Moses was indeed a prophet.
He knew they would forsake the covenant and he knew that God would send
them into exile among the nations. He
also knew that when they were in exile they would repent, but likely not until
they were in exile. He further knew that
when they did repent, the Lord would restore them to the Land. He knew these things because he was a realist
regarding man’s ability to keep covenant, man’s ability to repent before he
lost it all, and God’s faithfulness and promise. Those things simply require observation, what
he has seen of the people and of God in these forty years. What he couldn’t have guessed by observation,
however, was this part of the prophecy, “And the Lord your God will circumcise
your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your
God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.” The later prophets, much later, about 1500
years later, would prophesy the same things, and in the outpouring of the
Spirit, the Lord would fulfill this 2000 year old word from the first prophet
of Israel, Moses.
While they knew that the Pharisees and scribes were hot to
put an end to Jesus, not a single disciple could have believed Jesus’ words
that He would “be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and
shamefully treated and spit upon. And after flogging him, they will kill him,
and on the third day he will rise.” They
believed He was Messiah and that belief was incompatible with this prophetic
word, Messiah didn’t die and he certainly didn’t die at the hands of
Gentiles. The people of Jericho probably
thought the blind man was simply trying to get some money out of Jesus, the man
all were hailing as He passed through on the way to Jerusalem. His cry, “Son of David”, presaged what was
going to be heard when they reached the city of God with the crowds greeting
Him with that very title. The man wanted
more than money though, he wanted his sight restored and received as He
asked. A week or so later, he might have
wished not to have sight at all if he saw Jesus beaten and crucified.
The accusation against Paul in Corinth was that he was
two-faced, a hypocrite, acting one way when he was among them, humbly loving
them, and then a different way, bold and accusatory, when he wrote them. His plea is that he not have to be bold at
all with them. His point is that he has
had to be bold because of their disobedience and tolerance of notorious sin in
their midst. What he is also writing
about here is the source of this idea, those who are commending themselves,
boasting among the Corinthians and attempting to hold them under their
sway. We’ll see in the next couple of
readings what Paul has to say about these men, it will be dripping with
sarcasm. At the end of the day, Paul
says, listen to those who boast in the Lord Jesus, not in themselves or in
anyone else. That is always solid
advice.
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