01 03. BIBLICAL EPIC for Week of January 17 PSALM (#1) OT-History OT-WRIT NT GOSPEL Psa 3 Gen 4-5 Job 5-6 Matt 5

rown

Ps 3: O LORD, how many are my foes! But you are a shield around me. You have broken the teeth of the wicked. Salvation belongs to the LORD! • 3:1-8. A Psalm of , when he fled from Absalom his son. The opening of the psalm lays out the desperate situation, with its repetition of many. The description here ties in well with 2 Sam. 15:12–13 (“many”). The singer calls to mind the variety of ways in which God has cared for him in the past, and how he was able in faith to sleep peacefully in the face of danger. These past experiences build his confidence for the present and the future, enabling him to walk by faith and not by sight. Thus, David calls on the Lord to save him now as He has in the past.

nsurrection

Gen 4: 's sons made offerings to God. Only 's was acceptable, so killed him. Abel's blood cried out and God sent Cain away. Another son, , is born to and Eve. • 4:1-16. . Although they have been expelled from the , are enabled by God to have two sons. With them rests the hope of an offspring who will overcome the serpent. But we see the degenerating effects of sin on humanity as Cain callously murders his righteous brother Abel. Evil seems to triumph and God’s promise is in jeopardy. o The First Murder. There has been much discussion as to why God accepted Abel’s offering and not Cain’s. It is often pointed out that Abel’s offering involves a blood sacrifice whereas Cain’s does not, which may explain the difference. While this is possible, it is also true that in the later Levitical system, grain offerings were an acceptable type of offering. However, at no point does the suggest that offerings work automatically, as if the worshiper’s faith and contrition did not matter; and Cain’s fundamentally bad heart can be seen in his resentment toward his brother and in his uncooperative answers to God in the rest of the passage. Jealousy, probably coupled with anger at God, causes him to slay his own brother without pity. The heinousness of this spiteful murder reveals that sin has mastered Cain. o Cain’s Punishment. Like his parents, who were sent out of the garden, Cain is forced to move away from the presence of the Lord, farther to the . When Cain expresses fear for his life (i.e., his brothers might naturally want revenge against him), the Lord marks him to protect him. We don’t know the precise nature of the mark. • 4:17-24. Cain’s descendants. No explanation is given as to the origin of Cain’s wife. As is often the case in Genesis, the limited and selective nature of the account leaves the reader with unanswered questions. Presumably, Cain married his sister—a reasonable assumption, since the whole human race descends from Adam and Eve (and the law’s later forbidding this practice, such as in Lev. 18:9, would not have been relevant at this stage), and Genesis 5:4 specifically notes that Adam and Eve had sons and daughters (Jewish tradition holds that they had 33 sons and 23 daughters). o Five generations after Cain, is born, who resembles his ancestor Cain, but seems to be even worse, as he boasts of killing a man simply for striking him. This sets up an interesting contrast with the fifth generation from Seth in chapter 5, the godly man . Lamech’s immediate descendants are associated with animal breeding, music, and metalwork, all of which are noteworthy cultural and technological developments. • 4:25-26. The birth of Seth. Eve’s remark, God has appointed for me another offspring instead of Abel, is clearly an allusion back to the offspring of the woman in 3:15. The potential of Seth’s birth is immediately underlined by the observation, At that time people began to call upon the name of the Lord, i.e., to seek Him in (public) worship. Against this background, the brief announcement of Seth’s birth to replace Abel offers fresh hope.

Gen 5: Adam's line was: Seth, Enosh, , , , Enoch, , Lamech and . Noah's sons were , Ham and Japheth. • 5:1-32. Adam’s descendants to Noah. o The book of the generations of Adam. The heading that introduces chapter 5 differs from all the others by referring to a book. This was probably something like a clay tablet that preserved the contents of 5:1–21, which Moses used as a source in compiling the . o Longevity. One of the most striking aspects of the passage is the great age of the first people in Genesis. (Other ancient Near Eastern texts attribute even longer lives to the earliest generations). Given that the life span of people today (and at least since the flood) is much shorter than the life span of those listed from Adam to Noah, the question is often raised as to whether the remarkable longevity of these as given in 5:1–32 should be taken at face value or whether their longevity has some other explanation. No writer, however, has offered a convincing alternative explanation, and none of the proposed alternatives can be substantiated with any certainty. The traditional understanding is that the numbers should be taken at face value, often assuming that something changed in the cosmology of the earth or in the physiology of humans (or in both) after the flood, resulting in a rapid decline in longevity, finally stabilizing at a “normal” life span in the range of 70 years or 80 years (see Ps. 90:10). In any case, one clear implication of these genealogies is that these people actually lived, and that they actually died, adding to the suspense of One who would come to crush the serpent’s head. o Enoch, Methuselah and Noah. Seth’s genealogy is interrupted with added detail concerning Enoch, who is said to have “walked with God. “ This is a phrase that conveys the sense of an ongoing intimacy with God. Remarkably, because of this special relationship, Enoch does not die. According to the dates given, it is possible to conclude that Enoch’s son, Methuselah died in the year the Flood began. Methuselah, of course, is noted as the oldest man to have ever lived, at 969 years. His grandson, Noah (whose name means “rest”), provides hope that he is the promised one who will bring both rest and comfort from the painful toil of working the soil.

lessing

Job 5: "Who will answer you? Man is born to trouble. As for me, I would seek God. Do not despise His discipline. He wounds, but He binds up." • 5:1-27. The First Speech of Eliphaz (Part 2). Eliphaz continues to reinforce his previous point that affliction and trouble do not grow out of the dust or ground, but out of what is sown from the day a person is born. He suggests in verses 8-16 that Job should reconsider the reversal of his circumstances as representing God’s just purposes and discipline. If Job will only accept his situation as God’s discipline, he will be spared from his trouble and brought to “a ripe old age” (v. 26). o What are we to make of Eliphaz’s words? One of the challenges of applying the book of Job is how to interpret the words of Job’s friends. On the one hand, we know that at the end of the book, God Himself will condemn them for their advice. On the other hand, they clearly say things at times that are gloriously true. For example, in 1 Corinthians 3:19, Paul will quote Eliphaz from Job 5:12. And the Proverb Eliphaz presents in verse 17 about the Lord’s discipline is picked up on and developed in Scripture, first in Proverbs 3:11-12 and again in Hebrews 12:5- 6. It seems to me that the problem with Eliphaz’s words are not so much in their content, but in his application to Job. Eliphaz’s view of God’s discipline is impersonal and mechanical, and remains without a ground for why Job should be happy at God’s reproof. His limited perspective and partial insight into the truth hardened into a universal principle, which is proved wrong in the end, that all suffering is divine retribution. A notable addition is made to Eliphaz’s words in Proverbs and Hebrews, that God’s discipline is personal, like that of a human father who delights in his son, and thus His discipline is evidence of His love. Thus, God’s discipline is grounded in His love rather than simply a mechanical retribution. Hebrews presents Jesus as the supreme example of this, whose suffering is far beyond anything we have endured. Furthermore, the Scriptures as a whole present God’s discipline as multi-faceted. He may punish the wicked, discipline the righteous, test us for our sanctification, or simply bring persecution to call out a witness for His name, which is likely the case for Job. In each facet, God is glorified, and whether God’s chastening is merited because of sin, or whether the innocent are suffering, as was the case for Job, we can know that for those in Christ, God is a loving Father who is working all things together for good for those who love Him, and ultimately He is magnifying His own glory through these very same things. Job 6: Job said, "My misery would outweigh the sand of the seas! You have proved no help. Show me how I have been wrong! Would I lie to you?" • 6:1-30. Job Replies: My Complaint is Just (Part 1). In his first response, Job longs that his life would be cut off (6:9) so that he could rest from his suffering, knowing that he had not denied God (6:10). Job found his life unbearable on account of the empty comfort offered by his friends (6:14–30). As the dialogue progresses, Job will increasingly argue that the aim of his friends’ rebuke misses him entirely.

mmanuel

Mt5: Jesus said, "Blessed are the pure in heart. I have come to fulfil the law. Whoever is angry will be judged. I say, love your enemies." • 5:1-12. The Sermon on the Mount: The Beatitudes. The Sermon on the Mount is the first of five major discourses by Jesus in the book. Speaking to His disciples (5:1), Jesus expounds the reality of discipleship lived in the presence and power of the kingdom of God but within the everyday world. They present a challenging but practical ethic that Jesus expects His followers to live by in this present age. In the Beatitudes, He gives a summary instruction to His disciples concerning the nature of life in the kingdom (vv. 3–12), and as we will see, it is an “upside-down” Kingdom from the world’s perspective. • 5:13-16. Salt and Light. As salt is beneficial in a number of ways (as a preservative, seasoning, etc.), so are disciples of Jesus who influence the world for good. As lights, Jesus’ disciples have the kingdom life within them as a living testimony to those in the world who do not yet have the light. The world will see the light of the kingdom through the good works done by Jesus’ disciples (and believers today), with the result that the Father who is in heaven will be glorified. • 5:17-48. Christ Came to Fulfill the Law. These verses explain how Jesus and the Kingdom fulfill the law of Moses; this is the key to interpreting the Sermon on the Mount and indeed the whole of Jesus’ ministry. Jesus “fulfills” all of the Old Testament in that it all points to Him, not only in its specific predictions of a Messiah but also in its sacrificial system, which looked forward to his great sacrifice of Himself, in many events in the history of Israel which foreshadowed His life as God’s true Son, in the laws which only He perfectly obeyed, and in the Wisdom Literature, which sets forth a behavioral pattern that His life exemplified. The entire Old Testament is the expression of God’s will but is now to be taught according to Jesus’ interpretation of its intent and meaning. With the words “But I say to you….,” Jesus is not correcting the Old Testament, but the misunderstandings of the OT that were prevalent at the time. Jesus presents a “greater” righteousness that is not about outward conformity, but a matter of the heart. Jesus outlines six antitheses (vv. 21–48) that contrast proper and false interpretation and application of the OT. o 5:21-26. Anger. To not murder is mere outward conformity, but anger resides in the heart. o 5:27-30. Lust. To not commit adultery is mere outward conformity, but lust resides in the heart. o 5:31-32. Divorce. Easy divorce is out of step with God’s original plan for marriage set forth in Genesis 2. o 5:33-37. Oaths. Honesty should not depend upon external vows, but on the integrity of the heart. o 5:38-42. Retaliation. The law of an “eye for an eye” was meant to limit excessive retaliation, but Jesus points to an even better way by showing us that God’s Kingdom way is to offer mercy and grace rather than seeking greater and greater revenge. o 5:43-48. Love Your Enemies. The Old Testament never says that anyone should hate their enemy, again showing that Jesus is correcting not the OT itself, but only misinterpretations of it. God’s hatred of evil was a central theme in the Old Testament and those who embodied evil were understood to be God’s enemies. Thus, it might seem natural to hate them, but such hatred is never commanded by God. To be sure, God hates evil, but He still brings many blessings in this life even to His enemies (v. 45) by means of “common grace” (the favor that He gives to all people and not just to believers). These blessings are intended to lead unbelievers to repentance. Jesus calls His disciples to follow the same pattern.

______

______

______

______

______

______

______

______

______

______

______

______

______

______

______

______

______

______

______

______

______

______

______

______

______

______

______