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Comments have been prepared by Chris Haslam using reputable commentaries, and checked for accuracy by the Venerable Alan T Perry. While not intended to be exhaustive, they are an aid to reading the Scriptures with greater understanding.

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• Isaiah - Psalm - 1 Corinthians - Luke
• Sirach - Psalm - 1 Corinthians - Luke

Sirach is also known as Sira and Ecclesiasticus, probably meaning church book, an indication that it was used by the early Christian community. It is in the Apocrypha of the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, and is considered deutero-canonical by Roman Catholics. Adherents to Judaism excluded it from the Bible, as did the Protestant Reformers. We know (from 50:27) that Jesus ben Sira, a native of Jerusalem, wrote it. Ben Sira ran a school in biblical studies for young Jewish men. Written about 180 BC, it is faithful to the author's Jewish heritage and tradition and makes use of ideas from other cultures where they are compatible with his heritage.

The author, Jesus ben Sira, makes a number of observations regarding dangers to integrity and friendship, in 26:19-27:21, probably based on his personal experience. Commercial activities can cause one to sin. A “stake” ( 27:2) is “driven firmly” to stabilize a structure.

A proper respect for God is required to avoid sin ( 27:3); to keep the business person honest. 27:4-8 tells us that what a person says can reveal his integrity (or lack of it). Sira gives three examples. After wheat has been cut down, it is shaken in a “sieve” ( 27:4). Shaking it leaves behind the chaff (“refuse”). In the same way “a person's faults” are “revealed when he speaks”. So hear out a speaker to assess his degree of honesty ( 27:7).

Pursuing “justice” ( 27:8) will be rewarded. 27:9 is a variant of birds of a feather flock together. Those who are honest will associate with others who are, and those who are dishonest with those who are not ( 27:10). The “godly” ( 27:11) are consistent, while a “fool” is inconsistent. Don't waste you time with “stupid people” ( 27:12). 27:16-21 advise that revealing something told you in confidence has repercussions: friendships will cease, and cannot be restored.

This book can be divided into two (and possibly three) parts. Chapters 1 to 39 were written before the exile, from about 740 BC to about 700 BC. These were difficult times for the southern kingdom, Judah: a disastrous war was fought with Syria; the Assyrians conquered Israel, the northern kingdom, in 723 BC, and threatened Judah. Isaiah saw the cause of these events as social injustice, which he condemned, and against which he fought valiantly. Chapters 40 to 66 were written during and after the Exile in Babylon. They are filled with a message of trust and confident hope that God will soon end the Exile. Some scholars consider that Chapters 56 to 66 form a third part of the book, written after the return to the Promised Land. These chapters speak of hope and despair; they berate the people for their sin, for worshipping other gods. Like Second Isaiah, this part speaks of the hope that God will soon restore Jerusalem to its former glory and make a new home for all peoples.

This chapter concludes a section of the book called Second Isaiah by many scholars. It was written during the Exile, after the fall of Babylon to the Persians. This section began with Chapter 40, and key themes presented there are repeated here: the way of the Lord, calling the people to enjoy God’s gifts, a new deliverance, the word of the Lord, the king, heaven and earth, God’s relationship with Israel, forgiveness, and the participation of other nations.

Vv. 1-3 invite all who thirst for God (even the impoverished) to join in his freely-given banquet at the end of time. The meal symbolizes God’s love, his abundance. Recall other banquets:

Here the banquet is for “everyone”. The food is both invaluable (“without price”) and cannot be bought (“without money”). God made an “everlasting covenant” (v. 3) with David, making him a great leader and guaranteeing him an enduring line of successors; now this greatness is transferred to Israel (“you”), so that they “may live”, i.e. see the promises of long ago fulfilled now and in the future. Now nations who neither know Israel nor are known to her will come seeking Israel’s “Lord ” (v. 5). All may now “seek the Lord ” (v. 6), turn humbly to him, not only in the Temple but wherever he may be found, for “he is near”. The invitation to share in the life of this new community is even extended to evildoers who repent and “return to the Lord” (v. 7), for they will be pardoned. God may be “near” but he is transcendent, sufficiently removed not to be contaminated by human sin. His ways are beyond human comprehension (vv. 8-9). Vv. 10-11 say that God’s word comes gently from him, to permeate the earth and return to him, mission done. His spirit, infused in humans, brings in them godliness, success in furthering God’s plan. Vv. 12-13 say that sin will be abolished; all the world will recognize God; creation will be renewed, and all will rejoice. This will be an “everlasting sign” of God’s love

Psalms is a collection of collections. The psalms were written over many centuries, stretching from the days of Solomon's temple (about 950 BC) to after the Exile (about 350 BC.) Psalms are of five types: hymns of praise, laments, thanksgiving psalms, royal psalms, and wisdom psalms. Within the book, there are five "books"; there is a doxology ("Blessed be ... Amen and Amen") at the end of each book.

This is a psalm of thanksgiving in which an individual contrasts the fate of those who trust in God with those who do not. He begins by rejoicing in morning and evening worship which is accompanied by musical instruments. In vv. 5-11 he contrasts his experience with the fate of those who shun God's ways: they are dull-witted and "stupid" (v. 6), but he is perceptive; they "sprout like grass" (v. 7), but "are doomed", i.e. have no access to God; God has made him strong and powerful ("my horn", v. 10, a symbol of strength and power); he has seen "the downfall" (v. 11) of his enemies. The "righteous" are rewarded: they are prosperous ("flourish", v. 12) and are still in good health "in old age" (v. 14). This shows that God is just and dependable ("my rock", v. 15).

Corinth was a major port which also commanded the land route from the Peloponnesus peninsula to central Greece. An industrial and ship-building centre, it was also a centre for the arts. Its inhabitants came from far and wide. In this epistle, Paul answers two letters he has received concerning lack of harmony and internal strife in the Corinthian church, a church he had founded. Paul wrote this letter from Ephesus (now in Turkey), probably in 57 AD.

Paul has written that neither the living nor those who have died can take part in the kingdom of God as they are. “We will not all die” but “we all will be changed”, we will all have new spiritual bodies.

The “mystery” (v. 51) is a secret truth, (revealed to and through Paul), about what will happen at the End, at the “trumpet” call expected to accompany it. Those who had died had perishable (decaying) bodies. Becoming immortal, they will no longer be subject to the power of death. (Some translations have corruptible for “perishable” (vv. 50-54) and incorruptible for “imperishable”. While alive, we do tend to sin, so we are corruptible.)

Being then immortal, the prophecy that “‘Death has been swallowed up in victory’” (v. 54, perhaps Paul's rendering of Isaiah 25:8) will be fulfilled. Note “we” in v. 52: Paul expects to still be alive when the End comes. The “sting” (v. 55) is that of the serpent. Sin has been overcome by Christ's death on the Cross, so can no longer harm Christians. God gives us the “victory” (v. 57) over sin, and hereafter over death.

Paul ends by encouraging his “beloved” (v. 58) to be “steadfast”, not being shaken by false teaching (“immovable”), doing their very best in spreading the good news, because Christ has already won “the victory” (v. 57) for us. So being Christians ("in the Lord”, v. 58) they know that their “labour is not in vain”.

Luke

Three gospels in the New Testament offer similar portraits of the life of Jesus; Luke is the third of them. Its author, traditionally Luke the physician who accompanied Paul on some of his missionary journeys, draws on three sources: Mark (via Matthew), a collection of sayings (known as Q for Quelle, German for source) and his own source. It is a gospel that emphasizes God's love for the poor, the disadvantaged, minorities, outcasts, sinners and lepers. Women play a more prominent part than in the other gospels. Luke never uses Semitic words; this is one argument for thinking that he wrote primarily for Gentiles.

This reading is like the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew, but with a different audience, and different intent. Jesus is speaking to a “great crowd” of his followers and a “multitude” of people some of whom have travelled far to hear him. They include both Jews and Gentiles.

Jesus' preaching has a distinctly Christian flavour, for example “love your enemies ...” in v. 35. In v. 39 “a blind person” is one whose eyes are yet to be opened by Jesus' teaching. In v. 40, “disciple” means learner, about the faith.

Vv. 41-42 indulge in hyperbole: focus on your major failures (“log”) rather than quibbling about minor failures (“speck”) in others. The Greek word translated as “hypocrite” (v. 42) originally meant actor; here it may mean one who is pitifully deceived about his own condition.

In vv. 43-45 Jesus says that the surest way of knowing the inner condition of a person is their outward manner of life, what they say, but just calling Jesus Lord is insufficient: obey his instructions; build you lives on effective implementation of his teachings. Act on them! (v. 47)

Vv. 48-49 are also in Matthew 7:24-27, part of the Sermon on the Mount. There the hearers are Palestinian, so this parable would make sense: the bedrock is close to the surface in Palestine so building a solid foundation was possible, and sensible, so the Spring and Autumn rains would not carry away the house. But here in Luke, many hearers were from elsewhere, places where the overburden too thick too dig through and/or rain is a rarity.

© 1996-2022 Chris Haslam