Our Lady of Lourdes Church Blog

 St. Barnabas 13. Prophecy of Famine.

      “Now in these days prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. And one of them named Agabus stood up and foretold by the Spirit that there would be a great famine over all the world; and this took place in the days of Claudius” (Ac 11:27-28).

      In the NT we hear much about the gift of prophecy. We also knew of prophets from the OT, but prophecy had ceased after Malachi in the late 5th Century BC. However, with the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, the gift of prophecy was poured out anew on the infant Church (Ac 2).

      Chronologically, it is now about 13 years since Pentecost, about 43 AD. By now, individual disciples are recognized as prophets (e.g., Ac 11:27-28; 13:1), and a few years later, St. Paul’s letters will show that the gift of prophecy was common (e.g., Ro 12:6; 1 Cor 12:10, 28-29; 14; Eph 4:11). The Didache, written around 70-90 AD, tells us that in the early Church the prophets would speak during the Liturgy after the Eucharistic Prayer and Holy Communion [1].

      So a “company of prophets” (cf., 2 Kg 2:3-5;  4:1; 38; 1 Sam 10:5, 10), including St. Agabus, arrives in Antioch from Jerusalem. Agabus “stood up” (Ac 11:28) – undoubtedly in the assembly at Mass [2], after Holy Communion – to give a prophecy about a coming famine (Ac 11:28). Agabus is also mentioned later in Acts prophesying that St. Paul, upon returning to Jerusalem after his third missionary journey, would be delivered to the Gentiles (Ac21:7-14). According to Christian tradition, St. Agabus was one of the seventy disciples chosen by Jesus (Luke 10:1). [3] He later preached in many lands, converted many to Christ [4], and then was martyred at Antioch [5]. He is listed in the Roman Martyrology [6].

      Claudius was Roman Emperor from 41 to 54 AD. It was probably about 42 AD that St. Barnabas brought Saul (not yet St. Paul) to Antioch to assist with formation of the Church there. In verse 26 we have been told Barnabas and Saul met with the Church for a whole year. So it is likely we have now come to about 43 AD. There were several famines during Claudius’ reign, and the Roman Jewish historian, Josephus, refers to a famine specifically in Judea, dated variously between 43 and 46 AD [7].

      Famines, of course, always affects the poor far more than the well-off. St. Luke writes, “And the disciples determined, every one according to his ability, to send relief to the brethren who lived in Judea” (Ac 11:29). (So reference to famine in the “whole world” was likely hyperbole as the relief was solely for Judea.)

      Now this is a very important verse considering that a large number of the Christians in Antioch were Gentiles converts. Jewish tradition speaks of mitzvot (plural of mitzvah), commonly thought of as doing good deeds. It is that, but it is more. The word literally means “commandment,” referring to the response God asks of the faithful. [8] Christians are not required to follow Jewish ceremonial laws which have passed away; but we do follow laws consistent with the 10 Commandments (Natural Law) and with the teachings of Christ such as the call to charity, mercy, and compassion. Christians understand themselves as one body in Christ, and where one member suffers, all suffer together (1 Cor 12:26-27). Charity, mercy, and compassion were not, however, recognized values of Gentile cultures, so the Gentiles would need to be taught these virtues (e.g., Eph 4:25-32) and to learn to respond to the Holy Spirit’s gifts of contributing liberally, giving aid with zeal, and doing acts of mercy with cheerfulness (Ro 12:8).

      And who better to teach these virtues than Barnabas? Barnabas – with his gift of exhortation, his gladness, his goodness, his fullness of the Holy Spirit and of faith (Ac 11:23-24). Yes, Saul would teach as well – they both were prophets and teachers (Ac 11:26; 13:1). But Saul was more heavy-handed. Barnabas would demonstrate the cheerfulness, the love, the mercy, the generosity. Saul would learn from Barnabas’ approach, and in the future he would give similar lessons to others (e.g., 1 Cor 16:1-3; Ro 15:25-29). So Jew and Gentile alike gave to the relief.

Dibby Allan Green

Reference

[1]  Didache or Doctrine of the Twelve Apostles, 10:7, after the Eucharistic prayer and Communion thanksgiving, “Allow the prophets, though, to give thanks as as much as they like.” van de Sandt, Huub, and Flusser, David, The Didache, Its Jewish Sources and its Place in Early Judaism and Christianity (Amsterdam and Minneapolis: Royal Van Gorcum and Fortress Press, 2002), p. 14. The Didache also gives extensive discussion of the office of Apostle, Prophet, and Teacher, and on discerning each’s authenticity, in chapters 11, 12, and 13.

[2] Johnson, Luke Timothy, The Acts of the Apostles, Sacra Pagina Series. Vol. 5, Harrington, Danile J., S.J., Ed. (Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 1992), p. 205; Witherington, Ben, III, The Acts of the Apostles, A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1998), p. 372.

[3] Hahn, Scott, Ed., Catholic Bible Dictionary (New York: Doubleday, 2009), “Agabus,” p. 29.

[4] https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2021/04/08/101024-apostle-herodion-of-the-seventy-and-those-with-him, accessed 7/31/21.

[5] Hahn, ibid.

[6] Hahn, ibid.

[7] Josephus, Antiquities, 20:101, mentions a great famine in Palestine during the forties, and in Antiquities, 3:320-321, explicitly mentions a famine in Judea during the reign of Claudius (Johnson, ibid., p. 206). Josephus, in War of the Jews, l.c. § 5, also refers to Queen Helena of Adiabene, then living in the City of David in Jerusalem [her palace was destroyed in 70 AD but found and excavated in 2007], who was noted for her generosity during the famine at Jerusalem. She sent to Alexandria for grain and to Cyprus for dried figs for distribution among the sufferers from the famine. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helena_of_Adiabene, accessed 7/30/21; see also Asch, Sholem, The Apostle, Samuel, Maurice, tr. (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1943), p. 291.) However, the Talmud attributes this gift to her first husband, King Monobaz I (see Wikipedia, ibid.). On the other hand, Hahn, ibid, assumes one principal famine of Claudius’ reign in 49 AD. See also http://www.wordsfitlyspoken.org/gospel_guardian/v7/v7n30p2-3a.html, accessed 7/31/21, regarding multiple famines during the reign of Claudius.

[8] See https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/mitzvot-a-mitzvah-is-a-commandment/, accessed 7/31/21.

 

Originally published in the print edition of the Mojave Desert News  dated August 5, 2021, slightly modified.

Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church is located in California City, CA. Visit our website at ollcalcity.org.

Dibby Allan Green has a BA in Religious Studies (Westmont College, 1978) and MA in Theology (Augustine Institute, 2019), is a lay Catholic hermit, and a parishioner of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish.