2020, September 6 ~ Exodus 12:1-14; Ezekiel 33:7-11; and Romans 13:8-14
During Pentecost Season 2020, the Revised Common Lectionary offers two “tracks” of readings from the Hebrew Bible. Congregations may choose either track.
The first track of readings follows major stories and themes, read mostly continuously from week to week. The second track of readings thematically pairs the reading from the Hebrew Bible with the Gospel reading.
The readings from the Epistles are the same in both tracks.
Exodus 12:1-14
Reading
1 The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt: 2 This month shall mark for you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year for you. 3 Tell the whole congregation of Israel that on the tenth of this month they are to take a lamb for each family, a lamb for each household. 4 If a household is too small for a whole lamb, it shall join its closest neighbor in obtaining one; the lamb shall be divided in proportion to the number of people who eat of it. 5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a year-old male; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. 6 You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month; then the whole assembled congregation of Israel shall slaughter it at twilight. 7 They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. 8 They shall eat the lamb that same night; they shall eat it roasted over the fire with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. 9 Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted over the fire, with its head, legs, and inner organs. 10 You shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn. 11 This is how you shall eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it hurriedly. It is the passover of the LORD. 12 For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike down every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both human beings and animals; on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the LORD. 13 The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live: when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague shall destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.
14 This day shall be a day of remembrance for you. You shall celebrate it as a festival to the LORD; throughout your generations you shall observe it as a perpetual ordinance.
Commentary
The Book of Exodus is the second book of the Bible, and covers the period from the slavery in Egypt under Pharaoh (around 1250 BCE, if the account is historical), the Exodus itself, and the early months in the Wilderness.
In last week’s reading, Moses’ call from YHWH in the Burning Bush Story was recounted. In the intervening chapters, Moses got permission from his father-in-law to return to Egypt with his wife, Zipporah, and his son. Enroute, there is a story of Moses’s circumcision (Ex. 4:24-26) that can only be described as bizarre. In Egypt, Moses and Aaron entreated Pharaoh nine times to let the Israelites leave and sometimes Pharaoh would agree. But then YHWH (who is portrayed as controlling everything) would harden Pharaoh’s heart, and Pharaoh would renege on his promise. As a result, nine plagues were sent upon Egypt.
Today’s reading comes after Pharaoh’s ninth refusal to free the Israelites and just before the final plague (death of the firstborn). It gives detailed instructions for the first Passover.
Like Genesis, Exodus contains portions that were written around 950 BCE and parts that were written as late as 450 BCE by the Priestly writers. The directions in today’s reading are presented as being given by YHWH to both Moses and Aaron (the first high priest). Like almost all the Priestly writings, it contains specific details as to dates for observances.
The sacrifice of the Passover lamb and putting its blood on the houses of the Israelites were integral to their deliverance from Egypt. The sacrifice of the Passover lambs was not described in Exodus as a means of atonement for sin.
The Fourth Gospel described Jesus as “the Lamb of God” (Jn.1:29,36) – a reference is to the Paschal Lamb. In this Gospel (unlike the Synoptic Gospels in which Jesus was crucified on the second day of Passover), Jesus was crucified and died before the beginning of the Passover at the time the lambs were being slaughtered at the Second Temple in preparation for Passover (Jn.19:31). Like the Paschal Lamb (Ex. 12:46), Jesus’ bones were not broken (Jn.19:36). In the Fourth Gospel, the crucifixion of “the Lamb of God” was presented as the means of deliverance from the power of societal sin.
Ezekiel 33:7-11
Reading
7 You, mortal, I have made a sentinel for the house of Israel; whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me. 8 If I say to the wicked, “O wicked ones, you shall surely die,” and you do not speak to warn the wicked to turn from their ways, the wicked shall die in their iniquity, but their blood I will require at your hand. 9 But if you warn the wicked to turn from their ways, and they do not turn from their ways, the wicked shall die in their iniquity, but you will have saved your life.
10 Now you, mortal, say to the house of Israel, Thus you have said: “Our transgressions and our sins weigh upon us, and we waste away because of them; how then can we live?” 11 Say to them, As I live, says the LORD GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from their ways and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways; for why will you die, O house of Israel?
Commentary
Ezekiel is one of the three “Major” Prophets – so called because of the length of the books of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. Ezekiel was a priest who was among the first group of persons deported by the Babylonians when they captured Jerusalem in 597 BCE.
The Book of Ezekiel is in three parts: (1) Chapters 1 to 24 are prophesies of doom against Jerusalem before the destruction of the Temple in 586 BCE; (2) Chapters 25 to 32 are prophesies against foreign nations; and (3) Chapters 33 to 48 are prophesies of hope for the Judeans written during the Babylonian Exile (586-539 BCE).
Like other prophets, Ezekiel “prophesied” by speaking for God. Prophesy in the Hebrew Bible was not about telling the future. A prophet was one who speaks for YHWH.
Here, YHWH referred to Ezekiel as Israel’s “sentinel” to warn the people to turn from their wicked ways (v.8). The emphasis in the Book of Ezekiel was on personal responsibility (“their blood I will require at your hand” v.9), rather than seeing the acts of prior generations as the cause of the current situation. This was a new development in the Theology of Ancient Israel. Ezekiel also presented repentance (turning around) as the way to a restored life.
The Hebrew words (ben-adam) translated as “mortal” in verses 7 and 10 are sometimes translated in other contexts as “son of man.”
Romans 13:8-14
Reading
8 Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. 9 The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not covet”; and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.
11 Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; 12 the night is far gone, the day is near. Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; 13 let us live honorably as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy. 14 Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.
Commentary
Paul’s letter to the Romans was his longest, last and most complex letter. It was written in the late 50s or early 60s (CE) – about ten years before the first Gospel (Mark) was written – to a Jesus Follower community that Paul did not establish. Among other messages in the letter, Paul sought to encourage respectful and supportive relationships between the Gentile Jesus Followers and the Jewish Jesus Followers in Rome.
Paul was a Jew who became a Jesus Follower who saw the Jesus Follower Movement as part of a broader Judaism. As such, he continued to have expectations about the fullness of the Coming of the Messiah/the Christ.
Reflecting his Jewish roots, Paul exhorted the Jesus Follower Community in Rome to follow the Commandments, particularly to love one another as neighbors. Like most early Jesus Followers, Paul believed that Christ would return soon (“salvation is nearer to us now” v.11). Paul used “the flesh” (v.14) as his code word for the values of the world – values that are not consistent with living a life modeled on the life of the Jesus the Christ.