So let's talk about today's readings 2/12/10

[cheeto1]

February 12, 2010
Reading I
1 Kgs 11:29-32; 12:19
Jeroboam left Jerusalem,
and the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite met him on the road.
The two were alone in the area,
and the prophet was wearing a new cloak.
Ahijah took off his new cloak,
tore it into twelve pieces, and said to Jeroboam:
“Take ten pieces for yourself;
the LORD, the God of Israel, says:
‘I will tear away the kingdom from Solomon’s grasp
and will give you ten of the tribes.
One tribe shall remain to him for the sake of David my servant,
and of Jerusalem,
the city I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel.’”
Israel went into rebellion against David’s house to this day.
Responsorial Psalm
81:10-11ab, 12-13, 14-15
R. (11a and 9a) I am the Lord, your God: hear my voice.
“There shall be no strange god among you
nor shall you worship any alien god.
I, the LORD, am your God
who led you forth from the land of Egypt.”
R. I am the Lord, your God: hear my voice.
“My people heard not my voice,
and Israel obeyed me not;
So I gave them up to the hardness of their hearts;
they walked according to their own counsels.”
R. I am the Lord, your God: hear my voice.
“If only my people would hear me,
and Israel walk in my ways,
Quickly would I humble their enemies;
against their foes I would turn my hand.”
R. I am the Lord, your God: hear my voice.

Gospel
Mk 7:31-37
Jesus left the district of Tyre
and went by way of Sidon to the Sea of Galilee,
into the district of the Decapolis.
And people brought to him a deaf man who had a speech impediment
and begged him to lay his hand on him.
He took him off by himself away from the crowd.
He put his finger into the man’s ears
and, spitting, touched his tongue;
then he looked up to heaven and groaned, and said to him,
“Ephphatha!” (that is, “Be opened!”)
And immediately the man’s ears were opened,
his speech impediment was removed,
and he spoke plainly.
He ordered them not to tell anyone.
But the more he ordered them not to,
the more they proclaimed it.
They were exceedingly astonished and they said,
“He has done all things well.
He makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”

 

[cheeto1]

“Ahijah took off his new cloak,
tore it into twelve pieces”
– The prophets were always doing weird attention-getting things. Do you think
Jeroboam took the 10 pieces of cloth and maybe kept them forever in memory
of this event in his life? I wonder what the new cloak looked like: could it have
been colorful like Joseph’s? So I guess the 12th piece was for the tribe of Judah,
and maybe the 11th was for Levi, who had no land inheritance? Wonder what the
prophet did with those last 2 pieces?

“So I gave them up to the hardness of their hearts;
they walked according to their own counsels”
– This is the worst punishment ever! I would rather have any earthly punishment
than this!

He put his finger into the man’s ears
and, spitting, touched his tongue;
– It is amazing the number of different ways Jesus used to heal people.

“Ephphatha!” (that is, “Be opened!”)
– It just strikes me, but I don’t know why. Is it in Aramaic?
I just feel the power of this word.

So what struck you about today’s readings? :bible1::twocents:

 

[Huiou_Theou]

Several sad things strike me about today’s readings. They are focused on the un-believers and the transgressors.

In The OT readings, the first thing that strikes me is the “Cause” of Jerboam being against Solomon, vv: 1kings 11:26-27.

The text is obscure, but building of “Millo” upset Jerboam – and from the Greek LXX it looks to me that Millo indicates pagan worship centers inside the walls of the city of David – if you will “overly ecumenical temples for other religions…” presumably because of Solomon’s Agape (Highest love?) for foreign women and concubines which God warned him not to marry.

The names and places of the people involved in the rebellion recall the very cycle which brought David into power in the first place. The ark, before a temple had been built, was kept in the meeting tent in Silo/Shilo – Which was in the territory of the tribe of Ephraim. This is associated with Joseph, the son who was sold into slavery in Egypt and saved God’s people – but married Egyptian priest’s daughters as well as hebrew, making the" half-tribe" manassah. A somewhat shunned tribe because of the mixed foreign heritage.

It is in Ephraim, in Silo, that the sins of the Levite priests (greed) taking portions of the sacrifices that were not theirs – caused the ark of the covenant to be lost to the Philistines – and it would be David who was given the privelege of bringing it back. God went, of his own accord, to the Pagans to teach them a lesson himself.

So, The ark was taken away from Joseph’s children for the sin of the priests and eventually moved to Jerusalem with David. Although, the Ark – being a war chariot carried by human hands – a model of the one the Cherubim (horse like angels) carry with human hands – was placed on a wheeled cart which was unfit to transport the ark, and the folly of allowing it to remain there in disobedience to God’s command took the life of David’s friend when it tottered and began to fall.

Solomon is the second child of Bathsheeba – the wife of a Hittite who was more justified than David. The first son, an adulterous child of david, was sentenced to death by God. But Bathsheeba, the mother of Solomon after a legitimate marriage to the very man crafting her husband’s demise – did nothing to dissuade Solomon from the ways of the Pagans; at least the Hittites as she was married to one before David.

Now, in this passage of Kings – today – we see the full fruit of disobedience.
Jerboam is from a mixed tribe; a rather “open” tribe (pun intended), from Joseph. His parents also presumably carry pagan undertones from the Egyptian priestesses Joseph married… The prophet, too, is

And Jeroboam (from Ephraim)'s later actions are not to love God any more than Solomon’s – They had already lost the ark once – but the actions are rather to build Pagan centers of worship to establish his power at any cost. Something extremely ironic given what initially upset him against Solomon.

Now, the prophet who meets Jeroboam is a “Silo-nite”; phonetically recalling those who had lost the Ark through sin. And he is wearing a “new garment” which is curious considering the tribes are now old and established – and new wineskins are for new, not old wine; as are garment patches.

I am uncertain of the numbering of the tribes, 10 and 2 or 10 and 1 – for 2 are of Joseph ?? The Levite’s being a very interesting thought which I will have to study up on Cheetoh. But what is hilighted by geneaology, is that envy may well have been at work in the prophet – who’s words were given not to a man who would do Israel well, but to one from which I would expect confused judgment; and the prophet was a rather close kinsman. Essentially, re-claiming the pre-eminance of the ark, by kingship – but still denied the ark…

I wonder, also, how this came to be written, as the author attests there were no witnesses – just the two of them in the field alone.

But now, in the NT readings, we find Jesus at Tyre and Sidon – Two cities on the nothern part of the promised land – but just outside of it. He is in purely pagan territory. He touches no one at all – but free’s a phonecian woman’s daughter from a devil for her faith without proximity – and then, immediately, the gospel reading for today follows.

In this reading, the show of faith is the bringning of the man – but at the same time, there is disbelief. They have a more shallow faith than the Pagan woman, attested to by the fact that they beg Jesus to "lay his hand on him" – they see in Jesus only the possibilty of cure by visible act, and do not recognize the power of God.

Thus, Jesus “humors” them and touches him outside for the cure, allowing their low expectations to remain. Almost testing them?
And then, he forbids them to speak of it – and their disbelief and shock only become the deeper. They don’t believe in his authority – being of two minds at once. Their spreading of the news is consternation that they can find “no fault” with him – and suggests that in the depths of their hearts they were putting him to the test by bringing a man they did not believe was curable. It was beyond their ability to believe.

The ironic contrast, the woman of the Pagans who have small God’s (idols) that they can understand has come to realize that things which one can handle are not more powerful than things one can not handle. And yet, the Jews, who have been taught that God is almighty, and “ONE”, can not fathom the meaning of the words and shrink God down, and his prophets, to fit their minds. The same general pattern of the atheists and skeptics of today.

 

[cheeto1]

And Jeroboam (from Ephraim)'s later actions are not to love God any more than Solomon’s – They had already lost the ark once – but the actions are rather to build Pagan centers of worship to establish his power at any cost. Something extremely ironic given what initially upset him against Solomon.

Yes, it is extremely ironic.
Thank you for all these things. You must receive such joy from the readings by
being able to make so many connections… thank you for sharing