Tag: jews

The Apocrypha in Lent – 2 March

If this is your first visit, please see my introduction to these Lenten readings.

2 March. 2 Maccabees  chapters 8-11

The beginning of chapter 8 marks a division in the book, which in the Jerusalem Bible translation is headed “The Victory of Judaism”. Elsewhere in this book there are references to the “Jewish race” or “Jewish people”.  That is very significant.   The Old Testament proper known nothing of this identity but rather tells of the twelve tribes of Israel – of which Judah became dominant, separating itself from the rest of “Israel”.  But from this time (about 150 years before Jesus of Nazareth) onwards, the identity of the worshippers of the God of Abraham identified themselves by one badge as “Jews” (though the name does derive from that of Judah).

Anyway, following the Greek empire’s attacks on Jerusalem and their torturing of innocent people, Judas Maccabeus raises a mercenary army to resist them on the principle of “we’ve had enough of this – even if we die fighting it’s better than letting ourselves be subjected to persecution”.  But God, it seems, was with them, and if these accounts are to be believed, on several occasions there were apparitions of angelic horsemen fighting for them.  Their appearance both encouraged the Jews, and frightened their enemy, to the extent that the battle in each case was turned in their favour.

That tallies with the Jewish/Christian understanding of there being a “heavenly host” of angels, always around us and influencing events, nearly always unseen.  When angels become visible, it is in times of great distress or danger, as if the veil that separates their plane of existence and ours gets torn by the distress in the world so that they can intervene and be seen doing so.   Sometimes, as noted above, the mere visible presence of an angel can make all the difference; on other occasions they seem to take a more physical form and can actually affect the things of this world – according to anecdote, deflecting bullets and removing danger out of people’s way. There are still people in the world today who tell of seeing angels at times of danger. Perhaps we ought to pay more attention to them.

 

The Bible in a Year – 13 May

If this is your first viewing, please see my Introduction before reading this.

13 May, Isaiah chapters 64-66

The final climax of Isaiah’s prophecies continues in the apocalyptic style that I described yesterday, describing events that could be related to the immediate rebuilding of Jerusalem, or to its second destruction in 70CE and the subsequent spreading of Christianity as the new worldwide religion, or to the future and final ingathering of all God’s people on the last day.

 

Some interpreters would also add the renewal of the nation of Israel from 1947 as part of this vision. There remains controversy within the Church as to whether that was a fulfilment of prophecy, part of God’s plan, or merely a political phenomenon of our time.  Was it part of God’s plan that there should be Jews living in Jerusalem in order that it can feature as the central location of his final act of redemption (whatever that might look like in practice)? Or is the worldwide church – messianic Jews as well as gentile Christians – the ‘new Israel’ with God’s presence in the risen Christ in all places, and Jerusalem no longer anywhere special except as a matter of historic interest? The site of the Temple, of course, is now a mosque, so God is still worshipped there but in a different way.

 

These are not easy questions, and Isaiah may have understood nothing of the circumstances of the 21st century. What we can say with certainty, though, is that these final chapters of the longest and most profound of the books of Biblical prophecy leave the reader in no doubt that what matters to God is not forms of worship or religious allegiance (66:1-4) but an openness to the work of God’s spirit in “making all things new”.  Since the first day of creation the Spirit has been working, creating, constantly and restlessly seeking to bring all things to perfection, and only those who are open to the Spirit of God will have a place in paradise.