A Jewish Bible Companion (Part 19 of 0)

A Reading Plan for the Gospel of Luke(10) – Part twenty

In this month’s article we continue our study of the parallels between Luke’s readings and the readings from the Former Prophets.

Last month we left off at week 14, having studied Luke’s first 10 readings, that is, his readings for weeks 5 through 14, covering Luke 1:1-4:47. This is the first of two major sections of Former Prophet parallels in Luke’s gospel. The second is for weeks 36 through 54, covering Luke 8:49-20:18. So, the next parallels come in week 36, which is where we start this month.

Week 36

Luke’s reading for week 36 is Luke 8:49-56 about the raising of Jairus’ dead daughter; the Former Prophets reading is I Kings 14 about the death of Jeroboam’s son.

Luke is like the story in Kings, but with a focus on contrasts rather than similarities. In Luke, it is the daughter who is sick; in Kings, the son. In Luke, the father goes to Jesus; in Kings, the mother goes to the prophet Ahijah. In Luke, the daughter is dead already; in Kings, the son is merely sick at this point. In Luke, the daughter will be made alive; in Kings, the son will die. In Luke, Jesus goes to Jairus’ house; in Kings, Ahijah stays put, sending the mother back to the house without him. In Luke, there is weeping and wailing before Jesus arrives; in Kings, there is mourning after the mother arrives and the son dies.

Week 37

Luke’s reading for week 37 is Luke 9:1-9 the mission of the twelve. The Former Prophets reading is I Kings 15-16 which, among other things, introduces King Ahab. Most of Luke’s parallels for this week are from the Former Prophets reading for the following week, which, with its introduction of Elijah, would be a favorite.

  • 37a. Abide in the house — Jesus telling the twelve that “whatsoever house ye enter into, there abide” (Lk. 9:4) reminds us of Elijah, who stayed at the house of the widow of Zarephath (I Kgs. 17:9).
  • 37b. Healing — The twelve disciples healed everywhere they went (Lk. 9:6), recalling Elijah’s healing of the widow’s son (I Kgs. 17:17-23).
  • 37c. Elijah — Luke has an explicit reference to Elijah — “It was said by some…that Elijah had appeared” (Lk. 9:7,8 RV) — just as Elijah was about to come on the scene in the readings (I Kgs. 17:1).
  • 37d. The ruler persecutes the prophets — Herod (Lk. 9:7-9), who persecuted the prophets, may parallel Ahab (I Kgs. 16:29-34), who persecuted the prophets.
  • 37e. He sought to see him — Herod “sought to see” Jesus (Lk. 9:9 RV) just as Ahab had “sent to seek” Elijah (I Kgs. 18:10).

Week 38

Luke’s reading for week 38 is Luke 9:10-17 the feeding of the 5000; the Former Prophets reading is I Kings 17, Elijah at Zarephath. Luke’s story draws on three “feeding” stories from the Former Prophets: God’s multiplying of the widow’s meal and oil (I Kgs. 17:14-16), Obadiah’s feeding of the 100 prophets by fifty (I Kgs. 18:4,13), and Elisha’s feeding of the 100 (II Kgs. 4:42-44).

  • 38a. Give them to eat — Jesus says to the apostles, “Give ye them to eat” (Lk. 9:13) just as Elisha had said to the man with bread, “Give unto the people, that they may eat” (II Kgs. 4:42,43).
  • 38b. By fifties — Jesus says, “Make them sit down by fifties in a company” (Lk. 9:14) paralleling Obadiah who “took an hundred prophets, and hid them by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water” (I Kgs. 18:4,13).
  • 38c. The food set before them and they did eat — Jesus “gave to the disciples to set before the multitude. And they did eat” (Lk. 9:16-17) just as Elisha had the man “set it before them, and they did eat” (II Kgs. 4:44).
  • 38d. The food miraculously multiplied — There were only five loaves and two fishes to feed 5000 men, but these were multiplied- to do just that. This parallels the multiplying of the widow’s meal and oil to feed her household until it rained (I Kgs. 17:14-16) and the man’s twenty loaves of barley to feed the 100 (II Kgs. 4:42-43).
  • 38e. Leftovers — In fact, after the 5000 had eaten and were filled, “there was taken up of fragments that remained to them twelve baskets” (Lk. 9:17) just as, “Thus saith the Lord, they shall eat, and shall leave thereof…They did eat, and left thereof” (II Kgs. 4:44).

Week 39

Luke’s reading for week 39 is Luke 9:18-27 Peter’s confession; the Former Prophets reading is I Kings 18, Elijah at Mount Carmel.

  • 39a. Elijah — To Jesus’ question about who people said he was, one of the answers is, “Others say, Elijah” (Lk. 9:19 RV), alluding to the major character in the weeks’ readings.
  • 39b. Raised the third day — Jesus tells the disciples, “The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be slain, and be raised the third day” (Lk. 9:22). Elijah provides a type of this. When Elijah ran for his life, he went into the wilderness, where he stayed for three days, being raised from his sleep on the third day (I Kgs. 19:3-8).
  • 39c. Follow — Jesus’ exhortation, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me” (Lk. 9:23), echoes Elijah’s exhortation, “How long halt ye between two opinions? if the Lord be God, follow him” (I Kgs. 18:21).
  • 39d. Whoever will save his life shall lose it — Jesus’ statement that “whosoever will save his life shall lose it” (Lk. 9:24) may be an allusion to the prophets of Baal whom Elijah took down from Mount Carmel to slay in the brook Kishon (I Kgs. 18:40).

Week 40

Luke’s reading for week 40 is Luke 9:28-36 the transfiguration; the Former Prophets reading is I Kings 19, Elijah at Horeb.

In both readings, the presence of God is manifested: by cloud in Luke; by earthquake, wind, fire, and voice in Kings. In both readings, the voice of God is heard: to declare that Christ is God’s son in Luke; to declare God’s plan for Elijah in Kings. The connection is strengthened by Elijah’s presence at the transfiguration.

Week 41

Luke’s reading for week 41 is Luke 9:37-45 in which Jesus heals a demoniac boy that the disciples could not heal. There may be an allusion here to the episode in II Kings 4:31-35 in which Elisha heals the dead child that Gehazi could not heal.

Weeks 42 & 43

I have not found any parallels in the two short readings for weeks 42 (Lk. 9:46-48) and 43 (Lk. 9:49-50).

Week 44

Luke’s reading for week 44 is Luke 9:51-10:24 in which Jesus steadfastly sets out for Jerusalem to be received up; the Former Prophets reading is II Kings 1-3 in which Elijah ascends into heaven.

  • 44a    Received up — Luke writes, “And it came to pass, when the time was come that (Jesus) should be received up” (Lk. 9:51) which is almost identical to the words in the reading, “And it came to pass, when the Lord would take up Elijah into heaven” (II Kgs. 2:1).
  • 44b    Fire from heaven as Elijah — “They did not receive him…and when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elijah did?” (Lk. 9:53-54), referring to the episode recorded in the weekly readings, “Elijah answered and said to the captain of the fifty, If I be a man of God, then let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty. And there came down fire from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty” (II Kgs. 1:10,12).
  • 44c     To save — “The Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them” (Lk. 9:56), refers to Elisha’s name, which means “God saves.”
  • 44d    Salute no man by the way — Jesus tells the seventy to “salute no man by the way” (Lk. 10:4) just as Elisha had told Gehazi, “If thou meet any man, salute him not; and if any salute thee, answer him not” (II Kgs. 4:29).
  • 44e     In the same house remain — Jesus continues, “In the same house remain, eating and drinking such things as they give” (Lk. 10:7), just as the Shunammite woman had constrained Elisha to do (II Kgs 4:8), and as Elijah had done with the widow of Zarephath (I Kgs. 17:9).
  • 44f. Heal the sick — Jesus commands them to “heal the sick” (Lk. 10:9), that is, they were to follow the examples of Elisha who healed the Shunammite woman’s son (II Kgs. 4:18-37) and Elijah who healed the widow of Zarephath’s son (I Kgs. 17:17-24).
  • 44g. Sidon — Jesus’ “If the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon, which have been done in you, they had a great while ago repented, sitting in sackcloth and ashes” (Lk. 10:13) parallels the widow of Zarephath which belonged to Zidon (I Kgs. 17:9) and contrasts Jezebel (I Kgs. 16:31).
  • 44h. I give unto you power — Jesus says to the seventy, “I give unto you power…over all the power of the enemy” (Lk. 10:19), just as Elijah gave his power to Elisha (II Kgs. 2:9-10).

In his Studies in the Gospels, Bro. Harry Whittaker, after listing many of the parallels for weeks 37-44, asks the question, “What is Luke trying to teach by such a catalogue as this?” (pgs. 428-429). Here is one possible answer to Bro. Harry’s question. Luke was writing his gospel so that it could be read alongside the weekly readings from the Former Prophets. During these weeks, Elijah and Elisha dominate those readings, so it is natural for Luke to draw parallels from them. One obvious lesson we can draw from this is that these great prophets of God were types of Christ. A second lesson is that we should look for such types as we do our readings. Scripture is alive — God has composed the historical record to teach us about Christ. We need to have our eyes and ears open, looking and listening for the inspired lessons which He wants us to see. The best way to do this is to read the appropriate parts of scripture side-by-side.

Week 45

Luke’s reading for week 45 is Luke 10:25-11:13 which includes the Good Samaritan, Mary and Martha, and the lesson on prayer. The Former Prophet reading is II Kings 4-6:23, Elisha part I.

  • 45a. The good Samaritan — Where did Jesus get the idea for the parable of the good Samaritan? The Former Prophets reading has an episode in which Elisha takes a band of Syrian captives to Samaria. The king of Israel asks Elisha if he should smite them. Elisha says no, instead he should feed them and let them go back to their master (II Kgs. 6:8-23).

The Chronicler skips this story (as he does all stories that do not involve the southern kingdom), but includes another quite similar story in II Chronicles 28. In the reign of Ahaz, Syria took captives from Judah to Samaria. Israel intended to kill and enslave their brethren from Judah. The prophet Obed intercedes on behalf of Judah and certain of the Samaritans “took the captives, and with the spoil clothed all that were naked among them, and arrayed them, and shod them, and gave them to eat and to drink, and anointed them, and carried all the feeble of them upon asses, and brought them to Jericho, the city of palm trees, to their brethren then they returned to Samaria” (II Chr. 28:15).

Specific parallels with the Jesus’ parable are obvious. There are references to Jericho, being stripped, Samaria, anointing, carrying the feeble on animals, and a general taking care of and compassion for (Lk. 10:30-37). In short, in both cases, Samaritans showed mercy on the unfortunate.

  • 45b. Received into her house — “A certain woman named Martha received (Jesus) into her house” (Lk. 10:38) paralleling “And it fell on a day, that Elisha passed to Shunem, where was a great woman; and she constrained him to eat bread. And so it was, that as oft as he passed by, he turned in thither to eat bread” (II Kgs. 4:8).
  • 45c. Borrowing from neighbor, door shut — Jesus’ parable about the man who went to his neighbor to borrow bread, only to be told, “Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed” (Lk. 11:5,7) is based on an episode in the readings. Elisha said to a certain widow of one of the sons of the prophets, “Go borrow…of all thy neighbors…And when thou art come in, thou shalt shut the door upon thee and upon thy sons…So she went from him, and shut the door upon her and upon her sons” (II Kgs. 4:3-5).