Texts:
Genesis 45 and 46
Matthew 16
Genesis:
I'll be preaching from this section on June 28, so I would love to hear your thoughts.
Notice that Joseph's speech in 45 makes it clear that even the whole sorry situation in which the brothers find themselves is in God's hands. Is that comforting to you or upsetting?
How does the question "am I my brothers' keeper?" look in light of Joseph's actions?
Remember that in chapter 37, we were told that this is the story of the family of Jacob. He is back on the scene in chapter 45:25. He also reclaims his name, Israel. And this section shows the transformation of both Israel and Judah into the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. And this transformation involves leaving home and heading to Egypt.
Matthew 16
sign of Jonah, v. 4--While you'd have to ask Matthew himself exactly what he meant by this, I'll give you some ideas from scholars. How long was Jonah in the belly of the fish? 3 days and nights. How long will Jesus be in the tomb before the resurrection? 3 days and nights.
So, it is likely that the sign of Jonah is foreshadowing Christ's death and resurrection. Additionally, Jonah preached repentance to the Ninevites and they repented! Jesus has been preaching repentance (and showing them plenty of "signs" if you look at his miracles and healings) and they keep asking for more signs.
John Calvin reads his Bible too.
About Me
- Marci Glass
- I'm a mom, a wife,a lapsed cellist, and the pastor of Southminster Presbyterian Church in Boise, Idaho. Please join us for worship at 9:30 on Sunday mornings!
When I read "...sign of Jonah..." in Ch. 16 I got the feeling that Matthew was spending a lot of time talking about Jonah. I checked a concordance and, sure enough, Jesus also talks about it, with more explanation, in Ch. 12. But the really intersting thing to me is in 16:17 where Jesus refers to Peter as "...Simon son of Jonah." Is Jesus refering to Peter's physical father? Or, if Jesus has the Jonah role, is he referring to Peter's ecclesiastical role as the heir to the role of prophet to Nineveh?
ReplyDeleteThat's an interesting idea, and is worth considering. But I think that "son of Jonah" is a reference to his actual father. He's also called "Simon, Son of John" in John's Gospel. And the two names are variations of the same. We also have the sons of Zebedee."Bar" is Aramaic and "ben" is Hebrew for "son of". You also see it in names like "Bartimaeus" and "Bartholomew". The most interesting one is "Barabbas", the prisoner freed in Jesus' place by Pilate. His name means, "Son of the Father". Bar-Abba.
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