Break Open the Word

Pentecost XXII, Proper 24, 5 November 2017 Track One: Exodus 33:12-23 Psalm 99 Track Two: Isaiah 45:1-7 Psalm 96 I Thessalonians 1:1-10 St. Matthew 22:15-22 Background: Mitzvah Mitzvah is the Hebrew word for “commandment.” It refers not only to those commandments, which we memorized as a child, but to the 603 other commandments that rabbinic Judaism considers as given at Sinai, and an addition seven commandments given later. This collection can be divided into the following areas: 1) The Ten Commandments, 2) The Covenant Code, 3) The Ritual Decalogue, 4) The Priestly Code, 5) The Holiness Code, and 6) The Deuteronomic Code. This collection covers all of the aspects of life, ritual behavior, and social norms. As the so-called Five Books of Moses were brought into a collective form, the editors and redactors brought their own understandings, and traditions into the collection, giving us the wisdom of the elders through the ages. With the advent of t...

Pentecost XXI, Proper 25, 29 October 2017 Track One: Deuteronomy 34:1-12 Psalm 90:1-6, 13-17 Track Two: Leviticus 19:1-2, 15-18 Psalm 1 I Thessalonians 2:1-8 St. Matthew 22:34-46 Background: The Holiness Code There is a specialized section of the Book of Leviticus that may indeed be a distinct unit within the book. Form Critics have called this section, Chapters 17-26 , The Holiness Code. Stylistically it differs from the other parts of Leviticus, and is noted for its frequent use of the word “holy” and for its brief and succinct rendering of the law. Some feel that it is an earlier document that was then edited into the text of Leviticus by the editor known to us as “P”. Like all of the so-called priestly documents, this section was also abused by later editors who added additional materials and laws. Track One: First Reading: Deuteronomy 34:1-12 Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which is oppos...