Alastair's Adversaria - Biblical Reading and Reflections: August 7th (Hosea 5 & John 9)

Episode Date: August 6, 2021

The Lord continues his controversy with Israel. The healing of the man born blind. My reflections are searchable by Bible chapter here: https://audio.alastairadversaria.com/explore/. If you are interested in supporting this project, please consider supporting my work on Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/zugzwanged), using my PayPal account (https://bit.ly/2RLaUcB), or buying books for my research on Amazon (https://www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/36WVSWCK4X33O?ref_=wl_share). You can also listen to the audio of these episodes on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/alastairs-adversaria/id1416351035?mt=2.

Josea chapter 5. Hear this, O priests. Pay attention, O House of Israel. Give ear, O House of the King. For the judgment is for you, for you have been a snare at Misper and a net spread upon Tabor, and the revolters have gone deep into slaughter, but I will discipline all of them. I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hidden from me, for now, O Ephraim, you have played the whore. Israel is defiled. Their deeds do not permit them to return to their God. For the Spirit of hordom is within them, and they know not the Lord. The pride of Israel testifies to his face. Israel and Ephraim shall stumble in his guilt. Judah also shall stumble with them. With their flocks and herds they shall go to seek the Lord, but they will not find him. He has withdrawn

from them. They have dealt faithlessly with the Lord, for they have borne alien children. Now the new moon shall devour them with their fields. Blow the horn in Ghibia, the trumpet in Rama, sound the alarm at Beth Avon. We follow you, O Benjamin. Ephraim shall become a desolation in the day of punishment. Among the tribes of Israel I make known what ashore. The princes of Judah have become like those who moved the landmark. Upon them I will pour out my wrath like water. Ephraim is oppressed, crushed in judgment, because he was determined to go after filth. But I am like a moth to Ephraim and like dry rot to the house of Judah. When Ephraim saw his sickness and Judah his wound, then Ephraim went to Assyria and sent to the great king, but he is not able to cure you or

heal your wound. For I will be like a lion to Ephraim, and like a young lion to the house of Judah. I, even I, will tear and go away. I will carry off and no one shall rescue. I will return again to my place, until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face, and it is. And it is, and in their distress, earnestly seek me. Josea chapter 5 continues the controversy or contention that the Lord had with Israel that began in the preceding chapter. That chapter had focused especially upon the leaders, but in this chapter the prophecy expands its address to challenge the people more generally. Once again, the people are summoned to attention to the word of the Lord. The priests, the

House of Israel and the Royal House are all addressed. While the leaders are especially responsible, they are not responsible to the exclusion of the people more broadly. Joshua Moon suggests that verse 1's claim concerning the leaders that the judgment is theirs should be heard as a double entendre. The task of judgment belongs to the leaders, but theirs is also the indictment that is to follow. The first half of verse 2 is difficult to translate. Andrew Deerman, for instance, adopts an amended reading of the text that yields a line that continues the sentence of the preceding verse, giving, you have been a snare at Misper, a

spread ned on table, a pit at Chitim they dug deep. Moon differs from this rendering on two key counts. First, he argues that Misper and Table are presented as victims of the traps, not perpetrators of them. Second, he argues that the point of the second verse is that the leaders are knee-deep in the blood of those they were supposed to lead. Most scholars argue that the snares, nets and pits in view are likely sites of pagan cultic worship at the locations in question, with the places not presented principally as victims or as perpetrators, but more as sights of traps that have been laid for the people. The Lord knows the hearts and the actions of his people. They cannot hide their sin from his sight. Their adultery and defilement is not a secret, but is known to their divine husband,

and their deeds prevent them from returning to him. They have cut themselves off from his presence and blessing. Their ignorance of the Lord, and their devotion to a spirit of hoarding, establish enmity between them and God, marking them out for judgment. Israel's brazen pride is self-incriminating, evidencing their stubborn impenitence and incorrigibility. Their sins bring their own accompanying traps that Israel readily stumbles into, but which will also snare his brother Judah. People's sins can greatly complicate life for them

and have consequences that serve as their own natural punishments. This is the case for Israel and Ephraim. Verse four declared that the deepened, that the deeds of Israel prevented them from returning to God. Verse 6 describes their futile quest to find him. They will try to pursue the Lord and his favor with great sacrifices of flocks and herds, but they will find that he has withdrawn from them and will not heed them. No amount of religious ritual will succeed in restoring their relationship with the Lord

when they are so alienated from him in their behavior and affections. Returning to the metaphor of marital infidelity that frames the book of Hosea, they have begotten bastard children through their consorting with idols. Cultic practices, divinely ordained and pagan, were often associated with New Moon festivals, seeking fertility. However, now the New Moon would herald the devouring of them and their fields, becoming its opposite. Alternatively, as that proposed meaning of the second half of verse 7 is obscure,

Hans Walter Wolfe suggests an alternative version of the text, which gives the statement, Now the locust shall devour their fields. Prophecy to this point has mostly focused on Israel, with only a secondary reference to Judah in verse 5. Now, however, Benjamin, the southern tribe whose territory was the borderland of the kingdom of Judah, between Judah and Israel, comes into view. What exactly verse 8 refers to is unclear. Many read it as a reference to the Cyro-Ephromite war as the Syrians in Israel went south to attack Judah, approaching Jerusalem itself around 735 BC. The verse, some argue, speaks to the Northern Kingdom, which has at this point taken the territory of Benjamin, warning them that they are about to face its loss. This, however, as Moon argues, presents problems as an interpretation. It would suggest that in taking Benjamin, Judah was like a party moving a landmark, rather than merely recovering its own land.

Also, verse 13 seems to refer to an appeal to the King of Syria coming from Ephraim, the Northern Kingdom, not from Judah, as it did join the Cyro-Ephraim This said, however, there are other ways of reading the statement of verse 13 that would be more consistent with a setting during the Cyro-Ephromite war when Judah sought aid from the Assyrians against Israel and the Syrians. It could refer to Israel's sending of tribute to Assyria after Hoshiah's coup against Pika and his hope that that might secure peace. The prophecy speaks of devastation falling on both kingdoms. Moon writes, Josea points to the destruction of the north, verse 9 and the south, verse 10, and it is Benjamin's location between the two condemned regions that lends desperation to the summons to battle. Where will Benjamin turn if destruction presses from both sides?

Both northern and southern kingdom face desolation, on account of their own commitments to iniquity. The Lord's word is sure, Judah has been land-grabbing, not honouring the boundaries of their brother to the north, and will also face judgment as a result. The Lord himself is like a sickness or a rock that clings to Ephraim and Judah, consuming them and wasting them away. Israel seeks deliverance from its wound from Assyria, most likely as Hoshire turned to Assyria, becoming their vassal, after he had conspired against Pika and brought him down, replacing him as king of Israel.

However, Israel's wound was far deeper than Assyria could help with. The Lord himself was the sickness that afflicted his unfaithful people. He, not Assyria, was the predator that was going to be. tear them to pieces. No one could deliver them from his clutches. Only if they were to confess their fault and truly turn back to him, could they be delivered, but there is currently no sign that they are about to do that. A question to consider, after the division of the kingdom, what are some of the different ways in which the kingdoms of Judah and Israel relate to each other in their respective sins and states of judgment? John chapter 9. As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth, and his disciples asked him,

Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered, it was not that this man sinned or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while at his day. Night is coming, when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. Having said these things, he spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man's eyes with the mud.

and said to him, go wash in the pool of Siloam, which means scent. So he went and washed and came back seeing. The neighbours and those who had seen him before as a beggar were saying, is this not the man who used to sit and beg? Some said, it is he. Others said, no, but he is like him. He kept saying, I am the man. So they said to him, then how were your eyes opened? He answered, the man called Jesus made mud and anointed my eyes and said to me, Go to Salaam and wash. So I went and washed and received my sight. They said to him, where is he? He said, I do not know. They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind.

Now it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. So the Pharisees again asked him how he had received his sight. And he said to them, He put mud on my eyes and I washed and I see. Some of the Pharisees said, This man is not from God, but he does not keep the Sabbath. But others said,

How can a man who is a sinner do such signs? And there was a division among them. So they said again to the blind man, What do you say about him since he has opened your eyes? He said, he is a prophet. The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight, until they called the parents of the man

who had received his sight and asked them, Is this your son, who you say was born blind. How then does he now see? His parents answered, we know that this is our son and that he was born blind, but how he now sees we do not know, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him, he is of age, he will speak for himself. His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should confess Jesus to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue. Therefore his parents said, he is of age, ask him. So for the The second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him,

Give glory to God, we know that this man is a sinner. He answered, whether he is a sinner I do not know, one thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see. They said to him, what did he do to you? How did he open your eyes? He answered them, I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?

And they reviled him saying, You are his disciple, but what are? We are disciples of Moses. We know that God has spoken to Moses. But as for this man, we do not know where he comes from. The man answered, Why, this is an amazing thing. You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him. Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing. answered him, you were born in utter sin, and would you teach us? And they cast him out.

Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him, he said, Do you believe in the son of man? He answered, and who is he, sir, that I may believe in him? Jesus said to him, you have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you. He said, Lord, I believe, and he worshipped him. Jesus said, for judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who say. see may become blind. Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things and said to him, are we also blind? Jesus said to them, if you were blind, you would have no guilt, but now that you say, we see, your guilt remains. In John chapter 9, we have the sixth of the signs that Jesus

performs in his ministry in the Gospel of John. The first half of the Gospel of John has been described as the Book of Signs. It's a book in which we see a series of significant events and actions that Jesus performs that help us to understand who he is and the character of his mission. The point of a sign is not just the demonstration of power or the pyrotechnics of a great miracle or healing or exorcism. A sign helps us to understand something more about the character of Jesus' mission and identity. In the turning of the water into wine in the wedding feast at Cana, Jesus demonstrates something about who he is as the bridegroom. A number of the signs in the Gospel of John provoke conversation afterwards. The turning of the water into wine, and

provokes a conversation between the master of the feast and the bridegroom. The healing of the royal official's son provokes a conversation between the royal official and his servants. The healing of the infirm man at the sheep pool provokes a conversation about the Sabbath and the work of Christ. The multiplication of the loaves and fish leads to Jesus' discourse concerning the manor and the bread from heaven. Within the Gospel of John, I believe that there are seven signs as part of the Book of Signs. The first is the turning of the water into wine, the second, the healing of the rich known. nobleman's son, the third, the healing of the infirm man at the sheep pool, the fourth, the multiplication of the loaves and fish, the fifth, Jesus is walking on the water, the sixth, the healing of the blind

man in this chapter, and the seventh, the raising of Lazarus. I think it's possible that these signs might be related together in a panel structure, with the first, second, and third, mapping onto the fourth, fifth, and sixth, with the seventh as a climactic sign. If this were the case, the turning of the water into wine would naturally correspond with the multiplication of the loaves and fish, the healing of the rich nobleman's son would correspond with the walking on the water, and the healing of the infirm man by the sheep pool would correspond with the healing of the blind man in this chapter. Both healings involve a healing pool, take place on the Sabbath, and give rise to a conversation concerning work upon the Sabbath.

If we are connecting this with the sixth day of creation as the sixth sign, we might also observe a parallel with the creation of man on the sixth day. Here is a man being created anew, as a new creation. We should recognise some already familiar themes from the Gospel of John at the beginning of this chapter. Jesus, as he did in John chapter 8 verse 12, refers to himself as the light of the world. In chapter 1 verse 9, he is described as the true light which gives light to everyone coming into the world. The question about whether the man was born blind on account of his own sin, or on account of his parents' sin, also emphasizes the theme of birth, which has been an important

one to this point, particularly in chapter 3, but also in chapter 8, concerning the question of the true heirs and children of Abraham. Jesus responds to his disciples' query by saying, it was not that this man sinned or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. Ramsey Michaels suggest that we might see in the background of this statement, John chapter 3, verse 21, But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God. If this were the case, then the works of God that are displayed in him are not the works of Christ in the miracle, but the true character of the man who is working the works of God. Once again we might think of John chapter 6, verses 28 to 29.

Then they said to him, what must we do to be doing the works of God? Jesus answered them, this is the work of God, that you believe in Him, whom he has sent. This is precisely what the man born blind goes on to do. Reading the sign in the light of these themes, it will help us to understand that it is a demonstration of what it means that Christ is the light of the world. It will also unpack what it means to respond to Christ in the right way. Surprisingly, there are two different stages to Jesus' healing. He spits on the ground, makes mud with the saliva, anoints the man's eyes with the mud, and then as a secondary stage instructs him to go to wash in the pool of Siloam. He washes and comes back seeing.

The hero of the account should register the strangeness of this. Why doesn't Jesus just immediately heal him of his blindness? Why does it take two stages? Recognising that this was a sign can help us to understand why economy of action is not the most important thing. Christ's goal here is not merely to heal the man of his blindness, but also to reveal something about the truth of his mission and the character of a proper response to him. Once again, here we see the importance of Jesus's words. Jesus performs his signs not primarily through great acts of power, but through giving instructions that are obeyed. He instructs the servants to draw from some of the water and give it to the master of the feast. He instructs the royal official to go home. He instructs the infirm man by the sheep pool to

pick up his bed and walk. He instructs his disciples to distribute the loaves. And here he instructs the man born blind to go and wash in the pool of Siloam. In all of these cases, the miracle occurs as people obey Christ, as they accept his word. The power of the sign is the power of Jesus' word, but as people believe Jesus' words, these signs are fulfilled for them. Jesus performs a strange action on this blind man, and then instructs him to do a strange thing to go and wash in the pool of Saloam. However, the man obeys Jesus' word, and as a result he has healed. We might recall the story of Naman the Syrian, who the instruction to go and wash in the Jordan. He wonders why he can't wash in one of the greater rivers of his own land. The parallel with Chapter 5 should also be looked at in more detail.

The most obvious similarity is that they both involve healing on the Sabbath that provokes controversy with the Jews. In both cases a man who has had his disability for an exceedingly long period of time is healed. In both cases, a healing pool is part of the story. Throughout the Gospel of John, we see a specific focus upon Jesus' engagement with individuals, In the synoptic gospels, a lot more attention is given to his public teaching. However, Jesus' interactions with specific individuals in the Gospel of John invite us to recognize paradigmatic encounters of the individual with Christ. In chapter 3, we have in Nicodemus a leader of the Jews,

a member of the Sanhedron, a man of the highest religious standing, and greatly respected among his people. He meets with Jesus secretly by night. In the next chapter, Jesus meets with a woman in the very middle of the day, and this woman is at the other extreme of the social hierarchy. She's a member of the heretical Samaritans. She's someone who likely carries a lot of social shame. The two men of chapters 5 and 9 are both healed by Jesus,

cross-examined by the religious authorities, and then encountered again by Jesus. In the first case, the man after meeting with Christ for the second time goes back to the Jews. In the second case, the man responds by believing in Jesus. The entangled themes of light and blindness are playing throughout this passage. We have the physical sight of the man that is restored.

We also have his spiritual sight that is revealed as we go through the whole of the chapter. He's not just able to see with his physical eyes. He's able to perceive something of Jesus' true identity. There's a spiritual sight that he enjoys. And the conflict that he has with the Jewish leaders is characterized by irony and humor. There is something of a playfulness to it

where he can't be recognized at first and people are speculating about his true identity. To this point in the Gospel, we have seen numerous examples of Jesus himself being subject to failures of recognition, and here the heel blind man starts to receive the same sort of speculation about his identity. The mud made with saliva might recall the creating of humanity out of clay in the original story of man's creation. A man is being newly created, and then he has sent to the pool to wash.

Christians have long perceived in this an image of baptism. It is also another example in the gospel of a sign that occurs in Jesus' absence. His word is powerful, even when he is not physically present. The blind man is a paradigmatic believer. He's someone who's brought to a new awareness. Jesus performs a work of new creation upon him, sends him to be washed, to be baptized. And after that, the text focuses upon his membership of the synagogue and the religious community. He will be cast out of the synagogue, but will become part of the community that surrounds Christ.

This, of course, is a pattern that is familiar for many Christians down through the ages. Christ performs a work of healing in their lives. They are baptized. They enter a new community, but they are cast out of old ones. However, as they are faithful in their testimony to Christ before men, Christ will be present to and with them. A question to consider. Can you identify the ways in which this chapter uses humor, sarcasm, and irony to express its point? How did these help to reveal something about the character of faith,

in contrast to unbelief.