Old Testament reading: Deuteronomy 22-23
“I don’t want to get involved.” As harsh as many of Israel’s laws were, there is considerable ink given to taking care of the fatherless, the widows and the poor. Also, Deuteronomy 22 required Israel to do good to their neighbors and to all men. One could not refuse to get involved when he saw anyone in need, even if he did not know the one whom he was helping (22:1-4). Incidentally, the command to help was not confined to the assistance of a man’s person, but also extended to another’s property. Note how verse 2 says that the lost animal was to be kept (and cared for) until the owner came seeking it. I cannot help but think of the Lord’s account of “the good Samaritan” in Luke 10. Knowing neither the injured man nor the ultimate financial cost to himself, the Samaritan was presented as one fulfilling the demands of Moses in contrast to the priest and Levite.
New Testament reading: Galatians 4-6
Galatians 4 may give us some insight into what was Paul’s “thorn in the flesh (2 Cor 12:7-10). In Galatians 4:13, Paul speaks of his physical infirmity that was known to the brethren in Galatia. In verse 14 he speaks of “the trial that was in my flesh.” In verse 15, Paul declared the Galatians’ love for him was so great “that, if possible, you would have plucked out your own eyes and given them to me.” As children were considered a blessing from God, blindness or poor eyesight was considered a sign of Divine displeasure (cf John 9:1). It appears that Paul suffered from a severe eye malady. He even closes this letter by noting that the letters he used in writing the epistle were very large (6:11). Though presented to the church at Rome as being the words of Paul, Tertius identifies himself as the penman (known as an amanuensis) of that epistle in Romans 16:22. In other epistles Paul wrote only the salutation with his own hand (1 Cor 16:21, Col 4:18, 2 Thes 3:17). His handwriting was unique, likely due in part to the size, so as to identify and authenticate the other things that were written. I have also considered poor eyesight to be Paul’s “thorn” in light of the fact that the first miracle we have recorded by Paul was to curse a man with temporary blindness (Acts 13:9-11).
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