Proper 16
Preaching
Preaching And Reading The Old Testament Lessons
With an Eye to the New
When we dealt with the story of David, we learned that he was not permitted to build a temple to house the ark of the covenant. David was too much a man of blood, of adultery and murder. But God promised at that time that David's son, Solomon, the man of peace (shalom = peace), would build the house for God's "name" (2 Samuel 7:13). At the beginning of his reign in 922 B.C., Solomon sets about to bring to pass the fulfillment of that promise.
The beginning of the project is set firmly in Israel's history of salvation. The cornerstone is laid in the 480th year after the exodus from Egypt, we are told (1 Kings 6:1), and the building takes seven years to be completed. Ironically, it is largely built with Phoenician materials, given by King Hiram of Tyre, its construction is done by Israelite slave labor, and it is ornamented with Phoenician symbols. Nevertheless, it becomes a central point in Israel's life for five centuries, before it is destroyed by the Babylonians in 587 B.C. and then rebuilt in 515 B.C.
As our text opens, Solomon gathers together his united people to bring the ark of the covenant to the temple, in great celebration with multitudinous sacrifices to the Lord. Carried by the priests, the ark is placed in the temple in the innermost sanctuary known as the Holy of Holies.
Briefly, the temple, which was about 105 feet long, 35 feet wide, and 52 feet high, consisted of three parts. At the front was an open--air porch or vestibule, flanked by two free--standing bronze pillars known as Jacin and Boaz. Behind the vestibule was the Holy Place or nave, where most of the cultic activity took place. It had an incense altar, ten golden lampstands, a table for the "bread of the Presence," a molten bronze "sea," and a huge altar for the sacrifices. At the rear of the temple, then, was the Holy of Holies, the inner sanctuary in the form of a perfect cube, unlit by any light, where the ark with its cherubim was placed. The walls and floor of both the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies were overlaid with gold. Chapters 6 and 7 in 1 Kings detail the magnificence and glory of the building.
In order to understand some of the details in our text for the morning, we must realize that it is largely the work of Deuteronomic editors. Thus, it is stated in verse 9 that there was nothing in the ark except the two stone tablets of the Ten Commandments. In other words, the Deuteronomists no longer understand the ark as the base of the throne of God, with God sitting above the wings of the cherubim, as 1 Samuel 4:4 understood it. Instead, God's dwelling is only in heaven in our text from 1 Kings (vv. 27, 30; cf. Deuteronomy 26:15). Nevertheless, the Lord puts his "name" in the temple (v. 29), that is, he guarantees his presence there with his people. In the prayer at the dedication of the temple, Solomon therefore states that the temple building cannot "contain" God, any more than any church building can contain him. The God of the Bible is not contained in anything in heaven above, or on the earth beneath, or in the waters under the earth (cf. Exodus 20:4; Deuteronomy 5:8), not even in a sacred building, and he must not be worshiped as a God bound by or in his creation. The Lord is a transcendent God, qualitatively different and above and beyond anything that he or human beings have made. King Solomon must therefore pray to God in heaven to hear his prayer and to forgive his people (v. 30). The Lord God is captive to no one and no thing and no place.
We pick up a priestly tradition in our text when verse 10 states that God nevertheless causes his "glory" to fill the temple, just as his glory filled the tabernacle on Mount Sinai (Exodus 40:34). And so overwhelming is that glory that the priests who have carried the ark must absent the Holy of Holies, where only the high priest is allowed to enter on the Day of Atonement. Along with his name, God's "glory" represents his presence with his people. We thus have here a merciful God who though transcendent above all creation graciously makes his presence accessible to his chosen people. Indeed, God in his mercy has entered into covenant relationship with that people and given them promises and faithfully kept his word. And that too Solomon celebrates in his prayer to the Lord. God promised David that his son would build the house of the Lord. God has now kept that promise, Solomon says (v. 24). But God also promised David that there would never be lacking an heir to sit upon his throne, and in his prayer, Solomon asks God to keep that promise also (vv. 25--26) - a promise that we know very well will finally be fulfilled in Jesus Christ, the descendant of David.
So what does our text reveal to us about our God? That he is transcendent holiness, above all that we can imagine or construct, free and unfettered Lord of his creation, before whose glory no priest can stand and for whose forgiveness kings must also plead. But he is also merciful and gracious promise--keeper, who wills to be with his faithful folk, and who keeps every word that he has ever spoken.
Lutheran Option: Joshua 24:1--2a, 14--18
Although there is some disagreement among scholars, most hold that this chapter represents the initial formation at the cultic site of Shechem of the twelve tribes of Israel into a loose federation in the land of Palestine. We know that all of the people who were to make up the twelve--tribe federation did not enter Palestine at one time. Some crossed the Jordan in a northern invasion, others in a southern entrance, and some may even have migrated up from the south. The various peoples therefore formed a disparate group of semites, and it is in this chapter that we see them bound together by a covenant under the leadership of Joshua (v. 25). The covenant is not only among themselves, however. It is a covenant also with God, whom alone the people twice promise to serve (vv. 16, 21). Thus it is much like the covenant which the Israelite forbears made with God at Mount Sinai (Exodus 19, 24). By entering into that covenant these people enter into the same history of salvation that God has been working out with his chosen people from the beginning, and they become participants in it, just as we become participants in the same history of salvation when we partake of the new covenant in Jesus Christ at the Lord's Supper.
By free choice, the Israelites vow that they will be God's people and that he will be their only God. All of us must make that choice. "Choose this day whom you will serve," proclaims Joshua; when we confess Jesus Christ as Lord and become members of his body, the church, we freely choose to be his covenant people.
But the choice is never made in a vacuum, is it? Before Joshua sets before the Israelites their choice of which God to serve, he recounts to them the history of all the saving acts that God did on their and their forbears' behalf (vv. 2--13). The main events in the sacred history are remembered - the call of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, the exodus from Egypt under Moses, the long trek through the wilderness, the threat from Balak and Balaam's blessing, the entrance into the promised land. In short, God chose Israel long before Israel chose him. God's choosing is always prevenient, always first. "You did not choose me, but I chose you ..." (John 15:16). "While we were yet sinners Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). God lavished on the Israelites and he lavishes on us his saving love and grace long before we decide that we will serve him alone as our God. And it is on that basis - on the basis of everything that God has so mercifully done for us - that we decide to be his people and not some other god's.
I think we make that choice every day, in our thoughts and in our actions. Every day Joshua's words confront us. "Choose this day whom you will serve." And when we choose, let us remember the previous grace and mercy that our Lord has always poured out on us. Let us remember his love. And then let us choose. As for me, "Love so amazing, so divine, demands my life, my love, my all."
The beginning of the project is set firmly in Israel's history of salvation. The cornerstone is laid in the 480th year after the exodus from Egypt, we are told (1 Kings 6:1), and the building takes seven years to be completed. Ironically, it is largely built with Phoenician materials, given by King Hiram of Tyre, its construction is done by Israelite slave labor, and it is ornamented with Phoenician symbols. Nevertheless, it becomes a central point in Israel's life for five centuries, before it is destroyed by the Babylonians in 587 B.C. and then rebuilt in 515 B.C.
As our text opens, Solomon gathers together his united people to bring the ark of the covenant to the temple, in great celebration with multitudinous sacrifices to the Lord. Carried by the priests, the ark is placed in the temple in the innermost sanctuary known as the Holy of Holies.
Briefly, the temple, which was about 105 feet long, 35 feet wide, and 52 feet high, consisted of three parts. At the front was an open--air porch or vestibule, flanked by two free--standing bronze pillars known as Jacin and Boaz. Behind the vestibule was the Holy Place or nave, where most of the cultic activity took place. It had an incense altar, ten golden lampstands, a table for the "bread of the Presence," a molten bronze "sea," and a huge altar for the sacrifices. At the rear of the temple, then, was the Holy of Holies, the inner sanctuary in the form of a perfect cube, unlit by any light, where the ark with its cherubim was placed. The walls and floor of both the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies were overlaid with gold. Chapters 6 and 7 in 1 Kings detail the magnificence and glory of the building.
In order to understand some of the details in our text for the morning, we must realize that it is largely the work of Deuteronomic editors. Thus, it is stated in verse 9 that there was nothing in the ark except the two stone tablets of the Ten Commandments. In other words, the Deuteronomists no longer understand the ark as the base of the throne of God, with God sitting above the wings of the cherubim, as 1 Samuel 4:4 understood it. Instead, God's dwelling is only in heaven in our text from 1 Kings (vv. 27, 30; cf. Deuteronomy 26:15). Nevertheless, the Lord puts his "name" in the temple (v. 29), that is, he guarantees his presence there with his people. In the prayer at the dedication of the temple, Solomon therefore states that the temple building cannot "contain" God, any more than any church building can contain him. The God of the Bible is not contained in anything in heaven above, or on the earth beneath, or in the waters under the earth (cf. Exodus 20:4; Deuteronomy 5:8), not even in a sacred building, and he must not be worshiped as a God bound by or in his creation. The Lord is a transcendent God, qualitatively different and above and beyond anything that he or human beings have made. King Solomon must therefore pray to God in heaven to hear his prayer and to forgive his people (v. 30). The Lord God is captive to no one and no thing and no place.
We pick up a priestly tradition in our text when verse 10 states that God nevertheless causes his "glory" to fill the temple, just as his glory filled the tabernacle on Mount Sinai (Exodus 40:34). And so overwhelming is that glory that the priests who have carried the ark must absent the Holy of Holies, where only the high priest is allowed to enter on the Day of Atonement. Along with his name, God's "glory" represents his presence with his people. We thus have here a merciful God who though transcendent above all creation graciously makes his presence accessible to his chosen people. Indeed, God in his mercy has entered into covenant relationship with that people and given them promises and faithfully kept his word. And that too Solomon celebrates in his prayer to the Lord. God promised David that his son would build the house of the Lord. God has now kept that promise, Solomon says (v. 24). But God also promised David that there would never be lacking an heir to sit upon his throne, and in his prayer, Solomon asks God to keep that promise also (vv. 25--26) - a promise that we know very well will finally be fulfilled in Jesus Christ, the descendant of David.
So what does our text reveal to us about our God? That he is transcendent holiness, above all that we can imagine or construct, free and unfettered Lord of his creation, before whose glory no priest can stand and for whose forgiveness kings must also plead. But he is also merciful and gracious promise--keeper, who wills to be with his faithful folk, and who keeps every word that he has ever spoken.
Lutheran Option: Joshua 24:1--2a, 14--18
Although there is some disagreement among scholars, most hold that this chapter represents the initial formation at the cultic site of Shechem of the twelve tribes of Israel into a loose federation in the land of Palestine. We know that all of the people who were to make up the twelve--tribe federation did not enter Palestine at one time. Some crossed the Jordan in a northern invasion, others in a southern entrance, and some may even have migrated up from the south. The various peoples therefore formed a disparate group of semites, and it is in this chapter that we see them bound together by a covenant under the leadership of Joshua (v. 25). The covenant is not only among themselves, however. It is a covenant also with God, whom alone the people twice promise to serve (vv. 16, 21). Thus it is much like the covenant which the Israelite forbears made with God at Mount Sinai (Exodus 19, 24). By entering into that covenant these people enter into the same history of salvation that God has been working out with his chosen people from the beginning, and they become participants in it, just as we become participants in the same history of salvation when we partake of the new covenant in Jesus Christ at the Lord's Supper.
By free choice, the Israelites vow that they will be God's people and that he will be their only God. All of us must make that choice. "Choose this day whom you will serve," proclaims Joshua; when we confess Jesus Christ as Lord and become members of his body, the church, we freely choose to be his covenant people.
But the choice is never made in a vacuum, is it? Before Joshua sets before the Israelites their choice of which God to serve, he recounts to them the history of all the saving acts that God did on their and their forbears' behalf (vv. 2--13). The main events in the sacred history are remembered - the call of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, the exodus from Egypt under Moses, the long trek through the wilderness, the threat from Balak and Balaam's blessing, the entrance into the promised land. In short, God chose Israel long before Israel chose him. God's choosing is always prevenient, always first. "You did not choose me, but I chose you ..." (John 15:16). "While we were yet sinners Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). God lavished on the Israelites and he lavishes on us his saving love and grace long before we decide that we will serve him alone as our God. And it is on that basis - on the basis of everything that God has so mercifully done for us - that we decide to be his people and not some other god's.
I think we make that choice every day, in our thoughts and in our actions. Every day Joshua's words confront us. "Choose this day whom you will serve." And when we choose, let us remember the previous grace and mercy that our Lord has always poured out on us. Let us remember his love. And then let us choose. As for me, "Love so amazing, so divine, demands my life, my love, my all."
