Day 1 (Monday)

Genesis 9:18-29; 11:1-10, 26-32; 12:1-4 (Tower of Babel, Genealogy, Call of Abram)

Last week we saw the final conclusion of the Flood, with God’s placing His bow in the sky as a sign of His promise to not destroy all life from the earth again. He also gave Noah and his family permission to eat meat, but commanded them never to eat or drink the blood, because the life was in the blood. We discussed this at length, and talked about how there is both a positive and a negative reason for this. The positive reason is that the only Blood we are to receive is the Blood of the Lord, which gives us everlasting life as we are united with His Life. The negative reason is that one of the ways pagan people participate in the rebellion of the demons against God is by drinking blood, with the idea of taking life and power from whatever creature they kill and making it their own. We don’t see many pagan people any longer, but this was a very normal part of pagan worship before Jesus Christ came and overthrew the power of the demons over humankind. We also saw how (very sadly) one of Noah’s sons fell into a great sin, and actually, almost the exact sin that God had just forbidden.

This time, we will see the world return quickly to evil and corruption and rebellion against God. We should note that we finished chapter 9 last week, and are skipping chapter 10, which gives us the descendants of Noah through his three sons, listing the 70 nations that were known to the Israelites and where they came from. This genealogy is not incidental to the Tower of Babel story; it is specifically the detailing of its aftermath, and how the different peoples of the world, having departed from Babel, came to be. There is an icon included here that shows the scene at the Tower of Babel, and a couple links below that explain more about this for those who are interested. But it is not interesting reading, so we are omitting it, and moving straight to chapter 11 and the Tower of Babel story itself.

https://www.imparaklitou.gr/images/Vavel.png

The Tower of Babel

11 Now the whole earth had one language and few words. 2 And as men migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. 3 And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. 4 Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.”

5 And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the sons of men had built. 6 And the Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do; and nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. 7 Come, let us go down, and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.”
8 So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. 9 Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.

Descendants of Shem

10 These are the descendants of Shem. When Shem was a hundred years old, he became the father of Arpachshad two years after the flood.
…Arpachshad fathered Shelah, who fathered Eber, who fathered Peleg (in whose days the earth was divided at Babel – Genesis 10:25), who fathered Reu, who fathered Serug, who fathered Nahor, who fathered Terah…
26 When Terah had lived seventy years, he became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

Descendants of Terah

27 Now these are the descendants of Terah. Terah was the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran was the father of Lot. 28 Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chal′deans. 29 And Abram and Nahor took wives; the name of Abram’s wife was Sar′ai, and the name of Nahor’s wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran the father of Milcah and Iscah. 30 Now Sar′ai was barren; she had no child.

31 Terah took Abram his son and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sar′ai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife, and they went forth together from Ur of the Chalde′ans to go into the land of Canaan; but when they came to Haran, they settled there. 32 The days of Terah were two hundred and five years; and Terah died in Haran.

The Call of Abram

12 Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who curses you I will curse; and by you all the families of the earth shall bless themselves.”

4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.

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“Genesis and ‘the Fall’”
https://blogs.ancientfaith.com/wholecounsel/2018/10/03/genesis-and-the-fall/
God’s Divine Council
https://blogs.ancientfaith.com/wholecounsel/2018/08/29/gods-divine-council/

Discussion questions:

1) What did you notice in today’s reading? What surprised you or what was memorable to you? (The Leader needs to explain two things. First, the reason they were building the tower was that they were trying to make an artificial “Mountain of Assembly,” the place where the Most High God ruled; their goal was to control God as though He were one of the pagan gods, who could be bribed with temples and sacrifices. It is in response to this sinful action that God divides them into many nations, confusing their languages. Second, what is less obvious here, but is seen elsewhere in Scripture, as the one above, is that God gave each “new nation” into the authority and care of one of the angels, to teach them and care for them and lead them back to true and right worship of Himself. We can see these angels going with each new nation in the icon. But these angels did not do this; instead, they fell as well, and accepted human worship, and became the gods of the pagan world, the demons that Christ came to deliver humankind from.
Second, it is from this point that God begins to prepare His people Israel, which is why the genealogy brings us up to Abram and his departure from his homeland and his father’s house, which starts the process that ends with the Church on the day of Pentecost, when the confusion of the languages is resolved by the Holy Spirit and all the nations of the world are called back together into the Church. In the Church, we have been called back to true worship of God, invited to ascend the mountain of the Lord to meet God face to face. As an aside, this is why the Altar is elevated above the rest of the Church.)

2) Where do we see Christ in this text; what is He saying or doing here?

3) Do we see ourselves and the Church in this text; what does it say about us?

4) What do you find difficult about this reading? Is there anything confusing about it, or anything that you dislike? (This is an open question, as always. )

5) Does this reading make you think that you need to change anything in your life?

6) “What is the a) literal, b) allegorical, c) moral/ethical, d) anagogical/eschatological meaning of this text? (Think of these questions as a mountain which we can ascend, or as layers of meaning upon which we can reflect. Oftentimes, as we reflect upon a text in this way, we may find that the anagogical reading, in which we see the text as revealing the glory of God and His kingdom in a deeper manner, sheds new insights on the lower levels of interpretation.)

Day 2 (Wednesday)

Doxastikon for the Aposticha of the Vespers of Pentecost

On Day 1 we read about the separation of the nations from one another at the Tower of Babel. Today we will read a short hymn from the Feast of Pentecost (which happens every year in the early summer, 50 days after Easter), and then will read a brief explanation about what the Tower of Babel has to do with Pentecost.

Doxastikon for the Aposticha of the Vespers of Pentecost

Tongues were once made useless, because human beings dared to build the Tower of Babel. Tongues now become skilled, for the glory of the knowledge of God. Then, God condemned the people who committed sacrilege, because of their sin; here, by the Spirit, Christ enlightened the fishermen. Then, speechlessness was imposed as a punishment; now harmony is restored, for the salvation of our souls.

Explanation:

This hymn is connecting the Tower of Babel and the Day of Pentecost as two ends of the same story. Human beings at Babel tried to control God, and as a result, God confused their languages and divided them into many nations. These nations came to worship many different gods as the angels to whom God entrusted them accepted worship and fell into darkness, becoming the demon-gods who enslaved them.

God doesn’t abandon humanity, though. Beginning with Abraham, and working through the entire Old Testament, God prepares Israel as a priestly people for Himself. Jesus Christ renews and perfects this priestly people in the Church, and on the Day of Pentecost, through the Holy Spirit, He calls all the nations back to Himself. On this day, all the different languages which had divided them at Babel are used by the Apostles, inspired by the Holy Spirit, not to divide the nations, but instead to call them back together to unity with one another in right and perfect communion with the Most High God.

Discussion questions:

1) What did you notice in today’s reading? What surprised you or what was memorable to you? (Leader should point out that the sin at Babel is trying to control God, to make Him do what we want, rather than submitting our lives to Him and and following Him. God can’t do anything for us when we try to control Him, except to leave us to our own desires, and their consequences. But when we submit ourselves to Him, then the Holy Spirit comes to us, and brings us into communion with Himself, and begins to heal all that is broken in us).

2) Where do we see Christ in this text; what is He saying or doing here?

3) Do we see ourselves and the Church in this text; what does it say about us?

4) What do you find difficult about this reading? Is there anything confusing about it, or anything that you dislike? (This is an open question, as always. )

5) Does this reading make you think that you need to change anything in your life?

Day 3 (Friday)

Mark 2:23-28; 3:1-19 (Pronouncement about the Sabbath, Man with Withered Hand, Multitude at Seaside, Jesus Appoints the Twelve)

Last time we saw the Lord call Levi to be one of his disciples, and then begin to have conflict with the religious authorities about how His disciples were not fasting and behaving in the way that the Pharisees thought that they should. This sort of conflict will continue in today’s passage, as the Lord heals on the Sabbath Day, and the Pharisees criticize Him for “doing work” on the Sabbath day, the seventh day of the week on which God rested at the Creation, and on which the Hebrew people were commanded to observe a strict rest. This connects with what Jesus said about clothing patches and wineskins last week, but becomes more pronounced.

Pronouncement about the Sabbath

23 One sabbath he was going through the grainfields; and as they made their way his disciples began to pluck ears of grain. 24 And the Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the sabbath?” 25 And he said to them, “Have you never read what David did, when he was in need and was hungry, he and those who were with him: 26 how he entered the house of God, when Abi′athar was high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those who were with him?” 27 And he said to them, “The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath; 28 so the Son of man is lord even of the sabbath.”

The Man with a Withered Hand

3 Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there who had a withered hand. 2 And they watched him, to see whether he would heal him on the sabbath, so that they might accuse him. 3 And he said to the man who had the withered hand, “Come here.” 4 And he said to them, “Is it lawful on the sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?” But they were silent. 5 And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored. 6 The Pharisees went out, and immediately held counsel with the Hero′di-ans against him, how to destroy him.

A Multitude at the Seaside

7 Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea, and a great multitude from Galilee followed; also from Judea 8 and Jerusalem and Idume′a and from beyond the Jordan and from about Tyre and Sidon a great multitude, hearing all that he did, came to him. 9 And he told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, lest they should crush him; 10 for he had healed many, so that all who had diseases pressed upon him to touch him. 11 And whenever the unclean spirits beheld him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God.” 12 And he strictly ordered them not to make him known.

Jesus Appoints the Twelve

13 And he went up into the hills, and called to him those whom he desired; and they came to him. 14 And he appointed twelve,[a] to be with him, and to be sent out to preach 15 and have authority to cast out demons: 16 Simon whom he surnamed Peter; 17 James the son of Zeb′edee and John the brother of James, whom he surnamed Bo-aner′ges, that is, sons of thunder; 18 Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Cananaean, 19 and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

Reading 4
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Discussion Questions:

1) What did you notice in today’s reading? What surprised you or what was memorable to you? (The Leader should note that the conflict over the Sabbath is ultimately about a misunderstanding of who God is. The Pharisees think that God is arbitrary and legalistic, and cares only that His rules are carried out. Jesus is pointing out that the point of the Sabbath is to honor God, which we do most clearly by loving one another and doing what is right. The point is NOT that God doesn’t care at all about what we do…it’s that we have a responsibility to actually serve God, and not just follow a few rigid rules that make no sense. We have to actually love God and love our fellow human beings.

The Leader should also point out that Jesus, in choosing out twelve disciples, is basically re-establishing the nation of Israel, His own priestly people, as He had originally called them to be at Mount Sinai.)

2) Where do we see Christ in this text; what is He saying or doing here?

3) Do we see ourselves and the Church in this text; what does it say about us?

4) What do you find difficult about this reading? Is there anything confusing about it, or anything that you dislike? (This is an open question, as always. )

5) Does this reading make you think that you need to change anything in your life?

6) “What is the a) literal, b) allegorical, c) moral/ethical, d) anagogical/eschatological meaning of this text? (Think of these questions as a mountain which we can ascend, or as layers of meaning upon which we can reflect. Oftentimes, as we reflect upon a text in this way, we may find that the anagogical reading, in which we see the text as revealing the glory of God and His kingdom in a deeper manner, sheds new insights on the lower levels of interpretation.)