Biblical Words [667]
The
cycles of the generations and the struggles of the soul are promised rest at
the end of the journey.
Genesis 24:34-38, 42-49, 58-67.
The Torah reading is selected verses from the long story of the
finding of Rebekah to be Isaac’s wife.
Stages of Abraham’s Life. The last stage of Abraham’s life (Genesis
22:20 -25:11) is introduced by “Now
after these things…” in Genesis 22:20 . That formula occurs only at three places in
the Abraham narrative: Genesis 15:1;
22:1; and 22:20, dividing the entire Abraham cycle into four parts, concerned
respectively with wealth, getting a son, sacrificing that son, and tasks of old
age.
This last stage is concerned with
the final life-tasks of the elderly head of the household. (1) He keeps in touch with his close
relatives in the old country (Genesis 22:20-24), (2) he procures a proper
burial place in the new country for his wife (Genesis 23), (3) he finds an
appropriate wife for his main son and heir (Genesis 24), and (4) he provides
for other wives and their offspring (Genesis 25:1-6). After that he dies and is honorably buried by
his sons Isaac and Ishmael (25:7-11).
The story of Rebekah is an
unusual narrative in Genesis. This is an
actual narrative, told at length, not just a brief statement of the essentials
needed for a story-teller’s repertoire, as are most of the episodes told about
Abraham and Jacob.
This narrative takes an entire
chapter of 67 verses to relate an
episode that could have been told in just a few verses. After all, all that happens here is that the
old faithful servant of Abraham (whose name we never learn!) goes to the old
country and, after appropriate tests for God’s guidance, finds a beautiful girl
from a related family who is willing to go to Canaan and marry her distant
cousin Isaac. There is not even any
space taken up with the marriage itself!
This story is told with careful elaborateness. One must read the entire story and not just
the Lectionary’s selections, to get the full force of this. In the opening of the story Abraham gives
careful instructions to the servant, making him swear an oath not to allow
Isaac to marry a Canaanite woman (verses 2-4).
The servant discusses the options he might have to deal with but sets
out to do as he is told. The whole exchange
is marked by formality and courtesy,
and this style and mood will be preserved throughout. There is great dignity and propriety
pervading the life of these ancestors of Israel
An essential piece of the story
takes place before the first Lectionary selection. That is the servant’s commitment of the
entire enterprise to God’s providence.
The servant specifies that the woman that God designates for Isaac’s
wife will be the one who offers to give water not only to the traveling man,
but also to his camels. (Realistically,
that would not be a minor item. The
camels would require many more jars of water from the well than the man.)
As the selected readings begin we
have already had all the introductions and the servant is making his offer – an
offer that can not be refused – to Rebekah’s brother and family. He explains Abraham’s great wealth and his
determination to avoid intermarriage with the Canaanites. He also explains God’s providential guidance in
identifying Rebekah. What can the family
say? They bless Rebekah and send her on
her way. When she is approaching Isaac,
the husband-to-be, she discretely veils herself and is received by him to
comfort him after the death of his mother.
That is, she becomes the matron of the nomadic clan.
The immigrants observe all the
proper addresses and courtesies in arranging a marriage for the boy of the
promising future with the proper girl from the old country. Abraham’s seniority is also blessed as a new
bride enters the clan, promising another generation to inherit the promise.
Psalm 45:10-17.
The psalm reading is the last half of an ode to the king and queen at a
royal wedding in Jerusalem
Our verses are the poet’s address to
and description of the bride. She is charged to forget her past identity as
a daughter and devote herself to her future as queen mother, whose favor will
be sought by the wealthiest and most influential powers of their world (verses
10-12). Her fantastically rich wedding
garments are celebrated (verses 13-15).
In the conclusion, the king too is
called upon to look toward the future rather than the past. “In the place of ancestors …you shall have
sons, / you will make them princes in all the earth” (verse 16). The psalm celebrates the fulfillment of what
was only a promise in the time of Isaac and Rebekah, though it was anticipated
in the blessing given her by her family (Genesis 24:60).
The Epistle reading is a complete contrast to the irenic providence of
God described in the Rebekah story and the joyful celebration of the royal
wedding of the psalm. Paul’s long
description of the plight of the sinner before salvation, which really
began in chapter 5 of the letter, here reaches the nadir of despair.
He graphically describes the
divided self, the self that wants desperately to do the good but only finds
itself caught in the bondage of Sin, which is exacerbated by the law of God
itself. “For I delight in the law of God
in my inmost self, 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” (verses
22-23).
C.H. Dodd argued that in this
chapter Paul was reading his own experience – and the typical human experience
– in terms of the story of the fall of Adam in Genesis
3
Paul read in Genesis how Adam at
first lived in innocence. A command was
given to him, intended to prevent him from forfeiting his immortality,
according to the rabbinic interpretation.
The serpent, subtly turning this command to his own ends, seduced Adam
(through his wife — but, for Paul here, that is not significant). He transgressed the command, and death was
the result… Translated into terms of
individual experience, the story runs:
“I lived at one time without law myself, but when the command came home
to me, sin sprang to life and I died; the command that meant life proved death
for me. The command gave an impulse to sin,
sin beguiled me, and used the command to kill me.” [quoting Romans
7:9-11
The apostle concluded his
description, “Wretched man that I am!
Who will rescue me from this body of death?” (verse 24, NRSV ).
When confessing this miserable
condition, Paul knew that there was an answer.
There was a union available that
would both rescue him from his lonely struggle and complete his life as the
good Lord had intended it. His soul
waited for the union that would deliver and comfort it. “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our
Lord!” (verse 25).
The Gospel reading has two contrasting parts. The first is a despairing judgment on the
present generation that will not respond to God’s summons, and the second is a
declaration of the availability of intimate knowledge and comfort through the
Lord.
The previous parts of the chapter
have talked about John the Baptist, the one bringing God’s word in
preparation for the Messiah. The common
folks will not respond to John’s call for rigorous self-restraint, and the
learned religious leaders condemn Jesus because he associates with the ordinary
folks of the rude and crude world.
“We played you a wedding tune, but
you would not dance; we sang a funeral dirge, but you would not mourn.” Such is the meaning of the saying about the
children playing in the market-place (verse 17). People at large want their religious leaders
to dance to the tune that they play – not to learn new songs and lessons.
The last part of the reading begins,
“At that time...,” as if emphasizing that Jesus’ following words of revelation and comfort were spoken just when the hopeless
resistance of the people had become absolutely clear. In the face of such stubborn opposition from
people and leaders alike (expressed even more intensely in the verses omitted
from the reading, the condemnation of the Galilean towns, verses 20-24), Jesus
speaks this “bolt from the Gospel of John” that appears in the middle of the
Gospel According to Matthew.
“All things have been handed over to
me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows
the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him”
(verse 27, NRSV ). There is only one route to an intimate
communion with the heavenly parent, and such intimate communion is the supreme
good for all human living.
But there IS one route – the Son
who, speaking in the voice of Wisdom, says to the simple and uneducated folks,
“Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will
give you rest. Take my yoke upon you,
and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest
for your souls” (verses 28-29). In the face
of all opposition and rejection by the worldly folks, there is a comfort and a
rest available to the truly humble who wait upon the Lord.
At the end of the journey for a new
union, at the end of the struggle against the bondage of divided selves, there
is comfort, there is rest.
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