Ezekiel: By the River Chebar and

The Johanine Epistles

  

Dear Bible Challenge participants,

  

First off... were any of you struck as I was reading 2 Peter 3, when the author spoke of Paul's letters? Nearly two thousand years ago, and it was like he was speaking into our times. First, acknowledging that Paul's letters are sometimes confusing, but also how some twist the words of his letters, and "other scriptures" to their own ends...and destruction.

 

15 Consider the patience of our Lord to be salvation, just as our dear friend and brother Paul wrote to you according to the wisdom given to him, 16 speaking of these things in all his letters. Some of his remarks are hard to understand, and people who are ignorant and whose faith is weak twist them to their own destruction, just as they do the other scriptures.  

(Common English Bible)

 

 

And so this week we meet Ezekiel, in exile by the River Chebar... Ezekiel and I go way back. I'll confess to a bit of a love-hate relationship with the guy... During my time in seminary I took four classes that were about Ezekiel, or which focused on his work. Yep. Four. So I know this dude pretty well.  He's a trip. Or on one.

 

That being said, I'm grateful that we have a few more epistles to read in the New Testament before we get to the Revelation of John, because once we do, we will be getting some pretty psychedelic material in both our Hebrew Scriptures and New Testament readings.

 

This is an incredibly intense work-- Ezekiel's language is the most sophisticated and complicated in the Hebrew Scriptures.  Ezekiel himself is a very very complicated and difficult personality. He writes with tremendous power, and so when he writes beauty it is exquisite, and when he writes brutality, it is devastatingly brutal.  Ezekiel's insistence that God is in control, even in the midst of incomprehensible tragedy, leads Ezekiel to some analogies that are so extreme we may find ourselves arguing with Ezekiel, or "telling him" that he crossed the line, that he has gone too far.

 

For some background, this introduction in the NAB is a fine summary.  It is helpful to know that Ezekiel is a priest, and so comes at his interpretation of the meaning of the destruction of Jerusalem and the Exile from a "holiness" perspective. He and the Deuteronomistic Historian would get along beautifully. The final chapters of Ezekiel, when he is envisioning the New Temple and Restoration, have the same attention to detail that the Priestly authors of the Pentateuch exhibited.

 

Ezekiel's conclusions are very exclusive, especially when compared to the conclusions of his contemporary, Trito-Isaiah.  Super pure and super Israelite are the themes of the day for Ezekiel, and you may remember that Trito-Isaiah envisioned a role and a relationship with God for all the nations-- even a priesthood that included non-Israelites.

 

Today's reading in Ezekiel would make an amazing movie... His description of experiencing the presence of the Holy is mind-blowing. Then, when God speaks...well, you'll read it.  God's address to Ezekiel "ben-adam," "human being" or "son of man" can just as easily be translated "earth-ling" and in some translations is also reckoned as "mortal." When "Adonai YHWH"-- which by some would be verbalized "Adonai Adonai" to avoid speaking the NAME of God--when the LORD GOD speaks, "Mortal!..." I can almost hear Ezekiel "gulp!" Get ready for a wild ride.

 

And we are about to begin the Johanine Epistles. Some see similarities in the language of 1 John and the Gospel according to John, and draw the conclusion that they were written by the same author. Others conclude that 1 John (and the other epistles) were written by his disciples, trying to clear up misconceptions arising from the interpretation of the Gospel according to John.

 

When you read 1 John (and the other Johanine Epistles) do you draw a conclusion, one way or the other?  Again, this introduction may be helpful, if your Bible doesn't have a intro for these letters.

  

As ever, thank you for being on this journey!

  

Peace,

Paige+ 


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