The Depth of History

Jim:

1 Samuel 9:1-14
The New Revised Standard Version of the Bible puts verse 9 in parentheses: “(Formerly in Israel anyone who went to inquire of God would say, ‘Come let us go to the seer’; for the one who is now called a prophet was formerly called a seer.)” What I like about this verse is that it shows that our understanding of scripture should not be limited to a simple “then” and “now”, as if all the events of scripture happened at one time. The history of ancient Israel was of so great a depth that when the writers of books like 1 Samuel set about to do their work, they were dealing with material that was already old and some of which needed to be explained to their contemporaries (like the uses of the words prophet and seer). We’re dealing with millennia of time here, not just months or years, yet God was at work throughout, interacting with succeeding generations of people and responding to their changing customs and attitudes with justice and mercy.

Acts 7:17-29
History plays a vital role in the continuing words of Stephen before the council in Acts 7. Here he is retelling the story of God’s people, in this case the sojourn in Egypt. Interestingly, Stephen says the following in verse 19, “(Pharaoh) dealt craftily with our race and forced our ancestors to abandon their infants so that they would die.” In verse 21 it says, “and when (Moses) was abandoned, Pharaoh’s daughter adopted him…” (Abandonment is a cruel form of death, of course, that involves leaving a baby in some isolated spot to die from the elements or starvation.) That’s a slightly different story than what we find in Exodus 1:22 where Pharaoh tells his people, “Every boy that is born to the Hebrews you shall throw into the Nile, but you shall let every girl live.” Exodus goes on to say that Moses was placed in a basket in the Nile with hopes that he would be safe. But Stephen says only that Moses was abandoned. Again, history flows through scripture and not only do we get the original stories themselves, but often we read of other generations reacting to those stories, or quoting the verses and interpreting these words for themselves.

Luke 22:31-38
Lo and behold, what do we find in Luke? Jesus quoting scripture and showing how it applies to him! (I love it when all of the readings come together like this!!) In verse 37 Jesus quotes Isaiah 53:12 when he says, “For I tell you, this scripture must be fulfilled in me, ‘And he was counted among the lawless’; and indeed what is written about me is being fulfilled.” God, who has been at work throughout the history of Israel, that winding ribbon of lives intertwined with God’s presence, is at work in Jesus as well, and in fact the whole history of Israel comes to a focal point in Jesus after which nothing will ever be the same. Wow!