or Sinai Unspoken

On Mount Carmel, Elijah had built an altar of 12 rough-hewn stones. They substituted for the tribes of Israel. They were built and then consumed. The priests of Baal were slain and “washed” in the brook as atonement. The Land was clean. But we know Jezebel trampled this sacrifice underfoot. [1]

Elijah headed for the wilderness. He was a man with a mission. He went to the same cave in which Moses stood, a cleft in the rock. Once again, the Lord “passed over.” He was making a new Covenant, a new Creation, a new Heavens and a new Land.

1 Kings 19 follows the heptamerous Feasts pattern. Jezebel’s threat is the false “word,” a black Sabbath that sets things going. The Passover/Exodus is Elijah’s journey and sleep under the tree. The Firstfruits “ascension” is the command to eat. It is Day 3. In the Tabernacle it corresponds to the Bronze Altar, so the bread has been baked on “coals of fire.” It is the wilderness, so there is water instead of wine. This is also the step where dreams usually occur in pairs (as two witnesses), so the angel comes to Elijah twice with the message.

Pentecost: Elijah’s “Numbers” follows, forty days and nights. The Lord speaks to him in the cave (read, symbolically, grave). Following the pattern of Sinai (and Revelation) the Lord opens the seven seals of the Covenant document. In the Tabernacle, this is the seven lights of the Lampstand. It is a new government: sun, moon and five moving stars (the planets visible to the naked eye). But here, the stars are falling.

Day 1 – Light/Word/Sabbath Then He said, “Go out, and stand on the mountain before the LORD.”

Day 2 – Firmament/Holy Space/Passover: And behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind;

Day 3 – Land/Mediatorial Head/Firstfruits: and after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake;

Day 4 – Lights/Holy Fire/Pentecost: and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire;

The Creation pattern often appears also as “de-Creation.” We see this in the de-construction of the visionary Temple in the early chapters of Ezekiel. Here, the Lord was de-Creating the old Covenant. Day 5 is about resurrection, clouds of smoke, multitudes flying and swimming in the spaces created. It about a triumphant rise from the grave to witness as Trumpets. What do we have instead?

No Day 5 – and after the fire the sound of silence. [3]

What does this mean? Michael Comins writes:

Qol dmamah daqah, the “still, small voice.” To my mind, this translation from the King James Bible is still among the better, English versions. Modern translations, however, render qol as a physical sound rather than a metaphorical voice, such as “a tiny whispering sound,” “the sound of a light whisper”  or the JPS’ profoundly unpoetic “a soft murmuring sound.” Simon and Garfunkel notwithstanding, critical scholarship does not entertain the “sound of silence.”

Nevertheless, I prefer to follow Rashi and Abraham Joshua Heschel’s literal rendering of qol dmamah, “a voice of silence.” Precedent for such a reading can be found in the book of Genesis, where God says to Cain, “the voice of your brother’s blood calls out to me” (Gen. 4:10). Here qol is a silent voice rather than an audible sound. And that, I believe, is precisely what Elijah hears: a voice without sound. [2]

Based on the structure of events, I want to challenge the common interpretation. It was not the voice of the Spirit, speaking to the prophet in some poetic Victorian hush. It was the silence of the grave. The decayed Covenant had been un-spoken. This was un-Sinai. Standing in the gap between the Lord and Ahab, Elijah was both Moses and un-Moses. [3]

Israel’s hypocrisy silenced her witness. Hers were the words of a silent witness, a corpse. The Spirit fire consumed the Adam-flesh/house instead of filling it with Eve-lights. Liturgically, Ahab’s kingdom was already no more.

The larger pattern resumes with an actual voice questioning Elijah. The witness of step 5 is Elijah’s testimony as martyr, wrapped in the robe of office, a new firmament, rising from the cave/grave. The multitudes are those who seek his life. It is an ironic and substitutionary Trumpets. [4]

“So it was, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave.”

He pictures Moses returning from Sinai, the High Priest returning from the Most Holy, and of course Christ rising from the grave as the head of a New Covenant, ready to seal, gather and avenge the saints. Atonement. The ascension goat is the 7000 who have not bowed to Baal. [5] The rest would be exiled to Azal.

Booths: God gives Elijah instructions that will bring about the Day of the Lord, speaking these de-Creating words into history as prophet. It would not be rivers of Eden flowing from this mountain but rivers of blood. The judgment proceeds from here in the desolate “Garden”, to the Land and then to the Gentile World. And then this final point, as usual, concerns Covenant succession. The Lord directs Elijah to appoint his successor, Elisha. [6]

God is surprisingly predictable. And predictably surprising.

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[1] See No More Sacrifice for Sins.
[2] Michael Comins, Elijah and the “Still Small Voice,” A Desert Reading.
[3] According to Jordan, God was disowning the kings and making a kind of interim Covenant with the prophets, which is why we see Elijah parting waters and establishing a school for prophets. The kings were still “covered” but indirectly through the prophets.
[4] Note that in Adam’s testing, this is exactly the point at which he failed to witness to Eve “Deuteronomically,” repeating the Law he had heard “from the mountain.” It is also the point at which Abel’s blood speaks in Genesis 4. In Ezekiel’s big stucture, this is the step where God promises to reassemble both Israel and Judah as one new body from dry bones. See Haman Hamstrung.
[5] See Seven Thousand Who Have Not Bowed to Baal 1, 2 and 3. Note that I have above modified the chart in 1 slightly.
[6] Note that the sword of Jehu corresponds to the sword of the cherubim at the garden gate. In the big picture of the Restoration, the swords wouldn’t be sheathed until they were basically beaten into plowshares in Zechariah. See comments on Zechariah in Fragrance of Christ.

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[1] See No More Sacrifice for Sins.

“And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the dead?”   Isaiah 8:19

I remember reading this verse for the first time in the KJV and wondering what it was exactly that the wizards were peeping at!

The word in Hebrew means “chirp” and Isaiah also uses it again in 10:14, and also in 29:4 where the KJV renders it “whisper”. A better translation (perhaps) comes from NetBible:

They will say to you, “Seek oracles at the pits used to conjure up underworld spirits, from the magicians who chirp and mutter incantations. Should people not seek oracles from their gods, by asking the dead about the destiny of the living?”

The International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia says, “The reference is to the sounds made by wizards and ventriloquists, who imitated the chirping of the bats which was supposed to proceed from the lower world.”

The Hebrew word ’ov, “ritual pit”, refers to a pit used by a magician to conjure up underworld spirits. In 1 Samuel 28:7 the witch of Endor is called a ba’alat-’ov, “owner of a ritual pit”.

Perhaps this is why, in his Revelation lectures, Jordan understands the significance of the three-frog army as a plague of nocturnal “chirpers.” The true Spirit coos like a daytime dove, hovering as light over the darkness of the deep, but the false prophets speak only from their darkness. They pretended to bring out treasures but they were only dredging up the Abyss. The best they could do was “throw their voice” and imitate the beasts from the tombs.

Revelation often contrasts the Old Covenant with the New using images of night and day. [1] As in 1 Kings 22, the Herodian false prophets gathered the “kings of the earth” (rulers of the Land) to a battle they could not win. (The phrase Har-Magedon links the event to Joshua’s battle against Amalek [2]).

I had a go at using the matrix on this passage, and it seems to begin with Isaiah 8:19 and end at 9:7. It is a heptamerous structure, with each of the seven sections also following the structure. Among others, the final sections of both Daniel and Zechariah also do this. [3] Here’s my best shot (very limited without Hebrew). Some of the small structures won’t make sense if you haven’t read Totus Christus, but the large structure should. Enough of it seems to fit to make a case. Most importantly, notice that the child born unto us is at Day 6/Atonement. This new Adam would wear the government on His shoulders like the inscribed onyx stones of the High Priest. At Step 3 within that small cycle, these are also aligned with the tablets of the Law on Sinai.

Feasts in Isaiah 8:19-9:7

Sabbath – Word/Call (false Ark, false Light)
When they say to you,
…..“Consult the mediums and the spiritists who [chirp] and mutter,”
……….should not a people consult their God?
……………Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living?
……….To the law and to the testimony!
…..If they do not speak according to this word,
it is because they have no dawn.

Passover – Valley of Death (Veil)
They will pass through the land hard-pressed and famished,
…..and it will turn out that when they are hungry,
……….they will be enraged and curse their king and their God as they face upward.
……………Then they will look to the Land,
……….and behold, distress and darkness,
…..the gloom of anguish;
and they will be driven away into darkness.

Firstfruits – Covenant betrothal/nearbringing (Altar-Land)
But there will be no more gloom
…..for her who was in anguish;
……….in earlier times He treated the land of Zebulun
……….and the land of Naphtali with contempt,
……………but later on He shall make it glorious,
……….by the way of the sea,
…..on the other side of Jordan,
Galilee of the Gentiles.

Pentecost – Harvest (Lampstand)
The people who walk in darkness will see a great light;
…..Those who live in a dark land,
……….the light will shine on them.
……………You shall multiply the nation, 
……….You shall increase their gladness; 
…..They will be glad in Your presence as with the gladness of harvest, 
as men rejoice when they divide the spoil. 

Trumpets – Hosts (Incense Clouds)
For You shall break the yoke of their burden
…..and the staff on their shoulders,
……….the rod of their oppressor,
……………as at the battle of Midian.
……….For every boot of the booted warrior in the battle tumult,
…..and cloak rolled in blood,
will be for burning, fuel for the fire.[4]

Atonement – Adam Mediator/Conqueror (High Priest)
For a child will be born to us,
…..a son will be given to us;
……….And the government will rest on His shoulders;
……………And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor,
……….Mighty God,
…..Eternal Father,
Prince of Peace.

Tabernacles – Kingdom Glory (Shekinah)
There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace,
…..On the throne of David and over his kingdom, 
……….To establish it and to uphold it
…………..with justice and righteousness
……….From then on and forevermore.
…..The zeal of the LORD of hosts
will accomplish this.

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[1] See The End of Shadows.
[2] “In Hebrew, “Har” means “Mountain”, and “Maged” means “Festival Assembly”. The Battle of the Mountain of Festival Assembly is a battle at Mount Sinai, at Mount Zion, at the Church.” See James B. Jordan, The Vindication of Jesus Christ, pp. 69-71. 
[3] For Daniel, see Jordan’s The Handwriting on the Wall. For Zechariah, see my effort in Totus Christus.
[4] As Trumpets, this cycle concerns troops, but the battle of Midian at the centre was a Lamptand with “Pentecost” torches. Notice also the cloak rolled in blood at “Atonement” and the Shekinah glory as a purifying fire. This step often concerns plunder being refined by fire.

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“…swarmers-creepers are described as creatures that break the boundaries of human life and invade the human house, defiling the house.”

The first two of the four curses upon the serpent are found in Genesis 3:14. Only the serpent is directly cursed, and the word You is emphatic in Hebrew. The man and the woman are not cursed directly, but mediately through the soil, an important distinction that we shall address in due course.

English Bibles render the first phrase, “Cursed are you more than, or above, all the other animals.” Yet in fact the other animals are not cursed at all, so there is a problem, and the problem is in the translation. There are several words for curse in Hebrew, and unfortunately our English Bibles wind up translating all of them with the one word “curse.” The word here, ‘arur, means, “banish, separate,” in the sense of being isolated from what is good. To curse a person in this sense is to wish that he be cut off from God and from the covenant and from all the good things of the covenant. The meaning here is that the serpent is isolated from or banished from being part of the cattle and the beasts of the field. Originally, the serpent was one of the beasts of the field (3:1). Now he is cut out from that category. He is not repositioned among the cattle, but among the creeping things. Genesis 1:24-26 identified these three categories. Cattle are the domestic animals that live with human beings. Beasts of the field are wild, free, undomesticated animals. Creeping things crawl along the ground, and now the serpent is put with them: He will crawl on his belly. (The statement, “On your belly you shall go,” does not go with the next phrase about eating dust, but with the preceding phrases about being banished from being among the beasts of the field.)

In Leviticus 11 the character of swarmers-creepers is fleshed out. The chapter begins by distinguishing clean and unclean cattle and beasts of the field, fishes, birds, and hopping insects. In verse 29, attention is called to the larger swarming-crawling creatures. These are described as creatures that break the boundaries of human life and invade the human house, defiling the house. This is precisely what the serpent did in Genesis 3, for as a beast of the field he did not belong in the garden uninvited, as we saw when we dealt with Genesis 2:19-20 (to wit: the cattle are not brought into the garden because they were already there). The serpent crossed the boundary and brought uncleanness (which is symbolic death). The list of eight big swarmers in Leviticus 11:29 mentions mole and mouse and then six serpents.

These animals move on their belly. The word for “belly” here occurs only one other place, Leviticus 11:42. It is not the word for stomach, also translated “belly” in some English Bibles, but a word that means the bottom part of the animal’s abdomen.

Another aspect of this curse is that the serpent loses his name. Adam had named the birds, the domestic animals, and the wild animals, but not the fishes and not the crawlers. By putting the serpent in with the crawlers, the serpent moves into the lower category of animals that are not named. They don’t rate high enough to be given names. (Of course, as time has gone along, men have named fishes and insects and lizards also, but nobody thinks these animals have the kind of personality that mammals have.)

Behind the serpent is, of course, Lucifer. The word for serpent, nahash, is related to the word for bronze, nehosheth. Moses made a bronze serpent in Numbers 21:9, a nahash nehosheth. Bronze is a symbol for a lesser but real kind of glory. The altar and laver were made of bronze, while the items associated with the more glorious tent and temple were made of silver or gold. Goliath, girded in bronze, was not just a political but also a religious figure, which is why David calls him “uncircumcised,” and why David rightly saw the conflict as primarily religious (1 Samuel 17:5-6). The Angel of Yahweh, who replaces Lucifer, appears as bronze in Daniel 10:6 and Revelation 2:18. We may perhaps surmise that the serpent’s original name was Bronze One, and that he forfeited that name to the Angel of Yahweh, the Son of Man. 

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“I began writing this book some ten years ago, although my interest in Hebrew literary structure goes back a decade before that. My fascination with the subject was kindled when I began teaching Old Testament courses in seminary. At that time I was struck by the apparent lack of order within many of the biblical books. Jeremiah seemed hopelessly confused in its organisation; so did Isaiah and Hosea and most of the prophets. Song of Songs and Ecclesiastes appeared to be in almost complete disarray, and even the more orderly historical books, such as Joshua and Kings, showed signs of strangely careless organisation. Why did the biblical authors write like this? I would never write a book, an article, or even a private letter with such carelessness of arrangement.

I was intrigued by the possibility that the Hebrew authors might have organised their compositions according to literary conventions that were different from ours. I began to discover, over a period of years, that several structuring patterns rarely used by us were remarkably common in the books of the Hebrew Bible, particularly chiasmus (symmetry), parallelism, and sevenfold patterns. I was increasingly struck by how often these patterns had been utilised to arrange biblical books…

It was my mother who gave me a love for literature. She read to my brother Stephen and me regularly, from as early as I can remember. I still have many fond memories of those wondrous bedtime stories, whose structures — like the Bible — were designed for the ear, not the eye.”

David A. Dorsey, The Literary Structure of the Old Testament, p.9-10 (Preface).

I started Hebrew lessons this week. We’ll see how long I last! Anyhow, my teacher made a comment about Ezekiel 2:1. Apparently, the phrase translated “I will speak to you” is actually a gloss. Literally, it says, I will speak you. The Lord gives Ezekiel a scroll to eat and sends him as son of man against Jerusalem.

So, as son of man, Ezekiel is the living, walking WORD. He is the Law written on tablets of flesh.