An Invitation to Exhortation

NOTE: Reading time of this post is longer than average due to extended passages of Scripture usually excerpted and linked being included in full. - RH

Exhortation – paraklēsis – is probably not what you think it is. After Barnabas and Saul reach Pisidian Antioch we will look closer at its role in preaching AND I will provide a complete definition at the bottom of this post. – RH

preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and teaching.

Second Letter of Paul to Timothy 4:2

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Barnabas had sent his cousin John Mark back to Jerusalem then he and Saul began their 110 mile hike to Pisidian Antioch.

Most hikers plan for a journey like that into the mountains to take anywhere from five days to two weeks, hoping for an average daily distance of about ten to fifteen miles.

Some commentators speculate that Paul may have contracted malaria common to travelers journeying along the low marshlands near Perga. Barnabas and Saul would have been exhausted on whatever day of the week they arrived in Antioch and certainly would be encouraged by a sabbath rest.

The Sabbath in Pisidian Antioch

31:16  וְשָׁמְרוּ בְנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶת־הַשַּׁבָּת לַעֲשׂוֹת אֶת־הַשַּׁבָּת לְדֹרֹתָם בְּרִית עוֹלָֽם׃

‘So the sons of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to celebrate the sabbath throughout their generations as an everlasting covenant.’

Exodus 31:16 Legacy Standard Bible (Mosaic text noted above)

Preaching for an audience you know

Before we move on to Paul’s proclamation of the Gospel in the synagogue of Antioch (near Pisidia), let’s take a look at the context of worship for these first century Jews in a Greco-Roman culture of Asia (as it was called) in the Roman capitol of Galatia (as Pisidian Antioch functioned politically).

Without digressing too far, let’s just say that Rome conquered towns, cultures and strategic places (like Antioch). Then once subdued by their Legions, Rome allowed these Greeks or Hellenists to include their social, cultural and religious practices as part of a tolerant peace with their Roman government. (There’s no puppet-king or elected Greek governor.) The rule of law is now and will remain ROMAN.

Jews who proclaimed that THEIR GOD IS ONE would eventually relent and add their Yahweh to acceptable social worship of a pantheon of Greco-Roman gods.

BUT some Jews insisted that they would not participate in any of the important holidays of the gods of their cities.

Greek is the language of the Empire. 
Hebrew a Jewish language in worship even here in the capitol of the Roman province of Galatia.
Latin is the Roman language of the Legions and the language of government carved into the columns and walls of the distinctly ornate public buildings of Rome which have replaced the Greek places of the past.

I am neither historian, archeologist or sociologist, but my guess is that in the Synagogue of Antioch that the Torah and Prophets were read in Hebrew, while the teaching and discourse of the day with both Jews and proselytes from throughout the Empire present was conducted in their common Greek.

I’ll also speculate that prominent men of the Roman government (like the Proconsul Sergius Paulus whom they had just met) converse with those governed in Greek, even though some of their official duties required the Latin of Rome.

Saulos is a well-know Jew of Tarsus well-studied under Gamaliel of Jerusalem. And iōsēph the kyprios (Cyprian) Levite may offer additional priestly insight little known to these Hellenist Jews.

Tradition of Worship

Luke’s account from the year of our Lord 47 or 48 of Saul and Barnabas in the synagogue of Pisidian Antioch provides readers (whether his first Christian audience of the AD 60’s and 70’s or 21st c. Christians) with some details of worship in the synagogue less familiar than the well-documented worship, festivals and gatherings of the Temple in Jerusalem.

Acts 13 – an order of worship

• And on the Sabbath day, they went into the synagogue and sat down. – v.14b
  • Saturday worship: Jews go to the synagogue and sit to hear Scripture.
• And after the reading of the Law – v.15a
  • The Law [nomos] a systematic, pre-determined reading of Genesis – Deuteronomy (the Pentateuch) is prominently read first by a synagogue official in the pulpit (or on the platform).
• And [after the reading of] the Prophets – v.15a
  • Again, a systematic, pre-determined reading from a book of a major Prophet (like Isaiah) or reading of a minor Prophet (perhaps even their entire scroll).
• (Luke’s account here makes no attempt to cover other parts of the weekly worship at the synagogue, such as the singing of Psalms or the offering or prayers.)
  • i.e. Psalm 2, referenced here by context of Saul’s sermon, may have been sung as part of the appointed hymns from the prior weeks or later after his sermon.
• the synagogue officials [of the archisynagōgos] sent to them [apostellō prosa autos] v.15b
  • ruler of the synagogue. It was his duty to select the readers or teachers in the synagogue, to examine the discourses of the public speakers, and to see that all things were done with decency and in accordance with ancestral usage.
• the synagogue officials sent to them, saying, “Brothers,
  • (Although Saul and Joseph of Cypress visit from other congregations of Jews, the Arch-Synagogos leading worship WELCOMES them ‘as brothers’ and invites them to PREACH.)
• “Brothers, if you have any word [logos] – v.15b
  • Did a messenger of the archisynagōgos greet them on arrival with this specific invitation from the head pastor of the synagogue requesting them to say a word if they would like?
  • Or perhaps the leader of the synagogue greeted these distinguished brothers personally?
  • Or maybe, seeing them in the congregation he gestured to the renowned Saul of Tarsus to at least say something?
• have any word of exhortation for the people,
  • [WE will address the expectation of a word of exhortation after the reading of the Law and the Prophets.)
• say it. – Acts 13:15b

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The following readings are intended to give us a sense of the regular Saturday worship in the synagogue to set the stage for the important exhortation of Paul which will follow from Acts of the Apostles in our next post. 

Paul MAY HAVE drawn from these Scriptures which COULD HAVE been part of the first century Jewish lectionary schedule. Even if these specific Scriptures were not those read, the congregation would have been familiar with them.- RH

Perhaps one of you theologians could share a comment to inform if our ears to hear would have been tuned to the Hebrew original or the local Greek. 

Today for our international audience of this 21st century I will use English from the Legacy Standard Bible.

A reading from Bereshis [Genesis] 46,

when Israel came down from Beersheba to Egypt, beginning in verse 28.

Now he sent Judah before him to Joseph, to point out the way before him to Goshen; and they came into the land of Goshen. And Joseph harnessed his chariot and went up to Goshen to meet his father Israel; as soon as he appeared before him, he fell on his neck and wept on his neck a long time. Then Israel said to Joseph, “Now I can die, since I have seen your face, that you are still alive.”

And Joseph said to his brothers and to his father’s household, “I will go up and tell Pharaoh and say to him, ‘My brothers and my father’s household, who were in the land of Canaan, have come to me; and the men are shepherds, for they have been keepers of livestock; and they have brought their flocks and their herds and all that they have.’ “And it will be when Pharaoh calls you and says, ‘What is your occupation?’ then you shall say, ‘Your servants have been keepers of livestock from our youth and until now, both we and our fathers,’ that you may live in the land of Goshen; for every shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians.”

Then Joseph went in and told Pharaoh and said, “My father and my brothers and their flocks and their herds and all that they have, have come out of the land of Canaan; and behold, they are in the land of Goshen.” And he took five men from among his brothers and set them before Pharaoh. Then Pharaoh said to his brothers, “What is your occupation?” So they said to Pharaoh, “Your servants are shepherds, both we and our fathers.” And they said to Pharaoh, “We have come to sojourn in the land, for there is no pasture for your servants’ flocks, for the famine is heavy in the land of Canaan. So now, please let your servants live in the land of Goshen.”

Genesis 47:

Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Your father and your brothers have come to you. “The land of Egypt is at your disposal; have your father and your brothers settle in the best of the land, let them settle in the land of Goshen; and if you know any excellent men among them, then put them in charge of my livestock.”

Then Joseph brought his father Jacob and stood him before Pharaoh; and Jacob blessed Pharaoh. And Pharaoh said to Jacob, “How many are the days of the years of your life?” So Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The days of the years of my sojourning are 130; few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained to the days of the years that my fathers lived during the days of their sojourning.”

And Jacob blessed Pharaoh and went out from the presence of Pharaoh. So Joseph settled his father and his brothers and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded. And Joseph provided his father and his brothers and all his father’s household with food, according to their little ones.

Now there was no food in all the land because the famine was very heavy, so that the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan languished because of the famine. And Joseph gathered all the money that was found in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan for the grain which they bought, and Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh’s house. Then the money came to an end in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan. So all the Egyptians came to Joseph and said, “Give us food, for why should we die in your presence? For our money is gone.”

Then Joseph said, “Give up your livestock, and I will give you food for your livestock, since your money is gone.” So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and Joseph gave them food in exchange for the horses and the flocks and the herds and the donkeys; and he fed them with food in exchange for all their livestock that year. Then that year came to an end.

And they came to him the next year and said to him, “We will not hide from my lord that our money has come to an end, and the livestock are my lord’s. There is nothing left for my lord except our bodies and our land. “Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land for food, and we and our land will be slaves to Pharaoh. So give us seed, that we may live and not die, and that the land may not be desolate.”

So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh, for every Egyptian sold his field because the famine was severe upon them. Thus the land became Pharaoh’s. As for the people, he moved them to the cities from one end of Egypt’s border to the other end. Only the land of the priests he did not buy, for the priests had an allotment from Pharaoh, and they ate off the allotment which Pharaoh gave them. Therefore, they did not sell their land.

Then Joseph said to the people, “Behold, I have today bought you and your land for Pharaoh; now, here is seed for you, and you may sow the land. “And it will be, at the harvest you shall give a fifth to Pharaoh, and four-fifths shall be your own for seed of the field and for your food and for those of your households and as food for your little ones.”

So they said, “You have kept us alive! Let us find favor in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh’s slaves.” And Joseph made it a statute concerning the land of Egypt valid to this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth; only the land of the priests did not become Pharaoh’s.

Now Israel lived in the land of Egypt, in Goshen, and they took possession of property in it and were fruitful and became very numerous.

And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years; so the days of Jacob, the years of his life, were 147 years.

A reading from Bereshis.

Do you recall this compelling story from Genesis which tells how the Hebrew descendants of Jacob became slaves which Moses would redeem later?

Without exposition, the readings would continue from the Books of the Prophets.

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The oracle which Habakkuk the prophet beheld.

How long, O Yahweh, will I call for help,
And You will not hear?

I cry out to You, “Violence!”
Yet You do not save.

Why do You make me see wickedness
And cause me to look on trouble?

Indeed, devastation and violence are before me;
And there is strife, and contention is lifted up.

Therefore the law is ignored,

And justice never comes forth.

For the wicked surround the righteous;

Therefore justice comes forth perverted.

1:5 רְאוּ בַגּוֹיִם וְֽהַבִּיטוּ וְהִֽתַּמְּהוּ תְּמָהוּ כִּי־ פֹעַל פֹּעֵל בִּֽימֵיכֶם לֹא תַאֲמִינוּ כִּי יְסֻפָּֽר׃

“See among the nations! And look!

Be also astonished! Be astounded!

Because I am doing something in your days—

You would not believe if it was recounted to you.

“For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans,

That bitter and hasty nation
Who walks on the breadth of the land
To possess dwelling places which are not theirs.

“They are dreaded and feared;

Their justice and exaltation come forth from themselves.

“Their horses are swifter than leopards
And sharper than wolves in the evening.

Their horsemen come galloping;

Their horsemen come from afar;

They fly like an eagle swooping down to devour.

“All of them come for violence.

Their horde of faces moves forward.

And they gather captives like sand.
“And they mock at kings,

And rulers are a laughing matter to them.

They laugh at every fortress
And heap up dirt and capture it.


“Then they will sweep through like the wind and pass on.

But they will be held guilty,

They whose power is their god.”

1:12 הֲלוֹא אַתָּה מִקֶּדֶם יְהוָה אֱלֹהַי קְדֹשִׁי לֹא נָמוּת יְהוָה לְמִשְׁפָּט שַׂמְתּוֹ וְצוּר לְהוֹכִיחַ יְסַדְתּֽוֹ׃

Are You not from everlasting,

O Yahweh, my God, my Holy One?

We will not die.

You, O Yahweh, have placed them to judge;

And You, O Rock, have established them to reprove.

Habakkuk 1:12

Your eyes are too pure to see evil,

And You cannot look on trouble.

Why do You look
On those who deal treacherously?

Why are You silent when the wicked swallow up

Those more righteous than they?

And You have made men like the fish of the sea,

Like creeping things without a ruler over them.

The Chaldeans bring all of them up with a hook,

Drag them away with their net,

And gather them together in their fishing net.

Therefore they are glad and rejoice.

Therefore they offer a sacrifice to their net
And burn incense to their fishing net
Because through these things their portion is rich
And their food is fat.

Will they therefore empty their net
And continually kill nations without sparing?

Habakkuk 2: RSV [incl. 3]

I will take my stand to watch,
and station myself on the tower,
and look forth to see what he will say to me,
    and what I will answer concerning my complaint.

And the Lord answered me:

“Write the vision;
    make it plain upon tablets,
    so he may run who reads it.

 For still the vision awaits its time;
    it hastens to the end—it will not lie.

If it seem slow, wait for it;
    it will surely come, it will not delay.
 Behold, he whose soul is not upright in him shall fail,
    but the righteous shall live by his faith.

 Moreover, wine is treacherous;
    the arrogant man shall not abide.
His greed is as wide as Sheol;
    like death he has never enough.
He gathers for himself all nations,
    and collects as his own all peoples.”

Shall not all these take up their taunt against him, in scoffing derision of him, and say,

“Woe to him who heaps up what is not his own—
    for how long?—
    and loads himself with pledges!”
Will not your debtors suddenly arise,
    and those awake who will make you tremble?
    Then you will be booty for them.
Because you have plundered many nations,
    all the remnant of the peoples shall plunder you,
for the blood of men and violence to the earth,
    to cities and all who dwell therein.

Woe to him who gets evil gain for his house,
    to set his nest on high,
    to be safe from the reach of harm!
You have devised shame to your house
    by cutting off many peoples;
    you have forfeited your life.
For the stone will cry out from the wall,
    and the beam from the woodwork respond.

Woe to him who builds a town with blood,
    and founds a city on iniquity!
Behold, is it not from the Lord of hosts
    that peoples labor only for fire,
    and nations weary themselves for nought?
For the earth will be filled
    with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord,
    as the waters cover the sea.

Woe to him who makes his neighbors drink
    of the cup of his wrath, and makes them drunk,
    to gaze on their shame!
You will be sated with contempt instead of glory.
    Drink, yourself, and stagger!
The cup in the Lord’s right hand
    will come around to you,
    and shame will come upon your glory!
The violence done to Lebanon will overwhelm you;
    the destruction of the beasts will terrify you,
for the blood of men and violence to the earth,
    to cities and all who dwell therein.

What profit is an idol
    when its maker has shaped it,
    a metal image, a teacher of lies?
For the workman trusts in his own creation
    when he makes dumb idols!
Woe to him who says to a wooden thing, Awake;
    to a dumb stone, Arise!
    Can this give revelation?
Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver,
    and there is no breath at all in it.

But the Lord is in his holy temple;

    let all the earth keep silence before him.

Habakkuk 2:20 Revised Standard Version

Exhortation

2:20 וַֽיהוָה בְּהֵיכַל קָדְשׁוֹ הַס מִפָּנָיו כָּל־הָאָֽרֶץ׃ פ

The End of the Oracle of Habakkuk, before his prayer.

After the reading of the law and the prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent to them, saying,

“Brethren, if you have any word of exhortation for the people, say it.”

Acts of the Apostles Paul and Barnabas in Pisidian Antioch 13:15 RSV

They were invited to give a word of exhortation. Paul didn’t just show up at church expecting to preach the Gospel.

So what is this “word of exhortation?”

[ logos paraklēsis ]

• a calling near, summons, (especially for help)
  • The leader of the synagogue summons them asking help for the people of his flock.

παράκλησις paráklēsis, par-ak'-lay-sis; from G3870; imploration, hortation, solace:—comfort, consolation, exhortation, intreaty.

• thus of the Messianic salvation (so the Rabbis call the Messiah the consoler, the comforter)

And Saul of Tarsus, who is known to the Jews to have had a personal encounter with the risen Messiah Jesus, is about to give those people of the LORD God gathered together as brothers on the Sabbath the Word and exhortation.

• persuasive discourse, stirring address
  • instructive, admonitory, conciliatory, powerful hortatory discourse

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ACTS of the Apostles 13: To be continued with the EXHORTATION of the Apostle Paul…