Both ended with homecoming "parties"
Event Date Location Deliverer Result
1)Exodus 1000s BC Egypt 400 years Moses Dance Party on the Beach
2) Exile 500s BC Babylon 70 years Cyrus : 4 Parties
1)Today's video on The Exodus and the "Dance Party on the Beach" is not online in any form (though you can buy it as episode 5 on this DVD). The points to remember are how this was the seminal/foundational/formative microcosmic event of (perhaps all) Scripture, in that:
--It presents a pattern and prototype of any deliverance from bondage/slavery; and every "way out" (Ex-Odus)
from an old way/world to a new way/world. We had some good discussion about "in-between times" in our lives that we recognized (maybe only in
retrospect) as pivotal and formative. Crossing the sea is often meant to call to mind crossing a barrier (remember the Jordan River video from Week One) into a while new world, creation or order; from allegiance to forbidden gods to The One God. Jesus is seen in Matthew as the New Moses in that just as Moses led God's people out of bondage to an oppressive ruler/"king" (Pharoah) and an empire that infected them (Egypt), so Jesus leads God;s people out of spiritual bondage to an oppressive ruler/"king" (Herod) and an empire that infected them (Rome). This is a classic intertexting/hyperlinking/parallelism.--It is really the first time God's people are formed/forged into a community; they have "been through stuff together" and are inevitably bonded and changed through a corporate experience. Thus:
---Also, remember (for the test) the Jewish tradition that the Kingdom of God functionally, and for all practical purposes began (or landed in a foundational way on earth) when God's people there on the beach danced and sang, "The Lord is reigning" ( Exodus 15:18 )...remembering that "reigning" could be translated "King" or "Reigner". Thus, God's Kingship "began" when God's people publicly recognized it after seeing God in action in dramatic way as King. Vander Laan: "The Kingdom begins when God acts"
...Exodus 15:18:
- "The Lord is reigning from this point onward."
- "The Lord is King from this point onward."
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2)Hauer and Young call the return a "new exodus". Amazing that the "deliverer" who" let then go" back home was a Cryrus, a pagan king; so used of God that Scripture calls him "Anointed One"/"Messiah"! (Isaiah 45:1. comment see Hauer and Young p. 198)......For a "journal entry of what it must have felt like to be in exile, read this
By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion.
There on the poplars
we hung our harps,
for there our captors asked us for songs,
our tormentors demanded songs of joy;
they said, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”
How can we sing the songs of the LORD
while in a foreign land?
If I forget you, Jerusalem,
may my right hand forget its skill.
6May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth
if I do not remember you,
if I do not consider Jerusalem
my highest joy.
while in a foreign land?
If I forget you, Jerusalem,
may my right hand forget its skill.
6May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth
if I do not remember you,
if I do not consider Jerusalem
my highest joy.
Remember, LORD, what the Edomites did
on the day Jerusalem fell.
“Tear it down,” they cried,
“tear it down to its foundations!”
Daughter Babylon, doomed to destruction,
happy is the one who repays you
according to what you have done to us.
Happy is the one who seizes your infants
and dashes them against the rocks.
on the day Jerusalem fell.
“Tear it down,” they cried,
“tear it down to its foundations!”
Daughter Babylon, doomed to destruction,
happy is the one who repays you
according to what you have done to us.
Happy is the one who seizes your infants
and dashes them against the rocks.
(Psalm 137)
Many changes ocurred as the Jews fret (new temple , synagogues, etc. But key for understanding Matthew are four "parties," groups, sects that emerged. These are discussed in detail in Hauer/Young, Chapter 10, particularly pp. 221-227
Pharisees .lay scholars/ middle class Oral and Written Torah angels, demons, resurrection........
Sadduccees priestly/aristocratic Written Torah only no angels, demons, resurrection
Essenes: quiet, communal, prob connected to Dead Sea Scrolls
Zealots advocated armed rebellion against Rome
Read more on each from Ray VannDer Laan:
If you missed class today, everyone was assigned to a "party" your group will be decided by last name:
- A-H Pharisees
- I-M Sadducees
- N-S Essenes
- T-Z Zealots
because:
-For the next quiz (Wed) you'll be asked to "say as much as you can about the four key parties"
-For the paper "Who is Jesus to Them?," you can use the discussion about the first two parties as the basis of your paper or video (see the updated syllabus for complete instructions).
-For the final , you'll be asked to respond to/critique certain sections of "The Upside Down Kingdom" as if you were a member of the party you were assigned to today.
In this video, a rabbi summarizes the four:
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Quiz next Wed covers the following material:
Matthew chapters 1 and 2
Hauer and Young, Chapters 4, 6. 8, 10, 11, and these pages (only) from Chapter 12: pp. 269-272
Quiz questions and answers posted below
>>>If you did the Matthew "Overview/Impressions" assignment, you can opt out of this quiz (only) for full credit..or go ahead and take this one for a few points extra credit:
- Give a brief explanation of the "three worlds". (answer, class post 8/28 and pp. 3-5)
- What is a "text"? (class post 8/28)
- Give two examples of irony in the Exodus account (answer, page 95)
- What is the significance of the Dance Party on the Beach, or what your book calls (p, 94) "Song of the Sea"? (answer, 9/14 class post)
- Which of the four parties was upper class, aristocratic and priestly? (Answer 9/14 class post, and page 221-227)
- The Pharisees believed only in Written Torah. True__ False___(Answer 9/14 class post, and page 221-227)
- What was Jesus' favorite term of self-reference in the gospels? (Answer, p. 255 (not 225 as previously posted)
- The fivefold division (five sermons or teaching blocks) in Matthew seem to be intentional, to call to mind _______________ (Answer. p. 269 and class notes 9/1).
- What is an inclusio, and what is an example of one that covers all of Matthew's gospel (Answer 8/31 class post Clues: p, 270, 271)
- Matthew's geneology includes five women. What's radical about that, and what do the women have in common? (Answer, p.270 and Class notes 9/12
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