Paul's language of divine consolation (παρακαλέω / παράκλησις) in affliction (θλῖψις / θλίβω), which characterizes his opening Benediction Period (1:3-7), derives from LXX Psalms and Second Isaiah where it frequently references the divine deliverance of the individual from mortal danger (particularly Psalms) and the deliverance of the faithful remnant of Israel from oppression and death in exile (particularly Second Isaiah). [1] In the Benediction proper (1:3-4), Paul gives thanks for his own recent experience of affliction and divine deliverance, a participation in the sufferings and consolation of Christ brought upon him (by God) for the sake of the Corinthians' consolation and salvation (vv. 5-6). His hope for them is sure, he says, because they too share not only in the sufferings (of Christ) but also in the consolation (v. 7). There follows, in vv. 8-11, an account of the deliverance of the apostle from mortal danger (τῆς θλίψεως ἡμῶν) in the Province of Asia. Paul then gives a factual account of his handling of the recent crisis in the church in Corinth (1:12-2:4) and appeals for the restoration of the offender (2:5-11), before embarking on an extended account of the salvific role of his apostolic sufferings, culminating in an appeal for further corporate repentance (2:14-7:4). This material is set in the context of his extreme anxiety and suffering as he awaited the return of Titus with news of the Corinthians’ response to the Letter of Tears (2:12-13; 7:5). As he prepares in 7:4 to resume the narrative of 2:12-13 Paul's language, πεπλήρωμαι τῇ παρακλήσει ... ἐπὶ πάσῃ τῇ θλίψει ἡμῶν, strikingly recalls that of 1:4, ὁ παρακαλῶν ἡμᾶς ἐπὶ πάσῃ τῇ θλίψει ἡμῶν. The subject of the relative clause in 1:4, ‘the God of all consolation’ (ὁ θεὸς πάσης παρακλήσεως), who is also ‘God who raises the dead’ (1:9), then reappears in 7:6 as ‘God who consoles the downcast’ (ὁ παρακαλῶν τοὺς ταπεινοὺς … ὁ θεὸς), an allusion to Isa 49:13 LXX. The language of affliction is also employed in Paul's account of the extreme mental anguish in which he composed the Letter of Tears (2:4, ἐκ … πολλῆς θλίψεως), and it introduces the antitheses of 4:8-9 (which strikingly recall 1:8-9), as well as the catalogue of sufferings of 6:4-10. It appears again in Paul's account of his sufferings in Macedonia, as he awaited the return of Titus (7:5, ἐν παντὶ θλιβόμενοι). [2] Despite his deliverance in the Province of Asia, through the language of affliction and divine consolation Paul portrays his entire experience, from the return of Timothy with news of the Corinthian revolt through the composition of the Letter of Tears, the great deliverance in Asia, the departure from Troas and the arrival in Macedonia a as one long ordeal; his anguish was relieved only when Titus returned (7:6).

The parallels of thought and language between 1:8-9 and 4:8-9 strongly suggest that the Affliction in Asia took the form of a severe persecution. Wright comments,

Paul has suffered enormously in Ephesus, in ways that Acts only hints at (the riot in Acts 19 was probably only the surface noise; the story was written up, it seems, to stress that the local magistrates decided there was no reason for uproar, but it hides the deepest things Paul actually underwent)… It was brought on, it seems, by the combination of two things. First, Paul went through severe physical suffering, almost certainly imprisonment (there is no complete evidence of an Ephesian imprisonment, but this hypothesis at least seems less of a mirage the closer we get to it) and quite possibly torture and deprivation of food or sleep. Second, he was plunged into despair over the steep decline in his relationship with the Corinthian church itself. [3]

For as Dean points out,

[Paul] was not reluctant to depart when the Lord called him and in whatever way the Lord was pleased to take him. He was no stranger to the threats of death through the fury of men… He was always ready to endure imprisonment and death in the cause of Christ. In his own words, as he went about his missionary journeys, he was always being put to death as Jesus had been put to death. Some crushing blow to his spirit is the only adequate explanation of his being brought to despair of life. [4]

Dean compares the Affliction with the Gethsemane narrative: '[Paul] speaks of the sufferings of Christ as overflowing into his life (1:5)… Surely, Paul's sufferings were never more like those of his Master than when his beloved children revolted against him.' [5] However, Paul says that he suffered for the sake of the Corinthians' comfort and salvation (ὑπὲρ τῆς ὑμῶν παρακλήσεως καὶ σωτηρίας), and in 1:8-9 he speaks of himself facing death, and of being delivered by 'God who raises the dead'. Surely this brings to mind not only Gethsemane, but also (cf. 4:11a) Calvary.

In 2:14-7:4, as he reflects upon the extreme anxiety that drove him to leave a promising mission field in the Troad and cross over to Macedonia, Paul characterises his ministry as an epiphany procession; the divine purpose of his sufferings is to mediate and make known the presence and the saving power of the crucified and risen Christ (see especially the comment on 2:14-16a and 4:7-12). In his mortal body he carries around the dying of Jesus, so that in his mortal body the life of the risen Lord may also be seen (2:14-16a; 4:10-11). As a result of his sufferings, death is at work in Paul, but life is at work in the Corinthians (4:12; cf. 1:6).

At some point, however, Paul had feared that his life would actually be required of him and, despite his later claim that he would welcome death (5:1-6; Phil 1:23), he was driven to despair. It will be argued that, looking back on his own crisis of vocation, Paul identified, in varying degrees, with the similar experiences of a number of OT figures, and in particular that of the Isaianic Servant of Yahweh in Isa 49:1-13.

OT Paradigms: Moses

Paul's immediate concern, should the church fail to discipline the incestuous man, was spelled out in 1 Cor 5:6; 'Your boasting is not good. Don't you know that a little leaven works through the whole lump of dough?' The church was not merely turning a blind eye to the offender; they were celebrating him. If decisive action was not taken, the offender's depravity and wickedness would soon contaminate the whole church (v. 8). For his affair was no mere act of hubris; it was a doctrinal statement, bold demonstration of ἐξουσία ('freedom of choice') in the name of Jesus. Others claimed the same 'freedom', justifying their dining in idol temples and use of prostitutes with the slogan, Πάντα ἔξεστιν ('All things are permissible!'; 1 Cor 6:12; 10:23). In 10:1-22 Paul warns that such reckless disregard for the holiness of the church will result in divine judgment (cf. 3:16-17).

The figure of the church as Israel, one of the pillars of Pauline (indeed New Testament) theology, is particularly prominent in 1 Corinthians. [6] It becomes explicit in 1 Cor 10:1-13, where Paul describes the Exodus generation as 'our fathers' (v. 1), and alludes to the worship of the golden calf and various episodes from Numbers [7] as τύποι (v. 6), 'examples', with the nuance of 'types given by God as an indication of the future, in the form of persons or things'. [8] 'These things happened', he says, ‘so that we should not crave evil, as they did’ (10:6); they happened, and were written down, 'as warnings (τυπικῶς) for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come’ (10:11). An important influence in 1 Cor 10:14-22 is the Song of Moses, Deut 32:1-43.  There are clear allusions to Deut 32:17 in 10:20, and to Deut 32:21 in 10:22a; indeed, Hanson has argued that the passage is ‘a Christian "midrash" on Deut. 32.17-21’.[9] The theme of eating and drinking is continued from 10:1-13 (cf. Deut 32:14), as is opposition to idolatry. Rosner notes that the Targumim of Deuteronomy 32, which he argues were known to Paul (presumably as oral tradition), [10] interpret the title of ‘the Rock’ as God’s strength. [11] The theme of God’s strength is important in the Song of Moses; the people will become rich in the Promised Land, and will fall into apostasy (vv. 13-18; cf. 11:16).  Therefore God will become angry and will bring judgement upon them (vv. 19-38). God’s judgement will ‘impress upon the nation their lack of strength and the Lord’s great power’.[12] Hence 1 Cor 10:22b, ‘Are we stronger than he?’, also draws upon the Song, and is a stern warning. [13] The Song of Moses seems also to have influenced 1 Cor 10:3-4, ‘They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual Rock (πέτρα) that accompanied them, and that Rock was Christ’. [14] For in Deut 32, uniquely in the Pentateuch, the title צור (‘Rock’) is given to Yahweh (vv 4, 15, 30, 31).[15]

As Zipor has demonstrated, there is a close connection between the Song of Moses and the golden calf episode. The Song is introduced in Deut 31:14-30 (vv. 19, 21, 22, 30). The account of the giving of the Book of the Law (especially vv. 9, 25-26) recalls the giving of the stone tablets of the Law at Mount Sinai:

There is the writing of God’s words, and then their being handed over (31,25; cfr. v. 9), similar to the writing of the two tablets and then their being handed over (cfr. 9,9-11; 10,2-4, and 5,20). We are then presented with the ark of covenant (31,25-26, cfr. 10,1-3), its being carried by the children of Levi (cfr. 10,8), and the laying of the book of the Law by the side of the ark (31,26; compare laying the Tablets of Covenant into the ark, 10,2-5); but whereas the tablets and the ark are intended to be ‘edût, testimony of the alliance with Israel (Exod 31,18; 32,15; 34,28-29; cfr. 26,34 etc.), here the book of the Law is intended to be ‘ed, "testimony" against Israel (v. 26).[16] 

The same term עד (‘ed - ‘witness’ is better) is used of the Song of Moses itself:

The LORD said to Moses, ‘Soon you will lie down with your ancestors. Then this people will begin to prostitute themselves to the foreign gods in their midst, the gods of the land into which they are going; they will forsake me, breaking my covenant that I have made with them. My anger will be kindled against them in that day. I will forsake them and hide my face from them… Now therefore write this song, and teach it to the Israelites; put it in their mouths, in order that this song may be a witness (לעד) for me against the Israelites.  (Deut 31:16-19 NRSV)

This warning, and the Song itself, recall the earlier warnings of Deut 11:16-17 and 4:14-28. Both chapters 4 and 31 of Deuteronomy reverberate with echoes of the golden calf episode.[17] For example, Moses gives the following reason for the giving of the book of the Law (and, implicitly, also the Song) as a testimony against the Israelites: ‘For I know how rebellious and stiff-necked you are. If you have been rebellious against the LORD while I am still alive and with you, how much more will you rebel after I die!’ (Deut 31:27).  Elsewhere in the Pentateuch the expression ‘stiff-necked’ is found exclusively in the context of the Sinai narrative;[18] moreover, ‘the phrase ממרים הייתם ('you have been rebellious') frames the golden calf incident (Deut 9:7, 24).[19]  Referring to Deut 31:29, ‘For I know that after my death you will surely become corrupt... and evil will come upon you’, Zipor rightly concludes,

There is no need to explain what that “destruction” is.  As the expressions and idioms, used exclusively - or almost exclusively - in speeches dealing with the Mount Horeb episode and with the Golden Calf, are also used here, it should be clear to the addressee of the admonitions, that the allusion was to deeds of the same nature as that of the ancient transgression, the “original sin”, viz. the Golden Calf. [20]

The Song of Moses, then, may be understood as a warning of the consequences for Israel of a repetition of the golden calf episode. It is surely no coincidence, therefore, that the only actual citation in 1 Cor 10:1-13, set in the centre of the pericope (v. 7), is of Exod 32:6. Paul was clearly implying that in dining in idol temples, and indulging there in sexual relations with escort girls, the Corinthians were re-enacting the sin of the golden calf. At Sinai, God had become so angry that he wanted to destroy Israel completely (Exod 32:10; Deut 9:14).

When he received his envoy Timothy’s report from Corinth, Paul’s situation must have reminded him of that of Moses, when Yahweh informed him of Israel’s idolatry with the golden calf. In his absence some had become arrogant, believing that he would not return (1 Cor 4:18; cf. Exod 32:1). They had insisted upon their supposed 'right' (ἐξουσία) to indulge themselves as they pleased, and they had even defied him over the disciplining of the incestuous man. Their arrogance knew no bounds. Like Israel before the golden calf, the whole church, as a body, was out of control and seriously in breach of the covenant; though they were bitterly divided, by their failure to restore the discipline and holiness of the community they were, as a body, both guilty and unrepentant of idolatry and sexual immorality, and even of collusion in the sin of incest.

Following Yahweh’s inauguration of the old covenant at Mount Sinai, and his terrifying declaration of the Decalogue (Exod 19:3-20:19), Moses ascended the mountain to receive further instruction and a written copy of the Decalogue, engraved on stone tablets. He was on the mountain for forty days, and the people began to doubt that he would return. While he was absent, and while the Sinai theophany was still in full view (Deut 9:15),[21] the people broke the covenant by making an idol, the golden calf (cf. Exod 20:4-6; 24:3). Yahweh commanded Moses to leave him alone so that he might totally destroy them, and he would then make Moses himself into a great nation. But Moses interceded for Israel (Exod 32:9-14), and Yahweh relented. Moses then returned to the camp, and in the presence of the people he broke the stone tablets of the covenant, in a symbolic declaration that the covenant itself had been broken.[22] He then punished the people, putting to death some three thousand of them (Exod 32:25-28). 

In 2 Cor 2:14-3:18, Paul presupposes not only the Israel-church typology of 1 Corinthians, but also a corresponding typological relationship between Moses and himself. Having introduced his ministry of making manifest ‘the fragrance of the knowledge of God’ (2:14-16a), he asks, καὶ πρὸς ταῦτα τίς ἱκανός; (‘And who is sufficient for these things?’). His language evokes the LXX version of Exod 4:10, which deviates significantly from the MT. [23] In reply to his call at the burning bush, Moses confesses, οὐχ ἱκανός εἰμι ('I am not competent'). It is true that the phrase had become a fixed expression (it also occurs in Matt 3:11, 8:8; 1 Cor 15:9); but there is also a thematic parallel. Moses goes on to specify his inadequacy (Exod 4:10 LXX): his concern that he is ‘slow of tongue’ (βραδύγλωσσος), due to a speech impediment (ἰσχνόφωνος), evokes the controversy over Paul's poor rhetorical delivery (2 Cor 10:10; 11:6), and invites the deduction that just as God made Moses competent, so also God has made Paul competent. This is inference is supported by 2:17; Paul may be no orator but, unlike his opponents, he speaks the word of God in Christ, out of pure motives, as one sent from God and who stands in God’s presence. Paul alludes to the Sinai narrative (3:3), [24] spells out that his competence is from God (3:5), and then develops a detailed comparison of his own ministry with that of Moses (3:6-4:6). Just as Moses made manifest in his person the divine glory, so too does Paul, and with surpassing salvific power.

It may be inferred, nevertheless, that when Paul heard of the Corinthian revolt, and in particular of their refusal to discipline the incestuous man, he feared some form of divine retribution. Like Moses, he was faced with the prospect of returning to the community as the messenger of the covenant; and he had already given due notice that when he did return he would not again spare them (2 Cor 13:2). Like Moses, he would have had no alternative than to discipline them most severely. Paul, however, chose not to return to Corinth. He declares with an oath that it was to spare them that he did not return: he was not prepared to ‘rule over’ their faith, for ‘we are fellow-workers for your joy’ (1:23-24). As he told them in the Letter of Tears, had he returned at that point, he would have left himself without (human) consolation (see on 2:2-3). Having rejected the example of Moses in Exod 32:15-29, it seems, Paul's thought moved on to Exod 32:30-32. After taking severe disciplinary measures, Moses returned to Sinai. Interceding again for the nation, he said to Yahweh, ‘But now please forgive their sin - but if not, then blot me also out of the book you have written’ (Exod 32:32 NIV). Moses' words appear to be echoed in Rom 9:3, 'For I myself could wish that I was cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, those of my own race', written from Corinth only months later. [25] In his study of ambassadorial language in the New Testament, Bash comments that in Rom 9:3, 'Paul thinks of himself as a mediator like Moses, standing between God and the people (cf. Deut 5:5)'. [26] Noting that in Hellenistic Jewish texts Moses is described as a reconciler and mediator, [27] and that in Gal 3:19 Paul himself describes Moses as μεσιτής, he states concerning Paul's self-description in 2 Cor 5:20 as Christ's ambassador, 'I believe that Paul connected language and thought about the rôle of Moses to his own ambassadorial ministry, linking Hellenistic-Jewish ideas about Moses as mediator and reconciler with Greco-Roman language and thought about embassies.' [28] He adds that the connection 'is not exact because, though as mediator Moses interceded with God for Israel, Paul did not intercede for the Corinthians, but appealed to them to be reconciled to God.' [29] In 2 Cor 2:15, however, Paul says that he is Χριστοῦ εὐωδία τῷ θεῷ, implying that as Christ's ambassador, representing Christ's bodily presence, his sufferings are accepted by God as a presentation of the pleasing aroma of the Christ-sacrifice (see comment, and cf. 4:7-11). Then 5:20 may be understood as follows: having interceded with God as Christ's ambassador for the Corinthians, so heading off the divine destruction of the church, Paul now appeals to the Corinthians on behalf of Christ to participate in the reconciliation that Christ has achieved through his death on the Cross (v. 21).

It is suggested, then, that like Moses on his return to Sinai after the destruction of the Golden Calf, Paul interceded for the Corinthians, declaring his solidarity with them, confessing the sin of the community as their leader and requesting that he share their fate; and that he understood his entire ordeal, from the return of Timothy in Ephesus to the return of Titus in Macedonia, in light of this commitment.

OT Paradigms: The Servant of Yahweh, and Related Figures

An echo of the Song of Moses in 2 Cor 7:5 lends support to our hypothesis. Paul seems to indicate that, even in Macedonia as he awaited the return of Titus, he felt that he was experiencing the curse sanctions of the covenant. He describes his situation in the words, ἐν παντὶ θλιβόμενοι· ἔξωθεν μάχαι, ἔσωθεν φόβοι: ‘We were afflicted in every way: conflicts without, terrors within!’, a clear echo of Deut 32:25a LXX, 'From outside a dagger shall bereave them, and from the inner chambers fear, young man together with maiden, nursing child with the one grown old' (NETS). Note the play on μάχαιρα / μάχαι:

The context of Deut 32:25a is God’s rejection and punishment of his people and their ejection from the Land: they have broken the covenant, and the promised judgment will come upon them. They will be overrun by their enemies and taken into exile. [31] The apostle found no rest until Titus returned from Corinth (cf. 2:12-13); surely he still feared the loss of his spiritual children, and death at the hands of his enemies. The whole literary unit of 2 Cor 2:14-7:4 is set in the context of Paul's extreme anxiety as he crossed over from Asia to Macedonia in search of Titus, with news from Corinth. Already, in 2:14-16, Paul's Greco-Roman processional imagery is combined with processional imagery drawn from Isaiah 40-66; as Webb points out, 

A roadway in the wilderness is the "new thing" (in contrast to the first Exodus led by Moses) that Yahweh is going to bring about (Isa 43:16-21). On that triumphant highway, a second Moses, the (new) covenant mediator will lead his people out of captivity and back to the land.  The result will be a display of Yahweh’s glory to all the nations (Isa 40:5; cf. 52:10).[32]

The New Exodus theme is almost omnipresent in Isaiah 40-55, for which it provides an inclusio (40:1-11; 55:12-13); cf. 4:2-6; 10:24-26; 11:11, 15-16; 35:5-10, 58:8; 60:2, 19; 63. [33] The imagery is explicit in 43:16-21, and Exodus motifs appear also in 48:20-21 (water from the rock); 52:11-12 (leaving in haste, taking vessels, being guarded front and rear by God); and 51:9-11 (the making of a way through the sea); [34] and there are references to the related themes of redemption, recreation, theophany, and pilgrimage to God’s holy mountain. [35] As Hugenberger points out, 'a passage such as 51:9-11 demonstrates that the second Exodus was to reflect the original in a pilgrimage / triumphal procession to God’s holy mountain': [36]

Awake, awake! Clothe yourself with strength, O arm of the LORD; awake, as in days gone by, as in generations of old. Was it not you who cut Rahab to pieces, who pierced that monster through? ¹⁰ Was it not you who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, who made a road in the depths of the sea so that the redeemed might cross over? ¹¹ The ransomed of the LORD will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away. (NIV)

In 2:14-7:4 Paul portrays his own person as the sacred object in an epiphany procession (a development of the triumphal imagery of 2:14), in which his own body is the locus of the epiphany of the risen and crucified Christ. It is important to note, therefore, the existence of an OT genre that portrays God’s presence as precipitating powerful natural phenomena. Following Westermann, Patrick identifies a literary genre within the OT, the ‘epiphany tradition’, which is characterised by

(i) the visitation of God;

(ii) the miraculous disruption of nature along God’s route; and

(iii) his intervention for (or against) his people in a time of crisis (e.g. Judges 5:4-5). [37]

The (first) Exodus is portrayed as epiphany in Ps 77:16-20; cf. Exod 15:7-10. [38] Epiphany imagery is used in the portrayal of future acts of judgment in Isa 30:27-33 (against Assyria), and Mic 1:3-4 (against Israel). [39] In Isa 40:3-5 Yahweh is to travel along a highway in the desert; [40] the desert environment is changed by the action of God upon it. The disruptions of nature contribute to Yahweh’s salvific action, the building of the highway (the levelling of the path, the miraculous appearance of water and vegetation, etc.; cf. Isa 41:18, 43:20b; 49:9c-10).[41] The new exodus will lead to an ‘everlasting covenant’ (61:8; cf. 42:6; 49:8; 59:21); cf. the second Exodus setting of the key new covenant promises of Jer 31:31-34 and Ezek 36:24-28, to which Paul alludes in 2 Cor 3:3, 6.

The imagery of the New Exodus is clearly visible in 2 Cor 2:14-3:6. God is portrayed as a triumphant general, riding in his throne chariot, with Christ at his side; he leads Paul in a triumphal procession. Paul, though he is God's prisoner of war, serves as  incense bearer (2:14), a Moses-like figure, a διάκονος (servant, mediator) of the new covenant (2:16c; 3:5-6). The apostle himself is the locus of an ongoing epiphany of the crucified and risen Christ, the Servant of Yahweh (cf. 4:10-11), whose suffering and death are prophesied in Isa 50:4-9; 52:13-53:12. [42] As Christ's envoy, it is Paul's role to represent Christ's bodily presence. His sufferings ascend to God as the pleasing aroma of an acceptable sacrifice, the death of Christ. To those who are being saved, Paul's sufferings are 'the fragrance of the advance of life', but to those who are perishing, 'the stench of the advance of death' (2:15-16b). Paul's ministry mediates, not the Law engraved on stone tablets, but he Spirit of Christ, who indwells the fleshly hearts of those who have been made alive (3:3, 6). The glory of this ongoing epiphany of the saving presence and power of God far exceeds the glory of the Mosaic ministry (3:7-11).

As is widely recognised, in Gal 1:15, in connection with his own call to ministry, Paul strongly echoes Isa 49:1 LXX, ἐκ κοιλίας μητρός μου ἐκάλεσεν τὸ ὄνομά μου ('From my mother's womb he called my name', NETS). [43] Through his envoy Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, the Servant was carrying out his mission to be a light to the Gentiles (Isa 49:6; cf. 42:6). During the Affliction in Asia and as he awaited the return of Titus, Paul likely meditated on the Servant's lament in Isa 49:4, 'I have labored to no purpose; I have spent my strength in vain and for nothing. Yet what is due me is in the LORD's hand, and my reward is with my God' (NIV). The Servant's voice is first heard in 48:16b, 'And now the Sovereign LORD has sent me, with his Spirit'. [44] In 49:4 he laments his apparent failure in this task of leading the Second Exodus, restoring the faithful remnant of  Israel to the Land. In response, however, Yahweh assures him that he will also make him a Light to the Gentiles (49:5-6).

Turning to Paul's own crisis of vocation, in 1 Cor 5 he addresses the Corinthian believers, not as Gentiles, but as members of the new Israel. The church was tolerating, even celebrating, a form of sexual immorality that was not tolerated even among the Gentiles (ἐν τοῖς ἒθνεσιν, v. 1). [45] As Hays points out, 'this formulation implies that he considers his Gentile Corinthian converts to belong no longer to the category of the ἒθνη (the Gentiles). [46] Paul does not cite Jewish law, but simply assumes that it is obvious that such behaviour is absolutely incompatible with the Corinthians' status as members of the eschatological new Israel. He calls upon them to remove the incestuous offender from their community (vv. 3-5, 13). The church is like a lump of unleavened bread: should they fail to get rid of this old leaven, a symbol of corruption and wickedness, the whole lump will become leaven (vv. 6-8). Through their subsequent refusal to take this action, the whole church became complicit in his sin and subject to divine judgment (cf. 1 Cor 3:16-17; 10:1-13; Lev 18:8, 24-25, 29-30); in effect, they returned to the captivity of the Exile. Like his Master Paul the Servant's servant, must have feared that his labours had been in vain. However, as he interceded for the Corinthians, enduring the Affliction in Asia as their representative before God, God helped his Servant, as promised in Isa 49:8: he delivered the Servant's servant from certain death, thereby confirming his offer of reconciliation to the Corinthians. Paul therefore urges the Corinthians not to receive God's grace in vain: they must now complete their repentance, making peace with God (2 Cor 5:20-6:2; note the quotation of Isa 49:8 LXX in 6:2). They must leave the realm of  darkness (Isa 49:9; note the quotation of Isa 52:11 in 6:17). When Paul recalls in 7:6 the return of Titus with news of the church's repentance, he alludes to Isa 49:13 LXX.

The Servant and the Figure of Psalm 69

Psalm 69, a psalm of lament, portrays a righteous sufferer crying out to God for deliverance. Death now seems imminent, and he is in despair (vv. 1-3; cf. 2 Cor 1:8-9a). He fears that God has not answered him because of his ‘foolish sins’, and he prays that none who rely on God will be disgraced because of him (vv. 5-7). Nevertheless, the poor and oppressed in exile who seek the Lord will witness his thanksgiving; and he prays that they will rejoice and be encouraged (vv. 30-37; English vv. 29-36). The psalm appears to create a metaphor in which 'the suffering of the community is expressed and focused in the suffering of one individual who is more than likely to be the king'. [47] Though his sufferings are increased by the activities of his enemies, the speaker regards himself as having been afflicted by God: ‘For they persecute those you wound and talk about the pain of those you hurt’ (v. 26 NIV; Hebrew, LXX v. 27).[48] Paul quotes Psa 69:9 (MT v. 10) in Rom 15:3, identifying the speaker with Christ; [49]

evidently he regards the speaker as suffering vicariously for the sin of Israel (cf.. Isa 53:4-5).

The language of 2 Cor 1:3-11 has a particular affinity with Ps 68(69):17-21 LXX:  

Listen to me, O Lord, for your mercy is kind:
according to the abundance of your compassions (οἰκτιρμῶν) look upon me.
Do not turn away your face from your servant:
because I am in affliction (θλίβομαι), quickly hearken to me.
Pay attention to my soul and redeem it:
for the sake of my enemies rescue me (ῥῦσαί με). 
For you know my reproach and my shame and my embarrassment: before you are all those who afflict me (πάντες οἱ θλίβοντές με).
Reproach my heart expected – and misery, and I waited for one to would sympathize, but none existed:
and for comforters (παρακαλοῦντας), and I did not find. (NETS)

It is also worth noting that the immediately preceding psalm closes with εὐλογητὸς ὁ θεός (Psa 67[68]:36 LXX; cf. 2 Cor 1:3). [50] Paul evidently understood both the figure portrayed in Psalm 69 and the Isaianic Servant as foreshadowings of Christ, whose bodily presence it was his role to represent and make manifest. In his great affliction, as before God he took personal responsibility for sins of the rebellious Corinthians, Paul would certainly have identified with the cry,

But I pray to you, O LORD, in the time of your favour (עת רצון):
in your great love, O God, answer me (ענני) with your sure salvation (ישׁעך). (Psalm 69:13 NIV)

The only other occurrence of the phrase עת רצון in the Hebrew canon is in Isa 49:8, which Paul quotes in the LXX version in 6:2. This can hardly be mere coincidence. Noting both a thematic and a unique linguistic connection between the two passages, Paul must have linked them by gezerah shewah, as mutually interpreting texts. In his despair, like the Servant, he had feared that he had laboured in vain; but through Christ the Servant, God (κύριος ὁ ῥυσάμενός σε, 'the Lord who delivers you', Isa 49:7 LXX) delivered him, once again answering the petition of his Servant (cf. the comment on 1:5):

In the time of my favour (בעת רצון) I will answer you (עניתיך):
in the day of salvation (ישׁועה) I will help you. (Isa 49:8 NIV)

In 2 Cor 2:14-7:4 Paul very clearly identifies himself as an envoy of the Servant, in whose person the presence and saving power of the Servant is being made known. Paul must have seen in Isa 49:8 God's response to the prayer of Ps 69:14(13); as he now looks back on his own crisis of vocation, he is able to identify with the experiences of both figures.

A comparison of Psalm 69 with the situation of the apostle during the crisis, as it has now been reconstructed, reveals at least the following points of contact. Like the apostle during his Affliction,

1. the speaker is near to death, apparently as a result of persecution (vv. 1-3, 14-18);[51]
2. though the speaker acknowledges his folly and guilt before God, in Paul's understanding he is in fact righteous (v. 5; cf. 2 Cor 1:12);
3. though he suffers because of his zeal for God and for God’s house (vv. 7, 9-12), the speaker was afflicted by God (v. 26);
4. he is persecuted on account of false accusations (v. 5); [52]
5. the speaker fears that his untimely death would bring shame and disgrace upon many faithful believers, as his enemies triumphed over him (v. 6: cf. v. 18); [53]
6. the speaker's sufferings are aggravated by the scorn of his many godless oppressors (vv. 4, 7, 10-12, 18-21, 26; cf. 1 Cor 16:9b).

The Servant and the Figure of Psalm 116 (Psalms 114 + 115 LXX)

Psalm 116 (114+115 LXX), a psalm of thanksgiving, also plays a key role in the argument of 2 Corinthians. Following the Toda tradition, the speaker testifies to divine deliverance from seemingly certain death, giving thanks in the congregation of Israel. Paul will have been very familiar with the Hebrew original, since the Temple choir sang the Hallel, Psalms 113-118,  every morning during various annual festivals. [54] Thrall points out that 2 Cor 1:8-11 shares some common features with Ps 114 LXX. [55]

(i) In Ps 114(116):8 LXX, θάνατος has the sense ‘danger of death’, just as in 2 Cor 1:10.[56]

(ii) 'In Ps 114(116).3 LXX, the speaker describes the dangers that surrounded him, ending θλῖψιν καὶ ὀδύνην εὗρον ('affliction and grief I found', NETS).

(iii) In v. 4 he tells how he called upon God for rescue,  ῥῦσαι τὴν ψυχήν μου ('Rescue my soul!').

(iv) In v. 8 he speaks of his deliverance, ἐξείλατο τὴν ψυχήν μου ἐκ θανάτου ('he delivered my soul from death').

[57] That in 2 Cor 1:8-11 Paul has in mind Psalm 116 is confirmed by his quotation from Psalm 115:1 LXX (116:10) in 2 Cor 4:13, 'I believed, therefore I spoke; but I, I was brought very low (ἐταπεινώθην σφόδρα)' (NETS). Since Paul will have read Psalms 114, 115 LXX together as a unity, he will have read Psa 115:1 LXX in light of Psa 114(116):6, 'The Lord is one who protects his infants; I was brought low (ἐταπεινώθην) and he saved me' (NETS), a reference to the speakers deliverance from mortal danger (vv. 3-4). In 4:13, therefore, as he identifies with the faith of the speaker, Paul identifies also with his experience of divine deliverance. In fact, the Psalm seems to be in Paul's mind throughout 2 Cor 4:13-5:10. In 5:9, as Wright notes, there is a clear echo of Psa 114(116):9 LXX: 'I will be well pleasing (εὐαρεστήσω) before the Lord in the community of the living' (NETS). [58]

As he reflected on the psalm following the return of Titus, Paul must surely have identified with the words, 'Be at rest once more, O my soul, for the LORD has been good to you. For you, O LORD, have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before the Lord in the land of the living' (Psa 116[114]:7-9, NIV); cf. 2 Cor 2:4, 13; 7:5. As Hafemann remarks,

Paul stands in the long line of the suffering righteous from the past ... The psalmist finds himself in a situation of “death,” only to be rescued by the Lord in response to his desperate cry for help (116:1-9). The psalmist’s response to God’s rescue of him is to fulfil a “vow” of thanksgiving as his “sacrifice of praise.” An essential aspect of this praise is the psalmist’s conclusion from his experience of suffering and divine rescue that he is indeed God’s servant (116:16). Paul’s own experience of God’s rescuing him from death leads to this same response of praise (2 Cor 1:3, 11; 2:14; 4:8-9, 15) and to the same conviction of his status as God’s servant (3:1-6; 4:1-7).[59]

Paul's language in 2 Cor 2:15, Χριστοῦ εὐωδία ἐσμὲν τῷ θεω ('we are the pleasing aroma of the Christ-sacrifice, acceptable to God') and his identification with the figure portrayed in Psalms 69 and 116, justifies the inference that he came to understand his 'Affliction in Asia' as patterned after the death and resurrection of Christ the Servant of Yahweh:

Yet it was the LORD's will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand. After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities ... For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. (Isaiah 53:10-12 NIV)

In 2 Cor 6:11a, τὸ στόμα τὸ ἡμῶν ἀνέῳγεν πρὸς ὑμᾶς (literally, 'our mouth is open to you'), Paul seems to allude to, but qualify, his identification with, the Servant of Isaiah 53. When he suffered, the Servant did not open his mouth (οὐκ ἀνοίγει τὸ στόμα, Isa 53:7 LXX). The apostle, however, has spoken at length about his sufferings, and he is not done yet!

The Servant and the Figure of Psalm 118

In 2 Cor 6:9, ὡς ἀποθνῄσκοντες καὶ ἰδοὺ ζῶμεν, ὡς παιδευόμενοι καὶ μὴ θανατούμενοι ('as dying, yet - see! - we live, as disciplined, yet not put to death') is a clear allusion to Ps 117(118):17-18 LXX,[60] οὐκ ἀποθανοῦμαι, ἀλλὰ ζήσομαι καὶ ἐκδιηγήσομαι τὰ ἔργα κυρίου. παιδεύων ἐπαίδευσέν με ὁ κύριος καὶ τῷ θανάτῳ οὐ παρέδωκέν με (‘I shall not die, but I shall live, and recount the deeds of the Lord.  In disciplining the Lord disciplined me, and he did not surrender me to death’, NETS). There is general agreement that the Psalm ‘reflects the cultic experience of Israel and that its theme concerns the figure of a king who corporately represents the people undergoing affliction by the nations’; [61] in the early Church the Psalm was widely regarded as messianic. [62]

It is suggested that Paul identified the King of Psalm 118 with the Isaianic Servant on the basis of gezerah shewah; for Isa 49:8b MT reads,

 וביום ישׁועה עזרתיך (‘in the day of salvation I will help you’),

whereas Ps 118:5 MT has, ‘in my anguish I cried to the LORD, and he answered me (ענני) by setting me in a broad place’, and vv. 13-14 read ‘I was pushed back and about to fall, but the LORD helped me (עזרני); the LORD is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation (ישׁועה)’. Since Paul describes his own sufferings, as well as those of the Corinthians, as a participation

τὰ παθήματα τοῦ Χριστοῦ

in the sufferings of Christ (2 Cor 1:5; cf. Phil 3:10) [63] it is also worth noting that in early Christian tradition Christ is frequently identified both with the king who speaks in Psalm 118 (117),[64] and also with the Isaianic Servant.[65]

OT Paradigms: Jeremiah [66]

In 2 Corinthians Paul also compares and contrasts his ministry with that of Jeremiah. The distinctive imagery of Paul's authority ‘to build up and not to tear down’ (εἰς οἰκοδομὴν καὶ οὐκ εἰς καθαίρεσιν ὑμῶν; 2 Cor 10:8; 13:10) recalls the language of Jeremiah (1:10; 24:6f; 31:27f; 42[49]:10; 45:4 [51:34]).[67]  In particular, Paul’s language brings to mind Jer 38(31):27f LXX:

Therefore look, days are coming, quoth the Lord, when I will seed Israel and Judah with the seed of a human and the seed of an animal. And it shall be just as I watched over them to pull down (καθαιρεῖν) and bring evil, so will I watch over them to build (οἰκοδομεῖν) and to plant, quoth the Lord. (NETS)

In 2 Cor 10:8; 13:10, Paul is clearly referring to the prophetic authority given to him when he was called to the apostolic ministry . His point is that, unlike Jeremiah, he has been given the task of building the covenant community, not of tearing it down. Jeremiah, who operated under the old covenant, was called to declare judgment upon the people (Jer 5:14; 11:1-17; 22:9; cf. 7:1-15).[68] Though he called for repentance (e.g. 2:1-4:4), Jeremiah’s appeals were not heeded; indeed, the people’s hearts were hardened so that they could not repent (13:20-27; 17:1-4; cf. 2 Cor 3:14-15), and Jeremiah was instructed by Yahweh to intercede for them no more (7:16-20; 14:11-12; 15:1). Judgment would certainly follow, and they would go into exile (10:17-25; 13:18-19; 16:10-13; 17:1-4 etc.). Nevertheless, Jeremiah does have a message of hope: the day will come when Yahweh will make a new covenant with a remnant of his people, and they (the remnant) will be restored to the Land (30:1-33:26). Since in 2 Cor 3:6 Paul describes himself as διάκονος of this new covenant, it is significant that Jer 31(38):27f occurs in the preamble to the promise of 31:31-34. [69]

Like Paul (and Moses), Jeremiah had experienced a crisis of vocation. His message of judgment brought upon him insults, ridicule and great personal danger; indeed, he cursed the day he was born (20:18). The rejection of his message was due in large measure to the people’s acceptance of the opposing oracles of false prophets (5:30-31; 14:13-16; 23:9-40). A series of oracles concerning these false prophets is prefaced by the following lament: ‘My heart is broken within me; all my bones tremble.  I am like a drunken man, like a man overcome by wine, because of the LORD, and his holy words’ (23:9, NIV).[70]  The following oracles call to mind at many points the situation faced by Paul during the Corinthian crisis. ‘The land is full of adulterers’, complains the prophet.  As a result, the covenantal curses have come into operation: there is a drought. Prophet and priest alike are godless, and wickedness is found even in the Temple. Jeremiah’s opponents are described as follows. The prophets of Samaria prophesy by Baal, and lead God’s people astray (v. 13); ‘They think the dreams they tell one another will make my people forget my name ... [they] lead my people astray with their reckless lies’ (vv. 27, 32 NIV). The prophets of Jerusalem commit (spiritual, though perhaps also literal) adultery, and ‘walk in falsehood’, strengthening the hands of evildoers so that no one repents; from these false prophets, godlessness has spread throughout the land (vv. 14-15). Despite the drought, the false prophets persuaded the people that they would enjoy peace, and they disregarded Jeremiah’s warnings and continued in their idolatry and wickedness (vv. 16-20). In the same way, Paul’s opponents, the false apostles, had come proclaiming a different Jesus and a different gospel (2 Cor 11:4). They had taught that for the believer, 'all things are permissible', including idolatry, sexual relations with prostitutes, and even incest. Despite the judgment that had already fallen upon them (1 Cor 11:27-32), and in total disregard of Paul's warnings and the representations of his envoy Timothy, the church had refused to repent.

There is a striking set of parallels between Jer 23:9-40 and the thought of 2 Cor 2:17; 4:2. In 2:17 Paul, who takes pride in preaching the gospel free of charge (11:7-12; 1 Cor 9:4-18), contrasts his own ministry with that of others who ‘peddle the word of God’. Paul speaks the word of God ‘in Christ’, with pure motives (ὡς ἐξ εἰλικρινείας), as one sent from God (ὡς ἐκ θεοῦ), who stands in God’s presence (κατέναντι θεοῦ ἐν Χριστῷ).[71] His opponents, by implication, are motivated by monetary gain, are not sent from God, and do not stand in God's presence. Similarly, Jeremiah’s opponents did not speak the word of God with sincerity. In Jer 23:28 Yahweh says, ‘Let the prophet who has a dream tell his dream, but let the one who has my word speak it faithfully’ (NIV).[72] God did not send Jeremiah’s opponents, yet they prophesied (Jer 23:21; cf. v. 32); they have not stood in God’s council, or they would have caused the people to hear God’s word, and repent (v. 22).

In 2 Cor 4:2, Paul again compares himself with his opponents. Unlike them, he has renounced ‘secret and shameful ways’ (τὰ κρυπτὰ τῆς αἰσχύνης), ‘not walking in craftiness’ (μὴ περιπατοῦντες ἐν πανουργίᾳ), ‘nor perverting the word of God’ (μηδὲ δολοῦντες τὸν λόγον τοῦ θεοῦ). Again, there are close parallels in Jer 23:9-40.  First, having denounced the false prophets, whom he has not sent, who have not stood in his council (vv. 16-22), Yahweh asks, ‘Am I only a God nearby, and not a God far away?  Can anyone hide in secret places so that I cannot see him?  Do I not fill heaven and earth?’ (vv. 23-24). Yahweh goes on to say that he is well aware of the lies that they prophesy, in order to lead his people astray (vv. 25-27, 32). In context, vv. 23-24 implies that the false prophets imagine that, since Yahweh has withdrawn, he will not come in judgment (cf. v. 17); he is unaware of their evil ways. Similarly, Paul implies that his opponents plot in secret to lead astray the Corinthians (cf. 11:3), leading them to believe that they can sin with impunity. Second, μὴ περιπατοῦντες ἐν πανουργίᾳ echoes the phrase ‘and live a lie’ (והלך בשׁקר, v. 14).[73] The false prophets of Jerusalem commit adultery, and by their words and example encourage others to follow them; this accurately reflects the activities of Paul’s opponents in Corinth. Third, μηδὲ δολοῦντες τὸν λόγον τοῦ θεοῦ echoes Yahweh’s warning that every man's word becomes his own oracle, 'so you pervert [74] the words of the living God’

(והפכתם את־דברי אלהים חיים)', v. 36.[75]  Finally, ἐνώπιον τοῦ θεοῦ (4:2) recalls κατέναντι θεοῦ (2 Cor 2:17), and the parallels mentioned above; Paul commends himself to every person’s conscience in the sight (presence) of God, openly making known the truth.

Given so many points of contact between Paul’s comments concerning his opponents in 2 Cor 2:17; 4:2 and Jer 23:9-40, and the extensive parallels between the situation contemplated by Paul after the failure of 1 Corinthians and that contemplated by Jeremiah as he faced the false prophets, it may be inferred that in 2 Cor 2:17; 4:2 Paul likely echoes consciously Jer 23:9-40. Evidently he sees a close parallel between Jeremiah’s struggle with the false prophets and his own struggle with the false apostles. This hypothesis is strongly supported by another unique verbal and thematic in the MT. Jer 23:9 MT reads as follows:

My heart is crushed within me (נשׁבר לבי בקרבי): all my bones shake. I have become like a drunkard, like one overcome by wine, because of the LORD, and because of his holy words.  (NRSV)

Faced with the pronouncement of Yahweh’s judgment on the people, the prophet cries out that his heart is ‘broken’ or ‘crushed’. It was precisely in order to avoid finding himself in a similar position that Paul cancelled his visit to Corinth. He feared that, if he returned to Corinth and confronted the sin of the church, he would have no alternative than to carry out the threat he had made when he was last with them (2 Cor 13:2): instead of building up, he would have to tear down the church he had founded (13:10). In 2 Corinthians Paul emphasises repeatedly his love for the church,[76] and by such an act he would surely have broken his own heart. His enemies would have poured scorn upon him and, contemplating Jer 23:9, he likely thought also of Ps 69:21(20), applying it to his own situation:

Insults have broken my heart (שׁברה לבי) so that I am in despair: I looked for pity, but there was none: and for comforters, but I found none (Psa 69:20[21] NRSV).[77]

The ‘broken heart’ motif, expressed in terms of the verb שׁבר (Qal, ‘shatter’, ‘smash’),[78] occurs in the MT in Pss 69:21(20); 147:3; Jer 23:9 (Qal); and in Pss 34:19(18); 51:19(17); 147:3; and Isa 61:1 (Niphal).  In Pss 34:19; 51:19; 147:3 and Isa 61:1, the context is of promise: Yahweh is close to the broken-hearted, and will help them. [79] In Ps 69:21 and Jer 23:9, however, the context is of lament. Had Paul come to Corinth and disciplined the church, he would have left himself without comforters: ‘For if I cause you sorrow, who will be left to make me glad, if not the one who has been made sorrowful by me?’ (2 Cor 2:2); the parallel with Ps 69:21 is clear. The same situation would presumably have faced him if the mission of Titus had failed.