Tag Archive for: Suffering Servant

Amos 8:4-7

After Solomon died in 930 BCE, the Kingdom of Israel split into two parts, the North (called Israel) and the South (called Judea). The reign of King Jeroboam II of Israel (788-747 BCE) was very prosperous and was a time of great inequality between rich and poor. Amos was a cattle herder and cared for fig trees in Judea, but he was called by Yahweh to prophesy (speak for the LORD) against Israel from about 760 to 750 BCE. Amos is one of the 12 “minor” prophets whose works are shorter than the three “major” prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel). In today’s reading, Amos criticizes the unfair and fraudulent business practices of the wealthy and their impatience for the Holy Days to pass so they can resume bilking the poor and enslaving them. Amos says that YHWH will remember these misdeeds and punish the evildoers. In 722 BCE, Assyria conquered Israel and scattered its wealthy class.

1 Timothy 2:1-7

The Letters to Timothy and Titus are called “Pastoral Letters” because they concern the internal life, governance and behavior of the early Christian churches and their members. Most scholars agree they were written in the early Second Century in Paul’s name by some of his followers (Paul died in 64 CE). Writing in someone else’s name was a common practice in the First and Second Centuries. By this time, the Jesus Follower Community was more institutionalized. Today’s reading urges accommodation by the Jesus Followers to the worldly authorities for the sake of the peace of the church. The idea of Christ Jesus as a “ransom” (v. 6) traces back to Mark 10:45 (“For the Son of Man came … to give his life as a ransom for many”). This idea, in turn, was primarily derived from the Fourth Servant Poem of Isaiah (Is. 52:13 to 53:12) which portrayed Judea as a suffering servant during the Babylonian Exile (587-539 BCE).