to his followers. In our study together we will look at the record of this teaching in the Gospel of Matthew. The Gospel of Matthew is a rich amalgam of the story of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection and a recounting of his teachings. We do not want to labor too many details on the history and background academic studies in the gospels for our purposes today1 but we do want to highlight a few things about Matthew in particular.

Authorship of the Gospel of Matthew

The gospel of Matthew was well known in the ancient church and was very much in use by the early churches. In discussing the authorship of something like one of the gospels, we are not merely talking about “who wrote the book.” Rather, we are looking at the person who carefully catalogued and communicated important information about his teacher’s life and words. Furthermore, as noted by New Testament scholars Andreas Kostenberger, L. Scott Kellum and Charles Quarles, the author of the gospel of Matthew should be seen as fulfilling the role of a scribe and theologian who carefully arranged and wrote down his account of Jesus’ life and teaching for his particular audience and their needs.2 He is not writing a book as one would write a novel, but writing down the inspired story in order to teach, instruct and convey the good news of Jesus. As to the book itself, it is technically anonymous3 in a formal sense. It is anonymous in that it makes no direct claim to its authorship in its own words. However, the church’s leaders from the earliest days held this gospel to be the work of Matthew the apostle.4 The title as the gospel as kata Matthaion, or according to Matthew, was well in place by the first half of the second century.5 While some find reason to reject this attribution, others, myself included, find no good reason to do so.6 Matthew is mentioned five times in the New Testament and was called out of his life as a despised tax-collector into life as a follower and disciple7 of Jesus. Most would agree that the heavy use of the Old Testament quotations and allusions demonstrate that the gospel was aimed at early Jewish Christians likely in transition into a new way of covenant life as followers of Jesus the Messiah.8 There is an ancient tradition dating back to a church father named Papias that held that Matthew originally composed his work in Hebrew and what survives today is a Greek translation. This view is vigorously disputed9 but the connection to the Hebrew mind and Old Testament becomes clear when reading this work. Though it cannot be demonstrated with absolute certainly that Matthew was the author, there is no compelling evidence to reject this early tradition that was universally acknowledged by the churches.

Dating Matthew

If Matthew is indeed the work of one of the disciples, dating his work would have to fall within his lifespan and place the composition in the second half of the first century. Many scholars today hold that Mark was the first gospel and that Matthew used Mark as well as other oral traditions as source materials for his account.10 Using that system would put Matthew sometime after Mark which many hold to be written in a window anywhere from the late 50s to as late as AD 64. Conservative scholars who hold to Markan Priority typically advise a date just prior to AD 70 due to many facts in the text related to the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem that year.11 Others who have made recent arguments to maintain that Matthew was the “the first gospel,” place its writing even earlier than 70, perhaps as early as the 50s.12 Either way, the Gospel of Matthew is unanimously believed to have taken form within mere decades of the life of Jesus and certainly within the lifespan of its apostolic author.

Hebraisms and Old Testament Quotations and Allusions

As briefly mentioned above, when one reads Matthew’s gospel you quickly find a plethora of Old Testament quotations, allusions and a world that breathes and finds its life in the story of ancient Israel. In fact, David L. Turner categorized some fifty direct Old Testament quotations in Matthew alone.13 The Sermon on the Mount in particular has deep connections with the story of Israel in the Old Testament with two particular parallels of note. First, Jesus is presented as a fulfillment of the Law of Moses and certainly because Jesus gives his teaching on a mountain we quickly draw parallels with Moses on Mt. Sinai.14 The connections are clearly present as we will see later in this essay but we only take them as far as Matthew does. As the late pastor and theologian Dr. John Stott recounted:

“…Matthew does not explicitly liken Jesus to Moses, and we cannot legitimately claim more than that in the sermon ‘the substance of the New Law, the New Sinai, the New Moses are present.’”15

In addition to its connection to Moses and the Pentateuch16, the Gospel of Matthew sets Jesus in proper view in light of the Davidic covenant of 2 Samuel 7. This promise of a coming and eternal king, descended from David is fully on display in Matthew. This is reflected with Matthews’s laser like focus on the nature of the Kingdom of Heaven and its citizens.17 Much more will be noted about the Old Testament backdrop for the identity and teaching of Jesus in a moment when we discuss the structure of the Matthew and his introduction of Jesus. For now let it suffice to say that the Gospel of Matthew is a very Jewish book, laying out the fulfillment of the Old Testament law and a commencement of the Kingdom of God by its Divine Messiah and King.

Many King’s Speeches?

The sermon in Matthew is also similar, but slightly different than some of Jesus’ teaching recorded in Luke chapter 6. In Luke, Jesus is coming down from the hill and takes his teaching position on a level place making this rendition sometimes known as “the Sermon on the Plain.”18 The similarity and difference between these two “King’s Speeches” has led many to wonder if they were the same message given on different occasions, or compilations of Jesus’ teaching conveyed by each gospel writer to address his unique audience and theological purposes. The French-Swiss pastor and theologian John Calvin seemed to view the Sermon on the Mount as a summary or compilation of Jesus’ various teachings given as an itinerant preacher.19 John Stott observes that the sermon in Matthew’s gospel would have lasted about 10 minutes given aloud. So it is appropriate to assume that both Matthew and Luke provide what Stott called “their own condensed summaries.”20 What we need to see is that in Matthew and Luke we have the very teachings of Jesus, inspired by the Holy Spirit, faithfully recorded to instruct us in the good news.21 With that said, it does seem with the geographical and temporal introduction to the Sermon on the Mount that Matthew is recounting an actual occasion where Jesus taught his people even if what he recounts is not a word for word transcription of everything he said that day. It is certain that in the inspired text of Matthew, God gives us everything we needed to hear and know from this central teaching of Jesus.

Now, Not Yet and Other Hermeneutical Considerations

Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount contains such challenging content that there have been many theories of who and what purpose the sermon serves. Is it for the church on the earth? Does it describe the perfection of the Kingdom of Heaven? Is it such a high teaching that it is to humble us and lead us to seek forgiveness? Should this teaching be for now or the age to come? Many ideas have been put forth in church history on these matters. Acts 29 Pastor and Theologian Sam Storms offers a brief but excellent summary of these various views held by Christians throughout history.22 I will briefly summarize his work here and then tell you what perspective we will take in our teaching of the King’s Speech.

• Theological Liberalism – the sermon is the ethical blue print for bringing about a sort of utopian society. If we as individuals and nations “just do it” we’ll be able to make heaven a place on earth.
• Roman Catholic View – the sermon is a blueprint for individual salvation. If we do it we will merit God’s grace and justification.
• Lutheranism – the sermon sets such a high bar that its demands seem impossible to live. It then drives us to the gospel. It functions as a sort of New Testament law.
• Interim Ethic – the sermon was given to the disciples as a way to live in light of the soon coming apocalypse. Yet Jesus was mistaken about the end of all things so this ethic is no longer needed. The sermon presents an extreme ethic for an extreme situation that no longer applies. Storms credits this proposal to the late Albert Schweitzer.23
• Dispensationalism – Storms can give you lots of threads to pull but to summarize I will quote him directly after he looks at various moves in this theological camp:

All of these views are based on the dispensationalist theory of the postponed kingdom: i.e., Jesus offered to Israel the consummate fulfillment of all OT theocratic promises, which she rejected. The coming of the kingdom of God, therefore, has been postponed until after the second coming of Christ. Its fullness will be seen only in the millennial age (Christ’s earthly 1,000 year reign). However, be it noted that the Sermon presupposes a world in which insults, persecution, anger, personal litigation, adultery, lying, vengeful attitudes, malice, worry (by God’s children, no less), judgmental spirit, and false prophets, among other things, flourish! As Carl Henry has said, “An era requiring special principles to govern face-slapping and turning the other cheek (5:39) is hardly one to which the term ‘millennium’ is aptly applied.” The good news is that more recently those who call themselves Progressive Dispensational.24

• Kingdom Living Here and Now – The sermon is teaching to instruct God’s people to live as Kingdom citizens now in Christ while awaiting its full arrival at the end of this age. In this light the sermon issues a high calling to Kingdom living but not an impossible way of life. Storm’s quotes Stott on the sermon on the mount in an appropriate conclusion:

For the standards of the Sermon are neither readily attainable by every man, nor totally unattainable by any man. To put them beyond anybody’s reach is to ignore the purpose of Christ’s Sermon; to put them within everybody’s is to ignore the reality of man’s sin. They are attainable all right, but only by those who have experienced the new birth which Jesus told Nicodemus was the indispensable condition of seeing and entering God’s kingdom.25

In other words, the sermon is for us to follow now and build our lives upon. Yet we do not build in our own strength or in the power of the flesh. It is our new nature, born by the Spirit, empowered by the Spirit that loves and follows Jesus. To quote an old hymn “Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing.”26 Yet when our striving is full of the power of God and we can follow him and build life together on the solid rock of Jesus and his teaching.

As citizens of the earth and as citizens of the Kingdom of heaven we have a glorious experience in this life. We live now as Kingdom people and missionaries among the peoples of the earth. Jesus opens the doors to all who will enter to his Kingdom today and then calls us to live in its light until it comes in fullness and power. This “now, not yet” reality of the Kingdom infuses our every day with eternal significance and draws us forward towards the day when all things will be made new. Dr. D.A. Carson describes this dual reality of the Kingdom in our present age:

Taken together, the books of the New Testament insist that the kingdom of God is already arrived; a person may enter the kingdom and receive life now, life “to the full” (John 10:10). Jesus himself argues that if he drives out demons by the Spirit of God – and he does – then the kingdom of God has come (Matthew 12:28). Nevertheless, the books of the New Testament insist that the kingdom will be inherited only in the future, when Christ comes again. Eternal life, though experienced now, is consummated then, in conjunction with such a renovation of the universe that the only adequate description is “a new heaven and new earth.”27

Until we stand in the new heavens and earth we press forward for the glory of God, the good of others and extend gospel hope in our world. What a privilege friends.

As we come to our approach of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew a note about the literary structure of the gospel will be helpful as it will so beautifully set the context for us to hear the King’s speech.

The Structure of Matthew

Matthew’s gospel flows back and forth from narrative portions and discourses of instruction. A story will be told and then a teaching given that elucidates the narrative further. New Testament scholars W.D. Davies and Dale Allison outline the Matthew’s material by chapter according to this structure labeling the various material (N) for narrative and (D) for discourse/teaching. This short outline will help us in seeing the King’s Speech with the proper narrative background.

1-4 N the main character introduced
5-7 D Jesus’ demands upon Israel
8-9 N Jesus’ deeds within and for Israel
10 D extension of ministry through words and deeds of others
11-12 N negative response
13 D explanation of negative response
14-17 N founding of a new community
18 D instructions to the new community
19-23 N commencement of the passion
24-25 D the future: Judgment and Salvation
26-28 N conclusion: the passion and resurrection28

From this outline we see the chief focus and concern of Matthew right from the start is to introduce Jesus, the main character. He does this through several major scenes with the Sermon on the Mount following. The scenes can be seen as follows and they cast a spotlight on the true identity of Jesus of Nazareth.29

Scene 1—The King’s Roots

Matthew begins with a genealogy so that we see Jesus’ connection to both Abraham and David. He is clearly connected to Abraham who is the fountainhead of the people of Israel to show us that he is fulfilling that calling in the world. Jesus is the true and faithful Israel. He is connected to David so that we might quickly see that Jesus is the true heir of the promises of the Davidic Covenant in 2 Samuel 7. Jesus is the true King that will rule the people of God eternally occupying the Davidic throne. It is Jesus’s Kingdom, the Kingdom of Heaven, which shall be forever established before God the father forever.

Scene 2—The King’s Birth

The second scene involves the royal birth of Jesus in a startling manner. He is conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary fulfilling the promises of Isaiah 7:14. Even his name, Jesus, was to convey to us that YHWH saves. His father is also a man named Joseph, having the same name of the one whom God used in the Old Testament to protect and deliver his people in Egypt. Another King, Herod, is mentioned on the scene of Matthew’s birth narrative, deeply troubled that his power and rule was threatened. The fulfillment of the prophecy of the birth of Messiah was before them. The wise mean of the East rejoice, while some of the current Jerusalem power structure were threated.

Scene 3—Opposing Kings

God then calls Jesus and his parents to Egypt to flee the murderous intentions of Herod. Again, as a fulfillment of prophecy, Herod slays all the male children in the town of Bethlehem where Jesus was born in order to wipe out a contender for his throne. God protects Jesus in Egypt as he had protected his people through Joseph before in the book of Genesis. And when the danger had cleared, God initiates a new Exodus from Egypt and Matthew cites the prophet Hosea with the simple quotation, “Out of Egypt I called my Son.” (Matthew 2:15)

Scene 4—God’s King

The very next scene takes place in “the wilderness” the place where God had worked in the past to bring his people out of the bondage of slavery and give them his law in the Book of Exodus. Whereas in the first Exodus it was the nation which came out from captivity into the wilderness, here we see the faithful Son of God being announced as the one who brings forth the Kingdom of Heaven. And then something wonderful transacts. Jesus is baptized in the Jordan River by John the Baptizer. In the Old Testament God saved his people through the waters of the red sea bringing judgment upon his Egyptian enemies. Here we see Jesus going through the water as a foreshadowing of his role and mission. He would die and be raised to bring his people through in the second Exodus, the greatest saving act of God. At this time we see the Sprit come upon Jesus and we hear God the Father speak “This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased.” This is God’s anointed King! Whereas Israel fails to keep God’s covenant in the Exodus generation, Jesus is fully pleasing to God as our faithful leader and King.

Scene 5—The King’s Temptation

From the scene of his baptism, Jesus is led into the wilderness for forty days and forty nights for a time of testing. Whereas Israel had failed in their faithfulness to YHWH, Jesus will be shown as the faithful Son of God who resists the tempter (Satan) and trusts fully in God’s purposes for him. It is clear that Matthew presents the narrative of Jesus as re-enacting the redemptive history of his people. The parallels are striking. Whereas Moses and his generation failed, the greater law giver and Prophet Jesus will fulfill all of God’s purposes. God’s anointed son (which is what Christ or Messiah means) will be faithful in all things. Daily needs, power, nor presumption will tempt him away from his divine purpose.

Scene 6—The King’s Summons

What we see Jesus do next in Matthew’s narrative is begin to call people onto a new team. As God’s purposes have always been, he begins to form a covenant community, one based upon his summons of people and their following of him as their God and King. Jesus calls disciples from the people of Israel, those with whom he will live his life and entrust his mission. And thus he sits upon the side of a hill and opens his mouth to teach them…and the gathering crowds. And so begins The King’s Speech.

Scene 7—The King’s Speech

The context is clear. The Sermon on the Mount is given to God’s people so that they might understand the way of the Kingdom as directly taught by Jesus. What are his new people like? How will Jesus teach and interpret the law of God to us? How should we now live in light of his being our King? How should our lives be established and how does the Kingdom flow in and through us as a community? These questions are so important that Jesus takes his followers to school. He instructs us on the way of the eternal Kingdom breaking forth into our world now.

The Kings Speech for Kingdom Servants

In conclusion, I want us to take a look at how desperately we need to have our lives shaped by this sermon in our current day. The late English minister John Stott began his commentary on the Sermon on the Mount with the following striking words that issued a summons to his own generation:

The Sermon on the Mount is probably the best known part of the teaching of Jesus, though arguably it is the least understood, and certainly it is the least obeyed. It is the nearest thing to a manifesto that he ever uttered, for it is his own description of what he wanted his followers to be and to do. To my mind no two words sum up its intention better, or indicate more clearly it’s challenged to the modern world, than the expression ‘Christian counterculture’.”30

Stott was writing in the throes of the counterculture movement in the 1960s and 70s. He noticed a disaffected youth culture frustrated with the status quo of the day where Western civilization and the church might have been seen as two versions of the same oppressive reality.31 His reflection on the church’s conformity to and congruence with culture should be echoed in every generation. We are called to be a countercultural society shaped by the gospel, for the sake of the nations, by extending hope of the gospel of the crucified and risen king. Certainly in our age as well, the church in America risks a conformity to the prevailing cultural moods of our day. Whether it is a capitulation to right wing visions of economic and individualistic living or left-wing visions which mute the need for individual responsibility and morality, the church must not tip into worldly ideology and cultural captivity. Our age also runs a great risk of being into fads and novelty chasing the transient in neglect of the eternal. We must challenge ourselves to see life as more than consumerism, money, sensuality and self-absorption of this age. We have a much higher calling in Christ.

In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus does indeed provide us a calling to a higher reality both now and eternally. In his teaching and example he invades this present darkness with the light of love, truth and passionate beauty. In our world that is in constant fracture and division, Jesus is always forming a counter-cultural community. The world constantly sets up divisions based upon race, class, appearances, nationality or ideology; Jesus knew this to be the status quo of the human condition. Yet it is from this world that he calls a people to become the new community of his church. That church is marked by the forgiving grace of God in the gospel and a new reality defined by his ways and teaching.

The good news of Jesus Christ creates one new man out of divided peoples. It is also different then the status quo of any of the myriad of human created cultures. Though we find echoes of the glory of the image of God in all places on the earth, it is in the unique society of the church that the Spirit and teaching of Jesus takes root. The Old Testament call to Israel to not be as the other nations continues in the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus’ call is “do not be like them” (Matthew 6:8) for we are to resemble our Lord in true righteousness and holiness (See Ephesians 4:17-24).

In the Sermon on the Mount we really see who is blessed in the sight of God. It is according to his principles and not simply those by which we judge one another. In it we receive a high ethical calling to live with one another in supernatural ways. We find that our lives should reflect a contrast as light is to darkness, a savory flavor to the bland and the boring of this life. In the King’s speech we find a fulfillment of the promises and laws given to the prophets of old, realized and brought to completion in the life of Jesus the King. We see that our God’s plans are never thwarted, but always fulfilled in the fullness of his time.

In Jesus’ teaching we find a different foundation for life. One that is eternally established and steadfast in the purposes for which God created us. We represent the rule and reign of King Jesus and extend the hope of his sacrificial love, and life renewing resurrection in the world. We are a signpost of the age to come and a testimony to the world of its accountability to the Almighty God. We call others to new life, the forgiveness of sins and for the requirements of God’s holy law to be fulfilled in us by his Spirit. (Romans 8)

One of Jesus’ followers long ago described the Christian community as being sojourners and strangers (1 Peter 2:11) in this world. And this is what we are. We belong to another realm with our citizenship being from the embassy in Heaven. We love this world so much that at times we stand against it in truth and warning. We love this world so much that we must stand within it for the good of others and holding forth good news of our sacrificial, loving and forgiving God. To quote that early 20th century prophet GK Chesterton, we must hate this world enough to change it, and yet love it enough to think it worth changing.32

In our day there are new calls for the church to put aside the truth and deny what God has given to her in the Holy Scriptures. There are new calls for compromise and calls of ungodly perspectives of Christians towards a lost world. We must be a resistance force against both these urges. We must not abandon Scriptural teaching for the current and contemporary fads of our society. Whether this be related to sex, religion or political correctness. Neither should we forfeit the loving ethic given to us by the Lord Jesus in the name of “being right.” Our calling is to hold forth the biblical gospel of Jesus the King and of his coming kingdom in our day. Neither removing the offense of the cross nor denying the sufficiency of Christ for the salvation of all who will believe. Yet as we hold forth the gospel to a dying world we do not wish to fumble it in our day. Each generation has a responsibility to our creator to be faithful to the end.

For the church not to know the orders of its commanding officer or the way and manner of his kingdom is indeed a tragedy in every generation. Long-ago the King of Kings stood on the side of a hill to teach us so we would not forget his rule or his ways. We have the King’s Speech and we have the school of Jesus in which to learn. Let’s go to school together.

As we head into the sermon I want to give us proper warning that Jesus’ teaching is challenging. It both draws us in and convicts us of our lax attitude towards God and his Kingdom. New Testament scholar DA Carson said it this way:

The more I read these three chapters—Matthew 5, 6 and 7—the more I am both drawn by them and then shamed by them. Their brilliant light draws me like a moth to a spotlight; but the light is so bright that it sears and burns. No room left for forms of piety which are nothing more than veneer and sham.

In other words, we cannot fake a devotion to God as described in the Sermon on the Mount. It must be a work of God’s Spirit in us as we joyfully submit to his rule in our lives.

Join the community of Jacobs Well as we humble ourselves and bow the knee to the King this fall. Join us in the glorious adventure of being taken to school by the crucified and risen one who reigns forever and ever and ever… Amen.

In the year of our Lord 2014,

Reid S. Monaghan

Notes

1. For those who want to look at some of this, see the discussion of the Synoptic Problem and the gospels in my short “An Introduction to the New Testament” available at http://jacobswellnj.org/theology-booklets
2. Andreas J. Köstenberger, L. Scott Kellum, and Charles L. Quarles, The Cradle, the Cross, and the Crown : An Introduction to the New Testament (Nashville, Tenn.: B & H Academic, 2009), 180.
3. David L. Turner, Matthew, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2008), 11.
4. R. T. France, The Gospel of Matthew, The New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, Mich.: William B. Eerdmans Pub., 2007), 15.
5. W. D. Davies and Dale C. Allison, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Gospel According to Saint Matthew, 3 vols., The International Critical Commentary on the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments (London ; New York: T&T Clark International, 2004), xi.
6. France, 15.
7. It is of interest that the word for disciple in Greek is mathetes
8. France, 17-18.
9. See Sidebar 4.1 in Köstenberger et al., 182, 183.
10. For a brief but helpful treatment of the Synoptic gospels and Markan priority seeD. A. Carson, Douglas J. Moo, and Leon Morris, An Introduction to the New Testament, New Testament Studies (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 1992), 19-56.
11. Köstenberger et al., 188.
12. For more on exploring alternative thesis to the Synoptic Problem see David Alan Black and David R. Beck, Rethinking the Synoptic Problem (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Academic, 2001).
13. Turner, 18, 19.
14. This is in reference to the narrative in Exodus of Moses bringing God’s teaching to his people from a mountain.
15. John R. W. Stott, The Message of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) : Christian Counter-Culture, The Bible Speaks Today (Downers Grove, Ill., U.S.A.: Inter-varsity Press, 1978), 21. Emphasis added.
16. Pentateuch simply refers to the first five books of the Bible, or the books of Moses, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.
17. DA Carson provides a clear and helpful explanation about the Bible's use of Kingdom language and imagery in D. A. Carson, The Sermon on the Mount : An Evangelical Exposition of Matthew 5-7 (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Book House, 1978), 11-16.
18. I must confess that I caught that I had originally typed “Sermon on the Plane” which would have been an anachronism. Not that Jesus would be opposed to preaching on airplanes.
19. John Calvin viewed the sermon as “a brief summary…collected out of his many and various discourses” See Stott, 22.
20. Ibid., 24.
21. New Testament scholar David L. Turner prefers a view that in Matthew 5-7 we have a record that “accurately records the gist (ipsissima vox, “the very voice,” of Jesus) of a historical sermon that Jesus uttered.
22. Sam Storms, "Introduction to the Sermon on the Mount," Sam Storms, Enjoying God 2014, no. September 19 (2006). http://www.samstorms.com/all-articles/post/introduction-to-the-sermon-on-the-mount.
23. Brief outline of his life and view is found in the wiki here - "Albert Schweitzer," Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Schweitzer (accessed September 19, 2014).
24. Storms.
25. Stott, 29.
26. Martin Luther, "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God," (1529). http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/m/i/g/mightyfo.htm.
27. Carson, 14.
28. Davies and Allison, xxiv-xxv.
29. The following is informed by the brief outline in Iain M. Duguid, Is Jesus in the Old Testament?, First Edition ed., Basics of the Faith (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Pub., 2013), 32-36.
30. Stott, 15.
31. Ibid., 17.
32. G. K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy (New York, London,: John Lane company; John Lane, 1909), 130.
    Carson, 11.

Bibliography

"Albert Schweitzer." Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Schweitzer [accessed September 19, 2014].

Black, David Alan and David R. Beck. Rethinking the Synoptic Problem. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Academic, 2001.

Carson, D. A. The Sermon on the Mount : An Evangelical Exposition of Matthew 5-7. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Book House, 1978.

Carson, D. A., Douglas J. Moo and Leon Morris. An Introduction to the New Testament New Testament Studies. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 1992.

Chesterton, G. K. Orthodoxy. New York, London,: John Lane company; John Lane, 1909.

Davies, W. D. and Dale C. Allison. A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Gospel According to Saint Matthew. 3 vols. The International Critical Commentary on the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. London ; New York: T&T Clark International, 2004.

Duguid, Iain M. Is Jesus in the Old Testament? First Edition ed. Basics of the Faith. Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Pub., 2013.

France, R. T. The Gospel of Matthew The New International Commentary on the New Testament. Grand Rapids, Mich.: William B. Eerdmans Pub., 2007.

Köstenberger, Andreas J., L. Scott Kellum and Charles L. Quarles. The Cradle, the Cross, and the Crown : An Introduction to the New Testament. Nashville, Tenn.: B & H Academic, 2009.

Luther, Martin. "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God." (1529). http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/m/i/g/mightyfo.htm.

Storms, Sam. "Introduction to the Sermon on the Mount." Sam Storms, Enjoying God 2014, no. September 19 (2006). http://www.samstorms.com/all-articles/post/introduction-to-the-sermon-on-the-mount.

Stott, John R. W. The Message of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) : Christian Counter-Culture The Bible Speaks Today. Downers Grove, Ill., U.S.A.: Inter-varsity Press, 1978.

Turner, David L. Matthew Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2008.

© 2014 Jacob’s Well, Reid S. Monaghan
www.JacobsWellNJ.org

Wisdom, as related to human beings, may simply be defined as the life quality that enables one to make good choices in the complicated circumstances of life in order to walk a good path. For the follower of Jesus, wisdom is the art of godly living.

Every culture knows that there is a way to live that is rightly called foolishness. There really is a way to waste your life and fizzle your days away filled with folly. We are always seeking wisdom from others yet many times we go all over the place looking to figure out how life works.

Bookstores are jammed full with self-help books offering wisdom to the seeker. Movies and literature are filled with wise characters (Yoda and Gandalf the gray being some of my favorites). There is never a shortage of gurus being paraded out on the Oprah Winfrey show. Usually they are western dudes dabbling in eastern philosophy who write books and get paid.

Ironically, we are people who are surrounded by impressive knowledge but seem to be profoundly lacking in wisdom. Our culture seems to have a deficit of wisdom as we tend to float like empty ballasts upon a sea of nothingness. I offer MTV’s Jersey Shore as humble proof. Seriously, how many times can a chic fall in love and give everything she has to some idiot during the course of a summer?

We may know how to split the atom, make machines talk, decode the genome and scan the electrical activities of our brains but we remain unsure about how to make life work. In our search for meaning and happiness we simply lack the wisdom we truly need.

ON GAINING WISDOM

Wisdom is something that grows in us progressively as we walk with God in his world. It is no coincidence that the ancients saw the elderly as a source of wisdom; they have lived more life with God and have learned from him through teaching and experience. Proverbs 20:29 teaches us that the glory of young men is their strength, but the splendor of old men is their gray hair. It is not always the case that old age = wisdom, but there is a general principle here that we can learn and deepen in wisdom over time. The tragic story of King Rehoboam ignoring the wisdom of the elderly for the counsel of some punk young men is a classic example of this principle. You can read this in 1 Kings 12 in the Old Testament.

There is a bit of a paradox with wisdom. It is the thing we need most when we are young, but being young we do not have it. This confronts people, particularly younger folk, with some difficult choices. Will I learn from the wisdom God has given to others? Or will I remain an idiot? In our pride we can choose the latter, but if we are willing to humble ourselves, there are several ways that we can grow in wisdom.

STUDY AND LISTENING TO GOD’S WORD

God has revealed himself through his Word that we can study, read, listen, meditate upon and obey. Over time we gain the ability to discern good from evil (Hebrews 5:11-14) by the constant practice of the teaching of God. Learning and following over time results in becoming wise. Will we come to the Word for wisdom?

HEEDING THE WORDS OF THE WISE

Proverbs 11:14 reads, where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety. Further Proverbs 24:6 teaches us that in an abundance of counselors there is victory. Of course, the counselors must actually be wise, but the point is that we can learn from others if we listen. In fact the book of Proverbs begins by with these words: Let the wise hear and increase in learning, and the one who understands obtain guidance, to understand a proverb and a saying, the words of the wise and their riddles. Our parents, pastors and our community of faith have wise counsel for us...but we don’t always listen. My favorite is to combine the first two – to hear the words of the wise, in the Scriptures. This essay will roll into that discussion in a minute.

LEARNING THE HARD WAY

The final way we learn is the hard way. This is where we do foolish stuff and we reap the reality. We all have been here have we not? God is kind and will discipline us to help us walk in wisdom. Yet as I tell my kids, you can learn just by listening to me—but like Bill Cosby once said, some children simply cannot get by without a good beating. [2]

In this paper we aim to do the following. First, we hope to provide a very short introduction to the wisdom literature of the Bible in general and the book of Proverbs in particular. In doing so we’ll encourage one another to become wise by heading and hearing the wisdom of the wise in Scripture.

THE WISDOM LITERATURE OF THE BIBLE

There are many genres of literature (or kinds of writing) in the Holy Scriptures. There are histories, narratives, poems, law codes, songs, letters, writings about the end of history, parables, covenants and prophesies about events declaring God’s judgments and actions throughout history. There is also a unique body of writings properly called wisdom literature. The canonical books of Job, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Proverbs, some of the Psalms, the writings of James and portions of the teachings of Jesus are rightly seen as writings offering wisdom for God’s people.

Outside of the book of Proverbs, many of these treasures can be greatly unknown to many in the church, yet they offer great counsel to the human race living in a world cursed due to sin and death. Job teaches us about life as suffering in relationship with God. Ecclesiastes offers a philosophical reflection on meaning, happiness and the transient nature of life. Song of Songs teaches us about life as covenantal love. These themes are profoundly important and speak loudly with alacrity millennia after these works were inspired and written down. [3]

The biblical wisdom literature is a body of unique writings in that they instruct God’s covenant people (those who have entered relationship with him through his gracious promises and work in Jesus the Messiah) in how they are to walk with him on the earth. Living in wisdom is living in godliness reflecting the nature of the kingdom of God in the course of everyday living. Many peoples, both ancient [4] and modern, posses a body of wisdom literature but what makes the biblical writings distinct are their relationship to YHWH, the creator God. In the wisdom literature of the Bible we have writing that is not just enormously practical for all people on the earth, but also a description for how to live in the fear of the LORD. [5]

Old Testament scholar Bruce Waltke rightly observes that the wisdom in Scripture exhorts us away from autonomy from God (Proverbs 3:7 being wise in your own eyes) and to live in trusting relationship with God following his paths (Proverbs 3:5-6). Though we find wise teaching of great value outside of Scripture, the wisdom of the Bible is unique in that its aims are far beyond just happily getting by on the earth. It is given to us to teach us to live within a trusting relationship with God as his people.

A NOTE ON NON BIBLICAL WISDOM

In coming to the words of the wise and the writing of the sages, we must remember that there are various flavors of wisdom floating around. There is a worldly wisdom that exists in the people, philosophies and religions which flow around us. Many of these have much to say to us, but much of it stands in contradiction to the wisdom of God. On two occasions the book of Proverbs reminds us “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death. [6] Additionally, the New Testament writing of James is very clear for us here:

13Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. 14But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. 15This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. 16For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. 17But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. 18And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. James 3:13-18 (ESV)

As wisdom is offered to us as we sojourn on the earth, we must be concerned to discern it through the teaching of the Scriptures. In the Bible we have a sure word that can keep us from crashing like a runaway train being led astray by all manner of human opinions. Human wisdom is helpful at times as it has been forged in the furnaces of experience, but it must sit under the throne of a higher word that speaks from a higher place. Duane A. Garrett makes a good observation that we would do well do remember as we seek to learn and grow in wisdom.

Finally, biblical wisdom stresses the limitations of human knowledge. The gulf between human perception and divine reality is never really closed. The sage is commanded to go about his task with humility and reverence for God. The learned must never forget their limitations (Proverbs 30:2–4) and that they are prone to error and conceit. Above all, they must subordinate their quest to the Word of God. For “every word of God is flawless” (Proverbs 30:5).[7]

THE BOOK OF PROVERBS

One of the most read and cherished portions of the Bible’s wisdom literature are the Hebrew Proverbs. It is a collection of sayings from various people in the ancient world mostly compiled by the ancient Israelite King Solomon who reigned from 971–931 B.C. We read in 1 Kings 4:29-34 that Solomon was a person whom God gave wisdom and understanding and that he indeed collected a quite a few proverbial sayings during his life. This passage states that his wisdom library included some 3000 proverbs and over a thousand songs. Now he couldn’t fit 1000 songs in his pocket, but he did manage to collect a plethora of wisdom in his life. Most biblical scholars segment the book into several sections based on the author of the sayings or when they were compiled. The following is commonly used:

THE VALUE OF SEEKING WISDOM (CHAPTERS 1-9)

This section focuses on persuading people of the important nature of wisdom in the life of God’s people. We also note the specific emphasis on parents teaching wisdom to the yutes [8] by way of proverbs. Young people are also exhorted not to be hard headed and listen to their parents. Old School. There is some debate as to whether Solomon wrote these longer exhortatory poems with most conservative scholars agreeing with the attribution in Proverbs 1:1. [9]

THE PROVERBS OF SOLOMON (CHAPTERS 10-22:16)

After the early work of the book persuading us with the value of wisdom, the meat of the book are the proverbs of Solomon. These are shorter sayings than the sections in chapters 1-9 and cover all manner of topics. Proverbs 22:17–24:22 contains thirty sayings that are not attributed to Solomon but rather simply coming from “the wise”

THE COLLECTED SAYINGS OF SOLOMON (CHAPTERS 25–29:27)

Proverbs 25 begins with the following phrase: These also are proverbs of Solomon which the men of Hezekiah king of Judah copied. Hezekiah was a king who ruled much after Solomon in 715–686 B.C. and led a renewal of Judah’s spiritual practices and faith after a wayward time. During this time of spiritual renewal additional proverbs attributed to Solomon were written down.

THE SAYINGS OF AGUR, LEMUEL AND ONE HOT MOMMA (CHAPTERS 30 AND 31)

The final two chapters contain the words of rather obscure people. Chapter 30 is attributed to Agur son of Jakeh who is mentioned nowhere else in the Bible. Whether his name is a metaphor, a pen name, or a real person is not clear or certain. [10]

Finally, another quite unknown sage named Lemuel, possibly an Ancient Near Eastern King is given props for chapter 31. Interestingly the words are said to have been taught to him by his Mother further reinforcing the importance of parents teaching wisdom to their kids. Some would couple the poem about the virtuous wife with the words of Lemuel, but one thing is for certain, the paradigm of feminine virtue extolled in the final words of Proverbs is a beautiful ideal. Here we find a wife, mother and businesswoman who generous, wise and praised by her husband and her kids.

SOME HELP READING PROVERBS

In some ways Proverbs is a very easy book to read. In fact, believers have found it easy to read one per day due to the breaking of the book into 31 chapters. On the other hand the Proverbs require a little help to understand and appropriate, well, wisely. What follow are two sections designed to help you read proverbs. The first deals with the types of literary characters we find in the book and how understanding these help us grasp its message clearly. Second, we will wrestle with how to take the clarity of some of the Proverbs while living in a broken and fallen world. Proverbs seems to promise health, prosperity and the righteous finishing on top. Yet in other parts of Scripture we realize that we suffer, die and sometimes give up all wealth for the sake of following God. I’ll try to give a few points of help with this tension.

SOME PEEPS IN THE PROVERBS

When reading Proverbs we run across several characters who personify certain human trends and actions. They do not refer to a specific person but serve as types which stand for many people. We will look at the fool, the simple, the wise, the wicked (including scoffers, and those wise in their own eyes) and the righteous. Many times these characters are contrasted with one another, for instance the wise and the fool, in order for us to see clearly the path we ought to take. The introductory article in the ESV Study Bible by Garrett and Harris describes this well:

Also, these characters usually serve as idealized portraits: that is, they denote people exemplary for their virtue and wisdom or especially despicable for their evil. The literary name for this is “caricature”: portraits of people with features exaggerated for easy identification. The positive figures serve as ideals for the faithful, to guide their conduct and character formation. The negative figures are exaggerated portraits of those who do not embrace the covenant, so the faithful can recognize these traits in themselves and flee them. [11]

What follows is but a brief look at how Proverbs uses these caricatures in order to help us see more clearly the path of walking with God.

FOOLS AND FOLLY

The fool is someone who shows himself to be not only lacking wisdom and discretion but also morally deficient. We would call him an idiot or a moron but not simply in referring to intellectual capacity. The fool in Proverbs is an idiot in the sense of the way he chooses to live his life. Americans like to watch the fool on various reality TV shows usually to feel self-righteous and better about their own lives. The fool talks to much, does not listen, lies regularly, thinks sin is funny, hates knowledge and wisdom and pretty much will have a ruinous end. Pull up the Bible online (www.gnpcb.org/esv/) and search for the word “fool” and you will find not a few Proverbs to read. Simply put, you don’t want to be an idiot so pay attention to the fool’s way of life as you read the Proverbs.

THE SIMPLE

The person who is called “simple” is one who is in a situation needing some learning about the ways of godly living. She is not as far gone as the fool and her life could change or stay simple (Proverbs 1:22, 32). The simple are called to take head and listen and choose a path of wisdom rather than the moronic idiocy of the fool. The simple are easily deceived (Proverbs 14:15) and need to stop and think about her decisions.

THE WISE AND WISDOM

The wise are those whom are taking the path which God sets out for us and are to be emulated. The lives of the wise are typified by hearing and learning from the ways of God (Proverbs 1:5; 8:33; 10:8; 12:15). The mouth of the wise is used for teaching, healing and preserving rather than tearing down (Proverbs 12:18; 14:3; 15:2,7). The wise avoids sexual misdeeds and adultery (Proverbs 5 and 6; 23:26-28) and stays away from drunkenness which is common deep downtown in Liquortown (Proverbs 20:1; 23:29-35).

Wisdom itself is personified in the book of Proverbs and is said to speak to us and cries out for us to listen. Many have rightly linked the personification of wisdom with the person of Jesus, the son of God. The New Testament teaches us that Christ is the wisdom of God and that in him are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. The way of wisdom is found in following a way that is set out by God. The way of wisdom is following in the way of Jesus as his disciple

THE WICKED

Joining the fool in Proverbs as a negative character is the way of the wicked. While we observe the fool’s jacked up choices in everyday life, we see that the way of the wicked is utter rejection of the covenant making God. The wicked is seen as setting his way in opposition to God and seeking to take others with him. He is sometimes called a “sinner” (Proverbs 1) but not in the sense that everyone sins and falls short of the glory of God. He is a sinner whose joy and goal in life is sinning it up and commending this as a good way to live. The wicked are said to be under God’s curse (Proverbs 3:33), living in darkness (Proverbs 4:19), live in a way that is an abomination to God (Proverbs 15:9) and will come to sudden, disastrous ruin. The message in Proverbs: you want to go to Hell? Walk in the way of the wicked and only the wrath of God remains.

THE RIGHTEOUS

There is a character in Proverbs known as righteous which shows the rich blessing of walking in covenant relationship with God. The righteous is also called upright, diligent and prudent to describe this way of life to us. [12] The righteous is similar to the wise person whereas here the relationship with God is central rather than every day decisions and living. It should be obvious to any reader of the Scripture that our relationship with God (righteousness) and holy, wise living in the world are always conjoined. As followers of Jesus we understand that we are made righteous by God and we live righteously in our lives by his empowering Spirit. Proverbs does not present a self-righteous person living in his own strength, but rather one dependent upon God who makes straight his paths. The path of the righteous is light, his way is understanding and knowledge, his mouth and lips bring blessing to others and he is ultimately delivered by God.

A FEW MISCELLANEOUS PEEPS

Finally, there are also a few special folks listed in Proverbs: The sluggard, scoffers and those who are wise in their own eyes. The scoffer loves to mock and deride God’s people and those who are wise in their own eyes are utterly deceived. The former suffers from a deep arrogance and pride (Proverbs 21:24) while the latter’s condition is almost seen as without hope (Proverbs 26:12). The sluggard is the lazy guy who loves to sleep, never finishes anything he starts pretty much fails to utilize opportunities before him. [13] Derek Kidner, in commenting on the sluggard, made the following observation: [the sluggard] does not commit himself to a refusal, but deceives himself by the smallness of his surrenders. So, by inches and minutes, his opportunity slips away.[14]

PROMISES AND TRUTHS OF PROVERBS

As the Proverbs are so practical and easy to read we must be careful not to misunderstand their message. There are several principle which can help us to ascertain and properly understand the proverbs. Let me give a few examples of the problems which can arise.

Proverbs 22:6 teaches parents to train up a child in the way he should go and even when he is old he will not depart from it. Does this mean that if you are perfect parents your kids will turn out to love and walk with God? Of course not, yet some parents claim this as a promise or guarantee. Now parents I am not taking this verse away from us; I just want us to come to it with humility. We’ll talk more about proverb vs. promise in a moment.
Proverbs also teaches much about the nature of health and wealth and many a preacher on television will grab a proverb or two and promise all his hearers they are to be rich and never get sick! There are also verses like this one: Do not toil to acquire wealth; be discerning enough to desist (Proverbs 23:4)
So how do we understand the Proverbs as we read so as to not be led astray by our excitement nor minimize the wonderful teaching of these verses? I pray the following might be of some help. I will use the example of wealth to illustrate each of these principles in order to help us read the proverbs with wisdom.

A few Principles for reading Proverbs

• Proverbs are dealing with observed probabilities, not absolute promises and guarantees. Dillard and Longman make a great observation for us here, “they are not divine promises [for every occasion] for the here and now, but true observations that time will bear out.” [15]
• Proverbs are to be read in the whole, not simply in their parts. There are many times other proverbs which balance the teaching of the first one you read. They do not nullify one another, but they give a bigger picture. Additionally, other parts of the wisdom literature and other parts of the Bible may shape how we understand a Proverb.
• Proverbs obtain in certain circumstances and life contexts. Wisdom is always exercised in real life, not simply in abstraction. So Proverbs is not playing a pithy game when it tells us “Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest you be like him yourself.” and then in the very next verse “Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes.” (Proverbs 26:4,5) The point here is that fools are complicated to deal with and wisdom would require balance.
• Proverbs are to be read with a long horizon of eternity – Even though some of the wise sayings dictate what usually happens with a certain course of action and behavior, they do not always obtain in the here and now. However, in light of eternity, they will prove true. In a fallen world where sin, death and injustice still have a hand in life we long for a day when the life, health, peace and prosperity talked of in Proverbs will be final and absolute. These have us long for the day when the righteous will inherit the earth in the Kingdom of Heaven.
• Proverbs are about life Coram Deo – The proverbs should not be read in a vacuum where God is not considered. I know this may seem like a ridiculous thing to say but we are a people who can love formulas and sayings more than we love God. God is sovereign and his will sometimes is mysterious. Job’s wife and friends were quoting proverbial type wisdom to him when the truth of what God was doing was quite different. We trust a Sovereign God who have made sure promises with our lives. We trust and stand on his actual promises to us in Jesus and hear and heed the wisdom in Proverbs. There is a difference between a promise of God and a wise Proverb inspired by God. One is sure and we rest in it, the other must be skillfully heard and applied.

OK, let us apply these to an example that many a prosperity preacher might use to talk of all the money Christians should have. Proverbs 13:22 says “A good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children, but the sinner's wealth is laid up for the righteous”

1. If one absolutizes the latter part of this verse into a promise or a guarantee we must be required to think that whenever a wicked person dies some Christian is going to get all his money. Some actually teach this sort of schmack. In the short term, this is not true
2. The book of Proverbs teaches much about wealth not simply this one verse; it might help us to know the bigger picture. Wealth is good is gained justly and in walking with God. Good stewardship will lead to the sort of blessing in the first half of this verse. Proverbs 11:7 teaches us that “when the wicked dies, his hope will perish, and the expectation of wealth perishes too.” There is nothing for the wicked after the grave, and his wealth goes to someone else.
3. This entire proverb can be completely true now in certain circumstances. I know one personally.
4. Ultimately all who belong to Jesus will quite literally “inherit the earth” and the wealth and riches of God will not remain with the wicked. The long term horizon validates the Proverb completely.
5. The promise of God is that we have a secure, unfading, eternal inheritance in Him (1 Peter 1:3-9) that includes every spiritual blessing in Christ (Ephesians 1). When the wicked continue to prosper in this age we know the final judgment of God will stand firm and clear.

I hope this simple example is helpful in thinking through the reading and living of the wisdom literature. For those desiring a bit more discussion of this matter I refer you to Mark Dever’s excellent treatment in his sermon on Proverbs in The Message of the Old Testamant: Promises Made. [16]

CONCLUSION

There is a divine shout out going on in the world today where wisdom is crying out for us to hear. God in his kindness has given us literature like Proverbs to shake our deaf ears. Proverbs 1:20-23 reads so clearly:

20 Wisdom cries aloud in the street, in the markets she raises her voice; 21at the head of the noisy streets she cries out; at the entrance of the city gates she speaks: 22“How long, O a simple ones, will you love being simple? How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing and fools hate knowledge? 23 If you turn at my reproof, behold, I will pour out my spirit to you; I will make my words known to you.

How much more longing we have for wisdom as God’s people who see and savor Jesus Christ as “the wisdom and power of God.” (1 Corinthians 1:18-25) What a tremendous privilege we have to follow Jesus within who are all the hidden treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Colossians 2:3).

In proverbs wisdom is personified as shouting aloud in the streets to us? Will we listen? Wisdom was incarnate in Jesus Christ and crucified by the wisdom of the world. We will do the same day after day? Derek Kidner, the late Old Testament scholar, commented simply on the urgency to gain wisdom: What it takes is not brains or opportunity, but a decision. Do you want it? Come and get it? [17] Jesus was even simpler in his call to us all in relationship to wise living. Come, follow me! Even concerning Lust, Language and Liquortown.

May each of us choose his paths, as he gives grace.

Reid S. Monaghan

Lead Pastor

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bromiley, G. W. , The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Wm. B. Eerdmans., 1988; 2002.

Crossway Bibles. The Holy Bible : English Standard Version : The Esv Study Bible. Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Bibles, 2008.

Dever, Mark. The Message of the Old Testament: Promises Made. Wheaton: Crossway Books, 2006.

Dillard, Raymond B., and Tremper Longman. An Introduction to the Old Testament. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 1994.

Garrett, Duane A. Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs. Nashville, Tenn.: Broadman Press, 1993.

Kreeft, Peter. Three Philosophies of Life : Ecclesiastes-- Life as Vanity, Job-- Life as Suffering, Song of Songs-- Life as Love. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1989.

"The Urban Dictionary."

Waltke, Bruce K., and Charles Yu. An Old Testament Theology : An Exegetical, Canonical and Thematic Approach. 1st ed. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 2007.

NOTES

1. This introduction is adapted from an essay I wrote during our study of Ephesians in the summer of 2009. The original essay, Wise Guys, can be read at http://www.powerofchange.org/blog/2009/8/16/wise-guys.html
2. See Bill Cosby, “The Same Thing Happens Every Night” Available online at http://www.last.fm/music/Bill+Cosby/_/Same+Thing+Happens+Every+Night — worth a few minutes to laugh.
3. A good little reflection on these themes is found in Peter Kreeft, Three Philosophies of Life : Ecclesiastes-- Life as Vanity, Job-- Life as Suffering, Song of Songs-- Life as Love (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1989). Kreeft is a philosopher and not a theologian but still offers some helpful insights surrounding these wisdom oriented books of the Old Testament.
4. Bruce K. Waltke and Charles Yu, An Old Testament Theology : An Exegetical, Canonical and Thematic Approach, 1st ed. (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 2007), 898-901.
5. Proverbs 1:7 is clear that “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.” The term LORD here is God’s unique covenant name YHWH, or I AM as expressed in Exodus 3.
6. Proverbs 14:12 and 16:25
7. Duane A. Garrett, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs (Nashville, Tenn.: Broadman Press, 1993), 58.
8. Yutes, plural for young adults. "The two yutes in question." - My Cousin Vinny"The Urban Dictionary."
9. Waltke and Yu, 905. See also the brief authorship discussion in Raymond B. Dillard and Tremper Longman, An Introduction to the Old Testament (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 1994), 236-237.
10. For more discussion on the identity of Agur see Proverbs, Book Of, in The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia Revised ed.: Wm. B. Eerdmans., 1988; 2002), s.v.
11. Introduction to Proverbs, Crossway Bibles., The Holy Bible : English Standard Version : The Esv Study Bible (Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Bibles, 2008).
12. Ibid.
13. Mark Dever, The Message of the Old Testament: Promises Made (Wheaton: Crossway Books, 2006), 512-514.
14. Quoted by Mark Dever, Ibid., 513.
15. Dillard and Longman, 244.
16. Dever, 509-511.
17. Waltke and Yu, 908. Emphasis mine.