All of the arcane “personal” stipulations in the Torah find their fulfilment in the corporate worship of Israel. Just as the sacrifices were to be without blemish, so also were Israelites to be spotless if they were to stand before God. But the rules for the identification, quarantining and ceremonial cleansing of leprosy only begin with the skin of the worshiper in the wilderness. They then move to the garment, and finally to the house in the Promised Land. A failure in personal holiness would lead eventually to a corruption of corporate worship. James Jordan writes:

Jesus’ statement that the stones of the building will not be left attached to one another hearkens back to the rules for house affiction (“lepr­osy”) in Leviticus 14:33-53.¹On the translation of “leprosy” with “affliction,” see Jordan’s monograph, The Touch of Affliction: The “Plague” of “Leprosy” in Leviticus 13. Biblical Horizons Occasional Paper 31 (Niceville, FL: Biblical Horizons, 2002). If the affliction in the walls of the house proves irremedia­ble, the priest is to “tear down the house, its stones, and its timbers, and all the plaster of the house, and he shall take them outside the city to an unclean place” (Leviticus 14:45).

From the verse just cited, it is clear that house affliction only applies to a house inside a walled city. An examination of the history of the applica­tion of the laws of house affliction sheds considerable light on certain events in the gospels, for the primary house to come under these rules is the temple.

In Ezekiel 8:7-13, Ezekiel is told to dig into the wall around the temple. In his vision the wall is hollow and has a chamber inside of it. All over the inner walls of this chamber are carved various idols, and the leaders of Israel are worshipping them secretly.²These people were not actually worshipping idols or engaging in idolatry. We know from Jeremiah that they had turned the temple itself into an idol, and regarded Yahweh as their own national god who would always protect them. What Ezekiel sees in his vision is their true hearts, not their outward beliefs. This is a graphic picture of house affliction, the “greenish or reddish” marks under (within) the walls of a house.

Of more immediate relevance is Zechariah’s fifth Night Vision (Zecha­riah 5:1-4). The prophet sees a huge flying scroll, having the dimen­sions of the Holy Place of the tabernacle. The Holy Place was a symbol of the  rmament heavens, and this scroll appears in the firmament. It goes forth from God, as the “eyes” of Yahweh have gone forth in the previous vision (3:10; & 1:10-11; 6:1-8). From Genesis 1, we know that God’s eyes evaluate what He sees. His eyes are also, thus, an evaluating scroll, the law of God in its judging function. The scroll measures every house in Israel to see if it conforms to the holy dimen­sions of the Holy Place. Two specific sins are judged: false swearing (wor­ship) and theft. We have noted this pair already in our study. The houses of those who swear falsely and/or who steal will be consumed with house affliction, according to Zechariah 5:4, “[The curse] will dwell with­in that house and consume it with its timber and stones.”

When we come to Jesus’ “cleansing” of the temple, we find that He condemns the people for these two sins: “My house should be a house of prayer (true swearing), but you have made it a den of thieves” (Matthew 21:13). Later on, in Revelation 13:14-16, the “Beast Image,” which is the idolatrous worship house of the apostates, also requires false worship and a mark that governs buying and selling.

We know from a full reading of the gospels, Matthew through John, that Jesus “cleansed” the temple twice. As the living Scroll or Word of God, He arrived at the house two times. This is in accor­dance with the laws of house affliction in Leviticus 14. Making allowances for a general application of the principles in Leviticus 14, we can see Jesus fulfilling them as follows:

First, if greenish or reddish marks appear inside the walls of a house, the priest is to quarantine it for seven days. This corresponds to Jesus’ first inspection of the temple, record­ed in John 2:14-22. From that time, Jesus did not go again to the temple, as far as we are told, until His final arrival in Jerusa­lem.

Second, if after a week of quarantine the reddish and/or greenish marks have spread, the priest is to tear out the stones and plaster that have the marks in them, and repair the place in the wall. This corresponds to Jesus’ second temple inspection, as recorded in Matthew 21:12-14. Jesus drove out the bad stones, for the temple is made of human stones, and then restored the blind and lame, restoring the hu­man temple. This dual action of tearing down the bad and restoring the crippled as a true human temple is a microcosm of Jesus’ entire earthly ministry of restoring Israel – which then falls anew by rejecting Him.

Third, if the affliction reappears in the house, the house is to be torn down complete­ly. Jesus as priest, as Zechariah’s Flying Scroll, comes in the late ad 60s, finds that the temple has not been repaired (i.e., the people are still apostate), and destroys it.³From The End of the World: A Commentary on Matthew 23-25, by James B. Jordan. Available from www.biblicalhorizons.com

Further to this, although the Hebrew word translated “leprosy” is indeed a striking, a plague, it seems that it pictured an invasion of the Sanctuary by the serpent.

The linguistic root of the word translated “leprosy” [tsara’ath] may mean “smiting.” The curse of leprosy came as a “stroke,” which aligns it with the plagues the Lord brought upon Egypt at the hand of Moses. This, however, gives us no clue as to what this disease actually was.

The “whiteness” of this condition most certainly links it to the “whiteness” of death. The purification rites for a person contaminated by a corpse are similar to those for a person with “leprosy.” Moreover, when Miriam is struck with the condition, Aaron begs that she not become like a still born child “whose flesh is half eaten away.”

However, there is another feature of this “leprosy” which traces this “death” back to Eden. Whereas the Hebrew word denotes being struck with a plague, it is described in Akkadian with a word which means “scaly” or “covered with dust.” Scales and dust tie it to the curse upon the serpent in Genesis 3. Leviticus 13 also refers to a “dry scall,” so rather than naming an actual disease it describes a symptom: scaled skin.⁴Jacob Milgrom translates the biblical “leprosy” as “scale disease” in his Leviticus 1-16, 768–889. In his Interpretation of Dreams in the Ancient Near East, Oppenheim quotes the word which has been translated leprosy as “covered with dust” or “scaly.” The Akkadian word “epqu”, which was translated leprosy in the Chicago Assyrian Dictionary, also means “scaly.”

This might help explain the language connected to it in 2 Kings 5, where the leprosy of the faithful, obedient Gentile is transferred to the lying, thieving Israelite, as his ironic Covenant “inheritance”: “The leprosy therefore of Naaman shall cleave unto thee, and unto thy seed for ever. And he went out from his presence a leper as white as snow. (2 Kings 5:27 [KJV])⁵From “Scales of Justice: The Covenantal Significance and Serpentine Nature of Biblical ‘Leprosy’” in Sweet Counsel: Essays to Brighten the Eyes.

This explains the references to the apostate High Priesthood as a “man of sin.” This representative of humanity had allowed the serpent to take dominion of the Garden. Following his expulsion from the heavenly court at the ascension of Christ (Revelation 12:9), Satan took up residence in the replica of the Sanctuary on earth (signified in Revelation 8:10 as the Edenic “springs and waters”). By the time Christ returned to inspect the Temple, the house was indeed “serpentine,” filled with demons (Matthew 12:43-45).

Why are there four Gospels? There would be so much less confusion — and theological spade work — if there were just the one. The most obvious answer is that each one was written for a different audience, as described here. The least obvious answer is that God was not only writing the commandments in human flesh, He was also “measuring out” the architecture of the Tabernacle in humanity.

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“God’s word is His presence, when delivered in a true setting.”

by James B. Jordan. Biblical Horizons No. 245

“And hearkened Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel,
and Joshua son of Jehozadak, the great priest,
and all the remnant of the people,
to the voice of Yahweh their God,
and to the words of Haggai the prophet,
just as Yahweh their God had sent him;
and the people feared the presence of Yahweh.
“Then Haggai, the messenger of Yahweh, said
in a message of Yahweh to the people,
saying,
“I am with you — a statement of Yahweh.”
And Yahweh stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel
son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah,
and the spirit of Joshua son of Jehozadak, the great priest,
and the spirit of all the remnant of the people;
and they came and did work on the house of
Yahweh of Armies, their God,
on the twenty-fourth day
of the sixth month,
in the second year of King Darius.

(Haggai 1:12-15)

While it makes for a bit of an awkward English sentence, it is important to see that the first word in verse 12 is “hearkened.” The obedience is instantaneous. We read at the end of the verse that the people feared, or respected, the presence of Yahweh, which in this case means the words of Haggai.

God’s word is His presence, when delivered in a true setting. God had placed his “Name” in the Temple built by Solomon: “My Name shall be there” (1 Kings 8:29). When carried to Babylon, the Levites asked “How can we sing Yahweh’s song in a strange land”; how can we sing the Temple psalms away from the Name in the Temple? (Psalm 137:4). In Psalm 138:2 David gives an answer:

I bow down to Your holy temple,
And I give thanks to Your Name,
For Your lovingkindness and for Your faithfulness,
Because You have magnified Your Word over all Your Name.

Indeed, as David continues in Psalm 139:8, “If I make my bed in Sheol, You are there.” Wherever God’s Word is, His Name-Presence is.

In verse 13, Haggai is called “the messenger of Yahweh.” This is the same word as “Malachi,” My Messenger. It is also the word translated “angel” when referring to spirit-beings. In Genesis 28:12 Jacob saw angels moving between heaven and earth. Similarly, God’s prophets are consulted by Him and carry His words to earth (Amos 3:7; 7:1-8; Genesis 20:7; 18:20-33). In Acts 6:15 the Jews saw the face of Stephen as the face of an angel, which means that when they killed him they were killing God’s messenger, killing the manifestation of God’s very presence in their midst. The Jews should have “feared” the Lord through Stephen as their forefathers had feared Yahweh through Haggai, Yahweh’s messenger/angel.

In verse 9 the “statement of Yahweh” had been one of judgment, but now in verse 13 it is one of blessing. “I am with you” is Immanuel, God With Us, God’s presence among us.

Verse 14 tells us that “not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit” the Temple is built (Zechariah 4:6). In Zechariah this is the message to Zerubbabel the Davidic Temple-builder. Here it is a blessing to all the people. Interestingly, in Exodus 31 :3ff. it is only Bezalel and some associates of his who are filled with the Spirit to build the Tabernacle. Now in this more glorious time it is all the people who are stirred by the Spirit.

What does this mean for us today? We should consider that before Solomon built the first physical Temple in Jerusalem, a generation earlier David had set up a temple of psalmody around the house(s) of God. (Ark and Tabernacle were separate at this time.) God was enthroned on the praises of His people (Psalm 22:3). Those praises were the psalms.

Uh, yes. The psalms.

In heaven, right now, Jesus is singing the psalms to God the Father. He is not singing metrical paraphrases. He is “chanting” the psalms as they are written.

The gift of tongues is given to the Church to enable us to translate the Bible into all languages, improving those languages over time. We can chant the psalms in English or in any other language in union with Jesus.

So-called “metrical psalms” are fine as sermons based on the psalms, but they are not psalms. You have to be a in a strange mental state to think that they are the same as actual psalms. Anybody with half a brain can tell that they are not.

So, if God’s true temple is a house of music, where is it today? I attended Reformed Theological Seminary in Jackson, Mississippi, and also Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, Pemisylvania. There was chapel every day. Not once was there any psalm singing. And these places advertised themselves as conservative and orthodox! (Which is some ways they were, but not at this point.) Historically, chanting the psalms along with Jesus has been central to Christian worship. In historic monasteries, all 150 psalms are sung every week!

So Haggai asks us: Is now the time for you to have your 35-inch flat-screen television and your microwave, while the house of God is lifeless and desolate? Do you not care about all the suffering Christians around the world who need you to stand before God during the Lord’s Day and chant the psalms, especially the imprecatory ones? Should you not be building the house of God, that house of prayer and psalms?

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Covenant Structure in Zechariah 11

“The meek will eventually inherit the earth but the wicked will always have to buy it.”

Reading the book of Zechariah, like most Bible prophecies, is like tuning in to Season 3 of any good TV series without watching Seasons 1 and 2. Our problem today is not that we haven’t actually read the books of Moses (well, I hope we have) but that we haven’t been taught to read them into the prophets and the New Testament. We treat them like we’ve now switched channels, or shows, and the authors are starting with a blank canvas! However, the canvas isn’t blank. The prophets were God’s repo men, and their messages were all framed in the context of the Covenant contract. What amazes me is how inventive the prophets are (or the Spirit is) in coming up with something new and surprising using the patterns laid down in Moses.

Another strange habit we have is tracing Old Testament quotations in the Gospels and sticking a “Messianic prophecy” label on them without much attempt to understand what those verses meant in their original context. It used to bother me that nobody seemed interested in what they meant and why on earth a particular verse would come to the author’s mind in the first place in support of his case for Jesus. The answer is that God does not work in “snapshots” but in stories, through processes, and within architectures.

One of the more complex references is the mention of “the potter” in Zechariah 11 and Matthew 27:7. Not only is the reference intriguing but the original passage is just as confusing. Zechariah 11 is just plain weird to us, because we think like the viewer who has only just tuned in. If we take the structure into account, it may answer some burning questions.

Firstly, it seems to me that the ‘cycle’ in Zechariah 11 actually starts in v. 4, so vv. 1-3 belong to the previous section. Why do I say this? It concerns the destruction of the “cedars” of the Temple, as an ironic cloudy Tabernacles! (The other name for the feast is Booths, which is more literally “clouds.”) So those verses are the end of the previous cycle.

TRANSCENDENCE – Creation (Genesis)

So verses 4-5 begin the cycle. It begins with a new Initiation. The Lord asks Zechariah to “lead” the flock of God. He condemns the kings who have exalted themselves against the Law. So we have the Call, and also a reference to Divine Authority (the tablets in the Ark of the Covenant).

HIERARCHY – Division (Exodus)

After Initiation comes Delegation, or in sacrificial terms, the cutting of the sacrifice. In verse 6, the Lord pronounces a “Passover,” but one from which no one will escape. The “king” has become a king like Pharaoh, murdering God’s “firstborn”, Israel, so the Lord Himself will not intervene. However, He has commissioned Zechariah for an ironic “tour of duty”: he would lead the flock, not to green pastures, but to slaughter.

ETHICS 1 – Ascension (Leviticus/Priesthood) – Law given

In 7-9, Zechariah becomes the blameless “firstfruits” with two staffs, Favor (Church) and Union (State). Staffs are an extension of a man’s reach, and are “legal” tools. The left and right “hands” of the Tabernacle are the Table and the Lampstand, priesthood and kingdom. Once united in a Man they lead to prophecy, true legal witness.

Zechariah tends the sheep. He destroys the “three shepherds” in “one month”, which is possibly a reference to Numbers 18:15-16:

Everything that opens the womb of all flesh, whether man or beast, which they offer to the Lord, shall be yours. Nevertheless, the firstborn of man you shall redeem, and the firstborn of unclean animals you shall redeem. And their redemption price (at a month old you shall redeem them) you shall fix at five shekels in silver, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, which is twenty gerahs.

The subject is the redemption of the firstborn, and if we notice that the price was specified in sanctuary silver, it will help us with what comes later on in the passage.

The word “destroyed” is the word used in Exodus 9:15, in the words Moses is to speak to Pharaoh before the seventh plague, because he has exalted himself:

For by now I could have put out my hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, and you would have been cut off from the earth. But for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth. You are still exalting yourself against my people and will not let them go.

The theme is “Levitical,” the tithe. Festally-speaking, it is the Feast of Firstfruits, pointing to the Ascension of Christ. But who are the three shepherds? When Jesus appears as the ‘firstfruits lamb” in Revelation 5, He is a union of priest (lamb – forming), king (seven eyes – filling) and prophet (seven horns – future), or in architectural terms, a combination of the three pieces of furniture in the Holy Place. So it would seem the “triune office” is in Zechariah’s cross hairs. Many commentators believe these shepherds are those rulers upon whom Christ pronounced Covenantal “woes.” Instead of being advocates for the people, they were legal accusers, just like their true father, Satan. They had exalted themselves as kings and they would be thrown down. The difference was that Satan knew he only had a short time. From Barnes’ notes:

And I cut off three shepherds in one month – Jerome: “I have read in some one’s commentary, that the shepherds, cut off in the indignation of the Lord, are to be understood of priests and false prophets and kings of the Jews, who, after the passion of Christ, were all cut off in one time, of whom Jeremiah speaketh, “The priests said not, Where is the Lord? and they that handle the law knew Me not; the pastors also transgressed against Me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things which do not profit” Jeremiah 2:8, and again, “As the thief is ashamed when he is found, so is the house of Israel ashamed; they, their kings, their princes, and their priests and their prophets” Jeremiah 2:26; and “they said, Come, let us devise devices against Jeremiah; for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet” Jeremiah 18:18.

Based on what follows in the text, this “disempowerment” refers to Jesus’ ministry to the Jews. In each case He was the “firstborn” son who received the Father’s blessing: 1) circumcised as a Priestly Lamb and baptized as a Priest; 2) anointed as a Shepherd King after His baptism and received as the Son of David in Jerusalem; 3) commissioned as Divine Prophet at His transfiguration (just prior to the triumphal entry, which explains the “Hear ye Him” in Matthew 17:5) and authorized to speak the Father’s words to the rulers of the city. At each stage, His qualification disqualified the leaders of Israel, just as David’s anointing disqualified Saul.

However, the three stages of qualification would be “fractally” replicated in Israel. The process of destruction here is Ethical, Social, Physical, a reverse of Genesis 1-3.

ETHICS 2 – Testing (Numbers/Kingdom) – Law Opened

At the centre of the cycle (vv. 10-11), Israel’s Covenantal Favor is broken. The kingdom comes and her priesthood is no longer effectual. The priesthood and kingdom (forming and filling), are like the two bronze pillars of Solomon’s Temple.: they will be broken up. We saw the same action when Moses broke the first set of stone tablets. What is interesting is that these are not Mosaic tablets but Davidic staffs. The Word of the Lord is vindicated among the “peoples,” in this case, the tribes of Israel. The feast here is Pentecost, when many Jews believed. Revelation presents them as saints “sealed and numbered” (only Jews are numbered, and one of the themes here is the book of Numbers). The Covenant has been de-formed, but Israel would be given a chance to “fill up” her sins or her sufferings before the future age arrived..

ETHICS 3 – Maturity (Deuteronomy/Prophethood) – Law Received

This next stage corresponds to the feast of Trumpets, where Israel’s warriors are mustered and “redeemed.” Trumpets are silver. They summon Israel and they warn God’s enemies. It was at this point in Genesis 23 that Abraham purchased a cave and field from Ephron with “bridal” silver, and also at this point in Joshua 7 where Achan revealed his plunder, including silver, was hidden “in the earth” under his tent. Again, something to take note of for later.

The redemption price comes from Exodus 21:32. It is the price for a murdered bull or slave, which actually ties Zechariah’s service to the Bronze Altar (binding) rather than the prophetic Incense Altar (loosing). Remember, these two altars correspond chiastically in the pattern, one being the earthly country (bloody Adam) and the other the heavenly country (fragrant Eve). Silver has to do with loosing, with redemption. It is bridal, and military. It is also the plunder for Covenant obedience, and the legal witness (as fragrant, silvery smoke) that the Law has been satisfied.

The money is thrown into the Lord’s House, however, it is designated “to the potter.” Rather than ascending to heaven, it will be returned to the earth, hidden in the clay under Achan’s “Tabernacle.” The JFB commentary mentions that the Temple employed its own potter, and any “unclean” money went to pay him. It was a “talent” hidden in the ground. The idea is that the Covenant Head is not multiplied as a Body, bearing fruit, as desired by God. The potter worked in the Valley of Hinnom, where Jeremiah threatened the rulers of Judah by shattering pots (Jeremiah 19). This valley was where child sacrifices took place, and God judged Israel for this crime by filling it with their bodies. We see the same thing in the first century, beginning with Herod the Great’s slaughter of the innocents and ending with the Roman siege. The valley of the potter came to be known as Gehenna, a rubbish tip filled with fire and maggots.

The house of God and “clay” are both Ascension symbols concerning the firstfruits. Adam is lifted from the miry clay and made to stand upright. So perhaps the idea is that the “ascended” bridal Land is to be covered in sacrificial blood. The prophet himself has been redeemed and he has purchased a burial cave for the Bride. She will rest in the bosom of Abraham until his heavenly country is a place “prepared” by Jesus.

This section ends with a familiar “Trumpets” symbol of the brothers. Judah (the head) and Israel (the body) are divided. The reference is to the “new Covenant” made with these two houses, as predicted in Jeremiah 31 (known by some as the “Restoration Covenant”). It takes us from the beginning of Zechariah to the first century. Here they are not united but separated. There would be no real outcome in history in the first century. The point is that this “tribal” unity would be replaced by a greater unity, the one between Jew and Gentile, as Hebrews 8 explains.

“In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.” (Hebrews 8:13)

This brings us to the end of the triune “Ethics” section of the prophecy. At Ascension, the prophet united priesthood and kingdom, enabling him to speak as a prophet (Adam was to be the third tree in the Garden, whose fruit was righteousness, representing God as His Word). At Testing (Pentecost), the face of God stopped shining upon Israel-according-to-the-flesh. Maturity is about a “many” which are united with one mind. Here, the old Feast of Trumpets was annulled forever through the legal witness of the apostles, the testimony of Jesus, who like Joseph was sold by his brothers to the Gentiles. The Trumpets warned of the old walls coming down.

SANCTIONS – Conquest (Joshua/The Triune Man)

Now we come to the Day of Coverings, when the High Priest approached God for the Priesthood and the People, the head and the body. Atonement is about healing the Land, but God was raising up a shepherd who would not heal but devour. At this point in Jesus’ pattern, the High Priest exalted himself against the Son of God, the veil was torn, and a Roman soldier testified to Him. In the larger apostolic cycle, the Temple was completed (in defiance of Jesus’ words) and then destroyed only a few years later by armies of Roman soldiers. But it seems that the prophet is still speaking hear of the ministry of Jesus.

SUCCESSION – Glorification (Judges: Israel serves the Gentiles)

The cycle has covered de-forming and de-filling (Days 1-6) and now moves to de-future! The worthless king will be cut off. The right side of the Adam/Tabernacle is the kingly side. The sword-arm and the eye of judgment will be taken away. Israel will no longer have her own king sitting at court. Because she would not be a priest to the nations, she will serve a Gentile Solomon, the emperor (an ironic Booths). The initial fulfillment of this was the death of Herod on his throne, sitting in the Temple of God. The Lord turned him into a human Gehenna, filled with worms.

Jesus or Judas?

This brings us to an interesting aspect of the prophecy. Is the prophet predicting the actions of Jesus or Judas? Zechariah was from the tribe of Judah, and Judah would be divided like the two goats on the Day of Atonement. Judas (Judah) was himself a sign of what was coming upon all Judah. The Last Supper follows the order of Israel’s annual festal calendar, with Judas being expelled as the second goat, filled with the devil and carrying the sins of the nation to destruction. [1] Jesus and Judas are the positive and negative coordinates of the prophet’s “formula.”

Whose purchase?

Matthew 27 says that the chief priests and elders bought the potter’s field with Judas’ silver, as a place to bury Gentiles, the unclean.  Acts 1 implies that it was Judas’ purchase, but the theme that unites these two statements is Covenantal. Abraham purchased a parcel of the Land but his children would later inherit it as a gift. The meek eventually inherit the earth but the wicked will always have to buy it. [2]

The Valley of Hinnom

The Jews were no longer merely murdering their sons in a horrific reenactment of Passover, they were once again giving them to foreign armies in a horrific reenactment of the fall of Jericho. After Pentecost, the children they were killing were the children of God, that is, the regenerate. [3] The idea is that they were not honoring the firstfruits and redeeming the firstborn at all but slaughtering them and keeping the money, just like our own culture is today. God would cut them off for their theft of a tongue of gold (the false prophet, Adam) [4], a robe from Babylon (the deceived harlot, Eve), and the redemption silver (the beast, the offspring of the shining Serpent), them and their children, like the family of Achan.

Why Silver?

Besides the obvious references, silver is an Old Testament type. It is bridal. Under Solomon, the great bridegroom, Jerusalem was filled not only with gold but silver.

“And the king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stone…” (1 Kings 10:27)

The silver of Abraham was a downpayment on a heavenly country, the silvery smoke on the Incense Altar of resurrection. The silver of Achan and Judas fell like ashes through the grate in the Bronze Altar, into the earth like the sons of Korah, the false priests whose incense was rejected. Like Adam, like Judas, like Judah, an earthly altar without Pentecostal fire will only ever be a place of death, a field of blood. It always splits open in the end and returns to the dust (1 Kings 13:1-5). [5]

____________________________________
[1] See One Taken, One Left Behind and Fool’s Gold.
[2] James Jordan sees the fulfillment of the Jubilee in the conquest of the world by the Gospel. All the Land is returning to its original owner, and His brothers.
[3] See Provoking the Dragon.
[4] See A Tongue of Gold.
[5] See Bridal Men for how Esau and Jacob correspond to the two altars.

Excerpt from James B. Jordan, Babylon and the Babel Project, Biblical Horizons Occasional Paper No. 39. Available from www.biblicalhorizons.com

In the Latter Days [the Restoration era], Babylon is anti-Jerusalem, apostate Judaism. A careful reading of Zechariah will uncover this fact. Zechariah 2:7 tells Zion to escape from living with Daughter Babylon, but in fact Babylon had been conquered and the people were literally living in the Persian empire. Moreover, there was no need for most of the Jews to return to Jerusalem; God’s missionary purpose involved having them spread out all over the world. Indeed, in context, “Jerusalem” is spoken of as a non-geographical entity (2:2-5). It is clear that the geographical language used here is symbolic of spiritual realities. The righteous were to separate themselves from living in terms of Babylonian principle…

In Zechariah 5:5-11, the prophet is shown a counterfeit of the Ark of the Covenant. The actual Ark had been lost, and so only a “spiritual Ark” was located in the Temple, in the midst of the Temple-People. Similarly, this anti-Ark is located in “Shinar,” which is also Jerusalem and the people of God. The anti-Ark is round instead of rectangular; it has a lead cover instead of a golden one; it is flanked by storks instead of by cherubim; it contains Wickedness instead of the tables of the Covenant; and it has a temple built for it in Shinar instead of Jerusalem.

In the vision, the anti-Ark is removed from Jerusalem and the land of God. We are being told that the exodus of God’s people back to Him will mean the removal of idolatry and apostasy from her midst. Wickedness will make an “exodus” back to Shinar, back to Babel, back to Ur.

This exodus of Wickedness is not, however, to be understood geographically or even socially. Rather, the thought, clearly in view of the preceding history of Israel, is that the new Temple that Zerubbabel was building could be a house of God or a house for Wickedness. Both are at the same location. Which one the Temple will be depends on the people. Indeed, the Temple will be both. For faithful worshipers (like the publican), it will be the Temple of God, but for the proud (like the Pharisee), it will be a Temple of Wickedness.

Thus, the new Babel is not located some place other than Jerusalem. It is a false Jerusalem superimposed on the true one. It is a shadow Temple and City, next to the true ones.

or Inheriting the Earth

Structure of Daniel 7 – Part 3

Now that we have covered the central point, Testing, we are working out way back out from the centre of the chapter. The main revelation is always given at Ascension to the Covenant Head (as in Moses on Sinai), opened at Testing (as in Numbers) and received by the people from the Covenant Head in Deuteronomy. Daniel 7 echoes this formula. The vision was given in “sign language” by God’s finger, and is now being received by Daniel in plain language. Of course, we see a similar pattern between the Old Testament’s dark sayings and the plain statements of the New, the two linked by the life of Christ.

However, this second part — the second witness — contains its own complete seven-fold pattern. Read on to find out why.

Creation – Transcendence
ARK – MOST HOLY
My spirit was distressed, (Ark)
…..I Daniel, within [my] body, (Veil)
……….and the visions of my head were alarming. (Altar)
……….I came near (Table – Nearbringing)
……………to one of those who stood by, (Ruling Lights)
……….and asked him the truth of all this. (Law repeated)
……….So he told me and made known to me (Sanctions)
the interpretation of these things: (Succession – Future)

So much for Sabbath! This stanza puts Daniel face-to-face with the Law of God. The Ark always causes trouble for fallen Man. Notice Daniel is humbled before he is “lifted up.”

There is a similar reference to “those who stand” in the book of Zechariah. They are the angelic elders who advised God and administered the Law until the saints inherited their thrones in AD70. In the Revelation, they vacate the heavenly Holy Place one by one, each ministering a judgment on the way out.

Division – Hierarchy
VEIL – HOLY PLACE
‘Those great beasts, which are four, (Light)
…..[are] four kings (Firmament)
……….[which] arise out of the [Land] (Land)
……………[and] receive the kingdom (Ruling Lights)
……….[shall] the saints of the Highest (Swarms/Clouds)
…..and possess the kingdom forever,
[even] for all ages.

You might notice I have “translated” this differently. I have followed the Hebrew word order because it fits the matrix better!

Using the four empires, the Lord formed the oikoumene, the “empire house.” But as with the Land of Canaan, God would come has a thief in the night and take everything the godless had toiled for and give it on a platter to His people. Succession has to do with “inheritance in history.” The meek (submissive to God) would inherit the Land, as Jesus reiterated in His famous sermon.

“Most High” is the Gentile name for God. Here it is at Maturity, the place of Gentile swarms. The very name of God used here gives us a hint of the mystery yet to be opened: Jew and Gentile in one Body.

Ascension – Ethics 1
BRONZE ALTAR
Then I wished to know the truth
…..about the fourth beast,
……….which was different from all the others,
……….(a head above the rest? A Gentile king)
……………exceedingly dreadful,
……….[with] its teeth of iron and its nails of bronze,
…..[which] devoured, broke in pieces,
…..and trampled the residue with its feet;
and the ten horns that [were] on its head, (Succession)

The fourth beast has its own stanza. If Ascension is divided in two (and it often is), the first part is the Altar (earth lifted up) and the second part is the Nearbringing, the Sacrifice. The final form of the earthly “Land” was the “four corners” of the boundary of the Roman empire, within which Paul conducted his “harvest” journeys.

Instead of grain and fruit, proto-bread and proto-wine, growing out of it, we have a Succession of emperors, men who will not give up their lives, men who eventually claimed to be gods.

Regarding “dreadful.” Trembling often appears at Testing. Isaiah uses it ironically when Israel fails to tremble at God’s Law. But here, the Covenant people are trembling instead at the power of Rome, the beast they were supposed to conquer and convert, as Joseph and Daniel did: men at the right hand of the power, imaging Christ. This is exactly what we see in the Revelation concerning the relationship of the Jewish elite to the beast.

Iron and bronze here are at Maturity. Metals appear here frequently, as plunder. But here they are the tools of plunder.

When feet appear at Conquest, it is the ruling mediator, walking on whatever “Sea” of dominion God has marked out at that time in history. Mouth is Word; Hand is Sacrament; Feet are Government. The world is now being put under Jesus’ feet.

GOLDEN TABLE
and the other [horn] which came up, (False Transcendence)
…..before which three fell, namely, (Hierarchy)
……….that horn which had eyes (Ethics)
…..and a mouth which spoke pompous words, (Sanctions)
whose appearance [was] greater than his associates. (Succession)

The “Firstfruits Man” is lifted up because he has humbled himself before God. But here it is the line of the Herods, who lifted themselves up by twisting the arms of three emperors (from memory. See Jordan on this.) With eyes “full of darkness” from their sorcerous Oral Law, and a mouth which spoke self-aggrandizing words instead of honoring the Covenant Oath (note that this appears at Sanctions/Oath). The fact that it seems to be a five-line stanza means that the Law here at Ascension remains closed when it should be open. The Herods were not worthy to open the scroll because they were not unblemished lambs but foxes (Luke 13:32). Without the Bible Matrix structure, much of the “Covenant irony” here is not apparent.

The fact that his appearance was greater means perhaps that here was the real driving force behind the corruption of the oikoumene. Revelation is not a polemic against emperor worship. The Covenant is always central. It is a lawsuit against those who married idolatry instead of converting the idolaters, again, the sin of Solomon.

Testing – Ethics 2
LAMPSTAND
“I was watching; (Sabbath – Light)
…..and the same horn was making war against the saints, (Passover)
……….and prevailing against them, (Firstfruits)
……………until the Ancient of Days came,
……….and a judgment was made [in favor]
…..of the saints of the Most High,
and the time came for the saints to possess the kingdom.

The little horn has short-sighted eyes, but humble Daniel sees his future. Here at the centre is the changing of the guard. Adam was confronted with a beast at Testing. Jesus faced the spirit of the same beast, yet overcame, so the saints filled with His Spirit would also overcome. There is perhaps a structural allusion here to the battle against Amalek, who prevailed until Moses was seated in judgment as prophet with His arms supported by Aaron (priest) and Hur (kingly Judah). Here it is Christ flanked by Moses and Elijah, the law and the prophets, the two (or three) witnesses required for a Covenant execution.

How brilliant is the second line? The Herods are ascending, yet the first century church is the true Firstfruits! According to Jordan, this is the subject of Revelation 14.

Maturity – Ethics 3
GOLDEN ALTAR
“Thus he said: (Light – Ark)
…..‘The fourth beast (Veil – Hierarchy)
……….shall be a fourth kingdom on [the Land], (Altar)
……………Which shall differ from all the kingdoms, (Lights)
……….And shall devour the whole [Land], (Table)
…..[and tread and crush]. (Laver – Feet – No Mediators)
(No Succession, No Entry into God’s Rest)

Notice that the Land beast, instead of being true holy, fruitful Land, is treading and crushing the grain and fruit under its feet.

This stanza is also very interesting because it has two parts. We are back to the Land beasts. This Golden Altar chiastically mirrors the Bronze Altar and Golden Table of Ascension: Beast – Horn / Judgment / Beast – Horn. This time, the saints are the incense crushed during the Great Tribulation (beginning around AD64), and set alight, a holy, fragrant cloud passing through the Veil to complete the Totus Christus and celebrate the marriage feast.

INCENSE
The ten horns [are] ten kings (Genesis – Transcendence)
…..[Who] shall arise from this kingdom. (Exodus – Hierarchy)
……….And another shall rise after them; (Leviticus – 3 levels)
……….He shall be different from the first,
……….And shall subdue three kings. (Firstfruits)
……………He shall speak [pompous] words (Numbers)
……………against the Most High,
……….Shall persecute the saints of the Most High, (Trumpets)
……….And shall intend to change times and law. (Deuteronomy)
…..Then [the saints] shall be given into his hand (False Joshua)
For a time and times and half a time. (Failure of Judges)

The central point is the Ethics. Here is the false prophet speaking the “Hath God said” in the second Temple garden. This is the explanation of the use of the Balaam (Head) and Balaamite (Body) symbols in the Revelation. The first century priesthood was a false prophet who would cause Israel to commit adultery and suffer the Covenant curses.

Conquest – Sanctions
But the court shall be seated,
…..And they shall take away his dominion,
……….To consume and destroy [it] forever.
……….Then the kingdom and dominion,
……………And the greatness of the kingdoms
……………under the whole heaven,
……….Shall be given to the people,
……….the saints of the Most High.
…..His kingdom [is] an everlasting kingdom, (Head)
…..And all dominions shall serve and obey Him.’ (Body)
This [is] the end of the account.

Here, the curses of the Covenant are poured out upon those who wilfully remain under the Old Covenant. The matrix structure is forming and filling, Law and Grace. So here, structurally, the Law of the flesh is abolished, and only the Law of the Spirit remains.

In the wilderness, Satan offered Christ all the kingdoms of the World. Here, those kingdoms are at Testing, the Wilderness step. Jesus shared His rule with the martyred Firstfruits Church, who now sit on thrones–alive–in the place of the Old Covenant angels. The disciples sat on twelve thrones and judged the twelve tribes. It’s history.

Glorification – Succession
As for me, Daniel, (Source)
…..my thoughts greatly troubled me, (Veil)
……….and my countenance changed; (Facebread Man)
……………but I kept the matter in my heart. (Internal Law)

This is hilarious! It’s just like one of those movies that is set up for a sequel. Just as the saints would be subject to the Roman-powered Herods for a three-and-a-half (Testing), [1] so the Succession stanza leaves the story unfinished, open, ready for the coming of the Lord. The stanza itself is a time, times and half a time.

If you remember, the first half of the chapter was also a three-and-a-half. It finished at Testing. This second part, the interpretation, fills out the complete pattern, yet the final verse reminds us that the actual fulfilment was yet to be revealed.

Finally, notice the architectural similarity between the Lord’s throne in heaven with its four beastly guardians, the nation of Israel on earth serving within four beastly guardian empires, and Daniel in the den of lions. His experience was the template for the Jews for the next 500 years. They were to tame the Gentile kingdoms by faith, not aspire to be like Gentile kings (as Saul did). The devouring lions became ministers of God’s judgment upon Daniel’s enemies! Daniel himself was a lion of Judah.

For the cover of James Jordan’s complete lectures DVD box (see right column), I used a lion head door knocker. For those willing to listen, Jordan’s lectures are a very practical gateway to understand the Bible, and I wanted to communicate that very simply. The image links the two-edged message of traditional “gargoyled” doors with the two-edged gospel: for the faithful, the Lion of Judah is a guardian and a door; for the unfaithful, He is merely a guard at the door.

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[1] This half-week was completed by the Jewish War, three years of hell on the Land, the Herodian harlot being devoured by her beastly Roman lover. See The End of Shadows.

A fascinating article by Peter Leithart for Biblical Horizons:

But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you” (Jude 9).

Jude 9 raises several difficulties (though not insuperable difficulties) for conservative commentators. The event that Jude recounts does not seem to be drawn from the Old Testament, and most scholars claim, based on statements of Clement of Alexandria and Origen, that Jude borrowed this story from the Assumption of Moses, an apocryphal work.

If true, this raises the question of the status of apocryphal literature in general. We can, of course, defend the inerrancy of the canonical Scriptures even if this is the case. The Spirit, after all, might have led Jude to refer to this story, even though it came from a noncanonical book. But questions continue to nag at us. Is the story historical? Or, does Jude quote from a popular legend simply to support his theological point?

The difficulties with this verse do not end here, however. The event that Jude describes seems nothing short of bizarre, and Jude gives no explanation of its significance. Why would Michael dispute with the devil about Moses’ body? What is the significance of Moses’ body? Fanciful speculations have been offered, but none of them can be taken very seriously.

Perhaps some progress might be made toward a solution to this puzzle by tracing the origin of the quotation at the end of Jude 9: “The Lord rebuke you.” It is a quotation from Zechariah 3:1-2…

Continue reading at Biblical Horizons…

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.

The Table on God’s Mountain

“Most assuredly, I say to you,
unless a grain of wheat
falls into the ground
and dies,
it remains alone;
but if it dies,
it produces much grain.”
John 12:24

Israel was given a “firstfruits” taste of the Promised Land in Numbers 13. As with all Covenants, it was bittersweet. There were grapes, but there were giants. It was the same challenge as the one given to Adam. They were called to be judges who made their decisions based not on sight, but on faith in God’s Words.

(Creation)
And Moses
…..called
……….Hoshea
…..the son of Nun, (“son of fecundity“)
Joshua.

(Division)
Then Moses
…..sent them
……….to spy out
…..the land
of Canaan, (“lowlands”)

(Ascension – Altar-Land)
and said to them, (Sabbath)
…..“Go up this [way] into the South, (Passover)
……….and go up to the mountains, (Firstfruits)
……………“and see what the land is like: (Pentecost)
……….whether the people who dwell in it
……….[are] strong or weak, few or many; (Trumpets)
…..“whether the land they dwell in
…..[is] good or bad; (Atonement)
whether the cities they inhabit
[are] like camps or strongholds; (Tabernacles)

(Ascension – Table of the Facebread)
“whether the land [is] rich or poor;
…..and whether there are forests there or not.
……….Be of good courage.
…..And bring some of the fruit of the land.”
Now the time [was] the season of the first ripe grapes.

(Numbers 13:6-20. Testing is the 12 spies as “Lamp-eyes” in the Land for 40 days.)

The Promised Land was the shelter, the rest, for that generation, but in Israel’s history it was only Day 3. God put the nation on the Altar-Land as a kind of firstfruits (the Kings followed as Day 4). Day 5 is about fruit, about clouds and swarms, plunder and/or plagues. It is the bridal “Body” harvest that results from the sacrifice, death and burial of the Bridegroom “Head.” Day 5 in Israel’s history was plagues. It was two Trumpets, the armies of Assyria and the armies of Babylon. Because Israel was bad fruit, her grapes would be left to rot on the vine, filled with scavenging worms (Deuteronomy 28:39).

from Isaiah 5

Creation
Now let me sing
…..to my Well-beloved
……….A song
…..of my Beloved
regarding His vineyard:

Division
My Well-beloved
…..has a vineyard
……….On a very fruitful hill.
……………He dug it up
……….and cleared out its stones,
…..And planted it
with the choicest vine.

Ascension – Tabernacle
He built a tower in its midst, (Ark)
…..And also made a winepress in it; (Veil)
……….So He expected to bring forth grapes, (Altar)
……….But it brought forth wild grapes. (Table)

……………(Lampstand – the Watchmen of the Table
……………called to Judge as Governing Lights)
……………And now,
………………..O inhabitants of Jerusalem (Transcendence)
…………………….and men of Judah, (Hierarchy – Facebread/Praiseworthy)
…………………………Judge, (Ethics)
…………………….please,
………………..between Me (Sanctions)
……………and My vineyard. (Continuity)

……….(Incense – the Covenant Body)
……….What more (Creation)
……………could have been done (Division)
………………..to My vineyard (Ascension)
…………………….That I have not done in it? (Testing)
………………..Why then, when I expected [it] (No Maturity)
……….to bring forth [good] grapes, (No Conquest)
…..Did it bring forth wild grapes? (No Glorification Wine)

Ascension is the Altar and the Table. The Altar is the Land, in this case the vineyard, built by God. But the “firstfruits” of Israel were toxic. In the next stanza, Day of Atonement (Coverings), the vineyard is dis-covered, smashed up, and the Laver (rain) is taken away from both the just and the unjust.

Concerning the fruitful hill in verse 1, things get weird. Peter Leithart writes:

Most translations say that the Beloved planted his vineyard on a “fertile hill,” but Isaiah wrote that He planted it on “a horn, a son of oil” (Heb. beqeren ben-shamen). Phrase might refer to a fertile hill, but that’s not what the words mean.

The passage closest to Isaiah’s usage is in Zechariah 4, where the two olive trees are called “sons of oil” (v. 14). In Zechariah, the phrase refers to Zerubbabel and Joshua, the two anointed ones who lead the post-exilic community. Zechariah doesn’t use the word “horn,” but it fits the context, since the anointed ones are anointed from horns filled with oil, and become the horns of Israel, the victorious wild ox.

What would it mean to say that Yahweh had a vineyard on a “horn, a son of oil”? Verse 7 says that vineyard is “the house of Israel” and the men of Judah are the “delightful plant” within the vineyard.  That vineyard was planted “on” the anointed one, David and his descendants. The links are complex but fairly clear: David is anointed, hence a “son of oil”; Yahweh regularly raises David’s horn on high; David is also mountain “horn” on which Israel rests.

Maybe. But that doesn’t satisfy.

I like a challenge. Here’s my attempt.

Could the vineyard have been planted in the horn? Horns and anointing are Altar and Table, Land and Firstfruits: the Tabernacle, the “nearbringing” ascension offering. In the Revelation, this Firstfruits Lamb (Table) is the Lamb with seven eyes (Lampstand) and seven horns (Trumpets/Incense Altar). Through death, he becomes the Holy Place, good soil, and the Spirit fills it with bridal fruit.

As in marriage, the “living sacrifice” of the head is the life of the body: like the kingdom honey (Gentile swarm) comes from inside the Jewish lion king’s carcass. The emptied, bloodied horn is followed by the Spirit, and the buried head brings a harvest.

That’s also what we see in Zechariah. The cherubim that exiled Judah from the Garden-Land have hammered their flaming swords into flaming plowshares, and the result is a new, multiplied Lampstand with 49 lights. The Davidic Israel became a dead lion. The Restoration era was a spiritual Cornucopia, whatever the blind scholars may say, and when Jesus came to inspect it, it was ready for harvest.

And of course, taking one further step out, we see Totus Christus. Judah (the horn) died for the life of the world (plenty).

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Wikipedia on Cornucopia:

The cornucopia (Latin: Cornu Copiae) is a symbol of food and abundance dating back to the 5th century BC, also referred to as the food of worship and holiness, Horn of Amalthea, harvest cone, and horn of plenty.

In Greek mythology, Amalthea was a goat who raised Zeus on her breast milk, in a cave, on Mount Ida of Crete. Her horn was accidentally broken off by Zeus while playing together. The god Zeus, in remorse, gave her back her horn with supernatural powers, which would give whoever possessed it whatever they wished for. The original depictions were of the goat’s horn filled with fruits and flowers: deities, especially Fortuna, were depicted with the horn of plenty. The cornucopia was also a symbol for a woman’s fertility. The story is said [by whom?] to be a predecessor of the Unicorn and the Holy Grail stories.

Nothing could save the circumcision.
How do you save death itself?

To recap, the basic structure we have been contemplating is this:

F A T H E R  > < S O N  +  B R I D E
and
F A T H E R  > B R I D E <  S O N

The Tabernacle was a three storey building laid out upon the ground. Upright, it was the true Babel (I guess Christ was the first truly upright Tabernacle then, in His resurrection. The Old Covenant was a new body made from the dust, but still prostrate, awaiting the breathing in of the Spirit.) If we put this structure upright, we see the picture given to us in human relationships as holy architecture.

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[1] See Worship as Commerce and Unashamed Artisans.
[2] So the Trinity debunks hyperpreterism.

Infinite Room series links here.
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