Week 8: Jacob's Ladder, Samson and Delilah, Jesus in Jerusalem

     This week we have the final two chapters of Paul's letter to the Romans.  We have seen Paul's emphasis on salvation by grace through faith in the risen Christ.  We have seen his insistence on taking this Gospel to the Gentiles as well as to the Jews.  In Chapter 15, verses 8 through 12 Paul tells us that Jesus had to minister to the Jews to prove God's truth (or faithfulness) to the promises made to the Jewish patriarchs; but the promised salvation was also for the Gentiles (proof of which Paul provides from multiple Old Testament sources).  In verse 18 Paul states: "For I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ as accomplished through me to win obedience from the Gentiles by word and deed, by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God, so that from Jerusalem and as far around as Illyricum I have fully proclaimed the good news of Christ.  Towards the end of this next to last chapter, Paul notes some controversy and conflict with the Christians remaining in Jerusalem by exhorting the church in Rome: "...join me in earnest prayer to God on my behalf, that I may be rescued from the unbelievers in Judea, and that my ministry to Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints."  Chapter 16 is a long list of greetings and introductions (of people we know nothing else about) and a Benediction.

    In the 28th Chapter of Genesis, Jacob goes to Paddan-aram to take a wife.  On his way to Mesopatmia, Jacob rests and has a vision of a ladder with angels traveling upon it.   This confirms to Jacob the blessing which he had tricked away from his brother Esau.  Jacob takes a stone and erects a temple at Bethel to commemorate this vision.  Jacob then arrives at the home of his uncle Laban.  He asks for Laban's younger daughter Rachel's hand in marriage and works seven years for Laban in return.  At the end of the seven years Laban substitutes his older daughter Leah.  Having his heart set on Rachel, Jacob works another seven years for Laban and gets them both.  Leah bears Jacob many sons, but Rachel, who Jacob "loves more" has problems in the fertility department, so she gives her maid Bilbah to Jacob so that she can have children too.  Not to be out done, Leah gives her maid Zilpah to Jacob.  Both maids bear Jacob more sons.  Leah has two more sons and then a daughter, Dinah.  Rachel finally has a son of her own, Joseph.  One wonders how hard Jacob was actually working for Laban.  Chapter 31 has Jacob picking up all of his wives, their maids, all of his children and possessions and heading for home with Laban in pursuit.  Karen Armstrong points out the irony of Laban tricking Jacob into long years of labor after Jacob's chicanery in stealing Abraham's blessing.

"Jacob's Ladder"

     Judges begins this week with Jephthah's victory over the Ephraimites, luring them away from their tribal land and then blocking their retreat across the Jordan River.  The focus then shifts to the coast where the tribe of Dan is having problems with the Philistines.  A Danite named Manoah and his wife are visited by an angel of the Lord and told they would have a son who would begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines.  "And the woman bore a son and called his name Samson (Judges 13:24)."  Samson marries a Philistine woman and performs many feats of strength, including killing a lion with his bare hands and killing thirty Philistines in anger over a lost wager.  He burns the Philistine wheat by lighting fire to the tails of foxes and letting them loose in the fields and kills another thousand men using the jawbone of a donkey.  Samson is taken captive by the Philistines but escapes by tearing the locked gates of the city loose and taking them with him.  Samson then moves on to another Philistine woman, Deliliah, who tricks him into revealing the source of his strength: his hair.  Delilah has Samson's head shaved while he slept and he is again taken captive by the Philistine's, blinded and mocked.  The Philistines bring Samson out for public ridicule, chaining him between two large pillars.  They didn't realize that his hair had grown back enough that he pulled down the building, killing many Philistines and dying in the process.  Samson is considered the twelfth and final Judge.

     Psalm 21 is a song of Thanksgiving after the king's victory (in Psalm 20):  "In your strength the King rejoices, O Lord, and in your help how greatly he exults (Ps 21:1)!"  This Psalm concludes with an exclamation of praise: "Be exalted, O Lord, in your strength!  We will sing and praise your power (21:13)."   Verses in Psalm 22 resonate into the Passion story from the New Testament: "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?   Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning (22:1)."  And again: "They stare and gloat over me;  they divide my clothes among themselves, and for my clothing they cast lots (22:17)."  The 23rd Psalm is the most familiar, being an expression of confidence in God's protection: "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want (23:1)" and "You prepare a table for me in the presence of my enemies (23:17)."

   Job gets another earful from Elihaz the Temanite.  In Chapter 15, verse 20 he tells Job: "The wicked writhe in pain all their days through all the years that are laid up for the ruthless."  This theme of retribution being visited upon the wicked continues: "For the company of the godless is barren, and fire consumes the tents of bribery (Job 15:34)."  Job finally has heard enough: "Miserable comforters are you all.  Have windy words no limit?  Or what provokes you that you keep on talking (Job 16:2-3)?"  Job seems to be reaching the end of his rope: "My face is red with weeping and deep darkness is on my eyelids.  Though there is no violence in my hands, and my prayer is pure (Job 16:16-17)."

     Chapters 40 through 44 of Isaiah begin what is generally regarded as "second Isaiah".  Asimov notes that the book takes on a dramatic shift in language, style and background (page 547, Asimov's Guide to the Bible).  Judah is seen here in exile and this Isaiah is seen as "the Prophet of the Exile".  Asimov dates this portion of the book to about 540 B.C., or about 100 years after the first portion of Isaiah.  Chapter 40 starts with consolation to Judah that the exile is nearly over: "Comfort, O Comfort my people, says your God.  Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and cry to her that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid (Isaiah 40:1-2)."  In Chapter 43 God declares: "Do not fear, for I have redeemed you" and "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;  and through the rivers they shall not overwhelm you."  In Chapter 44 God challenges the pagan nations: "All who make idols are nothing, and the things they delight in do not profit;  their witnesses neither see nor know (Isaiah 44:9)."  He also assures Judah "I am the Lord who made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who by myself stretched out the earth (Isaiah 44:24)."  This "second Isaiah"  seems to be confident that the God of Israel is indeed the God of all and that, sooner or later, everyone will understand that.

     Matthew 20 begins with the parable of the landowner and his vineyard.  He pays his laborers the same, no matter how long of a day they worked.  When challenged on this the landowner replies: "Take what belongs to you and go;  I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you.  Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me?  Or are you envious because I am generous?  So the last will be first and the first will be last (Matthew 20:14-16)."  A curious story follows where the disciples are jockeying for powerful positions.  Jesus puts a quick end to that and then walks along a roadway with the crowds proclaiming "Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David! (Matthew 20:30)!"  This exclamation (not contradicted by Jesus) acknowledges Jesus as the Messiah.  Jesus enters Jerusalem triumphantly on a donkey (to fulfill Old Testament prophecy) and asserting his power by entering the temple and overturning the tables of the money changers.   Jesus preaches in parables again and then is involved in a match of wits with Pharisees.  They first try to trick Jesus on theological points and then try to trap him into speaking against Rome by asking if it is lawful to pay taxes to the emperor.  Jesus escapes this trap by examining a coin and stating "Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor's and to God the things that are God's (Matthew 22:22)."  They then ask Jesus what the greatest commandment is and Jesus answers: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.  This is the greatest and first commandment.  And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:37-39)."

Carvaggio's "Christ and the Money Changers"