Psalm 72:1-11 While it’s tempting to read this as a messianic psalm, it seems pretty specifically aimed at a specific time and place: a magisterial invocation to Solomon’s ascension to the throne, taking the kingly reins from his father, David. God is the source of kingly power, , who is asked to “grant Your judgments to the king and Your righteousness to the king’s son.” (1)
The king’s preeminent duty is judgment and discernment in meting out justice: “May he judge Your people righteously and Your lowly ones in justice.” (2), which is of course what Solomon, among all the kings of Israel, is most famous for. After justice, peace: “May the mountains bear peace to the people.” (3) For this psalmist, God-ordained, justice, and peace are the three great qualities of kingly leadership.
As happens so often in the OT, the psalmist then makes it clear that the king’s first duty is to the lowly and the poor: “May he bring justice to the lowly of the people, may he rescue the sons of the needy.” (4) Only after this all-important assertion, does the psalmist begin his magnificent geographical sweep beginning with the sun and the moon (5) to the seas and the River at the ends of the earth (capital R, which usually means the Euphrates) to deserts (8) and Tarshish and the islands beyond (9) there is the assertion that this kingdom is above all others: “may all kings bow to him, all nations serve him.” (10)
But even then, we circle back to that very first kingly duty: “For he saves the needy man pleading, and the lowly who has none to help him.” (11) Above all the majesty and glory there is this simple quality–a quality that Jesus describes many times: servant leadership.
Numbers 23 As a professional shaman, Balaam appears to have a set method to pronounce a blessing or a curse: set up seven altars and sacrifice a bull on each one. (Balaam’s services are obviously expensive.) During the first go, Balaam winds up pronouncing a blessing on Israel instead of a curse: “Who has numbered the dust of Jacob, who counted the issue of Israel? Let me but die the death of the upright,” (23:10) King Balak is seriously upset, but Balaam reminds him the deal was that, “that which the LORD puts in my mouth, only that do I keep to speak.” (13).
Say what we might about this “pagan,” he is actually one of the wiser, more honest men we encounter in the OT: he will speak only what God has said to him. Quite a contrast to the complaining Israelites–and of course to us, who would rather follow our own agendas about what we think God should have said, rather than what He did say.
Balak implores Balaam to try a second time: same results: “He blessed, so I will not reverse it. He has beheld no harm in Jacob,” (21) Still robbed of the curse he wants–and is paying big money for–Balak tells Balaam to try a third time (of which more tomorrow). We are Balak: no matter what God has told us, if we do not like it, we will keep trying again and again until we get what we want. And like Balak, we never quite “get” the foolhardiness, the wasted time and, often, the expense of not accepting God at His word. Jonah is certainly the other person who comes to mind here. We can keep trying, but we need to remember that God always wins out in the end.
Mark 16:1-13 For Mark, the fact of Jesus’ Resurrection is sufficient. There’s no need for post-resurrection stories, like sweet reunions between Mary and Jesus, an Upper Room confrontation with Thomas, conversations on the walk to Emmaus or sea-side breakfasts. The last thing that happens at the tomb is “terror and amazement”–and fear. What most scholars contend to be the “authentic Mark” ends abruptly.
If we go with the shorter ending of Mark, the writer basically adds what we could call a “Great Commission postscript:”Jesus himself sent out through them, from east to west, the sacred and imperishable proclamation of eternal salvation.” End of discussion.
The less reliable longer ending underscores the theme of skepticism. Mary Magdalene has zero credibility. In an oblique reference to the two men on the road to Emmaus, the two men believe they met Jesus, but when “they went back and told the rest, but they did not believe them.” Which seems right to me. An event this enormous and unprecedented would be greeted with skepticism by those who did not actually talk to Jesus. Just as the Resurrection is greeted by the majority today.
But skepticism is OK; Mark does not see the need for neat ribbon-tying at the end of his narrative. He is telling us: the Resurrection is a fact. Yes, it’s unbelievable and you may want to be skeptical. But you’ll see: this story will not just die out. Instead, “from east to west, [it is] the sacred and imperishable proclamation of eternal salvation.” Imperishable. As it remains today.
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