During this Pentecost Season, there are two “Tracks” of Scriptures that are offered, and congregations may choose which Track they will follow. The first two readings presented are the readings from Tracks 1 and 2, respectively. The third and fourth readings are the same in both Tracks.
2 Samuel 23:1-7
Reading
1 These are the last words of David:
The oracle of David, son of Jesse, the oracle of the man whom God exalted, the anointed of the God of Jacob, the favorite of the Strong One of Israel:
2 The spirit of the LORD speaks through me, his word is upon my tongue.
3 The God of Israel has spoken, the Rock of Israel has said to me: One who rules over people justly, ruling in the fear of God,
4 is like the light of morning, like the sun rising on a cloudless morning, gleaming from the rain on the grassy land.
5 Is not my house like this with God? For he has made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and secure. Will he not cause to prosper all my help and my desire?
6 But the godless are all like thorns that are thrown away; for they cannot be picked up with the hand;
7 to touch them one uses an iron bar or the shaft of a spear. And they are entirely consumed in fire on the spot.
Commentary
The Book of Samuel is part of the “Deuteronomic History” that includes the books of Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings. These books are a “didactic history” that covered the period from just before the entry into the Promised Land (c.1220 BCE, if the account is historical) to the beginning of Babylonian Captivity (586 BCE). The books were written in the period from 640 BCE to 550 BCE and continued to be revised even after that.
The authors of the Deuteronomic Books artfully wove their stories from numerous sources. They then used the stories in these books to demonstrate that that God controls history and to assert that it was the failures of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judea to worship YHWH and obey God’s commands that led to the conquest of Northern Israel in 722 BCE by the Assyrians and the conquest of Judea by the Babylonians in 597 BCE. (The conquests were not seen as the result of the Assyrians’ and Babylonians’ greater wealth and more powerful armies.)
The Book of Samuel (to the extent it may be historical) covered from the end of the time of the Judges (c.1030 BCE) to the last years of the Reign of David (c. 965 BCE). Most scholars agree that it was compiled from multiple sources. For this reason, there are at least nine stories in the Book that are repeated but in a different (and sometimes contradictory) form. The Jewish Study Bible says: “These sometimes contradictory stories were probably included in the book of Samuel because they were not seen as different versions of the same story but as accounts of different events, or because of the light they shed on the protagonists.” It continues: “Consistency was not considered essential.”
Today’s readings are presented as David’s “last words” – a poetic literary tradition similar to the “last words” of Jacob (Gen. 49) and Moses (Deut. 32). The reading is inserted between a long psalm of praise (2 Sam. 22) that is essentially the same as Psalm 18, and a recounting of the warriors whom David had (2 Sam. 23:8-39), including (somewhat ironically) Uriah the Hittite (v.39), the husband of Bathsheba, whom David had murdered.
The “last words” alluded to the anointing of David as king (v.1), and portrayed him as a just ruler (v.3) and like the sun (v.4) – which The New Oxford Annotated Bible says was a common image for the king, particularly in Egypt. The words refer to the “everlasting covenant” (v. 5) that the House of David would rule forever (2 Sam. 7:16). Notwithstanding his flaws, David was consistently presented as the favorite of YHWH who was the “Strong One of Israel” (v.1).
Daniel 7:9-10, 13-14
Reading
9 As I watched, thrones were set in place, and an Ancient One took his throne, his clothing was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool; his throne was fiery flames, and its wheels were burning fire.
10 A stream of fire issued and flowed out from his presence. A thousand thousands served him,
and ten thousand times ten thousand stood attending him. The court sat in judgment, and the books were opened.
13 As I watched in the night visions, I saw one like a human being coming with the clouds of heaven. And he came to the Ancient One and was presented before him.
14 To him was given dominion and glory and kingship, that all peoples, nations, and languages
should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that shall not pass away, and his kingship is one that shall never be destroyed.
Commentary
The Book of Daniel has two distinct parts. Chapters 1 to 6 are stories of Daniel in the Court of the Babylonian Kings and the Persian Kings just before, during and just after the Babylonian Exile (587-539 BCE). Because the kings in the stories were presented as ignorant (but not malevolent), scholars date these six chapters to the 4th Century BCE when Judea was under the generally benevolent rule of the Persians (539-333 BCE) and the Greeks (333 to 281 BCE). Chapters 2 to 7 of the Book were written in Aramaic rather than in Hebrew.
Chapters 7 to 12 were written later – during the oppression of Antiochus IV Epiphanes (175-164 BCE) whose desecration of the Temple led to the Maccabean Revolt in 167 BCE.
These later chapters presented an apocalyptic vision – a situation so dire that an external intervention (such as by God) was needed to put things right. Like other apocalyptic writings, the Book of Daniel used dramatic images to describe the conflict between good and evil.
Today’s reading is part of Daniel’s dream in which his vision of God (“the Ancient One”) bears strong similarities to the visions of God in Isaiah 6 and Ezekiel 1. Daniel then saw (as part of the divine intervention) “one like a human being coming with the clouds of heaven” (v.13) who was presented before the Ancient One and given everlasting dominion over others.
The NOAB notes that a depiction of God as an old man became common in later Jewish and Christian traditions, but was unusual in the Hebrew Bible. It continues that the books (v.10) in which human deeds are recorded became a common image for the divine court.
“A human being” (v.13) or “THE human being” (the fullness of being a human) in Aramaic is “bar adam” – which is translated literally as “son of a human” or the son of “adam” – the first earthling. It is also translated as “Son of Man,” a title attributed to Jesus of Nazareth in the Gospels. The messianic use of this title is also found in postbiblical Jewish literature such as 1 Enoch and 2 Esdras.
In Israel in the period following the Maccabean Revolt, the “one like a human being” would have been understood as the angel Michael, the protector of Israel who opposed the four beasts who were also a part of Daniel’s “vision” (Dan.7:17). These four “beasts” were typically interpreted as the Babylonians, Medes, Persians, and Greeks. The JSB suggests that the 10 horns on the fourth beast (v.7) represented the Seleucid successors of Alexander the Great.
The Book of Daniel said that his visions occurred during the Babylonian Captivity. If that were the case, the vision of the “four beasts” would be an extraordinarily accurate foretelling of the history of Israel during and after the Captivity. In reality, however, these chapters were written around 165 BCE – well after each of the ”four beasts” had dominated Israel.
Revelation 1:4b-8
Reading
4b Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.
To him who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood, 6 and made us to be a kingdom, priests serving his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
7 Look! He is coming with the clouds; every eye will see him, even those who pierced him;
and on his account all the tribes of the earth will wail. So it is to be. Amen.
8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.
Commentary
The Book of Revelation is also known as the “Apocalypse” (from a Greek word meaning an “unveiling” or “disclosure” of a new age or of heaven, or both). Apocalyptic writing generally described a dire situation ruled by evil powers that can be overcome only by the “in-breaking” of a force (such as God) to bring about a new age.
Like apocalyptic writings in the Hebrew Bible, the Book of Revelation used dualistic (either/or) language and extreme images and metaphors to describe the conflict between good and evil. Apocalyptic literature is often presented as “a literary disclosure of heavenly secrets” – a revelation from God conveyed by an angel or other heavenly body. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary notes that a revelation from another heavenly being differntiates it from an “oracle” in which the communication is received directly from God. Apocalyptic writings used symbolic language to convey God’s hidden plan and presented a vision of an eschatological victory leading to a “New Jerusalem.”
The author of Revelation identified himself as “John” (v.1) but most scholars conclude that the author was not John the Apostle because of (among other things) the reference to the 12 apostles in 21:14. Because of the internal references in the Book, most scholars date Revelation to the late First Century and describe the author as “John of Patmos.”
The NOAB points out: “The destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 CE gave John ample cause to identify Rome as Babylon, recalling the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BCE.” It continues: “With its symbolic numbers and colors, animals, and angelic and demonic beings, and replete with echoes and images drawn from the literature of the ancient Near East, the Hebrew Bible, Greece, and Rome, the Book of Revelation is so notoriously complex the church father Jerome (345-420 CE) was led to remark that it contains as many mysteries as it contains words.”
The author of Revelation had a profound knowledge of the Hebrew Bible. Although the author rarely quoted the Hebrew Bible, more than half the verses in Revelation alluded to passages in the Hebrew Bible. His reference in today’s reading to Jesus as “coming with the clouds” tied back to today’s reading in Dan. 7:13. The reference to “those who pierced him” was derived from a Messianic oracle in Zech. 12:10. The statement that Jesus’ side was pierced appears only in the Fourth Gospel, and John 19:37 explicitly referred to this verse in Zechariah.
The Jewish Annotated New Testament understands the reference to Jesus as “the firstborn of the dead” (v.5) as implying that Jesus’ resurrection was the first of an imminent general resurrection. It notes that “Christ transforms his followers into a kingdom and priests – symbols of eschatological perfection paralleled at Qumran, in Jubilees and echoed throughout Revelation [citing verses].”
John 18:33-37
Reading
33 Pilate entered the headquarters again, summoned Jesus, and asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” 34 Jesus answered, “Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me?” 35 Pilate replied, “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me. What have you done?” 36 Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.” 37 Pilate asked him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”
Commentary
The Fourth Gospel is different in many ways from the Synoptic Gospels. The “signs” (miracles) and many stories in the Fourth Gospel are unique to it, such as the Wedding at Cana, Jesus’ conversation with the Samaritan woman at the well, and the Raising of Lazarus.
The chronology of events is also different in the Fourth Gospel. For example, the Temple Event (“cleansing of the Temple”) occurred early in Jesus’ Ministry in the Fourth Gospel, rather than late as in the Synoptic Gospels. In the Synoptic Gospels, the Last Supper was a Passover Seder, but in the Fourth Gospel, it occurred the day before the first day of Passover so that Jesus (who is described as “the Lamb of God”) died on the cross at the time lambs were being sacrificed at the Temple for the Passover Seders to be held that night.
Today’s reading contains an exchange between Jesus and Pilate which followed – according to the account – the questioning of Jesus by Annas, the father-in-law of the High Priest Caiaphas (vv. 19-24) and by Caiaphas. The NOAB notes that the author of the Gospel saw a Jew’s entering the home of a Gentile such as Pilate as “defiling” them so they could not eat the Passover. The NJBC doubts that the author of the Fourth Gospel is correct in this evaluation.
The exchange between Pilate and Jesus in the Fourth Gospel is much longer than the ones described in the Synoptic Gospels where Pilate asked Jesus if he was the King of the Jews, and Jesus remained silent or responded, “You say so.” (Mark 15:2-5). In the account in the Fourth Gospel, Jesus’ responses were more extensive.
The JANT understands the words “my kingdom is not from this world” (v.36) as an argument in the Gospel against seeing Jesus as a political threat. The JANT also notes that “handed over to the Jews” (v.36b) was not in fact what was happening – even if one understands “the Jews” as the Temple Authorities. The JANT says that this verse was intended to keep readers/hearers focused on “the Jews” as the true culprits.