Faithful God, Unfaithful People

November 5, 2017 Background Scripture: Numbers 25; 1 Samuel 2:27 – 36 Lesson Passage: Numbers 25:10 – 13; 1 Samuel 2:30 – 36 There is always at least one constant whenever we speak of God and covenants: God always upholds His end of the covenant. When covenants are broken, it is always because of unfaithful people who are part of the covenant. Perhaps it is an exclamation point of life that overshadows this lesson in that the unfaithful people who are highlighted in this text are priests. Predictably, those who were given the responsibility of standing before God on behalf of the people are too much like the people they represent. This is a sobering fact of human nature. We accept the Christian doctrine that all have sinned because of our understanding of human nature. Because of human frailties and sinful tendencies, no human flesh will ever earn the right to boast or glory in God’s presence. It is not that priests are “only” human but that they are “completely” human. This is not to offer an excuse for priests or anyone but to acknowledge that everyone born of man and woman stands in the need of God’s forgiveness. It is unfortunate that two of the priests who are cited in this lesson as extreme examples of good behavior and bad behavior in God’s presence bear the same name, Phinehas. The text from Numbers presents a priest named Phinehas, the grandson of Aaron, who received high accolades from God for his attitude of disgust with the public behavior of a Simeonite with a Midianite woman. When Phinehas observed the Simeonite bringing a Midianite woman into Israel’s camp in the presence of Moses and the others, he took a spear and followed them into the tent and slew both of them. His actions caused God to stop the plague that He had sent among the camp that had already consumed 24,000 of Israel. God told Moses that Phinehas had the same moral outrage that He felt concerning the situation. As a result, God established, forever, the line of priests that would descend from Phinehas. However, the text taken from 1 Samuel presents God’s reaction to the sons of the priest, Eli, one named Phinehas and the other named Hophni. God rebuked Eli for choosing his sons ahead of God. By not putting an end to their ungodly behavior, Eli showed more honor towards his sons than he did towards God. Eli allowed his sons to pervert the temple and harass the people and Eli was aware of their behavior. Although the scriptures are silent concerning some details, God’s reaction makes it clear that Eli chose to ignore rather than confront and correct his two sons. God declared that the two sons of Eli would both die on the same day as a sign that He had judged their evil behavior in the priest’s office. Perhaps it is fitting that they would behave in such a way because the scriptures declare that the two sons of Eli did not know the Lord. This may be the greatest indictment against Eli. He was the priest of God but his sons did not know God. Furthermore, no one would ever grow old in Eli’s family from that time forth. All of them would die at a young age. God would continue to honor the family of Aaron but not the line of descendants from Eli. God remains faithful even when people do not. Robert C. Hudson October 23, 2017

God’s Covenant with the Returned Exiles

October 29, 2017 Background Scripture: Nehemiah 9, 10 Lesson Passage: Nehemiah 9:32 – 38, 10:28, 29 Today’s lesson focuses on the Jewish exiles who returned to Palestine after living in Babylonian captivity. As prophesied by Jeremiah, the captivity had lasted seventy years. The Jews were allowed to repatriate the land of Canaan by the decree of King Cyrus, the Persian king, after the Persians had overthrown the Babylonians. Many Jews were led back to Palestine during three repatriations. They were led by Zerubbabel, Ezra, and Nehemiah respectively. Zerubbabel had led the first wave who laid the foundation for rebuilding the temple. The second group was led by Ezra who finished building the temple after a long delay. The third group was led by Nehemiah who rebuilt the wall around Jerusalem. Once these projects were completed, the hearts of the people were then turned back to God by their leaders. The people gathered to hear the reading of the Law by Ezra. The topic of today’s lesson is somewhat misleading. The text does not present a covenant between God and the returned exiles but an endorsement and ratification of the previous covenant God made with their forefathers at Mt. Sinai. When the returned exiles heard the words of the Law, they were crushed and began to cry because they realized that what had happened to them was the result of them not obeying the covenant God had established with their forefathers. The exiles mourned because they had not kept the Law since the days of Joshua and they had suffered because of it as the Law stated they would. They were encouraged to repent and begin to obey the commandments which had been ignored since the days of Joshua. (That was prior to the years of apostasy during the time the Judges ruled Israel and the latter years under the kings.) They formally observed the feast of tabernacles as part of getting back on track with the provisions of the covenant. They remembered God’s deliverance of Israel from Egypt and His protection of her in the wilderness. They recalled the kings God overthrew and gave their lands to Israel for an everlasting possession. Afterwards they began to acknowledge the faithfulness and goodness of the Lord throughout the generations. But they also acknowledged that Israel had behaved wickedly and had not kept God’s Law or heeded His admonitions. They acknowledged that their enslavement on that day was solely because of the disobedience of their leaders and the people who had followed them. It was with this repentant statement in mind that the leaders of the people were encouraged to renew their commitment to the covenant God made at Mt. Sinai with their forefathers. The leaders of the people endorsed, or ratified, the covenant. They again bound themselves to the blessings and curses of the covenant by acknowledging them in writing. The leaders placed their names on the sealed document. And with that, God’s covenant with Israel was renewed with the returned exiles. Robert C. Hudson September 13, 2017