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  • From: "David Hindley" <dhindley AT compuserve.com>
  • To: "'Corpus-Paul'" <corpus-paul AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Corpus-Paul] Sabbatical years and Paul's collections
  • Date: Fri, 30 Dec 2005 00:34:08 -0500

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





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