Day 1 (Monday)
Genesis 49:1-33; 50:1-3 (Jacob’s Last Words, Jacob’s Death)
Last time, we saw Jacob call Joseph to him, and ask him to swear in the most binding way that Joseph would not bury him in Egypt, but would bring him back to the place of burial that Abraham had purchased for Sarah, in which Abraham and Isaac and Rebecca were all buried. He then proceeded to bless Joseph’s sons, claiming them as his own, and giving to them his particular inheritance. He also put the younger son, Ephraim, ahead of the older, Manasseh, saying that he would become a multitude of nations in the future. This time, we will see Jacob give blessings and prophecies to all his sons, and then finally he will die.
Jacob’s Last Words to His Sons
49 Then Jacob called his sons, and said, “Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you what shall befall you in days to come.
2 Assemble and hear, O sons of Jacob,
and hearken to Israel your father.3 Reuben, you are my first-born,
my might, and the first fruits of my strength,
pre-eminent in pride and pre-eminent in power.
4 Unstable as water, you shall not have pre-eminence
because you went up to your father’s bed;
then you defiled it—you went up to my couch!5 Simeon and Levi are brothers;
weapons of violence are their swords.
6 O my soul, come not into their council;
O my spirit, be not joined to their company;
for in their anger they slay men,
and in their wantonness they hamstring oxen.
7 Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce;
and their wrath, for it is cruel!
I will divide them in Jacob
and scatter them in Israel.8 Judah, your brothers shall praise you;
your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies;
your father’s sons shall bow down before you.
9 Judah is a lion’s whelp;
from the prey, my son, you have gone up.
He stooped down, he couched as a lion,
and as a lioness; who dares rouse him up?
10 The scepter shall not depart from Judah,
nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet,
until he comes to whom it belongs;
and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.
11 Binding his foal to the vine
and his ass’s colt to the choice vine,
he washes his garments in wine
and his vesture in the blood of grapes;
12 his eyes shall be red with wine,
and his teeth white with milk.13 Zeb′ulun shall dwell at the shore of the sea;
he shall become a haven for ships,
and his border shall be at Sidon.
14 Is′sachar is a strong ass,
crouching between the sheepfolds;
15 he saw that a resting place was good,
and that the land was pleasant;
so he bowed his shoulder to bear,
and became a slave at forced labor.16 Dan shall judge his people
as one of the tribes of Israel.
17 Dan shall be a serpent in the way,
a viper by the path,
that bites the horse’s heels
so that his rider falls backward.
18 I wait for thy salvation, O Lord.
19 Raiders shall raid Gad,
but he shall raid at their heels.
20 Asher’s food shall be rich,
and he shall yield royal dainties.
21 Naphtali is a hind let loose,
that bears comely fawns.22 Joseph is a fruitful bough,
a fruitful bough by a spring;
his branches run over the wall.
23 The archers fiercely attacked him,
shot at him, and harassed him sorely;
24 yet his bow remained unmoved,
his arms were made agile
by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob
(by the name of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel),
25 by the God of your father who will help you,
by God Almighty who will bless you
with blessings of heaven above,
blessings of the deep that couches beneath,
blessings of the breasts and of the womb.26 The blessings of your father
are mighty beyond the blessings of the eternal mountains,
the bounties of the everlasting hills;
may they be on the head of Joseph,
and on the brow of him who was separate from his brothers.
27 Benjamin is a ravenous wolf,
in the morning devouring the prey,
and at even dividing the spoil.”
Jacob’s Death and Burial
28 All these are the twelve tribes of Israel; and this is what their father said to them as he blessed them, blessing each with the blessing suitable to him. 29 Then he charged them, and said to them, “I am to be gathered to my people; bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, 30 in the cave that is in the field at Mach-pe′lah, to the east of Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite to possess as a burying place. 31 There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there I buried Leah— 32 the field and the cave that is in it were purchased from the Hittites.”
33 When Jacob finished charging his sons, he drew up his feet into the bed, and breathed his last, and was gathered to his people. 50 Then Joseph fell on his father’s face, and wept over him, and kissed him. 2 And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father. So the physicians embalmed Israel; 3 forty days were required for it, for so many are required for embalming. And the Egyptians wept for him seventy days.
Reading 12 – 833 words
Discussion questions:
1) What did you notice in today’s reading? What surprised you or what was memorable to you? (The Leader should point out how Jacob is speaking in two modes in this passage. On the one hand, when he speaks of Reuben, Simeon, and Levi, he is speaking of their past deeds, and explaining why the right of the firstborn is passing them by. For the rest of them, he is speaking of the future, of what will happen to their descendants, not of anything related to their actions and character, with the exception of Joseph, of whom he has much to say, and for whom he prays that God will bless him richly. We need to pay special attention to what he says about Judah, however, because in this we see a prophecy of the kingship of the house of David, and of the Messiah, our Lord Jesus Christ, Who will be born of David’s line. He is the one who will “bind His foal to the vine and His ass’s colt to the choice vine” as we see happen on Palm Sunday.)
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 2 (Wednesday)
Hymns from the Feast of the Entrance of the Theotokos into the Temple (November 21)
Every year on November 21st, we celebrate the Feast of the Entrance of the Theotokos into the Temple. This feast is coming up on Tuesday of next week, so we will talk about it this week. The story of this feast is that when the Virgin Mary was three years old, her parents dedicated her to serve in the Temple. When she was brought to the Temple, the Priest Zacharias (the father of St. John the Baptist) greeted her, but she walked straight into the Temple by herself, and went straight into the Holy Place, and beyond the curtain into the Holy of Holies, which is where the Ark of the Covenant had used to be, until it was lost. The Holy of Holies had therefore been empty for hundreds of years, since the Temple was rebuilt, and along with its absence, the people of God understood that God’s Presence had never returned to the Temple. With the Entrance of the Theotokos into the Temple, the Fathers of the Church understand a transition, from the Temple of the Old Covenant, in which God had been pleased to dwell with His people, to the Temple of the New Covenant, as the Lord dwells in the Faithful, and first of all, of course, in His All-holy Mother. The following hymns reflect on this.
Doxastikon of the Kekragaria
After you were born, O Lady Bride of God, you went to the Temple of the Lord to be raised in the Holy of Holies, as one who was sanctified. Then Gabriel was sent to you, the all-blameless one, and he brought you food. All beings in heaven were astounded, seeing the Holy Spirit dwelling in you. Therefore, O spotless and unstained Mother of God, glorified in heaven and on earth, ever keep us safe.
Hymn from Ode 1 of Canon 2 of the Feast
Our King and our God came forth from you, O Lady, * and put on the purple robe * that was dyed in your own blood, * O all-immaculate Maid, * and in His mercy He refashioned all the human race.
Heirmos of Ode 9, Canon 1 of the Feast
Now let no uninitiated hand * approach the living Ark of God to touch it. * Rather let believers' lips sing out in exultation * the Angel's salutation unceasingly * to the Theotokos and cry out: * You, O pure and virgin Maiden, are truly superior to all.
Hymn from Ode 9, Canon 1 of the Feast
Paradoxally the Law prefigured you, * O pure one, as a jar and tabernacle, * spiritual ark and rod of Aaron and the curtain, * indestructible Temple and the gate of God. * Thus it teaches us all to cry out: * You, O pure and virgin Maiden, are truly superior to all.
Hymn from Ode 9, Canon 2 of the Feast
Mary who bore a divine Son * was born herself to the holy * and righteous Joachim and Anne * as the fruit of a promise. * Now as an infant in the flesh * they offer her as incense acceptable * for to dwell in the holies * of the holy Temple as a holy Maid.
Hymn from Ode 9, Canon 2 of the Feast
She is by nature an infant * who in a way passing nature * will be the Mother of her God. * Let us therefore extol her. * For she is offered to the Lord * in the Temple according to the Law today, * for a sweet-smelling savor, * as the spiritual fruit of the righteous pair.
Discussion questions:
1) What did you notice in today’s reading? What surprised you or what was memorable to you? (The Leader should point out how we speak of the Virgin Mary as the Temple in which God dwells, as the Ark of the Lord’s Presence with His people, as the offering of her parents in the Temple, as the jar, the rod of Aaron, and the curtain, and as the one providing the purple dye in which the King of Kings, her Son, is clothed. In her, all the prophecies and foreshadowings of the Old Testament are brought together in a single point, in a single person, through whom God Himself comes to His people to save 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)
Acts 7:44-60; 8:1-3 (Stephen’s Speech Concludes, Stephen is Stoned, Saul Persecutes the Church)
Last time we saw Stephen describe the life of Moses, how God worked such great signs among His people through Moses, but the people continually doubted, complained, and rejected Moses’ leadership and teaching. He is developing this theme in response to the accusation against him, that he is preaching Jesus Christ as the abolition of the teaching of Moses and the alteration of the ordinances of the Torah. This time he will conclude his speech, but we will find that it has not made him any friends among those who are standing in judgment of him, as he ranks them among the worst of the unrighteous Israelites of the Old Testament.
Stephen’s Speech Concludes
44 “Our ancestors had the tent of testimony in the wilderness, as God directed when he spoke to Moses, ordering him to make it according to the pattern he had seen. 45 Our ancestors in turn brought it in with Joshua when they dispossessed the nations that God drove out before our ancestors. And it was there until the time of David, 46 who found favor with God and asked that he might find a dwelling place for the house of Jacob.
47 But it was Solomon who built a house for him. 48 Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made with human hands; as the prophet says,
49 ‘Heaven is my throne,
and the earth is my footstool.
What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord,
or what is the place of my rest?
50 Did not my hand make all these things?’
51 “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you are forever opposing the Holy Spirit, just as your ancestors used to do. 52 Which of the prophets did your ancestors not persecute? They killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One, and now you have become his betrayers and murderers. 53 You are the ones that received the law as ordained by angels, and yet you have not kept it.”
The Stoning of Stephen
54 When they heard these things, they became enraged and ground their teeth at Stephen.[j] 55 But filled with the Holy Spirit, he gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56 “Look,” he said, “I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” 57 But they covered their ears, and with a loud shout all rushed together against him.
58 Then they dragged him out of the city and began to stone him; and the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 While they were stoning Stephen, he prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 Then he knelt down and cried out in a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he died.
8 1 And Saul approved of their killing him.
Saul Persecutes the Church
That day a severe persecution began against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout the countryside of Judea and Samaria. 2 Devout men buried Stephen and made loud lamentation over him. 3 But Saul was ravaging the church by entering house after house; dragging off both men and women, he committed them to prison.
Reading 13 – 452 words
Discussion questions:
1) What did you notice in today’s reading? What surprised you or what was memorable to you? (The Leader should point out that Stephen has effectively turned the accusation made against him, that he is unfaithful to Moses and the House of God, against his accusers, pointing out to them that Moses had prophesied the coming of another Prophet, and that even when Solomon built the first temple, even though God had accepted it, He had also reminded His people that He could not be contained in any house built with human hands. Thus he refutes their idea that the Temple is inviolable and utterly sacrosanct, and calls them to account for their rejection of the Lord, just as their ancestors had done with Moses and all the prophets. This has them angry enough, but when he says that he sees Jesus at the right hand of God in heaven, affirming that the Jesus they had killed is Himself Almighty God, they rush at him and kill him by stoning. We must note, as well, that even having counted them with all the transgressors of the Old Testament, Stephen is not angry with them, but rather prays that they will be forgiven. And at his death, we are introduced for the first time to Saul of Tarsus, from the same region as those of the synagogue of the Freedmen with whom Stephen had been disputing at the beginning of this argument which led to his death. We will, of course, see more of Saul in the coming chapters.)
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?