Aramaic in the Bible (2) – New Testament

This Part 2 is the continuation and conclusion to “Aramaic in the Bible (1) – Old Testament”.  Material covered in (1) won’t be repeated here in (2); I suggest you read Part 1 first.

Prior to being taken captive by Assyria (721 BC) and Babylon (586 BC), Israelites & Jews had spoken Old Hebrew or Judahite (Jehudíth Strongs h3066) in the Land of Canáan.  But when Jews returned to the Land from captivity in the days of Zerubabbél (530s BC), and with Ezra & Nehemiah (c 450 BC), they spoke the Aramáic language.  They’d learned it in the East, during the time of the Neo-Assyrian, Neo-Babylonian (Chaldéan), and Persian empires.  Aramaic was the língua fránca of those empires.

Most Israelites & Jews no longer spoke Judahite ‘Hebrew’, the old “lip of Canaan”.  Ne.13:24 “As for their children…none of them was able to speak in the language of Judah [Jehudith h3066].”  Benson Commentary Ne.13:24 “The language which the [common] Jews then spoke was Cháldee; this language they learned in their captivity, and after their return never assumed their ancient Hebrew tongue.” 

The returnees and their descendants spoke Aramaic.  Some of the later chapters in the Old Testament (OT) timeline were written in Aramaic: Da.2:4b–7:28, Ezr.4:8–6:18, 7:12-26.  see Part 1.

Then Greek became the language of commerce for the Grecian and Roman empires.  Most historians say that at the New Testament (NT) time of Jesus/Yeshúa, Aramaic (also called Chaldee and Sýriac) was still the language spoken by the majority of common Jews in Judea.  In most Judean synagogues, the OT scriptures were read from Hebrew scrolls, and interpreters (meturganim) translated them into Aramaic for the hearers.  cf. Ne.8:8.  But there was no Aramaic text of the entire OT (there was an old Greek text).  So the Aramaic Tárgums were written. 

The Targums are OT paraphrases.  They were written in Aramaic, beginning in the 1^st century AD.  With them, Aramaic-speaking people could understand the OT text.  The Targum of Ónkelos (the Law) and the Targum of Jonathán (the Prophets) were composed prior to 200 AD.  They are official.  Another Targum of the Law/Torah/Péntateuch is the Jerusalem Targum (also known as the Targum Pseudo-Jonathan).  There’s also the Targum Neofití, for the Pentateuch.  And a few others.

Perhaps the Aramaic Targums wouldn’t have been necessary if most Jews still knew Hebrew.  But most no longer knew Hebrew.  They spoke Aramaic or Greek.  Bruce Metzger The Jewish Targums “Such versions were needed when Hebrew ceased to be the normal medium of communication among Jews.”

Whenever the Targums came to passages where YHVH was anthropomorphized or seen (appearing human), or where plural YHVHs are indicated…Targums substituted the “Word of YHVH” for “YHVH”!  The Aramaic term for “Word” is Mémra.  In Greek, “Word” is Lógos g3056, e.g. Jn.1:1.  The Targum Neofiti was written in Palestine before 200 AD.  Targ Neofiti Ge.1:1 “From the beginning with Wisdom the Memra [Word] of the Lord created and perfected the heavens and the earth.”  (Of note also is Targ Jonathan Is.52:13, “Behold My Servant the Messiah…!”  Disbelieving medieval rabbis claim “My Servant” here was the nation of Israel…but this earlier Targum indicated Is.52–53 refers to the Messiah an individual.) 

Again, a few chapters of the OT were written in Aramaic.  Ezr.5 is in Aramaic.  Ezr.5:2 “Yeshúa the son of Jozadák.”  Yeshua (a common male name) is also Messiah Jesus’ name in Aramaic.

The gospel writers record Jesus speaking Aramaic in red-letter text of our Bible, and they record places in Judea with Aramaic names.  Following are some of the Aramaic words in the NT:

Jesus called the brothers in Mk.3:17, “Boanergés, that is, ‘Sons of Thunder”.  Expositor’s Greek Testament “As pronounced by Galileans, in Syrian.”  Jesus said to the dead girl in Mk.5:41, “Taleetháh koómee (which translated means ‘Little girl, arise!’)”.  JFB Commentary “The words are Aramaic, or Syro-Chaldáic, the then language of Palestine.”  Jesus said to the deaf man in Mk.7:34, “Éffathah!’, that is, ‘Be opened!”  Cambridge Bible “The actual Aramaic word used by our Lord.”  Jesus prayed in Mk.14:36, “Abbáh! Father!”  Geneva Study Bible “The word Abba is a Syrian word.”  (The Hebrew word for Father is Awb h1, the Aramaic is Ab h2, also Abbah g5.)  Abbah is also seen in Ro.8:15 and Ga.4:6 of Paul’s epistles.  The above verses reflect (Western) Aramaic words.

Luke wrote, Ac.1:19 “In their own language that field was called Hakeldamáh, the Field of Blood.”  Luke recorded the Aramaic name of the field at Jerusalem purchased by Judas…“in their language”!  Poole Commentary Ac.1:19 “The Syriac language then in use after the Babylonish captivity.”

The Jewish historian Josephus (37-100 AD) was a priest born in Jerusalem.  His language was Aramaic.  Wikipedia: Language of Jesus “Josephus differentiated Hebrew from his language and that of 1^st century Israel. Josephus refers to Hebrew words as belonging to ‘the Hebrew tongue’ but refers to Aramaic words as belonging to ‘our tongue’ or ‘our language’ or ‘the language of our country.”

John recorded places at Jerusalem with Aramaic/Syriac names.  Jn.5:2 Bethesdáh.  Ellicott Commentary “Bethesda means ‘house of mercy’. The ‘Hebrew tongue’ is…what we ordinarily call Aramaic, or Syro-Chaldaic.”  Jn.19:13 ESV “A place called the Stone Pavement, which in Aramaic [Hebraistí g1447 adverb] is Gabbatháh.”  Gill Exposition “The Jews, who at this time spoke Syriac.”  Jn.19:17 CSB “The Place of the Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotháh.”  The NASB center margin notes the (bold) above terms as “Jewish Aramaic”…not Hebrew.  Strong’s Dictionary of terms, and the commentaries quoted above, say these NT words are Aramaic/Syriac/Chaldaic…not Hebrew.

Wikipedia: Aramaic “The Christian New Testament uses the Koine Greek phrase Ἑβραϊστί Hebraïstí to denote ‘Aramaic’, as Aramaic was at that time the language commonly spoken by the Jews.”

Jesus said to Peter, “Blessed are you Simon BarJonáh” (Mt.16:17).  Bar-Jonah means ‘son of Jonah’.  Cambridge Bible “Bar is Aramaic for ‘son.”  bar h1247.  But the Hebrew term for “son” is ben h1121.  So here Matthew records Jesus speaking Aramaic, not Hebrew.  The Aramaic BarAbbás = son of Abbáh (Mt.27:16).  Wikipedia op. cit. “Barabbas is a Hellenization of the Aramaic Bar Abba, literally ‘son of the father.”  Also: BarTholomew = son of Tolmai/Ptolemy (Lk.6:14); BarTimaeus = son of Timaeus (Mk.10:46); BarSabas = son of Sabas (Ac.1:23 & 15:22 – two men); Barnabas = son of encouragement (Ac.4:36); Barjesus = son of Yeshua (Ac.13:6).  Wikipedia ibid “The most prominent feature in Aramaic names is bar, meaning ‘son of’. Its Hebrew equivalent, ben, is conspicuous by its absence.”  Those NT personal names are strong internal evidence that Aramaic language use was predominant!

Aramaic too is a language used by God!  Stephen Missick The Language of Jesus, p.60 “Jesus is God incarnate and He spoke Aramaic.”  The hand from God wrote in Aramaic the “handwriting on the wall” in 539 BC…‘MÉNE, MÉNE, TÉKEL, UPHÁRSIN’ (Da.5:24-28)!

{Sidelight: We don’t know what language Jesus wrote at the scene of the woman taken in adultery, writing on the ground with His finger (Jn.8:6).  Jesus could’ve written in the common Aramaic, or perhaps He quoted the OT Hebrew or old Greek version.  Jn.8:6 “Jesus with His finger wrote on the ground.”  Maybe Jesus quoted or referred to Je.17:13 as He wrote the names of her accusers?  Je.17:13 “Those who depart from Me shall be written in the dirt.”}

Jesus and 11 of His 12 disciples were from Galilee (Judas Iscariót likely was from Keriot in Judea).  Galileans had a noticeable accent in their Aramaic dialect.  ccaugusta.org “Jesus principally spoke a Galilean dialect of Aramaic.”  A dialect of regional Western Aramaic.  aramaicnt.com “Early Galilean Aramaic, the mother tongue of Jesus.”  Ac.2:7 “Are not all these which speak Galileans?”  Pulpit Commentary Ac.2:7 “The Galilean accent was peculiar and well known.”  It is thought that their accent was more guttural or the gutterals (throat articulations) were blurred.  One of the bystanders said to Peter in Mt.26:73 NET, “You really are one of them; even your accent gives you away”.  Meyer NT Commentary Mt.26:73 “The natives were unable to distinguish especially the gutterals properly.”

Jn.11:1 the NT name Lázarus was Eleázar in Hebrew and Alázar in Aramaic.  The ‘A’ was dropped and the Latin declension ‘us’ was added, resulting in Lazarus in our NT.  Comparably, Englishmen today pronounce ‘Henry’ as ‘Enry’ (dropping the ‘H’).  An older occasion of pronunciation difference in Israel is in Jg.12:6, where the Ephraimites said sibbóleth, but couldn’t say shibbóleth (with the ‘h’).

Aramaic is called a metallic-sounding language.  The Lord’s Prayer in Aramaic (Mt.6:9-13):

“Abwoon d’Bwashmaya, Neet Kah Schmaakh

Teh Teh Malkutah, Neyweh Tzevyanah Aikhanah,

d’Bwashmayah Aph Buh Arh Ah Howlahn Lakhmah d’Soonkhanan Yaow Manah,

Wash Boh Klahn Kaow Behn, Wahktahehn,

Aikhanah Daph Knanahn Soobwoh-Khan Lahkhai Ah-Ben                                   

Welah Tahlah Le Nesyunah, Elah Patzan Min Bishah                                                 

Metohl Delakhih Malkutah, Whyallah Wateshbuktah, Lah-Allam, Allmin.”

It is said that Jesus’ red-letter words in the gospel accounts are powerful when they’re retroverted from Greek manuscripts into Aramaic!  But that they don’t back-translate as well into Hebrew.  John’s gospel is thought to have the strongest Aramaic flavor or substratum (underlying layer) of any gospel account, especially Jesus’ sayings.

In the gospel quotes above, Jesus spoke Aramaic words.  Also He likely spoke Greek in “Galilee of the gentiles” (Mt.4:15), and with Greek-speaking business clients there.  In the Nazareth synagogue (Lk.4:16-21), Jesus read from the scroll of Isaiah, either from the Hebrew OT or the old Greek version.  

Ac.21:40-ff Paul, in making his own defense, chose to address the crowd of Jews in Jerusalem in Aramaic (not Greek).  The NASB center margin notes the language Paul spoke here as “Jewish Aramaic” (Hebraís g1446 noun).  Robertson’s NT Word Pictures Ac.21:40 “The Araméan which the people in Jerusalem knew better than the Greek.”  

Interestingly, the OT never refers to the ancient language of the Israelites or Jews as the ‘Hebrew language’!  Rather, in the OT their tongue was called the “language of Canaan” (Is.19:18) or Judahite (Jehudíth: 2Ki.18:26-28, Is.36:11-13, 2Ch.32:18, Ne.13:24).  see Part 1.

Wikipedia op. cit. “A small minority believes that most of the New Testament was originally written in Aramaic.”  The Aramaic Primacy view.  At this point, that is speculation.

The Tálmud of rabbinic Judaism was written in Aramaic (200–500 AD).  Yehuda Shurpin Why is the Talmud in Aramaic? “The Western Aramaic languages were used largely in the area that was under Roman (and later Byzantine) rule. The Jerusalem Talmud, composed in Israel, is written in a Western Aramaic dialect. The Eastern Aramaic languages flourished in the Persian Empire, and as a result the Babylonian Talmud, written in Persian-dominated Babylon, is in Eastern Aramaic. The Talmud was written in Aramaic, the language of the masses, so that it would be accessible to all. ”

Aside from the sectarian Dead Sea Scrolls (DSS) religious community, to date most surviving inscriptions of Jesus’ period on artifacts, tombs (Caiáphas’ tomb too), ossuáries/bone boxes, etc. in the Holy Land…are in Aramaic or Greek.  Some are in Hebrew.  Pieter van der Horst Jewish Funerary Inscriptions “In Jerusalem itself about 40 percent of the Jewish inscriptions from the first-century period (before 70 CE) are in Greek.”  (cf. Ac.6:1-5 Stephen was a Greek-speaking Jew in Jerusalem.)

Breakdown of DSS text scripts: Old/Paleo Hebrew 1%, Hebrew/Áshuri square 78%, Aramaic square 17%, Greek 3%, other 1%.  Historians say that some Hebrew language usage was redeveloping in Christ’s day in pocket areas (e.g. the DSS at Qumrán).  Some was known by the educated and priests.  Shurpin op. cit. “Hebrew was used for ‘holy’ matters, such as prayer, and not for ordinary activities.”      

Wikipedia: Language of Jesus “According to DSS archaeologist Yigael Yadin, Aramaic was the language of Hebrews until Simon Bar-Kókhba’s revolt [132-135 AD in Judea]. Yadin noticed the shift from Aramaic to Hebrew in the documents which had been written during the time of the revolt. Yadin said, ‘It seems that this change came as a result of the order that was given by Bar Kokhba, who wanted to revive the Hebrew language and make it the official language of the state’. Yadin points out that Aramaic was the lingua franca [common language] at the time.” 

Both Aramaic and Hebrew are classed as NW Semític Áfro-Asiátic languages; Hebrew is sub-classed a Canaanite language.  Much later, c 800 AD, vowel points were added to the Hebrew language.

Prior to 1948, (Ashkenázi) Yíddish was the language of most Jews.  The national language in modern Israel today is called ‘Hebrew’.  It’d been near 2,500 years since Judahite/Hebrew was the language of common people (am-harétz) in the Land!  But Modern Hebrew (Ivrít) has been influenced by Yiddish.  Yiddish is classed a Germanic Indo-European language, not a Semitic.  The tongue spoken today in Israel isn’t the ancient Canaanite/Hebrew “language of Canaan” (Is.19:18).  Amir Zeldes wrote, “Modern Hebrew is a hybrid language. Modern Hebrew never was exactly Biblical Hebrew, and in many ways it has been a very different language for as long as it has existed.”  Jewish Agency Jewish Languages “Only a minority of the Jewish people today can speak Hebrew…It is more common to use English.”

Aramaic was gradually superceded by the Semitic sister language Arabic during the Moslem conquest (c 700–1300 AD).  Arabic is the liturgical language of Íslam. 

Very few Aramaic dialects are spoken today.  It is an endangered language.  Some Christian groups in areas of Iraq, Syria, Iran, SE Turkey, speak an Aramaic dialect called Syriac.  Churches in the East still use Aramaic as their liturgical language.  Some refer to themselves as Assyrians or Chaldeans.

The prophecy of Zep.3:9 NASB, “I will give to the peoples purified lips [h8193], that all of them may call on the name of the Lord. From beyond the rivers.”  Including heathens too, outside the Holy Land.  Ge.11:9 the penalty for the sin at Babel was the confusion of the language/lip/shore (h8193).  But eventually there’ll be no more ‘idol’ tongues speaking idolatry.  Zec.14:9 “The Lord will be King over all the earth in that day.”  

In the tongues miracle of Ac.2:1-11, pilgrim visitors at Jerusalem heard them speaking in their own languages.  In many dialects.  v.11 “We hear them speaking the mighty deeds of God.”  In a sense, this heals the breach which occurred back in Ge.11!  The penalty is removed.  Words may be spoken from a pure heart/lips in any language.  Ps.22:27 “All the ends of the earth will turn to the Lord. All the kindreds of the nations will worship before Thee.”  Praise the Lord!  

 

Aramaic in the Bible (1) – Old Testament

Our Bible books were written in (at least) three ancient languages; Hebrew, Aramáic, koine Greek.  This two-part topic is about Aramaic.  Part 1 discusses Aramaic in Old Testament (OT) times, BC. 

Noah and his family survived the Flood (Ge.7:13, 8:15-16).  Ge.9:18 “The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham and Jápheth; and Ham was the father of Canáan.”  Ge.10:22, “The sons of Shem were Elám, Asshúr, Arphaxad, Lud and Arám.”  Aram and Canaan were grandsons of Noah.

Josephus Antiquities of the Jews 1:6:4 “Asshur lived at the city of Nineveh, and named his subjects Assyrians. Arphaxad named…the Chaldéans. Aram…called Syrians.” 

Semític languages are named from Shem.  The Aramaic language is named from Shem’s son Aram.  Cambridge Bible “The people denoted by Aram were destined to exercise great influence. The Araméan language gradually prevailed over the other Semitic dialects, even Hebrew.”

Ge.10:24 Septúagint/LXX “Arphaxad begot Kaínan [not Canaan], Kainan begot Shélah; Shelah begot Éber.”  The Hebrew people were named after Eber.  Josephus ibid “Eber, from whom they originally called the Jews, Hebrews.”  Eber was the great-grandson (or grandson) of Aram’s brother Arphaxad.

Much later, a language in the “Land of Canáan” Holy Land would be called Hebrew.  Tel Aviv’s Bar-Ilan Univ: Daf Parashat Hashavua (No.112) “It’s clear from extant epigraphic material that Hebrew is a Canaaníte language.”  Aramaic and Canaanite are classed as NW Semitic languages.  Hebrew and Phoenícian are sub-classed as NW Semitic Canaanite languages.  All four are primary-classed as Áfro-Asiátic languages.  Aramaic would become widely used geographically in the Near East.

Wikipedia: Aramaic “Ancient Aram, now called Syria, is considered the linguistic epicenter of Aramaic, the [later] language of the Arameans who settled the area during the Bronze Age. Aramaic is a Semitic language. By around 1000 BC, the Arameans had a string of kingdoms in what is now part of Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and the fringes of southern Mesopotamia [Ac.2:9, 7:2] and Anatólia [Turkey]. Aramaic rose to prominence under the Neo-Assyrian Empire (911–605 BC), under whose influence Aramaic became a prestige language after being adopted as the língua fránca [common tongue] of the empire. Its use spread throughout Mesopotamia, the Levánt and parts of Asia Minor. At its height, Aramaic, having gradually replaced earlier Semitic languages, was spoken in several variants all over what is today Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, E. Arabia, Bahrain, Sinai, parts of SE and south central Turkey, and parts of NW Iran.”  Aramaic became the language of Mesopotamia.

Wikipedia: History of Mesopotamia “Mesopotamia literally means ‘between the rivers’ in ancient Greek. The oldest known occurrence of the name Mesopotamia dates to the 4^th century BC, when it was used to designate the land east of the Euphrates in north Syria. Later it was more generally applied to all the lands between the Euphrates and the Tigris, thereby incorporating not only parts of Syria but also almost all of Iraq and SE Turkey. The neighboring steppes to the west of the Euphrates and the western part of the Zágros Mountains are also often included under the wider term Mesopotamia. A further distinction is usually made between Upper or N. Mesopotamia and Lower or S. Mesopotamia. Upper Mesopotamia, also known as the Jazíra, is the area between the Euphrates and the Tigris from their sources down to Baghdad. Lower Mesopotamia is the area from Baghdad to the Persian Gulf.”

Prior to Aramaic, the main language of the ancient Near East was Akkádian, an East Semitic Afro-Asiatic language, now extinct.  Holman Bible Dictionary: Akkadian “Akkadian was the international language of diplomacy & commerce in the Near East before 1000 BC.”  Wikipedia: Akkadian Language “Its gradual replacement by Akkadian-influenced Old Aramaic among Mesopotamians.”  The ancient Old Aramaic period was c 1000–700 BC.  (Historians differ some in their period designations/dates.)

The OT term for “Aramaic language”, Aramíth Strongs h762 Hebrew (rendered “Syrian language” in the LXX), occurs 4 times: 2Ki.18:26, Is.36:11, Da.2:4, Ezr.4:7.  The term for a Syrian/Aramean person is Arammíy h761, 11 occurrences.  Aram h758 is both a man’s name and the Syrian region, occurring over 100 times.  Mesopotamia/Arám Naharáyim h763 (Aram-of-the-two-rivers, rendered Mesopotamia in the LXX), occurs 6 times: Ge.24:10, De.23:4, Jdg.3:8, 10, 1Ch.19:6, Ps.60:1.

Ge.12:5 Abrám (born c 2100 BC) migrated to the land of Canaan from Harrán (Akkadian “Harránu”), which was in the region of Aram.  Harran is in far south Turkey, 10 miles from the north Syrian border.

Abraham told his servant in Ge.24:2-4, “Don’t take a wife for my son from the Canaanites, among whom I live; but go to my country to my relatives and take a wife for Isaac”.  v.10 “He went to Aram-of-the-two-rivers, the city of Nahór.”  The city of Abraham’s brother Nahor was in N. Mesopotamian Syria, 400 miles distant.  The servant brought back Rebekah for Isaac.  Ge.25:20 “Isaac was 40 years old when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuél the Aramean of Paddán-Arám, the sister of Labán the Aramean [Arammiy h761].”  Bethuel, the son of Nahor, was Abraham’s nephew (Ge.22:20-23).  Then Ge.28:5 “Isaac sent Jacob to Paddan-Aram,to Laban, son of Bethuel the Aramean.”  Jacob later brought back his wives, daughters of Laban on the Syrian “plain of Aram”…to the land of Canaan.

Of the Israelites’ ancestor, De.26:5 “My father was a wandering Aramean”.  Referring to the semi-nomad Abraham, or Jacob.  Abraham and grandson Jacob (born c 1950 BC) had spent several years in Aram/Syria.  Ge.14:13 Abram the “Hebrew” (Ibríy h5680) descended from Eber.  The term “Hebrew”, Ibriy h5680, occurs 34 times in the OT.  But that OT term always meant a people, not a language!

Circa 1865 BC, Laban and Jacob made a “heap of witness” at Mizpáh of Gilead, E. of the Jordan River (Jephtháh later lived there, Jg.11:34).  Ge.31:44-47 “They took stones and made a heap, and ate there. Laban called it Jegár–sahaduthá, but Jacob called it Galéed.”  Laban the Aramean called the memorial by a pre-Aramaic word, but Jacob called it by a pre-Hebrew word.  Jacob had learned both developing dialects growing up in Canaan, pre-Hebrew and his mother Rebekah’s pre-Aramaic.

Later, God’s nation of ancient Israel knew the developing Old Hebrew dialect (and Phoenician) in the Land of Canaan.  In 1954 AD, Solomon Birnbaum coined the term “Paleo-Hebrew alphabet” for the Old Hebrew.  The Old Hebrew script would be used from c 1000–500 BC to record Biblical texts.

There’s no evidence that Old/Paleo Hebrew was spoken in Mesopotamia.  Cambridge Bible Ge.11:1 “That Hebrew was the primitive language….has been disproved by the scientific comparative study of languages, and of Hebrew and the Semitic languages in particular.”  The ‘Old Hebrew’ alphabet script became a Canaanite language of (south) Canaan.  Is.19:18 “language of Canaan”, Israel’s language. 

Historians say the Phoenician language was spoken in north Canaan.  Phoenícia was a 150-mile coastal region.  (cf. Mk.7:26 “the woman was a Syrian-Phoenician”.)  Phoenicia included the cities of Tyre, Byblos, Sidón .  Ge.10:15 Sidon was the firstborn son of Canaan.  Old Hebrew and Phoenician were very similar; both contained the same 22 (consonantal) letters.  Aramaic too has 22.  Wikipedia: Paleo-Hebrew Alphabet “There is no difference between Paleo-Hebrew vs Phoenician letter shapes.”

Wikipedia: Old Aramaic “Emerging as the language of the city-states of the Arameans in the Levant in the early Iron Age [c 1000 BC]. From the 10^th century BC, the alphabet seems to be based on the Phoenician alphabet. From 700 BC, different dialects emerged in Assyria, Babylonia, the Levant and Egypt. The Akkadian-influenced Aramaic of Assyria, and then Babylon, started to come to the fore.”  Circa 800 BC, Aramaic was becoming the trade language of the Near East.  It generally was spoken by Syrians, Assyrians, Chaldeans, etc., E. of the Euphrates.  (cf. “Patriarchs’ Bronze Age Languages”.)

encyclopedia.com aramaic-language “Aramaic is the general name for various dialects often difficult to classify.” 

Canaanite is the general name/class for the Hebrew, Phoenician, Moabite, Edomite, Ammonite dialects; these developed gradually and were ‘mutually intelligible’. 

Presently, no Old Aramaic or Old Hebrew inscriptions have been discovered that predate 1000 BC; all are more recent!  No evidence has been found yet as proof either script existed prior to 1000 BC.

Ancient Jews called their language Judahite (Jehudíth h3066), not “Hebrew” (Ibriy h5680).  Jehudith occurs 6 times in the OT: 2Ki.18:26-28, Is.36:11-13, 2Ch.32:18, Ne.13:24.  2Ki.18:26-28 Jewish officials in Jerusalem wanted the threatening Assyrian commander Rabshakéh to speak to them in Aramaic (Aramith h762), not Judahite/Judean, so as not to frighten people on the wall.  In King Hezekiah’s day, 700 BC, common Jews in Judah didn’t speak Aramaic.  However, the Jewish officials understood Aramaic, the language of diplomacy in the Near East from c 800 BC (after Akkadian).

Nowhere in the OT is the language of Israelites/Jews called the ‘Hebrew language’!  James F. Driscoll Hebrew Language and Literature “The name Hebrew [Hebraistí g1447, Greek] as applied to the language is quite recent in Biblical usage, occurring for the first time in the Greek Prologue of Ecclesiásticus [Wisdom of Sirách], about 130 BC.”  Not occurring until that book in the Apócrypha.

In 721 BC, the northern kingdom of Israel was deported to Assyria.  2Ki.17:23-24 “Israel was exiled from their land to Assyria.”  Aramaic-speaking foreigners from Babylon etc. were brought into north Israel.  They’d assimilate as the “Samaritans”.  (see the topic “Israelite Deportations By Assyria”.)

In 597 BC, the southern kingdom of Judah was taken captive to Babylon, the next empire.  Je.10:11 is in Aramaic…Jeremiah was telling his Jewish people what to say to their Aramaic-speaking captors. 

Aramaic was the lingua franca of both the Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian (Chaldean) empires.  Israelites and Jews learned to speak Aramaic in their places of captivity beyond the Euphrates.  The Aramaic language was also called Cháldee (a misnomer?).  Easton’s Bible Dictionary “Chaldee is the Aramaic dialect, as it is sometimes called, as distinguished from the Hebrew dialect.”  Aramaic was also the official language of the Persian/Achaeménid Empire (559–333 BC), which followed.  The period of Old Aramaic (c 1000–700 BC) evolved into the period of Imperial/Official Aramaic (c 700–300 BC).

Wikipedia: Biblical Aramaic “King Darius the Great declared Imperial Aramaic to be the official language of the western half of his empire in 500 BC, and it forms the basis of Biblical Aramaic.”   

God inspired some scriptures of the OT from this time to be written in Aramaic.  The following chapters were written in Aramaic: Da.2:4b-7:28, Ezr.4:8-6:18, 7:12-26.

Of the total verses comprising Daniel & Ezra, 56% are written in Hebrew, 44% in Aramaic.  Jews then knew Aramaic.  Da.2:4 “The Chaldeans spoke to King Nebuchadnézzar in Aramaic [Aramith h762].”  Ezr.4:7 “The text of the letter was written in Aramaic [Aramith].”  To Artaxérxes, king of Persia.

{Sidelight: The Divine Name or Tetragrámmaton YHVH (h3068) occurs 6,500 times in the OT.  But the Name never occurs in any of the OT Aramaic chapters.  It seems that Daniel and Ezra weren’t ‘sacred name’ advocates who thought that God’s (Old Hebrew) Name must be commonly used!}

The hand from God even wrote in Aramaic the “handwriting on the wall” (539 BC)!  Da.5:24-28 “This is the written inscription: ‘MÉNE, MÉNE, TÉKEL, UPHÁRSIN.”  The words are monetary weights.  The wise men of Babylon spoke Aramaic, but Daniel could decipher the writing.  Wikipedia: Belshazzar’s Feast “The Chaldean wise men are unable to…interpret it. As Aramaic was written with consonants alone, they may have lacked any context in which to make sense of them.” 

Jews began returning to the Land of Canaan from captivity in 538 BC.  They returned with Zerubabbél, Ezra, Nehemiah.  These returnees brought the Aramaic language with them to the Land of Canaan. 

By the time of Nehemiah (450 BC), many Israelites and Jews no longer knew Judahite.  Ne.13:24  “As for their children…none of them was able to speak in the language of Judah [Jehudith h3066].”

The Holman Christian Standard Bible indicates they “could not speak Hebrew”.  Benson Commentary Ne.13:24 “The language which the Jews then spoke was Chaldee; this language they learned in their captivity, and after their return never assumed their ancient Hebrew tongue.”  Commoners didn’t resume the lip of Canaan or Judahite in Judea.  Pulpit Commentary Ne.13:24 “All the children [450 BC] spoke a jargon half Ashdódite and half Aramaic.”  (Áshdod was on the old Philistine coast.)

Ne.8:1-8 Ezra the priest-scribe read publically the Hebrew scriptures in Jerusalem on Rosh Hashánah.  v.8 “They read from the book of the law of God, translating so the people could understand.”  The returnees no longer could read the Judahite scriptures.  Pulpit Commentary Ne.8:8 “They translated the Hebrew words into the popular Aramaic or Chaldee.”  Ellicott Commentary “They naturally translated into the vernacular Aramaic dialect.”  Aramaic was the trade language of the then Persian Empire.

Some Bible scholars think that Ezra translated (or redacted) OT books into Aramaic/Chaldee.  Talmud: Sanhedrin 21b “In the times of Ezra, the Torah was given in Áshuri [Neo-Assyrian] script and Aramaic language.”  Juanjo Gabina How Similar Was the Phoenician Language to the Hebrew Language? “The ‘Paleo-Hebrew’ language is a Canaanite Phoenician language with writing. As evidenced by the Samaritan Torah that preserves these ancient [Old Hebrew] texts. According to tradition, Ezra adopted the square script of the Aramaic alphabet instead of the Canaanite Phoenician, nicknamed the Paleo-Hebrew [1954 AD], during the post-exile restoration of Israel in the 5^th century BC. When the Aramaic alphabet became the Hebrew alphabet, Hebrew parchments were written mainly in Aramaic characters.”

{{Sidelight: The Jewish philosopher Philo (c 20 BC – 50 AD) lived in Alexandria, Egypt.  Philo On the Life of Moses 2:5:26 “In olden time [450 BC?] the laws were written in the Chaldean language, and for a long time they remained in the same condition as at first, not changing their language.”  Then prior to 132 BC, Jewish scholars translated the OT into the old Greek version.  ibid 2:7:38-40 “In the case of this translation of the law, exactly corresponding Greek words were employed to translate literally the appropriate Chaldáic words, being adapted with exceeding propriety to the matters which were to be explained. If Chaldeans were to learn the Greek language, and if Greeks were to learn Chaldean, and if each were to meet with those scriptures in both languages, namely, the Chaldaic and the translated version, they would admire and reverence them both as sisters, or rather as one and the same….to go along with the most pure spirit of Moses.”  ibid 2:41:224 “The Passover is celebrated, which in the Chaldaic language is called páscha.”  Philo On the Embassy to Gaius 1:4 “This nation of the suppliants is in the Chaldaic language called Israel.”  Marg Mowczko The Septuagint “Philo refers to the original language of the Old Testament as Chaldean rather than Hebrew.”  Ezra had translated the OT into Chaldee?  (And Philo didn’t use the Greek term Hebraís, “Hebrew” g1446 noun, to refer to Aramaic.)}}

Omniglot: Paleo-Hebrew “By the 6^th century BC the Paleo-Hebrew alphabet was gradually replaced by the Imperial Aramaic alphabet, which developed into the Hebrew square script.”  The Ashuri script.

In 330 BC, Greece conquered the Persian Empire.  Greek became the trade language for the Grecian Empire.  No longer was it the Aramaic of the Persian Empire.  Koine/common Greek, a (Hellénic) Indo-European language, was now spoken.  Many Jews in the diáspora (dispersion) accepted Greek culture, becoming Héllenized and speaking Greek.  Some continued to speak Aramaic.  Most Jews in Judea kept speaking Aramaic.  During this period, regional dialects of Imperial Aramaic began to emerge.

Most Jews everywhere no longer knew the lip of Canaan, Old Hebrew Judahite.  So Jews translated all the OT scriptures into koine Greek.  This old Greek version was completed before 132 BC.  Literate Greek-speaking Jews in the diaspora could then read the OT text!  The old Greek version later became our Septuagint/LXX.  The LXX wouldn’t have been so needed if most Jews still knew Judahite.

The Grecian Empire lasted until the 1^st century BC.  The Roman Empire followed. The Greek language continued as the commercial language of the Roman Empire too.  (Latin would become the language of the Roman army and higher administration.)  Many Jews, Hellenists, spoke Greek.

This topic is continued and concluded in “Aramaic in the Bible (2) – New Testament”.  It notes the Aramaic Tárgums, Aramaic words seen in the gospel accounts, and traces Aramaic to the present day.

Rebirth to Physical Life (1)

This topic is follow-up to the two-part topic “Universal Christian Salvation”.  As background, I suggest you read/review the Bible verses referenced in “Universal Christian Salvation” before proceeding here.

In “Universal Christian Salvation”, we examined pertinent passages in the New Testament (NT) and the Old Testament Septúagint/LXX which contain the Greek term for “all”…“pas” (Strongs g3956).  This term “pas” occurs 1,240 times in the NT.  In several of those verses, all/pas pertained to all of mankind.

Universalism or Universal Christian Salvation/Reconciliation is the belief that all or most humans will ultimately be reconciled to God, saved through Jesus.  (It isn’t pluralism; since not all mans’ religions are from God.)  Two disparate beliefs of Christians are…Eternal Conscious Torment in hell-fire, held by Calvinists & Arminianists…and Annihilationism extinction.  see “Universal Christian Salvation (1)”.

A person may cite isolated Bible verses which seem to support any or all of the above three beliefs!

Yet God is love (1Jn.4:16).  Universal Christian Salvation/Reconciliation does comprehensively reflect God’s love.  God is also fair, impartial.  Ro.2:11 “There is no partiality with God.”  He’s no respecter of persons (Ac.10:34).  And God is just.  Ro.9:14 “There is no injustice with God.”  Is.61:8 the Lord loves justice.  1Jn.1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins.”

But if all humans end up ‘saved’, how does such Universal Salvation also reflect God’s character as just & consistent, with the requirements for His forgiveness and mans’ salvation the same for every person?

Over the millennia, most of humanity died without believing in the name of Jesus, the only name by which we’re saved (Ac.4:12).  Many or most never even heard His name!  e.g. the multitudes of gentiles who lived in BC times, before Jesus’ incarnation.  All men are sinners (Ro.3:23).  Some die cursing God.

Yet Paul wrote in Php.2:10-11, “At the name of Jesus everyone [pas g3956] in heaven, on earth, and in the world below will bow the knee. And every [g3956] tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”  That’s universality…even including those “under the earth” (KJV)!  also cf. 1Pe.3:19.  Geneva Bible Php.2:10 “All creatures will at length be subject to Christ.”  Meyer NT Commentary Php.2:10 “The bowing of the knee represents adoration.”  Cambridge Bible Php.2:10 “Created existence, in its heights and depths…being said to worship.”  Ellicott Commentary Php.2:11 “The acknowledgement of universal Lordship and majesty.”

However, many didn’t believe and repent, two requirements for salvation (Mk.16:16; Jn.3:18, 36; Lk.13:3; Ac.2:38, 16:31).  If they’re saved without belief and repenting from sin, it would seem that God has a double standard!  Yet God is just and impartial.  Mankind reaps what he sows (Ga.6:7).  How may this be reconciled?  Jesus and Paul said there were other “ages to come” (e.g. Mt.12:32, Ep.2:7).

Ge.18:20 the sin in the ancient cities of Sodom & Gomorrah was “exceedingly grave”.  Consequently, the Lord destroyed their inhabitants with fire from heaven (Ge.19:24-25, Jude 1:7)!  Therefore, we may think it would be intolerable for them in the judgment.  Condemnation.  But that’s not what Jesus said (speaking to the unrepentant who opposed Him).  Mt.11:24 “It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you.”  What?!  also Mt.10:15.  Having destroyed those wicked cities with fire, for their judgment to be “more tolerable”…implied is a measure of future forgiveness.

The Lord asserted in Ezk.16:53-55, “I will restore the captivity of Sodom and her daughters, and the captivity of Samaria [Israel’s 10 tribes] and her daughters….Sodom with her daughters will return to their former state.”  The Jordan River plain.  Keil and Delitzsch Ezk.16:53 “What the apostle teaches [1Pe.3:19, 4:6]…is equally applicable to the Sodomites…and indeed generally to all the heathen nations who either lived before Christ or departed from this earthly life without having heard the gospel preached.”  So it’s not hopeless for those ancient Sodomites!  They would eventually be restored.  Such tolerance could also include the children of those utterly corrupt heathen nations/Canaanites who Christ commanded Israel to exterminate in De.20:16 & Jsh.6:20-21?  Those ancients may still obtain salvation!

But those individuals all died.  How can they return to their former lands and hear the saving gospel?  Furthermore, reanimation doesn’t apply only to those gentiles; it applies to the entire house of Israel too!     

The dry bones passage of Ezk.37:1-14 reflects the whole house of Israel rebirthed to physical life!  (It’s too long to quote here in full.)  Their corpses (slain, v.9) had decomposed.  v.4-5 NET “Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord, I Am about to infuse breath into you and you will live.”  Barnes Notes Ezk.37:6 “In Ezk.37:5, not ‘I will cause’, but I cause or am causing.”  It was about to start happening.  v.6 “I will put sinews on you, make flesh grow back on you, cover you with skin and put breath in you…and you will know that I Am the Lord.”  (cf. Job said in Jb.10:11, “Did you not…cloth me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews?”)  These are literal breathing physical bodies with human spirits!  Cambridge Bible Ezk.37:6 “Their becoming actual men of flesh & blood.”  At death their human spirit had returned to God who gave it (Ec.12:7).  God sends those same spirits into new flesh bodies.

Ezk.37:11-13 “These bones are the whole house of Israel. I will open your graves and bring you back to the land of Israel.”  This pertains to all Israel.  They’ll all return to the land of Israel.  Similarly, the Lord said ancient Sodom’s inhabitants would return to their land area.  Ezk.37 is a fleshly rebirth of all Israelites.  v.14 “I will put My Spirit in you.”  God’s Holy Spirit (HS) too is given to them.  God will call them to Himself, they’ll be taught the gospel (Jn.6:44-45) and receive the HS to walk in His ways.

Paul said in Ro.11:26, “All Israel shall be saved”.  (also cf. Is.45:17, Zec.8:13.)  Not just a remnant!  Not just the 100^th generation, but excluding most of the previous 99 generations (with those who went into Assyrian & Babylonian captivities) who burn forever in hell-fire!  No.  God puts His Spirit in the historical house of Israel!  All will have the opportunity to repent & believe, and be saved through King Jesus (Ezk.37:24).  God loves all who live, both BC and AD.  His will is none perish forever; that all come to repentance, 2Pe.3:9.

Hosea prophesied to the northern 10 tribes of Israel around 750 BC.  Ho.13:12-14 “The iniquity of Ephráim [the northern kingdom] is on record…I will deliver them out of the power of Hades, and will redeem them from death. O Hades, where is thy sting?”  (Paul quotes this LXX verse in 1Co.15:55.)  But when?  First…Ho.13:15-16 in 722 BC Shalmanéser V will attack from the East, since the guilty northern Israel (capital at Samaria) has rebelled against God.  Israel will be deported by Assyria into captivity.  Those Israelites will die in the attack and in captivity.  Then later…Ho.14:4-5 “I will heal their apostasy, I will love them freely, for My anger is turned away from them. I will be like the dew to Israel.”  v.8 “O Ephraim…it is I who answer and look after you.”  The Lord will care for them.

But those had all died!  Yet the Lord will bring back those apostate Israelites from Hades (the realm of the dead); the sting of death is past.  MacLaren Expositions Ho.14:5 “That promise in its depth and fullness is applicable only to Christian Israel.”  That deported generation of northern Israel will have opportunity for salvation.  Again, “All Israel shall be saved”.  Sanh 10:1 “All Israelites will have a share in the world to come.”  Including the hardened, Ro.11:15, 25.  But those individuals will have to live a right life…believe, and repent (of apostasy).  God’s standards are consistent; He is impartial (Ep.6:9).

Later the Jews of Jerusalem and the southern kingdom of Judah were killed or sent by God into captivity to Babylon (between 606-586 BC).  Lam.2:21-22 they were slaughtered!  La.1:5 God’s wrath was due to the multitude of their transgressions.  La.3:42-43 the Lord didn’t pardon them then.  La.4:6 “The iniquity of Thy people is greater than the sin of Sodom.”  Adult survivors died in captivity.

Yet Je.32:36-40, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel concerning this city [Jerusalem], ‘It is given into the hand of the king of Babylon by sword, famine, and pestilence. Behold I will gather them out of all the lands to which I have driven them in My wrath, and I will bring them back to this place and make them dwell in peace and safety…And I will make an everlasting covenant with them.” (cf. Ezk.37:13-14, 24).

But they’d died (elsewhere)!  JFB Commentary Je.32:37 “The ‘all’ countries implies a future restoration more universal than that from Babylon.”  Not just after the 70 years of Je.29:10.  That generation was killed in the siege, and over the decades the adult survivors from 597 BC had died in captivity.  Barnes Notes Je.32:39 “Under the new covenant they will walk with one consent in the one narrow path of right-doing.”  Ellicott Commentary Je.32:40 “The ‘new covenant”…which shall abide forever.”  Gill Exposition Je.32:40 “An everlasting covenant…which is known and made manifest at conversion.”  Cambridge Bible Je.32:40 “It is the ‘new covenant’ of Jer.31:31, etc., which is meant.”  Jesus said in Lk.22:20, “This is the new covenant in My blood”.  Yet those Jews had perished 600 years before the inauguration of the New Covenant in the 1^st century AD at Jesus’ Last Supper!

The southern kingdom of Judah, long since dead, would be restored to their land too.  Paul wrote in Ro.11:15, “What will their [the Jews] acceptance be but life from the dead”.  v.23 God is able to graft them in again.  Ro.14:9 Christ is Lord of both the dead and the living. (cf. Ezk.37:12.)  It’s not all over for those Jews who perished in the first half of the 6^th century BC!  They’re part of “all Israel”.

Alfred Edersheim The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, p.116 “In view of Isa.53 and other passages…the Messiah is represented as willingly taking upon Himself all these sufferings, on condition that all Israel – the living, the dead, and those yet unborn – should be saved.”

1Sm.2:6 “The Lord kills, and makes alive; He brings down to Sheól and raises up.”  also see De.32:39.  God, the author of life, has the right to end a life.  He may kill the wicked.  The Lord sent Israel/Judah to die in captivity.  Men reap what they sow (2Co.9:6).  But the order in the above two verses isn’t ‘He makes alive and then kills’, later…it’s vice versa.  After God kills, He then makes them alive again.

God allowed the patriarch Job to suddenly lose his wealth, children, and health in his trials.  Job was suffering, thinking God was angry over his (unknown) sin.  Jb.14:13 Job lamented, “If only you would hide me in Sheol until Your anger passes”.  He wanted to go to the realm of the dead (temporarily).  Though Job didn’t understand why this evil had come upon him, He didn’t blame God.  Instead, Job said in Jb.19:26 KJV, “Though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh I shall see God”.  Job didn’t doubt God existed.  Cambridge Bible Jb.19:26 “Before death he shall not see Him.”  Then when?

Jb.1:21 Tanakh KJV LXX, “Naked came I forth from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there.”  What?!  Job said he would later be reborn from a mother’s womb; his same spirit indwelling a human newborn!  After death, the Lord would make him alive again (1Sm.2:6).  cf. Is.26:19 “Your dead will live; their corpses will rise. You who lie in the dust. The earth will give birth to the departed spirits.”  Ellicott Commentary Is.26:19 “Like the vision of dry bones in Ezek.37:1-14.”  Physical rebirth.

Job said in Jb.29:18 Tanakh, “I shall die with my nest, and I shall multiply my days as the phoenix.”  Barnes Notes Jb.29:18 “Herder observes that the phoenix is obviously intended here…The rabbis generally understand here the Phoenix; a fabulous bird, much celebrated in ancient times…Jannai adds that ‘This bird lives 1,000 years, and in the end of the thousand years, a fire goes forth from its nest, and burns it up. But there remains an egg, from which again the members grow, and it rises to life.”

Job thought he too would experience another physical life, as the ancient phoenix bird.  Clément was a fellow-worker with Paul (Php.4:3).  1Clem.12:2-6 describes a 500-year life cycle of the very rare phoenix.  v.6 “The Lord…even by a bird shows us the greatness of His power to fulfil His promise.”  (A phoenix was exhibited in Rome during the reign of Emperor Claudius, 41–54 AD).  Tacitus Annals 6:28 (117 AD) “There is no question that the bird is occasionally seen in Egypt.”  The phoenix symbolized rebirth.  We understand that Job’s physical life did end well (Jb.42:10).  But that’s not the case for every human.

Re.20:5 “The rest of the dead lived not again until the 1,000 years were completed.”  Interestingly, an ancient Greek & Roman belief was…the spirits of the dead dwelt in Hades for 1,000 years, and then were resurrected or reincarnated to earthly life.  [Note – ref for Hades: Lk.16:23; 1Co.15:55; Re.1:18, 20:13-14.  also see the topic “Thousand (Years)’ in the Bible – (2)”.]

Re.20:8 at that time, after the 1,000 years, there are “nations in the four corners of the earth”.  Physical nations!  cf. Ec.6:6 “Though a man live 1,000 years twice told….”  May this include the men of Sodom and ancient Israelites/Jews reborn to another physical life (Ezk.16:55; Mt.11:24, 10:15)?

The Jewish apocryphal book Wisdom of Sírach, called Ecclesiásticus, was written ca 180 BC.  Its writer Yeshúa ben Síra alluded to a rebirth to physical life, for the righteous.  WisSir.46:11-12 “Whoever did not turn away from the Lord – May their memory be blessed, may their bones revive from their place, and may the name of those honored live again in their sons.”  This brings to mind the “dry bones” of Ezk.37.  Also WisSir.49:10 “May He indeed revive the bones of the twelve prophets from their place.”

The Jewish book of 2Maccabees was written ca 125 BC.  Its writer too believed in rebirth to physical life.  2Mac.12:44-46 KJV 1611 edition “If he had not hoped that the slain should have risen again, it had been superfluous and vain to pray for the dead. Whereupon he made reconciliation for the dead, that they might be delivered from sin.”  Wikipedia: Resurrection “The concept of resurrection of the physical body is found in 2 Maccabees, according to which it will happen through re-creation of the flesh.”  (also ref 2Mac.7:22-23, 28-29; Ezk.37.)  It was their custom to pray for the deceased.

Paul wrote in 1Co.15:29 Good News trans, “What about those people who are baptized for the dead? What do they hope to accomplish? If it is true, as some claim, that the dead are not raised to life, why are those people being baptized for the dead?”  In the 1^st century, it seems it was a custom to not only pray for the dead but to also be baptized by proxy for the dead.  Several interpretations have been offered for 1Co.15:29.  Expositor’s Greek Testament 1Co.15:29 “How futile Christian devotion must be, such as is ‘in those baptized for the dead’, if death ends all.”  Pulpit Commentary “Why do some of you get baptized on behalf of your dead friends?”  Cambridge Bible “The natural and obvious explanation is that the apostle [Paul] was here referring to a practice, prevalent in his day, of persons permitting themselves to be baptized on behalf of their dead relatives and friends.”  Perhaps prayers and vicarious baptism was efficacious for their comrades and loved ones who would later have a physical rebirth.

Where else in scripture do we read about belief in physical rebirth (besides Jb.1:21)?  As well, a rebirth could be great opportunity for our ancestors, children, family members, friends & loved ones who died unconverted/unsaved!  Their ultimate fate wouldn’t be eternal conscious torment in hell-fire!

{Sidelight: For our non-religious relatives/ancestors who’d lived a peaceful quiet life to suffer hell-fire forever equally with genocidal tyrants…such injustice wouldn’t reflect just retribution!  God is just.  The punishment fits the crime; the lex talionis principle of equality (e.g. Le.24:17-22).}

This topic is concluded in “Rebirth to Physical Life (2)”.  (The future for converted/saved Christians is addressed in the topic “Life and Death – for Saints”.)

Temple of Zerubbabel (2) – the Period

This topic is the continuation and conclusion to “Temple of Zerubbabel (1) – the Building”.

The Temple of Zerubbabél in Jerusalem is also known as the Second Temple or Ezra’s Temple.  Part 1 traced the building of this 2^nd Temple, starting circa (c) 538 BC.  The historical timeline seen in Part 1 is from the book of Ezra chapters 1–6.  Prophecy from Haggai & Zechariah was interjected into the flow.

After 20 years, 2^nd temple construction was completed in 516 BC.  Ezr.6:15 in the 6^th year of the reign of Darius, king of Persia.  Historians indicate he was Darius I the Great, 522–486 BC.

However, the timing of the Ezr.4:6-23 passage is debatable.  Bible commentators are divided in regards to dating it.  Discussion of that passage was postponed in Part 1; it is now addressed here in Part 2.

Ezr.4:1-5 during the reign of Cyrus II the Great of Persia, Samaritans living in the Holy Land wanted to join the Jews in building the (Second) Temple.  That was around 535–530 BC.  But the Jews rejected them.  As a result, Samaritans instead opposed the build.  The Jews feared to continue.  Construction was frustrated and halted.  It wouldn’t resume, Ezr.4:5 “until the reign of Darius king of Persia”.

There are basically two options of interpretation for the Ezr.4:6-23 passage.  Option #1 continues the chronological order.  Option #2 relates it to a later Samaritan opposition, after several decades passed.

Option #1: Ezr.4:6 Samaritans wrote a letter to King Ahásuerus, accusing the Jews.  Perhaps this king was Cámbyses II, 530–523 BC?  Ellicott Commentary Ezr.4:6 “This Ahasuerus, another name for Cambyses, reigned 7 years.”  Barnes Notes “Ahasuerus or Cambyses, son and successor of Cyrus [died 530 BC]. Persian kings had often two names.”  Cambyses II succeeded Cyrus II chronologically.

Ezr.4:7-22 Samaritan nobility also wrote to King Artaxérxes.  Gill Exposition Ezr.4:7 “Artaxerxes being a common name to the kings of Persia.”  cf. the titles Pharaoh & Caesar.  Was this Artaxerxes pseudo-Smérdis the magician posing as Cyrus’ younger son Bárdiya, 522 BC?  Ellicott Commentary Ezr.4:7 “Artaxerxes – This must be Gomates, the Mágian priest who personated Smerdis [Greek name], dead son of Cyrus, and reigned only 7 months.”  Pulpit Commentary “If Artaxerxes be the Pseudo-Smerdis…a usurper.”  The identity is uncertain.  Josephus Antiquities of the Jews 11:2:1 “To our Lord Cambyses [Ezr.4:11]…11:3:1 “The Mági, who, after the death of Cambyses, attained the government of the Persians for a year.”  The Magian pseudo-Smerdis briefly reigned after Cambyses II.

Persian support ceased.  Ezr.4:23-24 temple construction was stopped until the 2^nd year (520 BC) of Darius’ reign.  Ezr.6:15 building was then completed in Darius’ 6^th year (516 BC).

Eric Lyons Kingly Chronology in the Book of Ezra “Since Persian kings frequently had two or more names, it is not unfathomable to think that Cambyses and Smerdis also may have gone by the names of Ahasuerus and Artaxerxes.”  If that was the case, the king names in succession were: Cyrus II – Cambyses II/Ahasuerus – pseudo-Smerdis/Artaxerxes – Darius I.

Option #2: Ezr.4:6-23 isn’t in chronological order.  Rather, this passage is a parenthetical insert.  It flashes forward to times of opposition and work stoppage during the reigns of…Ahasuerus/Xérxes I 486–465 BC (Ezr.4:6), and Artaxerxes I/Longimánus 465-424 BC (Ezr.4:7-23).  In Ezr.4:7-23, the work at issue is the rebuilding of Jerusalem and its walls; work on a temple project isn’t mentioned.

JFB Commentary Ezr.4:6 “Ahasuerus… successor of Darius, the famous Xerxes.”  Gill Exposition Ezr.4:6 “According to Járchi, this was Ahasuerus the husband of Esther.”  Cambridge Bible Ezr.4:6 “Ahasuerus. The well-known Xerxes, the son of Darius [I], who reigned 20 years (485–465). He is generally identified with the Ahasuerus of Esther.”  Cambridge Bible Ezr.4:7 “Artaxerxes Longimanus succeeded his father Xerxes and reigned forty years (465–425). He is mentioned in Ezra 7:1, Neh.2:1.”

Lyons op. cit. “It is reasonable to conclude that…Ahasuerus and Artaxerxes (Ezr.4:6-7) are indeed the Ahasuerus (486–465) and Artaxerxes (465–424) of history (rather than the aforementioned Cambyses and Smerdis).”  John Oakes Evidence For Christianity “Ezra 4:6-23 is an interlude involving events which happened quite a bit later, during the reign of Artaxerxes and possibly Xerxes as well. If you don’t know the chronology of the kings, then Ezra 4:24 definitely could be confusing.”

The Persian or Achaeménid Empire lasted for 220 years (550–330 BC).  Following are its kings’ reigns: Cyrus II the Great (559–530 BC), Cambyses II (530–523 BC), pseudo-Smerdis/Bardiya (522 BC), Darius I the Great (522–486 BC), Ahasuerus/Xerxes I (486–465 BC), Artaxerxes I/Longimanus (465–424 BC), Xerxes II (424 BC), Darius II (423–404 BC), Artaxerxes II (403–359 BC), Artaxerxes III (359–338 BC), Árses (338–336 BC), Darius III (336–330 BC).  The Empire ends.

Most historians feel certain that Darius II and Artaxerxes II and their successors cannot be the kings in the book of Ezra…they lived too late.

Kings of Persia names in the KJV, Green’s Literal Translation, and the Jewish Tanakh: Ezr.4:5 Cyrus.  Ezr.4:6 Ahasuerus.  Ezr.4:7-23 Artaxerxes (as a common name for Persian kings?).  Ezr.4:24 Darius.  Ezr.7:1–8:1 Artaxerxes.  Ne.2:1 Artaxerxes.  Ne.5:14 Artaxerxes.  Est.1–10 Ahasuerus.

Kings of Persia names in the Greek Septúagint/LXX: Ezr.4:5 Cyrus.  Ezr.4:6 Assuérus.  Ezr.4:7-23 Árthasastha (as a common name for Persian kings?).  Ezr.4:24 Darius.  Ezr.7:1–8:1 Arthasastha.  Ne.2:1 Arthasastha.  Ne.5:14 Arthasastha.  Est.1–10 Artaxerxes.

Kings of Persia names in Josephus’ Antiquities of the Jews 11:1–6: Ezr.4:5 Cyrus.  Ezr.4:6 the Magi?  Ezr.4:7-23 Cambyses.  Ezr.4:24 Darius.  Ezr.7:1–8:1 Xerxes.  Ne.2:1 Xerxes.  Ne.5:14 Xerxes.  Est.1–10 Artaxerxes.  (The ancient Greek historians Heródotus and Thúcydides also noted Persian kings.)

Wikipedia: Ezra “Josephus – He uses the name Xerxes for Artaxerxes I, reserving the name Artaxerxes for the later Artaxerxes II whom he identifies as the Ahasuerus of Esther, thus placing Ezra before the book of Esther. Josephus’ account of the deeds of Ezra derives entirely from 1Ésdras, which he cites as the ‘book of Ezra’. Contrariwise, Josephus does not appear to recognize Ezra–Nehemiah [then written as one scroll] as a biblical book, and relies on other traditions in his account of the deeds of Nehemiah.”

As we’ve seen, the Persian king names found in Bible versions and historical sources differ.

Option #1 and Option #2 for Ezr.4:6-23 both have their proponents.  I leave the choice to the reader.

The Temple of Zerubbabel, the 2^nd Temple, would stand for 500 years…until 20 BC!  Part 2 now continues to trace the period of its history.

Paul J. Bucknell Ezra Overview “There were at least three waves of returning [Jewish] exiles. Zerubbabel, Ezra, and Nehemiah all led groups back. Ezra and Nehemiah then worked together. The book of Nehemiah focuses on the rebuilding of Jerusalem’s wall.”

The group of Jews led by Zerubbabel the governor returned c 538 BC. (see Part 1.)  After the Temple was completed (Ezr.6:15), most Bible historians say there is a 58-year gap between Ezra 6 and Ezra 7.

Ezra was a Levitical priest and a scribe (Ezr.7:1-6).  As a royal commissioner of the Persian Empire, he was sent to Judea with authority to administer God’s Law/Toráh to Jewish returnees.  Ezr.7–10 is about Ezra himself and the group he led back from Babylon.  Ezr.7:7-8 “They went up to Jerusalem in the 7^th year of King Artaxerxes [465–424 BC?].”  The date most historians give for this return is 458/457 BC (although a few disagree with this date).  Ezra led reforms, and established the ‘Men of the Great Assembly’ legislative body.  The synagogue system was eventually set up to teach the people.

Nehemiah was the king’s cupbearer at the palace in Súsa, Persia (Ne.1:1, 11b).  The generally accepted date for the return of Nehemiah’s group is 445/444 BC.  Ne.2:1, 11 “In the 20^th year of King Artaxerxes (465–424 BC)….I came to Jerusalem.”  He joined Ezra there (ref Ne.8).  Nehemiah became governor of Judea (Ne.5:14), under Persian control.  During his tenure the walls of Jerusalem were repaired & built (Ne.2:12– 6:15), in spite of Samaritan opposition.  Nehemiah also abolished usury (Ne.5:1-13).  The final verse of his book, Ne.13:31b reads, “Remember me, O my God, for good”.

Jewish Encyclopedia: Temple, The Second “From the time of Zerubbabel to the time of Antíochus Epíphanes [160s BC] the history of the Temple was comparatively uneventful.”

Alexander the Great (356–323 BC) conquered the Persian Empire in 330 BC.  This began the Grecian or Macedonian Empire.  Ancient Greece was called Héllas.  The Hellenistic Period of Greek ideas and Greek way of life was 323 – 31 BC.  Hellenism spread into Judea and Jerusalem.

Upon Alexander’s death, the territory of his Empire divided into four kingdoms ruled by his four generals: Cassánder (Greece), Lysimachus (Asia Minor), Ptólemy (Egypt/Africa), Seleúcus (Syria/Near East).  In Daniel 11, Ptolemy is the “King of the South” and Seleucus is “King of the North”.

Wikipedia: Temple in Jerusalem “The Ptolemies came to rule over Judea and the Temple. The Jews were given many civil liberties and lived content. However, when the Ptolemáic army was defeated at Panium [near Mt. Hermon] by Antiochus III of the Seleucids in 198 BCE, this policy changed. Antiochus wanted to Hellenize the Jews, attempting to introduce the Greek Pantheon into the temple.”

Wikipedia: Second Temple “Following the conquest of Judea by Alexander the Great, it became part of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt until 200 BCE, when the Seleucid king Antiochus III of Syria defeated Pharaoh Ptolemy V. Judea became at that moment part of the Seleucid Empire. When the Second Temple in Jerusalem was looted and its religious services stopped, Judaism was effectively outlawed. In 167 BCE, Antiochus IV Epiphanes ordered an altar to Zeus erected in the Temple. He also banned circumcision and ordered pigs to be sacrificed at the altar of the Temple. Following the [Jewish] Maccabéan Revolt [167–160 BC] against the Seleucid Empire, the Second Temple was rededicated and became the religious pillar of the Jewish Hasmónean Kingdom, as well as culturally associated with the Jewish holiday of Hánukkah.”  (Hanukkah was the “Feast of Dedication”, ref Jn.10:22-23.)

Antiochus IV defiled the 2^nd Temple with an “abomination of desolation” (Da.11:31)…he set up an altar to a heathen god and offered swine’s flesh!  The Jewish priest Judas Maccabéus (called ‘the Hammer’) cleansed the sanctuary in 164 AD, and the custom of Hanukkah became celebrated (ref 1Mac.4:36-61).  At that time he rebuilt the city with high walls and towers around the temple, a citadel.

The Roman Republic and Roman Empire would become dominant.  In 63 BC, Roman general Pómpey conquered Jerusalem and desecrated the temple by entering the Most Holy Place (though the temple remained intact).

Kevin J. Conner The Temple of Solomon, p.212 “The Temple [the 2^nd, Zerubbabel’s] was taken by Pompey on the Day of Atonement after a 3-month siege, and then later on by Herod the Great [37 BC].”  Rome appointed the Edomite Herod ‘King of Judea’, ending 100 years of Jewish Hasmonean rule (from 140 BC).  Herod himself had been raised as a Jew.

The Temple of Zerubbabel existed for 500 years, until 20 BC…when Herod tore it down and removed its foundation.  He proceeded to build a splendid new temple on an expanded Temple Mount (cf. Jn.2:20).

Back around 520 BC when God’s “house” or 2^nd Temple was being built, Haggai had prophesied about the Lord’s temple.  Hag.2:9 “The latter glory of this house will be greater than the former.”  The splendor of Herod’s Temple (the “latter”) was even greater than that of Solomon’s Temple (the “former”, built c 990s BC).  But not only because of its magnificence and outward physical beauty….

Easton’s Bible Dictionary “The temple, during the different periods of its existence, is regarded as but one house, the one only house of God. The glory here predicted is spiritual glory and not material splendor. Christ Himself, present bodily.”  Haggai’s prophecy was fulfilled by Jesus’ incarnation in the Holy Land.

Missing from Zerubbabel’s Temple was the Shekínah glory Presence and the Ark of the Testimony.  (see Part 1 and the topic “Ark of the Testimony – Journeys”.)  But c 425 BC the prophet Malachi foretold that the Lord would indeed come to His temple (Mal.3:1)!

Christ, the Lord Himself, was present at Herod’s Temple (“the latter”) complex!  e.g. Lk.2:46, 21:37.  Jesus said of Himself in Mt.12:6 KJV, “In this place is one greater than the temple”.  Jesus is greater than Moses’ Tabernacle, Solomon’s Temple, Zerubbabel’s Temple, and Herod’s Temple!  The King is greater than His house.  And God is now rebuilding the…Tabernacle of David (Ac.15:16, Am.9:11.  see “Tent/Tabernacle of David”.)  To God, the Master Builder, be the glory!

Temple of Zerubbabel (1) – the Building

From the history of ancient Israel…the Tabernacle of Moses, Temple of Solomon, and Herod’s Temple are familiar topics to many Bible students.  But it seems the Temple of Zerubbabel, also called the 2^nd Temple or Ezra’s Temple, is comparatively less lauded.  This is about the building of the 2^nd temple.

The Temple of Solomon (Israel’s 1^st temple) stood on Mt. Moriáh (2Ch.3:1) in Jerusalem for 400 years; from circa (c) 990 BC until it was destroyed by King Nebuchadnézzar of Babylon in 586 BC (2Ki.25:8-15).  He had taken Judah captive in 597 BC, exiling Jews to Babylon (2Ki.24:10-18).

Then c 572 BC, the exiled prophet Ezekiel envisioned a new temple in Jerusalem rebuilt (Ezk.40–48).  The dream of a future temple house for the Lord remained in the hearts of the Jewish people.  (This isn’t to say the Temple of Zerubbabél is the ‘fulfillment’ of that vision.)

In 539 BC Babylon fell to Cyrus II, the Great, of Persia.  Isaiah had prophesied about Cyrus (Is.44:28-45:1) some 150 years earlier.  Ezr.1:1-7 the Lord inspired King Cyrus to decree that exiled Jews could return to the Holy Land; c 538 BC (cf. Je.29:10).  Ezr.1:3 they were to build a 2^nd temple in Jerusalem.

Ezr.2:1-2-ff the first wave of Jewish returnees were led by Zerubbabel, who became governor of Judah (Hag.1:1-2).  He was the grandson of Judah’s penultimate King Jehoiachín/Jeconiáh (1Ch.3:17-19).

Hag.2:23 “Declares the Lord, ‘I will take you Zerubabbel, son of Shealtiél, and make you like a signet ring, for I have chosen you.”  A signet ring or seal was held by the sovereign or the legal authority.  Barnes Notes Hag.2:23 “Cyrus entrusted him with the return of his people, and made him (who would have been the successor to the throne of Judah, had the throne been re-established) his governor over the people.”  Pulpit Commentary “Zerubbabel is set at the head of the nation in the place of his grandfather Jeconiah.”  Though Zerubabbel wasn’t made king, he was as a signet ring, as Jeconiah had been (Je.22:24).  Joseph, Mary, and Jesus would descend from Zerubbabel (Mt.1:12, 16; Lk.3:23, 27)!

The first returnees numbered nearly 50,000 (Ezr.2:64-65), coming back in 538 BC or soon afterwards.

I’ll trace the history from the book of Ezra.  Zerubbabel and Yeshúa the high priest initially erected an altar in Jerusalem for regular burnt offerings; they then kept the Feast of Booths there (Ezr.3:1-6).

Ezr.3:7-13 it took two years to lay the foundation for the temple.  v.10-11 “The priests stood to praise the Lord…because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid.”

Who was prince Sheshbazzár (Ezr.1:8-11, 5:14-16)?  Most commentators think he was Zerubbabel (‘sown in Babel’).  JFB Commentary Ezr.1:8 “Zerubbabel, that is, stranger or exile in Babylon. Shesh-bazzar, signifying ‘fire-worshipper’, was the name given him at court, as other names were given to Daniel and his friends [Da.1:6-7].”  cf. Ezr.3:8-10, 5:16.  Or, Sheshbazzar was Zerubbabel’s uncle Shenazzár (1Ch.3:17-19); possibly he began the work on the temple and Zerubbabel finished it.

Samaritans living in the Holy Land were descendants of peoples brought in when Israel’s northern kingdom of Samaria was deported by Assyria, many in 721 BC (2Ki.17:24).  Those peoples brought in gradually assimilated with remaining Israelites, and became known as Samaritans.  The Samaritan mixed peoples now wanted to join in building the temple.

Ezr.4:1-3 however, the Jews viewed them as adversaries and rejected them, c 535 BC.  v.4-5 as a result, the Samaritans instead opposed the build.  The Jews feared to continue.  Temple construction was frustrated and halted.  It wouldn’t resume (v.5) “until the reign of Darius king of Persia [522–486 BC]”.

The timing of Ezr.4:6-23 in history is debated by Bible commentators.  I’ll postpone discussion of that passage for now…until Part 2 of this topic, “Temple of Zerubbabel (2) – the Period”.

We pick up the account again with Ezr.4:24. “Work on the house of God in Jerusalem ceased, and it was stopped until the 2^nd year [520 BC] of the reign of Darius king of Persia.”  Darius I the Great.

Ezr.5:1-2 the prophets Haggai and Zechariah encouraged Zerubbabel & Yeshua to resume construction.

Ezr.5:3-17 Persian officials came to the Judah province to view the building project, and inquired of King Darius about its legitimacy.

Ezr.6:1-5 King Darius found in the archives Cyrus’ prior decree authorizing the Jews to rebuild the temple.  v.6-13 Darius then issued his own decree for temple construction to be resumed/carried out.

In those days, Haggai and Zechariah prophesied the temple would be finished.  Hag.2:4 “Take courage, Zerubbabel’, declares the Lord; ‘Take courage, Yehoshúa, the high priest, and all you people of the Land take courage, and work; for I Am with you’, says the Lord of hosts.”  Zechariah wrote in Zec.4:8-9. “The word of the Lord came to me saying, ‘The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house [temple], and his hands will finish it.”

The Lord’s Spirit would see to it.  Zec.4:6 “The word of the Lord to Zerubbabel, ‘Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit.”  And Hag.2:5 “My Spirit is abiding in your midst; fear not.”  Again, the Lord had declared this temple was His will, way back in the days of Isaiah.  Is.44:28 “It is I who says of Cyrus, he is My shepherd, he will perform all My desire; who says of Jerusalem, ‘She will be built’, and of the temple, ‘Your foundation will be laid.”  The foundation was laid before Cyrus died in 530 BC.

Ezr.6:14-18 the prophecies of Haggai and Zechariah came to pass.  After 20 years, the temple was completed.  v.15 “In the 6^th year of King Darius [516 BC].”  The Jews celebrated the event with much joy and offerings.  v.19-22 they ate the Passover.  (There’s no record of the Passover lawfully being eaten in exile, with no temple or central sanctuary existing outside the Holy Land.)

The temple was built on Mt Moriah.  (Not on Mt Zion; also see the topic “Zion in the Bible”.)  Wikipedia: Zion “Mount Moriah, better known as the Temple Mount, upon which the Temple of Solomon [2Ch.3:1] and the Second Temple were built.”

The restored Temple of Zerubbabel (the 2^nd) would stand for 500 years (until 20 BC)!  What is known about the appearance of and articles in this Second Temple?

My Jewish Learning: Building the Second Temple “While there is no complete description of the Temple built by Zerubbabel, considerable detail can be gleaned from various sources. Vessels from the First Temple [of Solomon], recovered by the Persians from the Babylonians whom they had conquered, were returned to the Jews.”  The returnees brought those vessels back to the Holy Land in c 538 BC.  A list of those temple articles is in Ezr.1:7-11, 5:14.  They were used in sacrificing.

Kevin J. Conner The Temple of Solomon, p. 210 “Very few details are provided concerning the restored Temple. Zerubbabel’s Temple was 60 cubits high and 60 cubits broad and 100 cubits long (Ezr.6:3). It stood on its original site [Mt.Moriah] and seemed to follow much of Solomon’s Temple and some of Ezekiel’s visionary Temple in parts.”  A few newer translations render “60 cubits” as “90 feet”.

My Jewish Learning op. cit. “It [2^nd Temple] had two courtyards [1Mac.4:48]. Various chambers surrounded the Temple in both courtyards…and were used for the storage of tithes, equipment, and vessels [and priestly garments]. Certain high officials apparently merited private chambers within the Temple precincts. The Temple building was of hewn stone, with wooden beams reinforcing the walls from within.”

Zerubbabel’s Temple had both a Holy Place and a Holy of Holies innermost room, separated by a veil (1Mac.1:22), as Solomon’s Temple had.  Plural veils (probably two) are indicated in 1Mac.4:51.

Sacred divine fire originally sent from heaven to burn continually on God’s altar was also eventually present in Zerubbabel’s Temple (ref Le.9:24 & 6:12-13, 2Ch.7:1).  After Nehemiah returned to Jerusalem from Persia ca 444 BC, miracle fire (from naphtha) once again burned sacrifices on the altar.  ref 2Mac.1:18-35.  A wood offering was mandated for Jewish returnees, to keep that altar fire burning, Ne.10:34.  (see the topic “Fire From Heaven!”.)

Costly materials weren’t available for this 2^nd temple; it wasn’t as ornate as Solomon’s Temple.  Hag.2:3 “Who is left among you who saw this house [Solomon’s Temple] in her former glory? And how do you see it now? It seems like nothing in comparison.”  The 1^st Temple was beautiful!

Got Questions: What Was Zerubbabel’s Temple? “Zerubbabel’s temple was built on a smaller scale and with much fewer resources.”  Wikipedia: Second Temple “The Second Temple was originally a rather modest structure.”

1Mac.4:44-51 Zerubbabel’s Temple had an altar of stone (not bronze, cf. 2Ch.4:1) in the outer court for sacrifices.  It had only one candlestick, one table for showbread, and one incense altar.  Whereas the Temple of Solomon had: 10 candlesticks of gold (lampstands burning oil, 2Ch.4:7, 20), 10 tables (2Ch.4:8, 19), one golden incense altar (1Ki.7:48).

Yet Zerubbabel’s (lesser) Temple was still the Lord’s doing.  Zec.4:10 “Who has despised the day of small things? These seven eyes of the Lord (cf. Re.1:4, 5:6), which scan the whole earth, will rejoice when they see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel.”

{Sidelight: God’s church today will succeed not by human might nor power nor solely by our own resources…but by the empowerment of His Spirit (Zec.4:6).  God does great things, and He does small things, according to His will.  The Lord spoke in a still, small voice in instructing Elijah regarding His will, 1Ki.19:12-ff.  God’s growing Kingdom is like a mustard seed, smaller than other seeds, Mt.13:31-32.  Jesus affirms in Mt.19:26, “With God, all things are possible”.}

Significantly, there were 4 components missing from Zerubbabel’s Temple (according to various sources, including the Babylonian Talmud Yoma 22b), which Solomon’s 1^st Temple had:

#1) Ark of the Testimony/Covenant.  Conner op. cit. “No Temple since Solomon’s has had the Ark of God in it.”  cf. 2Ch.5:7.  (see the topic “Ark of the Testimony – Journeys”.)  With no Ark or mercy seat upon which to sprinkle blood on the annual Day of Atonement, they placed a ‘stone of foundation’ upon which the high priest put his censer on that day.

#2) Shekínah glory Presence of the Lord was missing.  There was no Ark for the Presence to rest upon.

#3) Urím & Thummím stones of judgment, which had been on the breastplate of high priests (cf. Ex.28:29-30), weren’t among the 2^nd temple articles.

#4) Holy Spirit didn’t inspire prophets then.  After Malachi (c 425 BC), the traditional ‘400 Silent Years’ ensued when there was no prophetic revelatory voice.  Only the Apocryphal books were written.

Nonetheless, the Temple of Zerubbabel became the main place of religious gathering and perpetuation of Israelite culture.  Conner op. cit., p.211 “The Divine purpose in allowing the Temple to be restored was to hold the nation in the Land until the coming of John [the Baptizer] and the Messiah [Jesus], even though these 4 things were missing from the nation’s central religious point.”

This topic is continued and concluded in “Temple of Zerubbabel (2) – the Period”.

Ark of the Testimony – Journeys (2)

This Part 2 is the continuation and conclusion to “Ark of the Testimony – Journeys (1)”.

The “Ark of the Testimony” (seen in Ex.25:16, Jsh.4:16, e.g.) was the most revered object in God’s portable tabernacle, constructed by Moses/Israelites.  The Hebrew term for “ark” is aróne, Strongs h727.  The term for “testimony” is aydúth h5715.  The Ark was also known as the “Ark of the Covenant” (h1285, Nu.10:33, e.g.), the “Ark of the Lord” (h3068, Jsh.3:13), the “Ark of God” (h430, 1Sm.3:3).  This Ark wasn’t the floating vessel ‘Noah’s ark’ so-called, seen earlier in the Flood account of Ge.6–8.

Christ was the God and good Shepherd of ancient Israel.  His glory ‘dwelt’ above the Ark, upon the mercy seat between the cherubim (cf. Ex.25:22, Ps.80:1, Jn.10:11.  see the topic “Jesus Was the Old Testament God”.)  The Ark represented the Lord’s Presence and Name!  2Sm.6:2 “The ark of God which is called by the Name, the very name of the Lord of hosts who is enthroned above the cherubim.”

Using Dr. Martin Anstey’s The Romance of Bible Chronology, v.2, Israel’s exodus from Egypt occurred circa (c) 1612 BC and the sacred tabernacle tent & sanctuary was erected c 1611 BC.

“Ark of the Testimony – Journeys (1)” covered the time from the Ark’s construction in the aftermath of Israel’s exodus from Egypt…until the capture of the Ark by the enemy Philistines, c 1102 BC.

The Ark, a gilded rectangular chest, resided in the Holy of Holies innermost room (Ex.26:34) of Moses’ tabernacle for 500 years!  From c 1611 BC – c 1102 BC (except when it was in transport or taken into battle).  But after c 1102 BC, the Ark would never return to Moses’ tabernacle!

Now in Part 2, we’ll continue the account of the Ark’s journeys from when the Philistines’ captured it.

In the latter years of Eli the high priest & judge, Israel had become very backslidden.  The tabernacle of Moses and the Ark was at Shilóh, in the tribal territory of Ephráim.  1Sm.4:1-5 the Ark is carried into the battle of Ebenézer against the Philistines.  v.17-18 the Philistines sack Shiloh, and capture the Ark.  Eli dies when he hears the news.  v.22 “The glory is departed from Israel, for the ark of God is taken.”

1Sm.5:1-7 the heathen Philistines took the captured Ark of God from Ebenezer to their city of Ashdód, into the temple of their pagan god Dagón.  But the idol of Dagon was then found fallen down before the Ark…and broken!  The Lord afflicted the Ashdodites with tumors and mice (LXX).  v.8-9 so the Philistines took the Ark to their city of Gath.  The Lord afflicted them there with tumors.  v.10-12 so they took the Ark to Ekrón.  The hand of God was heavy upon them in Ekron; many men died or were smitten with tumors.  At that point the Philistines didn’t know what to do with the Ark!

1Sm.6:1-12 after the Philistines had possession of the Ark for 7 months (c 1101 BC), they called for their heathen priests & diviners, to learn what should be done with the Ark.  It was decided the Ark should be sent away on a cart hitched to two milk cows.  Lo and behold…the cows didn’t go towards their calves in Philistia…on their own, the cows carted the Ark straightway to Bethshémesh in Israel!

1Sm.6:13-19 the Ark arrived in Bethshemesh.  It was back in Israel.  But the Lord struck down men there because, without authorization, “they looked into the Ark of the Lord”.  (Nu.4:4-5 in transport, the Ark was to be covered by the inner veil; the Kohaththites in charge of holy articles weren’t to touch the Ark or see into it.)  1Sm.6:20-21 so they wanted it taken from Bethshemesh to Kiriáth-jearím in Judah.

1Sm.7:1-3 the men of Kiriath-jearim brought the Ark to the house of Abinadáb in Kiriath-jearim.

Although Israel repented after 20 years, the Ark remained in the house of Abinadab for approximately 70 years (c 1101 BC – 1030 BC).  JFB Commentary 1Sm.7:2 “20 years….the Israelites began to revive from their sad state of religious decline.”  Les McFall The Chronology of Saul and David “The actual time from the death of Eli to the deposition of the ark in Jerusalem by David was 68 years.”  The Ark remained at Abinadab’s house during the judgeship of Samuel and the entire reign of Saul.

When David was running from King Saul, Moses’ tabernacle (minus the Ark) was at the town of Nob.  Saul later had the residents of Nob killed, ref 1Sm.21–22.  Cambridge Bible 1Sm.1:3 “The tabernacle was removed to Nob (1Samuel 21), and the once holy place was utterly desecrated.”  After Nob, Gibeón became the site of Moses’ tabernacle, ref 1Ch.16:39-40 & 2Ch.1:3 (until Solomon’s time).

After David became king and subdued the Philistines, he wanted the Ark brought up to Jerusalem (c 1030 BC) in the tribal territory of Judah.  1Ch.15:1 “In the city of David [on Mt Zión] he prepared a place for the ark of God and pitched a tent for it.”  (That Hebrew term for “tent” is óhel h168.)

2Sm.6:2-11 David brought the Ark from Abinadab’s house to Obéd-edóm’s house, where it remained for 3 months.  v.12-17 David then brought the Ark from Obed-edom’s house to the “tent of David” on Mt Zion in Jerusalem.  (see the topics, “Tent/Tabernacle of David” and “Zion in the Bible”.)

Jesuswalk.com/david “David can’t very well return the ark to the tabernacle at Shiloh. Shiloh had been destroyed! The tabernacle had been moved to the priestly city of Nob, but the ark had never been there and Saul had slaughtered the town’s priests and their families. The ancient tabernacle is now to be found at ‘the high place at Gibeon’ (1Ch.16:39-40, 21:29; 2Ch.1:3, 13; 1Ki.3:4), in a Levitical city where personnel continued sacrifices. David wants the center of Yahweh worship to be in the capital at Jerusalem, not in some priestly town. So he sets up a tent for the ark in Jerusalem, in hopes of eventually building a proper temple to house it.”  His son Solomon would later build the Temple there.

King David brought only the Ark into the tent.  The Ark still contained God’s law of the Decalogue or Ten Commandments (even during Solomon’s reign, 2Ch.5:1-2, 10).  See Part 1.  But absent (since c 1102 BC?) from Moses’ Holy of Holies at Gibeon was Aaron’s rod that budded (Nu.17:10) and the memorial jar of manna (Ex.16:32-34).

1Ch.17:16 David sat before the Ark!  2Sm.11:11 the Ark was again taken into battle.

2Sm.15:24-29 Zadók the priest took the Ark with David as he fled from Absalóm…but Zadok then returned it to Jerusalem.  Poole Commentary 2Sm.15:25 to “the tabernacle David had lately built for it.”

The Ark of God resided in the tent at David’s palace on Zion for 40 years (though he died c 1002 BC).  The only item in the Ark then was God’s eternal law (later seen in heavenly Mt Zion, Re.11:19 & 14:1).

After David’s death, King Solomon completed the temple c 991 BC.  1Ki.7:51 – 8:1-21 the original Ark (1Ki.8:9) was moved from David’s tent on Mt Zion into Solomon’s stationary temple “house of the Lord” on Mt Moriáh (2Ch.3:1).  1Ki.8:10-11 at the occasion, the temple was filled with the glory cloud of the Lord!  The Ark had been at a personal residence or palace for c 110 years (c 1101 BC – 991 BC)!

1Ki.8:8 KJV the projection of the poles/staves, by which the descendants of Koháth had carried the Ark during Israel’s journeys, was changed in Solomon’s temple.  Barnes Notes 1Ki.8:8 “A sign that the ark had reached ‘the place of its rest’, and was not to be borne about anymore.”  1Ki.8:4 the old tabernacle of Moses with its holy utensils was brought from Gibeon into the temple.  The journeying of Moses’ Ark (and portable tabernacle) was ended.

More than 300 years after Solomon, c 622 BC King Josiah made sanctuary repairs to Solomon’s temple, 2Ch.34:8-10.  The Ark was removed for those repairs, and was then put back.  Josiah said to the Levites in 2Ch.35:3, “Put the holy ark in the house which Solomon the son of David king of Israel built”.  The Ark then was either Moses’ original Ark, or else a copy that had been made (since Solomon, 1Ki.8:9).

2Ch.35:3 is the last occurrence in the Old Testament (OT) where we read of the Ark in the temple.

The final OT reference to the Ark of God is Je.3:16. “Declares the Lord, They shall say no more ‘The ark of the covenant’. It shall not come to mind, nor shall they remember it, nor shall they miss it, nor shall it be made again.”  God said the Ark of the Testimony/Ark of the Covenant, their most important object, reflecting His Presence…would no more be remembered or reproduced (or noted in the OT).

The Ark is later mentioned in the Apocrypha.  The book of 2 Maccabees was written in Greek c 124 BC.  God had warned Jeremiah to hide the Ark in the mountain from which Moses had viewed the Promised Land (Mt Nebó, De.34:1).  2Mac.2:4-8 KJV 1611 edition “When Jeremiah came thither, he found a hollow cave wherein he laid the Tabernacle, the Ark, the altar of incense, and stopped the door. Some of those that followed him came to mark the way, but they could not find it. Jeremiah blamed them, saying, ‘That place shall be unknown.”  Jeremiah hid that Ark in an unknown cave, prior to 587 BC when Nebuchadnézzar carried off other holy vessels from Solomon’s temple (2Ch.36:7-10).  Since Jeremiah was told to hide the Ark, he knew it couldn’t be seen and its memory would fade (Je.3:16).

1Esdras 1:54 KJV 1611 edition “They [Babylonians] took all the holy vessels of the Lord, both great and small, with the vessels of the ark of God, and the king’s treasures, and carried them away into Babylon.”  ref Je.52:17-23 for more item detail.  However, these passages don’t say they took the Ark itself.  (But 2Esdras 10:22 KJV 1611 edition “The Ark of our covenant is spoiled.”  The original Ark?)

Ezr.1:5-11 the Ark isn’t listed among the articles of Solomon’s temple which the Jewish returnees brought back from Babylon into the temple of Zerubbabél/Ezra, the 2^nd temple.  (see the topic “Temple of Zerubbabel”.)  2Ch.35:3 NASB footnote: “No reference is made to the ark by Ezra, Nehemiah, or even Josephus after the captivity.”

Later, neither was the Ark in Herod’s temple in the 1^st century AD.  Josephus Wars of the Jews 5:5:5 “The inmost part of the Temple…in this there was nothing at all…it was called the Holy of Holies.”  Nor was the Lord Christ ‘seated’ in the Holy of Holies chamber of Herod’s temple…Jesus was out walking the Land in His human body in the 1^st century AD!

The (physical) Ark chest disappeared from Israel’s history.  There are speculations today about the whereabouts of the Ark.  Some think the Ark ended up with the Jews in Elephántine, Egypt.  Or the original Ark possibly disappeared way back in the days of Solomon & the Queen of Sheba…and now remains in the possession of an Orthodox church in Ethiopia.  (If so, then the Ark hidden by Jeremiah wasn’t the original.)  I won’t elaborate on these speculations here.  (Many articles about the ancient Ark’s disappearance are available on the internet.  You might read Dean Smith’s What Happened To The Jewish Ark of the Covenant? and The Queen Of Sheba And The Jewish Ark.)

There are only two New Testament references to the “ark” (kibotós g2787, Greek) of the covenant.  He.9:1-7 briefly summarizes Moses’ tabernacle, its furnishings and service.  v.4 “…the ark of the covenant, covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden jar holding the manna, and Aaron’s rod which budded, and the tables of the covenant.”

He.9–10 shows the efficacious atonement of Christ’s blood for Christians…sprinkling animal blood at the Ark’s mercy seat on each annual Day of Atonement by the Aaronic high priest is no longer needed.  Nor do Christian ‘soldiers’ (figurative) follow a physical ark into battle against nations of this world.

John envisioned in Re.11:19, “The temple of God which is in heaven was opened; and the ark of His covenant appeared in His temple”.  A heavenly Ark endures, not an earthly.  Again, the only thing in the Ark in the tent/tabernacle of David was God’s eternal law tablets.  God’s laws are now figuratively being written by the indwelling Holy Spirit on the minds & hearts of New Covenant Israelites (He.8:8-13) and gentiles grafted-in.  see “Two Covenants – Heart of the Matter”.  An earthly Ark is unnecessary.

As the Lord said in Je.3:16, the ancient physical Ark made for Israel need not be missed or made again.

 

Zion in the Bible (1) – Old Jerusalem

What and where was the Biblical “Zion”?  This topic identifies Zion, according to the scriptures.

Writers of the Bible books sometimes used a symbolic, archaic, poetic, or secondary name for a place, instead of its common (current) name.  Jerusalem was such a place, historically known by other names.

The Hebrew term “Jerusalem” (Strongs h3389) first occurs in the days of Joshua, Moses’ successor.  Jsh.10:1-3 “Adonizédek king of Jerusalem heard how Joshua had taken Aí [a city].”

When ancient Israel exited Egypt, the land of Canáan was inhabited by seven peoples, one being the Jebusites (h2983).  ref Jsh.15:63, De.7:1, 2Sm.24:16.  The Jebusites descended from Canaan, son of Ham (Ge.10:16).  They dwelt in the hill country around Jerusalem (Nu.13:29).  Jsh.15:8 “The south slope of the Jebusites, that is, Jerusalem.”  Jerusalem was the Jebusite capital city.

And Jerusalem was anciently known as Jebús.  Jg.19:10-11 “Jebus [h2982 means ‘trodden down’], which is Jerusalem.”  Also 1Ch.11:4-5, “David and all Israel went to Jerusalem, which is Jebus….And David took the citadel of Zion, which is the city of David.”  Zion was linked to Jerusalem/Jebus.

ISBE: Zion “It is evident that Zion was the name of the citadel of the Jebusite city of Jerusalem.”

The Hebrew term “Zión” (h6726 tsee-yóne, noun) occurs 153 times in the Old Testament (OT).  80 of those occurrences are in Psalms and Isaiah.

The etymology of the word Zion is uncertain.  It is thought to have meant: a structure, stronghold, monument, mount, a parched place, or a brook.  It is unknown where the term Zion originated.

However, we’ll see that the place “Zion” expands in scope as the scriptures progress chronologically.  In this topic we’ll trace, step-by-step, the expansion of “Zion” through the Bible.

Some significant OT verses where Zion occurs: 2Sm.5:5-9; 1Ki.8:1; 1Ch.11:5; 2Ch.5:2; Ps.2:6, 9:11, 48:2, 11-12, 51:18, 74:2, 76:2, 78:68, 102:16, 21, 110:1-4, 128:5, 132:13, 135:21, 137:1, 149:2; Is.2:3, 10:32, 28:16, 33:20, 40:9, 51:16, 59:20, 64:10; Je.26:18, 50:28; La.2:13; Jl.3:16; Am.6:1; Mi.3:12, 4:2; Zc.2:7, 10, 8:3, 9:9, 13.  I’ll reference selected verses as we proceed; we won’t examine them all.

Jerusalem was built upon seven hills or mountains (Re.17:9, 11:8).  Three hills are east of the Kidrón Valley; four are west: Olivet, Scópus, Corruption/Offense; Antonia Fortress, Óphel, Moriáh, Zion.

(Note: The names of hills changed over time.  Other/archaic names for area hills were: Ákra, Bezétha, Calvary, Garéb and Goáth (Je.31:39), Nob, Milló.  Correspondingly, sites on maps of ancient Jerusalem differ.  cf. map-of-ancient-jerusalem.html and biblestudy.org Jerusalem and Its Seven Hills, e.g.)

The Jebusite fortress was called Zion; the hill upon which the fortress sat also came to be called…Zion.

The term “Zion” first occurs in 2Sm.5:7-9. “David captured the stronghold of Zion, and it became known as the city of David. So David lived in the stronghold, and built all around from the supporting terraces [Millo] and inward.”  The Jebusite castle area on Mount Zion also became part of his “city of David”.  It was King David’s capital.  “Zion”, the Jebusite citadel, also became the hill on which it sat.

Specifically where in Jerusalem was this citadel on Mt Zion, and the “city of David”, located?

Wikipedia: Zion “Zion is the Hebrew name for a hill south of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, upon which was built the city of David. Mount Zion is not to be confused with Mount Moriah, better known as the Temple Mount, upon which the Temple of Solomon [2Ch.3:1] and the Second Temple [of Zerubbabél] were built. The particular hill known as Mount Zion is no longer inside the city wall [of Jerusalem], but its location is now just outside the portion of the Old City wall forming the southern boundary of the Jewish Quarter of the current Old City. Most of the original city of David itself is thus also outside the current city wall.”  (Mt Zion is called “Old Mt Zion” on some modern maps.)  King David built his palace on (old) Mt Zion in the “city of David”.

Biblical Archeology Review: The Interrupted Search for King David’s Palace “The city of David, a 12-acre spur that extends south of the Temple Mount [Mt Moriah].”  Labeling as the original “Zion” any area hill farther to the west is thought by Bible historians to be incorrect.

{Sidelight: Wikipedia: Jebusite “Jerusalem has no water supply except for the Gihon [G-eé-han] Spring.”  bible.ca/archeology/Gihon-Spring “It was because of the strategic location of this single spring that the original Canaanite cities of ‘Migdol Edar’ and ‘Jebus’ were built over and around that water source before the time of King David. The Gihon Spring is located even today at the base of what was called the ‘Óphel’ (a swelling of the earth in the form of a small mountain dome) once situated just to the north and abutting to ‘Mount Zion’ (the City of David). Ophel Mound was close to the City of David. David soon began to fill in the area between the two summits with dirt and stones (calling it the Millo or ‘fill in’) to make a single high level area on which to build his city…2Sm.5:9. David’s son Solomon completed the ‘fill in’ between the two summits and called that earthen and rock bridge the Millo [h4407, ‘mound’], 1Ki.11:27. Solomon then built the Temple [2Ch.3:1]…above the Gihon Spring. This Ophel region became known as a northern extension of ‘Zion’. This made the Temple so close to the City of David (where the citadel or akra was located) that Aristéas said a person could look northward from the top of the City of David and easily witness all priestly activities within the Temple precincts. ([Letter of] Aristeas, lines 100-104, as translated by Eusebius.)”

Wikipedia: Ophel “The location of the Ophel [h6077] of the Hebrew Bible is easy to make out from the references of 2Ch.27:3; 33:14 and Ne.3:26-27: it was on the eastern ridge and south of the Temple, and probably near the middle of the southeastern hill (i.e., the eastern ridge segment)….This must have been an area of great strategic importance, and either very close to or identical with the ‘stronghold of Zion’ conquered and reused by King David (2Sm.5:7).”  Mt Ophel lay between Mt Zion and Mt Moriah.}

1Ch.15:1 “David constructed buildings in the city of David; he prepared a place for the ark of God and pitched a tent for it.”  The ark of God (but not God’s tabernacle) was brought into the city of David, 1Ch.16:1, on (old) Mt Zion.  The Lord dwelt above the cherubim atop the ark, making Mt Zion a holy hill!  Ps.2:6-7 “I have anointed My king upon Zion, My holy mountain. You are My Son, Today I have begotten you.”  Mt Zion was holy to the Lord…His ark was there during David’s reign.  (Psalm 2 is dual.  It also prophetically refers to God’s begotten Son Jesus, Ps.2:7; whereas Jesse begat David, Ru.4:22.)  also see the topic “Ark of the Testimony – Journeys”.

Later, Solomon built God’s Temple on Mt Moriah to the north.  2Ch.3:1 “Solomon began to build the house [temple] of the Lord on Mount Moriah…on the threshing floor of Ornán [or Araunáh] the Jebusite.”  Previously the Lord had David erect an altar on this site, 2Sm.24:18.  Nearly 1,000 years earlier, the Lord told Abraham to erect an altar on Mt Moriah for a burnt offering, Ge.22:2, 13-14.  (Today the Muslim Dome of the Rock, built in 691 AD, sits on Mt Moriah.  ref Jewish Virtual Library.)

1Ki.8:1 “Solomon assembled Israel’s elders to bring up the Lord’s ark of the covenant from the city of David, which is Zion.”  (Also Solomon brought up God’s tabernacle from Gibeón, 2Ch.1:3 & 1Ki.8:4.  The ark of God and the tabernacle of God had been separated for around 110 years!)

ISBE: Zion “Zion…this citadel…on the long hill running south of the Temple (the SE hill). The Ark of the Covenant was brought up out of the city of David to the Temple (1Ki.8:1; 2Ch.5:2), and Pharaoh’s daughter ‘came up out of the city of David to her house which Solomon had built for her’, adjacent to the Temple (1Ki.9:24). This expression ‘up’ could not be used of any other hill than of the lower-lying eastern ridge.”  Mt Zion (elevation 2,510 ft.) to the south was slightly lower than Mt Moriah.

Over the centuries, the concept of Zion expands in scope, or migrates, so to speak.  “Zion” will include the temple area too.  Je.31:6 “Let us go up to Zion, to the Lord our God.”  However, the Lord’s temple was built on Mt Moriah (2Ch.3:1), not on Mt Zion!  Je.50:28 “There is a sound of exiles and refugees from the land of Babylon, to declare in Zion the vengeance of our God, vengeance for His temple.” also Joel 2:1.  Zion now relates to Solomon’s temple, even though it sat on Mt Moriah.  (Also in the apocrypha 1Mac.5:54, “They went up to mount Sion…where they offered burnt offerings”.)

The scope of Zion continued to expand.  According to Strongs Lexicon, Zion was…“Another name for Jerusalem, especially in the prophetic books.”  Jerusalem itself, all seven hills/mountains, later came to be called Zion.  Ps.133:3 “As the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion.”  Here “mountains” is plural (in most translations), referring to Jerusalem’s seven mounts.  Benson Commentary Ps.133:3 “Jerusalem, which is also called Zion.”  David had also written in Ps.51:18, “Do good to Zion; build the walls of Jerusalem”.  Is.33:20 LXX “Behold the city of Zion, our salvation; your eyes shall behold Jerusalem, a rich city.”  Now they’re one and the same city.  Zion has symbolically become Jerusalem.

Expanding still further, the concept of Zion in prophetic books becomes synonymous with the entire Land of Israel and Judah.  Is.51:3 “Certainly the Lord will console Zion; he will console all her ruins. He will make her wilderness like Eden, her desert like the Garden of the Lord.”  Pulpit Commentary Is.51:3 “Much of Judea, during the absence of the exiles, became a ‘wilderness’ and a ‘desert.”  Encyclopedia of the Bible: Zion “In exile, the whole Israelite nation came to be called, ‘Zion.”

Or, “daughter of Zion”.  Mic.4:10-11 “O daughter of Zion…Go to Babylon. Many nations are gathered against you; they say, ‘Let her be defiled, and let our eye look upon Zion.”  Zion came to symbolize those Jews who had been taken captive to Babylon by Nebuchadnézzar.  Zec.2:7 “Ho Zion! Escape, you who are living with the daughter of Babylon.”  Here, Zion denoted the Jewish people too.

Is.51:16 “Say to Zion, ‘You are My people.”  The Lord prophesied deliverance and victory for Israel and Judah…for Zion.  Zec.9:13 “I have bent Judah as My bow, and have made Ephraim [Israel] its arrow. I will stir up your sons, O Zion, against your sons, O Greece, and wield you like a warrior’s sword.”  Zion had come to represent the land & people of both Israel and Judah (resisting Greek oppression).  Benson Commentary Zec.9:13 “Judah and Ephraim are equivalent to Judah and Israel.”  JFB Commentary “God on the one hand addresses Zion, on the other Greece.”  Zion is no longer just a fort within the topography of ancient Jebus/Jerusalem.

We’ve seen that the concept of “Zion” has expanded in scope, migrating in steps, through the OT scriptures.  Zion went from being: Jebusite citadel, to “city of David”, to Jerusalem’s southern hill or mount, to the Temple Mount [Moriah], to Jerusalem in its entirety, to the land of Judah and Israel, to the whole Israelite people.  In the OT, “Zion” went from being a Canaanite fortress…to an entire people!

Yet the concept of “Zion” will expand or migrate still further in the New Testament.  This topic is continued and concluded in “Zion in the Bible (2) – Heavenly Jerusalem”.

Gehenna (1) – Valley of Unquenched Fire

In several of our Bible translations, there are four original language terms commonly rendered as “hell”…Sheol, Hádes, Tartaróo, Géhenna.  This topic is about Gehenna.

The Greek term Gehenna occurs 12 times in the New Testament (NT).  “Gehenna” is rendered “hell” in many (but not all) Bibles.  “Hell” is more an interpretation, not actually a translation.  Gehenna (Strongs g1067) occurs in: Mt.5:22, 29-30, 10:28, 18:9, 23:15, 33; Mk.9:43-47; Lk.12:5; Ja.3:6.

Gehenna was a location, a particular place.  It’s a proper noun.  As such, it is better left untranslated, as “Gehenna” (transliterated from the Greek Gé-en-na)…not rendered “hell”.  For example, places such as Jericho, Silicon Valley, Milky Way, etc., aren’t translated in normal English usage.  Young’s Literal Translation (YLT) is one that leaves the term Gehenna untranslated.  Gehenna isn’t a common noun.

The term Gehenna came from the Old Testament (OT) valley of the son of Hinnóm, which occurs 13 times in the OT.  The 13 OT occurrences of Hinnom (Strongs h2011, Hebrew noun) are: Jsh.15:8 (2), 18:16 (2); 2Ki.23:10; 2Ch.28:3, 33:6; Ne.11:30; Je.7:31-32, 19:2, 6, 32:35 (39:35 Septúagint/LXX).  Hinnom means lamentation.  Hinnom is Ennom in the OT Greek LXX.

Historians have located the steep Gehenna valley or ravine below the SW wall of ancient Jerusalem.  It was in the territory allotted to the tribe of Judah (Jsh.15:1, 8), and converges with the Kidrón valley.

Jsh.15:8 is the earliest reference to this “valley of Hinnom”.  2Ch.28:1-3 Judah’s idolatrous king Aház sacrificed his sons there to the false god Molech!  King Josiah desecrated the sacrificial site in 2Ki.23:10. “He defiled Tópheth [h8612 place of fire/burning] in the valley of the son of Hinnom.”

Traditionally, this ravine below Jerusalem later became a constantly burning rubbish heap.  Vincent’s Word Studies Mt.5:22 “Ge-hinnom…it became the common refuse-place of the city, into which the bodies of criminals, carcasses of animals, and all sorts of filth were cast.”

And the valley also became a prophesied place of slaughter filled with human corpses.

Is.30:31-33 prophesied that the army of Assyrian King Sennacheríb under general Rabshakéh (Is.36:2) would camp at Topheth, as a funeral pyre site in the valley.  Is.37:36 there 185,000 of them died!

After Josiah’s death, Judah returned to the heathen practice of human sacrifice in the Hinnom valley/Topheth.  Therefore, Jeremiah prophesied it would become a place of future national judgment!  Je.7:30-34 “The days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘When it will no more be called Topheth, or the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of the Slaughter. For the Land will become a ruin.”  The Lord would judge Judah and Jerusalem (v.34) with death & destruction for their detestable sacrifices.

The entire chapter of Je.19 is a prophecy about the valley of ben-Hinnom (son of Hinnom) or Gehenna, in more detail.  The Lord declared in Je.19:7, “Judah and Jerusalem…in this place I shall cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies; and I shall give over their carcasses as food for the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth.”  In the valley of ben-Hinnom, the valley of Slaughter (v.6).

Je.21:10 “For I [the Lord] will set My face against this city for harm….It will be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will burn it with fire.”  King Nebuchadnézzar burned Jerusalem in 586 BC.  This fulfillment is seen in Je.52:12-15.  The residue of the people were exiled to Babylon.

After Jews returned from Babylonian captivity, the last OT chronological reference to the valley of Hinnom is Ne.11:30.  Some returning Jews encamped there.

There are 12 NT occurrences of the term Gehenna g1067.  All but one occurrence is in the words of Jesus found in the gospel accounts (mostly in Matthew).  The sole exception is Ja.3:6 (figurative).

The term Gehenna doesn’t appear in the book of Acts, nor in any of Paul’s letters, nor in other epistles (only once in James)!  That may seem like a strange omission?!  But Gehenna was traditionally the Jerusalem dump.  It wouldn’t have the same significance in the foreign cities of the NT epistles.

John the Baptizer prophesied of unquenched fire in Mt.3:11-12, mixing in figurative language. “He [Jesus] will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”  The Greek for unquenchable fire was  ásbestos pur (g762 g4442).  The wheat and chaff represent people.  John was speaking to residents of Jerusalem/Judea (v.4-5).  In OT language, unquenched fire related to God’s judgment!  This was an analogy known to listeners of John & Jesus in the Holy Land.  Following are verses about unquenched fire from the OT:

Is.34:5, 9-10 “Judgment upon Edom, a people that I [the Lord] have devoted to destruction….Its land shall become burning pitch. It shall not be quenched, night or day. Its smoke shall go up forever.”  Unquenched fire was part of God’s judgment upon the land of Edom in 583 BC.  (It wasn’t ever-burning hell-fire torment!)  Pulpit Commentary Is.34:10 “There was a literal fulfillment of the prophecies against Edom….”

Amos prophesied to Israel with warnings ca 750 BC.  Am.5:6 KJV “Seek the Lord that you may live, lest He break forth like a fire in the house of Joseph [the northern kingdom of Israel, v.1], and devour it, and there be none to quench it in Bethél.”  Unquenched fire in Israel.  Benson Commentary Am.5:6 “All your idols in Bethel shall not be able to quench it…or save them from God’s judgments.”

Ezk.20:47-48 “Say to the forest of the Négev: Thus says the Lord God, ‘Behold, I Am going to kindle a fire in you…the blazing flame shall not be quenched, and the whole surface from north to south will be burned by it. All flesh shall see…it shall not be quenched.”  Unquenched fire in the Negev, a large arid region in southern Judah.  Matthew Poole Commentary Ezk.20:47 “The Chaldean forces…it will be a raging and swift fire. All means that can be used will not avail to quench this fire, till it has burnt up all.”  Judeans remaining alive were taken captive to Chaldea/Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar.

Je.7:17, 20 “Do you see what they are doing in the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem? Thus says the Lord God, ‘My anger and wrath will be poured out on this place, on man and beast…it will burn and not be quenched.  (also ref v.32, quoted previously.)  Je.17:27b “I [the Lord] shall kindle a fire in its gates, and it will devour the palaces of Jerusalem and not be quenched.”  Unquenched fire.  This was the background for Jesus’ warnings for Judah & Jerusalem in the book of Matthew!

Isaiah also prophesied of fire unquenched.  Is.66:24 “Then they shall gaze upon the corpses of the men who have transgressed against Me [the Lord]. For their worm shall not die and their fire shall not be quenched.”  Human corpses (not spirits) were linked to unquenched fire.  Barnes Notes Is.66:24 “The Hebrew word (tolá) refers to the worms [maggots] which are generated in such corrupting bodies.”  Cambridge Bible “Some place in the vicinity of Jerusalem, no doubt the valley of Hinnom.”  The passage refers to putrefying human carcasses, physical flesh.  And it’s also interpreted as imagery.

Jesus spoke of unquenched fire in the passage of Mk.9:43-48, tying Mk.9:48 to Is.66:24.  (Mk.9:44, 46 aren’t found in the best ancient manuscripts, cf. Mt.18:8-9.)  Mk.9:47-48 YLT “It is better for you one-eyed to enter the reign [kingdom] of God, than having two eyes be cast into the gehenna of the fire, where their worm is not dying and the fire is not being quenched.”  Jesus’ disciples knew the location of the Gehenna ravine by Jerusalem.  Mk.9:43-48 also relates to Je.7:20, 32.

Then in 70 AD, Titus’ Roman army came and starved/burned Jerusalem; there were myriads of corpses in valleys!  Josephus Wars of the Jews 5:7:3-4 “Jews cast them down from the walls into the valleys beneath. Titus saw the valleys full of dead bodies.”  Je.7:32 was fulfilled in both 586 BC and 70 AD.

Later, Eusébius (263–339 AD) Ecclesiastical History 6:41:15 described the martyrdom of Christians in Alexandria, Egypt. “They were carried on camels through the city, scourged, and finally consumed in unquenchable fire [asbestos puri].”  (Everlasting torment in hell-fire wasn’t meant!)  This is the same two Greek terms for “unquenchable fire”, asbestos puri, found in Mt.3:12 (and Lk.3:17).  R. Tennant Shaw Day Thoughts on the New Testament “Christians at Alexandria…were scourged and burned in unquenchable fire. The fire burned until it consumed the victims.”  Fire goes out when all combustible matter is consumed or burned up.

Again, the term Gehenna occurs 12 times in the NT, 11 of which are the words of Jesus.

Jesus told His disciples in Mt.10:28 YLT, “Be not afraid of those killing the body, and are not able to kill [g615] the soul [g5590 psuché], but rather fear Him who is able both soul [g5590] and body to destroy [g622] in gehenna”.  Lk.12:4-5 is a parallel passage.  Robertson’s NT Word Pictures Lk.12:5 “Gehenna, valley of Hinnom…was a place of all kinds of refuse which burned ceaselessly and became a symbol of punishment in the other world.”  Gehenna as imagery.

However, in scripture, both God and humans killed souls (g5590 psuche)!  The soul/life (g5590) is in the blood.  Le.17:11 LXX “The soul/life [g5590] of flesh is its blood.”  (also ref Ge.9:4, De.12:23.)   The Lord stated in Le.23:30 LXX, “Every soul [g5590] which shall do work on that day [of Atonement], that soul [g5590] shall be destroyed [g622] from among its people”.  The Lord destroyed souls.  Ja.4:12 “There is one Lawgiver who is able to save and to destroy [g622].”  God declared in De.32:39 LXX, “I kill [g615], and I shall make alive”.  The Lord destroys and kills (souls).

A woman said in 2Sm.14:7 LXX, “Give up the one that smote his brother, and we will put him to death for the soul [g5590] of his brother, whom he killed [g615].”  A man (not God) killed this soul!  Also Elijah complained to the Lord in 1Ki.19:10 LXX, “I have been very zealous for the Lord Almighty, for the children of Israel…have killed [g615] Thy prophets with the sword, and I only am left, and they seek my soul [g5590] to take it.”  They wanted to kill Elijah’s soul, residing in his lifeblood.

Mt.2:16 King Herod the Great killed all the male children of Bethlehem in their second year and under.  The child Jesus wasn’t there; He was in Egypt.  Later, an angel instructed Joseph in Egypt in Mt.2:20. “Arise and take the Child [Jesus]…into the land of Israel; for those who sought the Child’s soul [g5590] are dead.”  Herod the Great, who’d wanted to kill the soul of the infant Jesus, had died.

So both the Lord and humans killed souls in the OT.  Matthew too indicated in Mt.2:16-20 that humans can kill souls [g5590].  Therefore it is difficult to interpret Matthew’s account of the Lord’s implication later in Mt.10:28 as…humans are unable to kill souls [g5590]!  It’d be contradictory or inconsistent.

Rather, it seems Jesus was relating the Mt.10:28 “fear Him who is able both soul and body to destroy” to the Is.10:18 (ESV). “The glory of his forest and of his fruitful land the Lord will destroy, both soul and body”.  The expression “both soul and body” indicated a total destruction.  Sennacherib’s army would be wiped out.  (see Is.37:36-37.)  Gill Exposition Is.10:18 “The Assyrian army is compared to a ‘forest’, for the large number of men in it.”  Pulpit Commentary Is.10:18 “Isaiah shows that he is speaking of the Assyrian people, not of the land or its products. Their destruction….”  Steve Gregg All You Want To Know About Hell, p.94 “The destruction of ‘both soul and body’ is elsewhere used as an idiom simply meaning ‘to destroy thoroughly’, without reference to a post-mortem fate. We find this precedent in Isa.10:18.”  It wasn’t a fate of eternal hell-fire conscious torment.

Lk.12:4-5-ff is parallel to Mt.10:28.  Jesus continued in Lk.12:49, “I’ve come to cast fire upon the earth [Land]”.  Again, John the Baptizer also had told the opposing Pharisees & Sadducees in Mt.3:12 that “He [Jesus] will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire”.

Unquenchable fire against nations was OT language known by those Jews; it related to God’s judgment of peoples.  Ellicott Commentary Lk.12:49 “The fire which He [Jesus] came to send is the fire of judgment upon the chaff.”  Peter Pett Lk.12:49 “By these words He [Jesus] is declaring God’s judgment upon the Jewish people…because of their rejection of Him and His message.”  LifeMessenger: Fire on the Earth “The fire that was about to fall on the ‘earth’ (literally land, alluding to Israel as the Promised Land) was the fall of Jerusalem…in 70 AD, a mere 40 years on.”  Titus burned Jerusalem & the temple.

Again, Gehenna fire is also used as imagery.  This topic is continued and concluded in “Gehenna (2) – Lake of Fire.”

Israelites Identification (1)

Who were the ancient Israelites and the Jews?  The land area known as modern Israel is disputed.  For decades, even centuries, the Holy Land has been an area of strife & warfare over who are the rightful inhabitants.  This topic will trace the identity of the Israelite people from the Bible.

We’ll begin with Abraham the Hebrew.  God promised Abraham ca 2000 BC, Ge.17:3-5 “I will make you the father of many nations”.  (In Ro.4:13, 17-18 Paul referred to God’s covenant with Abraham.)

In Ge.25:8-9, 1-2 are recorded Abraham’s sons.  Isaac, Ishmaél…also Zimrán, Jokshán, Medán, Midián, Ishbák, Shúah (perhaps Eliézer, Ge.15:1-2 Septúagint/LXX).

Isaac then had twin sons, Jacob and Esau.  God’s covenant with Abraham passed down through Isaac, and then Jacob.  (see the topic “Circumcision in the Bible”.)

Ge.35:10-12 “God appeared to Jacob, ‘Israel shall be your name. A nation and an assembly of nations will descend from you.”  God ‘changed’ Jacob’s name to Israel.  Jacob thereby became the first Israelite.  There were no Israelites prior to Jacob.  Abraham and Isaac weren’t Israelites.

The man Jacob/Israel had 12 sons, whose descendants grew into the 12 tribes of Israel.  Ge.35:22b-26 “The twelve sons of Jacob: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachár, Zebulún, Joseph, Benjamin, Dan, Naphtalí, Gad, Ashér.”  Jacob/Israel’s 4^th son was Judah (Yehoodáh, Strongs h3063 Hebrew).  Judah was the first Jew.  There were no Jews prior to the man Judah.  And Judah’s brothers weren’t Jews.

In Bible genealogy: Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Midian, the twins Esau & Jacob/Israel…none of them were Jews.  But they were all Hebrews, descendants of Héber (LXX Ge.10:21, 11:14-17).  Josephus Antiquities of the Jews 1:6:4 “Heber, from whom they originally called the Jews, Hebrews.”  Ge.14:13 Abraham “the Hebrew” has been called the ‘first Jew’ by tradition, but not by scripture.

In scripture, all Jews are Israelites (Judah descended from Jacob/Israel); but not all Israelites are Jews.  Again, Judah’s 11 brothers weren’t Jews.  Joseph wasn’t Jewish, nor was Reuben, Zebulun, Gad, etc.

Ge.46:2-4 “God spoke to Israel [Jacob], ‘In Egypt I will make of you a great nation [goy].”  (goy h1471 is the Hebrew term.)  Israel’s descendants would become a great nation!  (see “Gentiles in the Bible”.)

Ge.37:3, 9 Israel’s son Joseph is to have preeminence over his 11 brothers, including Judah.  Ge.49:10 the Messiah Yeshúa/Jesus and kings would come from the tribe of Judah.  v.22-26 but the blessing went to brother Joseph.  Ge.48:15-20 the name Israel would be upon Joseph’s sons Ephráim & Manasséh; they’d become a “multitude of nations [goyim]”.  1Ch.5:1-2 “Though from Judah came the leader, the birthright belonged to Joseph.”  Again, Joseph was distinct from Judah/the Jews.  Jewish Encyclopedia: Tribes, The Twelve “Joseph and Judah typify two distinct lines of descent.”

By the time of Moses & Joshua, the sons/tribes of Israel with a “mixed multitude” had become a large people, 1550 BC.  (Ex.12:37-38, see “Levites and the Exodus Multitude”.)  The unified kingdom of Israel would achieve prominence in the Land during the reigns of David and Solomon (Jewish kings).

1Ki.11:11-13 after Solomon’s death, in the 900s BC Christ split the united nation of Israel into two (v.28-32).  See 1Ki.12:15, 20-24.  Thereafter the northern kingdom, consisting of 10 tribes, retained the name Israel.  The southern kingdom of Judah, consisting of the other 2–3 tribes, became known as the Jews.  The tribal territory of Benjamin (and most of the Levites) was given to Judah.

Donald Kauffman Dictionary of Religious Terms “The name Jew derives from Judah, the Israelite tribe whose name was transferred to the Southern Kingdom.”  2Ki.16:5-6 the first time the term “Jew” (Yehoodeé h3064) occurs in the Bible, they’re fighting against…Israel (and Syria)!  After Solomon, Israel and the Jews/Judah became separate nations.

Later, the kingdom of Israel was conquered by Assyria. (see “Israelite Deportations by Assyria”.)  2Ki.17:19-24 “Israel was carried away into exile from their own Land to Assyria until this day.”  v.6 “In the ninth year of Hoshéa, the king of Assyria settled them in Haláh and Habór, on the river of Gozán, and in cities of the Medes.”  Israel (also called Samaria) in the north, the 10 tribes, was removed from the Land (721 BC).  They were resettled in the area of old Mesopotamia, at the Tigris & Euphrates, and beyond.  They became the so-called ‘Lost 10 Tribes’ of Israel, living far away to the (north) east.  The northern kingdom of Israel ceased as a nation.  Samaria became an Assyrian province.

2Esdras 13:40 KJV 1611 edition “Those are the ten tribes, which were carried away prisoners out of their owne land in the time of Osea the king, whom Salmanasar the king of Assyria ledde away captive, and hee carried them ouer the waters, and so came they into another land.” (KJV Middle English spelling.)  cf. Tob.1:1 Tobit, from the tribe of Naphtali, was taken captive.

Josephus op. cit. 9:14:1 “Shalmanéser, the king of Assyria, besieged Samaria, and transplanted all the people into Média and Persia, among whom he took King Hoshea alive; and when he had removed these people out of this their land, he transplanted other nations into Samaria, into the country of the Israelites.”  The other peoples transplanted into the Land became known as Samaritans.

Assyria placed heathen foreigners into Israel to replace the Israelites (2Ki.17:24).  Probably not every last Israelite was removed from the Land.  (Earlier some had fled south to Judah to escape the Assyrian invaders.)  Over the decades, the imported foreigners were assimilated with any few remaining Israelites…as Samaritans.  Those Samaritans held pagan beliefs mixed with God’s ways (ref Je.41:5).

Over 100 years later, the southern kingdom of Judah went into captivity to Babylon.  The prophet/priest Ezekiel was taken captive in 597 BC.  In Ezk.8:1 & 20:1, Ezekiel interchangeably called the captive elders the “elders of Israel” and the “elders of Judah” (592–591 BC).  By this time, these descendants from the southern kingdom Judah were being referred to as descendants of Israel.  Since Judah/Jews did descend from Jacob/Israel, ancestrally Jews are Israelites too.  (But not all Israelites are Jews.)  Babylon went on to sack Jerusalem in 586 BC.  The southern kingdom of Judah ceased as a nation.

Some Jews were allowed to return to the Land of Judah with Zerubabbél ca 538 BC.  More returned with Ezra & Nehemiah between 460–440 BC.  From which tribes of Israel were those returning Jews?

Ezr.1:5 “Judah and Benjamin and the priests and Levites, everyone God had stirred to rebuild the house of the Lord in Jerusalem.”  Ezr.4:1 “The enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that the people of the exile were building a temple to the Lord.”  Ezr.2:64, 70 “The whole assembly together 42,360.”  In Ezra, the only tribes who returned were Judah, Benjamin, and the priestly tribe of Levi…the Jews.  Ne.11:3-4, 7 “In the cities of Judah lived each on his own property, Israelites, priests, Levites. And some of the sons of Judah and sons of Benjamin lived in Jerusalem. From the sons of Judah…From the sons of Benjamin.”  v.36 “From the Levites, some divisions in Judah belonged to Benjamin.”  In Nehemiah, as in Ezra, the only tribes of Israel mentioned are Judah, Benjamin, Levi!  Non-priests or laymen were referred to as common “Israelites”…Ezekiel too had referred to Jewish elders as “Israel”.

None of the other 10 tribes returned from deportation/captivity…not Reuben, Simeon (other than those who’d moved to Judah centuries earlier & intermarried), Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, nor Joseph (Ephraim & Manasseh).  Those tribes weren’t Jews.  They remained long gone from the Land!

However, after the Babylonian captivity, many Jews were living east in Persia.  They were descendants of Judah/Benjamin/Levi from the southern kingdom.  It’s likely some descendants of the resettled 10 tribes (and others) living in Medes cities and Persia intermarried with Jews there in the days of the Jewess Esther (400s BC).  The Persian king married her (Est.4:13-14).  Est.8:17 “Many among the peoples of the land (Persia) became Jews.”

In New Testament (NT) times, Judaea was a Roman province.  Few tribes of Israel are identified in the NT.  He.7:14 Yeshua/Jesus is from the tribe of Judah.  Lk.1:26-33 His mother Mary/Miriam and legal father Joseph were Jews descended from David.  Lk.1:5, 13 John the Baptizer was from the priestly tribe of Levi.  Ro.11:1 the apostle Paul was a Jew from the tribe of Benjamin.  Those were the 3 tribes (comprising the old southern kingdom of Judah, the Jews) who’d returned from Babylonian captivity.

However, Anna was from the tribe of Asher (Lk.2:36).  Asher had been part of the northern kingdom of Israel (one of the 10 tribes), not aligned with the Jews of the southern kingdom.  Lk.2:36 Cambridge Commentary indicates some individuals from the lost 10 tribes had preserved their old genealogies.  Ellicott Commentary “Some, at least, of its [the ten tribes] members survived and cherished the genealogies of their descent.”  Sometime in the past, Anna’s ancestors of Asher had begun dwelling with Jews.  But the vast majority of the 10 tribes were gone from the Land.  Ac.2:22 Peter addressed diaspora Jews as Israel.  Such verses don’t mean all Israelite tribes had returned or mixed with the Jews.

Josephus op. cit. 11:5:2 (written 93–94 AD) “Wherefore there are but two tribes in Asia and Europe subject to the Romans, while the 10 tribes are beyond Euphrates till now, and are an immense multitude, and not to be estimated by numbers.”  In 94 AD, the 10 tribes were still gone!  Talmud Yebamot 17b “The 10 tribes of scattered Israel in their places of exile are legally gentiles for all intents and purposes.”  As Hoséa had foretold, 755–725 BC…Ho.8:8 “Israel is swallowed up; they are now among the nations.”  It happened.  The bulk of Israel remained in lands of the gentiles/nations.

Let’s tie-in more Old Testament prophecies which help to further identify NT Israel.  Am.1:1 Amos was a Jew in Judah who the Lord had sent to prophesy to the northern kingdom of Israel around 750 BC.  Am.7:10-17 Amaziah, the “priest” at the Bethél shrine in Israel, expressed animosity and told Amos to leave Israel and return to his people in Judah, the Jews.  Am.9:8-12 LXX Amos prophesied the future of the northern kingdom. “Saith the Lord, ‘I will sift the house of Israel among all nations [gentiles]. In that day I will raise up the tabernacle of David which is fallen, and will rebuild the ruins of it. That the remnant of men and the gentiles upon whom My name is called may earnestly seek Me.”

The breach of the ancient divided kingdom is to be closed. (cf. KJV Jdg.21:15.)  see “Tent/Tabernacle of David”.

James spoke of the above old Greek/LXX passage regarding the northern kingdom Israel by referring to God having now taken from among the gentiles/nations a people for His name and salvation.  Ac.15:13-18 “I will rebuild the tabernacle of David. That the rest of men may seek the Lord, and all the gentiles upon whom My name is called,’ saith the Lord.”  Acts 15 council leaders tied ancient Israel to…gentiles!

Ezk.37:15-22 “The word of the Lord came to me saying, ‘Take one stick for Judah, for the sons of Israel his companions; then take another stick for Joseph, the stick of Ephraim [Joseph’s son, to whom was given Jacob’s name Israel, Ge.48:16] and all the house of Israel, his companions. Then join them, that they may become one.”  Again, Joseph wasn’t Jewish.  Yet Judah and Joseph…the Jews (who also are Israelites) and the northern kingdom of Israel/Ephraim…are to be reunited under King Jesus!

The Lord told Hosea to prophesy to the northern kingdom of Israel.  Ho.1:4-11 “I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. For you are not My people and I Am not your God. Yet the number of the sons of Israel will be like the sands of the sea which cannot be measured or numbered. And it will come about that it will be said to them, ‘You are the sons of the living God.’ And the sons of Judah and the sons of Israel will be gathered together.”

The disobedient 10 tribes would be exiled from the Land, and become a multitude in Assyria, Persia, and elsewhere.  But then Ho.2:23, “And I will say to those who were not My people, ‘You are My people!’ And they shall say, ‘You are my God!”

Eventually in the future, descendants of the 10 tribes would become people of God again!  Israel gathered together to Christ with the descendants of Judah.  Praise the Lord!

This topic is continued and concluded in “Israelites Identification (2)”.

Israelite Deportations by Assyria

The Lord God is to be obeyed.  Humanity’s first sin was an act of disobedience to God (Ge.3:1-ff).  The result…Adam & Eve were cast out, away from their garden home and God’s Presence (Ge.3:22-24).

Anciently, the nation of Israel was the people Christ loved above all other peoples.  Moses said of them rhetorically in De.4:5-8, “What great nation is there that has a god so near to it as is the Lord our God? What great nation is there that has statutes and judgments as righteous as this whole law?”  None other!  Christ was their God YHVH, their Rock, 1Co.10:4. (see the topic “Jesus Was The Old Testament God”.)  Christ their Passover (1Co.5:7) ‘passed over’ Egypt and freed the Israelites from bondage.  Years after the exodus, as Israel (then consisting of 13 tribes) was entering the Promised Land, the people were given God’s conditions which they must obey to remain in their new home-Land.

De.28:1-2 “If you will diligently obey the Lord your God, the Lord will set you above all the nations of the earth. Blessings will come upon you, if you obey the Lord.”  Blessings were promised to Israel for obedience.  v.15-16 “But if you will not obey the Lord your God, then all these curses shall come upon you. Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed in the country.”  Many curses for disobedience follow.  v.32-33 “Your sons and daughters shall be given to another people you do not know. And you shall be oppressed and crushed.”  Captivity!  v.36 “The Lord will bring you to a nation neither you nor your fathers have known.  Exile!  v.49 “The Lord will bring against you a nation from afar.”  Invasion!  v.63-64 “You shall be torn from the Land you are entering to possess. Moreover, the Lord will scatter you among all peoples.”  If Israel disobeyed Christ their God, they would be cast out of the Holy Land.

After the death of King Solomon, in the 900s BC Christ divided the united nation of Israel into two (1Ki.12).  The northern kingdom retained the name Israel, the southern kingdom was called Judah, the Jews.  (In 2Ki.16:5-6, the Jews/Judah were actually fighting against an alliance of Israel and Syria!)

The northern kingdom of Israel disobeyed Christ!  The prophet Hosea lived in Israel, and prophesied to them circa (c) 755–725 BC.  The northern kingdom was also known as Ephráim (son of the patriarch Joseph), and Samaria (the capital city, located in the area of Israel allotted to Ephraim’s descendants), and the Ten Tribes.  Ho.5:3, 9 “Ephraim has played the harlot. Israel has defiled itself. Ephraim will become a desolation in the day of rebuke. Among the tribes of Israel I will declare what is sure.”  God would bring upon Israel the curses of De.28!  Ho.11:1-6 “When Israel was a youth I loved him, out of Egypt I have called My son. They kept sacrificing to Báal and burning incense to idols. Assyria will be their king. The sword will whirl against their cities, and consume them.”  When Hosea prophesied, their captivity to Assyria was imminent!  Ho.13:16 “Samaria will be held guilty, for she has rebelled against her God.”  Christ the Lord proceeded to cast out Israel from the Land.

Between c 734 and c 669 BC, in four periods of invasion the Assyrians removed the ten tribes of the northern kingdom of Israel (and took many cities of Judah the southern kingdom).  Later c 610 BC, Christ told Jeremiah to write to Judah, Je.7:15b “I have cast out all your brothers of Ephraim.”  Most of the northern kingdom of Israel didn’t return to the Land!  (1^st century AD Josephus Antiquities of the Jews 11:5:2 “The ten tribes are beyond [east of] Euphrates until now, an immense multitude.”)

Is.7:8 is a significant prophecy. “Thus says the Lord God, ‘Within another 65 years Ephraim will be shattered.”  Isaiah prophesied the removal of Israel would be complete in 65 years.  It happened between c 734 and c 669 BC.  Targum of Isaiah 7:8 “At the end of 65 years, the kingdom of the house of Israel shall cease.”  Adam Clarke Commentary “It was 65 years to the total depopulation of the kingdom of Israel by Esarháddon, who carried away the remains of the ten tribes which had been left by Tíglath-Piléser and Shalmanéser.”  International Standard Bible Encyclopedia “It appears certain there were various episodes of deportation and repopulation connected to the Northern Kingdom.”

The Assyrian invasions and subsequent exile of most in the ten tribes took place during the time of Israel’s last four kings. Menahém, Pekahiáh (no invasion during his two-year reign, 2Ki.15:23-24), Pékah, Hoshéa.  Hoshea would be their final king.  The northern kingdom of Israel would cease being a nation.  Ho.1:4 “The Lord said, ‘I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel.”

Following are the four main invasions and four deportations in the prophesied 65-year period:

Deportation #1: The first period of invasion and first deportation of Israelites occurred near the time of Isaiah’s prophecy.  The progressive captivity of Israel began with King Tiglath Pileser III (an assumed name) of Assyria, who ruled from c 745–727 BC.  He was a great military leader and conquered much of the known world.  His birth name was Pulu or Pul.  2Ki.15:19 “Pul, king of Assyria, came against the Land, and Menahem gave him 1,000 talents of silver.”  In Pul’s invasion, he exacted tribute from King Menahem of Israel.  Pekah (after Pekahiah) then succeeded Menahem as king in Israel.

Pul lessened the chances of revolts against Assyrian rule by forcing deportations of peoples across his empire.  He continued his attacks.  2Ki.15:29 “In the days of Pekah king of Israel, Tiglath Pileser king of Assyria came and took…Hazór, Gileád and Galilee, all the land of Naphtalí; and carried them captive to Assyria.”  1Ch.5:26 “The God of Israel incited Pul, king of Assyria, even Tiglath Pileser. He carried them away into exile; namely Reuben [v.6], Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasséh.”  Those 2 ½ Israelite tribes east of the Jordan River plus the tribe of Naphtali were deported initially, c 734 BC.  These weren’t reunited later with Judah.  (ref 2Ch.29:1-3, 30:1-12, 18 this later letter from King Hezekiah of Judah went to other tribes not taken by Tiglath Pileser III in the first deportation.)

Deportation #2: Progressive captivity continued during the reigns of the Assyrian kings Shalmaneser V (727–722 BC) and Sargón II (722–705 BC).  Hoshea was king in Israel (730–721 BC).  2Ki.17:1-7 “Shalmaneser king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea, so the king of Assyria bound him in prison. He then invaded the whole Land and besieged Samaria 3 years. In the 9^th year of Hoshea he captured Samaria and carried Israel away into exile to Assyria, and settled them in Haláh and Habór on the River of Gozán, and in the cities of the Medes.”  v.23 “The Lord removed Israel from His sight, as He spoke through His servants the prophets. So Israel was carried away into exile from their Land to Assyria until this day.”  This Assyrian invasion led to the second deportation.  The accepted date is 721 BC.

Josephus op. cit. 9:14:1 “Shalmaneser, king of Assyria besieged Samaria three years, quite demolished the government of the Israelites, and translated all the people into Média and Persia.”  Shalmaneser V began the attack, but died toward the end of the siege.  Most of the remaining tribes of Samaria were removed by Shalmaneser before he died.  His successor Sargon completed this in 721 BC.

Sargon II (Is.20:1) recorded his campaign on the palace walls at Dur-Shárrukin (Khorsabad). “In my first year of reign, the people of Samaria to the number of 27,290 I carried away. Fifty chariots for my royal equipment I selected. The city I rebuilt. I made it greater than it was before. People of the lands I had conquered I settled therein. My official I placed over them as governor.”  Sargon called his rebuilt city Samarina.  Assyrian records say they took captive the “House of Omrí”.  (Omri had been Israel’s king c 875 BC, ref 1Ki.16:23-24.)  The kingdom/government of Israel ceased to exist as such.

The 6 ½ tribes of Ephraim, Zebulún, Ashér, Issachár, Dan, Simeón, half of Manasseh (west of the Jordan), those not previously removed by Pul, were now also gone from the Land.  The Land of Samaria became an Assyrian province with an Assyrian governor.  2Ki.17:24 “The king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cutháh, Avvá, Hamáth, Sepharváim, and settled them in the cities of Samaria in place of the sons of Israel. So they possessed Samaria and lived in its cities.”  The Land area of the ten tribes of Israel was repopulated with non-Israelites.

Some Bible historians think Sargon II didn’t remove all remaining peasants from northern Israel.  Over the years, any remaining peasants from the northern tribes became assimilated into the foreign peoples Assyria conquered and resettled in Samaria.  The (new) inhabitants of northern Israel became known as Samaritans.  The remaining southern kingdom consisted of Judah (some from Simeon lived in Judah), Benjamin, Levi.

The foreigners Assyria placed in the Land were a mongrel people who held various pagan beliefs.  2Ki.17:25-34 Assyria returned a captive (apostate) Israelite “priest” to the Land of Samaria to teach the new residents about God.  The result was mongrel religion which mixed corrupt pagan practices and superstitions with God’s ways.  e.g. 2Ch.34:6-7 many of the imported foreigners continued in their idolatry.  Je.41:5 these residents even gashed their own bodies (forbidden in Le.19:28 & De.14:1).

2Ki.18:9-12 is a recap. “In the 4^th year of [Judah’s] King Hezekiah, which was the 7^th year of Hoshea king of Israel, Shalmaneser king of Assyria besieged Samaria. At the end of 3 years they captured it [721 BC]; in the 6^th year of Hezekiah and 9^th year of Hoshea, Samaria was captured. The king of Assyria carried Israel away into exile, because they did not obey the Lord their God.”  Some think Hezekiah was co-regent in Judah with his father Aház for 12 years…the exact regnal dates are hard to pinpoint.  The northern kingdom of Israel was cast out because they continued to disobey Christ the Lord.  Over all their years of existence, the southern kingdom of Judah had a few good kings, e.g. Hezekiah.  But the northern kingdom of Israel had no good kings…they were all bad!

Deportation #3: Assyria’s third period of invasion of the holy Land was by King Sennacheríb (705–681 BC), who succeeded his father Sargon II. (Sargon may have been a son of Tiglath-Pileser III.)  2Ki.18:13 “In the 14^th year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria seized all the fortified cities of Judah.”  This invasion of the southern Land is dated 702 BC.  1Ki.18:1-2 Hezekiah’s 29-year total regency was possibly c 727–698 BC.  If there’d been an initial joint reign of Hezekiah with his father Ahaz within that time, then the 14^th year of Hezekiah’s remaining sole reign is c 702 BC.

Assyrian (Akkádian) annals claim Sennacherib sacked 46 cities of Judah and captured 200,150 people!  Mic.1:8-13 lists some of the cities.  It may have been a dual campaign.  A number of Jews were carried away into Assyria.  2Ki.19:14-34 but when Sennacherib besieged Jerusalem, it was spared due to Hezekiah’s prayers.  v.35 “That night the angel of the Lord went out and struck 185,000 soldiers in the Assyrian camp.”  v.36 “Sennacherib departed, and returned home to Nineveh.”  He made Nineveh the capital of the empire, and it became the largest city in the world for 50 years.  There is no known deportation of any cities of Samaria (in the north) during Sennacherib’s rule.

2Ki.19:37 “Esarhaddon his son became king in his place.”  This is several years later.  Esarhaddon succeeded his father Sennacherib, and ruled for 12 years from 681–669 BC.

Deportation #4: The fourth period of invasion and deportation was by King Esarhaddon, during the reign of Manasseh (c 698–643 BC) king of Judah.  2Ch.33:10-13 “The army of the king of Assyria captured Manasseh and took him to Babylon. And when he was in distress he entreated the Lord his God and humbled himself. He was moved by his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom.”  Barnes Notes 2Ch.33:11 “Esarhaddon mentions Manasseh among his tributaries and from time to time, held his court at Babylon.”

In 680 BC, Esarhaddon rebuilt Babylon and resided there.  He conquered Judah.  King Manasseh of Judah (he wasn’t from the tribe of Manasseh) was Esarhaddon’s vassal and became one of his deportees.  Manasseh then repented to God and was restored as vassal king in Jerusalem.  Talmud scholar David Kimchí said Manasseh was carried to Babylon by the king of Assyria’s captains in the 22^nd year of his reign.  Circa 676 BC.

Around 140 years later, more than 40,000 Jews (Ezr.2:64) returned to the Land from exile.  Ezr.1:5 & 2:1 “Judah and Benjamin and the priests…The people who returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each to his city.”  Pulpit Commentary Ezr.2:1 “Jerusalem wasn’t the only site occupied by the people on their return. Many took up their abodes in the neighboring towns and villages, such as Jericho, Tekoah, Gibeon, Mizpah, etc.”  In 538 BC, these Jews came back to the prior tribal areas of Judah and Benjamin.

In the 530s BC, descendants of the foreigners that Assyria had moved into the Land opposed the returning Jews’ new work of rebuilding the temple.  Ezr.4:1-3 “The enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard the returned exiles were building a temple to the Lord God. They said to Zerubbabél, ‘We have been sacrificing to Him since the days of Esarhaddon who brought us here.”  The mixed foreign peoples now assimilated in the Land were suspicious of the Jews who just recently returned from Babylon.  These local adversaries alleged they too worshiped the God of Israel, and demanded they be included in the rebuilding…v.10 “The people whom the great and noble Asnappár deported and resettled in the cities of Samaria and the rest.”  Peoples previously imported into Samaria (Samaritans), Judah, and elsewhere.  Asnappar’s identity is uncertain; most think he was either Esarhaddon’s crown prince Ashurbánipul or chief officer.  Ashurbanipul may have finished the deporting done by his father.

Besides Israelites, Esarhaddon replaced others from “the rest” of the general area with easterners.  Ernest Martin People That History Forgot, p.121 “Eastern peoples were brought by the Assyrians in the 7^th century BC into the whole region we now call Syria, and not into Samaria alone.”  James Pritchard Ancient Near Eastern Texts, p.290…After completely destroying Sidon, Esarhaddon said of the Sidonian king, “I drove to Assyria his teeming people which could not be numbered.”

Charles Fensham The Books of Ezra and Nehemiah “We know from a cylinder of Esarhaddon that he conquered Sidon [c 677 BC?]…and it is most likely that northern Israel (Samaria) was also involved in the rebellion against the Assyrians.”  A rebellion in the Land that had been inhabited by the northern tribes of Israel.  Ezr.4:10 indicates further repopulation of Samaria…Ashurbanipul brought in more foreigners to become Samaritans.

Ashurbanipul (669–628 BC) succeeded Esarhaddon.  Jnh.3:5-10 God had sent the prophet Jonah from the northern kingdom of Israel to warn Nineveh c 770 BC (prior to Tiglath Pileser III).  The king and his people repented of wickedness.  But it wasn’t lasting.  After the death of Ashurbanipul, Nineveh was sacked in 612 BC…and never rebuilt (Nah.1:1, 9).  The Assyrian empire existed from 911–609 BC.

Again, the Is.7:8 prophecy said the northern kingdom of Israel would be destroyed in 65 years.  Gill Exposition “Israel entirely ceased to be a people when new colonies were introduced by Esarhaddon, the son of Sennacherib. This being exactly 65 years…Esarhaddon, after he had settled all his affairs in Syria, marched into Israel and there took captive all those who were the remains of the former captivity (excepting only some few), and carried them into Babylon and Assyria.”  From Lifeway Explore the Bible Quarterly notes, “The 65 years of Ephraim probably refers to 670 BC, when the Bible records the last of the Israelites were exiled by Assyrian ruler Esarhaddon and foreigners were put into Israel/Samaria”.  An amazing fulfillment!  God fulfills His prophecies.

JFB Commentary Ezr.4:2 “On a large cylinder in the British Museum is inscribed a long and perfect copy of the annals of Esarhaddon, in which details are given of a large deportation of Israelites from Palestine, and a subsequent settlement of Babylonian colonists in their place.”  The Esarhaddon Prism was mentioned by Colonel Rawlinson (1861 AD) the English explorer.

In Is.7:8, Isaiah prophesied to the southern kingdom of Judah about the shattering that would befall the northern kingdom of Israel in 65 years.  v.9 the Lord continues with a warning to Judah. “If you will not believe, you surely will not be established.”  Gill Exposition “If ye will not believe; the Targum adds, ‘the words of the prophet’, surely ye shall not be established, that is, in their own land.”  If the Jews don’t believe the prophecies, including the destruction of brother Israel, then the Jews too won’t remain as a kingdom!  v.17-25 Sennacherib subsequently invaded Judah and Deportation #3 occurred.

Then in 597 BC, King Nebuchadnézzar II began his exiling of Jews to Babylon.  In 587-586 BC, he destroyed Jerusalem and the temple.  The southern kingdom of Judah ceased as a nation (2Ch.36:20, 2Ki.24:14-15, e.g.).  God’s word through Isaiah was fulfilled!

Previously we read Je.7:15b, where Jeremiah wrote to Judah.  To now quote the entire Je.7:15. “I will cast you out of My sight, as I have cast out all your brothers of Ephraim”.  Christ the Lord said He would cast out disobedient Judah, as He had disobedient Israel.  That happened, as He said.  (For events of the next period, see the topic “Temple of Zerubbabel”.)

And our belief that Christ loves us and died for our sins doesn’t give us Christians a get out of jail free card if we were to continue to disobey God and adamantly refuse to repent!  Jesus said in Lk.6:46, “Why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord’, and do not the things that I say?”  Christ requires the obedience of those who are His.

We began with God’s conditions & warnings to His people in De.28.  Let’s conclude with De.30.  v.1-2 “When all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse, and you return to the Lord your God and obey Him with all your heart, then the Lord will restore you from captivity and have compassion on you.”

Yes, Christ is more than able to re-graft Israel (Ro.11:23), whom He loved!  De.30:6 “Moreover the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the Lord with all your heart.”  v.9-11 “Then the Lord will prosper you in the work of your hand and rejoice over you; if you obey the Lord your God.”  Christ concluded in v.19, “I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your descendants may live.”  (also see the topics “Two Covenants – Heart of the Matter” and “Repentance from Sin”.)

We can learn from the sad lesson of ancient Israel’s history…and can choose a life of obedience to the Christ who died for us!  Let’s us be among the blessed saints at the end of the Book who “Keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus” (Re.14:12).  We’ll be with Him forever!  Jesus is Lord!