The writer extols the virtues of the son of Simon Onias who
served as high priest in the third or fourth century BC. He recalls the worship that occurred during
his tenure as particularly wonderful. One
thinks of Psalm 133, " Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers
dwell in unity! It is like the precious oil on the head, running down on the
beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down on the collar of his robes! It is
like the dew of Hermon, which falls on the mountains of Zion! For there the
Lord has commanded the blessing, life forevermore." His service was during a time of true peace
both inside and outside the nation and when peace reigns there is a true beauty
to worship. Let us seek to establish
peace within our churches so that we will experience the blessing of unity and
worship.
Why would Herod want to kill Jesus? He was perhaps jealous but we are told
elsewhere that he believed Jesus was the re-incarnation of the spirit of John
the Baptist whom he had indeed killed. Whether
Jesus believed the warning to be true or not, He responds by referring to Herod
as a fox. In our culture that means
cunning but in the first century near east it was a reference to
destructiveness, more like the fox in the henhouse kind of an idea. Yes, Herod was a meddler and one whose desire
was to destroy the nation and its influence, but did he see Jesus as a
threat? At any rate, Jesus says that He
must die in Jerusalem, the Jerusalem that kills the prophets, clearly indicating
that His death will have more to do with Israel than with Rome. He speaks prophetically for God that He wants
to gather them but they will not, and in that there will come a time of desolation
(70 AD the destruction of the temple). There
was danger within the nation and danger without, not a time of peace.
There is a great allure to the desires of the flesh, so
great that John marveled at the sight. We
have always been easily seduced by our desires.
The fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was beautiful to
behold, good to the taste and desirable to make one wise. All sensory delights. We are vulnerable to what we see as opposed
to what we are unable to perceive with the five senses but we were made with
greater capabilities than gratification of desires. That is an animalistic thing and we have
something more dignified in us, the spirit of God. We are supposed to show the more excellent
way, the way of denial of flesh and the way of the spirit. Let us take up that mantle for the sake of
the world. Let us be properly unified.
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