Corpus-Paul

["David Hindley" <dhindley AT compuserve.com>]

Ron,

It almost sounds like you're saying the believers of Macedonia and Achaea 
could not, maybe even should not, have had any sympathy
for those lazy Jews in Judea. Yet, as alleged as you say that observance of 
sabbatical years was, it is attested several times in
the literature of the 1st century as Mr. Fellows has correctly stated. 

For some gentiles, Jewish respect for their ancestral traditions, even when 
it worked against their economic or human interests, was
something to be admired. It's just something that Jews of Judea did as part 
of their passionate worship of their God. Jews were
*also* known to look out for one another, including things like buying 
freedom or manumitting those who were slaves or who were
amenable to conversion, which was also something poor gentiles and slaves 
might want to be a part of.

So I do not think it is necessary to postulate that Paul actively used famine 
relief as the means to motivate the Macedonians or
Achaeans, even though famine relief may have been how the money was intended 
to be expended. I wonder whether Paul was not so
anxious to get the temple priests to accept freewill offerings from his 
gentile associates *on the same basis as they would
circumcised Jews*, that he figured that bringing a freewill offering during a 
time when he knew there was greater than usual need
could help overcome reluctance on the part of the temple authorities. It 
would certainly help his gentile friends associate more
closely with circumcised Jews if they could at least be accepted as fellow 
partners in charity.

On the other hand, if you thought that asking charity of gentiles for the 
benefit of lazy Jews would be shameful deceit on Paul's
part, then the scenario I just suggested would likely not impress you as 
ethical either. But would it have deterred a zealot like
Paul who *knew* he was right as rain?

Respectfully,

Dave Hindley
Cleveland, Ohio USA



-----Original Message-----
From: corpus-paul-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org 
[mailto:corpus-paul-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Ron Price
Sent: Thursday, December 29, 2005 3:11 PM
To: Corpus-Paul elist; Richard Fellows
Subject: Re: [Corpus-Paul] Sabbatical years and Paul's collections

 
Richard Fellows wrote:

> It might be fruitful to explore the possibility that Paul's collection 
> for Jerusalem was designed to relieve depravation caused by the 
> Sabbatical year of 55-56, .......

Richard,

Paul's appeal for this collection in 2 Cor 8-9 indicates that at least a 
significant portion of it came from the churches in
Macedonia and Achaia, which we might reasonably expect to have been composed 
predominantly of Gentiles. The question thus arises:
Did these Gentiles know that the money was required because some Jews had 
deliberately abandoned any attempt to sow and reap their
crops in deference to some supposed religious obligation in the Sabbatical 
year? If they knew, then it seems to me inconceivable
that Gentiles would have contributed generously (2 Cor 8:2) to such 
self-imposed penury. If they did not know, then Paul would be
guilty of shameful deceit in 2 Cor 8-9. Such a reading of this text seems 
hardly credible.

Ron Price

Derbyshire, UK

Web site: http://homepage.virgin.net/ron.price/index.htm