Writer of Fancy: The Playful Piety of Jane Austen

Solomon Among the Postmoderns

The Baptized Body

1 & 2 Kings
Brazos Theological Commentary

The Promise Of His Appearing: An Exposition Of Second Peter

A Great Mystery: Fourteen Wedding Sermons

Deep Comedy: Trinity, Tragedy, And Hope In Western Literature

Miniatures & Morals: The Christian Novels of Jane Austen

The Priesthood of the Plebs: A Theology of Baptism

A Son To Me: An Exposition of 1 & 2 Samuel

Against Christianity

From Silence to Song: The Davidic Liturgical Revolution

Ascent to Love: A Guide to Dante's Divine Comedy

Blessed Are the Hungry: Meditations on the Lord's Supper

A House For My Name: A Survey of the Old Testament

Heroes of the City of Man: A Christian Guide to Select Ancient Literature

Brightest Heaven of Invention: A Christian Guide To Six Shakespeare Plays

Wise Words: Family Stories That Bring the Proverbs to Life

The Kingdom and the Power: Rediscovering the Centrality of the Church

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Bible - OT - Exodus: New Time

In Exodus 12:2, Yahweh tells Moses that the month of Abib, the month of Exodus, will be the first month in Israel’s calendar.  Israel gets a new time with the Exodus.  Yahweh informs Moses using the word “head” or “beginning,” which reaches back to Genesis 1:1.  The new time of Israel is a new time for the world; of the Exodus, we might say “In the beginning Yahweh made (new) heavens and earth.”

Bible - OT - Daniel Bible - OT - Exodus: Liturgical satire

Jordan also cites an article from Hector Avalos arguing that the repetition of the lists of musical instruments and Babylonian officials in Daniel 3 is intended satirically.  Avalos writes:

“[Henri] Bergson argued that simple mechanical iteration is a great source of comedy.  When humans act as automatons or in an absentminded manner, they become subjects of comedy. . . . The four mechanical iterations of a lengthy list of musical instruments in vv. 5, 7, 10, 15 mirror the mechanistic behavior of the pagans before the image . . . . Indeed, as soon as the instruments sound, the pagans genuflect en masse before a lifeless image without a second thought.”

Bible - OT - Exodus: Coffer of the Covenant

SR Hirsch has some characteristically stimulating comments about the description of the ark of the covenant in Exodus 25.

1) He points out that the phrasing at the beginning of the ark section (25:10) is different from the opening syntax for the other furnishings of the tabernacle. Instead of addressing Israel in the third person, Yahweh speaks in the third person: “they shall make.” This is the same phrasing as verse 8, which says “they shall make for me a sanctuary, and I will dwell among them.” The similarity of the syntax suggests that the ark is the central object in the tabernacle, a suggestion reinforced by the act that the ark comes first in the list of furnishings. In a sense, the whole point of the sanctuary is to make a place for the ark; in a sense, making the ark is the sum of making the tabernacle complex.

Continue reading…

Bible - OT - Exodus: Kids in Mother’s Milk

Aquinas rejected Augustine’s dismisal of literal interpretations of the law as “absurdities,” arguing that “the end of the ceremonial precepts was twofold, for they were ordained to divine worship, for that particular time, and to the foreshadowing of Christ.” Applying this principle, he sought for a plausible literal interpretation of the prohibition of boiling kids in their mother’s milk: “Although the kid that is slain has no perception of the manner in which its flesh is cooked, yet it would savour of heartlessness if the dam’s milk, which was intended for the nourishment of her offspring, were served up on the same dish.”

Anticipating Jacob Milgrom by centuries, he suggests that this law was intended to teach respect for animal life that would spill over in compassion for human beings.

Bible - OT - Exodus: Moses and the ass

Allison notes the frequent ancient association of Moses with asses. According to Diodorus Siculus, “When Antiochus . . . made war against the Jews he entered the sacred shrine of the god, where only the priest is allowed to go. In it he found a stone image of a thick bearded man seated on an ass and holding a book in his hand. He assumed it was a statue of Moses who founded Jerusalem.” And Tacitus claims that Moses discovered water by following “a herd of wild asses.”

Two thoughts: First, is it thinkable that the MHP would contain a statue of a man? Second, the Tacitus comment suggests some sort of connection with Saul, who comes to a well in the process of searching out his father’s donkeys.

Bible - OT - Exodus: Nyssa on Moses

In his Life of Moses, Gregory of Nyssa remarks on the fact that Moses was nursed by his own mother while growing up in Pharaoh’s household: “This teaches, it seems to me, that if we should be involved with profane teachings during our education, we should not separate ourselves from the nourishment of the church’s milk, which would be her laws and customs.”

Bible - OT - Exodus: Eye for eye, water for water

Someone has no doubt said this before; I might have said it before: The destruction of Egyptians in the Red Sea is an application of the lex talionis. Egypt killed the children of Israel in the Nile, which turned red with their blood; so Yahweh put Pharaoh and his best to death in the Red Sea. Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, burn for burn, water for water.

Bible - OT - Exodus: “Stones” (Ex. 1:16)

In a brief Critical Note in the JBL (122/4: 731-33) argues that the “stones” in Exodus 1:16 are neither a birthing stool nor a reference to male genitals. The author, Scott Morschauser, suggests that the word means potter’s wheel (referring to Jer 18:3), and points to Egyptian evidence that the “potter’s wheel” was an image of gestation ?Ethe baby being on the “potter’s wheel” was being formed in the womb into a “vessel.” Hence, what Pharoah demands is not that the midwives kill newborns, but that they abort male children in the womb. Morchauser says that Egyptian medical texts include “recipes for determining the sex of an unborn child.” The Hebrew midwives’ excuses, on this reading, are that the women gave birth prematurely, before the midwives could do their prenatal exams. Thus, the Pharaoh launches a campaign of increasing violence against Israel: first forced labor; then forced abortion; finally, direct infanticide.

Bible - OT - Exodus Theology - Christology: Sermon Outline, December 14

Sermon Outline for Third Sunday in Advent:

God With Us

INTRODUCTION
When John describes the incarnation, he uses an image drawn from the Pentateuch, saying that the “Word became flesh and ‘pitched His tent’ among us” (John 1:14). The phrase “pitch his tent” can also be translated as “tabernacled,” and refers to the sanctuary that Israel built when they came from Egypt. Jesus is the fulfillment of this sanctuary, the “Holy Place” where God dwells.

THE TEXT
“Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘On the first day of the first month you shall set up the tabernacle of the tent of meeting. You shall put in it the ark of the Testimony, and partition off the ark with the veil. . . .’” (Exodus 40:1-38).

A HOUSE FOR GOD
Physically, the tabernacle was a tent, though an elaborate one (cf. Exodus 40:18). A courtyard, fenced off with curtains but open to the sky, surrounded the tent. In the courtyard Moses placed a laver of water and a bronze altar for burning offerings. The tent proper was divided into two rooms, the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place. In the first, Moses placed the golden lampstand, a golden altar for burning incense, and a golden table on which he put twelve loaves of bread. The Most Holy Place contained the ark of the covenant, a wooden box overlaid with gold and topped with a pure gold slab with cherubim.

The tabernacle was Yahweh’s house, His royal tent among the tents of Israel. In the courtyard, the priests cooked His “bread” (Leviticus 21). The Holy Place was a “living room,” with a lamp, incense, and a table. The Most Holy Place was the throne room, and the ark was His throne, where He sat upon the wings of the cherubim (1 Samuel 4:4; Psalm 80:1). At the end of Exodus, the cloud from the mountain comes down into the Most Holy Place (Exodus 40:34-38), and that means Yahweh has taken His throne.

THE MEANING OF THE TABERNACLE
The tabernacle is a complex symbol that has many dimensions of significance. Jesus fulfills each of these.
-The tabernacle is made after the “pattern” that Moses was shown on the mountain when he ascended into the cloud (Exodus 25:9, 40; 26:30). Thus, the tabernacle is an architectural representation of heaven, a bit of “heaven on earth.” So also, in Jesus, the heavenly Word became flesh; Jesus is the “heavenly man” (1 Corinthians 15:47).
-The tabernacle is made after the pattern of Sinai. Like Sinai, it is inaccessible to most of Israel (cf. Exodus 19:23), but Israel’s leaders are allowed to ascend the mountain (cf. Exodus 24:9-11). At the end of Exodus, the cloud that was on top of the mountain comes into the Most Holy Place, making the tabernacle a “traveling Sinai.” Jesus is the “mountain” of God, where God reveals His law and where His glory is present.
-The tabernacle is an architectural recapitulation of the Garden of Eden. As in Eden, “cherubim” figures guard the doorway (Exodus 25:18-19; 26:1; cf. Genesis 3:24). Jesus is our tree of life, our Paradise.
-The tabernacle represents the people of Israel. The vessels and furniture of the tabernacle represent the people of Israel devoted to the worship and service of Yahweh. So also, Jesus is the embodiment of Israel, and His body is the new Israel.

THAT YOU MAY KNOW I AM YAHWEH
When we consider the tabernacle in the context of the story of Exodus, two other dimensions are prominent. First, a major theme of the book of Exodus is God’s determination to make Himself known. When Moses first confronts Pharaoh, Pharaoh says he does not know Yahweh (Exodus 5:2), and the plagues are designed to teach Pharaoh who Yahweh is (7:5, 17). Israel too is to learn who Yahweh is from His triumph over Egypt (6:7), and the tests in the wilderness also reveal Yahweh as the generous God of Israel (16:6, 12).

The tabernacle is a permanent memorial of the exodus, which, like the events of the Exodus, was designed to teach Israel who Yahweh is: “I will consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar. . . . And I will dwell among the sons of Israel and will be their God. And they shall know that I am Yahweh their God who brought them out of the land of Egypt” (Exodus 29:44-46). The tabernacle displays that Yahweh is King of Israel, who governs His people by the Word that He speaks from between the cherubim. Because it is a symbol of the universe, the tabernacle also displays that Yahweh is King of the nations and of the universe.

Likewise, the Word comes to “tabernacle” among us, so that we might come to know the God whom no man has seen (John 1:18). In Jesus, we come to know the Lord as King of Israel and King of kings.

THROUGHOUT ALL THEIR JOURNEYS
Second, the tabernacle is associated with Yahweh’s guidance of Israel. Yahweh not only “dwells” among His people, but He “walks” among them (cf. Genesis 3:8) and walks before them. From the time of the Exodus, Yahweh went before Israel in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night (Exodus 13:21-22). At the Red Sea, the cloud stood between Israel and Pharaoh to protect Israel (14:19-20). After the golden calf, Yahweh threatened to abandon His people, but Moses prayed that He would lead Israel to the land, and He did (Exodus 33:12-16).

At the end of Exodus, the cloud that has been the guide and “advance guard” for Israel comes to dwell in the tabernacle. From that point on, Yahweh led His people on their journeys in connection with the tabernacle: “throughout all their journeys whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the sons of Israel would set out, but if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not set out until the day it was taken up. For throughout all their journeys, the cloud of Yahweh was on the tabernacle by day, and there was fire in it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel” (Exodus 40:36-37). The tabernacle was the “war tent” of Israel, where the plunder of the nations was stored.

As the new covenant tabernacle, the Incarnate Son fulfills this role as well. The Spirit and glory of the Lord rest upon Him, and He is both our Guide and our Commander. We are called to follow this tabernacle as disciples, and fight alongside Him as His army.

Bible - OT - Exodus: Tabernacle in Exodus

Ross Blackburn, a grad student at St Andrews University, presented a good paper on the tabernacle in the context of Exodus. He sees the theological unity of Exodus contained in YHWH’s insistence on pursuing and defending His own honor not only to Israel but before the nations. The plagues are to show Pharaoh that he is Lord; Israel’s wilderness experience trains Israel to know that YHWH is Lord; the tabernacle is a continuing sign that YHWH is king over Israel and the nations. This has some very neat typological implications ?Eincarnation as the “tabernacling” of God to demonstrate His Lordship over Israel and the nations.

Another paper from the same seminar, by a grad student from TEDS, argued that the tabernacle was not only for God’s dwelling among Israel but also for God’s guiding of Israel. Though the cloud that led Israel was not permanently attached to the tent, theologically Exodus brings the two realities into one. There is a tent-cloud complex, so that the glory dwelling in the midst of Israel becomes also the glory that guides Israel to the promised land. The cloud guides, after the end of Exodus 40, only in connection with the tabernacle. Again, lots of neat typological implications from this.

In this second paper, the prayer of Moses after the golden calf incident was a prayer that God not merely GUIDE Israel, but that He guide them by dwelling among them.

Bible - OT - Exodus: Exodus Plagues

And here’s another thing from Murphy on the Exodus plagues: “The Pharaoh’s magicians had proudly imitated Moses’ conjuring: they can turn rods into crocodiles too. But was it wise to demonstrate that they can as powerfully invoke a plague of frogs as the prophet of Yahweh? They are on automatic pilot. Locked into mimetic rivalry with Moses, the magicians lose their sense of survival.”

At its best, Murphy’s book is identifying the broad and almost slapstick humor of the Bible (her chapter on Exodus is very good in this way), which shows that the tone of the Bible is closer to the cartoonish comedy of ancient myth and the kind of Indian myth analyzed by Levi-Strauss than to the refined and crystalline mythologies of an Edith Hamilton.

Bible - OT - Exodus: More Murphy

Oh, as I read on, Murphy is making the book worth it: On Pharaoh and the plagues: “As Egypt’s sources of life and fertility are destroyed, plague by plague, so Pharaoh’s respose rigidifies. Pharaoh is progressively mummified.” She later adds: “The substitution [of Egypt’s firstborn] makes sense if we see Israel’s servitude in Egypt as a kind of death: it is death for death. Israel is lying dead, burdened and weighed down by the pyramids: Egypt has to be sacrificed so that Israel can return to life.” That has significant typological weight, since in the NT Israel herself becomes the “Egypt” that is “sacrificed” for the sake of the nations, the “new Israel.”

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