2020, July 5 ~ Genesis 24:34-38, 42-49, 58-67; Zechariah 9:9-12; and Romans 7:15-25a
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.
Genesis 24:34-38, 42-49, 58-67
Reading
34 The servant said to Laban, “I am Abraham’s servant. 35 The LORD has greatly blessed my master, and he has become wealthy; he has given him flocks and herds, silver and gold, male and female slaves, camels and donkeys. 36 And Sarah my master’s wife bore a son to my master when she was old; and he has given him all that he has. 37 My master made me swear, saying, ‘You shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I live; 38 but you shall go to my father’s house, to my kindred, and get a wife for my son.’
42 “I came today to the spring, and said, ‘O LORD, the God of my master Abraham, if now you will only make successful the way I am going! 43 I am standing here by the spring of water; let the young woman who comes out to draw, to whom I shall say, “Please give me a little water from your jar to drink,” 44 and who will say to me, “Drink, and I will draw for your camels also” —let her be the woman whom the LORD has appointed for my master’s son.’
45 “Before I had finished speaking in my heart, there was Rebekah coming out with her water jar on her shoulder; and she went down to the spring and drew. I said to her, ‘Please let me drink.’ 46 She quickly let down her jar from her shoulder, and said, ‘Drink, and I will also water your camels.’ So I drank, and she also watered the camels. 47 Then I asked her, ‘Whose daughter are you?’ She said, ‘The daughter of Bethuel, Nahor’s son, whom Milcah bore to him.’ So I put the ring on her nose, and the bracelets on her arms. 48 Then I bowed my head and worshiped the LORD, and blessed the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who had led me by the right way to obtain the daughter of my master’s kinsman for his son. 49 Now then, if you will deal loyally and truly with my master, tell me; and if not, tell me, so that I may turn either to the right hand or to the left.”
58 And they called Rebekah, and said to her, “Will you go with this man?” She said, “I will.” 59 So they sent away their sister Rebekah and her nurse along with Abraham’s servant and his men. 60 And they blessed Rebekah and said to her, “May you, our sister, become thousands of myriads; may your offspring gain possession of the gates of their foes.” 61 Then Rebekah and her maids rose up, mounted the camels, and followed the man; thus the servant took Rebekah, and went his way. 62 Now Isaac had come from Beer-lahai-roi and was settled in the Negeb. 63 Isaac went out in the evening to walk in the field; and looking up, he saw camels coming. 64 And Rebekah looked up, and when she saw Isaac, she slipped quickly from the camel, 65 and said to the servant, “Who is the man over there, walking in the field to meet us?” The servant said, “It is my master.” So she took her veil and covered herself. 66 And the servant told Isaac all the things that he had done. 67 Then Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent. He took Rebekah, and she became his wife; and he loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.
Commentary
Genesis is the first book of the Torah (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy). The Torah also called the Pentateuch (“five books”) in Greek. Genesis covers the period from Creation Stories to the deaths of Jacob and his 11th son, Joseph, in about 1650 BCE, if the accounts are historical. The Abraham stories are set around 1750 BCE.
The Book of Genesis (like the Torah as a whole) is an amalgam of religious traditions, some of which are dated to about 950 BCE and some of which were developed as late as 450 BCE. Since the late 19th Century, Biblical scholars have recognized four major “strands” or sources in the Torah, and these sources are identified (among other ways) by their different theological emphases, names for God, names for the holy mountain, and portrayals of God’s characteristics.
Today’s reading is the conclusion of the story of how Abraham’s servant – not named in Chapter 24, but thought to be Eliezer of Damascus (Gen. 15:2) – obtained a wife for Isaac by going back to Haran, the land from which Abraham came.
Because of the emphasis on Isaac’s not taking a wife from the Canaanites (v.37) and the references to God as YHWH (“LORD” in the NRSV), the story is attributed to the Deuteronomic writers (650 to 550 BCE).
Abraham’s servant did what everyone looking for a wife does – he went to a well where women draw water. (Jacob and Moses also met their wives this way.) He encountered Rebekah, who was Isaac’s first cousin, once removed. (Her father, Bethuel, was Isaac’s first cousin.)
Rebekah’s brother, Laban, met with Eliezer (vv. 31-49) who recounted his conversation with Rebekah in which she answered Eliezer’s questions satisfactorily (v.46). Laban and Bethuel gave her to Eliezer to be Isaac’s wife (v.51) and Eliezer brought her to Isaac (v.67).
In future readings, Rebekah will give birth to twin brothers, Esau and Jacob.
Zechariah 9:9-12
Reading
9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter Jerusalem! Lo, your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
10 He will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war horse from Jerusalem; and the battle bow shall be cut off, and he shall command peace to the nations; his dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.
11 As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit.
12 Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope; today I declare that I will restore to you double.
Commentary
The Book of Zechariah is the longest and most obscure of the “Minor” Prophets (so called because their books are much shorter than the three “Major Prophets” – Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel). The Book has 14 chapters, and Chapters 9 to 14 are referred to as “Second Zechariah” or “An Oracle” – the superscription at the beginning of Chapter 9. First Zechariah is dated to about 525 to 500 BCE and Second Zechariah is dated to about 400 to 300 BCE.
Today’s reading is one of the many (sometimes contradictory) descriptions of the anticipated Messiah found in the Hebrew Bible. The image presented here is a king who brings peace and rides on a donkey (v.9) rather than on a war-horse. The king’s dominion is not only over Israel, but is from sea to sea, from “the River” (the Euphrates in northern Syria) to the ends of the earth (v.10).
The Hebrew Bible contains many parallelisms, and the description of the king “on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey” (v.9) was intended to describe one animal. The Gospel of Matthew (unlike Mark and Luke) treated the phrase as describing two animals (Matt.21.5).
This peace-bringing king cuts off the instruments of war from “Ephraim” which was pre-Exilic Northern Israel, named for its most powerful tribe, and Jerusalem (v.10), the capital of Judea.
Romans 7:15-25a
Reading
15 I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. 16 Now if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is good. 17 But in fact it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me. 19 For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. 19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me.
21 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand. 22 For I delight in the law of God in my inmost self, 23 but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind, making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!
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) 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.
The Roman Emperor Claudius had expelled the Jews from Rome in 49 CE. His successor, Nero (54-68 CE), allowed Jews (including Jewish Jesus Followers) to return to Rome, and this created tensions about leadership and worship within the Jesus Follower Community.
Paul was a Jew who became a Jesus Follower and 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. The term “Christian” had not been invented in his lifetime.
Today’s reading is part of Paul’s extended discussion of the law, sin, the flesh, and the Spirit. As a First Century Jew, Paul was ambivalent regarding the Law. He saw the Jewish Law as “spiritual” (v.14), but as a Jesus Follower, he recognized that mere obedience to the Law would not lead to wholeness/salvation.
Without the Spirit, Paul asserted, even outward obedience to the Law could be a manifestation of “the flesh” (our human tendency towards self-centeredness and self-interest) that is grounded in sin (our personal egoism). Paul said it is through the Spirit that we can be rescued from “this body of death” (v.24).