Manual for Sojourners: A Study on Peter’s Use of Scripture and Its Relevance Today

By Samson Liao Uytanlet and Juliet Lee Uytanlet

Peter reads the messages originally addressed by God to sojourners in the Old Testament as the same messages God had for the sojourning believers of Peter's generation. No wonder Peter used these same exhortations to instruct first-century believers in the diaspora. For Peter, the Old Testament was their Scripture. For us today, the Old Testament and New Testament are our Scripture. God's messages for the faithful sojourners in the Old Testament and New Testament are the same message he has for sojourners of all generations, including ours.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wipf and Stock
• Release date: Apr 26, 2023
• ISBN: 9781666759204

Samson Liao Uytanlet

Samson Uytanlet is the academic dean and a professor of New Testament and Pastoral Ministry at the Biblical Seminary of the Philippines. He is also the Biblical Studies program director and a New Testament faculty at the Asia Graduate School of Theology in the Philippines. His works include Luke-Acts and Jewish Historiography and Matthew: A Pastoral and Contextual Commentary. He is a pastor at the Gerizim Evangelical Church.

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Manual for Sojourners

A Study on Peter’s Use of Scripture and Its Relevance Today

Samson Liao Uytanlet Juliet Lee Uytanlet

Manual for Sojourners

A Study on Peter’s Use of Scripture and Its Relevance Today

Copyright © 2023 Samson Liao Uytanlet and Juliet Lee Uytanlet. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical publications or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Write: Permissions, Wipf and Stock Publishers, 199 W. 8th Ave., Suite 3, Eugene, OR 97401.

Wipf & Stock

An Imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers

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paperback isbn: 978-1-6667-5918-1

hardcover isbn: 978-1-6667-5919-8

ebook isbn: 978-1-6667-5920-4

03/29/23

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

Table of Contents

Title Page

Abbreviations

Chapter 1: Introduction

Chapter 2: Sojourning of the Israelites from Egypt

Chapter 3: Sojourning of the Israelites before Exile

Chapter 4: Sojourning of Abraham

Chapter 5: Sojourning of David

Chapter 6: Sojourning of the Returnees from Exile

Chapter 7: Sojourning of the Church of God

Chapter 8: First Peter: Manual for Sojourners

Bibliography

Lovingly dedicated to our parents

Juanito Uy (1928–2010) & Felisa Liao (1932–2016)

Lee Loh (1922–94) & Lily Soo (b. 1945)

who led us during the early years of our sojourning

And to our son, Johann Sven Lee Uytanlet,

who brought great joy to us as we continue in this pilgrimage

Abbreviations

Primary Sources

1 Apol. Justin Martyr, 1 Apology

1 Macc 1 Maccabees

2 Macc 2 Maccabees

Cherubim Philo, On the Cherubim

Flacc. Philo, Against Flaccus

Inst. Quintilian, Institutes of Oratory

Jdt. Judith

Leg. Philo, Allegorical Interpretation

m. Avot Mishnah, Avot

Migration Philo, On the Migration of Abraham

Mor. Plutarch, Morals

Moses Philo, On the Life of Moses

Nat. d. Cicero, On the Nature of the Gods

NT New Testament

Or. Dio Chrysostom, Prayer

OT Old Testament

Ps. Sol. Psalms of Solomon

Sib. Or. Sibylline Oracles

Sir Sirach

Tg. Isa. Targum Isaiah

Ux. Tertullian, To His Wife

Wis Wisdom of Solomon

Secondary Sources

ABCS Asia Bible Commentary Series

AJPS Asian Journal of Pentecostal Studies

AnQ Anthropological Quarterly

ASMMS American Society of Missiology Monograph Series

BBR Bulletin for Biblical Research

BDB Brown, Francis, et al. A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament. Peabody: Hendrickson, 1996.

Bib Biblica

BibAn The Biblical Annals

BNTC Black’s New Testament Commentaries

BSac Bibliotheca Sacra

BYULR Brigham Young University Law Review

CBQ Catholic Biblical Quarterly

ConcJ Concordia Journal

ConComm Constitutional Commentary

CTJ Calvin Theological Journal

CurTM Currents in Theology and Mission

DBSJ Detroit Baptist Seminary Journal

DLNT Dictionary of the Later New Testament and Its Developments. Edited by R. P. Martin and P. H. Davids. IVP Bible Dictionary Series. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1997.

EBR Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception. Edited by Hans-Josef Klauck et al. 20 vols. Berlin: de Gruyter, 2009–.

EJAS Emory Journal of Asian Studies

ERT Evangelical Review of Theology

EstBib Estudios bíblicos

ExAud Ex Auditu

FET Foundations of Evangelical Theology

HD Humanities Diliman

Int Interpretation

JBL Journal of Biblical Literature

JETS Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society

JSCE Journal of the Society of Christian Ethics

JSFSC Journal of Spiritual Formation and Soul Care

JSNT Journal for the Study of the New Testament

JTI Journal for Theological Interpretation

JTS Journal of Theological Studies

KEK Kritisch-exegetischer Kommentar über das Neue Testament (Meyer-Kommentar)

LF Lutheran Forum

LXX Septuagint (Greek OT)

MOT Mastering the Old Testament

NICNT New International Commentary on the New Testament

NTS New Testament Studies

PP Priscilla Papers

Presb Presbyterion

ProEng Procedia Engineering

PRS Proceedings on Rock Storage

PRSt Perspectives in Religious Studies

R&T Religion and Theology

RCSAS Routledge Contemporary South Asia Series

ResQ Restoration Quarterly

RevExp Review and Expositor

RSM Regnum Studies in Mission

SBLDS Society of Biblical Literature Dissertation Series

SCJ Stone-Campbell Journal

Scriptura Scriptura

SemeiaSt Semeia Studies

SVTQ St. Vladimir’s Theological Quarterly

TDNT Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. Edited by Gerhard Kittel and Gerhard Friedrich. Translated by Geoffrey W. Bromiley. 10 vols. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1964–76.

Them Themelios

TJ Trinity Journal

TNTC Tyndale New Testament Commentary

TynBul Tyndale Bulletin

USQR Union Seminary Quarterly Review

WBC Word Biblical Commentary

WesTJ Wesleyan Theological Journal

WTJ Westminster Theological Journal

WW Word and World

ZNW Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft und die Kunde der älteren Kirche

1

Introduction

[F]or, as I have said before, the Jews were strangers in Egypt, the founders of their race having migrated from Babylon and the upper satrapies in the time of the famine, by reason of their want of food, and come and settled in Egypt, and having in a manner taken refuge like suppliants in the country as in a sacred asylum, fleeing for protection to the good faith of the king and the compassion of the inhabitants; for strangers, in my opinion, should be looked upon as refugees, and as the suppliants of those who receive them in their country; and, besides, being suppliants, these men were likewise sojourners in the land, and friends desiring to be admitted to equal honours with the citizens, and neighbours differing but little in their character from original natives. (Philo, Moses

1

.

7

.

34

–

35

; emphasis mine)¹

This was how Philo, a first-century Alexandrian of Jewish origin, described the situation of the Israelites as they sojourned in Egypt about fifteen centuries prior to his writing.² His description of the life of Moses and the Israelites in Egypt, however, seems more than just a retelling of the biblical accounts. It seems like an expression of Philo’s ideals concerning immigrants, and this desire could also reflect that of his Jewish-Egyptian contemporaries who happened to be sojourning in the same foreign country hundreds of years later. Their desire for respect, honor, and equal treatment with the local people is the same as that of any people group living outside their land of origin.

A different picture can be seen in Peter’s letter to the Jewish Christian diaspora. In Miroslav Volf’s discussion about religious tolerance, he points out the various responses of early Christian writers to persecution, and typically, the weak and marginal preach tolerance to the strong and dominant who oppress them.³ Justin Martyr also argues that even though both the Christians and the Greeks taught the necessity of worship, except that the former taught Christ to be the object of worship while the latter worship nature and animals, Christians should not be persecuted just because their object of worship is different (1 Apol. 1.24).⁴ In contrast, Peter made no demands, not even a plea, for tolerance from the outside world. Instead, he instructed the believers in the diaspora, Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor (1 Pet 2:17). Volf notes that the instruction to honor everyone is not a mere suggestion or a counsel of prudence, but a strictly religious duty.⁵ This does not mean that the Jewish Christians in the diaspora did not need protection from persecution, but the proper response for persecution is their honorable behavior.

Lawrence J. C. Ma defines diaspora as a process, a group of people, a geographic area and a spatial network.⁶ The Jewish diaspora is composed of a specific group of people sharing the same ethnicity and culture. They had gone through a series of processes of migration at different times and locations. They also continued to connect with other Jews across geographic areas through connections and networks. Diaspora can be understood as a process of migration or re-migration by a community of people who share common cultural linkages in one location fostering connections and relationships.⁷

Peter made a distinction between insiders (the believers of Christ) and outsiders (those who do not believe in Christ). Although there are things which nonbelievers value and do that believers must avoid, but the realization that every person, whether believers or nonbelievers, is a creation of God, Earl J. Richard correctly observes that all are owed honor according to their relationships in the social order.⁸ Honor is something every person deserves just for being human. Peter discusses the kind of honor that comes with one’s way of life, and his instructions are based on God’s commands to OT characters who were sojourners when they encountered God. In this work, we will discuss how Peter exhorts the diaspora believers using the examples of their sojourning ancestors. Peter considered God’s message to OT sojourners (as recorded in Scripture) as the same message God had for them. Using the same principle, these messages from the Scripture (both OT and NT) are not only written for the first-century Jewish Christians in the diaspora, but they are also written for our instructions (see also 1 Cor 10:11). As part of our Scripture,⁹ 1 Peter provides instructions, not only for believers who are sojourners (in the metaphorical sense) who look forward to the future world which the Lord promised, but also for the sojourners of today who live outside their land of origin and who see the value of living an honorable life.

Reasons for Sojourning in Scripture

People sojourn for various reasons. In Scripture, there are three primary reasons people leave their home country to dwell in a foreign land. First, people sojourn because of famine. Finding greener pastures is a common reason for migrating even until the present. In the OT, famine was one of the major reasons for moving to another country. Abraham went to Egypt because there was a severe famine in Shechem (Gen 12:10), and about two centuries later, his descendants went to Egypt once again because of a famine in Canaan (47:4). Isaac went to Gerar also because of famine (26:1). It was because of famine that Elimelech and Naomi went to Moab with their two sons, and one of them married Ruth (Ruth 1:1–2). Through Elisha, the Lord instructed the Shunammite woman to sojourn anywhere because a seven-year famine was about to occur in Shunem (2 Kgs 8:1–2).

Another reason for sojourning is God’s calling and promises. Abraham did not leave Ur to escape poverty. He was a wealthy man (Gen 13:2). Abraham migrated because of God’s call (12:1–3). On multiple occasions, God reiterated his promise to give Abraham the land where he resided as a foreigner (17:8; see also 26:3; 28:4). God assured Moses that he would keep this promise by giving to the Israelites the land of Canaan where they resided as foreigners (Exod 6:4). Abraham’s voluntary act of uprooting his family to go to a foreign land, with all the uncertainties that accompany this move, is truly an act of faith. The author of Hebrews explains that Abraham’s move to Canaan was an act of faith for several reasons: (1) he went out even without knowing the specifics about the land God promised him; (2) he went to a foreign land, going to a place where safety was not guaranteed; and (3) he went to live in tents, leaving the comforts of home to a place where he can only live in temporary shelters (Heb 11:8–10). He died without taking possession of the land promised to him. Seven centuries passed before Abraham’s descendants eventually entered and took possession of the land.

The third reason why people sojourn is forced exile. Obedience to God’s commands is an essential element of God’s covenant with Israel. Obeying God’s commands results in blessings, and disobeying them reaps its consequences. God promised Israel that his blessings would come in the form of abundant harvest (Lev 26:4–5), peace and safety in the land (26:6–8), posterity (26:9), and God’s presence (26:10–12). The Lord warned them about the consequences for disobedience, which would intensify through continuous defiance (26:18, 23–24, 27–28). These consequences include sickness (26:16), foreign domination (26:17), scarcity of harvest (26:19–20), death (26:21–22), severe famine (26:25–26, 29), destruction of their cities (26:30), constant fear (26:36–38), and exile (26:33). The author of 1–2 Kings describes how Assyria defeated Samaria and carried the Israelites to exile (2 Kgs 17:6), and he explains the reason for their exile: And this occurred because the people of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods (17:7). In other words, God saved them from their sojourning to give them permanent residency in Canaan with the condition that they should obey his laws; but because they did not, they were once again taken away to sojourn in foreign lands. Almost one-and-a-half centuries later, Judah was also defeated by Babylon, and many Jews were brought to exile (24:10–17). The author explains the reason: For because of the anger of the Lord it came to the point in Jerusalem and Judah that he cast them out from his presence (24:20).

Migration Theories: Why People Sojourn Today?

Human beings have been in constant movement from one place to another. Some scientists suggest that the origin of human migration was Africa,¹⁰ while biblical accounts