Ott - Detailed Lecture Notes

Old Testament Theology
What follows are notes I took while listening to Dr. John Kleinig lecture on Old Testament Theology. The
class can be found at the following link: http://www.johnkleinig.com/long-courses/ . This class met 22
times. Each day Dr. Kleinig lectured for 2 hours and the lecture was broken up into 2 sessions, an A
session and a B session. Dr. Kleinig provided the class with his:
 Class Notes (http://www.johnkleinig.com/files/3013/8734/0653/OTT_Course_09.pdf )
 Overheads (http://www.johnkleinig.com/files/7413/8734/0700/OTT_OHP_summary.pdf ).
In his lectures he displays the overheads and speaks about them. So for this paper, I’ve pasted and
bolded in to the notes for each lecture the parts of the overheads that he is speaking about.
Please note that a couple of lectures toward the beginning are missing. So we missed Dr. Kleinig’s
lectures for:
A. Introduction:
 Part a. Foundational Events
 Part b. My Assumptions about Old Testament Theology.
These were covered in the first 3 pages of the Overheads. I’ve pasted those 3 pages below.
Dr. Kleinig ran out of time and was unable to cover all the major sections. He knew that this was a good
possibility and that is the reason he provided detailed class notes. He provided those notes so that the
student could finish the material through self-study. For those sections not covered, I took the
overheads which he would have used and added to them the pertinent parts of the class notes and
added them to this document. The sections not lectured on by Dr. Kleinig are part of “E. God’s
Foundational Gifts for Israel” and include:
 The Gift of the Land
 The Gift of Justice and Righteousness
 The Gift of the Temple as God’s Residence in Jerusalem
 The Gift of Prophecy
So when you come to these sections, remember that they have been derived from the Class Overheads
and Class Notes that Dr. Kleinig provided.
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Lectures OTT-1a (1 of 22)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL32Gjc1uEM1AUR8LC9JlceA9xFSeZs25Z&v=qZTO1RhfOqI
Introduction
[No overheads were used in this first session.]
Opening statement
A reading from Luke 24 of Jesus explaining the Scriptures to the two disciples travelling to Emmaus. He
explained to them the things the OT said about him. This sums up everything that Dr. Kleinig will teach
this trimester.
Today we will cover the following: words of introduction, explanation about assessments and text
books, and the expectations for the first assessment.
Introduction
What would the church lose if we got rid of the OT? A student’s answer: proof that Jesus is the Son of
God. You’re on the right track. The problem is in the word “proof.” It has to do with content. Most
people do not have a problem with Jesus. Hindus will say that Jesus is the Son of God, but the problem is
they put their own content into it. They give a human spin to God’s story. Based on their point of view
we would lose Jesus as the Christ and Lord. Which means we really lose Christ.
This isn’t just hypothetical. This has happened in the church in the past and it is happening all around us
right now. The OT is being lost. And it is being given up quite deliberately in the church. Matters like this
show up quite clearly in the liturgy. These matters show up in the Divine Service. How does it manifest
itself in the Divine Service? From the very beginning of the church we had scriptural readings. For the
first two hundred years of church history the readings were from the OT. And then for subsequent
history the OT continued to be read along with the NT. Luther put it brilliantly. He said, The NT was
nothing more than a sermon on what was promised in the OT and how Christ fulfilled it. He said the
Bible proper is the OT.
What has happened all around us in Christendom is that people are not longer even reading the OT in
the Divine Service. And even if it is read, you hardly ever get sermons on the OT. The OT reading is being
dropped quite deliberately. Why would they to drop the OT? What don’t they like about the OT?
Student answers: It’s viewed as
 outdated.
 the Law.
 hard to understand because it seems primitive.
Dr. Kleinig had four common reasons:
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1. The first is the Lutheran reason where they believe the OT is all Law and the NT is all Gospel.
What’s the problem with that? There is Law and Gospel throughout the whole of the OT and NT.
Every Word of God has Law and Gospel in it. Take for instance the famous passage: For God so
loved the world that he gave his only Son that whoever believes in him has eternal life. Is that
Law or Gospel? It’s Gospel but if someone who does not believe in Jesus hears it, then he feels
that he is condemned. It is the clearest statement of Gospel found in the Bible. For the person
that believes, it is pure joy, pure Good News. But for an unbeliever it is a word of condemnation.
He says to himself, I don’t believe it therefore God doesn’t even love me. This is a common
Lutheran and a general protestant reason for giving up the OT.
2. The second reason is that people distinguish between “the God of the OT” and “the God of the
NT.” What do they mean by that? They mean the God of the OT is angry and vengeful and the
God of the NT is loving and kind. They see the God of the OT as the one who zaps thousands of
people, as a violent God. That is the cultural cliché in our society. What’s wrong with kind of
thinking? The God of the OT is the God of the NT. The basic Christian confession of faith is that
Jesus is Lord, which means Jesus is Yahweh. When you read Yahweh (LORD) in the OT the
Christian should hear Jesus. There are not two different Gods in the Bible. People don’t like any
kind of judgment. We have to affirm everyone. They’re concerned about everyone’s fragile self-
esteem. This reason has crept into all churches. Don’t underestimate it. It can affect even
faithful Christians because it is part of our culture. We hear it all the time.
3. The third reason is a new reason. It comes from feminist theology. What is the basic argument
of feminism against the OT? What the OT does is promote patriarchy. As pastors you need to
understand feminism and not just superficially. It is a powerful movement. We’ve all taken much
of it in quite unconsciously. It is a self evident philosophy for the current generations. Its
accusation that it promotes patriarchy is partially true. You have to understand what patriarchy
is and what aspects of patriarchy the OT promotes. In some ways the OT is critical of patriarchy
and also of matriarchy. All of the religions around Israel were basically matriarchies. Paganism
normally had many goddesses. The OT attacks both matriarch and patriarchy. And at the same
time it redeems both of them. In any case, this is a common reason for rejecting the OT of the
last couple of generations. They were caught up in the feminist wave that swept through our
society in the 80’s and 90’s. It has changed the face of western culture.
4. The fourth reason is far more subtle and it is a psychological reason. The person who best
embodies this reason is Hitler. The Nazis wanted to abolish the OT because they wanted to
abolish the Jewish people. What did they have against the Jewish people and the OT? They
wanted an Arian Christ and not a Jewish Christ. What was the problem with the OT and Judaism
for Hitler, Nazis, and for many of the baby boomer generation caused by the psychologizing
movement? The OT promotes God’s Law and the Law makes people feel guilty. And guilt
cripples you. It robs you of your human potential. It robs you of freedom. The watch word for
baby boomers is freedom. To them the only thing that mattered was freedom. The idea was to
be free from obligation and free from guilt. Instead of dealing with guilt through absolution and
forgiveness, they try and deal with it by getting rid of the Law.
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Contributing to the rejection of the OT is the fact that people are Biblically illiterate and they read things
out of context. So for instance, when they read about a great slaughter in Scripture, they assume God
approves of it. But in actuality God is very critical of it. They think that God approves of everything that
happens in the OT. God is critical of evil and sin and he judges it. And he judges not only the enemies of
God but also God’s people. In fact he judges his own people first.
There are other reasons why the OT is rejected but these are the most common. The most obvious
marker on whether the OT is still alive in the church is that it is continuing to be read in the Divine
Service and it’s preached. The practice of reading from the OT began even before the church. It began in
the synagogue.
Dr. Kleinig’s Approach for This Class – His Assumptions
This course is about OT theology. My approach is a little bit different to what is commonly the case. The
assumption is that the OT is the Word of God. That is probably is self evident to most of you as well. But
for most modern theologians that is not the case. For them it is not God’s Word about himself. It is a
human understanding of who God is. It is the human experience of God. That is the dominant theology,
particularly in Protestantism and it’s affected the Catholic church to. It is the theology of the
Enlightenment. They can’t look at any passage in Scripture and say that it is the Word of God. It only
becomes the Word of God when it is received and heard. It is based on subjective experience. We
repudiate all of that. It is important that we get these presuppositions very clear.
There are many other Protestants that would agree that the Bible is the Word of God. Some who are
labeled as fundamentalist believe the Scriptures are the divinely inspired Word of God. But the point of
differences comes with the second assumption I make. And it is this. If the Bible is inspired by the Holy
Spirit, if the writers of the Bible received the content of their writing from the Holy Spirit then it means
that the OT is the means of the Holy Spirit. The doctrine of inspiration means not only that the Bible is
God’s Word, but even more important is that the words of Scripture become the means by which God
conveys his Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit has spoken through the prophets and continues to speak through
them.
A Lutheran distinctive is that we say the Bible is a means of grace. That is not an original Lutheran term.
It is more of a Reformed term. If you go back to the Augsburg Confession, the term is the means of the
Holy Spirit. The words of the Bible are full of the Holy Spirit, they convey the Holy Spirit, they are means
of the Holy Spirit, therefore they are the Word of God, they are powerful, they are performative, they
are effective. That is my basic assumption, that the Holy Spirit speaks through all of the OT.
A third assumption is that I distinguish between Law and Gospel but never separate Law and Gospel. I
aim to give an evangelical interpretation of the OT. Evangelical means that it contains both Law and
Gospel working together. Don’t underestimate that. It is one of the uniquely Lutheran features of
theology.
The OT is so big and so much has been written about it that there is no way I can possibly summarize all
of the various positions and interpretations of it. I am going to use a quite deliberate approach. I am
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going to give you my reading of the OT. I don’t demand that you agree with me. But what I require of
you is that you engage with me and the OT. If you disagree with me then you should argue your position
by using the text of the OT. If you can prove your case by using the Scriptures then that would thrill me. I
don’t want you to accept my reading of the OT. I want you to read the OT for yourself and to interpret it
for yourself in a way that does justice to the whole of the OT. Students tend to develop their own OT
theology. I will give you my understanding. I could critique myself. I know the strengths of it and the
weaknesses of it. I will give you my position and then you can react to it.
One of the most important parts of learning is engaging in dialog. So in my mind I always do two things.
First I make every effort to try and understand what a person is saying. I try and put myself in that
person’s shoes. I try and appreciate what is being said. And I always ask what is new and what can I
learn from this person. I am asking myself, In what way is this person right? The second thing I’m
thinking is happening at the same time. I look at where I agree and disagree with this person and why. I
learn what I can and allow God’s Word through that person to critique me and to expand and develop
my own understanding. So that explains my approach for this class.
Text Book and Assessments
I am not using one single text book for this class. So I am providing you with extensive notes. It is kind of
a book. It will be a basic text. I won’t be going through this text page by page. I will summarize the
content. You can in your own time and your own way work through it. I am looking for you to read the
OT and get a better understanding of it.
They then took a look at a student handout, which has information about assessments (tests). [I am
skipping over most of the discussion on assignments.] The first assignment is to write about a
foundational story in the OT. Foundational Events will be covered after we take a break. Then the
second assignment was discussed, as well as the expectation that they will engage with the Hebrew text.
The third assessment is an exam.
Required Resources
The course notes are the most important. One of the best books on the theology of the Pentateuch is by
Alexander, and it’s called From Paradise to Promised Land. You can skip the first part. If possible get a
hold of it and read through the second part as quick as possible before the work hits you. The
Pentateuch is foundational for the whole of the OT. If you can understand the theology of the
Pentateuch then you can understand the rest of the OT. Otherwise, it will hard to make sense of. There
is one important feature about this book. He taught in Singapore. He taught converts from other
religions. He had to explain the OT in non-European terms to people who were going to be missionaries
to people with animist backgrounds or Confucius backgrounds or to Hindu backgrounds or Muslim or
Islamic backgrounds. This means he reads the OT from a different point of view that the typical
academic does who thinks in western terms and western philosophical terms. This gives it a freshness
and relevance that is important to you. Australia is becoming multi-religious. And you will have to know
how to engage people of other religious backgrounds. Alexander has done this quite well. Because of
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the questions his students asked him, he sees things and explains things differently than the way that
most westerners think.
There are other recommended resources as well. Of them, four of them are particularly significant:
1. The first is by Christoph Barth. He wrote God With Us. It is one of the best OT theologies that
has emerged. He wrote in while in Jakarta, Indonesia. It’s been translated from Indonesian into
English. In it he engages with Islam and Animism. The OT comes out of an Animist background.
And increasingly in the future you will need to be engaging with Islam. This book will help with
that.
2. If you want to know about the main, middle of the road, liberal OT theology, the work by
Bernard Anderson called Contours of OT Theology will be good. That will outline an OT theology
that is generally protestant.
3. John Levinson wrote Sinai to Zion, Entry into the Hebrew Bible and it is a Jewish theology of the
OT. It’s a brilliant piece of work that Dr. Kleinig values highly. If you want to know how a Jew
reads different parts of the OT then this is a good book.
4. The father of the modern study of the OT is Gerhard von Rad. He wrote OT Theology 1 & 2. He is
one of Dr. Kleinig’s scholarly heroes. Why? First off, he resisted Hitler. He opposed the German
Christians who tried to abolish the OT. He shows the relevance of the OT to the church. When
others stopped working with OT theology, he said it was important. Most of the scholarship
after the 50’s has either built on or reacted to his work. The third reason is that he is Lutheran
and he was the teacher of Eric Rener, an LCA pastor. So he has had direct influence on the OT
theology taught in the LCA.
We will take a break and then talk about foundational words and stories.
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Lectures OTT- 1B (2 of 22)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=7ZbUBoAa0vE&list=PL32Gjc1uEM1AUR8LC9JlceA9xFSeZs25Z&index=2
(See pgs. 3-5 of the Class Notes.)
A. Introduction
a. Foundational Events
1) God’s provision of order for his people in the OT
a) Modern view of history
(1) Chain of human cause and effect: human order and disorder
(2) Interest in the future as the product of present decisions
(3) Disqualification of God and supernatural agents from any role in human history
(4) Primacy of politics and economics in the constitution of social order
b) Traditional view of history
(1) Importance of human and divine foundational events: beginning as precedent for
subsequent development (exodus for Israel as God’s people; the sin of Jereoboam)
(2) Future fulfilment of past foundational events
(3) Recognition of God and supernatural powers
(4) Primacy of religion over politics and economics
c) God’s foundational acts in the OT
(1) God’s provision of natural, religious, social and political order by his word in his
r’ishōnōth for Israel (Isa 1:26)
(2) Empowerment of human institutions by his word (marriage, divine service)
(3) Consequences of construction on that divinely instituted foundation or apart from it
(blessing and curse in Deuteronomy)
A. Introduction
(1) Chain of human cause and effect: human order and disorder
What do I mean by a foundational word or foundational story? Let me explain. One of the biggest
changes in human history has to do with the assumption of order in the world. For ancient people, the
basic assumption was that the world, the cosmos, was chaotic, disordered. The story then was that gods
and human beings worked together to establish order.
Now one of the modern assumptions and the whole idea of modernism and post-modernism doesn’t
work unless you have it, is order. It assumes it without proving it. It assumes an inherent order in the
world. It assumes that there is even order in chaos. We modern human beings assume there is order.
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We try and discover the order and we use it for our benefit. There is a whole modern social, political,
and intellectual cultural enterprise built on that assumption.
Let me use an agricultural analogy. The ancient human beings assumed that living in the world was like
living in a jungle. They cleared a small part of the jungle for their village and their gardens. But if they
didn’t keep on working to keep the jungle at bay, the jungle would take over the village and bring back
disorder.
What is the basic teaching of the OT concerning disorder? Right away at the beginning God established
an ordered world. And if there was any disorder, it didn’t come from God or his creation but from
human beings. So with this in mind, all of the OT and NT has to do with God’s provision of order for his
people. This fits well with a post-modern mentality. The catch word for baby boomers was freedom. The
catch word for the current generation might well be order. Order fits in with good ecological thinking.
Let me explain its significance. Modern people see history as a chain of human cause and effect. So take
for example the economic collapse they we have seen around the world. In the ancient world they
would have seen this as being caused by the gods or demons or bad luck or some other non-human
agent. But modern people see the collapse as being caused by greedy bankers. Notice we never say,
greedy me. It’s always someone else. In any case, we see that it is a human cause which has human
effects. So we think of the order or disorder that human beings create.
(2) Interest in the future as the product of present decisions
As human beings, our orientation isn’t on the past but on the future. For us, the past is behind us and
we are looking ahead toward the future. We are future oriented. Our culture directs us to the future.
That by the way is nonsense. You can’t see into the future. All you can see is the present and the past.
One OT scholar puts it brilliantly. He says, The way that the OT and the Hebrew language looks at reality
is as if we are walking backwards into the future. You see where you are going by looking where you’ve
come from. That is the ancient way of understanding history. As modern people, we are not interested
in the past, only in the present and the future.
(3) Disqualification of God and supernatural agents from any role in human history
The third basic assumption of the modern understanding of history is that we assume that God and
other supernatural agents are not at work in human history. There is an interesting bit of outrage that
hit the TV this morning. A guy who is a Catholic priest said the cyclone Katrina that hit New Orleans was
God’s judgment on that city for its immorality and its evil. All post-modern people are outraged at this
statement. How could this event be caused by God? This is two different ways of looking at history
clashing here. The Aboriginals of Australia, who are Animists, don’t see events as natural events. They
see them all as supernatural events. That is because they have an ancient view of things. It is the same
way in Asia. It’s assumed to be supernatural. For Mohammendans everything is supernatural; it’s the
will of God. They say the financial collapse is Allah’s judgment on the West.
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(4) Primacy of politics and economics in the constitution of social order
But the enlightenment basically started off from this premise. Since we cannot prove that God or angels
or demons or any other supernatural agents are at work in the natural world and in history, therefore
we will try and understand history as if they are not at work. This was their assumption. They can’t
prove it but they assume it and then they go on explaining events in naturalistic ways. We’ve all been
indoctrinated in that world view. But most people in the world would reject it out of hand.
So coming out of this Enlightenment view then is the belief that the most important thing in maintaining
order is politics, economics, education. And education is done by the state, not by parents and families.
This was the dominant world view. But in the last 70 years it has shifted. Carl Marx put forth the view
that economics was more important that politics. So the politicians say when a recession occurs that the
problem is the economic system, not politics. In this view, the purpose of government is to make sure
that the economy runs well. Also culture has entered into the equations as an important part of this.
Some would even put culture as second or even first on the list. The big new discipline is cultural
studies. Notice that these are all abstractions. Culture, politics, economics are all ideas. These are our
modern gods. They are natural gods that we have made in our own image. The two non-traditional
worldviews assume that God is not at work in human affairs. It assumes that human beings are their
own gods. This is their assumption. It is taken for granted. For the modern view, religion fits in as a part
of culture. In the Enlightenment view, religion fit in as part of politics. It also saw religion as part of the
education system where it taught people morals and how to be good people. At least that was the case
in England, where the queen was not only the head of the state but also of the church. The French
Revolution dealt with the problem of religion by getting rid of it. It was the same with the Russian
Revolution.
Below is the diagram that was on the board.
Enlightenment Post-Modern Traditional

1. Politics 1. Economics 1. Religion
2. Economics 2. Politics 2. Ethnicity
3. Education 3. Culture 3. Politics
Now let’s contrast those two worldviews with what we will call the Traditional worldview. We are not
using the term Ancient worldview because it is still all around us. If you look at the way that people live,
in Australia most people live by the Traditional worldview. In this view religion is the most important by
far. It dominates everything. You see it for sure in Islam. In Islam you don’t have politics, economics,
education or culture. All you have is religion.
The second factor in a traditional worldview in understanding human order is that under religion you
have ethnicity. I use ethnicity instead of family because we are not talking about nuclear family. We are
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talking about extended family and tribe. Notice that ethnicity includes the following: family/tribe,
economics (until modern times, all business were family businesses), education (schools were
extensions of the family), and culture.
Politics in this worldview is an extension of the family. It served the interest of the family and of religion.
The tribal head was the political leader. From the tribal heads came the king who was considered the
father of the nation. The citizens are his children. So a monarchy then extends the principles of the
family to the political domain.
What is important here when it comes to understanding the OT is that religion is not kicked out of the
equation but is regarded as the primary factor. Everything is understood in religious terms. That’s the
basic assumption of the OT.
So as Christians we tend to favor the Traditional view but we many times think in terms of the other
views because we’ve been indoctrinated with them. That makes it difficult to understand some
traditional cultures that haven’t bought into the modern and post modern views. The Traditional view
actually makes better sense with reality because in it you are dealing with concrete things and not with
abstractions. The enlightenment gives priority not to real things but to ideas and concepts.
Perhaps one of the reasons why these other worldviews came to be is because they offer some sense of
control. The highest things in the Traditional view were God and family. You can’t control God and you
can’t control family. And if politics is connected to God and family you can’t control it either. Who
determines if a royal family will continue or not? God does.
This is all big picture stuff and I want to use it to build on this to try and explain what I’m getting at. I am
interested in the Traditional view of history. Let me give you two concrete examples. The first is from my
family. When I go to a party of my peers, when I introduce myself the first question I am asked is, What
do you do? That is what is significant to them. But if I go back to the place I grew up, the first question is,
Who is your father and if they don’t know him, they ask, Who was your mother? In a Traditional
worldview what matters is your family and the question about your father is related to your origin, both
family origin and place of origin.
A second example is this. You ask Lutherans in Australia how come there is a Lutheran Church in
Australia, there is a very clear story to tell. There is a very specific story for the origin of the LCA. There
were two founding fathers who came from Germany to Australia to escape religious persecution. That is
our foundational story. But historically speaking, that story is inaccurate. There were Lutherans in
Australia before the two fathers came and there were missionaries there. The way we understand
ourselves is not a strict historical cause and effect, we think in terms of foundations.
(1) Importance of human and divine foundational events: beginning as precedent for
subsequent development (exodus for Israel as God’s people; the sin of Jereoboam)
You can think in terms of human founders but you can also think of a divine founder. So for instance
take the missionaries up in northern Australia. It wasn’t so much that they decided to be missionaries
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and to go there. They believed that God called them and God sent them there to work with the
Aboriginals. So part of that foundational story is God’s foundation.
So in this way of thinking, the beginning goes back to the foundation. It’s like a building. A building
doesn’t leave the foundation behind, rather it builds on top of it. And it will always be built on that
foundation.
The foundational event sets a precedent for subsequent history. Notice the importance of precedent.
What was done then, affects what happens afterwards. It affects what we do now. Let me give you two
cases of foundational events in the OT. One great positive foundational event that founded Israel as the
holy people of God was the exodus from Egypt. Before the exodus from Egypt the Israelites were an
ethnic group – the family of Jacob and his descendants. But God intervening established them as a holy
nation through the exodus and at Mt. Sinai. This is a foundational event and it’s not just significant at
the time but it had ongoing significance throughout all of Jewish history. That was a positive
foundational event and it was God’s doing.
To take s negative foundational event, if you read the book of Kings, you find out that after the death of
Solomon the kingdom of Israel split into two political entities. There was the southern kingdom under
the house of David and there was a northern kingdom under Jeroboam. Jeroboam led the rebellion
against Rehoboam the son of Solomon. He established his own kingship in the north. In establishing his
kingdom, he didn’t have the temple and he didn’t have the priests, so he set up two shrines – one in
Bethel and the other one in Dan. And he established a divine service that centered around the golden
calf. So the book of Kings talks about the sin of Jeroboam. And all subsequent kings in the northern
kingdom built on that foundation. Each king in the north sinned with the sin of Jeroboam. That act of
idolatry was a foundational event negatively, putting the northern kingdom on a rickety religious
foundation. He was brilliant politically. He not only wanted to unite the 10 northern tribes but he
wanted to bring in the Canaanites as well. That is why he established the golden calf. He wanted to be
synchronistic, inclusive. He was a good “missionary.” So the sin of Jeroboam was a foundational event.
(2) Future fulfilment of past foundational events
So a foundational event is not just something from the past, it is something that remains and the future
fulfills what was first established. That event becomes the foundation for all of the building that occurs
afterwards. It continues to have significance. I use two pictures to try and understand this better. First
there is an embryo from which a body develops. Second, it is a seed from which the plant develops
from. The seed contains the plant in embryonic form. Everything that subsequently forms is contained
already in the foundational event. So if you establish a human institution on a good foundation you will
get a good history. But if you establish it on a rotten foundation, you will get a rotten history.
There was a question about foundational events from a student. As another example of positive and
negative foundational events, Dr. Kleinig used Adam and Eve. The positive foundational event was God’s
creation of Adam and Eve and God’s blessing of them. That was such a good foundational that not even
human sin can erase that good foundation. (The fall into sin then became a negative foundational event
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that affected all of human history and still plagues us today.) Or take human marriage as another
example. Where does marriage come from? Did it occur after the Fall? Is it a result of human lust or an
inability to control one’s self sexually? No, God established it before the Fall when he brought the
woman to the man and said it is not good for man to be alone. So marriage itself was established on
divine foundations. If you want to understand marriage, you look back where the foundation was
established. And it is such a good foundation that even human beings divorce and promiscuity and all of
the chaos we have can’t undo that good foundation.
(3) Recognition of God and supernatural powers
What this way of understanding history does is help us understand and explain how God and
supernatural powers are at work in human history. It gives room for understanding how God is at work,
significantly affecting human beings. And how angels, demons, and other supernatural powers are at
work.
(4) Primacy of religion over politics and economics
And lastly before we take a break, it leads then to the primacy of religion over politics and economics
and everything else. In this way of thinking, what is most important is not human foundations, not
political or economic foundations, but religious foundations, foundations established by God for politics
and economics and family and everything else that is significant in human history.
The significant word in this way of thinking is “beginning.” But it’s not just the beginning chronologically,
but it means the basis the foundation, the first thing that everything else is built on. “In the beginning
was the Word” doesn’t just mean that the Word was there at the beginning of time, but that it remains
there as the foundation for everything in human history. Genesis begins with “In the beginning God
created the heavens and the earth.” Not that is not just the first act, but it is the foundation for
everything in creation. The heaven and earth he created is the foundation for everything. We will
develop that further in the next period. Thinking about it in this way is very useful and helpful.
12
Lectures OTT- 2a, 2b, 3a, 3b (missing)

[It appears that two full lectures (4 sessions) are missing. The class had just finished b) Traditional view
of history under 1) God’s provision of order for his people in the OT under a. Foundational Events.
(See also pgs. 3-5 of the Class Notes.)
What is highlighted below shows the overheads and material covered in the missing sessions.
A. Introduction
...
...
c) God’s foundational acts in the OT
(1) God’s provision of natural, religious, social and political order by his word in his
r’ishōnōth for Israel (Isa 1:26)
(2) Empowerment of human institutions by his word (marriage, divine service)
(3) Consequences of construction on that divinely instituted foundation or apart from it
(blessing and curse in Deuteronomy)
2) The function and significance of divine institution

a) By it God grants something to someone (plants for food in Gen 1:29-30).
b) By it God determines how something is to work (union of man and woman in marriage in Gen
2:18-24) or how it may be used in accordance with his will (capital punishment in Gen 9:5-6).
c) By it God establishes a practice (circumcision in Gen 17:9-14) or a ritual (the daily burnt
offering in Exod 29:38-45) so that he can do his work through it.
d) By it God provides a secure basis for the existence of a community
(God’s covenant with Abraham in Gen 17:1-8) or an institution (kingship in 2 Sam 7:8-16)
e) By it God sanctions some human activity so that his people can perform it with a good
conscience and know that it pleases him (sexual intercourse between a man and woman in
marriage in Gen 1:27-28)
f) By it God empowers someone with his word (blessing of Adam and Eve in Gen 1:28)
g) By it God authorises some people to act accountably on his behalf (priests at the tabernacle in
Exod 29)
3) The manner of foundation by God
a) God’s command (mandate to humanity in Gen 1:28)
b) God’s command for human enactment (circumcision in Gen 17:9-14,23-27)
c) God’s legislation (tabernacle in Exod 25-26)
d) God’s promise (covenant with David in 2 Sam 7:11b-16)
e) God’s command(s) with his promise(s) (call of Abram in Gen 12:1-3)
f) God’s proclamation (use of holy name in Exod 3:15)
4) Procedure for the analysis of a foundational event
13
a) What does God institute here, and how?
b) Why was this foundational event significant for the Israelites?
c) Where do other parts of the OT report this foundational word/event or allude to it or build on it?
b. My Assumptions about Old Testament Theology

1) God’s speaking of his word through prophets, priests and sages in Ancient Israel (Jer 18:18)
a) Historical process: building up of a story
b) Corporate audience: Israel ►Church ►World
c) Speaking that transcends its original context
d) Speaking that critiques and transforms its hearers
e) Performative speaking of law and gospel: means of grace
f) Liturgical context: words that institute the divine service and enacted in it
2. The inspiration of the words of the OT as the written record of God’s word to Israel
a) Inspiration of authors and their words by God’s Spirit: Spirit-filled words
b) Enlightenment of human readers by the Holy Spirit to understand them and apply them rightly
3. Unity of the Old Testament
a) Diversity of contents with many different human speakers and writers
b) Problem of centre: temple worship (MT), prophecy (LXX), 613 Commandments (Judaism),
First Commandment, Exodus etc
c) Unity as God’s word: faith in God as its ultimate author
d) Coherence from its fulfilment by Christ
e) Complementary human testimonies to same God
f) Avoidance of rationalistic harmonisation
4. Authority of the Old Testament
a) Authority of its words rather than the theological ideas or principles that are derived from it
b) Authority of the canonical books: final form rather than pre-history
c) Value of the canonical order in the MT and LXX for interpretation
5. Liturgical function of the Canonical Scriptures
a) Post-exilic Israel as a liturgical community
b) God’s institution of the divine service by the law of Moses
c) God’s formation and reformation of Israel as a liturgical community by the words of the
prophets
d) God’s gift of wisdom to harmonise the lives of the Israelites with their participation in the divine
service
e) Use of the canonised Scriptures for the establishment of right worship and for the instruction of
his people on his presence and activity in the divine service
f) Consecration of the service and the people through the service by God’s holy word
14
Lecture OT-4a
v=aixzsaqkC6s&list=PL32Gjc1uEM1AUR8LC9JlceA9xFSeZs25Z&index=3
[In the last two lectures (4 sessions) Dr. Kleinig apparently went through the rest of the Foundational
Events and the Assumptions he makes about OT theology when teaching this course.]
As the class begins, the following two diagrams were on the board.
Self Revelation
God
.. committed himself .. Responds
Personally in ???? personally
.. engages in personal .. Obeys

I – Thou relationship
Israel
Word Revelation
God
Speaks
Effective Word in divine service
.. commits self in Word .. receives blessings
..gives access in blessings .. prays & praises
.. selves
Israel
The class begins with Dr. Kleinig answering a student question from the last session about God giving his
name to Israel. All Israelites have access to God. The Word is not just given to teach and preach so that
God can speak to them. The Word is also given to them to help them with their prayers and praises.
Think about the psalms. They are God’s Word and in his Word he tells Israel how to pray and praise him.
He gives them the very words they can use in their prayers and praises of him. So he not only gives them
his name so they can access him, he also gives them the inspired Word in order that he might speak to
them and they might respond.
15
Secondly, every single promise God gave Israel is like a blank check. They can take a promise from God
and turn it into a prayer to access God. The psalms are built on God’s promises. Israel takes God’s
promises and asks God to fulfill his promises. It is most clear and graphic in Moses’ intercessions at Mt.
Sinai. That is not only important for the OT, but it’s also important for our worship, how we pray and
how we lead people in prayer, and the praying you do in your own devotional life. If you pray for what
God promises then you can be sure that your prayer is pleasing to God and that he will hear your prayer.
If you go beyond God’s promises, if you don’t have a specific Word from God, you can still pray, but you
don’t have the same certainty as if you pray according to his promises.
Thank you for bringing up this issue. It is an important issue. Let me illustrate it again. Jesus didn’t just
give us the words of his Father to us, but he also gave us the Lord’s Prayer, which is his own prayer, the
prayer he prays to the Father. So you get a double movement in the NT. It goes from God the Father
through the Son who speaks to us and then in prayer we join together with Jesus in praying to the
Father. And that is what is meant by praying in the name of Jesus or through Jesus.
What is covered in lecture 4a is highlighted in the outline below.

A. Introduction
...
b. My Assumptions about Old Testament Theology
...
c. God's revelation of his word (Overheads p. 4)
1. The Old Testament as the record of God’s revelation of his word rather than himself:
Ps 147:19-20
2. God’s appearance in epiphanies to the patriarchs and in theophanies to Israel
to speak his word rather than to show himself to them: verbal theophanies
3. God’s speaking of his word to his people for access to his grace and blessings
4. Revelation of his word to the Israelites in different forms of speech
 By giving them his holy name he gave them access to his gracious presence in the
divine service: formula of self-introduction.
 Through his torah (law/teaching) he instituted the divine service and instructed his
people on how to serve him.
 By his holy ritual ordinances he sanctified them through their participation in the
divine service.
 Through his promises he laid the foundations for their existence as his people and
tells his people how he will deal with them and what they can expect of him as their
God.
 By speaking his life-giving decrees to them, he gave them life and blessing.
 Through the word (dabar) of the prophets he shaped them in their history as his
holy people by judging and saving them.
16
 By speaking to them and responding to them in the meditations, prayers and praises
that he himself inspired by giving them the Psalms, he engaged them in an ongoing
conversation with him.
 By teaching them through the counsel of the sages in the school of life, he gave them
wisdom to live beneficially in harmony with him and each other in their community
A. Introduction
...
c. God's revelation of his word (Overheads p. 4)
1. The Old Testament as the record of God’s revelation of his word rather than himself: Ps 147:19-20
[Covered in previous lecture, which is unavailable.]
2. God’s appearance in epiphanies to the patriarchs and in theophanies to Israel to speak his word rather
than to show himself to them: verbal theophanies
To understand the OT you need to contrast OT theology with pagan theology. Pagan theology is
the context that the OT exists in. Pagan theology in its most traditional form, which you still find
in Hinduism, you get the following story again and again. Dr. Kleinig came across this when he
worked in Malaysia. Within Malaysia there is a community that is mostly Hindu. While travelling
through the countryside you will see many shrines with statues to Hindu gods. Why were there
shrines to Hindu gods and goddess in those particular places? What lies behind this is what is
most basic to pagan theology, natural religions.
The basic belief is that gods and goddesses appear to human beings in visible form. So you get
visual theophanies. “Theo” means god. “Phany” means to appear, to be seen with your eyes.
The dynamics of pagan religions goes like this.
 The gods show their face to particular human beings so that that particular human being
will build an idol for that god or goddess.
 That person will put the idol at the place where the god or goddess appeared so that at
that place other human beings will be able to see the god or goddess.
 In the Canaanite religion the idol is always called the face of the god. So in Canaanite
literature you read about the Canaanites seeing the face of Baal or the face of Asherah.
That means you go to the place where the shrine is and you look at the statue of Baal or
Asherah.
 Human beings use the idols to access the god. When they look at the idol they see their
god. If you kiss the feet of the idol, you kiss the feet of the god. They bow in front of the
idols and they present their offerings there to get the gods on their side.
 So when you have visual theophanies, the accent will always be on idols.
17
 One stark feature, from a comparative religion point of view, is that right from the
beginning idols were banned in the Bible. This was puzzling for pagan people. Since they
had no idols, they viewed them as atheists. The pagan retort to Israel was, “Where is
your god?” Because you have no idol, you don’t have access to a god.
 So in paganism you have visual theophanies. You see the god either through an
appearance in a theophany or through the idol at a holy place.
In contrast to that, right from the beginning God “appears” to Israel through a verbal
theophany. God “appears” to people by speaking to them. It begins as early as Abraham.
Remember that God spoke to Abraham. There is also the great event at Mt. Sinai. It sets up like
it is going to be a pagan theophany. There was thunder and lightning, people gathered, the
mountain was fenced off. If this was a pagan story it would have culminated in the clouds
parting and God appearing. The people would have seen God’s face. They would see God. It
would have been a visual theophany. But instead it climaxes with God speaking to his people.
He said to them, I am Yahweh your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt. Later at Mt.
Sinai, Moses is up on top of the mountain in a cloud and he asked God to show him his glory.
The glory of God is the face and presence of God. And God said, I can’t show you my face. If I do
you’ll die. So instead of showing his face, he preaches his name. “The Lord, the Lord, gracious
and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in love.” This is a verbal theophany.
So, in the OT there are a whole number of theophanies. The Lord appears to people by
speaking to them. He speaks his Word to them. And when he speaks his Word, he speaks his
name. He says, “I am the Lord” or “I am the God of your Fathers” or “I am God Almighty.” So
the name of God takes the place of the idol in paganism as the means by which they access
God. And by giving them his name, he gives them access to his grace and blessings. That name
is not used with an idol in a holy place where the god appeared, but the name is used in the
divine service at the altar at the tabernacle and later at the temple. Israel then uses the name;
calls on the name of Yahweh to access and receive blessings. (See diagram below.) We will be
unfolding this is great detail, but it is important here to notice the difference between two
different kinds of “theophanies.” Take note when reading John’s Gospel that John is always
using theophanic language. Jesus said, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.”
God
By the name Appears to &
Receives gives name
Blessings
Calls on Name
The name gives
access to blessings
in the divine service
Israel
18
(Some comments from students. One question was: In the pagan theophanies did they actually
see a god? Yes, of course. This is real. The source of it is demonic. Satan comes in disguise. If
you have a fine conscience (which is a gift of the Holy Spirit) and you go to a Hindu temple, you
will probably sense the demonic that is there. The funny thing about is that these temples are
very bright and full of color. But that covers the darkness of the demonic that is behind them.
And you can also sense that there is something powerful there, real spiritual power is at work.
There was another short discussion on amulets. Basically pagans would carry around small
portable idols. Israel was forbidden to put idols in amulets. Instead they were to put the name
of God or God’s Word in the amulets and they were to say: “Hear O Israel. Yahweh is our God.
Yahweh is one.” They would do it to invoke the name of God.)
The OT is a revelation of his Word rather than himself. A revealing of himself so that a person
could see him would be very close to a pagan god revealing himself. In natural religion, people
want a subjective experience. But instead of revealing himself, he reveals his Word. Earlier we
looked at Ps. 147 that talked about that. God appears or epiphanies, which means that
something that is hidden becomes revealed. So for instance, in the church’s season of
Epiphany, the hidden glory of Jesus is revealed to the church and to the nations. God appears
and epiphanies to the patriarchs and he theophanies to Israel in order to speak his Word to
them rather than to show himself to them. The difference between an epiphany and a
theophany is an epiphany is a revealing to one person and a theophany is a revealing to a group
of people or a whole nation.
Let’s take a look at Deut. 4. That whole chapter has to do with idols and what it is that God
reveals. Let’s read Deut. 4:7 and then verses 32 and 33. To get a sense of this comparison of
pagan theophanies vs. Yahweh’s theophanies, when you have time you should read all of
chapter 4.
7 For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the LORD our God is to us,
whenever we call upon him? ... 32 “For ask now of the days that are past, which were before
you, since the day that God created man on the earth, and ask from one end of heaven to the
other, whether such a great thing as this has ever happened or was ever heard of. 33 Did any
people ever hear the voice of a god speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard,
and still live? 34 Or has any god ever attempted to go and take a nation for himself from the
midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, by wonders, and by war, by a mighty hand and an
outstretched arm, and by great deeds of terror, all of which the Lord your God did for you in
Egypt before your eyes?
In verse 7 the claim is that God is closer to Israel than the god of any other nation is close to
them. This is told in verses 32 - 34. Verse 33 asks, Has any other people heard the voice of God
speaking directly to them. Now let’s go back to verse 15.
15
“Therefore watch yourselves very carefully. Since you saw no form on the day that the LORD
spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire,
19
Moses draws this conclusion, since you didn’t see the form of God, let alone the face of God,
therefore you shouldn’t make idols. If they saw the face of God, the form of God, the shape of
God, that then gives you the warrant to make and use idols to access God. But God didn’t show
himself to you, instead he spoke his Word to you. Therefore you can’t use idols to access God.
(Just a little aside here. No pagan person thought an idol was a god. This is a common Christian
misunderstanding. The idol is not a god. It gives access to the god. So if I burn an idol, I am not
burning a god. A god can be present in many different idols. The idol is the means by which the
god shows his face and by which human beings can access the face of their god.
There was a question about Egyptian theology. The “idol” for the chief Egyptian god was the
sun. Whenever the sun rose and filled the land with light, it showed his victory over darkness. It
was a daily theophany. Modern people disparage the Egyptians for being so ignorant that they
worshipped the sun. In actuality this makes sense. It is high order thinking.
Knowing this about the chief Egyptian god, helps us see why the second to last plague and last
plague were so devastating. Ra (the sun god) manifested himself in two ways, through the sun
and through pharaoh. Pharaoh was the human idol of Ra. Pharaoh’s son was the next
generation by which Ra manifested himself through a human face to the people of Egypt. Each
of the plagues in Egypt completely discredited all of Egyptian theology.
In the future you will be called to evangelize people of other religions. To do this, you do not
disparage their religions. You don’t tell them it’s all a load of rubbish because to them it makes
good sense. You need to understand it and respect it. And you need to understand the power it
has. To go from paganism to Christianity is not an intellectual exercise. It requires a real
conversion. And only the power of the Holy Spirit can convert people.)
3. God’s speaking of his word to his people for access to his grace and blessings
When God speaks his Word to his people, he gives them access to himself and his blessing.
Hence the importance of the theology of the Word. In the OT and the NT we have verbal
theophanies. In the OT and NT, how does God make himself known to us? How does God come
to us? By speaking to us. There is a professor that has an interesting dictum. He says, Speak to
me that I may see you. How do you come to “see” a person? Looks may be deceiving. The real
you is hidden inside of you. I really get to know you when you speak to me about yourself. This
is fundamental to the OT. You won’t understand the OT unless you see that this is basic. And he
speaks not just judgment but also grace, blessing, and Holy Spirit to us.
Some discussion about this. The OT appeals primarily not to the intellect but to the conscience
and the imagination. And this is how you need to preach. You preach to the imagination. Use
imagery. Paint pictures. Present the Gospel to the inner eye of the imagination. That is the way
20
to communicate with your generation and the next generation. Instead of using abstract
language, use language that paints pictures. For instance, why is the 23 rd Psalm so powerful?
Because of the imagery it invokes. Do you realize that Jesus never preaches or teaches abstract
ideas? We take what Jesus teaches and abstract it. That’s the Enlightenment way. When he
argues, he doesn’t use concepts. He uses pictures. So justification is not an idea or a concept,
it’s a picture. So it is important to see what the Word says. The most effective communication
comes not just when you understand what a person is saying, but when you “see” what he is
saying.
An observation by a student. So when the Israelites “call on the name of the Lord,” if you think
about it in a visual sense, it means they call out the God’s name. They say out loud, “Lord.”
Calling on the name of the Lord is not just an idea that they are accessing God. It is very
concrete. They actually address God as, Lord.
Speaking of the name of God, there is a reluctance in the church to name God, except in
general terms. People don’t want to use the proper name of God. In the OT his proper name is
Yahweh. In the NT the proper name of God is Father, Son, Holy Spirit. If you want to know how
to name God, just look at the creeds. That’s basically what the creeds do is name God.
4. Revelation of his word to the Israelites in different forms of speech

 By giving them his holy name he gave them access to his gracious presence in the
divine service: formula of self-introduction.
Let’s get back to our lesson. In the OT God reveals his Word to the Israelites in many different
ways and forms of speech. According to rabbinical tradition the most important word God ever
spoke to Israel was his name. By giving them his holy name he gave them access to his gracious
presence in the divine service. Therefore you get what scholars call the formula of self-
introduction that runs all the way through the OT. Have you noticed again and again that you
have God saying, I am Yahweh. There is an interesting feature about this. According to the
rabbis again, if you address God as ‘God,’ you are accessing God but you are accessing him as
the creator, the lord, the judge of everything. It is only if you address God as ‘Yahweh’ that you
access his grace.
A human analogy of this might be when you access Dr. Kleinig. If you address him as doctor,
then you have professional access to him. But if you use the name John, then you have personal
access to him, you access his grace and favor.
The second commandment has to do with the name of God. That’s how important it is. Notice
also in the NT in the Lord’s Prayer we say, Hallowed be thy name. This is something that the
whole church in the West needs to learn again, the importance of God’s name.
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 Through his torah (law/teaching) he instituted the divine service and instructed his
people on how to serve him.
Secondly, God reveals his torah. “Torah” is usually translated as “law,” but a better translation
is “teaching.” Through God’s torah, God institutes the divine service (Ex., Lev., Num., Deut.) and
he instructs his people how to serve him. He gives them his torah and in the torah he gives
them the divine service.
 By his holy ritual ordinances he sanctified them through their participation in the
divine service.
Closely related to the torah are the ordinances that God gives. By his holy ritual ordinances, he
sanctified them through their participation in the divine service. These are not just general
words about the divine service but he established how particular things are to be done in the
divine service. Let’s go to Lev. 20 and read verses 7 and 8.
7
Consecrate yourselves, therefore, and be holy, for I am the LORD your God. 8 Keep my
statutes and do them; I am the LORD who sanctifies you.
Keep and do my ordinances. There is an apparent contradiction here. First he says, Consecrate
yourselves and be holy. Then he says, I am the Lord who sanctifies you. How do you sanctify
yourself? By doing the statutes/ordinances of God that established the divine service, by
performing worship according to God’s statutes or ritual ordinances. By doing them, they allow
God to sanctify them through his Word. So By his holy ritual ordinances he sanctified them
through their participation in the divine service.
Let’s put this in NT terms. How do you sanctify yourselves? How did you sanctify yourself last
Sunday? By going to church and doing what Jesus told you to do, which is to hear the Word,
receive the absolution, and receive the body and blood of Jesus because these are the ways in
which God through his Word makes you and keeps you holy.
In one of the 18 benedictions that a Jewish person prays every day, there is a blessing of God
for his sanctifying ordinances. Can you see why they thank God? These are the ordinances by
which he establishes the way in which they participate in the divine service because it is
through those ordinances that are in the divine service that he makes and keeps them holy.
 Through his promises he laid the foundations for their existence as his people and
tells his people how he will deal with them and what they can expect of him as their
God.
We are more familiar with this because it is more common place protestant theology. God gives
his promises to show what he will be doing with them, what he wants to give them. Since he
22
makes this known, they can use those promises to claim what he promises in prayer. Not only
can they pray for them, but his promises are also the foundation for their faith in God and their
worship of God.
 By speaking his life-giving decrees to them, he gave them life and blessing.
There are two kinds of life-giving decrees. There are life-giving decrees like those you hear in
Gen. 1: Let there be light; Be fruitful and multiply; etc. These are given to all human beings. And
then there are the life-giving decrees that God gives to Israel. The book of Deuteronomy is full
of these. God gives Israel his decrees so that they live life to the full and receive all that they
can of God’s vitality as they live with God in the promised land. As you know, it says in Deut.,
Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. So
God’s words are life-giving words. His promises are life-giving promises and even his
commandments are life-giving decrees.
 Through the word (dabar) of the prophets he shaped them in their history as his holy
people by judging and saving them.
The term, dabar, used in the OT is both word and event. Through the dabar that he spoke
through the prophets, he shaped the history of his holy people by judging and saving them. So
his Word makes them and unmakes them in their history. God’s Word does its work in shaping
the history of Israel. So the history of Israel is the history of the Word of God. It’s not the history
of kings. It’s not the history of politics. It’s not the history of economics. It’s not even the history
of religion. It is the history of the Word of God spoken through the prophets to his people. And
in the same way, the history of the church is the history of the word of God, which shapes the
church in all of its generations.
 By speaking to them and responding to them in the meditations, prayers and praises
that he himself inspired by giving them the Psalms, he engaged them in an ongoing
conversation with him.
So in a conversation with his people God doesn’t just do one side of the conversation, but he
also queues them in on their side of the conversation. It is the same way that a parent teaches
their children. They not only speak to them, but they also teach them what to speak back to
you and to others. They tell them to say please. They say some syllables and the parent says,
Say mommy or daddy. They queue them on what to say or how to respond. They give them the
words for their side of the conversation. So in the Psalms, God is speaking and telling them how
to respond. He wants them to reply and he actually gives the words by which they can reply.
 By teaching them through the counsel of the sages in the school of life, he gave them
wisdom to live beneficially in harmony with him and each other in their community.
23
God speaks proverbs, words of wisdom to his people. He gives them wise advice on how to live.
He helps them quite practically on how to live. This is another aspect of the OT that needs to be
rediscovered in our generation, where people are hungry for good advice, for wisdom, for some
help in knowing how to live. How to be a good father and mother. How to be a good husband
and wife. How to be a good boss and how to be a good employee. All of these are practical
things that make up a big part of our life.
So what does God reveal to his people? His Word and that Word doesn’t just come in one form.
It’s not just the promises of God or the demands of God. It consists of many different kinds of
words. We could add others. Do you see how rich God’s speaking is? Do you see how God’s
speaking covers the whole life of his people? So going back where we started, going back to the
original diagram, God’s Word is the means for his theophany. Through his Word they see God,
they see the world through God’s eyes. They see others through God’s eyes. And they see
themselves as God sees them.
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Lecture OT-4b
v=T8gPuQ3hIH4&list=PL32Gjc1uEM1AUR8LC9JlceA9xFSeZs25Z&index=4
Highlighted below is the material covered in this lecture.

B.The Foundation of Humanity in Creation

a. The Miracle of Creation
Creation as a miracle in Ps 89:5-14
 Divine act that transcends natural causation
 Victory over chaotic powers
 Foundation of world as arena for God’s justice, righteousness, generosity and
faithfulness
Use of bārā’ for creation by God
Manner of creation
 Use of word and Spirit (Ps 33:6-9)
 No help or hindrance from other deities: no co-creators
 Use of natural powers like land and seas for ongoing mediated creation
 Delegation of life-giving power by blessing of animals, humanity and the seventh
day
4. God’s use of his word in performative utterances
 Creative decrees: light, space, heavenly bodies
 Regulative decrees: water, dry land
 Productive decrees for land and seas: vegetation and animals
 Imperative benediction for fish, birds, humans, and seventh day
 Collective decision for creation of humanity
 Verbal provision of plants as food
5. Ongoing empowerment and maintenance of creation by God’s word
6. God’s use of his word in creation as a precedent for its use in human history and Israel’s
history
7. Human analogies for creation
8. Doctrine of creation as a revealed article of faith
9. God as only witness
10. Parallel: protology and eschatology
11. Matter of mystery and praise
Let’s begin this session by discussing the teaching on creation in the OT. And we are not going
to start with Gen. 1 as you might expect. We are going to start with a psalm because it makes a
number of very important points that will help us understand the teaching on creation
correctly. So we will begin with Ps. 89.
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B. The Foundation of Humanity in Creation

Ps. 89 is a royal lament, a messianic psalm.
5 Let the heavens praise your wonders, O LORD,

your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones!
6
For who in the skies can be compared to the LORD?
Who among the heavenly beings is like the LORD,
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a God greatly to be feared in the council of the holy ones,
and awesome above all who are around him?
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O LORD God of hosts,
who is mighty as you are, O LORD,
with your faithfulness all around you?
9
You rule the raging of the sea;
when its waves rise, you still them.
10
You crushed Rahab like a carcass;
you scattered your enemies with your mighty arm.
11
The heavens are yours; the earth also is yours;
the world and all that is in it, you have founded them.
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The north and the south, you have created them;
Tabor and Hermon joyously praise your name.
13
You have a mighty arm;
strong is your hand, high your right hand.
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Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne;
steadfast love and faithfulness go before you.
V. 5
There are two words that need to be explained in verse 5. “Wonders” – first of all, this word
should be singular. The Hebrew word means “wonder working.” The noun means something
remarkable, something extra ordinary, something beyond the normal order, something
amazing, something wonderful. So the heavens praise God for some remarkable, amazing,
wonderful act. This is not some general acclamation that God is amazing and wonderful. No,
this is praise for a particular wonderful act of God. This is the Hebrew word for miracle,
something remarkable and amazing. It is a supernatural event, a divine act. There is something
miraculous that the heavens praise God for.
The miracle is connected to God’s faithfulness. The “assembly of the holy ones” is the divine
assembly. The holy ones are the angels. So the location here is in the heavenly assembly. What
is it that the angels praise God for in the heavenly assembly? Let’s continue by reading the rest
of this passage.
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A student read Ps. 89:6-14.
There are a number of points to make here. What miraculous act do the angels praise God for?
It has something to do with creation. What aspect of creation? The founding, the ordering of
creation. There are two pictures here. First of all there is Rahab and the sea and God’s enemies.
The seas and the waters are not just the oceans as we know them. In ancient thinking, the seas
are the powers of chaos. They are the forces of the underworld. Rahab is the chaos monster,
Leviathan. In the NT Rahab is the devil.
What this psalm does is pick up ancient mythological ideas of the sky gods doing battle with the
gods of the underworld to establish and maintain order on earth. But with pagan theology
there is never a knockout blow. Take for instance the Canaanite theology. The sky god Baal
brings rain and fertility. He battles Mot, the god of death, and Yam, the god of the seas. The
result of this battle is Baal rules for six months (fertility) and Mot and Yam rule for six months
(drought). In pagan mythology the good gods fight the chaos gods and it’s a never ending
battle.
We have something different here in Psalm 89. God defeated the powers of chaos and ordered
them, tamed them, domesticated them. He uses them for beneficial purposes. We will come
across this language again when we go over Gen. 1.
(Question from a student. He noted that in paganism there is a dualism. He asked about chaos
at the beginning of biblical creation. Dr. Kleinig’s response. At the beginning chaos was a part of
God’s creation. Chaos used in an evil way comes from Rahab. Satan and the evil powers rebel
against God and use chaos for their benefit. Pagan theology has always been very attractive
because it teaches that there has always been chaos and there has always been cosmos and
they do battle with each other – a dualistic system.
The OT teaching is that God created everything and that there was order right there at the
beginning. But there is a potential for chaos and what God does is order potentially chaotic
powers using them for beneficial purposes. We will be talking more about this in the future.)
Now back to the psalm. Notice that God does not eliminate the surging seas but he rules them.
When the waves mount up and threaten the land, he stills them and puts them back into their
place. It says he crushed Rahab and scattered his enemies. Rahab and his enemies are
supernatural enemies of God.
Most important is v. 11 where it says that God founded the world. Founding is more than
building. What he is founding is a home for people, animals, and plants. The emphasis is not on
God creating the world but on God ordering for life.
 Divine act that transcends natural causation
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You can’t make sense of creation unless you see that it was a miracle. That is a short coming of
evolution. It presupposes that creation was a natural event and therefore you can access it and
explain it scientifically. Creationism critiques the theory of evolution and where it exceeds itself.
Creation is a miracle. What do we mean by that? First, it is a divine act that transcends human
causation. The laws of cause and effect that operate within creation do not apply for the act of
creation. Cause and effect are creatures. They are not absolute. And that is what science does.
It goes back and asks what caused this to happen? Scientific thinking is thinking in terms of
causation. Miracles transcend causation. They don’t necessarily violate causation but they do
transcend causation. They go beyond it.
 Victory over chaotic powers
Creation involves the victory or better yet the rule over chaotic powers. Within creation there
are potential chaotic powers. But God harnesses them. He harnesses things like darkness and
the seas and he uses them for beneficial purposes. He doesn’t eliminate them. Rather he uses
them and orders them.
 Foundation of world as arena for God’s justice, righteousness, generosity and

faithfulness
Creation is the foundation of the world, not as a machine that runs by itself, but as the arena, the stage
for God’s working. It is the arena for God’s justice and righteousness, for his generosity and faithfulness.
So the world is not just a house for human beings to live in and do what they like. The world is not a
machine that operates by its own principles, its own laws. It’s partly true, but God established it as his
stage, his arena, the place where he can show his justice, his righteousness, his faithfulness, his
generosity.
What is significant in the OT when it talks about creation is that it uses a verb that is not used of
any human being. Strictly speaking human beings don’t create anything. The word used for
God’s creating is never used for people. It is used when something is created out of nothing.
God said let there be light and light appeared. The light doesn’t come from something else.
That word can also be used for creating something completely and utterly new, therefore
miraculously new, something that never existed before. Therefore for instance, God can create
a clean and new heart out of the old Adam, the old self.
 Use of word and Spirit (Ps 33:6-9)
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How did God create? There are two different approaches to this. In the modern way of thinking,
we want to know the processes God used to create, what techniques, what technology. That is
what science is interested in, how the world works in terms of causation. But that is not how
“how” works here. The how here explains by what agency, what power, what instrument does
God use in creating the world? And the answer is that God creates with his Word. God speaks
and things come to be. So he creates through the use of his Word and his Word is creative
because it is a Spirit filled and powerful Word. Let’s take a look at Ps. 33, which gives us the
very close connection between God’s Word and his Spirit in creation.
By the word of the LORD the heavens were made,

and by the breath of his mouth all their host.
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He gathers the waters of the sea as a heap;
he puts the deeps in storehouses.
8
Let all the earth fear the LORD;
let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him!
9
For he spoke, and it came to be;
he commanded, and it stood firm.
The whole earth was created by his Word and by the breath of his mouth. Notice that it doesn’t
just emphasize creation but the ordering of creation. It was created through God’s speaking his
Spirit through his Word. And obviously this goes beyond scientific scrutiny. There is no
experiment that you can use to determine if this is true or not. It goes beyond the competence
of science.
 No help or hindrance from other deities: no co-creators
Pagan stories of creation emphasize that gods have helpers in creation. Sometimes they create
something which then creates something else. Or they cooperate with other gods in creation.
But the emphasis in the OT is that God created the world without the help or hindrance of
other deities or supernatural powers. No angels, no demons, no other powers worked with God
in creation. There are no co-creators. Pagan theology always emphasizes co-creation. In the OT
God alone is the Creator.
 Use of natural powers like land and seas for ongoing mediated creation
Even though God does not employ supernatural powers and work with other supernatural
powers in creation, he does something astonishing. He uses natural powers, like the land and
the seas, for his ongoing mediated creation. God doesn’t say, Let there be vegetation. He says,
Let the land produce vegetation. He doesn’t say, Let there be fish. He says, Let the sea teem
with all fish life. He doesn’t say, Let there be animals. He says, Let the land bring forth animals.
And lastly God doesn’t say, Let there be babies. What does he do? He blesses Adam and Eve
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and says, Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. God uses created things and created
humans to mediate his creation and his ongoing creation.
(Just an aside. There is this ongoing debate between creation and evolution. Darwin didn’t
teach evolution. He taught the theory of evolution. And his theory was actually very modest.
What modern people have done is turn that theory into an ideology and a new modern
mythology that tries to explains everything.)
 Delegation of life-giving power by blessing of animals, humanity and the seventh

day
We’ve already touched on this. In creation most remarkably God delegates his life-giving power
by blessing three creatures. He blesses fish and birds. He blesses animals. He blesses human
beings. And by blessing them, he gives them the power to procreate. Plants procreate
automatically. They don’t decide to have sexual intercourse. They do not perform an act.
Animals and human being reproduce and create new life as agents. They perform a sexual act.
If God were like us human beings, he would keep all his power to himself. But what does God
do in creation? He delegates his most important power, life-giving power, to animals and
human beings.
We’ve already touched on this next point, but we need to develop it more fully. God uses his
Word to create with a series of performative utterances. This is what we call Speech Act Theory.
You actually do things by speaking words. God’s speaking is always performative. His Word
does what it says. And in Genesis we have ten words of God. There are different kinds of words
of God and all of them are creative words of God.
 Creative decrees: light, space, heavenly bodies
The first kind of creative words of God are God’s decrees. In these God says, Let there be ..., Let
there be light, Let there be the heavens, Let there be sun and moon and stars. He decrees it and
it happens.
 Regulative decrees: water, dry land
The second kind of creative word regulates what he has created. For example, he separates the
land from the sea, the water and the dry land. It regulates, it orders creation.
 Productive decrees for land and seas: vegetation and animals
The third kind of creative word are productive decrees which he addresses to the land and seas.
He says, Let the land produce and Let the seas teem. He commands the land and seas to
produce.
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 Imperative benediction for fish, birds, humans, and seventh day
And then you have imperative benedictions: Be fruitful, multiply. He is telling them what to do
and when he does so, he empowers them to do it. It’s an imperative, a command, but it is also
a benediction, a blessing. He gives them the power to do what he commands.
 Collective decision for creation of humanity
The fifth kind of word is remarkable. Only with one creature does God make a collective
decision. He says, “Let us make adam in our image”. “Us” is plural and might include God and
the angels and it is probably speaking of the three persons of the Trinity. This was a decision
made by more than one person to create humanity.
 Verbal provision of plants as food
Then comes the provision of food for humanity. God provides seeds and fruits for human
beings, for their nourishment.
This next point is very important. The Word that God speaks is not just a Word that he spoke at
the beginning where he created the world and then from that point forward it operates by
itself. The words God spoke at creation he continues to speak and that word continues to do
what it says. So Luther says in his Genesis commentary, if God stops saying, Let there be light,
what would happen? There would be darkness, total chaos. If God stopped saying, Let the land
produce vegetation, what would happen? There would be eco catastrophe. If God stopped
saying, Be fruitful and multiply, all animal and human life would cease to exist on earth.
Dr. Kleinig read a passage by Melanchthon from the Augsburg Confession Article 23 that backs
up this idea. The argument is that God’s Word still does its work now. It not only created the
world but it also upholds, maintains, and preserves creation and everything in creation.
This is something that has been lost and may be new to you. The Word that was spoken then is
still being spoken and is doing its work and will continue to spoken until the End.
history
One last point and we’ll have to pick up the rest next time. God’s use of his Word in creation sets the
precedent for the way he’s going to be at work in the rest of human history. So if God does his work in
creating the world through his Word and his Spirit, how is God going to work with human beings in the
history of the world? Through his Word and his Spirit. How is God going to be at work in Israel? Through
his Word and his Spirit. How is he going to be at work in the Church? Through his Word and Spirit. So the
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speaking of God’s Word in creation sets a precedent for God’s speaking his Word in human history, in
the history of Israel, and in the history of the Church and in your life and my life. This is the foundation
for Christian faith.
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Lecture OT-5a
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-
Sv1sMzpAG8&list=PL32Gjc1uEM1AUR8LC9JlceA9xFSeZs25Z&index=5
This session starts out with Dr. Kleinig finishing the teaching on a. The Miracle of Creation. He
continues at point #7.

…
…
…
history
 God as potter, craftsman, builder, farmer
 Earth as mother of plants and animals
b. God’s creation of an orderly world
1. An ordered world: cosmic order

Dr. Kleinig begins with a short recap of the last session.
In looking at the teaching of creation in the OT, we began by looking at Ps. 89, which makes the
point that creation is a miracle, something that is beyond what is natural and normal. God
creates and upholds his creation through his Word. The astonishing feature in Gen. 1 is the
various kinds of words God speaks to either create or to order his creation. His only word is not,
Let there be. But he spoke different kinds of words that create and he continues to speak them
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in order to uphold his creation. The word that he spoke at the beginning creates a precedent
for the way that he will be at work in history. If God through his Word creates the world, then
he works in creation through his Word. This is fundamental to Lutheran theology. God
continues to work in human history through his Word and most importantly he does so in Israel
and the Church. So Luther said, the church and every believer is a creature of the Word. Each is
created and upheld by the Word of God.
Quite obviously if God is the Creator and creation is a miracle then we can’t have any scientific
explanations of how God creates. The only way that humans can have any understanding is
through analogies. Thinking about creation and any of God’s activities is analogical. God
explains to us how he works by using human analogies. Therefore all analogies are going to be
limited by their very nature.
 God as potter, craftsman, builder, farmer
So for example, there is the picture of God as a potter. God formed Adam from the dust of the
earth and then breathed into him the breath of life. That isn’t a literal explanation. You can’t
have a literal explanation. It’s a picture used for God forming man out of the elements of the
earth.
Another picture of God creating is a craftsman. First there was the word translated as “create,”
which means to make something out of nothing. Then there is the word which refers to what a
craftsman does. God is pictured as a builder and the earth as house. God founds the earth on a
foundation. [The sky is pictured as the roof of the house. In between the ground and sky is the
“house” that man lives in.]
And it is also common to picture God as a farmer. God gave the first humans a garden to live in.
They lived in a kind of farm. There are other pictures that are used too. When you have a look
at creation, make sure you look at the picture that is behind it to understand it better. Just
remember that these are human analogies, explaining in human terms what ultimately is
beyond all human understanding.
 Earth as mother of plants and animals
Likewise, what is interesting is that the earth is pictured as a mother of plants and animals. God
said, Let the earth bring forth plants. Let the earth bring forth animals. The verb “bring forth” is
the same verb used for a mother bringing forth or giving birth to a child. So in this sense the
earth is pictured as a mother giving birth, but not as a mother goddess, which is what pagans
do. Many times God takes pictures from paganism and he reworks or reshapes them to
correspond closer to reality. Pagans only have a partial truth in what they believe. The earth is
the receiver of God’s creative activity.
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That leads us to a very important point that you should never forget. And that is that the
doctrine of creation is as much of a revealed article of faith as the Holy Trinity or the two
natures of Christ. It is an article of faith. It is not a scientific premise or dogma. The most you
can go scientifically is that at some point the earth was created and that someone or something
or some force was responsible for it. But even that is difficult for science, because how can
something come out of nothing. That’s scientific nonsense. Science has its limits. So for
Christians, the doctrine of creation is an article of faith. And notice that we confess it in our
creed as an article of faith.
It has to be an article of faith because the only one who really knows how the world was
created is God. No one else was there to witness it. So what is the only way that we can have
knowledge of creation? God has to reveal it to us through his Word. We can only know if God
chooses to reveal it and as much as he chooses to reveal.
But think of the difficulty that God has in revealing it. He can’t reveal it to us in his terms. He
has to reveal in a way that we can understand. Someone once said that the difficulty God has in
telling us the mysteries of creation is like a mother trying to tell the baby in her womb what the
world is like. The baby would have no concept of it. There are limits to all human knowledge
and understanding. He reveals it to us in terms that make sense to us.
Many times theologians have pointed out that the doctrine of the first things (protology) is like
the doctrine of the last things (eschatology). They both try and communicate the same kind of
mystery that goes beyond human understanding. Just like the only way we can understand
what eternal life is like is by using earthly pictures, so protology is of the same order. There is
no way imaginatively or rationally that we go back to the other side of the fall because our
whole mind, our imagination has been warped and the whole world has been altered
completely in every part of it by sin and disorder.
(A couple of student questions.)
Ultimately we are back where we started. Creation is a mystery. Therefore you cannot
communicate the doctrine of creation philosophically or scientifically or even rationally. Since it
is a mystery, the only way you can communicate it is through the language of praise. You
experience something out of the ordinary and it’s almost impossible to communicate the
experience. For instance, you fall in love for the first time or you have the birth of your child. It’s
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almost impossible to tell others about those things. What you resort to then is praise. Even if
it’s just, Wow! The language of praise communicates mystery.
There is actually very little teaching about creation in the OT. You have Gen. 1 & 2. Outside of
these chapters there are many passages about creation in the Psalms. Which makes sense since
praise is a big part of the Psalms. The Psalms praise God as the Creator and for the wonderful
world that he made and still continues to make and uphold. It is the language of praise that
communicates the doctrine of creation. All of the other mysteries of our faith are best
communicated with praise.

The next topic we’ll discuss is God’s ordering of the world, God’s creation of an orderly world. I
want to remind you of something that goes back to, and which we dealt with in, the Bible
Introduction course. What is interesting about Gen. 1 is not that you have seven days of
creating, you don’t have just that. In the beginning of creation you have chaos, rendered as
“darkness on the face of the deep.” And then on day one God begins to create an orderly world.
And you might remember that there was a double order. And this is best expressed by mens of
a pyramid. There is an order of dependence. So God creates:
 First he creates light, creating day and night. So time is a creature. Likewise, and this
revolutionary in the ancient world, light is a creature. For pagan people, light is divine.
The sun, moon, and stars are gods. Light here is not the same as we think of it in
modern, scientific terms. It’s more like energy. God created ordered energy.
 Then he creates space, the firmament. The picture is a house and the firmament is its
roof. So then there is space above it and below it, the sky and the earth.
 After space has been created, God separated seas and dry land.
 Then once you have land, the land produces vegetation.
 Then you have the creation of the sun and moon and the stars. Many people in the
ancient world, as well as many people today with their obsession with astrology, see
these as divine entities. They are viewed by many as determining human life on earth.
But we are told that God creates them. They are creatures. They are not divinities. They
have a limited rule. God uses them to determine times and seasons. So natural time
only begins after the creation of the sun and moon and stars.
 Then birds are created for the sky and fish for the sea.
 Then animals are created from the land.
 Then humanity is created in the image of God.
 Then strangely you have God resting on the seventh day. And he blesses and sanctifies
it.
Two other features I would like to remind you of. First, at the end of each day, you have the
recurring phrase: And God saw [what he had made] and it was good. But after God was done
creating it says, God saw everything he had made and it was very good. This is very important
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because in it there is a very profound anti-pagan, anti-animist, anti-new age statement that is
being made.
Second, with each of these seven days of God working and resting, you have closed days,
except for the last day. For the first six days, each day has evening and morning. But the
seventh day doesn’t have evening and morning. That day remains open. There is something
special about the seventh day.
Notice that there are two fundamental things about the order that God creates. First, there is
an order of dependence. You can’t have human beings without everything God created before
them. So God creates an ecological order of dependence.
Secondly, there is an order of rule. There are three levels of rule. (1) The first four days
culminate in the creation of the sun and moon and stars. If you created a pyramid for the order
of dependence for ancient pagan, they would put the sun and moon and stars on top because
to them they are gods that are over all. The sun and moon and stars do rule, but only over the
land and seas and plants, that is, everything created before them. They don’t rule over birds,
fish, animals, human beings, and God. (2) The second level of rule is the rule of human beings.
But they do not rule over all of creation. They don’t rule over light or space or the seas. They
rule over the animals and the land. They rule over what is under them. (3) The third level of rule
is God’s rule. God blesses the seventh day so that through the seventh day he can bless human
beings and his creation. God sanctifies the seventh day so that through human resting with God
he can sanctify humans and all of creation.
(A question from a student about having light before the sun. Answer: From a modern scientific
point of view, this is all nonsense and yet it is not nonsense. Is light created by the sun and
moon and stars? No, it’s generated by them and supplied by them, but not created. Remember,
this is not science. Also remember that light here is not the scientific definition of light. It’s
closer to view light here more as life-giving energy.
The discussion led to the fact that there were seven days of creation. As far as the natural order
of things, seven doesn’t fit. It doesn’t correspond to anything in creation. Why seven days? It’s
God’s number that’s not in creation but is imposed on creation by God. In it God is establishing
something profound. He is establishing a pattern for human life on earth. It is a pattern that he
brings to earth for humans. God created human beings to work with him and to rest with him.
What is the purpose of human life? To work and rest with God. And the most important is not
work, but rest. Now that undermines all of pagan theology in its ancient guises and modern
guises. That’s because they think the most important thing you do is work, work for yourself
and work for your gods. There are rituals formed around work. But in Israel God gives a new
ritual, a ritual of rest. This is very profound and we will come to it later in the course.
More discussion on the number seven. It doesn’t correspond to any of the lunar or solar
patterns. It doesn’t fit in to the order of creation. In the ancient pagan world, seven was not a
number around which anything revolved. Seven doesn’t fit in with other religions. In pagan
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religions, and this fits in to New Age as well, you will be ecologically healthy if you fit in with the
cosmic order. The whole ecological movement is living in harmony with the cosmic order. And
in the ancient world the most important part of the cosmic order was to synchronize yourself
with cosmic time in its monthly, annual, and larger cycles that you find in astrology. And when
you do that, you live in harmony and reap the benefits of doing so.
The fact is that God does give us a natural order and we do live by it, but more importantly we
synchronize ourselves with God and the supernatural order in worship. Seven has to do with
the supernatural order. So the seventh day of creation has no closure and ties man in to the
supernatural order. The rabbis put it beautifully. They say the seventh day is a day in time but it
is also a day of eternity in time, a foretaste of eternity. It is a day without end.
A student is still not clear on the seventh day. Dr. Kleinig asks, Why is the number so special in
Judaism and Christianity? Because of Gen. 1. This is the foundation for the significance of the
number seven. And it’s God’s foundation, it’s not human speculation. God reveals it in Gen. 1. If
you want evidence of divine inspiration of Scripture, this is it. It doesn’t fit man’s normal way of
thinking.
Note that many times in this class when I explain something, it is clearer and easier to
understand when you view it against the pagan background. So then you can see that God not
only speaks into a situation where paganism abounds, but he speaks against it. God reveals true
reality against the false pagan views. This is true for your preaching as well. It will be most
powerful when it not only speaks the truth, but the truth over against what is considered
politically correct or sociological correctness, the things that people think are self-evidently true
in our society.)
 Ordering of chaotic powers and use for beneficial purposes
Let’s move on. I want to summarize this information. I maintain that the Bible is not concerned
with what means God created the world or when God created the world. It is more concerned
to show that God created an orderly world. To understand this, you need to understand a
number of key terms beyond their naturalistic meaning and the way that people in the ancient
world understood them theologically and mythologically.
o Formless and void
“The earth was formless and void.” The earth was formless, shapeless, chaotic, disordered. The
basic meaning was that it was disordered. It was chaotic. It was void or empty or lacking its
contents. So the earth was shapeless, unstructured, disordered and therefore it is not full of
ordered content.
The use of these terms hints at what is to come. So what is shapeless will be given shape. Being
shapeless is not necessarily bad in itself. It’s like a lump of clay. The potter takes the clay and
gives it shape. Or you have a pile of bricks and they will used to build the walls of a building.
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This is done in an orderly way. So these terms are not necessarily negative terms. They are
neutral in themselves. So chaos in itself is not bad. It is the darkness and the abyss that are the
problem.
o Darkness
Gen. 1 says “there was darkness over the face of the deep.” Just as there is more to light than
what we normally think of, it has to do with life-giving, life-sustaining order. Darkness is more
than just the absence of light. Darkness everywhere in the ancient world was seen as a negative
power; you might even say a demonic power. So it is a power that has to do with chaos. The
closest I can come to its meaning is to say demonic darkness.
o The abyss
“Darkness was over the face of the deep.” Deep has a natural meaning like a well being very
deep. But here it is not that. Here deep is the abyss, the underworld. The abyss is the very
bottom of the underworld, chaos of chaos.
o The waters/many waters: limit
Then we have the word for waters. You will see this word used in the Psalms. It refers to the
chaotic waters. It’s not just the sea. It includes that but goes beyond that. The sea represents
and is chaos, the chaos of the underworld. The sea too is disordered.
o The Sea (Yam)
In Israel no one would hear the word Yam (sea) without being reminded of Canaanite
religion/mythology. The Canaanites had three classes of gods. There was El the supreme god.
Then there was Baal, the sky god. Then there was Asherah, a female deity, earth mother. And
then there were two key gods of the underworld, Yam (sea) and Mot (death). So chaos and
death were closely related.
o The sea monsters (Leviathan/Rahab)
In Gen. 1:21 you have “great sea creatures.” That is really sanitizing it. The Hebrew word refers
to a snake or serpent and therefore a monster and in this case a sea monster. There are two
names given to the sea monster or chaos monster or underworld monster. There is the
Canaanite term Leviathan, the great serpent. And then there is Rahab, the chaos monster from
Egypt identified with the crocodile or hippopotamus in Egyptian mythology.
What God does is not eliminate chaos but orders it. So God doesn’t eliminate darkness but he
orders it so that you have day and night. God doesn’t eliminate the abyss but he establishes the
sky and the land and the sea over the abyss. The waters, which originally covered everything,
God puts in their place. They are ordered in such a way that they water the land without
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destroying life on the land. God take the sea monsters and puts them into the sea where they
belong. They are not allowed on the land. He puts them in their place. They are kind of
domesticated. Ps. 104 says that God created the sea monsters to play with, as his playthings,
completely turning around the view of the ancient world. And what does God do with
formlessness, chaos, and disorder? He orders it. But it’s still there, it’s just been ordered. What
does he do with the emptiness, the void? He fills it. He fills it with good things. He fills it with
life. We will take a break now and then when we come back we’ll go through the various orders
and the various kinds of ordering that we have in Genesis 1. We’ll look at what kind of orders
and ordered world did God create. And it is very, very profound.
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Lecture OT-5b
v=se3w4kLTGf0&list=PL32Gjc1uEM1AUR8LC9JlceA9xFSeZs25Z&index=6

o …
 Violation of cosmic order by human sin
 Establishment of dynamic order with complementary polarities
o Darkness v light
o Night v day
o Abyss v sky/firmament
o Sun v moon and stars
o Fish v birds
o Animals v humans
o Male v female
2. Ordered space with assigned habitats
 Heavens as God’s domain
 Earth as human domain with sky for birds, sea for fish, and land for plants, animals
and people
3. Ordered time
 Daily cycle > extraordinary weekly cycle
 Monthly cycle
 Annual cycle
4. Ecological order with different classes and niches
 Species of vegetation for land
 Species of fishlife for the sea
 Species of birds for the sky
 Species of animals for the land
 People for the land
5. Harmonious order with a set function for everything
 Light for day and night
 Firmament for the separation of earth and sky: space
 Earth for vegetation
 Constellations for days, seasons, and years
 Fish to teem in the sea
 Birds to fly in the sky
 Animals to live on the land
 People to subdue the earth and rule living creatures
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6. Ecological order of dependence and rule
 Dependence of higher orders on lower orders for survival
 Rule of higher orders over lower orders
 Empowerment of higher orders with God’s life-giving blessing for
reproduction and living
7. Creation of good things in a very good world
• Matter as good
• God’s use of physical world to interact with physical people
8. Purpose of human life on earth
• Work and rest with God
• Blessing and sanctification of the Sabbath
• Sabbath as foretaste of eternity
• Worship as rest rather than work
• Eden as archetypal sanctuary
c. God's creation of humanity

1. Kinship of humans with material and biological world
a. Made from the ground/earth and returned to it
b. Animate creatures like birds, fish and animals
c. Blessed for procreation like them
d. Co-residents and partners with land animals
2. Uniqueness of humanity
a. Created by a special decree of God
b. Reception of "the breath of life" from God
c. Creation in God's image and likeness
…
d. Vocation of humanity as God –imaged creatures
…
It is always important when you read the Scriptures to see what they don’t say as well as what
they do say. The heading to the Bible is Gen. 1:1 and it is very significant. It says, “In the
beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” And then immediately after that the focus
is on the earth. What is meant by heavens and earth? The way it is used here, heavens
represents the invisible world, the spiritual world, God’s world. And the earth is not just planet
earth, but the whole physical universe. So in the beginning God created the visible universe and
invisible universe. So there is no further mention of the heavens. And that is done deliberately.
It is deliberately done because it is not your business or my business or human business. It’s
God’s business. In that space you have God’s creation of angels, the whole heavenly realm, also
the fall of angels, Satan, and demons. The curtain is drawn across so that we know very little
about it. The focus is on the visible creation and its order.
There is a very important principle that is applied here. Please turn to Deut. 29:29. Luther
comes back to this passage again and again.
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29
“The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us
and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.
“The secret things” in Hebrew are the hidden things. There are some things that only God
knows about and there are other things that he reveals to us. Christians are not to speculate
about the things that are hidden from us.

What kind of world did God create? An ordered world. He created cosmic order.

o ...
The emphasis in the first couple of verses in Gen. 1 is on God orders chaotic powers for
beneficial purposes. Chaotic is not necessarily evil. It’s neutral. Think of atomic energy. Is it
good or bad? It depends on what you do with it and use it for. It is a great good because of the
energy it provides to us and yet that same power could destroy itself and everything. All of the
things we talked about in the last session (formless and void, darkness, abyss, waters, sea) have
both of those aspects to them. They are neither ultimately good or evil. God doesn’t eliminate
these chaotic powers but he orders them for beneficial purposes.
Let’s turn to Ps. 74:12-17.

12
Yet God my King is from of old,
working salvation in the midst of the earth.
13
You divided the sea by your might;
you broke the heads of the sea monsters on the waters.
14
You crushed the heads of Leviathan;
you gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness.
15
You split open springs and brooks;
you dried up ever-flowing streams.
16
Yours is the day, yours also the night;
you have established the heavenly lights and the sun.
17
You have fixed all the boundaries of the earth;
you have made summer and winter.
This psalm is a lament and in the middle of it there is a strange hymnic fragment. This psalm
uses imagery taken from Canaanite mythology and the battle against chaos. You will remember
that Canaanite religion has to do with the battle between Baal the sky god and Mot the
underworld god. Six months of the year Baal rules (rain and growing season) and six months
Mot rules (drought and dry season). It is a never ending mythological battle that goes on.
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In the psalm it says that God defeated the chaos monsters in order to order the world. He
orders chaotic powers.
 Violation of cosmic order by human sin
If God created a good world where chaos is ordered, (remember at the end of each day God
said, It is good), then the basic question that arises is, Why is there chaos? Why are there fires
and floods and sickness, etc.? The answer that is given in the OT is that it is a result of human
sin. It’s not the fall of Satan, although Satan plays a part in it. That is an audacious claim, which
is rejected by almost all of your contemporaries. But now with the ecological movement, I think
they are opening up again to that possibility.
 Establishment of dynamic order with complementary polarities
What is interesting is that God did not create a static order, a fixed order where everything was
set in stone. It is an order that works within polarities. What are some of these polarities that
work together within this dynamic order?
o Darkness v light
o Night v day
o Abyss v sky/firmament
o Sun v moon and stars
o Fish v birds
o Animals v humans
o Male v female
This is not an exhaustive list. It is illustrative. You also have the polarity of heaven and earth,
and you have God and creature.
2. Ordered space with assigned habitats
So you have an ordered world where everything has a purpose and chaos is ordered and
domesticated and you have polarities within it. And within this ordered world you have ordered
space with assigned habitats.
 Heavens as God’s domain

 Earth as human domain with sky for birds, sea for fish, and land for plants, animals
and people
Here the word “earth” does not refer to the whole universe, but to planet earth. So the earth is
the human domain and particularly it is the land which is the human domain. Each creature has
its niche within the order of creation. The picture behind this is a house. And everything is
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ordered for living it this house. And there are particular rooms that are given for particular
creatures to live in.
3. Ordered time
God also creates ordered time. Just as space isn’t eternal, so also time is not eternal. God
creates time. Three basic cycles that he created are touched on in Gen. 1.
 Daily cycle > extraordinary weekly cycle
Each evening and morning makes a day. That’s the daily cycle of time. And then imposed on
that is the seven-day cycle, which doesn’t fit into anything in the cosmic order.
 Monthly cycle
How is the monthly cycle determined? The phases of the moon, the rotation of the moon
around the earth.
 Annual cycle
Then you have the annual rotation of the earth around the sun that makes up the annual cycle.
And there is a hint here of even a larger picture. It mentions the stars, referring to the
constellations, which refers to the larger rotations of stars to the earth (the zodiac, astrology).
That is what is hinted at when it mentions times and seasons.
4. Ecological order with different classes and niches
Each creature is then broken down into various classes and niches. Species might be the wrong
word when speaking in modern terms. It’s referring very large classification of creatures.
 Species of vegetation for land

 Species of fish life for the sea
 Species of birds for the sky
 Species of animals for the land
 People for the land
Each of the species has an ecological niche that they function and live in.
5. Harmonious order with a set function for everything
This order is a harmonious order. It is dynamic with polarities but there is a harmony in it. There
is a set function for each part of God’s creation. It’s not a random order. Each creature has its
own niche, its own support system, but it also has its function within the whole order.
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 Light for day and night
Light is created to separate day and night.
 Firmament for the separation of earth and sky: space
The firmament was created to create space for plants and animals and people to live in.
 Earth for vegetation
The earth is created to produce and sustain vegetation.
 Constellations for days, seasons, and years
They have a purpose beyond themselves. They have a purpose in the ordering of creation.
 Fish to teem in the sea

 Birds to fly in the sky
 Animals to live on the land
 People to subdue the earth and rule living creatures
Human beings are created in the image of God to do two things, to rule over the animals and to
subdue the earth. We will come to and talk more about this.
6. Ecological order of dependence and rule
 Dependence of higher orders on lower orders for survival
What we have here, to use a modern term, is an ecological order. By this I mean that everything
is interdependent. It’s not just a bunch of random things put together with no connection with
each other. They are dependent on each other. So if you affect part of the order it affects the
whole order.
 Rule of higher orders over lower orders
Modern people have no trouble with dependence. Where they have a problem is with the
notion of rule. The notion of rule goes beyond science. The higher orders depend on the lower
orders for their survival. The higher orders “rule” over the lower orders. We use the word
“rule” here in a different way than what we usually use it.
 Empowerment of higher orders with God’s life-giving blessing for

reproduction and living
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Lastly and most amazingly, God empowers the higher orders, which are birds and fish, animals
and human beings, with his blessing. God empowers them with life-giving blessing so they can
reproduce. What God does is delegate some of his own life-power to human beings and to
animals for them to use as custodians of his creation, as those who work with him in caring for
creation.
7. Creation of good things in a very good world
Seeing material things as good is radical in the ancient world and increasingly in our modern
world where we are once again are going to a metaphysical kind of a dualism where spiritual is
considered good and physical is considered bad.
• Matter as good
Right at the beginning, the Bible makes it quite clear that everything that God created,
everything physical, is good and the whole created order is very good. This means that matter is
not antithetical to God. It’s not antithetical to God’s Spirit. In fact God uses matter to do his
work.
• God’s use of physical world to interact with physical people
His Spirit works through material things. That is very important when you come to incarnation
and the Sacraments.
8. Purpose of human life on earth
Lastly, the order is teleological. It has a goal. It has a purpose, a telos, an aim to it. The accounts
of creation show God’s purpose for life on earth.
• Work and rest with God
Most importantly God created humans to do two things – to work with him and to rest with
him. In pagan mythology, the gods were always resting and the people were doing all the work.
The OT says that God both works and rests and that humans beings are meant to work with
God and rest with God. That is the basic pattern to be followed for human life on earth. And
actually resting is more important than working.
• Blessing and sanctification of the Sabbath
Strangely, God sanctifies the Sabbath day. He blesses it so that it becomes a means of blessing
for those who rest with him. And he sanctifies it as a means by which he sanctifies people and
his creation. And most of the rest of the Bible fills in that spot.
• Sabbath as foretaste of eternity
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The Sabbath day, the day of rest, is a foretaste of eternity now in time. Now that leads to
another ancient notion. The six days represent this age and the seventh day represents the age
to come. The age to come is the age of the eternal Sabbath. So then every seventh day is a
window of time into eternity or a foretaste of eternity in time. You won’t be able to understand
Jewish theology and the practice of the Sabbath unless you see this as the very heart of it.
• Worship as rest rather than work
Most radically, we have here a complete redefinition of what worship is. In all pagan forms of
religion, worship is work. The people work for their gods. So rituals they perform are work for
their gods. Right at the beginning God created human beings not to work for him, but to rest
with him. They are to stop working so that he can do his work on them, which is to bless them
and keep them holy.
• Eden as archetypal sanctuary
You can see this Gen. 2. God created Eden as the archetypal sanctuary, the first temple, the first
place of worship, a kind of colony of heaven on earth.
Some discussion about the Sabbath. The day is not as important as taking the time to hear
God’s Word because in it God blesses us and makes us holy. The kind of resting it is is us resting
from our works, our attempts to make something of ourselves, our attempts to justify
ourselves, so that God can do his work on us and bless us and keep us holy. Have a look at
Luther’s explanation of the Sabbath and the third commandment in the large catechism. In
observing the Sabbath we get physical benefit as well as spiritual benefit for us to fulfill God’s
purpose for us in creation.

As you know, one of the key terms in Gen. 1-5 is the Hebrew term “adam.” It is closely related
to the ground, the soil. It can mean one of the following things:
 Most obviously, it is humanity. It can be used as a collective term which refers to all of
humankind. In this sense it is generic. “God created adam” means God created
humanity.
 Secondly, it can be a particular human being. Each one of us is an adam. Each of us is a
human being.
 Thirdly, it can be used for a male person. So when “God created adam from the dust of
the earth,” he created a male person.
 Fourthly, it can also be the name of the first male person, Adam, a proper name.
So we need to see that range of terminology in Genesis.
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The first thing Genesis says about human beings is it asserts that we human beings belong to
the family of animals. Take notice that God created animals and human beings on the same
day. We have a kinship with animals and we have a kinship with the material and biological
world. We are all physical creatures made up of atoms and molecules. We also like animals are
biological creatures. Most of our DNA is shared with plants and animals.
How is this expressed in Genesis? God created adam from the earth and human beings return
to the earth. So we are physical creatures. Secondly, we are animate creatures. We are not just
adam, but we have “nephesh”. Nephesh also has a wide range of meaning:
 It most literally has to do with breath.
 It has to do with life-power. If you say your nephesh is leaving you, you are saying your
life-power is leaving your body.
 And it can mean person or soul. When you ask, How many persons are in this room? You
are using it in that way. You are asking, How many animate creatures are in this room?
What other creatures have nephesh and are nephesh? Animals, birds, and fish. We are nephesh
with all other breathing creatures. We have life breath. So there is a difference between plants
on the one hand and animals and human being on the other hand. Animals and human beings
breathe with lungs, whereas, plants absorb oxygen.
God blessed all of the animate creatures so that they could procreate. He gives us the power to
procreate.
Of all living creatures, the land animals are closest to us. There are wild animals and
domesticated animals. The domesticated animals become part of the family. So sheep and
goats and cattle are like part of the family. There is an interdependence between humans and
animals. Next time we will pick up with the uniqueness of humanity. For next time, look at the
Hebrew for Gen. 1:26-28.
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Lecture OT-6a
v=KSOgVcfNfng&list=PL32Gjc1uEM1AUR8LC9JlceA9xFSeZs25Z&index=7

• Contrast with pagan idols as images of the gods
• Status of whole person rather than mind, soul/personality, or spirit
• Co-existence of both sexes in God's image
• Derivation of being and function from God rather than themselves
or animals or physical world
• Idolatry as the perversion of God- imaged humanity (Ps 106:19-20;
115:4-8)
• Royal status and function from God (Ps 8:3-8)
• Tasks: procreation, subduing the earth, rule over animals
• Potential recipients of God's blessing and holiness

...
The OT makes two assertions about human beings. On the one hand, there is the recognition
that human beings are creatures like all other creatures on earth, physical, biological creatures.
And of all the creatures, human beings are closest to the animals that inhabit the land. We
share the land with them. And we are closest to the quadrupeds, the four legged creatures. And
of them, we are closest to those that can be domesticated.
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On the other hand, there is a stress on the uniqueness of human beings. Not just some human
beings or some races but every human being without exception. There is something unique
about them and there is something mysterious as to what the uniqueness is. Because
outwardly there is nothing obvious that makes us physically or scientifically different from
anything else that God has created. There are a number of ways that this is asserted.
First of all, God made a special decree for the creation of humanity. He didn’t just say, Let there
be but he said, Let us make adam (humanity) in our image. Notice the plural (us, our) there,
which could be taken in one of three ways. And when considering things like this, watch out for
false antitheses. This use of the plural includes a measure of all three. First, it is the royal we
where God is making an important and official decree. Secondly, it is obviously addressed to the
angels. And thirdly, right from the beginning, the church fathers were quite right in
understanding in Trinitarian terms. Let us, Father, Son , and Holy Spirit, make humanity in our
image. It’s not just the Father who is at work in creation but the Son and the Spirit are at work
in creation too. That is taught very clearly in the NT. So there is a special decision and a special
decree being made here.
Remember that when God made Adam he made him from the dust of the ground and he
breathed in Adam “the breath of life.” There is a mysterious term used here. It is different than
nephesh (life-breath, breathing through the throat makes and keeps us alive or a living person).
The term used here is related to nephesh but it is also very closely related to the term for Spirit.
What is important here is that God breathed into Adam some of his own life-breath. He
breathes something of himself into Adam. That is as far as we can go with this. This term was
used because your breath is something you can’t pin down physically. It’s mysterious.
Elsewhere this is understood as a term for God’s Spirit being placed in human beings and
animating human beings.
Let’s look at the distinction between nephesh and ruach. Once again there is a huge semantic
range. Ruach means wind, air. It can be a storm, breath, spirit. How then is ruach related to
nephesh? Ruach is the life-power that animates a creature and makes it possible for that
creature to be a nephesh, a living being. So ruach is animating life-power and nephesh is
animated life-power.
The OT doesn’t stop there. It touches on something that is utterly mysterious and wonderful
and far reaching and completely and totally controversial, something anti-cultural in both the
ancient world and the modern world. God says in Genesis that he made human beings in his
image. That’s what we want to look at now. To do that we are going to look at the Hebrew in
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Gen. 1. There are some things here that are not apparent in translation. Dr. Kleinig went
through the Hebrew and translated and explained it.
“And God said, Let us make adam (generic for humanity, humankind, mankind, humanity as a
whole) in our image.” This word image is very vague and fuzzy in our modern times because we
live in an image saturated society. When we think of an image, we think in terms of TV and
photography. Dr. Kleinig had written 4 meanings of the word translated as image on the board.
(1) The first thing that would have come to the minds of the ancients would have been a statue.
In the ancient world a statue would have been made for two beings. (2) They had statues of
gods and they had statues of kings. Most commonly the statues were for gods and so those
statues were idols. So you could translate is as: “Let us make humanity as our idol.” That’s
what ancient people would have heard when this was read. Remember that the first
commandment forbids idols. Why does it forbid idols? Because God has already made
humanity as his idol, as his icon. (3) A third level of understanding of this term is copy, picture, a
drawing, a model of something. (4) It can also be used more abstractly in terms of likeness or
resemblance. So when God says, Let us make man in our image, he is saying he is making
human beings to resemble him in some way. It doesn’t mean that God and humans are
identical or exactly the same in all respects, but they resemble God in some respects.
Notice the plural, Let us. If “us” includes the angels, then human beings don’t just resemble
God, but they also resemble the angels. “as our idol, according to our likeness (or
resemblance).” Or it could be, “as our likeness.” Notice that it is not “in our likeness.” So this
excludes the idea that humans are gods. Sometimes people run into problems by lifting that
sentence out of context. (He explained some Hebrew grammar rules. The way that “And” is
used here means that it is giving purpose or consequence. This means that instead of “and” it
could be translated as “so that.”) “So that they (notice the plural) may rule over (We will come
back to this verb-rule. It causes all kinds of problems.) the fish life of the sea and the bird life of
the sky and over livestock (large four legged creatures) and over the whole of the earth (land)
and over the whole of the small animals (or small creatures) that crawl (or teem) upon the
land.
Now notice the contrast here. First God used the word for human craftsman: make. But now in
v. 27 he uses a theologically heavy word: created. “And God created adam (or man) in (or as)
his image, in the image of God he created it (humanity), male and female he created them.”
There is something very interesting here by the way it is arranged. You get a chiasm with an
addition (see diagram below), which is very significant and has theological great weight. Notice
you have two parts. The first part of the chiasm is: “God created humanity.” “in his/God’s
image” is repeated twice. “he created it” mirrors the first phrase “God created humanity.” So at
this point the second part merely restates the first part in reverse order. But then comes an
extension where “male and female” corresponds with “in his/God’s image.” And then “he
created them” is repeated. So in this structure, humanity, it, and them all refer to the same
thing. So when it says God created humanity, it means God created male and female. Humanity
means male and female. Male and female are together are the image of God.
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There has always been the temptation to see one of the sexes as spiritually more significant
than the other. In a matriarchal society this would be the female sex. In a patriarchal society
this would be male sex. But here it says that both male and female together bear the image of
God.
God created humanity

in/as his image,
in/as the image of God
he created it,
male and female
he created them.
There is something here that is very important for our modern debate that we will discuss more
in our next period. One of the most important dogmas of modernism and post modernism is
the distinction between sex and gender. All of the debate revolves around the separation of sex
and gender. In modern thinking, sex is biologically given. You are either male or female, with a
few aberrations. Sex is a biological term. What is gender? It is a social construct. How many
genders are there? Many. This view of gender is a modern dogma.
Now if you explore the Hebrew terms for “male and female,” you will find that they are both
biological and gender. Those terms are used for both. The idea today that gender is not given is
not a new idea. It is very old and very pagan. What is being asserted here is not just that
physical sexually is given by God but so also is gender. Gender is a divinely given thing and
therefore has ontological significance. And that is where the debate is today, whether gender is
ontological or not. Now if this is true, that God created male and female in his image, then you
can’t put homosexuality and heterosexuality on the same level.
Notice that it is male and female together that bear the image of God. There is something very
mysterious about this. Karl Barth and others have made a great point in Christian terms that the
reason for this is because God is not an isolated individual but God is trinity, a community of
persons. So since God is trinity therefore you need community to bear his image. And what is
the most fundamental unit of human society? Male and female.
Some discussion about this. Modern people accept that we are all human and being human is
important but being male or female is not important. Which is total nonsense because you
never live as a generic human being. You are always either male or female. Since this is true,
you will be either male or female in eternity. This idea of choosing your gender is the key
dogma of post modernism. It is accepted without question.
Let’s go on with verse 28. And he blessed them. Why does it have “them”? So that you
understand that God blessed not only male people but also female people. He blesses both
together. Both sexes equally are blessed by God.
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It continues on by telling us how God blessed them. He blessed them by what he said to them.
So it is understood in English as, “And God blessed them by saying to them ...” His command to
them is also him blessing them.
And God said to them, “Be fruitful (has to do with fertility) and increase in number (It’s
growth, but it’s more than that. It has to do with full development of human beings. Reach its
full potential.) and fill the earth (the land) and subdue it (subdue is another contentious word
we will discuss in a minute. There has been a powerful case made by the ecological movement,
which is anti-Christian, that Christianity is responsible for the current ecological crisis. This is
because they believe that here in verse 28 people are given the license to exploit the earth. We
will look closely at that.) and rule over the fish-life of the sea and the bird-life of the sky and
over every living creature that crawls (or moves) upon the earth.
Let’s consider two words from this verse. The first is translated as “rule”. When we hear the
word rule, we tend to think in political terms. This Hebrew word is not used in the OT to refer to
what kings do (rule). Other words are used for that. This is a word used for establishing and
maintaining cosmic order. And it also has to do with farming and looking after land. Its primary
meaning is to tread on or tread over. It is very concrete like most Hebrew words are. So
humanity is to tread over the earth and tread over the animals. In the ancient world, if you took
possession over a piece of land, you would walk over it and around it. This indicated that you
were not only taking ownership but also responsibility for it. But it also has the idea of
establishing and maintaining order. And in this context what is the order that is to be
maintained? It’s God’s order to look after land and animals so that they are used properly as
God had intended. Stewardship would be a good word that is close to this. The same word can
also be used negatively. You can trample down your enemy, which means putting your enemies
in their place. They are threatening the order of the world so you tread over them, meaning
you put them in their place, reestablishing order. That is the verb that’s used for “rule over.”
A question from a student. Part of the problem is the English word “rule.” The meaning here
has to do with taking care of something. This is a responsibility term, using power in the proper
way to maintain order and to make sure things work properly.
The Septuagint (the Greek translation of the OT) translates this verb with a word that means to
pioneer, to found something. It has a secondary sense of to rule over, to act as head, and to
take care of something. So the idea is that you establish order and then you maintain that
order.
Now the word translated as “subdue” is closely related to the word “rule.” It is a virtual
synonym of it. It means to tread down. It can be used negatively, meaning to stomp on
something. But it can also be used positively, meaning to put something down and in its proper
place. It is usually translated as subdue in a positive sense. So for instance, if a lion escapes its
cage at the zoo, you subdue it by capturing it and putting back in its cage where it belongs. You
don’t kill the lion. You reestablish order. You put it back in its proper place. Subdue here in this
passage has to do with maintaining order, with subordinating something. Don’t get freaked out
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about subordinate. Ordinate means to put in its proper order. It has the idea of order in it,
putting back in order. So it means to defend from evil and chaotic powers, to put to good use.
So we read in Joshua that the land of Canaan was subdued in the presence of the Lord. What
does that mean? It was put back into proper order. Wild animals were dealt with. Enemies that
exploited and abused the land were dealt with. Order was restored to the land so that it could
realize its potential and people could thrive in the land.
Rule has to do with putting in order and subdue has to do with maintaining order.
Student question about translating the Hebrew to other languages. Some words are almost
impossible to translate and get their proper meaning. Sometimes the Bible uses a meaning for a
word that is different from the way we usually use a word. So everywhere in the Bible God
takes terms and uses them in a different way than what we do. So to be a good exegete you
have to listen for the subversive way that God uses words. We touched on this yesterday. God
takes things used by paganism in society and he turns them on its head.
• Contrast with pagan idols as images of the gods
Let’s draw all of this together. God created humanity in his image and likeness. What we have
here has to be understood against the whole theology and ideology of idols. You can only get a
full sense of this if you understand what was involved in idolatry in the ancient world and is still
involved with some religions today like Hinduism and to some extent Buddhism. There is a
contrast here between human beings and statutes of gods. Now it was little different in Egypt.
There were some human beings who were said to be the image of a god. Who was it? Pharaoh.
That is as far as paganism goes. They are an image of a god, but they are not in the image of
god. They are statutes of a god.
What is revolutionary here is that it is not a king that is in the image of God (like Pharaoh) but
every single human being, from an infant in the womb to the most powerful person on earth,
male and female, sick and healthy – all are equally made in the image of God. This idea has
been hard to sustain. For example, there were many people who did not want to evangelize the
Aborigines. The reason why? Those who latched onto Darwin’s theory of evolution considered
them to be sub-human. Therefore they didn’t have a soul and therefore there was no point in
having a mission for them. Lutherans and other Christians did evangelize them and they did it
based on Gen. 1 – God created humanity in his image and humanity includes every single race.
• Status of whole person rather than mind, soul/personality, or spirit
Notice that the whole person is made in the image of God. One of the dead ends that the
Church has gotten in to is to say that some part of a human being is made in the image of God.
 The old understanding which goes all the way back to the early church is that the mind
or intellect is made in the image of God. So what is the difference between human
beings and animals? People have minds, reason, intellect and animals don’t. So in this
way of thinking the God-like part of me is my ability to reason. That is not untrue, but
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that is not what Genesis says. It says God created humanity in his image. And the accent
is not on the mind but on sex, male and female.
 The second thing that was thought to make human beings different was that we have
emotions, we have a capacity to feel. The romantic movement took it a step further and
said that human beings have an imagination. So the ability to feel and imagine makes us
like God. Hence the romantics talked about the privileged artists because they have an
imagination. So they said imagination is divine. They said God has a fantastic
imagination. Look at the amazing world he created. So human beings that have a high
level of imagination are more like God than others who have no imagination.
 The modern spin on this is that what makes humans like God is the fact that we have an
identity, a spirit, a soul, that we are persons. So what makes us like God is our self-
consciousness. Animals don’t have self-consciousness.
There is a partial truth in all of these but Gen. 1 says that the whole person, with its body, mind
(with its capacity to feel, imagine, think, have a will), and self-consciousness is made in the
image of God. That is radical and it is very important because there is no dualism here. Dualism
cuts human beings into two parts, the body and the spirit. The whole person is made in the
image of God.
• Co-existence of both sexes in God's image
Both sexes are equally in the image of God and they bear the image of God together. Whether
you are married or not you bear the image of God together with the opposite sex. Human
beings are made in such a way that to realize our potential we need to have both sexes. To see
the truthfulness of this, go somewhere there is an all male or all female society. You will find it
to be very dehumanizing. We need each other to realize our humanity.
• Derivation of being and function from God rather than themselves

or animals or physical world
In what way are human beings like God? That is the question. Gen. 1 explains it in two ways and
one of those ways is left unexplained.
1. First of all they are like God in that they procreate. As male and female they procreate.
And it’s not just procreation but it is child rearing, growing, filling the earth. God is the
origin of life but most miraculously God makes human beings like himself by giving
them the power to have and raise children, to establish a family, and to live together
as families on the earth. God is the creator of humanity and human beings are like God
in that they “create” life. They actually don’t create life. God uses people to create
human beings.
So when a child is born, God doesn’t snap his fingers and say, Let there be Louise.
Instead he has a husband and wife have sex and through that means he creates a child.
So God uses us to procreate. And through procreation we receive a part of the image of
God. But notice that having a baby is a result of being in the image of God. Also notice
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that you can’t turn it around and say, only those people who procreate are in the image
of God or if you don’t have children you are less of a human being than those that do.
2. The second way we are like God is that we rule and subdue the earth, animals, and fish.
God created the earth, animals, and fish and he rules over them. God created order and
rules over order and he gave human beings the ability to rule over the earth with him.
Normally we think of kings ruling over their kingdom. So human beings are royalty and it
is shown by the fact that they rule.
So in what ways are we like God? We have the capacity to procreate and God has given
us the earth and animals to care for and be stewards of, to look after and to put to good
use for our benefit and for the benefit of all creatures on the earth. This doesn’t make
us in the image of God. This is a result of being in the image of God.
Our identities do not come from being male or female or being married or not. Our
identity is not created by our sexuality. Our identity is given by God. Likewise, you can’t
discover who you are by asking, How am I like an animal or some other part of creation?
We derive our identity from God, from being like God.
But notice that being like God is a mystery. What is not explained is exactly how we are
like God! [Because we are like God we can procreate and be stewards of the earth.] But
exactly how we are like God is never explained. Go to the NT and what is the likeness of
God replaced with? Who is not in the image of God, but is the image of God? Jesus
Christ. He is the visible image of the invisible God. He bears the stamp of the Father’s
being. He is the icon of the Father. If you’ve seen Jesus you have seen the Father. But
also notice that if you’ve seen Jesus, you’ve seen a true human being (humanity) who
has reached his full potential. What does a human being as God first intended look like?
Jesus. If you want to see yourself and what you were meant to look like, you don’t
compare yourself to other people, you look at Jesus.
• Idolatry as the perversion of God- imaged humanity (Ps 106:19-20;

115:4-8)
If all of this stuff about image of God that we’ve discussed is true, then idolatry is taking
a creature and putting it in the place of God, taking a creature and treating it as if it
were God. Doing this reverses the order and distorts and perverts the image of God. So
even Hitler and Stalin bear the image of God, but it is obviously perverted. This
perversion causes human beings to lose some of their humanity. This is very, very
profound and important and it means that idolatry is the sin of the first commandment,
the worst sin there is. It is far worse than any of the sins of the second table of the Law.
It is a perversion of our being. Let’s take a look at a passage that picks up on this. Or
maybe we’ll look at two passages. The second one is quite witty. First let’s look at Ps.
106:19-20.
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19
They made a calf in Horeb
and worshiped a metal image.
20
They exchanged the glory of God
for the image of an ox that eats grass
They exchanged their glory. What was their glory? God was their glory. And they
exchanged it for an ox that eats grass. What is the sarcasm here? They are no longer like
God but have become like a dumb ox. They became ox-like instead of God-like. They
became subhuman. In other words, you are like what you worship.
Let’s look at another passage and let’s see if you can get the sarcasm and irony in it.
Look at Ps. 115:4-8.
4
Their idols are silver and gold,
the work of human hands.
5
They have mouths, but do not speak;
eyes, but do not see.
6
They have ears, but do not hear;
noses, but do not smell.
7
They have hands, but do not feel;
feet, but do not walk;
and they do not make a sound in their throat.
8
Those who make them become like them;
so do all who trust in them.
What is the irony and sarcasm? A student said, These gods are useless; they’re good for
nothing. And those who worship them will be the same. The answer is, just as an idol
has eyes but cannot see, so the one who worships it will become blind. Idols can’t hear,
therefore those who worship them become deaf. They become like the idols and they
lose their humanity. Their human capacities are perverted. They see physically, but they
no longer can see spiritually. They lose the ability to see, hear, speak, smell, feel, and
walk spiritually. They lose their ability to know God. And therefore their capacity to
know themselves and to know the world is lost. If you could see with the eyes of God,
then you would see God at work everywhere in every detail. You would see the glory of
God sparkling everywhere, with everything reflecting something of God. But the result
of the Fall and of idolatry is that we’ve become deaf and dumb and blind, insensitive
and desensitized to God and what he is doing. So human beings are made in the image
of God and that is the basis for the prohibition of idols. We will pick up more on this
when we come to the first commandment. Let’s take a break and when we come back I
will tie this together and go on to the relationship between male and female that we’ve
touched on already.
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Lecture OT-6b
v=r88pvHYfLg4&list=PL32Gjc1uEM1AUR8LC9JlceA9xFSeZs25Z&index=8

...
...
d. God's creation of marriage
1. The use of the term 'adam
a. 'Adam
 Humanity
 Adam as the proper name for the primal man v Eve
 Adam as the proper name for humanity
b. Ha'adam
 The human race
 The primal male person
 The primal husband
2. Similarity of male and female
a. Common humanity
b. Creation in God's image
 Common mandate
 Common blessing
c. Common fallen state
3. Dissimilarity of male and female
...
4. Character of marriage as a divinely created community
...
5. God as the marriage celebrant (2:22)

...
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...
The emphasis in Gen. 1 is not on what way are human beings like God, but what is the vocation
of human beings as creatures made in the image of God. Now this is one of the foundations of
Lutheran teaching on vocation. This is the vocation not just of Christians, but the vocation of all
human beings.
What is our vocation? What is our calling? What is our mission as human beings? Quite simply,
we are to work with God and to rest with God. Not work for God but work with God. And we do
that because we are made in the image of God. Consequently we have royal status. Let’s read
Ps. 8:3-8 in which we hear something very important about what it means to be in the image of
God.
3
When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
4
what is man that you are mindful of him,
and the son of man that you care for him?
5
Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
and crowned him with glory and honor.
6
You have given him dominion over the works of your hands;
you have put all things under his feet,
7
all sheep and oxen,
and also the beasts of the field,
8
the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea,
whatever passes along the paths of the seas.
Notice that this is built on Gen. 1 but there is something added here. It says that God has made
humanity a little lower than the angels but has given human beings honor and majesty (see v.
5). God has made human beings as regents, coregents under him. They aren’t absolute
monarchs but governors or regents. They rule with God and they have royal status. So all
human beings are royalty. In pagan thinking, certain human beings are privileged, are royalty.
But God says all human beings are God’s royalty. And every human being rules the world
together with God.
By the way the word translated as “under his feet” (v. 6) is picked up in the NT where it says
that that Jesus put everything under his feet. This is the word for subordinate. So the language
of subordination, which is very contentious, has its root in this whole frame of discourse.
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Human beings have a royal status and they have a royal function. Now the Jewish tradition and
the Orthodox tradition does this very dramatically at every wedding ceremony. The bride and
bridegroom go under a canopy and they are crowned with wreaths, so their wedding ceremony
is their coronation ceremony.
Just a little aside. This teaching has been very influential in the western world against tyranny,
against the overextended claims of kings, and for the establishment of democracy in the west.
This is because all people are made in the image of God. So the English notion of the
sovereignty of the people is not primarily a legal, political doctrine, but it came from the
Puritans who got it from the OT. That is a bedrock of the whole political system of the west.
This political doctrine was originally a theological doctrine.
Now what are the tasks of human beings? It is to procreate and procreate doesn’t mean just
having children but also raising children so that human beings reach their full potential, the
whole gamut of family life. They are to subdue the earth, take care of the earth. And they are to
rule over the animals. However, what is interesting here, as always not just what Genesis says,
but what it doesn’t say. God did not create human beings to rule over whom? Other human
beings. This has also been very important in western history and the influence of the OT and
the development of our political system. Of course humans do rule. We need someone to look
after things, but God did not create human beings to rule over human beings. His rule is
restricted to rule over the earth and animals.
A student made a comment that if we lived in an Eden-esque world we wouldn’t need human
beings to rule over us. That’s true in the way that we usually understand rule. But there is rule
in the sense of order. But in an Eden-esque world you don’t need someone to enforce order
because everybody would live in an ordered way.
(Some discussion about the rule and power of governments. When things go right, there is little
use for government. Governments usually step in only when things go wrong. That is the God-
given role of government. You need to realize how profoundly the democratic system of
government has deep theological roots and you can’t transfer it to other cultures that don’t
have a Christian substructure.)
Notice that these are not just the tasks of Christians or Jews. This is the task of every human
being. Every human being is called to do God’s work and to work with God. That is fundamental
to Luther’s teaching on vocation and Luther’s teaching on the two kingdoms. Coming out of this
then Luther would say that a wise atheist could be a better king than a Christian fool. We
Lutherans are minority on this because most Christians only see God at work in the Church, not
at work in society. And if they do see him at work in society, they see him only at work in a
negative way of God’s judgment. There is an element of truth in it but there is more to it.
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Lastly, you can’t have a look at what God says about creating man in his image without seeing it
in its context. You would have expected the creation story to stop at day six. But its climax
comes in day seven, where God rests from his work of creation and he blesses and sanctifies
the seventh day. By doing so, he fills in or points to the gap in how humanity is like God. How
are human beings like God? A clue is given in this business of blessing and sanctifying. Paul picks
this up in the NT when he talks about us being renewed in Christ and that the image of God,
which has been distorted (it hasn’t been totally lost), is restored in Jesus and is restored in all
righteousness and holiness. So through Christ sharing his righteousness and holiness, we
human beings are restored in the image of God, sharing as recipients in God’s blessing (all of
God’s blessings not just physical blessings but also spiritual blessings, which includes the gift of
the Holy Spirit) and we share in God’s holiness. We then mediate God’s blessing and holiness to
each other and to the world. So this helps to fill in the unknown as to how we are like God.
(Some discussion about what it means to fill the earth and not over fill it. Being made in God’s
image means we have responsibilities. These passages open up so many controversial and very
important topics in our society.)
(Also some discussion about whether the image of God is lost. It is lost in terms of
righteousness and holiness. Yet human beings are still in the image of God in terms of
procreation and rule/stewardship. Some aspects of God’s image are lost. This is seen most
clearly in the areas of sexuality and imagination.)
(Some discussion about the image of God in terms of male and female and how Christ came as
a male. This touches on not only homosexuality but also the ordination of women.)

Gen. 1 focuses on the big world, God’s creation and ordering of the big world, the cosmos. But
for most of us the big world is not of immediate, practical significance. Our life is lived in a little
world, the little world that we experience. And that focuses on home and family and work. You
came into existence in a marriage of two human beings in a home. Your life began with your
parents, with your brothers and sisters, in a home, in a particular place. That’s the little world of
human beings.
The most important thing about the big world is the seventh day. God’s plan for the big world
revolves around the seventh day. What’s interesting is that God’s plan for the little world (Gen.
2) culminates in the creation of woman. She is the crown of creation in the little world and with
woman comes the creation of marriage. The focus in the little world is woman, wife, marriage.
If there is an area of controversy, it’s the area of marriage. And you will need to do a lot of
teaching about marriage. Most people of younger generations have rejected what they regard
as the traditional notion of marriage, which they identify with the Christian notion of marriage.
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So it is common for young couples to live together, not realizing what damage they are doing to
themselves and society by doing this.
What you need to do is to teach Christians (forget about the people outside the Church) the
importance of marriage and the place of marriage and the understanding of marriage. Dr.
Kleinig’s feeling, which is based on 40-some years of pastoral experience, is that one of the
reasons for the great apostasy of the Church in Australia has to do with sex and marriage. This
means if you are going to re-evangelize Australia, you won’t be able to dodge the question of
marriage. If you are going to minister to people of your generation all the way back to the older
generation, you will have to face that question of sex and marriage. This is because one of the
reasons why people have gone away from the Church is guilt in this area or rejection of the
Church’s teaching in this area. It’s a big topic and we can only touch on it.
First of all you must understand what is meant by the term “adam” and the way that it is used.
It is used in two ways in Gen. 1-9. It’s used either with an article or without one.
a. 'Adam
 Humanity
If adam is used without an article, it refers to humanity. God created adam in his image; he
created humanity in his image.
 Adam as the proper name for the primal man v Eve
Secondly, if it is used without an article, it can be used as a proper name for the first male
person, Adam. The opposite of Adam is Eve.
 Adam as the proper name for humanity
When God says he created man in his image, it is again adam without the article. The name
given to the whole human race is “man” (adam).
All of these uses for adam create problems with translation. It would be too confusing to refer
to the first human being as Adam and to refer to the whole human race as Adam.
b. Ha'adam
If you have an article, it can be used in three ways.
 The human race
First, it wouldn’t make sense to say: the humanity. So when there is an article, we say the
human race. It is an inclusive term without exceptions. It includes all human beings.
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 The primal male person
Secondly, it can refer to the primal male person, which of course is Adam.
 The primal husband
Thirdly, it can be used in a much more narrow sense. It can refer to the first primal husband. In
this sense it’s not just the first primal male person, but the first primal husband, the first human
being who was the first husband of the first wife.
We’ve already touched on this. The first word in the Bible is not on the differences between
male and female but the similarities.
a. Common humanity
Male and female together have a common humanity. Both are full human beings. And it’s not
like they are both incomplete and they need each other to be full human beings. Each
individual person, whether male or female or whether married or single, is a complete human
being. They all share a common humanity.
b. Creation in God's image
We are all equally alike, created in God’s image.
 Common mandate
All human beings share God’s mandate to be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it.
 Common blessing
All human beings are equally blessed by God within the order of creation. And this is totally
countercultural because we divide human beings into classes and races and say that some are
better than others or more superior than others. God’s blessing of creation applies equally to all
human beings.
c. Common fallen state
Even more countercultural is that all human beings are equally fallen. There are no inferior
races or no immoral races or groups. We’ve all been equally devastated by sin.
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Lecture OT-7a
v=gKjRUda9ebU&list=PL32Gjc1uEM1AUR8LC9JlceA9xFSeZs25Z&index=9

...
...
a. Gender: male and female
b. Identity: husband/man and wife/woman
c. Family role: father and mother
a. Primacy of the man/husband
 Creation before woman: headship
 Naming of animals and woman
 Commission as “priest”: care of garden (2:15-17)
 Derivation of woman from his ribcage: self-sacrifice
 Accountability (3:9)
b. Woman as the counterpart/complement in marriage (2:20)
 Stronger companionship than kinship:"bone of bone"
 Partnership with husband: "helper"
 Interdependence: 'ish and 'ishshah
c. Woman as the crown of creation
 Centre of marriage: leaving and cleaving of husband
 Life-giver and mother (3:10)
d. Unity as "one flesh": man’s leaving and cleaving (2:24)

...
...
The focus of Gen. 1 is on God’s creation of the big world. The focus in Gen. 2 is on God’s
creation of the little world, the little world of our experience, the human world. And the focus
of the that little world is a garden and marriage and home. One of the most important passages
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in the Bible which deals with a very profound theology of marriage, which is totally different to
pagan theologies of marriage is found in Gen. 2. And that is what we will focus on, ever be it so
briefly.
In the last session, we spoke about the emphasis on the similarity between male and female.
They have a common humanity (both are adam), common creation in God’s image and all that
that entails, and something we should never forget is our common fallen state. There has
always been a tendency of human beings to declare one or the other sexes as superior or
inferior spiritually.
While Genesis emphasizes the similarities between men and women, it also emphasizes the
dissimilarity between male and female. And there are three things that are emphasized, all
rather obvious, at least until modern times.
a. Gender: male and female
First there is the dissimilarity of gender. God purposely created humans as male and female.
These are not accidental differences. These differences are inbuilt into creation and are
connected with the image of God.
b. Identity: husband/man and wife/woman
Building on that, there is the dissimilarity of identity. And within this there is a whole play on
words with the Hebrew words “ish” and “ishah”. Ish can be male but it can also be a husband.
Ishah is connected to Ish. It is the same word with a feminine ending. They are similar yet
different. The male identity had to do with being a [male] husband. The female identity had to
do with a [woman] wife. Husband and wife comes out of being male and female.
c. Family role: father and mother
The third dissimilarity is in the family roles of father and mother. There is a very strong
emphasis on Eve, the first woman, being the mother of all the living. Eve means life giver. As a
mother, she is a life giver, the mother of the human family as Adam is the father of the human
family.
Coming out of these identities is marriage as divinely created community. One of the lies of
western individualism is to see that the smallest social unit is the individual. An important
dogma to western cultures is that humans start out as isolated individuals and then that they
contract themselves into relationships. This is a very important modern teaching but it
contradicts realities. We were born in community. We live in community. We die in community.
You never exist as an isolated individual. After conception by your father and mother, you grow
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in your mother’s womb and live within a family. So the smallest social unit is not one, but three
– mother, father, child. The fundamental building block of human community is the nuclear
family, that mini-community. That is God-given, God-created, and God-provided. Luther said it
is one of God’s holy orders, the order of family, the order of marriage. It precedes the fall.
What is the order of marriage? What does Genesis tell us about it? There are four things that
we will highlight. All of them are somewhat debated and controversial.
a. Primacy of the man/husband
The first thing that Genesis emphasizes is the primacy of the man. All primacy means here is the
order in which man and woman were created. We are not using it in terms of power. God
created the man, Adam, first and he created Eve second. Paul picks up on this in 1 Tim. 2. There
are certain things that follow since Adam was created first.
 Creation before woman: headship
The creation of man before woman Paul calls headship. Headship has to do with origin and
responsibility.
 Naming of animals and woman
Adam was given the responsibility to name the animals [even before Eve was created]. When
he did, God saw that it was not good for man to be alone, that he needed a partner. And after
Eve was created, Adam named the woman Eve. The naming of things in the ancient world was
very significant. Recognizing and naming realities was part of giving identity. Until modern times
this was very much the father’s role. For instance when children were born, the father gave
them their names.
 Commission as “priest”: care of garden (2:15-17)
Symbolism of Eden as the Archetypal Sanctuary
Thirdly, the man was commissioned to care for the garden. Behind the garden there is a quite
elaborate symbolism that needs to be explained. God did not create a farm or a jungle. He
created a garden and that garden is a grove of trees and in Genesis it is named Eden (Gen. 2:8-
11), which means a delight or joy or enjoyment. It is a garden of enjoyment. To understand the
garden, you must understand the symbolism that is at work here and how this account picks
and reworks common sanctuary symbolism. This has been explored at some length by modern
scholars who looked at how temples were pictured in iconography in the ancient world.
So the Garden of Eden is pictured as the archetypal sanctuary, the archetypal holy place. It is
the place where the supernatural realm overlaps with the natural world. This is depicted in
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ancient iconography as a grove with fruit trees, a kind of a park. If you look further in the OT,
you will find that the pagan Canaanites worshipped their gods under every green and spreading
tree. Their sanctuaries were typically gardens and in the center of their garden was an idol.
Now the most important tree in the Garden of Eden was the tree of life (Gen. 2:9, 3:22-24).
This is an ancient motif that you will find all the way through Middle Eastern, pagan temple
ideology. Pagans usually pictured the tree of life not here on earth but in the realm of the gods,
the heavenly realm. It doesn’t belong to human beings but only the gods have access to the
tree of life. Human beings, in a limited way, in sanctuaries have limited access to the tree of life,
but basically it doesn’t belong to them. So the tree of life automatically signals that you are
entering the supernatural realm. This tree is a life-giving tree.
Then comes a strange feature. There is a spring in the center of the Garden (Gen. 2:10-14). The
Garden isn’t watered by rain but it is watered by a spring and the spring works in the opposite
way that rivers normally work. Usually you have rivers running from sources to a common
destination. But here you get a central spring and out of that spring came four rivers that water
the face of the garden. It’s not a natural spring. It’s a supernatural spring. This is a motif that
you will find quite frequently with temples and you will find it also with the temple in
Jerusalem. Ps. 36 talks about the fountain of life. And Ps. 46 talks about the river that gladdens
the city of God. Ezekiel speaks about a new temple in which waters flow from the temple to the
Dead Sea and turn it into a fertile place. You get the same picture of the eschatological temple
in the prophecy of Joel and Zechariah.
The fourth level of symbolism is the symbolism of gold and precious stones (Gen. 2:11-12).
Gold was viewed to have supernatural significance in the ancient world. Why would that be?
Why would it be associated with the gods and the realm of the gods? And particularly one god?
Gold is tied to the sun. It is precious. Its gold color is like the sun. And therefore it was
associated with the sun and the sun gods and the supernatural realm. And jewels were likewise
associated with supernatural light. Jewels give the appearance of generating unnatural light. So
people in the ancient world didn’t wear gold or jewelry for decoration. They had spiritual
significance. It connected them with the supernatural realm. It gave them supernatural
protection. This type of significance of jewelry is still typical in many parts of the world.
Fifthly, we read that God was walking about in the garden (Gen. 3:8; cf. Lev. 26:12). This is the
place where God walks. His presence was in the garden. The same picture is used in Lev. 26 for
God walking with his people and travelling with his people and being with his people in the
tabernacle.
Most importantly, we come to what we are most interested in focusing on. We read in chpt. 2
verses 15-16 that God placed Adam in the garden to “work it and keep it.” There are two
Hebrew words here. The first is usually translated as “to care for” or “to till” or “to work”. All of
these are possible. The other word is translated as “to care for”. Now these two Hebrew words
quite literally mean “to serve the garden” and “to care for the garden”.
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Now these are two verbs that are used for the role of Levites with the tabernacle. What were
the Levites to do? They were to “serve the tabernacle” and they were “to protect the
tabernacle.” They were to protect it in the sense of protecting it from being desecrated. It was a
holy place, so it needed to be protected from desecration. So Adam’s job is to protect the
garden and to serve it. These verbs then hint at Adam’s role as the archetypal priest. That is the
way that Adam is understood in the rabbinical tradition and it’s also very strong in the early
church. In his Genesis commentary Luther also picks up on this with Adam as the archetypal
priest and Eve as the congregation, the Church. Remember that Paul says the relationship of
husband and wife is like that of Christ (the priest) and his bride the Church.
What happens then is that Adam sins and as a result of this he is removed from the garden and
instead of serving the garden, he serves the soil, the ground. Then his role to protect the
garden is taken by the cherubim (Gen. 3:23). Cherubim were supernatural creatures, angels.
And cherubim always guarded that point of transition from the natural realm to the super
natural realm. So if you had stylized cherubim at the entrance of a building, when you entered
that building you would know that you were leaving the domain of human beings and entering
the domain of the gods. In pagan theology they protected the gods from demons and spooky
bad stuff. Now the cherubim of the OT and NT are the angels of the presence of God. They are
God’s body guard. They protect God’s holiness from being desecrated. You remember the
vision of Isaiah? There you had the angels of the Presence singing Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God of
Hosts. So in this case, the cherubim guard the garden and prevent human beings from getting
back and eating from the tree of life.
Now that is the symbolism of chpts. 2-3. At most you can say is that there are allusions to this.
It is not directly stated. It is implied. But we’ve gone over it because I think it is very very
illuminating and helpful. So Adam is commissioned as the priest. Adam is tasked not to be a
farmer and serve the soil, but to be a custodian of the garden, which is a holy place. He is to
serve the garden and protect it.
 Derivation of woman from his ribcage: self-sacrifice
Now the next point. You remember that God said it was not good for the man to be alone. So
he said he would make a helper fit for him. He then put Adam into a deep sleep and took his
ribcage or a part of his ribcage and created the woman. There is something funny here. God
doesn’t create the woman from the ground like he did Adam. He creates the woman from the
man or more exactly from his ribcage. Then as a Matchmaker he brings the woman to the man
and celebrates the first marriage.
What is the symbolism here? First of all you need to understand the symbolism of bones. In the
ancient world and until recent times, people had observed that the most indestructible part of
a human being was his bones. When you die, your flesh decays, but what remains are your
bones. So the bone was the basic substance of the person. In Hebrew to talk about the essence
or substance of a person was to talk about his bones. In modern terms, we would say the DNA
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is the essence of a person which gives him his essential characteristics. So Eve is created from
the bone, not the flesh of Adam.
Why the ribcage? Once again the rabbis nail it better than most modern exegetes. They put it
this way. God did not create Eve out of the head of the man so that she could be over him. He
didn’t create her from his feet so that she could be under him. But he created her from Adam’s
ribcage so that she could be next to his heart, alongside him, the notion of complementary
partnership. The ribcage protects the heart, which is most vulnerable.
The rabbis in the early church go one step further. They take it like Paul in drawing a parallel
between Adam/Eve, husband/wife, and Christ/Church. Paul tells husbands to love their wives
like Christ loved the Church. How did Christ love the Church? He sacrificed his body for the
Church. There is some evidence that already the rabbis of Paul’s time or shortly after it pick up
on this.
The idea here is sacrifice. Sacrifice is built right in to the creation of humanity and into the
creation of marriage. So for a marriage to work, which way does sacrifice work? In most
societies it is the woman who is expected to sacrifice herself for her husband. But this is
different. Right from the beginning Adam sacrificed something that was very important and
value to him (his ribcage) for the creation of Eve, his wife.
So the reality of sacrifice is built into marriage. And that is carried over to the women too. Eve
received life from Adam and then the woman gives her life to her children. So sacrifice is built in
to being a human being. It is the essence of marriage and family life. When family members
willing sacrifice themselves the family flourishes.
 Accountability (3:9)
The primacy of the husband is also seen in terms of accountability. Remember the story of the
fall. The woman was tempted, she ate the fruit, and then she offered it to her husband. Adam,
who should have been the teacher, who should have taken responsibility, went along with her
and is taught by her. It is interesting that God does not call Eve to account. Who does he call to
account? Adam is the one who is held responsible for the fall. He is held accountable for what
happens. He should have been the teacher/priest, but instead he went along with it and that
was part of the fall.
You could look at this in the wrong way and it could be used as a recipe for dominance. But it is
hard to push dominance here if we see that Adam sacrificed something very important for his
wife. If you took just the first three points above someone could use it to push for male
dominance. But these last two points turn it around and argue against it. This becomes clearer
when you look at the woman’s side of the marriage.
Marriage will be one of the main things you will have to address in your ministry. Dr. Kleinig
found the best way of preparing people for marriage is to go through the wedding ceremony
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with them and explain what is going on. And of course the foundational passages for marriage
in the Bible are found in Gen. 1-2. You can give the whole theology of marriage over against
current secular notions of marriage by just going through the rite for marriage.
b. Woman as the counterpart/complement in marriage (2:20)
God created marriage for three reasons.
First God said, “It was not good for the man to be alone.” So what is the first divinely-given
purpose of marriage? Someone in class mentioned community, but it is stronger than that. It’s
companionship. It’s not just general company, community. It’s personal company,
companionship.
Now God created animals and animals can give a form of companionship, but why do they fail
in this regard? Sex, talk, communication - they can’t do these things like humans can. They can
give a measure of companionship but not full companionship.
After God said it wasn’t good that the man was alone, he said, “ I will make him a helper fit for
him.” This is the second reason God created marriage. Now to our modern ears one might
understand helper as an assistant. There are some places in the OT where this verb is used in
this way. But sometimes the psalmist says that God is his helper. That doesn’t mean that God is
my assistant. What does it mean? One meaning can be that he helps us in times of trouble, an
ally. It means someone who works together with you as a co-worker or partner.
The focus of companionship is relationship. The focus of helper is on working together. So

instead of working my themselves, the husband and wife work together on a common task.
Marriage involves partnership, working together. It’s not just living together and providing each
other with company. It’s working together. And in marriage the husband and wife are allies.
They stick up for each other.
The third purpose for marriage is the most profound. God said he would make a helper who is
suitable or fit for him. This is a very odd expression in Hebrew. Usually the word for fit is used
as a preposition in the OT. It means over against/opposite/facing. So in a classroom setting, the
teacher and the students are facing each other. But in the Hebrew Bible this is the only place
where this word is used as a noun, which means opposite.
So what does it mean? God said he would make a helper that was his opposite, that is face to
face with him, his other half. The helper will be Adam’s complement. Think of a circle cut in
half. Each half is opposite each other and together they make a circle. So we have two people
who are opposite each other who fit together and complement each other. That is one of the
most profound features of every marriage that works. In your marriage you will have some
things in common and some things where you are opposite each other and you complement
each other.
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One of the strange things about marriage is that the more the husband fulfills his role fully, the
easier it is for a wife to assume her role. The heart of this is that as Paul says that husbands
should be willing to sacrifice themselves for their wives.
So the woman is the complement or the counterpart to the man.
 Stronger companionship than kinship:"bone of bone"
When God created Eve, Adam said, “Now this bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.” In
Hebrew, flesh is not only your skin and muscles and soft tissue. It also has the meaning of
kinship. We say blood-relatives. In the same way, Adam said he had a bone-relative. She was a
close kin to him because she was made from him. The closest human relationships are family
relationships. They are flesh and blood relationships. But a bone-relationship goes beyond a
flesh and blood relationship. In ancient days, bone was considered the essence of a person. It
was considered stronger than flesh and blood because it didn’t decay like flesh and blood did.
So this companionship that God created is stronger than kinship. (See more above.)
 Partnership with husband: "helper"
In marriage the wife is a partner with her husband. They work together as co-workers and
allies. (See more above.)
 Interdependence: 'ish and 'ishshah
Thirdly there is the matter of interdependence. The Hebrew word ish means man and ishah
means woman. You know that the ‘ah’ ending is a directional ending. So I went “to Houston” in
Hebrew is “Houstonah.” Genesis plays on this and Paul plays on this in 1 Cor. He says the
woman is from the man and she is to the man. She gets her identity and finds her fulfillment
over against her relationship to the man. But the relationship is not one of dependence but of
interdependence.
c. Woman as the crown of creation
The point of woman being the crown of creation is made very strongly in Genesis. The last thing
that God created was the woman and then he creates marriage. God is the celebrant who
brings Adam and Eve together and celebrates the first marriage. Woman and marriage is the
crown of creation. She is the center of the marriage. She is the center of the home.
 Centre of marriage: leaving and cleaving of husband
There is one thing I would like to emphasize which is unexpected. See if you can work it out. At
the end of chpt. 2 there is a concluding sentence (v. 24): “Therefore a man shall leave his father
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and his mother and hold fast (cleaves or sticks) to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” If you
want a recipe for the dynamics of marriage to work properly, this is it. Now, what is unexpected
about the leaving and cleaving? What is the normal order in all societies? The woman leaves
her parents and family, she takes his family name. And in the ancient world, once married, the
wife went to live in her husband’s house with his family.
Notice that here it is reversed. This is counter-cultural in all societies. For a marriage to work,
what is the first thing that has to happen? The man needs to leave mom and dad. In counseling
marriages I’ve found this to be one of the most common problems. Men don’t cut their apron
strings from mom and ties with dad and it happens on many different levels (physical,
emotional, psychological). And sometimes then the mother-in-law demands loyalty from her
son and interferes with the marriage. Leaving father and mother and family is a kind of suicide.
He gives up everything he knows for an uncertain future. That is the first thing God says about
marriage.
The second thing is that he cleaves to his wife. Usually it is the other way around, the wife
cleaves to her husband. What is cleave? Stick, like a band-aid on skin. It’s not accidental. He
sticks to her intentionally. The closest English word might be “commit” to his wife. This is
another one of the biggest problems in relationships. Men are not prepared to commit
themselves.
For a marriage to work, notice that the emphasis is not on what the wife does, but on what the
husband does. He leaves and he cleaves and then the two become one flesh. That is an odd
expression. It has a number of different levels to it, but the two most important are sexual
intercourse and procreation. This is the whole physical side of marriage. The essence of that
physical union is sexual intercourse and children.
One of the most profound books on marriage I’ve seen is by Walter Trobish, who was Lutheran
missionary in Nigeria, where he faced problems like polygamy and co-habitation where there
was little respect for marriage. He wanted to teach Christian marriage to the converts there. He
wrote a book that is just as useful for our community because now people are getting things
backwards too. They have sex and then they move in with each other and then they finally get
married. For marriage to work best, it must be leaving, cleaving, and then one-fleshing. In his
book Trobish talks about three sides to a triangle or three legs to a stool. The stool won’t stand
unless you have all three legs in place. The leaving and cleaving must happen first before the
one-fleshing. That is God’s order; that’s the order that brings God’s blessing with it. His book is
not in print anymore. You may be able to find it on Ebay. It is called, I Married You. When I
counsel a couple that has been living together, I take this approach: tell them God’s way to
show them the importance of marriage and to gently challenge them on what they were doing
because there are inevitable penalties for reversing the order. And then I ask them how they’ve
approached it. They usually admit they’ve done it backwards.
 Life-giver and mother (3:10)
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This was covered above. When the husband commits and sacrifices, it is easier for the woman
to commit and sacrifice herself as a mother. She is the center of the home and passes life down
to her children, who continue the cycle with the next generation.
d. Unity as "one flesh": man’s leaving and cleaving (2:24)
We’ve talked about the importance of the man leaving above. Once that’s occurred the two can
unite as one-flesh, working together to raise a family.
What is most interesting is that God is depicted in Gen. 2 as the marriage celebrant. He brings
Eve to Adam. That is what a marriage celebrant did in the ancient world. The matchmaker
brings the wife to the husband. God is the marriage celebrant and that is what Jesus is getting
at when he said, What God has joined together, let no one separate. Jesus is picking up this
passage and saying, wherever you have a marriage, church or secular, you have the same
marriage celebrant – God. A pastor doesn’t marry a couple. A justice of the peace doesn’t marry
a couple. It is God who marries the couple, whether they recognize it or not.
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Lecture OT-7b
v=T0MeO_dcL2M&list=PL32Gjc1uEM1AUR8LC9JlceA9xFSeZs25Z&index=10&spfreload=1

e. Theology of Primeval History
1. Result of human sin: disorder in the world but not destruction of creation
2. Operation of God’s blessing in a sinful world
Human misuse and abuse
Good out of evil
3. God’s management of sin by the limitation of its consequences: sanction of
capital punishment
4. Origin of all nations from common parents
All bearers of God’s image despite the fall
All sinful and under God’s judgment
All recipients of God’s blessing
5. Primeval history as the foundation for God’s ongoing dealings with humanity
6. God’s covenant with Noah as the foundation for order in a fallen world
7. Interpretation of Israel’s history in the light of God’s dealing with humanity
One Last Thing about Marriage
Let’s wrap up Gen. 2 and the creation of marriage. One final thing. One of the very common
modern charges against the OT and against the Church is that the Church is guilty of misogyny
and patriarchalism. If you look at Gen. 2 very closely, it doesn’t advocate for either patriarchy or
matriarchy. It gives a view of marriage that is countercultural to all cultures. You can see it most
clearly in that the woman is to be the partner of her husband and in the man leaving father and
mother and cleaving to his wife and the two becoming one-flesh. That is countercultural in our
modern society, in any society in Africa, in the societies of the ancient world. It does not
enshrine male privilege or male power. If anything, it teaches male responsibility and the
importance of sacrifice.

Now we want to move on and look at the theology that we see in Gen. 3-8, the so called
primeval history. On the one hand you get the picture of growing disorder in creation. Gen. 1
said God created an ordered cosmos but then you get the disordering of God’s ordered cosmos.
I would have expected that God would deprive human beings of his blessing if they rebelled
against him and rebelled against the order that he had provided in creation. Now the paradox is
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that on the one hand God is not soft on evil and sin. He deals with it but in such a way that the
blessing continues and he brings good out of evil.
Disordered World
God
----- Disobey
Distrust
| |
‘Angels’ | Humans | brother v brother
| |
Take/rape Murder
----- Violence
Animals
What we have here is a picture of a world that becomes disordered and the way that God deals
with disorder. There are four dimensions to the disorder that comes into the world. In the order
he created, God set up boundaries which were for the benefit of human beings.
1. The first dimension is the theological dimension – the fall by Adam and Eve and their
rebellion against God. The theological boundary between God and people is crossed.
2. The second dimension is the family and social dimension. Within the family itself,
human beings don’t love and care for each other, brother kills brother. And that leads to
social anarchy – human beings killing human beings. The boundary between social order
and disorder is crossed.
3. The third dimension is a supernatural dimension. There is a boundary between angels
and human beings. Here there is a sexual disorder.
4. And finally we have disorder between humans and animals. They each violate each
other. Violence gets out of hand.
Within all of this we find a pattern.

1. You start off with God’s gift, his benefaction.
2. Then you get human sin.
3. Then comes God’s judgment on human sin.
4. Then comes God’s action to mitigate the effects of his judgment.
5. And finally, you have God’s punishment for the sin, but at the same time preserving
sinners.
God does things the opposite way most of us would go. If we were God and human beings
defied us, we would wipe them out. But God’s plan is to kill the sin, not the sinner.
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There are four cycles of this pattern. (see diagram below)

1. It starts with the Fall. God had given the gift of marriage. And then within that first
marriage of husband and wife they both together defy God. They mistrust God. They
want to be God. Then the trouble starts. Previously within the marriage they were
naked and not ashamed. But now they are ashamed of their nakedness and it affects the
relationship with each other. God’s judgment on sin is rather strange. You would have
thought God would have cursed Adam and Eve. But instead he curses the snake and the
soil from which human beings are taken. Then God gives a wonderful act of
preservation. He provides proper clothes for human beings so that social intercourse is
possible, so that human beings aren’t exposed to each other. He provides permanent
clothes, but notice that it is at the cost of the death of animals. Then God’s judgment is
a merciful judgment. God always judges in order to save life. God expelled Adam and
Eve from the garden so that they don’t eat of the tree of life and make sin eternal.
Mercifully you get the expulsion from the garden.
2. The second cycle of sin is Cain killing his brother Abel. Now even though Adam and Eve
were fallen creatures, God gives them sons through procreation. But there is trouble
between the two sons and Cain killed Abel and buried him in the ground. God doesn’t
just zap Cain dead, but he confronts him with his murder. He asks him, Where is your
brother Abel. He replies with, Am I my brother’s keeper? The answer of course is, Yes!
But then he does something strange to the murderer. What should God have done? He
should have killed Cain for his murder of Abel. But instead, God puts his mark on Cain,
which puts Cain under God’s protection. Anyone who touches the murderer has to
reckon with God. God protects the murderer and prevents vengeance from being
unleashed and getting out of hand. (Actually the sign on Cain is a sign of God’s judgment
and it is ambiguous. It’s like the sign of the cross. We are all Cains because we’ve killed
our brother Jesus. And what does God do to us? He puts the mark of the cross on our
foreheads. He gives us life instead of death for the murder we’ve committed.) But the
deed does not go unpunished by God. Since the blood of Abel spilled on the ground,
Cain could no longer farm the ground. So he becomes a homeless wandering person.
And so paradoxically, he becomes the founder of city and city culture. So he too was
blessed despite sin. He couldn’t live off the land, so he found another way to live.
3. Then comes the most far-reaching problem of all, the story of the flood. What is it that
unleashes the flood? We need to look closely at Gen. 6. Read Gen. 6:1-4. A couple of
comments. The “sons of God” in the OT normally refers to angels. The focus here is on
the fallen angels. It is a very cryptic and euphemistic kind of story. There is something
terrible that goes on here that is covered by the vale of discretion. The angels “take” the
daughters of men. Not take them in marriage, but rape them. When it says they “go into
them” that is the normal term for sexual intercourse. And they have children.
So you have a crossing of a very important boundary. In the fall the boundary crossed
was the boundary between God and man. The second boundary is between human
being and human being, the respect for life. The third boundary is a sexual boundary
and the boundary between human beings and angels is violated. What you get then is
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giants or monsters coming out of this sexual union.
(Some discussion on how this could happen. We can only speculate.)
The result of this happening is that God takes his spirit from human beings and sets an
upper limit for human life. 120 years will be the max. Possibly one of the reasons
human beings would want to have sex with angels is to get supernatural power to have
eternal life. But the opposite happens. Human life is diminished, not enhanced by the
crossing of this boundary.
Let’s continue reading at Gen. 6:5 and following. As we read notice the pain and
suffering of God. God grieves that he made human beings because human beings don’t
just commit occasional sin, but they are riddled with sin. It’s not just that their actions
are sinful but their whole imagination is corrupted. So God decided to destroy
humanity.
A key fact in the Noah story is that the earth is full of violence, anarchy, disorder. (By
the way, that is the name of the Palestinian group – Hamas. It means violence.) It’s
violence at all levels, political violence, sexual violence, etc. The earth is riddled with
violence.
Some translations say that God saw how all the people of earth corrupted their ways.
Instead of “people,” it should read “flesh corrupted its ways.” Unless you see that, what
follows it doesn’t make sense. Violence is not just between humans and humans, but
also humans and animals. All kinds of violence. Anarchy is unleashed on God’s good
order.
What does God do in reaction to all of these boundaries being crossed? The fall into sin
had happened. The first human murder had occurred. You have violence abounding
among humans and animals. You have violent rape by angels of humans. God first
reaction is to limit human lifespan. And then he decides to destroy life on the earth. He
makes one exception. He decides to rescue Noah and his family, eight people, with the
ark and a representative cross section of all animal life. And then after the flood, Noah
makes a sacrifice to God. This is the first burnt offering as an act of atonement. And God
accepts the offering of Noah. And in reaction to the offering, God blesses humanity and
he makes the first covenant with human beings. The covenant included all humans and
animals. So the flood is not just a destroying flood but also a cleansing flood and a new
order is established after the flood.
Let’s read Gen. 8:20-22. Let’s see what’s different after the flood. Even though man’s
heart is evil, God promises not to curse the ground anymore. What does he do instead?
First, God ushers in a new age in which he deals with evil not by punishment but by
means of sacrifice. This then is the foundation for the sacrifices of the divine service,
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which ultimately point to Christ. So sacrifice is the foundation of the new order after the
flood.
Now let’s read Gen. 9:1-7 and work out what is new here. Who had God first said, Be
fruitful and multiply and fill the earth? He said it to Adam. So Noah is now a second
Adam. It is going to be a new world, a new era, a new Adam. The first blessing was given
before the fall. This blessing is given after the fall, after anarchy, after the flood.
How does God deal with the problem of violence between human beings and animals?
He gives animals to human beings to eat. So they have a vested interest in watching
over the animals. And if an animal kills a human being, human beings are allowed to kill
the animal that killed a human being. It is limited. They cannot kill off the whole species.
It’s called limited retribution. And what does God do about the violence that occurs
between human beings? He says, Whoever sheds the blood of a man, by man shall his
blood be shed. This is meant to limit vengeance. What usually happens is this. You kill
my brother, so I kill two of your brothers. Then you kill more of my brothers and you get
vengeance escalating. God gives permission, not a command, for limited capital
punishment. It’s one for one and that’s it. And only the guilty party can be killed. By
these means order is maintained and vengeance does not get out of hand.
Lastly, God makes a covenant not to wipe out all life. The ecological order will be
maintained. Now that is important for us as we worry about ecological catastrophe. God
promises that he will maintain the conditions for life on earth.
Diagram of the pattern of Benefaction, Sin, and Judgment in Gen. 2-11

God’s Human Sin God’s God’s God’s
Benefaction Judgment Mitigation Punishment
(a) The Fall Marriage (2:18- Disobedience Curse on Clothing Expulsion
25) (3:1-7) snake and (3:21) (3:22-24)
ground (3:14-
19)
(b) Cain Gift of sons Murder (4:8) Accusation Protection Landlessness
(4:1-5) (4:10-12) (4:15) (3:16; cf.
3:11-12)
(c) Flood Growth of Sacral sex Decision to 1. Ark (6:13- Flood (9:6-24)
Adam’s family (6:2, 4) and limit lifespan 21; 7:1-4;
(4:25-5:32) violence (6:5, (6:3) and 8:15-17).
11) destroy life 2. Sacrifice
(6:7) (8:20-22)
3. Blessing
(9:1-7)
4. Covenant
(9:8-17)
(d) Babel Growth of Arrogance Decision to Scattering Confusion of
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Noah’s family (11:4) confuse (9:8, 9) language

(9:18-10:32; language (9:9)
11:10-26) (9:6-7)
Lecture OT-8a
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Good out of evil
3. God’s management of sin by the limitation of its consequences: sanction
of capital punishment
5. Primeval history as the foundation for God’s ongoing dealings with
humanity
7. Interpretation of Israel’s history in the light of God’s dealing with humanity
Summary and Recap of the Fall Through the Flood
Gen. 3-11 shows us how God deals with human sin, the original of sin and its consequences as it
begins to work its way throughout all of creation. It climaxes in the story of the flood. The story
of the flood is God’s act to put limits to what human beings can do to his creation and it is a
fresh start for his creation. Through the flood he has not eliminated the problem of sin. People
are equally as sinful after the flood as they were before the flood. Just as every inclination of
the heart of humans was evil all the time before the flood, so it also is after the flood.
After the flood God deals with sin in a new way and we see that in the story of the flood itself.
First of all, God accepted the sacrifice that Noah offered him. That sacrifice points to God’s
ultimate plan for dealing with human sin. God himself will deal with it by means of sacrifice. It
begins with Noah’s sacrifice which points to the sacrificial system at the tabernacle/temple and
that in turn points to the great sacrifice of Christ. So in the post-flood period, sacrifices become
important.
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Secondly, God gives permission for capital punishment. Capital punishment doesn’t remove
violence or eliminate violence but at the best it contains it. It limits it in a way that is fair and
just. If an animal kills a human being, that animal may be killed. If one man kills another man
then only the murderer may be killed. No other member of his family may be killed. That’s the
end of the story.
God also gives human beings permission to use animals as a food source. This paradoxically has
two results. On the one hand, it puts the fear of man in animals. Also there is a vested interest
in human beings not eliminating their food chain. No farmer is going to kill all of his sheep. He
will only kill as many as is economically viable. In this arrangement humans benefit from
animals and animals benefit from human beings.
Thirdly, and most remarkably, God makes a covenant not only with Noah and all human beings
but also with every animal that lives on the face of the earth. Humans and animals benefit from
the covenant because it provides stability to the world in its seasons and fruitfulness. In modern
terms, God promises stability to the ecological system. It doesn’t mean that human beings
won’t muck it up, but God promises that never again will there be a flood that inundates the
face of the earth.
The Tower of Babel
After the flood, you have the story of the tower of Babel. After the flood, Noah’s family grows
and from Noah’s family you get the table of nations. All of the nation groups come from Noah
and eventually scatter all over the earth. The Semitic group comes from Noah’s son, Shem.
Three main Semitic families come from that branch of the Noah’s family.
Then comes the story of the tower of Babel, which is like a second fall. To understand this story
which is very veiled and presupposes a lot, you need to understand something about
Babylonian religion. Everywhere in the pagan world mountains have special significance.
Mountains are places where heaven and earth overlap and the sky gods have their home in the
mountain of god. The mountain of god represents the heavenly realm. So take for example
Canaanite religion. El, the chief god in the Canaanite pantheon, has his home/residence/palace
on the mountain of El, the mountain of god. So if you want to enter the heavenly realm, you go
up the mountain of god and then have access to the heavenly realm.
The Babylonians lived on the plain of the Euphrates. It is flat land. They have no mountains.
They want to build a temple and they want to have access to the chief god of the Babylonians.
So they build a ziggurat, a man-made mountain made of clay. Ziggurats weren’t just step
pyramids, but they were the mountain of god. They were temples. They were a stairway up to
heaven. The only people that were allowed to go on top of the ziggurat, the gate of heaven,
were the king, who was also the chief priest, and the other priests of Marduk, the Babylonian
god. We don’t know all the details, but at least once a year the king together with his priestly
entourage would go up the ziggurat and present offerings. As part of the offerings they would
consult the omens, which means they would open up the animals that were offered and look at
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the liver of the animals to discover the will of the gods or the destiny for the next year.
Likewise, astrology was part of this. They would go up the ziggurat to observe the stars, the
constellations, the signs of the zodiac, to determine what was going to happen. And in this way,
human beings were entering the heavenly realm and gathering information by which they could
make decisions on what to do. By means of astrology and divination, they could determine if
they were going to be successful or not.
Heaven – the realm of gods
Offerings
Mountain of god Ziggurat (the gate of heaven)
Astrology – destiny
Earth – human realm
Let’s look at the wording of the sin of Babel. Let’s read Gen. 11:4-5.
4
Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us
make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.” 5 And the LORD
came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built.
Do you see the irony here? They want to build a tower that reaches all the way to heaven, a
great big imposing tower. But it is so tiny that God has to come down on his knees to see this
little tower, this ziggurat.
If you read this story with secular eyes, without knowledge of the religious background, this
seems like a rather harmless project. They want to consolidate themselves and build a city.
They want to pool their resources to make themselves powerful and prevent themselves from
being dispersed and scattered over the earth. This is the great temptation of politics or the
state. Politics takes the place of God and pretends to be divine. A case in point is the French
revolution. The point of it was to abolish all religion. But what ended up taking the place of
religion? Politics, the national state. The Russian revolution took it one step farther. Instead of
just a nation state, they wanted to make a communist empire. This is still a temptation for
every super power that comes along.
Here it is quite concrete. The people of Babel want to ascend into the heavenly realm. They
want to join the gods in heaven. So do you see that this is a repetition of the sin of Adam and
Eve? What did Adam and Eve want to do? They wanted to become like gods. What these
people want is divine power. They are not interested in divine status. They just want the power
so that they can control their destiny. That’s the important thing. They don’t want to have to
depend on anyone or anything apart from themselves. That is the sin of Babel.
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What is God’s reaction to it? He brings the judgment of confused language on them. This
building project will only work as long as they can communicate with each other. Since they
can’t communicate, the people are scattered across the face of the earth. What is beneficial
about that scattering? If you get various ethnic groups who speak different languages together,
what do you get? Conflict, war. So they scatter and paradoxically this fulfills God’s purpose for
them. Originally they wanted to avoid filling the earth but now because of this, they fill the
earth. Part of the blessing given to Adam was “to be fruitful, multiply and fill the earth.”
Therefore God’s judgment is a merciful judgment. By means of it, his blessing is fulfilled. He
brings blessing out of human sin.
But the problem of sin remains. And notice that the heart of the problem is that the
Babylonians want to make a name for themselves. It’s not just power, it’s the name. They want
glory, status, reputation. It is the most you can have in the face of death. Even though you die,
your name continues, your glory continues. So for instance, even though Alexander the Great
died at a young age, his name is not forgotten.
It’s a bit ironic. They want to make a name for themselves instead of what? Instead of focusing
on God’s name, living for the glory of God. If they had lived for the glory of God’s name, they
would have made a name for themselves, as Abraham did. And that is what this story leads in
to. God gets Abraham to “commit suicide” by leaving country and family to become a nobody
and in return God promises to make his name great. So we don’t know the name of any of
these people who refused to scatter, but we know this nobody named Abraham. His name will
never be forgotten because he wasn’t interested in his own name. He was interested in God’s
name.
There is some very profound stuff here that is relevant to our modern society. The reason for
these stories is to show not only how God worked then but how God works now outside the
church. Some of the modern commentaries develop this at good length. Someone who
pioneered this interpretation is Claus Westermann. If you go back to the Church fathers and the
Jewish rabbis they also said this.
A question from a student. In response Dr. Kleinig talked about the great reversal, how God
turns things on its head. The OT takes pagan theology and turns it on its head. This thing about
meeting the gods on the mountain is turned upside down on Mt. Sinai and on Mt. Zion. On both
of these mountains the people do not ascend the mountain to enter the heavenly realm, rather
God comes down to meet with his people, heaven comes down to earth.
You will also notice this in the story of Jacob at Bethel. Jacob called that place the Gate of
Heaven. In that story Jacob sees a stairway with the angels ascending and descending on it.
Jacob is lying down at the bottom of that stairway. God comes down and stands next to Jacob.
What is the point of that story? God himself comes to Jacob at that place. So Bethel becomes a
holy place, a sanctuary, the house of God. God comes down to Jacob to meet with him and to
bless him. There God gives him his promises and it is his promises that determine the
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subsequent destiny of Jacob/Israel. So in our diagram above, in place of astrology you have
prophecy. And prophecy focuses on God’s promises.
(Some discussion about mountains and religions and going up to God vs. God coming down.)

Let’s summarize the theology of the primeval world.
If it is true that God created an orderly world, and he did (he created cosmos and not chaos),
the obvious question is: how come things are so disorderly in our world? We do tend to
overplay disorder. Our imagination and mind is tuned in to what is bad rather than on what’s
good. To illustrate, how many things went wrong for you yesterday. You might be able to think
of 1 to 10 things. But consider this: how many things went right for you yesterday? Billions of
things went right for you yesterday. This is typically the case. So what do we focus on? The bad
things, things that go wrong. So we can overplay disorder. Yet disorderly things do occur. We do
have hurricanes, tornadoes, fires, car accidents, etc. And we latch on to these things. We are
tuned in to them and we are blind to all of God’s blessings.
With that being said, we don’t want to downplay sin and the ravages of sin. So that’s the
answer to the question: Even though God created a good orderly world, why is the world
messed up? The answer is human sin. Human beings are the cause of disorder and destruction
in the world. True, Satan is at work. But Satan couldn’t do anything without human agents.
Disorder goes back to human beings.
The primeval history shows us how God’s blessing works even in a sinful world.
Human beings can abuse and misuse God’s creation, but they cannot undo God’s creation. Evil
is the perversion of what’s good. But even when evil perverts the good it cannot destroy God’s
good creation.
This is illustrated in the area of sexuality. Rape, which is a terrible perversion of sexuality, can
result in blessing with the birth of a human being. And that human being is not a monster and is
no less human than a person born within wedlock.
So at the most people can abuse God’s creation. They can’t un-create the world.
Good out of evil
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Amazingly, God brings good out of evil and his blessing continues and balances out the evil that
human beings do.
3. God’s management of sin by the limitation of its consequences: sanction

of capital punishment
Thirdly, God manages the consequences of sin by limiting them. So for example, take capital
punishment. If a human being kills another human being, the killer’s life alone is forfeited.
Sometimes this is called: an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. And this is the foundation
for all systems of justice. This doesn’t abolish murder, it protects human life and protects
human society. A society reverts to anarchy when human life is cheap and when human beings
are killed without consequences, or when you have a chain of retribution that gets out of hand.
Limited retribution prevents this from happening. God sanctions capital punishment in order to
limit the consequences of evil.
Also paradoxically, when God gives animals to human beings to eat it leads to the preservation
of animals. [You don’t want to kill off your food supply, so you manage it properly so you never
run out.]
The OT, contrary to all pagan religions, says that all human beings come from common parents.
We have a common ancestry, we are all one flesh, one blood. And that means there are no
superior or inferior nations.
Since God made the first human beings in his image and since all human beings descend from
them, all human beings are bearers of God’s image. And even with the fall into sin, we still bear
God’s image. Even the worst human being (Hitler, Stalin, etc.) bears the image of God, but in a
perverted form.
The OT also shows us that all human beings are equally sinful and all are equally under God’s
judgment. One of the conceits of America is that they are morally superior and that they need
to spread democracy all over the world. This is theological nonsense. Mind you, Australians
have their own conceits equivalent to that. There are no superior nations or people. All are
equally sinful and under God’s judgment.
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But even though all people are sinful, all are meant to be recipients of God’s blessings within
the order of creation. There are no cursed nations. All are meant to enjoy the blessings God
provides in creation.
5. Primeval history as the foundation for God’s ongoing dealings with

humanity
Now more generally, the primeval history provides the foundation for God’s dealing in a fallen
world. So if you want to understand the way that God is at work out there in human history, the
primeval history gives you some clue. It is not a detailed explanation but it gives you a vision of
how God is at work in the fallen world.
Interpretation of Israel’s history in the light of God’s dealing with humanity
The climax of the primeval history is God’s covenant with Noah, which is the foundation for
God’s order after the flood in a fallen world. Notice that this order has three parts to it.
 (1) First there is the prominence of sacrifice. God deals with sin through sacrifice.
So instead of sin getting out of hand, its consequences are dealt with means of
sacrifice.
 (2) Secondly, God sanctions capital punishment, which then provides the basis
for social order, political order and justice systems. (I was going to say earlier
that the phrase, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, is commonly
misinterpreted. Many believe that it sanctions payback and revenge. It is not
permission to lash out, rather it limits the amount of payback to keep it within
proportion. Punishment must be just and proportionate and limited.)
 (3) Lastly, why is it that Genesis doesn’t go straight from fall of Adam and Eve to
the call of Abraham? It could have easily skipped over the primeval history. What
is the function of these chapters in the whole of OT theology? They force us to
interpret Israel’s history which begins with Abraham in the light of God’s dealing
with the whole of humanity. The stories of Israel and humanity belong together.
You can’t understand God’s dealings with humanity apart from Israel and you
can’t understand God’s dealings with Israel apart from humanity. That is part of
the context of this part of Genesis. If you don’t see it within this context, you will
misunderstand everything that follows. Take out the primeval history and it will
look like God has favorites and that God is establishing Israel as the privileged
and blessed nation and he damns all other nations. It could be very easily
misread in that direction. But God chooses Abraham and he chooses Israel so
that Abraham will be a blessing to all the nations. The theme of blessing that
begins with creation continues with primeval history and with Abraham. After
the break we will look at the call of Abraham.
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Lecture OT-8b
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C. The foundation of Israel

a. God’s Dealings with the Patriarchs
1. God’s Revelation to the Patriarchs
a. Foundational events for Israel (Deut 7:6-8)
 Intervention in history
 Disclosure of presence and purpose
 Creation of Israel as God’s people
 Precedent for subsequent involvement
b. Manner of revelation: theophany
 Speaking
 Appearing (as an angel) and speaking
 Speaking in a dream
c. Content of speeches
 Introduction by name: JHWH, El, El Shaddai, God of your father
 Foundational commands and promises
d. Places of revelation
 All in Canaan apart from Haran in 12:1-3 and 31:3
 Building of altars
 Reclamation of land from pagan gods
 Sites of future sanctuaries
 Precedent for interaction with Israel there
2. God’s Promise of Land
a. God’s command to Abram: leave homeland for another land
b. God’s gift of Canaan to Abram
 Promise of Canaan to Abram and his descendants
 Legal claim on land by walking over it
 Promise of perpetual possession in covenant with Abraham
 Departures from the land
c. Lack of possession
 Status as landless aliens
 Cemetery at Hebron as claim of future possession
 Delay due to God’s patience with the occupants

a. God’s Dealings with the Patriarchs
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One of the fundamental concepts that we want to illustrate and use is foundational words and
foundational events. We come in Gen. 12 – 50 to some of the most important founding stories
and foundational events. In traditional society, the question you always ask when you meet
someone is: who is your father or who is your mother? So for instance, who is the father of
wisdom in the OT? Solomon. Who is the father of psalmody in the OT? David. Who is the father
of kingship? That one is ambiguous. You could say Saul, but he is the father of the wrong kind of
kingship. You could say David because he is the father of the right kind of kingship. Who is the
father and mother of Israel? Abraham and Sarah. Abraham is the patriarch of Israel. Israel
began with him. Israel has its origin with Abraham.
But God’s dealings with the patriarchs are more than just the beginning of Israel. God’s dealing
with the patriarchs also provides the ongoing basis for God’s subsequent dealings with Israel.
So when God speaks to Abraham, he is not just speaking to Abraham but also to all of
Abraham’s descendants. What God does to Abraham, he does to all of his descendants. So
God’s words and actions to Abraham are foundational. It’s not just foundational historically, in
terms of where it all started. It is foundational in terms of God’s ongoing activity and God’s
ongoing commitment.
1. God’s Revelation to the Patriarchs
In God’s dealings with the patriarchs there are two things we want to focus on. First of all what
is the function of God’s revelation, or better said, God’s speaking to the patriarchs.
a. Foundational events for Israel (Deut 7:6-8)
Let’s take a look at Deut. 7:6-9. There the function of God’s revelation to the patriarchs is
summed up very nicely.
6
“For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people
for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. 7 It was not
because you were more in number than any other people that the LORD set his love on you and chose
you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, 8 but it is because the LORD loves you and is keeping the
oath that he swore to your fathers, that the LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand and
redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. 9 Know therefore
that the LORD your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those
who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations,
The foundation is that Israel is a people holy to the LORD. Why is this? What makes them
different from all of the other peoples? They are not better. They are no more numerous and
no more virtuous than any other nation. What makes the difference is God’s love and God’s
choice and God’s rescue of them and ultimately God’s covenant with them.
 Intervention in history
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So in Gen. 12 – 50 you get the foundational events for Israel’s existence as a holy people, the
people of God. You get God intervening into human history. There is something surprising
about this because all other pagan nations with their religions trace their origin back to the
beginning. If this were a pagan story, the founder of Israel would be Adam. Israel’s founding is
different. Israel’s founding occurs when God intervened in human history, after the fall, after
the flood, after Babel.
 Disclosure of presence and purpose
Secondly, God just doesn’t intervene, but he intervenes to disclose his presence and his
purpose for Abraham and his descendants.
 Creation of Israel as God’s people
By his intervention, which is verbal, he creates Israel as his people. God creates Israel by his
intervening and by his speaking into history.
 Precedent for subsequent involvement
The way that God intervenes with Abraham sets a precedent for what God will do subsequently
in the history of Israel. So whenever you read a story in Genesis, ask the question: How does
what God is doing here set a precedent for what he will do subsequently in Israel later on?
So take for instance the story of God’s appearance to Jacob at Bethel. God comes down the
stairway and makes a wonderful series of promised blessings to Jacob. What does this set a
precedent for? When Israel comes and enters the land, God’s going to come down in order to
bless them. This will be not only a gate to heaven for Jacob, but for every Israelite.
Later on Jacob promises to give a tithe of all his possessions to God if God brings him back
safely from the land where he is going. In Gen. 35 God does bring him back safely and Jacob
builds an altar and presents a tithe and then God appears to him again. There are two great
appearances of God to Jacob. Just as God meets with Jacob, so he also meets with the
Israelites. Just as Jacob presented a tithe to God therefore the Israelites brought their tithes to
God in the promised land, the gate of heaven. So God’s dealings with Jacob sent precedent for
how God would deal with his people.
b. Manner of revelation: theophany
If you come at Gen. 12 -50 as a pagan, what would strike you as most astonishing would be the
manner of God’s revelation.
 Speaking
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In each case you have a theophany but the emphasis is not on them seeing God.
 Appearing (as an angel) and speaking
Occasionally the term “and God appeared” to Abraham but in each case the appearance is not
visual but verbal. Visually, at the most his appearance is as an angel in disguise. So the
theophany is not a visual appearance by God but a verbal theophany. So how does God appear
to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? Sometimes he appears as an angel disguised as a human being
and he speaks.
 Speaking in a dream
Sometimes he speaks to the patriarchs in a dream. But the focus is always not on what is seen
but on what is said – the word. So we have a theophanic word. God “appears” by speaking his
name, by saying, I am the LORD or I am God Almighty, which is then followed by God’s Word.
After God introduces himself by name the words he speaks in Genesis are commands and
promises and these are foundational commands and promises.
c. Content of speeches
The content of these speeches given by God in Genesis, which are tabulated in a table on p. 24
of the class notes, consist of two things.
 Introduction by name: JHWH, El, El Shaddai, God of your father
First God introduces himself by name: I am Yahweh; I am El (the name for the Canaanite high
god); I am El Shaddai (God Almighty); or I am the God of your father Abraham. God introduces
himself by name. He names himself. That’s the theophany.
 Foundational commands and promises
Then secondly, he gives the patriarch he is speaking to one of the foundational commands and
promises.
d. Places of revelation
 All in Canaan apart from Haran in 12:1-3 and 31:3
Fourthly, what is significant about these theophanies, these appearances, is they all occur in
Canaan except for two very significant ones. The first appearance to Abraham was in Haran.
And then later on God appeared to Jacob in Haran, like a second Abraham. Apart from those
two appearances, all of the theophanies are in the promised land.
 Building of altars
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And there is a very interesting feature about almost all of these theophanies. Most of them
conclude with either Abraham or Isaac or Jacob building an altar at the site where the
theophany occurred.
 Reclamation of land from pagan gods
What is the significance of the building of the altar? According to pagan theology, the
jurisdiction of each God was local. So if you had a temple for Baal, Baal didn’t just own that
temple, but he owned the land around it too. And he owned the people who lived on that land.
Therefore the people who lived on that land were bound to serve Baal. They were the slaves of
Baal at his temple. So everywhere in Canaan you had temples to gods and goddesses. And
sometimes their jurisdictions overlapped. So if you lived on that land, you had to serve both
gods. You are a slave of both.
Now what is God doing when he appears to the patriarchs in Canaan and tells them to build an
altar? He is reclaiming the land for himself. So God reclaims the land long before the Israelites
enter the land and take possession of it. God reclaims the land from the pagan gods and the
pagan people. Before modern times everything was theological: land ownership, politics, etc.
So by that view every piece of real estate belonged to one of the local gods.
 Sites of future sanctuaries
The places where the altars were set up in Genesis were the sites where subsequent
sanctuaries were built. The places where the patriarchs built the altars were the places where
later the Israelites rebuilt the altars and built sanctuaries. They became places of worship for
the Israelites. Make note of all of those places in Genesis and then read about subsequent
history of Israel and you find that each one of those places became a holy place later on in
history.
There is one mysterious holy place that is not named. All of them are named but this one. There
Abraham built an altar. Do you remember what that place is? It was the place where he was
going to sacrifice Isaac and instead God provided a ram that was sacrificed in his place. All it
says is: on the mountain of the Lord, he will provide. On that occasion the altar was built before
God’s appearance. Usually it is built after God’s appearance. You have to go all the way to
Chronicles before you learn the name of that place. It is Mt. Moriah or Jerusalem.
 Precedent for interaction with Israel there
The way it works is this. If these appearances were pagan appearances, the patriarchs would
have set up an idol at those places. What would be the point of an idol? Then that place where
the god appeared would be a place where the god appears again through the idol. This happens
today in countries like Malaysia and India. So it sets a precedent for subsequent appearances.
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But Abraham doesn’t build idols, he builds altars at places where he met with God. So what God
did in that place is a precedent for what he will do later with his people. It is the foundational
story of what God did at that sanctuary. So the question is, Why do we worship here? Because
God appeared to Jacob here or he appeared to Abraham here. So there is a story and a history
behind it. And the story not only tells you what happened then, but also what God is doing at
this place now.
Notice most importantly the function and importance of altars. Temples were not important
and idols were not important but altars were significant.
2. God’s Promise of Land
Now one of God’s foundational promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is God’s promise of the
land. That has importance all the way to the present time and lies at the root of the trouble in
Israel.
a. God’s command to Abram: leave homeland for another land
It begins rather strangely with God’s command to Abraham to leave his ancestral land for a land
that God will show him. So he leaves his land for God’s land. And that is right at the beginning
of Abram’s story. What is paradoxical about it is that it is never fulfilled in the lifetime of
Abraham or Isaac or Jacob or when Joshua brought the people into the land. Yet it was one of
the foundational promises that God made.
b. God’s gift of Canaan to Abram

 Promise of Canaan to Abram and his descendants
His promise was to give the land of Canaan to Abraham and his descendants. He promised the
land to the Seed of Abraham.
 Legal claim on land by walking over it
So one of the first things Abraham does when he comes to the land is to walk over it. For us this
seems like a little insignificant detail. But in the ancient world it had great significance. To walk
over the land means to claim that land as your land and to take possession of it. Once you
claimed it, you walked over it to assert your property rights. So the way you claim the land and
take possession of the land is by walking over it. (Dr. Kleinig told a story from his childhood
where his father would take visitors and walk around and show them his property. It was his
way of “walking over the land.”) The idea was not mainly ownership, but responsibility. You
were responsible for that land.
There are many of these customs in the OT that don’t make sense to us but were very
significant in those days. Another one was when Boaz bought land that belonged to Naomi and
Ruth. When they bought land, they swapped shoes with the person they bought it from. The
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shoes represented land rights. So if I give my shoes to you, I’m giving you the title to the land.
And once you had title, you’d walk over the land.
So the prophet Amos condemned those who sell the poor for shoes or sandals. What does this
mean? They get people in such debt that they have to give up their land. The shoes are used as
the legal transaction of this. So in the ancient days, you can tell if a person was a land owner or
a landless person by whether or not they were wearing shoes. Now there is an important detail
in the story of the prodigal son involving shoes. When he returns the father gives him shoes,
which means giving him his land rights again.
 Promise of perpetual possession in covenant with Abraham
Now God doesn’t just promise the land to Abraham but he promises it to Abraham and his
descendants as a perpetual possession. Perpetual means until the end of time. As long as
history lasts the land belongs to Abraham and his descendants. Can you see how that causes
problems all the way up to the present time? Both the Jews for theological reasons and the
Palestinians for historical reasons claim it.
 Departures from the land
Something you need to take note of in the Bible is where people leave the land and come back
to the land. When that happens, something significant is going on. So for example, when Joseph
is sent to the land of Egypt, Egypt is not just some other geographical location. It is the land that
belongs not only to the Egyptian sun god and the Egyptian god of the underworld. That means
it is the land of death. Land has theological significance. There is a difference between being in
the land of Canaan and being outside it. So when people are leaving it or coming to it, you need
to weigh the significance of it.
c. Lack of possession
 Status as landless aliens
What is most startling is that God brings Abraham to the land and he promises him the land but
Abraham never owns the land. His status is a landless alien. He lives in the land God promised
him but he doesn’t own it.
 Cemetery at Hebron as claim of future possession
The only piece of property that Abraham owns is his cemetery he bought at Hebron. Once again
in secular terms this just a nice story, but this has very important legal and theological
significance. We have cemeteries where we have a bunch of people buried in one place. If you
go to India and go through the countryside, you will see graves in the middle of a pasture or the
middle of a rice field. You will see these all over the place. What is the significance of graves? In
tribal societies or ones like them, graves have to do with land rights.
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Think about that for a minute and see if you can figure out why. How can you say this land
belongs to me and my family? They didn’t have a piece of paper which was the title to the land.
It is mine because you can see that my family is buried there. And when someone is buried
there, their spirits are there. And actually the land doesn’t belong to me, it belongs to my
ancestors. I received the land from my ancestors and their spirits. I take care of the land for
them. So, ancestor reverence, graves, and land rights all belong together.
God tells Abraham to buy the plot of land for his cemetery and he buys it. By buying the land,
what is Abraham doing? He is asserting the future claim on the land. And it projects all the way
to the present day. Some conservative Jews have grabbed a hold of the tomb of Abraham some
years ago and it remains a flashpoint between the Jews and the Arabs to the present day. Why
did they grab a hold of Abraham’s grave? It is a claim to the whole promised land. It is the same
for Abraham. He is staking a claim ahead of time for the whole promised land.
 Delay due to God’s patience with the occupants
God promised the land to Abraham but he did not give it to him right away. Why did he delay
giving it to him? You’ll find the answer in the covenant with Abraham in Gen. 15:15-16.
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As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age. 16 And they
shall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”
God is being patient with the current people that live in the land. It is still not bad enough for
him to intervene and take the land away from them because they abused the land.
And if you take it more fully, there is another reason why the giving of the land is delayed. You
would expect that the first gift God gives his people is land. But you get the following things:
o The covenant with Abraham, which includes the promise of the land and the
covenant of blessing.
o Then later you get Sinai covenant with the gift of the divine service.
o And then after Sinai, they go across the desert and enter the promised land.
Now in paganism, what determines what god you worship? It is determined by who owns the
land you are living on. So you worship the local god. Land and theology go together. Land and
worship of gods go together.
But here you get something new in human history. God gives Israel the divine service and the
divine service is not attached to the land. They worshipped God even when they did not have
any land. They worshipped God at Sinai. They worshipped God in the desert. Later they
worshipped God when they were in exile. For pagan people this is nonsense. So even though
land is very significant in the OT, worship of God and the identity of the people of Israel as the
holy people is not dependent on the land. The land is a gift that comes after the divine service
and after the covenant with Abraham. And there will be several more important gifts that will
be given while they are in the land. And one of the most important ones given in the land is the
gift of kingship.
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Years ago Dr. Kleinig was teaching the Aboriginals and he took them through the stories of
Abraham. And when he did, they understood them far better than any class he ever taught. The
reason why was because this story told them that their spirituality and their identity as
Christian Aboriginals didn’t depend on their land but it depended upon God’s Word. It didn’t
discount the land because they could see how important the land was. They could understand
that when Abraham was told to leave his land, his kindred, and his family, he was being told to
commit suicide because any Aboriginal who leaves his land and his family becomes a nobody.
They lose everything. Dr. Kleinig became aware of the significance of this from the discussion
they had when he taught it. They understood it and could imagine the frustration Abraham and
his family would have had because they were in the land and the land had been promised to
them, but they could never take possession of the land. Lastly, they could also understand very
clearly the significance of Abraham owning only a cemetery because for Aboriginals the place
where you are buried is of immense importance. And in their culture too, the land doesn’t
belong to them. It belongs to their ancestors. So they become land owners only when they die.
Next period we will look at two things: the call of Abraham and God’s blessing of Abraham and
then God’s covenant with Abraham.
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Lecture OT-9a
v=jH94xAXzVgQ&list=PL32Gjc1uEM1AUR8LC9JlceA9xFSeZs25Z&index=13

b. God's blessing of Abram
1. God's Call to Abram in Gen 12:1-7
a. Two commands
 Leave homeland
 Be a blessing
b. Six promises
 Blessing of Abram
 Great nation
 Great name; cf. 11:4
 Blessing of those who acknowledge Abram as blessed
 Curse of anyone who belittles him
 Blessing of all families through him
2. Traditional Pattern of Blessing in Animist Cultures

Spirits of ancestors as source of blessing in family
give
Blessing: life power
through land, family, custom/law

Descendants
3. Pattern with Abraham

God the head of a new clan as source of blessing
gives
Blessing: fertility, vitality, longevity, prosperity, success
through promise and presence

Abraham and his seed
by contact and intercession

All families on earth
4. Reception and Transmission of Blessing

a. Abraham > Isaac > Jacob's twelve sons
b. Apart from fertility: Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel
c. Apart from the land
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d. By God's favour rather than by legal right of firstborn sons
 Not Ishmael but Isaac
 Not Esau but Jacob
 Not Reuben but Judah (4)
 Not Manasseh but Ephraim
e. Despite human interference, scheming, and sin
 Sexual harassment of Sarah and Rebekah
 Schemes of Sarah with Hagar, Laban with Jacob, Jacob with God
 Sin of Jacob with Esau, Jacob and Rebekah with Isaac, brothers against
Joseph

b. God's blessing of Abram
1. God's Call to Abram in Gen 12:1-7
Today we begin with God’s call of Abraham in Gen. 12:1-3. It is one of the pivotal texts in the
whole book of Genesis. It pivots from the first part of Genesis (Gen. 1-11) to the second part of
Genesis (Gen. 12-50). And in this text we have foundational promises that reach not only across
the whole OT and NT but the whole life of the Church until the close of the age. We are here
today in fulfillment of this series of promises.
We won’t look at it in Hebrew, but I will give you an exact translation. This is one case where
translations in their attempt to simplify and give clarity of meaning obscure what is going on.
a. Two commands
Notice here that you have two imperatives. I don’t think there is any modern translation that
renders it as two commands. It goes like this:
Go from your land and from your kinsfolk and your clan to the land that I will show you,
so that I will make you a great nation,
and I will bless you,
and I will make your name great,
and be a blessing,
so that I will bless those that bless you,
but I will curse the one that belittles you,
and by you (or in you) all families of the earth will obtain blessing.
There are two imperatives here: (1) Go and (2) Be a blessing. Go from one land to another land.
“Be a blessing” is a unique expression. It is not used anywhere else in the OT. It is odd in
Hebrew and it is odd in English. Notice that it is a matter of being not doing.
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Both of these commands are followed by a purpose or result clause. Why should he go? “so
that I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you and I will make your name great.” Why
should you be a blessing? “so that I will bless those that bless you, ... by you (or in you) all
families of the earth will obtain blessing.” And there is a consequence for those who look down
on Abraham. God says, “I will curse the one that belittles you.”
 Leave homeland
 Be a blessing
Let’s take a look at the word bless. Hebrew has a small vocabulary but a very sophisticated verb
system with various tenses of verbs. That means the same word can have a range of meanings
depending upon the context.
1. When God blesses somebody, God gives blessing. He says to Abraham, “Go ... so that ...
I will bless you.” He tells him to go so that he can give him blessing.
2. When priests bless (such as Aaronic benediction), they pronounce God’s blessing, they
mediate God’s blessing, they give God’s blessing. Human beings can do that to. So for
instance fathers can give God’s blessing to their sons.
3. Human beings can also bless God. Over and over in the Psalms it says, Bless the Lord O
my soul. What does that mean? You don’t give God blessing. You don’t pronounce
blessings on God because he is the source of all blessings. By blessing God, you
acknowledge God as the source and giver of blessing. You might say, Blessed are you
Lord God, king of the universe. Or, Blessed is the Lord, the God of Israel. It is an act of
praise, acknowledging that he is the giver of blessing.
4. Humans can also bless other human beings, acknowledging that they are recipients of
God’s blessing. So to Bob you can say, Blessed are you Bob. Bob is not the source or
giver of blessing. In doing so, you recognize that he is the receiver of God’s blessing.
So when we look at the second command to “be a blessing” and then God says, “I will bless
those that bless you,” how is “bless” used? The first use of bless is in sense #1, God gives
blessing. The second time bless is used it is used in the 4 th sense. God will bless those people
who recognize that Abraham has received blessing from God. So Abraham becomes an agent of
God’s blessing. God blesses Abraham and his blessing flows through Abraham to other people.
The opposite of pronouncing God’s blessing on someone (use #2) is pronouncing a curse, to
excommunicate. God says to Abraham, “I will curse the one that belittles you.”
And he continues with, “and by you (or in you) all families of the earth will obtain blessing.”
Now the form of the verb “blessed” used here means it can be used in three ways.
1. First, it can mean what you do to yourself. It could be: all families on earth will bless
themselves. This is use #4. They will recognize that they have been blessed.
2. Second, it can indicate that the person is the receiver of the action. This is the way that
Dr. Kleinig translated it. This is use #1. They obtain God’s blessing.
3. [Dr. Kleinig did not give the third way it could be used.]
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This is an intricately crafted little oracle or poem. Notice its structure.

1. Told to go from a land to a land. (forms an inclusion)
2. “Great nation” and “name great”. (forms an inclusion)
3. “Be a blessing” and “obtain blessing”. (forms an inclusion)
Now let’s unpack this. This is God’s call of Abraham and this is foundational, not only for
Abraham, but this is the foundational story for Israel and for every single Christian because we
are children of Abraham. Abraham is our father and this is our father’s call. This is your call. This
is my call. It is foundational for Israel. It is foundational for the Church. It is foundational for
every Christian. If you want to summarize your life in a nutshell, it is governed by those two
imperatives: Go and be a blessing. That is every Christian’s mission in life.
b. Six promises
Those two commands that we just looked at are coupled with six promises.
 Blessing of Abram
The first promise is that God will bless Abraham in a unique way. Notice that there is no content
given to that yet. What that blessing will be will be fleshed out.
 Great nation
Secondly, God promised that Abraham would be a great nation. That is one aspect of blessing.
Think about this for a second. What is ironic about Abraham being blessed to be a great nation?
What was Abraham and Sarah’s situation? They were old and Sarah was barren. So if having
children and a family is a blessing, then Sarah was cursed. To be without children is the
opposite of being blessed. It is being cursed. As an old man he is beyond having children. And
Sarah is not only barren, she is past menopause. So sexually speaking they are both dead. So to
this cursed couple God says he will bless them and make them into a great nation. Humanly
speaking this is utterly impossible. Paul makes a great deal of that in Romans 4. So in a sense
this has to do with a resurrection from the dead.
 Great name; cf. 11:4
Thirdly, God promised to make the name of Abraham great, so much so that he will be one of
the most famous people on earth. Notice the contrast to this promise given to Abraham, who
was a nobody with no future, against the backdrop of the story of the tower of Babel where
human beings wanted to make a great name for themselves. Now that’s also the story of
western civilization. That is the story of Rome and Greece and every empire. People want to
make a great name for themselves. Ultimately that’s what we want to do to. God here turns it
around and promises to make a great name for Abraham.
 Blessing of those who acknowledge Abram as blessed
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The fourth promise is that Abraham won’t just be a blessing but through Abraham people will
receive blessings. God says, I will bless those who bless you. So Abraham becomes the mediator
of blessing. People’s attitudes of Abraham as being blessed by God will determine whether they
are recipients of God’s blessing or not. So whether they bless Abraham or belittle Abraham
determines whether they receive God’s blessing or God’s curse.
Now this cuts across one of the most foundational doctrines of the ancient and also of the
modern world and of Buddhism, which is the idea of karma. In karma you create your own
blessing by your behavior. So do the right thing and you get good karma. Do the wrong thing
and you get bad karma.
But here in God’s promises to Abraham, blessing or curse is not determined by what you do,
but by a person and by your relationship with that person and by your attitude towards that
person. God gives his blessing to people depending on their attitude to Abraham.
A student pointed out that this was very similar to what Jesus said when he said, Whoever
acknowledges me acknowledges my father in heaven. Indeed, he’s right.
The last part of this is: “in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” That is
paraphrased. It should read, “in your seed.” So the fulfillment of this promise doesn’t lie in
Abraham himself but it lies in the seed of Abraham. Now “seed” is ambiguous. It can mean one
of three things. (1) It can mean Abraham’s male descendant – Isaac. (2) Or seed can be
collective plural. It can mean through Abraham’s descendants. (3) Later on this promise is
attached to David and the house of David. Through David, the seed of Abraham, all families of
the earth will obtain blessing. But then Paul in the NT applies that promise to Jesus, the Son of
God, the Messiah. So then in the NT people’s destiny is not determined by whether they are
good or bad, whether they’ve accumulated good karma or bad karma, but their attitude toward
Jesus. Whether one confesses or denies Jesus determines their ultimate destiny in the age to
come.
 Curse of anyone who belittles him
(See also previous bullet point.) This is not so much a promise as it is a warning. Any person
who belittles Abraham, who treats him as low or unworthy or contemptuous, which would be
very easy since he is a no body, will be cursed by God.
 Blessing of all families through him
(See also two bullet points up.)
Then comes the culminating promise: In you all families on earth will obtain blessing. Notice
here that the promise is not individual. Not each person, but each family will obtain God’s
blessing. All families on earth will be recipients of God’s blessing. So where blessing originally
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had been given to Adam and all his descendants and then to Noah and all his descendants, now
blessing comes down to one person and then through that one person to all families on earth.
(A student question: So this blessing is different that the blessing given at creation? Yes it is
different. Now it includes the creation blessing but yet it’s different. Later you’ll see this better
because it also includes the gift of the divine service and the gifts of holiness and righteousness.
Abraham was going to be a bit like a priest. A priest was a mediator of blessing and so was
Abraham. The closest you get to “be a blessing” in the OT is in a priestly context. So Abraham
[and his descendants] will have a priestly vocation. We will see this more clearly when we come
to the covenant.)
2. Traditional Pattern of Blessing in Animist Cultures
Notice a couple of things. He was to leave a land for a land. And notice that Abraham is told to
cut himself off from all of the natural means of blessing. Dr. Kleinig had taught the Genesis
stories to the Aboriginal pastors and evangelists at a time when there was controversy about
land rights. They helped Dr. Kleinig in the exegesis of Genesis more than any commentary he
ever read because this book fits their culture and they knew right away what was going on.
So that was when it became clear to Dr. Kleinig what it really meant for Abraham to leave his
land, his kinsfolk, and his clan. For an animist culture land was important and this was because
the spirits of their deceased ancestors lived in and controlled the land. So when they left the
land, they left the place where the ancestral spirits blessed them. In that culture, to leave the
land is to commit suicide, to cut themselves off from the source of blessing. The land didn’t
belong to them, it belonged to the spirits of their ancestors. And they then received blessing
from their ancestors by living on the land, by observing customs, laws, rituals, and ceremonies,
by living within families. By doing this they remained connected to the spirits of their ancestors.
If they disturb the spirits of their ancestors, they will curse them instead of bless them until
they fulfill their obligations towards them. Then they will be sources of blessing again.
So this was the type of culture that Abraham lived in. And by being told to go to another land,
he was being told to commit suicide. From a human point of view, he was already a cursed
person. He was old, had no children, his wife was barren and beyond the age of having children.
And then if that is not bad enough, he is to cut himself off from all the natural sources of
blessing. He is to go to some unnamed foreign country where he had no kinfolk. He would be a
no body. What he is being asked to do is a curse.
The diagram below summarizes the traditional pattern of blessing in animist cultures. These
types of cultures still exist around the world. The idea is that the spirits of the ancestors are the
source of blessing in a family. And blessing is life power; it’s a concrete reality. They give this life
power through means such as land, family, and customs and laws. And they give it to their
descendants. But they can only do this if they remain on the land and observe these things.
That is how those who live in an animist culture would see things.
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Spirits of ancestors as source of blessing in family
give
Blessing: life power
through land, family, custom/law

Descendants
3. Pattern with Abraham
This pattern changes with Abraham. There is a new source of blessing. Who takes the place of
the ancestral spirits as the source of blessing? God does. And his blessing is not attached to
land. What is his blessing attached to? What mediates God’s blessing from God to Abraham and
from Abraham to his descendants? God’s Word, the promise. So the word of promise takes the
place of the land.
In this story God is seen to be the head of a new clan and is the source of blessing on earth. And
he gives Abraham blessing. Blessing has a wide range to it. It does have to do with fertility,
having children. It has to do with vitality, having a long life and a full life. It has to do with
longevity, prosperity, and success. And it goes beyond that. It looks to the future and is open
ended as to what else God will give. That blessing is given through God’s word, through his
promise, and through God’s presence with Abraham. Notice how frequently in Genesis God
says, I will be with you where ever you go. So God’s blessing is attached to God’s promise. In
traditional culture, blessing was attached to customs. What is critical here is God’s promise.
The promise is made to Abraham and his seed. And there are two ways in which Abraham and
his descendants, his seed, communicate blessing. The first way is by having contact with
people. Just by being they bring blessing. Take notice that where ever Abraham, Isaac, Jacob,
and Joseph go, they take blessing with them. People that receive them receive blessing.
Take most astonishingly Joseph in Egypt. He is sold as a slave, as a no body, to Potiphar. Great
blessing comes to Potiphar’s family through Joseph. After Potiphar’s wife lies about Joseph,
Joseph ends up in prison. For most people that would have been the end for them. But even in
prison God brings blessing to the prison. And then when he is freed from prison he brings God’s
blessing to the whole land of Egypt. So Abraham and his seed are bearers of blessing. Through
contact with others they bring blessing to people. And it’s not just blessing by what they do or
say, they bring blessing by simply being, by their presence, by their contact.
And there is a second way that they bring blessing. And you can see it clearly in Abraham’s
intercession for the people of Sodom when he prays for them. He brings blessing by
interceding, by assuming a priestly type of role.
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The blessing that comes through Abraham and his seed is for all the families of the earth. You
should already have a pretty clear picture of this from your Bible Introduction class and other
classes.
God the head of a new clan as source of blessing
gives
Blessing: fertility, vitality, longevity, prosperity, success
through promise and presence

Abraham and his seed
by contact and intercession

All families on earth
4. Reception and Transmission of Blessing

a. Abraham > Isaac > Jacob's twelve sons
The promise is given to Abraham and it is handed down to the descendants of Abraham. It’s
promised not only to Abraham but also to Sarah. So even though Ishmael is the firstborn to
Abraham, he is not the firstborn of Abraham and Sarah. Isaac was their firstborn and the
blessing goes to Isaac. Then the blessing goes from Isaac not to Esau the firstborn but to Jacob
the second born. And then from Jacob rather strangely it doesn’t go to the firstborn son as one
would expect. It goes to all twelve sons of Jacob. It goes to all of his sons from his favorite wife
and his less favorite wife and even to his sons from his concubines. All the sons of Jacob are
bearers of blessing. God gives blessing through the family of Abraham.
b. Apart from fertility: Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel
Notice how blessing works here in a way that is contrary to natural forms of blessing. The
simplest index in the order of creation of whether you are blessed or not is if you get married
and have children. To not have children means you are cursed. This holds true for all cultures.
Surprisingly this is true even in our modern western culture despite it being an anti-child culture
with its abortion and contraception. The greatest problem you will come across in your ministry
is women and men who can’t have children, the curse of infertility. We spend millions of dollars
on fertility treatments. People don’t draw the right conclusions from it, that within the order of
creation it is a curse not to have children. In our culture children are treated as something bad
but in reality it is the opposite.
The blessing of God goes apart from fertility. Have you noticed all of the infertile women in
Genesis? It starts with Sarah and then Rebekah, who after a long time had her prayer answered
with twins. Then Jacob’s favored wife Rachel was infertile. This continues with Hannah and
other women in the OT all the way up to the Virgin Mary, who was not fertile in the normal
way. So the blessing works apart from the natural law of fertility.
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c. Apart from the land
The blessing works apart from the land. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob never owned the land
promised to them by God. They lived in it but didn’t own it. In this way God was bringing home
to them that for them land was not the source of blessing. What was the source of blessing?
God himself. God’s Word, God’s presence was the source of blessing, whether they were in the
land or not in the land. Blessing is attached to God’s Word. And then later on blessing is
attached to the divine service, not the land.
d. By God's favour rather than by legal right of firstborn sons
Whereas in the order of creation blessing goes according to law and custom, in Genesis blessing
depends on God’s grace and favor rather than on the legal right of firstborn sons. Blessing
usually went from father to oldest son to oldest son to oldest son, etc. That is the normal line of
blessing within a tribal society. But here it doesn’t work that way.
 Not Ishmael but Isaac
So the blessing doesn’t go from Abraham to Ishmael the firstborn son, but to Isaac.
 Not Esau but Jacob
The blessing doesn’t go to Esau the firstborn son but to Jacob the second born son.
 Not Reuben but Judah (4)
The blessing of kingship, the greatest blessing of all, doesn’t go to Reuben the firstborn son, but
to Judah the fourth son. From Judah will come David and kingship.
 Not Manasseh but Ephraim
A special blessing was given to Jacob’s second youngest son, Joseph. Jacob blessed Joseph’s two
sons along with his own sons. And when he blessed Ephraim and Manasseh, Jacob crossed his
arms in order to bless the younger son Ephraim over the older son Manasseh. And so he gave
the greater blessing to the younger son instead of the older son.
Paul makes it very clear in Galatians and later on in Romans that God’s blessing, which he
identifies with the Holy Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit, doesn’t come from observing the Law,
but comes from the promise, the promise of grace, the word of promise. In the order of
creation blessing is given according to the Law. But in the new age, the Messianic Age, it comes
through faith in the promises of God and in God’s election.
e. Despite human interference, scheming, and sin
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Lastly, this blessing works despite human scheming and planning and human refusal to follow
the word according to God’s plan. And most of all it works despite human sin. One of the most
astonishing things about Genesis is that the founding fathers and mothers of Israel are anything
but paragons of moral virtue. They are really a shady bunch of characters from Abraham
onward through the father of Israel, Jacob.
 Sexual harassment of Sarah and Rebekah
God’s blessing works despite the sexual harassment of Sarah and Rebekah. Remember there
were two guys that wanted to take Sarah into their harems and sleep with her and God
intervened to stop it. And later on Rebekah faced the same thing and once again God
intervened to stop it.
 Schemes of Sarah with Hagar, Laban with Jacob, Jacob with God
God’s blessing works despite the scheming of Sarah with Hagar. Both Sarah and Abraham are
old [and she couldn’t have children. And since God said Abraham would have a child from his
own body,] Sarah gets Abraham to sleep with Hagar in order to get a son, which she will then
adopt the son as her own. But that backfired on her, as it caused much friction in the family.
And yet God brought blessing out of it for Ishmael but he was not the promised son that would
come from Sarah.
And then there was the scheming of Laban with Jacob. Remember he gave Jacob cow-eyed
Leah rather than bright-eyed Rachel and he had to work an extra seven years before he could
marry Rachel. In spite of this God blesses Jacob, [by greatly increasing his flocks.]
And most of all it works despite the scheming of Jacob with God. Already early in life he had all
kinds of issues with his brother Esau. He bought the birthright that would have gone to Esau. He
and Rebekah manipulated the blessing, etc. Eventually it leads up to the story where Jacob and
his family were returning to the promised land and they were fording the Jabok River. While
there the angel of the Lord confronted him in the night. He wrestles with him and Jacob held on
and wouldn’t let go despite his hip being out of joint. He refused to let the angel go until he
blessed him. What is the irony? God had long ago decided to bless Jacob. Jacob didn’t see it, so
he worked hard to obtain God’s blessing. But isn’t this typical? He worked hard his whole life to
get God’s blessing and the irony was that God was already blessing him. If you think about,
that’s the story of all our lives. The blessing is given despite all that scheming.
 Sin of Jacob with Esau, Jacob and Rebekah with Isaac, brothers against
Joseph
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The blessing is given despite the sin of Jacob against Esau in buying the birthright, despite the
sin of Jacob and Rebekah tricking Isaac to bless Jacob instead of Esau, and despite the sin of the
brothers against Joseph.
God Brings Good Out of Evil
One last thing on this topic. The family of Jacob is a blessed family. For people in our world, a
blessed family is one that we think of like the Brady Bunch. They all get along with each other.
It’s a human family that functions very well. But if there ever was a dysfunctional family it was
the family of Jacob. And yet Jacob’s family was a blessed family. It all comes to a head after the
death of Jacob. They are down in Egypt and the brothers are afraid that Joseph had saved his
revenge until after their father Jacob died. And now that he has died they think he is going to
take payback on them for selling him as a slave. But it is in this situation that Joseph says
something that is very profound, which could be taken as the motto for the way that God
blesses in Genesis. He said, You meant it for evil but God meant it for good. The blessing God
gives to Abraham, which is passed on to Isaac and Jacob and to Jacob’s twelve sons and
eventually to the twelve tribes of Jacob, is blessing that brings good out of evil. It brings good
out of human sin.
Now if ever there is a teaching that attacks and undermines the doctrine that has become very
prevalent in the current generation (he is referring to the idea of karma) it is this blessing that
brings good from evil. Have you noticed the way that young people and many people in our
society have picked up the Buddhist idea of karma? It is usually referred to as: what goes
around comes around or you get what you give. It is the one thing that many people feel makes
moral sense of their lives. This is so because sadly Christians haven’t taught them about sin and
its consequences and we also haven’t taught them about the blessing of God.
According to the law of karma, good cannot come out of evil. In karma only evil can come from
evil and only good can come from something good. So in order to get good you have to do
good. What God does with Abraham if you like is cut through the law of karma. The law of
karma operates according to the moral laws that govern the universe. But God’s blessing
operates out of grace. It brings blessing out of sin.
A student pointed out that karma works in some limited way. Dr. Kleinig agreed. There is a
certain amount of “karma.” But that is jumping ahead in our course to Mt. Sinai and the giving
of the Law. What is the closest you get to “karma” in the OT? If you are God’s people, only
worship the Lord and not pagan gods. In other words, remain faithful to the God that gives
blessing then you will receive blessing.
But it can be put more sharply than that. Remember the first commandment? God says, “I the
Lord your God am a jealous God visiting the iniquity (you could say karma) of the fathers on the
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children to the third or fourth generation of those that hate me.” It is limited to three or four
generations. He continues, “but showing mercy (or steadfast love or generosity, which is an
anti-karma term) to a thousand generations of those that love me and keep my
commandments.” So while God’s mercy, grace, generosity is unlimited, his negative judgment
on human sin is limited to basically the length of a person’s life (three or four generations).
So let’s say I’m an alcoholic. Who is going to suffer? Me, my wife, my kids, my grandchildren,
and at the most my great grandchildren. That is about the maximum time I will live. What God
does in his mercy is limit the consequences of evil. He uses evil not to pay people back but to
bring people to repentance. And he brings people to repentance so that his generosity can take
people beyond karma to a thousand generations.
So each of you Christians are at the tail end of generations that have loved God and keep his
commandments. The blessing comes to you and goes through you to your descendants. Let’s
say you have married someone who came from a dysfunctional family. You as a Christian bring
God’s blessing to your spouse and generations to come.
The promise to Abraham is unlimited. God says, “through you, all families of the earth will be
blessed.” So even though the effects of sin can last three or four generations, there is also
blessing too. Let’s say you get a divorce. Who will suffer? You, your spouse, your children, and
anyone they marry. The children will be hurt far worse than the couple themselves. And there is
nothing that you can do to undo that damage. But that is not the end of the story. God’s
blessing can and will also come to your family. If you keep your eyes open as you work as a
pastor, you will see that God blesses families even in the midst of trouble. He brings good out of
evil.
What do you see happening from kids that come from broken families where parents or
grandparents divorced? You see that they get married and are determined to stay together and
not just when times are good. Their attitude is, a marriage means we are going to stick together
no matter what because we’ve seen and suffered the effects of divorce and we don’t want our
children to experience what we’ve experienced or what our parents experienced. So in this
way, by children experiencing the effects of sin and not wanting to burden their children with
those same effects, they are blessed to see that marriage is for the long haul through all kinds
of tough circumstances.
The way this typically works is this. First you have a dysfunctional family where there is divorce.
Second, the children don’t want to marry because of all the problems that resulted from
marriage and divorce of their parents. So they just live with someone and have children out of
wedlock. They may eventually get married later on for the sake of their children. Then it is the
third generation or fourth generation that sees that marriage doesn’t necessarily have to be
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negative. They’ve seen the down side of having a family outside of marriage. They’ve seen the
benefits of a long-term committed marriage, which is not an unrealistic all romance type of
marriage, which is not negative and dysfunctional and destructive, but a relationship where
people love each other and are committed to work through all the problems that inevitably
surface. Through it all they are determined to stick together and work at it and good comes out
of it, even the rough patches. They’re still together 30 or 40 years later and they say the
marriage is as good as ever.
Marriage can be put in the terms of God’s command to Abraham, Go and be a blessing. It is not
telling you to do anything. It is giving you something. God commissions you to be a blessing. It is
not so much what you say or do. It’s what you are. And that is what the Christian vocation is.
That is basically evangelism. That’s your priestly vocation as pastors. You are to be a blessing to
people. Hence the importance of example in your ministry. One student said, Preach the Gospel
by your actions and if necessary use words.
It is a matter of being. And if there is one thing that the younger generations are suspicious of
it’s empty words. That is one of the features of post modernism, words that don’t correspond
with reality. Before people listen to a person, they check out that person’s credibility. Is their
life in sync with what they believe and with what they say and are their words matched by their
deeds? Do they just talk the talk or do they walk the walk?
(Some discussion on using Genesis in their ministry.)
One last thing. Notice that Paul says that the blessing God promised to Abraham is the gift of
the Holy Spirit that comes through the Seed of Abraham. And all of the gifts given by the Spirit
are the blessings in the order of redemption, the Messianic age. It is the counterpart to the
blessings of a full, rich life, a life as God meant it to be in the order of creation. In the order of
creation blessing is life power, life in all of its fullness. In the new age, blessing is eternal life. It
is the blessing of the Holy Spirit, who is the Lord and Giver of Life. This is a very important
connection and it is very important that we don’t run them together, but at the same time you
don’t want to separate blessing within the Church from blessing within the world. They are
related but not identical. Let’s take a break and we will take a look at God’s covenant with
Abraham.
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Lecture OT-9b
v=ALCli9ztaeE&list=PL32Gjc1uEM1AUR8LC9JlceA9xFSeZs25Z&index=14

c. God's covenant with Abraham
1. Covenant as a legally binding foundational promise or commitment or undertaking
 Unilateral: God with Noah, Abraham, David
 Bilateral: God and Israel at Mt Sinai and on the Plains of Moab
2. God's covenant with Abraham was like a royal grant of land to a faithful
official
 Abraham as God's servant/ deputy (Gen 26:24)
 Received because of faith rather than as a result of service (15:4-6)
 Granted for Abraham to stand in God's service (17:1)
 Result: administration of God's righteousness and justice (18:18-19)
3. Enactment in two stages
a. The foundation of the covenant in Genesis 15
...
b. Confirmation of the covenant in Genesis 17
...
4. God's covenant with Abraham as the foundation for his

dealings with Israel
...

Introduction
Of all the covenants in the OT, the covenant with Abraham is foundational for the existence of
Israel as the people of God. So we are going to focus on this foundational covenant. It is the
bottom line for Israel. Since it is a covenant of grace, it still stands. Even when the people of
Israel are faithless to God, God remains faithful to them. It is an amazing reality.
1. Covenant as a legally binding foundational promise or commitment or undertaking
You’ve already had much of this in Bible Introduction, so we will go through what you should
know rather quickly and then focus on what you are less likely to know. First of all, what is a
covenant? We already have God’s foundational commands and promises. A covenant goes
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beyond a promise. It is a legally binding promise and therefore a commitment. It is the

strongest kind of performative utterance possible in the OT.
So for example, I can promise to give to you all my property when I die. Now, you would be
much more impressed and assured that I would do it, if I have a will made up where I have
bequeathed it to you. It is the same promise but the difference is that the will (covenant) is
legally binding.
In the OT the covenants God makes are foundational. They are not just relevant for the
immediate people involved but they are foundational for all those that that person represents.
So when God makes a covenant with Noah, it’s not just with Noah and his family, but it is also
with all human beings and all animals. When God makes a covenant with Abraham, he makes
that covenant with all of Abraham’s descendants. When God makes a covenant with David, it’s
not just with David but with all of his household, his dynasty, all the kings that come after him
that sit on the throne of David. It is a foundational covenant.
Two Kinds of Covenants
There are two kinds of covenants. Beginning in 1950 covenants became very fashionable in OT
scholarship and scholars began distinguishing between unilateral covenants and bilateral
covenants. Now this is not really precise terminology because all covenants are always bilateral.
What the terminology describes is whether the covenant is based on unilateral commitment or
a bilateral commitment.
So for example, a last will and testament really is bilateral. It’s between me and my kids. But the
commitment is one-sided. I make the commitment to give my property to my kids. So the
commitment in this case is unilateral. On the other hand, when you get married, you enter a
covenant which has a bilateral commitment. The man and woman commit themselves to each
other.
In the OT there are three unilateral covenants. There actually may be four of them, but one
isn’t mentioned much. (1) God made a covenant with Noah, which was a unilateral
commitment from God. (2) Then there is God’s covenant with Abraham. It is unilateral,
although it involves Abraham circumcising himself and his son Isaac and even Ishmael. So some
scholars question whether you can call it a unilateral covenant. Yet circumcision is not a
commitment to God but entering into and receiving God’s commitment. (3) Thirdly, comes a
very important unilateral covenant. It is God’s covenant with David and his seed, his
descendant. (4) The fourth one might be God’s covenant with the priests. It is spoken of as a
covenant, but it isn’t featured very prominently in the OT.
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Then there are two bilateral covenants, which are very important. (1) There is God’s covenant
with Israel at Mt. Sinai. There God commits himself to Israel and then gives them the Ten
Commandments as their commitment to him. (2) Then there is another covenant (if you can call
it that) between God and Israel on the plains of Moab. God promises to give them the land and
then he demands a commitment from them in the land. He gives them the land and its
blessings. However the land and its blessings will be lost if they worship other gods. So the first
commandment is foundational to the covenant on the plains of Moab.
Since covenant theology became fashionable and remains fashionable in OT scholarship and
protestant theology, it is important that we get it exactly right. You may or may not be aware
that covenant theology is central to the theology coming from Calvin. The biggest themes in the
theology of Calvin are the sovereignty of God, predestination, and covenants. So covenant
theology is foundational to Reformed way of thinking. It basically takes the place of Law and
Gospel in Lutheran theology.
In the last 50 years or so, there has been push back from OT scholarship against liberalism and a
large amount of the arguments against the attack on the historicity of the OT and the whole
notion of revelation has come from scholars who used arguments about the covenant to mount
their case. And it has been a very impressive case. As a result of this, a huge amount of work
has been done in the area of covenants. The temptation is to put everything into covenant
mode. So for example if you read a standard OT theology, the whole of it revolves around
covenants.
2. God's covenant with Abraham was like a royal grant of land to a faithful Official
There is a helpful article in the Dictionary of OT Theology by a Jewish scholar who did a lot of
background work in the Middle East about covenants in other societies outside the OT. He
points out a very interesting fact. He says that God’s covenant with Abraham was very much
like a royal land grant to a faithful official in the ancient world and through the Middle Ages to
Elizabethan England.
Let’s say I was a king and you were a general in my army. I would reward you for your service to
me by giving you some royal land in one of two ways. Either I give it just to you or I give it to
you and your descendants into perpetuity. So I would be giving you a piece of land that
belonged to me. And you would be given a title, Lord of Land Whatever, and the title would
indicate that that land belonged to your family hereafter.
So the basics of it are that you work for a king, you serve him with distinction, and the king
rewards that person by giving him land. The closest you get with the covenant made with
Abraham is a covenant made with officials in the circumstances described. As always, the OT
takes something in the world and turns it on its head. It is true that Abraham is the Lord’s
servant. Watch out for that word servant.
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Be careful of the word “servant” used in both the OT and the NT. So when Paul says he is a
servant of Christ, he does not primarily mean that he is a slave of Christ. Servant can mean one
of three things. (1) First it can mean just a worker. So my “servant” is the person who works for
me. In modern terms, we would call him an employee. (2) Now as a special kind of employee,
you get slaves. (3) There are many cases in the OT where a servant doesn’t mean a worker or a
slave, but it means they are someone’s deputy. So for instance, Eleazar is the servant of
Abraham. He is the manager of Abraham’s estate, all his property. He is the steward of the
house of Abraham. Another example of a servant is David. He is a servant of the Lord. He is the
deputy of God, not God’s slave. He is God’s prime minister.
Now in what way is Abraham the servant of the Lord in the OT? It means that he is God’s
deputy. He is God’s agent or representative here on earth. In royal terms he is God’s prime
minister here on earth. But here is where things get a little unusual. Usually when a king would
call upon a man to be his servant (deputy), he would call upon him at a very young age so that
he could get maximum service out of him. That way he could shape him and mold him as his
courtier.
But instead of calling Abraham when he was 20 years old or 15 years old, God called Abraham
when he was an old codger, 75 years old. So he calls Abraham to be his servant at an age when
he was of no use (from a human point of view). And he doesn’t make a covenant to give him
land as a reward - because he’s done nothing! Instead he covenants to give it to him in view of
Abraham’s faith. And by doing this God will secure Abraham’s service.
So it’s all turned around. The land is given right at the beginning before service so that he can
secure the services of Abraham. Notice that in the book of Isaiah God talks about “my servant
Abraham.” So the land is not given as a reward for service but because of the faith of Abraham.
Let’s read the critical passage, Gen. 15:4-7.
4
And behold, the word of the Lord came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; your very
own son shall be your heir.” 5 And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven,
and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your
offspring be.” 6 And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness. And he
said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this
land to possess.”
The land is received because of the faith of Abraham and that faith is reckoned as
righteousness. It is not the service that is reckoned as righteousness, but the faith. And because
of that God promises him an heir and the land.
Normally a king would not give a title (land) to a man that didn’t have any children. Obviously
why? Because there is no one to hand the land on to. When this man dies, there will be a lot of
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fighting for the land. Likewise, a king would very rarely employee a man who had no children
because it is not cost effective. If you secure the services of a man, you also secure the services
of his children and his whole family into perpetuity.
So God gives the land to Abraham even though he has no heir and not as a reward for service
but because of the faith of Abraham.
Now what was the service that God required of Abraham? Here comes something funny. We’ve
already heard that Abraham would be a blessing and this is spelled out in a sentence that is
very often overlooked but is far reaching. Let’s read Gen. 17:1.
1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, "I am God
Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless
There are two new imperatives here: “walk before me and be blameless.” The English
translation here gives no indication of the weight of what God is commissioning Abraham to be.
“Walk” here is not just “walk before me”, it is “walk in my presence,” “walk before my face.”
God gives Abraham access to his face. Who is the one person who has unrestricted access to
the king in the ancient world? His deputy. He is the only person. Even his own children don’t
have unrestricted access.
Now based on the tense, it is more than “walk.” It is more like “walk in and out of my
presence.” That’s the closest you can come in English. This idiom “to walk in and out in my
presence” is a royal idiom – the language refers to the deputy, the prime minister. Abraham is
God’s deputy and he has access to God, he is to walk in and out of his presence.
Now walking in and out goes two ways. When Abraham walks in and out of God’s presence he
represents other people. He brings the needs of other people to God. And he brings God’s
decisions, God’s provision back from God to people. Normally in the OT, who is usually put in
this position, between God and people? Either a prophet or a priest. A prophet in a restricted
sense intercedes to God and brings God’s word out to others. But in a broader sense, it’s what a
priest does. The high priest goes into God’s presence interceding for the people and he comes
out bringing God’s blessing from God’s presence to the people. So this type of language is the
language used for God appointing Abraham as a prophet or a priest as his deputy.
The second command pins it down, “be blameless.” The word translated as “blameless” means
ritually blameless. Before an animal could be offered to God it had to be “blameless.” What
does this word really mean? It means whole, intact, perfect condition, nothing wrong with it,
without blemish. It is not primarily a moral term. It is a ritual term. So Abraham is to “be
without any ritual blemish.” So it’s not only that offerings were to be ritually blameless, but a
man who was born into a priestly family who wasn’t ritually blameless, who had some bodily
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defect, couldn’t become a priest. Only a man who was intact, in proper condition, perfect could
become a priest.
So what God is doing here is commissioning Abraham to be his deputy, his priestly deputy, and
to live a blameless life. This is not so much morally blameless but ritually blameless. The closest
we can get to it in the new covenant is having a good conscience. So in the new covenant
blamelessness has to do with having a good conscience before God.
Notice that this introduces the confirmation of God’s covenant with Abraham. What is
Abraham’s mission? He is to be a blessing. How is he to be a blessing? By walking in and out of
God’s presence and by being a blameless servant/deputy of God. This clearly shows the priestly
nature of Abraham’s mission. However there is no temple and no divine service. So
blamelessness has to do with God’s command and God’s promise. And the accent is on God’s
promises. So the way that Abraham will serve God blamelessly will be to enact God’s
promises. Let me say that again. How does Abraham serve God blamelessly? How does
Abraham become a good deputy, a good agent of God? By enacting the promises of God.
So the land is granted to Abraham so that Abraham can stand in God’s service. The
consequence of this is shown very clearly in the story of Abraham’s intercession for Sodom and
Gomorrah. We are going to look at three key verses that are almost always overlooked. Verses
17, 18 and 19 of chpt. 18 are often overlooked. Read verses 17 and 18.
17 The LORD said, "Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, 18 seeing that Abraham
shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be
blessed in him? 19 For I have chosen him, that he may command his children and his
household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice, so that
the LORD may bring to Abraham what he has promised him."
Notice that God is talking about what he is going to do and he is talking to his deputy. So he is
briefing Abraham on what he is going to do. And this has to do with what? Not punishing
people, but what? “All nations of the earth will be blessed through Abraham.” So this has to
do with Abraham administering God’s blessing on earth. And God briefs him on what he is
going to do so that Abraham can work with God in administering blessing here on earth. How
does it work? Read verse 19. God has chosen Abraham so that he can command his children
and his household “to keep the way of the LORD” or to do the Lord’s work, to act the way that
God acts, “by doing righteousness and justice.” Abraham administers God’s righteousness,
God’s justice in order to bring blessing. What is the way of the Lord? The way of the Lord is the
way of blessing. It also involves judgment but he judges in order to bless. So primarily it has to
do with blessing. Abraham is to be an agent of blessing. He serves God by administering Gods’
righteousness and God’s justice. He does this not only in his household but also in the
descendants after him for the benefit of the whole earth.
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Now in the story that follows, how does Abraham do righteousness and justice? He intercedes
for Sodom and Gomorrah. Notice that doing righteousness and justice does not mean he is an
agent of retribution, but that he is the agent for salvation. He intercedes for God to spare at
least some people. So how does Abraham use his position as deputy to God? He administers
God’s righteousness and justice in order to bring blessing to all the nations of the earth. But he
also uses his position with God, his access with God, to intercede for sinful people. He doesn’t
just intercede for his family, he doesn’t just intercede for his relative Lot, but he intercedes for
the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, who were proverbial for their wickedness in the ancient
world. So he administers God’s righteousness by interceding for wicked people.
So the result of God’s choice, his election of Abraham, is so that he and his seed can
administer/enact/do God’s righteousness and justice. For homework take a very close look at
Gen. 15 and 17 where we have the enactment of the covenant with Abraham in two stages.
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Lecture OT-10a
v=inQfQte7FMg&list=PL32Gjc1uEM1AUR8LC9JlceA9xFSeZs25Z&index=15

1. Covenant as a legally binding foundational promise or
commitment or undertaking
official
 Promise of offspring (15:2-5) and land (15:7)
 Ritual enactment which puts God's life on the line (15:8-18)
 Everlasting covenant (17:7,13,19)
 Change of name from Abram to Abraham: call to be father of many nations
with kings (17:4-6)
 Benefits
 Progeny (17:2,6)
 Commitment to act as the God of him and his descendants (17:7,8):
fulfilled in Exod 29:45-46
 Gift of land (17:8)
 Isaac as its recipient (17:19)
 Circumcision as the sign of the covenant: initiation and entry (17:9-14)
Traditional Practice
Circumcisor: future father in law
circumcises
Adolescent boy
makes
Man: adult member of clan
Israelite Practice
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Circumcisor: God though child's father
circumcises
Infant boy of eight days
makes
Member of God's clan: heir of God

 …

...
official
...
Recap of God’s Covenant with Abraham
God’s covenant with Abraham was given not to reward Abraham for his service of God but to
secure Abraham’s faith so that it is possible for Abraham to serve God as his deputy. So instead
of giving the covenant as a reward for services rendered, it’s a covenant that is given so that
Abraham can serve him. And it’s not just for Abraham, but to his seed. And seed has a very
wide semantic reach. It is to Abraham. It is to Abraham’s descendant Isaac. It is to all of
Abraham’s male descendants, Jacob and his sons. It is to David. It is to Jesus the Messiah. And
through Jesus it is to all those who belong to the Church and who will ever belong to the
Church. And since the seed of Abraham is Jesus (Paul makes that very clear in Romans and
Galatian), it refers to all Christians whether they are of Jewish or Gentile background.
Now the covenant is founded and enacted in two stages. First it is made and then it is
confirmed. It’s like an engagement/marriage. There are two stages to it.
The first enactment of the covenant, which is very dramatic, is found in Gen. 15. Let’s take a
look at it because it is so important. It is vital that you know exactly what is going on here and
the implications of what is going on here.
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A covenant is a commitment, a kind of an oath. Usually you make a covenant by swearing by

someone greater than you to guarantee the covenant. So it is like taking a oath. You take an
oath in the name of God who is the Guarantor of the covenant, who will penalize you if you
break the covenant.
The problem is if God makes a covenant who does God swear by? There is no one greater than
God to swear by.
 Promise of offspring (15:2-5) and land (15:7)
Let’s take a look at it. Let’s start by reading Gen. 15:1-7.
After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram, I am
your shield; your reward shall be very great.” 2 But Abram said, “O Lord GOD, what will you
give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 And
Abram said, “Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be
my heir.” 4 And behold, the word of the LORD came to him: “This man shall not be your heir;
your very own son shall be your heir.” 5 And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward
heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So
shall your offspring be.” 6 And he believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as
righteousness. 7 And he said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you out from Ur of the
Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.”
The word for offspring is seed. The heir will be a son coming from Abraham’s body. It will not be
an adopted son. And Abraham’s seed will be as numerous as the stars in the sky. Now from a
human point of view this is ridiculous because Abraham is childless and Sarah is barren [and
they are both really old]. Notice that the focus initially is on the gift of a child from Abraham.
That is God’s promise. Now that promise is confirmed in two stages by God’s covenant. First
you have the making of the covenant.
Now when Dr. Kleinig taught this to the Aboriginals, he spent a lot of time on this part of the
covenant, talking about God’s promise to be Abraham’s shield, the promise of the seed of
Abraham, Abraham’s faith, and what righteousness was. They were interested in it but they
weren’t half as interested in that as they were in what follows.
 Ritual enactment which puts God's life on the line (15:8-18)

Verses 7-12 and 17-18 of chpt. 15 were read.
7
And he said to him, “I am the LORD who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to
give you this land to possess.” 8 But he said, “O Lord GOD, how am I to know that I shall
possess it?” 9 He said to him, “Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years
old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” 10 And he brought him all
these, cut them in half, and laid each half over against the other. But he did not cut the
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birds in half. 11 And when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them
away.
12
As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. And behold, dreadful and great
darkness fell upon him. 13 Then the LORD said to Abram, “Know for certain that your
offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they
will be afflicted for four hundred years. 14 But I will bring judgment on the nation that they
serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions. 15 As for you, you shall go
to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age. 16 And they shall come back
here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”
17
When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming
torch passed between these pieces. 18 On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram,
saying, “To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the
river Euphrates,
What happens is this. God tells Abraham to get a 3 year old heifer and cut it in half and lay
them out opposite each other. Do the same with a 3 year old goat. And do the same with a 3
year old ram. Then kill a dove and pigeon and put them opposite each other. And then God put
Abraham into a deep sleep, the deepest of all deep sleep, a supernatural sleep, a total
unconscious sleep. And then in that state he has a vision of a smoking firepot moving backward
and forward between the cut up animals. And then God speaks and makes a covenant with
Abraham saying, “To your offspring/descendants/seed I give this land.”
It was interesting when Dr. Kleinig taught this to the Aboriginals he went through the covenant
ceremony very quickly. Later that night the leaders requested that they talk more about the covenant
ceremony the next day. He said sure and thought they’d take a couple of minutes and then move on. It
took an hour to unpack the details of the ceremony and to answer their questions. And that hour was
one of the most significant in Dr. Kleinig’s theological development. From it, he became aware of the
importance of ritual. Dr. Kleinig was interested in the idea of the covenant but they were interested in
the making and doing of the covenant. The important thing was the ceremony, the ritual that enacted
the covenant.
Very briefly what you need to know to make sense of it is the following.
1. This mirrors the usual way of making commitments in the Middle Eastern Semitic areas.
If you wanted to make a very strong commitment, which required putting your life on
the line, you would get an animal, sacrifice it in the presence of your god, then both
parties to the covenant would walk between the cut up animals and say, I promise to do
such and such.
What is the significance of the animals being cut in half? What you are saying when you
walk between them is, If I break this covenant then I will be cut in pieces like these
animals. And the one who would cut me in pieces would be the god whose name I
swore by and in whose presence I am making this covenant. This is a very strong
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covenant. In it you put your life on the line. If you break the covenant the god will enact
the penalties. That is the most extreme commitment you can make in Semitic culture.
2. Now what is strange about this covenant? Remember to look for reversals. Everywhere
in the OT God takes something that is established and turns it on its head. What is being
turned on its head here? Who would you expect to walk through the cut up animals?
You would expect Abraham to commit himself to God, which means he would be the
one to walk through the cut up animals. The surprise is that God commits himself to
Abraham and he puts his life on the line. So he swears by himself, he swears by his life.
He puts his life on the line for Abraham. He commits himself to the fulfillment of this
covenant. So Abraham and God switch positions in this covenant.
3. What is the state of Abraham in this covenant? He is as passive as you can get. He is not
even awake. He is asleep. And he isn’t a little bit asleep but is in the deepest possible
unconscious sleep.
This is the enactment of the covenant and it only happened once in the OT. This is God’s
commitment to Abraham. And if you follow it through to the NT, what God promises to
Abraham, he delivered. He put his life on the line for the fulfilling of this covenant.
Notice two things that are promised here. It is to Abraham’s offspring that the land is to be
given. So the covenant promises offspring and land to the offspring. That is the core of the
covenant.
Do you see why the Aboriginals got so excited? They wanted to know about all of the
symbolism. The male ram and goat were the heads of the flock. Why the heifer? That’s not the
flock but the herd and a 3 year old heifer (female cow) is in the prime for having calves. The
future of the herd is contained in the heifer. We can’t go into all the details now.
The covenant that God makes with Abraham is confirmed in Genesis 17. We had a look at that.
God said to Abraham, I am El Shaddai, walk in and out before me and be perfect. This is
Abraham’s commissioning to be God’s priestly deputy, his servant. So notice that Abraham’s
vocation begins when he is an old man at the end of his life.
Now what does God promise when he confirms the covenant? There are two verbs used here.
To make a covenant is to cut a covenant, which probably means it is a very strong covenant
where the parties walk between the cut up animals. But now in chapter 17 a verb is used which
means to establish, to confirm, to station, to ratify a covenant. Let’s look at what is added in
chapter 17. There is at least one and maybe two new significant things.
We begin reading verses 3-5. Abram means exalted father, great father, founding father,
patriarch. So God changes Abram’s name from being great father to father of many nations –
Abraham. So he is the founding father of many nations. So with the changing of his name
comes the change of his vocation, the change of Abraham’s mission.
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When Abram was ninety-nine years old the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, “I
am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless, 2 that I may make my covenant
between me and you, and may multiply you greatly.” 3 Then Abram fell on his face. And
God said to him, 4 “Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a
multitude of nations. 5 No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be
Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. 6 I will make you
exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you. 7 And
I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout
their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after
you. 8 And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all
the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.”
...
Isaac's Birth Promised

15
And God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but
Sarah shall be her name. 16 I will bless her, and moreover, I will give you a son by her. I will
bless her, and she shall become nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.” 17 Then
Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself, “Shall a child be born to a man
who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” 18 And
Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before you!” 19 God said, “No, but
Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my
covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him. 20 As for Ishmael,
I have heard you; behold, I have blessed him and will make him fruitful and multiply him
greatly. He shall father twelve princes, and I will make him into a great nation. 21 But I will
establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this time next year.”
 Everlasting covenant (17:7,13,19)
Next verses 6-8 were read. Notice the emphases here. In v. 7 God said this is an everlasting
covenant, a covenant into perpetuity. As long as this age lasts, the covenant lasts.
 Change of name from Abram to Abraham: call to be father of many nations

with kings (17:4-6)
As we just read, Abram’s name is changed. He is called to be the father of many nations. That is
his mission, his vocation.
 Benefits
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Then there are three promises.
 Progeny (17:2,6)
The first is the gift of progeny and not just one or two, but countless progeny, many
descendants.
 Commitment to act as the God of him and his descendants (17:7,8):

fulfilled in Exod 29:45-46
This is a new gift. Let’s read Gen. 17:7-8 again, which is very often overlooked but is the heart of
the matter. God says he will “be God to you and to your offspring after you.” This is referred to
as the covenant formula. But literally the covenant formula is: “And I will be/become/belong to
you for/as a God. And you (emphatic) yourselves will be to me for a people.” This has been
called the covenant formula, a formula for mutual commitment. So in the formula God commits
himself to Israel and Israel then is required to commit itself to God.
But notice here that we only get the first part of the formula: I will be to you Abraham and to
your seed as a God. What’s going on here? There is something of a riddle here. The fulfillment
of the riddle is in Ex. 29:45-46, where you have God’s establishment of the divine service in the
daily sacrifice. Let’s read it and notice that this is speaking about the daily burnt offering where
God will meet with his people every morning and every evening, where God will speak through
first Moses and then Aaron and the priests to the people.
45
I will dwell among the people of Israel and will be their God. 46 And they shall know that I
am the Lord their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt that I might dwell among
them. I am the Lord their God.
In and through the daily service God dwells with his people and God says he will be their God.
The verb translated into English as “be” is difficult to translate because it is far broader than the
modern English verb “to be.” So for instance take a marriage formula. The husband would say
to his bride, “I will be to you for a husband.” What would that mean? It would mean, I will serve
you or act as your husband. I will belong to you as your husband. So it is not just commitment
to allegiance. It is commitment to ongoing activity. Practically that means, I will provide for you.
I will live with you. I will do all the things that a husband should do for his wife.
So along those lines, what God promises here is that he will act as a God to Abraham and his
descendants. Now that promise to act or serve as God is fulfilled when God establishes the
divine service. Why is it fulfilled only then? Until the divine service is established he cannot act
as a God to the Israelites. As a God he will speak to them and bless them, purify them and
sanctify them, care for them and look after them, dwell with them. Notice that all of this is
connected with him dwelling with them. Only when he dwells with them can he provide
everything that a God should provide for his people.
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Based on this, I would not call this so much a covenant formula, but a formula of service. The
commitment will be mutual but God’s commitment comes first. When God serves them then
they will become and act as his people. And how do the Israelites serve God as his people? They
worship in the way that God establishes worship. So the promise here to Abraham to be their
God is really a promise of divine service, which is fulfilled later on in Exodus. The formula has a
liturgical context. So every Sunday, God is for us our God. He serves us as our God so that we in
turn can serve and act as his people.
So what we have here in God’s covenant with Abraham is the heart of God’s covenant at Sinai.
That is because the covenant formula epitomizes the two sides to the covenant at Sinai. But
here in these verses, we only get the first part of the formula. At Mt. Sinai we get the full
formula being enacted – God serving as Israel’s God and Israel serving as God’s people.
 Gift of land (17:8)
The gift of the land is not new.
 Isaac as its recipient (17:19)
Read Gen. 17:19 (see above). The covenant will not be handed on to Ishamel but it will handed
on to Isaac via Sarah and then to the seed (descendants – Jacob and his twelve sons) of Isaac.
 Circumcision as the sign of the covenant: initiation and entry (17:9-14)
In this same chapter we get God’s institution or establishment of circumcision as the sign of the
covenant. The word circumcision has created great mischief in church history. And what is
behind it is the great difference between Lutherans and Catholics on one side and the
Protestants on the other side.
The word that is used for sign is oath. In modern terms, a sign is quite often just an informative
sign. So for instance, I am wearing a ring on my finger. What is that ring a sign of? That I’m
married. It points to something else that is a reality. Now, I would be married whether I wore
this ring or not. The ring does not marry me. It is a sign that I’m married. It informs anyone who
wants to know that I am a married man. That is the way that Zwingli and company (Protestants)
understand signs. It informs of something that is already happened somewhere else.
In the OT there are some places where you can take sign in the informative sense. Pretty much
any sign gives information. But the term oath is used in a different sense. The Catholic tradition
calls it a sacramental sign. Or modern speech theory would call it a performative sign. This
means it doesn’t just indicate what is but it actually enacts something. So Baptism is a sign of
God’s covenant with us. My Baptismal certificate is a sign of the fact that I have been baptized
and am in God’s covenant. But Baptism itself is a performative sign. It enacts the covenant and
my entry into the covenant. For another example consider marriage. The marriage ceremony is
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an oath in Hebrew because it is not only an indication of the relationship between two people,
but it actually establishes the relationship.
With that background let’s take a look at circumcision, first of all God’s institution of
circumcision and then its significance. Read Gen. 17:9-14.
9
And God said to Abraham, “As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your
offspring after you throughout their generations. 10 This is my covenant, which you shall
keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be
circumcised. 11 You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign
of the covenant between me and you. 12 He who is eight days old among you shall be
circumcised. Every male throughout your generations, whether born in your house or
bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring, 13 both he who is
born in your house and he who is bought with your money, shall surely be circumcised. So
shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant. 14 Any uncircumcised male who
is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken
my covenant.”
The translation used by the student who read the passage was a rather euphemistic translation.
Dr. Kleinig had another student read v. 11 out of the ESV translation (see ESV above).
Circumcision removes the foreskin of the penis. This then is another case where God reversed
human practices. Circumcision was a common practice across many traditional cultures,
particularly animist cultures (Aboriginals, some tribes in Africa and New Guinea).
What is the significance of male circumcision for these traditional cultures? Basically it is a man-
making ceremony. The traditional time to do it is at puberty as part of the initiation of a boy so
that the boy becomes a man. Dr. Kleinig told a story about the Aboriginals he worked with.
There was a man named Charlie Perkins. Even though he was fifty some years old, they called
him “that boy.” Why did they call him that? Because he had not been circumcised. They still
considered him to be a boy and not a man. In that type of culture if you are not a man and you
are a boy beyond adolescence then you are a nobody. Traditionally circumcision is a man-
making ceremony.
First let’s consider the traditional way circumcision is done. If an adolescent boy is about to be
circumcised, who circumcises him? His future father-in-law. In that culture marriages are
arranged and the future father-in-law does the circumcision. It is interesting, in Hebrew the
term for father-in-law is circumciser, even though circumcision practices were different in
Israel. They kept that old terminology.
When the boy is circumcised, he becomes a man and a future adult member of the clan. If he is
not circumcised and he gets married, he would be considered alien flesh and a mixing of
strange blood with the clan. Basically the boy is adopted into the wife’s family by circumcision.
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So traditionally by being circumcised, you become a member of that clan and you become an
adult in your own clan.
Traditional Practice
Circumcisor: future father in law
circumcises
Adolescent boy
makes
Man: adult member of clan
In comparison to this, the Israelite practice of circumcision is very strange. God takes that
traditional ceremony and applies it to whom? 8 day old infants. Who is the one that
circumcises? It is not the father-in-law or the father that circumcises but God himself. He is the
“head of the clan.” God circumcises the child through the father or his representative. He
circumcises an 8 day old infant boy and in doing so makes him a member of his kinsfolk. So he
becomes a member of the family of God. God is the “father” of that kin group and the boy
becomes his son and as such he becomes an heir in that kin group. He is considered an adult
with all the responsibilities and privileges of an adult.
This is a sign of the covenant in what sense? Does the fact that a small Jewish boy who lacks a
foreskin only a pointer informing that he is a Jew? It is more than that. Circumcision makes him
a Jew. It makes him a son of the covenant. It makes him a member of God’s family so much so
that any male that is not circumcised is excluded from the family/people/kinsfolk of Israel.
Anyone who is uncircumcised cannot celebrate the Passover and cannot participate in the
divine service. So what is the basic prerequisite to be a member of the congregation of Israel?
You had to be circumcised. It brought you into the congregation, the family of God.
The people of the ancient world would have thought that this was a stupid practice. They would
say that they are treating infants as if they are adults. They are making men out of infants.
(A student question and discussion about females not being circumcised.)
(A student statement about it being done on the eighth day. Eight is the number for the
beginning of something new. A lot of things happen on the eighth day. Jesus rose on the eighth
day. Some rituals have seven days for purification and on the eighth day is the new status. For
example, consider the ordination of priests (Lev. 8-9). For 7 days each priest goes through a
very elaborate ritual of purification and consecration and then the 8 th day is the day of the
inauguration of the divine service. On the 8th day the priests can do something new. They can
begin their new vocation. ... So for circumcision, you are born into a human family but on the 8 th
day you enter into God’s family. ...)
Israelite Practice
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Circumcisor: God though child's father
circumcises
Infant boy of eight days
makes
Member of God's clan: heir of God
One final thing before we take a break. Let’s go to the NT. The NT talks about a different kind of
circumcision. Already in Deuteronomy God had spoken about the circumcision of the heart.
Jeremiah picks up on that and says in the age to come people’s hearts will be circumcised. What
is the symbolism here? In circumcision, if I put it crudely, a part of the old boy is removed. In
the new covenant, the whole of the old boy, the old man, is removed. So the NT talks about
Baptism as an act of circumcision, where the whole old person, the old Adam, is put off. And we
put on a new person, a new man in Christ. So when Paul talks about old Adam/new Adam or
old self/new self he is using circumcision language. The NT talks about a circumcision not done
by human hands. In the OT the foreskin was physically removed. In Baptism, God himself,
through the Holy Spirit, puts to death the whole old man and creates a new man, a new self.
Lastly, we have here one of the strongest arguments for infant baptism. The NT makes it quite
clear that Baptism is the Christian circumcision. Circumcision in the OT was quite deliberately
not just for adults but for infants. In the new covenant, infants are also “circumcised”
(baptized), females as well as males. This is because it isn’t just dealing with the male anatomy
but with the whole old self being removed. The baptismal ceremony is the same for infants as it
is for adults. They are all treated the same. Before God, all people, young and old, are as
helpless as babies. And if possible the best day to baptize is the 8 th day in order to make the
connection to circumcision.
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Lecture OT-10b
v=KHsfhQqwuaY&list=PL32Gjc1uEM1AUR8LC9JlceA9xFSeZs25Z&index=16
(See also pgs. 28-29, 31-32 of the Class Notes.)

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official
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 Deliverance from Egypt (Exod 2:23-24; Deut 7:8)
 Gift of the land of Canaan (Exod 6:5)
 Blessing of Israel in the land (Deut 7:12-14)
 Compassion for oppressed Israel (2 Kgs 13:23)
 Deliverance from exile (Lev 26:42,45)
 Blessing of nations through the Davidic king/Messiah (Ps 72:17)
D. God’s Foundation of Israel as his Holy People

a. The Deliverance from Egypt
1. The Status of Israel
 People of God before the covenant at Sinai
 God’s firstborn son (Exod 4:22-23)
 Holy to God: service of God
 Heir of God: land as inheritance
 Servants of God ►slaves of Pharaoh

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official
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...
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We’ve been discussing the importance of God’s covenant with Abraham both for Jews and for
Christians. Right now we are just concerned the importance for Jews in the OT. What is most
important is to see that this is The foundational covenant. All of God’s dealings with Israel are
on the basis of this covenant.
Let me use an analogy. Let’s say you are child and you don’t have any parents. You live in an
orphanage. But then you are adopted. The moment you are adopted your whole life changes.
The basis for your life changes. You are now part of a family. You have a new family name, a
new identity in terms of responsibilities and privileges. Or think about marriage. Marriage is
more than just an initial act but it is foundational for all of life that happens after it. In a similar
way, God’s covenant with Abraham is foundational for God’s dealings with Israel from that
point onward.
Let’s take a look at some passages that base God’s activity on this covenant with Abraham.
 Deliverance from Egypt (Exod 2:23-24; Deut 7:8)
We will be having a look at the Ex. 2 passage. Right now let’s look at Deut. 7:8.
8
but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers,
that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of
slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
Why did God rescue his people from slavery in Egypt? Because he loved them and because of
his oath, his commitment to the fathers, which is another way of saying, because of his
covenant with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. So the exodus is a consequence of his covenant
with Abraham.
 Gift of the land of Canaan (Exod 6:8)
Now let’s take a look at Ex. 6:5-6, 8. This is God speaking to Moses before he confronts
pharaoh.
5
Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the people of Israel whom the Egyptians hold as
slaves, and I have remembered my covenant. 6 Say therefore to the people of Israel, ‘I am the
Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you
from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of
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judgment. ... 8 I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to
Jacob. I will give it to you for a possession. I am the Lord.’”
So again God brings them out of Egypt because of his covenant with Abraham and he will give
them the land because of his covenant with Abraham. That is repeated over and over again in
Deuteronomy.
 Blessing of Israel in the land (Deut 7:12-14)
12
“And because you listen to these rules and keep and do them, the Lord your God will keep
with you the covenant and the steadfast love that he swore to your fathers. 13 He will love
you, bless you, and multiply you. He will also bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of
your ground, your grain and your wine and your oil, the increase of your herds and the young
of your flock, in the land that he swore to your fathers to give you. 14 You shall be blessed
above all peoples. There shall not be male or female barren among you or among your
livestock.
Because of God’s covenant with Abraham God promises to bless Israel in the land. So not only
will he give them the land, but he will also bless them once they are in the land.
 Compassion for oppressed Israel (2 Kgs 13:23)
2 Kings talks about the faithlessness of the northern kingdom who was guilty of idolatry. So why
had God not destroyed the northern kingdom? Let’s read 2 Kings 13:23
23
But the Lord was gracious to them and had compassion on them, and he turned toward
them, because of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and would not destroy them,
nor has he cast them from his presence until now.
Why did God have such patience with the northern kingdom and its apostate kings? It is
because of covenant with Abraham. That is why he had not banished them from the land. That
is why he had not destroyed them. The covenant was the basis for God’s ongoing patience and
mercy with a sinful northern kingdom.
 Deliverance from exile (Lev 26:42,45)
Even when Israel is in exile from the land because they’ve broken the covenant, what still
applies? What’s the bottom line? What hope is there for the future?
42
then I will remember my covenant with Jacob, and I will remember my covenant with Isaac
and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land.
45
But I will for their sake remember the covenant with their forefathers, whom I brought out
of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God: I am the Lord.”
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When God remembers his covenant with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, he will bring his people
back to the land but only if they repent. So this covenant provides the foundation for
repentance. God’s covenant stands despite human sin. God cannot and will not ever annul his
covenant with Abraham. The people can annul it. They can spurn it but God never will. What
does that mean then? Even if Israel sins, there is always an open door, the open door of
repentance.
A student pointed out that it still applies today. The Church can’t die because of God’s
commitment towards her. Jesus said, The gates of hell cannot prevail against the Church. From
human point of view, there is no future for the Christian Church. But there has never been a
future for the Church in any time or in any age. The Church always faces hard times. The Church
is always under the cross. The hope of the Church doesn’t lie in church programs or any one
person’s faithfulness. The hope of the Church lies in God’s covenant with Abraham and the new
covenant in Christ.
 Blessing of nations through the Davidic king/Messiah (Ps 72:17)
Next we have a very interesting application. Let’s read Ps. 72:17.
17
May his name endure forever,
his fame continue as long as the sun!
May people be blessed in him,
all nations call him blessed!
This is a psalm of Solomon and it is a psalm that is prayed at the coronation of Solomon and
every king after Solomon. Notice here that the promise that was made to Abraham, that
Abraham would be blessed and that everyone would be blessed through Abraham, is now
applied to the king and messianic king. And via the messianic king, it comes to the NT. So we
are heirs of Abraham through David through the Messiah through Jesus. Through Jesus we
become honorary Jews, Jews not by law but by grace. We are adopted into Israel and we are
therefore heirs of Abraham and the promise of blessing that God applied to Abraham.
Ultimately Paul reminds us that the great blessing that God promises to Abraham is the gift of
the Holy Spirit. And that promise doesn’t apply to the old age, it doesn’t apply to the land of
Israel, but it applies to the age to come. We will come to this again, but God promises Abraham
“land.” But the Hebrew word translated as “land” also means “the earth.” So in Romans, Paul
says that God promised Abraham that he would inherit the earth. And in the Beatitudes Jesus
said, Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth. Which earth does Paul say the
descendants of Abraham will inherit? Not the old earth but the new earth, the new age, the
heavenly inheritance. So the trajectory of the promises to Abraham goes through the OT to the
NT and beyond. We will look more clearly at this when we get to the theme of land and the gift
of land.
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(There was a student question about why the story of Hagar and Ishmael is included where it is,
right in the middle of the promises, covenant, and confirmation of the covenant? Why is Gen.
16 included in between Gen. 15 and 17? It is there because what happens in Gen. 16 is a threat
to the covenant just made in Gen. 15. Sarah assumed that since God said a son would come
from Abraham that the promise did not include her. So she arranges for her servant, Hagar, to
have a son with Abraham. That son would then be a legitimate heir of Abraham and then she
will adopt him as her own son. Then God will not have this dilemma of dealing with an infertile
woman anymore. This surrogate parenthood is an ancient form of fertility treatment.
You will remember that in Gen. 17 God makes it very clear that the covenant does not apply to
Ishmael but to Isaac who will come from Sarah. That is why this story is told in between. Sarah
is trying to help God out. Gen. 15 is justification by grace, whereas Gen. 16 is justification by
works. So you go from faith, Abraham believed God and it was reckoned to him as
righteousness, to the opposite, helping God out.)
(Question about Ishmael’s blessing as opposed to Isaac’s blessing. Ishmael will also be a
founding father, a father of many nations. Look very concretely at it. The Koran places a whole
different spin on this than the Bible does, with the emphasis being on Ishmael instead of Isaac.)

Let’s move on to the next big foundational event. Let me remind you that this reading of the OT
that I am presenting is in terms of foundational words, stories, and events. The exodus from
Egypt is a great foundational event. This is so much so that for last 100 years it has been looked
on as The great foundational event of the OT. So for instance the great Karl Barth and other OT
scholars after him call the exodus in the OT equivalent to the death and resurrection of Jesus. Is
he right? Yes, the death and resurrection of Jesus is pictured as the new exodus. So the exodus
is a great foundational event, but is it The foundational event? No, The foundational event is
the call of Abraham and the covenant with Abraham.

Let me give you an overview of my reading of exodus, which is going to be different to one that
you will find in most OT theologies, which follow Karl Barth. Their view says that exodus leads
to the covenant at Sinai and then as a result of the exodus and the covenant at Sinai the
descendants of Abraham become God’s people, God’s kinfolk. So the story is that as a result of
the exodus from Egypt and the covenant at Sinai, people who were merely an ethnic group
become God’s ethnic group. In this view the covenant at Sinai is the means where God
becomes the God of Israel, the King of Israel, and Israel becomes God’s royal people.
 People of God before the covenant at Sinai
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The problem with this reading (Israel becomes God’s people at Sinai) is that it does not
correspond to the OT. In Genesis and in Exodus before being released from slavery, God quite
clearly calls the descendants of Abraham his people. He calls them his people even before they
go to Egypt, before the release from Egypt, before the covenant at Sinai. So, the exodus and
covenant at Sinai is Not the foundational event by which Israel becomes the people of God.
My contention, going back to patristic theology, is that the deliverance from Egypt and the
covenant at Sinai is foundational for Israel as a liturgical community, as a holy community.
Because of the exodus and because of the covenant at Sinai, the people, who were the people
of God already, become a holy nation, a royal priesthood. God gives them the divine service.
And because they have the divine service, they can be a holy, priestly people [because in it God
shares his holiness with them.] So these events are not foundational for the creation of Israel
but for the sanctification of Israel. Let me repeat that. These events, the deliverance and the
covenant at Sinai, don’t create Israel as the people of God. They already are the people of God!
These events sanctify Israel. They make Israel a holy people. They don’t have to do with the
identity of Israel. So Moses is not the founding father of the people of God. They have to do
with the vocation of Israel, the mission of Israel. What is Israel’s vocation? It is liturgical. It has
to do with holiness. It has to do with being a holy, priestly people and everything that that
entails. So it has to do with the mission of Israel rather than the nature of Israel. Let’s map this
out.
 God’s firstborn son (Exod 4:22-23)
What is the status of Israel before Sinai, before the exodus, and what is the change that occurs?
First of all, even before the deliverance the Israelites are the people of God. So when Moses
comes to pharaoh and speaks in the name of the Lord, he says, Let my people go. They are
already God’s people.
They are God’s people in a special way, which we can see in Ex. 4:22-23.
22
Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the Lord, Israel is my firstborn son, 23 and I say to
you, “Let my son go that he may serve me.” If you refuse to let him go, behold, I will kill your
firstborn son.’”
Notice the parallel here between pharaoh’s firstborn son and Israel as the firstborn son of the
Lord. Israel is God’s firstborn son just as pharaoh has a firstborn son. Pharaoh is to let them go
from their service to him so that they may serve the Lord. So what is Israel’s status? Israel is
God’s firstborn son among the nations.
The picture is this. Every nation on the earth has been created by God. All the nations of the
earth in a sense are sons of God. They were created by God. God has given a particular part of
the earth to every national, ethnic group. They are therefore sons of God. But Israel has a
special status amongst all the nations. Israel has the status of being God’s firstborn son.
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 Holy to God: service of God
The firstborn son in the ancient world (the OT) was holy to God and therefore represents God,
was the head of the family, and was to be dedicated to God. If the firstborn son was not going
to be dedicated to God throughout his life, he had to redeemed so he could live a secular life.
That was in a sense buying him back from God. And then the Levites stood in in the place of the
firstborn son representing the family before God. So the firstborn son is holy to God and
remains holy to God unless he is redeemed.
(Some discussion about Jesus being a priest and a king, being born of David’s royal line rather
than the priestly line.)
 Heir of God: land as inheritance
Israel inherits God’s land, the land promised to Israel. Israel is God’s firstborn son. Israel is holy
to God. Israel is to perform divine service. And Israel as the firstborn is to inherit God’s land.
 Servants of God ►slaves of Pharaoh
Notice the contrast here, which is going to be very important in the exodus, between service of
God vs. the service of pharaoh. Israel as a son serves the Lord. But that service is the service of
sonship. The service of pharaoh is the service of slavery. There are two different kinds of service
which will be very important when we come to the next unit. So there is the service of a son to
his father and the service of a slave to his master. What God does is deliver people from serving
as slaves to pharaoh and the gods of Egypt to serve him as his son. So the Israelites are not the
slave of God, but the son of God.
This is important when we come to the NT. In Hosea God says, Out of Egypt I called my son.
Matthew makes a great deal of that at the beginning of his gospel when Jesus and his family go
down to Egypt and come back to the promised land in fulfillment of this.
So even before the exodus Israel is the people of God and even more, the [firstborn] son of
God. They are called to serve God not as slaves but as sons.
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Lecture OT-11a
v=DGsugtLwE9I&list=PL32Gjc1uEM1AUR8LC9JlceA9xFSeZs25Z&index=17
(See also pgs. 31- 33of the Class Notes.)

 …
2. God’s Involvement in their Oppression
 Accompaniment of them to Egypt (Gen 46:4)
 Visitation of them (Exod 3:8,16)
 Reasons for deliverance (Exod 2:23-25; 3:7-9)
 Hearing of groaning
 Remembrance of covenant
 Seeing their plight
 Knowing their misery
3. Call of Moses
 Commission for deliverance from slavery in Egypt
 Equipment for task
 Promise of presence (Exod 3:11-12)
 Gift of holy name YHWH (Exod 3:13-15)
 Use of holy name
 Introduce God and proclaim his presence to the Israelites
 Announce God’s deliverance to them
 Demand for their release from Pharaoh
 Access to him in prayer

Our focus today will be on the exodus from Egypt and its theological significance. The first point
we made already in the last session was that Israel was already the people of God before God
delivered them from Egypt. So the exodus and the covenant at Sinai did not make them the
people of God, they were already that by virtue of God’s covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob. Because they are his people God delivers them. The image of Israel’s status is that Israel
is God’s firstborn son and therefore holy to God and therefore God’s heir and his deputy and
nation here on earth. All the nations of the earth are the sons of God with Israel being the
firstborn son.
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...
Israel’s status is important when you look at the reasons God had for delivering his people from
oppression in Egypt.
 Accompaniment of them to Egypt (Gen 46:4)
Rather remarkably in Gen. 46:4 God promises to Jacob that he will go down with him into the
land of Egypt. So God goes with him and his family into pagan territory, the territory of the sun
god and of Seth, the god of the underworld. God goes with them into that alien place.
4
I myself will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also bring you up again, and Joseph's hand
shall close your eyes.”
 Visitation of them (Exod 3:8,16)
Secondly God visits his people in Egypt. The Hebrew verb that is used for “visit” is very
significant. It is almost impossible to give the full sense in English. It means to visit in order to
inspect. This word is used in all the Semitic languages. It was important for the Assyrians and
Babylonians. Every year their gods would determine the destiny of the king and the nation for
the coming year. Determining their destiny was this word. He would visit them and determine
their destiny. It was also a term used quite frequently in royal bureaucracy. In an empire there
are governors over certain areas. Frequently the king would send an inspector to see how the
governor was doing. The inspector would report back to the king on the performance of the
governor. If he did well he would be rewarded. If he had done poorly he would be punished,
with the worst punishment being the loss of his job.
So this verb has a wide range of meaning. It is also used for the intervention of a god or an
official to fix a problem. In this case the inspector would be sent, the problem discovered, and
then the inspector would fix the problem. It is used in this sense in Ex. 3. God visits his people in
order to inspect the problem and to fix it up and to determine the destiny of people in Egypt.
Let’s look at the two occurrences of this verb in Ex. 3. First is Ex. 3:8.
8
and I have come down to deliver (to visit) them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring
them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the
place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the
Jebusites.
God visits his people and the way that he will fix their problem is that he will deliver them.
Notice that God had already visited his people in Egypt before Moses was called and sent to
them. It is the result of his visitation that he calls Moses. Now read Ex. 3:16.
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16
Go and gather the elders of Israel together and say to them, ‘The Lord, the God of your
fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has appeared to me, saying, “I have
observed (visited) you and what has been done to you in Egypt,
When God visited his people, he observed the problem and determined how he was going to fix
it.
 Reasons for deliverance (Exod 2:23-25; 3:7-9)
Let’s turn now to Ex. 2:23-25, which gives us the theological reasons for God’s intervention.
What is significant here is that the exodus comes as a result of lamentation. Israel laments her
oppression and God acts as a result of this.
23
During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of
their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to
God. 24 And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with
Isaac, and with Jacob. 25 God saw the people of Israel—and God knew
The people do three things (v. 23). First, the people groan in their slavery. Their groan was
undirected. It is an emotional reaction. Second, they cry out for help. It is still unfocused. They
cry out seeking someone who can help them. Third, they cry out for help to God. And God
reacts in four ways.
1. The first of God’s four reactions was that he heard their groaning (v. 24a). So already
before they cry to him for help, God has already heard their groaning.
2. Secondly, God remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (v. 24b). So
God’s action here is on the basis of his covenant.
3. Thirdly, God looks at the Israelites (v. 25a). This is funny expression. Words in Hebrew
have a far wider semantic range than in English. What does this mean that God looked
and saw his people? God heard, God remembered, and now God looks. If it is a negative
reaction we tend to turn away. But here God does not turn away. Instead he turns his
attention to them. He pays attention to the problem.
4. The fourth reaction is remarkable. In Hebrew it is “he knows” (v. 25b). In Hebrew, like
English, the verb normally has an object. You expect it to be “he knows” something. But
here there is something strange. God heard the groaning. He remembers the covenant.
God pays attention to the people and their problem. And God knows what? The word
“know” in Hebrew is used more broadly than we do in English. It is not just intellectual
but it’s experiential. What is involved in God’s knowing? Let’s look at the next verses
where this is explained. Read Ex. 3:7-9.
7
Then the Lord said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have
heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, 8 and I have come down
to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to
a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites,
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the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 9 And now,
behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression
with which the Egyptians oppress them.
First it says God saw their affliction. He paid attention to their plight. Secondly, he heard their
cry. And thirdly, he knows their sufferings. So what does God know? Their sufferings. Is this just
intellectual where God uses his imagination to know their suffering? No, he knows their
sufferings because he suffers with them. In Hebrew “to know” always has a practical
connotation where one knows because he actually experiences it. God suffers with his people.
This theme of God suffering with his people gets stronger and stronger throughout the OT. It
begins in the Fall and you see it again in the Flood. God is now suffering here with the Israelites
and that is the basis for him getting involved in calling Moses and delivering them from slavery.
So God hears them, remembers his covenant commitment, sees what is happening, and joins
them in their suffering. That is the motive in his deliverance of them.
 Hearing of groaning
 Remembrance of covenant
 Seeing their plight
 Knowing their misery
3. Call of Moses
As a result of God’s hearing, remembering, seeing, and knowing, God calls Moses to be his
agent in delivering the people.
 Commission for deliverance from slavery in Egypt
If ever there was a strange person to be a deliverer it was Moses. Moses was murderer and ran
away because of it. He took justice into his own hands and it backfired on him. Now as an old
man he is called and commissioned by God to deliver the people from slavery. Not only is he an
old man with a legal writ against him, but he is also a lousy speaker. And yet God calls him and
commissions him to rescue his people from slavery in Egypt.
 Equipment for task
As you can imagine, Moses complains to God about this task and says he can’t do it. And God
gives Moses two weapons to take on pharaoh, the incarnate sun god, and all of his magicians.
So it is Moses all by himself against all of that political and spiritual power. What are those two
weapons? Let’s take a look at in Ex. 3:11-15.
11
But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of
Israel out of Egypt?” 12 He said, “But I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you, that I
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have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this
mountain.”
13
Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your
fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to
them?” 14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I
am has sent me to you.’” 15 God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel:
‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of
Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered
throughout all generations
 Promise of presence (Exod 3:11-12)
By saying, “Who am I,” Moses is saying, Why me, I’m not good enough. God doesn’t disagree
with him. Instead God says “I will be with you.” God promises his presence.
Then God gives him a sign. What is funny about this sign? He says, As proof that I am with you,
when you’ve brought them out of Egypt, you will serve me on this same mountain.
(A question as to why the NIV translates “serve” as “worship” in v. 12. Dr. Kleinig’s took some
time to answer this question.
1. No other language has a word like worship. Worship means ascribe worth, to honor. It is
an old Anglo-Saxon English word. In other languages you have words that mean honor
but not ascribe worth.
2. There are two different verbs in Greek and Hebrew that are translated as “worship.”
One of them means lips to the ground or “prostration.” In the ancient world prostration
was performed before kings and gods. Metaphorically it means “to pay homage.” And in
some cases it can mean “to adore someone.” In the KJV they were very strict to only
translate this verb as worship.
The second cluster of verbs mean “to serve, to work, to perform service, to perform a
ritual.” This verb can be used in a very broad sense that means to work. But when you
work or serve God, you perform a ritual. So you serve God at the Feast of Passover by
performing the Passover ritual. Every morning and evening Israel served God by
performing the daily sacrificial ritual.
Originally when the KJV used the word worship in the sense of honoring God, you honor God by
doing what? By performing services. Things like having morning prayer and praise. You honor
God by doing these things. But as time went on this was narrowed down. So for instance at the
time when the KJV was translated, you honored God by performing certain prescribed services
in the Book of Common Prayer. In that day, that was worshipping God.
Next when the radical Protestants came, all of the emphasis was on prayer and praise. When
this is brought forward into modern times, what is worship? It’s even more narrow. It’s not just
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praise but specifically it’s praise singing. So Protestant translations consistently translate the
word for serve as worship.
The word “serve” better communicates the meaning than “worship.” So for instance when
Moses is talking to pharaoh and he says to pharaoh, “Thus says the Lord, let my people go so
that they can serve me,” the Protestant translation would have, “so that they can worship me.”
To people today when they hear, “so that they can worship me,” what are they going to think
that means? Sing praise songs to God. But what Moses is talking about is Israel going on a
pilgrimage out into the desert to a holy place to present an offering to the Lord, which would
provide meat for a holy meal with God. They serve God my performing that particular ritual.
The whole modern approach has been a shift from actions to attitudes and ultimately to
emotions. So for most people, worship is an attitude of adoration, praising and adoring God.
We’ve taken some time to answer this question because this will be very important for your
work as a pastor. Let’s go back to Moses, shall we?)
What was funny about this sign given to Moses? You would expect that the sign would be given
now before he approaches pharaoh. It would be reassuring. But the sign will not occur until the
future after all of the exodus events have occurred. The sign will be that Moses will know that
God has been with him the whole time when Moses brings the people out of Egypt to this same
mountain and they serve him there. So the divine service is the sign of God’s presence to Moses
in the future. But until then he only has the promise of his presence.
 Gift of holy name YHWH (Exod 3:13-15)
Let’s continue with the text. Let’s read Ex. 3:13 (see these verses above). Why would the people
want to know the name of the God who sent Moses to deliver them? First of all, there are
hundreds of different gods. So one reason is to identify which god sent him. We have the same
issue in our society. And most times people refer to their god as God. But there is one more
practical reason than that. A second reason has to do with the authority of Moses. And a third
reason is they want to know which God are they going to pray to and who are they going to
worship. The name of a god is fundamental to the worship of the god. You can’t worship a god
that you cannot name, and you can’t pray to a god unless you know his/her name.
Let’s continue with vv. 14-15. In God’s answer to Moses, God gives Moses his proper name –
YHWH. It is usually transliterated as Yahweh but that is speculative. That name has something
to do with the verb “to be.” It can mean “He is” or “He causes to be.” It is not a title. It is a
proper name.
Let’s make quite sure you know what a proper name is. In English we distinguish between
proper names and common names and between proper names and titles.
 What is an example of a common name? Boy or man is common to all beings of that
particular class. A common name is a member of a class of things.
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 What is Dr. Kleinig’s proper name? John Kleinig is his proper name. It is proper because
it is a unique name for that person. It distinguishes him from other men.
 What are some titles for John? Professor, doctor, lecturer, pastor, mister, sir. Titles may
be based on your position or your function based on what you do. Titles are still in the
realm of common names.
 Use of holy name
When we say “God” what is it, common or proper? It’s common. You can use it to refer to any
god or heavenly being. So if you speak about god, the question is which god? You need to
identify the god’s proper name so people know which god you are talking about. There are
hundreds of titles for God in the OT. What are some of them? God Almighty, the Deliverer, the
Redeemer, the Holy One, etc. But God only has one proper name – Yahweh. That is the name
that applies to him only. God gives to Moses the gift of his holy name, his proper name.
Let’s go to the NT to see if you can work out the difference between proper names and titles.
 Which one is “spirit”? It is a common name. It could refer to any spirit. What is the name
of God’s spirit? Holy Spirit or the Holy Spirit. Putting an article in front of a common
name can turn it into a proper name.
 What about the name “Jesus”, common or proper? It is a proper name but there were
many people named Jesus.
 What about Christ, what is it? It is a title which means anointed person. In Hebrew it is
messiah. To make it definite you would add an article in front of it – the Christ or the
Messiah.
 What about the son of God? It sounds like a title but when used for Jesus it is a proper
name.
 What about Lord as in “our Lord Jesus Christ”? It sounds like a title, but what lies behind
it is Yahweh. In the OT whenever they came to the word “Yahweh,” they would read
“Lord.” So when Jesus is called Lord, he is being called Yahweh. There are many lords so
it could be used as a common title as well.
 What about Father? In the NT it is always used as a proper name for the first person of
the Trinity. Father in itself is a common name. The title “dad” is similar. It is common
because there are lots of dads. But only your children call you dad. You and only you are
dad to them and for them dad is your proper name.
 To make this clear for Jesus, you can use articles. So instead of Christ you can say the
Christ. Or for Father, you can say, God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is clear then
that Father is being used as a proper name. Another example of making a name specific
to a person is instead of saying, Jesus the Son, you could say, Jesus, the Son of God.
 In the institution of Baptism Jesus said you baptize people in the name of the Father and
of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Notice that this is one long proper name. That is the
triune proper name of God.
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What is so special about proper names? Besides them identifying a person, a proper name gives
you access to that person. One of the most profound things that happens to you is when
someone introduces them self to you. If they give you their personal, proper name, they are
giving you full unrestricted access to them self.
A teacher of Dr. Kleinig, who was a rabbi, once told his class that the greatest gift that the Holy
One ever gave his people was his name. By giving his name, God gives himself and access to
himself.
Notice what God said about his name. He said, This is my name forever, and my remembrance
from generation to generation. As we’ve talked about, to remember in Hebrew is to remember
to do something. So if I remember your name, I remember to address you by name. So by the
name of YHWH, God is to be remembered and addressed. He is saying, YHWH is my name.
Address me with it throughout all generations. By giving the people his name, he makes the
divine service possible.
How then is the holy name used? God gives the holy name to Moses so that:
 Introduce God and proclaim his presence to the Israelites
Moses can introduce God and proclaim his presence to his people. So when he goes to the
people he says, Thus says YHWH. And then speaks in the first person. He uses the name to
introduce God to the people and to speak God’s word to the people.
 Announce God’s deliverance to them
Secondly he uses God’s name so that he can announce God’s deliverance to the people. He
says, YHWH will do xxxxx.
 Demand for their release from Pharaoh
Thirdly, he goes to pharaoh and he says, Thus say YHWH, let my people go. And pharaoh’s
immediate reaction is, Who is YHWH that I should let them go? Pharaoh is thinking, who does
this YHWH think he is? I’m a god too and I’m greater than he is. Moses uses the name to
demand the release of the Israelites from Egypt. And then when pharaoh refuses, Moses uses
God’s name to announce judgment on Egypt. But notice that Moses also uses God’s name to
intercede for pharaoh and to bless pharaoh.
 Access to him in prayer
Moses uses God’s name to gain access his help and his grace in prayer. Apart from God’s name,
we/they have no access to God or his grace. If you look at the book of Psalms, every psalm
repeats over and over again the name YHWH.
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(The point was made earlier that it is speculation of how exactly to spell and say the name
Yahweh. A student wanted to know why. To answer that question, you have to know the whole
history behind the name. This relates to the second commandment, so I will cover it now since
the question has come up and skip over it later.
1. First of all YHWH is the holy name of God. The Hebrew language did not have vowels
(that’s called unpointed) until around 400 AD. So in all of the OT books the name of God
was written as YHWH. The vowels were part of the oral tradition but were not used in
writing.
2. Before the exile the name YHWH was used regularly at the temple in Jerusalem and
outside the temple.
3. Then came the exile, God’s judgment on Israel through Ezekiel. According to Ezekiel, one
of the reasons Israel was sent into exile was because they broke the second
commandment (do not take the name of the Lord your God in vain). They desecrated
and profaned the holy name of God. The result of it was that they were sent into exile
and they lost the land.
4. In the period after the exile, during the second temple period, there was a gradual
tightening up on the use of the name YHWH. It was only used at the temple by the
Levitical choir and the priest. Outside the temple, at home and in the synagogues, when
they came to YHWH, they replaced it with Adonai (the Lord). Outside the temple they
would no longer say YHWH. They would say Lord. So if they were praying the Shema,
they would say: Hear O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one.
5. By the time of Jesus, the only time and only place where the Israelites would hear the
name YHWH being spoken was at the temple in Jerusalem. They would hear it when the
choir sang it. They would hear it when the priest pronounced the Aaronic benediction.
That is the only time they would hear it.
6. So then what happens when the temple is destroyed in 70 AD? The name is no longer
said. It is replaced entirely by Adonai (the Lord). So for instance, if this class was filled
with young Jewish men, I would never say the name YHWH because they would protest
loudly that I was desecrating the holy name. This is because the only place you can use
the holy name is the temple and the temple no longer exists. In their view, using it
anywhere other than the temple desecrates it.
7. Because the name is never used and because of the fear of desecrating it, YHWH was
not used anymore. So scholars had to figure out its pronunciation and spelling by
working backwards from other data.
8. There are a lot of names in Hebrew that are formed from YHWH. Jehu is a form of it. Or
names like Isaiah, Jeremiah end in yah, which is an abbreviation for the first part of
YHWH. And therefore they figured out the first part of the holy name is Yah. So the first
vowel is an “a” but the second vowel is uncertain.
9. I ask that you never use the term Yahweh in your songs or prayers or preaching.
10. If you look at the Hebrew Bible the name of Yahweh does not use the vowels you would
expect. The vowels that are used are the vowels from Adonai (the Lord). They mix the
consonants from YHWH and the vowels from Adonai, which spells Jehovah. When the
reader in the synagogue comes across Jehovah, he will say Adonai (the Lord). Germans
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call this “a monstrosity,” something that never existed. So the Jehovah witnesses are
named after a name that never existed.
A student asked why they should not use the name YHWH when teaching and preaching?
Because God gave that name to the Jews to use in the temple in the divine service. The name
that Jesus gives us to use is the name Father. Jesus always refers to the first person of the
Trinity as Father. He doesn’t say to baptize in the name of YHWH. He says baptize in the name
of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. So out of courtesy to the Jews and out of respect for the
second commandment we need to be careful using that name lest we be guilty of desecrating
it. There are some modern songs that use Yahweh. If you want to use them, change Yahweh to
some other title.)
(One other thing before we take a break. There is a reluctance in modern Christianity to name
God. This is especially true in many Protestant churches. Sometimes in prayers they don’t even
address God. They just start talking without naming who they are talking to. The worst are the
modern songs. And the worst of the worst are the Jesus boyfriend songs. In those songs you
can’t be sure who is being addressed - Jesus or a boyfriend. We need to take great care in
naming God because everything hinges on it.
There are many, including Christian pastors, who purposely pray to “God.” They are purposely
vague so as to not offend anyone and to allow each person to address their version of God. So
they pray to an unknown, unnamed god. This will continue. You will see more of it. Realize that
our creeds show us the way in naming God. Not only what God has done, but primarily in how
we name God. We say we believe in the Father Almighty and in one Lord Jesus Christ and in the
Holy Spirit. That is naming God.)
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Lecture OT-11b
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-
pj4EnSH3AM&list=PL32Gjc1uEM1AUR8LC9JlceA9xFSeZs25Z&index=18&spfreload=1
(See also pgs. 33- 35of the Class Notes.)

...
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3. Call of Moses
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4. Nature of Deliverance
 Act of redemption by kinsman
 Ransom from captivity and slavery
 Righting injustice: genocide
 Restoration of land and livelihood
 Act of emancipation
 Formula: I am the Lord who brought you out of Egypt
 God’s demand to Pharaoh: release of people
 Liberation by force of arms
 Going out = going free
 Victory over powers of chaos: divine warrior
 Pharaoh as incarnation of sun god: duty to maintain cosmic order
 Violation of just order by oppression of Israel
 Lord as divine champion (Exod 15:3)
 Defeat of Pharaoh’s magicians
 Ten plagues as ten battles : Lord v gods of Egypt (Exod 12 :12)
 Israel as his 12 divisions: witness of victory (Exod 14:13- 14,30-31) and
plunder of enemy
 Final battle and victory at the sea: rescue through waters v drowning by the
waters

...
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3. Call of Moses
...
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The deliverance of Israel from Egypt is understood in four main ways theologically. The basic
conviction is this that what looks like a great escape story from a human point of view is in fact
the work of God. So God is at work behind and in this event in human history. And God’s role in
delivering the Israelites is understood in terms of four pictures or images or analogies.
First of all it is an act of redemption. Unfortunately in modern English there is no exact

equivalent to the verbs that are used in connection with it. One of these words is goel. This
word is commonly used in tribal societies. If you tell this story to an Aboriginal, you won’t have
to explain it to him. He will explain it to you.
Who is your kinsman redeemer, your goel? Kinsman redeemer is about the only way we can
translate it. My redeemer is the oldest male relative on my father’s side. So think about your
own family and who your redeemer would be. What is the role of a kinsman in a tribal society?
 Ransom from captivity and slavery
If anyone in the family gets into debt then the redeemer gets the money from the family
together to bail that member out of debt. That would be the case where the debt collectors
have come and threaten to take the land.
If a person goes into debt, he could end up being made into a slave. Or if he is taken as a
prisoner of war, he could be sold as a slave on the slave market. Both of these were very
common in the ancient world. The redeemer would pay money to get that person out of
slavery. He would buy his freedom. He would get all the resources from the family clan together
to free him from slavery.
 Righting injustice: genocide
Secondly, the redeemer also redeems from a court of law. Courts in the ancient world were
much more informal. They met in the village square. The elders were the judges. You had an
accuser and the one being accused. The redeemer acted like a defense attorney. He was an
advocate for the accused.
 Restoration of land and livelihood
Thirdly, as a result of taxation or debt, if I were about to lose my property, which not only
belongs to me but also to God and my whole family, then the redeemer would get the money
together to stop the land from being sold outside the family. By doing this they keep the land in
the family and are able to still live off the land.
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The last aspect of a kinsman is the most startling. If I die without leaving an heir, it would be the
job of my kinsman redeemer himself or another male in the family to father a child with my
wife. That child would then be considered my child and not his child. By doing this the family is
redeemed. This happened with Ruth. They get the land back and they get the family back by
having a male heir.
God redeems his people because they are his kinsfolk. So he ransoms them from captivity and
slavery. The Israelites were threatened with extinction through genocide, God intervened to
save their lives, and then later he restores their land and livelihood to them. So the deliverance
from Egypt is an act of redemption.
The second picture for Israel’s deliverance is related to the first. The exodus is an act of
emancipation. Emancipation means freeing someone from slavery. The Israelites were slaves in
Egypt.
 Formula: I am the Lord who brought you out of Egypt
I would like to introduce some terminology to you that is very important. (1) Moses came to
pharaoh and said, Let my people go that they may serve me. He uses a word that means “to
send someone.” In the form of that verb used here, it means to send out, to release, to free, to
let go. So “let my people go” means release them from slavery.
(2) A second important term used in exodus is not always clear in translation. The word
“exodus” comes from this word. The word means go out, march out, go free. So the Israelites
go out from Egypt, they march out, they go free. In another form of the same verb, it means to
bring out, to set free. It means to liberate. A common phrase in the OT is where God says, I am
Yahweh, the one who brought out the Israelites from the land of Egypt. God is the one who
liberated, brought out, freed the Israelites from slavery.
 God’s demand to Pharaoh: release of people
Through Moses God demanded that pharaoh free his people.
 Liberation by force of arms
He says if pharaoh does not let them go, he will use his right hand and outstretched arm, which
means he will use military force to free his people.
 Going out = going free
So the exodus is an act of emancipation, an act of liberation, where they go out of Egypt and
are free.
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The third picture of the exodus is not as evident but if you look closely you can see it all over
the place. The deliverance from Egypt is seen as a victory. Not as a political victory of Moses
over pharaoh, but of God over the gods of Egypt and the powers of chaos. So God is pictured as
the divine warrior. He single handedly takes on pharaoh and his armies.
 Pharaoh as incarnation of sun god: duty to maintain cosmic order
Pharaoh was viewed by the Egyptians as the incarnation of the sun god. According to Egyptian
theology it is his duty to maintain cosmic order. Every day the sun god descended into the
underworld to take on Seth, the god of chaos and darkness, in order to put him back into his
place. And the next day he rises victorious over Seth in the morning. And he gives the fruit of
his victory to the people by rising high over the earth. Every day he battles Seth and every day
he puts Seth back in his place, but there is never a knockout blow. Pharaoh aides the sun god in
his battle with Seth by performing magic.
 Violation of just order by oppression of Israel
So when pharaoh enslaves the Israelites, it not just a form of political oppression but also
spiritual oppression. To put it in Christian terms, pharaoh puts on a front for Satan and the
powers of darkness. So Moses is not only called on to deliver the Israelites politically, but to
deliver them from the Egyptian gods.
 Lord as divine champion (Exod 15:3)
[But it’s not Moses who will deliver Israel, but] God would come and fight for them. He would
be their divine Champion.
The Lord is my strength and my song,

and he has become my salvation;
this is my God, and I will praise him,
my father's God, and I will exalt him.
3
The Lord is a man of war;
the Lord is his name.
 Defeat of Pharaoh’s magicians
Moses deals with not only pharaoh, but also with his magicians. Pharaoh exercises spiritual
power, but the power he exercises is occult power, sorcery, magic. Egyptian theology is riddled
with sorcery and magic. Moses engages with these sorcerers and overcomes them. But it’s not
really Moses, but the Lord, working through Moses, who is the Champion.
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 Ten plagues as ten battles : Lord v gods of Egypt (Exod 12 :12)
You will remember from Bible Introduction that the ten plagues are ten battles in the war
between God and the Egyptian gods.
12
For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the
land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am
the Lord.
God said he would execute judgment on all the gods of Egypt. The first three plagues deal with
the gods of the underworld. He dispossesses them. The next three deal with the gods of the
earth. The last three deal with the rule of the sun god in the sky. The tenth plague deals with
pharaoh’s son, the incarnation of the sun god. So on one side you have God who fights alone
and on the other side you have all the gods of Egypt, thousands of them. And God single
handedly wins the battle.
 Israel as his 12 divisions: witness of victory (Exod 14:13- 14,30-31) and

plunder of enemy
The fact that God wins the battle single handedly is emphasized in a number of different ways.
The twelve tribes of Israel are the twelve armies of Israel or the twelve divisions of the Lord’s
army. One name for God is YHWH Sabaoth, the God of the armies. And he not only has earthly
armies (Israel) but also heavenly armies (the angels).
But Israel is a very strange kind of army. In the great battle between God and the gods of Egypt,
their task is to simply stand still and witness the victory of God. They call on the name of the
Lord, he does all the fighting, and they watch the battle and witness the victory of the Lord over
pharaoh and his army and the gods of Egypt. And then afterwards they plunder the enemy.
Let’s take a look at the theme of witnessing the victory, which is very important for NT
theology. Let’s read Ex. 14:13-14, 30-31.
13
And Moses said to the people, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will
work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. 14 The LORD will
fight for you, and you have only to be silent.”
30
Thus the LORD saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians
dead on the seashore. 31 Israel saw the great power that the LORD used against the Egyptians, so the
people feared the LORD, and they believed in the LORD and in his servant Moses.
In v. 14, it should not “be silent.” Rather, it means to stand there with your hands at your side.
They will not even need to lift a hand. They can drop their hands because God will do all the
fighting for them. They will see the Lord’s victory. They will be witnesses to it.
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 Final battle and victory at the sea: rescue through waters v drowning by the
waters
Now for this last point, you have to understand Egyptian theology. As we discussed, the sun god
would descend from his thrown in heaven at the end of the day and enter the underworld.
Then he would defeat Seth and all the gods of the underworld. And every morning he would
rise victorious. According to ancient thinking, if you wanted to enter the underworld, the most
obvious way to enter was through the sea. The rivers and seas were the domain of Seth, the
god of the underworld.
Now how does God save the Israelites? There are nine battles and then there is the tenth and
final battle. He himself goes before Israel and enters the domain of the underworld (the Red
Sea), the domain of death. And when he does, he turns the abyss into a solid pavement so the
Israelites can walk across the Red Sea. And then he moves from the front of his army to the
back. His glory cloud separates the Egyptian army from the Israelites. The cloud gives light to
Israel and darkness to the Egyptians. Once all of the Israelites have passed through the sea, God
releases the water on the Egyptian army and they all drowned.
What is the theology behind this in a mythological way of thinking? Pharaoh and the Egyptians
are overwhelmed and taken into the underworld. Pharaoh’s son had already been killed in the
last plague and now pharaoh dies and goes not into the heavens but into the underworld. The
sun god can’t save him. The sun god cannot save his son who is lost forever in the underworld.
That is one side of the story.
What is the other side of the story? God went into death and achieved victory over death in the
underworld. And God brought all the people through death and out of death, through chaos
and into order, out of darkness and into the light. This then is a foretaste of something.
Remember the Apostle’s Creed? Jesus didn’t just die but he descended into hell (the
underworld). And on the third day he arose from the dead victorious. Jesus death and
resurrection is the great Exodus, the great deliverance, the great victory. So the victory of God
over pharaoh and his army in a little way is a pointer to the great victory which is achieved by
Christ’s death and resurrection. The defeat of pharaoh prefigures the defeat of Satan and all the
powers of darkness. Paul picks up on this in 1 Cor. 10:1-2.
10 For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud,
and all passed through the sea, 2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea,
He is referring to the victory God won in the exodus from Egypt. Dr. Kleinig encouraged his
students to have a close look at the exodus in terms of victory because he has a hunch that this
will speak more powerfully to people of the coming generation. And notice that the role of
Christians in spiritual warfare is not to do any fighting but merely to call on the Champion,
Christ, and to witness the victory.
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Lecture OT-12a
v=k1XmjL3TSeQ&list=PL32Gjc1uEM1AUR8LC9JlceA9xFSeZs25Z&index=19
(See also pgs. 35- 37 of the Class Notes.)

...
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3. Call of Moses
...
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...
 Exodus as divine theophany
 Use of formula of recognition (Exod 6:7; 7:5)
 Disclosure of glory to Israel, Pharaoh and world (Exod 14:4,18)
 Revelation as the gracious God of Israel
 Revelation of God’s wrath and power to Pharaoh: Lord of whole world
 Effect: defiance and hardening of heart v prostration/submission (Exod
4:31), obedience (Exod 12:28) and faith (Exod 14:31)
5. Liturgical goal of deliverance
 Pun on service: slavery v worship
 Promise to bring the Israelites to Sinai to serve God
 Demand to release Israel for service (Exod 7:16)
 Go on pilgrimage (Exod 5:1)
 Sacrifice animals (Exod 5:3)
 Passover as service of God (Exod 12:25-26)
 Journey with God from Egypt to God’s royal sanctuary in the Promised Land
(Exod 15:17-18)
 God’s dwelling with his people as the goal of the exodus (Exod 29:46)

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...
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3. Call of Moses
...
There are three pictures which I use to explain the theological significance of the exodus from
Egypt. First it is an act of redemption by a kinsman-redeemer. Second, it is an act of
emancipation. And thirdly, it is a victory by God over the powers of chaos, the gods of Egypt.
 Exodus as divine theophany
Fourthly, the exodus is a strange, unusual theophany. If there is one thing you should have
learned by now is that the OT takes existing pagan thoughts and turns them on their head. This
is a typical case in point. Paganism is full of theophanies, the appearances of gods. A god
appears and shows his or her face and the place where that happens becomes a holy place.
Then an idol of that god is placed there so that those who saw the god there can continue to
see that god by looking at the idol. The idol is like a window where they can see that god. The
idol is not a god but it represents that god. It is the means by which you access the face of the
god. You access to the god through the idol by addressing the idol as if it were a person.
In the story of the deliverance from Egypt you have theophany that occurs in a series of
historical events. It begins with the call of Moses. And the result of this appearance by God in
this series of events is that people get to know and recognize the Lord.
 Use of formula of recognition (Exod 6:7; 7:5)
Let’s start out by reading Ex. 6:7.
7
I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the Lord
your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.
They will not get to see the Lord but they will get to know the Lord. Now read Ex. 7:5.
5
The Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and
bring out the people of Israel from among them.”
The formula for recognition is used in these two verses in two different ways. The Israelites will
get to know the Lord as their redeemer and the Egyptians will get to know the Lord as their
judge. This touches on a very important part of the OT. Whenever God appears, his appearance
is ambiguous; it has two sides to it. On the one hand, his presence and appearance is and brings
salvation to those who are righteous. And on the other hand, it brings judgment and
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destruction to those who are wicked. He is Light and Light destroys darkness. So the Lord is
recognized as Savior and Judge.
 Disclosure of glory to Israel, Pharaoh and world (Exod 14:4,18)
The purpose of the exodus is for God to disclose or reveal his glory to Israel as a Savior, to
pharaoh as Judge, and to the world as its Creator and Lord. Let’s look at two passages that talk
about God revealing his glory when Israel crossed the Red Sea – Ex. 14:4, 18.
4
And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and he will pursue them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh
and all his host, and the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord.” And they did so.
The verb translated as “get glory” means “to gain glory” or “to show glory.” God will show his
glory and therefore God will gain glory. The emphasis is not so much that they will glorify him
but that God will glorify himself; he will reveal his glory, his presence, his power to them. It is
theophanic language.
18
And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gotten glory over Pharaoh, his
chariots, and his horsemen.”
In this passage the same verb is used. “When I glorify myself” or “When I disclose or reveal my
glory through pharaoh and his chariots.”
Through these events God shows or reveals his glory. God’s glory appears in a strange form. As
you know it appears in the so-called glory cloud. Let’s look at the first place it is found in Ex.
13:21-22.
21
And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and
by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night. 22 The
pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night did not depart from before the people.
They’ve just left Egypt and are on their way to the Red Sea and God leads them by a strange
phenomena. There aren’t two different clouds. There is one cloud and at the same time it
conceals and reveals God’s glory. When he shows his glory, when he shows his presence and
does it visibly, he does so in a concealed way. You have a remarkable paradox of God’s glory
being encased and enclosed in a cloud and that cloud both reveals and conceals his glory. His
glory must be concealed because no sinner can look on the face of God and live. During the
daytime it is like a dark cloud but at night it lights up. It is bright and shines at night and dark
during the day. So God shows his glory in this strange way. And he doesn’t show his glory in a
place but in a mobile form. As the story continues take notice of the cloud. After the tabernacle
is built it God’s glory takes residence in the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle with the cloud
covering the tabernacle. So his glory is revealed not in God showing his face but in this cloud.
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And the cloud has a second funny characteristic. The first is that it both conceals and reveals
God’s glory; its dark in the day and shines at night. But then something funny happens when
they cross the Red Sea. Read Ex. 14:19-20.
19
Then the angel of God who was going before the host of Israel moved and went behind
them, and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them, 20 coming
between the host of Egypt and the host of Israel. And there was the cloud and the darkness.
And it lit up the night without one coming near the other all night.
The funny thing is that the same cloud brought darkness to the Egyptians and light to the
Israelites, darkness to God’s enemies and light to the righteous. So we end up with an
ambivalent theophany of God. As we said earlier, God’s glory is revealed to the Egyptians as
judgment and it is revealed to the Israelites as grace and blessing. So the Israelites who believe
in Moses and trust in God get to know a gracious God, a God who is a deliverer. But the same
God is a God of wrath and judgment and power to pharaoh. God reveals himself positively to
the Israelites and negatively to the pharaoh and the Egyptians.
 Revelation as the gracious God of Israel

 Revelation of God’s wrath and power to Pharaoh: Lord of whole world
There is something very profound here, not only for the OT but also for the NT. Those of you
who are called to be a pastor will be involved in theophany, preaching the Word and
administering the Sacraments in order to reveal the glory of God, the presence of God here on
earth. The presence of God is both light and darkness. Wherever you preach the Word of God
and proclaim Christ there is judgment and there is salvation. The same word that brings
judgment is the same word that brings salvation. The presence of Christ is either judgment or
salvation. It’s never neutral. God’s theophany is never neutral but always has one of two
effects. It is either presence in grace or presence in wrath.
So God’s presence for the Egyptians makes them more defiant and rebellious and leads to the
hardening of their hearts. They refuse to listen to Moses. They refuse to listen to God. They
harden their hearts and God allows their hearts to be hardened. But it also leads to faith.
 Effect: defiance and hardening of heart v prostration/submission (Exod

4:31), obedience (Exod 12:28) and faith (Exod 14:31)
In this regard there are three things that are mentioned. First of all read Ex. 4:39-31 and look
for the effect of God’s word when it is spoken.
29
Then Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the people of Israel.
30
Aaron spoke all the words that the LORD had spoken to Moses and did the signs in the sight
of the people. 31 And the people believed; and when they heard that the LORD had visited the
people of Israel and that he had seen their affliction, they bowed their heads and worshiped.
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The people see, listen, and believe and then they bow down and prostrate themselves. They
submit to God. So God’s intervention, his appearance leads either to unbelief or to faith. It
either leads to rebellion or submission. It will cause division between people.
Secondly, let’s take a look at Ex. 12:28 to see a second effect.
28
Then the people of Israel went and did so; as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron,
so they did.
They obey and do as God commanded them. Whereas the word of God spoken to pharaoh led
to disobedience, for the Israelites it led to obedience.
The most important effect, which we’ve already touched on, is it leads not only to faith in God
but also to faith in Moses. We see this in Ex. 14:31.
31
Israel saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians, so the people feared
the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.
This is the final word of the incident at the Red Sea. And there is the theme of seeing.
Theophany has to do with visible appearance. So when God appears and defeats pharaoh and
his army, what is the reaction of Israel to God’s theophany? It results in fear of God and trust in
God. That should sound familiar. In Luther’s explanation of the first commandment he says, we
should fear, love, and trust in God above all things.
So the whole series of events are a theophany and they are bracketed by two theophanic
events. Before Moses was called by God, God appeared to Moses in a burning bush. Moses
stood on holy ground at Mt. Horeb (Sinai). That was the first theophany. And then at the end of
the exodus lies the great theophany to the Israelites at Mt. Sinai (the giving of the Ten
Commandments). Between them is a series of events which are theophanic. God reveals
himself through them. They disclose God as Judge and as Savior.
One great thing we have received from Luther is our understanding of the nature of God’s
revelation. When God speaks and when God reveals himself, people’s reactions are never
neutral. They are either positive or negative. They either see God as their Judge or their Savior.
There is no neutral ground.
The practical consequence for you as pastors who faithfully proclaim the Word of God will be
not only a positive effect from people where they come to fear and trust in God, but also
people will fight against you. You will create and confirm unbelief. It will lead to further
rebellion and defiance of God. And it will lead to the hardening of people’s hearts. The most
hardened unbelievers are those who have been exposed to the Word of God and rejected it. So
as pastors, you will create unbelief as well as belief. And that is a hard thing to cope with.
People will hate the word that you proclaim.
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The exodus is an act of theophany. And it points to the ongoing theophany that occurs after Mt.
Sinai, the morning and evening sacrifice. In the sacrifice, God’s glory appears at the altar in the
form of a cloud [of smoke] that rises from the altar. That cloud that appears every morning and
every evening as a result of the sacrifice is the daily theophany of God to his people. We will
talk more about that when we talk about the divine service.
5. Liturgical goal of deliverance
The last thing to emphasize about the exodus is its goal. What is its purpose? It is stated over
and over again by Moses when he comes to demand that pharaoh release God’s people. You
should notice that Moses doesn’t just say, Let my people go. But there is always a purpose that
he adds on to it: Let my people go so that they may serve me.
 Pun on service: slavery v worship
The whole book of exodus is an elaborate pun on the verb “serve” and its cognates. The noun
from it is “service” and is used in two ways in Exodus. (1) On the one hand, the Israelites are in
bondage or slavery to the Egyptians and the Egyptian gods. (2) But they are delivered from
service as slaves for another kind of service. They are delivered from service to the pagan gods,
which is slavery, to the service of the living God, which is serving freely. That is the basic
theology of Exodus.
 Promise to bring the Israelites to Sinai to serve God
Remember right at the beginning when God called Moses, God had told Moses that the sign
that God was with him would be that God would bring the Israelites out of Egypt to Mt. Sinai,
the place where God appeared to Moses, and they would serve God there. They would serve
God at the same place where Moses received the theophany from God.
 Demand to release Israel for service (Exod 7:16)
Now, what is meant by the word “serve” and how is it paraphrased? The initial demand of
pharaoh from God is that he lets God’s people go so that they can serve him. And the place
where they will serve God is in the desert, not in Egypt but in the desert. So what is meant by
serving God? I’ve emphasized to you that Hebrew has a very small vocabulary and the words
have a very wide semantic reach. (1) Serve can mean quite simply: doing work. In that case, a
servant is simply an employee. (2) It could mean serving as a slave but that is not its most
common use. (3) Another nuance of serve is that you can serve someone by being their
manager. An example of this is Eleazar who was the servant of Abraham. He was his deputy
who was responsible for Abraham’s property. And Abraham is described as being the servant of
God. He was God’s deputy. David is also called the servant of the Lord. He is God’s deputy. He
does God’s work here on earth.
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So a servant of God is a person who does God’s work. He either works with God or for God.
Now that word is used for the whole area that we call worship. It is the term for worshipping
God. And we’ve talked about that in a session yesterday. So “Let my people go so they can
serve me” means let my people go so they can serve me so by doing what I command them to
do and what I command them to do is ritual work. Let them serve me by performing the rituals
or by participating in the rituals that I command.
This term is behind the Lutheran term for worship. That is why Lutherans call worship Divine
Service. This is where it comes from. We perform the rituals that God commands and in those
rituals God serves us. We will be discussing this more when we talk about the Divine Service.
 Go on pilgrimage (Exod 5:1)
Now when Moses says, “Let my people go that they may serve me,” that could be understood
to be “Let my people go that they may be slaves to me.” But this is paraphrased by two other
words that are used in the repeated pattern of “let my people go that they may ...”. One of
these words means go on a pilgrim festival. It is an occasion during the year where you go on a
pilgrimage from your home to a holy place in order to worship God at that place. And the way
that you worship God is by feasting. So this term means to go on a pilgrimage to a holy place to
celebrate a festival and a festival always has to do with eating and drinking and having a good
time.
There are three Jewish pilgrim festivals in the Jewish calendar. In them the head of the
households were required to make a pilgrimage. They were Passover (spring equinox),
Tabernacles (autumn equinox), and in between them was Pentecost (the end of the harvest
season).
So Moses and Aaron said to pharaoh, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Let my people go,
that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness.’” (Ex. 5:1) The holy place where they were
to go was not specified but we know from Moses’ encounter with God at Mt. Sinai in the
burning bush that it would be there. God had told Moses that they would serve him at that
place.
 Sacrifice animals (Exod 5:3)
The second paraphrase is very interesting. In response to pharaoh, Moses said, Let my people
go so that they can kill an animal and offer it to me. The animal was to be a domesticated
animal, so it is either a goat or sheep or bull. You kill it in the presence of God. You pour out the
blood on the altar. And you offer the fatty parts of the animal to God, the forequarter goes to
the priests, and the rest of the meat is eaten by the person who offers the sacrifice. So the term
used in Ex. 5:3 means to offer an animal for the purpose of having a holy meal with God.
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How did they serve God then? Not by being God’s slaves but by being God’s guests and feasting
on holy meat and holy bread with God. So divine service in the OT is feasting. It has to do with a
holy meal. The picture is that:
 They come to a holy place. God is the host.
 They are God’s guests.
 The altar is the table of God.
 They eat holy meat and drink holy wine and they eat holy bread from God’s table.
 And the irony is that God doesn’t eat anything. As the Host he doesn’t eat, but enjoys
providing a meal for the people.
So they serve God by eating and drinking holy food in God’s presence. This once again turns
pagan theology on its head. Everywhere in the ancient world people brought offerings of food
to their gods. What was the purpose of doing that? So their gods could eat. They needed to eat
to maintain their power so they could bestow benefits on their people. None of the people
were actually stupid enough to believe that the gods actually physically ate the food. The idea
was that the gods took the spiritual essence from the food and used it for their sustenance. So
the purpose for pagan offerings was to provide food and drink to their gods. The whole purpose
of worship for pagan people was to provide for the needs of their gods. They provided houses,
clothes, food, and entertainment for their gods. That was pagan theology in the near east and
the ancient world. You keep the gods happy and they look after you. It’s giving in order to get.
This is basic natural theology. Human affairs work this way. Usually if you are nice to a person,
then they will be nice to you.
God cuts through this completely and turns it on its head. Instead of them providing a meal for
God, God provides a meal for them. And he doesn’t provide just ordinary food, he provides holy
food, food that makes and keeps them holy and provides divine blessing. So they don’t serve
God for God’s benefit. Instead God benefits them when they serve him. When they serve God,
they receive blessings from God.
So what is the purpose of the exodus? Why does God deliver his people from slavery in Egypt?
So that they can serve him. So that they can participate in the divine service and receive the
gifts that God provides for them. So that they can have access to God and his blessings in the
divine service. The purpose of the exodus is liturgical.
 Passover as service of God (Exod 12:25-26)
The Passover, which is at the center of the exodus from Egypt, celebrates the exodus and
reenacts the exodus every year. The ceremony where they reenact the exodus is the Feast of
the Passover. Let’s take a look at Ex. 12:21-27.
21
Then Moses called all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go and select lambs for
yourselves according to your clans, and kill the Passover lamb. 22 Take a bunch of hyssop and
dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and touch the lintel and the two doorposts with the
blood that is in the basin. None of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning.
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23
For the LORD will pass through to strike the Egyptians, and when he sees the blood on the
lintel and on the two doorposts, the LORD will pass over the door and will not allow the
destroyer to enter your houses to strike you. 24 You shall observe this rite as a statute for you
and for your sons forever. 25 And when you come to the land that the LORD will give you, as he
has promised, you shall keep this service. 26 And when your children say to you, ‘What do you
mean by this service?’ 27 you shall say, ‘It is the sacrifice of the LORD's Passover, for he passed
over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt, when he struck the Egyptians but spared our
houses.’” And the people bowed their heads and worshiped.
(They read vv. 21-23.) If the blood is put on the doorposts of the house, what does that make
the house? It makes it a clean and holy place. It makes it a temporary sanctuary. It is a safe
place for the Israelites, a place where death cannot enter. This is preparation for the Passover.
The Passover involves eating meat from the Passover lamb. What is the point of this ceremony?
(They read vv. 24-27.) The word translated as observance or ceremony in v. 26 is better
translated as service. The Passover Feast is service of God. It is a service in which they
commemorate their deliverance from Egypt, but also every year God spares them and delivers
them from the old year to the new year. Every year it is a deliverance of the current generation.
Every year it is divine service for his people. So the Passover is the service of God.
As you know, the Lord’s Supper is our Passover. Hence we talk about Divine Service. This is one
of the origins of that term.
 Journey with God from Egypt to God’s royal sanctuary in the Promised Land
(Exod 15:17-18)
One of the most interesting features of the book of Exodus is the famous Song of the Sea that is
sung by Miriam to celebrate the deliverance from Egypt. According to scholars, this is probably
one of the oldest dateable parts of the OT. It isn’t the oldest part of the OT, but one of the
oldest dateable parts. They can fix the date of this poem between 1400 – 1200 BC. So that
shows that it was composed for the actual event. It is a very ancient text.
As an example of this Dr. Kleinig said if you gave him an English poem he could tell you within
100 years when it was written. There are certain conventions used during different periods of
time. The same was true in the ancient world. It is kind of like fashions. Over time they change.
Music is the same way. The style of music is different in different periods.
The Song of the Sea is full of very ancient poetic conventions. What is interesting is that the first
part of this poem celebrates the deliverance at the Red Sea and the second part celebrates the
journey of the Israelites in triumph through the desert to the promised land. Notice what the
goal of this exodus and journey is. Read Ex. 15:17-18.
17
You will bring them in and plant them on your own mountain,
the place, O Lord, which you have made for your abode,
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the sanctuary, O Lord, which your hands have established.

18
The Lord will reign forever and ever.”
What is the goal of the exodus? It is for God to bring the people to his holy mountain, the place
where he builds his sanctuary, the place where he builds his temple. So the goal is for God to
bring them to his temple that he puts on his holy mountain. He does this so that he can reign
over them and through them in the world. So the goal of the exodus is liturgical. It so that God
can bring the people to his temple sanctuary so they can worship God there, so they can serve
the heavenly king.
 God’s dwelling with his people as the goal of the exodus (Exod 29:46)
This purpose for the exodus and journey to the promised land is put even more clearly in Ex.
39:46.
46 And they shall know that I am the Lord their God, who brought them out of the land of
Egypt that I might dwell among them. I am the Lord their God.
According to this verse what is the goal of the exodus? What did God have in mind when he
brought them out of Egypt? He brought them out of Egypt, he freed them from slavery so that
he might dwell among them. The Hebrew word for “dwell” means to reside, to live, to dwell. A
dwelling place is a residence. I dwell at a particular address. God’s purpose in delivering the
Israelites was so that he could dwell where? So that he can dwell among his people. How does
he dwell among his people? First of all he dwells in the tabernacle. The Hebrew word for
tabernacle has the same root as the word for dwell. The tabernacle is the earthly residence of
the heavenly King. God will live with his people, first in the tabernacle and then in the temple.
In doing so, he will make himself available and accessible to them in this way.
So to summarize, the goal of the deliverance is liturgical. God delivers his people so he can
dwell in their midst, so that through the divine service, which is performed in his presence, he
can serve them and bless them. The purpose of the exodus is divine service. Let’s take a break
and then we will begin God’s covenant with Israel at Mt. Sinai. This will be the main part of this
course because it is the heart of the Pentateuch, the heart of the OT and its theology.
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Lecture OT-12b
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5-
4I22teYE&list=PL32Gjc1uEM1AUR8LC9JlceA9xFSeZs25Z&index=20

...
b. The Covenant at Sinai
1. Theory of Sinai covenant as suzerain-vassal treaty
a. Structure of these treaties
 Preamble: identification of parties
 Historical preamble: past dealings
 Stipulations about alliances, attacks, and annual appearance before overlord
 Public deposition and reading
 Gods as witnesses
 Blessings and curses
b. Problems with this treaty
 Israel’s status as God’s people
 Historical remoteness
 No historical preamble
 No deposition or witnesses
 No list of blessings and curses
c. Deuteronomy as vassal treaty?

...
Introduction
Almost half of the Pentateuch deals with the events that occur at Mt. Sinai. The first part of
Exodus, chapters 1 -19, deals with the deliverance from Egypt and journey to Sinai. Ex. 19
through the rest of Exodus, all of Leviticus, and the first 10 chapters of Numbers deal with the
law making and theophany that occur at Mt. Sinai.
The fashion that’s been around for the last 100 years is to see these events through one filter
and that is the filter of covenant. And as always, there is a partial truth to it. God did make a
covenant with Israel at Mt. Sinai. But there is more to it than this covenant. And you can see
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this if you read that entire section from Exodus through Leviticus into Numbers. We are now
going to talk about the covenant at Sinai.
b. The Covenant at Sinai

The Hittites and Their Treaties
The most fashionable theory, which is still followed currently, is to see the covenant at Mt. Sinai
as being analogous to and derived from the Hittite treaties. (He had given the class a handout
on Hittite treaties. It is not available to us.) The heart of the Hittite empire was in central
Turkey. At the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century
archaeologists excavated these sites and deciphered tablets found there. The Hittite empire
lasted from about 1800 BC to 1400 BC. They gained power by combining two new kinds of
technology. First, from the tribes to the north of them they learned to use horses in warfare.
They introduced chariot warfare to the Middle East. The second technology they mastered was
that they were one of the first groups in the Middle East to make the transition from the bronze
culture to the iron culture. They mastered iron working and they made weapons from iron.
1. Theory of Sinai covenant as suzerain-vassal treaty
The Hittites were a small group, but because of this technology they used in warfare they
created an empire. But because they were small, they couldn’t occupy the areas that they
conquered. So they devised a very ingenious political instrument to rule over and to control the
people they conquered. They made vassal treaties with the kings they conquered. Instead of
placing their own men over the people they conquered, they allowed the existing kings to
continue to rule. But when they did, they bound the existing kings to a treaty. So the Hittite king
(suzerain) made a treaty with an under-king (vassal) for their mutual advantage. If either of the
parties were attacked by a third party, the other party would be obligated to come to their
assistance. And it also obligated the vassal kingdoms to pay tribute to the Hittite king, pay a tax
to the Hittite king, and to appear before the Hittite king once a year.
These vassal treaties come from around 1800 BC. It wasn’t until the 1930’s AD that they were
deciphered. An OT scholar named Mendenhall thought there was a resemblance between
these treaties and some things in the OT. So he thought these treaties might help us
understand why we get various covenants in the OT. He noticed that of all the parts of the OT,
the book of Deuteronomy most closely resembled these treaties. Its influence reaches far
beyond what it should. It was used to debunk a liberal theology that tried to say that the
Pentateuch was written after the exile. The counter argument was that if it was true that
Deuteronomy and the covenant at Sinai were influenced by Hittite treaties then the Pentateuch
must be very ancient. That is why many conservative scholars jumped on it. They used it to
prove their case.
a. Structure of these treaties
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What was the structure of the vassal treaties?
 Preamble: identification of parties
These treaties always began with a preamble which identified the two parties.
 Historical preamble: past dealings
After the parties are introduced, there is a preamble which identifies the past dealings between
the two kingdoms. For instance, the Hittites conquered these people and then graciously
allowed their king to remain on the thrown and allowed the kingdom to continue to observe all
of its customs and laws and political systems.
 Stipulations about alliances, attacks, and annual appearance before overlord
Then comes the stipulations for the treaty. In most cases it has to do with a mutual alliance,
where they are to support each other if either of them are attacked, and the vassal king along
with his chief courtiers are to appear before the Hittite king once a year, paying homage to him
and paying their annual tribute.
 Public deposition and reading
This treaty then is to be written in stone or metal (permanent) and deposited in a public place
in both kingdoms. So both parties could see the treaty and be reminded of it. And it was to be
read once a year, probably when the vassal king appeared before the Hittite king.
 Gods as witnesses
The treaty was enacted in a temple in the presence of the Hittite gods. The Hittite would swear
by their gods that they would remain true to the treaty and the vassal king would swear by his
gods that he would at the cost of death observe this treaty. So the gods were the witnesses to
the treaty and were to make sure it was kept. If one or the other did not keep the treaty, they
would come under divine sanctions and punishments from the various gods.
 Blessings and curses
Then the benefits of the treaty were outlined in terms of blessings and the consequences for
breaking the covenant were outlined in terms of curses. If they observed the treaty then the
gods would give them nothing but blessings. If either party failed to observe the treaty, then
curses would come from the gods.
(Discussion about if the Hittite treaties had any influence on the OT. Dr. Kleinig’s reading of the
OT is that there is no direct influence from the Hittite treaties on the OT. He is even skeptical
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about the book of Deuteronomy which fits it most closely. There are some law codes from the
Assyrians, which come later, that more closely resemble this. They begin with preambles and
end with blessings and curses, which more closely resembles what happened on Sinai. With
them you have law giving rather than treaty making.
b. Problems with this treaty
What are the problems with the Hittite treaties that make us think they don’t fit the covenant
at Sinai and too much emphasis is being placed on them?
 Israel’s status as God’s people
Many commentaries still push this line. They will say that God the heavenly King makes a
covenant with his vassal Israel at Sinai. Already with this one simple statement there is a
problem.
The main persons in a Hittite treaty were the Hittite king and the foreign king who represented
his people. The Hittite king does not make a vassal treaty with his own people. [In applying this
kind of treaty to the Sinai covenant, that is what is being said. God made a vassal treaty with his
own people.] He makes a treaty with a foreign king who is over a foreign people. The covenant
at Sinai is between God and his people. It does not fit. They are not analogous to each other.
 Historical remoteness
(Historical remoteness was skipped over but after the preamble Dr. Kleinig came back to it.) If
you take the date of the exodus, say somewhere around 1400 BC, and you compare it to the
time when these treaties were made (around 1800 BC), it is historically very remote. They were
also geographically remote from each other. Usually when you have influence, you have two
things that are contemporary to each other. So for instance it is understandable if a speech by
Rudd (Australian Prime Minister) would be influenced by a speech by Obama (US President).
They are contemporaries of each other. Is it possible that a speech by Rudd copies a speech
made by someone 400 years ago? It is possible but it is unlikely. And even if he did, he would
have to change the language completely.
 No historical preamble
There is no historical preamble within the Sinai covenant. There is a short little preamble that
serves as an introduction to the Ten Commandments: I am the Lord your God who brought you
up out of the land of Egypt out of the house of slaves. You could say God is identified and the
other party is identified. And you can say there is one sentence of the history between the two
of them. However in the Hittite treaties the preamble is the critical part because it gives the
legal basis for the covenant that is being made.
 No deposition or witnesses
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There is no deposition of the whole covenant as there are in Hittite treaties. The Ten
Commandments are written on two tablets of stone and they are placed in the Ark of the
Covenant, but that is not the full covenant. It is only a tiny part of it. If you had the whole
covenant you would have had Exodus 20 through the end of Leviticus.
There are also no witnesses to the covenant. Who made sure that the Hittite treaty was kept?
The gods of both sides. They witnessed the treaty and made sure the treaty was observed. This
is impossible at Sinai because the OT doesn’t acknowledge any pagan gods. And if God is the
one making the treaty, if he is a part to the treaty, it is only he who is witnessing it and making
sure it is observed. So there is no equivalence here either.
 No list of blessings and curses
Lastly, there is no listing of blessings and curses. There are some threats and some promises but
there is no listing of blessings or curses for the observance or non observance of the covenant.
The only places where you get a list of blessings and curses are in Lev. 26 (for right and wrong
worship, not the covenant) and at the end of Deuteronomy.
c. Deuteronomy as vassal treaty?
The closest you get to a Hittite treaty in the OT is the book of Deuteronomy. You can make a
case that it might have been influenced by the Hittite treaties via Assyrian law codes. So it
would have been something old that would have been recycled by the Assyrians. In it you have
a king making laws with his people. He introduces himself and gives the reason for the legal
code. And then comes the legal code of law. And then comes the blessings and curses that
follow from the observance or non-observance of the king’s laws. It fits these laws better than
the Hittite treaties.
Dr. Kleinig will not be following either one of these two (Hittites or Assyrians) as influencing the
Sinai covenant, even though this theory seems to be everywhere. And for some people their
whole OT theology stands and falls based on the validity of this theory. The danger is that
preconceptions force you into reading things into the text that aren’t there.
If you use this approach (Hittite treaty), you can make sense of Ex. 19-24, but it doesn’t help
you with Ex. 25 – Num. 10. All of that is liturgical material. Most modern OT theologies overlook
Ex. 25 – Num. 10 or it is regarded as having little significance. It doesn’t fit the covenant
schema. The only way to make it work is to say that Ex. 25 – Num. 10 is an expansion of the Ten
Commandments. And so the whole purpose for the cult (worship legislation) is the people’s
side of the covenant, their obedience to God. But most of this material tells us what God gives
the Israelites and not what the Israelites must do. Most of Ex. 25 through the end of Leviticus is
basically ritual legislation. And in that legislation, God gives the priesthood, the sacrifices, the
divine service, the tabernacle to his people. And it is by the means of those things that God
gives himself and access to himself to his people. The emphasis here is not so much on God’s
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demands on his people, which is what you have if you follow the Assyrian legal model or the
Hittite treaty model, but the emphasis is on God’s gifts to his people. Through these gifts God
can then dwell with his people and bless them. We are not interested in different theories. We
are interested in reading the text and seeing what God has to say.
2. Nature of Covenant
a. Mention of covenant in four contexts in Exodus: 19:5; 24:7,8; 34:10=34:27
Some years ago something obvious struck Dr. Kleinig. One of your best exegetical tools is your
concordance. He was doing some work on the covenant at Sinai and he looked up the word
“covenant” in the concordance. He expected to find dozens of references for the word
covenant from Ex. 19 through Leviticus. [After all if a main theme was the covenant, you would
expect to find it referenced all over the place.] But in the book of exodus, there are only four
references to the events at Mt. Sinai being a covenant. That shows that covenant is not the
main theme here. The theme is God’s theophany, God’s law giving, and the sanctification of
Israel.
These events are referenced only four times in terms of a covenant. You will find them in Ex.
19:5; 24:7- 8; 34:10, 27. You find that the events at Mt. Sinai are referred to the most
frequently in Deuteronomy and in the Deuteronomic history in 1 & 2 Kings, but not in Exodus.
b. Enactment by a theophany (cf. Psalm 50)
It is interesting to see that this covenant with God at Mt. Sinai is enacted by and with and as
part of a theophany. Remember the context. The Israelites come to Mt. Sinai. God summons
Moses to come up the mountain and says prepare the people to meet with me. And he tells
Moses to fence off the mountain and to have the people prepare themselves for three days and
then comes the theophany. So then there is thunder and lightning and clouds and a trumpet
blast on top of the mountain. The cloud covers the mountain. God’s glory is on top of the
mountain and the people are assembled at the bottom of the mountain. This is set up for it to
be a classic theophany. If this was a pagan story, you would expect the cloud would open and
the people would see God. But that’s not what happened. The people do not see God. Rather,
God speaks directly to them. This is the only time in the whole OT that God speaks directly to
his people. So the context for the covenant is theophany, God’s appear to them.
c. Covenant of Israel’s priesthood (Exod 19:5)
What is the basic point to this covenant? Let’s turn to Ex. 19 and take note of a very important
passage. Here God explains what he is going to do. Let’s read Ex. 19:3-8.
There Israel encamped before the mountain, 3 while Moses went up to God. The Lord called
to him out of the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the
people of Israel: 4 ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you
on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. 5 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice
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and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the
earth is mine; 6 and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the
words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.”
7
So Moses came and called the elders of the people and set before them all these words that
the Lord had commanded him. 8 All the people answered together and said, “All that the Lord
has spoken we will do.” And Moses reported the words of the people to the Lord.
The people have seen what God did to the Egyptian and how he brought them to the mountain.
Now what does God intend to do here at the mountain? Look closely at vv. 5-6. “Obey” is not a
good translation. The Hebrew verb means to hear or listen. So God says, If you listen to me and
keep my covenant. What covenant? The covenant God is about to make with them. If they
listen to him and keep the covenant, then what will they be? What is the point of this
covenant? They will be God’s treasured possession, his private property and they “will become
for me a royal priesthood, a holy nation.”
So God’s covenant with the people of Israel at Mt. Sinai has to do with establishing them as
being a holy nation and a royal priesthood. The Hebrew is: And you - will become – for me or to
me – a kingdom of priests – and a holy nation. A royal priesthood and holy nation are not two
separate things, but they qualify each other. They are to be a holy nation which is a kingdom of
priests. What does it mean to be a kingdom of priests? They are to be the priests of a king.
In the ancient world you had kings and they themselves were priests and all their courtiers
were priests along with the king. There was no separation of church and state because religion
and politics were all the same. The king and his court were priests.
What is God proposing to his people? Israel is already the people of God. But now God, as their
holy King, appoints Israel to be his priesthood and not just some of them, but the whole nation
is to be the king’s priests. Therefore they are not the king’s servants or slaves [as was usually
the case in ancient times], but they are the king’s courtiers. And since he is holy, he makes them
holy so that they are a holy nation.
A priest is a person who mediates between a god and a people. So from all the nations of the
earth, God chose Israel (this happened with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob) and now wants to make
them his royal priesthood and his holy nation. So on the one hand they will represent the
nations before God and on the other hand they bring God’s blessings to the nations. They are to
serve God, not just as courtiers to a king, but as holy courtiers, as priests. So what God proposes
to do here is to consecrate Israel as a holy nation, as a royal priesthood.
So this covenant doesn’t have to do so much with Israel’s existence as the people of God, but
with its mission as the people of God. The mission of Israel is to be a holy nation and royal
priesthood.
d. Lawgiving for Israel’s vocation as a holy nation
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(For more on this see also previous point above.) The whole of the covenant and all the laws in
the covenant have to do with Israel’s vocation to be a holy nation. So the Ten Commandments
are part of God’s covenant with Israel. This is not a secular ethics but an ethic of holiness. How
are the Israelites to live and act, not just as God’s people, but as God’s holy people? They are to
keep the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments have to do with the holiness of Israel,
not just with the morality of Israel, and they have to do with Israel’s vocation to be a holy,
priestly, people. If they break the Ten Commandments, they desecrate their holiness and God’s
holiness. So the law giving here is for Israel’s vocation as a holy nation.
e. Five elements of its enactment
There are five elements in the enactment of the covenant.

First of all the framework is theophany. God appears to Israel and God speaks to Israel.
 God’s announcement and Israel’s agreement with his proposal (Exod 19:3-6)
It begins with God’s announcement and Israel’s agreement with his proposal. The people agree
by saying, What the Lord has said we will do. In other words, Yes, we are happy to go along with
this covenant. When God made a covenant with Noah, he didn’t ask for Noah’s permission. It
was just given. When it came to Abraham, it was just given. But the covenant at Sinai involves
agreement, consent on the part of Israel. So the first part of the covenant is God’s
announcement on what he intends to do.
 Giving of decalogue, altar law and covenant code for Israel’s mission as a
holy nation with Israel’s agreement on their observance (20-23)
So then God gives the Ten Commandments. He gave them directly to his people. And this was
followed at the end of chpt. 20 by the Law of the Altar. The altar was the place of worship, the
place where God will come and bless his people. So God appeared at Sinai, but in the future the
place where God will meet with his people is not Mt. Sinai, but at the altar. The altar is the
mobile Mt. Sinai. It will be the place of God’s ongoing blessing. So the altar law is attached very
closely to the Ten Commandments. And then in chpts. 21-23, you get the covenant code. These
are laws for Israel’s life as a holy people with their holy God as they journey through the desert
to the promised land. So the second element is the giving of laws.
 Consecration of Israel for service (24:8-11)
The third part is the consecration of Israel for God’s service. We will have a closer look at it a
little bit later. But just very quickly, Moses is told get some young men to slaughter a large
number of animals. Half of the blood from them is poured out at the altar at the foot of the
mountain and the other half is sprinkled over the people. Now if that blood is sprinkled on the
altar then it becomes most holy (and therefore communicates holiness). So if the most holy
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blood is sprinkled on the people then it makes them a holy nation. It consecrates them as the
priesthood of the heavenly King.
That is not the normal interpretation of this. Most modern scholars see this ceremony as the
sealing of the covenant rather than the consecration of Israel.
 Institution of tabernacle, priesthood and divine service (25-31)
The fourth element in the enactment of God’s covenant is the institution of the tabernacle,
priesthood, and divine service. If the Ten Commandments are what God requires of Israel as his
holy people, God’s gift to his people are the tabernacle, the priesthood, and the divine service.
 Reaffirmation of covenant with rebellious Israel after the golden calf (34:5-
10)
And the fifth and last part is the reaffirmation of the covenant after the golden calf incident.
Even Israel’s breaking of the first commandment didn’t annul God’s covenant with his people.
The covenant is reaffirmed after this incident.
So those are the five elements in the enactment of the covenant. For the next couple of weeks
we will look closely at the Decalogue, the Ten Commandments. Dr. Kleinig had given the class a
summary of the two versions of the Ten Commandments in Exodus and Deuteronomy. (It is not
available to us.) We will spend some time on this because it is your job as pastors to teach the
Ten Commandments. Jesus reaffirmed very strongly the importance of the Ten Commandments
for Christians and not just Jews. You need to understand them and especially the first three.
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Lecture OT-13a
v=_exSky2WdBo&list=PL32Gjc1uEM1AUR8LC9JlceA9xFSeZs25Z&index=21&spfreload=1

c. The nature of the decalogue
1. Decalogue as the words of God's covenant with Israel (Exod 34:28)
 Direct address by God to Israel at Sinai (Deut 4:12-13; 5:4)
 Relevance for all times and places
2. God's gifts as the foundation for his demands in the decalogue
 Gift of holy name for access to his presence and grace
 Self-commitment to Israel as their God
 Liberation from slavery in Egypt
3. Link of decalogue with worship
 Content of God’s theophany at Sinai and in the divine service (cf. Ps 50; 81)
 Use in entrance liturgies at the temple (Ps 15; 24:3-6)
 Deposit of tablets in the ark (Exod 25:21-22)
 First table: desecration of God's holiness
 Second table: defilement of Israel's purity
4. Instruction in the fear of the Lord (Deut 4:9-10)
5. Differences in two versions from Exodus and Deuteronomy
 Third: remember v observe
 Reason for observance as God's rest v remembrance of their deliverance
 Purpose in Deuteronomy as rest for servants
 Fourth: additional promise of prosperity in Deuteronomy
 Ninth/tenth: difference in status of wife from difference in definition of house and
addition of land
 House as family in Exodus before the settlement
 House as property with land in Deuteronomy after the Settlement

Today we are going to look at the Decalogue, the Ten Commandments, generally. And then we
will focus on the first commandment. As you know, the Ten Commandments are part of our
catechism and part of our whole catechetical tradition. And it is not only used in teaching
people the faith, but we also use the commandments to examine ourselves in preparation for
Baptism and Holy Communion.
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What is the nature of the Decalogue? How does it fit in to OT theology? The answer to these
questions is most clear in Ex. 24:28. In this verse the words of the Ten Commandments are
called the words of the covenant. Actually they are called the Ten Words in Hebrew, so they are
the words of the covenant. So the Ten Commandments are an intrinsic part of God’s words to
Israel. You will remember that the purpose of the covenant is for God to consecrate his people
as a holy, priestly people. It has to do with their vocation as the people of God. It has to do with
their mission as a holy people.
There are two sides to this covenant and it is easy to overlook certain aspects of it. First of all
God commits himself to his people. This is summarized in Ex. 20:2 where God says something
very simple, which is easy to overlook and to see how enormous it is. He says, “I am YHWH.” He
introduces himself by name and he goes on, “I am YHWH your God.” In saying, “your God,” he
is committing himself to his people. What has he done for them? He has brought them out of
Egypt, out of slavery. He has freed them from bondage in Egypt.
In this one sentence, God gives his people two things. First, He gives them his name, “I am
YHWH.” Secondly, he gives them his commitment. Scholars call it the formula of self
commitment. The statement, “I am your God,” is fleshed out then in the laws that follow. At the
end of the Ten Commandments, you have the Law of the Altar, as the place where God meets
with his people to bless them. Then in chpt. 25 through to chpt. 30, he gives three other big
gifts to give his people as part of his commitment to them. He gives them the tabernacle as his
dwelling place with them; he gives them the priesthood, as ones who will lead the divine
service; and then most wonderfully he gives them the divine service. These three things are
couched in law form. They are ritual legislation and therefore it is easy for us to overlook the
fact that God is giving gifts to his people. We see it negatively as laws where God is making
demands of his people, but this is ritual legislation, the means by which God will give himself
and his gifts to his people.
Let me repeat that again because this is something that is very easy to overlook particularly
because of our negative attitude towards law legislation. What does God give to his people at
Mt. Sinai? He gives them:
 His name: I am YHWH.
 His commitment to his people, not just theoretical, but practical commitment.
And since he is committed to them, he gives them:

 The altar as the place where he meets with his people and brings blessing to them.
 The tabernacle as the means by which he can dwell with his people.
 The priesthood to mediate between him and his people.
 The divine service as the means by which he interacts and delivers his gifts to his people.
All of that is God’s side to the covenant. That is what the holy God gives to them. What does
God require of his holy people? Remember this has to do with holiness. It doesn’t have to do
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with secular ethics. God is not giving them a basic ethics for living. He is giving them
commandments couched in negative form which has to do the boundaries they are to live in. It
has to do with their holiness. So what does God require of Israel? The Ten Commandments.
What does he require of them as holy people? There are two tables in the Ten Commandments.
Since they are a holy people, the first three commandments deal with worship: no other gods,
don’t take God’s name in vain, and Sabbath Day. All three of these have to do with holiness and
the means by which God makes and keeps them holy. So if they don’t keep those
commandments, they cannot continue to be holy. By breaking them, they cut themselves off
from God’s holiness.
Secondly, since all of God’s people are holy, therefore they need to treat each other as holy
brothers and sisters, which is where the second table of the law comes in. It has to do with how
to live within a holy community. So the commandments are [the people’s] part of the covenant
and have to do with holy living.
The Ten Commandments are elaborated at some length and applied to some issues of life in
the desert in the Covenant Code in Ex. 21-23. And then some parts of the Covenant Code, the
ritual parts, are picked up again after the Golden Calf incident where the covenant is reinstated
in Ex. 34:10-28. This refers to the worship side of things.
Later on in Deuteronomy the Ten Commandments are repeated. And they are applied then in
Deuteronomy to life in the promised land. Now that goes beyond Sinai. It has to do with the
covenant on the plains of Moab and not the covenant at Sinai.
So the Decalogue is part of the covenant. You need to understand that. That is fundamental.
You need to see it within the context we’ve just described in order to make sense of it.
(A question from a student. [I could not understand the question.] Dr. Kleinig’s response. God is
not telling Israel how to live as moral people within the order of creation, and therefore a
secular morality. But he is telling them what he requires of them as his holy people. That is
most clear in the first three commandments. So for instance, not having any other Gods is not a
moral question. Not taking God’s name in vain is not a moral question. Not remembering the
Sabbath Day is not a moral question. It is a theological question. Within that framework, basic
morality, the second table of the law, is put into a different context. They aren’t supposed to
keep the second table of the law only because that’s how they were supposed to live in the
order of creation (it is and even pagan people acknowledge that), but it is the bottom line for
life in a holy community. Yet the second table needs to be said. Because the danger is that we
say, I’m holy therefore I don’t need to live a moral life. That is a big Lutheran problem or a
problem for God’s people in general. We say, I’m justified by grace, therefore I can do whatever
I please. We think, because I am holy, because I am justified, it doesn’t matter what I do. Yet
this says it matters to an even greater extent for God’s people because what’s at stake is not
just good living but with holy living, living as holy, priestly people.)
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(Another student question. How are the Ten Commandments applicable to those who are not
God’s people(?)? They are directly applicable to all people. They are acknowledged by all
cultures. It is natural law that applies to all people. So the first commandment, to have no other
gods, is not just for Israel but also for the nations because he is not only Israel’s God but he is
the Creator. It doesn’t mean that pagan nations will observe this. But it is still God’s Law for all
nations. The NT makes it quite clear the Ten Commandments don’t apply just to the Israelites
but they apply to Gentiles as well. Hence, Jesus reiterates them most clearly in the Sermon on
the Mount.
There are two changes from the OT to the NT. First is the name of God. In the OT God said, I am
the Lord. In the NT who is the Lord? Jesus is called the Lord and the Triune God is called the
Lord. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are all the Lord. So the commandment not to take
the name of the Lord in vain shifts its focus from the name Lord (YHWH) to the Trinitarian name
of God. The second change has to do with the third commandment to remember the Sabbath
Day by keeping it holy. There is a twist to it because we don’t live in the seventh day but we live
in the eighth day, the day of resurrection. That commandment has been fulfilled by Christ.
Luther has given a brilliant exegesis of it. It is not the day that makes us holy but God’s Word
that makes us holy, that blesses us, that sanctifies us.
The student made a comment that it is a bit of a challenge in determining what is ritual and
doesn’t apply and what does apply today. Dr. Kleinig responded by saying, Just because it is
ritual doesn’t mean it doesn’t apply. Jesus said not one jot or tittle will go away until it is
fulfilled. And it’s not just the moral law but also the civic law and ceremonial law. None of it will
pass away until it is all accomplished. Jesus doesn’t abolish the ritual ceremonial law of the OT.
He fulfills it. It is fulfilled in the new covenant. It is fulfilled in Christian worship.)
The Decalogue is the Ten Words of the covenant. They aren’t the whole of the covenant. It is
God’s requirements for Israel as his holy people. And it is introduced in v. 2 by the gift of his
name and the gift of his commitment to Israel as their God. What is remarkable is that God
does not make a demand that his people be committed to him in the same way as he commits
himself to them.
 Direct address by God to Israel at Sinai (Deut 4:12-13; 5:4)
The next point to be made is expressed very clearly in Deut. 4:12-13 and 5:4. Let’s read these
verses.
12
Then the Lord spoke to you out of the midst of the fire. You heard the sound of words, but
saw no form; there was only a voice. 13 And he declared to you his covenant, which he
commanded you to perform, that is, the Ten Commandments, and he wrote them on two
tablets of stone.
4
The Lord spoke with you face to face at the mountain, out of the midst of the fire,
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In the covenant God made with them, he commanded that they do the Ten Words. What is
different about the Ten Commandments versus all the other words that God spoke to Israel? It
is very simple. All the other words he spoke to them were mediated through spokesmen,
through Moses or the prophets, to Israel. These are the only words that God spoke directly to
his people. They are the content of the theophany. So instead of people seeing God with their
eyes, they hear God speaking out of the fire, out of the cloud to them. And what does he
speak? The Ten Commandments.
 Relevance for all times and places
Now if these are the only words that God speaks to them face to face, directly, what does it
mean about these words? They are more important than all the other words he speaks. This is
the heart of the OT and God’s revelation to Israel. Therefore they are not just relevant for a
particular situation. Sometimes God speaks to people about a particular situation or at a
particular time. But this is relevant for Israel in all times and places. The book of Deuteronomy
applies the Ten Commandments as that which applies to Israel whether they are in the land or
not in the land. And then you have the laws in Deut. 10-28 which apply to Israel within the
promised land. So the Ten Commandments apply to Israel in all times and in all places. It has
the highest level of authority.
2. God's gifts as the foundation for his demands in the Decalogue
The second big point I’d like to make in connection with covenant is that God’s gifts are the
foundation for his demands on them in the Decalogue. God freed Israel from slavery in Egypt.
He emancipated them from being slaves to the Egyptians and the Egyptian gods. Because he did
this, the Israelites belong to God. He has a claim on them.
 Gift of holy name for access to his presence and grace
God gave his holy name to them. He didn’t just give them his title, but he gave them his
personal name, his proper name. By doing that he gave them the means by which they had
access to him. Because he gives them his name worship is possible. Everything flows through
God’s name. Take his name away and Israel has nothing. By giving his name, he gives himself,
access to himself, access to his grace, and access to his blessing.
 Self-commitment to Israel as their God
Thirdly, God commits himself to them as their God. He says it very succinctly. He says, I am
YHWH; I am your God. That is the formula of commitment. Let me give you two analogies from
Hebrew. If I come to you and say, I am your father, what am I saying? What would I be doing? I
would be adopting you as my child. The full formula for adoption would be: I am your father
and you are my son. The formula for marriage in the OT is when a man says to a woman, I am
your “ish” (husband) and you are my “ishah” (wife). In this simple statement a commitment is
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made. In a simple statement, a marriage is enacted and an adoption is enacted. Here in the
covenant, God enacts his commitment to Israel to be their God.
 Liberation from slavery in Egypt
As we just said above, the foundation for all of this is God’s liberation of them slavery in Egypt.
So you get these gifts from God first before he makes demands on them.
The third point that comes out of the covenant, and you can see it clearly in God’s gifts of the
divine service, priesthood, and tabernacle, as well as in the first three commandments, is that
there is a close connection between the Ten Commandments and the divine service, Israel’s
worship.
 Content of God’s theophany at Sinai and in the divine service (cf. Ps 50; 81)
God’s self commitment to them is not just the content of God’s theophany to Israel at Sinai, but
this is the heart of the theophany that occurs every morning and every evening when God’s
glory is revealed in the cloud of smoke that rises from the altar. So every morning and every
evening God comes to his people and says to them, “I am YHWH, I am your God.” He comes to
them, he meets with them at the altar, and he blesses them. So every divine service God
reiterates his commitment to them and claims them and their allegiance to him in terms of the
Ten Commandments. You can look up Pss. 50 & 81 where you can see the connection between
theophany and worship and the Ten Commandments.
 Use in entrance liturgies at the temple (Ps 15; 24:3-6)
Most clearly the Ten Commandments were used in Israel as part of the entrance liturgy that
was part of temple worship. The basic temple consisted of two courts. You had the temple itself
with the altar (the inner/upper court). And then you had 15 steps down to the lower court. So
what happened was that people came through the outer gate to the lower court. The gate from
the lower court to the upper court was called the Gate of Righteousness or the Lord’s Gate.
Only the righteous can go from the lower court to the upper court. The lower court is a clean
place. The upper court is a holy place. Therefore anyone who set foot in and entered the upper
court had to be pure and righteous, ritually clean, clean hands and pure heart. In a minute we’ll
look at a reference to that entrance liturgy.
So what would happen then was that you had gatekeepers, which were priests and Levites
positioned at the gate. Everyone who wanted to enter the upper court was required to ask,
Who can enter this place? And the gatekeeper, who was screening people to admit them or
exclude them, responded with the Ten Commandments. Earlier in the week you heard that in
Chapel in Jeremiah’s famous temple sermon, which he gave at the Gate of Righteousness.
People were coming to prostrate themselves before the Lord but they had broken all of the Ten
Commandments. And they were coming into God’s presence and claiming salvation. What did
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Jeremiah say? He said, You won’t get salvation, you will get judgment instead. Why? Because
you’ve desecrated God’s holiness therefore God will destroy this temple and exile you from the
land. Jeremiah was standing in that place and he was doing what the priests should have been
doing, which is screening out the people.
How did this screening of the people work? They take the Ten Commandments and if a person
had broken one of the Ten Commandments, did that mean they were permanently excluded
from God’s presence? No. Do you know what they had to? They had to confess their sin and
they had to offer either a guilt offering, if they were guilty of sacrilege against the first three
commandments, or if they were guilty of sinning against the last seven commandments, they
had to offer a sin offering for purification and forgiveness and cleansing. Then they could enter
the holy court. So in this way the Ten Commandments were used liturgically.
There are number of references to this, but we’ll look at just one of them. You can see this very
clearly and succinctly in Ps. 24:3-6.
3
Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord?
And who shall stand in his holy place?
4
He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
who does not lift up his soul to what is false
and does not swear deceitfully.
5
He will receive blessing from the Lord
and righteousness from the God of his salvation.
6
Such is the generation of those who seek him,
who seek the face of the God of Jacob.
In v. 3 the hill of the Lord refers to the temple which was at the top of Mt. Zion. So it begins
with the question, Who is allowed to stand in this holy place? It is as we said, those who have
clean hands (the second table) and a pure heart (the first table), those who do not worship false
gods or swear deceitfully. They will receive vindication or justification from God their Savior.
The answer given to the question of who may enter is basically a summary of the Ten
Commandments. If someone comes in who has not broken the Ten Commandments, what will
they receive by entering into God’s presence, by being in the holy place? They will receive
blessing, they will receive vindication, they will be justified. But then the reverse is true. If
someone comes in with unclean hands or an unclean heart, who has lifted his voice up to an
idol, what will he receive? Not blessing but judgment, a curse. Not vindication or justification
but accusation.
This is very important for us Christians. From the very beginning the Ten Commandments were
used primarily not just to teach Christian ethics, but they were used as a diagnostic tool for self
examination. They were used to examine someone before they were baptized, to find out what
they needed to repent of, what they needed to be cleansed of. And very strongly in the
Lutheran tradition, the Ten Commandments are used to prepare yourself for confession and
absolution and to prepare yourself for Holy Communion. It is used as a diagnostic tool to
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diagnose your spiritual state. So you see even in the NT there is a close connection between the
Ten Commandments and worship.
(A question and discussion about the courts of temple in a later period. Both men and women
could come before the altar and prostrate themselves before him provided they were in a state
of ritual purity.)
(A question about how confessions would have been made. We don’t know. If someone got
through who didn’t confess their sin, it was the priest who came under God’s judgment. The
people could come without being afraid. At the time of prophets, who would have came under
God’s judgment because the temple had been desecrated? The priests. You see that in
Jeremiah and Ezekiel.)
There are a lot of details we don’t know. What’s important is that he legislates the important
parts for him to do his work. The priests had a lot of discretion. As you know it was the job of
the priests to distinguish what was clean from what was unclean and what was holy from what
was common. That was the practical task of the priests.
 Deposit of tablets in the ark (Exod 25:21-22)
Another way of emphasizing the importance of the Ten Commandments lies in the fact that
those Ten Commandments were written on two tablets of stone and they were lodged in a very
interesting place. Wouldn’t you have expected that the Ten Commandments would have been
posted by the Gate of Righteousness? It’s possible they were. We do know that next to gate for
the lower court there was a sign warning all Gentiles not to enter because if they did they
would be killed. Where do we know that the two tables were placed? They were placed inside
the Ark of the Covenant and over the Ten Commandments was the mercy seat.
Remember the Ark had three parts. There was the Ark itself. And then there was a seat for the
Ark, which is called the mercy seat, the place of atonement. And then you have the cherubim
which formed the back and sides of the throne of God. So God is enthroned on the mercy seat
over the Ark and he is surrounded by the cherubim. All of that is very theologically significant.
What is the theological significance of the Ten Commandments being in the Ark and that the
place of atonement, the mercy seat, is over the Ten Commandments? If God is sitting on the
Ark then the Ten Commandments cannot be removed. God could have sat on the Ark with just
a plain seat over the Ten Commandments. If he did that the Ten Commandments would be the
basis of his interaction with his people. The mercy seat is the foundation for his throne and the
foundation for his rule. So what stands between the Ten Commandments and God? The mercy
seat, atonement. So God’s interaction with his people is based partly on the Ten
Commandments, but the Ten Commandments are overshadowed by the mercy seat. Ultimately
what determines the way God rules as King is the mercy seat, atonement for sin, forgiveness.
 First table: desecration of God's holiness
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To put this another way, breaking the second table of the Ten Commandments defiles a person,
makes you dirty, makes you ritually unclean. And breaking the first table desecrates your
holiness. So the first three commandments deal with desecration and the second table of the
law deals with contamination, defilement, pollution, which is ritual impurity.
 Second table: defilement of Israel's purity
(See previous bullet point.)
There is really no good word for worship in the OT. One word is the word service. But the
closest you can get for what we would consider worship is “the fear of the Lord.” To fear the
Lord is to respect him. Let’s have a look at what the purpose of the Ten Commandments is
according to Deut. 4:9-10.
9
“Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have
seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your
children and your children's children— 10 how on the day that you stood before the Lord your
God at Horeb, the Lord said to me, ‘Gather the people to me, that I may let them hear my
words, so that they may learn to fear me all the days that they live on the earth, and that
they may teach their children so.’
He says to “Gather the people to me, that I may let them hear my words.” What are those
words? The Ten Commandments are the words God spoke to them at Mt. Sinai. What is the
purpose of hearing these words? “So that they may learn to fear me,” to respect me. And they
are not only to learn these words themselves but they are to teach the fear of the Lord, the
worship of God, by teaching the commandments to their children. This is the foundation for the
Jewish and Christian tradition of education of children. You teach the Ten Commandments to
children so that they revere God, respect God, worship God. So the purpose of teaching the Ten
Commandments is to teach true worship, true reverence, true devotion, true piety, true
spirituality to the people of God, and particularly to children. So there is a close connection
between the Ten Commandments and spiritual education, religious education. This the
foundation for that strong part of Christian tradition.
We will take a break now and when we come back we will take a look at the difference
between the two versions of the Ten Commandments. These is one version in Exodus and one
version in Deuteronomy. Just as a word of introduction, what was the situation for the Ten
Commandments at Mt. Sinai? The Israelites were in the desert and would be making a trip
through the desert to the promised land. So that version was for life in the desert. Whereas in
Deuteronomy, what was the situation there? They are about to enter the promised land.
Because of this, there is a slight difference of focus between these two versions of the Ten
Commandments because of the different situations.
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Lecture OT-13b – This Lecture is missing


...
2. God's gifts as the foundation for his demands in the decalogue
...
...
5. Differences in two versions from Exodus and Deuteronomy

 Third: remember v observe
 Reason for observance as God's rest v remembrance of their deliverance
 Purpose in Deuteronomy as rest for servants
 Fourth: additional promise of prosperity in Deuteronomy
 Ninth/tenth: difference in status of wife from difference in definition of house
and addition of land
 House as family in Exodus before the settlement
 House as property with land in Deuteronomy after the Settlement
d. The first commandment

1. Statement of fact as well as demand
 Gift: panim = face and presence of the Lord
 Exclusion of other “gods” from his presence
 Presence in divine service at altar
2. Close link with the prohibition of idols
3. Demand for exclusive allegiance and service rather than denial of
other gods
4. Association of other gods with demonic powers (Deut 32:16-17)
5. Prohibition of involvement in ritual acts for any other gods
 Ritual service
 Prostration
 Processions
 Sacrifices
 Invocation by name
6. Destruction of their statues and sanctuaries in Israel
7. Basic commandment in Deuteronomy: positive interpretation
 Fearing/respecting
 Loving (inclusive demand in Deut 6:5: heart, soul, strength)
 Cleaving
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 Listening
 Walking in the Lord's way(s)
8. Reasons for observance
 God's liberation of them and commitment to them (Exod 20:2)
 God's history with them (Deut 13:6-8)
 God's jealousy/passionate love for them (Exod 20:5-6)
 Their holiness as God's people (Deut 7:4-6)
 Their avoidance of enslavement by other gods (Exod 20:5)
 Their dependence on him for life and prosperity
8. First commandment as the key to Israel's history of Israel (1-2 Kings)
This lecture is missing. The next lecture started with the second part of the first commandment,
so in this lecture Dr. Kleinig finished his instruction on the Decalogue and covered the first part
of the first commandment.
On another occasion Dr. Kleinig taught a Continuing Education class on Exodus to Lutheran
pastors at Fort Wayne. Below are the notes I took from that class on the first commandment.
According to the overheads on the first commandment for this class, the same basic material was
covered. I will italicize this section and put each paragraph in brackets as a reminder that it
originally came from another lecture. Some of this will overlap and repeat what follows in the
next lecture session.

d. The first commandment
[The first commandment is the most important commandment, the fount and source of all the
commandments. Let’s read Ex. 20:3-6. ]
[As mentioned earlier no image was to be made of Yahweh, from the sky, earth, or water. This reflects
the three classes of gods: sky gods, earth gods, and underworld gods. They are not to prostrate
themselves to idols. Prostration is of extreme importance to pagans. That is the fundamental ritual
performance still done today in Islam. Islam means submitting to Allah, prostrating oneself as a slave to
him.]
[The Hebrew for the first commandment could be translated as either as a command (that is the normal
translation) or a statement of fact: There will be/shall be no other gods before my face. It is a fact that
for Israel worship of other gods is an impossibility. And it is also a demand and command.]
[“Before me” is weak. The gift of God here is his face, his presence, his countenance. Presence is a vague
abstract. Face is concrete. The whole of worship at the tabernacle has to do with the “face of God.” That
is made clear in the Aaronic benediction. ]
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[“There shall be no other gods ‘against/next to/upon’ my face.” A good rule in Hebrew and in exegesis is
to take what is being said as concretely as possible. So what does it mean to say, There are to be no
other gods before my face”? They are not to put any idols in the tabernacle/temple. That is the most
obvious meaning. You must always be aware of pagan religion practices. In most pagan temples there
were idols of many gods. This means for Yahweh that all other gods are to be excluded from his
presence.]
[Where is God’s presence? For pagans their gods are where their idols are. That doesn’t work for Israel
because they were forbidden to have idols. Pagans would say, since you don’t have an idol, you don’t
have a god; you are an atheist. The pagans in the OT questioned Israel with, “Where is your god?” The
presence of Yahweh was at the tabernacle in the Holy of Holies on the mercy seat. Pagans have access to
their gods through their idols. How does Israel have access to Yahweh? The high priest goes into God’s
presence once a year but he never sees the face of God. The priests come to the altar of incense but they
are cut off from God’s presence by a curtain. The people did not have access either to the Holy Place or
the Most Holy Place. The place where the people had access to the face of God was at the altar for burnt
offering. Instead of an idol they had an altar. They had access to God in the morning and evening
sacrifices; they had ritual access to him.]
[The first commandment does not really teach monotheism, rather it teaches the worship of one God
(monolatry). It is ritual enactment. It is not just ideas. For many Christians today Christianity is just the
idea that there is one God. And as long as you have the right ideas then that is all that matters. So for
them being a Christian is cognitive, thinking the right thoughts and holding the right ideas, having the
right philosophy of life. That’s partially right. But besides thinking the right thoughts is doing the right
things, which means it has to do with worship.]
[The first commandment does not deny the existence of other gods. (Elsewhere in Scripture it clearly
states there are no other gods.) It presupposes that people have other gods, but it states that they have
no place for them. We serve only one God.]
[In this commandment, a carved image is prohibited. What is an idol? This is a statue of a god. Even a
statue of Yahweh is prohibited and is considered another god (see golden calf incident). God considers all
idols as gods.]
[It is common for us to believe that pagans believe that idols are actually gods. And we think, how dumb
could they be to think that. But they do not believe that. Pagans understand idols to be the face of their
gods. And through the face they have access to their gods. Their gods can see and hear through those
faces; it’s kind of their means of grace/access/blessing. They believe the spirit of the god is in the statue.
You can see this in Hab. 2:18-20. These verses contradict pagan theology.]
[If you want to make sense of the OT, it helps to understand the other religions and beliefs at that time
(and some people still hold these same beliefs, such as in Thailand, Malaysia, India, and Africa). Pagans
used statues to communicate and interact with their gods. We tend to completely dismiss this, yet
consider what God did in Christ. He took on human flesh. He became material in order to interact with us
face to face. So in a weird sort of way there are some similarities; it kind of makes sense.]
[Note that some Christians divide what we Lutherans call the first commandment. But this is not correct
because both verse 3 and verse 4 are talking about other gods. To not have gods before me is to not
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have idols before me (v. 3). And then they are prohibited from making idols and worshipping them (v.4).
Both parts talk about idols and both parts talk about gods. Therefore it should not be split apart into two
commandments.]
[There are three things that are prohibited in the first commandment.
1. They are not to manufacture idols.
2. They are not to prostrate themselves before other gods. (Note that the Israelites were not
required to prostrate themselves before God in the divine service. This is because they are sons
and not slaves.)
3. They are not to serve other gods, which means that they are not to perform the divine service to
them. This means that they are not to offer sacrifices and prayers to an idol. Instead their
offerings and prayers are to be directed to Yahweh.]
[In Ex. 23:24 the prohibition is extended in an interesting way, which is very important for Jewish
tradition and for the Lutheran reformation. The first part of the verse is the same as before, but there is
something new in the last part of the verse: “you shall not do according to their works” or “you shall not
do as they do.” Most commentaries explain this as: you shall not practice immorality like they do. This
misses the point. The verb means to make, to do, to do work. But it also has another meaning: perform
the ritual. This is the meaning here. They are not to perform pagan rituals in honor of Yahweh. ]
[Deut. 12 picks up on this idea and elaborates further.

 Deut. 12:3-4 – They are to do away with the pagan holy places and they are not to serve Yahweh
“in that way,” that is, using the practices and rituals of the pagans for Yahweh.
 Deut. 12:29-32 – Again it says they should not serve Yahweh according to pagan rituals.]
[So the first commandment is extended here to the prohibition of Canaanite rituals. Commenting on this,
the Rabbis say there are two different kinds of divine service. There is authorized service and
unauthorized service. This means that if you perform divine service in a way that Yahweh has not
authorized, you are guilty of idolatry; you desecrate God’s holiness. An example of this is when the two
sons of Aaron offered unauthorized fire. Another example is that in Numbers it says no “stranger” is to
come near the altar. What does this mean? No unauthorized person is to come to the altar. In Christian
terms, no unauthorized person is to come near the altar and perform the Divine Service.]
[We have seen one more thing in the extension of the first commandment. Besides the prohibition
against making idols, serving idols, and performing pagan rituals, they are to destroy all the pillars and
all the other pagan apparatuses that are associated with their gods. The reason for this is that there is
power behind these things (demonic power). This is only in the promised land. Why? It’s God’s land; it’s
holy land. There is no room for idols in God’s presence in the holy land. There are to be no idols in the
face of God.]
[Reasons idols are prohibited:

1. The first commandment says you shall not bow down and serve them. An alternate reading which is
just as valid is you shall not bow down and be enslaved by them. So the first commandment prevents
enslavement.
2. If you have the real thing why go with a poor inadequate substitute? God has given access to himself
through his name. An analogy to illustrate this. I offer you either a photograph of myself or a key to
my house. Which is better? The key to the house. If you have it you can come and visit with me at
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any time. With the key you get the real thing. With the picture you get something that is not real.
There is no personal connection.
3. God has instituted the altar for burnt offering as the place where he will come to his people and bless
them. Pagans approach an idol to receive blessing. You don’t receive blessing from an idol but you
do receive blessing from Yahweh’s altar in the divine service and in the Aaronic benediction and in
eating the holy meal.
4. Deut. 4 is a discussion about idolatry and why idolatry is prohibited. Read Deut. 4:15-18. Why should
you not make any idols? Because you saw no form when God spoke to you out of the fire on Mt.
Sinai. Read Deut. 4:12. They didn’t see his form but they heard his voice speaking to them out of the
fire. Read Deut. 4:32-33. The Israelites have experienced something that is absolutely unique in
human history. No other people have heard their god speak to them out of a fire face to face. No one
else has heard the voice of the living God speak to them and they survived. So why no idols? Because
God doesn’t reveal himself through the face of an idol but through his voice, through his Word.
Paradoxically, God shows his face through his word. If you want to get to know a person, you get to
know them not by seeing them but by listening to them.
5. Idols are prohibited because they are associated with evil spirits. The OT is strangely quiet on this
matter. There is probably a good reason for it. The less said the better. The more you speak about
them the more arise two things, either idle curiosity that leads deeper and deeper into it or
unnecessary fear. We can fear that they have the ultimate power. We might fear this because God’s
power is hidden power. We experience it in our own weakness.
6. Read 1 Ki. 12:28-33. What was the sin of Jeroboam, the founding king of the Northern kingdom?
Most people would say that it was the idols that he made. They are right but there is more to it.
Notice that Jeroboam went up on the altar and offered sacrifices. He acts like he is the high priest
even though he was not a priest. Secondly he said, “Behold you gods.” Elohim is a strange word. It
could be gods but it is also the term for God. He is making an idol for Yahweh who brought them out
of Egypt. There is a pun here. So what is the sin of Jeroboam?
6.1. First he uses a forbidden image/idol to Yahweh, two golden calves. So he is guilty of making
and serving idols. But there is more.
6.2. He does all sorts of unauthorized things. He performs the divine service in an unauthorized
place – Bethel.
6.3. He performs the service with unauthorized priests, people who are not of the tribe of Levi.
6.4. He performs the service at an unauthorized time. He celebrates the Feast of Tabernacles in the
8th month instead of the 7th month.
6.5. The service is performed by an unauthorized high priest. He as the king acted like the high
priest.]
[So what is idolatry? It is a whole range of things. But what’s important for our Lutheran tradition is that
any form of worship that is not based on or consistent with what God has instituted is idolatry. This is
important in our “worship wars.” What God institutes (Divine Service) is required for worship. They are
non-negotiable. Many consider most parts of worship as adiaphora, but they don’t understand what
adiaphora is. Some things are commanded and required by God. Some things are forbidden by God.
Adiaphora are things that are neither instituted nor forbidden. But they must be consistent with what is
divinely instituted and what is divinely prohibited. Many use adiaphora to say that everything is
negotiable. Some believe as long as you preach a sermon and celebrate Holy Communion the rest is up
to you. Jeroboam was serving God but in the wrong way. We do the same thing in our day with all of our
man-made worship services.]
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[What is the point of having things divinely instituted? For one it provides certainty and for another they
are the way that God gives out and delivers his gifts. If you go away from that there is no basis for faith
so you lose the certainty. And where there is no certainty you open the door to other spiritual beings to
move in. It becomes about experience which is subjective.]
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Lecture OT-14a
v=ngJbqdFaJKk&list=PL32Gjc1uEM1AUR8LC9JlceA9xFSeZs25Z&index=22&spfreload=1

e. Prohibition of idolatry
1. Definition of an idol
• Idol as a wood, stone, or metal statue for the Lord, as with the
golden calf, or for another god
• Extension to carved stone relief for prostration, pillars of stone for
Baal, and trees for the goddess Asherah
2. Nature of idols
• Idol as the "face" of a god: means of access
• Presence of a god's spirit in it rather than identification with it (Hab
2:18-19)
• Opening the eyes, ears, nose, mouth and hands of the statue
3. God's identification of all idols with other gods
4. The prohibition of idolatry in the OT
a. Decalogue
• Manufacture of statues for any gods
• Prostration before them
• Performance of service to them
b. Deuteronomy
• Performance of any unauthorised ritual to the Lord ie wrong
worship of the right God (Deut 12:3-4, 30-31)
c. 1-2 Kings: see the case of Jereboam in 1 Kgs 12:28-33
• Use of forbidden idols: golden calves
• Service in an unauthorised place: Bethel
• Service by unauthorised priests: non- Levites
• Service at an unauthorised time: festival on eighth month
• Service led by an unauthorised chief priest: Jereboam
5. Reasons for the prohibition of idolatry
...
(Began with 11 minutes of discussion about an assignment turned in about foundational texts
and some important Bible resources and tools that are very helpful in studying a passage (cross
references, concordances, dictionaries).)
Last time we looked at the first commandment: There shall be for you no other gods before me
or near me or against me.
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Very quickly, let’s go through the Hebrew of the second part of the first commandment (Ex.
20:4-6). “You shall not make for yourself a statue or any resemblance or any copy of what is
in the heavens above and what is on the earth below and what is in the waters under the
earth. You shall not perform prostration to them or before them and you shall not serve them
or be enslaved by them, for I Yahweh am your God, a passionate God, visiting the
crookedness or iniquity of the fathers upon sons or children to the third and fourth
generations to those who hate me and performing generosity, kindness, loving-kindness to
thousands of generations to those loving me and keeping my commandments.”
Notice the stark contrast there. God allows evil to have limited consequences. As far as it goes
is the third and fourth generation. It only goes as far as the generation a living person has direct
contact with. So God limits the scope of evil, but the scope of his loving-kindness is unlimited to
those who love him.
Notice the term for idol. One of the big debates you have in Christendom is whether the
prohibition of idols (Ex. 20:4-6) has to do with the first commandment or the second
commandment. For Calvin and the people that follow the tradition of Calvin, the prohibition of
idols is the second commandment and is very important for them. However there is a problem
if you take it that way. You notice it says, “It shall not be for you other gods before my face” (Ex.
20:3). In this case “gods” is plural. And then it goes to the singular, “You shall not make for
yourself an idol.” “You shall not bow down to them.” The nearest antecedent is “other gods.”
So strict grammar ties this back to the first commandment. And that has been the
Lutheran/Catholic/Orthodox tradition to take this (Ex. 20:3-6) as one commandment rather
than as two commandments. It probably doesn’t matter a lot on how you number the
commandments, but what matters a great deal is how you interpret the commandments.
1. Definition of an idol
Right from the beginning there is a problem here. There are two ways you can understand
idolatry and idols. You could have an idol of the true God or of a false god. One of the features
of pagan theology, pagan worship, is that they have access to their gods through an idol. So you
have an idol for Baal or Asherah. That is what scholars call gross idolatry. But that was not the
usual problem in the OT. The problem in the OT was not that Israel made idols for other gods
but they used an idol to serve the true God, the Lord. The first commandment forbids both of
these things. It bans the use of idols to serve God or another god. Let’s take a closer look at the
prohibition of idolatry.
• Idol as a wood, stone, or metal statue for the Lord, as with the
golden calf, or for another god
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First of all the definition of an idol. We run into problems right away because we translate the
Hebrew word as idol, which is rather vague. Quite literally it means statue, a statue that has
been carved either from stone or from wood. Very often then it is painted or has a metal
overlay. So imagine a statue carved from wood that’s painted or a statue that’s carved from
stone that’s painted or a statue carved from wood that is plated with gold or silver or copper.
Another word that is used, but not here in the Ten Commandments, is a word that means to
cast metal. So you can have a cast statue made from bronze or copper or gold or silver.
So an idol is a statue of wood, metal, or stone for the Lord as with the golden calf. Remember
Israel at Sinai when they made a statue of the Lord as their idol for the Lord. They did that so
that the Lord would travel with them on their journey to the promised land. On the other hand,
idols can be used for other gods.
• Extension to carved stone relief for prostration, pillars of stone for

Baal, and trees for the goddess Asherah
In the OT then, even though initially the first commandment refers to statues of God it is
extended to carved stone relief for prostration on. So if you can imagine, you have stone and
then you have a figure of Baal or Asherah carved in that stone and you would literally place
yourself upon Baal or Asherah. The idea is not to bow down before it but to put yourself on the
god.
That also extended to pillars. The sky god Baal was represented in one of two ways. Either with
a statue of a bull, hence the golden calf, but more commonly he was represented by a carved
stone, shaped either directly or roughly in the form of a penis, representing virility and male
power. So hence you get pillars of stone and God forbidding pillars of stone. You will notice that
in the OT.
Then you had Asherah the earth mother. She was either represented by a statue of a naked
woman, with great emphasis on the sexual organs, or else quite commonly she was
represented by a pole, a stylized pole in the shape of a tree or a tree in the shape of a woman.
If you read Deuteronomy, God says they are to destroy Asherahs in the land. That includes the
statues and the shaped trees. Archaeologists have dug up lots of statues Baal and Asherah.
2. Nature of idols
At this point I’d like to take issue with the definition of an idol that’s been common since the
enlightenment. It is a common belief that for pagan people the idol is the god. The message
from this is that these pagan people are very stupid. How could they think this statue is a god?
This view is a load of bunk. Pagan people, today as well as in ancient times, don’t believe that
the statue is their god. So if you destroyed the statue, they didn’t believe the god was
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destroyed. And because there were many statues of Baal, they didn’t believe there were many
Baal gods. They believed in one god called Baal and they had many statues of him.
• Idol as the "face" of a god: means of access
If that was the case, how did they understand the statue? What was the function of the idol?
The idol was called the face of the god. So the statue gave you access to the face of Baal. The
god gave you access to his face through the idol. To use a Christian term, the idol was not the
god but gave you access to the god. So if you want to see Baal, you go and look at the statue of
Baal. If you want to pray to Baal, you pray before the statue. If you want to pay homage to Baal,
you bow down to the statue. If you want to kiss Baal, you kiss the statue. If you want to make
offerings to Baal, you bring them and place them before the statue of Baal. If you want to see
how it works, go to a Hindu temple. It’s very much in this world of thought. So the statue is not
Baal but the means by which you can access Baal.
• Presence of a god's spirit in it rather than identification with it (Hab

2:18-19)
The way that they would have understood it was that the statue contained or embodied the
spirit of the god. The statue is the face of the god and it was animated by the spirit and power
of the god.
• Opening the eyes, ears, nose, mouth and hands of the statue
So the way it would work was like this. You had a person whose job it was to make idols. Until
that idol was dedicated or consecrated, that idol was just a heap of metal or stone or wood. But
then came a very important ritual in which the god was consecrated. The ritual opened the eyes
of the god. They would have a ceremony in which the priest of that god would open the eyes of
the statue so that through that statue the god could see you. He would open the ears of the
statue so the god could hear you. He would open the mouth of the statue so that the god could
speak to you. He would open the nostrils of the statue so that the statue would be animated by
the spirit of the god.
So in pagan theology, the god takes up residence in the statue with its spirit. They don’t believe
that the statue is the god but that it is animated by the spirit of the god. Let’s take a look at
Hab. 2:18-19 where there is a reference to all of this, the spirit of the god and the ceremony
that consecrates the statue for the god.
18
“What profit is an idol
when its maker has shaped it,
a metal image, a teacher of lies?
For its maker trusts in his own creation
when he makes speechless idols!
19
Woe to him who says to a wooden thing, Awake;
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to a silent stone, Arise!

Can this teach?
Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver,
and there is no breath at all in it.
Wake up, rise is the command given to the statue in the dedication ceremony. By saying those
words, the statue is thought to come to life and to be filled with the spirit of the god. But notice
the irony here. God says, This statue has no life in it! It can’t see. It can’t hear. It’s lifeless. It
can’t speak.
This is a summary of something very complicated. It’s very important not only if you want to
make sense of the OT and its prohibition of idols, but many of you will be dealing with ex-
Hindus or ex-Buddhists, where idols are very important to them. Before you can help people,
you need to understand their situation. And you need to avoid crude polemics or they’ll shut
you out.
(A student pointed out that we don’t have idols but our churches are used in somewhat of
similar fashion. We come to God there. We make offerings to God there. Dr. Kleinig said if you
want a Lutheran parallel to an idol, the idol is to the pagan as the means of grace is to
Lutherans. That is a sympathetic look at it, looking at it in their terms rather than polemically. If
you are going to engage with people, you have to understand them first before you can start
arguing with them and criticizing them.)
(A student question. If people have a statue of Buddha in their homes or gardens is it more of a
matter of good luck or does it have a deep theological meaning behind it? Dr. Kleinig responded
with, You assume that good luck is not a deep subject. Let me put it another way. Why is it that
pagan people not only have statues but have little statues on the ears or in their nose or belly
button? They wear them so they receive blessing. If the god is there then he will bring good luck
or blessing. What will the god do with bad luck? He will repel it. Having a statue in the house
was thought to make the god present with them to protect them from evil.)
Let’s see if you’ve got this. One of the commonest criticisms of the Jews was that they were
really atheists. And the taunt against them was, Where is your god? Why did pagan believe that
the Jews were atheists?
There is a famous story told about the Roman soldiers in Jerusalem in 70 AD. They couldn’t wait
to get into the Holy of Holies because they couldn’t wait to see the idol for this great all-
powerful, one and only God that the Jews believed in. They expected to see a very beautiful
and precious statue, but when they entered they saw nothing! So because of this, the Romans
concluded that the Jews were atheists. You have to see how counter-cultural both the OT and
NT are. It defied the common sense theology of that time. And you won’t understand what
follows here unless you see this sympathetically rather than ridiculing it.
3. God's identification of all idols with other gods
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I would have thought that God would prohibit the use of idols with other gods, but that he
would be ok if people used an idol to worship him. After all, what matters is not how you
worship but who you worship and that you have the right motives, right? But the one thing that
is prohibited here in the first commandment is not just that they have no other gods, and they
have no idols for other gods, but they are not to have any idols for God. God considers any idol
to be bad. And God seems to imply that if you use an idol to try and access him, you aren’t
accessing him but are accessing other gods. Idols are never identified with God but with other
gods. Keep that in mind for what follows because it helps to explain the reason for this
prohibition.
(A question from a student about the decorative construction of the tabernacle not being
considered an idol. In his response Dr. Kleinig talked about what was prohibited in the first
commandment: the making of idols, prostration to idols, and performing divine service to an
idol. But the use of artwork is not prohibited. To put it more sharply, why was a statue an idol
but the Ark of the Covenant with its mercy seat not an idol? Both are physical. Both in a sense
represent a god. Through both you have access to a god. They are both made from the same
material, wood and gold. Pictures of cherubim and seraphim are carved and woven into the
side of the tabernacle.
Back to the question, why is a statue an idol but Ark not an idol? The problem isn’t the use of
something physical to represent God. Ultimately what determines whether something is an
idol or not is whether it has been commanded or prohibited by God. God, through his Word,
has prohibited idols and commanded the tabernacle. He has prohibited putting a face to him
but he hasn’t prohibited physical means of representing him or physical means of accessing
him. So the question is not whether it is physical or not or artistic or not, but it is a question of
what God has commanded and what he has prohibited. Keep that in mind.)
4. The prohibition of idolatry in the OT
The whole of the OT identifies idols with other gods, even idols dedicated to God. Therefore
idols are prohibited.
a. Decalogue
As we mentioned above, the Decalogue prohibits three things.
• Manufacture of statues for any gods

• Prostration before them
• Performance of service (offering sacrifices) to them
So it prohibits the making of an idol, bowing down to an idol, and serving an idol.
b. Deuteronomy
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The book of Deuteronomy and the law in Deuteronomy extends the definition of idolatry in an
interesting way. Let’s read Deut. 12:3-4. This is very important for Jewish theology and Christian
theology.
• Performance of any unauthorised ritual to the Lord ie wrong

worship of the right God (Deut 12:3-4, 30-31)
3
You shall tear down their altars and dash in pieces their pillars and burn their Asherim with
fire. You shall chop down the carved images of their gods and destroy their name out of that
place. 4 You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way.
The Hebrew word in v. 4 translated as “worship” is really “serve.” “In that way” means using
the rituals of the pagans. So you are not supposed to use pagan rituals in order to serve your
God. They are to destroy all pagan altars, pillars, poles, carved images, and names of gods. And
they are not to serve God using pagan rituals. So using unauthorized pagan rituals is idolatry.
Now let’s look at Deut. 12:30-31, where it makes the same point.
29
“When the LORD your God cuts off before you the nations whom you go in to dispossess,
and you dispossess them and dwell in their land,30 take care that you be not ensnared to
follow them, after they have been destroyed before you, and that you do not inquire about
their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods?—that I also may do the same.’
31
You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way, for every abominable thing that the
Lord hates they have done for their gods, for they even burn their sons and their daughters in
the fire to their gods.
They are not to ask about or copy the rituals that the Canaanites used to serve the Lord. And
the pagans take it to the extreme in that they sacrifice their own children. It is based on this
that the OT speaks about wrong worship or wrong service as idolatry. This is referred to by the
Jewish Rabbis as alien service or unauthorized service. There is a contrast between the service
that God institutes and establishes through the Law of Moses and the service performed by
pagans. If you worship God in an alien way, in a way that he has not authorized, then you are
guilty of idolatry. Any form of serving God in a way that he hasn’t instituted or established or
authorized is idolatry.
c. 1-2 Kings: see the case of Jereboam in 1 Kgs 12:28-33
This was very important for the Reformation because any kind of worship that was not divinely
instituted and in accordance with God’s Word was regarded by Luther and the reformers as
idolatry. So idolatry is not just serving the wrong god, but can also be serving the right God in
a wrong way, in a way that he has not authorized or established.
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You can see this quite clearly in the story of Jereboam. You remember the sin of Jereboam.
When Jereboam led the rebellion of the ten northern tribes, he established two other places of
worship to rival Jerusalem. They were in Bethel in the south and Dan in the north. In these
places he replaced the Ark of the Covenant with golden calves. So what was the sin of
Jereboam? You would expect the OT to focus on the golden calves. But other things are
included. Let’s read 1 Kings 12:28-33.
28
So the king took counsel and made two calves of gold. And he said to the people, “You have
gone up to Jerusalem long enough. Behold your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the
land of Egypt.” 29 And he set one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan. 30 Then this thing
became a sin, for the people went as far as Dan to be before one. 31 He also made temples on
high places and appointed priests from among all the people, who were not of the Levites.
32
And Jeroboam appointed a feast on the fifteenth day of the eighth month like the feast that
was in Judah, and he offered sacrifices on the altar. So he did in Bethel, sacrificing to the
calves that he made. And he placed in Bethel the priests of the high places that he had made.
33
He went up to the altar that he had made in Bethel on the fifteenth day in the eighth
month, in the month that he had devised from his own heart. And he instituted a feast for
the people of Israel and went up to the altar to make offerings.
“your gods” (v. 28) in Hebrew is elohim. That word could be gods or it could be God. In this case
it should be translated as God. Jereboam did not believe he was worshipping another god. He
made these golden calves as idols for the Lord.
Notice that idolatry is not just using an idol to worship God, but worshipping God in a way that
he has not instituted. So what is the sin of Jereboam?
• Use of forbidden idols: golden calves
First he made idols which God had prohibited.
• Service in an unauthorised place: Bethel
Secondly, he served God in a place that God did not authorize.
• Service by unauthorised priests: non- Levites
Thirdly, the divine service was led by unauthorized priests. According to the law of Moses, a
priest had to be a descendant of Levi. But here he ordains anyone who volunteers as a priest.
• Service at an unauthorised time: festival on eighth month
Fourthly, he established a festival at an unauthorized time. The Feast of Tabernacles was set by
Moses on the seventh month. Jereboam moved it to a month later.
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• Service led by an unauthorised chief priest: Jereboam
And lastly, Jereboam himself acted as the high priest.
He engaged in creative Israelite worship. If you would have asked him, Who are you serving? He
would have said the Lord. So what was the problem? He served the right God in the wrong way,
by using idols, at the wrong place, with the wrong priests, at the wrong time, and with the
wrong high priest. So the definition of idolatry is extended here beyond the use of idols. Every
time “the sin of Jereboam” is referenced, it is referring to all of this stuff. All of this stuff
continued in the north until the northern kingdom was destroyed.
Now Jereboam probably thought he was employing good missionary principles. He wanted to
include everyone. He served the right God in the wrong way and that ultimately is idolatry.
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Lecture OT-14b
v=Ddt5i6zmcag&list=PL32Gjc1uEM1AUR8LC9JlceA9xFSeZs25Z&index=23&spfreload=1
(See also pgs. 51-52of the Class Notes.)

...
• Gift of God's holy name as the means of access to the Lord
• Institution of the altar as the place of access (Exod 20:23-24)
• Revelation of God by his voice from heaven (Deut 4:15-18)
• Creation in God's image (Gen 1:26-27; Ps 115:2-8)
• Association of idols with evil spirits (Ps 106:36-38; 2 Kgs 21:1-6,10-11)

...
The reasons for prohibiting idols are very interesting and rather unexpected. If I could
summarize them in a sentence it would be: the Israelites are not to use idols to access God’s
blessings because they have something far better than an idol – God’s name. The pagan gods
had names of course but you couldn’t use their names without their idols.
• Gift of God's holy name as the means of access to the Lord
The Israelites could use God’s name without using an idol and were prohibited from using the
name with an idol. What was important in pagan rites was not what they said but what they
did. It has to do with works. They have praying and the use of the name of pagan gods but they
used in a different way than the Israelites. So there is some overlap between true worship and
pagan worship.
The reasons for the prohibition of idolatry are given at the beginning of the Ten
Commandments. It begins with God saying, “I am YHWH, your God. You shall have no other
gods before me.” And that is followed by the second commandment: “You shall not take the
name of the Lord your God in vain.” God’s name was important because it took the place of
idols. They had access to God through his name instead of idols.
You can see this quite clearly in the book of Deuteronomy with a rather odd expression. God
tells the people through Moses that they are to serve him at one place when they come to the
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promised land. It was to be centralized service. And this place will not be a place that they
choose but one that God chooses. And at this place God chose to put/place his name. The verb
used for “put/place” is quite concrete. The picture is someone picking up something and
putting it down in a certain place. This is language that has been adopted from pagan people
from what they do when they make a sanctuary. They take an idol and “put” it in the sanctuary.
But God takes his name and “puts” it in his temple. So the name of God takes the place of an
idol. It is almost treated like it is a physical thing.
Concretely, the name of God was put in only one place. And it was interesting where it was
physically. It was written on a plate that was attached to the “crown” that the high priest wore.
So it appeared on the forehead of the high priest. It said “Holiness to YHWH.” So he had the
name of God upon him. So when he appeared to the public, they could see the holy name on
his forehead. And then he would pronounce the holy name and put it on the people when he
gave the Aaronic benediction. So the holy name on the high priest was “put on” the people. In
1&2 Kings you see a repeated theme that the temple is for the name of the Lord. The name
takes the place of the idol.
• Institution of the altar as the place of access (Exod 20:23-24)
The emphasis then is not on the Holy of Holies as the means of access to God, but the place of
access to God is the altar. Let’s look at a strange connection we see in Ex. 20:22-24. This comes
immediately after the Ten Commandments and it’s a little unit by itself that looks like it is out of
place.
22
And the Lord said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the people of Israel: ‘You have seen for
yourselves that I have talked with you from heaven. 23 You shall not make gods of silver to be
with me, nor shall you make for yourselves gods of gold. 24 An altar of earth you shall make
for me and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your
oxen. In every place where I cause my name to be remembered I will come to you and bless
you.
First of all, he said you’ve seen me speak from heaven. That’s important. God spoke directly to
his people on earth. Secondly, notice the reference to the name. Wherever his name is
proclaimed, he will come and bless them. What is the argument here? Since you heard me
speak to you from heaven, therefore do not make an idol but instead make an altar and present
offerings to me on the altar. Whenever my name is remembered by making offerings to me, I
will come to you and bless you. So blessing is connected to the honoring of God’s name. So
what takes the place of the idol as the place for accessing God is the altar. That is a concrete
place. If pagan people wanted to present their offerings to their god, they presented them in
front of the statue of their god. But if the Israelites presented an offering to the Lord, they put
their offerings on the altar. Anything that was done to the altar or before the altar was done in
the presence of God. So what did it mean to pray in the presence of God? It meant to pray at
the altar. To give thanks in the presence of God was to give thanks at the altar. To prostrate
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yourself before the Lord was to prostrate yourself before the altar. The altar takes the place of
the idol.
• Revelation of God by his voice from heaven (Deut 4:15-18)
What now is the connection between God’s speaking and his prohibition of idols? To find out,
let’s look at Deut. 4:15-19. Deut. 4 has an extensive theological discussion on the reason for the
prohibition of idols. The core of it is given in these verses.
15
“Therefore watch yourselves very carefully. Since you saw no form on the day that the Lord
spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire, 16 beware lest you act corruptly by making
a carved image for yourselves, in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female, 17 the
likeness of any animal that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the air,
18
the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the
water under the earth. 19 And beware lest you raise your eyes to heaven, and when you see
the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, you be drawn away and bow
down to them and serve them, things that the Lord your God has allotted to all the peoples
under the whole heaven.
In light of what we just read, look back at verse 12.
12
Then the Lord spoke to you out of the midst of the fire. You heard the sound of words, but
saw no form; there was only a voice.
The argument is this: When God appeared to you in the theophany at Mt. Sinai, you didn’t see
him with your eyes. You didn’t see his form. You didn’t see his face. Instead you heard his voice.
You heard his Word. So since you did not see him, therefore you are not to have any idols
because the means by which he comes to you and gives access to you is through his Word
rather than through his face. His Word is the means of revelation therefore you are to have no
idols.
(A student question about God speaking to Israel out of a fire. When God appeared to them he
hid his glory in a cloud. His glory appeared as a blazing fire within that dark cloud. The cloud
veiled the fire of God’s glory. God speaking to his people out of the fire has a direct reference to
something that happened every day at the tabernacle/temple. It involved fire, cloud, and glory.
A student responded with the burning of incense. There were two instances where incense was
burned each day. First, on the altar in the Holy Place. And second, incense was burned with
flour and olive oil on the altar together with the burnt offering. The people wouldn’t see the
fire. It wasn’t visible to them. They wouldn’t see the fire. They saw the smoke. God spoke his
blessing to his people from the fire which resulted in sweet smelling smoke. So at the divine
service in the fire and smoke God’s glory is revealed. At the end of the divine service God’s
Word of benediction is spoken through his priests. And through the benediction, God puts his
name on his people.
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• Creation in God's image (Gen 1:26-27; Ps 115:2-8)
The third reason for the prohibition of idolatry is related to and interlocks with the other
reasons. This is because they all deal with the same reality. The basic thinking in paganism is as
follows: since the gods are invisible, if they appear to us then they have to appear to us in some
visible form that resembles them. So for instance the Canaanites used a bull to represent Baal.
Baal was like a bull in what way? He was strong and viral. Asherah, the earth mother, was
represented by an evergreen tree. Why? She was ever fertile as the tree was ever green. That is
the pagan way of thinking.
Right at the beginning of Genesis, God said something startling. Who does he say he makes in
his image? Human beings. So the closest beings on earth that are like God are human beings.
Human beings are made in the image of God. Therefore human beings are like walking, talking
idols of God in a true sense. Therefore if you make an idol of God of anything else, you don’t
just misrepresent God but you also misrepresent humanity and you degrade human beings.
That is one of Paul’s arguments in Rom. 1. Let’s take a look at one very ironical way in which
this is put. Go to Ps. 115:2-8 and see if you can get the irony and sarcasm here.
2
Why should the nations say,
“Where is their God?”
3
Our God is in the heavens;
he does all that he pleases.
4
Their idols are silver and gold,
the work of human hands.
5
They have mouths, but do not speak;
eyes, but do not see.
6
They have ears, but do not hear;
noses, but do not smell.
7
They have hands, but do not feel;
feet, but do not walk;
and they do not make a sound in their throat.
8
Those who make them become like them;
so do all who trust in them.
Notice that it begins with the question pagans ask the Israelites: Where is their God? They ask
this because the Israelites did not have an idol for God. What is the irony here? By worshipping
an idol you become spiritually like that idol – blind, mute, deaf, unable to feel and walk and
talk. This is profound. Idols enslave human beings by you becoming like the thing you serve.
Instead of heightening spiritual sensitivity, idols blunt it.
• Association of idols with evil spirits (Ps 106:36-38; 2 Kgs 21:1-6,10-11)
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Lastly, we’ve emphasized that for pagan people idols are not mere pieces of statuary. They
have real power, which is supernatural power. The OT doesn’t speak very much about what the
power is in idols and other gods. But there are a couple of places where it is made quite explicit.
Let’s take a look at two passages. First there is Ps. 106:36-38.
36
They served their idols,
which became a snare to them.
37
They sacrificed their sons
and their daughters to the demons;
38
they poured out innocent blood,
the blood of their sons and daughters,
whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan,
and the land was polluted with blood.
The Israelites worshipped other gods and they even sacrificed their children to other gods. And
when they did so to whom were they really sacrificing them to? Demons. There is a spirit in an
idol, but it is an evil spirit. You do access supernatural power but that power according to the
OT and NT is demonic power.
Let’s look at another passage that also associates the occult, the demonic to idolatry. It is the
very famous case of Manasseh. To understand this passage, you need to know that Manasseh
was the son of Hezekiah, the great reforming king. But he did something that was utterly
terrible. He brought a statue of the goddess Asherah into the temple. It is not exactly clear
where he put the idol, whether it was next to the Altar for Burnt Offering or whether it was in
the Holy Place. According to Jewish tradition, he brought the statue of Asherah right in to the
Holy of Holies. Why? Because he was a good modern person. If you have a male god, you’ve got
to have a female god too. You have to be inclusive. Look at the connections that are drawn in 2
Kings 21:1-7, 10-11.
21 Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in
Jerusalem. His mother's name was Hephzibah. 2 And he did what was evil in the sight of the
Lord, according to the despicable practices of the nations whom the Lord drove out before
the people of Israel. 3 For he rebuilt the high places that Hezekiah his father had destroyed,
and he erected altars for Baal and made an Asherah, as Ahab king of Israel had done, and
worshiped all the host of heaven and served them. 4 And he built altars in the house of the
Lord, of which the Lord had said, “In Jerusalem will I put my name.” 5 And he built altars for
all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord. 6 And he burned his son as
an offering and used fortune-telling and omens and dealt with mediums and with
necromancers. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger. 7 And the
carved image of Asherah that he had made he set in the house of which the LORD said to
David and to Solomon his son, “In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all
the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever. ... 10 And the Lord said by his servants the
prophets, 11 “Because Manasseh king of Judah has committed these abominations and has
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done things more evil than all that the Amorites did, who were before him, and has made
Judah also to sin with his idols,
Notice the connection between, not just worship of idols and horrible rituals like child sacrifice,
but of worship of idols and the occult, astrology and the most gross form of the occult. Look at
the list you have in v. 6: child sacrifice, sorcery, divination, and consulted mediums and
spiritists, people who conjure up spirits, either spirits of the dead (necromancers) or other
spirits. All of this is closely connected with idolatry. Idolatry leads to not just immoral practices,
but it leads to trafficking in and involvement in the occult.
(A student question about the idols used in Buddhism. [I didn’t understand the question.] Dr.
Kleinig responded. It is very easy to say that the idol is nothing and it is the way you use the idol
that is the problem. However, it is not that simple. Let’s say I put up an idol of Krishna in my
house that I bought from a shop rather than from a temple. I do it just because I think it looks
like a nice decorative thing. However whenever I have someone over and they see it, they will
take it as a confession of my faith even though I don’t intend it to be. Now it’s obviously out of
the question that I buy a statue that is sold in a temple. Why is that? It has been consecrated to
that god and therefore it is connected ritually with that god. The rule of the Church has always
been, get rid of that stuff.
Another student commented on the things in Christian churches on the altar being like idols.
And we have statues of Christ too – the crucifix. It is very important to these future pastors to
discern between these things and idols and how to explain the differences between them.
So what is the difference between a statue of Krishna and a crucifix of Christ? Actually there are
many Christians who would accuse Lutherans of idolatry. Why? Because we have crucifixes. For
them it is a very simple argument. Idols are prohibited. You have an idol of Jesus. Therefore you
are committing idolatry. What is the difference? This issue came up in the early church. The
iconoclasts got rid of all crucifixes and statues of Mary, etc. And there was another group that
said it was ok to represent Christ as a human being because he became a human being. We
don’t worship an icon or a statue. It has other functions. Those are the two positions. The
arguments are not easy to deal with.
A student responded about icons. Icons are closely connected to the Word. The images come
from the Word. Dr. Kleinig’s response was that that was the argument put forth in the early
church. The Word became flesh, a human being. So if you want to see God, you hear his Word
and you see his Word. The danger if you go to the Protestant extreme is that God becomes a
disincarnate idea or a disembodied spirit. The God we worship is the Word incarnate, the Word
embodied in the human form of Jesus. That’s the theology behind it. The other part of their
theology is to distinguish between reverencing, respecting God and worshipping God.
Another student said he noticed people praying to or focusing on the cross and asked how that
differs from people praying to an idol? Dr. Kleinig said, Yes, that is the argument made by some.
And he asked the class what they thought? Some discussion. Then Dr. Kleinig asked, Is that any
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different than placing a Bible on the altar or holding a Bible in your hand when you preach? An
answer given was that we do not pray to a Bible. True, but we do face the altar with the Bible
on it. And then what about the altar itself? Is it an idol? The response was that it is not made in
the image of God. Dr. Kleinig said the basic point of an idol is that you use it to access a god. So
do any Christians use the crucifix to access God? Some people probably do. But you have to see
both sides of it. Let’s say we get rid of all physical representations of God. Only one
denomination has done that and that is the Quakers. What is the problem if you go to that
extreme? That says that your God is pure spirit. Your God is not incarnate. How do we preach,
teach, proclaim an incarnate God when there are no symbols for God? That was the argument
against iconoclasm. You have to understand both sides of the argument. One side says this is
idolatry. The other side is that you shouldn’t get rid of all forms of representation, everything
physical. Many Christians would accuse Lutherans and Catholics of worshipping bread and
wine. Why? Because we kneel when we receive it and we believe that Jesus is present in the
bread and wine. That is the radical Protestant criticism about the real presence of Christ in the
Sacrament. But if you go that extreme, you have a disincarnate Chrisitianity. You end up with a
form of idealism or Gnosticism. The problem is how you can reach a medium in between the
two. You need to work this through because people will ask you questions about it.)
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Lecture OT-15a
v=u5ZskH3m8W0&list=PL32Gjc1uEM1AUR8LC9JlceA9xFSeZs25Z&index=24&spfreload=1
(See also pg. 52 of the Class Notes.)

f. The sabbath
1. God's creation of humans for rest with him
• Contrast with pagans as the temple slaves of their gods
• Contrast with pagan gods as leisured aristocrats
2. The Sabbath as a holy day free from work
• Prohibition of farm work and work at any trade
• Contrast with pagan rituals as work for the gods
• Central ritual as no ritual work but ritual leisure
3. Two kinds of Sabbaths in the OT
• Weekly Sabbaths
• Seven festive Sabbaths
 First day of Unleavened Bread
 Seventh day of Unleavened Bread
 Pentecost
 New Year's Day: first day of seventh month
 Day of Atonement: tenth day of seventh month
 First day of Tabernacles: fifteenth day of seventh month
 Eighth day of Tabernacles
4. God's gift of the Sabbath (Exod 16:29)
5. Reason for rest (Exod 20:11): God's rest after six days of creation
6. Purpose of rest
…
7. Results of observance
…
8. Connection of the day of rest with the place of rest with God
…
9. Sabbath as a foretaste of eternity in time: sanctuary in time

f. The sabbath
Today we focus on one of the oddest features of the OT from a ritual point of view. Let’s say
you were a Babylonian PhD student around 600 BC and you were interested in comparative
religion. And you wanted to do some research on this funny group of people called the Jews
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who lived in the land of Israel. So you go to Jerusalem their religious center, where their temple
was. There would be much that you would see that you would be familiar with and would be
what you would expect from religious people. But there would be three or four things that you
would find almost impossible to make sense of because it would contradict your whole world
view and everything that you regarded as important religiously.
1. The first thing we looked at last period. The Jews had no idols. Because of that you
would suspect that they were crypto-atheists. That would be puzzle number one.
2. Puzzle number two is that nowhere in the land of Israel would you see what was
commonplace everywhere in the ancient world, people wearing lucky charms, amulets.
You wouldn’t see any horoscopes. You wouldn’t see any magic sorcery. There would be
no mention of what we from our modern point of view would call the occult. It was
completely absent and it would hit you right away. It’s very strange because in all the
other countries it’s everywhere.
3. The third thing is the funny business of the Sabbath and we will talk about that today,
how odd the Sabbath was. Their basic religious celebration was a day in which they did
nothing.
4. The fourth thing you would notice that was different about this group was the Jewish
obsession with blood. They did a funny thing with the blood of their sacrifices. They
poured it out at the base of their altar. We talk about this more later.
Let’s concentrate on the Sabbath. We need to look at it from a pagan point of view if we want
to make full sense of it and see its relevance for us today. You need to know that everywhere in
the ancient world there were two classes of people. There were the bosses and the workers.
The workers were not really workers. In the ancient world they were basically slaves. The
bosses were people of leisure and the workers were people who worked. Since the bosses
didn’t do any work, they got plenty of rest. And since the workers did all the work, they didn’t
have time to rest.
And this fact basically shaped all ancient religions. For example, according to the basic
foundational story about the Babylonian gods, there were originally two classes of gods. This is
before there were any human beings. You had the senior gods, the high gods, who were the
aristocrats. And then you had the junior gods, the low gods, who did all the work for the high
gods. After a while, the junior gods got tired of doing all the work so they went on strike. They
stopped providing food and caring for the temples and providing entertainment and clothing
for the high gods. They stopped doing the work that was necessary so that the high gods could
enjoy life. Eventually they came to a compromise. The high gods gave in to the low gods and
they admitted them to the status of being free from work. But that left a problem. Someone
needed to do all the work. So they created human beings as slaves for the gods.
That is the foundational story of Babylonian religion. And other religions in the ancient world
had similar stories. Gods don’t work. They create human beings to be their slaves. So the basic
relationship between human beings and gods is the master/slave relationship, leisure
class/working class. The purpose of having human beings is to provide for the gods. And it
worked out for human beings too because the gods provided protection and benefits for their
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people. And from this point of view, ritual is work. And ritual work is for the gods. So ritual is
doing work for the gods.
Gen. 1 paints a different picture. What kind of God is the God of Israel? He is a working God. He
works and then he rests. He doesn’t fit the normal pagan category of being a boss who never
works. And he created human beings to work for sure but also to rest. And he doesn’t create
them to work for him, that is, to provide for his needs, but to work with him and then to rest
with him. As usual, God turns the normal pagan thinking on its head. The things that are
foundational to pagans, the way they understand themselves spiritually, are picked up and
turned upside down.
• Contrast with pagans as the temple slaves of their gods
This is in sharp contrast to pagan theology and pagan ideology. In it, human beings are regarded
as temple slaves of their gods. So if you lived in Baal’s territory, you worked for/served Baal.
You performed work for whoever was the local god. And if there was more than one god where
you lived, you had to work for/serve each god. (For more on this see above also.)
• Contrast with pagan gods as a leisured aristocrats
Also notice the contrast between the God of Israel, who was the Creator of all, who was the
Worker for his people, and who in worship serves his people, and the pagan gods, who were
the leisure class and who got people to do all the work. (For more on this see above also.)
Make sure you’ve got this because it sheds light on the Sabbath.
The most important religious celebration for Israel is the Sabbath. What is the Sabbath? (Dr.
Kleinig now takes a look at some Hebrew words to make sure we think in Hebrew terms and
not in our terms.) (1) First there is a verb that means to stop working, to do nothing, to rest
from work. This verb is frequently used. (2) Most important is the noun that comes from this
verb. It is a day of rest.
• Prohibition of farm work and work at any trade
This noun means quite literally a day free from two kinds of work. And this is quite clear in the
third commandment. (3) They are to do no agricultural work. (4) And they are to do no work at
a trade. So on the Sabbath, you’re not to any work on your farm and you’re not to do any work
at your trade. Instead of working, they are to rest.
• Contrast with pagan rituals as work for the gods
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So the Israelites “serve” God by resting versus the pagans who serve their gods by doing work
for them. So for the pagans, a holy day is a day of work, providing food, clothing,
entertainment, etc. for the god.
When Dr. Kleinig went to Thailand he observed something very interesting. While there he was
taken to a new Buddhist temple during one of the Buddhist festivals. What struck him was how
everyone was working, cleaning, building, painting, etc. Here it was a festival day and these
people were having a working bee for Buddha.
• Central ritual as no ritual work but ritual leisure
But notice this paradox. In Israel, the central ritual is no ritual. The central ritual is not ritual
work but ritual leisure. So the central ritual wasn’t praising God or praying. What was mandated
was a Sabbath day, a day of rest, a day of doing nothing. This is utterly countercultural, not only
in the ancient world but also today. The basic tenet of our modern world focuses on the
importance of work. If you go to a party and introduce yourself, what is the first question they
ask you? They ask, What do you do? That is because we derive our identity from our work.
Work is the central feature of our life. The only reason we rest is so that we work better.
In Israel the central ritual is not work for God, but doing no work for God. In addition, there is a
further paradox. The Sabbath was on the seventh day. This doesn’t make sense. And God not
only rested on the Sabbath Day but he also blessed it and made it holy. This means he made
that day as a means by which he communicated blessing and holiness to his people. A pagan
person wouldn’t have too much of a problem of associating a day with blessing and holiness,
but they would say you have to tap into God’s blessing and holiness by working for God. But
how do God’s people receive God’s holiness and blessing? By resting with God.
From the point of view of NT and Lutheran theology this lies at the heart of justification by
grace through faith. What is important is not what we do, but to receive what God does for us,
to us, with us.
There is a further paradox that is involved here. From the beginning of time human beings have
celebrated certain times as being significant, not just from a secular, human point of view, but
from a religious point of view. Right from the beginning, people observed certain times as being
religiously significant because of their cosmic significance. What were the cosmically significant
times? The year because of the earth’s orbit around the sun every 365 days. The month
because of the moon’s orbit around the earth every 28 days. And the seasons because of the
earth’s tilt on its axis. You have the lunar cycle with the new moon to the full moon, roughly 28
days. This influences various things on earth, such as tides. Then there was the solar cycle which
causes our seasons. What dates are significant in the solar cycle? You have the summer solstice
and the winter solstice (the longest day and shortest day). But even more important were the
equinoxes (the time when the sun passes directly over the equator, which causes 12 hours of
day and 12 hours of night). There is a spring equinox and autumn equinox. And since the gods
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work in this whole system, these days were observed as holy days, so they had religious
significance. [So the religious calendars were synced up with the cosmic calendar.]
Much of Israel’s liturgical calendar fits in with the cosmic calendar. Israel has a new moon
festival and a full moon festival. Passover is celebrated at the spring equinox. Booths is
celebrated at the autumn equinox. And then at the end of grain harvest Pentecost was
celebrated. We won’t have time to look at the whole liturgical calendar. It is the basis of our
liturgical year. By observing these holy days, it synchronized people’s lives and their religious
observances with the cosmic order.
We’ve spent some time mapping this out because now we come to a funny feature. What
about the Sabbath? The Sabbath connects with nothing in the natural cosmic order. It is
something that God has imposed from outside. In terms of natural order, the number seven has
no significance. It is imposed from the outside. Seven day weeks are imposed on the natural
order. [Nothing in the natural order says that there should be seven day weeks.]
So we started out talking about an educated Babylonian coming to Jerusalem to do some

comparative religious studies. He would encounter the Jews resting every seven days on the
Sabbath and would be totally clueless as to why they were doing it. He would take a close look
at the natural order and try and figure out where the number seven came from. And he would
find out that it doesn’t fit. He would wonder if they knew any science or astronomy. Their
festivals tie in with astronomy, but the observance of Sabbaths on this weekly cycle doesn’t.
And it is the bedrock of their whole religious life. He would say it just does not make any sense.
It’s not in sync with the solar cycle. It’s not in sync with the lunar cycle. It’s not in sync with the
movement of the constellations.
In comparative religious studies today, they have the same question. Where did the Jews get
this from? They assume it is not revelation from God but that they got it from somewhere else.
It is quite amusing to see all the ideas they come up with. But the bottom line is that there is
nothing in the natural order to get seven from. The obvious conclusion is that they didn’t come
up with this based on their own speculation, but it came from God. It is so odd that nothing else
makes sense.
We’ve grown up with seven day weeks. We think this is how all people live, that it is natural for
all people to live with seven day weeks. But people in Asia and Africa don’t live this way. It’s
only where the West has had influence on them that they do. For instance, in Thailand or India,
things run on different cycles. It is not universal. The seven day week comes from the Jews and
Christians based on Gen. 1.
This brought to Dr. Kleinig’s mind a book by Malcolm Muggeridge called Chronicles of a Wasted
Time. He was an atheist who became a Christian late in life. He was a famous English journalist,
who had a great curiosity about other cultures and political systems. He said growing up that he
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believed there were some basic, universal human rights. He was stationed in the Middle East
and brought this subject up one time to a Muslim scholar. The Muslims said, There’s no such
thing as universal human rights. He said, You assume that Jewish/Christian human rights are
universal human rights. That is just a little illustration of the affect of the Jewish/Christian
influence that affects Western countries but not all countries.
(A comment from a student about how the seven days and the Sabbath are imposed on time
from outside of time. Dr. Kleinig had heard it said that it was a bit like seeding an oyster. It was
seeded from outside and then the pearl grew from the inside. The pearl is not part of the
oyster. It is a foreign body within the oyster. And so it is with the Sabbath. It is in time and yet it
is alien to time. It doesn’t fit into the natural time cycle.)
(Another student question. When the Israelites were resting on the Sabbath, was God also
resting on the Sabbath? In the NT Jesus says God is always working. And yet he is always
resting. God obviously works on the Sabbath because he forgives sins, he judges people, people
die, people are born. While we rest, God works. The incarnation and resurrection of Jesus has
an effect on this.)
• Weekly Sabbaths
Now we want to focus on the observance of the Sabbath. There are two kinds of Sabbaths. First
there are the regular Sabbaths. No matter what, every seventh day you have a Sabbath. So you
have the weekly Sabbaths and the Sabbath is the last day of the week. What is the significance
of it being the last day of the week? Something has come to an end; it is the end of a cycle. And
that means it sums up the cycle and is the most important day of the cycle. It is the last word. It
shows the purpose of it. So in terms of human life, according to weekly cycle, what is the
purpose of human life? It is to rest. It is to work since we work six days, but ultimately it is for
resting. We tend to look at it the other way around. We rest so that we can work better.
• Seven festive Sabbaths
The number seven is very important. There are cycles of seven everywhere. It runs all the way
through the OT. So in addition to the weekly Sabbaths, you have seven special festive Sabbaths.
These are seven extra ordinary days of rest. Sometimes they will coincide with regular days of
Sabbath and other times they won’t. What are these seven extra ordinary Sabbaths?
 First day of Unleavened Bread
The first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread was a festive Sabbath. This is the day after the
Passover is celebrated. So Easter Saturday, the day after Jesus died, was a double Sabbath. It
was a great Sabbath. Why? It was a regular Sabbath and it was also a festive Sabbath. It was on
Saturday, the normal Sabbath, but that day was also the first day of Unleavened Bread in the
Jewish calendar. We still have a remnant of that but our Christian calendar is no longer in sync
with the Jewish calendar.
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 Seventh day of Unleavened Bread
The second extra ordinary Sabbath is the seventh day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Some
of the students did some work on the Passover being a foundational event. You need to see
that the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread fit together. The Passover is an evening
celebration. It is in the evening of the 14th day. The Jewish day starts in the evening at sunset.
So the Passover is the evening of the first day of Unleavened Bread. The first day of Unleavened
Bread is a day of rest. Then you had seven days of the Unleavened Bread feast. The last of those
seven days is also a day of rest. During the intermediate five days between the extra ordinary
Sabbaths, you were allowed to normal work.
 Pentecost
Thirdly, you had Pentecost. Pentecost means 50. You have seven weeks after Passover before
you come to Pentecost. So you have 7 x 7 days and then Pentecost falls on the 50 th day.
Passover is day one. Pentecost is on day fifty.
 New Year's Day: first day of seventh month
Fourthly, you have the first day of the seventh month as a day of rest. This is new year’s day,
the Day of Trumpets. The blowing of trumpets announces the new year.
 Day of Atonement: tenth day of seventh month
Fifthly, there is the Day of Atonement which is a Sabbath, which is ten days later than the Day
of Trumpets. The Day of Atonement is preparation for the greatest feast, which is the third
special Sabbath day in the seventh month. It is a day of purification.
 First day of Tabernacles: fifteenth day of seventh month
The Day of Atonement purifies them to celebrate the great Feast of Tabernacles. The first day
of this feast is a day of rest.
 Eighth day of Tabernacles
And then we have something that breaks out of what you would expect. You would expect that
the seventh day of Tabernacles would be a special Sabbath, but it is the eighth day of
Tabernacles is the day of rest. This breaks the pattern.
What is very important in the NT and the early church is the thinking about the eighth day. The
eighth day is the day Jesus rose from the dead and the day of Pentecost. The eighth day is the
beginning of something new.
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(A question about a special Sabbath falling on a normal Sabbath. So besides the normal Sabbath
every seventh day, you could end up with, because of these festive Sabbaths, a Sabbath on any
day of the week.)
We don’t have time to get into this, but there is also the notion of Sabbatical years. So you have
the normal Sabbath of days (7 days) and a Sabbath of weeks (7 days x 7 weeks = 49 days) and a
Sabbath of years (7 x 1 year = 7 years) and a Sabbath of decades (7 x 7 decades = 49 years). So
every seven years you have a Sabbatical year. After every 49 years you have the year of Jubilee,
which is the forgiving of debts. The Jubilee year is very important for NT theology because what
Jesus does when he comes to Nazareth is proclaim a Jubilee, God’s amnesty, the forgiveness of
all debts.
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Lecture OT-15b
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f. The sabbath
...
6. Purpose of rest
• Freedom from work for slaves (Deut 5:15)
• Refreshment for animals, slaves and aliens (Exod 23:12)
• Rest for slaves (Deut 5:14)
• Blessing (Exod 20:11)
• Sanctification (Exod 20:11; cf. 31:13)
• Land (Josh 1:13)
• Temple (Ps 95:11; 132:14)

f. The sabbath
In the light of our discussion on the Sabbath, the significance and the importance of the
Sabbath should make some sense to you. There is a lot of Christian misunderstanding of the
Sabbath observance of Judaism. We tend to understand the Sabbath based on Jesus’ criticism
of the Pharisees and their laws about not working on the Sabbath. So we have the idea that for
Jewish people the Sabbath is an onerous day. But in the Jewish tradition the Sabbath is not
thought of as a burdensome day, but as the holiday of all holidays. So every Friday evening in
Jewish households there is a ceremony welcoming in the Sabbath like a bride.
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The first mention in the OT of the Sabbath is not in the third commandment but on God’s
resting on the Sabbath day in the creation account and then of God’s giving the Sabbath to his
people. Let’s read Ex. 16:29-30.
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See! The Lord has given you the Sabbath; therefore on the sixth day he gives you bread for
two days. Remain each of you in his place; let no one go out of his place on the seventh day.”
30
So the people rested on the seventh day.
The people are in the desert and God is about to give them food to eat – manna. And
remarkably on the sixth day he gives them double the amount of manna that they need for that
day, so that they don’t have to work on the seventh day. Notice that before God makes a
demand on them to rest on the Sabbath, he gives them a day of rest. He provides for them so
they don’t have to work on that day to get food. He provides them with a day to rest on and
food so that they are able to rest on that day.
So it’s only after he gives them the Sabbath that he makes a law about them observing the
Sabbath in the Ten Commandments. And what is interesting there is the reason for observing
the Sabbath. They are to rest because God rested from his work as Creator on the seventh day.
Notice that he rested from his work as Creator and not as Lord or Judge. He rested from the
work of creation.
6. Purpose of rest
That was the reason for rest. What was the purpose for rest? This is put in three different ways.
• Freedom from work for slaves (Deut 5:15)
First let’s read Deut. 5:15, which is part of the Deuternomic version of the Ten Commandments.
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You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God
brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord
your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.
He said, Since you were slaves and had to work all the time, when you get into the land make
sure your slaves get rest together with you. The basic goal of it is to provide rest for everyone –
family and slaves. They were once slaves but God set them free. Now in the land the Sabbath
will be a day of freedom for everyone. Remember in the ancient world the free people didn’t
have to work. The people who had to work were the slaves. So freedom and rest went together
in the ancient world.
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Someone ironically has said that this has become reversed over the last century. Today wealthy
people, who are well educated and have the most resources work the hardest and people at
the bottom of the social ladder don’t work and are not allowed to work in our society.
• Refreshment for animals, slaves and aliens (Exod 23:12)
Secondly, it’s not just that the slaves are to have rest and enjoy freedom. Let’s look at the
second reason in Ex. 23:12.
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“Six days you shall do your work, but on the seventh day you shall rest; that your ox and
your donkey may have rest, and the son of your servant woman, and the alien, may be
refreshed.
Here there is a very interesting verb. It has to do with nephish, which has to do with throat and
breathing. The verb from that noun means to take a breather, a time of rest. In this passage we
have a slightly different form of the verb, which means to take a rest in order to be refreshed.
Notice that is says that your donkey, slave, and alien are to have rest so that they may be
refreshed. An alien is one who lives in the land but is not as a landowner and therefore is an
employee. It is a time when animals, servants, and aliens can stop and take a breath and get
refreshed.
• Rest for slaves (Deut 5:14)
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but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you
or your son or your daughter or your male servant or your female servant, or your ox or your
donkey or any of your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates, that your male
servant and your female servant may rest as well as you.
Lastly, we’ve already seen this, that the slaves may rest. Now another important verb here
means to stop working. So the emphasis here is not so much on the resting side of it but on the
not working side of it.
Positively the word for rest means to sit down and enjoy not working. So it’s not just not
working but it is enjoying not working. From this comes a noun which means two things. First,
enjoying resting from work and a time of rest. The Sabbath is a time of rest. And secondly it is
also the noun for a place of rest because if you are going to rest, you don’t walk, you don’t
stand, you don’t run around, you sit. So this word can also mean to sit down in a particular
place. So you have three things: the act of resting, the time when you rest, and a place where
you rest. All three go together.
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Now, what is the reason for the observance of rest? God rested on the seventh day so that he
could bless that day and sanctify that day. This is very strange because normally God blesses
people and sanctifies things and people.
• Blessing (Exod 20:11)
Here you get something that is rather abstract. Time is blessed, a day is blessed. Time is made a
means of blessing.
• Sanctification (Exod 20:11; cf. 31:13)
A day is made holy so that that day becomes a means by which God communicates his holiness
and people share in God’s holiness.
So how do the Jews share in the blessing that God gives? Before we answer that, there is
blessing in the order of creation that all human beings enjoy that comes by virtue of working.
You work with God in life and you receive blessing. But there is a different kind of blessing given
here. It doesn’t come from work but it comes from rest. Now if we jump ahead to the NT, we
find that the blessing that comes from rest is the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Secondly the day becomes the means by which Israel shares in God’s holiness. So God, who
made Israel his people, sanctifies Israel every seventh day by their resting on that day. So how
do the Israelites remain holy? By observing the Sabbath every week. And then what does that
do to their work during the rest of the week? It makes their work holy work. Since they are
holy, the work they do is holy work. When they work, they work with God and that work is holy
work.
So the seventh day takes all the work of the week and offers it to God so that it is sanctified.
That is the emphasis in the old covenant, taking the secular work and sanctifying it. In the new
covenant, it is the other way around. Since we are holy therefore the work we do is holy. So the
beginning of the week, Sunday, is the holy day on which we are sanctified with the Word of God
and prayer and therefore that means that whatever you do is holy.
Now, point #8 is a very interesting feature. There is a connection that is drawn in the OT
between the day of rest, the seventh day, and the place of rest, the place of rest for God and
then people with God.
• Land (Josh 1:13)
So both Joshua and Deuteronomy says that God has provided rest for his people where? In
what place? In the promised land. So God not only gives them a time of rest, but also a place of
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rest. So the time of rest, which was given first, points to the place of rest and prepares them for
it.
• Temple (Ps 95:11; 132:14)
And then even more remarkably God establishes a temple and that temple is something rather
strange. Let’s read two passages: Ps. 95:11 and Ps. 132:14 and see if you can get the odd
reversal that is evident here. Actually, let’s read Ps. 95:6-11.
6
Oh come, let us worship and bow down;
let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker!
7
For he is our God,
and we are the people of his pasture,
and the sheep of his hand.
Today, if you hear his voice,
8
do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah,
as on the day at Massah in the wilderness,
9
when your fathers put me to the test
and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work.
10
For forty years I loathed that generation
and said, “They are a people who go astray in their heart,
and they have not known my ways.”
11
Therefore I swore in my wrath,
“They shall not enter my rest.”
The twist is that instead of them not entering their rest, God says, “They shall not enter my
rest.” This is not his time of rest but his place of rest. Where is God’s place of rest? Remember
that this is a psalm that is sung as people come into God’s presence at the temple. So there is a
warning to the people as they come to the temple: Listen to his voice. Why is this important?
Because people who didn’t listen to his voice, their ancestors in the wilderness, didn’t enter
God’s place of rest, which is the promised land. But in this psalm the focus is on a different
place of rest. Just as those who didn’t listen to the voice of God didn’t enter the place of rest,
the promised land with God, so you who are coming into God’s presence now in the divine
service, if you don’t listen to God’s voice you won’t enter God’s rest. But what is rest here in
this passage? It is actually all three meanings of the word rest. You won’t rest with God, the
activity. You will not enter the time of rest, the Sabbath. You won’t enter the place of rest,
which is the temple. The temple is God’s place of rest and it is also the place of rest where his
people rest with God.
Ps. 132
13
For the LORD has chosen Zion;
he has desired it for his dwelling place:
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“This is my resting place forever;
here I will dwell, for I have desired it
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This is clear also in Ps. 132:14. His dwelling place on Zion is the temple. It is the place where he
is enthroned. The temple where God dwells is also God’s place of rest. At the temple God rests
with his people. It is the place where people can come and enjoy resting with God. And this is
connected to the divine service.
Now, one final feature of OT and then a bit of NT. You will remember that there is a strange
feature in Genesis that I pointed to. You have seven days in which God orders his creation. After
each one of the six days you get a closure: there was evening and morning the first day, etc. But
the pattern is broken on the seventh day because there is no closure. There is no evening and
morning the seventh day. Why is there no closure? The Rabbis quite rightly exegete this
correctly. And this is a fundamental part of Jewish theology and Sabbatical theology in Judaism
to the present day. They say, the seventh day is in time, but it is also outside of time. It is a day
without end. It is a day that is a foretaste of eternity in time. It is a foretaste of the age to come
while still in this age. It is a foretaste of the messianic age while still in the old age of judgment.
It is a foretaste of heaven here on earth.
Or another way a modern Rabbi puts it is that the Sabbath is a sanctuary, a holy place in time.
Modern Jewish thinking makes a great deal of this because they no longer have a sanctuary in
space. The temple is no longer there so they don’t have a physical, geographical holy place.
What is the only holy place they have? The Sabbath. Every seventh day is a foretaste of
eternity.
We are about to enter Holy Week so this Sabbath business will be very important. What does
Jesus do on the seventh day of Holy Week, which is an extraordinary Sabbath? He rests on the
Sabbath. Where did he rest? In the tomb. He rests so that the Father can do his work on him,
which is what? Raise him from the dead. The eighth day, which then is Sunday, is the beginning
of something new. It begins the new age, which is not just a foretaste of eternity in time, but is
the beginning of eternity. For more on this, read Art Just’s commentary on Luke, which is an
excellent resource.
Secondly, the letter to the Hebrews picks up all this on the Sabbath and gives it an interesting
twist. It says all the Israelites didn’t enter, not the time of rest, but God’s place of rest because
they didn’t hear the Gospel. But we who have heard the Gospel enter the day of rest. Not the
earthly day of rest, but the eternal rest of God. How do we enter that rest? By listening to the
Gospel. And through the Gospel, letting God do his work on us. And then in faith we rest in
Christ so that God can do his work on us.
Luther picks up on this and uses that to explain the third commandment. Have you ever noticed
how odd Luther’s explanation of the third commandment is? He doesn’t focus on the day of
rest but on the Word. So all the focus is not on the day but on hearing the Word of God
because it is the Word of God that is most holy and makes us holy and keeps us holy. And it is
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through hearing the Word of God that we observe the eternal Sabbath. We enter our heavenly
place of rest. We have access to heaven here on earth. We begin to live in the new age even
though we are still living in the old age.
(Dr. Kleining asked if there were any questions about Sabbatical theology. A student wasn’t
clear on the difference between the Ten Commandments in Exodus and Deuteronomy. The
emphasis between the two is different because the location is different. Some scholars think
there are differences because Deuteronomy corrects Exodus. Exodus says the reason why the
Israelites are to rest is because God rested and sanctified the seventh day and blessed it. Their
argument was that Deuteronomy wasn’t happy with its focus on the day and God resting and
the day being a source of blessing and holiness, so the reason for resting is changed because of
their liberation from Egypt. But they overlook the simple fact is that they are talking about two
different things. Whereas Exodus talks about the reason for resting, Deuteronomy talks about
the goal of resting. The Israelites are to rest together with their children and their animals and
their slaves and even with aliens so that all of them can be refreshed. Deuteronomy is looking
forward to life in the land, whereas Exodus is reflecting life in the desert. So there isn’t a
contradiction but two different emphases. Both of them are complementary.)
(Some observations about rest in our society. One difference between life in western societies
and life in third world societies is sleep disorders. It’s gotten so bad that people don’t even rest
when they sleep. And after working all week, people work harder on the weekend, and even
harder on holidays. We live in a society that is chronically unable to let go and rest. Our society
is threatened by two things: resting and silence. This affects our physical health and
psychological health but most of all it is a mark of a bad conscience. That’s because if you stop
working then you have to face up reality and your conscience kicks in. It is a mark of a society
that almost collectively tries to suppress the conscience. So it’s really an important spiritual
problem that you will be facing.)
(Rest is something needed for our society. Just as an aside, there has been a shift in the
theology of worship that Dr. Kleinig has noticed in his lifetime. When he grew up the basic
emphasis was on hearing the Word of God and receiving the Sacrament. Then in the 1970’s and
1980’s there was an emphasis in getting people involved in worship. Not involved in receiving
but involved in working, doing. So for most people, worship, Sunday stuff, devotional life is just
one demand after another. It’s more work. Instead of it being a work free time and space, a
time just to be, the church “markets it” as an additional demand. It’s more work and harder
work. A challenge to your generation is to reposition the whole business of work and devotional
life so that the emphasis is on the contemplative side rather than the active side, on receiving
rather than on doing. Worship should be a time and a place to be unburdened. But you can’t do
this by dodging the question of conscience. That is the point that Hebrews makes.)
(Something else that Dr. Kleinig has noticed. You walk down the street and people have ipods in
their ears. Almost everyone you meet when walking has them. What’s going on here? You can
say they enjoy music or something else. But the fact is that they don’t want silence. Silence is
not just dead, empty space. It is threatening. It is frightening. It is a kind of an escapist thing. It
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is the same thing with our chronic watching of TV. We try and fill every space we have. We
can’t just be. This occurs in worship to. People don’t like silence. But it is important to introduce
silence into worship services. And you can do it small bits. And in the service you tie it in not to
what the people are doing but to what God is doing. So maybe after the reception of the
Sacrament pause for a short time of silence or after each intercession have a short period of
silence or before confession or after the absolution or after a reading. It is time to receive, time
to be.)
(More discussion on silence and rest.)
(Actually resting ties right in to the heart of our Lutheran theology. That is what justification is
all about. Ultimately resting is not a matter of just being silent, it’s not a matter of doing
nothing, but it is a matter of having faith. Hebrews makes that point. We enter the rest of faith.
Faith is the most profound resting. We rest on Christ. Jesus says, “Come unto me all you who
labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.” I will give you a place of rest, a time of rest,
and restfulness. That is what faith is: resting on Christ. That is the first part of Lutheran
theology.
The second part is that you won’t be able to enter that spiritual place of rest if you have a bad
conscience. And this is found in Hebrews. And that ties to this compulsive element in our
society with its chronic bad conscience. You will only really be able to rest if you have a good
conscience. The rest comes from a good conscience. There is a lovely German saying: A good
conscience is the best cushion of all. The idea is that a good conscience is the presupposition for
spiritual resting in Christ and with Christ. And it is also something that continues when you
work, so that your work is done in faith, your work comes from Christ, it comes from faith in
Christ, it comes from receiving. And it doesn’t come from a compulsion of having to justify
yourself or make something of yourself, to justify yourself by works. Rather it comes from
justification by grace. I am justified. I am somebody. I am forgiven. Things are right between
God and me, therefore I can relax and live in a relaxed way. We’ve taken a lot of time on this,
but I think it is something you need to hear. We will not get through less of this course because
of it, but this topic will be crucial in your lives.)
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Lecture OT-16a
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g. The tabernacle and the divine service
1. THE TABERNACLE
a. God's 'residence' where he 'resided' with his people (Exod 25:8-9)
b. God's 'sanctuary'
• Holy of Holies: God's throne room
• Holy Place: God's audience room with priests
• Courtyard: the place of assembly before God
c. God's 'tent of meeting'
• Altar of incense where God 'meets' with the priests (Exod 30:6)
• Altar for burnt offering where God 'meets' with Israel (Exod 29:42-43)
• Daily burnt offering as 'meeting time'
• Congregation as the 'meeting'

The topic today is the tabernacle and divine service, which is a topic that is very near and dear
to Dr. Kleinig. We’ll have a look first of all at the tabernacle and then at what happens at the
tabernacle, the divine service. As part of his gift to his people at Mt. Sinai, as part of his side of
the covenant with his people he gave them the divine service and everything that has to do
with the divine service, the priesthood, the tabernacle, and then the ritual service that was
enacted every morning and every evening at the tabernacle. Today we are going to look at this
more closely and touch on the main theological parts of this. However the danger is that we
abstract the theology to a set of ideas apart from the practicalities of what occurs. That is a big
danger for us modern people. We get ideas that float loose from concrete realities.
1. THE TABERNACLE
The most concrete reality is the tabernacle itself. I will describe it for you. (Dr. Kleinig put up an
overhead showing the layout of the tabernacle.) The description will go from the outside to the
inside. The tabernacle was an open air sanctuary, fenced in on the outside by a curtain. There
was only one entrance, which was on the east side. The tabernacle is designed in the form of
cubes. The outer court was in a cube shape. And then there was the inner court, which was also
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in a cubed shape. The altar for burnt offering was cube shaped. The Holy of Holies was cubed
shaped. And the Holy Place was a double cube.
Inner Court Table of Shewbread Outer Court Altar for Burnt Offering
East Side
Entrance
Most Holy Place Ark Holy Place Wash Basin

Curtain Altar of Incense Lampstand
The precincts themselves fall into two parts. There is the outer court and at the center of it was
the altar for burnt offering. And then there was the inner part of the tabernacle and the center
of it was the Ark of the Covenant with the Mercy Seat and the cherubim, which forms God’s
throne in the Holy of Holies. So the two central features are the Altar for Burnt Offering and the
Mercy Seat, the throne of God.
Coming in from the East is the Altar for Burnt Offering. There are steps that lead up to it. And
the altar has four horns on the four corners of it. Then between the Altar for Burnt Offering and
the entrance to the tabernacle, you have the wash basin, the laver. The priest on duty would
wash his hands and feet before he enters and leaves the Holy Place.
Then we come to the inner court. The closer you get to the Ark, the holier the space gets. The
entire area (inner and outer courts) is considered the sanctuary and is holy. The holiest parts of
the outer court are the Altar and Basin. They are most holy. Only a priest is allowed to approach
them and touch them.
The inner court is a tent. It is God’s personal residence here on earth. It is a mobile residence.
The Holy Place is the public space of his residence. This could be considered his office, the place
where God the King interacts with his courtiers, the priests. And the Most Holy Place is his
private quarters. The priest on duty entered the Holy Place each morning and evening to
interact with God.
There are three items of furniture in the Holy Place. (1) There is the Altar of Incense, which
stood just before the curtain that separated the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place. The
curtain is not a single curtain. It is a double curtain. To enter the Most Holy Place, you had to go
to one end and go through one curtain, travel between the curtains to the other end, and then
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enter through the other curtain to get to the Mercy Seat, God’s throne. (So Hebrews talks
about us having a new and living way through the curtain of Christ’s flesh.)
(2) The second piece of furniture is the Table for Shewbread. On this table were twelve round
pita loaves of bread, flat bread loaves made of unleavened bread. They were in two piles of six.
Next to the loaves were bowls with incense in them. The loaves are changed every Sabbath
Day. They are called the Bread of the Presence. On the Sabbath Day the incense is burned along
with the regular incense on the Incense Altar and the bread, which is most holy and therefore
communicates God’s holiness, is eaten by the priests on duty. On the Sabbath, the old bread is
eaten and new bread is placed on the table.
(3) The third piece of furniture is the Lampstand. It has seven branches to it and each branch
has a cup that contains a bowl for the seven lamps. It uses very precious olive oil. It is made in
such a way that it looks like an almond tree with almond flowers and almonds. These seven
lamps give light to the Holy Place. Every morning and every evening the priest on duty attends
to the lamps. He trims the lamps and makes sure they have oil.
The Altar of Incense is square and has four horns on it. The priest puts coals on it that he gets
from the Altar for Burnt Offering. On top of the coals he puts incense, a very pungent incense.
The incense that is used can only be used at the tabernacle. It cannot be used anywhere else for
any other purposes. It is most holy and therefore anything that it permeates becomes holy. And
notice that the incense is burned in front of the throne of God. The altar is separated from
God’s presence by a curtain.
Normally, no one enters the Most Holy Place. And it is has no light in it. It is totally and utterly
dark. The double curtain helps to ensure this. Only once a year on the Day of Atonement does
the high priest enter that most holy of holy places. When he enters, he sprinkles blood both on
the floor and on the Mercy Seat. That is the basic arrangement of the tabernacle.
Everything concerning the tabernacle is significant liturgically and theologically. There is

something here that is surprising. If this were a pagan sanctuary, what would be located in the
Holy of Holies? An idol. For pagans, their most holy place had the brightest and strongest light.
But here it is completely dark. And instead of an idol, there was an empty throne. For pagan
people, if they wanted to meet with their gods, they would go to the most holy place and bow
before the idol. But the Most Holy Place is not the meeting place for God and his people. Where
does God meet with his people? At the Altar for Burnt Offering. That is the meeting place.
There is also something strange in the outer court. For pagan people, the altar was the place
where they sacrificed (killed) the animals. But for Israel, the killing does not occur at the altar.
The killing of the animals and the preparation of the sacrifice that is offered to God is done on
the north side of the courtyard. The altar is used as a table rather than as a killing site.
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(Student questions, about killing of the animals, the presence of God, access to their gods, the
importance of all the squares and cubes, the order of Israel’s worship vs. the disorder of pagan
worship, the incense used.)
Keep this picture of the tabernacle and its furnishing in mind as we go through some of the
theology of the tabernacle and the rituals that are performed there. God institutes certain
rituals so that through the performance of those rituals God meets with and interacts with his
people. Human beings don’t set the agenda. God sets the agenda so that he can deliver the gifts
that he wants to give to his people rather than receive gifts from them. If there was time we
could spend an entire course going over the details of the tabernacle, the priest’s garments, the
sacrificial rituals, etc. Everything is significant symbolically. And it all connects with a central
fact.
What is that central fact? The one and only God whose glory is hidden in a cloud in the Holy of
Holies comes and makes himself known, makes himself available, makes himself accessible to
his people at the altar. And he comes there to bless his people. And the people come to the
altar to meet with God and to present their petitions to God and to receive blessings from God.
Everything focuses on that interaction, that reality. A holy God meets with an unclean, sinful
people in a way that is beneficial and not detrimental to both parties. It doesn’t desecrate
God’s holiness and it doesn’t destroy or damage the people because of their sinfulness. That is
the central purpose of all of this. So everything about the tabernacle and its rituals is designed
by God to make that possible.
a. God's 'residence' where he 'resided' with his people (Exod 25:8-9)
Knowing this, let’s consider the tabernacle itself. What are we talking about when we talk about
the tabernacle? It is the tent structure that we just went over and diagrammed. But you need
to understand that the tabernacle never exists by itself. It exists within this enclosed area, this
curtained off space. It is part of an open aired sanctuary. The most significant place for a
layperson was not the Holy Place and Most Holy Place, but the Altar for Burnt Offering in the
outer court. Even though the people do not go in the tabernacle, they know what is inside.
Unlike other religions nothing is hidden. They all know what’s in there. There are no secret
doctrines. There are no secret esoteric rites. This is all open knowledge.
Let’s look at the terms for the tabernacle now. Let’s turn to Ex. 25:8-9.
8
And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst. 9 Exactly as I show you
concerning the pattern of the tabernacle, and of all its furniture, so you shall make it.
There are a couple of things here we want to look at. First, he says “according to the pattern I
will show them.” Up on the mountain God shows Moses the heavenly prototype from which he
will build a copy here on earth. So when the tabernacle is built, it will be a copy of what exists in
the heavenly realm. So God’s true residence is there in heaven. Moses is shown the master plan
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up in heaven of what he is to build here on earth. This word for pattern, model, copy is very
important.
Secondly, the thing that Moses is to build is given two names. First it is usually translated as
tabernacle, which is most unfortunate. The word it comes from means “to dwell, to reside, to
be at home.” It is a concrete term that refers to the place where a person lives, his dwelling
place, his residence. This tent is to be God’s dwelling place, his residence, his home. As we said,
it is normally translated as “tabernacle” and most people don’t have a clue of what tabernacle
means. Tabernacle is a Latin word that means a tent. When it’s translated that way, the
theology is always lost. A better translation would be “a dwelling place” or “a residence.”
The remarkable thing is that God, whose proper place of residence is in heaven, chooses to live
in the middle of his people, with his people. This is very significant theologically. From this
comes the Hebrew word shekinah, his dwelling with his people, the dwelling of his glory with
his people. The glory cloud is his shekinah, his dwelling.
b. God's 'sanctuary'
Secondly, they are to build a sanctuary. The first picture is that the tabernacle is God’s
residence. If it is God’s residence, what does that mean practically for the Israelites? For
instance, if you know where I live, that means you can come and visit me. So it is the same for
God. You can come and visit with him at his dwelling place. He gives you access to himself at
this place.
In a broad sense, sanctuary refers to the whole thing, both inner and outer courts. Sanctuary
simply means holy place. All of it is holy because it all belongs to God. It is God’s place. More
narrowly, the sanctuary is the tabernacle proper, the Holy Place, Most Holy Place, the wash
basin, and the Altar for Burnt Offering. This was the zone that only the priests were allowed to
go into. The Levites could go anywhere in the other areas and the Israelites could only come in
the area before the Altar for Burnt Offering.
Take note that the Hebrew terms used here have a wide range of meaning and can be used in
different ways in different contexts. So the term “the holy place” sometimes might refer to the
whole tabernacle complex and at other times it may only refer to the Holy Place. The most
hidden place is called the Holy of Holies. To repeat a word in Hebrew is to give it a superlative
meaning. So this place is the holiest of all holy places. Other places are made holy because of
the holiness of this place.
So the language here indicates that we are dealing with God’s holiness and in this place God
shares his holiness, not just with people but also with places and things. So corresponding with
this there is a graded system of holiness.
 Some things are most holy. They communicate holiness. Contact with them makes
people, places, and things holy. If you touch the Altar or the laver then you become
holy.
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 Some things are holy. They derive their holiness from the most holy things but in and of
themselves they are not holy and they do not communicate holiness. An example of this
is a priest. He is holy because he comes into contact with most holy things, but if you
touch a priest you don’t become holy.
In terms of places, there is graded access to God. The closer you come to God, the holier the
place is. And in the next unit we will see that the closer you come, the demand for ritual purity
becomes higher. The demands for purity are highest for the high priest, and then comes the
priests, the Levites, and finally the Israelites.
• Holy of Holies: God's throne room

• Holy Place: God's audience room with priests
• Courtyard: the place of assembly before God
c. God's 'tent of meeting'
• Altar of incense where God 'meets' with the priests (Exod 30:6)
• Altar for burnt offering where God 'meets' with Israel (Exod 29:42-43)
• Daily burnt offering as 'meeting time'
• Congregation as the 'meeting'
The purpose for the tabernacle structure is for God to meet with his people. I want to go over
with you some very important terminology, which is not evident in our translation. It all hinges
on the notion of meeting. When I say meeting, I’m not talking about two people who happen to
bump into each other and then correspond with each other. Meeting here refers to an official,
arranged meeting of an important person with someone who is inferior to him. An example
might be a meeting that is arranged between the president of the USA and you. When the
meeting is set up, it is set up at a particular time and place. The symbolism here is one of
citizens meeting with a king. So we have royal imagery, royal terminology.
There are three important words that are used here.

 The first word means “to arrange to meet.” Moses told pharaoh that Yahweh had
arranged to meet with his people in the desert.
A more common meaning is “to meet with a person at a prescribed time and place.” It
means to meet in audience with a king. It would be difficult for any of us to set up a
meeting with our president or prime minister but in the ancient world it was possible to
arrange such a meeting.
Why would someone want to meet with their king? Why would a king arrange to meet
with is people? And why would people want to meet with their king? People could
present petitions to the king. And the petitions could be for yourself or for other people.
And so that is the point of this meeting with God. His people could petition him and God
wants to meet with them so he can give them gifts.
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 Another word means “meeting time.” God has set certain times to meet with his people.
At the Tabernacle there are: (1) meeting times everyday, morning and evening. (2)
Meeting times every month, new moon and full moon. (3) Annual meeting times.
Among the annual meeting times are pilgrim festivals, which are Tabernacles, Passover,
and Pentecost.
This same word can also mean “meeting place.” The tabernacle is God’s meeting place.
It is sometimes called the Tent of Meeting. The Holy Place is the Tent of Meeting for God
and the priest on duty. This is similar to the US president meeting with his Chief of Staff.
The third way this word can be used is that it refers to what you do at this time and
place. You meet with someone. God interacts with his people.
 The third word is very important term. This word refers to the people who meet with
God at that place and at those times. We would call them the congregation. So the
congregation of Israel is the people who every morning and every evening meet with
God. There is another term that refers to everyone who has met with God over the
entire year. We might call this the assembly of people or the church.
Think about this in terms of your church. Say your church has a membership of 400. But
on any particular Sunday only about 150 people actually assemble at church. We would
refer to the 150 people as the congregation that Sunday by Sunday meets with God and
receive his blessings and petition God for their needs and the needs of others. We
would refer to the total 400 members as the church.
This use of terminology gives you a basic theology of worship. Theologically speaking, what is
the point of the tabernacle and the ritual that is performed at the tabernacle? It is very simple.
It is the place where God can meet with his people. And the miracle is that God, who resides in
heaven, comes to meet with his people here on earth. They don’t go up to heaven in ecstasy to
meet with him. He meets them where they are here on earth. And even more remarkably, he
doesn’t make a part of the world permanently holy. Instead he makes his holy presence
available in the middle of his sinful, unclean people.
The miracle is that everything here is arranged to do what is spiritually impossible to do. What
is it that is impossible? Let’s state this as bluntly as possible. If you bring fire into contact with
petrol (gasoline), what will happen to the petrol? It will burn up. If you bring light into the
presence of darkness, what will happen to the darkness? It will disappear. If you bring a holy
God into the presence of anyone or anything unclean what is God’s holiness going to do? His
holiness will obliterate it. It will only leave what is clean behind.
Is there such a thing a clean person in Israel? No. So it should be impossible for any Israelite to
come into the presence of the holy God without being destroyed. How then is it possible for an
unclean people to come into the presence of and meet with their holy God? How can they meet
with God without them desecrating God’s holiness and incurring God’s wrath? How can they
meet with holy God without dying? The answer is given in the ritual. The whole ritual is
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designed to insulate God from the people and the people from God, not by separating them but
by allowing them to come together. I’m trying to use a secular analogy to describe how
people’s impurity can be covered over, removed, or purified so that even sinful people can
meet with a holy God in such a way that they receive nothing but blessing. We will explore this
after the break.
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Lecture OT-16b
v=ZY3RFmGDBSA&list=PL32Gjc1uEM1AUR8LC9JlceA9xFSeZs25Z&index=27

1. THE TABERNACLE
...
2. THE DAILY PUBLIC SACRIFICIAL RITUAL
a. Performance of the public service for Israel each morning and evening
• Presentation of male lamb as a burnt offering with its grain, oil, and
wine offering
• Daily meeting of the Lord with his people like a king with his people
(Exod 29:42-46)
• Coming of God to bless his people (Exod 20:24).
• Appearance of God in glory in the fire on the altar (Lev 9:6, 23-24)
• Bridge between heaven and earth (2 Chr 7:12-16)
b. Public offerings in the daily divine service
• Daily burnt offering with additional animals for festivals
• Daily grain offering of flour, incense, olive oil, and wine
• Additional sin offering at festivals
c. Order of daily burnt offering: three main parts.
...
d. God's activity in and through the service
...

1. THE TABERNACLE
...
In this session I’d like to look at the daily ritual, the morning and evening sacrifice. The problem
is for us modern people that we like to generalize and we lose a lot that way. There is no
general term for sacrifice in the OT. The OT term means “to bring near and present to God.”
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What we are talking about here is two things: the daily burnt offering and the daily grain
offering. Every morning and every evening the divine service is enacted in Israel.
• Presentation of male lamb as a burnt offering with its grain, oil, and
wine offering
On the face of it, it looks like people are bringing a meal to God. This is because they bring the
basic food stuffs as their offering. They bring meat, bread, and wine. So every morning and
every evening a male lamb is burnt on the altar together with some grain mixed with olive oil
and some wine is poured out on the altar. The grain flour is mixed with incense, so that when
you put the flour on the altar it produces a sweet smelling cloud of smoke.
In the ancient world, people didn’t eat meat every day. They ate it only on special occasions. So
this is not an ordinary meal but a special feast. It looks like it is offered to God every morning
and every evening but it is not what it seems. It’s upside down. The food is not brought into
God’s presence in the Holy of Holies but it is burnt up on the altar. And then there is a paradox.
God takes the offerings that the people bring and he uses it to provide a meal for his priests.
And on festive occasions he uses them to provide a meal for his people.
• Daily meeting of the Lord with his people like a king with his people
(Exod 29:42-46)
Secondly, as we’ve already indicated, every morning and every evening there is a meeting
between God and his people. The key text for the theology of worship in the OT is found in Ex.
29: 38-46. Dr. Kleinig provided his own literal translation. These verses come immediately after
the law for the establishment of the altar. These verses describe what is done on the altar with
the morning and evening sacrifices. You get a basic description of what is done and then you
get the basic theological significance. Let’s look at what is said there.
38 Now this is what you shall do (“what you shall do” is the ritual you are to perform. When
Jesus said, Do this in remembrance of me, he was saying, Do this ritual.) at the altar: two lambs
a year old each day as a regular enactment. 39 You shall do one lamb in the morning and
another you shall do in the evening. 40 And with the first lamb a tenth of a ephah of fine flour
mixed with a fourth of a hin of oil from pressed olives and a fourth of a hin of wine for a drink
offering. 41 And the other lamb you shall do in the evening. You shall do with it a grain
offering and its drink offering, as in the morning (Now we bridge from the description to the
theological significance.) for a pleasing aroma, a gift that belongs to the Lord, 42 a regular
burnt offering throughout your generations at the entrance to the tent of meeting before the
face of the Lord...
Two things to explain here. (1) First of all the face, the presence of God is very clearly identified
as the altar. So where does God show his face? Where do the Israelites have access to the face
of God? At the altar, which is at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. When they stand in front
of the altar, they stand in the presence of God. (2) And then the purpose of this offering is to
produce “a pleasing aroma, a gift that belongs to God.” Now the pleasing aroma consists of the
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following. By itself, if you burn flour, it produces an acrid smell. But the flour is mixed with the
purest of pure olive oil and it’s mixed with very strong incense. And the flour is place over the
meat, which in turn is placed on red hot coals. So what is the sweet aroma that is produced? It
is the smell of meat barbequing together with the smell of incense smoke. The Israelites don’t
see the fire but they see the column of smoke that has a sweet smell to it. It is an incense
bearing cloud.
What is the symbolism here? It is not only sweet smelling to the people, but it is sweet to God,
which means that God is pleased with this offering. And he accepts not only the offering, but
who does he regard favorably? He accepts not only the offering but also the people who bring
it. So in that regard the offering represents the people. If God looks favorably on the offering
then he looks favorably on the people who bring it. As the people stand before the altar, they
also smell the sweet smell. And that tells them that God is pleased with them. That incense
preaches. It preaches that God is pleased with them. It shows that God is sweet towards them.
Paul by the way uses incense in connection with the preaching of the Gospel. And this is where
he gets it from.
(Student question. Dr. Kleinig reviews the procedure followed by the priests to prepare for and
make the sacrifice. They prepare the coals and then spread the cut up sacrifice over the altar on
top of the coals. Then on top of the burnt offering they place the grain offering, which is the
flammable mixture of very fine flour with olive oil and incense. It burns immediately and
produces a cloud of smoke. And then if there are other offerings that are brought by people
during the day, those offerings are placed on top of the burnt offering. And at the end of the
day, another lamb is placed on top of all the other offerings and burned. So you have a lamb on
the bottom and a lamb on top and other offerings in between. If you go to the NT, all of our
offerings to God are placed on and included in the great offering, which is Jesus himself. Our
offerings go through Jesus and with Jesus.)
Now what is the significance of this? What we’ve looked at so far legislates the daily offering.
Next we get the significance of it. Take note of what God does.
42 (continued) where I will meet with you (plural-the Israelites) to speak to you (singular-
Moses, Aaron, or priest on duty). 43 I will meet there with the children of Israel so that they
may be sanctified by my glory. (glory=God’s hidden presence. That glory is revealed by that
cloud of smoke and the sweetness of the cloud. In that cloud God meets with his people and his
presence in that smoke make and keeps his people holy. It communicates his holiness to them.)
44 And I will sanctify the Tent of Meeting (the Holy Place) and the altar. And I will also sanctify
Aaron and his sons to serve me as priests. 45 And I will dwell in the midst of the children of
Israel so that I might be their God. (Remember that from God’s covenant with Abraham? He
promised he would be their God. That promise is fulfilled in the daily ritual/sacrifice. In it God
dwells with his people so that he can serve them as their God and act as their God. So vv. 42b –
45 is God’s side of it theologically. What does God do? He meets with his people; he speaks to
his people through the priest; he sanctifies his people; and he dwells with his people, so that he
can serve them and act as their God. And as far as the people are concerned, as a result of this
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they get to know God (see next verse).) 46 so that they will know that I am YHWH their God
who brought them out of the land of Egypt to dwell among them. I am YHWH their God.
In these verses you have a whole theology of worship.
(Student question clarifying what God does in the divine service at the tabernacle. (1) First off,
God meets with his people. (2) Second, he speaks with his people. (3) Third, God sanctifies his
people, the priests, and the whole tabernacle. And notice that he doesn’t sanctify them at just
one point. It is an ongoing thing. Every day he shares his holiness with his people, with the
priests, with the place. (4) Fourth, he dwells in their midst. (5) Five, he does all of this in order
to be their God.
When God speaks to his people, he speaks through the priests. And the only word the priests
speak to the people is the Aaronic Benediction. So God meets with his people to speak, not
judgment, but blessing to them.
And the result of God doing all these things is so that Israel gets to know him. They don’t just
get to know about him but they get to know him personally as their God, the God who isn’t just
up in heaven, but the God who dwells with them and meets with them here on earth.)
• Coming of God to bless his people (Exod 20:24).
Let’s take a look at the next passage: Ex. 20:22-24. We’ve just touched on this a little bit.
22
And the Lord said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the people of Israel: ‘You have seen for
yourselves that I have talked with you from heaven. 23 You shall not make gods of silver to be
with me, nor shall you make for yourselves gods of gold. 24 An altar of earth you shall make
for me and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your
oxen. In every place where I cause my name to be remembered I will come to you and bless
you.
God speaking from heaven is key here. He is saying, Since I speak to you therefore don’t make
any idols. Instead you are to make an altar. “In every place where I cause my name to be
remembered” has two ideas behind it. First, in every place I appear to you and say, I am the
Lord, that is the place where you are to build an altar and that is the place where I will speak my
name to my people and they can speak my name. At these places where an altar is built and
God speaks his name to his people, he will come and bless his people. So said quite simply, the
whole purpose of the daily burnt offering, the daily sacrifices is for God to bless his people. How
simple and yet how profound! God meets with his people to bless them.
When it talks about his name being remembered, it is talking about the Aaronic benediction.
The high point of the ritual is the priest saying, “YHWH bless you, keep you. YHWH make his
face shine on you and be gracious to you. YHWH lift up his face upon you and give you peace.”
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• Appearance of God in glory in the fire on the altar (Lev 9:6, 23-24)
Next, God appears in his glory in the fire on the altar. We’ve talked a lot in this course about
theophany and how theophany in Israel is different from pagan theophanies. Remember in
pagan theophanies, their god appears and shows his/her face. But when God appears to Israel,
it is a hidden theophany. He appears but he appears in a cloud. He hides himself to show
himself. He conceals himself in order to reveal himself. At Mt. Sinai his glory was hidden in a
cloud. And the same thing happens here at the daily sacrifice. Every morning and every evening
God shows his glory to his people. Let’s read about that in the story from Lev. 9, which
describes the inauguration of divine service. It is the first time the divine service was ever
celebrated. So it is a foundational event. Let’s read the key passages: Lev. 9:6, 23-24.
6
And Moses said, “This is the thing that the Lord commanded you to do, that the glory of the
Lord may appear to you.”
“This” refers to the daily sacrifice. They are to do this every day in order that the Lord may
appear in his glory to them. How does this theophany, this appearance by God, occur? Read
Lev. 9:23-24.
23
And Moses and Aaron went into the tent of meeting, and when they came out they blessed
the people, and the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people. 24 And fire came out from
before the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and the pieces of fat on the altar, and when
all the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their faces.
You need to realize at this point there was no holy fire. Moses and Aaron had placed the
offering on the altar. They had completed the ritual except that there was no fire to burn up the
offering. At the moment they stood in front of the altar and pronounced the Aaronic
Benediction on the people, fire came from the Holy of Holies, from the presence of YHWH, and
lit the Altar of Incense and Altar for Burnt Offering. And when the people saw it, they fell on
their faces, prostrating themselves before the altar because that fire was the fire of theophany.
Most likely the people didn’t see the fire itself but the cloud of smoke from the altar.
Now what this story indicates is that God’s theophany occurs every morning and every evening
whenever the burnt offering is presented on the altar. That is God’s theophany to his people.
It’s not a theophany where God comes in judgment. God doesn’t come to wipe them out. This
is a theophany of blessing. He appears to his people in order to bless them. Hence, the
coincidence of the two things. The moment the priest pronounced the blessing is the moment
when fire comes to burn the offering. This story connects the fire of God’s presence with the
blessing pronounced. God’s glory and his blessing are in separately together. The theophany is
reflected in the words of the benediction: “the Lord make his face shine/burning/lighting on
you.”
Now if you want to follow this through to the NT church, right from the beginning of the church
Christians held two things. One, Christians held that the theophany of God appears in Jesus
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Christ. Christ’s incarnation and particularly his suffering, death, and resurrection is the
theophany of God. God shows himself to humanity in the person of Jesus. All of John’s Gospel
unpacks that for us. John says, The Word became flesh and tabernacled among us. But it
doesn’t stop there. It continues: we have seen and continue to see his glory in the one and only
Son of God. We the church see the glory of Jesus. Where do we see his glory? Where is the
place of theophany for Christians? In the preaching of the Gospel, in the Lord’s Supper, at the
altar. The place of theophany is in the Divine Service. The Word and Sacraments are where God
reveals himself. The Sacrament is celebrated for theophany and that is why we sing the Song of
Simeon after we’ve received Holy Communion. Have you ever thought about that? We sing,
“for I have seen your salvation” ... “a light for the Gentiles and the glory of your people Israel.”
So what is our salvation? What is a light and glory? It is Christ who we hold in our hands in a
similar way as when Simeon held the Christ child.
• Bridge between heaven and earth (2 Chr 7:12-16)
Let’s look at another passage that occurred much later than Leviticus, 2 Chron. 7:12-16. This is
part of Solomon’s dedication of the temple. What applied to the tabernacle, later applied to the
temple as well.
12
Then the Lord appeared to Solomon in the night and said to him: “I have heard your prayer
and have chosen this place for myself as a house of sacrifice. 13 When I shut up the heavens so
that there is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my
people, 14 if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my
face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin
and heal their land. 15 Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayer that is
made in this place. 16 For now I have chosen and consecrated this house that my name may be
there forever. My eyes and my heart will be there for all time.
When the temple was consecrated, the fire once again came from the Holy Place and lit up the
altar. So what happened at the consecration of the tabernacle also happened at the
consecration of the temple. Now what does God say about the temple?
 First he says it’s a place of sacrifice.
 But it’s also a place of prayer. The Israelites can come to it to petition their heavenly
king.
 Thirdly, it’s a place where God puts his name. So it is a place where he gives them access
to himself.
 And through the temple and the daily sacrifices there God opens his ears and eyes to his
people. They have access to the ears of God, which means they can petition him. They
have access to the eyes of God, so they can meet with God and he can show them his
grace and favor. But most importantly, at this place they have access to the heart of
God.
So to put it most graphically, the temple and the daily burnt offering is the bridge between
heaven and earth. At this place human beings can access the heavenly king on earth. Here the
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heavenly king comes down to meet with his people on earth, to see them, to hear them, and to
open his heart to them.
(A question about how to understand the phrase “my heart.” When speaking of the heart, it
refers to the inner most self. It is not just feelings, although it includes feelings. We tend to
think of the heart in terms of emotions. In Hebrew it’s a bit broader than that. It’s the soul of a
person, the core of your being, the center of your being.)
So in the daily sacrifice, heaven and earth are bridged and God offers his whole self to Israel.
You need to distinguish the public offerings of the Israelites from the private family offerings. A
lot of people lump them all together. Every morning and evening a simple ritual is performed.
 One lamb is slaughtered and burnt on the altar.
 With the lamb, a couple of handfuls of flour are burnt on the altar.
That is the public sacrifice. Whether the Israelites were present or not, it was done on their
behalf by the priests every day.
• Daily burnt offering with additional animals for festivals
At other festivals other animals were offered. So for instance, on the Sabbath day, instead of
presenting one lamb, you presented two lambs and double the amount of flour. And for the
bigger festivals, there were additional animals.
• Daily grain offering of flour, incense, olive oil, and wine

• Additional sin offering at festivals
At festivals there were additional offerings. At those times a sin offering was presented in order
to purify and cleanse the congregation and the sanctuary. So there were additional public sin
offerings. The normal public offering was a burnt offering and grain offering. And this is
supplemented by a sin offering at the great festivals when the people come to meet with God.
During the next period we will talk about the personal/private offerings, the family offerings.
Families would bring their own offerings to God and they would do it two or three times a year
at the festivals. So we need to distinguish between public offerings and private/personal
offerings. The main public offering was the burnt offering. The main private offering was the
peace offering.
Very quickly we will go through the daily ritual. It occurred in the following stages. We will talk
about the significance of this in the next lesson.
 First thing in the morning the altar is prepared for sacrifice and everything needed for
the sacrifice is prepared. The fire is stoked and the ashes are removed.
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 After that the animal is slaughtered, blood is separated from the meat, and the animal is
divided.
 Then come the first part of the ritual. The priest stands by the altar and splashes half of
the blood on one side of the altar and the other half of the blood on another side [Dr.
Kleinig pointed to where this occurred, but I could not see it.]
 Then the priest washed his hands and feet, entered the Holy Place, and burned incense
on the Incense Altar.
 Then he went up the steps of the Altar for Burnt Offering and put the meat from lamb,
the flour mixed with olive oil and incense, and the wine on the altar.
 After that the priest on duty stood with the other priests in front of the altar and
pronounced the Aaronic Benediction to the people.
 The last thing the priest did was take the leftover flour and olive oil and baked it and
made bread from it. Since part of that flour was placed on the altar, it made the flour
most holy and therefore the bread made from it was most holy. And if it is most holy
then when the priests ate it, it conveyed God’s holiness to the priests. That should ring a
bell with you. We do the same in the Lord’s Supper.
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Lecture OT-17ab
v=QVXoCAMmHVw&list=PL32Gjc1uEM1AUR8LC9JlceA9xFSeZs25Z&index=28

1. THE TABERNACLE
...
...
...
• Rite of atonement before the entry of the priest into the Holy Place to
burn incense as a memorial act of intercession (Exod 30:7-8)
 Bears names of 12 tribes: Exod 28:29
 Bears God’s judgment: Exod 28:30
 Bears iniquity/guilt from the holy offerings of the people: Exod
28:36-38
• Burning up of the lamb with some flour, oil, and wine (Exod 29:38-41)
before the performance of the benediction (Lev 9:23; Num 7:22-27)
• Meal for the priests with the most holy bread from the grain offering
(Lev 6:14-18)
• Cleansing and forgiveness through the rite of atonement
• Acceptance of them and their prayers through the burnt offering 24
• Bestowal of blessing through the benediction
• Sanctification and fellowship through the sacred meal

1. THE TABERNACLE
...
...
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...
Today we want to take a look at the function and purpose of the daily service. First we will
recapitulate what we covered at the end of the last session.
 Every morning and every evening the priest on duty splashes the blood on the sides of
the altar. This is called atonement.
 Then he washes his hands and feet.
 After that assisting priests get some coals from the altar and some incense.
 The priest then enters the Holy Place, puts the coals on the Incense Altar, and then puts
the incense on top of the coals. The whole room fills up with sweet smelling smoke from
the incense burning. The priest would go in with human odor and come out with the
odor of holiness.
 Then came the smoking-up of the daily offering. The smoke came from the lamb and
incense on top of the lamb and a drink offering. That produced another sweet smelling
cloud of smoke. Over and over in the sacrificial ritual as a “sweet smelling savor/aroma
to the Lord that gives/provides rest.”
 Then the priest performs the Aaronic Benediction together with the other priests before
the Altar for Burnt Offering. (There are different traditions as to when exactly the
Benediction was pronounced. Theologically it doesn’t matter. The function is the same
whenever it was done.)
 After that the daily ritual was finished. And then the priest on duty along with his
assistants took the leftover flour and olive oil and made bread from it. That was their
daily meal, which was a holy meal that they ate in God’s presence as God’s servants.
God was the host of the meal and they were his guests.
 And once a week on the Sabbath they would eat the Shew Bread.
Now what is the function of this ritual?

• Rite of atonement before the entry of the priest into the Holy Place to
burn incense as a memorial act of intercession (Exod 30:7-8)
(1) First there was the rite of atonement. This involves splashing blood on the side of the altar.
Why is this the first act? Why doesn’t the priest go first into the Holy Place and then come out
to the altar? Why is this first? If he went first right into the presence of God, what would
happen to him? He would have been struck dead. His sin and all of the sin of the people needs
to be atoned for. Atonement involves a number of things, it involves purification from impurity.
It involves covering up uncleanness. It involves the forgiveness of sins. It involves putting away
uncleanness because if an unclean person comes into the presence of holy God then he will
come under the wrath of God. So it means putting aside, appeasing the wrath of God.
(Student question about purity and holiness. They are not the same thing. You have to be
purified before you are sanctified. They are closely connected to each other. You can’t be holy
unless you are first spiritually clean. So absolution does not make you holy, at least in OT terms.
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Things get more complex in the NT because everything is bundled together in Jesus. Absolution
doesn’t sanctify you. It purifies you so that you can be sanctified by the Word of God and the
body and blood of Christ. It purifies you so that you can share in God’s holiness. That is a very
important distinction.
On a general level we see atonement as basically bringing forgiveness. And we understand

forgiveness very, very narrowly as pardon from sin. But while the term for forgiveness in the OT
and NT does mean pardon from sin, it also means release from sin. The old term we used was
remission of sin, release from sin, freedom from sin. And not just the release from sin and the
guilt of sin but also release from the consequences of sin. So atonement involves forgiveness
but forgiveness in a broader sense, which is freedom from, release from, redemption from
impurity and its consequences. If you sin, your conscience knows it. It knows you are tainted,
you are contaminated. It makes you unclean. It makes your conscience unclean and you feel
unworthy and dirty in the presence of God.)
After the rite of atonement, there is the washing of the hands and the feet. Why are the hands
washed? Why are they washed before the priest takes up the coals, before the priest takes up
the most holy incense? What will he be handling with his hands? Holy things, holy fire, holy
incense. If he is going to handle holy things, his hands have to be clean. Similarly when Isaiah
was called to speak the holy Word, his lips had to be cleansed before he could speak the most
holy Word of God. So his hands have to cleansed because he will be handling the most holy
things. Likewise, why are his feet washed? Because when he goes in before the Lord he will be
standing on most holy ground. Therefore he needs to have clean feet.
So atonement is the first ritual act and it must occur first because none of the rest can happen
unless it occurs first. Atonement is not just for the priest but it is for all the people and it’s for
the whole sanctuary. Why does the sanctuary have to be atoned for? The sanctuary doesn’t sin
and yet it needs to be atoned for. Why? It needs to be cleansed of the impurity of the priests
and people.
(2) The second act in the divine service is the entry of the priest into the Holy Place to burn
incense as an act of intercession for God’s grace. Concerning this, we will read three different
passages: Ex. 30:7-8; Ex. 28:29-30; and Ex. 28:36-38. What we are going to read here has
enormous consequences for Christology. This Christology is mapped out most explicitly in the
book of Hebrews.
The basic premise is this. We tend rather carelessly to think that Jesus bears our iniquity
because he is the Lamb of God. He certainly is the Lamb of God but he is also our High Priest.
He is both Victim and Priest. He doesn’t bear our iniquity because he is the Victim but he bears
our iniquity because he is our High Priest. How does this work?
Here is the picture that you have to have in mind. When the High Priest or his deputy enters the
Holy Place, he wears the most holy vestments. We don’t know exactly when those vestments
were put on. Either they were put on before the sprinkling of blood or they were put on when
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the priest entered the Holy Place. They may have been kept in the Holy Place. He is wearing the
normal priestly robes but then over his head he puts on a turban. And on that turban there is a
plate and on that plate is a precious stone and that precious stone is engraved with “Holiness to
YHWH.” So he covers himself with God’s holiness and he bears the name of God on him. He
bears the name of God on his forehead. And the head then represents the whole body.
He also puts on the breastplate of judgment. There are two significant features about this
breastplate. One is that it has the names of the 12 tribes of Israel engraved on 12 precious
stones. They are located over his heart. So when the high priest enters into God’s presence, he
brings the names of the 12 tribes with him. So he comes into God’s presence bearing the name
of God and the names of the 12 tribes of Israel.
The second feature of the breastplate of judgment is the holy lots. They are called Urim and
Thummim. Those two lots were located in a pouch in the breastplate. These lots were cast to
determine God’s judgment on any particular matter.
(Discussion about the holy lots. They were something like dice. Each one had a name. Only the
high priest could use them and he had to use them in God’s presence. He would place the
matter before God and then by “randomly” selecting a lot he would get the answer from God. If
it was a complicated decision, they would break it down into its binary components so that the
answer was either one or the other. [As an example, in the Promised Land it was used to
determine who stole booty. And eventually it came down to Achan.]
Now, what is the significance of the burning of incense? Let’s read those three passages in
Exodus. First we will read Ex. 30:7-8.
Ex. 30:7 And Aaron shall burn fragrant incense on it. Every morning when he dresses the
lamps he shall burn it, 8 and when Aaron sets up the lamps at twilight, he shall burn it, a
regular incense offering before the Lord throughout your generations.
There is an important word used here. It is translated as “regular.” It is used over and over
again and it means every morning and every evening. So when the high priest goes to tend the
lamps in the morning and the evening, he is to burn incense before the Lord. So what is the
significance of burning incense? To find out let’s go to the two passages in Ex. 28. [He had them
read specifically from the ESV version, which is what is I have copied in these notes.]
 Bears names of 12 tribes: Exod 28:29

 Bears God’s judgment: Exod 28:30
Ex. 28:29 So Aaron shall bear the names of the sons of Israel in the breastpiece of judgment on
his heart, when he goes into the Holy Place, to bring them to regular remembrance before
the Lord. 30 And in the breastpiece of judgment you shall put the Urim and the Thummim, and
they shall be on Aaron's heart, when he goes in before the Lord. Thus Aaron shall bear the
judgment of the people of Israel on his heart before the Lord regularly.
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The key verb here is translated as “bear” or “carry.” Quite literally he carries in “the names of
the sons of Israel” and he carries out “the judgment of the people of Israel.” When Aaron goes
in he bears the names of the Israelites to bring them to God’s remembrance. So what does this
mean that he bears the names of the Israelites on his heart as a remembrance to the Lord? See
if you can paraphrase v. 29. Does remembrance mean that God had a memory lapse? How does
God remember his people? Remember is not an intellectual thing, but he remembers by acting,
by doing, by keeping his promises. So to bring them to remembrance before God is to ask God
to remember them by answering their prayers.
Notice that this is a type of intercession that is not spoken but enacted. It is as if the priest on
duty piggy backs the Israelites, brings them into the Holy Place, and then dumps them before
the Lord. And then he picks up God’s judgment on the people and carries it out from the Holy
Place to the people. It is enacted intercession. Incense and intercession go together. So it’s not
just speaking on behalf of others, it is standing in on behalf of others, representing others,
putting yourself on the line for them. Jesus is our intercessor in the same way, not just by what
he says, but by what he does for us, standing in for us, representing us.
A common inscription on the graves of early Christians was “Jesus remember me.” What does it
mean? Jesus save me. Jesus raise me from the dead. The thief on the cross said, Jesus
remember me when you come into your kingdom. How did Jesus remember him? He said,
Today you will be with me in paradise.
So first of all in v. 29 when he wears the breastplate of judgment he bears their names. And
their names are on his heart. Why would this be? They are dear to him. He identifies with them.
He identifies them with himself. Then in v. 30 he bears their judgment. He stands in for them.
And because he stands in for them, he bears God’s judgment on the people. And this is
understood both negatively and positively. If he bears their judgment, what does that mean
positively? It means God’s judgment on them is gracious, merciful, forgiving. So he carries out
and brings to the people God’s pardon and forgiveness. What is the negative side? Negatively it
is God’s wrath. So if the people come into God’s presence and they are unclean, who is going to
receive God’s wrath? The priest. He bears God’s judgment on them. He bears God’s wrath for
the people.
So he stands in between the people and God and intercedes for them and represents them. The
negative judgment of God falls on him so that the positive judgment of God can fall on them.
Does that sound familiar? This is what Christ does for us supremely. He bears the judgment of
God on the cross and he brings us the judgment of God, which is pardon and forgiveness. This is
put very clearly a few verses later.
 Bears iniquity/guilt from the holy offerings of the people: Exod

28:36-38
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Ex. 28:36 “You shall make a plate of pure gold and engrave on it, like the engraving of a signet,
‘Holy to the Lord.’ 37 And you shall fasten it on the turban by a cord of blue. It shall be on the
front of the turban. 38 It shall be on Aaron's forehead, and Aaron shall bear any guilt from the
holy things that the people of Israel consecrate as their holy gifts. It shall regularly be on his
forehead, that they may be accepted before the Lord.
They read v. 36 before Dr. Kleinig stopped them to comment. It’s not “Holy to the Lord.” It is
“Holiness belonging to the Lord.” It is not just that the priest is holy to God but the priest
embodies, bears, is covered by God’s holiness. The priest belongs to the Lord, so the Lord puts
his name on him and he covers the priest with his holiness. This is the only place that the holy
name of God is written down. The only time the Israelites see the name of God is when they see
it on the forehead of the high priest when he pronounces the Aaron Benediction. So they not
only hear the holy name in the benediction, but they see the holy name forehead of the high
priest. And all of the vestments and robes that he wears shows that he is robed in God’s
holiness. Therefore when he comes out to the people to bless them, he also brings God’s
holiness to the people of God.
Vv. 37 and 38 were read. “That they may be accepted before the Lord” means that they may
have God’s grace or God’s favor. The verb translated as “accepted” is a theologically heavy verb
that has to do with God’s grace, God’s favor. Another translation might be: “so that it might be
for acceptance before the Lord.” So that God might show his grace and favor, the priest is to
wear the name of God.
Quite concretely what does this mean? Let’s say you come to the tabernacle to bring your
offerings to the Lord but you are unclean and the danger is that you will desecrate the holiness
of the Lord. If that happens, if you bring a defective offering or an unclean offering or if you
yourself are unclean, the danger is that you will desecrate God’s holiness. If that does happen,
who will bear God’s wrath? Aaron, the high priest. The people don’t’ experience God’s wrath,
instead they experience God’s grace. If the people have committed sins and come into God’s
presence bearing the guilt of their sin and they desecrate God’s holiness, who is punished? The
high priest.
This is astonishing and it is terribly important Christologically. This is not very well understood
by most people. Even if you read commentaries on it, they usually gloss over the enormous
significance of it. This has been very important in all of the Christological debates from the early
church onward.
Read v. 38 again. The holy things that the people consecrate – that’s the holy offerings – he
bears the guilt of them. It is really a compact formula. What you get is a really complex system
of representation. If a layperson comes into God’s presence and defiles the tabernacle, the
layperson will not bear the judgment but the judgment will fall on the Levites. Then the Levites
present offerings to God to cover these transgressions. And in doing so, the guilt is passed on to
the priests. And from the priests it’s passed on to the high priest. But that is not where it ends.
Remember that the high priest is a human being. What an awful burden it would be. How
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difficult it would be to stand before God bearing the iniquity of the people. On the Day of
Atonement, the high priest confesses all the sins and iniquities of the people, Levites, priests,
and himself and puts them on the scapegoat and it is sent out to the desert.
All of this discussion began with the priest entering the Holy Place dressed in his holy regalia in
order to burn incense. The only reason he could do this was because of the rite of atonement.
He can only do this because he has been cleansed from impurity (atoned for) and covered with
or robed with God’s holiness. Does ring a bell? In Baptism we put on Christ. We put on his
holiness, we put on his righteousness. In Baptism, what name do we bear? The name of Jesus,
the most holy of all holy names is on us. So we are dressed in Christ’s purity, in his
righteousness, in his holiness. And we have the most holy name of Jesus, the name of the
Triune God placed on our forehead and on our heart. Because of this we can do even what the
high priest could not do. The high priest normally could only go into the Holy Place. [Only once
a year could he enter the Most Holy Place.] Where can we go on a regular basis? The heavenly
Holy of Holies. And when we do, we stand before God on behalf of others. We bring the needs
of people on our hearts to God. And in return, we bring out the sweet savor of God’s grace to
the people. The burning of incense before the Lord is done so that the offerings of the people
are accepted and so that the priests can bring God’s grace to the people.
In Lutheranism we talk about the priesthood of all believers. If you want to understand it, you
need to have a look at this passage in Exodus. And understanding what happens in this daily
ritual helps us understand our role as priests [mediators between people and God].
So when the priest enters the Holy Place he bears the names of the people of Israel, he bears
holy fire, and he bears holy incense. He brings them all into God’s presence. Now, what is it
they bring out of God’s presence? He carries out the judgment of God on the people. And
anyone there can smell what that judgment is. They can smell God’s sweet and gracious
disposition towards them. The rest of the ritual unpacks God’s grace towards his people.
• Burning up of the lamb with some flour, oil, and wine (Exod 29:38-41)
before the performance of the benediction (Lev 9:23; Num 7:22-27)
(3) So then we come to the third act of the daily ritual. First you had the sprinkling of the blood.
and then you had the burning of the incense. And third you get the burning, the smoking up of
the burnt offering with flour, oil, and wine on the altar. This is done in order to produce a cloud
of smoke. That smoke comes out of the holy fire that never goes out, the fire of God’s glory,
which is veiled in a cloud. This is theophany, God’s appearance to his people.
(4) Now why is the performance of the burnt offering coupled with or connected with the
performance of the benediction? Because God appears to his people and meets with his people
in the burnt offering in order to bless them. What do people come to receive from God? The
Aaronic Benediction talks about the Lord blessing and keeping (protecting them from all evil
powers) his people. Then it says, “the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you.”
What does that mean? That refers to God’s favor, God’s attention, God’s interest, God’s love,
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God’s concern. In the divine service they have access to God’s grace. It ends with, “the Lord lift
up his countenance upon you and give you peace.” What is the idea of lifting up his
countenance? The opposite of lifting up is looking down. Lifting up your face is making eye
contact. The opposite is looking away from someone, you look down to avoid someone. To do
this means you reject someone, you disapprove of someone. It means you are not pleased with
them. So if God lifts up his face on you, what does it mean? He looks at us and smiles. He is
pleased with us. He is happy with us. He approves of us.
• Meal for the priests with the most holy bread from the grain offering
(Lev 6:14-18)
(5) The last step in the daily ritual is the eating of the holy meal by the priests. The picture here
is that God is a King and he is the host. He doesn’t need any food, but he provides food for his
servants, his courtiers, the priests. And that food is not just for physical nourishment. It’s most
holy food. What happens when the most holy food is eaten? The priests are sanctified; they
share in God’s holiness. You need to realize that sanctification is not an event where it is
received once and then you possess God’s holiness. You keep on receiving God’s holiness. You
keep on participating in God’s holiness without ever possessing it. In a similar way, you don’t
possess God’s love, you receive God’s love. You don’t possess God’s grace, you receive God’s
grace. You don’t possess blessing, you receive blessing.
The closer you come to God, the closer you come to God’s holiness. God’s holiness is
communicated. And it is communicated through very concrete things. The most holy things
communicate God’s holiness both in the OT and the NT.
We can use the following to summarize what we’ve been talking about. The most important
part of the daily sacrifices is not what humans are doing, but what God is doing. Why did God
established this ritual? So that he can do his work on them through this ritual. What is God
doing every morning and every evening through the performance of this ritual?
• Cleansing and forgiveness through the rite of atonement
First of all, God cleanses and forgives people through the rite of atonement. Take note that the
cleansing and forgiveness are not just for the priests and the people who are there at the
tabernacle. It’s for the people of the whole nation, including the people who are not there.
• Acceptance of them and their prayers through the burnt offering
Secondly, God accepts them and their prayers through the act of intercession by the priest and
then shows that he accepts them and approves of them through the sweet-smelling cloud of
smoke from the burnt offering.
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• Bestowal of blessing through the benediction
Thirdly, he bestows his blessing on them through the benediction
• Sanctification and fellowship through the sacred meal
And lastly, he sanctifies them and creates holy fellowship with them and then with each other
through the holy meal. Note that the holy meal which occurs every day only involves the
priests. But when people come, they also have a holy meal. The priests have to eat their holy
meal inside the tabernacle because they were required to eat it before the Lord. Laypeople eat
their holy meal somewhere just outside the tabernacle.
Something very profound is happening here. And this then is the foundation for our
communion service. There is a pattern here. Some things are the same and some things have
changed. Some things are no longer necessary because of Christ’s incarnation, death,
resurrection, and ascension. Yet the basic pattern is the same. The basic pattern has to do with
how can an unclean people stand in the presence of a holy God without desecrating God’s
holiness and being put to death. How can they receive life and blessing as sinners from a holy
God? This is the means by which God communicates his blessing, his holiness, his gifts to his
people. Next we will look very quickly at the offerings of the people and then we will start
working on holiness.
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Lecture OT-17b
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1. THE TABERNACLE
...
...
3. THE PERSONAL FAMILY SACRIFICES
a. Sacrifice of domesticated animals as peace offerings
• Presentation by head of the family at the three pilgrim feasts
• Presentation with bread, oil, and wine
• Three classes: thank offering, votive offering, free will offering
b. Incorporation of peace offerings into the order for the daily burnt offering
• Rite of atonement for purification with splashing of blood against the
altar
• Burning of liver, kidneys, and fat for sanctification and acceptance by
God (Lev 19:5).
• Holy meal with God as his guests for priests and family: meat, bread,
and wine
c. Additional sacrifices for special reasons
• Private burnt offering as special act of devotion (Lev 1)
• Private sin offering for purification and forgiveness for unintentional
sins: the consumption of meat by priests (Lev 4:22-35)
• Private guilt offering for forgiveness after the desecration of
something holy: the consumption of meat by priests (Lev 5:14- 6:7)

1. THE TABERNACLE
...
...
3. THE PERSONAL FAMILY SACRIFICES
We’ve been talking about the public sacrifices that the priests perform every day on behalf of
the nation. You need to distinguish these quite clearly from the family offerings, the personal
offerings that the Israelites bring three times a year, although they can bring them any time. So
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it is kind of like us having the Divine Service every week versus having other services
occasionally. The personal sacrifices are like our occasional services.
A lot of people get this all confused because they mix all these sacrifices together. They are
separate from each other. Every morning and every evening there is a burnt offering and a
grain offering that is presented on behalf of the nation to the Lord. On special occasions there
may be more sacrifices. And at the great festivals the number of sacrifices increases quite
considerably. And when there is a public festival there is a public sin offering for the whole
congregation.
Those are the public offerings. But now we want to focus on the personal offerings. Here is the
picture. God gave his land on loan to his people. It is not their land, it is God’s land. If you are a
farmer and you farm some land that another person owns, you pay rent to farm that land. The
offerings that the people bring to God are taken from his land which they are “renting.” When
they bring their offerings, they acknowledge that God is the giver of all of the produce of the
land and that he is the owner of the land. We do something similar today. A land owner finds a
farmer to farm his land and then when the crops are harvested, a certain percentage goes to
the owner and the rest goes to the farmer.
What is it that the Israelites bring as their offerings to the Lord? There are two classes. First of
all there are the first things and then there are tithes and then other possibilities. The most
important offerings they bring, and they are obligated to bring, are the first things. There are
two kinds of first things. There are the first born male animals. When a ewe gives birth to her
first male lamb, the lamb belongs to God. If you have a she goat that gives birth to its first male
kid, it belongs to God. If a cow produces a male calf, that calf belongs to God. It may be this way
because the male animals of a flock or herd are expendable. What’s needed are the females so
that they can give birth to expand the flock or herd.
The second class of first things are the first fruits of their agricultural produce. They also belong
to God. The first fruits of their grain, olive oil, and wine are given to God. For the grain there
were two kinds of grain that were common, barley and wheat.
So they are to bring the first produce, whether it was animals or food stuff, and offer it to God.
(Student question about what if you weren’t a farmer? Only farmers were required to bring
these offerings. Also these offerings were only required if they lived in the land of Israel. More
generally they presented a tithe of everything you have to God. Most of the tithe goes to the
Levites for their support. And then they could bring any other freewill or thank offering.)
Can you see what the problem is going to be if you are not a land owner and farmer when you
come up to the tabernacle? They don’t have anything to bring to God. This was a sort of
compulsory savings system where they were required to set aside a certain amount of their
food, which would then be used to feast on. For someone who has a lot of animals the problem
was that they have far more than they can eat. So they invited guests to eat. And the people
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you invited were the poor, the needy, the orphans, the widows, and the landless aliens. And
secondly you invite the Levites because they had no land. God has blessed you, so you turn
around and bless others.
One other thing to emphasize was that the whole point of coming to meet with God is not that
you give all this stuff to God but the paradox is that when you bring it all to him, he turns
around and gives it back to his priests and people. You bring the blessings you’ve received from
God to acknowledge God as the giver of the blessing and God takes and blesses the foodstuff
and gives it back to them as holy foodstuff. So the primary point of the divine service is to have
a holy meal. That is the focal point. It is setup so that you can eat and drink and rejoice in the
presence of the Lord. That is the language of Deuteronomy.
Lastly, we’ve said this before but I’d like to emphasize it again. Until modern times people ate
meat only rarely. The only time you ate meat was at the great festivals. Secularly speaking,
which people would eat meat every day? The rich and particularly kings. Now if God provides
meat for his priests every day, what is he treating them as if they are? Royalty. He is giving
them the royal treatment. They aren’t his slaves. They are members of his royal family. And
then three times a year all the Israelite families would gather for the three great festivals. And
on these occasions God provided them with holy meat to eat. He treated all the Israelites like
royalty. They eat and drink from the table of the heavenly king. God is the host and he prepares
a royal banquet for his people three times a year. And arranges it in such a way so that whether
you are rich or poor everyone will be able to eat from his table and feast and rejoice in his
presence.
(A student asked who provided the animals for the daily sacrifices? Before the period of the
kings, it was provided by the temple shekel, the temple tax (found in Ex. 30). So the priests
would purchase the animals, flour, and olive oil that were needed. When Solomon built the
temple, he started a new innovation. He was the patron of the temple. So the king looked after
the temple buildings and provided everything needed for the daily sacrifices. He provided it on
behalf of the people. Later when Israel returned from exile and had no kings, the people agreed
to finance the temple and supply what was needed for its operation. This formed the basis for
what we now call Christian stewardship. The people provide what is needed for the running of
the congregation.
A student question about sacrifices during the time of the evil kings? You have to remember
there was the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom. In the south, even the most evil
kings never stopped the sacrifices. The problem was that they added sacrifices to other gods.
There was only one occasion, which was under Ahaz, when the daily burnt offering ceased.
Hezekiah then brought about a reformation to reinstall them.
Another question about idols being placed in the temple? This is not addressed in detail in the
Scriptures. Neither does it tell us much about the temples in the north. It was wrong and sinful
and therefore not much that is said about it.)
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Now what I’d like to do, because I don’t want to carry this over to next period, is to very quickly
go through personal family sacrifices. Most of it is pretty straight forward. To save time we
won’t look at the passages. You can look them up.
a. Sacrifice of domesticated animals as peace offerings
The sacrifices that people brought were domestic animals that were offered as peace offerings.
So this sacrifice has to do with peace (shalom), that is peace with God and peace with each
other.
• Presentation by head of the family at the three pilgrim feasts
The feasts were where they were presented by the head of the family were: Passover,
Pentecost, and Tabernacles.
• Presentation with bread, oil, and wine
The animal was presented together with bread and oil and wine.
• Three classes: thank offering, votive offering, free will offering
There were three kinds of peace offerings. The first was a thank offering. This was an offering
were you thanked God for hearing your prayers. Secondly, there was a votive offering, where a
vow was made. And third there were free will offerings that you offered just because you
wanted to.
b. Incorporation of peace offerings into the order for the daily burnt offering
The important thing is to see that these offerings were brought between the morning offering
and the evening offering, in the middle of the day. They would be placed on the morning
sacrifice and they would be covered by the evening sacrifice. In this way they were
incorporated into the daily sacrifice.
Now let’s say you presented a lamb as a peace offering. You would kill the animal and prepare
it. You would then present the blood to the priest who was on duty.
• Rite of atonement for purification with splashing of blood against the

Altar
The priest would splash the blood against the side of the altar in the rite of atonement.
• Burning of liver, kidneys, and fat for sanctification and acceptance by

God (Lev 19:5).
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Then the priest on duty would take the liver, and most importantly the liver lobe, together with
the kidney and the fat of the animal (all of these things were used for divination by the pagan
people) and offered them to God by burning it on the altar. This was done in order to prevent
anyone from using them for divination. So in this offering, only a small part of it was offered to
God. Only the fatty pieces (liver, kidneys, and fat) were offered to God on the altar.
• Holy meal with God as his guests for priests and family: meat, bread,
and wine
The forequarter of the animal along with a little bit of the bread would be offered to the priest
on duty who could take it home and use it in the family meals. He did not have to eat it at the
tabernacle. He could take it back home.
The rest of the offerings, the rest of the olive oil, flour, wine, and all the rest of the meat of the
animal were eaten as a holy meal in God’s presence. Since it included meat and wine, it was a
festive meal. Because part of it was offered on the altar, the rest of it became holy. So they ate
holy meat, holy bread, and holy wine from the table of God as God’s guests.
c. Additional sacrifices for special reasons
In addition to this, any layperson could offer three other kinds of sacrifices. He could offer a
cereal offering or animal offering or both of them together.
• Private burnt offering as special act of devotion (Lev 1)
As an act of devotion, he or she or the family could offer a burnt offering. In this offering the
whole animal was burned. It was not required. It was a freewill offering.
• Private sin offering for purification and forgiveness for unintentional

sins: the consumption of meat by priests (Lev 4:22-35)
Secondly, if a person commits a sin, if he breaks one of the Ten Commandments (from the
second table and therefore not a deliberate sin against God, not intentional, not deliberate),
and then repents of the sin, he brings a sin offering and then receives forgiveness and cleansing
of his sin. This offering was to be made before your other offerings. This offering is kind of like a
rite of private confession and absolution.
• Private guilt offering for forgiveness after the desecration of

something holy: the consumption of meat by priests (Lev 5:14- 6:7)
If you broke one of the first three commandments, desecrating something holy, you had to
bring a guilt offering. And besides offering an animal, you had to pay compensation for
damages done to God for what you’ve stolen from God. So guilt offerings have to do with
desecration and sin offerings have to do with immoral deeds.
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One last thing. For both sin offerings and guilt offerings, only the fatty parts were burnt on the
altar. The rest of the animal was given to the priests and it was most holy, which meant it had
to be eaten within the tabernacle precincts. So every day the priests would eat three kinds of
most holy food. They would eat most holy bread. They would eat meat from the sin offerings
and the guilt offerings. You will find references to that in the prophets who say that the priests
are greedy for the sins of the people. The more the people sinned, the more the priests got to
eat meat. The priests on duty had a very high meat diet.
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Lecture OT-18a
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h. Holiness and Purity
1. Sharing in God’s Holiness
• Holiness as the key to the theology of worship
• God alone as intrinsically holy: Lev 19:2
 Self-declaration: “I the Lord your God am holy”
 Call to holiness: “You will be /shall be/are holy, for I the Lord your
God am holy”
 Promise of sharing in God’s holiness
 Demand for holy behaviour
 Statement of fact about their holy status as members of
God’s holy congregation
• God as the source of sanctification: “I am the Lord who sanctifies…”
 Holy people: Lev 20:8
 Holy things: Lev 21:22-23
 Holy priests: Lev 22:9
• God’s sanctification of Israel with his holy name and word: Lev 22:31-33
• Self-sanctification with divinely instituted rites: Lev 20:7-8
• God’s glory as his consecrating presence in the divine service: Exod 29:43
• Reception of God’s holiness through the most holy things
 Altar of burnt offering: Exod 29:37
 Anointing oil: Exod 30:25-29
 Meat from sin and guilt offerings and bread from the public grain
offering: Lev 6:17-18
• The most holy things that sanctify v the holy things
that are sanctified
• Degrees of holiness from proximity to God
 Holy of Holies: Holy Place and altar: courtyard: camp
 High priest: priests: Levites: lay Israelites
• Ongoing reception of God’s holiness from contact with
him
• God’s wrath and death from the desecration of his holiness
 Death from the individual desecration: Lev 15:31
 Exile from the land from corporate desecration: Lev 20:22-26
 Result of sanctification: safe access to God and his blessings
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The topic we will talk about today is the theology of holiness in the OT. We will be spending
some time on it because this is one area of biblical theology that has fallen on hard times and is
basically misunderstood. It has either evaporated into general notions of God’s sovereignty or
else it is connected with morality and moral self-improvement. In our society a holy Joe is
someone who pretends to be more moral than what he really is. For most people holiness is
equated with morality. As always, there is an element of truth in this but it is basically,
fundamentally wrong.
Dr. Kleinig maintains that some of the biggest problems we have in our western churches has to
do with our blindness to the reality of God’s holiness. This first struck Dr. Kleinig most
dramatically some years ago when he met with a former student. He had gone to a Lutheran
seminary in North America to get a Master’s degree and then come back. Dr. Kleinig asked him
how things went for him in North America? There was a long pause and he said, John for them
nothing is holy anymore.
Now that could be the motto of the West since the Enlightenment. The Enlightenment was a
deliberate attempt to desacralize everything, to eliminate holiness from human affairs. What it
is is an intellectual con job. And even if they get rid of the language of holiness and the concept
of holiness, you haven’t gotten rid of the reality of holiness. And that is what we are going to
talk about today – the reality of holiness.
Now this might be a bit difficult for you because in our western frame of mind it involves a
whole reconfiguration of our way of thinking.
Firstly and most importantly, God alone is holy. Holiness is not a moral term. It is a theological
and liturgical term.
• Holiness as the key to the theology of worship
If you want to make sense of worship and what happens in the divine service you’ve got to
think in terms of holiness. So holiness is basically a liturgical category; it has to do with worship.
• God alone as intrinsically holy: Lev 19:2
The starting point in making sense of everything that is said about holiness is that God alone is
intrinsically and basically holy. There is no other being who is holy apart from God. There is no
other thing that is holy apart from God. So this is where there is a great divide between the OT
and pagan religions. Because pagan religions, whether ancient or modern in the New Age
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variety, posit many sources of holiness. One of the strangest features of modern society is the
descralization of religion and re-sacralization of nature. That is basically pagan.
 Self-declaration: “I the Lord your God am holy”
God alone is intrinsically holy. Let’s look at Lev. 19:1-2. This is the starting point for any
theological discussion about holiness.
19 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to all the congregation of the people of
Israel and say to them, You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.
“Your shall be holy.” Why? Because “I the Lord your God am holy.” So first of all, you get this
strange formula that you find in Leviticus, where God declares himself to be holy. “I the Lord
your God am holy.” It is an ontological statement. It is a statement about God’s being. It is not
just an attribute of God, but it has to do with the reality of God. God doesn’t just act in a holy
way. He doesn’t just have a holy attitude toward people, but he is holy. And this means that
you cannot define holiness in abstract terms anymore than you can define God. This is because
holiness has to do with God’s divinity, his being as God. He is holy. That is the starting point. We
can only talk in human terms in negation. He is holy in a way that we are not holy.
 Call to holiness: “You will be /shall be/are holy, for I the Lord your
God am holy”
 Promise of sharing in God’s holiness
 Demand for holy behaviour
 Statement of fact about their holy status as members of
God’s holy congregation
Secondly, he not only says, “I am holy,” but he says, “You shall be holy.” Look at the Hebrew.
“You Israelites/You the congregation of Israel.” Notice it is not just the priests but it is all of the
Israelites. Notice “holy” is in the emphatic position. “Holy you will be.” Why? Because (again
“holy” is in the emphatic position) “holy am I YHWH your God.”
This statement in Hebrew is in the imperfect tense. And the imperfect can be understood in
three ways. (1) It can be understood as the future, as a promise. “You will be holy” is my
promise to the Israelites. (2) It can also be understood as the present. “You are holy.” Why?
Because I am holy. This is a statement of fact. (3) Thirdly, it is understood as favor or privilege.
In this sense it is understood as an imperative: “You shall be holy.” Which of these is the correct
translation? All three. Anyone who understands Hebrew, when they hear this, hears all three of
them. It is a promise. It is a statement of fact. And it is a demand and requirement.
Notice that it has to do with being. You can have an imperative to do something, but how can
you have an imperative for being? As if you can change your being. So the first two meanings
take precedent here – (1) a promise and (2) a fact. And since they are holy, therefore (3) you
shall be holy. You are to be what you are. This is very profound because for most Christians
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holiness has to do with moral self-improvement. For them it doesn’t have to do with being but
with doing, with actions and not what you are.
(Some discussion. Dr. Kleinig would translate this as “You will be holy.” The important thing is
that it’s not only a promise but it is a fulfilled promise. They won’t just be holy in the future but
they are already holy here and now. Everything that follows in Leviticus is based on the fact that
every single Israelite is holy. They participate in God’s holiness. This implies that God is the
source of holiness. They are holy because God is holy and they share in the being of God. This is
amazing stuff.)
• God as the source of sanctification: “I am the Lord who sanctifies…”
Now if that weren’t enough, we get another formula that occurs seven times in the book of
Leviticus. Seven times you get the formula of sanctification. An important Hebrew word in this
formula means “to make holy.” And this is used in the Pentateuch only of God. Only God can
make holy. Humans in and of themselves cannot make anything holy. Yet, in another sense they
can cause someone to be holy, can sanctify other human beings when they act as agents for
God or instruments for God. So for instance, a priest makes people holy by using the most holy
things by which God sanctifies the people. We don’t have this distinction in English. In another
tense of this word, you are told to make yourself holy. This means to undergo the rites or rituals
by which God makes you holy. So to sanctify yourself means that you participate in the ritual
that God uses to make people holy.
One other thing about this. God could have said, and this is how most scholars take it and by
doing so they miss what is obvious, “I am the Lord who has sanctified you.” But there is a
deliberate use of the participle. What does a participle denote? Continuous action. That is very
important. And you can’t make sense of the whole doctrine of sanctification unless you see that
you never possess God’s holiness but continually receive it. So it is ongoing activity.
Some scholars will say that God sanctified Israel by the historical act of rescuing them from the
land of Egypt. They are not wrong but they would then say that since then they have been holy.
Or other scholars say that God sanctified them by making a covenant with them at Mt. Sinai.
They both view a single act as God making his people holy. Or a third group would argue that
God sanctified them at the inauguration of the divine service. They are right too. And they all
argue with each other on which of them is right. They are all right. The basic point is that it is
God who sanctifies them and keeps on sanctifying them. It is an ongoing activity. It is like the
light from the sun. We receive the light from the sun but we never possess it. It keeps on
shining and we keep on receiving it. Or it’s like love or friendship, you never possess them but
keep on receiving them. In all cases, you need to keep in contact with the source in order to
keep on receiving it. And it is very important that holiness cannot be extracted from God. Just
as love cannot be extracted from a lover, so holiness cannot be extracted from contact with
holy God. If you cut yourself off from God then you cut yourself off from holiness and you are
no longer holy.
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(Student question about deification. It is related to holiness. It means becoming like God, being
joined to God. We would share in his being, which would mean we become holy just like God.
This is a bit easier to understand in the NT because we are in Christ. When we are in him, we
share in his holiness. Our nature has been changed from being in Adam to being in Christ. Our
being has changed and that being is not in us but is outside of us. That is the great Lutheran
teaching called “extra nos,” meaning “outside of us.” That is very important. This is the basic
argument that we have with the Catholics: Is holiness intrinsic to us (Catholic view) or extrinsic
to us (Lutheran view). Luther talks about the external Word. He talks about alien righteousness
and alien life. We borrow these things but we never possess them. It comes not from inside us
but it keeps coming from outside us. Pentecostalism is all about what comes from inside us and
not from outside us. They have a completely different doctrine of holiness, which is the key to
understanding the whole Pentecostal/charismatic movement.)
 Holy people: Lev 20:8
The formula “I am the one who sanctifies” is found seven times in Leviticus. It is worth looking
at them in sequence. There are two surprises. I would have expected God to say, “I am the one
who sanctifies them (the priests),” as the primary statement. But the primary statement in Lev.
20 is “I am the one who sanctifies you Israelites.” God shares his holiness with the Israelites.
And the whole priesthood and everything to do with the priesthood are merely a means to that
end. God wants to share his holiness with his people and he uses the priesthood to do it.
Lev. 20:8 Consecrate yourselves, therefore, and be holy, for I am the LORD your God. Keep my
statutes and do them; I am the LORD who sanctifies you.
So first of all God sanctifies his people.
 Holy priests: Lev 22:9
9
They shall therefore keep my charge, lest they bear sin for it and die thereby when they
profane it: I am the Lord who sanctifies them [the priests].
Secondly, God also sanctifies his priests. They are holy by their contact with his most holy
things.
 Holy things: Lev 21:22-23
Then there is a great surprise, which is of great significance for us Lutherans and for ecumenical
theology. God not only sanctifies people but also things. God sanctifies things so that those
things become the means by which he shares his holiness.
Pentecostal theology and liberal theology basically see people as the means of sanctification. So
for Pentecostalism, a spirit-filled person is the means by which the Holy Spirit is given. So
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people give the Holy Spirit to people. And that is also the case in some forms of anglo-
Catholicism and liberal theology. But the classical Christian position is that God makes things
holy and then uses them to share his holiness with people.
So to put it in a very concrete way, if I, who am holy, touch Ben, I do not make him holy. But if
Ben eats the most holy body and blood of Jesus, the bread and wine, he shares in God’s
holiness. The means of sanctification are what we commonly call the means of grace.
22
He may eat the bread of his God, both of the most holy and of the holy things, 23 but he shall
not go through the veil or approach the altar, because he has a blemish, that he may not
profane my sanctuaries, for I am the LORD who sanctifies them.”
Seven times God sanctifies the people, the priests, and the most holy things.
(A student question about how holiness is shared. There is a distinction between holy things
and most holy things. Some people and some things are holy, but they do not mediate holiness
by contact with them. On the other hand, there is another class of things that are most holy and
they mediate, they communicate holiness. Shortly we will list them. You have to distinguish
between those two classes of things. That is fundamental in understanding how this works. And
it is fundamental in understanding the theology of worship, the classical Jewish, Christian,
Orthodox, Lutheran understanding of worship.)
• God’s sanctification of Israel with his holy name and word: Lev 22:31-33
Let’s take a look at Lev. 22:31-33.
31
“So you shall keep my commandments and do them: I am the Lord. 32 And you shall not
profane my holy name, that I may be sanctified among the people of Israel. I am the Lord
who sanctifies you, 33 who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God: I am the
Lord.”
Notice that there is a connection between the following things.

 First of all, there is a reference to keeping God’s commandments and enacting them.
 Then you get a reference to profaning, desecrating God’s holy Name, “the name of my
holiness,” which also could be translated as “my sanctuary name.” Where is the “name
of my holiness” to be used? Where does that Name belong? It is to be used and it
belongs in his sanctuary, in his holy place.
 Thirdly, there is a reference to “that I may sanctify myself,” so “that I may reveal my
holiness.” The NIV has “so that I may be acknowledged as holy among the Israelites.”
That tense means “to sanctify yourself” or “to show yourself, to reveal yourself as holy.”
But it can also mean “to be regarded as holy.” Here the sense is “so that I may reveal,
show myself as holy.” And it goes on to say, “I am the Lord who sanctifies you.”
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So lumping all this together, what we have here is that God reveals his holiness and he
sanctifies his people through his Word, his commands, and through his most holy Name. His
Name is most holy, so it makes things holy. He attaches his most holy Name to his
commandments and those commandments need to be enacted for him to communicate his
holiness to his people.
So the Jewish tradition speaks about the sanctifying commandments of the Lord. What are
God’s sanctifying commandments? They are the commandments that institute and establish
the means of sanctification. So these are the commandments whereby God establishes the
divine service and everything to do with the divine service.
To put this in Lutheran terms, what is it that makes us holy in Baptism? Or what does God use
to make us holy in Baptism? His Name. The Triune name. What is it that God uses to consecrate
and make the bread and wine the body and blood of Christ? His Word. His most holy Word
makes them holy. Do you see how it works and how closely Lutheran theology is tied to all of
this and builds on all of this? Remember Luther was an OT scholar and he had a very sharp
sense about all of this.
So God sanctifies the Israelites with his holy Name and his holy Word. Therefore in all of that
liturgical legislation, you get again and again, I am the Lord, I am the Lord, I am the Lord. And on
the other hand you get all of the laws and decrees that God gives. Those laws don’t just tell the
Israelites what to do, but those decrees establish and institute the divine service and they make
and keep the divine service holy.
• Self-sanctification with divinely instituted rites: Lev 20:7-8
Let’s see if you get the basic sense of this. Let’s go to Lev. 20:7-8. As you read it, look for the
apparent contradiction. And think about the solution to it.
7
Consecrate yourselves, therefore, and be holy, for I am the Lord your God. 8 Keep my
statutes and do them; I am the Lord who sanctifies you.
What is the contradiction? On the one hand God says, “Consecrate yourselves” and on the
other hand God says, “I am the one who sanctifies you.” The answer is found in what lies in
between those two statements: “Keep my statutes.” So how do the Israelites sanctify
themselves? By performing God’s statutes in the tabernacle in the divine service. They offered
the sacrifices that God told them to offer. In Christian terms, they attended church. And in
doing so, God sanctified them. They simply did what God told them to do. God then through
these ritual statutes sanctified them.
How do we sanctify ourselves today? By doing the divine service. By listening to the Word of
God. How do we sanctify ourselves every Sunday? By receiving the body and blood of Christ
and by hearing the Word of God. How were you initially sanctified? By being baptized. Baptism
is something that is done to you that makes you holy.
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The Israelites sanctified themselves through the divinely instituted rituals, the means by which
God makes and keeps them holy.
• God’s glory as his consecrating presence in the divine service: Exod 29:43
The next passage we’ve read already. You will remember that in the account of the institution
of the divine service you have the line: “There I will meet with the people of Israel, and it shall
be sanctified by my glory.” “It” is the congregation of Israel. They will be sanctified by God’s
glory. What is God’s glory? God’s glory is his visible, manifest presence. So every morning and
every evening, when God reveals his glory in that cloud of smoke rising from the altar and the
incense that permeates the whole environment, what is God doing to his people? He is sharing
his holiness with them. In fact he says by means of the divine service every morning and
evening, the tabernacle and all of its furnishings are made holy, the priests are made holy, and
the people are made holy. What is it that makes them holy? God’s presence. God’s glory. Take
God’s glory out of it and nothing is holy. You can participate in God’s holiness only as long as
you are in contact with God, in the presence of God. So Ex. 29:43 is one of the key verses in
making sense of the whole theology of holiness. Every divine service is an act of sanctification.
Every divine service God reveals his glory to his people so that he can share his holiness with
them, give them the gift of his holiness.
• Reception of God’s holiness through the most holy things
We’ve already touched on this. How did God communicate his holiness to his people? Now in
pagan ideas of holiness there are many sources of holiness and basically people are the means
for communicating holiness. It is funny how the Church keeps slipping back into that and how
dangerous that is. Whether that person is a priest or a guru or a spirit-filled person, against all
of that the OT and the NT says there is only one person who communicates holiness. Who is it?
Jesus. And he communicates his holiness through the most holy things. What are the most holy
things in the OT?
 Altar of burnt offering: Exod 29:37
First and for functional reasons the most important one is the altar for burnt offering. It is most
holy. Twice in the Pentateuch you get the phrase, whatever touches or comes into contact with
the altar is holy or becomes holy. So the altar is a means of sanctification.
So you get ordinary, common, secular foodstuff, meat from a lamb and flour from your
paddock. Part of it is placed on the altar. What does that make the rest of it? Holy. Anyone who
touches the altar is holy. Anything that is placed on the altar becomes holy. Now this is
fundamental to all of the basic ritual in the divine service.
 Anointing oil: Exod 30:25-29
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You will remember that the Holy of Holies is most holy. The incense altar is most holy. The table
for shewbread is most holy. The lampstand is most holy. The laver is most holy. They aren’t
most holy intrinsically, but only because they have been anointed with the most holy anointing
oil. So the most holy anointing oil makes things most holy or holy, depending upon how God
has arranged it.
So how does a priest become holy? At his ordination he is anointed with the most holy
anointing oil. When this happens, he becomes a messiah, an anointed one. This is where the
whole theology of the messiah comes from. A messiah is a person who has been anointed with
the most holy anointing oil. And therefore he is holy to God. The most holy anointing oil can
only be used at the temple and it can be used only for the purposes that God designates.
 Meat from sin and guilt offerings and bread from the public grain
offering: Lev 6:17-18
Next, the meat from the guilt offerings and sin offerings from the people and the bread from
the daily public grain offering are most holy. Who eats this most holy meat and most holy
bread? The priests. And where are they allowed to eat it and only allowed to eat it? In the
sanctuary. They cannot take it outside the sanctuary. It has to be eaten before the face of God,
in the presence of God. You cannot take it home to feed the family. You can take the meat from
the peace offering home because it is not most holy, it is only holy. So the meat from a peace
offering doesn’t communicate holiness.
Most generally what’s behind all of this lies the most holy name of God. So there are various
means of sanctification. As part of the consecration of the priests, they are not only anointed
with the most holy anointing oil, but that oil was mixed with blood from the altar, which then
became holy because it was mixed with the most holy anointing oil. So when they were
anointed with this most holy oil and blood, they became holy. Similarly, when we receive the
most holy bread and wine, which is the most holy body and blood of Jesus, we receive God’s
holiness.
• The most holy things that sanctify v the holy things that are sanctified
We’ve already touched on this next point and it is critical. You need to distinguish between the
most holy things that sanctify by contact with them and the things that are holy because they
have been sanctified by the most holy things. So for example, let’s take the meat from the
peace offering. The fatty parts of the animal are burnt on the most holy altar and that makes
the rest of the animal holy. Since it is holy and not most holy, it does not communicate holiness.
It is holy meat but it does not sanctify. On the other hand, the meat from the sin offering and
the guilt offering, which only the priests can eat, communicates holiness. People do not
communicate holiness. Even the high priest does not communicate holiness. Only the most holy
things communicate holiness. It is only when the priest is in office and uses the most holy things
that he brings holiness to people.
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So if you met the high priest in a casual, social context and you shook his hand or slapped him
on the back, you would be touching a holy person, but you would not receive God’s holiness by
touching him.
(A student question about why the meat from the peace offering isn’t most holy. He asked if it
was because the meat was not placed on the altar? No. God himself determines what is most
holy. It really comes back to God’s Word. Only those things are most holy that God chooses to
be most holy and declares to be most holy. So for instance, there is nothing intrinsically holy
about the incense ingredients. So why is it that incense is most holy and the perfume which you
use, which has many of the same ingredients, is not holy? It is because God says it is. It is
because of the Word that is attached to it. It is God’s Word that makes them most holy. That is
very important to understand. Much of modern theology runs into problems because it
disconnects holiness from the Word of God. A student pointed out that it is the same with
Baptism, that it is not the water alone but the Word of God attached to the water. Dr. Kleinig
agreed and said in that one sentence of Luther’s explanation of Baptism you have the whole
theology of holiness in practical, non-technical terms.
• Degrees of holiness from proximity to God
Since holiness comes with contact with God, in the OT there are degrees of holiness. Since God
alone is holy, the closer you are to God the more fully you share in God’s holiness. The further
you are from God and the most holy things of God, the less fully you share in God’s holiness.
Even though every Israelite is holy, there are degrees of holiness.
 Holy of Holies: Holy Place and altar: courtyard: camp
So the Holy of Holies is more holy than the Holy Place and the altar. And the altar is more holy
than the courtyard. And the courtyard is more holy than the camp. What makes all these things
holy is the presence of God. If you take God out of the picture then none of it is holy.
You remember the vision of Isaiah? Just before the temple was destroyed, God’s glory
withdrew from the temple. At that point the temple was no longer a holy place. It became just
another building made of bricks and stone and wood. Or you can look at it the other way
around. Solomon made this big building. And until the Ark of the Covenant was brought into
the Holy of Holies and God’s glory filled the Holy of Holies, that temple was just another
ordinary building. God’s presence is what made it holy.
 High priest: priests: Levites: lay Israelites
And then likewise you get degrees of holiness with people. Who is the most holy person in
Israel? The high priest. Why is he the most holy? Because he alone enters the Most Holy Place.
And he does this only once a year. But he is less holy when he lives at home than when he
officiates at the temple. It is when he is at the temple performing the rituals that he shares in
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God’s holiness the most. The next most holy people besides the high priest are the other
priests. And then you have the Levites and then you have the Israelites. (In between the priests
and the Israelites are what are called the Nazarites. These are ordinary Israelites who dedicate
(make a vow) themselves to God and can receive the same degree of holiness as a priest.)
• Ongoing reception of God’s holiness from contact with

him
Next comes something that is fundamental. Holiness is never possessed. It is always given by
God and received by people. So the emphasis in the OT is on the ongoing reception of God’s
holiness by contact with the most holy things.
Ordinary lay people have contact with only one most holy thing and can use only one most holy
thing. Now the high priest can use other most holy things, such as the most holy anointing oil,
the meat from the guilt and sin offerings, the showbread. What is the one most holy thing that
lay people can use? God’s name. So what is the second commandment? You shall not take the
name of the Lord your God in vain. That is because that name is most holy and the Ten
Commandments is geared toward the lay people. So first of all you get the first commandment
that deals with worship of God. The second commandment deals with his most holy name,
which is the most holy thing that people can use. That name makes and keeps them holy. And
then you have the third holy thing, which is the holy day. But the holy day does not sanctify
them (make them holy). Even though it is a holy day, it does not sanctify them. The day itself
does not communicate holiness. And Luther explains this most nicely because he goes away
from the day. In his explanation, what does he say that makes the day and everything we do on
that day holy? The most holy Word of God.
• God’s wrath and death from the desecration of his holiness
If this is the case, the worst sin that the Israelites can commit is the sin of desecration.
Desecrating God’s holiness has more far reaching effects than immorality, sins against human
beings. Even the worst sins, like murder and rejection of parents are not as bad as desecration.
If you desecrate the holy things of God, what are you doing? You are cutting off the lifeline
between you and God. So the desecration of the most holy things are the worst sins.
Let me give you a case in point. How come 1 & 2 Samuel holds up David to be the model king
when he was guilty of adultery and murder, and on the other hand, it castigates Saul who was a
very moral person? He was far more moral than David. What was Saul’s sins? He desecrated
God’s holiness in three ways (which you can read for yourself). And therefore the wrath of God
came on him.
Now this leads to a term that modern people have great difficulty with. And that is the wrath of
God. The wrath of God comes from the desecration of God’s holiness. If God’s holiness is life
giving (and it is), what is consequence of desecrating God’s holiness going to be? [Death.] If holy
means we enjoy God’s grace and favor, then desecration means we come under God’s wrath. If
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God’s holiness is life-giving holiness, life-sustaining holiness, then what is desecration going to
result in? Death.
 Death from the individual desecration: Lev 15:31
There are two degrees to desecrating God’s holiness. If an individual desecrates God’s holiness,
that individual will die. Let’s read Lev. 15:31. This comes at the end of all the rules about purity
and purification.
“Thus you shall keep the people of Israel separate from their uncleanness, lest they die in
their uncleanness by defiling my tabernacle that is in their midst.”
Why is it that the priests are responsible for making sure the people are ritually clean? It is
because God dwells with his people and unless they are ritually clean they defile God’s holiness,
they contaminate God’s holiness. And when God’s holiness is contaminated then God’s wrath
ensues. They are going to die.
 Exile from the land from corporate desecration: Lev 20:22-26
Now if the ultimate sanction for an individual is the loss of life, when it comes to a family or a
nation – if a whole nation is guilty of desecration because of its persistent idolatry, (and in the
South the worst thing that happened was when king Manasseh brought a statue of the earth
mother Asherah into the temple itself and desecrated it) what is going to happen according to
the book of Deuteronomy and Leviticus if the people desecrate God’s holiness as a whole?
Leviticus puts it very graphically. It says that the land will vomit them out. God will remove that
poison from his presence by vomiting the unclean people.
So the result of corporate desecration is exile from the land. If a whole family is guilty of
desecration, that family dies out. If an individual is guilty of desecration, that person is killed. If
however the nation is guilty of desecration, it does not mean the death of the nation. It means
exile from the presence of God. Because as long as the nation is away from God’s presence,
they are away from God’s wrath. But bring the unclean nation into God’s presence then they
come into God’s wrath.
 Result of sanctification: safe access to God and his blessings
Let’s look at this positively. What is the positive side of sanctification? The positive result of
sanctification is access to God’s grace, that you enjoy the grace, the favor, the blessings of God.
You receive God’s life-giving blessings. You know that in Romans Paul says that the result of our
sanctification is eternal life. Life and holiness go together. Desecration, defilement, and death
go together.
Modern people have a bit of a sense of this with the whole ecology movement, which basically
is built around the concept of clean and unclean. What is the consequence of pollution? Instead
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of the order being life-giving, life-sustaining, when it is polluted it becomes death-dealing. It

brings death rather than life. It brings curse rather than blessing. We’ll take a break and
continue with this.
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Lecture OT-18b
v=vz8r2hWlNxk&list=PL32Gjc1uEM1AUR8LC9JlceA9xFSeZs25Z&index=31

…
• God’s mandate to Aaron and priests in Lev 10: 10-11

 Holy: what is divine and in God’s presence (the tabernacle, the meat
of a sacrificed animal)
 Common: what is permitted for human use in the order of creation
(sex, ordinary food)
 Unclean: forbidden as disorderly, unnatural and perverted in the
order of creation (sickness, homosexuality)
 Clean: the proper, natural condition of something common (bread,
sexual intercourse in marriage)
• Creation of three spheres by God’s holy presence on earth
 Clean holy domain: kingdom of the right hand
 Clean common domain: kingdom of the left hand
 Unclean common domain: realm of Satan
• Four changes of status before God
 Desecration: transference of something holy into a common state
(redemption of firstborn son)
 Defilement (pollution): transference of something clean into an
unclean state (eating pork, touching a corpse)
 Purification: transference of something unclean into a clean state
(washing after menstruation)
 Sanctification: the transference of something clean into a holy state
(presentation of offering to God)
2. The Nature of Ritual Impurity
• Impurity as opposite of holiness: darkness v light
 Impurity as a life-denying and destructive power
 Incompatibility with holiness: petrol with fire
 Separation from impurity before admission to God’s holy presence
 Defilement by contact with impurity
 Spiritual power of impurity from desecration
 No creature as intrinsically unclean
 Demons as source of impurity: unclean spirits • Three kinds of ritual
impurity
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 Physical disorder (deformity, sickness, irregular menstruation)

 Moral disorder (adultery, murder, bestiality)
 Religious disorder from occult use (menstrual blood, semen,
corpses, pork)

…
To make sense of holiness and the way it works, the way that God communicates holiness to us
and the problems associated with this, we need to understand four realities.
1. First is “the holy thing, what is holy.” Ultimately, only God is holy. That is the key.
2. The opposite of holiness is not uncleanness or impurity, but is “the common thing, what
is common.”
3. Then you have another pair of opposites. These two things in the ancient and modern
world are not theological, but are physical and sociological. You have “the unclean thing,
what is unclean,” the pollutant or polluting thing.
4. And then the opposite of pollutant is the purifying thing, “the clean thing, what is
clean.”
• God’s mandate to Aaron and priests in Lev 10: 10-11
Let’s go now to Lev. 10:10-12. This comes at the time when Nadab and Abihu had desecrated
God’s holiness and it comes on the same day that God inaugurated the divine service. So on the
day that they had the first divine service, Aaron’s son did some creative improvisation by
offering incense without the most holy coals and they were struck dead because they
desecrated God’s holiness. It is in connection with that that we get this basic mandate given to
Aaron. And this summarizes what the task of a priest is. And it also summarizes the task of
pastors today.
10
You are to distinguish between the holy and the common, and between the unclean and
the clean, 11 and you are to teach the people of Israel all the statutes that the Lord has spoken
to them by Moses.”
12
Moses spoke to Aaron and to Eleazar and Ithamar, his surviving sons: “Take the grain
offering that is left of the Lord's food offerings, and eat it unleavened beside the altar, for it is
most holy.
The task of the priests is to distinguish between holy from common and unclean from clean and
to teach the people how to do this. So the task of the priests is to be a custodian, caretaker of
God’s holiness. That is their mandate.
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Now, what is meant by these terms?
 Holy: what is divine and in God’s presence (the tabernacle, the meat
of a sacrificed animal)
Holy is what is divine, what is in God’s presence. God himself is holy. So holiness has to do with
God. And therefore anything connected with God is holy. Anything that is in God’s presence
and has contact with God shares in his holiness. Now holiness is never defined because it can’t
be defined. The only definition we get of holiness is the architecture of the tabernacle and the
commands given about the Israelites’ participation in God’s holiness. So God defines his
holiness not theoretically but practically.
It is likewise for us. Where do we get a practical definition of Christ’s holiness? In the Divine
Service. And that is what makes the Divine Service so very important and that we get it right
according to God’s Word because otherwise we interfere with God’s holiness.
 Common: what is permitted for human use in the order of creation

(sex, ordinary food)
Now, what is opposite of holiness is what is common. Now the NIV translates this unfortunately
as “profane.” For us, we understand profane as basically the same thing as unclean. But this
Hebrew word does not mean unclean. The word means: what belongs to human beings or what
is common to human beings. It refers to that which is permitted for human use in the order of
creation.
So let’s take for example, sex. Human sexuality is not holy. It is not unclean. In itself it is
common. It can become unclean and it can be sanctified. Now the general rule is that anything
that God has created is common. It belongs to humanity. It can be sanctified and drawn into
God’s presence and used by God for his purpose. Another example is the food we eat. Food is
common. However that common food can be sanctified. In Holy Communion the bread is
sanctified and it becomes the body of Christ. So what is common belongs to humanity, the
order of creation.
 Unclean: forbidden as disorderly, unnatural and perverted in the

order of creation (sickness, homosexuality)
In contrast to that (holy and common) you get the second pair (clean and unclean). The unclean
thing is that which is disorderly and forbidden because it disrupts God’s order of creation. So if
something is right in the order of creation it is clean. If it is wrong then it is unclean. If
something is unnatural or perverted in the order of creation, then it is unclean.
Let’s take a look at two cases of uncleanness, one very common and one more extreme. God
created our bodies to be healthy. Sickness is abnormal for created human beings therefore
sickness is unclean. Likewise, God created us sexually to interact with the opposite sex. So if we
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use our sexual organs on the same sex then we are perverting and disordering the order of
creation. So homosexual acts of intercourse (not the orientation) are unclean and they make
people unclean. They pollute. They defile.
 Clean: the proper, natural condition of something common (bread,

sexual intercourse in marriage)
The opposite of what is unclean is clean. And there is an overlap between clean and common.
Clean is the proper, natural condition of something common. So take for instance bread.
Ordinary bread is clean. Sexual intercourse within a marriage is clean.
Now anything that is common is either clean or unclean. So for instance, sex can be either clean
or unclean. Food can be either clean or unclean.
Anything that is common can be made holy and share God’s holiness. But before it can be made
holy, it needs to be purified. It cannot be unclean.
• Creation of three spheres by God’s holy presence on earth
When God comes and places his presence with his people, you get the creation of three
spheres, three environments, three habitats.
 Clean holy domain: kingdom of the right hand
God’s holy presence on earth creates first of all a holy/clean domain. In Lutheran terminology,
this is the kingdom of the right hand, the Church. What was the holy/clean domain in Israel?
The tabernacle enclosed by the courtyard. Anyone who entered that domain had to be in a
state of ritual purity. Everything unclean was excluded from it. In fact the whole camp was
supposed to be a holy/clean environment. So anything unclean was supposed to go outside the
camp.
 Clean common domain: kingdom of the left hand
The second domain is the clean but common domain. That is ordinary secular life. That is
Luther’s kingdom of the left hand and the kingdom of society and government. This kingdom is
not the kingdom of Satan. It is God’s kingdom. It is where things work in the order of creation
according to the way they are meant to work in the order of creation.
 Unclean common domain: realm of Satan
Then you get the third domain, which is the unclean/common domain, which is the realm of
Satan.
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One can represent all of this diagrammatically. This is all in abstract terms because notice that
God doesn’t explain it like this, but he merely gives them the tabernacle and the laws having to
do with worship. And it’s all mapped out practically for them, not theoretically.
You get God’s presence with his people. And where ever God is you have a holy/clean domain.
And then the opposite of that is the common/unclean domain, which is the realm of the evil
powers. What is interesting is that nowhere in the OT is this explicitly named as the realm of
Satan. There are hints that it is the demonic realm, but it is deliberately avoided. So wherever
there are evil powers, they create a bridgehead in God’s creation. They take what is common
and they defile it. That is the key to understanding Satan, evil spirits, the demonic realm. They
work through impurity. The most common term for demons in the NT is unclean spirits because
they work in impurity. This domain is still within the order of creation because what they do is
take God’s good order and they pervert it. They take something good like sexuality and they
pervert it. And then between those two domains, you get the clean/common domain, which is
the order of creation working as God meant it to work.
Now corresponding to those three domains, you get the following actions.
1. Anything that is holy can be desecrated. Desecration means taking it from a holy state
and making it common.
Now this can be legitimate or illegitimate. So for example, you can desecrate a church in
the sense that you don’t need it anymore. You remove all the holy things and it
becomes no longer a church, but simply a shop or house. That is legitimate de-
sanctification.
Or another case of legitimate de-sanctification is when every firstborn male child is holy
to God, which means he belongs to the clean/holy domain. But what if he is needed at
home on the family farm? Therefore what do the parents do? They buy him back and
therefore he becomes common.
But most of the time desecration involves sacrilege. And that is the first stage to
defilement.
2. Anything that is common can then in turn be defiled, which means it’s made unclean.
For some reason it is the obsession and the nature of evil that it lives off of not only
what is good but it lives off, parasitically, what is holy and gains its power from
desecrating what is holy and defiling what is good. A synonym for defilement is
pollution.
3. Human beings defile and desecrate. On the other hand God undoes what humans do. So
what is God’s purpose for people? What is God’s purpose for the whole of his creation?
He wants to purify what is unclean. Things that are common and unclean, he wants to
purify and make clean.
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4. And he purifies in order to sanctify (make holy) what has been made clean.
There is a lot of confusion where people want to collapse desecration and defilement together
and they want to collapse purification and sanctification together. But they are all separate
things. For instance, God can only sanctify what is pure and purification does not sanctify.
Likewise, you can’t defile something that is holy before it is desecrated. You can have
defilement which doesn’t have anything to do with what is holy.
• Four changes of status before God
So there are four changes of status before God. We are dealing here with states of being. We
are dealing with ontology, the way things are.
 Desecration: transference of something holy into a common state

(redemption of firstborn son)
Desecration involves the transference of something holy into a common state. The example we
gave was the redemption of a firstborn male child.
 Defilement (pollution): transference of something clean into an

unclean state (eating pork, touching a corpse)
Secondly, you have defilement, pollution, contamination. That involves the transference of
something that is clean into an unclean state. So a person can eat lamb and it doesn’t affect
their purity. But if they eat pork, they defile themselves. They make themselves unclean. If you
touch the corpse of someone who died, you make yourself unclean. This is rather strange and
we will be dealing with it rather shortly.
 Purification: transference of something unclean into a clean state

(washing after menstruation)
Purification is the transference of something that is unclean into a clean state. So the blood
from menstruating makes a woman unclean. At the end of the period of menstruation she
takes a bath and then she becomes clean. Or let’s say a man has a wet dream and an
ejaculation of semen. That makes him unclean. He washes and he becomes clean again. Those
are simple examples of low level impurity.
 Sanctification: the transference of something clean into a holy state

(presentation of offering to God)
Then you get sanctification. It involves the transference of something clean into something that
is holy. So you can bring a clean animal like a sheep or goat or calf, present it to God, slaughter
it, place part of that animal on the altar, and that whole animal becomes holy.
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God's Presence
↓
Sanctification Purification
Holy Clean Common

and and and
Clean Common Unclean
Desecration Defilement
↑
Evil Powers
(Student question about Jesus having contact with people who were unclean. They were
purified and sanctified at the same time. But what about Jesus, what did that do to him? Look,
if you want to make sense of just about every story in the Gospels, run this grid over them to
see what Jesus does and what people do. A leper comes and touches Jesus, what happens?
Jesus is most holy and clean. Therefore what happens? The leper that touches Jesus becomes
clean, and not just clean, but holy. But what happens to Jesus? He takes on the impurity and is
defiled and his holiness is desecrated. And if his holiness is desecrated, what is inevitably going
to happen? He will [face God’s wrath and] die. So after his baptism, when he comes into
contact with the first unclean person or thing, his death is inevitable. What is involved here is
the great exchange. Jesus gives people his holiness and his purity and in return he takes on their
impurity and their death and their unholiness on himself.
Now if the people were unclean and they contacted God’s holiness, they did not die because
God set up a system for the benefit of the lay people. If they came into God’s holy presence and
desecrated God’s holiness, who would bear their iniquity? The Levites. The priests would bear
the iniquity of the Levites. The high priest would bear the iniquity of the priests. And once a
year the scapegoat would bear the iniquity of the high priest. And all of this points to the great
High Priest, Jesus, who bears all of our iniquities. That means he takes on our death in order to
give us his life, the great exchange.)
Next, I want to map out the reality of impurity. And I urge you to get a good understanding of
this because you will be dealing more and more with this in your ministry to people. Dr. Kleinig
said, If there is one thing he can see that has happened in his 40 years of being a pastor, it is
that more and more of his work has happened to fall into this area. As far as he is concerned,
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this whole area of holiness and purity is essential for mission work to people in Australia and to
almost every culture he could name.
What is impurity? One of the most brilliant books that has been published in the last century is
by Mary Douglas, a social anthropologist, called Purity and Danger. I would urge you to read it
because it makes sense of so much in our society that otherwise doesn’t make sense. Let me
give you three phenomena.
 Back in the nineteen hundreds, people discovered that infections came from germs. But
they found it almost impossible to sell the concept of a germ to ordinary people until
someone hit upon on the idea to identify germs with what is dirty and health with what
is clean. Once they did that, it sold itself – clean and unclean.
Mary Douglas claims that if there is a universal social category that runs across all
societies, and it’s built into our bodies, it is the distinction between that what is clean
comes from inside us and what’s unclean comes from outside us. She has studied many
societies and she says it fits all societies. All societies are built around this clean/unclean
grid.
 Now the second case in point. Hitler had some wacky ideas about the Jews being the
cause of all trouble. At first he didn’t get anyone to pay attention to him until he
identified the Jews with being unclean. And then it sold itself. So he said the Arians are
clean and the Jews are unclean. And everyone else is in between. The most unclean he
said were the Jews and the most clean were the pure Arians. This simple identification
basically changed European history.
 The third case in point is closer to home. Beginning already in the 1920’s and 1930’s
people who studied the natural sciences were aware of the web of life how
interconnected the whole ecological system was and the danger of disrupting the
ecological order. And they found it impossible to communicate this to people until
someone had the great idea of identifying ecological disorder with pollution and green
with clean. Once they had that, it sold itself and it sells itself to your generation.
Clean and unclean are universal human categories. And you can communicate across cultures
very powerfully in this way. Mary Douglas has written further on this and other people have
refined her work but she spelled out this ground breaking analysis.
(A student pointed out that it applies to us psychologically too. Yes, it affects so many areas. For
instance, why do we take showers every day? We don’t need to. It latches on to this sense of
wanting to be clean. Why is it that I have to brush my teeth every morning and every evening?
If I don’t do it then I don’t feel right. It is our basic desire to be clean. There is a connection
between being clean and our bodies. Being clean affects the way we experience the world.
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Some people live messier lives than others, but everyone draws a line somewhere. For some
people, life outside themselves can be chaotic, but inside their little world it must be ordered.)
Let’s dive into this, but we won’t be able to go very far with the time we have left today. To
understand purity theologically rather than psychologically and sociologically (we’ve been
talking about clean/unclean in this way so far), we have to look at ritual purity, spiritual purity,
and theological purity.
 Impurity as a life-denying and destructive power
Spiritual impurity is the opposite of holiness. And they are totally incompatible with each other.
Just as darkness is incompatible with light, so impurity is incompatible with holiness. Just as you
bring petrol into contact with fire and the fire destroys the petrol, if you bring darkness into
light, the light destroys the darkness. In the same way, holiness destroys that which is unclean.
They are mutually incompatible. This is simply the way things are.
 Incompatibility with holiness: petrol with fire
So impurity is a life-denying, destructive power. It is incompatible with holiness, just as petrol is

with fire.
 Separation from impurity before admission to God’s holy presence
Because they are incompatible, you need to be separated from impurity before you can be
admitted to God’s holy presence.
 Defilement by contact with impurity
Impurity, as you know instinctively, comes from contact with someone or something that is
unclean. So why is it that people are adverse to touching people that have aids or people who
are dying or corpses? It is because we have the sense where impurity is communicated by
physical contact with that which is unclean.
 Spiritual power of impurity from desecration
Spiritually speaking, spiritual power of impurity comes from the desecration of what is holy. So
impurity in itself has no power. It is parasitic power. It is power that comes from being
perverted, robbed, stolen. So if you think about, Satan has no power in himself. The only way
he can build up his power is by desecrating holy people and holy things, the holy things of God.
So it is parasitic power that comes from the abuse of what is good.
 No creature as intrinsically unclean
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This next point is very, very important. Everywhere in all societies Mary Douglas points out that
human beings divide the world into two domains. First there is the clean domain, which is my
domain, my body, my house, my village, my tribe, my people. We are clean and others are
unclean. So impurity is always placed or located outside one’s self in other human beings.
Human beings are regarded as the source of impurity. Now in the OT and NT it is taught that no
human being, even the most depraved or most wicked, is intrinsically unclean. Just as no
human being is intrinsically holy, no human being is intrinsically unclean because every human
being is made in the image of God.
 Demons as source of impurity: unclean spirits • Three kinds of ritual

impurity
The source of impurity lies in the demons. The demons are the unclean spirits. They are the
source of all impurity and ultimately behind all demons lies Satan himself. We are going to have
stop here for today. Dr. Kleinig has written an essay where he has summarized the theology of
holiness in the Bible. It is called Sharing in God’s Holiness.

corpses, pork)
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Lecture OT-19a
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHjl2k-
T7QU&list=PL32Gjc1uEM1AUR8LC9JlceA9xFSeZs25Z&index=32

…
corpses, pork)
• Degrees of impurity
 Mild forms
 Sexual emission: until evening
 Menstruation: seven days
 Worst forms: excommunication or death
 Sacrifice of children to Molech
 Consulting mediums and spiritists
 Cursing parents
 Sexual abuses such as adultery, incest, homosexuality, and
bestiality
 " Pollution of the holy land by three kinds of impurity
 Sexual impurity: Lev 18:1-20,22-30
 Child sacrifice: Lev 18:21,24-30
 Murder: Num 35:33-34
• Purity as a liturgical rather than as social category
 Origin in God rather in certain classes of people
 All Israelites in need of continual purification: connection with sin
 Rules for purity: admission to God’s presence and inclusion in his
holy congregation
 Rules for impurity: exclusion from God’s presence and his holy
congregation

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...
The topic we are dealing with is holiness and impurity. Not just any type of purity, but spiritual
purity or it is also called ritual purity. For most modern people the laws in the Scriptures that
cover impurity are some of the most puzzling and difficult ones in the OT. Yet strangely
speaking, for people in traditional tribal societies, such as in Africa and New Guinea and Asia,
most of this makes perfect sense. As with holiness, we have lost our sense of a language of pure
and clean.
It’s not that we don’t experience the reality of this. Last time we discussed how powerful the
distinction between clean and unclean is and how all societies are built around the categories of
clean and unclean.
We can say that in the OT there are three kinds of ritual impurity. Ritual impurity is that kind of
impurity which disqualifies you from attendance of the divine service. Why does it disqualify
you? Because if you are unclean, you desecrate God’s holiness. So it benefits you if you are
spiritually unclean to stay away from the holy things of God so that you don’t defile and
desecrate them.
(By the way as an aside here, unbelievers, pagan people have a very strong sense of this. When
you invite them to church, they say, I can’t go to church because God will strike me down or the
roof will fall in on me. They actually have a far better sense of this aspect of spiritual reality
than most Christians do. People instinctively in their conscience know that if they have an
unclean conscience, if they are unclean in some sense, they don’t belong in a holy place and it is
dangerous for them to come into a holy place.)
We can look at three kinds of impurity but this is not how the OT teaches it. This is a way to
make it accessible to us post-enlightenment people. And all three kinds have to do with various
kinds of disorder. That is the key to it. And it’s not just disorder, but life threatening disorder. It
is a disorder that diminishes or threatens or even takes away life.
The first kind of disorder is physical disorder. This includes physical deformities and sickness. A
case in point is that people have great difficulty with irregular menstruation. Instead of regular
menstruation, you might have continuous menstruation or no menstruation. This is unnatural.
It is not the way human beings were made to operate and therefore it is unclean.
Notice that uncleanness is not primarily just a moral category. Deformity and sickness don’t
have to do with morality. These are not ethical issues. It is a question of a physical life
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diminishing disorder. Also note that these lists are not exhaustive. Many other cases could be
given.
The second kind of disorder is moral disorder, disorder in relationships. So adultery makes both
adulterers unclean. Murder makes the murderer and his whole environment unclean. Bestiality,
which is sexual intercourse with an animal, makes a person unclean. Murder is easy for us to
understand, but adultery is very hard for modern people to understand. And with bestiality we
instinctively understand that it is a crossing of a boundary, a fundamental moral disorder.

corpses, pork)
Then there is what we would call religious disorder. It has to do with association with the
occult. The occult is demonic associated stuff. It is this category of stuff that is least accessible
to us because it has to do with practices that are common in animist societies. In animist
societies they believe everything has spirits. The way you access the spiritual realm and the
power of the spiritual realm is through blood, semen, menstrual blood, stuff like that. So use of
these things for these purposes makes you unclean. So for example, because of this, contact
with menstrual blood makes you unclean.
Stuff like this you wouldn’t have to explain to people in New Guinea because there menstrual
blood is used for witchcraft, sorcery, and magic. So in those societies if you want to get woman
power, you have sexual intercourse with a woman during her menstrual cycle. By doing that
you steal life-power from her. And if women want to perform sorcery they use menstrual
blood. These are common practices in those societies.
It is similar with semen. Semen is life giving because semen can help create a new human being.
So it is concentrated life power. A lot of homosexual practices, particularly oral intercourse had
to do with imbibing semen to imbibe supernatural life power. So semen was and is used for all
kinds of magic and sorcery and that kind of stuff.
Then there is the prohibition of pork. Why is it that the meat from a cow or a sheep is clean but
the meat from a pig is unclean? Some people speculate that it is because of hygienic reasons
and that may be a part of it, but that is not the basic reason. In the ancient world in the Middle
East, pigs were sacred to the gods of the underworld. And the gods of the underworld were the
occult gods. And pigs were used in occult ceremonies. Therefore they were prohibited and they
were unclean.
Let me give you a case in point which is not covered by the OT because the context is different.
When Christian missionaries came to evangelize the Germanic tribes in central and northern
Europe, they prohibited the eating of horse meat and that prohibition sit stands to the present
day. Now, there is nothing wrong with horse meat. Why is it that the eating of horse meat is
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prohibited? The Germans considered horses as divine creatures. And all of the rituals in the
Germanic tradition involved horse blood and horse meat. So to evangelize them, the Christian
missionaries had to make a clean cut from their pagan religion. It was similar in the OT.
Anything associated with the occult was forbidden.
These are the things that modern people find the most difficult to understand. This is especially
true with the laws concerning sexuality, like being considered unclean because of the blood
from menstruation and the emission of semen.
• Degrees of impurity
Just as there are degrees of holiness, where the closer you are to God the more you share in
God’s holiness, so the reverse is true. The further you get away from God the more unclean you
become. So you get degrees of impurity. (For anyone interested, the Jewish rabbis codified the
degrees of holiness and the degrees of impurity and the various kinds of impurity with
enormous sophistication.)
It is quite clear from the OT that there are three basic classes of ritual/spiritual impurity.
 Mild forms
First there is what we would call mild, low level, ordinary impurity.
 Sexual emission: until evening
So for instance if a man has an emission of semen at night, he is unclean for the rest of the day.
In the evening he takes a bath and then he is clean again. For practical purposes there is little
significance to this unless I want to go to the temple to present an offering. But if that were to
happen to the high priest when he was slated to officiate on the Day of Atonement, it would be
a disaster. So what they would do for the high priest to make sure this wouldn’t happen would
be to keep him awake on the night before the Day of Atonement.
 Menstruation: seven days
Likewise, menstruation rendered a woman unclean for seven days because that was the normal
period of the menstrual cycle. So as long as the bleeding continued, she was unclean. At the
end of it, in the evening she would wash herself and she would be clean again.
These are two cases of very mild forms of impurity. And they are dealt with simply by washing.
(A student made a statement that he sees why these are hard for us to understand because
they are just normal things that happen to people. Again, uncleanness is not just a moral thing,
it is a physical thing. It has to do with people as physical beings. It is a bit like us getting dirty
and then taking a shower to get clean but it has religious significance. We can understand it in
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purely physical terms. But one of the big problems we have in our society, and this began with
the enlightenment, is that for us the physical has nothing to do with the spiritual. We identify
spiritual with mental and there is an iron curtain between it and the physical, which is
nonsense.
By the way, that iron curtain riddles modern Christianity. And unless you can bridge that gap,
you can’t really do any missionary work with Hindus or Buddhists or people in animist societies.
And that includes most of the world. This is a post-Christian aberration. And yet it shouldn’t be
so hard for us to understand given the environmental movement which is riddled with this.
Polluted environments pollute you and contact with polluted things pollute you. So for
instance, smoking pollutes you. It is interesting because for some people smoking is far worse
than committing adultery. We have lots of funny contradictions in our society these days.
Another student statement about blood and semen. In response, Dr. Kleinig said there is a very
close connection between holiness and life and impurity and death. That is something that can
be used to explain this to modern people. Impurity is death-dealing and holiness is life-giving.
So if you want to understand the occult, it is anti-life just as it is anti-holiness. It takes life
powers and abuses and perverts them and lives off of them.)
 Worst forms: excommunication or death
Those are mild forms of impurity. Now let’s look at the worst forms of impurity. (There are
other forms of impurity in between, but we’re looking at both extremes.) The worst forms
result in excommunication from the holy community or in some cases death. Because these
extreme forms of impurity are so polluting that they bring death, you need to get rid of them
from the community. So you either remove the source of pollution from the body or you kill it
so it does no more harm. As a metaphor consider cancer. You can either kill it or remove it by
cutting it out. It is the same here with high level forms of impurity.
What are the worst forms of impurity?
 Sacrifice of children to Molech
A terrible practice was sacrificing children to Molech. Molech was a god of the underworld. You
give up the life of your child, usually your firstborn child, to the god of the underworld, the god
of death who feeds off the life of babies. Why would you want to sacrifice your child to the god
of death? So that he stays away from you and the rest of your family. You attempt to keep your
life at the expense of your child’s life. Sounds gruesome doesn’t it? But that is the basic
rationale for abortion in our society.
 Consulting mediums and spiritists
In the OT anyone who is a medium or a spiritist is to be put to death. And anyone who consults
with a medium or spiritist to get their fortune told or to get a spell is to be put to death. That is
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deeply polluting because it taps in to the whole realm of the occult. And the realm of the occult,
which is the realm of Satan, is the realm of death. So consulting them is deliberately seeking
deadly powers.
 Cursing parents
Fourthly you have cursing parents. Why would that be so heinous? Parents are the ones who
give life, so you draw life from them. Cursing them then is not just swearing at them but
wishing they were dead. You don’t actually kill them physically but you kill them verbally and
mentally.
 Sexual abuses such as adultery, incest, homosexuality, and

bestiality
Then there are forms of sexual abuse, such as: adultery, incest, homosexual intercourse, and
bestiality. Why is sexuality targeted as an extreme form of impurity? It is the action that creates
and passes on life. If you mess with sexuality, you are messing with life. You are diminishing in
some way life.
So if one of the main purposes for sexual intercourse is to pass life on from generation to
generation, thinking quite physically, what is so horrid about homosexual, anal intercourse?
You don’t pass life on and you put semen in an unclean place, a place where there are feces. So
this act degrades the source of life.
(Some discussion about having more than one wife, especially in the OT. Marriage is to mirror
the relationship between Christ and his church and between God and his people. That is why
there should be only one wife. Solomon is an example of the perils of having more than one
wife. Solomon also illustrates another point, which is the connection between marriage and
spirituality. What was the problem with Solomon having many wives? Because of that, he
worshipped many gods. So in many cases polytheism and polygamy go together.
Another student brought up contraception. Some discussion about it.)
 Pollution of the holy land by three kinds of impurity
Lastly, there are some forms of pollution, to use a modern term, that are environmental. They
don’t just pollute the people who do it or have it done to them. Say for example that I commit
adultery with a woman. I don’t just pollute myself, but I pollute that woman and I pollute my
own marriage. People are polluted by unclean acts, but there are certain acts that pollute the
environment. There are three of them in the Pentateuch.
 Sexual impurity: Lev 18:1-20,22-30
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First there is sexual impurity. It doesn’t just pollute the actors, the family, but it also pollutes
the land. And that is one of the reasons that unless it is dealt with and stemmed the land will
vomit its inhabitants out. We find this a little bit odd, but if you think in purely biological terms,
human sexuality is part of the whole ecological order, the order of creation, the order of life.
 Child sacrifice: Lev 18:21,24-30
The second form of environmental pollution, pollution of the holy land, is child sacrifice, the
worship of Molech. Other forms of paganism don’t pollute the land. But this pollutes the land.
 Murder: Num 35:33-34
And most importantly, murder, unless it is dealt with and rectified, will pollute the holy land.
(A student question about the three levels of impurity – low, medium, and severe. ... The
prophets assume and teach that all forms of idolatry and worship of other gods defiles people.
So for example, when the Jews left the land of Canaan and went to other lands where they
worshipped other gods, they considered those lands as unclean. Why? Because the land had
been defiled by worship of pagan gods. Now remember that there were three kinds of pagan
gods, the sky gods that established order, the earth gods, and the underworld gods. What is the
order of impurity in connection with these three kinds of gods? Obviously the underworld gods
caused the most severe impurity. The earth/fertility gods were less severe. And the high,
ordering gods don’t pollute to any great extent.
A student started asking about Jesus, but Dr. Kleinig wanted him to hold that question because
we realize that things aren’t exactly that way for us.)
One summary remark. It is interesting that you can see most clearly and instinctively purity and
impurity in the sexual realm. This is where we experience it most acutely. And there are good
reasons for it. It’s because it has to do with life and the passing on of life and it has to do with
our bodies. In this area we experience it most clearly. Now, the laws about sexual impurity
don’t imply that only sex [outside of marriage] is unclean and pollutes, but they are viewed as
being paradigmatic. That is, in a sense they illustrate the way that purity works in terms that
people can most readily understand. And this is true for all societies.
• Purity as a liturgical rather than as social category
Now I want to summarize this and then go to the NT. In the OT, purity is different than it is
anywhere else in the ancient world. Purity is regarded as a liturgical rather than a social
category. Now, Mary Douglas and people who have built on her research are brilliant on this.
They say that clean/unclean basically has to do with my body and everything outside my body.
So it has to do with physical embodied existence. And then the body is extended to my family,
my village, my community. I always view my realm as clean and impurity comes from outside
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my realm. My family, class, race is clean. Foreigners are unclean. So clean/unclean has to do
with social categories.
 Origin in God rather in certain classes of people
Now what God does in the OT is take this and reconfigures it, not in terms of society, but in
terms of liturgy/worship. So let’s put this in theological terms. All purity originates in God rather
than from certain persons or classes of people. Purity doesn’t come from me, instead it comes
from God. The only one who is intrinsically clean is God. All purity comes from God. What does
this mean about all human beings? They are all more or less unclean.
 All Israelites in need of continual purification: connection with sin
It follows then that all Israelites need continual purification. Even and especially the high priest,
the most holy person, since he comes closest to God, is in need of purification. So what is going
on here? It has to do with the teaching of sin and original sin. Because of original sin, all human
beings that descend from Adam and Eve are excluded from God’s presence. They have been
removed from the holy garden. All people are unclean. And the whole fallen world is a polluted
environment. So clean and unclean basically teaches Israel the grammar of sin, not morally but
theologically. That sin leads to impurity. Sin and uncleanness are linked. They aren’t exactly the
same but they are closely linked. So for instance, if I sin against another person, then both of us
are defiled by that act. The victim is not guilty but yet he has been made unclean and needs to
be cleansed. And of course I am made unclean by my sin and I need to be cleansed too.
 Rules for purity: admission to God’s presence and inclusion in his

holy congregation
So then the rules for purity have to do with admission to God’s presence, first at the tabernacle
and then later at the temple. And they have to do with inclusion into a holy community. So
clean/unclean does have social implications. There are clean people. There are clean groups of
people. There is a clean, holy nation. But it is not primarily social and physical but rather
liturgical and spiritual. So the rules of purity have to do with admission into God’s presence and
either inclusion or exclusion from the holy congregation.
 Rules for impurity: exclusion from God’s presence and his holy
congregation
On the other hand, rules for impurity have to do with exclusion from God’s presence and his
holy congregation. And you don’t need to just see this negatively. Why is it not just negative?
Why does God exclude unclean people from his presence? It is for their protection. It is so that
they don’t die. Because if an unclean person comes into God’s presence, they come under his
wrath. God’s wrath goes against what is unclean and it is death-dealing. So these rules are used
to protect people from God’s holiness.
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What is the basic difference between the OT teaching on impurity and the NT? Jesus sums it up
very clearly in one of the beatitudes. He says, Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see
God. If you want to put that in OT terms it would be, Blessed are those who are physically,
bodily clean for they shall be admitted to God’s presence at the tabernacle/temple. The big
change between OT and NT is that in the OT people were admitted into God’s presence
physically at the tabernacle/temple. It was a this-worldly, physical thing. There was a certain
degree of physical purity that was required to come to the tabernacle/temple.
Now as a result of Jesus’ death and resurrection we are admitted not to an earthly tabernacle
or temple, but to the heaven, even while we are still here on earth. So it is physical but it goes
beyond physical. Therefore we need a far higher degree of purity than the OT people of God.
We don’t just need clean hands but according to Hebrews a clean conscience. If your
conscience is clean, what does it mean about the rest of you? It means you are totally clean for
entry into the heavenly sanctuary and for participation into the heavenly liturgy. That is why we
get a new teaching on holiness, which is much misunderstood by most modern people. Let’s
look at Mk. 7:14-23.
14
And he called the people to him again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and
understand: 15 There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the
things that come out of a person are what defile him.” (The ESV leaves out v. 16: “If anyone
has ears to hear, let him hear.”) 17 And when he had entered the house and left the people, his
disciples asked him about the parable. 18 And he said to them, “Then are you also without
understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile
him, 19 since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?” (Thus he declared all
foods clean.) 20 And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. 21 For from
within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder,
adultery, 22 coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. 23 All
these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”
Vv. 14 and 15 were read. This is a typical Jesus’ riddle. He says it’s not what comes from the
outside that makes you unclean. [Remember, most people think they are clean and others are
unclean.] Jesus says what comes out from you makes you unclean.
Vv. 17-23 were read. The OT concentrates on the physical sources of impurity. Jesus doesn’t
deny that there are physical things that make us unclean, but he turns it on its head and says
behind the physical impurity lies impurity of the heart. From an unclean heart comes all the
other impurities. So the source of impurity is not from others to me, but from inside me, from
my heart. My unclean heart leads to unclean thoughts and unclean deeds and it defiles me. In
this way Jesus doesn’t, as some scholars claim, abolish the distinction between clean and
unclean, but he affirms it and he radicalizes it. If it is true that what makes you unclean is your
unclean heart, then what is Jesus’ solution to this? A heart transplant, a new heart, a clean
heart that replaces your unclean heart. There are many implications of this.
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So from one point of view, there are no degrees of impurity in the NT. If we are in Christ we are
clean. If we are not in Christ, we are unclean. But that doesn’t abolish the fact that there are
certain things that defile you and make you unclean. We read some of those things. Paul also
gives a list. He says no fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, catamites, sodomites, greedy people,
thieves, drunkards, slanderers, swindlers will enter the kingdom of God. And he tells the
Corinthians that some of them were these things. But something changed. He says they were
cleansed, sanctified, purified, washed in baptism. You have these lists of things that were
prohibited in the NT. These lists were probably used for people to diagnose themselves or to be
diagnosed either in preparation for baptism or for confession. If you were unclean because of
one of these things, you had to undergo a rite of purification. What was that for Christians?
Baptism and confession. This may be one way of reaching out to a whole generation of young
people that may find it difficult to respond to our normal Law/Gospel stuff.
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Lecture OT-19b
v=8xR4hWJc0Yk&list=PL32Gjc1uEM1AUR8LC9JlceA9xFSeZs25Z&index=33&spfreload=1
(See also pgs. 60-64 and 65-67 of the Class Notes.)
[In the first half of this session Dr. Kleinig wrapped up holiness and purity. He
used an overhead, but that overhead was not included in the overhad pdf.]

h. Holiness and purity
…
…
i. God’s institution of the rite of atonement
Leviticus 17:10-12
1. Problem: Num 17:18
 How can unclean people meet with their holy God at the altar without desecrating
his holiness and dying from their defilement of it?
 Solution: the rite of atonement
2. Use of Blood by Pagan Animists
 Blood as the carrier of the life-power that animates all living creatures
 Blood as the only material thing that links the physical world with the spiritual
realm
 Drinking of blood to gain supernatural life-power for virility and fertility, strength
and health
 Use of blood as food for spirits of the dead and for appeasement of evil spirits: gain
good luck from ancestors and ward off bad luck from demons
3. Structure of Leviticus 17:10-12
 Excommunication for eating meat with blood (17:11)
 Reasons for this threat (17:11)
 Life of the animal in its blood
 God’s provision of blood for atonement of lives
 Blood as the means of atonement by the life in it
 God’s reservation of blood for atonement (17:12)

h. Holiness and purity
Wrapping Up Purity and Holiness
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I want to summarize what we have been talking about – the theology of purity and holiness.
First a general remark. One of the dangers that westerners face is that when it comes to the
Bible we abstract principles from the Bible. The principle of love. The principle of compassion.
The principle of sacrifice. The principle of purity. The principle of holiness. And then we define
it. And then we operate as if it were an idea.
Purity and holiness are not ideas. They are realities. They are powers. So when God wants to
communicate his holiness to his people and to purify them, he doesn’t give the theory of
holiness or the theory of purity. Instead he gives them a tabernacle. He gives them priests. He
gives them rituals. He gives them divine service. And using those things he communicates his
holiness to them and his purity to them. When he gives them holiness and purity with these
things, he is teaching them in a practical, incarnate type of way.
In the incarnate way, we are celebrating Maundy Thursday, the death of Christ to atone for our
sins, to purify us and to sanctify us before God the Father. Jesus doesn’t give us a theology of
atonement and purity. Instead he gives us Holy Communion. And by giving us Holy Communion,
[he gives us holiness and purity and] he teaches us about holiness and purity. And the fact that
he gives us these realities instead of theories applies to much in theology. If you go the way of
drawing general principles you will run into problems. But God giving the tabernacle and Holy
Communion illustrates very well how God works.
If general principles do not convey the theology of holiness or the idea of holiness, what is the
use of holiness? God in the OT and through his Word uses holiness and purity to relate the
whole of life to the divine service. I don’t know if it has struck you or not, but everything we
have been talking about relates to two realms. There is God’s realm, the sanctuary. The other
realm is the Jewish home, the people’s realm. What all this business of purity and holiness does
is to relate the sanctuary to the home and the home to the sanctuary.
Take for example the focus on two areas. First, the eating of meals. You have ordinary meals,
eating clean food at home. And you have holy meals, where you eat holy food. So the kitchen
table and the Lord’s table are connected by means of holiness and purity laws and rituals.
Likewise, all the stuff about sexuality and purity and holiness connects the bedroom with the
temple. Through the laws and rituals and teaching on holiness God relates worship to the
whole of life and the whole of life to worship. And he does this without saying what modern
people say when they say, life is worship, which is wrong. Worship does relate to the whole of
life, but the whole of life is not in itself worship.
The demand for purity arises from God’s presence with his people at the sanctuary. Why do
people need to be clean when they come into God’s presence at the sanctuary? It is for their
safety, their benefit. Because otherwise they will desecrate God’s holiness and come under
God’s wrath. And that will lead to God’s curse rather than God’s blessing.
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Now God is not satisfied with having just a little bridgehead of holiness at the sanctuary. He
wanted to extend the realm of holiness from the tabernacle to the realm where people live and
then from there to the whole world. So the tabernacle/temple is a bridgehead of holiness in the
world because God’s ultimate aim is to sanctify everything he has created. That is his ultimate
purpose. But before he can sanctify everything, he has to purify everybody and everything. Only
after everything is purified can it be sanctified. So to do that, he starts by establishing a
bridgehead here on earth.
In the OT the bridgehead is the tabernacle/temple. In the NT the bridgehead is a person. It is

Jesus. [He is the new place where God dwells with his people.] Why did Jesus become
incarnate, becoming a human being at conception, living on earth, and then dying and rising?
Why did God’s Son become a physical, embodied human being? The answer the early church
gave, which summarized the content of all the Scriptures, was so that Jesus could purify every
single stage of human existence, from conception through to death. And secondly, so that Jesus
could sanctify the whole of human life from conception through to death. So the aim of God is
to establish a bridgehead for purification and sanctification, so that eventually he could purify
and sanctify the whole of his fallen creation.
Let me give you an example. Many years ago was the great Bisbane flood. It was a once in a
lifetime experience. After the water receded, I was involved in the cleanup of a church
member’s house. The flood waters had gone up nearly to the ceiling. The house was a mess. It
was filled with stinking river mud. When we first opened the door, we wondered where we
would even start. We walked through it and decided to start with the bathroom and the
kitchen. In those rooms we started with the wash basin and sink. Because we had water at
those two places, we started by washing the sink and wash basin. By doing so we created a
clean space that could then be used for cleaning everything else. [It was their bridgehead for
purity.] From the wash basin we went to the bathtub and cleaned it. And then they used the
bathtub to clean other things. Once they had that bridgehead, they could begin to remove the
impurity.
This is similar to the way that God works with his people in the OT and NT. He establishes a
bridgehead, a clean place, a holy place in order to extend his holiness and purity out to the
world. The book of Revelation shows that God will not be satisfied until he has created a whole
new clean and holy cosmos.
Lastly, holiness is life-giving. Wherever God’s holiness is, wherever the holy things of God are,
there people receive life-giving, life-sustaining blessings. In the OT, they are blessings that have
to do with the order of creation, the old world. In the NT, the blessings have to do with the new
world, the new creation, the new age, the blessings of the Holy Spirit. So Paul says that the
great blessing that we receive as a result of our sanctification is the Holy Spirit and eternal life
with God. Not just physical life here on earth, but eternal life with God.
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Let’s go to Lev. 26:1-14, which is the climax of the book of Leviticus, which teaches in practical
terms and ritual terms the theology of holiness. It gives the way that people participate in God’s
holiness in the OT. First, let’s read vv. 1-2.
26 “You shall not make idols for yourselves or erect an image or pillar, and you shall not set
up a figured stone in your land to bow down to it, for I am the Lord your God. 2 You shall keep
my Sabbaths and reverence my sanctuary: I am the Lord.
Notice that there are four commandments here. There are two prohibitions against any form of
idolatry and then there are two summary commandments: observe by Sabbath and reverence
my sanctuary. This has to do with everything we’ve been dealing with. Let’s continue through v.
5.
3
“If you walk in my statutes and observe my commandments and do them, 4 then I will give
you your rains in their season, and the land shall yield its increase, and the trees of the field
shall yield their fruit. 5 Your threshing shall last to the time of the grape harvest, and the
grape harvest shall last to the time for sowing. And you shall eat your bread to the full and
dwell in your land securely.
“Walk in my statutes and observe my commandments” refers back to vv. 1-2. It refers back to
the decrees that prohibit idolatry and the decrees that deal with God’s holiness, the decrees to
keep God’s holy day and to reverence his holy sanctuary. If you observe these then the first
blessing is going to be rainfall with good harvests. Let’s continue with vv. 6-8.
6
I will give peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid. And I
will remove harmful beasts from the land, and the sword shall not go through your land. 7 You
shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword. 8 Five of you shall chase
a hundred, and a hundred of you shall chase ten thousand, and your enemies shall fall before
you by the sword.
The second blessing is peace, which means security against all their enemies. Now let’s look at
the third blessing in vv. 9-10.
9
I will turn to you and make you fruitful and multiply you and will confirm my covenant with
you. 10 You shall eat old store long kept, and you shall clear out the old to make way for the
new.
The third blessing is reproduction, growth of families. Now, if you don’t have enough food to
feed them, growth of families is a curse. So the blessing of the growth of families comes with
the blessing of more than enough food. Now, let’s look at what the climatic blessing is. All these
blessings so far would be what anyone would expect from their gods in the ancient world. But
look at the next one.
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11
I will make my dwelling among you, and my soul shall not abhor you. 12 And I will walk
among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people. 13 I am the Lord your God, who
brought you out of the land of Egypt, that you should not be their slaves. And I have broken
the bars of your yoke and made you walk erect.
So the fourth blessing then is God’s dwelling, the tabernacling of God with his people and God’s
service of them. He says, I will serve you, I “will be your God and you shall be my people.” God
will dwell with his people in order that he might serve them. And the result will be that they will
able to walk with their heads held high. He has broken their yokes and given them freedom, so
that they can walk with their heads held high in the presence of God.
The picture here is taken from courts in the ancient world. Who are the only people who walk
in the presence of the king with their heads held high? Everyone else has to bow but the king’s
sons don’t bow to the king. They walk about in the palace with their heads held high.
So holiness results in blessing and the result of God’s blessing is freedom, the freedom not to
live as God’s slaves but as sons and daughters of the royal family. That’s the section on holiness.
Let’s move on now to the next topic, the rite of atonement, which is closely connected with
holiness and purity.

Leviticus 17:10-12
How are people purified from the impurity that comes from sin? The answer is through the rite
of atonement. So atonement is of enormous importance. Let’s go to Numbers 17:12-13, which
puts the problem we want to deal with in its most acute form.
1. Problem: Num 17:12-13

 How can unclean people meet with their holy God at the altar without desecrating
his holiness and dying from their defilement of it?
Now, just prior to this verse, you had Korah along with others leading a rebellion against Moses
because they said, We’re all holy and therefore we should all be priests. They barged into God’s
presence and were killed because they desecrated God’s holiness. This is the reaction of the
people to that whole episode.
12
And the people of Israel said to Moses, “Behold, we perish, we are undone, we are all
undone. 13 Everyone who comes near, who comes near to the tabernacle of the Lord, shall die.
Are we all to perish?”
If a sinful people come into the presence of holy God, they are doomed. So the safe thing to do
is to avoid God altogether. (By the way, I think that is the philosophy of most people in the
West. They think, God is holy. He is demanding. I can’t measure up. The best thing I can do is
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avoid him. It’s the same way if you have a demanding person that makes you look stupid when
you cannot do what he asks, you avoid him.)
What is the problem that the rite of atonement solves? (Always when you are dealing with a
doctrine, it is good to ask the question, what does this doctrine deal with quite practically?)
What practical question does this deal with? The practical question is, how can unclean people
meet with their holy God at the altar without desecrating his holiness and dying from their
defilement of it? So, how can they as sinners approach holy God without desecrating his
holiness and as a result dying? How can you safely approach God if you are unclean?
 Solution: the rite of atonement
The answer to this question is the rite of atonement. Let’s go to Lev. 17:10-12. This very
important and foundational text for the teaching of atonement in both the OT and the NT.
10
“If any one of the house of Israel or of the strangers who sojourn among them eats any
blood, I will set my face against that person who eats blood and will cut him off from among
his people. 11 For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to
make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life.
12
Therefore I have said to the people of Israel, No person among you shall eat blood, neither
shall any stranger who sojourns among you eat blood.
God gives the blood of an animal upon the altar so that he himself can atone for their souls, for
their lives. Now, it is not that the blood has the power to atone by itself, but it is the word of
God which is attached to the blood. What is important here is that God attaches this promise to
the use of blood for the rite of atonement on the altar.
Now to understand this in its full sense and why God chooses blood as the means by which he
atones for sin, you need to understand the use of blood in pagan cultures and particularly in
animist cultures, like the Aboriginals.
 Blood as the carrier of the life-power that animates all living creatures
Blood is regarded by animist people and by many other people around the world as the carrier
of life-power, the life-power that animates all living creatures. So the life of an animal is in its
blood. The life of a human being is in its blood. The blood is not the life, but it is the medium,
the carrier of life-power. Nephesh is life-power (it also has to do with the throat).
 Blood as the only material thing that links the physical world with the spiritual
realm
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In animist cultures, blood is the only natural thing, the only material thing that is both physical
and spiritual. It acts as a bridgehead between the material world and the spiritual world. So if
you want to access the spirits and the spiritual world and you want to bridge between those
living on earth and those who have died but now live in the underworld, it is through blood.
This then explains to us what look like rather strange customs.
 Drinking of blood to gain supernatural life-power for virility and fertility, strength
and health
For instance, traditionally Aboriginals under the right circumstances would drink the blood of a
kangaroo. Why would they do that? To get its life. Drinking its blood was thought to give you
kangaroo power. Another example would be the initiation of a young man. The leader of the
ceremony would open up the veins in the arm, drain a lot of blood from it, and he would give
the blood to the boy being initiated to drink. Why would he do that? He would do it to pass his
life-power to the boy. Why would they in some tribes in New Guinea eat the liver and eat the
meat of a person they killed in battle? To gain their power and strength.
So you eat blood and drink blood in order to get life-power and not just natural life-power. It’s
not just good healthy food but it’s supernatural life-power. They ate it for virility and fertility,
strength and health. So in some parts of New Guinea today if a person is sick, they get a chook
and drain its blood and put the blood on some sweet potatoes and then have the sick person
eat it to gain the health from the chook or a pig or whatever animal you want to use.
 Use of blood as food for spirits of the dead and for appeasement of evil spirits: gain
good luck from ancestors and ward off bad luck from demons
Lastly, animist people use blood as food for the spirits of the dead and to appease evil spirits.
So archeologists have found something that looks rather strange to us. In many places in the
Middle East you have the bones of a person who was buried in a grave and then you have a
lead pipe that goes from the bones up above ground at the grave. What would be the point of
this pipe? You would pour blood down the pipe so that it would reach the bones of the dead
person. In doing so, you would be giving blood to the spirits of the dead and in that way you
would increase their strength and energy and they in turn could do favors for you. Because for
animist people the most powerful people are not those that are living but those that are dead.
For them, the most alive people are dead people.
They would also use blood to feed evil spirits in order to appease them. If you have evil spirits
who threaten you and you want to get them off your back, you feed them blood. It’s like
feeding a dog that threatens to bite you. You use blood to appease demons, to ward off evil
spirits.
There are other uses for blood too. In New Guinea society there are hundreds of uses for blood.
In the thesis of a former student, he wrote that in New Guinea when they cleared the jungle for
a garden and make a fence around the garden, they would kill a pig, drain its blood, and put the
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blood on the fence posts around the garden and put a lot of blood at the entrance of the
garden. And preferably they would kill the pig in the middle of the garden. Why would they do
that? One reason would be to protect it from infections. Another reason was that it would
ensure the fertility of the plants that would grow in the garden.
One of the most common pagan practices around the world is to drink blood or to eat meat
with blood in it. This is done for very high level religious purposes because by drinking blood
you gained supernatural life-power. Also, if any of you know anything about the occult, you
know that blood features very prominently in the occult.
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Lecture OT-20a
v=yyPSy3JG8Cs&list=PL32Gjc1uEM1AUR8LC9JlceA9xFSeZs25Z&index=34&spfreload=1

Leviticus 17:10-12
...
...
4. Meaning of KIPPER
 Ransom of life of a person by the life of the animal: kipper from kopher
 Cover or wipe away a stain: other Semitic languages
 Perform the rite of atonement with the blood of a sacrificed animal
5. Disposal of Blood in the Rite of Atonement
a. Disposal of blood from burnt offerings and peace offerings
 Draining of blood in ritual slaughter
 Splashing against the sides of the altar
b. Disposal of blood from the sin offerings
 Sin offering for a lay person
 Application by the priest with finger on the four horns of the altar
 Pouring out of rest at its base
 Sin offering of high priest and congregation
 Sprinkling of seven times against the curtain of Holy Place
 Application with finger on the four horns of the incense altar
 Pouring out of rest at the base of the altar for burnt offering
 Sin offerings from bull for priesthood and goat for congregation on Day of
Atonement
 The Holy of Holies (16x)
 Sprinkling of blood by the high priest on the mercy seat
 Sprinkling seven times on its floor
 The Holy Place (22x)
 Application on four horns of the incense altar in the Holy Place
 Sprinkling on its floor seven times
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 Altar for burnt offering (11x)
 Application of blood from both sin offerings on its four horns
 Sprinkling seven times with finger
6. Theological Function of the Rite of Atonement
 Cleansing from the impurity of sin
 Pardon: release/remission from sin and its impurity
 Use of the term nasa’ ‘avon with atonement
 Bear God’s punishment for own iniquity
 Removal of iniquity by God
 Bearing of iniquity for others
 Levites ► people: Num 18:22-23
 Priests ► Levites + people: Num 18:1
 High priest ►Israelites: Exod 28:38
 Scapegoat ► all Israel: Lev 16:21-22
 Sanctification with blood from Holy of Holies (Lev 16:19) or from altar for burnt
offering (Lev 8:30)
 Access to God’s gracious presence: Lev 1:4-5
Opening Devotion
A reading from 1 John 2:1-2.

2 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone
does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 2 He is the
propitiation (or expiation or atonement) for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the
sins of the whole world.
Prayer.

Leviticus 17:10-12
As the last part of the section on the God’s institution of the divine service and the theology of
holiness in the Pentateuch, I’d like to look at God’s institution of the rite of atonement. As you
know from your dogmatics classes, atonement lies at the very heart of our Christian faith. And I
assume you know that the doctrine of atonement has come under severe attack in modern
times. If you look at the hymnody of the church, which is a good indication of the piety, the
doctrine of atonement has basically fallen off of the agenda as far as the preaching and practice
of the church is concerned. And that creates a whole heap of problems.
Atonement – what is involved in it? Let me just recapitulate a few things that I said at the end
of the last lesson and then lead into the teaching on atonement in the Pentateuch, in the OT.
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...
Whenever you look at a doctrine in the church, always ask, What problem does it solve? You
can’t make sense of an answer unless you know the question. What is the basic question that
lies behind God’s gift of atonement? The basic question is: How can an unclean people meet
with a holy God at the altar at the tabernacle without defiling and desecrating God’s holiness
and dying from their defilement of it? A holy God and unclean people coming together should
result in the annihilation of the unclean people. So how can an unclean person come into the
presence of a holy God in such a way that it doesn’t desecrate God’s holiness? So that they
don’t defile God’s holiness and come under God’s wrath rather than receive God’s grace? That
is the basic issue that is at stake in atonement. This is something that humanly speaking is
impossible, which is to separate the sin from the sinner

...
The key passage in the OT in which God institutes the rite of atonement is Lev. 17. The whole
chapter deals with the use and abuse of blood. Blood was very significant in the ancient world
in animist cultures. In an animist culture it is the only substance that is both physical and
spiritual. It links the physical and spiritual realm. So to them blood is more than just a natural
substance. It contains life-power and therefore it is supernatural as well as natural. Hence the
various uses of blood ritually all over the world to the present day.
The key passage Lev. 17:11.
10
“If any one of the house of Israel or of the strangers who sojourn among them eats any
blood, I will set my face against that person who eats blood and will cut him off from among
his people. 11 For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to
make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the
life. 12 Therefore I have said to the people of Israel, No person among you shall eat blood,
neither shall any stranger who sojourns among you eat blood.
(Dr. Kleinig read the Hebrew and then translated and explained the Hebrew as follows.) V. 11
gives the reason for the prohibition on drinking blood. Translated it is: For the life (nephesh -
the breath, the life-breath, the life-force, the life-power, the soul) of the flesh (flesh refers to
any creature that has flesh. It includes human beings and animals, any creature that breaths) is
in the blood. So “For the life-power of an animate creature is in the blood” is a slightly
different way of translating it.
He continued with the translation and explanation of v.11. And I myself have given it (the
blood) to you as a gift (or I have provided it for you as a gift) upon the altar (why?) to atone for
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your souls (or your lives) for the blood it (the next Hebrew word can be understood in three
ways: (1) at the cost of a life or (2) by the means of a life or (3) instead of a life) it atones.
So very literally v. 11 is:

For the life-power of an animate creature is in the blood, and I have provided it for you upon
the altar to atone for your lives, for the blood, it by means of the life atones.
Blood in itself does not atone. Only blood placed on the altar atones. The blood of a sacrificed
animal that is placed on the altar God has provided atones for sins. And it is not the blood in
itself that does it, but it is because of the Word of God that is attached to it. It is by virtue of this
divine institution that the blood atones.

4. Meaning of KIPPER
What is meant by the Hebrew word translated as atone? There are three levels of meaning of
this word. As you remember, Hebrew has a very small vocabulary and any one word in the
Hebrew language is used in a number of different ways. It is semantically very rich.
 Ransom of life of a person by the life of the animal: kipper from kopher
First, and most obviously, kipper is a verb taken from the noun kopher. A kopher is a bribe or
ransom. It is a payment you make to get you free from something. So in v. 11 instead of “atone”
you could say that the blood ransoms you. It ransoms by means of a life. So a life ransoms a life.
Atoning is ransoming. Life is paid to free life.
 Cover or wipe away a stain: other Semitic languages
Secondly, kipper has a second root in Hebrew. It has the idea of covering or wiping out a stain.
If you have something that is dirty, you can cover it up. Or you can do the opposite, but it has
the same result. Instead of covering it up, you can remove the stain.
 Perform the rite of atonement with the blood of a sacrificed animal
Thirdly, it becomes a ritual technical term and it means to perform the rite of atonement. So
whenever you see this Hebrew word used, you have to think about in which of three ways it is
being used. The first two can be used in a secular sense, non-theologically. But the third sense is
only used theologically in a ritual sense. The most important sense that we are concerned
about is the third sense, the performance of the rite of atonement.
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5. Disposal of Blood in the Rite of Atonement

a. Disposal of blood from burnt offerings and peace offerings
 Draining of blood in ritual slaughter
 Splashing against the sides of the altar
So what is the rite of atonement? According to v. 11, it has to do with the placement of blood
on the altar. How does it work? First of all, blood from every burnt offering, for instance the
daily burnt offering that is performed every morning and evening, is splashed against the altar.
Remember that is the first part of the divine service. But also the blood from the peace offering,
the offerings brought by people that resulted in a holy meal, is splashed against the sides of the
altar. That is the rite of atonement. You get blood from a sacrifice and you dispose of it by
splashing it against the side of the altar.
b. Disposal of blood from the sin offerings
Then there are extra ordinary rites of atonement.
 Sin offering for a lay person
Interestingly, the same Hebrew word is used for sin and sin offering. This offering is the offering
made for the purification of sin. Every morning and every meaning there is what scholars call
the minor rite of atonement. This is what we described above where blood from the public
burnt offerings and the private peace offerings was splashed against the sides of the altar, the
first stage in the divine service. Then there are the extraordinary sin offerings.
First of all there is the sin offering for a lay person.
 Application by the priest with finger on the four horns of the altar
What happens is the priest takes the blood from the sin offering and applies it to the four horns
of the altar. He puts his finger in the bowl of the blood and applies the blood to the four horns
of the altar.
 Pouring out of rest at its base
Once he has applied the blood to the horns, he pours out the rest of the blood at the base of
the altar. So it is not splashed against the altar, but it is placed on the altar and disposed of at
the altar.
That is the sin offering of a lay person. If a person breaks one of the ten commandments,
confesses their sin, and wants to cleansed from it, he comes and presents a sin offering. And
once they’ve presented a sin offering, they can once again safely approach God without coming
under God’s wrath.
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 Sin offering of high priest and congregation
Then there is the sin offering of the high priest and the congregation as a whole. The high priest
represents the congregation and if the high priest sins then the congregation sins.
 Sprinkling of seven times against the curtain of Holy Place
In this case the high priest brings the blood into the Holy Place and stands before the Holy of
Holies and sprinkles the blood seven times against the curtain. So he sprinkles the blood in the
direction of the atonement cover on the mercy seat seven times.
 Application with finger on the four horns of the incense altar
And then he smeared the blood on the four horns of the incense altar.
 Pouring out of rest at the base of the altar for burnt offering
Then he brought out the rest of the blood poured it out at the base of the altar for burnt
offering.
Notice then in this case that the blood is not only placed at the altar for burnt offering but also
on the incense altar to make atonement. So when it is the sin of the high priest and
congregation not only does the altar for burnt offering have to be cleansed but so also does the
incense altar.
 Sin offerings from bull for priesthood and goat for congregation on Day of
Atonement
Then you have the sin offerings for the Day of Atonement. This has to do with a comprehensive
cleansing ceremony once a year before the feast of tabernacles in the seventh month. In this
ceremony there are sin offerings offered for the priests and the congregation. So a bull was
sacrificed for the priesthood and a goat for the congregation. And in all there are 49
applications of blood.
 The Holy of Holies (16x)

 Sprinkling of blood by the high priest on the mercy seat
The priest brings blood from both of the offerings and sprinkles it on the mercy seat once for
each offering.
 Sprinkling seven times on its floor
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And then he sprinkled it on the floor of the Holy of Holies seven times for each offering.
So the blood is sprinkled twice on the mercy seat and fourteen times on the floor for a total of
sixteen times. But what is important is the sprinkling of blood on the mercy seat. So it starts at
the mercy seat and then on the floor before the mercy seat. As we go through this you will see
that it goes from the inside out, from the Holy of Holies to the Holy Place to the altar for burnt
offering.
 The Holy Place (22x)

 Application on four horns of the incense altar in the Holy Place
After that, the high priest comes out of the Holy of Holies and applies the blood to the four
horns of the incense altar.
 Sprinkling on its floor seven times
Then he sprinkled it on the floor of the Holy Place seven times.
Again, he does this for both offerings. So blood is applied eight times to the horns of the
incense altar and fourteen times on the Holy Place floor. So the blood is applied a total of
twenty two times in the Holy Place. And the two bowls of blood are poured together.
 Altar for burnt offering (11x)
That blood is then brought out of the Holy Place to the altar for burnt offering.
 Application of blood from both sin offerings on its four horns
The blood was then placed on the four horns of the altar for burnt offering.
 Sprinkling seven times with finger
And then the blood was sprinkled seven times on the altar. And whatever blood was left, it was
poured out on the base of the altar.
Notice how the blood was brought in and then it is brought out. If that blood is brought into the
Holy of Holies and applied to the mercy seat, what does it make the blood? Most holy blood.
Since it is most holy, it communicates holiness. So it sanctifies from the inside out. Clean blood
is brought in and most holy blood is brought out. The writer of the Hebrews says that Jesus
brings his blood into the heavenly sanctuary, the heavenly Holy of Holies, and then sprinkles it
on us here on earth. He brings it from heaven to earth as the most holy, sanctifying blood.
Now that is the rite of atonement. So you have four kinds of atonement. (1) You have the minor
rite, the splashing of blood against the altar from the burnt offering and peace offering. Then
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there are three different kinds of rites of atonement for sin offerings. (2) The sin offering for a
lay person. (3) The sin offering of the congregation. (4) And the annual sin offering for the
priesthood and the people on the annual Day of Atonement, where you had forty-nine
applications of blood. Now in each of these cases, it is the blood that atones for the sin.
Now this quite extra ordinary in terms of comparative religion. There are no parallels to this in
pagan rituals and cults. Let’s say you are a Babylonian PhD student and you were doing some
research work on these funny Jewish people living in Jerusalem in about 600-700 BC. There
would be some things that you would notice that are very similar to the Babylonian religion. But
there would be a number of things that would strike you as being plain stupid. (1) One is the
fact that they did not have an idol, which you would have expected to be in the Holy of Holies.
(2) In the whole land of Israel there were no lucky charms or sorcery. They had no amulets and
nothing to do with the occult. (3) But the thing that would strike you as being most stupid
would be this obsession with blood and this waste of blood. They didn’t eat or drink blood.
Instead they used it for this ritual purpose. The beginning of every service started with this
blood stuff [splashing and applying blood on the altar].
Not only pagans in the ancient world would have found this to be strange but to the present
day most people of the enlightenment find the whole bloody business of Christianity just too
much to stomach.
(Student question. We place importance on Jesus’ death as well as his shedding of blood.
Wouldn’t it be that way in the OT too? Isn’t the death of the sacrifice just as important? No, it is
the blood that is important. Even in Christ’s death, the focus is not on the death that atones but
it is his blood that atones. Hebrews says that the pouring out of blood atones. Jesus says, This is
the blood of the new covenant which is poured out for you for the forgiveness of sins. One of
the problems Dr. Kleinig has with many modern theories of atonement is the exclusive focus on
death, as death as the most significant thing rather than the shedding of blood. And then Christ
takes that blood into the heavenly sanctuary and gives us that blood to drink in Holy
Communion and sprinkles that blood on our hearts. Of course being the sacrifice he has to die.
But the focus particularly in the OT is not on the death of the animal. The death of the animal is
not the sacrifice; it has no ritual significance in itself. It is the disposal of blood that is ritually
and theologically significant.)
(There was another student question but it was muffled. The discussion turned to the provision
of the animals sacrificed. There was a temple tax (atonement money) and it was used to buy all
the stuff needed for the sacrifices. After Solomon and beyond, the kings provided all the
resources needed, including the lambs, for the sacrifices. In the post-exilic period, Ezra and
Nehemiah got the people to provide everything that is needed for the divine service and the
upkeep of the temple.)
6. Theological Function of the Rite of Atonement
What is the theological function of the rite of atonement?
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 Cleansing from the impurity of sin
Quite simply the rite of atonement cleanses from sin. Sin doesn’t just defile and dirty the
evildoer, but it also dirties the people being sinned against. And it dirties the whole
environment. So the altar needs to be cleansed. The sanctuary needs to be cleansed. The
priests need to be cleansed as well as the people and the land need to be cleansed. So
atonement leads to cleansing, purification from sin. It covers and removes sin. Or rather than
sin being removed, the consequences of sin, the stain from it, the impurity from it are covered
and removed. Therefore the guilt from the sin is removed.
 Pardon: release/remission from sin and its impurity
Secondly, notice that this happens to things as well as people. Things can become unclean, so
they need to be purified. The altar becomes unclean, therefore the altar needs to be purified.
When it is applied to persons, it has the sense of pardoning, forgiving. The result of performing
the rite of atonement is to release or free. Literally it means “to be released for him.” That is
always translated as “he will be forgiven.” But this is a divine passive, which means God
releases him from his impurity, from his sin. So atonement has to do with
remission/release/freeing from sin and its consequences. And it is for the sinner and the person
sinned against. This is the doctrine of forgiveness in the OT. So there is a close connection
between atonement and pardon. There is no forgiveness without atonement. And there is no
atonement without sacrifice. So sacrifice and atonement leads to purification and forgiveness
of sin.
(A student question. I’m not sure what was asked. By his answer, it seems like the question
was: Why is atonement no longer an accepted doctrine? The answer was: People look at
atonement in the form of a caricature. God is an angry God, so you have to appease him.
People have other problems with it too. They say, how does putting a bit of blood on the altar
release people from sin? They say that’s immoral. And there are other arguments against it.
And all of them express a discomfort with blood, that a life of an animal is sacrificed for the life
of a human being. They don’t like the whole notion of exchange. They don’t like the idea that
when you sin it makes you unclean and that somehow atonement frees you from the impurity
of sin. The most common modern critique of it is that it is immoral.)
 Use of the term nasa’ ‘avon with atonement

 Bear God’s punishment for own iniquity
Thirdly, atonement has to do with the bearing of iniquity. This is important for the NT too. The
Hebrew word nasa’ means to bear, to carry, and to remove. The Hebrew word ‘avon is a rich
term, semantically. ‘avon is a crooked act and is translated as iniquity. Iniquity is inequality,
something that is evil. So ‘avon is an evil act, but it is also the consequences of an evil act. So
iniquity is an evil act and it is the punishment for an evil act. This happens quite often in
Hebrew. For instance, the Hebrew word for sin can also be the impurity from sin, the
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consequences of sin, the guilt from sin, and then also the sin offering. And you will find that all
of the Hebrew sin words have that same spectrum of meaning.
So iniquity first of all is an evil act, an act that violates the God-given order. And since it breaks
the order given by God, it has inevitable consequences. Evil results in and produces evil, both
for the evildoer and for those who are victims of the evil act. Iniquity is also the guilt objectively
and subjectively of the evil act. And it is also the punishment of an evil act. How does God
punish people for their sins? He delivers them over to the consequences of their evil deeds.
So nasa’ ‘avon is the bearing of iniquity, which is also the removal of iniquity. It has those two
senses. It is a key term when it comes to atonement. First of all it is used for a person who
bears the consequences of their evil act. Again and again you get that expression: that a person
will bear his iniquity. What does that mean? It means that person will suffer the consequences
of his or her actions. Now, normally what God does is hold back the consequences of evil.
Because if God didn’t hem in and control evil what would happen? We would all die. If evil gets
out of hand, it just destroys everything. So normally God holds back evil. When he decides to
bring forth judgment, all he does is remove his protective hand and let us suffer the
consequences of our sins. So to nasa’ ‘avon means to bear the consequences of your iniquity.
All human beings have a sense of: if I do evil, I will have to pay the consequences for it. In Hindu
terms, that is the law of karma. If you do evil, evil will befall you. But notice that this is not full
karma. If God allowed us to suffer the consequences for every evil thing we did, none of us
would survive.
 Removal of iniquity by God
Secondly, in Ex. 34 God says he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in
steadfast love, bearing the iniquity and sin and misdeeds of people. This is usually translated as
forgiving. There God is the one who bears iniquity. What does it mean when God bears
iniquity? It doesn’t meant that God suffers the consequences of his sins. But he -- and this is the
miraculous teaching in the OT, which pagan people cannot understand –- he bears the
consequences of people’s sin. And by doing so, he removes from us the consequences of our
iniquity. And so God’s forgiveness means that God removes iniquity; God takes responsibility
for it and removes the consequences of it.
 Bearing of iniquity for others
So the rite of atonement has to do with God intervening to take on people’s iniquity and to take
away the iniquity of the evil deed. How does he do this quite concretely? This leads to the third
sense of nasa’ ‘avon and we’ve already touched on most of this. You get a chain of
responsibility at the sanctuary.
 Levites ► people: Num 18:22-23
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People come to the sanctuary. Let’s say they are unclean and they don’t know how to remove
it. The Levites would then bear iniquity on behalf of the lay people. 39:15
 Priests ► Levites + people: Num 18:1
Then the priests bear the iniquity of the Levites.
 High priest ►Israelites: Exod 28:38
And the high priest bears the iniquity of all the Israelites (the priests, Levites, and people).
 Scapegoat ► all Israel: Lev 16:21-22
And then once a year the scapegoat bears the iniquity of everyone in Israel (high priest, priests,
Levites, people) and takes their iniquity out to the desert. It is removed from them and taken
away.
So atonement involves the bearing of iniquity. Now it is not the animal that bears iniquity,
except in case of the scapegoat, but it is the priesthood that bears iniquity. Let me say that
again. It is the priests, the Levites and priests and particularly the high priest that bear the
iniquity of the whole congregation. Then once a year on the Day of Atonement the high priest
confesses all the sins of the nation and his own sins and places them on the head of the
scapegoat and the scapegoat then bears all of the iniquity and takes it away from the holy
place, away from the congregation out into the desert to Azazel, the demonic powers. So he
takes their iniquity to hell where it belongs.
Let’s take a look at two passages that have to do with bearing iniquity. The rest of the passage
you can look up yourself. Let’s look at Ex. 28:36-38, especially v. 38.
36
“You shall make a plate of pure gold and engrave on it, like the engraving of a signet, ‘Holy
to the Lord.’ 37 And you shall fasten it on the turban by a cord of blue. It shall be on the front
of the turban. 38 It shall be on Aaron's forehead, and Aaron shall bear any guilt from the holy
things that the people of Israel consecrate as their holy gifts. It shall regularly be on his
forehead, that they may be accepted before the Lord.
Note that in v. 36 it should read “Holiness to the Lord.” So the priest bears on his head a plate
that says, Holiness to Yahweh. So when the priest comes out of the Holy Place, the people see
the name of God on his forehead and the priest is covered with the holiness of God. That is the
only place where the name of God is inscribed at the sanctuary; it is on the forehead of the high
priest. What is the significance of him wearing the turban with that plate with that inscription?
He wears this plate and he is covered with God’s holiness so that he can bear the iniquity of the
people. Any defilement, any desecration by the people when they bring in their offerings to
God will be passed on and fall on the head of the high priest. And if he is covered with the
holiness of God and he bears the holy name of God, who in fact is bearing the iniquity? God is
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bearing their iniquity. And the purpose of this then is so that the people can receive God’s grace
and favor (see the end of v. 38). They will find favor from the Lord rather than wrath from the
Lord. So the priest bears the iniquity of the people, which means that the wrath of God will fall
on him rather than on them. There is substitution and exchange involved here. And ultimately,
the miraculous thing is that God himself through the high priest bears iniquity. Then on the Day
of Atonement the high priest places that iniquity on the scapegoat.
When John the Baptist said about Jesus, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the
world, he is saying, Who nasa’ ‘avon (bears) the sin of the world. Now it is not because Jesus is
the Lamb that he takes away the sin of the world, but because Jesus is the great High Priest. He
is both Victim and Priest. As a Victim his blood cleanses from sin, brings forgiveness. As the
Priest he bears iniquity on behalf of all people all over the world. And the result of it is that
people can therefore receive God’s grace and favor.
 Sanctification with blood from Holy of Holies (Lev 16:19) or from altar for burnt
offering (Lev 8:30)
There are a number of consequences of atonement. The first is that impurity is cleansed and sin
is forgiven. Secondly, it means that people are sanctified. The same blood that cleanses is the
blood that sanctifies. Once the blood has been placed on the altar then it becomes holy. So
when a priest is consecrated, part of his consecration is to place blood on his earlobe, his
thumb, and his big toe. He does this on his ear so he can hear the holy word of God, on his
thumb so he can handle the holy things of God, and on his big toe so he can walk on holy
ground. So the blood first of all cleanses the priest by being placed on those three places and
then after that the blood is sprinkled on the vestments of the priests with the holy anointing oil
to sanctify him. And for the high priest the blood mixed with the holy anointing oil is placed on
his forehead. So the blood that atones is also the blood that sanctifies, makes the priest holy.
 Access to God’s gracious presence: Lev 1:4-5
And the result of all of that is people have access to God’s grace. Now just think about this
practically. If the priest on duty went into the Holy Place without performing the rite of
atonement, what would happen to him? He’d die. But if the rite of atonement has been
performed, then what? He can be sure that he will receive God’s grace and favor. The iniquity is
covered, the iniquity is removed, he’s purified, he’s cleansed from sin, he now has access to the
grace of God.
Remember what Paul says in Romans, Therefore being justified by grace, we have peace with
God through our Lord Jesus Christ through whom we have access this grace in which we now
stand. The result of justification by grace, which is the cleansing as result of atonement for sin,
is access to God’s grace.
You probably realize that this has far reaching consequences for both the OT and NT. Let me say
once again that the divine service proceeds in a number of different stages. The first stage is the
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splashing of blood, the rite of atonement, the cleansing of impurity, the forgiveness of sins.
Then you have the burning of the incense before the Lord. Then you have the offering up of the
burnt offering on the altar, which is the place where God appears to his people and meets with
his people in order to bless them. That is followed then by the priests standing in front of the
altar and giving the Aaronic Benediction. One thing about the Aaronic Benediction. The high
priest is wearing the turban with the plate inscribed with Holiness to Yahweh on it. According to
later Jewish custom, the priest stood with his hands held out to his side level with his forehead
with his thumbs pointing toward the words Holiness to Yahweh. And he would say, Yahweh
bless you and keep you. Yahweh make his face shine upon you. Yahweh lift up his face upon
you and give you peace. And the book of Numbers says that by doing that he places the name
of God upon the people. So he takes the holy name on his forehead and transfers and places it
on the people. This is the climax of the service. And then the last act is that the priests on duty
eat the left over flour made into flat cakes as the most holy bread from the Lord’s table as
guests of the heavenly king.
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Lecture OT-20b
v=85QF8HxXLgY&list=PL32Gjc1uEM1AUR8LC9JlceA9xFSeZs25Z&index=35&spfreload=1
E. God’s Foundational Gifts for Israel

a. The gift of the land
1. Importance of land in the ancient world
 Source of livelihood with wealth and security
 Presupposition for status and power in society
 Division into two classes: the landed and the landless aliens (gerim)
 Origin of Israel as a landless people (Deut 26:5-10)
2. Association of pagan gods with their land
 Gods as the owners of the land around their temples
 Inhabitants of that land as the servants of that god
 Reception of benefits from the god through the land
3. God's promise to the landless patriarchs
 Their status as aliens in the land
 God’s promise of Canaan to Abraham’s seed (Gen 12:7; 17:8)
 God's promise of blessing in and through the land
 Abraham's possession of the cemetery at Hebron as his only piece of land
4. God's gift of the land of Israel to his people under Joshua
 Canaan as God's hereditary estate (nachalah)
 God's claim of the land by the altars of the patriarchs
 God's repossession of the land by right of forfeiture through iniquity and conquest (Gen
15:16)
 God's allotment of his land to the twelve tribes with their clans
 Their portion (chēleq), lot (gōrāl) and inheritance from God: leasehold rather than
freehold (Lev 25:23)
 God as the landlord/owner (‘adon)
 The Israelites as tenants rather than land owners
 Prohibition of sale outside the clan
 Laws of redemption of the land at the jubilee
 God as the redeemer of the land
 Offerings as the rental for the land
 Laws for use of the land and enjoyment of its blessings
5. God's presence with his people in the land
 The temple as God's residence in the land (1 Kgs 6:11-13)
 Religious status of land because of God's presence (Num 35:34)
 It heard God's word
 It suffered from the sin that polluted it
 It feared God
 It rejoiced in his presence and praised him
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 The Israelites as God's holy servants

 Beneficiaries of God's holiness
 Demand for allegiance to their divine land owner
 Danger of faithlessness and apostasy
 Requirement of ritual purity for the land
 Removal of pagan idols and sanctuaries (Deut 7:1-6)
 Avoidance of pollution from murder, child sacrifice, sexual perversions, and idolatry
(Lev 18:24-28; Num 35:33,34)
 God's presence as source of life and death in the land (Deut 11:26-29; 30:15-20)
 Participation in God's blessing through the divine service
 Participation in righteousness and peace through the monarchy
 God's presence as source of curse on apostate people in land
 Death to the individual
 Extinction of family with the loss of its land (cutting off)
 Exile of people from the land
6. The eschatological interpretation of the land/earth
 Paradisal state of the land/earth after return from exile and restoration of Zion (Jer 31:10-
14)
 Transformation of the land/earth after the day of the Lord
 God's judgment of the land and the people (Isa 24:1-13)
 Their transformation by God's Spirit (Isa 32:15-20)
 Creation of a new heavenly world (Isa 65:17-25)
 Presence of God's glory in the land and in heavenly Jerusalem (Isa 62:1-5)
 The eschatological inheritance of God's people
 Messiah as the heir of the world (Ps 2:8)
 Heavenly allotment for saints in age to come (Dan 12:13)
 Promised blessing as the Holy Spirit (Gal 3:14,18-19)
 Christians as joint-heirs with the Messiah in their inheritance of heavenly blessings
(Eph 3:6)
a. The gift of the land (Dr. Kleinig skipped the Land because of lack of time but
I’ve added the following notes based on the Class Overheads and the Class Notes
provided by Dr. Kleinig.)
1. Importance of land in the ancient world
 Source of livelihood with wealth and security

 Presupposition for status and power in society
 Division into two classes: the landed and the landless aliens (gerim)
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In the ancient world there were two different groups of people, people who owned land and people
who did not. Whether or not one owned land was of immense importance. Owning land afforded a
family with a place where they could build a permanent place to live. And being an agrarian society,
owning land gave them a place to graze their flocks and herds without having to move from place to
place. Therefore those who owned land were viewed as wealthy and had a higher status in society.
Owning land provided economic stability and security for families. And when we talk about families,
we’re not talking about just nuclear families but extended families. So, owning land allowed the whole
clan stability and security.
Those who did not own land were economically vulnerable and disadvantaged. They had no permanent
place of residence and were constantly on the move. Their plans for the future were always up in the
air. There were two basic classes of landless people (see Lev. 25:6). There were slaves and hired
workers. The hired workers had to seek employment wherever it was available. And slaves were owned
by their masters and had no freedom in life.
Lev. 25:6
6
The Sabbath of the land shall provide food for you, for yourself and for your male and female
slaves and for your hired worker and the sojourner who lives with you,
 Origin of Israel as a landless people (Deut. 26:5-10)
Israel started out as a landless people. When God called Abraham, he journeyed from Haran to the land
of Canaan (Gen. 12:1-5). While in Canaan, the patriarchs of Israel, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob moved
from place to place (Gen 20:1; 21:23; 23:4; 26:3: 35:27; Exod 6:4 ). The only property that Abraham ever
owned in Canaan was a cemetery plot for his family.
Gen. 23:4
“I am a sojourner and foreigner among you; give me property among you for a burying place,
that I may bury my dead out of my sight.”
Later the people of Israel ended up in Egypt to escape a famine. Originally pharaoh treated them well for
Joseph’s sake. But later a pharaoh arose that did not know Joseph and ruthlessly made the Israelites into
slaves.
Ex. 1
13 So they ruthlessly made the people of Israel work as slaves 14 and made their lives bitter
with hard service, in mortar and brick, and in all kinds of work in the field. In all their work
they ruthlessly made them work as slaves.
So the Israelites went from being landless aliens in Canaan to landless slaves in Egypt. And the Lord
commanded that they never forget that they were slaves and that the Lord redeemed them from
slavery (Deut 5:15; 15:15; 16:12; 24:18,22).
Deut. 15:15
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15 You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God
redeemed you; therefore I command you this today.
Because Israel was the people of God from the time of the patriarchs, to Egypt, to the desert
wanderings, and all the while they were landless aliens and slaves, their livelihood, security and identity
did not depend on their possession of the land but on God and his presence with them (Ex. 33:15-16).
Ex. 33:15-16
15 And he said to him, "If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here. 16
For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it not in
your going with us, so that we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on the
face of the earth?"
2. Association of pagan gods with their land

 Gods as the owners of the land around their temples
 Inhabitants of that land as the servants of that god
 Reception of benefits from the god through the land
Pagans believed in local gods. They believed that each territory of land was owned and controlled by the
local god. Anyone who lived on that land had to serve that god if he wanted to receive blessings. The
people worked to provide whatever the god needed and the god in turn would take care of his people
by providing them with crops and flocks and fertility to have children.
3. God's promise to the landless patriarchs

• Their status as aliens in the land
• God’s promise of Canaan to Abraham’s seed (Gen 12:7; 17:8)
• God's promise of blessing in and through the land
• Abraham's possession of the cemetery at Hebron as his only piece of land
As mentioned above the patriarchs of Israel were landless. They were aliens living in and moving around
the land of Canaan. Later their descendants had to move to Egypt where they were made into landless
slaves. But God had promised to give the land of Canaan to the descendants of the landless patriarchs.
To Abraham God first made this promise. When Abraham first came to Canaan, God promised:
Gen. 12
7 ... “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the LORD, who had
appeared to him.
God then incorporated this promise into his covenant with Abraham (Gen. 15:18-21). In this covenant
God swore by the highest authority in heaven and earth, himself. And these covenant promises were
passed on to Isaac and Jacob. Hence the land became known as the promised land.
In Deuteronomy as Israel was about to enter the promised land, God stated over and over again that he
would bless Israel in and through the land.
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Deut. 7
13
He will love you, bless you, and multiply you. He will also bless the fruit of your womb and
the fruit of your ground, your grain and your wine and your oil, the increase of your herds and
the young of your flock, in the land that he swore to your fathers to give you.
See also Deut. 15:4; 23:20; 28:8; 30:16.
God had sworn to give the land to Abraham’s descendants and bless them through it, but Abraham did
not live long enough to see the fulfillment of that promise. The only property that Abraham and the
patriarchs ever owned in the land of Canaan was a plot of land that Abraham bought from some Hittites
to use as a family cemetery (See Gen. 23).
4. God's gift of the land of Israel to his people under Joshua

 Canaan as God's hereditary estate (nachalah)
When someone inherits property, the possession of the property is passed from one person to another.
God created the earth and all the people on it. He is the owner of all things.
Jos. 3
11
Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth is passing over before
you into the Jordan.
He created all nations and he gave each nation an inheritance, the land they live on.
Deut. 32
8
When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance,
when he divided mankind,
he fixed the borders of the peoples
according to the number of the sons of God.
The Lord claimed Canaan as his own inheritance and especially Jerusalem where his holy temple was.
Ps. 79:1
O God, the nations have come into your inheritance;
they have defiled your holy temple;
they have laid Jerusalem in ruins.
To his people Israel God gave the land of Canaan as their inheritance from him.
Jer. 3
In those days the house of Judah shall join the house of Israel, and together they shall come
from the land of the north to the land that I gave your fathers for a heritage.
19
“‘I said,
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How I would set you among my sons,
and give you a pleasant land,
a heritage most beautiful of all nations. ...
Deut. 12
10
But when you go over the Jordan and live in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to
inherit, and when he gives you rest from all your enemies around, so that you live in safety
 God's claim of the land by the altars of the patriarchs
Through idols and shrines, the pagan gods claimed the land of Canaan as their own. But in actuality it
was the Lord’s land.
Jos. 22:19
19
But now, if the land of your possession is unclean, pass over into the LORD's landnwhere the
LORD's tabernacle stands, and take for yourselves a possession among us.
1King 8:36
36
then hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel, when you
teach them the good way in which they should walk, and grant rain upon your land, which
you have given to your people as an inheritance.
Since the land belonged to the Lord, the Israelites who lived on it were regarded theologically as
resident aliens and landless tenants rather than land-owners.
Lev.25:23
23
“The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine. For you are strangers
and sojourners with me.
The patriarchs were aliens who lived in the land and moved from place to place. As they did, God
appeared to them and they built an altar and called on the name of the Lord. Every place they moved,
they built an altar to the Lord. By doing this, the Lord staked his claim to the land of Canaan long before
the Israelites wrested it from its former inhabitants.
 God's repossession of the land by right of forfeiture through iniquity and conquest (Gen 15:16)
God would take the land back from the Canaanites because of their iniquity and wickedness.
Gen. 15:16
16 And theyshall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is
not yet complete.”
Deut 9:5
5 e
Not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart are you going into posse
ss their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations the LORD your God is driving
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them out from before you, and that he may confirm fthe word that the LORD swore to your
fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.
The Israelites were not told to claim the pagan sanctuaries with their paraphernalia for the Lord but to
destroy the sanctuaries of the gods with their idols and sacred symbols.
Ex. 23:23-24
23
“When my angel goes before you and brings you to the Amorites and the Hittites and the
Perizzites and the Canaanites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, and I blot them out,24 you shall
not bow down to their gods nor serve them, enor do as they do, but you shall utterly
overthrow them and break their pillars in pieces.
By the total destruction of the idols and shrines of the pagans, the pagan gods were treated as
imposters and nonentities rather than as the former owners of the land.
 God's allotment of his land to the twelve tribes with their clans
 Their portion (chēleq), lot (gōrāl) and inheritance from God: leasehold rather than
freehold (Lev 25:23)
When the Lord brought the Israelites into the land of Canaan, he took the land from the Canaanites and
turned around and allotted it to the twelve tribes of Israel. Eleazar the priest and Joshua allotted the
land in the Lord's presence. The division of the land took place by the casting of a lot for each tract of
land, so that the Lord himself would determine its distribution. The allotment was made to extended
families in the tribes. Each family received its portion of the promised land.
Now since the land belonged to the Lord who gave it inalienably on lease to each tribe and family, it
could not be sold (Lev 25:23) or transferred to another tribe (Num 36:5-9). Since they did not own the
land, they could not sell the land.
Lev.25:23
23
Num. 36:7
7 The inheritance of the peopleof Israel shall not be transferred from one tribe to another, for
every one of the people of Israel shall hold on to the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers.
Israel was God’s firstborn son and as his inheritance, the Lord gave him his land, the land of Canaan as
his inheritance.
Deut.15:4
4
But there will be no poor among you; for the LORD will bless you in the land that the LORD
your God is giving you for an inheritance to possess—
 God as the landlord/owner (‘adon)
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As the owner of the land, the Lord acted like a landlord renting the land to his people. They then were
treated like renters and he expected them to recognize his ownership and blessing of them by
worshipping him alone and giving him the firstfruits of their crops and flocks.
 The Israelites as tenants rather than land owners
Since the Lord was the owner of the land when he gave his land to the Israelites, he gave it to them to
live in. They would lease his land like tenants renting a house or farmers renting some land.
 Prohibition of sale outside the clan
Because God owned the land and not the Israelites, the Israelites were forbidden to permanently sell
the land or to transfer it to another tribe.
Lev. 25:23
23
Num. 36:7
7 The inheritance of the peopleof Israel shall not be transferred from one tribe to another, for
every one of the people ofIsrael shall hold on to the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers.
 Laws of redemption of the land at the jubilee
If an Israelite got into financial trouble and “sold” his land, God provided a year of Jubilee in which all
land was returned to its original “owners.” The land he apportioned to each family was to remain with
that family. If the land was “sold” to pay a debt, in the year of Jubilee the land was to be returned to the
original owning family.
 God as the redeemer of the land
God is the Kinsman-Redeemer of Israel. He is the protector of the family. One duty of a kinsman-
redeemer was to make sure the family’s portion of land allotted to it by God remained in the family. If
the land was taken from the family, it was the responsibility of the redeemer to gather an army or the
money needed to pay off the debt and get the land back.
In this case, the Canaanites had taken God’s land. So as the Redeemer, God led his family into his land,
kicked out the land squatters, and took the land back for himself and his family.
Deut. 31:3
3
The LORD your God himself will go over before you. He will destroy these nations before you,
so that you shall dispossess them, and Joshua will go over at your head,
as the LORD has spoken.
 Offerings as the rental for the land
Since God was the owner of the land and the Israelites were aliens living in God’s land and God had
given each family land to live on, the Israelites were to recognize that God graciously gave them this
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land to live in and gave them the crops that grew on the land. They did this when they brought the
firstfruits of the land to the Lord as an offering.
Ex. 23:19a
19
“The best of the firstfruits of your ground you shall bring into the house of the Lord your
God.
Num. 15:20
20
Of the first of your dough you shall present a loaf as a contribution; like a contribution from
the threshing floor, so shall you present it.
Num. 18:13
13
The first ripe fruits of all that is in their land, which they bring to the Lord, shall be yours.
Everyone who is clean in your house may eat it.
When a farmer rents some land from a landowner, normally an agreement is made where the farmer
will pay the owner rent for use of the land. The rent typically is that the owner gets a certain portion of
the harvest and the farmer receives the rest. In this case the rent paid to the Lord was the firstfruits of
the harvest.
 Laws for use of the land and enjoyment of its blessings
God had promised to bless Abraham and his descendants and he did so in Canaan and in Egypt. God
instituted the divine service so that he could come to them and blessed them. In the wilderness God
blessed his people by providing for their basic needs.
Deut. 2:7
7
For the Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He knows your going
through this great wilderness. These forty years the Lord your God has been with you. You
have lacked nothing.”’
God would continue to bless his people by giving them the land of Canaan. As they entered the land, the
prayer of each family was to be:
Deut. 26:15
15
Look down from your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless your people Israel and the
ground that you have given us, as you swore to our fathers, a land flowing with milk and
honey.’
Blessing came from the Lord and not directly from the land. The Lord blessed the people by making the
land a blessing to them. When they received these blessings, they were to acknowledge the Lord as the
source of the blessings (bless the Lord) and remain fully committed to him. They did this in their
worship. The people brought the firstfruits of their blessings from the land, gave them to the Lord, and
rejoiced in his blessings by enjoying sacrificial banquets.
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Deut. 16:17
17 Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the LORD your God that he
has given you.
Deut. 8:10
10 And you shall eat and be full, and you shall bless the LORD your God for the good land he
has given you.
Deut. 12:7
7 And there you shall eat before the LORD your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your
households, in all that you undertake, in which the LORD your God has blessed you.
The Lord was the source of blessing and curse in the land. The reception of blessing or curse depended
on Israel’s attitude toward him and their allegiance to him as his tenants. Whether or not they kept the
laws God gave them concerning worship showed their attitude and allegiance. If they worshipped him as
he had commanded, they would receive his blessing in the land.
Deut. 30:16
16 If you obey the commandments of the LORD your God that I command you today, by loving
the LORD your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his
statutes and his rules,2 then you shall live and multiply, and the LORD your God will bless you
in the land that you are entering to take possession of it.
If they failed to worship him as he had commanded or worshipped other gods, instead of blessing they
would bring the curse upon themselves and the land.
Deut. 11:26-28
26 “See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: 27 the blessing, if you obey the
commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you today, 28 and the curse, if you
do not obey the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside from the way that I am
commanding you today, to go after other gods that you have not known.
The curse for those who were idolatrous or served other gods was that they would perish together with
their families and so cease to live in the land.
Deut. 8:19-20
19 And if you forget the LORD your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship
them, I solemnly warn you today that you shall surely perish. 20 Like the nations that the
LORD makes to perish before you, so shall you perish, because you would not obey the voice
of the LORD your God.
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If the nation as a whole served other gods, the land would be cursed and its inhabitants would be
uprooted from the land [but the nation would not be permanently destroyed].
Deut. 29:24-28
24 all the nations will say, ‘Why has the LORD done thus to this land? What caused the heat of
this great anger?’ 25 Then people will say, ‘It is because they abandoned the covenant of the
LORD, the God of their fathers, which he made with them when he brought them out of the
land of Egypt, 26 and went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods whom they had
not known and whom he had not allotted to them. 27 Therefore the anger of the LORD was
kindled against this land, bringing upon it all the curses written in this book, 28 and the LORD
uprooted them from their land in anger and fury and great wrath, and cast them into another
land, as they are this day.’
So it all boiled down to this, the enjoyment of God’s blessing in the land depended on their observance
of the first commandment.
5. God's presence with his people in the land
The reason God had the Israelites make the tabernacle was so that he could dwell with them and bless
them. It was the job of the priests and Levites to serve the Lord by caring for the tabernacle and by
administering the divine service at the tabernacle. It was through these means that God came to his
people and blessed them. The ark was in the Holy of Holies. It served as the throne for God. His
presence with his people at the tabernacle brought blessing.
Deut. 10:8
8 At that time the Lord set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the covenant of the Lord
to stand before the Lord to minister to him and to bless in his name, to this day.
In addition to God bringing blessing to Israel through the priests and Levites at the tabernacle, he also
brought blessing through the kings. Through them God brought justice and righteousness, bringing
blessing to the land.
Ps. 72
1 Give the king your justice, O God,

and your righteousness to the royal son!
2 May he judge your people with righteousness,
and your poor with justice!
...
17 May his name endure forever,
his fame continue as long as the sun!
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May people be blessed in him,
all nations call him blessed!
 The temple as God's residence in the land (1 Kgs 6:11-13)
The main thing that king Solomon became known for was his building of the temple. It was a more
permanent structure for God to live in than the tabernacle. God brought his people into the land and
lived with them in the land at the temple.
1 Kings 6:11-13
11 Now the word of the Lord came to Solomon, 12 “Concerning this house that you are
building, if you will walk in my statutes and obey my rules and keep all my commandments
and walk in them, then I will establish my word with you, which I spoke to David your father.
13 And I will dwell among the children of Israel and will not forsake my people Israel.”
 Religious status of land because of God's presence (Num 35:34)
Because God lived with his people in the land, the land was holy land. Therefore there was to be no
impurity in the land. Impurity and God’s holiness do not go together; they are opposites. Impurity within
God’s holy domain triggers God’s wrath. Therefore the land of Israel, the place where God dwelled with
his people, had to remain clean.
Num. 35:34
34 You shall not defile the land in which you live, in the midst of which I dwell, for I the Lord
dwell in the midst of the people of Israel.”
Because of the importance of maintaining a clean land, when God speaks of the land in the Scriptures,
he speaks of it as if it were human (personification) in order that we might understand it better.
 It heard God's word
God spoke to the land and called on it to hear his word.
Is. 1:2
Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth;

for the Lord has spoken:
“Children have I reared and brought up,
but they have rebelled against me.
Jer. 6:19
Hear, O earth; behold, I am bringing disaster upon this people,

the fruit of their devices,
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because they have not paid attention to my words;
and as for my law, they have rejected it.
 It suffered from the sin that polluted it
The land suffered from the wickedness of its inhabitants and mourned with them at its own death.
Jer. 12:4
4
How long will the land mourn
and the grass of every field wither?
For the evil of those who dwell in it
the beasts and the birds are swept away,
because they said, “He will not see our latter end.”
 It feared God
 It rejoiced in his presence and praised him
The land (earth) was called to fear the Lord and praise him for making his home on it, judging it, reigning
over it and blessing it.
Ps. 96:9
Worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness;

tremble before him, all the earth!
Ps. 114:7
Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord,

at the presence of the God of Jacob,
PS. 69:34
Let heaven and earth praise him,

the seas and everything that moves in them.
Joel 2:21
“Fear not, O land;

be glad and rejoice,
for the Lord has done great things!
 The Israelites as God's holy servants
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At Mt. Sinai the Lord brought the Israelites to himself to make them a holy nation and royal priesthood
(Ex. 19:6). Then after he had given them the laws for holy living, he sanctified them by sprinkling the
blood of the covenant on them (Ex. 24), making them his people holy. They served him by performing
the divine service.
 Beneficiaries of God's holiness
When they perform the divine service, holy God meets with his people at the altar for burnt offering.
There he forgives their sin, shows his presence and approval of them in the sweet-smelling cloud of
smoke, and blesses them in the Aaronic benediction. Also in the benediction the holy name of God is
placed on his people to take with them to their homes.
 Demand for allegiance to their divine land owner
As said above, the Lord is the divine land owner and he leased the land to Israel. Since the Lord was the
source of both the blessing and the curse in the land, the reception of blessing or curse depended on
their attitude to him and his claims on their allegiance as tenants in his land. If they worshipped him as
he had commanded, they would receive his blessing in the land.
 Danger of faithlessness and apostasy
And as said above, if they failed to worship him as he had commanded or worshipped other gods, they
would bring the curse upon themselves and the land. If individuals and families do this, the Lord’s anger
could be kindled and they could perish and cease to live in the land. If the nation as a whole abandons
the Lord, the whole nation would be vomited out of the land.
 Requirement of ritual purity for the land
Because holy God lived in the land with his people, the land was a holy and clean land. God demanded
the land be kept clean.
 Removal of pagan idols and sanctuaries (Deut 7:1-6)
The Israelites were not only to have nothing to do with the gods of the Canaanites, they were to totally
destroy everything that has to do with them. They were to completely destroy their shrines and altars
and idols.
Deut. 7:1-6
7:1 “When the LORD your God brings you into the land that you are entering to take
possession of it, and clears away many nations before you, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the
Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations more
numerous and mightier than you, 2 and when the LORD your God gives them over to you, and
you defeat them, then you must devote them to complete destruction. You shall make no
covenant with them and show no mercy to them. 3 You shall not intermarry with them, giving
your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons, 4 for they would turn
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away your sons from following me, to serve other gods. Then the anger of the LORD would be
kindled against you, and he would destroy you quickly. 5 But thus shall you deal with them:
you shall break down their altars and dash in pieces their pillars and chop down their Asherim
and burn their carved images with fire. 6 “For you are a people holy to the LORD your God.
The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the
peoples who are on the face of the earth.
 Avoidance of pollution from murder, child sacrifice, sexual perversions, and idolatry (Lev
18:24-28; Num 35:33,34)
The Israelites were to avoid the sins that polluted the land and made it unclean. Murder polluted the
land.
Deut. 35:33-34
33 You shall not pollute the land in which you live, for blood pollutes the land, and no
atonement can be made for the land for the blood that is shed in it, except by the blood of the
one who shed it. 34 You shall not defile the land in which you live, in the midst of which I
dwell, for I the LORD dwell in the midst of the people of Israel.”
Child sacrifice was prohibited. It polluted the land and defiled it.
Lev. 18:21
21 You shall not give any of your children to offer them to Molech, and so profane the name
of your God: I am the Lord.
Ps. 106:38
38 they poured out innocent blood,

the blood of their sons and daughters,
whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan,
and the land was polluted with blood.
Israel was prohibited from living sexually perverse lives. Spiritual apostasy is comparable to adultery.
Jer. 3:2
2 Lift up your eyes to the bare heights, and see!

Where have you not been ravished?
By the waysides you have sat awaiting lovers
like an Arab in the wilderness.
You have polluted the land
with your vile whoredom.
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Idolatry, which is worship of other gods, is prohibited. It too polluted and defiled the land. To God idols
are detestable.
Jer. 16:18
18 But first I will doubly repay their iniquity and their sin, because they have polluted my land
with the carcasses of their detestable idols, and have filled my inheritance with their
abominations.”
Eze. 36:18
18 So I poured out my wrath upon them for the blood that they had shed in the land, for the
idols with which they had defiled it.
 God's presence as source of life and death in the land (Deut 11:26-29; 30:15-20)
The Lord is bringing Israel into the land he swore to give to the patriarchs. The Lord himself would be
their source of life. But if they turned away from him to other gods, a curse would fall upon them and
they will not live in the land for long.
Deut. 30:15-20
15 “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. 16 If you obey the
commandments of the Lord your God that I command you today, by loving the Lord your God,
by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then
you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are
entering to take possession of it. 17 But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but
are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, 18 I declare to you today, that you
shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to
enter and possess. 19 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set
before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your
offspring may live, 20 loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for
he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the Lord swore to your
fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.”
 Participation in God's blessing through the divine service
God was the source of blessing and it was through the divine service that he gave blessing to his people.
Specifically, in the Aaronic Benediction, the priests pronounced God’s blessing on the people by placing
God’s holy name upon them.
Num. 6:23-27
23 “Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, Thus you shall bless the people of Israel: you shall say
to them,
24 The Lord bless you and keep you; 25
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the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; 26
the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.
27 “So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them.”
The Lord had made Israel his holy, priestly people. Keeping the commandments he gave them would
prevent them from desecrating their holiness and defiling their cleanness and allow God to live among
them. When Israel enacted the divine service as God commanded, he would meet with his people and
bless them. This was the means by which God would bless his people.
Deut. 30:16
16 If you obey the commandments of the LORD your God that I command you today,
by loving the LORD your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his
commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and
the LORD your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession
of it.
 Participation in righteousness and peace through the monarchy
Ps. 72 is a royal psalm used at the coronation of the king of Israel. In it we see that God maintained
justice, righteousness, and peace through the king. This was one of the main purposes that God
established kingship in Israel.
Ps. 72:1-4, 7
72:1 Give the king your justice, O God,

and your righteousness to the royal son! 2
May he judge your people with righteousness,
and your poor with justice! 3
Let the mountains bear prosperity for the people,
and the hills, in righteousness! 4
May he defend the cause of the poor of the people,
give deliverance to the children of the needy,
and crush the oppressor!
...
7 In his days may the righteous flourish,

and peace abound, till the moon be no more!
 God's presence as source of curse on apostate people in land

 Death to the individual
 Extinction of family with the loss of its land (cutting off)
 Exile of people from the land
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The Lord was with his people in the land and blessed his people in the land and he expected that they
would respond by acknowledging him as their God and their source of blessing. If instead they turned
away from him and worshipped other gods, he would no longer be a source of blessing to them, but a
source of cursing. We have gone over this above (see Deut. 11:26-28; 8:19-20; 29:24-28). If an individual
abandoned the Lord, he would perish. If a family abandoned the Lord, the family would die out. If the
nation abandoned the Lord, he would expel them from the land. To avoid the curse, they needed to
remain faithful to the Lord.
6. The eschatological interpretation of the land/earth
The Lord promised to bless his people in the land. This promise came to be viewed in a short term way
and in a long term way. In the short term he did bless his people as he gave them the land of Canaan,
the land he had promised them, a land flowing with milk and honey. The long term view looks forward
to the end times and eternity. At the End, the Lord will make a new heaven and new earth and bless his
people as they live in the new earth with him in an Eden-like paradise as Adam and Eve once did.
 Paradisal state of the land/earth after return from exile and restoration of Zion (Jer 31:10-14)
As Jeremiah prophesied that the Lord would bring judgment on Israel for their rebellion against him and
remove them from the land, so also he prophesied that the Lord would bring his people back and they
would prosper. Jeremiah talks about their return from exile in paradisiacal terms. Israel’s return to the
promised land was never paradise. They went through much hardship. Therefore his prophecy looks
forward to the End when God will ransom and redeem all of his people all across the earth and they will
live in abundance and shall rejoice and be merry and be glad, well satisfied with the goodness of the
Lord.
Jer. 31:10-14
10 “Hear the word of the LORD, O nations,

and declare it in the coastlands far away;
say, ‘He who scattered Israel will gather him,
and will keep him as a shepherd keeps his flock.’ 11
For the LORD has ransomed Jacob
and has redeemed him from hands too strong for him. 12
They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion,
and they shall be radiant over the goodness of the LORD,
over the grain, the wine, and the oil,
and over the young of the flock and the herd;
their life shall be like a watered garden,
and they shall languish no more. 13
Then shall the young women rejoice in the dance,
and the young men and the old shall be merry.
I will turn their mourning into joy;
I will comfort them, and give them gladness for sorrow. 14
I will feast the soul of the priests with abundance,
and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness,declares the LORD.”
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 Transformation of the land/earth after the day of the Lord
 God's judgment of the land and the people (Isa 24:1-13)
Isaiah, peering through the millennia of time to the End, sees the earth sitting under God’s judgment.
The basic laws by which humans are to live are written in men’s hearts. But men have disregarded and
transgressed those laws and the earth is under a curse. God’s judgment is on the earth.
Is. 24
5 The earth lies defiled

under its inhabitants;
for they have transgressed the laws,
violated the statutes,
broken the everlasting covenant.
6 Therefore a curse devours the earth,
and its inhabitants suffer for their guilt;
therefore the inhabitants of the earth are scorched,
and few men are left.
 Their transformation by God's Spirit (Isa 32:15-20)
The earth will continue to be under the curse of sin and God’s judgment on sin until the Day of the Lord.
On that day, the Spirit of the Lord will transform the earth from a wilderness to a fruitful field. For God’s
people it will be a place of justice and righteousness, resulting in peace, security, and quiet rest.
Is. 32:15-20
15 until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high,

and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field,
and the fruitful field is deemed a forest.
16 Then justice will dwell in the wilderness,
and righteousness abide in the fruitful field.
17 And the effect of righteousness will be peace,
and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust forever.
18 My people will abide in a peaceful habitation,
in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places.
19 And it will hail when the forest falls down,
and the city will be utterly laid low.
20 Happy are you who sow beside all waters,
who let the feet of the ox and the donkey range free.
 Creation of a new heavenly world (Isa 65:17-25)
When the Lord returns on the Last Day, he will create a new heaven and a new earth and a new
Jerusalem for his people. In the former earth, sin and its consequences took over. But the new earth will
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be a place where there will be no more weeping or crying in distress. Sin will no longer abound. The Lord
will rejoice and be glad in his people. Paradise will be restored.
Is. 65:17-19
17 “For behold, I create new heavens

and a new earth,
and the former things shall not be remembered
or come into mind.
18 But be glad and rejoice forever
in that which I create;
for behold, I create Jerusalem to be a joy,
and her people to be a gladness.
19 I will rejoice in Jerusalem
and be glad in my people;
no more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping
and the cry of distress.
 Presence of God's glory in the land and in heavenly Jerusalem (Isa 62:1-5)
While on this earth, God’s people are persecuted and suffer distress. It looks as if God has forsaken
them and left them desolate. But when the Last Day comes the true reality will be seen by all. He has
not forsaken them. They are his delight. They are his precious crown. The land that Israel once lost will
theirs again and this points forward to the time when God’s reconciled people will be brought into the
land of heaven, their eternal resting place. There they will live with God forever and he will rejoice over
them.
Is. 63:3-5
3 You shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the LORD,

and a royal diadem in the hand of your God.
4 You shall no more be termed Forsaken,
and your land shall no more be termed Desolate,
but you shall be called My Delight Is in Her,
and your land Married;
for the LORD delights in you,
and your land shall be married.
5 For as a young man marries a young woman,
so shall your sons marry you,
and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride,
so shall your God rejoice over you.
 The eschatological inheritance of God's people
Israel’s inheritance of the land of Canaan looked forward to a much greater and eternal inheritance.
 Messiah as the heir of the world (Ps 2:8)
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In Ps. 2, the Lord speaks of his Son, whom he has placed on the throne. The inheritance he has given him
is all the nations. The whole earth is his possession.
Ps. 2:6-8
6 “As for me, I have set my King

on Zion, my holy hill.”
7 I will tell of the decree:
The LORD said to me, “You are my Son;
today I have begotten you.
8 Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,
and the ends of the earth your possession.
 Heavenly allotment for saints in age to come (Dan 12:13)
Before the End, it will appear that all of God’s faithful people will be wiped out. But God will intervene
before that happens and those who remain faithful when he does will receive an allotted inheritance.
And so what will happen is the Son who has inherited and possesses the whole earth will share his
inheritance and a portion of it will be allotted to each of the saints in the age to come.
Dan. 12:13
13 But go your way till the end. And you shall rest and shall stand in your allotted
place at the end of the days.” (NIV has “allotted inheritance”)
 Promised blessing as the Holy Spirit (Gal 3:14,18-19)
In Galatians Paul ties the promised blessing and inheritance to Abraham to the reception of the Holy
Spirit by faith. Abraham was more than the father of Israel. He was the father of all who believe. God’s
promise of blessing and inheritance through Abraham would go to all who had faith like Abraham. So
the promise of the land to the patriarchs looks forward to the eternal inheritance that all whom the
Spirit brings to faith will receive.
Gal. 3
14so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that
we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.
...
18 For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God
gave it to Abraham by a promise.
19 Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring
should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through
angels by an intermediary.
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 Christians as joint-heirs with the Messiah in their inheritance of heavenly blessings (Eph
3:6)
The Spirit and the Word always go together. Wherever the gospel of Jesus Christ is preached, there the
Holy Spirit is at work bringing people to faith. This applies not only to the Jews but also to the Gentiles.
Through the gospel promise the Gentiles are also heirs in the inheritance of heavenly blessings. All
Christians, the whole church, are heirs and recipients of eternal life with God.
Eph. 3:6
6This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and
partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.
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b. The gift of kingship

1. The Promise of Kingship
 God’s promise of kings to the descendants of Abraham and Jacob of their
descendants as kings (Gen 17:6; 35:11)
 Jacob’s blessing of Judah as the royal tribe whose king the nations would obey (Gen
49:8-12)
 Balaam’s vision of Israel’s coming king (Num 24:15-19)
 Law of king as an God-fearing Israelite subject to God’s law together with his
subjects (Deut 17:14-20)
2. Problem of Kingship in Ancient Israel
 Pagan kings as gods or divinised persons
 Initial suspicion of kingship in ancient Israel with its confession of the Lord as its
king
 Separation of kingship from the priesthood: the case of Saul's transgressions
 Subordination of kings to God's law and to his prophets
3. God's Covenant with David as his Anointed Deputy (servant and messiah)
See 2 Sam 7:1lb-16; Ps 89:3-4, 19-37; cf Ps 132:11-12
 Perpetual dynasty, kingship and throne of David
 Establishment by God of the kingship and throne of David's seed
 David's seed as temple builder and God's son with access to God
 God's gracious perpetual commitment to the dynasty of David: kingship by divine
grace
One of the dangers in teaching this course is that there is so much material and the danger is
trying to cram in too much. I won’t be able to cover everything and that is why I’ve given you
extensive notes. If everything isn’t covered in class, at least you have the notes. We’ve been
concentrating on what I see as foundational to understand the OT, and not just the OT, but the
NT as well.
So we’ve looked at the foundational events in the OT. Now if we had time, I’d like to cover six
foundational gifts, which I won’t be able to do. Notice that the gift of worship is already outside
the land. In addition to the divine service and the covenants, you get the following great gifts
that God gives to his people: the land (promised to Abraham), kingship (we will focus on that
because of its great importance to us as Christians), justice and righteousness, the temple in
Jerusalem the holy city (which is a type of the church), prophecy (most of you have had a
course on the prophets), and wisdom.
There are other gifts as well and I won’t be able to cover all of them. The one for sure that I
want to cover is kingship because it has to do with our confession that Jesus is the Messiah.
Apart from it I propose to look at the gift of justice because that has become an issue in the
church very much in recent times and I think it will become even more important in the future.
And that will probably be about all we will have time to cover. Are then are strong objections in
the direction I propose to go? Are there other areas that you would rather I cover?
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Wisdom (as a result of a student’s comment)
One comment is that they didn’t know anything about wisdom. That is a gap in our education.
Dr. Kleinig used to teach an elective about wisdom. Unfortunately it isn’t the kind of thing you
can summarize in one or two lectures. You will have to look at it yourself and fortunately there
is a wealth of material on it. Dr. Kleinig did his Master’s thesis on the getting of wisdom in
Proverbs and it may be a starting point you can use for that foundational stuff.
Wisdom is not the same as knowledge. What we lack in our modern world is wisdom. Wisdom
is not theoretical knowledge. It is practical knowledge. It is common sense in living a godly life,
as a husband, as a father, as a citizen, as a Christian, etc. It is very closely connected with
modern ideas of ecology because the presupposition for wisdom is that there is an order, a
divinely given order to reality. But that order is a hidden order. Unlike modern science which
has some theories that “explain everything” at the expense of explaining away most things.
Notice the modern tack is that you have a theory that is suppose to explain everything but it
explains away most things that are important to us because they don’t fit the theory.
Wisdom doesn’t give a comprehensive philosophy to life. It doesn’t give you theory of
everything. But it is based on the conviction that there is an order in everything and that things
make sense. If you have ears to hear and eyes to see, you can make sense, not from outside by
looking at the world, but you can make sense of things from the inside as part of your
experience. You have to learn from your experience the lessons of experience.
And the two most important organs in wisdom are your ears – that you listen. A fool is a person
who doesn’t listen. A fool is a person who only listens to people who agree with him and not to
people who disagree. You can learn the most from your critics, people who disagree with you.
But if you only learn from listening, you will still remain a fool. Because what you hear, you
need to test with your eyes against your own experience and against the common experience.
So you need to use both your ears and your eyes.
There is a lovely proverb which goes like this: The hearing ear, the seeing eye, the Lord has
made them both or paired them together. So we don’t just have ears so that we just blindly
follow what everybody says or what the dominant voice says, but we use both our ears and
eyes and we use both ears and both eyes. That in essence is what wisdom is about. It’s about
learning by common sense, learning from our experiences. It is learning to decipher your own
life and the way that God is at work in all the details of life. And what is most important in
wisdom is not the extra-ordinary things, but how God is involved in ordinary, everyday,
mundane things that we overlook.
There is another proverb that Dr. Kleinig likes: The eyes of the fool are at the edge of the world.
They are always looking at the horizon or over the horizon. Can you figure what the point of
that proverb is? You always look somewhere out there, but what don’t you notice? The things
right in front of your face. And that is where the most extra-ordinary things happen – in the
ordinary. That is what wisdom is. It is making sense of ordinary things. For instance, it is always
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noticing your wife, instead of looking at other women. It’s looking at your own experiences
rather than envying other people for their experiences. It is seeing the things that God has
given you rather than seeing things he’s given to other people. That is basically wisdom.
Wisdom has as its presupposition a doctrine of creation and God’s ordering of the world. And it
doesn’t go down a philosophical way, but it goes down that practical way. It doesn’t go down
that outside view of things to try and get a theory or explanation of everything. God hasn’t
given us that point of view. To have that point of view, we would have to be gods. Instead we
are creatures and all that we see is what is around us. And wisdom is making sense of what is
around us, of our own experience.
And wisdom is a term used in the OT for both the order of creation and the order of
redemption. So there is earthly wisdom, which is just common sense that any person, whether
they believe in God or not, has from learning from experience. But then there is also heavenly
wisdom, which is the wisdom that comes from the Holy Spirit. So we learn to see and
understand not just the visible things, but we learn to see and understand the invisible realities,
which are real realities. So we then see the interdependencies of the order of creation and the
order of redemption.
There are deeper realties that are unseen. Take for instance your marriage. Your marriage
doesn’t just involve you and your wife and your families. It involves the Holy Spirit. It involves
the Triune God. It mirrors the relationship between Christ and the Church. Christ comes to you
through your spouse. The most important teacher of wisdom that you will ever have is your
spouse. And if you are going to be a fool you won’t listen to your spouse, you won’t pay any
attention to your spouse.
So, wisdom is very closely related to sexuality and the significant people of the opposite sex
that we are involved with. So there are two figures of wisdom in Proverbs. There is Woman
Wisdom, Dame Wisdom, the embodiment of wisdom. And then you have Miss Folly. The one
that is most attractive because she entices with her beauty and is very seductive is Miss Folly.
But then Woman Wisdom is most significant. She comes through your mother and your mother
figures in your life and through your wife. The book of Proverbs ends most remarkably with an
acrostic poem in praise of a wife of substance as the source of wisdom. That is a very brief
overview of wisdom, just to wet your appetite.
One more comment from a student. He says an excellent source that follows everything that
Dr. Kleinig has said is his most recent book Grace Upon Grace. It contains much of what we
have just been talking about and it is highly recommended.
To put wisdom in Lutheran terms, there is the wisdom of the Law within the order of creation,
which is accessible to everyone, and then there is the wisdom of the Gospel. The Holy Spirit is
involved in both, in the world and the Church, and in different ways. The Spirit of God is the
creative Spirit. He works through God’s Law and through the order of redemption, through the
Gospel. And the basic picture is that the whole of our life, the whole of the world is a school.
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And God is the Teacher and he teaches us in the university of life or the school of hard knocks.
That is because the most difficult experiences are the ones that we can only learn very painfully
through discipline. Discipline is a very important part of wisdom. God teaches us by disciplining
us in the school of life.
Wisdom is different from knowledge. Knowledge has to do with information out there. Wisdom
is not about additional information, but it has to do with your mentality and your character. So
wisdom involves the shaping of your mind, the shaping of your emotions, the shaping of your
character. This is because there are certain things that you only have access to if you have the
mind for it.
Let me explain it like this. If I am color blind, I can’t see color. If I have no imagination, I cannot
make sense and understand people when they communicate imaginatively through a poem or a
picture. If I am a cold fish and lack emotion and have no emotional intelligence, then I cannot
understand emotions and the way people feel and the expression of emotions. If I don’t have
the mind of God, the mind of Christ, then I cannot understand the things of God. So wisdom has
to do with the shaping of a person’s heart, the core of his being, his character, his mentality.
You might say it has to with spiritual intelligence, moral intelligence, imaginative intelligence,
emotional intelligence, personal intelligence. So it has more to do with intelligence, not in the
narrow sense of IQ, but in the sense of disposition, mentality.
Ultimately wisdom has to do with the character of a person. So for example, if I am an evil
person, what will I not be able to make sense of? Good. This is because I will understand good
in evil terms. If I am an unclean person with an unclean mind, I won’t be able to make sense of
purity. If I am unholy, I won’t be able to make sense of God’s holiness. The wisdom tradition is
very much interested not in the thought, but the thinker. Not feelings, but the feeler. Not what
is imagined, but the imagination. Not morality as a code of ethics, but of moral sense,
conscience.
There is a lot to this and the whole topic is not touched on much in the modern world, but was
common place until the time of the Enlightenment. You won’t understand much about
traditional philosophy and thought unless you see that that is its basic concern. So for example,
up until the Enlightenment, philosophers weren’t so much interested in a code of ethics, but in
the shaping of moral sensibilities, to sensitize people so that they can use their own judgment
and evaluate and understand and discern what is moral and immoral and what is ethical and
unethical.
A student comment about what we’ve lost because of the Enlightenment in terms of morals.
But to look on the positive side, Dr. Kleinig said that one of the things that postmodernism
opens people up to in a remarkable way is to reappropriate or to rediscover this wisdom
tradition. People are groping towards in all different ways. And this isn’t just in the Church. In
fact, the Church is lagging behind in understanding wisdom. The whole ecology movement, not
on its nutty end, but on its positive end, has to do with wisdom. Living ecologically is living
wisely. Your acts have consequences. There is an order and we need to respect that order. If we
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violate that order, there are negative consequences. If we live by that order, there are blessings
for us and everyone involved.
The one area where we still haven’t learned much wisdom is in the area of sexuality. This is our
greatest folly. It is interesting that you can see clean and unclean most clearly in the area of
sexuality. Wisdom and folly registers most clearly in the area of sexuality. You can see it if you
have eyes to see and ears to hear. If we had time we could illustrate that very clearly, but we
don’t. We must move on. So let’s take a look at the gift of kingship in the OT.

What is remarkable is even though there was a promise of kings right from the beginning,
kingship came late in the history of God’s dealings with his people.

 God’s promise of kings to the descendants of Abraham and Jacob of their
descendants as kings (Gen 17:6; 35:11)
We don’t have time to look these passages up. You will need to familiarize yourself with them
because they are foundational to all Christology. God promised that kings would come from the
descendants of Abraham and Jacob, that they would be the father of kings.
 Jacob’s blessing of Judah as the royal tribe whose king the nations would obey (Gen
49:8-12)
When Jacob blessed his sons, he singled out Judah and the tribe of Judah as the one from
whom the ruler in Israel would come, as the Lion. The lion is a symbol of kingship. The Lion of
Judah refers to the kings of Israel.
 Balaam’s vision of Israel’s coming king (Num 24:15-19)
Remember that Balaam was hired by the king of Moab to curse the Israelites and instead of
cursing them he blessed them. And as part of the blessings he gave to the Israelites was a vision
of a coming king, a star coming out of Israel. A star represented a dynasty of kings. So he had a
vision of a coming king, who would not just rule Israel but rule over the nations. And from that
promise in Numbers, you get the symbol of the star of David, which is the symbol of Judaism, a
six pointed star.
 Law of king as an God-fearing Israelite subject to God’s law together with his
subjects (Deut 17:14-20)
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Fourthly, the book of Deuteronomy, which gives laws about what God expects of his people and
gives to his people when they come into the land, gives laws about a coming king. And what
Deuteronomy says is that, unlike what happens elsewhere in the ancient world where kings
were law makers and were divine in status, that is, above the law, in Israel the king is under
God’s law. So a king in Israel could not make law. A king in Israel would administer God’s law in
the civil domain.
There was a law for the king of Israel. It said he had to be God-fearing Israelite. He was subject
to God’s law together with his subjects. (By the way, that is very important for the history of
politics in the western world. It is the beginning of constitutional rule, constitutional
government, which is government bound under the law rather than being over the law.) And
his task was to administer God’s law.
 Pagan kings as gods or divinised persons
As you will remember from your Bible Introduction class, there was a great problem with
kingship in the ancient world everywhere because kings were always regarded as gods or at
least semi-gods. There were two basic options. (1) There was the Egyptian option. Right from
the beginning the king was the incarnation of the highest god, the sun god. So he was the
physical, earthly, human embodiment of the sun god. And when he died he would join the
gods. He was the son of the sun god and therefore divine. (2) The other option was the
Mesopotamian option. In Babylon and Assyria and the kings after that, kings were regarded as
divinized human beings. They started off as regular human beings but they would be chosen by
the chief god of the nation and at the coronation of the king the king would be divinized. That
meant that the king ceased having human status and began having divine status. In a sense he
occupied the heavenly realm rather than the earthly realm. Therefore the king was also the
high priest of Babylon. He would be the one who would go up the ziggurat and enter the
heavenly realm, the house of the gods and he would consult the omens and make law for the
people. So a king was a divinized human being.
If you go later on in history, one of the most fateful turns in Roman history was that right from
the beginning the Romans rejected the idea of divine kingship. But beginning with Julius Caesar
gradually kings were divinized, either at their death or later on while they were alive. So
kingship and paganism go together. So why did God reject kings in the beginning? Because
kingship was idolatry and led to tyranny.
 Initial suspicion of kingship in ancient Israel with its confession of the Lord as its
king
Israel only had one king and it was the Lord. It is interesting how rarely the kings in Israel are
actually called kings. If you look at 1&2 Samuel and 1&2 Kings, notice how few times they are
called kings. There is a reluctance to call human beings kings (malak).
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 Separation of kingship from the priesthood: the case of Saul's transgressions

Together with this comes something that is very very important to the present day. Right from
the beginning, God separated the office of kingship and political leadership from the
priesthood. So you see it already in the distinction between Moses and Aaron. Aaron is the
father of priesthood. Moses was the political leader. In some ways Moses is the exception
because he carried out many roles. In a sense, Moses was prophet, priest, and king all in one
but after Moses there was a strict division between politics and religion. No king was allowed to
go on the altar. No king was allowed to present offerings to God or burn incense in the Holy
Place. No king was allowed to enter the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement. Kingship was
separated from prophecy. The administration of God’s holiness by the priests was separated
from the administration of God’s righteousness and justice by the king. It was a separation of
what we call church and state. That idea goes all the way back to the OT. It’s a dogma for us in
the West and it is absolutely critical for our political system.
 Subordination of kings to God's law and to his prophets
In Israel, a king is not a law giver (as he is in other countries). The king is under God and is to
administer God’s law. For the Babylonians or Egyptians you have the gods who make the laws
for the people. Where do their kings sit? They are on the same level as the gods. In Israel it is
different. God alone is king and he makes the law. He gave the law to Israel through Moses and
later through the prophets. Israel’s kings were under God’s law. They were God’s servants,
God’s messiahs, God’s representatives. They were under God’s law and they administered
God’s law for the people. So the king is not the law maker but the law administrator. He applies
the law.
Pagan Countries Israel
Gods & Kings God

Moses (& priests)
Prophets
Law Law
King
People People
If Israel’s king falls out of line and acts as if he is God, who can pull him back into line? The
prophets. But those who have the first responsibility to confront him on what he is doing wrong
are the priests. They are the custodians of God’s Torah. One of their jobs was to teach the king
and people God’s law. If the king won’t listen to the priests, God sends a prophet to pull him
back in line.
So a very dramatic case of this was when David committed adultery with Bathsheba and killed
her husband. Who called David into line? The prophet Nathan. You won’t find any other story
like it in ancient history. There is never a story anywhere else where a prophet rebukes a king
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and the king repents. David listened to Nathan and repented. In 1&2 Kings there are stories like
this, both positive and negative, where they listen or don’t listen. Notice how the prophets and
the kings go very closely together.
Two more things. The most common term for a king is that he is the servant of Yahweh. That is
a bit misleading for us because we equate servant with slave or employee. Servant can be one
of those things but it also can be what? An example is that Eleazar was the servant of Abraham.
Technically he may have been a slave, but he was also Abraham’s right hand man, his
administrator. In English we use the term “minister.” The kings were the ministers of the Lord.
In Australia they have a prime minister. Why a prime minister? Because he is under the queen.
He is the first minister of the crown. So he is under the crown and he is under the constitution
and under the common law. So if the king is the servant of God, it means he is God’s prime
minister. He is God’s deputy, his chief administrator.
Now in any political system the president or king doesn’t do all the work. Who does all the work
of the king? His cabinet. And the most important person in the cabinet is the prime minister.
[And all of the other cabinet members are ministers that are under him.] In Israel the person
who was the king’s deputy was the crown prince. On ceremonial occasions, the king would be
seated upon his throne and then you had smaller thrones on his left and right. Who sat on the
right hand side of the king? His son and heir. If he didn’t have a son, it would be the person who
was designated as his heir, maybe his uncle or grandson or nephew. And interestingly on the
left hand side you didn’t have the queen being seated but the queen mother.
Who would be responsible for the day to day running of the kingdom? The crown prince. That is
where he got his basic administrative experience. A long time before he took over as king, he
would be basically running the country for his father.
Now in the NT at the ascension of Jesus, he sits where? At the right hand of God the Father
almighty. He is the deputy of his Father. He is the “crown prince.” He administers God’s
kingdom.
See 2 Sam 7:1lb-16; Ps 89:3-4, 19-37; cf Ps 132:11-12
I would like for you to look closely at the important covenant of God with David, which is
foundational. We won’t have time to go through it, so I will summarize it in our next class. Look
closely at these passages. Then after we’ve dealt with the basic theology of kingship, I want to
deal with the messianic promises. We won’t be able to read them all in class. You have them in
your notes, so please take time and read the whole list of messianic promises. You need those
passages in your head if you are going to make sense of the NT and the basic confession of
faith. One confession is: Jesus is Lord (Yahweh). Another confession is: Jesus is Messiah (Christ)
(Anointed One). The foundational confession of faith is that Jesus is the Messiah. Now, unless
you have all this stuff down about kingship in the OT, it won’t make sense. And unless you see
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the messianic promises in their fullness, you won’t’ be able to understand the implications of it.
It’s the same with the importance of connecting Lord with Yahweh. Then you can understand
how far reaching that confession is that Jesus is Lord/Yahweh. On the divine side Jesus is
Yahweh and on the human side Jesus is the anointed king. And he’s not just the anointed king,
he is also the anointed high priest, because both priests and kings were anointed in the OT.

 God's gracious perpetual commitment to the dynasty of David: kingship by divine grace
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Lecture OT-21a
v=Y2dVb9uGhRM&list=PL32Gjc1uEM1AUR8LC9JlceA9xFSeZs25Z&index=36

...
...
See 2 Sam 7:1lb-16; Ps 89:3-4, 19-37; cf Ps 132:11-12
grace
4. The King as God's Right Hand Man
See Ps 110:1-2
 …
5. King as Administrator of God's Justice and Righteousness
See Ps 72:1-4
 …
6. King as the Patron of the Temple
 …
7. The Religious Role of Israel’s Kings
 …

...
...
You know that despite God’s misgivings about kingship, at the people’s request, God eventually
gave them kings. He gave them Saul, and when he failed, he gave them David. From David came
a dynasty of kings. Now whereas the theme of kingship in Israel and the prophecies concerning
kingship were one among many of the gifts and hopes that the Israelites had in the post exilic
period leading up to the time of Christ, in the NT the promise of a coming king, the Messiah,
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was the promise of all promises. All of the other promises of God eventually connected with
and were funneled through the promise of a coming king. And as you know, the fundamental
confession of faith of Christians is that Jesus is the Messiah, the anointed king. So you won’t
understand our Christian faith unless you see that kingship, and a unique kind of kingship,
which is countercultural, lies at the heart of it.
See 2 Sam 7:1lb-16; Ps 89:3-4, 19-37; cf Ps 132:11-12
God’s gift of kingship and the theology of kingship is focused on God’s covenant with David. We
had God’s covenant with Abraham and the covenant at Sinai and now we have the last and
greatest of all the covenants, the covenant with David. Let’s have a look at its foundational
word in 2Sam. 7:11-16. This passage needs to be taken together with the two other passages
given here. But we have limited time, so we can’t through them all.
Before we read, you must remember the context. David decided to build a house/temple for
God. He runs the idea by Nathan the prophet. He says check this out with God. Nathan said it
sounded like a good idea, so go ahead. Then that night God spoke to Nathan and sent him back
to David to say, No David, you are not to build me a house. I want to build you a house. Your
son will build a house for me. There is a lot of punning going on here with the word house.
House is literally a building, but it can be household or family or royal dynasty and it can also
mean temple. Now let’s read through it bit by bit. I will have you pause at various places.
11
from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel. And I will give you rest from all
your enemies. Moreover, the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house.
12
When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your
offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He
shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14 I will
be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline
him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, 15 but my steadfast love will not
depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. 16 And your house
and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established
forever.’”
V. 11b – “make you a house” is a good translation. House could be taken in two senses. The
obvious sense is that God will make for David a dynasty. But it could also be saying that he will
make David his temple/house. Now this is not picked up any in the OT, but it is picked up in the
NT because who is the house of God? Jesus’ body is the house of God. John’s gospel picks this
up and runs with it. Just notice that there is that exegetical option. One of the problems with
translating from Hebrew is that it needs to decide between open exegetical options. In a sense
it narrows down the possibility of meaning. Let’s continue with vv. 12-13.
Vv. 12-13 – “A house for my name” means a temple for my name. The house that God will
make for David will be a dynasty. Your seed, your descendant, someone who comes from your
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body, so a direct male descendant of David will build my temple, my house. Notice that here
you get the first “forever.” There are four “forevers” here.
V. 14a – On the face of it, this is an adoption formula. In the ancient world, let’s say you were
marrying a woman. You would say to her, I will be to you a husband and you will be to me my
wife. If I was adopting you, I would say, I will be to you for a father and you will be to me for a
son. Son number one, this is an adoption formula. But it is also a recognition formula of
sonship. If there is any doubt, this statement makes it clear that we are father and son.
Vv 14b-15 – Now “steadfast love” is translated in the Septuagint as “mercy.” That word is more
closely associated with grace and generosity and mercy. It is translated as “steadfast love”
because of a whole complicated theory behind it. Now what is being said here is that unlike
Saul, whose dynasty was wiped out because of his sin, if one of David’s sons who is a king sins
only the king that sins will be punished and not the dynasty. So the sins of a member of the
dynasty will not result in extinction of the dynasty. If you read 1&2 Kings closely, there is a very
interesting history of that. At one point the dynasty of David was reduced to one person and he
was preserved miraculously.
V. 16 – Notice that in v. 15 there is a “never,” which means “not forever.” And now in this verse
you have two more “forevers.” God promises that David’s house and kingdom will last forever
“before me,” which means in my presence. This probably has to do with the connection
between the dynasty of the descendants of David and the Temple of God, where you have the
presence of God. “Your house and your kingdom will endure forever.” Where? Before me, in
my presence.

grace
One of the problems with this prophecy is that it has a three point frame of reference. Parts of
this prophecy have to do with David. Parts of it have to do with the immediate descendant of
David. And some parts of it have to do with some future king.
Of the three just mentioned, whose dynasty will last forever? David’s.
Of the three, whose kingship will last forever? David died. Solomon died. It refers to a future
king.
Next, whose throne will last forever? David’s throne. And it will happen through his immediate
descendant and through the future king. Even Jesus sits on the throne of David. So there is a
difference between kingship (the person who occupies the throne) and the throne (the
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institution). The dynasty is the family from which the occupant comes. So the dynasty is the
whole family. The throne doesn’t belong to the whole family, the throne is occupied by a
particular person in the family.
The next one is important. And notice that this word for generosity, grace, and mercy is used
again and again in connection with kingship and the Messiah in the NT. David is not a king by
divine right but by divine grace. It is a gift. And notice that God’s generosity is perpetual. To
whom? To David. To Solomon. To the Messiah.
Next let’s consider the temple builder. Is David the temple builder? No, his son, Solomon is the
temple builder. He built the first temple. Who is it that builds the eternal temple? The Messiah.
You will notice that some of these apply to one and others apply to more than one.
Lastly, the promise of divine sonship. Is David as son of God? If you read the accounts carefully,
David is never ever referred to as God’s son. Who is referred to as God’s son? Solomon and the
Messiah will be the Son of God. Now what is the difference between Solomon and the coming
Messiah? And this goes beyond the OT. God’s son could be an adopted son or a real begotten
son. Solomon is the adopted son of God. And it seems that all the descendants of Solomon had
the status as adopted son.
Now connect this with “house.” Normally, who is the person who is in charge of the house of
his father? The elder son, the heir. So son and house go together. Now when considering house
here, and particularly when you read some things in 1&2 Chronicles and some of the Psalms,
we see that the king, as God’s son, has responsibility for the house of God. What is the house of
God? You could say it is his family, Israel, but it is also the temple of God. The kings are temple
patrons. Jesus is the divine Son of God in charge of his Father’s house/family/temple.
The above discussion is summarized in this table. And it shows that the exegetical options are
open for this very important prophecy.
Promises David Solomon Messiah

Perpetual Dynasty Yes No No
Perpetual Kingship No No Yes
Perpetual Throne Yes ? ?
Perpetual Grace Yes ? Yes
Temple Builder No Yes Yes
Sonship No Yes Yes
(A student question about Jesus still being king on the cross and crying out, My God, my God
why have you forsaken me. Dr. Kleinig said there was one warning in this passage we are
looking at that we need to consider concerning this. In v. 14b it says God will discipline the king
who commits iniquity with the rod and stripes of men. What is the irony here when it comes to
the NT? Jesus is sin-free and yet he is the one that is punished. And the amazing thing is that
this is God’s grace that is at work! In the NT the King is the administrator of God’s grace. And he
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administers it through the great exchange. He was punished for the sins that he never
committed so that his grace can be extended to sinners. This goes way beyond what we are
studying here, but [it will eventually blossom and show itself in the NT.])
(A student question about whether this disciplining of the king was exclusively messianic? No.
You will see it clearly in 1&2 Kings. The kings that were descendants of David who were not
faithful in keeping God’s covenant – what happened to them? They received various kinds of
punishment. Those kings who were faithful to God prospered (Hezekiah, Josiah). So when we
hear that king such and such did evil in the eyes of the Lord, that is a fulfillment of this
prophecy. God disciplines those kings.)
This is a foundational passage. It is not just one among many but the one in which you find the
theology of kingship. It gives you the hermeneutic key to understand God’s dealings with David
and Solomon and the rest of the kings. Even with David – remember he is not only righteous
but also the great sinner. He commits adultery. He commits murder. And as a result of that
Nathan came to him and pinned him down with the parable of the lamb. David said the guilty
person should get fourfold punishment. And if you look at the story of Solomon you will see
that David was punished in four ways because of his sin with Bathsheba and his murder. God
disciplined him as he said he would in this passage. He punished David but not the dynasty.
Let me repeat again that this is the hermeneutic key to understand the history of kingship in
Israel as laid out in 2 Sam., 1&2 Kings, and 1&2 Chronicles.
(Another student question, going back to the Jesus on the cross being abandoned by God. He
asked if that was the Jewish argument that Jesus could not be God? No, their argument is the
opposite. Their argument is cursed is anyone who is hanged on a tree. Paul addressed this. The
argument was first of all that the messiah was the holy blessed one. Is that right? Yes.
Therefore Jesus cannot be the holy, blessed messiah because he is cursed. He was cursed in
two ways. He was sentenced to death by whom? The Sanhedrin and the high priest who
represented God. They were established and instituted by God to represent him. So in their
condemnation of Jesus, Jesus was put to death by God. And not only was he put to death, he
was put to death hanging on a tree, as one cursed by God, rejected by God. That is a powerful
argument. That is the Jewish argument against Jesus being the messiah. And that is what lies
behind the theology of the cross. What is Paul’s answer to it? Jesus appeared to Paul and Paul
learned that Jesus who had no sin became sin for us so that the blessing of Abraham, which
belonged to the messiah, now comes to us, the ones who should have been cursed by God.
Anyone who breaks God’s law is cursed. Jesus is the only one who is not cursed but Jesus took
the curse upon himself in order that we might have the blessing. It is fantastic theology and it
confounds human expectations. And it lies at the heart of our Lutheran theology. If you lose
that, you lose your reason to be a Christian.)
Now going back to our foundational passage, there is one more thing I’d like to emphasize.
Notice the word “perpetual.” When would this word become particularly important in the
history of Israel? After the exile. Why? At that time there was no king. The temple was
destroyed but God gave it back to them. The land was taken away but God gave it back to
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them. Everything was given back to them except for the kings. From 586 BC onwards there was
no king.
There are two exegetical options that could be used to try and understand under these
circumstances of God’s use of “forever” four times. It is either a lie or the great Messiah/King is
still to come. The latter was the dominant option in the post-exilic period. And it grew stronger
over time. So the foundation for the messianic hope comes from here in 2 Sam. 7. The
foundation for all the messianic psalms is found here. The foundation for all of the messianic
promises comes from here. And to this day Jews wear the star of David around their necks
because they believe that the messiah promised to David is still to come. All pious Jews look for
the coming of the messiah. There is only one difference between Jews and Christians. What is
it? For Christians the messiah has come and it was Jesus. The Jews do not believe Jesus was the
messiah and so they continue to wait for the messiah.
(Some discussion about the Jewish messiah and the messiahs of the world who are going to fix
all our problems. Many thought that Judas Maccabeus was the messiah but those who knew
the OT knew he couldn’t be. King Herod wanted to be the messiah but he wasn’t even a Jew.
Discussion of more Jewish history and other history about other “messiahs”.
Discussion about pagan kings vs Israel’s kings. God had to purge the pagan notion of kings being
divine before he could use it as an instrument for his grace. God takes human things, purifies
them, sanctifies them, reverses them, and then uses that as an instrument to redeem people.
So for instance, David is king. To the world that meant co-ruler with the gods. But in Israel,
being a king meant you’re were God’s servant. In this way God confirms Israel’s kings and
critiques pagan kings.)
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Lecture OT-21b
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSWKEXp-
SXw&list=PL32Gjc1uEM1AUR8LC9JlceA9xFSeZs25Z&index=37&spfreload=1

...
...
See 2 Sam 7:1lb-16; Ps 89:3-4, 19-37; cf Ps 132:11-12
...
See Ps 110:1-2
 Symbolic location of palace on right side of temple in Jerusalem.
 Reign of king with God as his earthly vice-regent
 Administration by the king of God's kingdom on earth
See Ps 72:1-4
 King as supreme judge: vindication of the righteous and defence of the poor
 King as God’s commander in chief: deliverance from enemies
 King as the head of the congregation in prayer and praise
 Finance and maintenance of the temple with its services
 Organisation of the priests and the Levites
 Presentation of burnt offerings for the monarchy and the land at the festivals
 Leadership of the congregation in prayer and praise
 Israel as a liturgical community
 David as the second cult-founder after Moses
 Implementation of the law with plan for temple
 Institution of the Lord's song
 David as the model of orthodox kingship in Israel
 Solomon as the builder of the temple
 Hezekiah and Josiah as the great liturgical reformers
 Jereboam as the model of idolatrous kingship and patron of heterodox worship
8. The Messianic Prophecies
 Their Foundation
 God’s covenant with David (2 Sam 7:11b-16)
 The royal psalms
 Prophecies of a Coming King
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a. Amos 9:11-12
 Reunion of Israel under new David
 Incorporation of Edom and the nations in his kingdom
b. Micah 5:2-5a: the birth of the Messiah
 Origin of Israel’s ruler from David and Bethlehem
 His divine and human birth
 Reunion of Israel under his rule
 King as Israel’s divine shepherd (cf. Ezek 34:23-24; 37:24-25)
 King as an international peacemaker
c. Isaiah 7:10-17: the Messiah’s name as a sign
 Refusal of a faith sign/miracle by Ahaz
 God’s sign to Ahaz: birth of child from virgin mother (Zion or queen Abijah
or Mary?)
 Name = Immanuel: God with us
d. Isaiah 9:2-7: Messiah as the Prince of Peace (second Solomon)
 ...
e. Isaiah 11:1-10: Empowerment by God’s Spirit
 ...
f. Jeremiah 23:5-8 and 33:14-26: king as mediator of God’s righteousness
 ...
g. Isaiah 42:1-4: God’s presentation of his servant king
 ...
h. Isaiah 49:1-6 (7-13): the servant’s mission
 ...
i. Isaiah 50:4-9: the servant’s reliance on God
 ...
j. Isaiah 52:13-53:12: servant as priest and offering
 ...
k. Isaiah 61:1-3: the Messiah’s mission
 ...
l. Zechariah 3:8-10: the priestly role of the king
 ...
m. Zechariah 6:9-15: the priest-king as temple builder
 ...
n. Zechariah 9:9-10: Zion’s humble king
 ...
o. Daniel 9:24-27: the eschatological character of the Messiah
 ...

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...
...
See 2 Sam 7:1lb-16; Ps 89:3-4, 19-37; cf Ps 132:11-12
...
See Ps 110:1-2
Let’s turn to Ps. 110:1-2. This is a very important royal, messianic psalm. Of all of the psalms,
this is the one that is quoted most frequently in the NT.
The Lord says to my Lord:

“Sit at my right hand,
until I make your enemies your footstool.”
2
The Lord sends forth from Zion
your mighty scepter.
Rule in the midst of your enemies!
In Hebrew it says: Yahweh says to my Master: sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a
footstool for your feet. Yahweh will extend his mighty scepter and rule from Zion, the scepter
of Yahweh is put in the hand of my Master. Yahweh extends his scepter and his rule from
Zion over the nations.
To understand the picture here, you will need to know two things. First of all, a general thing
about kingship in the ancient world and then the symbolic geography of Jerusalem. In the royal
palace in the throne room, the king’s deputy, his heir, usually his son, would sit at the right
hand of the king. And the king would rule through his son. The son would administer the
kingdom on behalf of the father. And so at ceremonial occasions he would sit at the right hand
of the king. He was the king’s right hand man.
Now in Jerusalem the temple and the palace were connected together. So much so that from a
human point of view, visually they formed one complex of buildings. In the ancient world you
had cities with walls and then you had a fortress complex within the city. Usually it was the
highest place in the city. The Greeks called it the acropolis. The acropolis of Jerusalem was
Mount Zion. The highest point of Mount Zion was the place where the altar for burnt offering
was. God was enthroned in the Holy of Holies in the temple. Who was enthroned at the right
hand of God? The king. The palace was on the right side of the temple. So as God sat on his
throne in the Holy of Holies, so also sat the king on his throne to the right hand of God. We
orient ourselves to the north but in the ancient world they always oriented themselves to the
east. So we have theology expressed in geography. The king is at the right hand of Yahweh.
There are two separate buildings for worship and for the king and yet they are interconnected.
 Symbolic location of palace on right side of temple in Jerusalem.
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To summarize then, notice the symbolic location of the palace on the right side of the temple.
(See above.)
 Reign of king with God as his earthly vice-regent
This indicates that the king reigns with God as his vice-regent. He doesn’t just reign for God. It’s
not as if God is absent. The picture is that he is reigning with God. That is what anointed one
means. The one anointed is the deputy of the person who anointed him. He is the one
designated as the holy deputy of the Lord.
 Administration by the king of God's kingdom on earth
And that means that he administers God’s kingdom, God’s rule here on earth. And Ps. 110
indicates that the king was not only to rule over Israel but also over the enemies of Israel and
he rules over all the earth. You will see that theme in all of the royal psalms.
So you had the temple and palace, the house of God and the house of the king. These two
things go together. Now it was different in the post-exilic period. Symbolically the temple
swallows up the royal palace and all you have is the temple.

See Ps 72:1-4
Now what was the function of a king? The king administered God’s justice and righteousness.
God chose various offices/institutions to administer his gifts to his people. He mediates gifts.
God does not give his gifts directly. He doesn’t snap his fingers and create a baby; rather he
uses human beings to produce babies.
(1) So how does God teach and administer his wisdom to people on earth? Through parents
and teaches and mentors. So his wisdom is mediated through human beings. (2) God does not
speak his Word directly to his people (except once at Mt. Sinai). Normally he speaks his Word
through Moses and the prophets to Israel. (3) God mediates his holiness to people through the
priests in the divine service. (4) And lastly, God administers his righteousness and justice in
Israel through the kings.
Summary of the administration of God’s gifts to Israel

Lord God
Wisdom Word Holiness Righteousness/Justice
Parents/Teachers Moses/Prophets Priests Kings
Israel
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We don’t have time to read Ps. 72:1-4. You need to read this yourself (see below). I’ve given
you the abstractions, but you need to see the scriptural foundations. It is a prayer for Solomon
the king and the prayer is: Give the king your justice and righteousness O Lord. And the rest of
the psalm has to do with the way that the king mediates God’s righteousness and justice for the
benefit of the people in the land.
Give the king your justice, O God,

2
May he judge your people with righteousness,
3
Let the mountains bear prosperity for the people,
and the hills, in righteousness!
4
May he defend the cause of the poor of the people,
 King as supreme judge: vindication of the righteous and defence of the poor
God is the supreme judge. God is the King. [The kings of Israel were under him.] And the king is
always the judge in the ancient world. You don’t have a separation of the executive and judicial
branches of government. The king’s task is to vindicate the righteous and to punish the
unrighteous. He is to vindicate the righteous and to defend the poor, the people who have no
one to act as their kinsman-redeemer. So God as King exercises his reign and kingship in three
areas. And the first area is justice.
 King as God’s commander in chief: deliverance from enemies
Secondly, the king is God’s commander-in-chief, the one who is at the head of the armies of,
not Israel, but of the Lord. Then through the king, God delivers the Israelites from their
enemies.
 King as the head of the congregation in prayer and praise
Thirdly, the king is not a priest. He doesn’t stand on God’s side when it comes to worship, but
he is the head of the congregation. If you remember the geography of the temple, the outer
court led to the inner court and at the top of the steps that led to the inner court there was a
place called the king’s post. So looking at it from the other way: you had the temple, the altar,
the Levitical choir, the steps, and then the congregation in the outer court. The king stood on
top of the steps, symbolically at the head of the congregation. He doesn’t mediate God’s
holiness to the congregation, but he leads the people in prayer and praise. He is the head of the
congregation.
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That leads to the next important theme. You see it developed extensively in 1&2 Samuel and
1&2 Chronicles. The most important duty of a king was religious. It wasn’t economic. It wasn’t
military. He wasn’t a law-giver. Only God made law. He administered God’s law, not only in
justice and warfare, but he administered God’s law in worship. He was responsible for the
organization of worship. Not the running of worship, but the patronage of worship.
 Finance and maintenance of the temple with its services
So the king is the patron of the temple and its services. He was responsible for the maintenance
and the financing of the temple and its services.
 Organisation of the priests and the Levites
He was also responsible for the organization of the priests and Levites with their rosters. The
high priest was in charge at the temple, but the king had to make sure they were organized
properly. The king didn’t do what the priests did, but he organized them. And he watched over
the high priest and priests to make sure they did what they were supposed to do based on
God’s law.
 Presentation of burnt offerings for the monarchy and the land at the festivals
Thirdly, at the great festivals, he presented burnt offerings for the monarchy and for the land.
When we say he presented the offerings, we don’t mean he laid them on the altar. He brought
the offerings to the temple. As the head of the nation, he brought the nation’s offerings to God.
He did help slaughter the animals, but then the priests took over in the splashing of blood to
make atonement and in laying the offerings out on the altar. In presenting these offerings, the
king acted as the head of the congregation.
 Leadership of the congregation in prayer and praise
And lastly, the king leads the congregation in prayer and praise. Remember that one of things
that David did was establish the Levitical choir. And the Levitical choir sang the songs of David,
which are prayers and praises. So the Levitical choir was the part of the priesthood that was
directly under the control of the king because amongst the priests they represented the king.
Who was it that brought prayer and praises to God? It was the king. How did he do it? Through
the Levitical singers. On whose behalf did the king bring prayers and praises through the singers
to God? The Israelites and if you read the Psalms, it is also on behalf of the nations. Don’t’
forget that. The king is not just the king of Israel spiritually, but he is the leader of the nations in
prayer and praise. So the Psalms call on not just Israel, but all the earth to present offerings to
God, all the earth to praise God, all the earth to seek the Lord in prayer. The king represents the
people and through the Levitical choir presents their prayers and praises to God at the temple.
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(A student question asking if all of this has anything to do with the orientation of the temple?
The answer is yes, all of this is symbolic, but we don’t have time to get into it.)
(Another question: If you were building a church, would you orient it to the east? Yes, I’d try to.
The sun rises in the east and so the east is symbolic. But notice that when people go to the
temple and prostrate themselves, they prostrate themselves towards the west. And that is
quite deliberate so that they don’t worship the sun. In one of the prophecies of Ezekiel
something terrible was happening. The people were turning around and worshipping the rising
sun. They were prostrating themselves not to the altar but to the sun that was rising.
That was the orientation in the OT. The entrance was in the east and the congregation faced
west. In one of those remarkable reversals, like going from Sabbath to Sunday, Christian
churches right from the beginning didn’t have the entrance in the east and the people face the
west, but they entered from the west and faced east. Why? The rising sun indicates the
dawning of a new day. At daybreak Jesus rose from the dead. The east orientation had been
stripped of its pagan connotations and could now be reused in a new way without importing
the whole of paganism into Christian worship.)
Now, let’s summarize. What was the religious role of a king?
 Israel as a liturgical community
First of all, to understand this you need to realize that as far as the OT is concerned Israel is not
basically, fundamentally a political ethnic community. It’s not a cultural community. It’s not a
geographical community. Take Australia. What kind of a community is Australia? It is a
geographical, political community. They don’t have a common culture or a common language
that all speak. There is great ethnic diversity.
Despite the fact that Israel occupied a particular place, the land of Canaan, despite the fact that
they descended from a common ancestor, despite the fact that they most likely spoke a
common language and had a common culture, they were not primarily a geographical, political,
ethnic, cultural community. What kind of a community were they? They were a liturgical
community, which means that basically their identity lies in their common worship of one God
in one place in the temple in Jerusalem. So the OT makes it clear that from beginning to end
that Israel is primarily a liturgical community, a religious community, a holy community.
And this means that leadership in Israel is always going to be what kind of leadership? Not
political leadership, not judicial leadership, not military leadership, but liturgical leadership. So
the king is a liturgical leader.
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But then comes a surprise, a reversal. If it was the case that the king was a liturgical leader,
wouldn’t you expect the king to also be high priest? That’s what people thought and they
couldn’t understand why he wasn’t. Everywhere in the ancient world kingship and priesthood
belonged together. In Israel you have the separation of church and state. More correctly, you
have the separation of liturgy and politics. But that does not mean that the king is strictly
secular. The king is not a priest, but he is the head of the congregation.
 David as the second cult-founder after Moses
What does this mean then? It means that David is the second cult-founder after Moses. Who is
the father of worship in Israel? Moses. Who is the father of Israel as a nation? Abraham. Who is
the father of wisdom in Israel? Solomon. Who is the father of psalmody in Israel? David. Who is
the father of the divine service? Moses. Who is the father of worship at the temple? David.
 Implementation of the law with plan for temple
This is developed at great length in the books of 1&2 Chronicles. David implements the law of
God as found in the Pentateuch by giving detailed descriptions and doing all the planning for
Solomon to implement. He designed the temple and designed the arrangement of the
priesthood. That was all done by David. In a strict sense the law of God about worship given in
the Pentateuch was only able to be implemented fully for the first time once Solomon built the
temple. Before then it could only be instituted partially because there was no central place of
worship.
 Institution of the Lord's song
Secondly, David instituted the singing of psalms as part of the divine service. For the daily divine
service, morning and evening, as the burnt offering was presented on the altar, the Levitical
choir, standing in front of the altar, sang the psalms of David. So in this way also, David is the
second cult founder.
 David as the model of orthodox kingship in Israel
Thirdly, David is the model of orthodox kingship in Israel, not as a politician or military leader,
but because of his religious policy and practice. And just as David is the orthodox king,
Jeroboam is the model for the unorthodox king because of his incorrect worship – the worship
of the right God in the wrong way.
 Solomon as the builder of the temple
Next, Solomon was the builder of the temple. He was the great temple-builder, not David.
Building the temple was Solomon’s great achievement. If you read the story of Solomon,
basically everything leads up to the building of the temple and is an appendix to the building of
the temple. Building the temple was only a small part of his 40 years of kingship. But the Bible
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isn’t interested in most of the rest of his reign. If Solomon is the great temple builder, what
does that mean for the descendants of Solomon? That means the kings that follow him are
responsible for the care of the temple. And that is one of the criteria in 1&2 Kings for
determining if a king is a good king or bad king. Did they look after the temple or not?
 Hezekiah and Josiah as the great liturgical reformers
Based on this criteria, Hezekiah and Josiah were great kings. Why were they great kings?
Because they were liturgical performers, because of their care for the temple and its services.
They brought the priests back into line. They brought the people back into line. They
reestablished the temple and its services. That is what made them great kings. There were
other kings in Israel that are greater politically but the Bible dismisses them in only a few lines.
Why? Because they failed in this respect.
 Jereboam as the model of idolatrous kingship and patron of heterodox worship
As we said before, Jereboam was the model of idolatrous kingship and the patron of heterodox
worship. Just to make sure you understand, what does the word orthodox mean? The answer
given was that it means right belief and right practice. It’s even more exact than that. Doxa is
praise. So orthodoxy has to do with right doctrine and right practice. Right practice is right
praise. Heterodoxy is other praise, which is the wrong kind of praise. And wrong praise is based
on wrong doctrine and wrong practice. These are very important terms for our Christian
heritage. That is the task of a king in brief.
Now we’ll take a look at the messianic prophecies. You are probably familiar with some of these
passages. We will only read a few of these passages, which are probably not so well known.
This will just be a summary. You will see as we go through them that the picture of a coming
king, which initially is very vague, becomes fleshed out with greater detail. It is a kind of
identicate sketch that is being established.
Do you know what I am talking about? As an example, there is a robbery and the police come.
The person robbed has a good view of the robber but is traumatized and can’t give a good
description of him. So the police give him bits and pieces of the head. They don’t have him look
at the whole person but have him look at small parts. Perhaps first they show him the hair and
ask what kind of hair the suspect had. So you have a blank face with hair on it. Then they go to
the nose and then the eyes, etc. Coming out it then you get an identicate picture being
established. When done, it is not a perfect picture but it is often pretty accurate.
Now from an OT point of view, you can’t get the face of the messiah by putting all the bits and
pieces together because there are too many gaps. But once the messiah comes, you can look
back and say, Ah ha, yes, I see how all this fits together now. The whole of the gospels pick up
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things from the OT to show that the face of Jesus fits the identicate features established in the
OT.
 Their Foundation
 God’s covenant with David (2 Sam 7:11b-16)
The foundation of these messianic prophecies is God’s covenant with David that we’ve already
looked at.
 The royal psalms
The second foundation, which we don’t have time to look at, are the messianic psalms. These
psalms were originally royal psalms. These psalms focused on David, Solomon, and their
successors. But they are prophetic because they are psalms inspired by God’s Spirit and they
always show the face, not of one particular king, but they show the face of kingship and they
show the face of God’s kingship, God’s picture of kingship in Israel.
So on the basis of the covenant and the messianic psalms, you get the messianic prophecies.

a. Amos 9:11-12
One of the earliest of the messianic prophecies came around 740 – 730 BC from Amos. You get
these prophecies from this period onwards.
 Reunion of Israel under new David
Amos speaks about the reunion of Israel, the northern kingdom and southern kingdom, under a
new David. Sometime in the future a second David is going to come and he is going to
reestablish the house of David. The picture is of a house where some rooms are intact but some
of the rooms are falling down. He is going to rebuild the whole house by reuniting the north
and south.
 Incorporation of Edom and the nations in his kingdom
And when that happens, he will incorporate Edom, who are the descendants of Esau, into Israel
and he will bring nations, the Gentiles, into his kingdom. Now symbolically Edom is a type of
Adam. In an unpointed text (a text without vowels), there is no difference between Edom and
Adam. So there is an Edom/Adam typology. It doesn’t always work, but whenever you see stuff
about Edom, especially in the Prophets, keep in mind this feature of the Hebrew language.
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The first real sharp profile that we will get is from Micah about the birth of a coming king, the
Messiah.
 Origin of Israel’s ruler from David and Bethlehem
Israel’s ruler will originate not just from David but also from Bethlehem. “But you Bethlehem
Ephrata, though you are least among the clans of Judah, from you will come ...” and then you
get a reference to the Messiah.
 His divine and human birth
The origins of this Messiah will be from antiquity or from heaven. His origins will be from old,
“from everlasting” is usually the way it is translated. But “everlasting” could also be “eternity.”
And that seems to be the case here. He will have both a human and divine origin in some way.
His origins are from antiquity but they are also from eternity.
 Reunion of Israel under his rule
Then picking up the theme from Amos, under his rule he will reunite the north and south.
 King as Israel’s divine shepherd (cf. Ezek 34:23-24; 37:24-25)
And as their king, he will be Israel’s divine Shepherd. Through the king God will shepherd his
people. He will be the Pastor of the congregation of Israel. So the King is the Shepherd of the
flock and through the King God shepherds his flock.
 King as an international peacemaker
And this coming King, who comes from Bethlehem, (just as Jesse and David came from
Bethlehem but no other king after them came from there) this King will be an international
Peacemaker. He will bring peace between the nations.
This prophecy of Micah was prophesied somewhere around 720 – 710 BC.
Then you get Isaiah who is a contemporary of Micah. From Isaiah you get the Immanuel
prophecy. You may not know the context of this terribly well. So let’s read Is. 7:10-17.
10
Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz: 11 “Ask a sign of the Lord your God; let it be deep as Sheol or
high as heaven.” 12 But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test.” 13 And
he said, “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my
God also? 14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive
and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. 15 He shall eat curds and honey when he
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knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. 16 For before the boy knows how to refuse
the evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you dread will be deserted. 17 The
Lord will bring upon you and upon your people and upon your father's house such days as
have not come since the day that Ephraim departed from Judah—the king of Assyria!”
A student read vv. 10-14. The context is this: the northern kingdom of Israel had allied itself
with Assyria to try and get Judah and king Ahaz in Jerusalem to join with them in an anti-Syrian
alliance. So this is real politics. So they told Ahaz, if you don’t join us, we will attack you and
wipe you out and put somebody on the throne who will join us in our alliance. Now the king
was in a real pickle because he was afraid of the Assyrians because they were the super-power
of that day. He didn’t want to fall out with the Assyrians so a large number of his advisors said,
Make an alliance with the Egyptians. The Egyptians don’t want another big political block just to
the north of them that will threaten their interests.
 Refusal of a faith sign/miracle by Ahaz
And in that precarious political position, Isaiah comes to the king as he is inspecting the
fortifications for the imminent invasion and siege of Jerusalem, and he says, Don’t form any
alliance. Rely on God. Don’t try and get the Egyptians against your enemies in the north. Don’t
get the Assyrians to attack them from the north, but just rely on God. And then he offers a sign
to the king. He tells him, To show that you can rely on God, ask for any sign up in the heavens
or down on earth, an earthquake, an eclipse, whatever you want. Ahaz acted very pious. He
said, I can’t put the Lord to a test. Was that his real reason? No, because once he knows if he
has the sign then politically he knows his hands are tied and he won’t be able to do anything. If
he is going to rely on God, then there is no politics. He can’t do a thing and he is afraid he will
get it from both sides. So he doesn’t want a sign.
 God’s sign to Ahaz: birth of child from virgin mother (Zion or queen Abijah
or Mary?)
In that situation, God gives a sign to Ahaz [anyway]. The sign is the birth of a child from a virgin
mother and the gift of a name of Immanuel, which means God with us or among us, to this child
from the virgin mother. There are three exegetical options here for interpreting this. Who is the
virgin mother? (1) It could be symbolic, the birth of a new king from mother Zion. Zion is always
depicted in Isaiah and the Psalms as a woman. And one of the pictures is that Zion is a virgin
and here it is said she will give birth to a new king and this new king is going to be called
Immanuel. (2) Or it could be more specific that a woman who Ahaz is going to take as a wife will
bear a son and that son will be Immanuel. If it is this option, then the child is Hezekiah. (3) Or it
could refer to the mother of the coming king, the messianic king. So for us that is Mary. Which
one of these is it? It could be all three. It could have various levels of meaning.
(One of the problems with fundamentalist and liberal views of Scripture is that they read
Scripture only at one level. For them, it can only mean one thing. It can’t mean both this and
that. Just a little aside about a hermeneutical dodge that you see all around you. Here is an
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example. Is the word of the Scriptures the word of men? Yes. Some then draw the wrong
conclusion. They say then it is only the word of men and not the word of God. The premise is
ok. It’s the conclusion that is wrong. They draw wrong conclusions from right premises.
Here is another example that is very common. This passage of Scripture is culturally
conditioned. Is that true? Yes, every word is culturally conditioned. The conclusion many make
then is that it is only culturally conditioned and therefore it is not relevant us. Is that the correct
conclusion? No.)
It is similar here. The problem comes when people say that this only applies to Zion and
therefore is vague symbolism or it can only apply to the queen mother giving birth or it can only
refer to Jesus. If you look at the context and take any of the three exclusively, you can’t make
sense of what follows. It refers to Hezekiah but Hezekiah is also a picture of a coming king. He is
a type of the King who is to come.
 Name = Immanuel: God with us
[See above.]
(A student question about the meaning of the word translated as virgin. Its basic meaning is: an
unmarried woman. And because she is unmarried, it can mean a woman who has not yet had a
child. What was presupposed in the ancient world was that anyone who has a child is going to
be married. So it can mean an unmarried woman and therefore a woman who is without sexual
experience and therefore a virgin or a woman who is a virgin as far as having children is
concerned.
Can you see that this is a similar exegetical dodge. People say it must mean one of those two
but not both. But think about this. Is a married woman having a baby a miraculous sign? No,
there is nothing startling about that. Now maybe if a woman who is childless has a baby then it
would be a sign. Remember a sign is a miracle. There is something miraculous about an infertile
woman having a baby. But this only makes full sense as a sign if the woman is a virgin. You have
to look at the total context. It is interesting that liberal scholars are far more literalist in their
interpretation than fundamentalists. They are both literalists and I would caution you against it
because Scripture is far richer than that.
Let me give you another case in point. We receive bread and wine in Holy Communion. Is that
true? Yes. What do some conclude then? That we don’t receive the body and blood of Jesus,
which is not true. Or another is that only God can forgive sins. Is that true? Yes. So they
conclude then that a pastor can’t forgive sins, which is not true. All of theology is riddled with
that logical fallacy – wrong conclusions drawn from correct premises. They don’t take into
account other premises as well. So some say, Jesus is a man and they conclude that Jesus is only
a man, which again is incorrect. The whole of liberal theology is based on that dodge.)
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Since we’ve taken some time with this, we won’t be able to deal with the topic of justice and
righteousness. The first period next time we will finish this and then maybe there will be a little
time where we can take a look at justice. Look at the class notes on justice and if you have any
questions, I will be glad to answer them. Then the second period next week, I will summarize
the whole of OT theology from the point of view of the NT and from Paul’s summary off OT
theology under eight headings.
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Lecture OT-22a
v=rkM_31MqA90&list=PL32Gjc1uEM1AUR8LC9JlceA9xFSeZs25Z&index=38

...
...
See 2 Sam 7:1lb-16; Ps 89:3-4, 19-37; cf Ps 132:11-12
...
4. The King as God's Right Hand Man See Ps 110:1-2
 ...
5. King as Administrator of God's Justice and Righteousness See Ps 72:1-4
 ...
 ...
 ...
a. Amos 9:11-12
 ...
 ...

 Dawn of new day for God’s oppressed people with the birth and victory of
their king
 Enthronement with 4 symbolic names for the mission of the king
 Peaceful rule based on God’s justice and righteousness
 King as new branch from stump of Jesse
 Endowment with God’s Spirit
 Wisdom like Solomon
 Military prowess like David
 Piety like Hezekiah
 King as righteous judge: destruction of wicked and vindication of poor by his
word
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 Restoration of paradise by king

 Acceptance of his rule by the nations
 Raising up by God of a righteous king as a branch from David
 Provision of salvation and safety for Israel under his righteous rule
 Name of king and his city as a confession of faith in the Lord’s righteousness
 Inclusion of priesthood in God’s covenant with David: two messiahs or
double office?
 Foundation of king’s rule on God’s covenant with Abraham
 King as God’s chosen servant/deputy
 Empowerment of king by God’s Spirit
 Extension of God’s justice to nations by teaching of God’s word
 His commission from conception as God’s agent
 His apparent failure and reliance on God for his vindication
 His commission by God to gather Israel and save the nations
 Eventual homage to him by the kings of earth.
 His daily reception of God’s word for his people
 His obedience despite persecution
 His reliance on God for his vindication
 God’s exaltation of his servant as priest for the nations (52:13-15)
 Servant’s sacrificial death for the sins of the people (53:1-11a)
 God’s acceptance of his servant’s intercession and selfsacrifice for the
justification of sinners (53:11b-12)
 Anointing by God’s Spirit as a preacher of good news
 Proclamation of God’s amnesty to Zion’s citizens
 Their appointment as praise singers to announce God’s splendour
 Joshua the high priest as the symbol of the coming king
 Inscription on crown: prophecy about removal of sin on one day
 The double crown of Joshua as a symbol of the coming priest king
 David’s branch as temple builder with help of those far from Lord
 Reign of king as a priest in the new temple
 God’s call to Zion to welcome her afflicted and yet victorious king
 God’s disarmament of his people by his proclamation of peace in his
international kingdom
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 Note two senses of “Most Holy” in 9:24: “Most Holy Place” or “Most Holy
King”. See 9:25,26.
 Connection of God’s anointing of his most holy king with the complete
fulfilment of prophecy and complete atonement for sin
 Destruction of Jerusalem and its sanctuary after death of Messiah

We are looking at the messianic prophecies. Last time we finished by looking at the Immanuel
prophecy in Isaiah. Now I want to look at two of the key messianic promises. They are usually
part of the Christmas readings.

...
Let’s read through Is. 9:2-7 bit by bit.
The people who walked in darkness

have seen a great light;
those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness,
on them has light shone.
3
You have multiplied the nation;
you have increased its joy;
they rejoice before you
as with joy at the harvest,
as they are glad when they divide the spoil.
4
For the yoke of his burden,
and the staff for his shoulder,
the rod of his oppressor,
you have broken as on the day of Midian.
5
For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult
and every garment rolled in blood
will be burned as fuel for the fire.
6
For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7
Of the increase of his government and of peace
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there will be no end,

on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
to establish it and to uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
from this time forth and forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
 Dawn of new day for God’s oppressed people with the birth and victory of
their king
V2 – We have here the first picture: the dawning of a new day for people who have been living
in darkness.
V3 – It is a new day of rejoicing, as if there has been a great victory or as if there has been a
great harvest. So it’s a new day, a day of rejoicing. We still don’t know what the reason for
rejoicing is.
Vv 4-5 – What is the reason for the dawning of a new day? What is the reason for rejoicing? A
great victory in which the oppressor has been destroyed. So who has brought about the end of
this oppression? Who has delivered in battle and given the victory?
Vv 6-7 – The celebration here is not actually for a victory but for the birth of a royal son, a son
of God, a king who will bring about the victory. So it is anticipating a victory.
 Enthronement with 4 symbolic names for the mission of the king
This king will be given four composite throne names. In the ancient world when a king was
enthroned he was given symbolic names which summed up his policy and mission. This king
would have four throne names. (1) The first name is Wonderful Counselor. Counselor in the
sense of forming good policy. Wonderful in the sense of policy that brings miracles. He will be a
miracle working policy maker and implementer. (2) The second name is Mighty God. God here
is El, a supernatural power. So it could be angel but it could also be God. Mighty here is used in
the sense of bringing victory, meaning military might. (3) The third name is Everlasting Father.
(4) And the fourth is Prince of Peace.
 Peaceful rule based on God’s justice and righteousness
These are four symbolic throne names for the mission of the king. This king will bring about a
peaceful rule. His government will increase and will be based on God’s righteousness and
justice, will implement God’s righteousness and justice, and therefore establishes peace on
earth.
This is foundational in Jewish tradition for the messiah as the one who brings in the kingdom of
God. So whenever Jesus says “the kingdom of God,” this is one of the foundational passages for
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it. The kingdom of God will be ushered in by a king who comes. In this kingdom the
righteousness of God will be implemented here on earth. You have peaceful rule based on
God’s justice and righteousness.
This is very, very important for your whole NT theology. Just think about how frequently Jesus
preaches the kingdom of God. This is one of the foundational passages that lies behind it. Now,
what is the kingdom of God? The kingdom of God is God’s rule on earth, which will be
established through his king, his messiah. And it is a kingdom of peace.
Let’s have a look at the next passage. How will the messiah accomplish this? Go to Is. 11:1-10.
There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,

and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.
2
And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him,
the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and might,
the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
3
And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.
He shall not judge by what his eyes see,
or decide disputes by what his ears hear,
4
but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,
and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.
5
Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist,
and faithfulness the belt of his loins.
6
The wolf shall dwell with the lamb,
and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat,
and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together;
and a little child shall lead them.
7
The cow and the bear shall graze;
their young shall lie down together;
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
8
The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra,
and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's den.
9
They shall not hurt or destroy
in all my holy mountain;
for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.
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10
In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples—of him shall the
nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious.
Chapter 11 is preceded by a picture of God using the axe of the Assyrian king to chop down
Israel and to chop down the royal family tree. The tree is reduced to a stump. We’ll read
through chapter 11 bit by bit.
 King as new branch from stump of Jesse
V 1 – The stump of Jesse is the family tree of Jesse, the father of David. So there will be a new
shoot from the royal family. Notice these terms, shoot and branch. In the OT these are pictures
for the messiah. They come from the stump of a chopped down tree. So it begins saying there
will be a new king from the dynasty of David.
 Endowment with God’s Spirit

 Wisdom like Solomon
 Military prowess like David
 Piety like Hezekiah
Vv 2-3a – Instead of the Spirit of the Lord coming on a king and leaving the king, like Saul, the
Spirit will come upon and empower and remain with this king. In John’s Gospel, John the
Baptist speaks about the Holy Spirit coming on the One who he is preparing the way for, which
would remain on the Lamb of God, the coming king, the messiah. The Spirit will remain on this
king. The king would receive and possess the Spirit.
The Spirit will enable this new king to do what no king had done before. He would have wisdom
like Solomon. He would have military prowess like David. And he would have piety, spirituality,
the fear of God, the knowledge of God like king Hezekiah. He would outdo all of these kings put
together. His whole life would be characterized by the fear of God, respect for God.
 King as righteous judge: destruction of wicked and vindication of poor by his

word
Vv 3b-5 – Let me explain a couple of things. First of all “the breath of his lips.” The Hebrew
word here could be translated as breath or Spirit. So Word and Spirit work together. He will use
the sword of the word, which is the sword of the Spirit. Secondly, “And he shall slay the
wicked,” in Hebrew that is singular and not plural. So “he will slay the wicked one.” Thirdly, “he
shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,” this also refers to the Word.
Now this king will be a righteous judge. He will destroy the wicked one, Satan. And he will
vindicate, justify the righteous. So judgment, and we regrettably don’t have enough time to
deal with this, always does two things. It vindicates a righteous person and it condemns a
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person who is wicked. So judgment in the OT is primarily positive. It vindicates the righteous. So
this king will justify the poor who are righteous. What will be the result of his rule by his word
and Spirit?
 Restoration of paradise by king
Vv 6-9 – As a result of his rule, paradise will be restored. Where is the one place where paradise
will be restored, where there will no longer be predators and prey? The holy mountain, the
mountain of the Lord, Mt. Zion, the city of God, the New Jerusalem. And from New Jerusalem
“the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord, as waters cover the sea.” You get an
allusion to that in the book of Acts. From Mt. Zion, the New Jerusalem, the Church the Gospel
goes out to the world and people come into the Church. By this the earth is filled with the
knowledge of the Lord.
 Acceptance of his rule by the nations
V10 - “His resting place shall be” not glorious but glory. So God’s glory shall be his resting place.
The picture here is that the whole mountain being filled with the glory of God, the presence of
God. And that is the resting place of the king. And that is the place where people will come as a
place of rest. And the messiah, the shoot from the stump of Jesse, will be a banner/ensign for
the nations. What is the picture here? You have troops that are scattered and the royal
banner/ensign is raised. It is a rallying point. The people who are scattered, see the banner and
gather around it. So the messiah will rally the nations to God.
Now a great deal of this is made in the early church. The banner that is raised, the banner of
the messiah is the cross. The cross is the rallying point from which Christ draws all people to
himself.
Let’s go to Jeremiah now. We are going roughly in chronological order. Let’s read Jer. 23:5-8.
5
“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous
Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness
in the land. 6 In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the
name by which he will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’
7
“Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when they shall no longer say,
‘As the Lord lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt,’ 8 but ‘As the
Lord lives who brought up and led the offspring of the house of Israel out of the north country
and out of all the countries where he had driven them.’ Then they shall dwell in their own
land.”
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The shepherds, which are the kings of Israel, have failed. So what does God intend to do
because they have failed? Read vv. 5 and 6.
 Raising up by God of a righteous king as a branch from David
What is odd about the name that is given to the new branch from the stump of Jesse? The
name is: Yahweh is our righteousness. So the king is given Yahweh’s name. In the Pentecost
sermon, which name does God the Father give to Jesus at his resurrection and ascension? The
name that is above every other name? In Greek it is Lord. In Hebrew it is Yahweh. So the king
will be divine and he will give/bring/mediate the righteousness of God. He will be a justifying
king. Continue by reading vv. 7 and 8.
So instead of God raising up a second Moses to bring the people back to himself, he will raise
up a second David for a second exodus to bring his people back to himself.
 Provision of salvation and safety for Israel under his righteous rule
This king that God raises up will provide salvation and safety for God’s people under his
righteous rule. The name of the king will be Yahweh is our righteousness.
There is a second prophecy which is close to this. Let’s read Jer. 33:14-26 and notice the
significant differences.
14
“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the
house of Israel and the house of Judah. 15 In those days and at that time I will cause a
righteous Branch to spring up for David, and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the
land. 16 In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell securely. And this is the
name by which it will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’
17
“For thus says the Lord: David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of
Israel, 18 and the Levitical priests shall never lack a man in my presence to offer burnt
offerings, to burn grain offerings, and to make sacrifices forever.”
19
The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: 20 “Thus says the Lord: If you can break my
covenant with the day and my covenant with the night, so that day and night will not come at
their appointed time, 21 then also my covenant with David my servant may be broken, so that
he shall not have a son to reign on his throne, and my covenant with the Levitical priests my
ministers. 22 As the host of heaven cannot be numbered and the sands of the sea cannot be
measured, so I will multiply the offspring of David my servant, and the Levitical priests who
minister to me.”
23
The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: 24 “Have you not observed that these people are
saying, ‘The Lord has rejected the two clans that he chose’? Thus they have despised my
people so that they are no longer a nation in their sight. 25 Thus says the Lord: If I have not
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established my covenant with day and night and the fixed order of heaven and earth, 26 then I
will reject the offspring of Jacob and David my servant and will not choose one of his
offspring to rule over the offspring of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For I will restore their
fortunes and will have mercy on them.”
 Name of king and his city as a confession of faith in the Lord’s righteousness
Read vv. 14-16. Previously we saw that the name “Yahweh is our righteousness” was given to
the king. Now we see that this name is going to be extended to what? The branch is not just the
king. Here it talks about Judah and Jerusalem living in safety. And the name by which ‘it’ will be
called is “Yahweh our righteousness.” What does ‘it’ refer to? It is feminine singular. It refers to
Jerusalem. So Jerusalem will be the royal city and the New Jerusalem will reign and be a part of
the branch of the messiah. They will be a royal people and have the same title as the messiah.
Their name will be their confession of faith.
 Inclusion of priesthood in God’s covenant with David: two messiahs or

double office?
Now read at vv. 17-26. Notice two things here. First notice that the covenant with David is as
fixed as God’s covenant with creation, the sun and the moon and the stars. Notice too the
connection between God’s covenant with David and God’s covenant with Levi. Just as there will
never fail to be a king on throne, so there will never fail to be a priest on the throne. The
question then is, does it refer to two different figures or does it refer to one figure? In the
Jewish tradition this passage causes a hope in two messiahs, a royal messiah and a priestly
messiah. We will be coming to another passage shortly where the two go together. Whereas
you had the separation of the priesthood and kingship in the past, when the messiah comes the
office of priest and king will come together and you will have an anointed priest/king, which is
very important for Hebrews.
So the name of the king and his city is a confession of faith in God’s righteousness, the Lord’s
justification. The priesthood is included in God’s covenant with David. Are there two messiahs
or is it a double office? The NT is quite clear. It is a single office where the two come together.
The messiah is the king/priest.
 Foundation of king’s rule on God’s covenant with Abraham
Notice lastly that the foundation of the king’s rule is God’s covenant with Abraham. It is when
this king comes that God’s covenant with Abraham will be fulfilled. In him the promises God
made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob will be fulfilled. This messiah will bring the fulfillment of all
of those immense promises in Genesis.
(A student question about the new exodus. Jesus speaks of his ministry as an exodus. That
theme is very important to John’s gospel.)
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The next passage comes from the latter part of Isaiah. Let’s take a look at Is. 42:1-4. But before
we do, the next four passages will speak about God’s servant. This Hebrew word could be
translated in a number of ways. It could be servant (working with and for God). It could also be
deputy. Now who or what is called the servant of Yahweh before this time? Most of the time it
is the king. But Abraham too was called the servant of God and Moses was called the servant of
God. The prophets are called the servants of God also. And in a few places the high priest is
called the servant of God. But at the time of Isaiah, the first thing anyone would think about
when they heard this word would be David and the kings in the south.
(A student question about servant of God referring only to a select few. Yet it can refer to
anyone who participates in divine service. Jesus was The Servant of God. Jesus was a king but
had a kingship much different than earthly kings. This is common with God and his people. He
takes current notions and flips them on their heads.)
Here God is introducing his Servant. The question is: Who or what is this Servant and what is his
task or mission? Read Is. 42:1-4.
42 Behold my servant, whom I uphold,

my chosen, in whom my soul delights;
I have put my Spirit upon him;
he will bring forth justice to the nations.
2
He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice,
or make it heard in the street;
3
a bruised reed he will not break,
and a faintly burning wick he will not quench;
he will faithfully bring forth justice.
4
He will not grow faint or be discouraged
till he has established justice in the earth;
and the coastlands wait for his law.
Going backwards, law is torah. Not in a narrow sense such as in law as commandments, but
torah in the sense of teaching. So this Servant will bring God’s justice not just to Israel but to
the nations through his torah, his teaching, his doctrine.
Secondly, what is it that he brings to the nations by means of his torah, his teaching, his word?
His justice. Justice is primarily the notion of righting something that has gone wrong. It is quite
different from our notion of justice, which is punishing evildoers. In Scripture it involves
punishing evildoers but it is primarily righting what has gone wrong, putting things right. So
God’s justice is rectifying, restorative justice.
 King as God’s chosen servant/deputy
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So here we have God’s presentation of his Servant, who is a new king. The king is God’s chosen
servant, his deputy. He represents God and does the work of God.
 Empowerment of king by God’s Spirit
He is empowered by God’s Spirit. Notice that God puts his Spirit on him, that he has possession
of the Spirit.
 Extension of God’s justice to nations by teaching of God’s word
And because he has God’s Spirit, he extends God’s justice to the nations by teaching God’s
word. And he has a particular care and concern for bruised reed and smoldering wick, the weak,
oppressed, little people that have gotten a rough deal in life.
In the last passage God introduced his Servant. In this passage we have the Servant speaking
about his mission. Let’s read Is. 49:1-6.
49 Listen to me, O coastlands,

and give attention, you peoples from afar.
The Lord called me from the womb,
from the body of my mother he named my name.
2
He made my mouth like a sharp sword;
in the shadow of his hand he hid me;
he made me a polished arrow;
in his quiver he hid me away.
3
And he said to me, “You are my servant,
Israel, in whom I will be glorified.”
4
But I said, “I have labored in vain;
I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity;
yet surely my right is with the Lord,
and my recompense with my God.”
5
And now the Lord says,
he who formed me from the womb to be his servant,
to bring Jacob back to him;
and that Israel might be gathered to him—
for I am honored in the eyes of the Lord,
and my God has become my strength—
6
he says:
“It is too light a thing that you should be my servant
to raise up the tribes of Jacob
and to bring back the preserved of Israel;
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I will make you as a light for the nations,

that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”
 His commission from conception as God’s agent
Vv 1-4 – Here the Servant is speaking about his mission to the nations. He has been
commissioned by God from his conception. Already before he was born he was chosen by God
in the womb. And he makes his mouth like a sharpened sword. The picture again is the sword of
the word. By speaking he wields the sword of God.
 His apparent failure and reliance on God for his vindication
But despite all his efforts, he has apparently failed totally in his mission and yet relies on God
for his vindication. Then comes the surprise. You have the servant who is an utter complete
failure and what is God’s attitude toward this servant who seems to have failed?
 His commission by God to gather Israel and save the nations
Vv 5-6 – Salvation is victory or deliverance. What has been the mission of God’s Servant? He
was supposed to bring back and restore the tribes of Israel to God. He failed to do this. And God
says, Good, that a good trial run. Now in addition to that you have to bring back not only Israel,
but you’ve got to bring back all the nations to me, bring my light to the nations, save the
nations.
 Eventual homage to him by the kings of earth.
And then finally v. 7.
7
Thus says the Lord,
the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One,
to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nation,
the servant of rulers:
“Kings shall see and arise;
princes, and they shall prostrate themselves;
because of the Lord, who is faithful,
the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”
This despised, abhorred Servant of God who had seemed to be a total failure in the mission God
had given him will in fact be acknowledged by all the powerful kings of the earth as their
superior, as their King. They will pay homage to him because of the salvation, the deliverance,
victory that he brings to people all over the world, not just the Jews, but also to the Gentiles. He
was the Light to the nations. An amazing prophecy!
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Next is another Servant prophecy. Here you get the Servant speaking in Is. 50:4-9. And here the
Servant is speaking as a prophet. Notice the first part of this where you get the language of a
prophet and the reception of prophecy, the word of God.
4
The Lord GOD has given me
the tongue of those who are taught,
that I may know how to sustain with a word
him who is weary.
Morning by morning he awakens;
he awakens my ear
to hear as those who are taught.
5
The Lord GOD has opened my ear,
and I was not rebellious;
I turned not backward.
6
I gave my back to those who strike,
and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard;
I hid not my face
from disgrace and spitting.
7
But the Lord GOD helps me;
therefore I have not been disgraced;
therefore I have set my face like a flint,
and I know that I shall not be put to shame.
8
He who vindicates me is near.
Who will contend with me?
Let us stand up together.
Who is my adversary?
Let him come near to me.
9
Behold, the Lord GOD helps me;
who will declare me guilty?
Behold, all of them will wear out like a garment;
the moth will eat them up.
The servant is not just a king who brings God’s justice, God’s victory to the nations of the world
as well as Israel by torah, teaching. He is also a prophet who brings the word of God to people.
And as a result of the word of God, he has to suffer terribly. And he can’t defend himself and he
relies on God for his vindication.
 His daily reception of God’s word for his people

 His obedience despite persecution
 His reliance on God for his vindication
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Now the theme of suffering has been introduced. In the first Servant psalm there is the concern
of the messiah for the abused, suffering people – to bring justice to them. Now, how does he do
it? He himself suffers and we get the great chapter on the suffering Servant in chpts. 52-53.
Let’s take this bit by bit. First let’s read Is. 52:13-15. First of all God speaks about his Servant.
 God’s exaltation of his servant as priest for the nations (52:13-15)
13
Behold, my servant shall act wisely;
he shall be high and lifted up,
and shall be exalted.
14
As many were astonished at you—
his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance,
and his form beyond that of the children of mankind—
15
so shall he sprinkle many nations.
Kings shall shut their mouths because of him,
for that which has not been told them they see,
and that which they have not heard they understand.
Here God is speaking about the exaltation of his Servant as a Priest for the nations. The key
verse is v. 15: so he will sprinkle many nations. The word used here for sprinkled is the same
word used in the Pentateuch for the sprinkling of blood. Now normally blood is sprinkled on the
altar of incense and the altar for burnt offering and it is sprinkled all over on the Day of
Atonement. There is only one occasion where blood is sprinkled on the whole nation. And there
is one occasion where it is sprinkled on people. At Mt. Sinai it was sprinkled on the people of
Israel to consecrate them as God’s holy people. And when every priest is dedicated blood taken
from the altar is mixed with anointing oil and it is sprinkled on the vestments of the priests.
Now this person who is going to be king sprinkles many people. What does that mean? He is
their High Priest. He is anointing them with oil and blood – blood to cleanse them and oil that
makes them holy. So he is cleansing the nations and making them holy. So this king is not only
going to bring justice, but he is also going to bring holiness to the people.
 Servant’s sacrificial death for the sins of the people (53:1-11a)
Now you get the people speaking about their king and what he has done. The basic image here
is the arm of the Lord. The arm of the Lord is God’s power, his military might. How does God
reveal his arm among the nations? This is the answer.
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53 Who has believed what he has heard from us?

And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2
For he grew up before him like a young plant,
and like a root out of dry ground;
he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
and no beauty that we should desire him.
3
He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4
Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.
5
But he was pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed.
6
All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
7
He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
so he opened not his mouth.
8
By oppression and judgment he was taken away;
and as for his generation, who considered
that he was cut off out of the land of the living,
stricken for the transgression of my people?
9
And they made his grave with the wicked
and with a rich man in his death,
although he had done no violence,
and there was no deceit in his mouth.
10
Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him;
he has put him to grief;
when his soul makes an offering for guilt,
he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
11
Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied;
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The picture here is of this Servant being a priest on whom God lays the iniquity of the people
(remember the priests bearing the iniquity of the people) and who is offered by God as a guilt
offering on behalf of the people. A guilt offering was offered when people desecrated God’s
holiness. So he is the guilty offering. He bears the iniquity of the people. He is the guilt offering
by which God’s people will be made and kept holy. So he is the sanctifying guilt offering.
 God’s acceptance of his servant’s intercession and selfsacrifice for the

justification of sinners (53:11b-12)
Then after the people speak we have God’s point of view in Is. 53:11b-12. This is God’s final
verdict on his Servant.
by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,

make many to be accounted righteous,
and he shall bear their iniquities.
12
Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many,
and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,
because he poured out his soul to death
and was numbered with the transgressors;
yet he bore the sin of many,
and makes intercession for the transgressors.
Notice the two references to bearing sin and bearing iniquity. God accepts his Servant’s
intercession and self-sacrifice. And this brings about the justification of something new!
Previous which people did God justify? The righteous. But you get something astonishing and
amazing here. God justifies, not righteous people, but through the Servant God justifies sinners.
His Servant will intercede for sinners; he’ll make a sacrifice for sinners and as a result of that
sinners will be justified before God because he has borne their iniquity.
That was a very short explanation. You need to take a close look at it if you are going to
understand both the OT and NT. This is the linking passage between the OT and NT. And it
contains the Gospel most clearly in the OT.
How does God reveal his arm? We want God to come in and wipe out evil and wipe out
evildoers. But where is the arm of God revealed? In his suffering Servant. The power of God, the
victory of God is revealed in the sacrificial death of his Servant. The NT makes a great deal of
this and the whole of John’s gospel focuses around that – the theology of the cross.
The last Servant passage is found in Is. 61:1-3. Here you get the Servant, the Messiah speaking
about himself and his mission.
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61 The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,

because the Lord has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor;
he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
2
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor,
and the day of vengeance of our God;
to comfort all who mourn;
3
to grant to those who mourn in Zion—
to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit;
that they may be called oaks of righteousness,
the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified.
This was the text that Jesus used to preach himself in the first sermon he ever preached in his
hometown of Nazareth. All he did was read this passage and then he said, “Today this Scripture
is fulfilled in your hearing.” Now this is very important for the NT and the whole of Christology.
 Anointing by God’s Spirit as a preacher of good news
Here you have the Messiah speaking. The Messiah is anointed by God’s Spirit rather than with
only holy anointing oil. He has been anointed by God’s Spirit as the Preacher of Good News, the
Preacher of the Gospel. In Is. 42 you could go with the idea that the Messiah would be a new
Law giver. He is going to enact God’s Law and fulfill God’s Law. But the feature of the Messiah is
that he preaches not Law but Gospel.
 Proclamation of God’s amnesty to Zion’s citizens
What is the Gospel? The Gospel is that he pronounces God’s amnesty to Zion’s citizens. Which
means that anyone who is guilty of crime and is in prison is going to be set free. Debts are going
to be cancelled. Everything is going to be restored by him. And this restoration is accomplished
by the Word, the Gospel, the preaching of the Gospel and the preaching of the Spirit through
the Gospel, the giving of the Spirit through the preaching of the Gospel. He is filled with the
Spirit so he can preach the Gospel and then through the Gospel he brings the power of the
Spirit to free the people of God from their bondage and everything that inhibits them.
 Their appointment as praise singers to announce God’s splendor
And the result of this is that people who were once complainers and lamenters will be turned
into praise singers who announce God’s splendor and reveal God’s splendor. So God’s glory will
be revealed through God’s praise singing people.
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(Student comment. Discussion about how the Gospel divides like a sword. It saves and it damns.
You will get into a lot of trouble in your vicarage and in your ministry if you think that preaching
the Gospel you are going to convert everyone and bring people to God. The preaching of the
Gospel has a double effect. It converts some, but for most people what does it do? It makes
them angry and hardens hearts and it turns them even further away from God. You need to
understand that, otherwise you will feel like you’ve failed and will dump on yourself and will be
open to spiritual attack by Satan who will tell you you are not good and have failed. He’ll tell
you, you need to use a different message because you aren’t getting a reasonable success rate.
Notice what happened to Jesus. They wanted to toss him off the cliff when he preached the
Gospel to his hometown. They may not toss you off a cliff, but they will just turn away. They will
reject you. Some in the church will get angry and tell you to move on. This is certainly not a
recipe for popularity.)
Next we have three very important passages in the book of Zechariah. The first one has to do
with the priestly role of the messiah.
8
Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, you and your friends who sit before you, for they are
men who are a sign: behold, I will bring my servant the Branch. 9 For behold, on the stone that
I have set before Joshua, on a single stone with seven eyes, I will engrave its inscription,
declares the Lord of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of this land in a single day. 10 In that
day, declares the Lord of hosts, every one of you will invite his neighbor to come under his
vine and under his fig tree.”
 Joshua the high priest as the symbol of the coming king
Now Joshua was the high priest of Israel after the temple had been rebuilt. He is the first new
high priest of the rebuilt temple. Notice his name is Joshua (Jesus). God says that he and his
fellow priests are omens or signs of what is to come, of the coming priest. Because of that then
the prophet says that a stone is to made for him to place on his turban. Remember that on the
turban of the high priest it said, Holiness belonging to Yahweh. But on this new priest there
would be a new jewel with seven eyes, which are seven facets.
 Inscription on crown: prophecy about removal of sin on one day
And on those seven facets will be inscribed seven words and these seven (Hebrew) words are:
“And I will remove the iniquity of the land on a single day.” This was on the priest’s head
because who will remove the iniquity? And “land” can also be “earth.” “I will remove the
iniquity of the earth on a single day.” There will be a coming priest who on one day, on a great
Day of Atonement will not only forgive the iniquity, but actually remove the iniquity of the land,
of the earth on a single day. So there is a promise here of a coming priest who removes the sins
of the earth.
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9
And the word of the Lord came to me: 10 “Take from the exiles Heldai, Tobijah, and Jedaiah,
who have arrived from Babylon, and go the same day to the house of Josiah, the son of
Zephaniah. 11 Take from them silver and gold, and make a crown, and set it on the head of
Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest. 12 And say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts,
“Behold, the man whose name is the Branch: for he shall branch out from his place, and he
shall build the temple of the Lord. 13 It is he who shall build the temple of the Lord and shall
bear royal honor, and shall sit and rule on his throne. And there shall be a priest on his
throne, and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.”’ 14 And the crown shall be in
the temple of the Lord as a reminder to Helem, Tobijah, Jedaiah, and Hen the son of
Zephaniah.
15
“And those who are far off shall come and help to build the temple of the Lord. And you
shall know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you. And this shall come to pass, if you will
diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God.”
 The double crown of Joshua as a symbol of the coming priest king
Read vv. 9-12. The term for crown means dual crown. The kings of Egypt wore two crowns
because they ruled over two kingdoms, upper Egypt and lower Egypt. Here God told him to
make a dual crown. Go ahead and read the rest.
Now look for the unexpected here. In the post-exilic period there was no king. God told
Zechariah to make a double crown and place it on the head of, not the descendant of David, but
on the head of the high priest, Joshua. Why a double crown? Because this is going to be a
symbol of one who is to come who is going to be both a king like Solomon rebuilding the
temple and also a priest. So it is a symbol of a priest/king who would build the temple of God.
 David’s branch as temple builder with help of those far from Lord
David’s branch, David’s descendant (notice how this branch runs all the way through here) will
be a temple builder and he will build a new temple with the help of those who are far from the
Lord. In the OT, who are the people who are close to the Lord? Israel. Who are those who are
far from the Lord? The Gentiles. So the Gentiles will work together with his priest/king to build
up the new temple of God. Paul has a lot to say about this in his mission to the Gentiles,
sanctifying them so that together with the Jews they become, with Jesus as their foundation
and cornerstone, God’s new living temple.
 Reign of king as a priest in the new temple
And this new king will reign as priest in the new temple. So you get a new kind of kingship, a
priestly kingship or a kingly priestship in the new temple of God. So what had been separated in
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the history of the OT will come together in the coming priest/king. There will be a new kind of
rule and a new kind of kingdom, a liturgical rule.
The next prophecy is the Advent 1 reading and the Palm Sunday reading.
9
Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!
Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, your king is coming to you;
righteous and having salvation is he,
humble and mounted on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
10
I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim
and the war horse from Jerusalem;
and the battle bow shall be cut off,
and he shall speak peace to the nations;
his rule shall be from sea to sea,
and from the River to the ends of the earth.
Righteous means that he is justified, vindicated by God. He is also having salvation, which
means that he is both saved and brings salvation. He is the saved Savior and the justified
Justifier.
 God’s call to Zion to welcome her afflicted and yet victorious king
Here you have a king with a difference. God calls on Zion to welcome her afflicted, humbled and
yet victorious king.
 God’s disarmament of his people by his proclamation of peace in his

international kingdom
This king will disarm the nations by the proclamation of his peace in an international kingdom.
So peace will be brought, not with the sword, not with law, not with power, but by the
proclamation of peace. The kingdom of God is extended by this humbled and yet exalted king.
Lastly don’t make too much about the apparent humility of this king riding in on a donkey. This
was normal for any Jewish king. Part of the protocol of coronation was that the king would
come riding through the main street of Jerusalem to the temple on a donkey. So riding on a
donkey is a royal sign. It indicates that he is a king.
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We come to our last messianic prophecy. It is probably the least noted of the messianic
prophecies. Let’s read Dan. 9:24-27.
24
“Seventy weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city, to finish the
transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting
righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place. 25 Know
therefore and understand that from the going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem
to the coming of an anointed one, a prince, there shall be seven weeks. Then for sixty-two
weeks it shall be built again with squares and moat, but in a troubled time. 26 And after the
sixty-two weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing. And the people of
the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end shall come with a
flood, and to the end there shall be war. Desolations are decreed. 27 And he shall make a
strong covenant with many for one week, and for half of the week he shall put an end to
sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate,
until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator.”
Like much in Daniel, this is very, very difficult to unravel all the layers. But the most important
data is this. You will remember that Jeremiah had prophesied that there would be 70 years
before the temple and the city of Jerusalem would be restored. Daniel is reading the scroll of
Jeremiah and he is trying to make sense of it. In what sense is 70 being used? Is it a literal 70
years or are they 70 sabbatical years? What are 70 sabbatical years? 70 x 7 = 490 years. Or is it
some other sense? It is revealed to him that this is 70 sabbatical years.
 Note two senses of “Most Holy” in 9:24: “Most Holy Place” or “Most Holy
King”. See 9:25,26.
The key part of this prophecy is in v. 24. “Seventy sevens are decreed for your people and your
holy city to finish transgression and to put an end to sin.” Remember that it said that in the
future God would not just forgive sins but he will remove sin. He would not only deal with
sinners but also with the cause of sinning.
He will do this secondly by atoning for wickedness and bringing in everlasting righteousness,
justification.
Thirdly, sealing up vision and prophecy. Sealing mean fulfilling prophecy.
So God is going to judge sin; he is going to atone for sin; forgive sin; he will fulfill all prophecy.
And lastly the time will come to anoint the most holy one. The most holy one could mean the
most holy place, the temple, or the most holy person, the messiah. That is probably a
deliberate ambiguity. So notice those two senses of most holy – the most holy place and the
most holy king. What is being touched on here is that there will be a king that will be a temple.
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 Connection of God’s anointing of his most holy king with the complete
fulfilment of prophecy and complete atonement for sin
God’s anointing him as his most holy king will bring about the completion and complete
fulfillment of prophecy and the complete atonement for sin.
 Destruction of Jerusalem and its sanctuary after death of Messiah
And this is connected then with the destruction of Jerusalem and its sanctuary after the death
of the messiah. The messiah will be killed and after that the city will be destroyed and God’s
temple, the sanctuary will be destroyed. You can see how important that is for NT theology.
That is the last and probably most far-reaching of the all the messianic prophecies.
(Some student questions. Because the book of Daniel was used in the uprising against Rome, it
was moved from the Prophets to the Writings. Daniel also helped the Christians before
Jerusalem was sacked by the Romans. A prophet arose to say this prophecy is about to be
fulfilled and he told the Christians to flee from the city. Jesus had referred back to this prophecy
in his eschatological discourse. Daniel then was used properly to save people but it has also
been abused over the centuries. The Jehovah’s Witnesses and Seventh Day Adventist use it to
form their theology. They are always interested in establishing a scenario for the end of the
world and not a scenario that focuses on the death and resurrection of Jesus.)
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c. Justice and Righteousness

1. Justice as setting right what is wrong (Ps 72:1-4; 82:1-4).
 Deliverance from an enemy.
 Protection from oppression.
 Vindication in a court of law.
 Legislation for right behaviour and right worship.
2. Righteousness as that divine life-giving power and state of being which keeps people healthy
and well in a right relationship with God, other people, and the natural order.
 It is like the light of the sun or a stream of fresh water.
 It promotes what is good and produces shalom: prosperity, wellbeing and harmony.
 It delivers from evil, chaos, and death.
 It vindicates those who are righteous.
3. God as the lover and giver of justice (Deut 1:17; Ps 99:4).
 God's goal: establishment of justice and righteousness by his rule over the cosmos (Ps
96:10-13).
 God's execution of justice on earth through angels, judges, kings, and Israel.
 God's appointment of the kings to administer his justice and righteousness (Ps 72).
 God's protection of the disadvantaged in Israel by his law.
 God as the goel of those who had no human goel and who could appeal to him for help
(Exod 22:21-27).
 God's treatment of evil by visiting the iniquity of evildoers upon them.
 God's judgment of people by retribution through the unlimited positive results of their
goodness or limited negative consequences of their evil deeds:
+ In the life cycle of a person.
+ In the history of each family.
+ In the history of Israel.
 God's use of disaster and defeat by enemies to judge his people and lead them to
repentance.
 God's judgment of the world and all the nations in it (Ps 9:7-8).
 God's acts of judgment in human history prefigure his final day of cosmic judgment with
the condemnation of what is evil and the vindication of all that is righteous (Isa 24:21-22;
26:20-27:1).
4. God's exercise of justice through the divine service.
 The temple as the supreme court in Israel (1 Kgs 8:31-34).
 God's presence as a gracious judge in the divine service (I Kgs 8:59; Zeph 3:5).
 God's exercise of judgment at the temple by his acceptance of the righteous (Ps 15; 11:7)
and the exclusion of the wicked from his presence (Ps 5:4-6).
 Intercession by the high priest with his 'breast plate of justice' for justice from God for his
people (Exod 28:29-30).
 Appeal to God in the laments for justice, vindication, and pardon.
 Announcement of God's judgment of the world by the choir in their songs of praise (Ps
98).
 Reception of righteousness as vindication from God at the temple (Ps 24:5).
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 Provision of food for the poor from the offerings and tithes that belonged to God (Deut
14:28-29).
 Desecration of God's holiness and defilement of the temple by people with blood on their
hands because they were guilty of injustice (Isa 1:10-17; Jer 7: 1-15; Am 5:21-24).
 Connection between idolatry and injustice.
5. The Messiah as the mediator of God's justice and
righteousness (Jer 23:5-6).
 Foundation of his rule on justice and righteousness (Isa 9:7).
 His vindication of the poor and condemnation of the wicked one by his word and the
breath/Spirit from his mouth (Isa 11:3-4).
 Establishment by him of God's justice/ just rule over the earth by his teaching (Isa 42:1-
4).
 His justification of sinners by his vicarious sacrifice (Isa 53:11).
c. THE GIFT OF JUSTICE AND RIGHTEOUSNESS
(Dr. Kleinig skipped the Justice and Righteousness section because of lack of time but I’ve added
the following notes based on the Class Overheads and the Class Notes provided by Dr. Kleinig.)
1. Justice as setting right what is wrong (Ps 72:1-4; 82:1-4).
The terms shaphat and mishpat have a far broader range of reference in the Old Testament than 'judge'
and 'justice' in modern English. By them, we normally envisage the activity of a judge who passes a
sentence on a criminal in a court of law. By them, the Old Testament envisaged the activity of a leader
or king who used his authority to right a wrong and to restore the disturbed order of a community.
Whereas we tend to understand judging negatively as condemnation and punishment, the ancient world
saw it positively as an act of vindication and restoration. For them Injustice was linked with wickedness
and social chaos (Isa 59:1-15; Micah 7:1-6) and Justice had to do with righteousness and good social
order (Ps 72; Isa 58:6-12).
• Deliverance from an enemy.
• Protection from oppression.
• Vindication in a court of law.
• Legislation for right behavior and right worship.
Originally these terms seem to have been used for the deliverance of oppressed people from their
oppressors, ie. economic exploitation, slavery, foreign occupation and any other form of injustice. This
could be done in a number of ways by a leader or king.
• The judicial process in a court of law

• Personal intervention in a dispute or injust situation
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• The proclamation of an edict as a law or a code of law
• The defeat of an oppressor in battle
The term mishpat (which has to do with justice) has a wide range of meaning in the Old Testament.
 An authoritative decision concerning a dispute or court case (Deut. 18:8-9; Isa 3:14)
 The verdict and sentence (judgment) in a court of law (Deut 16:18)
 The right or privilege of a person
 A legal ordinance, ie. legal precedent, case law (Exod 21:31)
 A cultic ordinance which determines the way a rite is conducted (Lev 5:10; 9:16)
 The right way of acting
 The right arrangement of the world by God, ie. natural order (Isa 28:26; 32:1; 40:14; Jer 8:7;
Amos 6:12)
 Custom or manner (Judg 13:12; 18:7; 1 Kgs 18:28; 2 Kgs 1:17; 17:33,34)
Justice belongs to God (Deut 1:17; 2 Chron 19:6; Prov 29:26; cf. Ps 72:1-2; Prov 16:33).
Deut. 1:17
17 You shall not be partial in judgment. You shall hear the small and the great alike.
You shall not be intimidated by anyone, for the judgment is God’s. And the case that is
too hard for you, you shall bring to me, and I will hear it.’
Prov. 29:26
26 Many seek the face of a ruler,

but it is from the LORD that a man gets justice.
He is a God of justice (Is 30:18; Mal 2:17) who judges righteously (Ps 9:5; Jer 11:20), fairly (Ps 4:8; 67:4;
96:10; 98:9) and impartially (Deut 10:18; 2 Chron 19:7).
Is. 30:18
18 Therefore the LORD waits to be gracious to you,

and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you.
For the LORD is a God of justice;
blessed are all those who wait for him.
God loves justice (Ps 33:6; 37:28; 99:4; Is 61:8) and does not pervert it (Job 8:3; 34:12).
Ps. 37:28
28 Forthe LORD loves justice;

he will not forsake his saints.
They are preserved forever,
but the children of the wicked shall be cut off.
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God’s behaviour is always just (Deut 32:4; Ps 111:7).
Deut. 32:4
4 “The Rock, his work is perfect,

for all his ways are justice.
A God of faithfulness and without iniquity,
just and upright is he.
God executes justice for the oppressed (Deut 10:18; Ps 9:16; 103:6; 140:13; 146:7; Micah 7:9).
Deut. 10:18
18 He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him
food and clothing.
Ps. 103:6
6 The LORD works righteousness

and justice for all who are oppressed.
God is the judge (shophet) of Israel (Ps 7:11; 50:6; Isa 33:22) and all the earth (Gen 18:25; Ps 94:2).
Ps. 7:11
11 God is
a righteous judge,
and a God who feels indignation every day
Gen. 18:25
25 Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked,
so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of
all the earth do what is just?”
2. Righteousness as that divine life-giving power and state of being which keeps people healthy and
well in a right relationship with God, other people, and the natural order.
Justice was closely related to righteousness. While justice and righteousness are often virtual synonyms
in the Old Testament, righteousness (tzedeqah) is also distinguished from it (eg. Ps 94:15). The term
tzedeq has to do with right order, what is in accord with God's will in the natural and social realm and so
promotes the well-being of his creation.
The term tzedeqah refers
• to any divine or human activity which establishes and maintains what is right in the natural
and social world
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• to the state of people who are in right relationship with God, each other and the natural world
• to the right behaviour of people which stems from right relationships within the order of
creation.
• It is like the light of the sun or a stream of fresh water.
As light from the sun and fresh water promote and enhance good life, so righteousness is defined as life-
sustaining world order, the principle of orderliness in the cosmos, God's ordering of his creation for
cosmic harmony. Judges and rulers are therefore called to administer righteous justice, i.e. justice which
is in harmony with the order of creation (Deut 16:18; Prov 8:16).
Both justice and righteousness are cosmic powers (Ps 36:5-6). They are the foundation for the Lord's
cosmic rule (Ps 89:14; 97:2).
Ps. 89:14
14 Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne;

While injustice poisons the life of a community (Hos 10:6; Amos 5:7; 6:12), justice and righteousness are
life-giving and life-promoting, like the light of the sun (Ps 37:6; Isa 51:4; Hos 6:5; Micah 7:9; Zeph 3:5;
Mal 4:2), or a stream of fresh water (Amos 5:24; cf. the image of righteousness as rain in Isa 45:8; Hos
10:12; Joel 2:23).
Ps. 37:5-6
5 Commit your way to the LORD;

trust in him, and he will act.
6 He will bring forth your righteousness as the light,
and your justice as the noonday.
Amos 5:24
24 Butlet justice roll down like waters,

and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
Is. 45:8
8 “Shower, O heavens, from above,

and let the clouds rain down righteousness;
let the earth open, that salvation and righteousness may bear fruit;
let the earth cause them both to sprout;
I the LORD have created it.
The understanding of divine justice as judicial equity (due process), or moral order, (social justice) or
natural law (natural justice), is subordinated to the belief in divine righteousness as a life-maintaining
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power which is closely related to God's blessing (Ps 24:4-5), his kindness (chesed) (Ps 36:10; 103:17) and
his wisdom (Prov 8:15-21).
Ps. 24:4-5
4 Hewho has clean hands and a pure heart,

and does not swear deceitfully. 5
He will receive blessing from the LORD
Ps. 36:10
10 Oh,continue your steadfast love to those who know you,

and your righteousness to the upright of heart!
Prov. 8:18 (Wisdom is speaking)
18 Riches
and honor are with me,
enduring wealth and righteousness.
• It promotes what is good and produces shalom: prosperity, wellbeing and harmony.
Righteousness is a power for good on earth.
• It delivers people from death (Prov 10:2; 11:4,6; Ezek 33:12) and gives life to them (Prov 11:19; cf.
12:28; 21:21)
Prov. 10:2
2 Treasuresgained by wickedness do not profit,

but righteousness delivers from death.
Prov. 11:19
19 Whoever is steadfast in righteousness will live,

but he who pursues evil will die.
• It produces peace, harmony and well-being (shalom) (Isa 32:17; cf. 35:27; Ps 72:3; 85:11) and
protects people from destruction (Prov 13:6)
Is. 32:17
17 Andthe effect of righteousness will be peace,

and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust forever.
Prov. 13:6
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6 Righteousness guards him whose way is blameless,

but sin overthrows the wicked.
• It creates a level path through life (Prov 11:5)
Prov. 11:5
5 The righteousness of the blameless keeps his way straight,

but the wicked falls by his own wickedness.
• It exalts a nation (Prov 14:34)
Prov. 14:34
34 Righteousness exalts a nation,

but sin is a reproach to any people.
• It delivers from evil, chaos, and death.
God's righteousness delivers people from the powers of evil and chaos and death.
Ps. 31:1
31:1 In
you, O LORD, do I take refuge;
let me never be put to shame;
in your righteousness deliver me!
Ps. 143:11
11
For your name’s sake, O LORD, preserve my life!
In your righteousness bring my soul out of trouble!
• It vindicates those who are righteous.
Ps. 35:24
24
Vindicate me, O LORD, my God,
according to your righteousness,
and let them not rejoice over me!
3. God as the lover and giver of justice (Deut 1:17; Ps 99:4).
Ps. 99:4 (The Psalmist speaks about the Lord who reigns.)
4 TheKing in his might loves justice.

You have established equity;
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you have executed justice

and righteousness in Jacob.
As we said above when the gift of justice was introduced (see c. 1. above), justice belongs to God. He is a
God of justice who judges righteously, fairly, and impartially. He loves justice and does not pervert it. His
actions are always just. He executes justice for the oppressed.
• God's goal: establishment of justice and righteousness by his rule over the cosmos (Ps 96:10-
13).
It is the Lord who reigns over the world and he judges the world with equity, righteousness, and
faithfulness.
Ps. 96:10-13
10 Say among the nations, “The LORD reigns!

Yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved;
he will judge the peoples with equity.” ...
13 before the LORD,for he comes,

for he comes to judge the earth.
He will judge the world in righteousness,
and the peoples in his faithfulness.
The scope of God’s justice is universal. The Lord delivers justice to the rebellious angels (Ps 82; cf. Isa
24:21; 27:1), the pagan gods (Exod 12:12; Num 33:4; Ps 97:7-8), the world and its peoples (Ps 9:7-8,19;
67:4; 75:2-8; 82:8; 94:2; 96:10,13; 98:9; Isa 51:4; Joel 4:12), the enemies of his people (Ps 7:6-8; 9:3-20),
and his people (Ps 50:3-6; 96:4; 103:6-7).
• God's execution of justice on earth through angels, judges, kings, and Israel.
In heaven God convenes and presides over the heavenly court. There he meets with the angels and
determines the course of history. A primary focus of his is the administration of justice on earth,
especially for the weak, fatherless, afflicted, and destitute.
Ps. 82:1-4
1 God has taken his place in the divine council;
in the midst of the gods he holds judgment:
2 “How long will you judge unjustly
and show partiality to the wicked? Selah
3 Give justice to the weak and the fatherless;
maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute.
4 Rescue the weak and the needy;
deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”
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God administers justice through the kings and leaders on earth.
Prov. 8:15-16
15 By me kings reign,
and rulers decree what is just;
16 by me princes rule,
and nobles, all who govern justly.
God administers justice through judges in courts of law.
Deut. 1:16-17
16 And I charged your judges at that time, ‘Hear the cases between your brothers, and
judge righteously between a man and his brother or the alien who is with him. 17 You
shall not be partial in judgment. You shall hear the small and the great alike. You shall
not be intimidated by anyone, for the judgment is God’s. And the case that is too hard
for you, you shall bring to me, and I will hear it.’
God administers justice through the kings of Israel. See next bullet point.
• God's appointment of the kings to administer his justice and righteousness (Ps 72).
God administers justice and righteousness on earth and he does so by means of kings and governments.
1 Kings 72:1-2
72:1 Give
the king your justice, O God,
2 May he judge your people with righteousness,
David and his descendants were chosen by God to administer his justice and righteousness in Israel.
1 Kings 10:9
9 Blessed be the Lord your God, who has delighted in you and set you on the throne of Israel!
Because the Lord loved Israel forever, he has made you king, that you may execute justice and
righteousness.”
Solomon asked for and received a hearing heart from God, so that he could judge Israel and administer
God's justice.
1 Kings 3:9, 12, 28
9 Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may
discern between good and evil, for who is able to govern this your great people?”
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12 behold, I now do according to your word. Behold, I give you a wise and discerning mind, so
that none like you has been before you and none like you shall arise after you.
28 And all Israel heard of the judgment that the king had rendered, and they stood in awe of
the king, because they perceived that the wisdom of God was in him to do justice.
As the supreme judge, the king of Israel was called to champion the rights of the under-privileged and
oppressed.
Ps. 72:4, 12-14
4
May he [the king of Israel] defend the cause of the poor of the people,
12 Forhe delivers the needy when he calls,

the poor and him who has no helper.
13 He has pity on the weak and the needy,
and saves the lives of the needy.
14 From oppression and violence he redeems their life,
and precious is their blood in his sight.
As a just warrior, the king was also appointed by the Lord to judge the nations and their kings.
Ps. 2:7-11
7I will tell of the decree:

The LORD said to me, “You are my Son;
today I have begotten you.
8 Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,
and the ends of the earth your possession.
9 You shall break them with a rod of iron
and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”
10 Now therefore, O kings, be wise;
be warned, O rulers of the earth. 11
Serve the LORD with fear,
and rejoice with trembling.
When the king administered God's justice rightly, the whole kingdom prospered from the vegetation to
animal and human life.
2 Sam. 23:3-4
3 TheGod of Israel has spoken;

the Rock of Israel has said to me:
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When one rules justly over men,

ruling in the fear of God,
4 he dawns on them like the morning light,
like the sun shining forth on a cloudless morning,
like rain that makes grass to sprout from the earth.
With the failure of David and his successors to rule justly, the prophets announced the coming of a just
king from the dynasty of David.
(a) He would administer God's justice and righteousness so wisely that Israel, Judah and Jerusalem
would indeed be secure.
Jer. 23:5-6
5 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous
Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness
in the land. 6 In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the
name by which he will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’
Jer. 33:15
15 In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David, and he
shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.
(b) Since his government would be based on God's justice and righteousness, peace would prevail and
increase under his rule.
Is. 9:7
7
Of the increase of his government and of peace
The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.
(c) Since he would possess the full measure of God's Spirit, he would truly vindicate the poor and
eradicate the wicked.
Is. 11:1-4
11:1 There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,
2 And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him,
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the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.
3 And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD.
4 but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,
(d) Through his teaching/law (torah) he would bring God's saving justice to the nations of the earth.
Is. 51:4-5
4
“Give attention to me, my people,
and give ear to me, my nation;
for a law will go out from me,
and I will set my justice for a light to the peoples.
5 My righteousness draws near,
my salvation has gone out,
and my arms will judge the peoples;
the coastlands hope for me,
and for my arm they wait.
• God's protection of the disadvantaged in Israel by his law.
God protects and provides for the disadvantaged and the poor in Israel through his law.
(a) He protects their rights generally through the second table of the decalogue.
(b) In the other codes of law he provides more specific protection for them.
• Protection of widows and orphans from exploitation.
Ex. 22:22-24
22 You shall not mistreat any widow or fatherless child. 23 If you do mistreat them, and they
cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry, 24 and my wrath will burn, and I will kill you with the
sword, and your wives shall become widows and your children fatherless.
• Protection of landless aliens from exploitation and oppression.
Ex. 22:21
21 “You shall not wrong a sojourner or oppress him, for you were sojourners in the land of
Egypt.
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• Protection of poor from creditors by amnesty every seventh year and the exclusion of cloak and
millstones from collateral to a loan or as payment of a debt.
Ex. 22:25-27
25 “If you lend money to any of my people with you who is poor, you shall not be like a
moneylender to him, and you shall not exact interest from him. 26 If ever you take your
neighbor’s cloak in pledge, you shall return it to him before the sun goes down, 27 for that is
his only covering, and it is his cloak for his body; in what else shall he sleep? And if he cries to
me, I will hear, for I am compassionate.
Deut. 24:6
6 “No one shall take a mill or an upper millstone in pledge, for that would be taking a life in
pledge.
• Protection of Israelite 'slaves' by the limitation of service to seven years and definition of their status
as hired workers rather than as freehold property.
Ex. 21:2
2 When you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve six years, and in the seventh he shall go out
free, for nothing.
Lev. 25:39-42
39 “If your brother becomes poor beside you and sells himself to you, you shall not make him
serve as a slave: 40 he shall be with you as a hired worker and as a sojourner . He shall serve
with you until the year of the jubilee. 41 Then he shall go out from you, he and his children
with him, and go back to his own clan and return to the possession of his fathers. 42 For they
are my servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt; they shall not be sold as slaves.
Deut. 15:12-13
12 “If your brother, a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman, is sold to you, he shall serve you six
years, and in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you. 13 And when you let him go
free from you, you shall not let him go empty-handed.
• Protection of socially disadvantaged from injustice in a court of law (Exod 23:6; Deut 24:17-18). Note
that anybody who deprives the poor of justice is said by Deut 27:19 to come under God's curse.
Ex. 23:6
6 “You shall not pervert the justice due to your poor in his lawsuit.
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Deut. 24:17-18
17 “You shall not pervert the justice due to the sojourner or to the fatherless, or take a
widow’s garment in pledge, 18 but you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt and the
Lord your God redeemed you from there; therefore I command you to do this.
Deut. 27:19
19 “‘Cursed be anyone who perverts the justice due to the sojourner, the fatherless, and the
widow.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
(c) In his law God also provides for the needs of the disadvantaged and poor in Israel.
• Provision of a daily wage for the hired labourer
Lev. 19:13
13 “You shall not oppress your neighbor or rob him. The wages of a hired worker shall not
remain with you all night until the morning.
Deut. 24:14-15
14 “You shall not oppress a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether he is one of your
brothers or one of the sojourners who are in your land within your towns. 15 You shall give
him his wages on the same day, before the sun sets (for he is poor and counts on it), lest he
cry against you to the Lord, and you be guilty of sin.
• Provision of gleanings from fields, vineyards and olive orchards for the poor and aliens.
Lev. 23:22
22 “And when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its
edge, nor shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. You shall leave them for the poor
and for the sojourner: I am the Lord your God.”
Deut. 24:19-22
19 “When you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go
back to get it. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, that the Lord your
God may bless you in all the work of your hands. 20 When you beat your olive trees, you shall
not go over them again. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow. 21 When
you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not strip it afterward. It shall be for the
sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow. 22 You shall remember that you were a slave in the
land of Egypt; therefore I command you to do this.
• Provision of food for the poor from the field, vineyard and olive orchard every seventh year.
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Ex. 23:10-11
10 “For six years you shall sow your land and gather in its yield, 11 but the seventh
year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, that the poor of your people may eat; and what
they leave the beasts of the field may eat. You shall do likewise with your vineyard,
and with your olive orchard.
• Provision of heir for widow via levirate marriage.
Deut. 25:5-10
5 “If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the dead man
shall not be married outside the family to a stranger. Her husband’s brother shall go in to her
and take her as his wife and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her. 6 And the first
son whom she bears shall succeed to the name of his dead brother, that his name may not be
blotted out of Israel. 7 And if the man does not wish to take his brother’s wife, then his
brother’s wife shall go up to the gate to the elders and say, ‘My husband’s brother refuses to
perpetuate his brother’s name in Israel; he will not perform the duty of a husband’s brother to
me.’ 8 Then the elders of his city shall call him and speak to him, and if he persists, saying, ‘I
do not wish to take her,’ 9 then his brother’s wife shall go up to him in the presence of the
elders and pull his sandal off his foot and spit in his face. And she shall answer and say, ‘So
shall it be done to the man who does not build up his brother’s house.’ 10 And the name of his
house shall be called in Israel, ‘The house of him who had his sandal pulled off.’
• Provision of interest-free loans to impoverished Israelites.
Lev. 25:35-38
35 “If your brother becomes poor and cannot maintain himself with you, you shall support
him as though he were a stranger and a sojourner, and he shall live with you. 36 Take no
interest from him or profit, but fear your God, that your brother may live beside you. 37 You
shall not lend him your money at interest, nor give him your food for profit. 38 I am the Lord
your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan, and to be
your God.
• Provision of charity for the poor according to their need.
Deut. 15:7-11
7 “If among you, one of your brothers should become poor, in any of your towns within your
land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand
against your poor brother, 8 but you shall open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for
his need, whatever it may be. 9 Take care lest there be an unworthy thought in your heart and
you say, ‘The seventh year, the year of release is near,’ and your eye look grudgingly on your
poor brother, and you give him nothing, and he cry to the Lord against you, and you be guilty
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of sin. 10 You shall give to him freely, and your heart shall not be grudging when you give to
him, because for this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you
undertake. 11 For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you,
‘You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.’
• Provision of a three year tithe for Levites, aliens, fatherless children, and widows.
Deut. 26:12-13
12 “When you have finished paying all the tithe of your produce in the third year, which is the
year of tithing, giving it to the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, so that
they may eat within your towns and be filled, 13 then you shall say before the Lord your God,
‘I have removed the sacred portion out of my house, and moreover, I have given it to the
Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, according to all your commandment that
you have commanded me. I have not transgressed any of your commandments, nor have I
forgotten them.
• Provision of food at God's table by inclusion in the sacrificial banquets of the well-to-do at the temple
in Jerusalem for slaves, Levites, and the poor and disadvantaged.
Deut. 12:12
12 And you shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your sons and your daughters,
your male servants and your female servants, and the Levite that is within your towns, since
he has no portion or inheritance with you.
Deut. 16:14
14 You shall rejoice in your feast, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and
your female servant, the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow who are within
your towns.
In his law God protects his people from injustice in the courts of law by prohibiting false charges and
false witnesses, by requiring impartiality of justice for both the poor and the rich, and by prohibiting
bribery and by cursing those who accept a bribe to put an innocent person to death.
Ex. 23:7
7 Keep far from a false charge, and do not kill the innocent and righteous, for I will not acquit
the wicked.
Lev. 19:16
16 You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not stand up
against the life of your neighbor: I am the Lord.
Ex. 20:16
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16 “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
Ex. 23:1-2
23:1 “You shall not spread a false report. You shall not join hands with a wicked man to be a
malicious witness. 2 You shall not fall in with the many to do evil, nor shall you bear witness in
a lawsuit, siding with the many, so as to pervert justice,
Lev. 19:15
15 “You shall do no injustice in court. You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great,
but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor.
Deut. 16:19
19 You shall not pervert justice. You shall not show partiality, and you shall not accept a bribe,
for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and subverts the cause of the righteous.
Deut. 27:25
25 “‘Cursed be anyone who takes a bribe to shed innocent blood.’ And all the people shall say,
‘Amen.’
• God as the goel of those who had no human goel and who could appeal to him for help
(Exod 22:21-27).
Ex. 22:21-27
21 “You shall not wrong a sojourner or oppress him, for you were sojourners in the
land of Egypt. 22 You shall not mistreat any widow or fatherless child. 23 If you do
mistreat them, and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry, 24 and my wrath
will burn, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and
your children fatherless.
25 “If you lend money to any of my people with you who is poor, you shall not be
like a moneylender to him, and you shall not exact interest from him. 26 If ever you
take your neighbor’s cloak in pledge, you shall return it to him before the sun goes
down, 27 for that is his only covering, and it is his cloak for his body; in what else shall
he sleep? And if he cries to me, I will hear, for I am compassionate.
God acts as the redeemer (goel) of those who are disadvantaged and oppressed (Prov 22:22-23; 23:10-
11).
Prov. 22:22-23
22 Do not rob the poor, because he is poor,

or crush the afflicted at the gate,
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23 for
the LORD will plead their cause
and rob of life those who rob them.
Prov. 23:10-11
10 Do not move an ancient landmark

or enter the fields of the fatherless,
11 for their Redeemer is strong;
he will plead their cause against you.
He cares for the victims of injustice, the widow and orphan, the landless alien, and the economically
exploited poor.
Ex. 22:21-24
Deut. 10:18
18 He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him
food and clothing.
He acts as the advocate for the victims of injustice.
Ps. 146:5-7
5 Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,

whose hope is in the LORD his God,
6 who made heaven and earth,
the sea, and all that is in them,
who keeps faith forever;
7 who executes justice for the oppressed,
who gives food to the hungry.
The LORD sets the prisoners free;
He hears the prayers of the afflicted and helps them.
Ps. 9:12
12 For
he who avenges blood is mindful of them;
he does not forget the cry of the afflicted.
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Ps. 9:18
18 Forthe needy shall not always be forgotten,

and the hope of the poor shall not perish forever.
Ps. 140:12
12 I
know that the LORD will maintain the cause of the afflicted,
and will execute justice for the needy.
He hears the outcry of the oppressed to him and avenges them against their oppressors.
Ex. 22:21-24
He defends and avenges those who are unjustly condemned to death.
Ex. 23:7
7 Keep far from a false charge, and do not kill the innocent and righteous, for I will not acquit
the wicked.
Ps. 9:11-12
11 Sing praises to the LORD, who sits enthroned in Zion!

Tell among the peoples his deeds!
12 For he who avenges blood is mindful of them;
He identifies with the poor.
Prov 17:5
5 Whoever mocks the poor insults his Maker;

he who is glad at calamity will not go unpunished.
Prov. 19:17
17 Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the LORD,

and he will repay him for his deed.
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Since God is the advocate of the poor oppressed people who rely on him for their livelihood (‘anawim),
Israelites appeal for God's attention and help in the psalms by claiming to be poor.
Ps. 40:17
17 Asfor me, I am poor and needy,

but the Lord takes thought for me.
You are my help and my deliverer;
do not delay, O my God!
Ps. 86:1
86:1 Incline
your ear, O LORD, and answer me,
for I am poor and needy.
• God's treatment of evil by visiting the iniquity of evildoers upon them.
While the law courts were meant to administer God's justice, God also executed his justice on evildoers
by the process of retribution in the life-cycle of evildoers, in the history of an evil family, and in the
history of an evil society. Ezekiel annunciates the principle of personal culpability with the axiom: “the
soul that sins shall die” (18:4,20).
Evildoers can therefore escape the chain of evil by their repentance.
Eze. 18: 27-28
27 Again, when a wicked person turns away from the wickedness he has committed and does
what is just and right, he shall save his life. 28 Because he considered and turned away from
all the transgressions that he had committed, he shall surely live; he shall not die.
The children of evildoers can also escape retribution by their obedience to the Lord.
Eze. 18:19
19 “Yet you say, ‘Why should not the son suffer for the iniquity of the father?’ When the son
has done what is just and right, and has been careful to observe all my statutes, he shall surely
live.
It works the other way as well. Despite their heritage, righteous people and children of righteous people
will suffer retribution, if they commit iniquity.
• God's judgment of people by retribution through the unlimited positive results of their
goodness or limited negative consequences of their evil deeds:
While the consequences of goodness were unlimited in scope, God limited the consequences of evil, so
that at the most, grandchildren and great-grandchildren would suffer from any evil done by a wicked
person.
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Ex. 34:7
7 keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who
will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the
children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”
+ In the life cycle of a person.
+ In the history of each family.
+ In the history of Israel.
• God's use of disaster and defeat by enemies to judge his people and lead them to
repentance.
God executed his judgment on his people through their enemies.
2 Kings 17:20
20 And the Lord rejected all the descendants of Israel and afflicted them and gave them into
the hand of plunderers, until he had cast them out of his sight.
His purpose in allowing disaster and defeat was to lead them to repentance.
2 Kings 17:13
13 Yet the Lord warned Israel and Judah by every prophet and every seer, saying, “Turn from
your evil ways and keep my commandments and my statutes, in accordance with all the Law
that I commanded your fathers, and that I sent to you by my servants the prophets.”
• God's judgment of the world and all the nations in it (Ps 9:7-8).
Ps. 9:7-8
7 Butthe LORD sits enthroned forever;

he has established his throne for justice, 8
and he judges the world with righteousness;
he judges the peoples with uprightness.
• God's acts of judgment in human history prefigure his final day of cosmic judgment with the
condemnation of what is evil and the vindication of all that is righteous (Isa 24:21-22; 26:20-
27:1).
Beginning with Amos 5:18-20, the prophets announced the future universal day of the Lord. On that day
the Lord would judge the wicked on a cosmic scale and vindicate the righteous in Zion.
Amos 5:18-20
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18 Woe to you who desire the day of the LORD!

Why would you have the day of the LORD?
It is darkness, and not light,
19 as if a man fled from a lion,
and a bear met him,
or went into the house and leaned his hand against the wall,
and a serpent bit him.
20 Is not the day of the LORD darkness, and not light,
and gloom with no brightness in it?
Is. 26:20 – 27:1
20 Come, my people, enter your chambers,

and shut your doors behind you;
hide yourselves for a little while
until the fury has passed by.
21 For behold, the LORD is coming out from his place
to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity,
and the earth will disclose the blood shed on it,
and will no more cover its slain.
27:1 In that day the LORD with his hard and great and strong sword will punish
Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent, and he will slay the
dragon that is in the sea.
Is. 1:27
27 Zionshall be redeemed by justice,

and those in her who repent, by righteousness.
Just as the people of Israel were included in God's enemies (Isa 1:21-31), God's vindication applied to
the penitent gentiles as well as his penitent people.
Is. 45:22
22 “Turn to me and be saved,

all the ends of the earth!
For I am God, and there is no other.
Is. 1:27
20 “And a Redeemer will come to Zion,

to those in Jacob who turn from transgression,” declares the LORD.
All God's acts of judgment in human lives and world history were a prelude to that final day of
divine judgment.
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Is. 26:20-21

and will no more cover its slain.
4. God's exercise of justice through the divine service.
• The temple as the supreme court in Israel (1 Kgs 8:31-34).
1 Kings 8:31-34
31 “If a man sins against his neighbor and is made to take an oath and comes and swears his
oath before your altar in this house, 32 then hear in heaven and act and judge your servants,
condemning the guilty by bringing his conduct on his own head, and vindicating the righteous
by rewarding him according to his righteousness.
33 “When your people Israel are defeated before the enemy because they have sinned
against you, and if they turn again to you and acknowledge your name and pray and plead
with you in this house, 34 then hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel and
bring them again to the land that you gave to their fathers.
The temple in Jerusalem was envisaged as God's earthly palace where he administered his justice on
earth.
(a) There the priest on duty who wore the breastplate of justice, advocated the cause/right (mishpat) of
the people, and obtained justice (mishpat) for them from God.
Ex. 28:29-30
29 So Aaron shall bear the names of the sons of Israel in the breastpiece of judgment on his
heart, when he goes into the Holy Place, to bring them to regular remembrance before the
Lord. 30 And in the breastpiece of judgment you shall put the Urim and the Thummim, and
they shall be on Aaron’s heart, when he goes in before the Lord. Thus Aaron shall bear the
judgment of the people of Israel on his heart before the Lord regularly.
(b) At the temple God appeared to his people during the daily burnt offering to judge them (Ps 50) and
announced his judgment to them.
(c) At the temple the Levitical choir announced his advent to judge the world and praised him as judge.
Ps. 96:10-13
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10 Say among the nations, “The LORD reigns!

Yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved;
he will judge the peoples with equity.”
11 Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice;
let the sea roar, and all that fills it;
12 let the field exult, and everything in it!
Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy
13 before the LORD, for he comes,
for he comes to judge the earth.
He will judge the world in righteousness,
and the peoples in his faithfulness.
Ps. 9:7-8

he has established his throne for justice,
8 and he judges the world with righteousness;
Ps. 67:4
4 Letthe nations be glad and sing for joy,

for you judge the peoples with equity
and guide the nations upon earth. Selah
Ps. 75:7
7 butit is God who executes judgment,

putting down one and lifting up another.
(d) From the temple in Jerusalem God defended his people against their enemies and executed his
judgments of the nations.
Ps. 76: 1-2, 8-9
76:1 InJudah God is known;

his name is great in Israel.
2 His abode has been established in Salem,
his dwelling place in Zion.
...
8 From the heavens you uttered judgment;

the earth feared and was still,
9 when God arose to establish judgment,
to save all the humble of the earth.
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(e) At the temple the people could seek justice from God as the supreme judge in their worship.
Ps. 9:19
19 Arise,O LORD! Let not man prevail;

let the nations be judged before you!
Ps. 35:23-24
23
Awake and rouse yourself for my vindication,
for my cause, my God and my Lord!
24 Vindicate me, O LORD, my God,
according to your righteousness,
and let them not rejoice over me!
(f) God had instituted Israel's worship as the channel for his 'justice' and 'righteousness' to his people.
[God, who is just and right, gives justice and righteousness to his people in the divine service, and
therefore expects his people will act justly and righteously.]
Amos 5:21-24
21 “I hate, I despise your feasts,

and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.
22 Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings,
I will not accept them;
and the peace offerings of your fattened animals,
I will not look upon them.
23 Take away from me the noise of your songs;
to the melody of your harps I will not listen. 24
But let justice roll down like waters,
and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
(g) God therefore required the same benevolent justice from his people which they had received from
him.
Amos 5:15
15 Hate evil, and love good,

and establish justice in the gate;
it may be that the LORD, the God of hosts,
will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.
Micah 6:8
8 Hehas told you, O man, what is good;

and what does the LORD require of you
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but to do justice, and to love kindness,

and to walk humbly with your God?
(h) Those who were guilty of injustice, as defined by the decalogue, were excluded from his presence by
the entrance liturgies.
Ps. 24:3-4
3 Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD?

And who shall stand in his holy place? 4
He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
• God's presence as a gracious judge in the divine service (I Kgs 8:59; Zeph 3:5).
The prayer and blessing of Solomon at the dedication of the temple in 1 Kgs 8:22-61 shows how closely
the sacrificial ritual was connected with God's justice. Through the daily ritual, the Lord maintained the
right/right order (mishpat) of the king and the nation.
1 Kings 8:59
59 Let these words of mine, with which I have pleaded before the LORD, be near to the
LORD our God day and night, and may he maintain the cause of his servant and the
cause of his people Israel, as each day requires,
Zeph. 3:5
5 The LORD within her is righteous;

he does no injustice;
every morning he shows forth his justice;
each dawn he does not fail;
but the unjust knows no shame.
Remember that the Psalms were sung at the temple during the divine service when the burnt offering
was offered by the Levitical choir. So when Psalms like Ps. 50 were sung, God announced his judgment
on his people.
Ps. 50:7
7 “Hear, O my people, and I will speak;

O Israel, I will testify against you.
I am God, your God.
Ps. 82:2-4
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2 “How long will you judge unjustly

and show partiality to the wicked? Selah
3 Give justice to the weak and the fatherless;
maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute.
4 Rescue the weak and the needy;
deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”
• God's exercise of judgment at the temple by his acceptance of the righteous (Ps 15; 11:7)
and the exclusion of the wicked from his presence (Ps 5:4-6).
Ps. 15
15:1 O LORD,who shall sojourn in your tent?

Who shall dwell on your holy hill?
2 He who walks blamelessly and does what is right
and speaks truth in his heart;
3 who does not slander with his tongue
and does no evil to his neighbor,
nor takes up a reproach against his friend;
4 in whose eyes a vile person is despised,
but who honors those who fear the LORD;
who swears to his own hurt and does not change;
5 who does not put out his money at interest
and does not take a bribe against the innocent.
He who does these things shall never be moved.
Ps. 5:4-6
4 For you are not a God who delights in wickedness;

evil may not dwell with you.
5 The boastful shall not stand before your eyes;
you hate all evildoers.
6 You destroy those who speak lies;
the LORD abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.
• Intercession by the high priest with his 'breast plate of justice' for justice from God for his
people (Exod 28:29-30).
Ex. 28:29-30
29 So Aaron shall bear the names of the sons of Israel in the breastpiece of judgment
on his heart, when he goes into the Holy Place, to bring them to regular remembrance
before the LORD. 30 And in the breastpiece of judgment you shall put the Urim and the
Thummim, and they shall be on Aaron’s heart, when he goes in before the LORD. Thus
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Aaron shall bear the judgment of the people of Israel on his heart before the LORD
regularly.
• Appeal to God in the laments for justice, vindication, and pardon.
Ps. 9:19
19 Arise,O LORD! Let not man prevail;

let the nations be judged before you!
Ps. 43:1
43:1 Vindicate
me, O God, and defend my cause
against an ungodly people,
from the deceitful and unjust man
deliver me!
• Announcement of God's judgment of the world by the choir in their songs of praise (Ps 98).
Ps. 98:7-9
7 Let the sea roar, and all that fills it;

the world and those who dwell in it!
8 Let the rivers clap their hands;
let the hills sing for joy together
9 before the LORD, for he comes
to judge the earth.
He will judge the world with righteousness,
and the peoples with equity.
• Reception of righteousness as vindication from God at the temple (Ps 24:5).
Ps. 24:3-5
3 Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD?

And who shall stand in his holy place?
4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
5 He will receive blessing from the LORD
• Provision of food for the poor from the offerings and tithes that belonged to God (Deut
14:28-29).
Deut. 14:28-29
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28 “At the end of every three years you shall bring out all the tithe of your produce in
the same year and lay it up within your towns. 29 And the Levite, because he has no
portion or inheritance with you, and the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow,
who are within your towns, shall come and eat and be filled, that the LORD your God
may bless you in all the work of your hands that you do.
Food was provided for the poor, slaves, Levites, and disadvantaged when they shared in the sacrificial
banquets held at the temple in Jerusalem at the great pilgrim feasts.
Deut. 16:11
11 And you shall rejoice before the LORD your God, you and your son and your
daughter, your male servant and your female servant, the Levite who is within your
towns, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow who are among you, at the place
that the LORD your God will choose, to make his name dwell there.
• Desecration of God's holiness and defilement of the temple by people with blood on their
hands because they were guilty of injustice (Isa 1:10-17; Jer 7: 1-15; Am 5:21-24).
Is. 1:15-17
15 When you spread out your hands,

I will hide my eyes from you;
even though you make many prayers,
I will not listen;
your hands are full of blood.
16 Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean;
remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes;
cease to do evil,
17 learn to do good;
seek justice,
correct oppression;
bring justice to the fatherless,
plead the widow’s cause.
• Connection between idolatry and injustice.
Eze. 8:17
17 Then he said to me, “Have you seen this, O son of man? Is it too light a thing for the
house of Judah to commit the abominations that they commit here, that they should
fill the land with violence and provoke me still further to anger? Behold, they put the
branch to their nose.
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5. The Messiah as the mediator of God's justice and righteousness (Jer 23:5-6).
With the failure of David and his successors to rule justly, the prophets announced the coming of a just
king from the dynasty of David. He would administer God's justice and righteousness so wisely that
Israel, Judah and Jerusalem would indeed be secure
Jer. 23:5-6
5 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will raise up for David a
righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice
and righteousness in the land. 6 In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell
securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The LORD is our
righteousness.’
• Foundation of his rule on justice and righteousness (Isa 9:7).
Since his government would be based on God's justice and righteousness, peace would prevail and
increase under his rule.
Ps. 9:7
7 Ofthe increase of his government and of peace

The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.
• His vindication of the poor and condemnation of the wicked one by his word and the
breath/Spirit from his mouth (Isa 11:3-4).
Since he would possess the full measure of God's Spirit, he would truly vindicate the poor and eradicate
the wicked.
Is. 11:1-4
11:1 There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,
2 And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him,
the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.
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4 butwith righteousness he shall judge the poor,

• Establishment by him of God's justice/ just rule over the earth by his teaching (Isa 42:1-4).
Through his teaching/law (torah) he would bring God's saving justice to the nations of the earth.
Is. 49:6
6 he says:
Is. 51:4-5
4 “Give attention to me, my people,

and give ear to me, my nation;
for a law will go out from me,
and I will set my justice for a light to the peoples.
5 My righteousness draws near,
my salvation has gone out,
and my arms will judge the peoples;
the coastlands hope for me,
and for my arm they wait.
• His justification of sinners by his vicarious sacrifice (Isa 53:11).
Is. 53:11
11 Out of the anguish of his soul he [the Servant] shall see and be satisfied;
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d. Zion as the city of god

1. Sources for the Theology of Zion
 Psalms of Zion
 Prophetic history, Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah
 Prophecies: Micah, Isaiah, Zephaniah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Haggai, Zechariah
2. God's Choice of Zion
 Jerusalem as God's chosen place (Deut 12:4-7)
 Place for enthronement with the ark (Ps 132; cf. 2 Sam 6)
 Place for the altar for burnt offering (2 Sam 24:19; 1 Chr 22:1)
 Place for God's temple-palace (1 Kgs 6:11-13; 9:1-3)
* Sacrifice to God
* Life-giving blessing from God
* Audience with God for petition
 Praise of God's gracious presence
 God's love of Zion (Ps 78:68; 87:2)
3. The Eternity of Zion
 Eternal foundation by God (Ps 78:69; cf. 87:1)
 Eternal establishment by God ( Ps 48:8; cf. 76:2; 87:5)
 Eternal residence by God (Ps 68:16; 132:14)
 Eternal stability and endurance (Ps 125:1; cf. 46:5)
4. God's Purpose for Zion (Isa 2:1-4; 4:2-6)
 Location of God's temple for all nations in the last times
 Whole city as God's temple: God's glory
 All citizens as holy priests
 Centre of mission to the nations
 Pilgrimage of nations to Mt Zion
 God's teaching of his ways to the nations in Zion
 International peace by common submission to God
5. Fulfilment of God's Purposes for earthly Zion in heavenly Jerusalem
 Whole city as God's temple with God's glory (Isa 60:1-22)
 Creation of new Jerusalem in the new heavens and the new earth (Isa 65:17-19)
 Place for continual access and adoration of God by all humanity (Isa 66:18-23)
6. The church as the city of God
 Church as the city of light set on a hill (Matt 5:14-16)
 Church as free Jerusalem, the mother of the faithful (Gal 4:26)
 The church as the enduring city, built by God (Heb 11:10; 13:14)
 Access to heavenly Jerusalem in the divine service (Heb 12:22-24)
 Heavenly Jerusalem as the bride of Christ and God's dwelling place (Rev 21:1-22:5)
d. ZION AS THE CITY OF GOD

(Dr. Kleinig skipped Zion as the City of God section because of lack of time but I’ve added the
following notes based on the Class Overheads and the Class Notes provided by Dr. Kleinig.)
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[When the scriptures talk about Jerusalem, it is talking about the city as a whole, as a political entity. But
when the term Zion is used for Jerusalem, it is referring to the fact that God has his temple in Jerusalem.
So Zion is a theological term; Zion is the theological city. Jerusalem is the city of David. Zion is the city of
God. It is the same city looked at from two different points of view. It’s called Zion because the temple
was built on Mt. Zion. What’s important for us to remember is that the prophecies of Zion are fulfilled in
and through the church. So when you read Zion in the OT, think church in the NT.]
1. Sources for the Theology of Zion
[Already in the Song of Moses just after Israel’s escape through the Red Sea, there is a reference to the
Lord bringing Israel into the promised land and planting them on his “own mountain,” “the sanctuary”
(Ex. 15:17). This is a reference to Mt. Zion and the city of Jerusalem. That is the place where the
deliverance of his people would culminate. It was there that he would establish his temple. But that
would not occur until after Israel’s conquest of the land and after the period of the judges, when the
time of the kings began.
It was to king David that God would reveal the plans for his temple in Jerusalem and the administration
of the divine service at the temple and it was the job of king Solomon to build the temple and
inaugurate the divine service there. Therefore it was not until that time that we can really see theology
of the divine service.]
• Psalms of Zion
[King David was the great composer and singer of the Psalms. He initiated the Levites singing the psalms
in the divine service when the burnt offering was offered every morning and every evening. So the
theology of Zion begins with the book of Psalms. The Psalms are arranged into five books. And these
books reflect the history of Israel.
Books 1 and 2 consist of many of David’s psalms. David lived a troubled life to the point that multiple
times he nearly died. And so many of his psalms are psalms of lament. David took his troubles to the
Lord, the One he trusted in. In this way David was a type of the promised Messiah, who would not only
suffer but also die.
Book 3 continues the history of Israel with the unfaithful kings, ending with the Assyrian and Babylonian
crises. During this time it seemed as if the wicked prospered and the faithful suffered. Many of these
psalms ask for reversal and are a plea for justice and express confidence in the Lord’s salvation and his
steadfast love. These psalms mourn the downfall of the Davidic dynasty and the destruction of the
temple by the Babylonians. They look to God for deliverance from exile and a restoration of the Lord’s
holy name.
Book 4 addresses Israel in exile. With the Davidic kingship ending in failure and exile, the fourth book
redirects the focus of God’s exiled people from the Davidic kings to the great eternal King, the Lord. This
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book shines a spotlight on the Lord as the King of the whole earth. Because of this, Israel and all nations
should humbly repent, joyfully praise him, take refuge in him, and look to him for relief from trouble and
disaster.
The theme for book 5 is praise. Israel is called upon to praise the Lord for his unfailing love and
faithfulness which brought them back from exile. In these psalms they celebrate and thank God for the
salvation he worked for them. The Psalms end with a call for all to praise the King who reigns from Zion.]
• Prophetic history, Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah
[Chronicles, like Samuel and Kings, lays out the history of Israel but from a different point of view. The
history of Israel in Chronicles is told by observing how faithful or unfaithful Israel was in their worship of
the Lord. The Chronicler uses nearly half of his book to cover David and Solomon. In covering them, he
focuses much of his attention on the planning, building, and dedication of the temple in Jerusalem; how
they promoted true worship; how music became an important part of worship; and how only authorized
people officiated in the temple. The history of Israel is told from the point of view of Israel abandoning
the true worship of the true God for the false worship of false gods and their subsequent exile because
of it. The Chronicler encourages Israel, whom God is allowing to return to the promised land after exile,
to return to their worship of the Lord and to do it in the way that the Lord prescribes. Because this is the
focus of the Chronicler, he provides a wealth of information about the theology of worship of the Lord at
the temple on Mt. Zion in Jerusalem.
When the Israelites were carried off into exile, they lost their nation, their land, their temple, and their
kings. In Ezra and Nehemiah they are allowed to return to the land and rebuild their temple and the city
of Jerusalem and start back up the daily divine service. But they were not allowed to have kings. In terms
of divine service at the temple in Zion, this had enormous implications. 1 & 2 Kings show us the
responsibilities that the kings of Israel had toward worship. The kings built the temple, were responsible
for the maintenance of the temple, financed the whole temple operation, including the sacrifices, and
oversaw the divine service, making sure the priests carried out worship services as the Lord prescribed
in the Law. Who would take over these responsibilities now that Israel had no kings? Given the
circumstances, we see in Ezra and Nehemiah that the responsibility fell on the priests and people.
The kings also provided law and order. What would take the place of the kings in that regard? Since
there were no more kings to enforce God’s laws for worship and life, and since Israel had been sent into
exile for disregarding God’s laws concerning worship, obedience to the Law took on a greater
importance for the returnees. Determined never to go through this again, the lives of the returning
remnant centered on worshipping the one, true God at the temple and living their lives in the way that
God prescribed in the Law of Moses. Since the people remained scattered and they had no kings, and
since they were no longer an independent nation, their identity as a people would no longer be a
political identity but a liturgical identity where the temple was the center of their existence.
Therefore in Ezra and Nehemiah, the Chronicler focuses on rebuilding of the temple and restarting the
daily divine service. The story begins with the return of a small remnant, the rebuilding of the altar, and
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the resumption of the daily services. Then the temple is rebuilt and the Torah, the Law of Moses, is
established as the foundation for Israel’s worship and life. Finally, Nehemiah arrives and oversees the
rebuilding of the wall of Jerusalem under some rather harrowing circumstances, and Ezra leads the
returnees to officially adopt the Law Moses as their constitution. With Ezra and Nehemiah relaying to us
the reestablishment of the altar, the daily services, the temple, and the city of Jerusalem, they have
much to say about the theology of Zion.]
• Prophecies: Micah, Isaiah, Zephaniah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Haggai,

Zechariah
[The information for this bullet point is a summary taken from The Big Picture of the OT.]
[The priests were charged with serving the Lord at the temple by performing the daily divine service in
the manner that the Lord prescribed and teaching the people the difference between clean and unclean
and holy and common. In terms of worship at the temple, the kings were charged with making sure the
priests carried out the divine service as God laid it out in the Law of Moses. When the kings or priests did
not do their job and performed or allowed unauthorized worship, the Lord called them out by sending
prophets to speak his word to them. We commonly call them the Latter Prophets (these include Isaiah,
Jeremiah/Lamentations, and Ezekiel) and the twelve Minor Prophets (these include Micah, Zephaniah,
Haggai, and Zechariah). The message of the prophets listed above focuses on the temple and Jerusalem,
the place where God dwells with his people.
Micah was one of the earlier prophets who came during the Assyrian period when there was the
Northern Kingdom and Southern Kingdom. He was a contemporary of Isaiah. He prophesied against
Samaria and Jerusalem. Micah announced three major events: (1) the fall of Samaria (722-721 BC), (2)
the devastation of Judah by the Assyrians (701 BC) and (3) the sack of Jerusalem and destruction of the
temple. King Hezekiah listened to Micah’s prophecy and he and the people repented and God delayed
the destruction of Jerusalem until later. Micah is one of the first prophets to make a prophecy of the
destruction of Jerusalem and Samaria. This is God’s judgment on them for their idolatry, the stealing of
God’s land by the rich from their poor countrymen, the exploitation of the people by the leaders, and
their obsession with money. God expects justice, mercy, and humility from his people. But because they
will refuse, he will send them to exile in Babylon. But he will not leave them there. He will rescue them
and redeem them from the hands of their enemies and bring a remnant back to Zion. And God also
promises to raise up a second David, who will shepherd and bring security to God’s people, who will act
in the name of the Lord and bring peace to the earth. This is the promised Savior.
Isaiah was a contemporary of Micah. The main subject of the book of Isaiah is God’s plan for Jerusalem
and Mt. Zion. Jerusalem is not only the royal city but also the holy city, the place where the temple was.
Every part of Isaiah focuses on Jerusalem and how God will use Jerusalem to benefit the whole world.
Jerusalem would not be the center of a world empire; rather it would be the center of world-wide
worship of the Lord. Isaiah sees the nations of the world worshipping God together with the Jews in
Jerusalem. But before this can happen, there is a major obstacle that God must overcome. The nations,
including Israel and Judah, are rebellious. Therefore God will judge the nations in order to cause them to
repent. God would first bring judgment on his own people and then upon the Assyrians and
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Babylonians. He would then use his deliverance of Jerusalem under Hezekiah and his deliverance of his
people from exile in Babylon as a prelude to his deliverance of all the nations of the earth from sin
through his Suffering Servant. God will draw people to himself at Jerusalem (the Church). Ultimately, all
the prophecies concerning Jerusalem being the place of world-wide worship will find their fulfillment in
the eternal heavenly Jerusalem. I think you can see the importance of Isaiah in the theology of Zion. In
Isaiah God lays out his plan and purpose for Jerusalem and how he will carry it out.
During the years between Isaiah and Zephaniah, Manasseh and Amon reigned and injustice, child-
sacrifice, and idolatry ran rampant. Zephaniah announces God’s universal judgment on all evil; it is
called the Day of the Lord. God’s judgment would also fall on the people of Judah and Jerusalem
because of their worship of false gods. The Day of the Lord will be a day of darkness and ruin for those
who do not repent. But the fire of God’s wrath that destroys also purifies. There is a remnant of people
from Judah and the nations who will be purified and humbly call on the name of Yahweh in Zion. So in
the end, God’s judgment serves his saving purposes. Jerusalem will be restored and there Yahweh will
live with his people whom he has gathered from Judah and the nations. So the theology laid out in
Zephaniah, echoes that of Isaiah.
Jeremiah was called by God to speak his word of judgment to Judah and Jerusalem. His message was,
“Stop your wickedness. Stop your idolatry. Return to the Lord.” But the people refused to listen and
repent. The leaders God sent were no better. The kings led the people into idolatry. The priests used
God’s word to excuse sin instead of exposing sin. The prophets preached prosperity instead of
repentance. Because of all this, the temple was destroyed. This hurt not only the people and leaders,
but also God himself. Jerusalem is the place where God’s eyes, ears, and heart are at. When Jerusalem
comes under attack, it pierces the heart of God and Jeremiah. When the people suffer, God and
Jeremiah suffer with them. God’s judgment will last 70 years. After that they will repent and God will
bring them back. After that God will raise up a new David, one who would lead God’s people and
establish righteousness (Jesus) and make a new covenant in which people would know him and he
would forgive sins. God promised a New Jerusalem in which the whole city would be the new temple. In
the New Jerusalem the Gentile nations will join with the Jews as one community to worship God. And so
the theology of Jeremiah is similar: repent, defiance, judgment, repentance, restoration, new David,
new covenant, world-wide worship of God in the new temple, which is the whole city of Jerusalem.
Ezekiel was deported to Babylon with the first batch of deportees in 597 BC and was called by God to be
a prophet in Babylon. Ezekiel’s main focus is Jerusalem and the temple. His prophecies explain why God
abandoned the temple and allowed it and Jerusalem to be destroyed and how God promised to create a
new temple in which his purified people would worship him alone. God called Ezekiel to be the
watchman of Judah. His task was to call them to repent of their idolatry, which defiled God’s holiness.
He communicated God’s message in multiple ways, but the people refused to listen. Because of this,
God withdrew his presence from the temple, making the temple, Jerusalem, and the land just ordinary,
no longer holy. He then allowed the Babylonians to destroy the once holy city and temple. He allowed
the people to be taken into exile for the purpose of purifying them, burning away the dross of their sin.
Israel appeared to be dead, like a pile of dry bones. But amazingly God promised to resurrect the nation
through his Word and breathe life back into it through his Spirit. As a Shepherd, he would he would seek
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out and gather his people that were scattered among the nations. He would raise up a new and faithful
shepherd from the line of David who would reign over them forever. He would restore his “marriage”
covenant to his people, as pictured as a new and perfect temple (the NT church).
Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed in 586 BC. In 536 BC the people started coming back to
Jerusalem and they rebuilt the altar and laid the foundation for the temple but then they stopped for
various political and economic reasons. In 520 BC God sent two prophets, Haggai and Zechariah, and
their message was to rebuild the temple (Ezra 5:1-2). So in 520 BC, almost 20 years after they first
started rebuilding, they resumed the reconstruction of the temple. The rebuilding of the temple took 5
years. So they finished rebuilding it in 515 BC (Ezra 6:13-18). This is a very important event in Jewish
history. It begins what is called the second temple period.
The construction of the temple had stopped for almost 20 years because the people were more
concerned about their own homes than the temple. So God sent the prophet Haggai to them with the
message: The Lord says it is time to finish rebuilding the temple. Because they were more concerned
about their own homes, the Lord withdrew his blessings from them. The leaders and people responded
to Haggai by rebuilding the temple. In splendor and glory it fell far short of Solomon’s temple. But God
promised that the future glory of the rebuilt temple would surpass Solomon’s. This would occur when
the nations joined Israel in worship at the temple. God chose Zerubbabel, a descendant of David, to lead
his people in rebuilding the temple. Through him God communicated that this rebuilding project was the
beginning of a worldwide shake up in which God’s kingdom would take center stage.
The second prophet God sent to kick start the rebuilding of the temple was Zechariah. His message to
the Israelites that returned was to repent and return to the Lord. Zechariah saw a series of eight visions,
which begin with the whole earth and narrow down to the temple and then widen back out again to the
whole earth. The visions show that God is in control, is looking out for his people, would cause the
temple to be rebuilt and from them he will bring forth a Priest/King who will remove sin and provide
peace and safety. The second part of the book deals with God’s ultimate purposes for Zion, the holy city.
It looks forward to the messianic age. God will raise up a future King who will liberate God’s people and
be their Good Shepherd, delivering them from oppressive shepherds and gathering to the Lord his
scattered people. Unfortunately they will reject their Shepherd and kill him and God will hand them over
to a worthless shepherd and they will be scattered once more. Under these circumstances God will
refine his people and they will call upon his name. The Lord will rise up as King over the world and rule
from Zion, the holy city. A Day of the Lord will come when many will refuse his rule and die. But a
remnant of the nations will survive and will accept him and join Israel in joyously feasting.
2. God's Choice of Zion
The angel of the YHWH told Gad the prophet to tell David where to build an altar to the Lord. The place
was on Mt. Zion at the threshing floor of Ornan (or Araunah) the Jebusite, the place where Jerusalem
was. This was the place that God chose for the temple to be built.
1 Chron. 21:18, 22; 22:1
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18 Now the angel of the Lord had commanded Gad to say to David that David should go up
and raise an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. ... 22 And David
said to Ornan, “Give me the site of the threshing floor that I may build on it an altar to the
Lord—give it to me at its full price—that the plague may be averted from the people.” ... 22:1
Then David said, “Here shall be the house of the Lord God and here the altar of burnt offering
for Israel.”
• Jerusalem as God's chosen place (Deut 12:4-7)
In Deuteronomy God commanded the Israelites to worship him at the place which he would choose in
the land of Israel. This place would be the dwelling place for his name.
Deut. 12:5
5 But you shall seek the place that the Lord your God will choose out of all your tribes to put
his name and make his habitation there. There you shall go,
The Israelites were to appear there in the Lord's presence on the three great pilgrim festivals.
Deut. 16:16
16 “Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord your God at the place that
he will choose: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of
Booths. They shall not appear before the Lord empty-handed.
They were to present their sacrifices only at this place.
Deut. 12:5-7
5 But you shall seek the place that the Lord your God will choose out of all your tribes to put
his name and make his habitation there. There you shall go, 6 and there you shall bring your
burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the contribution that you present, your
vow offerings, your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock. 7 And
there you shall eat before the Lord your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your households,
in all that you undertake, in which the Lord your God has blessed you.
After the ark's capture by the Philistines, David relocated it at Jerusalem.
2 Sam. 6:12, 17
12 And it was told King David, “The Lord has blessed the household of Obed-edom and all that
belongs to him, because of the ark of God.” So David went and brought up the ark of God
from the house of Obed-edom to the city of David with rejoicing. ... 16 As the ark of the Lord
came into the city of David ... 17 And they brought in the ark of the Lord and set it in its place,
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inside the tent that David had pitched for it. And David offered burnt offerings and peace
offerings before the Lord.
God indicated his choice of Jerusalem by commanding David to build an altar there at the place where
the angel had appeared to David.
1 Chron. 21:18; 22:1
18 Now the angel of the Lord had commanded Gad to say to David that David should go up
and raise an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. ... 22:1 Then David
said, “Here shall be the house of the Lord God and here the altar of burnt offering for Israel.”
In fulfilment of God's promise to David in 2 Sam 7:13 the temple was built in Jerusalem as the place for
the Lord's name.
1 Kings 8:17-20
17 Now it was in the heart of David my father to build a house for the name of the Lord, the
God of Israel. 18 But the Lord said to David my father, ‘Whereas it was in your heart to build a
house for my name, you did well that it was in your heart. 19 Nevertheless, you shall not build
the house, but your son who shall be born to you shall build the house for my name.’ 20 Now
the Lord has fulfilled his promise that he made. For I have risen in the place of David my
father, and sit on the throne of Israel, as the Lord promised, and I have built the house for the
name of the Lord, the God of Israel.
God had told Solomon that he had fulfilled his promise to Israel in Deut 12:5 by placing his name there,
on the temple Solomon built in Jerusalem.
1 Kings 9:3
3 And the Lord said to him, “I have heard your prayer and your plea, which you have made
before me. I have consecrated this house that you have built, by putting my name there
forever. My eyes and my heart will be there for all time.
• Place for enthronement with the ark (Ps 132; cf. 2 Sam 6)
The composers of the psalms believed that God had chosen Mt Zion as his residence and place of rest.
Ps. 132:13-14
13 For the LORD has chosen Zion;

14 “This is my resting place forever;
here I will dwell, for I have desired it.
Ps. 9:11
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Tell among the peoples his deeds!
Ps. 99:1
99:1 The LORD reigns; let the peoples tremble!

He sits enthroned upon the cherubim; let the earth quake!
Unlike the pagan temples, Israel’s holy of holies did not house a statue as the means by which the Lord
showed his face (panim) to his people. The Holy of Holies contained God’s throne, which consisted of
the cherubim, the mercy seat, and the ark. There the Lord sat enthroned upon the cherubim.
2 Sam. 6:2
2 And David arose and went with all the people who were with him from Baale-judah to bring
up from there the ark of God, which is called by the name of the LORD of hosts who sits
enthroned on the cherubim.
• Place for the altar for burnt offering (2 Sam 24:19; 1 Chr 22:1)
God indicated his choice of Jerusalem as the place where his name would dwell by commanding David
to build an altar there at the place where the angel appeared to David.
2 Sam. 24:18
18 And Gad came that day to David and said to him, “Go up, raise an altar to the LORD on the
threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.”
1 Chron. 22:1
22:1 Then David said, “Here [at the threshing floor of Araunah/Ornan on Mt. Zion] shall be
the house of the LORD God and here the altar of burnt offering for Israel. ”
Solomon built the temple in Jerusalem on Mt. Zion. At the dedication of the temple the Lord filled the
temple with his glory and sent fire from heaven to consume the burnt offering and sacrifices that were
on the altar.
2 Chron. 7:1-3
7:1 As soon as Solomon finished his prayer, fire came down from heaven and consumed the
burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the LORD filled the temple. 2 And the priests
could not enter the house of the LORD, because the glory of the LORD filled the LORD’s
house. 3 When all the people of Israel saw the fire come down and the glory of the LORD on
the temple, they bowed down with their faces to the ground on the pavement and worshiped
and gave thanks to the LORD, saying, “For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.”
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• Place for God's temple-palace (1 Kgs 6:11-13; 9:1-3)
The Lord confirmed to Solomon that the temple would be his place of residence. He promised that he
would dwell there among his people, provided that Solomon would fulfill his ritual commandments.
1 Kings 6:11-13
11 Now the word of the LORD came to Solomon, 12 “Concerning this house that you are
building, if you will walk in my statutes and obey my rules and keep all my commandments
and walk in them, then I will establish my word with you, which I spoke to David your
father. 13 And I will dwell among the children of Israel and will not forsake my people Israel.”
1 Kings 9:3
3 And the LORD said to him, “I have heard your prayer and your plea, which you have made
before me. I have consecrated this house that you have built, by putting my name there
forever. My eyes and my heart will be there for all time.
The temple was built for the fulfillment of God's ritual commandments in the law of Moses.
1 kings 9:6-9
6 But if you turn aside from following me, you or your children, and do not keep my
commandments and my statutes that I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and
worship them, 7 then I will cut off Israel from the land that I have given them, and the house
that I have consecrated for my name I will cast out of my sight, and Israel will become a
proverb and a byword among all peoples. 8 And this house will become a heap of ruins.
Everyone passing by it will be astonished and will hiss, and they will say, ‘Why has
the LORD done thus to this land and to this house?’ 9 Then they will say, ‘Because they
abandoned the LORD their God who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt and laid
hold on other gods and worshiped them and served them. Therefore the LORD has brought all
this disaster on them.’”
1 Kings 8:61
61 Let your heart therefore be wholly true to the LORD our God, walking in his statutes and
keeping his commandments, as at this day.”
The temple was the dais (makon) for his enthronement (shebeth) on earth.
1 Kings 8:13
13 I have indeed built you an exalted house, a place for you to dwell in forever.”
It was the place for audience with the heavenly king where his people could petition him.
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1 Kings 8:20-53 (selected verses)
22 Then Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of all the assembly of
Israel and spread out his hands toward heaven, 23 and said, “O LORD, God of Israel, there is
no God like you, in heaven above or on earth beneath, keeping covenant and showing
steadfast love to your servants who walk before you with all their heart; ... 28 Yet have
regard to the prayer of your servant and to his plea, O LORD my God, listening to the cry and
to the prayer that your servant prays before you this day, ... 30 And listen to the plea of your
servant and of your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. And listen in heaven your
dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive. ... 49 then hear in heaven your dwelling place
their prayer and their plea, and maintain their cause ...
* Sacrifice to God
The Lord appeared to Solomon after he had built the temple and confirmed his consecration of the
temple as a place of sacrifice and prayer. [Keeping God’s commandments, statutes, and rules included
the statutes God gave them concerning the sacrificial system.]
4 And as for you, if you will walk before me, as David your father walked, with integrity of
heart and uprightness, doing according to all that I have commanded you, and keeping my
statutes and my rules, ... 9 Then they will say, ‘Because they abandoned the LORD their God
who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt and laid hold on other gods and worshiped
them and served them. Therefore the LORD has brought all this disaster on them.’”
2 Chron. 7:12
12 Then the LORD appeared to Solomon in the night and said to him: “I have heard your
prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a house of sacrifice.
* Life-giving blessing from God
Since God was enthroned as king in Zion (Ps 9;11; 68:16; 99:1-2; 132:14), his presence made it a special
place. There he granted blessing to his people. Those who ascend the holy hill with clean hands and a
pure heart receive blessing.
Ps. 24:5
5 He will receive blessing from the LORD

Since he blessed his people and provided for them there, they praised and blessed him there.
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Ps. 65:4
4 Blessed is the one you choose and bring near,

to dwell in your courts!
We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house,
the holiness of your temple!
Ps. 128:5
5 The LORD bless you from Zion!

May you see the prosperity of Jerusalem
all the days of your life!
* Audience with God for petition
It was the place for audience with the heavenly king where his people could petition him.
22 Then Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of all the assembly of
Israel and spread out his hands toward heaven, 23 and said, “O LORD, God of Israel, there is
no God like you, in heaven above or on earth beneath, keeping covenant and showing
steadfast love to your servants who walk before you with all their heart; ... 28 Yet have
regard to the prayer of your servant and to his plea, O LORD my God, listening to the cry and
to the prayer that your servant prays before you this day, ... 30 And listen to the plea of your
servant and of your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. And listen in heaven your
dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive. ... 49 then hear in heaven your dwelling place
their prayer and their plea, and maintain their cause ...
Since he held audience there with his people and received their petitions, they prayed there.
Ps. 3:4
4 I cried aloud to the LORD,

and he answered me from his holy hill.
Ps. 9:11-12

Tell among the peoples his deeds!12
For he who avenges blood is mindful of them;
Ps. 18:6
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6 In my distress I called upon the LORD;
to my God I cried for help.
From his temple he heard my voice,
and my cry to him reached his ears.
• Praise of God's gracious presence
The choir announced God's gracious presence with his people and called on all people to seek the Lord
in petitionary prayer.
1 Chron. 16:8-35 (selected verses)
8 Oh give thanks to the LORD; call upon his name;

make known his deeds among the peoples!
9 Sing to him, sing praises to him;
tell of all his wondrous works!
10 Glory in his holy name;
let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice!
11 Seek the LORD and his strength;
seek his presence continually!
12 Remember the wondrous works that he has done,
his miracles and the judgments he uttered,
13 O offspring of Israel his servant,
children of Jacob, his chosen ones!
...
23 Sing to the LORD, all the earth!

Tell of his salvation from day to day.
...
35 Say also:
“Save us, O God of our salvation,
and gather and deliver us from among the nations,
that we may give thanks to your holy name
and glory in your praise.36
Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel,
from everlasting to everlasting!”
Then all the people said, “Amen!” and praised the LORD.
• God's love of Zion (Ps 78:68; 87:2)
The psalmists identified the city with God himself.
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Ps. 48:12-14
12 Walk about Zion, go around her,

number her towers,
13 consider well her ramparts,
go through her citadels,
that you may tell the next generation
14 that this is God,
our God forever and ever.
He will guide us forever.
God loved Zion more than any other place on earth.
Ps. 78:68
68 but he chose the tribe of Judah,

Mount Zion, which he loves.
Ps. 87:2
2 the LORD lovesthe gates of Zion

more than all the dwelling places of Jacob.
Ps. 132:13
13 Forthe LORD has chosen Zion;

3. The Eternity of Zion
• Eternal foundation by God (Ps 78:69; cf. 87:1)
God chose Mt Zion as his sanctuary. He founded it forever.
Ps. 78:69
69 He builthis sanctuary like the high heavens,

like the earth, which he has founded forever.
Ps. 87:1
1 On the holy mount stands the city he founded;
Since he founded it as his dwelling place, his presence sanctifies it and makes it holy.
Ps. 43:3
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3 Send out your light and your truth;

let them lead me;
let them bring me to your holy hill
and to your dwelling!
Ps. 48:1
1 Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised

in the city of our God!
His holy mountain,
• Eternal establishment by God ( Ps 48:8; cf. 76:2; 87:5)
The Lord founded Mt. Zion in order that he might establish it as his eternal dwelling place and sanctuary
for his people.
Ps. 48:8
8 As we have heard, so have we seen

in the city of the LORD of hosts,
in the city of our God,
which God will establish forever.
Ps. 76:2
2 Hisabode has been established in Salem,

his dwelling place in Zion.
The prophecies of Zion as God’s eternal city were fulfilled by Christ’s establishment of the church as an
eschatological community. The church is the heavenly Jerusalem. It is a city on a hill, the light of the
world. God founded it with Christ as its chief cornerstone and built it with those who have faith in Jesus.
He protects his church and gives it the victory over the powers of chaos. The heavenly Jerusalem is the
bride of Christ and the mother of the faithful. The heavenly Jerusalem comes from God and replaces the
temple in Jerusalem as the dwelling place of God with all his saints. It is the temple of the living God.
Each time the church gathers for worship here on earth, it enters the heavenly Jerusalem and serves
God with all the angels and saints.
• Eternal residence by God (Ps 68:16; 132:14)
God chose Mt. Zion to be his eternal dwelling place with his people. The city and temple were regarded
as the Lord’s mountain, the place where he was enthroned as king.
Ps. 68:16
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16 Why do you look with hatred, O many-peaked mountain,

at the mount that God desired for his abode,
yes, where the LORD will dwell forever?
Zech. 2:11
11 And many nations shall join themselves to the LORD in that day, and shall be my
people. And I will dwell in your midst, and you shall know that the LORD of hosts has
sent me to you.
Ps. 9:7-8

he has established his throne for justice,8
and he judges the world with righteousness;
he judges the peoples with uprightness
In glory the Lord dwelled in his temple.
Ps. 26:8
8 O LORD,I love the habitation of your house

and the place where your glory dwells.
In the temple God sat enthroned as the King of the whole world.
Ps. 9:7-8

Ps. 99:1-2
1 The LORD reigns; let the peoples tremble!

He sits enthroned upon the cherubim; let the earth quake!2
The LORD is great in Zion;
he is exalted over all the peoples.
The eternal city where God resides with his people is the church. Old Testament Zion looks forward to
the New Jerusalem, the heavenly Jerusalem, where God lives in eternal bliss with his people.
• Eternal stability and endurance (Ps 125:1; cf. 46:5)
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Zion was prophesied to be the eternal city. God had chosen it as the place where he would be with his
people forever.
Ps. 125:1
1 Thosewho trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion,

which cannot be moved, but abides forever.
Ps. 46:5
5 Godis in the midst of her; she shall not be moved;

God will help her when morning dawns.
Ps. 132:14
14 “Thisis my resting place forever;

here I will dwell, for I have desired it.
4. God's Purpose for Zion (Isa 2:1-4; 4:2-6)
The city and mountain were regarded as the Lord’s mountain. It was first understood this way in the
Song of the Sea where it was used to teach his people that their deliverance from Egypt would
culminate in the establishment of God’s temple on Zion. Like Mt. Sinai, Mt Zion would be a place where
the Israelites had access to heaven on earth. (1) At Zion, God would reside in the midst of his people. His
holy presence was like fire in the city. It would destroy sinners and cleanse the penitent, making them
holy. The holy mountain was Israel’s rock. There the poor could take refuge with the Lord. The Lord was
Israel’s rock of deliverance and the rock of stumbling for self-sufficient unbelievers. There God’s people
could escape God’s wrath on the day of judgment. Judgment came when Israel polluted their worship of
the Lord. The purpose of God’s judgment was to purify and restore Zion. Those who repented of their
sin were cleansed and saved, while those who refused would be destroyed. This was illustrated when
God saved Jerusalem from the Assyrians when they repented and when God rescued his people from
exile in Babylon when they repented. When God brought Israel back, he vindicated himself and his
bride. From Zion God reached out to all people. (2)
In the last days, God would establish Zion (the Church) as an international place of worship. (3) It would
be a shrine for all nations where God would gather foreigners and they would join Israel in worship. God
would even make foreigners his priests. His temple would become a house of prayer for all nations.
There God would reveal his glory. There he would teach the nations his ways, establishing justice and
peace, and purify their speech. And there God would throw a great banquet for all nations. (4)
Ultimately Isaiah’s vision of Zion’s exaltation would be fulfilled in the new heaven and the new earth. (5)
Is. 2:1-4
2:1 The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
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2 It shall come to pass in the latter days
that the mountain of the house of the LORD
shall be established as the highest of the mountains,
and shall be lifted up above the hills;
and all the nations shall flow to it,
3 and many peoples shall come, and say:
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD,
to the house of the God of Jacob,
that he may teach us his ways
and that we may walk in his paths.”
For out of Zion shall go forth the law,
and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
4 He shall judge between the nations,
and shall decide disputes for many peoples;
and they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war anymore.
Is. 4:2-6
2 In that day the branch of the LORD shall be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land
shall be the pride and honor of the survivors of Israel. 3 And he who is left in Zion and remains
in Jerusalem will be called holy, everyone who has been recorded for life in Jerusalem, 4 when
the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and cleansed the
bloodstains of Jerusalem from its midst by a spirit of judgment and by a spirit of burning. 5
Then the LORD will create over the whole site of Mount Zion and over her assemblies a cloud
by day, and smoke and the shining of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory there will be
a canopy. 6 There will be a booth for shade by day from the heat, and for a refuge and a
shelter from the storm and rain.
• Location of God's temple for all nations in the last times
In the latter days the Lord would raise up Mt Zion as a shrine for all the nations. People from all nations
will go to the house of the Lord at Mt. Zion.
Is. 2:1-3a
1 The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
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to the house of the God of Jacob ...
Jer. 3:17
17 At that time Jerusalem shall be called the throne of the LORD, and all nations shall
gather to it, to the presence of the LORD in Jerusalem, and they shall no more
stubbornly follow their own evil heart.
God will make the temple a house of prayer for all nations. There he will gather people to himself.
Is. 56:6-8
6 “And the foreigners who join themselves to the LORD,

to minister to him, to love the name of the LORD,
and to be his servants,
everyone who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it,
and holds fast my covenant—
7 these I will bring to my holy mountain,
and make them joyful in my house of prayer;
their burnt offerings and their sacrifices
will be accepted on my altar;
for my house shall be called a house of prayer
for all peoples.”
8 The Lord GOD,
who gathers the outcasts of Israel, declares,
“I will gather yet others to him
besides those already gathered.”
• Whole city as God's temple: God's glory
The whole of Mt. Zion became known as the house of God.
Is. 2:3

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• All citizens as holy priests
In the future God’s holy city will include Gentiles as well as Jews and the Lord will have both Jews and
Gentiles serve as priests and Levites.
Is. 66:18-21
18 “For I know their works and their thoughts, and the time is coming to gather all
nations and tongues. And they shall come and shall see my glory, ... 21 And some of
them also I will take for priests and for Levites, says the LORD.
• Centre of mission to the nations
Zion will be the center of God’s mission to include the Gentiles as his people. The nations will flock to his
holy presence at Mt. Zion.
Is. 2:1-3a
1 The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
to the house of the God of Jacob ...
• Pilgrimage of nations to Mt Zion
The nations who would be redeemed by the Lord, would go in pilgrimage to Zion with the people of
Israel and become God's holy people.
Is. 2:3

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• God's teaching of his ways to the nations in Zion
The Lord would teach the nations his ways and make peace between them through their worship of him.
Is. 2:3

• International peace by common submission to God
In the last days God would establish the temple mountain as a place for international worship and
peace.
Is. 2:4

The nations would go along with the Jews to seek the Lord's favour in Jerusalem.
Zech. 8:20-23
20 “Thus says the LORD of hosts: Peoples shall yet come, even the inhabitants of many
cities. 21 The inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, ‘Let us go at once to entreat
the favor of the LORD and to seek the LORD of hosts; I myself am going.’ 22 Many peoples and
strong nations shall come to seek the LORD of hosts in Jerusalem and to entreat the favor of
the LORD. 23 Thus says the LORD of hosts: In those days ten men from the nations of every
tongue shall take hold of the robe of a Jew, saying, ‘Let us go with you, for we have heard that
God is with you.’”
They would join Israel in bowing down and prostrating themselves before the Lord.
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Is. 45:23
23 Bymyself I have sworn;

from my mouth has gone out in righteousness
a word that shall not return:
‘To me every knee shall bow,
every tongue shall swear allegiance.’
Is. 66:23
23 From new moon to new moon,

and from Sabbath to Sabbath,
all flesh shall come to worship before me,
declares the LORD.
5. Fulfilment of God's Purposes for earthly Zion in heavenly Jerusalem
• Whole city as God's temple with God's glory (Isa 60:1-22)
Since God's temple palace was located in Jerusalem, it was the city of God.
Ps. 46:4
4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,

the holy habitation of the Most High.
Ps. 48:1
48:1 Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised

His holy mountain,
The Lord is exalted in Zion, the capital city of his world empire.
Ps. 47:7-8
7 ForGod is the King of all the earth;

sing praises with a psalm!
8 God reigns over the nations;
God sits on his holy throne.
Ps. 99:2
2 The LORD isgreat in Zion;
he is exalted over all the peoples.
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The Lord is great in Zion.
Ps. 48:1
48:1 Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised

His holy mountain,
Is. 12:6
6 Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion,

for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.”
The city of Jerusalem was compared to a woman in the prophecies of Isaiah. She would be served by
kings and queens (Isa 49:33; 60:10) who would nourish her.
Is. 49:7, 23
7 Thus says the LORD,

the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One,
to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nation,
the servant of rulers:
“Kings shall see and arise;
princes, and they shall prostrate themselves;
because of the LORD, who is faithful,
the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”
23 Kings shall be your foster fathers,

and their queens your nursing mothers.
With their faces to the ground they shall bow down to you,
and lick the dust of your feet.
Then you will know that I am the LORD;
those who wait for me shall not be put to shame.”
The city of Jerusalem on Mt. Zion is presented in the OT, and especially in Isaiah, as a wife of a king. This
distinguished theologically the Lord from Zion. As his wife, he makes her beautiful and glorifies her with
his presence.
Is. 52:1
52:1
Awake, awake,
put on your strength, O Zion;
put on your beautiful garments,
O Jerusalem, the holy city;
for there shall no more come into you
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the uncircumcised and the unclean.
Is. 60:9
9 For the coastlands shall hope for me,

the ships of Tarshish first,
to bring your children from afar,
their silver and gold with them,
for the name of the LORD your God,
and for the Holy One of Israel,
because he has made you beautiful.
Is. 60:13
13 The glory of Lebanon shall come to you,

the cypress, the plane, and the pine,
to beautify the place of my sanctuary,
and I will make the place of my feet glorious.
Is. 60:19
19 The sun shall be no more

your light by day,
nor for brightness shall the moon
give you light;
but the LORD will be your everlasting light,
and your God will be your glory.
• Creation of new Jerusalem in the new heavens and the new earth (Isa
65:17-19)
God would ultimately accomplish his purpose for Zion after his creation of a new heavens and earth (Isa
65:17-18).
Is. 65:17-18
17 “For behold, I create new heavens

and a new earth,
and the former things shall not be remembered
or come into mind.18
But be glad and rejoice forever
in that which I create;
for behold, I create Jerusalem to be a joy,
and her people to be a gladness.
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In his new creation he would make Jerusalem a place of life and blessing, communion with him and
peace.
Is. 65:19
19 I
will rejoice in Jerusalem
and be glad in my people;
no more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping
and the cry of distress.
Is. 65:24-25
24 Before they call I will answer;

while they are yet speaking I will hear.
25 The wolf and the lamb shall graze together;
the lion shall eat straw like the ox,
and dust shall be the serpent’s food.
They shall not hurt or destroy
in all my holy mountain,”says the LORD.
Is. 66:14
14 You shallsee, and your heart shall rejoice;

your bones shall flourish like the grass;
and the hand of the LORD shall be known to his servants,
and he shall show his indignation against his enemies.
It is evident in the arrangement of Isaiah, the structure of which indicates that the vision of Zion's
exaltation in Isaiah 2:1-4 would be fulfilled in heavenly Jerusalem after the creation of a new heaven and
new earth (Isa 65-66).
• Place for continual access and adoration of God by all humanity (Isa
66:18-23)
Is. 66:18-23
18 “For I know their works and their thoughts, and the time is coming to gather all
nations and tongues. And they shall come and shall see my glory, 19 and I will set a
sign among them. …
23 From new moon to new moon,

and from Sabbath to Sabbath,
all flesh shall come to worship before me,
declares the LORD.
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He would send out missionaries to the nations from Zion, so that all their survivors would come
to see his glory and pay homage to him in Zion.
Is. 66:19-20
… And they shall declare my glory among the nations. 20 And they shall bring all your
brothers from all the nations as an offering to the LORD, …
The Lord would choose some foreigners to be his priests and Levites.
Is. 66:21
21 And some of them also I will take for priests and for Levites, says the LORD.
In the new heaven and new earth, all of God’s people will have direct and continual access to God and
will continually worship and adore him (Is. 65-66).
6. The church as the city of God
These prophecies of Zion as an eternal city were fulfilled by Christ's establishment of the church as an
eschatological community.
Ps. 48:8
8 As we have heard, so have we seen

in the city of the LORD of hosts,
in the city of our God,
which God will establish forever.
The church is heavenly Jerusalem. God has set the church as a city on a hill, a light to the world.
Heb. 11:16
13 These all died in faith, …16 But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a
heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has
prepared for them a city.
• Church as the city of light set on a hill (Matt 5:14-16)
God has set the church as a city on a hill, a light to the world.
Mt. 5:14-16
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14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do
people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in
the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see
your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
• Church as free Jerusalem, the mother of the faithful (Gal 4:26)
Gal. 4:26
26 But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother.
• The church as the enduring city, built by God (Heb 11:10; 13:14)
The church is heavenly Jerusalem. God has founded it with Christ as its cornerstone.
Mark 12:10
10 Have you not read this Scripture:

“‘The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
Acts 4:11-12
11 This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become
the cornerstone. 12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name
under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
Eph. 2:19-22
19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the
saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the
apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the
whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him
you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
Christ built it on the faith of Peter and the apostles. And Christ protects it and gives it victory over the
powers of chaos.
Mt. 16:18
18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates
of hell shall not prevail against it.
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• Access to heavenly Jerusalem in the divine service (Heb 12:22-24)
When the church gathers on earth for worship, it enters heavenly Jerusalem and serves God there
together with all the angels and saints.
Heb. 12:22-24
22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly
Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, 23and to the assembly of
the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the
spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant,
and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
• Heavenly Jerusalem as the bride of Christ and God's dwelling place

(Rev 21:1-22:5)
Heavenly Jerusalem is the bride of Christ.
Eph. 5:25-27
25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for
her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with
the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot
or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.
Rev. 19:7-8
7Let us rejoice and exult

and give him the glory,
for the marriage of the Lamb has come,
and his Bride has made herself ready;
8 it was granted her to clothe herself
with fine linen, bright and pure”—for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the
saints.
Rev. 21:2
2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God,
prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
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d. The gift of prophecy

1. ROLE OF THE PROPHETS AS GOD'S MESSENGERS
 Messengers of God rather than foretellers or social critics
 Divine call and commission
 Admission to heavenly council: Amos 3:7
 Intercession and answer from God
 Inspiration by God's Spirit
 Proclamation of God's word
 Cleansing of lips: Isa 6:5-7
 God's mouthpiece: Jer 15:19
 Introduction of message with stock formulae
 Involvement in God's pain and suffering
2. PROCLAMATION WITH PERFORMATIVE UTTERANCES
 Oracles of judgment from heavenly court: Mic 3:5-12
 Accusation and indictment
 Reasons for indictment
 Divine sentence
 Oracles of salvation: Isa 41:8-16
 Direct address by God
 Divine self-disclosure
 Purpose or result of help
 Promise of help
 Performative word with divine speech acts: Jer 1:9-10
 Creation of history
 Use of prophetic perfect tense
 Association with symbolic enactments
 Subordination of prophecy to the law of Moses, the father of prophecy: Deut 18:15-16
3. TESTING OF PROPHECY
 Difference: prophecy and divination: Deut 13:1-5; 18:9-11
 Criteria for recognition of true prophets
 Fulfilment: Deut 18:19-22
 Call to repentance rather than unqualified promises of prosperity: Jer 28:8-9
 Worship of the Lord and obedience to his word: Deut 13:1-5
 Morality with justice and sex: Jer 5:25-31; 23:13-15
4. THE PROPHETS AND THE NATIONS
 International role of the prophets
 Jeremiah as the prophet to the nations: Jer 1:5
 Oracles against the nations by most prophets
 Presuppositions for these prophecies
 Lord as the creator and ruler of all the nations
 God's rule with international justice
 The day of the Lord for all the earth
 Criteria for judgment
 Self divinisation: Isa 14:12-15
 Atrocities against other nations
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 Cosmic disorder (Noah covenant): violence with sexual immorality, murder, and
involvement in the occult: Isa 24:4-6
 Mistreatment of Israel
 Judgment of the nations: prelude to final day of judgment
 Judgment of evildoers and eradication of evil: Isa 13:9-13
 Destruction of pagan gods and idols: Zeph 2:11
 Judgment of heavenly hosts and Leviathon: Isa 24:21-23; 27:1
 God's policy for the nations
 Zion as the place for international worship: Isa 2:1-4
 Conversion of the nations and their pilgrimage to Zion: Jer 16:19-21; Zech 8:20-23
 Performance of the divine service together with Israel: Zeph 3:8b-10
 Common confession of faith: Isa 45:22-25
 International role of the Messiah
 Administration of God's justice for the nations: Isa 42:1,4
 Bringer of God's light and salvation to the nations: Isa 42:6-7; 49:6
 Justification of many nations by sprinkling them with his blood: Isa 52:12; 53:11-12
 Proclamation of peace to the nations: Zech 9:10
 Fulfilment of all prophecy: Dan 9:24
d. THE GIFT OF PROPHECY

(Dr. Kleinig skipped The Gift of Prophecy section because of lack of time but I’ve added the
following notes based on the Class Overheads and the Class Notes provided by Dr. Kleinig.)
1. ROLE OF THE PROPHETS AS GOD'S MESSENGERS

 Messengers of God rather than foretellers or social critics
The prophets were messengers of the Lord (Isa. 44:26; Hag. 1:13), heralds of the heavenly king.
Is. 44:26
26 who confirms the word of his servant

and fulfills the counsel of his messengers,
who says of Jerusalem, ‘She shall be inhabited,’
and of the cities of Judah, ‘They shall be built,
and I will raise up their ruins’;
Hag. 1:3
13 Then Haggai, the messenger of the LORD, spoke to the people with the LORD’s
message, “I am with you, declares the LORD.”
As God’s messengers, the prophets spoke God’s word to Israel and to the nations. Jeremiah was
specifically called “a prophet to the nations,” and he is representative of all the classical prophets. They
served the Lord as messengers to the nations.
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Jer. 1:5
5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,

and before you were born I consecrated you;
I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”
As messengers of the Lord who spoke his word, the prophets were not social critics and reformers, but
rather proclaimed God's justice as demand or assurance, as a call to repentance or accusation, as a
sentence of condemnation or of vindication.
 Divine call and commission
Prophets were chosen and commissioned (shalach) by God. God sent them at particular times and
places to speak his word to particular people.
Is. 6:8
8 And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for
us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.”
Is. 48:16
16 Draw near to me, hear this:

from the beginning I have not spoken in secret,
from the time it came to be I have been there.”
And now the Lord GOD has sent me, and his Spirit.
Jer. 1:7
7 But the LORD said to me,

“Do not say, ‘I am only a youth’;
for to all to whom I send you, you shall go,
and whatever I command you, you shall speak.
Eze. 2:3-4
3 And he said to me, “Son of man, I send you to the people of Israel, to nations of
rebels, who have rebelled against me. They and their fathers have transgressed
against me to this very day. 4 The descendants also are impudent and stubborn: I send
you to them, and you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD.’
Zech. 7:12
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12 They made their hearts diamond-hard lest they should hear the law and the words
that the LORD of hosts had sent by his Spirit through the former prophets . Therefore
great anger came from the LORD of hosts.
They did not decide to become prophets but were called by God himself.
1 Sam. 3:10-11a, 19-21
10 And the LORD came and stood, calling as at other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” And
Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant hears.” 11 Then the LORD said to Samuel,
“Behold, I am about to do a thing in Israel ...
19 And Samuel grew, and the LORD was with him and let none of his words fall to the
ground. 20 And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel was established as
a prophet of the LORD. 21 And the LORD appeared again at Shiloh, for
the LORD revealed himself to Samuel at Shiloh by the word of the LORD.
Amos 7:14-15
14 Then Amos answered and said to Amaziah, “I was no prophet, nor a prophet’s son,
but I was a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore figs. 15 But the LORD took me from
following the flock, and the LORD said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’
Jer. 1:4-5
4 Now the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

6 Then I said, “Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a
youth.” 7 But the LORD said to me,
Eze. 2:1-7
2:1 And he said to me, “Son of man, stand on your feet, and I will speak with
you.” 2 And as he spoke to me, the Spirit entered into me and set me on my feet, and I
heard him speaking to me. 3 And he said to me, “Son of man, I send you to the people
of Israel, to nations of rebels, who have rebelled against me. They and their fathers
have transgressed against me to this very day. 4 The descendants also are impudent
and stubborn: I send you to them, and you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the
Lord GOD.’ 5 And whether they hear or refuse to hear (for they are a rebellious house)
they will know that a prophet has been among them. 6 And you, son of man, be not
afraid of them, nor be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns are with you and
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you sit on scorpions. Be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, for
they are a rebellious house. 7 And you shall speak my words to them, whether they
hear or refuse to hear, for they are a rebellious house.
Their authority depended on their call. So, when Amos was challenged, he referred to his call as his
credentials to prophecy.
Amos 7:14-15
14 Then Amos answered and said to Amaziah, “I was no prophet, nor a prophet’s son,
but I was a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore figs. 15 But the LORD took me from
following the flock, and the LORD said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’
In their call the Lord not only commissioned them but also summarised their message or task; he also
warned Isaiah (6:9-13), Jeremiah (1:17-19) and Ezekiel (2:3-7; 3:7-11) of the opposition to them and the
rejection of their message.
Jer. 1:17-19
17 But you, dress yourself for work; arise, and say to them everything that I command
you. Do not be dismayed by them, lest I dismay you before them. 18 And I, behold, I
make you this day a fortified city, an iron pillar, and bronze walls, against the whole
land, against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests, and the people of the
land. 19 They will fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you, for I am
with you, declares the LORD, to deliver you.”
Eze. 2:3-7
3 And he said to me, “Son of man, I send you to the people of Israel, to nations of
rebels, who have rebelled against me. They and their fathers have transgressed
against me to this very day. 4 The descendants also are impudent and stubborn: I send
you to them, and you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD.’ 5 And whether they
hear or refuse to hear (for they are a rebellious house) they will know that a prophet
has been among them. 6 And you, son of man, be not afraid of them, nor be afraid of
their words, though briers and thorns are with you and you sit on scorpions. Be not
afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, for they are a rebellious
house. 7 And you shall speak my words to them, whether they hear or refuse to hear,
for they are a rebellious house.
Eze. 3:7
7 But the house of Israel will not be willing to listen to you, for they are not willing to
listen to me: because all the house of Israel have a hard forehead and a stubborn
heart.
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o Admission to heavenly council: Amos 3:7
There is a council in heaven, made up of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, as well as the angels, where
decisions are made that determine history. We have a glimpse of the council in Gen. 1:26 where God
made the decision to create human beings and to give them dominion over creation.
Gen. 1:26
26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have
dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and
over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
The prophets were admitted to God's heavenly council (sod), so that they could both announce and
explain his royal decrees.
Amos 3:7
7 “For the Lord GOD does nothing

without revealing his secret
to his servants the prophets.
Jer. 23:18, 22 (Unlike true prophets, false prophets have not stood in the council of the Lord.)
18 For who among them has stood in the council of the LORD

to see and to hear his word,
or who has paid attention to his word and listened?
22 But if they had stood in my council,

then they would have proclaimed my words to my people,
and they would have turned them from their evil way,
and from the evil of their deeds.
Isa. 6:1-2a, 8
6:1 In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and
lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him stood the
seraphim. ...
8 And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for
us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.” 9 And he said, “Go, and say to this people:
“‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand;
keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’
o Intercession and answer from God
People who needed help from God asked/sought (darash) the prophets to intercede for them so as to
secure a favourable word from God.
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Jer. 37:3
3 King Zedekiah sent Jehucal the son of Shelemiah, and Zephaniah the priest, the son
of Maaseiah, to Jeremiah the prophet, saying, “Please pray for us to the LORD our
God.”
1 Kings 14:4-5
4 Jeroboam’s wife did so. She arose and went to Shiloh and came to the house of
Ahijah [the prophet]. Now Ahijah could not see, for his eyes were dim because of his
age. 5 And the LORD said to Ahijah, “Behold, the wife of Jeroboam is coming to
inquire of you concerning her son, for he is sick. Thus and thus shall you say to her.”
When she came, she pretended to be another woman.
Prophets therefore functioned as intercessors in Israel (note the use of the verb answer in Jeremiah.
Jer. 23:37
37 Thus you shall say to the prophet, ‘What has the LORD answered you?’ or ‘What
has the LORD spoken?’
But when God finally decided to destroy Judah and Jerusalem because of their idolatry, God forbade
Jeremiah from interceding for them.
Jer. 7:16-18
16 “As for you, do not pray for this people, or lift up a cry or prayer for them, and do
not intercede with me, for I will not hear you. 17 Do you not see what they are doing
in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 18 The children gather wood, the
fathers kindle fire, and the women knead dough, to make cakes for the queen of
heaven. And they pour out drink offerings to other gods, to provoke me to anger.
 Inspiration by God's Spirit
Like the judges, a prophet was ‘a man of the Spirit’ (Hos 9:7) who was inspired by God's Spirit to speak
God’s word.
Neh. 9:30
30 Many years you bore with them and warned them by your Spirit through your
prophets. Yet they would not give ear. Therefore you gave them into the hand of the
peoples of the lands.
Is. 48:16
16 Draw near to me, hear this:
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from the beginning I have not spoken in secret,

from the time it came to be I have been there.”
And now the Lord GOD has sent me, and his Spirit.
Micah 3:8
8 But as for me, I am filled with power,

with the Spirit of the LORD,
and with justice and might,
to declare to Jacob his transgression
and to Israel his sin.
Zech. 7:12
12 They made their hearts diamond-hard lest they should hear the law and the words
that the LORD of hosts had sent by his Spirit through the former prophets. Therefore
great anger came from the LORD of hosts.
Strangely, God’s use of the pagan prophet Balaam for his own purposes is a good example of how he
inspires a prophet through his Holy Spirit. Balaam received a message from God by the inspiration of
God's Spirit in the form of an audible vision.
Num. 24:2-3a
2 And Balaam lifted up his eyes and saw Israel camping tribe by tribe. And the Spirit of
God came upon him, 3 and he took up his discourse and said,
 Proclamation of God's word
God called prophets in order to proclaim his word. The Lord sent the prophet, gave him the words to
speak, and was with him to deliver him if they rejected him. And when God spoke his word to them,
they were compelled to speak it to its intended audience even though sometimes the prophets were
reluctant to do so.
Amos 3:8
8 The lion has roared;

who will not fear?
The Lord GOD has spoken;
who can but prophesy?”
Jer. 1:6-8
6 Then I said, “Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a
youth.” 7 But the LORD said to me,
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8 Do not be afraid of them,
for I am with you to deliver you,declares the LORD.”
The prophets not only proclaimed God’s word verbally, but their whole lives were involved in the
proclamation of God's word.
 Hosea’s marriage to a prostitute paralleled God’s “marriage” to unfaithful Israel. As Hosea had
mercy on his unfaithful wife and redeemed her, he acted out what God was doing for his
unfaithful bride, Israel. In Hos. 3:1 God said to Hosea, “Go again, love a woman who is loved by
another man and is an adulteress, even as the LORD loves the children of Israel, though they
turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins.”
 Jeremiah’s message to Judah was Repent or face God’s judgment! His message was one of doom
and gloom and punishment. The leaders and people ignored God’s word spoken by Jeremiah.
Their treatment of Jeremiah mirrored their treatment of God. The suffering and agony that
Jeremiah went through represented the suffering that God experienced as his people rejected
him.
 The people of Israel were a stubborn and obstinate people who refused to hear God’s word.
Therefore God made up his mind to wipe out the nation. God had given them many chances to
repent, but they refused. Therefore once God decided to destroy them, there was no changing
his mind. Ezekiel was a prophet. Prophets speak God’s word. Yet Ezekiel was made dumb by
God. This signified that their time had run out. God would no longer give them a chance to
repent. Ezekiel was prevented from speaking God’s word to them. Also, the death of Ezekiel’s
delight, his wife, would also be a sign to Israel. As Ezekiel lost his beloved, so the delight of God’s
eyes, his temple and his people, would be profaned and destroyed.
God spoke his word through the prophets. He spoke to show what he was doing and what he would do
in Israel's history.
Amos 3:7
7 “For the Lord GOD does nothing

without revealing his secret
to his servants the prophets.
Is. 41:26
26 Who declared it from the beginning, that we might know,

and beforehand, that we might say, “He is right”?
There was none who declared it, none who proclaimed,
none who heard your words.
By his prophetic word, God did not just tell people what he was doing or predict what he would do but
actually made it happen.
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Is. 55:10-11
10 “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven
and do not return there but water the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,11
so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
Jer. 1:9-10
9 Then the LORD put out his hand and touched my mouth. And the LORD said to me,
“Behold, I have put my words in your mouth.
10 See, I have set you this day over nations and over kingdoms,
to pluck up and to break down,
to destroy and to overthrow,
to build and to plant.”
Eze. 37:9-10
9 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to the
breath, Thus says the Lord GOD: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on
these slain, that they may live.” 10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the
breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great
army.
Apart from his word, Israel could not understand what he was doing in her history (eg. The exile in
Babylon). His words of judgment and salvation (law and gospel) were therefore both performative and
informative.
By speaking God's word into human history the prophets made history not only in the land of Israel, but
also on the international stage.
Jer. 1:9-10
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God's word was conceived as a power or an agent that was sent by him (Isa 9:8), performed its mission
(Isa 55:11) and remained for ever (Isa 40:8). It was like a fire with wood (Jer 5:14; 23:29; cf 20:9), or a
hammer with rock (Jer 23:29).
Is. 9:8
8 The Lord has sent a word against Jacob,

and it will fall on Israel;
Is. 55:11
11 so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;

Is. 40:8
8 The grass withers, the flower fades,

but the word of our God will stand forever.
Jer. 5:14
14 Therefore thus says the LORD, the God of hosts:

“Because you have spoken this word,
behold, I am making my words in your mouth a fire,
and this people wood, and the fire shall consume them.
Jer. 23:29
29 Is not my word like fire, declares the LORD, and like a hammer that breaks the rock
in pieces?
The prophets received God’s word in a couple of ways. Prophets like Isaiah seemed to have received
their message mainly in a visionary form. Such a prophet was called a seer. They saw their message as a
word-event (dabar: Isa 2:1; Amos 1:1; Mic 1:1) or as a vision (chazon: Isa 1:1) or as a burden (massa’:
Isa 13:1; Hab 1:1).
Is. 2:1
Amos 1:1
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1:1 The words of Amos, who was among the shepherds of Tekoa, which he saw
concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah and in the days of Jeroboam the
son of Joash, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake.
Micah 1:1
1:1 The word of the LORD that came to Micah of Moresheth in the days of Jotham,

Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.
Is. 1:1
1:1 The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and
Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
Is. 13:1
13:1 The oracle concerning Babylon which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw.
Hab. 1:1
1:1 The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet saw.
God spoke parabolically through the prophets.
Hos. 12:10
10 I spoke to the prophets;

it was I who multiplied visions,
and through the prophets gave parables.
Other prophets did not receive the word by seeing it but by hearing it. Prophets like Jeremiah heard the
word spoken to them.
Is. 1:4-8
4 Now the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”6 Then I said, “Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, I do
not know how to speak, for I am only a youth.” 7 But the LORD said to me,
8 Do not be afraid of them,
for I am with you to deliver you,declares the LORD.”
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God’s word was given to them in answer to prayer.
Jer. 23:35, 37
35 Thus shall you say, every one to his neighbor and every one to his brother, ‘What
has the LORD answered?’ or ‘What has the LORD spoken?’
37 Thus you shall say to the prophet, ‘What has the LORD answered you?’ or ‘What
has the LORD spoken?’
They expressed this experience by the formula: “The word of the Lord came to me.” Since this occurred
while they were awake, Jeremiah was suspicious of prophets who received their message in dreams
God’s word.
Jer. 23:25-32
25 I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in my name, saying, ‘I
have dreamed, I have dreamed!’ 26 How long shall there be lies in the heart of the
prophets who prophesy lies, and who prophesy the deceit of their own heart, 27 who
think to make my people forget my name by their dreams that they tell one another,
even as their fathers forgot my name for Baal? 28 Let the prophet who has a dream
tell the dream, but let him who has my word speak my word faithfully. What has
straw in common with wheat? declares the LORD. 29 Is not my word like fire, declares
the LORD, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces? 30 Therefore, behold, I
am against the prophets, declares the LORD, who steal my words from one
another. 31 Behold, I am against the prophets, declares the LORD, who use their
tongues and declare, ‘declares the LORD.’ 32 Behold, I am against those who prophesy
lying dreams, declares the LORD, and who tell them and lead my people astray by
their lies and their recklessness, when I did not send them or charge them. So they do
not profit this people at all, declares the LORD.
While most classical prophets received their message in a sober state, some prophets such as Ezekiel
received their message in a state of heightened consciousness. The Spirit of God entered Exekiel, raised
him on his feet, lifted him from his place and brought him to another place.
Eze. 2:2
2 And as he spoke to me, the Spirit entered into me and set me on my feet, and I
heard him speaking to me.
Eze. 8:3
3 He put out the form of a hand and took me by a lock of my head, and the Spirit lifted
me up between earth and heaven and brought me in visions of God to Jerusalem, to
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the entrance of the gateway of the inner court that faces north, where was the seat of
the image of jealousy, which provokes to jealousy.
Eze. 11:1
11:1 The Spirit lifted me up and brought me to the east gate of the house of
the LORD, which faces east. And behold, at the entrance of the gateway there were
twenty-five men. And I saw among them Jaazaniah the son of Azzur, and Pelatiah the
son of Benaiah, princes of the people.
Eze. 11:24
24 And the Spirit lifted me up and brought me in the vision by the Spirit of God into
Chaldea, to the exiles. Then the vision that I had seen went up from me.
The behaviour of such prophets led people to consider that they were insane.
Hos. 9:7
7 The days of punishment have come;

the days of recompense have come;
Israel shall know it.
The prophet is a fool;
the man of the spirit is mad,
because of your great iniquity
and great hatred.
Jer. 29:26
26 ‘The LORD has made you priest instead of Jehoiada the priest, to have charge in the
house of the LORD over every madman who prophesies, to put him in the stocks and
neck irons.
If a prophet spoke God’s word, he was truly a prophet. But if he spoke his own word he was a false
prophet. How could one be sure the prophet was a true prophet and not a false prophet? If a part or all
of the prophecy was fulfilled, then the prophet had spoken God's word.
Deut. 18:19-22
19 And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself
will require it of him. 20 But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name
that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods,
that same prophet shall die.’ 21 And if you say in your heart, ‘How may we know the
word that the LORD has not spoken?’— 22 when a prophet speaks in the name of
the LORD, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that
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the LORD has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be
afraid of him.
Eze. 33:33
33 When this comes—and come it will!—then they will know that a prophet has been
among them.”
o Cleansing of lips: Isa 6:5-7
Prophets served as the Lord’s mouth and therefore their lips and mouths had to be cleansed so they
could speak God’s holy word.
Is. 6:5-7
5 And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in
the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of
hosts!”
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he
had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold,
this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”
o God's mouthpiece: Jer 15:19
The prophets served as the Lord's mouth. They spoke God’s word.
Jer. 15:19
19 Therefore thus says the LORD:

“If you return, I will restore you,
and you shall stand before me.
If you utter what is precious, and not what is worthless,
you shall be as my mouth.
They shall turn to you,
but you shall not turn to them.
Isaiah's lips and mouths were cleansed, so that he could speak God's holy word.
Is. 6:5-7
5 And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in
the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of
hosts!” 6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal
that he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 And he touched my mouth and said:
“Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”
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Ezekiel was given God's words as a scroll to eat (Ezek 1:8 - 3:11) and received them in his heart.
Eze. 3:1-4, 10-11
3:1 And he said to me, “Son of man, eat whatever you find here. Eat this scroll, and go,
speak to the house of Israel.” 2 So I opened my mouth, and he gave me this scroll to
eat. 3 And he said to me, “Son of man, feed your belly with this scroll that I give you
and fill your stomach with it.” Then I ate it, and it was in my mouth as sweet as honey.
4 And he said to me, “Son of man, go to the house of Israel and speak with my
words to them.
...
10 Moreover, he said to me, “Son of man, all my words that I shall speak to you
receive in your heart, and hear with your ears. 11 And go to the exiles, to your people,
and speak to them and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD,’ whether they hear or
refuse to hear.”
God put his words in Jeremiah's mouth, so that he spoke from God's mouth.
Jer. 1:9
Jer. 23:16
16 Thus says the LORD of hosts: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who
prophesy to you, filling you with vain hopes. They speak visions of their own minds,
not from the mouth of the LORD.
o Introduction of message with stock formulae
The prophets spoke the word of the Lord (debar YHWH) as is indicated by the stock formulae for the
presentation of their message.
 “Thus says the Lord.”
 “The word of the Lord came to me.”
 “Says the Lord (RSV) or “declares the Lord” (NIV): (literally whisper of the Lord).
 Involvement in God's pain and suffering
The prophets were called to suffer with God as well as with his people. By marrying Gomer, Hosea
experienced something of God's agony at Israel's rejection of Him.
Hos. 1:2-3
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2 When the LORD first spoke through Hosea, the LORD said to Hosea, “Go, take to

yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits
great whoredom by forsaking the LORD.” 3 So he went and took Gomer, the daughter
of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.
The names of Hosea’s children indicate God’s sorrow for his wayward people: Jezreel
(God will scatter his seed [people] among the nations), No Mercy (God will no longer
have mercy on his people), and Not My People (God will no longer consider Israel his
people) because they have abandoned him for other gods.
Just as God identified with his people and suffered with them in his judgment of them, so Jeremiah
personally experienced the grief of God over his people as well as their suffering under God's judgment.
Jer 4:19-22
19
My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain!
Oh the walls of my heart!
My heart is beating wildly;
I cannot keep silent,
for I hear the sound of the trumpet,
the alarm of war.
20 Crash follows hard on crash;
the whole land is laid waste.
Suddenly my tents are laid waste,
my curtains in a moment.
21 How long must I see the standard
and hear the sound of the trumpet?
22 “For my people are foolish;
they know me not;
they are stupid children;
they have no understanding.
They are ‘wise’—in doing evil!
But how to do good they know not.”
Ezekiel bore the guilt of the people in his charade on the siege of Jerusalem and felt something of God's
pain at the destruction of Jerusalem by the death of his own wife.
Eze. 4:4-8
4 “Then lie on your left side, and place the punishment of the house of Israel upon it.
For the number of the days that you lie on it, you shall bear their punishment. 5 For I
assign to you a number of days, 390 days, equal to the number of the years of their
punishment. So long shall you bear the punishment of the house of Israel. 6 And when
you have completed these, you shall lie down a second time, but on your right side,
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and bear the punishment of the house of Judah. Forty days I assign you, a day for each
year. 7 And you shall set your face toward the siege of Jerusalem, with your arm
bared, and you shall prophesy against the city. 8 And behold, I will place cords upon
you, so that you cannot turn from one side to the other, till you have completed the
days of your siege.
Eze. 24:15-21
15 The word of the LORD came to me: 16 “Son of man, behold, I am about to take the

delight of your eyes away from you at a stroke; yet you shall not mourn or weep, nor
shall your tears run down. 17 Sigh, but not aloud; make no mourning for the dead.
Bind on your turban, and put your shoes on your feet; do not cover your lips, nor eat
the bread of men.” 18 So I spoke to the people in the morning, and at evening my wife
died. And on the next morning I did as I was commanded.
19 And the people said to me, “Will you not tell us what these things mean for us,
that you are acting thus?” 20 Then I said to them, “The word of the LORD came to
me: 21 ‘Say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I will profane my
sanctuary, the pride of your power, the delight of your eyes, and the yearning of your
soul, and your sons and your daughters whom you left behind shall fall by the sword.
2. PROCLAMATION WITH PERFORMATIVE UTTERANCES
By his prophetic word, God did not just predict what he would do but actually made it happen.
Is. 55:10-11
10 “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven
and do not return there but water the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
Jer. 1:9-10
Eze. 37:7-10
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7 So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I prophesied, there was a sound, and
behold, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. 8 And I looked, and
behold, there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had
covered them. But there was no breath in them. 9 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to
the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, Thus says the Lord GOD:
Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may
live.” 10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and
they lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army.
He also spoke to show what he was doing and what he would do in Israel's history.
Is. 41:25
25 I stirred up one from the north, and he has come,

from the rising of the sun, and he shall call upon my name;
he shall trample on rulers as on mortar,
as the potter treads clay.
Apart from his word, Israel could not understand what he was doing in her history (eg. The exile in
Babylon). His words of judgment and salvation (law and gospel) were therefore both performative and
informative.
God’s word is powerful. Just speaking God’s word causes things to happen. The precedent for this was
set in the beginning when God created the universe.
Ps. 33:6-9
6
By the word of the LORD the heavens were made,
and by the breath of his mouth all their host.7
He gathers the waters of the sea as a heap;
he puts the deeps in storehouses.
8
Let all the earth fear the LORD;
let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him!9
For he spoke, and it came to be;
he commanded, and it stood firm.
Note the series of performative utterances in Gen 1:1 - 2:3.

• Creative decree for the light (1:3), the firmament (1:6a), and the heavenly bodies (1:14). See
also the divine mandate in 1:6 and 1:14-15.
• Regulative decrees to the chaotic waters and dry land (1:9)
• Productive (evolutionary?) command to the land (1:11,24) and the seas (1:20)
• Imperative benediction to the fish and birds (1:22)
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• Collective decision for human creation in the heavenly council (1:26)
• Imperative benediction to human kind (1:28). See the repetition of this to Noah (Gen 9:1) and
Jacob (Gen 35:11)
• Permissive bestowal of plants as food to people and the animals (1:29-30)
These utterances not only create and regulate the world but also empower and make provision for
nourishment of living creatures. They establish a precedent for God's operation through his word with
human beings and Israel. The whole of the universe is therefore created and upheld by God's word (cf
Heb 1:3). See also the Jewish notion of the pre-existent torah.
Heb. 1:3
3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he
upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he
sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
The message of the prophets was a performative utterance that enacted what it proclaimed (Isa 55:10-
11).
1) The prophets enacted God's will at a point in Israel's history by speaking God's effectual word of
judgment (Hos 6:5) or salvation (Isa 44:24-28).
Hos. 6:5
5 Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets;

I have slain them by the words of my mouth,
and my judgment goes forth as the light.
Is. 44:24-28
24 Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer,

who formed you from the womb:
...
...
28 who says of Cyrus, ‘He is my shepherd,
and he shall fulfill all my purpose’;
saying of Jerusalem, ‘She shall be built,’
and of the temple, ‘Your foundation shall be laid.’”
2) When they spoke of the future, they did not just predict what God would do but actually set in
train what was about to happen.
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1 Kings 17:1-24
17:1 Now Elijah the Tishbite, of Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the LORD, the God of
Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except
by my word.” ... 7 And after a while the brook dried up, because there was no rain in the
land. Then the word of the LORD came to him, 9 “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs
to Sidon, and dwell there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to feed you.” ...
14 For thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘The jar of flour shall not be spent, and the
jug of oil shall not be empty, until the day that the LORD sends rain upon the
earth.’” 15 And she went and did as Elijah said. And she and he and her household ate for
many days. 16 The jar of flour was not spent, neither did the jug of oil become empty,
according to the word of the LORD that he spoke by Elijah. ... 24 And the woman said to
Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in your
mouth is truth.”
3) These prophecies of God's future deeds were usually couched in the prophetic perfect, since
what God had spoken was certain to occur and so in a sense had occurred once it was spoken.
Is. 1:20
20 but if you refuse and rebel,

you shall be eaten by the sword;
for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”
Is. 40:5
5
And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed,
and all flesh shall see it together,
4) God's word was conceived as a power or an agent that was sent by him (Isa 9:8), performed its
mission (Isa 55:11) and remained for ever (Isa 40:8). It was like a fire with wood (Jer 5:14; 23:29;
cf 20:9), or a hammer with rock (Jer 23:29).
5) In Ezekiel's vision of the valley with the bones , the Lord's Spirit which resurrects and revives
Israel, is bestowed by the word of the prophet (Ezek 37:1-14).
The performative character of prophecy is evident from its connection with symbolic enactments.
• Ahijah's tearing of his new cloak into twelve pieces (1 Kgs 11:30)
• Hosea's marriage (1-3)
• Isaiah's names for his children (8:1-10) and the charade of the prisoner of war (20:1-6)
• Jeremiah: avoidance of mourning and feasting (16:5-9), the waist cloth (13:1- 11), celibacy
(16:1-13), smashing of clay pot (19:1-5), wearing of yokes (27:1 - 28:17), purchase of land (32:1-
44), offer of wine to the Rechabites (35:1-19), laying of stones in Egypt for Nebuchadrezzar's
throne (43:8-13), casting of scroll in Euphrates (51:59-64)
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• Ezekiel: dumbness (3:24-27; cf 24:26-27; 33:21-22), charade of siege (4-5), charade of prisoner
of war (12:1-20), charade of Babylonian king at the crossroads (21:18-27), lack of mourning for
wife (24:15-27).
The history of Israel in Canaan was shaped by the prophetic word from the choice of Saul and David to
the exile in Babylon and the building of the second temple.
(1) By speaking God's word into human history the prophets made history not only in the land of
Israel, but also on the international stage (Jer 1:9-10).
(2) Isaiah therefore compares the prophetic word to the performative word of God in creation
(Isa 44:24-28; 51:16; cf. 55:10-11). Hence, when God ceases to speak his word, Israel
experiences a drought which devastates it totally (Amos 8:11-14).
(3) The connection between prophecy and history is expressed by the ambiguity of dabar in
Hebrew which means both word and event (Deut 18:22).
(4) The Deuteronomic history from Joshua to 2 Kings is therefore regarded as prophecy in the
Hebrew Bible.
(5) Since prophecy makes history, it must be understood in the light of its historical setting (eg.
Isa 1:1), just as it in turn reveals and explains God's work in history (Amos 3:6-7).
(6) Since the word of the prophets came from God and belonged to him, the Old Testament is
not interested in the experiences of the prophets unless the stories about them explained the
role of the prophets, as is the case with Elijah and Elisha, or else clarified their message, as with
Hosea and Jeremiah.
(7) The messages of some prophets were recorded, because their word was addressed to a
national or international audience and so continued to shape the history of Israel and the
destiny of the nations (see the postscript in Hos 14:9 and Zech 1:2-6).
 Oracles of judgment from heavenly court: Mic 3:5-12
God’s prophets announced God’s judgment on Israel and Judah.
Micah 3:8, 12
8But as for me, I am filled with power,

12 Therefore because of you

Zion shall be plowed as a field;
Jerusalem shall become a heap of ruins,
and the mountain of the house a wooded height.
Jeremiah delivered oracles of judgment against Jerusalem.

• God's call to Zion to cleanse herself from wickedness and so escape invasion by an enemy
army (Jer 4:11-18)
• God's warning to maiden Zion about her futile attempts to seduce her murderers (Jer 4:29-31)
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• God's refusal to pardon Zion, because her people had forsaken him and had refused to repent
(Jer 5:7-9; cf. 5:1-3)
• God's command to Jeremiah to prune the vineyard of Zion (Jer 5:10-11; 6:9)
• God's call for the people of Benjamin to leave Jerusalem before he besieged and destroyed it
for its violence and oppression (Jer 6:1-8)
• God's call on maiden Zion to mourn the coming death of her citizens (Jer 6:22-26)
• God's warning to adulteress Zion of her imminent ‘rape' by her enemies (Jer 13:13-27)
• God's decision to bring about Zion's destruction (Jer 15:5-9; 19; 21:3-10; 22:8-9; 25:29; 34:1-
3,22; 37:6-8; 38:17-23).
The prophets also prophesied to the nations. Most of the prophecies to the nations were oracles of
judgment. They presupposed God's government of the whole world and the operation of divine justice
on an international scale. They condemned specific nations for two main reasons:
• For arrogance against God (Isa 2:12-17; 10:12-14; 16:6; 23:6-12; Jer 48:28-33; Ezek 31:1 –
32:15) and for regarding themselves and their leaders as divine (Isa 14:13-14; 47:7-8, 10; Ezek
28:1-19; Obad 2-4; Zeph 2:15).
• For atrocities committed against other nations (Amos 1:3 - 2:3) and their mistreatment of
Israel (Ezek 25; Joel 3:1-8, 19-21; Obad 10-16; Zeph 2:8-10).
The nations would eventually be treated as they had treated other nations (Joel 3:7; Obad 15; Jer 25:12-
14; Hab 2:8).
Obad. 1:15
15 For the day of the LORD is near upon all the nations.

As you have done, it shall be done to you;
your deeds shall return on your own head.
Jer. 25:14
14 For many nations and great kings shall make slaves even of them, and I will
recompense them according to their deeds and the work of their hands.”
Hab. 2:8
8 Because you have plundered many nations,

all the remnant of the peoples shall plunder you,
for the blood of man and violence to the earth,
to cities and all who dwell in them.
o Accusation and indictment
They often delivered the accusation and sentence of the heavenly king.
Micah 3:8
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8 But as for me, I am filled with power,

We understand these oracles of judgment as a sentence because they are presented in the forms and
vocabulary of the Israelite courts.
o Reasons for indictment
In its simplest form God’s judgment consists of an indictment or formal accusation (eg. Amos 3:9-10),
followed by a sentence of judgment (eg. Amos 3:11; see the use of therefore).
Amos 3:9-10
9 Proclaim to the strongholds in Ashdod

and to the strongholds in the land of Egypt,
and say, “Assemble yourselves on the mountains of Samaria,
and see the great tumults within her,
and the oppressed in her midst.”
10 “They do not know how to do right,” declares the LORD,
“those who store up violence and robbery in their strongholds.”
o Divine sentence
Amos 3:11
11 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD:

“An adversary shall surround the land
and bring down your defenses from you,
and your strongholds shall be plundered.”
Therefore the prophets were not social critics and reformers, but rather they proclaimed God's justice as
demand or assurance, as a call to repentance or accusation, as a sentence of condemnation or of
vindication.
 Oracles of salvation: Isa 41:8-16
The prophets also proclaimed oracles of salvation. They were modeled on priestly oracles given in
response to individual or national laments. These had four main elements which are found in Isa 41:8-
20:
o Direct address by God
1. Direct address of the people by God (8-9, 14a).
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Is. 41:8-9
8 But you, Israel, my servant,

Jacob, whom I have chosen,
the offspring of Abraham, my friend;
9 you whom I took from the ends of the earth,
and called from its farthest corners,
saying to you, “You are my servant,
I have chosen you and not cast you off”;
Is. 41:14
14 Fear not, you worm Jacob,

you men of Israel!
I am the one who helps you, declares the LORD;
your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israe
o Divine self-disclosure
2. The self-disclosure of the Lord (10, 13, 14, 17).
Is. 41:10
10 fear not, for I am with you;

be not dismayed, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you, I will help you,
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
Is. 41:13-14
13 For I, the LORD your God,

hold your right hand;
it is I who say to you, “Fear not,
I am the one who helps you.”
you men of Israel!
your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.
Is. 41:17
17 When the poor and needy seek water,

and there is none,
and their tongue is parched with thirst,
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I the LORD will answer them;

I the God of Israel will not forsake them.
o Purpose or result of help
3. The purpose (16b, 20) and result (11-12, 17b) of God's help.
Is. 41:16, 20 – The purpose of God’s help
16 you shall winnow them, and the wind shall carry them away,
and the tempest shall scatter them.
And you shall rejoice in the LORD;
in the Holy One of Israel you shall glory.
20 that they may see and know,

may consider and understand together,
that the hand of the LORD has done this,
the Holy One of Israel has created it.
Is. 41:12, 17 – The result of God’s help
12 You shall seek those who contend with you,

but you shall not find them;
those who war against you
shall be as nothing at all.
17 When the poor and needy seek water,

and there is none,
and their tongue is parched with thirst,
I the LORD will answer them;
I the God of Israel will not forsake them.
o Promise of help
4. The promise of help often introduced by: "Fear not" (10, 13, 14).
Is. 41:10, 13, 14
10 fear not, for I am with you;

be not dismayed, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you, I will help you,
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
13 For I, the LORD your God,

hold your right hand;
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it is I who say to you, “Fear not,

I am the one who helps you.”

you men of Israel!
your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.
 Performative word with divine speech acts: Jer 1:9-10
When a prophet speaks God’s word, that word performs what it says or sets in motion the events that
God says will occur. God’s word is powerful. As an example, the word that God gave Jeremiah to speak
affects and determines the history of nations and kingdoms.
“Behold, I have put my words in your mouth.10
See, I have set you this day over nations and over kingdoms,
And as Isaiah says, God’s word always accomplishes God’s purposes. It is not passive. It actually does
something. The message of the prophets was a performative utterance that enacted what it proclaimed.
Is. 55:11

1. The prophets enacted God's will at a point in Israel's history by speaking God's effectual word of
judgment (Hos 6:5) or salvation (Isa 44:24-28).
Hos. 6:5
5 Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets;

I have slain them by the words of my mouth,
and my judgment goes forth as the light.
Is. 44:26

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2. When they spoke of the future, they did not just predict what God would do but actually set in
train what was about to happen.
1 Kings 17:14-16
14 For thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘The jar of flour shall not be spent, and
the jug of oil shall not be empty, until the day that the LORD sends rain upon the
earth.’” 15 And she went and did as Elijah said. And she and he and her household ate
for many days. 16 The jar of flour was not spent, neither did the jug of oil become
empty, according to the word of the LORD that he spoke by Elijah.
3. These prophecies of God's future deeds were usually couched in the prophetic perfect, since
what God had spoken was certain to occur and so in a sense had occurred once it was spoken
(Isa 1:20; 40:5; 58:14).
Is. 40:5
5 And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed,

Is. 58:14
14 then you shall take delight in the LORD,

and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth;
I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father,
4. God's word was conceived as a power or an agent that was sent by him (Isa 9:8), performed its
mission (Isa 55:11) and remained for ever (Isa 40:8). It was like a fire with wood (Jer 5:14; 23:29;
cf 20:9), or a hammer with rock (Jer 23:29).
[For more detail on this see “Proclamation of God’s Word” above.]
5. In Ezekiel's vision of the valley with the bones , the Lord's Spirit which resurrects and revives
Israel, is bestowed by the word of the prophet (Ezek 37:1-14).
Eze. 37:14
14 And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your
own land. Then you shall know that I am the LORD; I have spoken, and I will do it,
declares the LORD.”
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o Creation of history
The history of Israel in Canaan was shaped by the prophetic word.
1. By speaking God's word into human history the prophets made history not only in the land of
Israel, but also on the international stage (Jer 1:9-10).
Jer. 1:9-10
2. Isaiah therefore compares the prophetic word to the performative word of God in creation (Isa
44:24-28; 51:16; cf. 55:10-11). Hence, when God ceases to speak his word, Israel experiences a
drought which devastates it totally (Amos 8:11-14).
3. The connection between prophecy and history is expressed by the ambiguity of dabar in Hebrew
which means both word and event (Deut 18:22).
4. The Deuteronomic history from Joshua to 2 Kings is therefore regarded as prophecy in the
Hebrew Bible.
5. Since prophecy makes history, it must be understood in the light of its historical setting (eg. Isa
1:1), just as it in turn reveals and explains God's work in history (Amos 3:6-7).
6. Since the word of the prophets came from God and belonged to him, the Old Testament is not
interested in the experiences of the prophets unless the stories about them explained the role
of the prophets, as is the case with Elijah and Elisha, or else clarified their message, as with
Hosea and Jeremiah.
7. The messages of some prophets were recorded, because their word was addressed to a national
or international audience and so continued to shape the history of Israel and the destiny of the
nations (see the postscript in Hos 14:9 and Zech 1:2-6).
o Use of prophetic perfect tense
These prophecies of God's future deeds were usually couched in the prophetic perfect, since what God
had spoken was certain to occur and so in a sense had occurred once it was spoken (Isa 1:20; 40:5;
58:14).
Is. 1:20
20 but if you refuse and rebel,
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you shall be eaten by the sword;

Is. 40:5
5
And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed,
o Association with symbolic enactments
The performative character of prophecy is evident from its connection with symbolic enactments.
• Ahijah's tearing of his new cloak into twelve pieces (1 Kgs 11:30)
• Hosea's marriage (1-3)
• Isaiah's names for his children (8:1-10) and the charade of the prisoner of war (20:1-6)
• Jeremiah: avoidance of mourning and feasting (16:5-9), the waist cloth (13:1- 11), celibacy
(16:1-13), smashing of clay pot (19:1-5), wearing of yokes (27:1 - 28:17), purchase of land (32:1-
44), offer of wine to the Rechabites (35:1-19), laying of stones in Egypt for Nebuchadrezzar's
throne (43:8-13), casting of scroll in Euphrates (51:59-64)
• Ezekiel: dumbness (3:24-27; cf 24:26-27; 33:21-22), charade of siege (4-5), charade of prisoner
of war (12:1-20), charade of Babylonian king at the crossroads (21:18-27), lack of mourning for
wife (24:15-27).
 Subordination of prophecy to the law of Moses, the father of prophecy: Deut 18:15-16
The role of the prophet was established by God at Mt Sinai (Deut 18:15-16).
Deut. 18:15-16
15 “The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from
your brothers—it is to him you shall listen— 16 just as you desired of the LORD your
God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, ‘Let me not hear again the
voice of the LORD my God or see this great fire any more, lest I die.’
At Mt. Sinai God had spoken directly to Moses in their presence so that they would put their trust in him
and the prophets that God raised up like Moses after him (Exod 19:9; Deut 18:15-16).
Ex. 19:9
9 And the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I am coming to you in a thick cloud, that the
people may hear when I speak with you, and may also believe you forever.”
When Moses told the words of the people to the LORD,
Deut. 18:15-16
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your brothers—it is to him you shall listen— 16 just as you desired of the LORD your
God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, ‘Let me not hear again the
voice of the LORD my God or see this great fire any more, lest I die.’
Since the Israelites could not bear to hear God speaking directly to them, they asked Moses to act as his
spokesman (Exod 20:18-19) and God appoved of their request (Deut 5:23-33).
Ex. 20:18-19
18 Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the
sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and
trembled, and they stood far off 19 and said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will
listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die.”
Deut. 5:27, 28, 30
27 Go near and hear all that the LORD our God will say, and speak to us all that
the LORD our God will speak to you, and we will hear and do it.’
28 “And the LORD heard your words, when you spoke to me. And the LORD said to
me, ‘I have heard the words of this people, which they have spoken to you. They are
right in all that they have spoken.
30 Go and say to them, Return to your tents. 31 But you, stand here by me, and I will
tell you the whole commandment and the statutes and the rules that you shall teach
them, that they may do them in the land that I am giving them to possess.’
The Deuteronomic tradition understood the function of the prophets in the light of the law. Moses was
regarded as the first and the greatest of the prophets (Deut 34:10-12).
Deut. 34:10-12
10 And there has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew
face to face, 11 none like him for all the signs and the wonders that the LORD sent him
to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land, 12 and
for all the mighty power and all the great deeds of terror that Moses did in the sight of
all Israel.
There was a succession of prophets after him who were raised up by God to speak in his name (Deut
18:15-22).
Deut. 18:15-22
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your brothers—it is to him you shall listen ... 21 And if you say in your heart, ‘How
may we know the word that the LORD has not spoken?’— 22 when a prophet speaks
in the name of the LORD, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a
word that the LORD has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You
need not be afraid of him.
They were regarded as preachers of repentance and champions of orthodox worship as instituted by
Moses (2 Kgs 17:13).
2 Kings 17:13
13 Yet the LORD warned Israel and Judah by every prophet and every seer, saying,
“Turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments and my statutes, in
accordance with all the Law that I commanded your fathers, and that I sent to you by
my servants the prophets.”
Their teaching (toah) was therefore subject to the law of Moses and had to be consistent with it (cf. 2
Kgs 22:15-20).
3. TESTING OF PROPHECY
Prophets were just as common in paganism as in Israel (cf. the prophets of Baal in 1 Kgs 18:2-40; 19:1; 2
Kgs 10:19). They spoke in the name of their gods. They practiced divination (Isa 2:6; Zech 10:2).
While pagan prophets were easy to identify, since they counselled apostasy (Deut 13:1-5), false
prophets were less easy to spot as they spoke in the Lord's name. The problem of false prophecy
emerged in the late monarchy and came to a head at the time of Jeremiah (Isa 28:7-8; 29:9-10; Micah
3:5-8; Jer 2:8,26-28; 5:11-13,30-31; 6:13-15; 8:10-12; 14:13-18; 23:9-40; 27-29; Ezek 13:1 – 14:11;
22:28).
They prophesied peace and prosperity to sinners (Micah 3:5; Jer 6:13-15; 8:10-12; Ezek 13:10).
Jer. 6:13-15
13 “For from the least to the greatest of them,

everyone is greedy for unjust gain;
and from prophet to priest,
everyone deals falsely.
14 They have healed the wound of my people lightly,
saying, ‘Peace, peace,’
when there is no peace.
They condemned the righteous and justified sinners (Ezek 13:19,22; Jer 23:13-14; cf. Jer 5:30-31).
Eze. 13:19
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19 You have profaned me among my people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of
bread, putting to death souls who should not die and keeping alive souls who should
not live, by your lying to my people, who listen to lies.
Eze. 13:22
22 Because you have disheartened the righteous falsely, although I have not grieved
him, and you have encouraged the wicked, that he should not turn from his evil way
to save his life,
They denied God's judgment on Israel's rebellion (Jer 5:12; 23:17).
Jer. 5:12
12 They have spoken falsely of the LORD

and have said, ‘He will do nothing;
no disaster will come upon us,
nor shall we see sword or famine.
Jer. 23:17
17 They say continually to those who despise the word of the LORD, ‘It shall be well
with you’; and to everyone who stubbornly follows his own heart, they say, ‘No
disaster shall come upon you.’”
Instead of standing in the breach as intercessors (Ezek 13:5; 22:30), they whitewashed sin and rebellion
against God (Ezek 13:10-16; 22:28-29).
Eze. 22:28-29
28 And her prophets have smeared whitewash for them, seeing false visions and
divining lies for them, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD,’ when the LORD has not
spoken. 29 The people of the land have practiced extortion and committed robbery.
They have oppressed the poor and needy, and have extorted from the sojourner
without justice.
Three criteria seem to have been employed to distinguish between true and false prophecy:
practical, liturgical, moral.
(a) If a part or all of the prophecy was fulfilled, then the prophet had spoken God's word (Deut 18:19-22;
Ezek 33:33).
Deut. 18:19-22
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that same prophet shall die.’21 And if you say in your heart, ‘How may we know the
theLORD, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that
afraid of him.
Eze.33:33
among them.”
The test of fulfilment applied especially to prophecies of prosperity (Jer 28:5-9), since these were
popular and paid well (Micah 3:5-7,11; Jer 6:13-14; 8:10-11).
Jer. 28:8-9
8 The prophets who preceded you and me from ancient times prophesied war,
famine, and pestilence against many countries and great kingdoms. 9 As for the
prophet who prophesies peace, when the word of that prophet comes to pass, then it
will be known that the LORD has truly sent the prophet.”
Mic. 3:11
11 Its heads give judgment for a bribe;

its priests teach for a price;
its prophets practice divination for money;
yet they lean on the LORD and say,
“Is not the LORD in the midst of us?
No disaster shall come upon us.”
Jer. 6:13-14

Since the prophecies of Isaiah had to do with the remote future, he wrote them down for his disciples,
so that they would recognise the fulfilment of them (Isa. 8:16-18).
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Is. 8:16-18
16 Bind up the testimony; seal the teaching among my disciples. 17 I will wait for
the LORD, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in
him. 18 Behold, I and the children whom the LORD has given me are signs and
portents in Israel from the LORD of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion.
(b) False prophets led people away from the worship of the Lord as commanded in the law of Moses
(Deut 13:1-5; cf. Jer 2:26-28).
Deut. 13:1-5
13:1 “If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a
wonder, 2 and the sign or wonder that he tells you comes to pass, and if he says, ‘Let
us go after other gods,’ which you have not known, ‘and let us serve them,’ 3 you shall
not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. For the LORD your
God is testing you, to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart
and with all your soul. 4 You shall walk after the LORD your God and fear him and
keep his commandments and obey his voice, and you shall serve him and hold fast to
him. 5 But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he
has taught rebellion against the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of
Egypt and redeemed you out of the house of slavery, to make you leave the way in
which the LORD your God commanded you to walk. So you shall purge the evil from
your midst.
(c) False prophets were inclined to practice and condone adultery (Jer 23:13-15; cf 29:21-23) and
injustice (Jer 5:25-31; Ezek 22:27-30), whereas true prophets turned people from their sins (Jer 23:22) by
preaching repentance.
Jer. 23:13-14
13 In the prophets of Samaria

I saw an unsavory thing:
they prophesied by Baal
and led my people Israel astray.14
But in the prophets of Jerusalem
I have seen a horrible thing:
they commit adultery and walk in lies;
they strengthen the hands of evildoers,
so that no one turns from his evil;
all of them have become like Sodom to me,
and its inhabitants like Gomorrah.”
Eze. 22:27-30
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27 Her princes in her midst are like wolves tearing the prey, shedding blood,
destroying lives to get dishonest gain. 28 And her prophets have smeared whitewash
for them, seeing false visions and divining lies for them, saying, ‘Thus says the
Lord GOD,’ when the LORD has not spoken.29 The people of the land have practiced
extortion and committed robbery. They have oppressed the poor and needy, and have
extorted from the sojourner without justice. 30 And I sought for a man among them
who should build up the wall and stand in the breach before me for the land, that I
should not destroy it, but I found none.
Jer. 23:22

 Difference: prophecy and divination: Deut 13:1-5; 18:9-11
1. Prophets were just as common in paganism as in Israel (cf. the prophets of Baal in 1 Kgs 18:2-40;
19:1; 2 Kgs 10:19). They spoke in the name of their gods. They practiced divination (Isa 2:6; Zech 10:2).
Zech. 10:2
2 For the household gods utter nonsense,

and the diviners see lies;
they tell false dreams
and give empty consolation.
Therefore the people wander like sheep;
they are afflicted for lack of a shepherd.
Since they were empowered by ‘unclean spirits’ they exercised supernatural power (Zech 13:2; cf. Hos
4:12).
Zech. 13:2
2 “And on that day, declares the LORD of hosts, I will cut off the names of the idols
from the land, so that they shall be remembered no more. And also I will remove from
the land the prophets and the spirit of uncleanness.
They could descry future events by augury, divination and necromancy (Deut 18:10-11).
Deut. 18:10-11
10 There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as
an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a
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sorcerer 11 or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the

dead,
The Israelites were forbidden to practise such forms of prophecy (Deut 18:9-14; cf. Exod 22:18; Lev
19:26-28,31; 20:6,27). Since the living God had made his word available to them, they had no need to
approach pagan prophets (cf. 1 Kgs 1:3,16 in 1:2-16) and to consult the spirits of the dead on behalf of
the living (Isa 8:19; cf. 1 Sam 25).
While pagan prophets were easy to identify, since they counselled apostasy (Deut 13:1-5), false
prophets were less easy to spot as they spoke in the Lord's name.
(a) Even the Lord's prophets could be misled to say what people wanted to hear (1 Kgs 22:5-28; cf. Mic
3:5-7).
(b) The problem of false prophecy emerged in the late monarchy and came to a head at the time of
Jeremiah (Isa 28:7-8; 29:9-10; Micah 3:5-8; Jer 2:8,26-28; 5:11-13,30-31; 6:13-15; 8:10-12; 14:13-18;
23:9-40; 27-29; Ezek 13:1 – 14:11; 22:28).
(1) They prophesied peace and prosperity to sinners (Micah 3:5; Jer 6:13-15; 8:10-12; Ezek
13:10).
(2) They condemned the righteous and justified sinners (Ezek 13:19,22; Jer 23:13-14; cf. Jer
5:30-31).
(3) They denied God's judgment on Israel's rebellion (Jer 5:12; 23:17).
(4) Instead of standing in the breach as intercessors (Ezek 13:5; 22:30), they whitewashed sin
and rebellion against God (Ezek 13:10-16; 22:28-29).
 Criteria for recognition of true prophets
Three criteria seem to have been employed to distinguish between true and false prophecy:
practical, liturgical, moral.
(a) If a part or all of the prophecy was fulfilled, then the prophet had spoken God's word (Deut 18:19-22;
Ezek 33:33).
Deut. 18:19-22
that same prophet shall die.’21 And if you say in your heart, ‘How may we know the
theLORD, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that
afraid of him.
Eze.33:33
among them.”
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The test of fulfilment applied especially to prophecies of prosperity (Jer 28:5-9), since these were
popular and paid well (Micah 3:5-7,11; Jer 6:13-14; 8:10-11).
Jer. 28:8-9
8 The prophets who preceded you and me from ancient times prophesied war,
famine, and pestilence against many countries and great kingdoms. 9 As for the
prophet who prophesies peace, when the word of that prophet comes to pass, then it
will be known that the LORD has truly sent the prophet.”
Mic. 3:11
11 Its heads give judgment for a bribe;

its priests teach for a price;
its prophets practice divination for money;
yet they lean on the LORD and say,
“Is not the LORD in the midst of us?
No disaster shall come upon us.”
Jer. 6:13-14

Since the prophecies of Isaiah had to do with the remote future, he wrote them down for his disciples,
so that they would recognise the fulfilment of them (Isa. 8:16-18).
Is. 8:16-18
16 Bind up the testimony; seal the teaching among my disciples. 17 I will wait for
the LORD, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in
him. 18 Behold, I and the children whom the LORD has given me are signs and
portents in Israel from the LORD of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion.
(b) False prophets led people away from the worship of the Lord as commanded in the law of Moses
(Deut 13:1-5; cf. Jer 2:26-28).
Deut. 13:1-5
13:1 “If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a
wonder, 2 and the sign or wonder that he tells you comes to pass, and if he says, ‘Let
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us go after other gods,’ which you have not known, ‘and let us serve them,’ 3 you shall
not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. For the LORD your
God is testing you, to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart
and with all your soul. 4 You shall walk after the LORD your God and fear him and
keep his commandments and obey his voice, and you shall serve him and hold fast to
him. 5 But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he
has taught rebellion against the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of
Egypt and redeemed you out of the house of slavery, to make you leave the way in
which the LORD your God commanded you to walk. So you shall purge the evil from
your midst.
(c) False prophets were inclined to practice and condone adultery (Jer 23:13-15; cf 29:21-23) and
injustice (Jer 5:25-31; Ezek 22:27-30), whereas true prophets turned people from their sins (Jer 23:22) by
Jer. 23:13-14
13 In the prophets of Samaria

I saw an unsavory thing:
they prophesied by Baal
and led my people Israel astray.14
But in the prophets of Jerusalem
Eze. 22:27-30
27 Her princes in her midst are like wolves tearing the prey, shedding blood,
destroying lives to get dishonest gain. 28 And her prophets have smeared whitewash
for them, seeing false visions and divining lies for them, saying, ‘Thus says the
Lord GOD,’ when the LORD has not spoken.29 The people of the land have practiced
extortion and committed robbery. They have oppressed the poor and needy, and have
extorted from the sojourner without justice. 30 And I sought for a man among them
who should build up the wall and stand in the breach before me for the land, that I
should not destroy it, but I found none.
Jer. 23:22

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o Fulfilment: Deut 18:19-22
o Call to repentance rather than unqualified promises of prosperity: Jer 28:8-9
The false prophets prophesied peace and prosperity to sinners (Micah 3:5; Jer 6:13-15; 8:10-12;
Ezek 13:10).
If a part or all of the prophecy was fulfilled, then the prophet had spoken God's word (Deut 18:19-22;
Ezek 33:33). This test of fulfilment applied especially to prophecies of prosperity (Jer 28:5-9), since these
were popular and paid well (Micah 3:5-7,11; Jer 6:13-14; 8:10-11).
True prophets were not social critics and reformers, but rather proclaimed God's justice as demand or
assurance, as a call to repentance or accusation, as a sentence of condemnation or of vindication.
False prophets were inclined to practice and condone adultery (Jer 23:13-15; cf 29:21-23) and injustice
(Jer 5:25-31; Ezek 22:27-30), whereas true prophets turned people from their sins (Jer 23:22) by
Jer. 23:22

Jeremiah condemned the people for their refusal to heed the call for repentance from the prophets (Jer
7:13-15; 8:4-7).
Jer. 7:13-15
13 And now, because you have done all these things, declares the LORD, and when I
spoke to you persistently you did not listen, and when I called you, you did not
answer, 14 therefore I will do to the house that is called by my name, and in which
you trust, and to the place that I gave to you and to your fathers, as I did to
Shiloh. 15 And I will cast you out of my sight, as I cast out all your kinsmen, all the
offspring of Ephraim.
o Worship of the Lord and obedience to his word: Deut 13:1-5
Deut.3:4
4 You shall walk after the LORD your God and fear him and keep his commandments
and obey his voice, and you shall serve him and hold fast to him.
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o Morality with justice and sex: Jer 5:25-31; 23:13-15
True prophets do the opposite of the false prophets.
Jer. 5:14 (The description of the false prophets)
14 But in the prophets of Jerusalem

4. THE PROPHETS AND THE NATIONS

 International role of the prophets
By speaking God's word into human history the prophets made history not only in the land of Israel, but
also on the international stage (Jer 1:9-10).
Jer. 1:9-10
“Behold, I have put my words in your mouth.10
See, I have set you this day over nations and over kingdoms,
The messages of some prophets were recorded, because their word was addressed to a national or
international audience and so continued to shape the history of Israel and the destiny of the nations
(see the postscript in Hos 14:9 and Zech 1:2-6).
The prophecies addressed to the nations presuppose that the Lord is at work in international history for
the benefit of all nations on the earth.
(a) Just as he brought Israel from Egypt, so he brought the Philistines from Crete and the Syrians
from Kir (Amos 9:7).
(b) He appointed the Assyrians as his rod (Isa. 10:5) and axe (Isa 10:15) to execute his judgments on
Israel (Isa 5:26-30).
(c) He appointed Nebuchadnezzar as his servant to destroy Judah and Jerusalem (Jer 25:9-11) and
gave him the wealth of Egypt, because he attacked Tyre for the Lord (Ezek 29:17-20).
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(d) He raised up Cyrus as his messiah to perform his purpose by destroying the Babylonians (Isa
48:14; cf. 46:9-11), and to act as the shepherd of Israel (Isa 44:28). The Lord who ruled over all the
earth and its rulers (Isa 40:2-23), made Cyrus victorious over the nations and their kings (Isa 41:2-4).
Most of the prophecies to the nations were oracles of judgment. They presupposed God's government
of the whole world and the operation of divine justice on an international scale.
o Jeremiah as the prophet to the nations: Jer 1:5
God called some prophets and sent them with a message to Judah or Israel. But some prophets he called
with a message to the nations. One such prophet was Jeremiah.
Jer. 1:5

o Oracles against the nations by most prophets
All the classical prophets announced God's judgments. While Obadiah, Jonah, Nahum and Habukkuk
proclaimed God's judgments against pagan nations for their evil doing, the other prophets also
proclaimed God's judgments on his own people.
Whereas only Jeremiah was appointed by the Lord as a prophet to the nations (Jer. 1:5), all the
classical prophets also served as the Lord's messengers to them. Even the pagan prophet Balaam not
only uttered oracles about Israel (Num 23-24) but also announced Israel's defeat of the Moabites and
Edomites (Num 24:15-19), the destruction of the Amalekites and Kenites (Num 24:20-22), and the attack
on the Assyrians by the Philistines (Num 24:23-24).
Num. 24:
7 I see him, but not now;

I behold him, but not near:
a star shall come out of Jacob,
and a scepter shall rise out of Israel;
it shall crush the forehead of Moab
and break down all the sons of Sheth.
18 Edom shall be dispossessed;
Seir also, his enemies, shall be dispossessed.
Israel is doing valiantly.
Num. 20:20-22
20 Then he looked on Amalek and took up his discourse and said,

“Amalek was the first among the nations,
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but its end is utter destruction.”

21 And he looked on the Kenite, and took up his discourse and said,
“Enduring is your dwelling place,
and your nest is set in the rock.
22 Nevertheless, Kain shall be burned
when Asshur takes you away captive.”
Num. 24:23-24
23 And he took up his discourse and said,

“Alas, who shall live when God does this?
24 But ships shall come from Kittim
and shall afflict Asshur and Eber;
and he too shall come to utter destruction.”
of the whole world and the operation of divine justice on an international scale. They condemned
specific nations for two main reasons:
• For arrogance against God (Isa 2:12-17; 10:12-14; 16:6; 23:6-12; Jer 48:28-33; Ezek 31:1 –
32:15) and for regarding themselves and their leaders as divine (Isa 14:13-14; 47:7-8, 10; Ezek
28:1-19; Obad 2-4; Zeph 2:15).
• For atrocities committed against other nations (Amos 1:3 - 2:3) and their mistreatment of
The nations would eventually be treated as they had treated other nations (Joel 3:7; Obad 15; Jer 25:12-
14; Hab 2:8).
Joel 3:7
7 Behold, I will stir them up from the place to which you have sold them, and I will
return your payment on your own head.
Obad. 1:15
15 For the day of the LORD is near upon all the nations.

As you have done, it shall be done to you;
your deeds shall return on your own head.
The books of the prophets contain many oracles concerning the nations.
(a) The message of some prophets deals almost exclusively with the fate of pagan nations.
• Obadiah prophesied against the Edomites for helping the Babylonians sack Jerusalem
• Nabum announced the destruction of Nineveh
• Habukkuk announced the destruction of the Assyrians by the Babylonians, followed by their
destruction
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(b) The books of other prophets contain oracles for the nations.
• Amos 1:3 – 2:3: Syrians, Philistines, Phoenicians, Edomites, Ammonites, and Moabites
• Joel 3:4-8: Phoenicians and Philistines
• Isaiah 13−23: Babylonians, Philistines, Moabites, Syrians, Egyptians, Arabians, and Phoenicians
• Jeremiah 46−51: Egyptians, Philistines, Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Kedarites, Elamites,
and Babylonians
• Zepheniah 2:4-15: Philistines, Moabites, Ethiopians, and Assyrians
• Ezekiel 25−32: Ammonites, Moabites, Edomites, Philistines, Tyrians, and Egyptians
• Zechariah 9:1-8: Syrians, Phoenicians, and Philistines
Each day of judgment upon a particular nation was a warning of the final day of the Lord with judgment
and salvation on a cosmic scale (Isa 13:2-16; Jer 25:30-32; Joel 1:15; 2:1-2, 10-11, 20 – 3:21; Zeph 1:2 -
2:3; 3:8; Zech 14:1-21; Mal 3:1-5, 17-18; 4:1-5).
(a) The judgment of the Northern Kingdom by the Assyrians prefigured the Lord's judgment of Judah and
Jerusalem (Hos 4:15; 5:5; 8:14; Amos 2:4-5; 6:1).
Hos. 4:15
15 Though you play the whore, O Israel,

let not Judah become guilty.
Enter not into Gilgal,
nor go up to Beth-aven,
and swear not, “As the LORD lives.”
Hos. 5:5
5 The pride of Israel testifies to his face;

Israel and Ephraim shall stumble in his guilt;
Judah also shall stumble with them.
(b) Just as the day of the locust plague in Joel prefigured the judgment and deliverance of Jerusalem
from the Assyrians and Babylonians, so that day prefigured the judgment of the nations and the
deliverance of the penitent in Zion (Joel 2:30 – 3:21).
Joel 3:1-3, 16
3:1 “For behold, in those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah
and Jerusalem, 2 I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the Valley of
Jehoshaphat. And I will enter into judgment with them there, on behalf of my people
and my heritage Israel, because they have scattered them among the nations and
have divided up my land, 3 and have cast lots for my people, and have traded a boy
for a prostitute, and have sold a girl for wine and have drunk it.
...
16 The LORD roars from Zion,
and utters his voice from Jerusalem,
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and the heavens and the earth quake.

But the LORD is a refuge to his people,
a stronghold to the people of Israel.
(c) According to Isaiah, the Lord's judgment of Babylon and the nations (Isa 13:17 – 23:18) prefigured his
judgment of the whole earth (Isa 13:1-16) and all evil cosmic powers (Isa. 14-17).
Is. 13:11
11 I will punish the world for its evil,

and the wicked for their iniquity;
I will put an end to the pomp of the arrogant,
and lay low the pompous pride of the ruthless.
(d) In Zephaniah the Lord's judgment of particular nations (Zeph 2:4-15) was meant to teach the people
of Judah to seek the Lord before his great final day (Zeph 1:1 –2:3; 3:1-13).
Zeph. 1:2
2 “I will utterly sweep away everything

from the face of the earth,” declares the LORD.
Zeph. 3:12-13
12 But I will leave in your midst

a people humble and lowly.
They shall seek refuge in the name of the LORD,
13 those who are left in Israel;
they shall do no injustice
and speak no lies,
nor shall there be found in their mouth
a deceitful tongue.
For they shall graze and lie down,
and none shall make them afraid.”
(e) According to Jeremiah 25, God's judgment of Judah and Jerusalem was the beginning of his judgment
of all the kingdoms of the world.
Jer. 25:28-31
28 “And if they refuse to accept the cup from your hand to drink, then you shall say to
them, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts: You must drink! 29 For behold, I begin to work
disaster at the city that is called by my name, and shall you go unpunished? You shall not
go unpunished, for I am summoning a sword against all the inhabitants of the earth,
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declares the LORD of hosts.’

30 “You, therefore, shall prophesy against them all these words, and say to them:
“‘The LORD will roar from on high,
and from his holy habitation utter his voice;
he will roar mightily against his fold,
and shout, like those who tread grapes,
against all the inhabitants of the earth.
31 The clamor will resound to the ends of the earth,
for the LORD has an indictment against the nations;
he is entering into judgment with all flesh,
and the wicked he will put to the sword,declares the LORD.’
 Presuppositions for these prophecies
of the whole world and the operation of divine justice on an international scale.
o Lord as the creator and ruler of all the nations
Prophecy in general testifies that God is the creator of the nations and the world. In the prophets we
see:
• God as creator of heaven and earth: Isa 37:16; 40:12-26; 42:5; 44:24; 45:7-8,12,18; 48:13;
51:13b,16b; Jer 10:12-16; 27:5; 31:35-37; 32:17; 33:19,25; Amos 9:6.
• God as creator of an ordered world: Isa 40:28; Jer 5:21-25; 14:22; 33:2; Amos 4:13; 5:8; cf.Jer
4:23-28.
• God as creator of humanity: Isa 17:7; 49:5; 54:16; Mal 2:10.
• God as creator of heaven, earth and humanity: Zech 12:1.
(a) Just as he brought Israel from Egypt, so he brought the Philistines from Crete and the Syrians from Kir
(Amos 9:7).
Amos 9:7
7 “Are you not like the Cushites to me,

O people of Israel?” declares the LORD.
“Did I not bring up Israel from the land of Egypt,
and the Philistines from Caphtor and the Syrians from Kir?
(b) He appointed the Assyrians as his rod (Isa. 10:5) and axe (Isa 10:15) to execute his judgments on
Israel (Isa 5:26-30).
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Is. 10:5, 15
5 Woe to Assyria, the rod of my anger;

the staff in their hands is my fury!
15 Shall the axe boast over him who hews with it,
or the saw magnify itself against him who wields it?
As if a rod should wield him who lifts it,
or as if a staff should lift him who is not wood!
Is. 5:26
26 He will raise a signal for nations far away,

and whistle for them from the ends of the earth;
and behold, quickly, speedily they come!
(c) He appointed Nebuchadnezzar as his servant to destroy Judah and Jerusalem (Jer 25:9-11) and gave
him the wealth of Egypt, because he attacked Tyre for the Lord (Ezek 29:17-20).
Jer. 25:9
9 behold, I will send for all the tribes of the north, declares the LORD, and for
Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and I will bring them against this
land and its inhabitants, and against all these surrounding nations. I will devote them
to destruction, and make them a horror, a hissing, and an everlasting desolation.
Eze. 29:17-20
17 In the twenty-seventh year, in the first month, on the first day of the month, the
word of the LORD came to me: 18 “Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made
his army labor hard against Tyre. Every head was made bald, and every shoulder was
rubbed bare, yet neither he nor his army got anything from Tyre to pay for the labor
that he had performed against her. 19 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I will
give the land of Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and he shall carry off its
wealth and despoil it and plunder it; and it shall be the wages for his army. 20 I have
given him the land of Egypt as his payment for which he labored, because they worked
for me, declares the Lord GOD.
(d) He raised up Cyrus as his messiah to perform his purpose by destroying the Babylonians (Isa 48:14;
cf. 46:9-11), and to act as the shepherd of Israel (Isa 44:28). The Lord who ruled over all the earth and its
rulers (Isa 40:2-23), made Cyrus victorious over the nations and their kings (Isa 41:2-4).
Is. 48:14
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14 “Assemble, all of you, and listen!

Who among them has declared these things?
The LORD loves him;
he [Cyrus] shall perform his purpose on Babylon,
and his arm shall be against the Chaldeans.
Is. 44:28
28 who says of Cyrus, ‘He is my shepherd,

and he shall fulfill all my purpose’;
saying of Jerusalem, ‘She shall be built,’
and of the temple, ‘Your foundation shall be laid.’”
Is. 40:12, 15
12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand

and marked off the heavens with a span,
enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure
and weighed the mountains in scales
and the hills in a balance?
15 Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket,

and are accounted as the dust on the scales;
behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust.
Is. 41:2
2 Who stirred up one from the east

whom victory meets at every step?
He gives up nations before him,
so that he tramples kings underfoot;
he makes them like dust with his sword,
like driven stubble with his bow.
The Messianic King would implement God's plan for the nations. He would establish God's just rule on
earth (Isa 42:1-4).
Is. 42:4
4 He will not grow faint or be discouraged

The righteous Branch will rule the earth with justice and righteousness.
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Is. 11:3-4

or decide disputes by what his ears hear,4
but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,
o God's rule with international justice
Both justice and righteousness are cosmic powers (Ps 36:5-6). They are the foundation for the Lord's
cosmic rule (Ps 89:14; 97:2). They presuppose God's government of the whole world and the operation
of divine justice on an international scale.
Ps. 89:14
14 Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne;

God promised that in the latter days he would establish international justice through worship in
Jerusalem (Isa 2:1-4). The nations would join Israel in worshipping the Lord in Zion. God would raise up a
just king from David’s dynasty and by the teaching of his word in worship, the Lord would establish
justice and peace on earth.
Is. 2:1-4
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The scope of God's justice is universal. It includes the world and its peoples.
Ps. 9:7-8
7 But the LORD sits enthroned forever;

o The day of the Lord for all the earth
Many prophets proclaimed 'the day of the Lord'. The term seems to have been commonly used in the
theology of divine warfare as celebrated on the Feast of Tabernacles. On his day the Lord would defeat
his enemies in battle, vindicate Israel as his righteous people, and restore justice to the world. Beginning
with Amos (5:18-20), the prophets included Israel and Judah among the enemies under divine judgment
(Amos 2:4-8; 3:1-2; Isa 1:24-25) on the Lord's day (Isa 2:12-22).
Amos 5:18-20
18 Woe to you who desire the day of the LORD!

Why would you have the day of the LORD?
It is darkness, and not light,
19 as if a man fled from a lion,
and a bear met him,
or went into the house and leaned his hand against the wall,
and a serpent bit him.
20 Is not the day of the LORD darkness, and not light,
and gloom with no brightness in it?
and salvation on a cosmic scale (Isa 13:2-16; Jer 25:30-32; Joel 1:15; 2:1-2, 10-11, 20– 3:21; Zeph 1:2 -
2:3; 3:8; Zech 14:1-21; Mal 3:1-5, 17-18; 4:1-5).
(a) The judgment of the Northern Kingdom by the Assyrians prefigured the Lord's judgment of Judah and
Jerusalem (Hos 4:15; 5:5; 8:14; Amos 2:4-5; 6:1).
(b) Just as the day of the locust plague in Joel prefigured the judgment and deliverance of Jerusalem
from the Assyrians and Babylonians, so that day prefigured the judgment of the nations and the
deliverance of the penitent in Zion (Joel 2:30 – 3:21).
(c) According to Isaiah, the Lord's judgment of Babylon and the nations (Isa 13:17 – 23:18) prefigured his
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(d) In Zephaniah the Lord's judgment of particular nations (Zeph 2:4-15) was meant to teach the people
of Judah to seek the Lord before his great final day (Zeph 1:1 –2:3; 3:1-13).
(e) According to Jeremiah 25, God's judgment of Judah and Jerusalem was the beginning of his judgment
of all the kingdoms of the world.
While most prophecies in the Old Testament seem to refer either to their own time or the events in the
near future, some prophecies refer rather to a remarkable change of circumstances in the remote future
as indicated by the following terms:
1. “Behold the days are coming”: Jer 7:32; 9:25; 16:14; 19:6; 23:5,7; 30:3; 31:27; 31, 38, 33:14;
48:12; 49:2; 51:47, 52; Am 8:11; 9:13.
2. “In the latter days”: Isa 2:2; Jer 23:20; 30:24; 49:39; Ezek 38:8, 16; Hos 3:5; Micah 4:1; Dan
10:14.
In the post-exilic period many of these prophecies were understood eschatologically under the influence
of two factors:
1. They had not yet been fulfilled or, at the best, been only partially fulfilled.
2. They were reinterpreted in the light of apocalyptic theology with its belief in a cataclysmic cosmic day
of the Lord and an end of time as found in Habakkuk and Daniel (Hab 2:3; Dan 8:17, 19; 9:26; 11:27, 35,
40, 45; 12:4, 6, 9, 13; see the use of "in the latter days" in this sense in Dan 10:14).
Dan. 8:17,19
17 So he came near where I stood. And when he came, I was frightened and fell on my
face. But he said to me, “Understand, O son of man, that the vision is for the time of
the end.”
19 He said, “Behold, I will make known to you what shall be at the latter end of the
indignation, for it refers to the appointed time of the end.
Many prophecies not only spoke into their contemporary situation but also proclaimed the day of the
Lord and the advent of God's kingdom at the close of the age (Acts 3:17-24). They proclaimed what was
about to happen to Israel as was the case with the announcement of the Lord's day by Amos which
brought about the Assyrian exile (Amos 5:18 - 6:14). But that day of the Lord also prefigured the Lord's
day of judgment on Judah by the Assyrians in 701 BC and by the Babylonians in 586 BC. All these events
were taken by Isaiah and Joel as precursors for the final day of universal judgment.
Acts 3:17-21
17 “And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your
rulers. 18 But what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ
would suffer, he thus fulfilled. 19 Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may
be blotted out, 20 that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord,
and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, 21 whom heaven must
receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth
of his holy prophets long ago.
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While there was no hope for the nation as a whole (Amos 8:2; 9:8-10; Isa 10:23), the prophets declared
that the Lord would save a remnant (she’ar/she’rith) of survivors (pelitah) from the day of judgment. On
the final day of the Lord the remnant of people who took refuge in the Lord on Zion would be delivered
(Joel 2:32; cf. Obad 17).
Joel 2:32
32 And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the LORD shall be
saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as
the LORD has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the LORD calls.
 Criteria for judgment
Most of the prophecies to the nations were oracles of judgment.
o Self divinisation: Isa 14:12-15
They condemned specific nations for two main reasons:

1. For arrogance against God (Isa 2:12-17; 10:12-14; 16:6; 23:6-12; Jer 48:28-33; Ezek 31:1 – 32:15)
and for regarding themselves and their leaders as divine (Isa 14:13-14; 47:7-8, 10; Ezek 28:1-19;
Obad 2-4; Zeph 2:15).
Is. 47:10-11 (As an example, words addressed to Babylon)
10 You felt secure in your wickedness;

you said, “No one sees me”;
your wisdom and your knowledge led you astray,
and you said in your heart,
“I am, and there is no one besides me.”
11 But evil shall come upon you,
which you will not know how to charm away;
disaster shall fall upon you,
for which you will not be able to atone;
and ruin shall come upon you suddenly,
of which you know nothing.
o Atrocities against other nations
2. For atrocities committed against other nations (Amos 1:3 - 2:3) and their mistreatment of Israel
(Ezek 25; Joel 3:1-8, 19-21; Obad 10-16; Zeph 2:8-10).
Amos 1:3-4 (An example of this is Syria for how they treated Gilead.)
3 Thus says the LORD:

“For three transgressions of Damascus,
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and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,

because they have threshed Gilead
with threshing sledges of iron.
4 So I will send a fire upon the house of Hazael,
and it shall devour the strongholds of Ben-hadad.
o Cosmic disorder (Noah covenant): violence with sexual immorality, murder, and
involvement in the occult: Isa 24:4-6
Is. 24:1, 4-6
24:1 Behold, the LORD will empty the earth and make it desolate,

and he will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants.
...
4 The earth mourns and withers;
the world languishes and withers;
the highest people of the earth languish.
5 The earth lies defiled
under its inhabitants;
for they have transgressed the laws,
violated the statutes,
broken the everlasting covenant.
6 Therefore a curse devours the earth,
and its inhabitants suffer for their guilt;
therefore the inhabitants of the earth are scorched,
and few men are left.
o Mistreatment of Israel
Another reason the nations received prophecies of judgment was because of their mistreatment of
Zeph. 2:8-10 (As an example, the Moabites and Ammonites.)
8
“I have heard the taunts of Moab
and the revilings of the Ammonites,
how they have taunted my people
and made boasts against their territory.
9 Therefore, as I live,” declares the LORD of hosts,
the God of Israel,
“Moab shall become like Sodom,
and the Ammonites like Gomorrah,
a land possessed by nettles and salt pits,
and a waste forever.
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The remnant of my people shall plunder them,

and the survivors of my nation shall possess them.”
10 This shall be their lot in return for their pride,
because they taunted and boasted
against the people of the LORD of hosts.
 Judgment of the nations: prelude to final day of judgment
All God's acts of judgment in human lives and world history were a prelude to that final day of divine
judgment (Isa 24:21-23; 26:20-27:1).
Is. 26:20 – 27:1

and will no more cover its slain.The Redemption of Israel
and salvation on a cosmic scale (Isa 13:2-16; Jer 25:30-32; Joel 1:15; 2:1-2, 10-11, 20– 3:21; Zeph 1:2 -
2:3; 3:8; Zech 14:1-21; Mal 3:1-5, 17-18; 4:1-5).
According to Isaiah, the Lord's judgment of Babylon and the nations (Isa 13:17 – 23:18) prefigured his
Is. 13:1, 4b-6, 11
13:1 The oracle concerning Babylon which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw.
...
4 ... The LORD of hosts is mustering
a host for battle.
5 They come from a distant land,
from the end of the heavens,
the LORD and the weapons of his indignation,
to destroy the whole land.
6 Wail, for the day of the LORD is near;
as destruction from the Almighty it will come!
...
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According to Jeremiah 25, God's judgment of Judah and Jerusalem was the beginning of his judgment of
all the kingdoms of the world.
Jer. 25:1, 8-9, 29
25:1 The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah, in the fourth
year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah (that was the first year of
Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon),
...
8 “Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts: Because you have not obeyed my
words, 9 behold, I will send for all the tribes of the north, declares the LORD, and for
Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and I will bring them against this
land and its inhabitants, and against all these surrounding nations. I will devote them
to destruction, and make them a horror, a hissing, and an everlasting desolation.
...
29 For behold, I begin to work disaster at the city that is called by my name, and shall
you go unpunished? You shall not go unpunished, for I am summoning a sword against
all the inhabitants of the earth, declares the LORD of hosts.’
...
31 The clamor will resound to the ends of the earth,
for the LORD has an indictment against the nations;
he is entering into judgment with all flesh,
and the wicked he will put to the sword,declares the LORD.’
o Judgment of evildoers and eradication of evil: Isa 13:9-13
On the Day of the Lord, the Lord will judge the whole earth, punishing it for its evil and iniquity.
Is. 13:9, 11
9 Behold, the day of the LORD comes,

cruel, with wrath and fierce anger,
to make the land a desolation
and to destroy its sinners from it.
...
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o Destruction of pagan gods and idols: Zeph 2:11
On the Last Day the Lord will destroy all of the false gods.
Zeph. 2:11
11 The LORD will be awesome against them;

for he will famish all the gods of the earth,
and to him shall bow down,
each in its place,
all the lands of the nations.
o Judgment of heavenly hosts and Leviathon: Isa 24:21-23; 27:1
On the Last Day God will bring judgment on the evil angels and their leader the devil.
Is. 24:21
21 On that day the LORD will punish

the host of heaven, in heaven,
and the kings of the earth, on the earth.
Is. 27:1
 God's policy for the nations
Through the prophet Isaiah and his successors, the Lord revealed his policy (‘etzah) for the nations.
o Zion as the place for international worship: Isa 2:1-4
In the latter days the Lord would raise up Mt Zion as a shrine for all the nations (Isa 2:1-4; Micah 4:1-4;
cf. Jer 3:17).
Is. 2:1-4
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(1) The Lord would reveal his glory to all people on Mt Zion (Isa 40:5; 60:1-3; 66:18;
cf. 4:5; 11:10).
• The whole city could be God's temple (Isa 4:5-6; 60:1-3,19; cf. Jer 3:17).
• The people of Zion would proclaim God's presence with them to the nation in a song
of praise (Isa 12:4-6).
(2) The Lord would teach the nations his ways and make peace between them through
their worship of him (Isa 2:2-3).
(3) The Lord would gather foreigners as well as his people, bring them to Zion, and accept their
sacrifices at the temple, which would become a house of prayer for all nations (Isa 56:6-8; 60:5-
7; cf. Mark 11:15-17).
(4) The Lord would purify the speech of foreigners, so that they could invoke and serve him
(Zeph 3:9).
(5) The Lord would prepare a sacrificial banquet for the nations on Mt Zion to celebrate the
death of death (Isa 25:6-8; cf. 55:3-9).
(6) The Lord would choose some foreigners to be his priests and levites (Isa 66:21; cf. 56:6).
o Conversion of the nations and their pilgrimage to Zion: Jer 16:19-21; Zech 8:20-
23
Jer. 16:19-21
19 O LORD, my strength and my stronghold,

my refuge in the day of trouble,
to you shall the nations come
from the ends of the earth and say:
“Our fathers have inherited nothing but lies,
worthless things in which there is no profit.
20Can man make for himself gods?
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Such are not gods!”

21 “Therefore, behold, I will make them know, this once I will make them know my
power and my might, and they shall know that my name is the LORD.”
Zech. 8:20-22
20 “Thus says the LORD of hosts: Peoples shall yet come, even the inhabitants of many
cities. 21 The inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, ‘Let us go at once to
entreat the favor of the LORD and to seek the LORD of hosts; I myself am
going.’ 22 Many peoples and strong nations shall come to seek the LORD of hosts in
Jerusalem and to entreat the favor of the LORD. 23 Thus says the LORD of hosts: In
those days ten men from the nations of every tongue shall take hold of the robe of a
Jew, saying, ‘Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.’”
The nations who would be redeemed by the Lord, would go in pilgrimage to Zion with the people of
Israel and become God's holy people (Isa 2:3; 62:10-12).
Is. 2:3

Is. 62:10
10 Go through, go through the gates;

prepare the way for the people;
build up, build up the highway;
clear it of stones;
lift up a signal over the peoples.
• They would go along with the Jews to seek the Lord's favour in Jerusalem (Zech 8:20-23) and
join his people, since he was in the midst of them (Zech 2:11; 8:23).
• They would come to Zion and acknowledge the presence of God there (Isa 45:14; 49:23).
• They would bring the people of Israel back with them as their offerings to the Lord on Zion (Isa
60:8-9; 66:20; cf. 49:22-23).
• They would celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles with the Israelites in Jerusalem (Zech 14:14-19).
• They would pay tribute to the Lord and bring offerings to the Lord in Zion (Isa 18:7; 23:18).
• They would join Israel in bowing down and prostrating themselves before the Lord (Isa 45:23;
66:23; Zeph 2:11).
• They would join Israel in praising the Lord to all the earth (Isa 25:3-5; 42:10-13; 66:19).
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• All nations who survived the Lord's judgment would therefore be called from their idols to
turn to the Lord and acknowledge him as the source
o Performance of the divine service together with Israel: Zeph 3:8b-10
The Lord would purify the speech of foreigners, so that they could invoke and serve him (Zeph 3:9).
Zeph. 3:9
9 “For at that time I will change the speech of the peoples

to a pure speech,
that all of them may call upon the name of the LORD
and serve him with one accord.
o Common confession of faith: Isa 45:22-25
Just as the people of Israel were included in God's enemies (Isa 1:21-31), God's vindication applied to
the penitent gentiles (Isa 45:22-24; 51:4-6; 55:5-9; 62:10-12) as well as his penitent people (Isa 1:27:
59:20).
They would join Israel in bowing down and prostrating themselves before the Lord (Isa 45:23; 66:23;
Zeph 2:11).
Is. 45:23
23 By myself I have sworn;

from my mouth has gone out in righteousness
a word that shall not return:
‘To me every knee shall bow,
every tongue shall swear allegiance.’
All nations who survived the Lord's judgment would therefore be called from their idols to turn to the
Lord and acknowledge him as the source of their salvation and justification (Isa 45:20-24; cf. 55:5-7; Jer
12:14-17).
Is. 45: 20-22
20 “Assemble yourselves and come;

draw near together,
you survivors of the nations!
They have no knowledge
who carry about their wooden idols,
and keep on praying to a god
that cannot save.
21 Declare and present your case;
let them take counsel together!
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Who told this long ago?

Who declared it of old?
Was it not I, the LORD?
And there is no other god besides me,
a righteous God and a Savior;
there is none besides me.
22 “Turn to me and be saved,
all the ends of the earth!
For I am God, and there is no other.
 International role of the Messiah
The Messianic King would implement God's plan for the nations. The Lord would raise him up as an
ensign for amnesty (Isa. 11:10) and a light to the nations (Isa 42:6; 49:6).
Is. 11:10
10 In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal (ensign-KJV) for the
peoples—of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious.
Is. 42:6 (God speaking to the Servant)
6 “I am the LORD; I have called you in righteousness;

I will take you by the hand and keep you;
I will give you as a covenant for the people,
a light for the nations,
Is. 49:6 (God speaking to the Servant)
6 he says:
o Administration of God's justice for the nations: Isa 42:1,4
The Messianic King would implement God's plan for the nations by teaching the nations, he would
establish God's just rule on earth (Isa 42:1-4).
Is. 42:1, 4
42:1 Behold my servant, whom I uphold,

my chosen, in whom my soul delights;
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I have put my Spirit upon him;

he will bring forth justice to the nations.
4 He will not grow faint or be discouraged

o Bringer of God's light and salvation to the nations: Isa 42:6-7; 49:6
He would not only restore the survivors of Israel but would also deliver the nations from darkness (Isa
49:6; cf. 42:6-7).
Is. 42:6-7
6 “I am the LORD; I have called you in righteousness;

I will take you by the hand and keep you;
I will give you as a covenant for the people,
a light for the nations,7
to open the eyes that are blind,
to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,
from the prison those who sit in darkness
Is. 49:6
6 he says:
o Justification of many nations by sprinkling them with his blood: Isa 52:15; 53:11-
12
He would offer his life as a guilt offering for all people (Isa 53:11-12) and act as their priest by sprinkling
them with his own blood (Isa 52:14-15a).
Is. 53:11-12
11 Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied;

12 Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many,
and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,
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because he poured out his soul to death

and was numbered with the transgressors;
yet he bore the sin of many,
and makes intercession for the transgressors.
Is. 52:14-15a
14 As many were astonished at you—

his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance,
and his form beyond that of the children of mankind—
15 so shall he sprinkle many nations.
o Proclamation of peace to the nations: Zech 9:10
He would establish international peace by disarming the nations in his dominion (Zech 9:9-10; cf. Micah
5:4-5a).
Zech. 9:10 (The Coming King of Zion)
10 I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim

and the war horse from Jerusalem;
and the battle bow shall be cut off,
and he shall speak peace to the nations;
his rule shall be from sea to sea,
and from the River to the ends of the earth.
Micah 5:4-5a
4 And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the LORD,
in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God.
And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great
to the ends of the earth.
5 And he shall be their peace.
o Fulfilment of all prophecy: Dan 9:24
When the people did not understand his prophecies and refused to respond to them, Jeremiah declared
that people would understand them after their fulfilment in the latter days (Jer 23:20; 30:24).
Jer. 23:20
20 The anger of the LORD will not turn back

until he has executed and accomplished
the intents of his heart.
In the latter days you will understand it clearly.
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When many of the prophecies were not obviously fulfilled and the people became sceptical about their
validity for them, Ezekiel announced that every vision would find its fulfilment in the near future (Ezek
12:21-28).
Eze. 21:26-28
26 And the word of the LORD came to me: 27 “Son of man, behold, they of the house
of Israel say, ‘The vision that he sees is for many days from now, and he prophesies of
times far off.’ 28 Therefore say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: None of my words
will be delayed any longer, but the word that I speak will be performed, declares the
Lord GOD.”
Habakkuk was told that the vision of divine judgment on the wicked and the vindication of the righteous
would occur at the end of the present era (Hab 2:2-5).
Hab. 2:3
3 For still the vision awaits its appointed time;

it hastens to the end—it will not lie.
If it seems slow, wait for it;
it will surely come; it will not delay.
According to Daniel 9:24-27, all visionary prophecy would be fulfilled and the end would occur at the
coming of the Messiah to Jerusalem.
• Then the exile would be over and Jerusalem would be restored.
• Then the rebellion of Israel would end and their sin would be atoned for.
• Then the people would receive everlasting vindication/righteousness and prophecy would
cease.
• Then the Holy of Holies/Most Holy One would be anointed.
Dan. 9:24
24 “Seventy weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city, to finish the
transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting
righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place.
This understanding of prophecy seems to be presupposed by the editors of the prophets. It determined
their arrangement of the prophetic oracles. It is evident in the arrangement of Isaiah, the structure of
which indicates that the vision of Zion's exaltation in Isaiah 2:1-4 would be fulfilled in heavenly
Jerusalem after the creation of a new heaven and new earth (Isa 65-66).
The New Testament understands all prophecy in this eschatological fashion (Acts 3:18-24; Rom 16:25-
26; 1 Cor 10:11; 1 Pet 1:10-12).
Acts 3:18-24
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18 But what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would
suffer, he thus fulfilled. 19 Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be
blotted out, 20 that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and
that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, 21 whom heaven must receive
until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his
holy prophets long ago. 22 Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet
like me from your brothers. You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you. 23 And it
shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from
the people.’ 24 And all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those who
came after him, also proclaimed these days.
Rom. 16:25-26
25 Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the
preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept
secret for long ages 26 but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings
has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to
bring about the obedience of faith—
1 Cor. 10:11
11 Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down
for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come.
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Lecture OT-22b
v=8f81DvvMUj4&list=PL32Gjc1uEM1AUR8LC9JlceA9xFSeZs25Z&index=39
F. Our Legacy from the Old Testament

We will now summarize the theology of the OT and the relevance of the OT for us Christians.
Actually rather than me summarizing it, we will go to Paul because he has done a pretty good
job of it.
a. Paul’s list in Rom 9:4-5 of our heritage from Israel
Let’s look at Rom. 9:1-5. And in verses 4 and 5 we have an amazing little didactic poem, which
was used to instruct people in the early church. We will be looking closely at it.
9 I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the
Holy Spirit— 2 that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3 For I could wish
that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen
according to the flesh. 4 They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the
covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. 5 To them belong the
patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all,
blessed forever. Amen.
Notice here that we have an intricate list. Lists were used in the ancient world like we use
Power Point today, as didactic devices. They were used to teach from and to memorize. So
what you have here is a summary that was used by a teacher to teach from and a summary for
students to learn. And it is a poem; there is intricate rhyming and a pattern.
Dr. Kleing gave his translation of the Greek for Rom. 9:4-5.
They are the Israelites, the giving of sonship and the glory and the covenants and the giving of
the law and the service and the promises and the fathers. And from them the Christ ...
If you look at it in Greek, there are a number of devices. (See d. below.) It is a list of seven
things. If you have a list of seven, it usually tells you the full story of something, the completion
of it. And notice that the seven culminates in an eighth, which is the Christ. You have seven plus
one and the one is the fulfillment of the seven. In the list of seven the accent is on the fathers
who were given the list of gifts. And what was given to the fathers culminates in number eight,
the Christ.
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And within the seven there are certain rhyming schemes. There is a connection between the
giving of sonship and the giving of the law. There is a connection between the glory and the
service. There is a connection between the covenants and the promises. So the first three form
a trio that is parallel to the second trio.
1. Sonship
2. Glory
3. Covenants
4. Law
5. Services
6. Promises
7. Fathers
8. Christ
b. Reception by gentiles from Israel through Christ
What is our legacy from the Israelites in the OT? This Paul’s summary of it.
c. Eight part legacy of divine gifts
This is what we have received from Israel through Christ – an eight part legacy of divine gifts.
 The sonship: adoption as God's firstborn sons, together with Israel through
Jesus, God's only-begotten Son: Acts 13:32-34; Gal 3:26-29
The first gift is sonship. Remember that Israel was God’s firstborn son whom he called out of
Egypt. Also remember that the king, first of all Solomon and then the Messiah, was to be the
son of God. Solomon was the adopted son. The Messiah was the only begotten Son.
The first great gift that we have from Israel was the adoption as sons of God, the royal Father.
So we are royalty. We are royal sons of God. We’ve been adopted as God’s firstborn sons,
together with Israel through Jesus, God’s only begotten Son. And if we are God’s royal sons,
then we share in the inheritance of the firstborn son, which is the kingdom of God. And we do
the work of the Son. We work together with the royal Son in administering God’s kingdom and
our status is royal status. We are kings and queens who reign together with Christ.
Normally speaking in the ancient world, the firstborn son gets the bulk of the inheritance. But
here we all have the status of firstborn sons. So everything that belongs to Jesus belongs to us.
That is the first gift, the gift of sonship. We don’t have time to look at these passages. You’ll
have to look them up yourselves.
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 The glory: manifest presence of God at the temple and now in Christ: John
1:14; 17:24
The second great gift is the glory. Remember God’s glory manifested in the glory cloud, which
filled the tabernacle and temple? This is the same glory that was revealed in the divine service
in the column of smoke every morning and every evening. Now in John 1:14 John says, The
Word became flesh and tabernacled among us and we beheld his (God’s) glory, the glory as of
the one and only Son of God. The glory of God temporally resided on top of Mt. Sinai and then
in the tabernacle and then in the temple. And before the temple was destroyed the glory left
the temple (Ezekiel’s great vision). That glory now resides in the body of Jesus and the
resurrected body of Jesus is the temple of God, the place of God’s glory where you can see God.
It is the place of theophany. We received that from Israel. There is continuity between the
tabernacle/temple/divine service in the OT and Jesus/Divine Service in the NT.
And notice in the diagram that there is a parallel between glory and service because that is
where we have access to the glory.
 The covenants: heirs with Christ to God's covenants with Abraham and
David: Acts 3:25
Thirdly, we have the covenants. Which are the main covenants from the OT? God’s covenant
with Abraham, God’s covenant with Israel, and most importantly God’s covenant with David.
On the face of it, those covenants belong not to us but to Israel. But because we are adopted as
sons, we are honorary Jews in Jesus the Son, and those covenants belong to us. And the
promises of those covenants are promises that apply to us. Hence we can read the OT, not just
as referring to Jewish people, but as referring to us in the new covenant.
So those covenants with Abraham, Israel, and David are fulfilled by the New David and so we
are now heirs of all of God’s covenants in the OT.
 The lawgiving: God's law from Israel through Christ who has fulfilled it for
us: Matt 5:17-20; Luke 16:17
Fourthly, there is the giving of the law. The giving of the law is parallel to the giving of sonship.
To whom is the law given? To the sons of God. That law was received through Israel and that
law does not have to be fulfilled by us because it is fulfilled by Christ. He fulfills not just the
moral law, but the ceremonial law, the civil law, the whole law of God is fulfilled by Christ and it
is fulfilled for us in Christ, through him and his Holy Spirit. So there is the giving of the law and
the fulfillment of the law in Christ. And there is our fulfilling of the law in Christ, through faith in
Christ.
(Student question about whether the Jews at that time would have expected the messiah to
fulfill all of God’s laws? There was a whole smorgasbord of expectations. It would have been
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self-evident that if there was any person who was righteous according to the law, it would have
been the messiah.)
Notice that Jesus gives us the law back in the Sermon on the Mount. Don’t fall into the trap that
Jesus is only a preacher of the Gospel. He preaches both Law and Gospel. And he takes the law
to a greater extreme than Moses did. But he preaches God’s law in a new way. And he gives us
God’s law in a new way. The best way to understand this is in the Lutheran teaching of the
three uses of the law. Particularly the second and third use of the law – the law which exposes
and diagnoses our spiritual condition and exposes what we need to have done to us through
Jesus and the Holy Spirit. And the third use of the law uses the law in a new way, as
encouragement rather than as condemnation and accusation. Encouragement in that it shows
us what pleases God. How do I know what pleases God? I look at the Ten Commandments. A
God-pleasing life is very simple, it is given to us in the law.
 The service: divinely instituted worship from Israel with Jesus as high priest:
Heb 8:1-4
The next one is the divine service. Now, this is most radical because for the last two hundred
years we’ve had the story that Jesus came to abolish the worship of Israel, to put an end to the
temple and its worship and to establish a new way of worshipping God. That is a bunch of
baloney. Jesus did not come to establish a new divine service but to fulfill the service of the OT.
There is continuity between what we do in church on Sunday and what was done by Israel at
the tabernacle and the temple. Every time you go to church you are receiving your part of the
heritage from Israel. You are receiving the heritage of the divine service from Israel in the OT.
What Paul says radically contradicts most modern theology since the enlightenment. The story
from the enlightenment is basically that Jesus came to abolish the law and to abolish the
ceremonial law. And that means to abolish the temple and the divine service. Jesus doesn’t
come to abolish the temple but to fulfill the temple. Jesus doesn’t come to abolish the
priesthood but to fulfill the priesthood. And most importantly here, he does not come to
abolish the divine service but to fulfill the divine service. The focus of the Divine Service is Holy
Communion, that wonderful meal is the fulfillment of everything done in the temple in the OT.
 The promises: heirs of all God's promises to Israel by union with Christ: Eph
3:6
Next there is the promises of God. Notice that these are parallel to the covenants. Notice then
the emphasis then is not on the covenants as covenants of law, but the covenants as covenants
of promise. Now this is astonishing because theoretically speaking the promises in the OT
should only apply to the Jews. But because we are united with Jesus the Messiah, we are
honorary Jews, so therefore those promises made to the Jews are promises applied to us. Now
that is very important for your preaching and teaching of the OT, to make that link.
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 The patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as spiritual fathers in Christ:

Rom 4:13-25
Lastly, who are our spiritual fathers and mothers? Our spiritual father is not Luther or Augustine
or even Paul, but our spiritual father is Abraham. Our spiritual mother is Sarah. We are
honorary children of Abraham and Sarah. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are our founding fathers.
We have received the legacy of faith from them. We are the stars in the sky, the grains of sand
of descendants promised to Abraham.
All seven of these things are only ours how? Through the death and resurrection and anointing
of Jesus as the Messiah. All of this is only ours through Christ. (1) Through Christ we are sons of
God and have the status of sonship. (2) Through Christ we have access to God’s glory. (3)
Through Christ we are beneficiaries of the covenants of the OT. (4) Through Christ the law that
God gave to Israel becomes God’s law for us. (5) Through Christ we participate together with
Jewish people in the Divine Service. (6) Through Christ we become heirs of all the promises of
God. (7) Through Christ the fathers and mothers of Israel are our spiritual fathers and mothers.
 The Christ: Jesus as the promised Messiah who occupies the throne of David
and rules over us in God's kingdom: Luke 1:31-33.
These all lead to number eight. They lead to Christ who Paul says is God, blessed forever. So
Jesus Christ is God. This is one of the passages that teaches the divinity of Christ, as the one
who is the giver and bringer of all divine blessings.
d. Pattern of arrangement as an intricate little poem
(See above where Dr. Kleinig breaks this poem down into its parts and shows how it all leads to
Christ.)
 Seven common gifts ►one greatest gift from them as the culmination and
summation of them
 Hōn with 1 and 7 and ex hōn in 8: Christos ho ōn epi pantōn Theos
 1-3 = 4-6 ►7: the fathers
 Sonship: huiothesia ► lawgiving: nomothesia
 Glory: doxa ► service: latreia
 Covenants: diathēkai ► promises: epayyeliai
So we have a great legacy from the Israelites. We have received far more than we ever realized.
Luther puts in very simply. He says really the whole NT is a simple sermon saying that
everything that God spoke about, everything that God promised in the OT is fulfilled in Christ.
So the NT is God’s Amen to the OT.
502
And then another time Luther went on to say, the Scriptures proper are not the NT or the
gospels. (That is the impression you get today.) But the Scriptures proper are the OT. The NT is
really Gospel preaching, saying that all of this is ours through Jesus the Christ.
One of the things that has happened in the Church is that people’s knowledge of the OT has
diminished and is diminishing rapidly. Some pastors rarely preach on the OT. And worse than
that some Lutheran churches don’t even read the OT. This is tragic. We have a whole
generation of uncatechized, biblically illiterate people who are terribly vulnerable spiritually. If
you are going to meet the challenge of your generation to re-catechize and re-evangelize this
coming generation, you won’t be able to do it just from the NT, but you will also need the OT as
well.
One final picture, the way I see it is you can read the whole NT and you can get the basic
message of the NT. But what you get is the picture in black and white and consisting of still
pictures. What does the OT do? It turns the black and white into color and with it you can see
the riches and splendor of the NT only if you read it in the light of the OT. Likewise, you can only
see the full riches and color of the OT if you read it in the light of the NT.
I’ve tried to do something which is impossible to do, which is to summarize the OT in eleven
weeks. I’ve failed and haven’t done much at all. There is so much here. Just two things I’d like to
communicate to you and that is how rich the OT is and how relevant the OT is. Bless you all.
503

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Old Testament Theology

Lectures OTT-1a (1 of 22)

[No overheads were used in this first session.]

Dr. Kleinig had four common reasons:

Dr. Kleinig’s Approach for This Class – His Assumptions

Text Book and Assessments

Lectures OTT- 1B (2 of 22)

(See pgs. 3-5 of the Class Notes.)

(2) Interest in the future as the product of present decisions

Below is the diagram that was on the board.

Enlightenment Post-Modern Traditional

b) Traditional view of history

(2) Future fulfilment of past foundational events

(3) Recognition of God and supernatural powers

(4) Primacy of religion over politics and economics

Lectures OTT- 2a, 2b, 3a, 3b (missing)

(See also pgs. 3-5 of the Class Notes.)

2) The function and significance of divine institution

b. My Assumptions about Old Testament Theology

(See also pgs. 7-10 of the Class Notes.)

.. engages in personal .. Obeys

Effective Word in divine service

.. commits self in Word .. receives blessings

..gives access in blessings .. prays & praises

What is covered in lecture 4a is highlighted in the outline below.

[Covered in previous lecture, which is unavailable.]

4. Revelation of his word to the Israelites in different forms of speech

Highlighted below is the material covered in this lecture.

B.The Foundation of Humanity in Creation

B. The Foundation of Humanity in Creation

Ps. 89 is a royal lament, a messianic psalm.

5 Let the heavens praise your wonders, O LORD,

A student read Ps. 89:6-14.

 Divine act that transcends natural causation

 Victory over chaotic powers

 Foundation of world as arena for God’s justice, righteousness, generosity and

Use of bārā’ for creation by God

 Use of word and Spirit (Ps 33:6-9)

By the word of the LORD the heavens were made,

 No help or hindrance from other deities: no co-creators

 Delegation of life-giving power by blessing of animals, humanity and the seventh

4. God’s use of his word in performative utterances

 Creative decrees: light, space, heavenly bodies

 Regulative decrees: water, dry land

 Productive decrees for land and seas: vegetation and animals

 Imperative benediction for fish, birds, humans, and seventh day

 Collective decision for creation of humanity

 Verbal provision of plants as food

5. Ongoing empowerment and maintenance of creation by God’s word

B. The Foundation of Humanity in Creation

B. The Foundation of Humanity in Creation

7. Human analogies for creation

 God as potter, craftsman, builder, farmer

 Earth as mother of plants and animals

9. God as only witness

10. Parallel: protology and eschatology

(A couple of student questions.)

11. Matter of mystery and praise

b. God’s creation of an orderly world