For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. (Matthew 24:38-39)

Most disputes concerning the meaning of the Scriptures are not due to a lack of trying when it comes to hermeneutics. They result from a lack of due process. By this, I do not mean the process of interpretation but the identification in the Scriptures of the processes of God.

An example would be the meaning of Christ’s words concerning the unpardonable sin, which have terrified many Christians unnecessarily. Blasphemy against the Spirit is unpardonable not because it is the worst sin. It is unpardonable because it is the last sin.

This post has been slain and resurrected for inclusion in my 2015 book of essays, Inquietude.

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Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him… (Matthew 2:1-2)

An atheist recently declared to me that a cumulative reading of the Bible makes no sense, since the Bible is not a single book but an anthology. I agree, but this “anthology” is indeed a single work because it was compiled by God. Without that foundation, the significance of much of its detail appears redundant. A good example is the wise men from the east in Matthew 2.

One of James B. Jordan’s greatest contributions is his highlighting of the period from the exile to Christ as a unique period in Bible history. While most commentators see this half-millennium as a time of unfulfilled promises and oppression, Jordan observes that this was a time of preparation for the Gospel, and Israel was given a special ministry. [1]

Due to the failure of Israel’s kings, God put the nation through a death-and-resurrection, elevating his people to a higher court, a Gentile one. The Jews served God as a nation of prophets throughout the oikoumene (a “household” of nations), teaching the Gentiles through the ministry of the synagogues (Acts 15:12).

This new “social architecture” is set up in the book of Daniel. The thrones of the ancient kings, including that of Solomon, were often surrounded by beasts (a theme we can trace back to Genesis 1-2). The four beast empires in Daniel 7 are earthly counterparts of the four cherubim guarding God’s throne in heaven, preparing the earth for the coming of the heavenly King. Just as the Bronze Altar symbolized the Land of Israel, these four beasts correspond to the “higher court” of the four-horned Golden Incense Altar in the court of heaven, the place where “the sons of God,” His courtly advisors, minister to Him.

These heavenly beasts are miraculous hybrids of earthly animals, picturing the ability of the Spirit to unite things which cannot be united naturally, such as Jew and Gentile. You might remember that Nebuchadnezzar himself was transformed into a combination of “bird and beast” as a symbol of the temporary Covenant curse sent to discipline him. These “heavenly” cherubim are all Land animals which walk on water. They ascend out of the sea as the Land does. Their role was to “surround” Israel, to guard God’s people until Messiah.

Daniel declared, “I saw in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea. And four great beasts came up out of the sea, different from one another. The first was like a lion and had eagles’ wings. (Daniel 7:2-3)

As Jordan observes, one by one, each of these guardian “bulldogs” turned bad and was replaced overnight. The final guardian was Rome, and we see Roman authorities protecting Christians from Jewish persecution in the book of Acts.

What does all of this background mean for Matthew 2?

This “Restoration Covenant” era began with young Jews taken as captives for training by the Chaldeans, the religious leaders of the Babylonian region. The book of Daniel sets them up as characters similar to those in Pharaoh’s court who opposed Moses. Daniel not only trumps their skill but ends up ruling them. He was taken captive to be taught, but rather than seeking their power, he humbled himself and became the teacher.

Since Daniel ruled the wise men, he redeemed them from pagan star gazing, a practice condemned by God because only He can interpret the stars, and He does so only to His prophets (Genesis 15:5; 22:17; 37:9, Deuteronomy 1:10; 4:19; 28:62, Judges 5:20; Isaiah 14:13; Jude 1:13; Revelation 1:16). Daniel was such a prophet, and he led these Gentiles to the truth concerning the stars. Stars are signs of the sons of God, those who are destined to ascend and rule the heavens.

Moreover, instead of seeking wisdom from the created heavens, the wise men now understood that “there is a God in heaven” who reveals such secrets. Daniel’s first resort after Nebuchadnezzar’s fury was the following advice to his brothers:

Then Daniel went to his house and made the matter known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions, and told them to seek mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that Daniel and his companions might not be destroyed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. (Daniel 2:17-18)

When summoned before the king, Daniel was as fearless concerning his testimony to the true God as he was in chapter 1.

Daniel answered the king and said, “No wise men, enchanters, magicians, or astrologers can show to the king the mystery that the king has asked, but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and he has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days. (Daniel 2:27-28)

It is unlikely that these events would have been forgotten, especially by the Chaldeans. This intervention by Daniel was a game changer. Indeed, it was remembered by the queen many decades later (Daniel 5:10-12), who advised that Daniel be called upon to interpret the handwriting on the wall for Belshazzar.

So, this era began with young Jews traveling to Babylon. Matthew begins with a delegation of wise men from the east who, it seems, were now far more enamored with the God of heaven than with the heavens themselves, and far more familiar with the Hebrew Scriptures than Herod and the rulers of Jerusalem. They would have known of Balaam’s prophecy concerning the star of Jacob (Numbers 24:15-19), and also the timing of the coming of the Messiah from Daniel’s “70 weeks” prophecy (Daniel 9). The irony of the fact that this infant king was a surprise to the rulers of Jerusalem, who seemed to have no reliable prophets in their employ, would not have been lost on Matthew’s first readers. It is also the arrival of the wise men which sets the kingdom of the Herods against the kingdom of heaven. It was their testimony to Herod which brought about the massacre of the innocents, an act which would have been a sign to all true Israelites that the redemption prefigured for many centuries was finally drawing near.

The wise men from the east understood the nature of true kingdom. It was not in the study of the stars but in the knowledge of the one who made the stars “for signs and for seasons, and for days and years,” to be “lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth” (Genesis 1:14-15)  Daniel is bookended by wise men, but the wise men at the beginning work for Nebuchadnezzar, and the wise men at the end work for God:

“And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever. But you, Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book, until the time of the end.” (Daniel 12:3-4)

In Matthew, the time of the end, the last days (of Israel and the Old Covenant) was at hand, only one generation away. In Revelation, the book of Daniel is unsealed by the Lamb at His ascension, and the curses of Moses fall upon the Land for the last time. John’s prophecy describes the corruption of the fourth beast (under Nero), its “decommissioning,” and the destruction of the adulterous city of Jerusalem (Egypt, Sodom, Babylon) after the jealous inspection of the apostles’ cup (Numbers 5), all completed by AD70. The dominion of the “beasts” was superseded by the empire of The Man, following the pattern laid down on Day 6 in Genesis 1. [2]

The appearance of the Chaldeans is thus the beginning of the end. While those from the east were bringing their glory into the kingdom, the Herods were behaving like the sons of Joktan, the Shemites who “journeyed from the east” but ended up compromising with Nimrod’s Babel project, seeking a name for themselves rather than seeking God (Genesis 10-11:9).

Matthew’s narrative begins with wise men who were “angels” from the courts of earthly kings, guardians who had protected Israel until she gave birth to the promised One. They remembered Daniel of the tribe of Judah, the man without a kingdom who was showered with gifts:

Then the king gave Daniel high honors and many great gifts, and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon and chief prefect over all the wise men of Babylon. (Daniel 1:48)

Thanks to Daniel, they were not like the wise men of Nebuchadnezzar:

The Chaldeans answered the king and said, “There is not a man on earth who can meet the king’s demand, for no great and powerful king has asked such a thing of any magician or enchanter or Chaldean. The thing that the king asks is difficult, and no one can show it to the king except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh.” (Daniel 2:10-11)

Now that they worshiped the God of heaven, He was not only pleased to speak to them in dreams as He did to Daniel, He was pleased to meet them in person, as a man on earth, a God who now dwelt in flesh.

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[1] For more fascinating background, see James B. Jordan’s, The Handwriting on the Wall: A Commentary on the Book of Daniel.
[2] See the Creation Week in Israel’s history on Bible Matrix p. 191.

In the pattern from Abraham to Joshua, Joseph is the firstfruits. He ascends to the court of the Most High and opens the mystery. In the later pattern, the one who opens the mystery is Daniel. Joseph converted Pharaoh, and Daniel converted Nebuchadnezzar.

What is really interesting is the significance of Daniel’s rule as senior advisor in Babylon for the leaders of Judah. James Jordan writes:

It is clear that the various letters sent by the prophets to the various nations were sent out when they were written. We also see that Jeremiah wrote up all his early prophecies and sent them to the king at one point (Jeremiah 36). There is no reason to doubt that the material in the book of Daniel was completed by the death of Daniel, which came shortly after the Persians took over the Babylonian empire.

We can know for certain that chapters 7–12 had been written by that time because Daniel himself was the author. Chapter 4 had been written and circulated by Nebuchadnezzar in the midst of his reign. In the light of this, to assert that chapters 1–3, 5–6 were written much later is specious. The information in each of these chapters was of supreme importance to Jeremiah and the others of the Remnant living in Jerusalem and Israel. We know that letters were sent back and forth (Jeremiah 29:1, 25). Common sense tells us that the events in these chapters were written up and sent out for the Jews to read, even if such initial writeups were not the same as the highly polished literary accounts that we find in the book of Daniel.

Chapters 1–3 describe events that took place right at the beginning of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar. The events of chapters 1 and 2 were completed in the second year of Nebuchadnezzar. The events of chapter 3 likely happened shortly thereafter, probably in the third or fourth year of Nebuchadnezzar. This is fifteen years before the destruction of Jerusalem.

Consider the likelihood that these three stories were in circulation for ten or more years before Jerusalem was destroyed. For ten years Jeremiah and his associates were able to tell the citizens of Jerusalem and Israel that God was working to convert the Babylonian empire. For ten years it was clear that the Babylonian empire was ruled by faithful believers. Those Jews who refused to obey God by submitting to Nebuchadnezzar were totally without excuse. They could not argue that to submit to Babylon was to submit to a heathen power, because Babylon was clearly being ruled by believers.

Their rejection of Babylon and of Nebuchadnezzar was a rejection of Daniel, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Yahweh. [2]

What is really interesting is Jordan’s observation that Joseph and Daniel in the courts of emperors prefigured Christ in the court of the Father. The implications are huge for our interpretation of the Revelation and the Jewish War. The mystery Jesus opened was the mystery of the Gospel, and this is the subject of Revelation 5.

If all this makes sense to you, get a hold of Jordan’s Revelation lectures as well as his commentary on Daniel.

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[1] See Bible Matrix p. 115 and p. 183. Notice that Jacob and Joseph also had dreams at Ascension within certain “matrix” cycles, Jacob a vision of angels ascending (with his own head as the head of the sacrifice on a stone altar) and Joseph of sheaves (Firstfruits) and then Sun, Moon and Stars (Pentecost) as two witnesses.
[2] James B. Jordan, The Handwriting on the Wall, pp. 10-11.
See also Daniel the Destroyer and King Neb’s New Covenant.

The first thing to notice is that what Haman says is correct. The Jews do have different laws and customs. The word here is dat, which is a general word for laws and customs and mores. This much is quite true, and has been no problem in the Persian empire.

I shall make the point here that there is absolutely no reason to think that there was any prejudice against Jews for this. Other people had their customs also. We have no evidence and no reasons to think that the Jews were held in contempt by other people.

The second thing to notice is that Haman is correct in accusing the Jews of being rebellious and disobedient to the Great King. The Jews rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar for twenty years until finally that king destroyed their city completely. Haman can point to plenty of historical records to show that the Jews cannot be trusted.

This matter is central to the book of Esther. The Jews rebelled against the king God put over them (Nebuchadnezzar) and were exiled as a result. Now the Chief Jew, who is on the Supreme Court of Persia, openly defies the king God has put in charge. So, what will go do now in the face of this even greater rebellion? Perhaps He will raise up Haman to wipe out the Jews and start over with a new Abraham! Twice God had told Moses that he would wipe out Israel and start over with him (Ex. 32:10; Num. 14:12). On both occasions Moses interceded with God, and that is what Esther will do in this instance.

Excerpt from Biblical Horizons No. 227, April 2012. Subscribe at www.biblicalhorizons.com

Biblical chronology isn’t always easy, but it provides the answers to many questions we have concerning Bible prophecy. James Jordan shows how crucial the book of Esther is for our understanding of Bible history:

The book of Esther is one of the most neglected of the books of the Bible. To be sure, sermons are preached on it, and commentaries have occasionally been written on it, but almost without exception Esther has been interpreted in isolation from the rest of Biblical history, chronology, and theology. Even many conservative commentators tend to view the events in Esther as minor occurrences that have been inflated in the narrative in order to make the point of the book. This is because they make the wrong assumptions about the dates of these events, and because they do not understand the importance of the events in Esther to the progress of revelation and redemption.

Because these considerations are intertwined, we want to look at Esther the same way we looked at Daniel, dealing with the context of the book, its teaching, and its timing. First of all, let me provide some introductory remarks to put Esther in Biblical context and perspective…

The Oracle Against Elam (Jeremiah 49:34-39)

The prophecies of Jeremiah against the nations flow from Jeremiah 25:9, where God says that He will give all the nations to His servant Nebuchadnezzar. With Daniel as his right hand counsellor, Nebuchadnezzar did indeed take over all these nations. Starting in Jeremiah 46, one nation after another is given to Nebuchadnezzar. But when we come to the oracle against Elam, nothing is said about Nebuchadnezzar. Thus, the commentators have suggested that the defeat of Elam is the defeat of Persia later on, after Persia conquered Babylon and then fell into ruin before Alexander the Great.

Without exception, the commentators fail to consider that this passage is most likely a prediction of the events in Esther. Susa was the capital of Elam, and Daniel was “in the citadel of Susa, which is in the province of Elam” when he was given his vision in Daniel 8. In that vision, Daniel was shown the ram of Persia conquering, and then the male goat of Alexander defeating him.

More to the point, however, is the fact that here we are expressly told of the link between Susa and Elam, which is important since the events in Esther take place in the royal city of Susa, capital of Elam-Persia from the time of Darius the Great onwards.

God begins in Jeremiah 49:35 by saying that He will break the bow of Elam, and it is worth bearing in mind that the Persians were great bow-wielding horsemen. God then says “I shall bring upon Elam the four winds from the four ends of heaven, and shall scatter them to all these winds.” Here is where the commentators go astray, because the four winds are not a symbol of a military invasion but of a Spiritual one.

Zechariah 2:6 states that God has dispersed His people as the four winds of the heavens. This is, of course, after the return from exile, when Persia ruled the world, but the symbol is here identified. Zechariah 6:5 shows the saints as the four winds of heaven riding forth on horses to bring God’s Spiritual conquest to the world of that day. The world, at rest in Zechariah 1, will now be shaken up because God’s Temple has been restored and the Holy Spirit is flowing out into the world (Zechariah 4).

Continue reading at Biblical Horizons.

In his ground-breaking and fascinating The Handwriting on the Wall, [1] James Jordan writes:

God intends to teach Nebuchadnezzar what true wisdom is, by giving him advisors who have genuine knowledge of good and evil, men who call evil “evil” and good “good” (Isaiah 5:20–21). In Daniel 2-5, we shall repeatedly see the false wisdom of the Chaldeans fail, and the true wisdom of God’s people triumph.

Meanwhile, it will be necessary for the young men to be discerning. Some of the knowledge of the Chaldeans is sound; doubtless they know a great deal about many matters. But the Godly have to sift through this knowledge. And, more importantly, the Godly must maintain their position in the true kingdom of God, and not be “eaten” into the false kingdom of man. As we shall see, the young men retain their position in God’s kingdom by refusing to eat the food of Nebuchadnezzar’s table. That food is the “forbidden food” as far as they are concerned. By refusing it, they put themselves in a position to acquire true knowledge and wisdom.

New Names

The young nobles brought to Babylon included Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. These men are said to have been “young men in whom there was no blemish, and good of appearance, and skillful in all wisdom, and knowers of knowledge, and understanding knowledge, and who were qualified to stand in the palace of the king.” For this evaluation to have been possible, the men must have been at least teenagers, and probably close to 20 (compare Numbers 1:3). Notice that Daniel was still living and active in the 3rd year of Cyrus, which is 71 years after the 1st year of Nebuchadnezzar, so he could not have been much older than 20, and probably was about 18. The meanings of their Hebrew names are:

Dani-El: God has judged
Hanan-Yah: Yahweh is gracious
Misha-El: Who is what God is?
Azar-Yah: Yahweh has helped

Note that two names incorporate El, God, and two incorporate Yah, Yahweh. The stage is set for battle, a battle of the gods, since the Babylonians give these men new names that incorporate the names of their gods.

The four men were given new Babylonian names, respectively Belteshazzar, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. In part this was also a sign of the apparent victory of Babylon’s gods over Yahweh and His servants. The meanings of these four Babylonian names are not known for certain.

Belteshazzar, the name given Daniel, seems to mean “Protect His Life.” Perhaps the Babylonians understood “God Is My Judge” to mean “God Is My Protector,” and gave him an equivalent Babylonian name. The name proves prophetic, because Daniel will live to be about 90 years old. In 4:8, however, Nebuchadnezzar says that “Belteshazzar” comes from the name of his god, which would be Bel (=Baal), another name in Babylon for Marduk, the chief god.

Shadrach, the name given Hananiah, seems to mean “Command of Aku,” the moon god. If so, perhaps the Babylonians understood “Yahweh Is Gracious” to mean “Yahweh Is Commander.” Also, if they intended to associate Yahweh with Aku, then they were saying that Yahweh is an inferior god (the moon) compared with the sun gods of Babylon.

Meshach, the name given Mishael, seems to mean “Who Is What Aku Is?,” a direct translation/change of his original Hebrew name.

Finally, Abed-nego, the name given Azariah, means “Servant of Nego.” There is no god Nego. The god, prominent at the time, is named Nebo or Nabu, son of and virtual co-ruler with Marduk. The name “Nebu” also occurs in the Nebuchadnezzar, which means “Nabu, Protect My Seed.”32 It seems that the author has changed the name as he wrote this text, in order to pervert its meaning. Perhaps the young men, in private, used this corrupted name. Since a god helps his servants, perhaps the Babylonians intended “Servant of Nebo” to be a good replacement for “Yahweh Has Helped.”

The change of names raises the question of who these men are. Are they servants of El, of Yah, or are they going to become servants of Bel, Aku, and Nabu? To which God will they be related? Whose house and culture will they serve? The conflict and victory in Daniel 1 settles these questions.

Giving a new name is also an aspect of adoption. Nebuchadnezzar is in some sense adopting these men as his sons, in a larger sense. Note that earlier Pharaoh had given a new Egyptian name to Joseph: Zaphenath-Paneah (Genesis 41:45). And later on, we see that the men do not reject the use of these names, for they are in some large sense sons and servants of Nebuchadnezzar—but only as they are sons and servants of The God first and foremost. In Daniel 5, we shall see a contrast between two “sons” of Nebuchadnezzar: the wicked Bel-shazzar and the godly Bel-te-shazzar.” [2]

If the “te” in Belteshazzar was a deliberate corruption by the author, in Daniel 5 we have a face-off between the true Belshazzar and the false one, the one attempting to manipulate the gods, and the other achieving the supernatural through obedience to the ethics of the Covenant. [3]

This chapter is the fifth “seal” in the opening of Jeremiah’s “new Covenant.” It concerns a prophet giving his advice — a cup of Sanctions — to a king. The Lampstand has “enlightened” Belshazzar to a degree, the same degree to which Nebuchadnezzar’s dream enlightened him: Something big is afoot and I need prophetic help.

The difference with Belshazzar was that his city was surrounded by Persian armies. He was invoking the gods kept “prisoner” in his treasury. Only one of the invoked gods could speak, and His judgment was righteous. [4]

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[1] Peter Leithart relies on this book extensively for background in the introductory chapters of The Four: A Survey of the Gospels.
[2] James B. Jordan, The Handwriting on the Wall, pp. 137-139.
[3] See Ethics or Magic.
[4] See also The Finger of God.

Peter Leithart writes:

“Why so much attention to the pillars of Solomon’s temple in 2 Kings 25? It is likely that these were the last major items left. Ahaz had already dismantled the bronze sea and the water chariots. King after king plundered the temple for bribe money. When Nebuchadnezzar came, not much was left. Perhaps even the ark was among the ‘gold’ items removed earlier.” [1]

Like most things in the Temple, the bronze pillars had multiple significances. Jachin and Boaz were priest and king, church and state. Anointings took place before them. They were silent witnesses.

Being stately representations in the court (World), they represented dualities in the two levels above them. Jachin and Boaz were the public representations of the Gold Table and the Gold Lampstand hidden inside, (Table and Jachin on the north side, the side of sacrifice, etc.). As the bronze weathered to green, they also represented the two trees in the Garden of Eden, bread and wine, priest and king, obedience and rule, youth and eldership, submission and exaltation, Alpha and Omega. In this, they represented the two great cherubim in the Most Holy Place, flanking the flaming sword of the two tablets (Tablet I: church; Tablet II: state) within the fiery chariot-throne of God, the Ark.

They were also the two bronze-armoured legs of a mighty metal man, the true Goliath, the Colossal Totus Christus stretching from heaven to earth Who would one day stand on the Land and Sea, Jew and Gentile, and unite them with a word, and also call down the Covenant curses upon the Herodian “kingdom of Saul.” The Tabernacle was a mobile, flying tent. The Temple was stationary and thus had landing gear.

The Restoration Temple was bereft of these pillars. Priest and king were no longer exterior, and no longer separate. In Zechariah, the High Priest is given a kingly crown to wear. The old Table and Lampstand were united in a nation of kingly-priests, an Altar of Incense, flesh and Spirit united in resurrection. The church-state that was intended was a stately Daniel advising a Nebuchadnezzar, a Mordecai advising a Darius.

Dr. Leithart recently noticed a Creation pattern (well, de-Creation) in the description of the dismantling of the pillars. [2] It was, after all, the end of the old Eden, the two trees on the old mountain of God finally swept away in the flood; the original sanctuary made desolate because of the abominations committed by the sons of God.

He focusses on the items listed, and there is most certainly a chiastic arrangement. I’ll give it a go with the structure of the passage itself, and then step out a level to see what we find.

Firstly, we seem to find the 5 books of Moses. This is, after all, a recording of the execution of the curses of the Covenant.

Genesis – DEFILED SANCTUARY:
The bronze pillars that were in the house of the LORD,

Exodus – CHARIOTS AND SEA:
and the carts and the bronze Sea that were in the house of the LORD,

Leviticus – NEAR-BRINGING:
Bronze Altar-Land: the Chaldeans broke in pieces, and carried their bronze to Babylon.
Table of Facebread: They also took away the pots, the shovels, the trimmers, the spoons, and all the bronze utensils with which the priests ministered. (ie. the stuff that sits on the surface)

Numbers – REFINING/RULERS: (Gold and Silver – Sun and Moon – Lamptand)
The firepans [fire] and the basins [blood], the things of solid gold and solid silver, the captain of the guard took away. [Lampstand: the Temple had ten lampstands made of solid gold (rulers – fire), 1 Kings 7:49, as well as lampstands of silver (armies – smoke), 1 Chron 28:15

Deuteronomy – PLUNDER/PLAGUES INNUMERABLE AND COVENANT REPEATED:
The two pillars,
…..one Sea,
……….and the carts,
……………which Solomon had made
……….for the house of the LORD,
…..the bronze of all these articles
was beyond measure. [vapour of smoke]

Joshua – MEDIATORS/CONQUEST/HEAD & BODY:
The height of one pillar was eighteen cubits, and the capital on it [was] of bronze. The height of the capital was three cubits, and the network and pomegranates all around the capital were all of bronze. The second pillar was the same, with a network. (The pillars were also pictures of men. [3])

There is no stanza seven, no glory, no more Promised Land. Solomon’s kingdom was the Sabbath of a process begun in Ruth (domination of Garden and Land), yet, as a new Adam, he failed to enter into a greater Sabbath. Domination of the World was given to a kingdom that would bring forth the humble fruit God desired: a kingdom ruled by Nebuchadnezzar.

The theme of this 6-verse structure is plunder, mostly bronze. Bronze was the “outer” metal of the Tabernacle, the brown Land. Iron was the outer Gentile courts (cf. Daniel 2 for the Gentile Tabernacle within which the Restoration Jews were to be wise men/prophets). This would suggest that this section is the Step 5 of a greater structure. What do we find if we take a step out, fractally, and look at the entire chapter?

Creation:
King
…encampment (tent/veil)
……siege wall / Zedekiah (de-Ascension of head)
……….famine (un-Pentecost)
……wall broken through (see BMX p. 181-183)
…king escapes between two walls
by way of the plain (no mountain of God)

Division:
Pursuit by Chaldeans (delegated authority)
…Zedekiah taken to Riblah
……brought up before the king
………sons killed before eyes, eyes taken out
……bronze fetters
…transported
to Babylon

Ascension: (Holy Place constructed but not filled)
Nebuzaradan the servant
…comes to Jerusalem
……Burns the houses:
……Lord’s house
………King’s house
……Great’s houses
…City houses
Burned with fire (Shekinah)

Testing: (death in wilderness, new ruler mentioned repeatedly)
Chaldean army
…captain of the guard (delegate)
……Jerusalem walls broken down (ascension)
………Nebuzaradan (ruler opening Law)
……multitude taken captive (plunder)
…defectors separated (Atonement)
poor as vinedressers (Booths)

Which brings us to our chiasm at Maturity: Temple Plunder
Trumpets is fairly consistently plural, so the two pillars feature: priest and king dismantled instead of resurrected

Conquest: Atonement: Murder of Gedaliah

Glorification: Booths: Future of Covenant – food and shelter – of Jehoiachin in Babylon

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[1] Peter J. Leithart, Pillars.
[2] Peter J. Leithart, Temple Plunder in Kings.
[3] See Pillar and Man.

“…of the angels He says:
‘Who makes His angels spirits
and His ministers a flame of fire.’”

God is the source of all things, and He identifies Himself as such in His speeches. Every speech is Covenantal, and every preamble within His speeches is a statement of transcendence. “I am the Lord your God.”

After the initial call comes delegation, Covenantal Hierarchy. A man, a Moses, an Abraham, receives the Word with meekness.

We know that angels are God’s messengers, the sent ones. They administered the Old Covenant as our tutors, Satan becoming the first false teacher, the first corrupt ambassador, or, if you will, the first publican.

[This post has been refined and included in Sweet Counsel: Essays to Brighten the Eyes.]

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“Now Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it for herself on the rock, from the beginning of harvest until the late rains poured on them from heaven. And she did not allow the birds of the air to rest on them by day nor the beasts of the field by night.” 2 Samuel 21:10

NOTE: THIS POST HAS BEEN REMIXED AND INCLUDED IN GOD’S KITCHEN.

At the heart of the Bible Matrix is Testing. Although all the major narratives follow the pattern, many of the minor ones do too. If Adam had not failed his initial “qualifying round,” he would have progressed to the next stage of dominion. We know this because we see others later in the Bible move beyond this first round to greater glory. For instance, Daniel’s first challenge mirrors Adam’s challenge exactly. He was offered kingdom food and refused it.

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[1] Notice that God’s purifying judgment upon King Nebuchadnezzar was to make him a kind of Covenant-curse-hybrid: both a beast and a bird. He was being transformed into a guardian for God’s people—a cherubim.
[2] In the Creation week, God formed the house over three days, then filled it over the next three. The filling begins at Day 4, feast 4, Pentecost, Testing.

Of course, God’s new golden-haired boy got things wrong, as all Adams do when given the opportunity of glorious kingdom. The metal man in his dream (the new “empire-Tabernacle”) only had gold at the head, but King Nebuchadnezzar’s obelisk was gold from head to foot. This new king, under whom Israel was now a “Covenant vassal,” would be taught by God that he, too, was subject to a higher authority.

James Jordan observes that the four “animal” empires correspond to the four cherubim guarding God’s throne. The animals do not match exactly, because symbols are relationships. The animals describe the relationship of each empire to the people of God.

A couple of years ago, I heard Al Stewart at the Katoomba Men’s Convention give a good summary of the first part of the book of Daniel. Unlike liberal scholars, he corresponded the four beasts with the empires beginning with Babylon, not the Medes (the liberals can’t believe that Daniel wrote about Rome because it didn’t exist at that time in history, so they have to make Greece number 4. They split Medo-Persia into two empires, which doesn’t work at all since they were contemporaneous.) When Al got to Rome, he told us that Daniel’s prophecy doesn’t match history. He didn’t do what dispensationalists do and tell us that God’s Jewish clock stopped, but he didn’t have an explanation.

The explanation is one you will only find in Jordan’s work. The Roman empire did continue to exist after AD70, but Daniel, and all the prophets, view the world as God’s Tabernacle. The characters on the stage are viewed by their respective Covenant callings as they contribute to the plan of God in history. They are priestly or kingly ministers in His court.

This is a crucial factor to understand. It solves the mystery of the identity of the sons of God in Genesis 6. It explains why the Revelation describes the destruction of the Roman “Sea beast” in AD70. And it also explains why, in God’s economy, there are no more Jews. Their calling as “sons of God” was terminated with the Temple. Or rather, it was transformed through death and resurrection into a new calling. As John says, “Beloved, now are we the sons of God…”

Just like Judah, King Nebuchadnezzar came to a full understanding his calling as a vassal king through a process of death and resurrection. He was exiled by God as a Gentile beast into the wilderness and returned as a Man, an Adam, a Covenant head. Just as Joseph converted Pharaoh through his faithful service, Daniel converted Nebuchadnezzar.

The fact that these four Gentile empires were under God’s throne, vassal subjects in the kingdom of God, explains why their authority was transferred over the 500 year Restoration period. It was a form of “Covenant succession.” If the emperor cursed the people of God, the empire would be cursed, the kingdom handed over to another who would bring forth the fruit desired from their delegated authority, their Covenant calling. Belshazzar lost his kingdom overnight. Esther and Mordecai saved Persia from an unspeakable fate at the hands of God through the intentions of the serpent Haman. But Persia eventually fell to Greece, and Greece to Rome. The Revelation describes Rome’s “de-conversion” from a metal man back into a beast. The guardian put in place by God to provide a framework of law, protection, infrastructure and civilisation for the spread of the gospel was manipulated by Satan against the people of God. The family dog was turned against the children it was called to guard.

Rome did not cease to be an empire in AD70. Just as the calling of the Jews passed to the Christian church, Rome ceased to be a guardian for the people of God when the fifth empire arrived. Adam succeeded the animal kingdom on Day 6 and was supposed to be enthroned over it, rule over it, on Day 7. Jesus as Adam succeeded the animal kingdom—the Gentile empire—and took on the calling of the vassal emperors as guardian of the church. In these last days of the Old Covenant, God shook the world one more time, and the “times of the Gentiles” came to an end. [2]

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[1] Have you got The Handwriting on the Wall yet? You will find all this and much more in Jordan’s groundbreaking work.
[2] This is actually the context of the “sheep and goats” judgment of the nations in Matthew 25. It is history, although it was most certainly a microcosm of the final judgment at the end of the Revelation.