Download Biblical selections- Nations and nationalism

Biblical selections:
Nations and nationalism
(Except where otherwise mentioned, source is New English Bible)
RSV = Revised Standard Version
Israel as “first fruits of his harvest” [Jeremiah 2:3]
Jeremiah 8:13
I would gather their harvest, says the LORD, but there are no grapes on the vine, no figs
on the fig-tree; even their leaves are withered.
Hosea 9:10, 16
I came upon Israel like grapes in the wilderness, I looked on their forefathers like the
first ripe figs…their root is withered, and they yield no fruit.
Matthew 21:33-45
Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard…then let it
out to vine-growers and went abroad. When the vintage season approached, he sent his
servants to the tenants to collect the produce due to him. But they took his servants and
thrashed one, killed another, and stoned a third. Again, he sent other servants…and they
did the same to them. At last he sent to them his son…And [the tenants] took him, flung
him out of the courtyard, and killed him. When the owner of the vineyard comes, how
do you think he will deal with those tenants? “He will bring those bad men to a bad
end”, they answered, “and hand the vineyard over to other tenants…” Then Jesus said
to them, “Have you never read in the scriptures: ‘The stone which the builders rejected
has become the main corner- stone. This is the LORD’s doing, and it is wonderful in
our eyes’? Therefore, I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you, and
given to a nation that yields the proper fruit.”
Romans 9:24-26 [not what Hosea had in mind, but stands on own merits]
Such vessels are we, whom he has called from among Gentiles as well as Jews, as it
says in the Book of Hosea: “Those who were not my people I will call My People, and
the unloved nation I will call My Beloved. For in the very place where they were told
‘you are no people of mine,’ they shall be called Sons of the Living God.”
1 Peter 2:4-5, 9-10
So come to him, our living Stone—the stone rejected by men but choice and precious in
the sight of God. Come, and let yourselves be built, as living stones, into a spiritual
temple; become a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God
through Jesus Christ….But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a dedicated
nation, and a people claimed by God for his own, to proclaim the triumphs of him who
has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. You are now the people of God,
who were once not his people…
Light to the nations
Isaiah 42:6-7
I, the LORD, have called you with righteous purpose and taken you by the hand; I have
formed you, and appointed you to be a light to all peoples, a beacon for the nations, to
open eyes that are blind, to bring captives out of prison, out of the dungeons where they
lie in darkness.
Isaiah 49:6-7 [the humble shall be uplifted]
I will make you a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to earth’s farthest
bounds. Thus says the Holy One, the LORD who ransoms Israel, to one who thinks
little of himself, [abhorred by the nations (RSV)], the slave of tyrants.
Aliens have same natural rights as fellow-nationals
Exodus 23:9
You shall not oppress the alien, for you know how it feels to be an alien; you were
aliens yourselves in Egypt.
Leviticus 19:33-34
When an alien settles [sojourns (RSV)] with you in your land, you shall not oppress
him. He shall be treated as a native born among you, and you shall love him [as
yourself(RSV)], because you were aliens in Egypt. I am the LORD your God.
Leviticus 24:22
You shall have one penalty for alien and native alike. For I am the LORD your God.
Deuteronomy 23:15-16 [although alien slaves could be held until Jubilee, as distinct from
Hebrew slaves who had to be released in sabbatical year, could not be returned when ran
away]
You shall not surrender to his master a slave who has taken refuge with you. Let him
stay with you anywhere he chooses in any one of your settlements, wherever suits him
best; you shall not force him.
Deuteronomy 10:15-19 [see also 14:17-18; 27:19]
Out of all nations you were his chosen people as you are this day. So now you must
circumcise the foreskin of your hearts and not be stubborn any more, for the LORD
your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, mighty, and terrible God. He is no
respecter of persons and is not to be bribed; he secures justice for widows and orphans,
and loves the alien who lives among you, giving him food and clothing. You too must
love the alien, for you once lived as aliens in Egypt.
Parable of the Good Samaritan: broadening concept of “neighbor”
Luke 10:25-37
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength,
and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself”…“And who is my neighbor?”
“A man was on his way from Jerusalem down to Jericho when he fell in with robbers,
who stripped him, beat him, and went off leaving him half dead. It so happened that a
priest was going down by the same road; but when he saw him, he went past on the
other side. So too a Levite came to the place, and when he saw him went past on the
other side. But a Samaritan who was making the journey came upon him, and when he
saw him was moved to [compassion (RSV)]. He went up and bandaged the wounds,
bathing them with oil and wine. Then he lifted him onto his own beast, brought him to
an inn, and looked after him there. Next day he produced two silver pieces and gave
them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Look after him; and if you spend any more, I will
repay you on my way back.’ Which of these three do you think was neighbor to the man
who fell into the hands of the robbers?” He answered, “The one who showed him
kindness.” Jesus said, “Go and do as he did.”
Ethnic, social, and sexual discriminations among humans vanish in
Christ
Galatians 3:26, 28 (RSV)
for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith….There is neither Jew nor
Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all
one in Christ Jesus.
Colossians 3:11
There is no question here of Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian,
Scythian, slave and freeman; but Christ is all, and is in all.
New citizenship
Ephesians 2:19-22, 4:16
Thus you are no longer aliens in a foreign land, but fellow-citizens with God’s people,
members of God’s household. You are built upon the foundation laid by the apostles
and prophets, and Christ Jesus himself is the foundation-stone. In him the whole
[structure is joined (RSV)] together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him
you too are being built with all the rest into a spiritual dwelling for God…. Bonded and
knit together by every constituent joint, the whole frame grows through the due activity
of each part, and builds itself up in love.
Avoid alliances with evil states
Jeremiah 2:36-37
Egypt will fail you as Assyria did; you shall go out from here, each of you with his
hands above his head, for the LORD repudiates those in whom you’ve trusted, and from
them you shall gain nothing.
Hosea 8:7, 9-10, 14
Israel sows the wind and reaps the whirlwind… For, like a wild ass that has left the
herd, they have run to Assyria. Ephraim has bargained for lovers; and, because they
have bargained among the nations, I will now round them up…Israel has forgotten his
Maker and built palaces, Judah has multiplied walled cities; but I will set fire to his
cities, and it shall devour his castles.
Avoid injustice
Isaiah 59:3
Your hands are stained with blood and your fingers with crime; your lips speak lies and
your tongues utter injustice.
Habakkuk 2:17
The violence done to Lebanon shall sweep over you, the havoc done to its beasts shall
break your own spirit, because of bloodshed and violence done in the land, to the city
and all its inhabitants.
Avoid dishonesty: lies, “newspeak”
Isaiah 5:20
Shame on you! You who call evil good and good evil; who turn darkness into light and
light into darkness, who make bitter sweet and sweet bitter.
Avoid reliance on military might
Isaiah 31:1, 3
Shame upon those who go down to Egypt for help and rely on horses, putting their trust
in chariots many in number and in horsemen in their thousands, but do not look to the
Holy One of Israel or seek guidance of the LORD! … The Egyptians are men, not God,
their horses are flesh, not spirit….
Jeremiah 48:7 [of Moab]
Because you have trusted in your defenses and your arsenals, you too will be captured,
and Kemosh [the Moabite god] will go into exile.
Jeremiah 49:4 [of Ammon]
Why do you boast of your resources, you whose resources are melting away, you
wayward people who trust in your arsenals, and say, “Who will dare attack me?”
Hosea 10:12-14
Sow for yourselves in justice, and you will reap what loyalty deserves…. You have
plowed wickedness into your soil, and the crop is mischief;…Because you have trusted
in your chariots, in the number of your warriors, the tumult of war shall arise against
your people, and all your fortresses shall be razed.
Hosea 14:3
Assyria shall not save us, nor will we seek horses to ride; what we have made with our
own hands we will never again call gods; for in thee the fatherless finds a father’s love.
Amos 6:12-13
Yet you have turned into venom the process of law and justice itself into a poison, you
who are jubilant over a nothing and boast, “Have we not won power by our own
strength?”
Jeremiah 51:20-21
You are my battle-axe, my weapon of war; with you I will break nations in pieces, and
with you I will destroy kingdoms. With you I will break horse and rider, with you I will
break chariot and rider
Against imperialism and violence in international relations
Habakkuk 2:6-17
Woe betide you who heap up wealth that is not yours and enrich yourself with goods
taken in pledge! Will not your creditors suddenly start up, will not all awake who would
shake you till you are empty, and will you not fall a victim to 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 (RSV)]. Woe betide
you who seek unjust gain for your house, to build your nest on a height, to save yourself
[from the reach of harm! (RSV)] Your schemes to overthrow many nations will bring
dishonor to your house and put your life in jeopardy. The very stones will cry out from
the wall, and from the timbers a beam will answer them. Woe betide you who have built
a town with bloodshed and founded a city on fraud, so that nations toil for a pittance,
and peoples weary themselves for a mere nothing! … The violence done to Lebanon
shall sweep over you, the havoc done to its beasts shall break your own spirit, because
of bloodshed and violence done in the land, to the city and all its inhabitants.
Isaiah 14:3-8
When the LORD gives you relief from your pain and your fears and from the cruel
slavery laid upon you, you will take up this song of derision over the king of Babylon:
See how the oppressor has met his end and his frenzy ceased! The LORD has broken
the rod of the wicked, the scepter of the ruler who struck down peoples in his rage with
unerring blows, who crushed nations in anger and persecuted them unceasingly. The
whole world has rest and is at peace; it breaks into cries of joy. The pines themselves
and the cedars of Lebanon exult over you: Since you have been laid low, they say, no
man comes up to fell us.
Jeremiah 51:13-14, 25-26
O opulent city, standing beside great waters, your end has come, your destiny is certain.
The LORD of Hosts has sworn by himself, saying, Once I filled you with men,
countless as locusts, yet a song of triumph shall be chanted over you….I am against
you, O destroying mountain, you who destroy the whole earth, and I will stretch out my
hand against you and send you tumbling from your terraces and make you a burnt-out
mountain. No stone of yours shall be used as a corner-stone, no stone for a foundation
International peace
Isaiah 65:21-23, 25 (in post-Babylonian exile setting)
“Men shall build houses and live to inhabit them, plant vineyards and eat their fruit;
they shall not build for others to inhabit nor plant for others to eat. My people shall live
the long life of a tree, and my chosen shall enjoy the fruit of their labor. They shall not
toil in vain or raise children for misfortune…The wolf and the lamb shall feed together
and the lion shall eat straw like cattle. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy
mountain [Zion], says the LORD.
Isaiah 2:2-4
For instruction issues from Zion, and out of Jerusalem comes the word of the LORD; he
will be judge between nations, arbiter among many peoples. [They shall beat their
swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks (RSV)]; nation shall not
lift sword against nation nor ever again be trained for war.
Micah 4:2-4
For instruction issues from Zion, and out of Jerusalem comes the word of the LORD; he
will be judge between many peoples and arbiter among mighty nations afar. [They shall
beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks (RSV)]; nation
shall not lift sword against nation nor ever again be trained for war, and each man shall
dwell under his own vine, under his own fig-tree, undisturbed.
Zechariah 9:9-10
Rejoice, rejoice, daughter of Zion, shout aloud, daughter of Jerusalem, for see, your
king is coming to you…humble and mounted on an ass…He shall banish chariots from
Ephraim and war-horses from Jerusalem; the warrior’s bow shall be banished. He shall
speak peaceably to every nation, and his rule shall extend from sea to sea.
Hosea 2:18
Then I will make a covenant on behalf of Israel with the wild beasts, the birds of the air,
and the things that creep on the earth, and I will break bow and sword and weapon of
war and sweep them off the earth, so that all living creatures may lie down without fear.