Feeding the Sheep Torah

Vision of Christ: Those Things That Are (Rev 2-3)

2010-04-25T15:42:00.008-04:00

Here we find the letters to the seven churches and thus to the complete (symbolism of the number 7) church. This is the second half of the vision of Christ.

Instead of continuing to mark new paragraphs with "I heard" or "I saw," now a new section begins with: "To the angel of the church in ... write..." This emphasizes that this vision that is seen and heard is to be written down. Next John points to the parts of the vision of Christ. Ephesus: "The words of Him who holds the seven stars in His right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands" (Rev 2:1). Smyrna: "The words of the First and the Last, who died and came to life" (Rev 2:8). Pergamum: The words of Him who has the sharp two-edged sword" (Rev 2:12). Thyatira: "The words of the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and whose feet are like burnished bronze" (Rev 2:18). Sardis: "The words of Him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars" (Rev 3:1). Philadelphia: "The words of the Holy One, the True One, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens" (Rev 3:7). Laodicea: "The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God's creation" (Rev 3:14).

The allusions to the vision of Christ opening each are relevant to the circumstances of each particular church. First, Jesus walks among the golden lampstands (Rev 2:1) and can "come to you and remove your lampstand from its place" (Rev 2:5). Second, Jesus is "the First and the Last, who died and came to life" (Rev 2:8) and the people need to "be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life" (Rev 2:10). Third, Jesus' words are "the sharp two-edged sword" (Rev 2:12) and if they do not repent "I will come to you soon and war against them with the sword of my mouth" (Rev 2:16). Fourth, Jesus "has eyes like a flame of fire" (Rev 2:18) and "I am He who searches mind and heart" (Rev 2:23). And etc.

After mentioning something about the vision of Christ, usually then Christ gives the strengths of that church, but either way the paragraph begins "I know [often: "your works"]." Ephesus: "I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name's sake, and you have not grown weary" (Rev 2:2-3). Smyrna: "I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich) and the slander of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation" (Rev 2:9-10). Pergamum: ""I know where you dwell, where Satan's throne is. Yet you hold fast my name, and you did not deny my faith even in the days of Antipas my faithful witness, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells" (Rev 2:13). Thyatira: "I know your works, your love and faith and service and patient endurance, and that your latter works exceed the first" (Rev 2:19). Sardis: "I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive" (Rev 3:1). Philadelphia: "I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name... (Rev 3:8-11). Laodicea: "I know your works" (Rev 3:15).

Virtues that are praised include "patient endurance" (Ephesus: Rev 2:2; Thyatira: Rev 2:19, Philadelphia: Rev 3:10), not denying Jesus and holding fast to His name (Pergamum: Rev 2:13, Philadelphia: Rev 3:8), love and faith and service (Thyatira: Rev 2:19), keeping the word of Christ (Philadelphia 3:8, 10), as well as not growing weary (Ephesus: Rev 2:3) and testing false apostles and kicking them out (Ephesus: Rev 2:2) and even hating the works of the Nicolaitan heretics (Rev 2:6).

Many also include vices like abandoning your first love (Ephesus: Rev 2:4, "But I have this against you..."), being a stumbling block so that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice sexual immorality and holding the teaching of the Nicolaitans (Pergamum: Rev 2:14, "But I have a few things against you..."), tolerating a false prophetess who seduces them to practice sexual immorality and eat foods sacrificed to idols (Thyatira: Rev 2:20, "But I have this against you..."), Sardis does not have complete works (Rev 3:9), and Laodicea does not see their need for God (Rev 3:17). Some of the churches are weak where others are strong and vice versa. For example, Smyrna is enduring poverty ("but you are rich," Rev 2:9), but Laodicea says they are rich not realizing that they are poor (Rev 3:17). Pergamum and Thyatira are not dealing with heresy but Ephesus is (contrast especially apparent on the Nicolaitans (Rev 2:6, 2:15). Two of the letters also mention the "synagogue of Satan" -- those who claim to be Jews but are not followers of Christ and are persecuting the church (Rev 2:9 and 3:9).

Some have a promise or threat: "If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent" (Ephesus, Rev 2:5). "Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life" (Smyrna, Rev 2:10). "If not, I will come to you soon and war against them with the sword of my mouth" (Pergamum, Rev 2:16). The great tribulation is the threat for those who hold to false teaching in Thyatira (Rev 2:22). Sardis, "If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you" (Rev 3:3). Philadelphia, "Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth. I am coming soon. Hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown" (Rev 3:10-11). Laodicea: "If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me" (Rev 3:20). Of course, a threat implies a promise and a promise implies a threat.

Then each one concludes in a similar way. Ephesus: "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God" (Rev 2:7). Smyrna: "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death" (Rev 2:11). Pergamum: "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it (Rev 2:17). Tyatira: "To the one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my Father. And I will give him the morning star. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches" (Rev 2:26-29). Sardis: "The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches" (Rev 3:5-6). Philadelphia: "The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches" (Rev 3:12-13). And Laodicea: "The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches" (Rev 3:21-22). Each one emphasizes us as kings.

The order of "He who has an ear" and "The one who conquers" switches with the church in the middle. It is also worth noting that the second church and the second-to-last church are the ones that Christ does not say something is wrong. These things suggest that the churches are in a chiastic order. G. K. Beale suggests this is the case because the healthy churches are not only a minority but are surrounded by unhealthy ones. It appears though that John has done other things to make sure we do not read too much into the chiasm, like the only two times it does not say "I know your works" but instead "I know your tribulation" and "I know where you dwell" is for the second and third cities. The three in the middle have connections between them. For example Pergamum and Thyatira both have similar problems with sexual immorality and food sacrificed to idols and Thyatira and Sardis both have members who have not been stained by the sins mentioned.

These letters are full of allusions to later parts of Revelation and the rest of Scripture. Just a few examples of the latter: Rev 2:2 and 1 John 4:1; the tree of life and paradise of God (Rev 2:7) refer to the Garden of Eden in Genesis; Balaam and Balak (Rev 2:14) are from Numbers; manna is an obvious reference, but that it is "hidden manna" is probably an allusion to John 4:32; Jezebel is a reference to the Baal prophetess who seduced Ahab away from YHWH to serve idols in the OT Book of Kings; Rev 2:27 is paraphrasing Psalm 2:9; like many other places the thief in the night is a common teaching (Rev 3:3, 1 Thess 5:2, 2 Peter 3:10, Matt 24:43 / Luke 12:39, also Rev 16:15); and others (both more obvious and thus easy to gloss over like references to King David and those that are more obscure).

I look forward to continue to see more things in these seven letters.

Vision of Christ: What You Have Seen (Rev 1:9-20)

2010-04-19T09:24:00.009-04:00

It is pretty easy to divide up these verses. Rev 1:9 pretty well stands on its own, introductory in nature, but clearly looking forward to the text that follows rather than back at the introduction.

It is interesting that John begins by introducing himself as "your brother and partner [fellow-partaker] in the tribulation...." He associates himself with everyone who lives in this age (tribulation is a word used in the seven letters (Rev 2:9, 2:10, 2:22) and later (Rev 7:14)). The point I am making is that tribulation describes the whole period from John's time until Christ's return. Of course, it can get worse -- thus "great tribulation." But the whole period can be described as a time of tribulation. He is also a fellow-partaker in the kingdom and the patient endurance in Jesus. Thus we see this apocalyptic theme emphasizing patience in the midst of tribulation. Poythress says, "Christian experience has two sides, suffering and kingdom" (75, The Returning King). He reigns in the midst of tribulation. This is a much different idea than many expected with the coming of the kingdom. John points out that the situation of tribulation has come for him because of Jesus: "on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus." So this is not just tribulation for tribulation's sake, but suffering for the sake of Jesus' name. These tribulations, even those faced by John personally in his exile to Patmos, are a reminder that the return of Christ is eschatologically soon/near.

Rev 1:10 introduces the first vision of Revelation "in the Spirit" and also includes the phrase "and I heard." This is a vision (that he saw and heard). But it is a vision that stresses the importance of the written word: "Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches..." (Rev 1:11). We are again reminded that this is a letter (an epistle). That it is written to seven churches, since seven means complete, shows us that it was meant for the whole church. And it is a vision on the eighth day of the week -- the Lord's day, pointing us forward to the end of Revelation.

Rev 1:12 is a new paragraph marked by "I saw" and Rev 1:17 yet another paragraph marked by the phrase "and when I saw."

In the paragraph starting with verse 12, we see the vision of Christ. John turned to the voice and saw seven golden lampstands reminiscent of Zechariah 4. In the midst of the lampstands was Christ in a robe with a sash. He is described with the terminology of the book of Daniel: "like a son of man" (Rev 1:13, cf. Dan 7:13). The description of the hair reminds one of Daniel 7:9. The eyes and feet and sound like Daniel 10:6. The vision of Ezekiel 1 is similar to these. John combines all of these descriptions into one. Clearly John wants the reader to associate the visions of Daniel and Ezekiel with the vision of Christ. And John tells us that Christ is holding seven stars and wielding a "sharp two-edged sword" from His mouth and His face was like the shining sun.

Now what does this vision mean? First, the image is of Christ as the judge and ruler of the universe, including the churches in a special way. He resembles God the Father -- the white hair reminding us of His wisdom. This is after all a wisdom writing. The description also reminds us of high priest's robe and sash because Christ is the priest in the temple of God where the churches are lampstands. John stresses the theme of the testimony of Jesus. This is what landed him in exile on Patmos. And the churches are seen as lampstands as a reminder that they are to bear light -- that is, to bear witness to Christ. The seven stars are the angels or messengers of the churches. (The word translated angels simply means messengers, whether these are supernatural beings or not depends on the context.) That these stars were in Christ's right hand suggests that they were under Christ's control (the right hand symbolizes power). The sword coming from Christ's mouth is the word of God, which as the author of Hebrews says, "is sharper than any two-edged sword" (Heb 4:12). This image emphasizes Christ's ability to punish or reward by His word (cf. Rev 19:15, 21). This is a wisdom writing emphasis.

The next paragraph, starting with verse 17, shows us John's reaction to the vision and Jesus' response. John fell at Jesus' feet as though dead. This is a standard response to visions of the glory of God. The brightness of Christ's face was the last major reminder of this glory-light and do not forget the sound is like that of an army or the roar of many waters. This was an overwhelming vision of sight and sound. It should make one think of Judgment Day.

And, as is common in Scripture, Christ tells John: "Fear not" (Rev 1:17) and begins to explain to John what he is seeing. The interpretation of visions is something that was reserved to wise men in Scripture. Jesus is that wise man. He tells John that the seven lampstands are symbols for the seven churches and the seven stars are symbols of the messengers of the seven churches. Jesus said, "I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades" (Rev 1:17-18). This is a summary of the good news testimony (also cf. Rev 1:5-7). It is because Jesus is victorious over death that He has this office. Jesus is the wise judge and ruler of all, the Ancient of Days, He holds the keys of Death and Hades for the church, He is the priest in the midst of the seven churches and holds their messengers in His right hand. It is a message of encouragement during tribulation for the priest-kings who are His people. If they are not faithful, Christ will be their judge. If they are faithful, they need not fear tribulation.

And Jesus tells John, "Write therefore the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after this" (Rev 1:19). This is the reason we looked at Rev 1:9-20 separately. It is for John "the things that you have seen." Next we will look at the things "that are." And then we will begin to unpack the things "that are to take place after this." This repeats the commission John has to write the book. As an aside, this should remind us that this commission has much in common with the Great Commission at Matthew 28:18-20.

The Rhetorical Structure of The Revelation of Jesus Christ to John

2010-04-05T10:35:00.004-04:00

We stressed before, as Poythress would put it, that the book of Revelation is not a puzzle book but a picture book. That is, the book's formal structure is a series of four visions. It is a word picture book (that even includes word sound effects).

If I can simplify something Poythress argues about the way John communicates this revelation without missing the mark, I think he says that the epistle moves from normal messages (7 letters) to more symbolic messages (the seven seals and trumpets), to even deeper symbolic messages (the seven symbols, seven bowls, etc.), to what he calls a "climactic level of integration of symbols" for Rev 21:9-22:5. To put it another way, the communication becomes less direct and more symbolic as the book progresses.

But if you have not already noticed between the last post and this one, the number seven is a prominent pointer to the structure of the book. Poythress observes that there are seven major sevens covering the epistle that form a chiasm: 7 letters, 7 seals, 7 trumpets, 7 symbols (at the center of the chiasm), 7 bowls, 7 words about Babylon, and 7 last things. He says the first and last things are promise and fulfillment respectively. The second and third and the fifth and sixth things concern judgment.

I mention the seven sevens here because it is not the only way the number seven is significant. In Poythress' outlines of the rhetorical structure of the book he shows how it covers the past (Rev 1:9-20), the present (at the writing of the book, Rev 2:1-3:22), and "what is to be" (Rev 4:1-22:5). Under that last heading there are seven cycles and then an eighth act -- the new Jerusalem. I would note that this resembles the creation week plus the eighth day. In the beginning were seven days, the seventh without a concluding formula (Genesis does not say, "and there was evening and there was morning, day seven"), but when it does end then will come day eight (the new heavens and earth). Day eight has begun ahead of time for Jesus Christ. Thus we worship on the first day of the week rather than the seventh (pointing us to day 8).

The seven cycles all include the final judgment. Each cycle begins a little later, the first five ending with the final judgment and the last two beginning before and continuing after it. Each cycle introduces a character/scene, tells us six judgments, gives a promise to the church, and then tells us about the seventh final judgment. The pattern is repeated on a larger level in that the character (the creator and judge) is revealed in Rev 4:1-11, the first six cycles of judgment, then the promise for the saints is Rev 20:1-10, and then the seventh final judgment is the white throne judgment. The main way people err when interpreting Revelation is to miss these patterns and the recapitulations. Later cycles recap things covered in previous cycles. Because the sixth and seventh cycles begin as late as they do these two cycles do not give six judgments but they still follow the pattern: character, judgment, promise, judgment. The seventh judgment in each and the judgment in the last two cycles is the final judgment/second coming. And after the judgment is the new creation.

The number seven is especially appropriate because it conveys the idea of completion and perfection. The book of Revelation amazes me how it can rhetorically point to the eighth day through the use of seven cycles plus one new creation and it can formally point to this end using four visions to the wisdom pattern of three plus one new creation. And we have only scratched the surface.

Thus to return for a moment to the title of the book. It is the book of REVELATION -- no s. It is not a book of many revelations. It is ONE revelation. Because so much of the book tells us about the same period of time in different ways it is fitting that we remember that these are different ways of stating the same revelation. And this should also remind us to stick with the big picture. You can get lost in the details of the book and get complicated trying to associate each thing with something when we need to remember the big picture (it is a word picture book after all)-- Christ is coming again.

The Formal Structure of The Revelation of Jesus Christ to John

2010-03-29T10:13:00.005-04:00

As Vern Poythress would stress about the book of Revelation, there are many ways to outline the book. I will be relying heavily on Poythress for any posts on Revelation, but as you might imagine I am not simply rehashing his teaching but in some ways simplifying it and in other ways changing it. The two main methods of outlining are to look at the literary structure in terms of formal structure or rhetorical structure. The former is the focus of this post. We will observe the latter and its implications in later posts.

This letter of John to the seven churches has a prologue and epilogue. The prologue says, "The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near" (Rev 1:1-3).

The epilogue says, "I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book. He who testifies to these things says, "Surely I am coming soon." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen" (Rev 22:18-21).

The book of Revelation is apocalyptic literature. This word apocalyptic comes from the Greek for Revelation in 1:1, apokalupsis (depending on your transliterating standards). The word has to do with the action of uncovering, disclosing, revealing (to use words in a lexicon). The word "prophecy" is mentioned in both the prologue and epilogue. Prophecy is more than just telling the future (pro=before, phecy=telling), but indeed is a telling forth of the will of God (pro=forth, phecy=telling). But there are many reasons that we would call this apocalyptic literature rather than prophetic literature. Some OT prophetic books include apocalyptic chapters. Nevertheless, this is a New Testament Writing (the epistles) rather than a New Testament Prophetic Book (Acts). I am not suggesting that the book does not contain "a prophecy" since the book even says it does, just that it is not a prophetic book (i.e. I am talking about the genre identification of the book).

First of all, it is literally one of the writings rather than a prophetic book based simply upon the formal structure. It is an epistle (it is a letter). "John to the seven churches that are in Asia..." (Rev 1:4). Secondly, we see wisdom and other themes more associated with the writings than the prophets even in the prologue and epilogue (cf. Rev 1:3 and the language in Rev 22:18f concerning adding and subtracting). Third, the book builds upon all of Scripture but particularly upon the Book of Daniel (which is one of the writings, not the prophets). Fourth, the place in the canon is not next to Acts but at the end of the NT writings.

Some content and literary characteristics of apocalyptic literature, of which the Revelation to John is an excellent example, include an emphasis on eschatology (speaking of last things), a goal of bringing comfort to the suffering and emphasizing patience in the midst of it, reporting of dreams and/or visions, and the use of fantastic imagery (like multi-headed beasts) and symbolism. As Poythress says, a boy about 12 years old told him, "I read it just like a fantasy, except that I knew it was true" (The Returning King, 14). In fact, the best way to appreciate the difference between prophetic books and apocalyptic books is simply to read them. Children with active imaginations will tend to enjoy and understand apocalyptic. Even better than to read it is to hear it and keep it (Rev 1:3). It is not a puzzle that you need an expert to solve. And you cannot calculate a date and time for the end by using it (Matt 24:36, Mar 13:32).

The epistle includes an introduction (Rev 1:4-9). And then we hear four visions. The first is a vision of Christ "in the Spirit on the Lord's Day" (Rev 1:10). The second is a vision in heaven "in the Spirit" (Rev 4:2). The third is a vision in the wilderness "in the Spirit" (Rev 17:3). And the fourth is a vision on "a great, high mountain" also "in the Spirit" (Rev 21:10). Then Rev 22:6-17 is a conclusion to the epistle. The first vision includes the messages for the seven churches. The vision in heaven takes us through the 7 seals, 7 trumpets, symbolic figures and harvest, and the 7 bowls. The vision in the wilderness covers the judgment of Babylon, the white horse judgment, and the white throne judgment. The fourth vision is of the new Jerusalem. It is noteworthy that the four visions fits the 3+1 pattern of wisdom literature.

So the largest formal section markers are "in the Spirit" introducing each of the four visions. Poythress observes that "kai eidon" ("and I saw") or some variation on that often helps you to subdivide each vision. The first vision is naturally divided into two -- the encounter with Christ and the messages to the seven churches. The former can be divided with "I saw" ("eidon") at Rev 1:12 and then "and when I saw" ("kai 'ote eidon") at Rev 1:17.

The second vision includes a throne vision, "after this I saw" ("meta tauta eidon") at Rev 4:1; the scroll "and I saw" ("kai eidon") at Rev 5:1-2 twice, Rev 5:6 and Rev 5:11; the seven seals with "and I saw" (twice) and "and I heard" at Rev 6:1-2), "I heard" at Rev 6:3, "I heard" (twice) and "and I saw" at Rev 6:5-6, "I heard" and "and I saw" at Rev 6:7-8, "I saw" at Rev 6:9, and "and I saw" at Rev 6:12, then what Poythress calls a parenthesis and marked by "meta touto(a) eidon" at Rev 7:1 and 7:9, then the seventh seal is marked by silence at Rev 8:1. The point being that seeing and/or hearing mark the opening of each section of the seven seals (easy enough to divide without these syntactical markers). The seven trumpets include these markers less often at Rev 8:2, 8:13, 9:1, and 10:1. It is easy enough to divide out for each angel but these markers help, especially for the two subdivisions for the fourth and sixth angels. The phrases resume in frequency to what we saw earlier with the beast in Rev 13:1, 11, 14:1, 6, 14, 15:1-2 (twice) beginning the seven bowls, Rev 15:5 saying "and after this I saw." The phrase "and I saw" also appears at Rev 16:13 but does not help in dividing the bowls up, easy enough to do without markers.

The third vision also can be divided noting these kinds of phrases. "And I saw" occurs twice in the first section (Rev 17:3, 6), "after this I saw" at Rev 18:1), "and I saw" at Rev 19:11, 17, 19, 20:1, 4, twice for the great white throne section at Rev 20:11-12, and then again at Rev 21:1. The phrase appears twice to open new major sections throughout the book of Revelation.

These observations highlight that this prophecy is a "vision" that is seen and heard. This always reminds me how the Torah notes that it is a less direct form of revelation (i.e. Numbers 12:6-7). The comparison there was with the words of Moses who was faithful as a servant in all the house of God. But we might as well compare to the words of Christ who is faithful over God's house as a son (cf. Heb 3:5-6). That is, apocalyptic literature can be understood as we were saying earlier by children but it is a less direct form of revelation, which must be taken into account when being interpreted. The main reason for this being that apocalyptic literature is best suited for a time when one cannot come out and say something too directly because it may spur persecution.

Testing the Word of God

2010-03-24T10:26:00.006-04:00

The current sermon series, I have been preaching on the temptations and the trial of Christ, has driven me back to the beginning. Book One of Genesis displays the same themes that I have been preaching.

In Book One, Adam is the one being tested but he responded by testing God. The serpent (aka the devil) proposed that God's word is but a hypothesis to be tested. Thus Adam put the LORD his God to the test when Adam was the one under the probationary test.

Furthermore, Adam should have believed that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. It is fitting then that Adam's test involved the word of God, food, and a punishment of death. The only stipulation (the word of God) was that he fast from the fruit of one particular tree. But instead of responding in faith, he decided that he was autonomous from God, he was independent of God, and could judge the truth of God's word. In a time of plenty, Adam forgot the LORD who had been good to him and failed to submit to the word of the LORD.

From the beginning, the serpent has casted doubt upon the word of God. His methodology is to make you think that you get to sit in judgment on the word. You get to test the word to see if it is true. You exalt yourself over the word of God rather than humble yourself before the word of God. Many people try out Christianity -- they test it out to see if it will work for them. Such an attitude is the one Satan promotes.

Adam was created to serve and worship God alone. He was a priest-king in the temple of God who was to keep/guard the grounds and defend God's word. He should have started with the truth of God's word, kept that word, and judged Satan's challenging words according to it as Jesus would later do.

Likewise, we need to presuppose the truth of God's word in our defense of the faith. An unbeliever does not get to weigh the evidence and decide if it is true. First of all, everyone is biased since all sin and fall short of the glory of God. But even apart from the fall, since we see that Adam should not have done this either, no one can judge the word of God because we are His creatures. We do have a task of judging, just as Adam did, but it is subordinate to the word of God. God is the creator and we are His creatures. God gives us the correct interpretation of the facts (not to imply that facts can exist without an interpretation, they cannot since they are created by God), we should strive to think His thoughts after Him. We are not autonomous. We are dependent upon God. For an unbeliever to pretend otherwise and sit in judgment on God's word is to forget that He is a created creature of God. It is a sinful and prideful posture to begin with, and to return to the other point given the fall, it is also to live in denial about the effects of sin on our reasoning capabilities.

For example, Jesus is not liar, lunatic or Lord. Jesus is Lord. The issue is not whether or not you will judge the evidence and come to the right conclusion. The issue is whether or not you will submit to the Lordship of Jesus Christ and submit to His word. We are the ones on trial, not Jesus and His word. The question is: Are we going to be identified with Jesus or are we going to deny having a relationship with Him?

To return to the beginning: Adam was in self-denial. He denied having a relationship with God -- being the Son of God. He decided that He would not be identified with God but rather with the serpent. Adam was the one on trial, not God and His word, but instead Adam put the LORD's word to the test.

The last temptation -- "If you are the Son of God, save yourself" (cf. Matt 27:40) -- at base is a temptation to pretend you are autonomous of God and do not need God. Adam did not face the temptation, "save yourself" because at that point he did not yet need salvation (at that point he did not need God as the redeemer). But he did face the temptation of pretending he was autonomous and did not need God the creator -- the serpent said, "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God [or "like gods"], knowing good and evil" (Gen 3:5). The temptation to judge the word of God is a temptation to be like gods. He was acting as if he did not need God.

It is fitting that the word of God begin by telling us that Adam tested the word of God. We should not test it, but submit to the word of the LORD. Amen.

The Structure of Lamentations

2010-03-14T12:56:00.004-04:00

The parallel book in the chiasm, Song of Songs, is incredibly difficult to divide into poems. In fact, that book seems to be a disorganized compilation of erotic poetry. On the other hand, Lamentations describes a very chaotic situation in a very structured way. There are five poems just as there were five books of Torah and just as there are five books of the Psalms.

The first two poems are alphabetic acrostics in Hebrew where each verse begins with a new letter of the alphabet from a-z (so to speak). The emphasis of the first chapter is on the likeness of Jerusalem to a widow -- lonely and bereaved. It says, "she has none to comfort her" or something similar five times (Lam 1:2, 1:9, 1:16 (twice), and 1:21) in addition to the poetic way the text puts it in the first verse and elsewhere. The chapter also stresses just how faint and weak the people are due to lack of food. The second chapter stresses how it is the Lord who has done this destruction ("he has") in "his anger, wrath, fierce anger, and fierce indignation." Also the emphasis here is on the prophets, priests, and kings and their palaces/temple. The only structural difference between these chapters with long poetic lines for each letter is the order of the letters 'ayin and pe.

The second chapter also appears to have some other patterning within it. The order goes something like this: "the daughter of Zion" (Lam 2:1), "the daughter of Judah" (Lam 2:2), "the daughter of Zion" (Lam 2:4), "the daughter of Judah" (Lam 2:5), "the daughter of Zion" (Lam 2:8), "the daughter of Zion" (Lam 2:10), "the young women of Jerusalem" (Lam 2:10), "the daughter of my people" (Lam 2:11), "daughter of Jerusalem" (Lam 2:13), "virgin daughter of Zion" (Lam 2:13), "the daughter of Jerusalem" (Lam 2:15), "the daughter of Zion (Lam 2:18). It is almost a pattern. Also, the order of Israel and Jacob: "Israel" (Lam 2:1), "Jacob" (Lam 2:2), "Israel," "Jacob" (Lam 2:3), "Israel" (Lam 2:5). Often, Jacob the fallen name is put first and Israel the new creation name follows, but here that pattern is reversed. Perhaps it is hopeful in that it ends with Israel?

In any case, the alphabet allows for order in the midst of the chaos the poetry describes. While the first two chapters were acrostics with long lines, Lamentations 3 is an alphabetic acrostic with three verses for each letter. Thus Lam 1-2 are 22 long verses and Lam 3 is 66 shorter verses. In any case, Lam 1-3 consist in long treatment of each of the 22 letters. Some suggest this fits the "qinah meter" of laments in Scripture: long, long, long, short, short. The thought is that this resembles a lament in sound.

It may be important that Lamentations 3 is the middle poem as well as the last long one. Lam 3:22-27 are important in this regard as this third poem is the only one with lines that offer any hope. After words explaining that it was the Lord who brought this upon him, He says, "The loyal-love of the LORD never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. "The LORD is my portion," says my soul, "therefore I will hope in Him."" The reason for what has befallen them is their lack of faith and hope in Him -- their faithlessness to Him. But God is faithful even when we are not, and it will take time and there will be suffering, but God will remember them one day.

This poem like those before it reveals that the reason for the suffering of Israel is their sins and it calls those who read it to test and examine themselves and repent (Lam 3:39-40). All of these poems are also very concerned about judgment of those who have sinned against them. The thought is that God has used them to bring judgment upon Israel but they have been most willing participants and have sinned gravely against Israel in doing so. In other words, just because God willed the judgment of Israel does not excuse the sin of the nations that carried out that judgment. The day has come for Israel, let it come also for the nations. This is somewhat different than the attitude of Jesus when he prayed, "Father, forgive them," but it does fit well with our prayers, "Come, Lord Jesus" when we will see justice done.

Lamentations 4 is also an alphabetic acrostic. It has much shorter lines and the focus returns to the chaos among the peoples. Like in the second poem there is mention made of parents eating their children. I can think of nothing more chaotic and gross. Lamentations 5 appears to have 22 lines but is not an alphabetic acrostic. It ends on a down note: "unless you have utterly rejected us, and you remain exceedingly angry with us" (Lam 5:22). It is closer to the pattern of lament psalms in the Psalms, but without the hope.

While the alphabetic acrostics serve to give order in the midst of chaos they also note the totality of the grief experienced (from a-z, so to speak). The destruction of Jerusalem was thorough. This is complete chaos. It is an apt description of Christ on the cross.

Abraham and Moses

2010-02-15T13:45:00.005-05:00

Sailhamer notes that form-critical studies see a lament pattern common in the Psalms as follows: emergency, promise, faith, certainty. He sees the same pattern in the Torah. Genesis 15 and Exodus 3-4 both reveal this pattern. Numbers 14 and 20 also show this pattern but highlight unbelief rather than faith (cf. Numbers 14:11, 20:12). In the Numbers 14 incident almost everything is reversed. For example, the promise is a threat. But for now, let us focus on the contrast being developed between Abraham and Moses: Abraham believed, Moses did not.

This contrast is especially apparent with the theme of land. Abraham believed the promise that he would inherit the land (hence we call it the "Promised Land"). God even gave him a sign to build that faith even more. The sign being the smoking fire pot and flaming torch that passed between the pieces of an animal. God's self-imprecation in word and sign is only surpassed by the curse of the cross of Christ. But Moses did not believe in Him and thus is unable to enter the land. We are not speaking of Moses in order of salvation categories - we know that he is a believer. We are speaking of Moses in history of salvation categories - at this decisive point Moses failed to trust God.

The Abraham faith statement (Genesis 15:6) takes place before the conditional covenant with him. Abraham, God says, "obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws" (Genesis 26:5) before the giving of the written law. He did so walking before God and being blameless (by faith) (cf. Genesis 17:1). Taking Isaac to be sacrificed is a classic story of faith -- God will provide -- and it was the test of the conditional covenant of Genesis 17.

Sailhamer wants to argue that the contrast of Abraham and Moses implies a contrast of covenants. The covenant with Abram had no written stipulations. The covenant with Moses had many. This observation is true -- the unconditional covenant with Abram (Gen 15) had no stipulations and the conditional covenant with Abraham (Gen 17) had few specific stipulations. The covenant with Moses at first also had no written stipulations and later grew to a huge number. Perhaps the fact that there are more and increasingly more written laws is a result of disobedience. That seems to make sense, it even explains why the author made no attempt to harmonize conflicting regulations. I can even agree that the author of the Torah wants you to see the covenant with Abraham as a better way than the covenant with Moses, thus preparing you for the new covenant. Several New Testament authors make similar arguments.

It is interesting though that the one to come was to be a prophet greater than Moses. And that the following comment is made concerning Moses, "Now the man Moses was very meek, more than all people who were on the face of the earth" (Num 12:3). This is clearly an aside from the hand of the author of the second edition (as Sailhamer describes our canonical Torah). This is interesting because this contrast between Abraham and Moses did not mean that Moses was to be disparaged or even that we should not admire Moses. Clearly Moses was a type of the one to come.

Moses continues to get this honor in the New Testament - he representing the Torah and Elijah representing the Prophets at the transfiguration (i.e. Matt 17:4, Mark 9:4, Luke 9:30). And the gospels like Paul agree that the laws were added because of transgressions (i.e. Matt 19:7ff, Mark 10:4ff). As it is said, "If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead" (Luke 16:31). There is also the contrast like between Abraham and Moses, but now between Jesus and Moses (John 1:17, 6:32). The religious leaders even argued from this contrast (Acts 6:11, 14). And the people of Israel are described as having set their hope upon Moses and being his disciples rather than setting their hope on Jesus and being his disciples (John 5:45, 7:19, 9:28, 29).

But again, if you believed Moses you would believe Jesus, for he wrote of Jesus (John 5:46). It is instructive that the Torah wants people to contrast Abraham and Moses in favor of the former and yet many of the Jewish people at the time of Jesus were favoring Moses over Abraham, with the exception of the early Christians. To be sure Christians still viewed Moses as a type of Christ (i.e. Acts 7:35, 37, Hebrews 3:5-6). But there is also a contrast of covenants (Acts 13:39, Rom 10:5).

Composition Complete

2010-01-06T11:53:00.005-05:00

In my post, "The Scriptures: A Written Conversation" I noted the chiastic structure of the Writings (the third section of the OT canon) highlights Ecclesiastes (Qoheleth) as the central book. I said, "This ending to the central book of the chiasm of the Writings is fitting. It is similar to ending the New Testament with the Book of Revelation given how Revelation ends warning about adding or subtracting from it. The effect of Ecclesiastes 12:12 is to say, the Writings are now complete until prophecy resumes, beware of adding to or subtracting from them."

Sailhamer notes in The Meaning of the Pentateuch that Scripture distinguishes between "writing in a book" and "making a book." Writing usually has more to do with copying. Making a book has to do with the composition of written works. His point is that making a book is much more complicated than simply taking dictation or copying.

He further argues that "many" can be an adjective "many books" or an adverb "constantly." Thus the verse may refer to either making an "endless number of books" or to how "the process of making a book is endless." He concludes it is the latter because of the warning about adding any more "wise sayings" (Ecclesiastes 12:11). So Sailhamer says, "in Ecclesiastes it aims at cutting short the process of making a book. The problem is not making more books, but deciding whether and when to end this one" (267). The composition of a book can involve several editions and revisions and such, and the author means to cut that process short rather than let it continue indefinitely.

I want to argue that the deeper problem is deciding whether and when to end the composition of the Hebrew Scriptures. Because of the placement of Ecclesiastes in the Hebrew canon, I want to suggest that it is aiming to end the process of making the Scriptures. In other words, for the rest of this time when prophecy has ceased, there should be no more books added to the Book and there should be no more revisions (no more editions of Biblical books, no more editing of Biblical books, and the like). The composition of the Hebrew Scriptures was complete.

It is fitting then that the apostles did not publish their own edition of the Hebrew Scriptures. The apostles viewed the Hebrew Scriptures as a finished product. To be sure they and others close to them made new compositions and some of those are collectively a new composition we now call the New Testament. But early Christians did not write their own versions of the OT Torah, Prophets, and Writings. This is an important observation because various groups in Judaism did this very thing -- they continued to edit and revise the Hebrew Bible for some time.

The Wisdom Shape of the Prophets

2009-11-15T14:00:00.004-05:00

In the Hebrew canonical arrangement the former prophets are Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings and the latter prophets are Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the Book of the Twelve. The number pattern of 3+1 and 3+1 is a feature of Biblical wisdom literature. Usually the +1 is the punch -- Kings ends with the nation of Judah in exile; the Twelve ends with Malachi announcing the coming Day of YHWH. I would dismiss this shape as simply coincidental, understanding that word in a context of faith, except that we have seen that the structure of the Writings is purposeful and because the Twelve were stitched together to make the pattern work. Should you wonder what the purpose of a wisdom shape to the prophets might suggest -- it is quite simple, study, study, study the written words of the prophets. It is an apologetic for the importance of the study of the written word of God.

It is no surprise, as I have observed elsewhere, that the prophets begin and end with wisdom language that emphasizes studying the Torah. The prophets are therefore styled as wisdom teachers of the written Torah. Joshua says, "Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. This Book of the Torah shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success" (Josh 1:7-8, ESV modified).

Likewise, the ending of Malachi resounds the wisdom theme of studying the written word: "Remember the Torah of my servant Moses, the statutes and rules that I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel" (4:4 in English, ESV modified). Thus the way that the prophets are arranged highlights the way people are to use the prophets until the Day came -- study the written word (and in particular: study them as wisdom teachers of Deuteronomy). One should even wonder if the order throughout Joshua 1 of "Moses, my servant" is purposefully switched for Malachi 4:4 to "my servant Moses." The stress being that the written word of God is God's servant.

It is worth noting that one of the effects of putting the Book of the Twelve last is to give it more importance. It is understandable that particularly Isaiah would be perhaps the most influential book of the latter prophets because of its length. The Twelve gets some extra weight, which is lost in the English Bibles, by being read as a single long book. Moreover, it is the +1 book. And even furthermore it is the final book of the Prophets. All of these considerations promote studying the Twelve more than they often are. But like the Writings, sometimes cited by the first book the Psalms, citing Isaiah (or occasionally Jeremiah) is often shorthand for citing the latter Prophets in general.

The Book of the Twelve was stitched together and it follows a discernible geographical pattern -- north (Hosea to Israel), south (Joel to Judah), north (Amos primarily to Israel), south (Obadiah to Edom), north (Jonah to Ninevah), south (Micah to Judah), north (Nahum to Ninevah), south (Habakkuk to Judah), south (Zephaniah to Judah). Then the last three after the restoration of Jerusalem has begun (Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi) are concerned with priestly things, which mirrors the emphasis on priests in the wisdom tradition since they taught Torah. The latter Prophets moves in this direction as a whole in that the last two books are Ezekiel and the Book of the Twelve. But the point here is that the Book of the Twelve has a purposeful order like drawing a spiral in to Jerusalem. It should be no surprise then that the gospel reverses this by going from Jerusalem, to Judea, to Samaria and the ends of the earth.

By the way, in the Hebrew Bible the scribes saw the Book of the Twelve as one whole book and made it clear by putting only three spaces instead of four between each one and by giving statistics on the whole.

So we have 3+1 and 3+1. The hero of Kings (the +1 of the former prophets) will return before the coming of the Day (as noted in the +1 of the latter prophets: Malachi 4:5-6, English). Until then, study the written word of these wisdom teachers of Torah. And now that this Elijah has come as John the Baptist and the +1 (eighth) day has begun with the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, continue to study the written word until the seventh day is done.

The Scriptures: A Written Conversation

2009-09-20T17:10:00.008-04:00

The word Scripture simply means writings. Of course the only writings that are fully the words of God are those found in the Torah, Prophets and Writings of the Old and New Testaments. But the word Scripture only tells us they are writings. The more I study the structure of Scripture the more I realize that the shape of the book is an apologetic for the importance of the book. In fact, the third section of the canon in the Old Testament is called the Writings. Actually, we might as well call them the Scriptures. Thus just as the Torah (Deuteronomy) is a name we apply to the first section, so the Writings is a name we apply to all the Bible.

The shape of Scripture is an apologetic for the importance of Scripture study. You can see this clearly at the seams of the three sections: Deut 34, Josh 1, Malachi 4, and Psalm 1. It is the reason we are so passionate about The Book.

In any case, the Writings are in conversation (though not in an oral but written form) with the rest of Scripture. The Prophets interpret Torah for a new generation. The Writings are reflections on the Torah and Prophets. Likewise in the New Testament, the New Testament writings are interpreting the significance of the death and resurrection of Christ (Gospels, NT Torah) and the giving of the Spirit on Pentecost (Acts, NT Prophets).

And the Writings are in conversation with each other. The first three: Psalms, Job, and Proverbs are all accented as poetry for chanting in Hebrew. The next five were chanted at festivals during the year: Ruth, Song of Songs, Qoheleth (Ecclesiastes), Lamentations, and Esther. And then the last three are Daniel, Ezra-Nehemiah, and Chronicles. The ones chanted at festivals form a chiasm -- Ruth the heroine, Song of Songs is erotic poetry, Ecclesiastes in the middle, Lamentations is sad poetry, and Esther the heroine. Thus with three before and three after these five the whole of the Writings makes a chiasm.

The sections within the Writings are stitched together when we realize that Proverbs ends with the poem about the ideal wife (Prov 31:10) and Boaz says that everyone knows Ruth would be the ideal wife (Ruth 3:11). In Hebrew the phrase is identical. Song of Songs gives us another example of the ideal wife, as does Esther parallel to Ruth. Also Esther in many ways is a female Daniel, which bridges those two books together. But already you should be able to see that the Writings are in conversation with one another.

One common literary form in the Writings is the alphabetic acrostic poem. One reason that you would do an alphabetic acrostic is to speak comprehensively. Thus the alphabetic acrostic par excellence is Psalm 119, with eight lines for each letter of the Hebrew alphabet (making it also the longest chapter in the Scriptures). The book of Lamentations consists of six alphabetic acrostics. The poem about the ideal wife in Prov 31:10ff is another example. It is a comprehensive description of the ideal wife from A to Z (for the English alphabetic equivalent). This is in conversation, as Longman notes in his Proverbs commentary on the ideal wife poem, with Psalm 112. Psalm 112:1-10 is an alphabetic acrostic about the ideal husband. The fear of YHWH, like at the end of Qoheleth (Ecclesiastes 12:13) is the preeminent trait of both the wife (Prov 31:30) and husband (Psalm 112:1). The point of Ecclesiastes is to explain the limits of wisdom and this seems to be a favorite feature of this conversation. Job makes a similar point. The limit on wisdom is that we should fear God and keep His Torah.

Thus the Writings make the point about Writings, "My son, beware of anything beyond these. Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh" (Ecclesiastes 12:12). We must keep this in conversation with how the delight of the blessed is in the written Torah of YHWH and on this Torah he meditates day and night (Psalm 1:2). Thus we should study (even toil until we are weary) the word of God. But this ending to the central book of the chiasm of the Writings is fitting. It is similar to ending the New Testament with the Book of Revelation given how Revelation ends warning about adding or subtracting from it. The effect of Ecclesiastes 12:12 is to say, the Writings are now complete until prophecy resumes, beware of adding to or subtracting from them.

In the Last Days

2009-09-19T21:49:00.005-04:00

As Sailhamer points out, reshith is the antonym of aharith. Or in English, beginning is the antonym of last. Thus the Torah begins, "In the beginning" (bereshith) (Gen 1:1) and then the poetic climaxes are explained as telling what will happen "in the last days" (beaharith hayyamim) (Gen 49:1, Num 24:14, Deut 31:29). The only other place in the Torah where this phrase is found is Deut 4:30. These reflections are inspired by his article, "A Wisdom Composition of the Pentateuch?" in The Way of Wisdom: Essays in Honor of Bruce Waltke published by Zondervan.

This observation encourages us to see that the protology (words about first things) of Gen 1:1 is written to correspond to eschatology (words about last [or ultimate] things) of the poems following Gen 49:1, Num 24:14, and Deut 31:29. One point stressed at WTS was that the prologue of Genesis (Gen 1:1-2:3) as well as the first book of Genesis (Gen 2-4) is eschatological. But we do not need to look beyond the opening word ("in the beginning") to be pointed to the last days. We are living in the last days now, but the phrase in the Torah pointed first to the days of King David before ultimately to the days of his son and Lord Jesus Christ.

To see how the poems pointed to the King we should observe the intertexuality of the poems (that is, how they are in conversation or even quoting one another). Here I am expanding from discussing the three major poems to include the other prominent poems in the Torah. Sailhamer calls it cross-referencing. He notes, for example that Num 24:9a quotes Gen 49:9b. Speaking of the King from the tribe of Judah, these two poems both say, "He crouched as a lion and as a lioness; who dares rouse him?"

Comparing the major poem in Genesis 49 and the major poem starting in Num 24:15 we can see the king's scepter mentioned with Judah in Gen 49:10 is mentioned in Num 24:17. The advance of Numbers is to note the king will defeat certain people groups. As Sailhamer notes, Gen 10 helps you to identify where these people groups in the Numbers poem fit. In fact, it may be that one reason for the writing of Gen 10 was to explain the groups mentioned in Balaam's poem. These peoples are not mentioned in the surrounding story of Numbers, you have to look at Gen 10 to learn about them. The major poem of Deut 32 mentions the events of Gen 10: "When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he divided mankind, he fixed the borders of the people according to the number of the sons of God" (Deut 32:8). This last poem in Deut 32:10 also uses the word tohu from Gen 1:2.

Therefore, Sailhamer argues that Num 24:24 is showing how the Noahic poetry of Gen 9:27 about Japheth dwelling in the tents of Shem extends to the last days. The Kittim were from Japheth (Gen 10:4). Asshur is one of the sons of Shem (Gen 10:22) and Eber is considered his son too (Gen 10:21).

Sailhamer also says, "In addition, the literary parallels between Deut 33 and Gen 49 are well known. Whole phrases from one poem have been inserted into the other" (p.22). I have noted this previously because Deut 33 is the work of a later hand, but one that borrows from the earlier hand of the Torah. At some point I would like to examine this claim further.

But the point shown here is that "in the beginning" (especially for the purposes of this post, Gen 1-11, the unit that comes before the patriarchal narratives) points us to "in the last days" (Gen 49:1, Num 24:14, Deut 31:29).

The Giants of Deuteronomy

2009-09-02T16:11:00.005-04:00

Generally in a literary-canonical approach we do not dive into questions of multiple authors but simply study the text as we have it. Usually such lines of inquiry have been laden with faulty presuppositions and with agendas to undermine the word of God as we have it (look no further than the bogus JEDP theory, which has torn apart Scripture without any benefit to the church and honest scholars today would admit that it is highly speculative and is the product of particular biases). But it is helpful for those who hold Scripture to be fully the word of God to note what lines in Deuteronomy are the product of a later human hand so that we can see what this finished product of the Spirit is teaching us today.

Aside from the additional poem and epilogue by the editor(s) [hereafter simply, 'editor'], there are few indications of a later hand in the text. The "these words" are not only faithful to Moses but are his very words (as noted in an earlier post, the vocabulary was updated later but this does not change the meaning). And the bulk of the book has this early origin. (As fitting with what I have said above, the whole book when completed is fully the word of God even in the choice of words). But there are a few places where we see the editor's hand.

In particular we see this in the remark "to this day" in Deut 2:22 and Deut 3:14. We already noted that this phrase points us to the editor in the second epilogue and it often does so in other places in the Torah as well. Most of the editorial comments explain geographical issues (people groups and places). These comments interrupt the flow of the passage so much that English translations usually put them in parentheses. For example Deut 3:9 and Deut 3:11 are editorial additions. In particular, verse 11 shows us the main interest of the editor -- King Og was one of the Rephaim (from the size description it is obvious that Og was one of the giants). McConville explains that Canaanite giants were called Anakim [sons of Anak from the Nephilim according to Num 13:33] (Deut 1:28, 9:2), Moabite giants were called Emim (Gen 14:5, Deut 2:10-11), Ammonite giants were called Zamzummim (Deut 2:20, perhaps also Zuzim in Gen 14:5), but Rephaim was the generic title for all such giant races (cf. Deut 2:11). One only needs to read the text in English to see all of these parentheses about giants. Interestingly, the editor also made comments about giants in the book of Joshua (Josh 14:15, 15:13, 21:11 all mentioning that Arba was the father of Anak).

As an aside, I think it is unhelpful to dismiss these editorial comments as less than Scriptural or to think of them as extrapolations and interpretations in later preaching. These additions are inspired of God -- they come from a later human hand -- but they tell us something God wants to teach us.

So why is the editor obsessed with these giants? For one thing, this is why the previous generation (save Joshua and Caleb) were not prepared to enter the land but here we see the next generation defeating a renowned giant even before entering the land and they defeated peoples who had defeated giants. This also helps us understand as well why the people of the land were so afraid when they heard that Israel had defeated King Og. It is also worth noting that we can trace the theme of giants in Scripture to Goliath and to Satan (maybe the reason for the word choice of Rephaim in as much as other texts use the term for those living in the underworld -- McConville cites Psa 88:11, Job 26:5, Isa 26:14 for this meaning but admits that we do not currently know if the two meanings of Rephaim are related). Are there any other reasons you think the editor would be so interested in giants? Aside from what I said above, perhaps they help the text preach to a new generation that is facing metaphorical giants? One of the major concerns of Deuteronomy, shared by the faithful editor, is the preaching of Torah to a new generation. So there may be something to this.

The Structure of Deuteronomy

2009-08-30T16:31:00.005-04:00

I have noted before that the Torah as a whole follows a pattern of narrative, poetry, epilogue. Genesis follows this pattern. Exo-Num follows this pattern. And Deuteronomy follows this pattern. Before each of the key poems the Hebrew text uses the word "aharith" (Gen 49:1, Num 24:14, and Deut 31:29). Thus Deut 1-31 has narrative, Deut 32:1-47 is poetry, and Deut 32:48-52 is the epilogue. This is a very fitting ending for Deuteronomy. But then Deuteronomy adds another poem (Deut 33) and epilogue (Deut 34) written from a later perspective (after prophecy has ceased because it says, "there has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom YHWH knew face to face..." (Deut 34:10ff). The other big textual clue to a later date for this section is the phrase "but no one knows the place of his burial to this day" (Deut 34:6). To what day? Much later.

I have written about some of the themes and agendas of this additional poem and epilogue in my post The Way of Wisdom: The Canon and Cessation. As I said there, the extra poem and epilogue are Scripture (fully the word of God as well as of this editor). And one of the things that Sailhamer notes in his book cited there, if I remember correctly, is that the additional poem reflects the poem of Gen 49 but you can see its distinctive emphases by comparing the two poems. The one big difference is the additional emphasis on the tribe of Levi in this poem in Deuteronomy because the wisdom teachers of Scripture were Levites.

So the big picture of the structure is [prologue,] narrative, poetry, epilogue, poetry, epilogue. It is also worth noting that the narrative is a series of speeches. The first speech is Deut 1:6-4:40, the second is Deut 5:1-28:68, the third is Deut 29:1-30:20, and the fourth is Deut 31:1-8. Deut 1:1-5 are introducing the speeches and the first speech in particular, Deut 5:1a is a brief introduction to the second speech, Deut 29:1-2a is a brief introduction to the third speech, and a fourth speech is introduced in Deut 31:1-2a, with a brief intro in Deut 31:7 to the rest of the speech. The effect of these introductions is to put the speeches in a narrative context much like the same for the laws back in Leviticus. Deut 31:9 then continues the narrative where the emphasis is on passing on Deuteronomy to future generations (a concern of the editor too). And the narrative transitions to introducing the first poem-song.

The reason I said above that the structure is best described as prologue, narrative, poetry, epilogue, poetry, epilogue is because Deut 1:1-5 can be understood as a prologue or preamble to the book. This is a more elaborate form of the narrative, poetry, epilogue pattern in Torah that we saw in some books in Genesis. Calling it a prologue or preamble actually opens the door for beginning to note that the structure of the book actually resembles a Hittite covenant-treaty format. Thus the preamble of the treaty is Deut 1:1-5, the historical prologue is the first speech (Deut 1:6-4:40 plus the narrative that follows Deut 4:41-49), the covenant stipulations (Deut 5:1-26:19) and sanctions (Deut 27:1-30:20) are laid out in the second and third speeches. And the rest of the book also has elements easily identified with normal parts of such a treaty. We saw before that Leviticus 18 and more loosely the whole Holiness Code of Leviticus also follow this pattern. Looking at Deuteronomy this way is the approach of Meredith Kline and is a very helpful observation.

Noting the prominence of speeches or sermons in the book highlights the Hebrew title based on the opening words of Deuteronomy, "These are the words."

The Place of Deuteronomy in the Torah

2009-08-27T16:29:00.007-04:00

As earlier posts make clear, the canonical order of the books of Scripture makes a difference in how we read them. Thus I want to explore the effect of Deuteronomy's position in the Torah as the last book without repeating observations made in previous posts like Old and New Testament Torah, Prophets & Writings and The Way of Wisdom: The Canon and Cessation. If you have not read those posts, please do so before continuing with this one.

Simply put, the effect of putting Deuteronomy last is to make it the most important. This is reflected in later Scripture. For example, whenever the Prophets refer to Torah (or the longer form 'Torah of Moses') they are referring not to the canonical designation for Genesis through Deuteronomy but they are referring to the Book of Deuteronomy. The late Al Groves researched each of these references to "Torah" and concluded that every one of them was a reference to Deuteronomy. Moreover, the most quoted book of the Torah in the New Testament is Deuteronomy.

But it is actually a little more complicated than this. Deuteronomy shows us the shift from the spoken Torah of Moses to the written Torah of Moses. As noted elsewhere, not every word of the written Torah of Moses was written by Moses. In fact, the written Torah of Moses was undoubtedly edited later, has an updated vocabulary throughout, and has the extra poem and epilogue telling us about the death of Moses written from the standpoint of the cessation of prophecy. On the updated vocabulary Pete Enns notes as he reflects on the comments of an unnamed Old Testament scholar: "The specific point concerned the state of Hebrew in the 2nd millennium BC, and how no one living at that time (i.e., Moses) could have written the Pentateuch as we know it, as it reflects a state of Hebrew that did not develop until the 1st millennium" (see II). But for our purposes here, the effect is to highlight the editor(s)' comments and especially the editor(s)' conclusion. This is fitting for the gospel genre because the NT Torah was not written down by Jesus and so you will see this similarity between Deuteronomy and Matthew-John. Deuteronomy is most like John because it assumes you know the story (a point that I could develop further).

This same effect is observable in the Hebrew Scriptures as a whole because the Prophets interpret Torah and show more acts of God and then the Writings interpret the Torah and Prophets. Likewise in the New Testament as particularly the epistles (writings) interpret the significance of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ (gospels, NT Torah) and the giving of the Spirit on Pentecost (Acts, NT Prophets). Each Torah is foundational to the rest and so it is most important in that respect. Though no Christian would dispute that the effect of the Gospels coming later makes them more important. In the Old Testament, it is also clear that God spoke to Moses face to face but to the later prophets and especially to the writers this revelation becomes increasingly indirect. But we cannot underestimate the impact for those living just before and at the time of Christ to have the canon in this order. It was the Writings that showed you how to interpret the written Torah for your new situation.

We see this even in the Torah because what Deuteronomy does is show us the torah (instruction) adapted to a new generation. There are a variety of inconsistencies between the laws found earlier and found in Deuteronomy (many of which simply reflect a later situation, this cannot be said of all the differences). McConville notes in his commentary in the AOTC series that Deuteronomy is concerned to apply torah (instruction of Moses) to not only the Moab generation but also to all generations (cf. p.136). The point being that the book is concerned for transmission of the Decalogue and all the torah (instruction including law and history) of the Torah to future generations. As Deuteronomy itself demonstrates, this transmission requires teaching and interpretation (concerns highlighted by the editor of Deuteronomy who promotes the priests as teachers of written Torah).

So in summary the effect of Deuteronomy being the last book of the Torah is to make the equation of Deuteronomy and Torah. That is, Torah = Deuteronomy. And to emphasize that the Torah must be taught and interpreted for every new generation by wisdom teachers. Thus the spoken words of Moses are not nearly as important, even though the book consists of three major speeches, as the written book of Deuteronomy. And so we should pay careful attention and highlight any comments made by the editor(s) as we proceed through our investigation of this Torah especially noting his fascination with giants (something I remember Al Groves noting).

As a final point for now, just as when you read the New Testament and find the end of the story and then go back and re-read the Old Testament to see how it points to the end, you should also re-read the whole Torah from Genesis to Numbers after you have read Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy is inviting you to do this. It is assuming that you know the story of Numbers in particular and is encouraging you to read it again. But it is also inviting you to compare the Decalogue in Exodus with the new presentation in Deuteronomy and so forth. May this observation keep you studying Torah in a loop so long as you keep seeing the one who is its subject: Jesus Christ.

Part V, In the Wilderness: Numbers 26-36

2009-08-12T11:32:00.009-04:00

The epilogue to Exodus-Numbers began with Num 24:25. This long epilogue is fitting for such a long narrative. And it tells for us the story of the second generation in the wilderness. We seen the holy jealousy of Phinehas, son of Eleazar the priest, for the true God of Israel. And now we are going to see that he is representative of the whole generation.

First we have a new census and it should be noted that instead of YHWH speaking to Moses and Aaron He is now speaking to Moses and Eleazar (Aaron's son) the priest (Num 26:1). This census is again for those 20 years old and up who are able to go to war (i.e. again it will not include Levi) (Num 26:2). The order of the census by tribe was Reuben, Simeon, Gad, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Manasseh, Ephraim, Benjamin, Dan, Asher, and Naphtali. This is the same order of the census in Numbers 1 where Gad was promoted to prepare for the placement of the tribes around the tabernacle, except for the order of Manasseh and Ephraim. I now instinctively look at the order and try to discover why.

Within the census data there is some commentary. First, after numbering Reuben there are comments made about Dathan and Abiram and their children who rebelled with Korah and were swallowed by the earth together with Korah (but apparently not Korah's children (Num 26:9-11). So this commentary looks backwards. There is a second comment made regarding Judah's sons Er and Onan (Num 26:19, cf. Gen 46:12, 38:7, 10). Third, the census tells us about Zelophehad who had no sons but did have daughters and the text even gives us the names of these daughters, which is very unusual (Num 26:32, only cf. Num 26:46). So the reversal of Ephraim and Manasseh highlights this comment and prepares us to look forward for the following events.

It is worth looking at the numbers in Numbers 26. The format of these refections is to note the number in this chapter compared to (::) the number in the census in chapter 1. Reuben (43,730 :: 46,500), Simeon (22,200 :: 59,300), Gad (40,500, :: 45,650), Judah (76,500 :: 74,600), Issachar (64,300 :: 54,400), Zebulun (60,500 :: 57,400), Manasseh (52,700 :: 32,200) Ephraim (32,500 :: 40,500), Benjamin (45,600 :: 35,400), Dan (64,400 :: 62,700), Asher (53,400 :: 41,500), Naphtali (45,400 :: 53,400). And the total is 601,730 compared to 603,550. The total shows us that the nation has almost recovered in size despite the death of most of the previous generation.

Looking at the numbers reveals a quite surprising pattern (though I guess I should no longer be surprised by things like this, perhaps I am surprised because I notice these things without a commentary showing me). South of the tabernacle: Reuben, Simeon, and Gad are all smaller. The coveted dwelling place east of the tabernacle: Judah, Issachar and Zebulun are all larger. West of the tabernacle: Manasseh is larger, Ephraim is smaller, and Benjamin is larger. And to the north: Dan and Asher are larger and Naphtali is smaller. Judah is still the largest (still even exceeding Ephraim plus Manasseh). By now you too can draw some conclusions from these observations. Moreover, the size of their inheritance is related to the number in this census (Num 26:53-54).

After this there is a new list of the Levites by clan. It notes many of the same things noted earlier in Numbers like the death of Nadab and Abihu (Num 3:4, 26:61, cf. Lev 10:1) and the fact that they were not listed in the census because they have no inheritance (Num 18:20, 23, 24, 26:62). The text also mentions Miriam (Num 26:59). The total male Levites one month old and up was 23,000 (Num 26:62) compared to 22,000 (Num 3:39).

By way of inclusio, the passage ends mentioning Moses and Eleazar the priest and the setting of the plains of Moab by the Jordan opposite Jericho. And mentioning the previous census the author makes it clear that only Caleb and Joshua were counted in both -- everyone else from the earlier census died in the wilderness (Num 26:64-65).

As mentioned before, we were prepared by the order of the census for the story of the daughters of Zelophehad that follows. We see their faith in approaching Eleazar the priest for their father's portion of the inheritance. Appropriately given the other major commentary in the census, they note that their father did not die in the company of Korah but "for his own sin" (Num 27:3). We see them concerned for the name of their father (Num 27:4). And YHWH set down a statute and a rule for the people of Israel that their father's inheritance would go to his daughters and also setting forward the inheritance principles when there is no children at all.

Next we pick back up where we left off with the death of Aaron. YHWH tells Moses to go up into Abarim mountain and see the Promised Land and when he sees it "you shall be gathered to your people, as your brother Aaron was, because you rebelled against my word in the wilderness of Zin when the congregation quarreled, failing to uphold me as holy at the waters before their eyes" (Num 27:13-14). So that there is no confusion it is added: "These are the waters of Meribah of Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin" (Num 27:14). And Moses asks for God to appoint a man to lead Israel so that they "may not be as sheep that have no shepherd" (Num 27:17). And YHWH appointed Joshua "in whom is the Spirit" and Moses ordained him (Num 27:18-23). Moses' death then is on hold so that Joshua can be established as having some of Moses' authority before Moses dies.

Next Moses describes daily offerings (Num 28:1-8), weekly offerings on the Sabbath (Num 28:9-10), monthly offerings to begin each month (Num 28:11-15), and yearly offerings for Passover and the feast of unleavened bread (Num 28:16-25), for the Feast of Weeks (Num 28:26-31), for the Festival of Trumpets (Num 29:1-6), the Day of Atonement (Num 29:7-11), the Feast of Booths/Tabernacles (Num 29:12-38). This is a religious calendar following the same pattern as the one in Lev 23. The following chapter deals with vows (Num 30:1-16).

The epilogue continues the story of the death of Moses with "Avenge the people of Israel on the Midianites. Afterward you shall be gathered to your people" (Num 31:2). With Phinehas, twelve thousand, a thousand from each tribe, went to war against the Midianites in Moab and also killed Balaam the son of Beor. Ultimately only the women who had never had sex were spared (Num 31:16-18, 31:35). There were no casualties among the men of Israel who went to war (Num 31:49). The passage lays out clearly what spoil went to YHWH's treasury and the Levites and what went to the warriors and the congregation.

Next we see the tribes of Reuben and Gad request to take possession of the land they were in rather than going across the Jordan. Moses was not pleased and recited the story about the spies. But Reuben and Gad promised to fight to secure the inheritance beyond the Jordan for the other tribes if they could possess the land of Gilead and Jazer. And Moses agreed. Reuben, Gad, and half of Manasseh received the kingdoms of Sihon and Og and built cities to protect their young and livestock while they went to war for the other tribes.

Num 33:1-49 recounts the journey of Israel from Egypt to the plains of Moab. Then Moses told the people to destroy the idols and high places in Canaan and that they would inherit the land by lots according to their size. And he warns, "But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then those of them whom you let remain shall be as barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and they shall trouble you in the land where you dwell. And I will do to you [YHWH says] as I thought to do to them" (Num 33:55-56). Then YHWH told them the borders of the land (Num 34:1-15).

One chief from each tribe was to divide the inheritance in addition to Joshua and Eleazar the priest. The order of the tribes listed is Judah, Simeon, Benjamin, Dan, Manasseh, Ephraim, Zebulun, Issachar, Asher, and Naphtali. Glancing at a map suggests that these are roughly in order from south to north where the tribes will be in the Promised Land. Simeon's borders are within Judah. Reuben and Gad have already received their whole inheritance and Num 35:1-8 provides for Levitical cities (including cities of refuge (three in the land where Reuben, Gad, and half of Manasseh have inherited) Num 35:9-34 and further explaining their purpose and the death penalty for murder. These cities of refuge protected those who unintentionally killed another Israelite from the normal ANE custom of the avenger of blood. This is an appropriate discussion to have here since blood defiles and pollutes the land (Num 35:33-34).

In the final chapter, in order to preserve the before-mentioned inheritances Moses agreed with the people of Manasseh that the daughters of Zelophehad had to marry within the tribe so that the land would remain Manasseh's inheritance. And the chapter ends with a summary statement: "These are the commandments and the rules that YHWH commanded through Moses to the people of Israel in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at [opposite] Jericho" (Num 36:13).

This epilogue may be a chiasm. It begins and ends talking about situations with marriage (the former being negative intermarriage with unbelievers and the latter positive intermarriage in the tribe of Manasseh). The census appears next and the second-to-last issue is the discussion of inheritances (both including lists of the tribes). After the census we see the faith of Zelophehad's daughters asking for their land rights and before the inheritance discussion we see Reuben and Gad asking for land. After Zelophehad's daughters and before Reuben and Gad's request are sections that prophesy the coming death of Moses. And at the center are the regulations of the religious calendar and vows. While our discussion of the latter has been sparse, vows are an important issue in both Leviticus and Numbers.

Part IV, In the Wilderness: Numbers 20:22-25:18

2009-08-07T11:55:00.004-04:00

Before moving on to this section, it is worth noting that the incident with striking the rock that is Christ resembles something that took place back in Exodus 17:6 where YHWH said, "Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink." This foreshadows the death of Jesus Christ because the staff of judgment strikes YHWH Himself. And thus Moses in Num 20:8 is to speak to the rock and God will give them drink. Striking the rock again would be like saying Christ would need to die again. Instead, all we need do now is to ask the Rock for our Spiritual food and drink.

But Moses struck the rock again, and thus God says, "Let Aaron be gathered to his people, for he shall not enter the land that I have given to the people of Israel, because you rebelled against my command at the waters of Meribah" (Num 20:24). And Moses stripped Aaron of his garments and put them on Eleazar his son (Num 20:28).
Iain Duguid also observes that by calling the people "rebels" Moses is setting himself up as their judge when God has told them to extend God's mercy and by striking the rock Moses and Aaron are claiming to be the people's saviors. The judgment: death and being stripped of God's glory-image. This is in contrast to the soon-to-be hero Phineas, son of Eleazar.

We see more grumbling against God and Moses a few verses later and YHWH sent "fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people" and the people repented and Moses interceded and the people in faith looked at a serpent on a pole so that they would live (Num 21:4-9). The apostle John later showed that this was a type of the death of Christ too (John 3:14). Meanwhile, the nations are resisting the coming rule of God. Edom, brother to Israel, had refused to allow Israel through (Num 20:14-21, though Duguid says this is because Moses was trying to take a shortcut), the Canaanite king of Arad fought against Israel and took some of them captive but Israel would destroy him and his cities (Num 21:1-3), and Kings Sihon and Og came out to fight Israel and their people also were destroyed (Num 21:21-35). The land of Arad was devoted to destruction as an offering to God (Num 21:2-3) and the lands of Sihon and Og became the possession of Israel (Num 21:24, 35).

Num 22:1 brings us to a new setting in the plains of Moab "beyond the Jordan" (written from the perspective of being in the Promised Land) opposite from Jericho. King Balak, son of Zippor, of Moab, the descendant of Lot, then joined together with the elders of Midian, either descendants of Abraham by Keturah (Gen 25:1-4) or through Ishmael (Gen 37:28). Moses' father-in-law was also said to be a Midianite (Exo 3:1) and so the only earlier reference in Numbers to Midianites were to this family (Num 10:29). The only previous reference in the Torah to the Midianites who lived in Moab tells us about the Edomite who "defeated Midian in the country of Moab" (Gen 36:35). The response of Balak to seeing the defeat of Sihon and Og gives us a glimpse of the response we will see in Jericho and in the whole of the Promised Land in Joshua (Num 22:2-3).

Thus Balak sent for Balaam the son of Beor at Pethor (Num 22:5). Balak wanted Balaam to curse Israel "for I know," Balak said, "that he whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed" (Num 22:6). This should remind us of God's words to Abraham in Gen 12:1-3, especially verse 3: "I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed" (Gen 12:3). This is the theme verse, if you will, of this whole story (Num 22:6, 23:11, 23:25, 24:9). And so we have four poetic blessings of Israel (Num 23:7-10, 18-24, 24:3-9, 15-24. Each time saying that Balaam "took up his discourse and said" (Num 23:7, 18, 24:3, 15). Except that the fourth poem has four parts each opening with that phrase (Num 24:15, 20, 21, 23). Four is a very significant number in Scripture where the fourth thing is the punch. That the fourth poem is four small poems means there is a total of seven poetic blessings and curses.

We continue to see then this theme of the nations trying to resist the plan of God but being unable to do so. Even the story line of the negotiations between Balak and Balaam and the story with the donkey have this as the point. Duguid suggests reading what Balaam says carefully and observing where he does not tell the whole story. He neglects to tell God that Balak said these people were "dwelling opposite me" (Num 22:5) and that Balak said that he knew whomever Balaam curses is cursed (Num 22:6). See Num 22:11 for where he leaves those details out when God asks "Who are these men with you?" -- a question meant to see if Balaam will repent. Then when God tells Balaam that the people of Israel are blessed, he neglected to mention that to Balak's messengers (Num 22:13) instead implying that he wants to come but God will not let him yet. Balak takes this as a negotiating posture and sends a bigger bribe.

Balaam sounds good in Num 22:18 saying, "Though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not go beyond the command of YHWH my God to do less or more" (Num 22:18) but then says to wait to see "what more" YHWH will say (Num 22:19). The reason YHWH becomes angry with Balaam for going is that He had told Balaam only to go if the men call again, but Balaam did not wait (Num 22:20-21) and he did not tell the people that he could not curse those YHWH had blessed and YHWH has blessed Israel -- Balaam is not in charge. The story about the donkey then reminds Balaam that he is not in charge. Ironically, Balaam the seer cannot see the angel of YHWH standing in the road.

We are not to understand Balaam as a worshiper of YHWH -- Balaam is a polytheist and primarily a worshiper of Baal. And he uses divination, which is forbidden by YHWH, because it is an attempt to manipulate God. But the story shows us that Balaam cannot manipulate God, he cannot use YHWH's name to curse Israel, God is in control. Perhaps Balaam should point us to his god Baal, the chief Baal god being Baalzebul (Beelzebul or Beelzebub, Satan) who also is not able to go beyond what God allows. In any case, the lesson is that God will bless Israel.

We have noted before that the structure of the Pentateuch is narrative, poetry, epilogue. We saw that pattern in Genesis and will see it in Deuteronomy. And we have been saying that this is the case for Exodus-Numbers too. In fact, we have four poems here in Numbers. And thus here is the climax of Exodus-Numbers. Especially the fourth oracle with four parts. Properly speaking it is this fourth poem in four parts that is the climax. It is introduced by Balaam in Num 24:14 as "in the latter days" a phrase associated with the other poems functioning this way in Genesis 49:1 and Deut 31:29 (the Hebrew word "aharith" meaning in "the last days" introduces all three major poems in the Torah). This is a final judgment eschatological word. Jesus is the star of Jacob.

And thus the epilogue of Exo-Num begins with Num 24:25. It does not begin well as the people of Israel became yoked to the daughters of Moab and then they also became yoked to the false god Baal of Peor (Num 25:1-3). Moses does not adequately deal with the sin and remove it from Israel. The discipline was not working, too limited in scope, and one couple even flaunted their rebellion openly. But Phineas, son of Eleazar the priest, became a hero by executing this couple (Num 25:6-18). And thus to him and his descendants was given "a perpetual priesthood" (Num 25:13) "because he was jealous for his God and made atonement for the people of Israel." The next generation is beginning to show signs of their faith. Analysis of the epilogue will continue with the next post.

Part III, In the Wilderness: Numbers 15:1-20:21

2009-07-30T17:59:00.006-04:00

I have not discovered an easy way to divide up the book. The narrative of Numbers, like Exodus, does not appear to be structured in any patterns. Exodus was organized thematically around salvation, law, and worship. And some try to divide the text of Numbers by discussing what wilderness they were in or going toward, but there is no consensus to my knowledge on even how one might do that. Thus the divisions we have and will observe may be somewhat artificial but necessary for such a long text.

Yet chapter 15 itself has some of the structural phrases we saw in Leviticus. Sections begin with YHWH speaking to Moses and saying, "Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you come into the land..." (Num 15:1-2, 17-18 and a shorter intro in Num 15:37-38). The phrase "a pleasing aroma to YHWH" sometimes marking paragraph endings in the first section (Num 15:7, 10). And the whole chapter closing: "I am YHWH your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God: I am YHWH your God" (Num 15:41). Thus ending with a double "I am YHWH your God" similar to parts of Leviticus.

Thus in the context of having pronounced judgment on Moses, Miriam and Aaron, and the twelve tribes (not including Levi), the narrative republishes the law. This is a blessing because the laws begin affirming that Israel will be inhabiting the Promised Land. The phrase, "When you come into the land" is not new (Lev 14:4, 19:23, 23:10, 25:2). In fact, this whole section republishing the law includes familiar phrases like, "a pleasing aroma to YHWH" (Num 15:3, 7, 10, 13, 14, 24, 18:17, cf. Exo 29:18, 25, 41, Lev 1:9, 13, 17, 2:2, 9, 12, 3:5, 16, 4:31, 6:15, 21, 8:21, 28, 17:6, 23:13, 18). We see the principle: "One law and one rule shall be for you and for the stranger who sojourns with you" (Num 15:16, 29 cf. Exo 12:49, Lev 17:8, 12, 18:26, 19:34, especially Lev 24:22 and Num 9:14). The idea that there will be "native born" Israelites also accents the hope of this passage as they will come into the land. The phrase "a statute forever throughout your generations" is also familiar (Num 15:15, 19:21 also see Num 15:21, cf. Exo 12:14, 17, 27:21, 28:43, 29:9, 30:21, Lev 3:17, 10:9, 16:31, 34, 17:7, 23:14, 21, 31, 41, 24:3).

These are not the only familiar themes. One prevalent in Torah is the idea, of 'observing' "all these commandments that YHWH has spoken to Moses, all that YHWH has commanded you by Moses" (Num 15:22-23). The chapter even closes with this idea. Telling the people "to make tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations...for you to look at and remember all the commandments of YHWH, to do them, not to follow [footnote: to spy out] after your own heart and your own eyes, which you are inclined to whore after. So you shall remember and do all my commandments [cf. Matt 28:20], and be holy to your God" (Num 15:38-40). The people are to be holy being another common theme. And the idea common in Leviticus of the priest offering atonement for the sins of the people is also in Num 15:25, 28.

Something that seems particularly accented is the unity of the people before God. Unintentional sins involve the whole population (Num 15:25-26) regardless of whether they are native Israelites or foreign sojourners in the land (Num 15:29). "But the person who does anything with a high hand...shall be cut off...his iniquity shall be on him" (Num 15:30-31). A live demonstration following with the execution of a Sabbath breaker (Num 15:32-36) where "all the congregation brought him outside the camp and stoned him to death with stones, as YHWH commanded Moses" (Num 15:36). These themes are about to be played out in Num 16:1ff and it is fitting that these regulations come before this incident. As I noted earlier, God has pronounced judgments on Moses, Miriam and Aaron, and the twelve tribes (not including Levi), thus now we will see a revolt led by Korah of the tribe of Levi and their judgment.

More accurately this was a revolt of Korah, son of Kohath, son of Levi and Reubenites Dathan, Abiram, and Peleth (Num 16:1). This makes sense when you remember the way that Israel camped around the tabernacle -- the Kohathites and the Reubenites were on the south side. The issue is just that -- they were on the south side, and not on the east -- that is, their complaint is that they are not at the top of the society. They sound democratic (Num 16:3) but in reality they are only concerned about themselves being elevated to the place of the priests for the Kohathites (Num 16:10) and Judah for the Reubenites. These men despised YHWH (Num 15:31, 16:30). And the earth swalllowed them. Not surprisingly, then the people grumbled against Moses and Aaron (Num 16:41) and there was yet another plague (Num 16:46-50).

In the next chapter, the staff for Levi, the staff of Aaron, budded and was placed before the testimony "as a sign for the rebels, that you may make an end of their grumblings against me, lest they die" (Num 17:10) and the people said to Moses, "Behold, we perish, we are undone, we are all undone. Everyone who comes near, who comes near to the tabernacle of YHWH, shall die. Are we all to perish?" (Num 17:13). This was the wrong response. The staff was an almond tree bearing fruit. Likewise, the lampstand in the tabernacle was an almond tree with symbolic fruit on it. This is an image of the tree of life, Duguid notes, and it is an almond tree because they bear fruit early so that it shows the season of spring is coming. Thus this almond tree bearing fruit demonstrates that the nation will soon be fruitful.

As a fitting addition to these things, the following chapter lays out the duties of the priests and other Levites so that the people might not die. Again the priests and the other Levites will be guarding each other and guarding the people. The idea, "I am your portion and your inheritance among the people of Israel" being repeated (Num 18:20, 23, 24). And the idea that they would have a perpetual due is repeated (Num 18:8, 11, 19, cf. Exo 29:28, Lev 7:34, 36, 24:9). And the priests would tithe their tithe (Num 18:26) as we saw in Leviticus.

An organizing phrase appears to be variations on YHWH spoke to Moses or Aaron or Moses and Aaron. We saw that in chapter 15, in chapter 16 the phrase is missing on purpose because Korah and the Reubenite rebels were acting presumptuously, but we see it in Num 16:20, 36, 17:1, 18:1, 8, 25, and 19:1. But chapter 19 is organized differently. The first section begins, "This is the statute of the law that YHWH has commanded" (Num 19:2) and ends saying, "And this shall be a perpetual statute for the people of Israel, and for the stranger who sojourns among them" (Num 19:10) right after explaining the period of uncleanness. And then there are two "whoever" explanations (Num 19:11-12, 13) depending on whether one cleansed themselves after touching a dead body. The rest of the chapter opens, "This is the law (torah) when..." (Num 19:14). Here again we see familiar themes of clean and unclean, periods of seven days, sacrificing an animal without defect or blemish, etc.

In chapter 20 we see the deaths of Miriam and Aaron. The first when they were in Kadesh aka the wilderness of Zin (Num 20:1) and then Aaron after they left (Num 20:22). In an effort to pay attention to movement in the wilderness we are stopping just short of the death of Aaron, but it is intimately connected to the preceding narrative in as much as he will not enter the land "because you [Moses] rebelled against my [YHWH's] command at the waters of Meribah" (Num 20:24). Before this, we are told that Miriam died at Kadesh and was buried there (Num 20:1). Being buried outside of the land is highly significant since it meant that they were not buried in an inheritance. There was no water and as could be expected by this point with this rebellious generation the people assembled together against Moses and Aaron and quarreled with Moses (Num 20:2-3). Again the accusation of unbelief is leveled that they were brought into the wilderness to die (Num 20:4-5). Moses and Aaron were to tell the rock, that is Christ, to yield its water for the congregation of Israel and their cattle but instead Moses struck the rock with his staff twice. Thus YHWH told Moses and Aaron, Because you did not believe in me, ... therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them" (Num 20:12). The precise nature of what they did wrong has been glossed over as unbelief. Their lack of faith kept them from entering the land. And here we see Edom refuse passage to their brothers (Num 20:18-21). But more on all this next time.

Part II, In The Wilderness: Numbers 10:11-14:45

2009-07-24T14:36:00.008-04:00

In Num 10:11 the people of Israel begin to "set out by stages from the wilderness of Sinai" where they have been since Exodus 19:1. Following the cloud by day first to the wilderness of Paran (Num 10:11, 34). Next, following the quail incident, "the people journeyed to Hazeroth" (Num 11:35). "After that [the seven days Miriam was unclean with a skin disease] the people set out from Hazeroth, and camped in the wilderness of Paran" (Num 12:16). So we are still in the same general region where we started. From this wilderness went the spies into the land of Canaan. It looks like the people successfully move again when they "came into the wilderness of Zin in the first month, and the people stayed in Kadesh" (Num 20:1). Next they would journey from Kadesh to Mount Hor (Num 20:22), and then on eventually to the plains of Moab (Num 22:1). A more specific account of the places where they stopped is given in Num 33:16-49.

The people left in a particular order -- "the people of Judah set out first" (Num 10:14). Issachar and Zebulun followed (Num 10:15-16). The tabernacle was dismantled and the Gershonites and Merarites set out (Num 10:17). Reuben, Simeon, and Gad followed (Num 10:18-20). Then the Kohathites set out (Num 10:21), followed by Ephraim, Manasseh and Benjamin (Num 10:22-24). And finally the people of Dan, Asher, and Naphtali set out (Num 10:25-28). The order follows from east, south, west, north through the tribes by prominence as discussed in the previous post. But the order of the Levites does not follow in the same way but seems to be for practical reasons. Then Moses encouraged his father-in-law to come too (Num 10:29-32).

But the next chapter begins ominously, "And the people complained in the hearing of YHWH about their misfortunes [evil], and when YHWH heard it, his anger was kindled, and the fire of YHWH burned among them and consumed some outlying parts of the camp" (Num 11:1). Moses interceded for the people who had tested God and the fire died down (Num 11:2). Afterwards, they named the place "burning" (Num 11:3). This is the first test of chapter 11.

The second test, as Duguid explains it, begins with verse 4 where the people complained about the manna, which was excellent food (cf. Num 11:7-8). The story begins, "Now the rabble that was among them had a strong craving" (Num 11:4) and ends, "Therefore the name of that place was called Kibroth-hattaavah [footnote says this means "graves of craving"], because there they buried the people who had the craving" (Num 11:34). In the middle should have been the intercession of Moses to follow the pattern of verses 1-3. But this time Moses complained instead of interceding for the people.

Therefore the second episode is much longer as it tells us about the judgment against Moses. In this judgment, some of the Spirit that was upon him was put on seventy of the elders of Israel (Num 11:16ff). These briefly prophesied (Num 11:25) as a sign that they had received the Spirit including two that remained in the camp (Num 11:25ff). But even though this was a judgment against the leadership of Moses and the people now would ramp up their complaints about the leadership of Moses, he said, "Would that all YHWH's people were prophets, that YHWH would put his Spirit on them!" (Num 11:29). I have referenced this in the past as a text helpful in understanding the Day of Pentecost after the resurrection of Christ. The people would then also prophesy briefly (speaking in tongues) as a sign showing they had received the Spirit, but this time the Spirit would be poured out indiscriminately. The basic point here being that Moses learned his lesson and sees that God can turn this curse (like those in Genesis) into a blessing. Thus we have one of the elements of the gospel -- the promise of the giving of the Spirit.

Not surprisingly then, Aaron and Miriam, especially since Aaron had a portion of the Spirit that should have been on Moses, confront Moses "because of the Cushite woman whom he had married" (Num 12:1). We have the interesting aside, "Now the man Moses was very meek, more than all people who were on the face of the earth" (Num 12:3). Interesting since the meek will inherit the land (Psa 37:11, Matt 5:5), but Moses does not get to enter it. In any case, Aaron and Miriam also have prophesied and so they resist the leadership of Moses (cf. Num 12:2). And YHWH came down in a pillar of cloud (like the previous judgment against Moses, Num 11:25) to declare His verdict regarding Aaron and Miriam saying, "If there is a prophet among you, I YHWH make myself known to him in a vision; I speak with him in a dream. Not so with my servant Moses. He is faithful in all my house. With him I speak mouth to mouth, clearly, and not in riddles, and he beholds the form of YHWH. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?" (Num 12:6-8). And the anger of God was kindled against them and made Miriam unclean for seven days (Num 12:10ff).

In the next wilderness, Moses sent the spies into the land. The order of the spies' tribes (Num 13:4ff) is: Reuben, Simeon, Judah (Caleb), Issachar, Ephraim (Hoshea the son of Nun, otherwise known as Joshua), Benjamin, Zebulun, Manasseh, Dan, Asher, Naphtali, and Gad. There are a total of twelve tribes, Levi is again not included. Joshua's tribe of Ephraim is promoted. The usual order of prominence would continue with the other son of Leah, Zebulun. Instead, Issachar is followed by Ephraim and Zebulun by Manasseh. Thus the sons of Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh are split apart. Benjamin, Joseph's little brother, follows Ephraim. A Jewish article observes that they are in chiastic order -- four sons of Leah, two sons of Rachel, son of Leah and son of Rachel (Joseph, that is Manasseh), four sons of maidservants. The sons of Joseph open and close the center of the chiasm. Since it is the tribes of Israel there is still order.

Not insignificantly the spies spied for forty days (Num 13:25) and at the end of this time of testing they, with the exception of Caleb (Num 13:30, 14:6) and Joshua (Num 14:6-9), returned demonstrating a lack of faith (Num 13:28-29, 32-33). That the point is about faith is clear in YHWH's question: "How long will this people despise me? And how long will they not believe in me, in spite of all the signs that I have done among them? (Num 14:11). Thus God says that He will make a nation of Moses but Moses interceded for Israel. The judgment: "none of the men who have seen my glory and my signs that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and yet have put me to the test these ten times and have not obeyed my voice, shall see the land that I swore to give to their fathers. And none of those who despised me shall see it (Num 14:22-23). The people failed the forty day test of the spies and the number of times the people tested God was full (ten), many followed by plagues (i.e., Exo 32:35, Num 11:33, 14:37). The ten unbelieving spies died in a plague and those twenty years and up in the census besides Caleb and Joshua later died in the wilderness (this would not include the Levites). Some a few verses later as the people presumptuously attacked the Amalekites and Canaanites (Num 14:39ff).

The theme of the gospel going to the nations also is prominent in this text. After all, Aaron and Miriam are complaining because Moses' wife is a Gentile and Moses pleads with his father-in-law to stay with them in the journey of faith. And yet all of the grumbling demonstrated a lack of faith in this generation of Israelites. As of this point in Scripture we still await the one who is the son of the Father spoken of by the servant in His house (Heb 3:5-6).

In the Wilderness, Still at Sinai: Numbers 1:1-10:10

2009-07-17T12:34:00.009-04:00

Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers are tied together because the Israelites arrived at Sinai with Exo 19:1 and began their journey from Sinai with Num 10:11. Thus the beginning of Numbers is meant to be read as a continuation of the story of Exodus and Leviticus. The reason for the title Numbers sticking is the census taking in the book. However, the Hebrew title, "In the wilderness [desert]" is more appropriate because the people begin the book in the desert and end the book in the desert. In Deuteronomy too, they are not yet in the land at the end. Therefore, the story of the Torah (Old Testament Gospels) in an of itself is incomplete and needs the Prophets (Old Testament Acts) just as the Gospels (New Testament Torah) awaited the giving of the Spirit in Acts (New Testament Prophets).

"In the Wilderness" is an Old Testament Gospel teaching "that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem" and promising the Spirit on the Pentecost after Jesus' resurrection (Luke 24:46-49). The book tells us about two generations of Israel. The first characterized by unbelief and the second by faith. This section is the necessary background we need for the first generation.

The book begins with the setting "in the wilderness of Sinai" and "in the tent of meeting" and with the timing of day one, month two, year two after leaving Egypt (Num 1:1). You may remember that the calendar begins with the Exodus event. So this is two years and one full month later. But the timing of the Passover celebration recorded later, also "in the wilderness of Sinai" is day fourteen, month one, year two after leaving Egypt (Num 9:1-5). Fourteen is seven times two. But the point is that Num 9 takes place before Num 1, chronologically speaking.

The section starts well. The people stood up to be counted for holy war (Num 1:3). Those numbered were men twenty years old and up able to go to war. A man was called from each tribe to help. There are twelve tribes (this does not include the tribe of Levi, but does include both children of Joseph so that you still get twelve). Reuben had 46,500 (Num 1:21), Simeon had 59,300 (Num 1:23), Gad had 45,650 (Num 1:25), Judah had 74,600 (Num 1:27), Issachar had 54,400 (Num 1:29), Zebulun 57,400 (Num 1:31), Ephraim 40,500 (Num 1:33), Manasseh 32,200 (Num 1:35), Benjamin 35,400 (Num 1:37), Dan 62,700 (Num 1:39), Asher 41,500 (Num 1:41), Naphtali 53,400 (Num 1:43), plus the twelve who helped totals 603,550 (Num 1:46). The census follows a clear narrative pattern making it somewhat repetitious. It should not be surprising that Judah is most populous and even adding the two sons of Joseph together comes just short of Judah.

The order of the tribes in Num 1 is strange on first reading. Both the list of assistants and each tribe's census follows the same order except for Gad. The assistant's order of Dan, Asher, Gad, Naphtali is odd because they are not grouped by their mother or birth-order. The assistant's order follows their natural ranking among the sons of Jacob but the random order of these last four is another way of indicating their lesser status. In the census order itself, the movement of Gad to follow Reuben and Simeon prepares us for what will follow next (all as Iain Duguid observes in his commentary, p.41).

The second chapter shows the tabernacle at the center and the tribes arranged around it. Thus the tent of the King in the Ancient Near East is at the center (in other words, God is king). We mentioned this previously in the post about the tabernacle as heaven on earth on Exodus 25-31 and 35-40. But here we can add this observation Duguid makes: east of the tabernacle are the children of Leah (Issachar, Judah, and Zebulun), south of the tabernacle are the child of maidservants (Gad) and cursed children (Reuben and Simeon), west of the tabernacle are the children of Rachel (Manasseh, Ephraim, and Benjamin), and north of the tabernacle are the children of maidservants (Naphtali, Dan, and Asher). Thus there are three tribes on each side with the one in the middle leading that section.

Duguid also notes that the Levites are also arranged around the tabernacle with the priests on the east, the Kohathites carrying the most holy things on the south even though Kohath was Gershon's younger brother, the Gershonites carrying the holy things on the west, and the Merarites carrying the least holy things on the north. This arrangement is helpful for understanding later scenes like Num 16.

Duguid says, "Both elements that define the church -- the boundary and the center -- are important" (p.37). He calls the people of God "an edge-bounded group" who stand up to be counted (church membership) and "a center-focused group" who keep God at the center. Both ideas need to be held together: "your God will be my God and your people will be my people." Ultimately, Jesus is the boundary and the center -- that is, we are in Christ (boundary) and Jesus is Lord (center).

A genealogy of the sons of Aaron follows in the third chapter even reminding us of the fire incident (Num 3:4). The Levites belonged to God in place of the firstborn of each household (Num 3:12-13). They had guard duty with regard to the sanctuary and its furnishings but not military duty and so they were not counted in the census but they are numbered for this duty. Their guard duty included living between the people and the tabernacle to guard the people from it. There were 22,000 Levite males a month old and up (Lev 3:39) and there were 22,273 firstborn males in Israel (Num 3:43). Therefore, the other 273 had to be redeemed (Num 3:46ff). The Levitical sons of Kohath were then numbered in a census from age 30-50 (Num 4:2-3). These things were to prepare them to move the sanctuary on the journey. The same was done for the Levitical sons of Gershon (Num 4:22-23) and Merari (Num 4:29-30) for the same purpose.

Numbers 5 gives us some legal case studies in a narrative framework. First, they are to put the unclean outside the camp. Second, if they "break faith" they are to confess their sin and make restitution. And the third case is a special ordeal trial with water of bitterness for women suspected of adultery. Duguid classifies these cases as "sin as defilement," "sin as transgression," and "sin as unfaithfulness." And points the reader to Jesus as the solution to each.

Numbers 6 relates to us the Nazirite Vow. Duguid describes Nazarites as "a kind of temporary lay priest" (p.79). The Nazirites were set apart to YHWH by being set apart from alcohol and grapes, haircuts, and dead bodies (even immediate family). They are to be a microcosm of Israel, the kingdom of priests. The steps for cleansing are also mentioned should someone die suddenly in his presence and the steps for his offerings when the vow is complete are also described. And the Aaronic blessing is given, "YHWH bless you and keep you; YHWH make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; YHWH lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace" (Num 6:24-26). This was the blessing for the people of God.

Numbers 7 tells us about the twelve days of offerings in thanksgiving for the consecration of the tabernacle. The order of these offerings was from Judah, Issachar, Zebulon, Reuben, Simeon, Gad, Ephraim, Manasseh, Benjamin, Dan, Asher, and Naphtali. We can observe that they went in order from east, south, west, and north and by priority (thus Simeon before Gad and Manasseh before Benjamin, etc.) Afterwards an offering to set apart the Levites as the firstborn was given.

The whole section is set apart not only by location but also by the concluding phrase: "I am YHWH your God" (Num 10:10), a fitting way to end given its structural significance to ending paragraphs and other sections in the book of Leviticus.

The Gospel of Leviticus

2009-07-02T15:27:00.008-04:00

The Book of Leviticus is a book of good news because it teaches the forgiveness of sins through the appointed blood of atonement. Not that the blood of bulls and goats actually takes away sins (cf. Heb 10:4), but it points us to the blood that does -- that of the whole and spotless lamb Jesus Christ. The book shows that your sins cannot be atoned through the shedding of your own blood but only through the shedding of this blood. Offering a sacrifice was not a good work, but an ordinary means of grace. The way of salvation is narrow and it is not people-initiated but comes from God. All ancient peoples knew that they needed atonement, as their sacrificial systems showed, but salvation is from the Jews and in particular is from the priest-sacrifice of Jesus of Nazareth. And His sacrifice is applied through faith. Why did the true people of God offer sacrifices? Because they believed the promise of God to forgive sins and now we preach the forgiveness of sins in Jesus' name.

The nation of Israel was to be set apart as a holy nation both morally and outwardly. The distinctions between clean and unclean animals demonstrated the distinction between the nation of Israel and the Gentiles. While election in Christ is still good news, just as this showed the election of Israel among the nations, we are no longer set apart in such external things because forgiveness of sins is now proclaimed to all nations in Jesus Christ. And the elect of every nation have the Spirit, setting us apart starting with our hearts. Demands that Christians preserve a particular culture whether forty years old or four hundred years old or whatever have missed this change in what the good news looks like and because they are a man-made way of salvation are dangerous.

And the Holiness Code consists of two chiasms. The first concentrates on loving your neighbor as yourself and the second on loving God with all of your heart and soul. The fact that the former includes laws about loving God and the latter laws about loving neighbors shows that one cannot separate these ideas. And yet it is very clear that the former section stresses loving neighbors and aliens with Lev 19 at the center and the latter section on loving God with the blasphemy case at the center. And there is a chapter on sacrifices before each chiasm. The first time dealing with sacrifices alone and the second time before the loving God section on sacrifices and priests (where the priests are described as sacrifices -- need to be well and whole). Given these and other regulations that no longer continue in the Holiness Code, the code is a portion of Scripture that is much neglected. And yet this code is incredibly helpful in thinking through how we show our gratitude to God for the forgiveness of our sins due to the work of the priest-sacrifice Jesus Christ. And the appendix on sacrifices and oaths is very helpful for people to contemplate today given that oaths are very lightly taken at present.

The Holiness Code & Appendix (Lev 17-27)

2009-06-20T16:37:00.022-04:00

Lev 17:10-12 makes an interesting point worth quoting: "If any one of the house of Israel or of the strangers who sojourn among them eats any blood, I will set my face against that person who eats blood and will cut him off from among his people. For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life. Therefore I have said to the people of Israel, No person among you shall eat blood, neither shall any stranger who sojourns among you eat blood" (ESV).

Thus the reason the people cannot eat blood (a regulation that goes back to Gen 9:4) is that life is in the blood and the blood makes atonement by the life. In other words, because of the role of blood in sacrifice (a point made by Dr. Richard Belcher of RTS, lectures on iTunes, for why discharges of blood make you unclean) and because of the symbolism of blood as life you could not eat it. During the time of the apostles there was a transition (Acts 15:20) where they allowed eating all animals as clean but not the blood (returning us to Gen 9:3-4). This makes sense to keep in place at the time because sacrifices, though effectively done away with in Christ's one sacrifice, continued to be performed at the temple until it was destroyed in AD 70. So as long as the sacrificial system continued for the Jewish people, this was a way for Jews and Gentiles to have table fellowship. These thoughts are made provisionally, I am open to your comments and ideas. Nevertheless, it is clear that it is important to see that you cannot atone for yourself (discharges of blood make you unclean) and you must be atoned for only by the blood appointed by God. And today we Spiritually drink the blood of Jesus.

But the fact that we are still discussing Lev 11-16 themes as we have moved onto the holiness regulations is one reason that people use to dismiss one commandment today: "You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination" (Lev 18:22) and "If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them" (Lev 20:13). [The civil dimension to this latter expression of the law no longer applies as the ancient nation of Israel no longer exists (i.e. the death penalty would be inappropriate in our nation).] Both regulations call male homosexual behavior an abomination. But the most common reason people find it easy to dismiss these regulations today is a failure to see the structure of the book and to confuse the moral, civil, and ceremonial dimensions of the law (the moral continues forever, not so with the civil and ceremonial, see the Westminster Standards).

Usually Lev 17-26 is called "the Holiness Code" and Lev 27 has been seen as an appendix to the book of Leviticus. This code deals with everyday life and includes a lot of diversity in content. Belcher suggests that the structure is sacrifices (Lev 17), mostly sexual relationships (Lev 18), center 1: various relationships (Lev 19), mostly sexual relationships with penalty (Lev 20); sacrifices (Lev 21-22), religious calendar (Lev 23), center 2: rules on the tabernacle and case law for blasphemy (Lev 24), Sabbath and Jubilee (Lev 25). Therefore, we will not be addressing the chapters in order but topically.

The structure of Chapter 17, as Wenham notes, is into four paragraphs after the first two introductory verses. Lev 17:3-7 regulates killing animals without offering them, Lev 17:8-9 with offering sacrifices outside the tabernacle, Lev 17:10-12 with the eating of blood, and Lev 17:13-16 with rules about hunting. Each paragraph follows a similar pattern, "If any...," the sentence of "cutting off" and each has a concluding statement. This chapter ties the themes of Lev 11-16 with Lev 18-27 and we will see the themes of Lev 11-16 elsewhere in the holiness code especially about the Day of Atonement.

Lev 21 and 22 are parallel then to Lev 17. Wenham observes that this should be divided into six sections, each of which ends with "I, YHWH, sanctify you [him, them]" (Lev 21:8, 15, 23, 22:9, 16, 32-33). The regulations related here have to do with the priests and sacrifices. Priests, like the sacrifices, were to be whole and well. This is particularly fitting for Christ who is our priest and sacrifice.

Wenham notes that Chapter 18, follows the Hittite treaty genre (I would add, as does this whole code generally, with Lev 26 giving the curses and blessings). It begins the historical prologue by introducing YHWH (Lev 18:2) and continues by contrasting the way the people of Israel are to live to the ways of the Egyptians (where they lived) and Canaanites (where they will live) (Lev 18:3). Instead of following the statutes of the Egyptians or Canaanites, the people of Israel "shall follow my [YHWH's] rules and keep my [YHWH's] statutes and walk in them" (Lev 18:4). And the next verse lays out the principle of the Mosaic covenant: "if a person does them [YHWH's statutes and rules], he shall live by them" (Lev 18:5). The regulations of Lev 18:6ff cover sexual relations and then the covenant curses are described in Lev 18:24ff.

As you could see from Lev 15, discharges of semen make you unclean so that you cannot be in the tabernacle, which keeps Israel from cultic prostitution like in the surrounding nations (cf. Lev 19:29-30). And Lev 18 builds on that regarding sexual relationships by defining incestuous relationships (marriage makes you one blood and flesh) and other (mostly, but not exclusively) sexual sins including homosexuality and bestiality. Wenham observes that seven times Lev 18 says the people of Israel are not to behave like the Canaanites and six times the chapter says "I am YHWH (your God)".

It is quite interesting that in this list of sins forbidden in Lev 18 is child sacrifice (Lev 18:21), then homosexual male relations (Lev 18:22), and then bestiality (Lev 18:23). You can see the same general order with a few other things in between in Lev 20, the parallel chapter, with child sacrifice (Lev 20:2-5), homosexual male relations (Lev 20:13), and bestiality (Lev 20:15-16). The issue of child sacrifice to Molech is one of spiritual adultery (Lev 20:5). Wenham observes that the latter chapter is structured by the phrases "I am YHWH your God" and "Keep my rules." Some regulations do appeal back to Lev 11-16 like forbidding sex with a woman during her menstrual impurity (Lev 20:18). The main theme connecting all of these laws is that these sins make the land unclean. Thus Lev 18:26-30 and 20:22-23 both warn that the land could vomit out the people for the same reason they were displacing the Canaanites.

Between these parallel chapters mostly about sexual relationships (Lev 18 and 20) is the most well known chapter Lev 19. Wenham diagrams the literary structure conclusively: each paragraph ends "I am YHWH (your God)," which reveals four paragraphs of religious duties, four paragraphs of duties to your neighbor, and eight paragraphs of other miscellaneous duties. The first four paragraphs end, "I am YHWH your God" (Lev 19:2b, 3, 4, 10). The second four paragraphs end, "I am YHWH" (Lev 19:12, 14, 16, 18). And the eight paragraphs that follow end with both the shorter (Lev 19:28, 30, 32, 37) and longer versions (Lev 19:25, 31, 34, 36) and open and end with "Keep my rules" (Lev 19:19, 37). While to my knowledge Wenham does not note this it reveals the following pattern: Longer, shorter, shorter, longer, shorter, longer, longer, shorter. Thus there are four groups of four: the first four end with the longer version, the second four with the shorter version, the third four longer, shorter, shorter, longer and the last four shorter, longer, longer, shorter. This is without a doubt intentional.

The second pair of four is very tightly structured, as Wenham notes, with each paragraph adding a new word for neighbor. Lev 19:11-12 uses "fellow citizen" (here translated "one another"). Lev 19:13-14 uses "neighbor." Lev 19:15-16 uses "fellow citizen" (here translated "neighbor") as well as "people," and "neighbor." Lev 19:17-18 adds "brother" to "fellow citizen" (again translated here "neighbor"), "people, and "neighbor." Thus all four paragraphs can be summarized, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am YHWH."

In Lev 23 the phrase "I am YHWH your God" again shows us the structure. There are the spring festivals ending with Lev 23:22 and the fall festivals ending with Lev 23:43. These sections are further divided by the phrase, "it is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings (...)" (Lev 23:14, 21-22, 31-32, 41-42). Thus we see (1) Passover and the feast of unleavened bread and firstfruits, (2) the feast of weeks, (3) the festival of trumpets and day of atonement, and (4) the feast of booths. This is a religious calendar for the people.

Lev 25, appropriately parallel to the religious calendar, is the discussion of Jubilee with "I am YHWH your God" marking the closing of a section (Lev 25:17-22, 38, 55). The first section deals with the sabbath for the land, the second with the redemption of property, and the third with the redemption of slaves. The Gospel of Luke shows how Jesus proclaimed Jubilee even though there is no evidence it was ever done in the history of Israel.

So the second center of the holiness code deals with rules for the tabernacle, a case of blasphemy with the eye for an eye principle explained. Wenham notes that Lev 24:16-22 is a chiasm (he calls it concentric because there is not one center), but actually, the whole of Lev 24:13-23 is a chiasm. It begins with YHWH speaking to Moses (Lev 24:13), then the instruction, "Bring out of the camp..." (Lev 24:14), then the instruction, "Speak to the people of Israel..." (Lev 24:15), then the law is said to be for "the sojourner as well as the native," (Lev 24:16) the next two are "whoever takes a [human or animal] life..." (Lev 24:17-18), and then the center two are "it shall be done [given] to him" (Lev 24:19-20), then killing an animal, then killing a person, then "You shall have the same rule for the sojourner and for the native" (Lev 24:22), then Moses speaks, they "brought out of the camp the one who had cursed" (Lev 24:23), and the conclusion matching the opening: "Thus the people of Israel did as YHWH commanded Moses." It is interesting that this (beginning with Lev 24:10)is what continues the narrative of Leviticus. And it is interesting that the first center deals with the latter of the Ten Commandments and the second section deals with the former of the Ten Commandments. Lev 24:1-9 perhaps should be grouped with the previous section as it deals with the Sabbath and keeping the lamp burning.

Lev 26 lays out the blessings and curses of the Mosaic Law. It opens with "I am YHWH your God" and "I am YHWH" (Lev 26:1-2), the section ends "I am YHWH your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt" (Lev 26:13), and the whole chapter ends, "I am YHWH their God" and "I am YHWH" (Lev 26:44-45). The last verse of the chapter closes the holiness code with the narrative mark: "These are the statutes and rules and laws that YHWH made between himself and the people of Israel through Moses on Mount Sinai." Verse 13 ends the blessings, and verse 45 ends the curses. The curses can be further divided by noting "If you will not listen to me...I shall [punish] you ([again] sevenfold for your sins)" (Lev 26:14-16, 18, 21, 23-24, 27-28). On the other hand, Lev 26:40-45 offers restoration to the repentant. These blessings and curses fell upon Israel later in their history driving them into exile.

Lev 27, somewhat of an appendix about vows, resembles early chapters in Lev in that it is structured with "if a man..." phrases and "and if" phrases and the book ends with a similar narrative ending to the last chapter "These are the commandments that YHWH commanded Moses for the people of Israel on Mount Sinai" (Lev 27:34).

Lev 11-16 and the New Testament

2009-06-16T22:27:00.007-04:00

What follows is a list of some New Testament texts that assume information learned in Lev 11-16:

Matt 8:2-4 [Mark 1:40-45][Luke 5:12-15]
Matt 15:11, 17-20 [Mark 7:18-19, 20-23]
Matt 9:20 [Mark 5:25ff] [Luke 8:43ff]
Matt 10:8, 11:5 [Luke 7:22]
Matt 23:25-26
Matt 23:27
Mark 5:13
Luke 1:10, 21
Luke 2:22-24 (quoting Lev 12:8)
Luke 4:27
Luke 11:38-41
Luke 17:12-19
John 2:6
John 13:8-11
John 15:3
John 18:28
Acts 10:10-11:18
Acts 19:12
Rom 14:14-20
1 Cor 7:14, 8:7
2 Cor 6:16-17, 7:1
1 Thess 4:7
Titus 1:15
Heb 9:7, 12-13, 24-25, 28, 10:4, 19-20, 21-22, 23, etc.
Rev 18:2
Rev 21:27

Distinguishing Clean and Unclean (Lev 11-16)

2009-06-14T20:33:00.015-04:00

As the chart of Lev 8-10 reveals, the third panel (Lev 10) does not tell of Moses or Aaron offering sacrifices but instead says, "You are to distinguish between the holy and common, and between the unclean and the clean. And you are to teach the people of Israel all the statutes that YHWH has spoken to them by Moses" (Lev 10:10-11). Thus we can see a transition in Lev 8-10 from sacrifices (Lev 1-7) to distinguishing the unclean and the clean (Lev 11-16). The sacrifices (Lev 1-7), performed by the priests (Lev 8-10) were necessary to make many unclean things clean (Lev 11-16).

The chapter divisions in your English Bibles are helpful since each chapter covers a subject starting with "YHWH spoke to Moses." Lev 11 deals with unclean animals. Lev 12 with the uncleanness of childbirth. Lev 13 with unclean skin and fungus diseases and Lev 14 with their cleansing. Lev 15 with unclean bodily discharges. And then finally Lev 16 addresses the day of atonement when the tabernacle itself is cleansed. The day of atonement was necessary because of Israel's uncleannesses and their transgressions (Lev 16:16). Thus Wenham says, "chs. 11-15 provide essential background for understanding the significance of the day of atonement (16)" (161). He also noticed the connection with Lev 10:10.

There is a three-fold distinction of clean and unclean animals: Land, water, and sky animals. For land animals they could eat whatever parts the hoof, is cloven-footed, and chews the cud (Lev 11:3). Other land animals like the camel, rock badger, hare (each chews the cud but does not part the hoof) (Lev 11:4-6) and the pig (parts the hoof and is cloven-footed but does not chew the cud) (Lev 11:7) are unclean. The people were not to eat them, or touch their dead carcasses, because "they are unclean to you" (Lev 11:8).

For water animals, they could eat everything with fins and scales (Lev 11:9) but other water animals were "detestable to you" (Lev 11:10-12). And for the sky creatures, first are listed some "detestable" birds (Lev 11:13-19), then winged insects that go on all fours are said to be "detestable" (Lev 11:20) but then the next verse says there is an exception for those with jointed legs above their feet to hop on the ground (Lev 11:21) and lists those you could eat (Lev 11:22).

The rest of the chapter deals with the treatment of this uncleanness and mentions other animals that are unclean like mice and lizards. These regulations served to set Israel apart chosen from the nations as holy because YHWH is holy (Lev 11:44-45). This was symbolic for the division between holy Jews (represented by the chosen animals) and common Gentiles (represented by the animals that were not chosen). It is notable, as Wenham says, that animals were expected to keep Torah and those people or animals who drink blood or eat flesh without draining blood are unclean. Actually the law forbidding eating meat with the blood still in it predates Moses. Noah was told, "You shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood" (Gen 9:4), which may explain why the apostles kept this prohibition (Acts 21:25). But nevertheless, the animals were set apart of God's election.

And even this verse in Gen 9 is not the first time that people were forbidden to eat certain things: Adam and Eve were forbidden to eat from one tree, though it is interesting that there are no unclean plants in Leviticus. However, the seriousness of the uncleanness for the people of Israel was relatively little since all that was required for cleansing when one came into contact with a dead carcass of an unclean animal was washing and waiting until evening. And the distinction between clean and unclean animals is abolished in the New Testament because the distinction between Jews and Gentiles is abolished in Christ.

Lev 12 is much shorter, but more serious since it includes sacrifices as part of the cleansing. Here we are looking at the uncleanness of childbirth. The numbers are significant: unclean and contagiously so for seven days for a boy (Lev 12:2) and fourteen days for a girl (Lev 12:5). She must stay at home for 33 days for a boy (Lev 12:4) and 66 days for a girl (Lev 12:5). Thus a total of 40 days for a boy and 80 days for a girl (traditional period of testing is 40 days or multiples thereof). The boy is circumcised on the eighth day (Lev 12:3). Circumcision is the sign of the covenant and failure to do it would cut off that son from his people. The offerings are to make atonement for her and to purify her from the discharge of blood (Lev 12:6-8). It has been suggested that we remember the increased pain of childbirth was a reminder of the curse due to original sin. Wenham notes that the structure of a period of uncleanness, sacrifice, summary, and provision for the poor reappears in other chapters in Leviticus (186).

Lev 13-14 deal with skin diseases. It may be that because these diseases are visible that they are singled out for ceremonial uncleanness. All diseases remind us of death and thus have something in common with issues of blood (blood symbolizing life). The skin diseases are classified based on what they look like on the outside. And periods of seven days are common to see if it gets better or worse to make a diagnosis. The priest, as a servant of the Lord, has declarative power here -- he declares if the person is clean or unclean based on the criteria in Scripture. The cleansing is more difficult, when it is possible, for such diseases. And these sacrifices are for atonement. And they prepare us for Jesus who cleanses many and the priests then are forced to declare them clean and then Jesus offers Himself up as a sacrifice for atonement of sin.

Lev 15 deals with unclean discharges first from men. The one who has a discharge waits seven days for his cleansing and washes his clothes and bathes his body (Lev 15:13). And on the eighth day he offers sacrifices (Lev 15:14). An emission of semen makes the man unclean until evening and he has to bathe his body (Lev 15:16). The chapter transitions to women by mentioning the case of a man who does so while laying with a woman (Lev 15:18). The next verse (Lev 15:19) discusses how menstrual impurity lasts for seven days and later verses deal also with situations where blood issues may last longer (Lev 15:25). The purpose statement is then given about defiling the tabernacle (Lev 15:31).

Lev 16 addresses the day of atonement. Given the atonement sacrifices of many of the previous chapters, we can see the need for a day of atonement. These are themes that seem odd to modern ears but ones that are consistent in the Old Testament. The themes run throughout Ezekiel, especially for our purposes in Ezek 44:23. The prophet Ezekiel even compares Israel's ways and deeds to the uncleanness of a woman in her menstrual impurity (Ezek 36:17) -- a comment that only makes sense given these chapters in Leviticus. He also mentions this particular impurity elsewhere (Ezek 18:6, 22:10). And the prophet is concerned with this issue of uncleanness so much that it appears repeatedly like when God says, "I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you" (Ezek 36:25). So there is a need for a more permanent removal of these uncleannesses than a single day of atonement each year could provide.

Aaron had to offer atonement for himself and his house first and then he could do so for the nation. The reason to "make atonement for the Holy Place" was "because of the uncleannesses of the people of Israel and because of their transgressions, all their sins. And so he shall do for the tent of meeting, which dwells with them in the midst of their uncleannesses" (Lev 16:16). One goat Aaron would put his hands on its head and "confess over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel, and all their transgressions, all their sins. And he shall put them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness" (Lev 16:21). This takes place on the tenth day of the seventh month (Lev 16:29).

The Structure of Ordination (Lev 8-10)

2009-06-11T13:44:00.015-04:00

Remembering that the laws were situated in a narrative framework, the narrative continues with the story of the ordination setting apart Aaron and his sons as priests. But these three chapters are set apart because while the rest of Leviticus has a narrative framework it is mostly legal material whereas these chapters are mostly narrative. As Wenham says, "The history provides a setting for the laws, not vice versa" (129).

Lev 8 spells out in more detail what Exodus ended saying shall happen (Exo 40:12-16). Those verses in Exodus lay out the parts of the ordination service that set apart Aaron and his sons as priests. There is a ceremonial washing element, they receive the priestly garments resembling the tabernacle (as Meredith Kline notes), and they are anointed with oil. Tremper Longman argues that it is possible that the narrative may not be in chronological order because Exodus 19:22-24 mentions priests (123). But such harmonization seems unnecessary since the author wanted it to be clear that no one in this kingdom of priests (Exo 19:6) would be permitted. Priests and people in Exo 19:24 then is simply two parts for the whole nation appropriate in the context like heavens and earth are two parts for the whole of creation.

The English chapter and verse numberings of Lev 8-10 are helpful to see the three-fold structure of this section. The sacrifices of Lev 1-3 also followed a three-fold arrangement. In Lev 8-10 the narrative approach can be seen by looking at key words and the order of events. In this approach to writing, not everything shows up in each panel. Take for example, chapter 8 begins "YHWH spoke to Moses" (Lev 8:1) and chapter 9 begins "Moses called Aaron" (Lev 9:1) but chapter ten is missing this element (and thus the problem that unfolds). It is not an accident that the verb in Lev 9:1 is "called" given this text is about ministry as priests. You can see a table of these chapters compared to each other in Wenham (133) and I have made a table based on it that you can download here.

Book One of Genesis also had a three-fold arrangement, ordination is a new creation event taking seven days (Lev 8), this time Aaron does not recapitulate the fall (Lev 9), but his two disobedient sons go the way of Cain (Lev 10). On day 8, Aaron's sacrifices are accepted (Lev 9) but the following chapter (10) shows us the rejection of his sons' offerings. Adam was the priest of the garden of Eden until driven out and Lev 10 even thematically resembles Gen 4 because Cain's offerings were rejected.

Wenham notes that there is a chiastic arrangement in chapter eight as to the commandments and their fulfillment. The first command was about Aaron's clothes (Lev 8:2) and the second about assembling the people (Lev 8:3), but the fulfillment sees the congregation assembled (Lev 8:4-5) before Aaron's clothes (Lev 8:6-9). I have mentioned before that Aaron's clothes are important because they represent the glory of the image of God (parallel to Moses having a shining face). So here again we have a creation allusion and thankfully Aaron does not lose the renewed image (Lev 10:6).

As in Exodus, Moses stands in for God. When Moses is satisfied you assume that God is too (Lev 10:20, which uses a verb meaning 'to be good'), when Moses speaks it is the word of God (even when not explicitly said, cf. Lev 10:4, 6-7 as Wenham notes). And Moses acts as the priest until the ordination of Aaron and his sons is complete, while Aaron and his sons perform the role of the common worshiper. We should never overlook that the priests in this system were themselves needing forgiveness.

Then the death of two of Aaron's sons near the end of this narrative is yet another reminder (after the Exodus golden-calf incident) that the priests needed to follow God's worship regulations precisely. This is a theme we have highlighted repeatedly. In particular, the common phrase "as YHWH commanded Moses" is very prevalent in these chapters. Wenham mentions that chapter 8 closely quotes Exo 29 in order to stress their strict obedience to the commandments. Chapter 9 paraphrases Lev 1-7. The problem opening chapter 10 is that two of Aaron's sons did something that was not commanded by God (Lev 10:1), but later in the chapter the participants do precisely what is right. This is further demonstration of the regulative principle of worship (as it has come to be known in Reformed theology). The regulative principle is that we not only forbid in worship what Scripture forbids but the only elements allowed in worship are commanded in Scripture.

We can see then how Moses points to Jesus Christ. Moses is the mediator who acts as priest until the priests are ordained. Jesus is the prophet greater than Moses who continues to ordain leaders in His church and He is a priest forever and is interceding on our behalf in the heavenly tabernacle. Jesus is the prophet like Moses whose words are the very word of God. Jesus is the priest greater than the priesthood of Aaron and his sons. Jesus is the very glory-image of the invisible God and He is the way to worship God. Jesus, the God-man, is the mediator that Moses and the priesthood foreshadowed between God and people. The main difference is that Jesus is without sin and the sacrifice of His death is once-for-all.

It is no accident that ordination services today remember our baptisms (a ceremonial washing), often include the giving of symbols of ministry (often garment related), and laying on of hands (something we have seen with the sacrifices in Leviticus). Today we have the priesthood of all believers (as well as the prophethood of all believers) but Christ still sets some apart by ordination to serve in particular ways, especially to regulate worship according to the word of God and to teach the word of God.

The Structure and Content of Leviticus 1-7

2009-05-29T15:24:00.008-04:00

In preparing this post I am selectively looking at commentaries by Gordon Wenham (1979) NICOT and S.H. Kellogg (1891). I would also recommend Tremper Longman III's Immanuel in Our Place: Seeing Christ in Israel's Worship in The Gospel according to the Old Testament series and Vern Poythress' The Shadow of Christ in the Law of Moses.

Of the Old Testament Gospels, Leviticus is the most neglected book. The Torah are Old Testament Gospels and give us at least two different perspectives on the teaching ministry of Moses (Gen-Num compared to Deuteronomy, which means 'second law') just as the NT gives us four perspectives on the teaching ministry of Jesus. We have seen that the structure of the Pentateuch follows a narrative, poetry, epilogue pattern. Genesis does this. Exodus through Numbers, read together, do this. And Deuteronomy follows this pattern (with an additional poem and epilogue telling us about the death of Moses). But the point for Leviticus is that these laws are part of the narrative begun in Exodus and finished in Numbers (where a poem and epilogue follow). Therefore, the laws of Leviticus are set within a narrative framework.

Specifically, the narrative continues the story of Exodus because at the end of Exodus (Exo 40:34-38) we are told that the cloud covered the tent of meeting and the glory of YHWH filled the tabernacle. Lev 1:1 begins with the same setting saying, YHWH called Moses from the tent of meeting. It is important that the word is "called" rather than "said" or something similar. The book is about the calling of Israel to be set apart as a kingdom of priests and a holy nation (Exo 19:6). And the laws set forth in the book set Israel apart as different from the world so that they might fulfill their calling to reach the world.

It is also worth noting that the order of the priest's section in Lev 6-7 (in the Hebrew verse numbering, in English Bibles this begins with Lev 6:8) reflects the order of the offerings done in Exo 29. Moreover, Lev 1-5 was revealed in the tabernacle, Exo 29 and Lev 6-7 are revealed on Sinai. We will see that Lev 1-5 is arranged theologically and thematically, but Lev 6-7 is arranged by order of frequency. In any case, the whole of Lev 1-7 continues to show us that God is very concerned with the way we worship and we know that the way is ultimately Jesus Christ who fulfills these sacrifices and is our priest.

I think that the reason reading Leviticus is so difficult is that we do not try to outline it. Lev 1-7 is about sacrifice laws with Lev 1-5 (Eng. 6:7) giving instructions for common worshipers and Lev 6-7 (Eng 6:8ff) giving instructions for the priests. Using English verse numbers: the order of the offerings in Lev 1-6:7 is the burnt offering (1), the cereal offering (2), the peace offering (3), the purification offering (4:1-5:13), and the reparation offering (5:14-6:7). The order of the offerings in the instructions for the priests is the burnt offering (Lev 6:8-13), the cereal offering (Lev 6:14-18), the priest's cereal offering (Lev 6:19-23), the purification offering (Lev 6:24-30), the reparation offering (Lev 7:1-10), and the peace offering (Lev 7:11-36). This is followed in Wenham's outline, which this paragraph borrows, by two verses of summary (Lev 7:37-38). The order of the priest's instructions is by frequency performed with the peace offering last because it was an optional sacrifice done least often.

Looking at the common worshiper's instructions, it also makes sense to begin with the burnt offering because it was the most common offering, even if it was not first when you are doing more than one kind of offering. For example, you would do a purification offering before the burnt offering (Lev 9). It appears that the order of these offerings is to make them easier to learn/teach and it keeps Moses from being too repetitive because earlier portions are assumed later. The cereal and peace offerings were also food offerings with a pleasing aroma to YHWH, which is why these three are next to each other.

In the first chapter, after two introductory verses, each section on the burnt offering ends "a food offering with a pleasing aroma to YHWH" (Lev 1:9, 13, 17): the first section (Lev 1:3-9) deals with burnt offerings of cattle, the second (Lev 1:10-13) with burnt offerings of sheep or goats and the third section (Lev 1:14-17) with burnt offerings of birds. Cattle are more valuable than sheep or goats, and those herd animals more than birds. This is the reason for the order. For the sake of brevity, the second and third situations assume material included in the first (the longest description).

Burnt offerings had been offered at key times already in the Torah including right after the flood and the Ram instead of Isaac. And Jesus' death, as the new Isaac, was likened to the burnt offering (Eph 5:2, 1 Pet 1:18-19), though once for all (Heb 7:27). All of these offerings under the laity section are those brought by the people. For the burnt offering of cattle or sheep or goats the text required a male without blemish. The laying on of hands (Lev 1:4) conveyed a transfer from the worshipper to that animal being sacrificed. And the burnt offering "shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him" (Lev 1:4). The offering up of the one with whom the Father was "well pleased" was thus the fulfillment of the burnt offering with a pleasing aroma to the LORD (Lev 1:9, 13, 17).

The second chapter of Leviticus covers the grain offerings. The first two sections end saying that the priest shall burn some of the food offering as its memorial portion on the altar, "a food offering with a pleasing aroma to YHWH. But the rest of the grain offering shall be for Aaron and his sons; it is a most holy part of YHWH's food offerings" (Lev 2:2-3, 9-10). The first section deals with raw grain offerings and the second section with unleavened baked grain offerings. The third section deals with general rules about grain offerings and allows for those that are not for a pleasing aroma to YHWH (Lev 2:12) and other firstfruits grain offerings. The common theme in the third section is that they are firstfruits offerings and the section ends "it is a food offering to YHWH" (Lev 2:16). Usually it would follow the burnt offering. Therefore, the priest having pronounced your sins forgiven you would respond with a cereal offering of the produce of your land. The priests relied on these offerings for food and burned a portion as their offering to God.

The third chapter of Leviticus covers the peace offerings. Here again we have three sections. The first ends "it is a food offering with a pleasing aroma to YHWH" (Lev 3:5) and the second ends "a food offering to YHWH" (Lev 3:11) and the third has a longer ending (Lev 3:16-17). The first section covers cattle, the second sheep, and the third goats. Here the offering can be male or female but must still be without blemish. There is again a laying on of hands. Many of the things we said about the burnt offerings apply here, but the peace offering is less important than the burnt offering. One difference not noted here is that the worshiper could enjoy a portion of the offering so that it is a feast for YHWH, the priests, and the worshipers. This is implied because only certain parts of the animal are mentioned for burning on top of the burnt offering. We discover in the priest's section on this offering that it could be for confession, vows, or free-will.

Leviticus 4 and 5, on the purification offering (4:1-5:13) and the reparation offering (5:14-6:7) have a similar structure to each other. Here the value of the animal offered is not important. As Wenham puts it, "Here the most important distinction is between inadvertent sins and sins of omission or deliberate sins. The status of the sinners who bring the offerings is also important" (87). This yields the following table: purification offerings for unintentional sins (Lev 4:1-35), purification offerings for sins of omission (Lev 5:1-13), reparation offerings for unintentional sins (Lev 5:14-19), reparation offerings for intentional sins (Lev 6:1-7). Each section begins, "If anyone sins..." and ends "And the priest shall make atonement for him...and he shall be forgiven...." These sections can be divided further by noting the "if" or in the case of Lev 4:22 "when" clauses. For unintentional sin, blood can be sprinkled in the holy place for the high priest and for the whole congregation, smeared on the main altar for the tribal leader, a worshiper offering a goat, a worshiper offering a lamb. For sins of omission, the offering can be a lamb or goat, birds, or flour. These offerings were less valuable and done less often than the burnt offering. Nevertheless, these offerings show us (1) the problem of unintentional sin, (2) that our sin (intentional or not) makes it impossible for God to be with us without confession of sin, restitution where appropriate (the NT gospels give examples), and a sacrifice, and (3) that the sins of leaders are more serious than the rest of the congregation.

Some notes on the priest's instructions: the fire that they needed to keep going for the burnt offerings (Lev 6:13) was lit by God from heaven (Lev 9:24, cf. 2 Chronicles 7:1); these instructions are detailed as to what portions the priest could eat, if any, and what portions they tithed to God; detailed about how long they had to eat it; and most of this section (by contrast to Lev 1-6:7) is to be spoken to Aaron and his sons except the two asides about the peace offerings starting with Lev 7:22 and 7:28. Remember that portions of the peace offerings could be eaten by the common worshiper bringing it.

Kellogg reflects,

Of what use can the book of Leviticus be to believers now? We answer, first, that it is to us, just as much as to ancient Israel, a revelation of the character of God. It is even a clearer revelation of God's character to us than to them ; for Christ has come as the Fulfiller, and thus the Interpreter, of the law. And God has not changed. He is still exactly what He was when He called to Moses out of the tent of meeting or spoke to him at Mount Sinai. He is just as holy as then ; just as intolerant of sin as then ; just as merciful to the penitent sinner who presents in faith the appointed blood of atonement, as He was then (24-25).