Reading for November 27th

 Read 2 Corinthians 1.8-14. In 1.18-14: Paul's recent despair. Affliction ... in Asia: The circumstances of this crisis are not known. It may refer to the riot described in Acts 19.23-41. In verse 9: Sentence of death need not mean legal punishment. It is probably a figure of speech for a close shave with death. In verse 12: Boast here and in v. 14 is used in a positive sense, meaning "source of pride" (Phil 2.16). Frankness, sometimes rendered "simplicity," is being straightforward in one's dealings. In verses 13-14: End ... day of the Lord Jesus refers to the time of Jesus' return (1 Cor 1.8; Phil 1.6). Comments or Questions..

Reading for November 26th

 Read 2 Corinthians 1.1-7. In verses 1-2: Greeting. This greeting rembles other Pauline greetings (1 Thess.1.1; Phil 1.1-2). Timothy joins Paul in addressing the church. He had participated in the church's founding (1.19; Acts 18.5) and was well known to the church (1 Cor 4.17; 16.10-11). In verses 3-7: Prayer of blessing. Pauline letters usually open with a prayer of thanksgiving (Rom 1.8-15; 1 Cor 1.4-9). Here Paul uses the Jewish prayer of blessing ("berakah") found elsewhere in the New testament (Eph 1.3-14; 1 Pet 1.3-9). Paul had recently experienced great affliction and suffering in his dealings with the church. This has given way to consolation and a sense of relief that a severe crisis has passed. Comments or Questions..

Reading for November 25th

 Read Proverbs 31.10-31. In 31.10-31:Praise of the capable wife. An acrostic poem of twenty-two lines, each line beginning with a successive letter of the alphabet. it is an encomium or a hymn praising a capable wife. A hymn does not dwell on inner feelings or the physical appearance of its hero but describes the hero's mighty feats of valor, in this case the wife's extraordinarily wise management of her great household. The narrator first describes the wife's wonderful deeds (vv. 11-27), a description that is completed by her own children and husband (vv. 28-31). In verses 19-20: The chiasmus at the center of the poem (hands ("yad") ... hands ("kap")// hand ("kap") ... hands ("yad") shifts the action from domestic to the public sphere in that the hands that weave the cloth (v. 19) now open wide in largesse to the poor beyond the household gates (v. 20). She is a blessing not only to her family but to the whole community. The hymn to the capable wife includes a metaphorical dimension. The heroic woman evokes Woman Wisdom of chs. 1-9. Her abundantly prosperous household illustrates the result of becoming a disciple of Wisdom (Ch. 8; 9.6, 11). The book began with a young person leaving the parental house to to found and maintain a new one. It ends with a splendid household provided by the wisdom of the capable wife. Visible within the house are all the blessings of wisdom-wealth, justice, generosity to the poor, reputation, children, and, most precious of all (compare 19.14), a good wife (or spouse). The pursuit of wisdom has brought every blessing. Comments or Questions..

Reading for November 24th

 Read Proverbs 31.1-9. In verses 1-9: A queen mother's advice to her son, given with wit and style. The queen mother had an important role in the palace because of her insider's knowledge of palace politics and undoubted loyalty to her son. Verses 3-5 Warn the king that abuse of sex and alcohol can lead him him to forget the afflicted. Verses 6-9 Counsel rather than alcohol be used to aid the poor so that those who are afflicted (perishing) can forget their poverty. Verses 8-9 urge the king to open his mouth (speak out) not to drink alcohol but to speak for the voiceless poor. The underlying subject of the poem is the king's duty to bring about justice for the poor. The women referred to in v. 3 are the women of his harem. An example of moral callousness from sexual indulgence is David's adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of Uriah (2 Sam 11-12). For the association of liquor with disdain for the poor, see Isa 28.1-8; Am 6.1-7. Comments or Questions..

Reading for November 23rd

 Read Proverbs 30.17-33. In verses 18-20: Anaphora (the repetition of way) unites the piece. Each way is wonderous: The effortless flight of the eagle (or vulture), the legless movement of the serpent, the massive progress of a ship. The fourth climatic way is the course of a man and a woman toward each other, the attraction of the sexes. In verses 32-33: The syntax is like 6.1-3: If you have done such and such, then you must now do such and such. It is the mark of wisdom to make peace and avoid strife (15.18). There is wordplay in pressing the nose ("mits ap") and pressing anger ("mits appayim," literally, nostrils; anger). Comments or Questions..

Reading for November 22nd

 Read Proverbs Read Proverbs 30.1-16.  In verses 1-10: This poem is the most puzzling section in Proverbs. Verses 1-6 were the original unit, but later vv. 1-10 were edited to make a new and larger speech. Verses 1-6 evoke old passages such as Ps 18.30 (Prov 30.5), Ps 73.22 (Prov 30.2a), Deut 4.2 (Prov 30.6), Deut 30.11-14 (Prov 30.4a). Also influential are the divine questions beginning with "Who?" in Job 38-41 and Isa 40-45 (see Prov 30.4b-d). In vv. 1-6 Agur delivers an oracle ("ne'um," v. 1) that did not come from his own efforts, for he is worn out, incapable of wisdom, and does not know God (vv. 2-3). In deed no human being can have divine wisdom, for  who is capable of bringing it down from heaven (v.4a)? In fact, no act of wisdom and power is possible for human being (v. 4b-d)! In the process of acknowledging his own impotence and ignorance, Agur finds the assuring word of God, which is reliable and protects him just as it protected the Psalmist in Ps 12 and 18 (v. 5). One should not add to the divine word (v.6). Agur now prays to speak the truth and to have the basic necessities of life (vv. 7-8) lest he offend the God who has rescued him from exhaustion and ignorance (v. 9). Verse 10 concludes vv. 1-9, for Do not resprises v. 6. Curse in verse 10b links to what follows. In verses 11-14: The poem is united by anaphora. there seems to be a progression from disdaining parental advice (v. 11), to overestimating one's situation (v. 12), to arrogance (v. 13), resulting in cruelty directed toward the lowly (v. 14). Comments or Questions..

Reading for November 21st

 Read Proverbs 29.1-27. In verse 1: Remains stubborn is literally,"stiffens the neck." There is a possible play on words: Stiffening one's neck risks having it broken. Suddenly suggests an extraordinary, perhaps divine, intervention. In verse 4: The saying uses the metaphor "high" and "low" for prosperity and decline in order to differentiate between good and bad governance. A just king gives stability, literally, "raises up the land." But a king who raises taxes ruins, literally brings down, a country. In verse 15: As with domestic animals, a staff ("sebet" as in Lev 27.32; Zech 11.7; Ps 23.4) is needed to train and control children. Children (and animals) allowed to run free cannot learn. In verse 18: Prophecy and law are paired in Ezek 7.26 and Lam 2.9. In this saying prophecy has to do with the community and law with the individual. Though a people may be demoralized without credible national guidance, an individual can still find happiness by heeding the instruction of teachers. In verse 24: An aphorism derived from the legal adjuration summoning witnesses to a crime, which is described in Lev 5.1. By not coming forward to testify one becomes an accomplice of the criminal. Moreover, to get mixed up with a crime is to destroy oneself. Comments or Questions..