Tag: old testament

What was the Role of Jesus before the Incarnation

            Where was Jesus before the incarnation? For many this is an unpopular question to ask even in light of contemporary viewpoints on the Trinity. Typically, Christians believe that Jesus suddenly sprang into action in the Fall of 5BC when he was born in a manger and became Immanuel (God with us) and was called Jesus (YHWH saves). However, a grander look at the Old Testament presents to us a different view of what we would call the second member of the Trinity. Not as one waiting in line to be incarnated but rather as an active and integral part of God’s interactions with His covenant people and creation in general.

            My goal today is to demonstrate how Michael Heiser and others with a similar viewpoint understand Jesus as the culmination of the now heretical (in Jewish theology) view of the second YHWH, who interacted physically with God’s chosen people in the centuries prior to the incarnation in a way which preserves the Jewish Shema, the Christian concept of the Trinity and larger Ancient Near East religious narratives.

The Revealing of a Second YHWH

            In the beginning we encounter in the garden of Eden not an ethereal deity floating amidst the garden in the “cool of the day,” but one who walked beside His creation. From this point on we have many instances of the supreme, omniscient, omnipotent God and creator interacting with His creation. How God goes about this however is a matter of debate, do we see God as all places at all times or do we see Him as a singularity at limited places at limited times, or in the language of the Trinity is it somehow both?

            If we are to follow Trinitarian language, we would ascribe the first member of the Trinity (the Father) as the one being all places at all times in the fullness of eternity. We then could see the second member of the Trinity (the Son in New Testament language) as being a limited corporeal (viewable by natural eyes) version or expression of God which is able to coexist and interact with creation while maintaining the fullness of His divinity without unleashing His full presence and glory. It is still God yet a distinct person who takes on the role of a physical mediator or point of contact between the heavenly realm and the natural realm and is distinct from the Holy Spirit who is a spiritual/ethereal point of contact between the two realms.

The concept of an intermediary figure is not a new one as Jewish scholarship has shed light on this concept through the lens of,

various intermediary figures, such as angels and personified divine attributes, and the exalted role attributed to human figures such as Enoch, Moses, and Abel. It is thus quite possible that early Christianity’s view of Jesus, even the more developed Christology of John’s Gospel and later theologians, may owe more to Christianity’s Jewish roots.[1]  

Furthermore, Benjamin Sommer states,

No Jew sensitive to Judaism’s own classical sources, however, can fault the theological model Christianity employs when it avows belief in a God who has an earthly body as well as a Holy Spirit and a heavenly manifestation, for that model, we have seen, is a perfectly Jewish one.[2]

            This proposed understanding can remain valid through a Christian theological worldview as this intermediary is presented not as a created being assuming the attributes of God but rather we see according to Heiser, “God understood that only he could be trusted with perfectly accomplishing his own will.”[3] Thus the necessity of God utilizing Himself in the form of a second YWHW or though the Christian understanding of the Trinity becomes paramount. This is especially true for Heiser who seeks to reintroduce the Jewish supernatural worldview which includes a divine council of elohims[4] to modern theology, with Christ now being the head of this council.

The Second YHWH “heresy” in Judaism

            While it may be tempting to contain this argument within Christian theology there is a need to delve into the Rabbinic arguments which surround this concept of a second more corporeal YHWH who was present in the Old Testament. The best modern source of this debate comes from Alan Segal and his work The Two Powers in Heaven, there Segal states, “It became clear that ‘two powers in heaven’ was a very early category of heresy, earlier than Jesus.”[5] This shows in part that the theological foundation stones used by the church were not spontaneous but came from an older tradition which was hotly contested by intertestamental Rabbis. Research shows us that “there is significant evidence (uncovered in large part by Segal) that in the first century many— perhaps most— Jews held a binitarian doctrine of God,”[6] one in which Christians were able to understand through the doctrine of the Trinity and the incarnation.

            Heiser points out that “In regard to the rabbinic material, Segal took note that the rabbinic justification for a second power, a second YHWH figure, was linked to passages such as Exodus 15:3 and Daniel 7:13. The former text portrayed YHWH, the God of Israel, as “a man of war.” The latter identified a second figure in the throne room of Israel’s God (the “Ancient of Days”) as a “human one” who bore the epithet of the cloud rider, elsewhere used only of YHWH in the Hebrew Bible.”[7]

            Originally for some Rabbinic scholars the original issue was that the visible YHWH began to be ascribed to the likes of David and other “exalted” patriarchs, biblical angelic beings such as Michael and even extra-biblical beings such as Metatron and the fear was that these created beings would be elevated to the level of YHWH and in effect to either usurp or falsely claim YHWH’s power and position in heaven. It is no wonder then that following the resurrection this debate was sparked among Rabbis once again to discredit the Christian teaching that Christ was now equal with YHWH through this exalted status as the one seated at His right hand.

            The matter is not that God became corporeal as it was generally accepted by Rabbis in the intertestamental era as “For the Tanakh… God has always been a corporeal being. For Christianity, in contrast, God deigned to take on a body at a particular moment in time; existence in a body was not part of the eternal essence of divinity. In short: Christians believe in incarnation, whereas the Tanakh simply believes in embodiment.”[8]

Ugaritic Roots of Second YHWH

            While the controversy about this expression of God was expounded following the resurrection the debate goes back far further into the history of Israel. There is debate that this bitrintarin or co-regency model may have been inspired or reflected in the Ugaritic religious belief which permeated the Levant before and after Israel came out of Egypt. In the Ugaritic model Heiser points to how there is a divine council which “featured a co-regency involving a high sovereign deity (El) who ruled heaven and earth through the agency of a second, appointed co-regent deity (Ba’al). The co-regent Ba’al, referred to as “king of the gods” outranked the other deities in council, including the “sons of El” and divine messengers.”[9] From this revelation we can make several arguments, either the biblical account was inspired by the Ugaritic account, the biblical account was catered to counter or supersede the Ugaritic account or finally it may be a matter of a shared cultural starting point such as the tower of Babel incident.

            No matter which hypothesis is correct the “end result was a binitarian or ditheistic portrayal of YHWHas both high sovereign (the “El role”) and the co-regent (the “Ba’al role”).[10] However, it is presented in the Old Testament as having YHWHoccupying both roles. It is no wonder why later on “Christ followers from within Judaism perceived in this co-regency structure a biblical precedent for the belief in Jesus as YHWHincarnate that maintained loyal monotheism to the God of Israel.” [11]

Jesus Before the Incarnation and the Angel of the LORD

            With the Christian, Jewish and Ugaritic foundations laid out we can now begin to see how God through the second member of the Trinity which is equated with the preincarnate Christ interacted with creation at critical points in the development of the “redemption narrative.” Since God in this case could trust no one but Himself to accomplish the task through the guise of the word of the LORD, the Angel of the Lord or even the name of the LORD. In the case of Abraham in Genesis 22 we encounter a blurring of the lines between YHWH and His messenger. “The Angel speaks to Abraham in verse 11, and so is distinguished from God. But immediately after doing so, he commends Abraham for not withholding Isaac “from me.” There is a switch to the first person which, given that God himself had told Abraham to sacrifice Isaac (Gen 22:1–2), seems to require seeing YHWH as the speaker.[12] For Heiser his view on the preexistence of the Trinity begins to be displayed in these earlier Genesis stories. He advocates strongly in favor that many (not all) instances of the angel of YHWH point towards the visible second member of the Trinity who became Jesus of Nazareth.

            Going forward in the narrative the blurring of the lines between the angel and YHWH become even more complicated throughout the life of Jacob; both during the wrestling narrative and in his blessing of Joseph’s children. Heiser in a detailed study of the concept of Elohim highlights what transpires in Genesis 32:20 as Jacob speaks of seeing God (Elohim) face to face and his later comments in Genesis 48:15-16 how the angel (malak) is responsible for his deliverance and goes on to link those statements with Hosea 12:4-5 where “Hosea quite clearly refers to this particular malek as elohim… One must either interpret Gen 48.15-16 as an identification of the God of Israel as malek or grant that a particular malek is here considered a deity and identified with the God of Israel.”[13]

            “By the time readers reached the exodus deliverance, YHWH and His angel had been closely identified with each other”[14] thanks to the language demonstrated throughout Genesis. When we come to the encounter between Moses and YHWH in Exodus 3 there is enough of a theological precedent to show the seriousness of the encounter. In this encounter we see interchangeable language used between YHWH and the angel and the possibility that it was more than a flame in the bush but the physical appearance of the Angel of the LORD who was in this instance the second member of the Trinity. Since Moses was commanded to remove his sandals due to the holiness of the encounter, something not seen with Gabriel appearing to Mary or Elizabeth.

            Later in Exodus 23:20-22 the same angel reappears again but once again it seems to be no common angel as “this angel has the authority to pardon sins or not, a status that belongs to God. More specifically, God tells Moses that the reason this angel has this authority is “my name is in him” (v. 21).”[15] Even at a surface glance this language is also clearly attributed to Jesus as being the one able to pardon sins, judge the people and having God’s name upon Him. We also cannot forget that the meaning of the name chosen by God and communicated through Gabriel for the incarnation of the second member of the Trinity was YHWH delivers (Joshua/Jesus).

Early Window into the Trinity

            With everything we have witnessed about the Angel of YHWH and these interactions between the divine and His creation one begins to question the adherence of Israelites to their monotheism. The use of elohim and the appearance of a being who seems to share YHWH’s attributes may spark some theological confusion. Heiser comments, “one would assume in the context of a zealous monotheistic revolution that a term like elohim (‘gods’) would be used with great care after the biblical period so as to avoid any hint of earlier, subsequently offensive, polytheism. But this is precisely what does not happen.”[16] Instead we see that this kind of language, interpretation and expansions by the prophets continues unaltered, either in the language of the Angel of YHWH, theophanies and even in divine council language.

            Among Old Testament Israelites we witness a “kind of practical monotheism, requiring a whole pattern of daily life and cultic worship formed by exclusive allegiance to the one God, presupposes a god who is in some way significantly identifiable.[17] While the Israelites (usually) remained devout to the idea of a single supreme deity and expression of Him thereof “it appears that the only real exception to this rule is found in some traditions involving the Son of Man…the Son of Man is said to exercise judgment on God’s behalf, having been placed on God’s throne… One could argue that this theology is actually generated directly from the implications of Dan. 7:13–14.”[18]

            The Ancient of Days language along with the claim of being the cloud rider is what drove the Pharisees over the edge in their illegal trail against Jesus. As Jesus called Himself equal with God and being the one who was coming on the clouds and having the right to sit at YHWH’s right hand. This is language familiar to the Pharisees on two fronts: as God’s promise of His coming Messianic reign, and as the superseding of Canaanite/Ugaritic language of Ba’al being the great warrior and cloud rider.

Unlike Canaanite/Ugaritic belief what is being advanced in this theology is God once again entrusting Himself through the person of the second member of the Trinity later incarnated into Jesus as being the one who had the right to rule and reign in His power. The Trinity then becomes the focus as God is not exalting a natural created being or a divine council member.[19] While “in the Old Testament we do find, however, the provision of a functioning network and community for Yahweh in the divine council. He stands alone, but he does not work alone (i.e., no pantheon, but a functioning council).”[20] Instead we witness YHWH injecting Himself into creation so that the relationship and lines of communication can be restored through the culmination of the resurrection.

The Man, The Name, The Logos

            In many instances of in the Old Testament such as Psalm 20 the use of the word “Name is clearly cast as an entity, as Yahweh himself, In other passages, “the Name” functions as a substitute word for Yahweh.”[21] In John 5:43 Jesus speaks of coming in His Father’s name and later in John 10:25 Jesus speaks of how He does His mighty works through His Father’s name. When we go beyond the Western idea of a name as being an identifying mark and move to an Ancient Near Eastern view of a name giving function, identity, purpose and authority our understanding begins to change. Jesus is not just saying a magic formula but instead is the embodiment of the fullness of YHWH and by speaking of His name He is speaking of His essence. It is no wonder why the patriarchs would “call on the name of the LORD” (Gen 26:25). They were not invoking a recollection of a deity’s identity but calling for manifestation and presence of YHWH, or at the very least commemorating where that name appeared to them.

            In Exodus 34:5 YHWH came down from the cloud and proclaimed His name, that is His presence, to them but in the Gospels we see Jesus and the presence of God moving about because it is the same person in Exodus 34 and in John 1. What all of this points to is that Jesus is YHWH and has manifested Himself to creation even before the incarnation. It shows us that “Jesus is no mere servant of God but participates in the unique divine sovereignty and is, therefore, intrinsic to the unique divine identity, he must be so eternally… for Jewish monotheists, no room even for servants of God to carry out his work at his command.”[22] Larry Hurtado confirms these assumptions by Bauchkam and Heiser by demonstrating:

 (1) Jesus is exalted to a particular position, second only to the one God. (2) In this position, he acts by divinely granted authority and as God’s principal agent in the execution of God’s will. (3) He is directly associated with the one God and likened to him in certain ways (e.g., he is given the “name above every name”).[23]

            Even the Apostle Paul realizes the implications of this, and it has been argued[24] that 1 Corinthians 8:6 was his reformation of the Shema to demonstrate Christ’s divinity. There “he is arguing that the early Jewish definition of God could include the person of the Son without a violation of monotheism.”[25]

Conclusion

            What we have witnessed from Michael Heiser and others is how if Jesus is divine and eternal then His role in the history of creation did not begin in 5BC. Rather we can argue that Jesus the second member of the Trinity has always been the point of contact between YHWH and creation at key moments in history. Appearing either as embodied YHWH, the Angel of YHWH (at times) the name of the YHWH, or even the Word of YHWH (1 Samuel 3).

            Through the Rabbinic history and even the Ugaritic material we see the foundations of a co-regency model and type of bitrintarian fluidity which the early Christians recognized and used as proof of Jesus’s claims of divinity. Heiser through his attention to the Intertestamental theological records and Ancient Near Eastern studies provides a compelling framework to recognize the Trinity in a greater way in the Old Testament without sacrificing monotheism. Instead Heiser  has returned our attention to YHWH as the one seeking to reconnect with humanity through the person of the second member of the Trinity.

[1]James F. McGrath, The Only True God : Early Christian Monotheism in Its Jewish Context (Chicago, IL: University of Illinois Press, 2009), 9, ProQuest Ebook Central.

[2] Benjamin D. Sommer, The Bodies of God and the World of Ancient Israel (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009) 135. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=e000xna&AN=286479&site=ehost-live&scope=site.

[3] Michael S. Heiser, The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible, First Edition. (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2015), 240.

[4] Non-fallen created spiritual beings of a lower rank than YWHW

[5] Daniel, Boyarin,“Two Powers in Heaven; or, The Making of a Heresy,” pages 331-370 in The idea of biblical interpretation : Essays in honor of James L. Kugel, edited by H. Najman, et al., (BRILL, 2003), 333,  ProQuest Ebook Central

[6] Boyarin, 334.

[7] Michael S. Heiser. “Co-Regency in Ancient Israel’s Divine Council as the Conceptual Backdrop to Ancient Jewish Binitarian Monotheism.” Bulletin for Biblical Research 26, no. 2 (2016): 196.

[8] Benjamin D. Sommer, The Bodies of God and the World of Ancient Israel (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009) 135. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=e000xna&AN=286479&site=ehost-live&scope=site.

[9] Michael S. Heiser. “Co-Regency in Ancient Israel’s Divine Council as the Conceptual Backdrop to Ancient Jewish Binitarian Monotheism.” Bulletin for Biblical Research 26, no. 2 (2016): 197.

[10] Heiser, 198.

[11] Heiser, 225.

[12] Michael S. Heiser, The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible, First Edition. (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2015), 136.

[13] Michael Heiser, “Should אלה ים (ʾĕlōhîm) with plural predication be translated “gods”?” The Bible Translator vol. 61, no. 3 (July 2010): 127.

[14] Michael S. Heiser. “Co-Regency in Ancient Israel’s Divine Council as the Conceptual Backdrop to Ancient Jewish Binitarian Monotheism.” Bulletin for Biblical Research 26, no. 2 (2016): 218.

[15] Michael S. Heiser, The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible, First Edition. (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2015), 143.

[16] Michael S. Heiser, “Monotheism and the Language of Divine Plurality in the Hebrew Bible and the Dead Sea Scrolls.” Tyndale Bulletin 65.1 (2014): 90.

[17] Richard Bauckham, Jesus and the God of Israel : God Crucified and Other Essays on the New Testament’s Christology of Divine Identity (Authentic Media, 2008), 6, ProQuest Ebook Central.

[18] Ben Witherington III and Laura M. Ice, The Shadow of the Almighty: Father, Son, and Spirit in Biblical Perspective (Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2002), 69.

[19] Theodore Hiebert, “Theophany in the OT,” ed. David Noel Freedman, The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary (New York: Doubleday, 1992), 510–511.

[20] John H.Walton, Old Testament Theology for Christians : From Ancient Context to Enduring Belief (InterVarsity Press, 2017), 38, ProQuest Ebook Central,

[21] Michael S. Heiser, The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible, First Edition. (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2015), 144.

[22] Richard Bauckham, Jesus and the God of Israel: God Crucified and Other Essays on the New Testament’s Christology of Divine Identity (Authentic Media, 2008), 26, ProQuest Ebook Central.

[23] Larry W. Hurtado, One God, One Lord: Early Christian Devotion and Ancient Jewish Monotheism. Vol. Third edition (T&T Clark Cornerstones. London, UK: T&T Clark, 2015), 103, http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=e000xna&AN=1030749&site=ehost-live&scope=site.

[24] Richard Bauckham, Jesus and the God of Israel: God Crucified and Other Essays on the New Testament’s Christology of Divine Identity (Authentic Media, 2008), 213, ProQuest Ebook Central.

[25] Ben Witherington III and Laura M. Ice, The Shadow of the Almighty: Father, Son, and Spirit in Biblical Perspective (Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2002), 67–68.

  
What was the Role of Jesus before the IncarnationCameron Conway is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
 

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Personal Responsibility and The Judgment Of God

One of the common themes which ties the minor and major prophets together is the threat of the judgment of God against His covenant people because of their sins. Repeatedly God used the prophets to warn the people that their current course of action would lead to divinely allowed calamity. We see in the exilic era of Judah the people began to believe that they had been unjustly punished for the sins of their ancestors. Was this accusation against God correct or did the people miss the point of the judgment they had endured. This leads us to the larger question, what is the correlation between personal responsibility and God’s judgment on his people?

A Proverb about the Judgment of God

During the exilic era and even in the years leading up to the destruction of Jerusalem the people had adopted their own parable to explain what had happened to them. “The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.” This proverb is understood to mean “Children atone for the misdeeds of their fathers, or the sins of the fathers are visited on their innocent children.”[1] Through this understanding the people believed that in their eyes they were innocent and did not deserve the calamity which they had experienced.

This complaint from the people did not escape the ears of God nor the prophets as both Jeremiah and Ezekiel addressed this complaint. First Jeremiah stated in 31:28-30;

“28 And it shall come to pass that as I have watched over them to pluck up and break down, to overthrow, destroy, and bring harm, so I will watch over them to build and to plant, declares the Lord. 29 In those days they shall no longer say: “‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.’ 30 But everyone shall die for his own iniquity. Each man who eats sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge.” (ESV)

Here we have the image which “depicts a person’s involuntary reaction to an extremely unpleasant taste. Since experience cannot be transferred, the saying implies that the children’s suffering for their parents’ sin is unnatural.” [2] God is attempting to assure the people that it is their actions which will bring the sourness into their own lives.

Years later in another country Ezekiel also faced the same complaint from the people taken in the earlier exile to Babylon, in 18:1-4 the prophet states;

“The word of the Lord came to me: 2 “What do you mean by repeating this proverb concerning the land of Israel, ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge’? 3 As I live, declares the Lord God, this proverb shall no more be used by you in Israel. 4 Behold, all souls are mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine: the soul who sins shall die.” (ESV)

Ezekiel and Personal Responsibility

The effect of time is evident as “Jeremiah looked forward to the day when this proverb would no longer be used; but Ezekiel insists that it should cease forthwith.”[3] On a theological level “Ezekiel was a pioneer in developing the doctrine of individual responsibility”[4] and tried to demonstrate that the people in exile with him were there because of their own participation in their parent’s sins. The covenant people which had been compared to sheep, children and a wife had come to the theological conclusion that they could act in whatever manner they chose and not face judgment because of the presence of YHWH in the temple and the covenant of Moses.

We see then that the judgment of God fell upon Judah not because of the sins of previous generations but because the present generation continued in the sins of their fathers. While there were reprieves under Josiah and Hezekiah the overall atmosphere of the nation had remained spiritually corrupt. The people did not recognize the grace given to them but continued to act in whatever manner they pleased, for they assumed that God would only bring good things upon them as long as they maintained the rituals. This belief also created the acceptance of the prophets which would do nothing more say pleasing words to the people and assured eternal protection of Jerusalem. It is these same prophets which held influence over the priesthood which would go on to reject and assault Jeremiah.

The Judgment of God on His Stubborn Sheep

Those who witnessed the destruction accomplished by Babylon only did so because they like misguided sheep continued in the rutted path their others set out. Despite warnings from the true prophets they did amend their hearts or ways. “The Lord had expected from his people fidelity (honesty/truth), wisdom and the practice of godliness. Instead, graft, power, cheating, greed and perfidy were the order of the day.”[5] Therefore, the judgment of God was just upon them, as they were not innocent of the crimes of their ancestors because they themselves were also committing them. The people had lost sight of living in a real covenantal relationship with God and settled for the routine religiosity they had adopted. The words of Hosea 6:6 were far from their hearts, “For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.”

Even with the covenant which they had put their trust in, the people ignored Moses’ warning in Deuteronomy 24:16. “Fathers shall not be put to death because of their children, nor shall children be put to death because of their fathers. Each one shall be put to death for his own sin.” The people also ignored the long line of potential curses in Deuteronomy 28 and the promise of destruction in exchange for covenant unfaithfulness in Deuteronomy 7. Among all of this evidence “here the belief that God had no direct concern with the individual is opposed: the fact that God will restore the innocent descendants of the original exiles affirms the doctrine of individual responsibility for sin.”[6]

Conclusion

Now then what is the correlation between personal responsibility and the judgment of God on his people? It is a correlation that God will not judge a child for the actions of their parents if they do not do as their parents did. Conversely a wicked child would not be spared judgment because of the righteousness of their parents. Each generation is judged upon their own actions, and what we saw with the destruction of Samaria and Jerusalem was God’s intervention against a generation which did not repent but made the deplorable actions of their ancestors look like child’s play. Even when God acted in judgment He always did so as a last resort when the people refused to repent and whenever judgment was passed a remnant was preserved and a hope was given to the few that did not share in the sins of the nation.

[1] Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament, vol. 8 (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1996), 279–280.

     [2] John D. Barry et al., Faithlife Study Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012, 2016), Eze 18:2.

[3] John B. Taylor, Ezekiel: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 22, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1969), 148.

[4] Duane A. Garrett, “Ezekiel, Theology Of,” Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology, Baker Reference Library (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1996), 231.

[5] William VanGemeren. Interpreting The Prophetic Word (Grand Rapids MI: Zondervan, 1990), 302

[6] B. M. Pickering, “Jeremiah,” in A New Commentary on Holy Scripture: Including the Apocrypha, vol. 1 (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1942), 506.

  
Personal Responsibility and The Judgment Of God Cameron Conway is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
 

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Who is the Prophet Samuel

            Throughout the Historical Books we encounter a variety of prophets and other people who act as spokesman for the LORD. All of them rose up in times of need and through the guiding of the Holy Spirit were able to deliver messages and be the conduits of both miracles and nation changing events. Each prophet was important to their specific day and time but there is one of these prophets which has had perhaps the most long reaching effect in Israel’s post-wilderness existence. It is therefore my opinion that Samuel was the most influential prophet during the time of the Historical books.

The World of the Prophet Samuel

            Before we can look at the prophet Samuel, the man, we must first understand the world in which he was operating within. The story of Samuel comes about at the end of the Early Iron Age between 1200BC and 1000BC. “This period was a relatively quiet one, both in Canaan and internationally”[1] as most of the major powers including the Egyptians, Hittites, and Assyrians were in a state of relative decline. This paved the way for the period of Samuel to me marked more by skirmishes between smaller neighbouring states.

            Israel at this time was primarily facing against oppression from the Philistines, who despite a set back caused by Samson had re-established themselves as the primary oppressor of Israel. They extended this oppression into the economic sphere by monopolizing the metal working industry. This included banning Israelites from obtaining weapons and by charging over inflated prices for the sharpening of farm tools. The time period which marked the entry of Samuel’s birth and ministry consisted of military and economic on Israel by the Philistines. This makes Israel’s cry for a king later in Samuel’s life much more understandable.

            Knowing the background of Samuel’s place in history we can now survey the life of the prophet himself. Samuel’s story begins with his barren mother in 1 Samuel chapter one. We find Samuel’s mother Hannah weeping and praying at the tabernacle offering a promise that if she would conceive she would dedicate the child to the LORD and that no razor would touch his head (a form of a modified Nazarite vow[2]). Both Eli and God head her prays and a couple of years later (1120BC) she returns with the young child named Samuel which name means “name of God,” or “His name is El” (El: God of strength and power).[3]

The Calling of the Prophet Samuel

            For about a decade Samuel served at the house of the LORD under the watch of Eli until one fateful night, the night the LORD reached out to him. Samuel heard a voice and thought it to be Eli’s but it wasn’t, then it happened a second time, finally the third time Eli the high priest realized what was happening.

            1 Samuel 3:8-11 “8 A third time the Lord called, “Samuel!” And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.” Then Eli realized that the Lord was calling the boy. 9 So Eli told Samuel, “Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’ “So Samuel went and lay down in his place. 10 The Lord came and stood there, calling as at the other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” Then Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.” 11 And the Lord said to Samuel: “See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make the ears of everyone who hears about it tingle…” (NIV)

            At the utterance of that now famous phrase “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening” Samuel entered into his prophetic calling as the LORD stood before him and spoke about the coming judgment on Eli. As time went on 1 Samuel 3 shows that “19 The Lord was with Samuel as he grew up, and he let none of Samuel’s words fall to the ground. 20 And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba recognized that Samuel was attested as a prophet of the Lord. 21 The Lord continued to appear at Shiloh, and there he revealed himself to Samuel through his word.” In being thus recognized, Samuel was qualifying for his leadership role in serving the nation.”[4]

            This recognition lead Samuel to occupy the roles of prophet, judge and priest in the nation these “three roles are combined in this passage as he leads them in repentance in order to bring about their deliverance.”[5] We see this call to repentance in 1 Samuel 7 following the return of the ark of the Covenant to Israel from Philistine territory. “At the Mizpah national assembly, Samuel ‘judged the people’, calling for repentance and fasting.” [6] As the people were assembled the Philistines came up to fight against this assembly which they interpreted as a rebellion, Samuel acted in the office of judge and priest though the offering of a sacrifice and in the call to battle. With the Philistines pushed back but still causing trouble and peace with the Amorites Samuel took up a regular routine of travelling between Bethel, Gilgal, Mizpah and Ramah to perform his roles of prophet, priest and judge. It is also believed that at this time Samuel established the school of the prophets and routinely visited them on his regular circuit.

Samuel Anoints a King

            After many years of Samuel’s oversight of the nation the people called out to Samuel to give them a king so that they could be like all of the other nations around them. After conversing with the LORD twice about the matter Samuel was told to “Listen to them and give them a king.” This event is one of the reasons why Samuel is seen as the most influential prophets in the Historical Books as it was through him that Israel transformed from a theocratic tribal confederacy to a monarchy. Samuel proceeded to tell the people the price they would have to pay and endure because of this demand but they did not relent.

            By their demands they had taken the first step into having a monarchy like those around them. For “the kings of the ancient world enjoyed nearly limitless power and authority, and regularly claimed divine support for their rule. Kingship was believed to have been lowered from heaven and to have its roots in the original creation and organization of the world. The king functioned as vice-regent for the divine ruler, and it was his duty to preserve order and justice in society.”[7] This is what the people wanted and they felt that first Samuel could not deliver that and secondly, they did not want any of Samuel’s sons to assume the role of judge for they were going down the same path as Eli’s sons.

            When we move to 1 Samuel 9-10 we see Samuel in the role of “king maker” through his discovery and anointing of Saul son of Kish from the tribe of Benjamin. A man literally head and shoulders above the rest who apparently fit the mold of what the people wanted in a king. With the monarchy in place Samuel still remained a prominent figure in Israel and still continued to act as a prophet and a priest. As “with the initiation of kingship, the role of the prophet would now become an advisory one. Rather than leading the people as the recipient of divine messages, the prophet would offer guidance to the king, who would retain the freedom to accept or reject it.

Samuel as an Intercessor

            1 Sam 12:19 also emphasizes the intercessory role of the prophet.”[8] For the next several chapters we encounter several rough encounters between Samuel and Saul. In chapter 13 we see Saul’s impatience get the better of him and he offered the sacrifice in Samuel’s place. Samuel responded to this overstepping of Saul’s authority by proclaiming in 1 Samuel 13:13-14 “13 “You have done a foolish thing you have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you; if you had, he would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time. 14 But now your kingdom will not endure; the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him ruler of his people, because you have not kept the Lord’s command.” (NIV) The stage had now through the prophet had been set for a new dynasty to emerge in Israel.

            Unfortunately, Saul did not learn his lesson about heading the words of the prophet, as we see against further disobedience in 1 Samuel 15. Here Samuel had commanded Saul to strike down the Amalekite for what they did to Moses and the people in the wilderness. Samuel commanded that they were to be totally wiped out people and animals, none were to be spared. Saul won the battle but he allowed the people to keep the best of the animals and left king Agag alive. The LORD being grieved at what had happened spoke through Samuel and told Saul “Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has rejected you as king.”

            After hearing that Saul fell down and tore the hem of Samuel’s robe (a symbol of his prophetic office) as he grabbed it in a plea for mercy. Samuel then proclaimed in 1 Samuel 15:28-29 “The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to one of your neighbors—to one better than you. 29 He who is the Glory of Israel does not lie or change his mind; for he is not a human being, that he should change his mind.” The last part appears to be a rebuke of how Saul changed his mind and allowed the people to keep the best of the spoils. After that judgement, Samuel in what could be called a momentary reactivation of his role as judge[9] killed king Agag before he left.

Samuel’s Search for a New King

            From here Samuel set out in his next mission to find the king of the new dynasty which would be a man after God’s own heart. In 1 Samuel 16 we find the prophet in Bethlehem and his divinely appointed meeting with a man called Jesse who had eight sons. Among those sons was the youngest, a tender-hearted shepherd named David after the LORD had rejected the other sons. “12 So he sent for him and had him brought in. He was glowing with health and had a fine appearance and handsome features. Then the Lord said, ‘Rise and anoint him; this is the one.’ 13 So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David. Samuel then went to Ramah.”

            Going forward Samuel only takes on a minor role in the narrative but it is evident that David remained in contact with him to some degree in the coming years. When David was fleeing Saul, Samuel is one of the people he went to for help, as we see in 1 Samuel 19:18-20. Later in that story Saul himself would come out and begin to prophesy in front of Samuel, in some ways everything had come full circle as upon his anointing Saul also was found among Samuel’s disciples prophesying. This marks the last major event in Samuel’s earthly life as he is not mentioned again until 1 Samuel 25 which speaks of his death and the nations mourning of their loss. This just leaves one final event in the life of Samuel, well not life but afterlife of Samuel. Saul when he was facing the Philistine army desperately wanted to hear from the LORD so he employed the services of a necromancing with in Endor. Through deception he convinced her to summon the prophet Samuel so he could get a message from the LORD. The message he received is recorded in 1 Samuel 28:16-19:

            “Why do you consult me, now that the Lord has departed from you and become your enemy? 17 The Lord has done what he predicted through me. The Lord has torn the kingdom out of your hands and given it to one of your neighbors—to David. 18 Because you did not obey the Lord or carry out his fierce wrath against the Amalekites, the Lord has done this to you today. 19 The Lord will deliver both Israel and you into the hands of the Philistines, and tomorrow you and your sons will be with me. The Lord will also give the army of Israel into the hands of the Philistines.”

Conclusion

            The legacy of Samuel and how he fits into the rest of the Historical Books is found primarily in the monarchy which endured until the exile to Babylon. “Samuel has been called the connecting link between theocracy and monarchy”[10] as he closed out the era of judges and brought in a system of government which effected the rest of Israel’s history. Through Samuel we have the reign of Saul and the reign of David. Through the reign of David we have the Davidic covenant and the promise of the coming Messiah. The remainder of the Old Testament is mere ripples of effect which begun with the life and ministry of Samuel. Samuel also created a precedent of the proper relationship between prophets and kings which would mark the rest of the historical books. There is then “no question, however, that he was a major precursor of the great prophets of the eighth century bce.”[11] Samuel became the model prophet for generations to come and also established the school of the prophets which was still in operation in the days of Elisha.

            After exploring the life of Samuel, I remain committed to the concept that Samuel was the most influential prophet during the time of the Historical books. Even the other writers of scripture place this high opinion on Samuel. Jeremiah declares in Jeremiah 15:1 “Then the Lord said to me: “Even if Moses and Samuel were to stand before me, my heart would not go out to this people. Send them away from my presence! Let them go!” Even the Psalmist in Psalm 99 elevates Samuel to the level of Moses in verse 6 “Moses and Aaron were among his priests, Samuel was among those who called on his name; they called on the Lord and he answered them.”

[1] Howard, David M. An Introduction to he Old Testament Historical Books (Chicago IL; Moody Publishers,   

1993), 169.

[2] Holdcroft, L. Thomas. The Historical Books (Abbotsford BC: CeeTeC Publishing, 2000), 97

[3] Walter A. Elwell and Barry J. Beitzel, Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1988), 1890.

[4] Holdcroft, L. Thomas. The Historical Books (Abbotsford BC: CeeTeC Publishing, 2000), 101

[5] Victor Harold Matthews, Mark W. Chavalas, and John H. Walton, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament, electronic ed. (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2000), 1 Sa 7:6.

[6] Joyce G. Baldwin, 1 and 2 Samuel: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 8, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1988), 37.

[7] Victor Harold Matthews, Mark W. Chavalas, and John H. Walton, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament, electronic ed. (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2000), 1 Sa 8:6.

[8] Ibid, 1 Sa 12:19.

[9] George W. Ramsey, “Samuel (Person),” ed. David Noel Freedman, The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary (New York: Doubleday, 1992), 955.

[10] Holdcroft, L. Thomas. The Historical Books (Abbotsford BC: CeeTeC Publishing, 2000), 107

[11] Richard R. Losch, All the People in the Bible: An A–Z Guide to the Saints, Scoundrels, and Other Characters in Scripture (Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2008), 370.

  
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Who is the prophet Daniel?

Among the Hebrew prophetic books, no person is as unique or stands out from the pack as much as the prophet Daniel. This prophet had visions, dreams, angelic encounters and possessed the ears of not one, but three major pagan Emperors. So then what can be learned from studying the life and influence of Daniel the prophet?

The assumed author of the biblical book that shares his name the prophet Daniel came into notoriety during the exilic era in Israel. He was among the first wave of deportees taken to Babylon in 605 B.C. which was “the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim along with a cross section of prominent citizenry and craftsmen.”[1] This “deportation of the royal descendants into Babylon had been prophesied by Isaiah to Hezekiah (Is. 39:7)”[2]. Those deportees who were aware of the prophecy were comforted knowing that they had been spared from the dark days which were to come years later with the destruction of Jerusalem.

Along with the now famous three other Hebrew young men Daniel was conscripted into service for the royal court, this follows the trend of assimilating the children of the nobility from subjugated peoples into officers of the court. Daniel was placed in a pagan environment, given a pagan name (Belteshazzar), taught a pagan education, to serve a pagan king in a pagan land, yet Daniel did not abandon his faith in YHWH. Not only did Daniel not conform to the religious atmosphere of Babylon “did not raise issues about non-issues”[3] and only caused trouble in the cases of the food given to Him and his devotion to one God alone.

“Daniel was also a person of deep piety. His book is characterized not only by prophecies of the distant future but also by a sense of wonder at the presence of God. From his youth Daniel was determined to live by God’s law in a distant land (see Daniel 1). In moments of crisis, Daniel turned first to God in prayer before turning to the affairs of state (2:14–23). His enemies even used his regularity at prayer to trap him and turn the king against him. But the grace of God protected Daniel (chap. 6).”[4]

Daniel’s Historical Context

Understanding Daniel, means one must also understand the historical-cultural context he was engaged in. Daniel was able to live long enough to serve at the highest echelon of two Babylonian kings and managed to survive the Persian conquest and served the first Persian king over Babylon as well. Daniel saw the heights of Babylon under Nebuchadnezzar, the collapse under Belshazzar and the conquest by Cyrus the Great. By the end of Daniel’s life much of the Middle East was under the rule of Persia and his writings reflect that rulership. As “the central section of the book is written in Aramaic (2:4b-7:28), the language of diplomacy in the eighth century B.C. and the language of the Medo-Persian Empire.”[5]

Through the actions of Daniel, we are able to see behind the scenes aspects of Nebuchadnezzar, from the dream which haunted him to his era of madness and living like an animal. With Belshazzar Daniel stands as the interpreter of the omen when spoke of the immanence of the Persians breaking through the walls. Daniel’s encounter with Belshazzar also demonstrated the low level of regard the king and his officials placed on the instruments plundered from the temple. Finally, we are also witness to the inner workings of the Persian government under Cyrus the Great along with the wickedness of those who sought to kill Daniel.

The Messiah and God’s Sovereignty

Understanding the setting of Daniel’s message we can now take a more informed approach to appreciating the message of the words and prophetic encounters YHWH gave to him. When we take an overarching look at the prophetic aspects of Daniel with Nebuchadnezzar’s dream in chapter 2, the vision of the four beasts in chapter 4, the vision of the ram and the goat in chapter 8, the ancient of days and the seventy weeks in chapter 9 and the concluding visions of the Greeks (Seleucids/Ptolemaics) in chapters 10-12 a single message appears. It is one which “focuses on the sovereignty of the Creator-Redeemer over the kingdoms of this world, on the suffering and perseverance of the saints during the wars among the kingdoms of this earth and on their final reward.”[6]

The visions experienced by Daniel are pointing to the truth that YHWH is the only one with true control over the nations and the peoples of the world. Not only is He in control but He dispenses His plans to His prophets which may occur generations before their fulfillment. This causes us to look at history in a different light because through the message of Daniel, the prophet “seeks to provide theological understanding of history.”[7] Through Daniel’s prophecies we are introduced to the Greeks, the division of Alexanders Empire into four parts and to the Roman empire which will lead to the coming of the rock cut without hands, aka the Ancient of Days.

The message of Daniel with its theological perspective on history is not only secular but also Messianic, as through the prophecy of the seventy weeks we were given the timetable of the coming of the Messiah. A concept which places an entirely new meaning on Mark 1:15 when Jesus declared “The time is fulfilled, the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Jesus also later quotes Daniel’s words about the one coming on the clouds. This was not just an off-hand quotation but Jesus used this verse to assert His divinity during His trial.

Who was Daniel the Prophet?

When held up against the other Hebrew prophets Daniel is the lynchpin between the pre and post-exilic eras. As his lifetime spanned the from first incursion of Babylon into Judah all the way to Cyrus who gave the decree for the Judahites to return to their land. In a rare instance among the Hebrew prophets Daniel is mentioned by his contemporaries Jeremiah (9:2) and Ezekiel (14:14, 14:20 and 20:3). Ezekiel’s mentioning is particularly noteworthy as he equates Daniel with the likes of Job and Noah in terms of personal righteousness.

Now what can be learned from studying the life and influence of Daniel the prophet? On a theological level we learn of YHWH’s sovereignty over the nations, His willingness to disclose His plans to the prophets, and we see the hope of the coming Messiah. On a personal level we learn of we learn the low opinion YHWH places on pride, the risks and rewards of persisting in our faith and we learn of the power of prayer. Daniel stands apart from other prophets because He not only experienced prophetic encounters but also demonstrated a living faith in YHWH and was able to be a godly ambassador before pagan kings.

[1] William VanGemeren. Interpreting The Prophetic Word (Grand Rapids MI: Zondervan, 1990), 332

[2] Jack W. Hayford, , Hayford’s Bible Handbook (Nashville, TN; Atlanta, GA; London; Vancouver: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1995).

[3] William VanGemeren. Interpreting The Prophetic Word (Grand Rapids MI: Zondervan, 1990), 339

[4] Ronald F. Youngblood, F. F. Bruce, and R. K. Harrison. Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Dictionary (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, Inc., 1995).

[5] C. Hassell Bullock. An Introduction To The Old Testament Prophetic Books (Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2007), 345.

[6] William VanGemeren. Interpreting The Prophetic Word (Grand Rapids MI: Zondervan, 1990), 342

[7] Walter A. Elwell and Barry J. Beitzel, “Daniel, Book Of,” Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1988), 574.

  
Who is the prophet Daniel? Cameron Conway is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
 

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