Levites and the Exodus Multitude (2)

This Part 2 is the continuation and conclusion of “Levites and the Exodus Multitude (1)”.  Part 1 should be read first.  Little of the background material in (1) will be repeated here in (2).

In Part 1, three questions were posed:

#1. How did the lineage branch of Levi’s son Koháth (Jacob’s grandson), reckoned from that 1 man, become 8,600 male descendants early in the wilderness…after only 4 generations?!  Nu.3:27-28 “Of Kohath…the numbering of all the males from one month old and upwards, was 8,600.”  That’s an astounding increase in so few generations!  cf. 1Ch.6:1-3.  The lineage was traced in (1).

Levi and his 3 sons Kohath, Gershón, Merarí and their families moved with Jacob/Israel from the Land of Canáan to Egypt (Ge.46:6, 11) circa/c 1827 BC.

#2. How did the tribe of Levi, grown from his 3 sons, become 22,000 or 22,300 males from age one month and up…during that same period (215 years)?!  Nu.3:39 “All the numbered men of the Levites, from a month old and upward, were 22,000.”  An astounding increase!

Furthermore, during that same period, the initial 75-85 males (Ge.46:27 Septúagint/LXX) with Jacob & Joseph in Egypt increased to 603,550 non-Levite warriors age 20 and up, early in the wilderness (Nu.1:45-47)!  Exiting Egypt, Ex.12:37-38 “The sons of Israel journeyed…600,000 men on foot. And a mixed multitude went with them.”  Josephus Antiquities of the Jews 2:15:1 “The entire multitude of those who went out, including the women and children, that were of a fit age for war, were 600,000.”  Philo On the Life of Moses 1:27:147 “The men of age to bear arms were more than 600,000 men.”

#3. How did the 75-85 males become 600,000 after only 4 generations?!  Another astounding increase in only 215 years!  (ref Part 1 for the timeline.)  Could near 600,000 be accurate?  also see the topics “Chronology: Abraham to the Exodus” and “Israelites Identification”.

Following Jacob’s move into Egypt, Ge.47:27 “Israel settled in the land of Egypt, in the Góshen region, and became very numerous”.  Egypt’s Pharaoh said in Ex.1:7-9, “The people of the sons of Israel are more and mightier than we”.  ref Ps.105:23-24.  Perhaps they really did outnumber the Egyptians!?  Ex.1:22 so Pharaoh commanded for all Hebrew male babies to be cast into the Nile River.  Ex.2:2-3, 10 when Moses was three months old, his mother placed him in a basket and put him in the Nile.  Ac.7:19-21 confirms the infants were put out to die.  (Infanticide reduced somewhat the Hebrew population.)

Ex.18:21 Moses, early on the way to the Promised Land, was advised by his father-in-law Jethró  to divide all the departees according to thousands of people, or clans.

Yet in Ex.23:29-30 the Lord told Moses that He would drive out the wicked inhabitants of the Land of Canaan little by little, so the Land wouldn’t become desolate and wild animals be too numerous.  Apparently the approximately 2 million people (including women & children) coming in from Egypt to replace the wicked occupants wouldn’t fill the Land area.  Comparatively, in 2020 AD the population of modern Israel was 8.5 million…6 million more than the total exodus population approaching that Land.  Though ‘Hebrews’ had outnumbered Egyptians, the Canaanites outnumbered the exodus population.

Prior to entering the Land, in De.11:23 Moses told the next two generations, “The Lord will drive out all these nations from before you, and you will dispossess nations greater and mightier than you”.  In those days, a force of 600,000 men would itself be a great army!  But others had greater renown.  The combined armies/peoples of the seven “nations” were greater (De.7:1).  Nu.13:31 the Israelite spies said, “We can’t attack those people, for they are stronger than we”.  So they feared the Land occupants.

In Nu.20:17 & 21:22, it seems unrealistic that 2 million people (including women & children) could’ve traveled on the King’s Highway en masse.  Even if they walked on the road plain in ‘rows’ of seventy, the line of people would have stretched for miles!

Nu.3:16-20, Ex.6:16-25 and 1Ch.6:1-4 attest to the same number of few Levite generations, beginning with Levi.  There’s no indication that any generations were omitted/skipped.  see Part 1.

So, in light of the above passages (and those referenced in Part 1)…were there really 600,000 Israelite warriors, 22,000 Levite and 8,600 Kohathite males early in the wilderness?  That many?!  It is somewhat disconcerting that to date little or no evidence of a mass exodus totaling 2 million people in the wilderness has been found.  Perhaps continued archaeological efforts will unearth more evidence?

Following are three possible explanations for the large population numbers in the exodus/wilderness:

1.) Biblical numbers could’ve been misread or misunderstood by translators.  If so, there weren’t really as many as 8,600 Kohathites, 22,000 Levites, plus 600,000 soldiers then.  The Hebrew term for thousand is éleph (Strongs h505).  Eleph is also translated family in Jg.6:15 KJV.  But Jg.6:15 LXX, “Gideon said to Him, ‘My thousand [family KJV] is weakened in Manasseh”.  Did eleph really refer to a troop/family (instead of 1,000)?  For detailed analyses of this possibility, ref: John W. Wenham Large Numbers in the Old Testament, Colin J. Humphreys The Number of People in the Exodus From Egypt, Jim Snapp The Quest for the Historical Census, Clark Morledge Did An Army of 600,000 Israelites Conquer the Land of Canaan?, David M. Fouts A Defense of the Hyperbolic Interpretation of Numbers in the Old Testament, Ben-Zion Katz Recounting the Census.  It’s possible the numbers 600,000, 22,000, 8,600 were mistakes in translation from the ancient Hebrew.  However, 2,000 years ago the Jewish historians Josephus & Philo both said the number of exodus soldiers was 600,000.

2.) There were brothers or half-brothers in the generations, not listed by Moses in the Péntateuch.  For example, the later 1Ch.23:20 listing of Issiáh as a son of Moses’ uncle Uzziél may indicate that was the case.  Ge.5:3-30 said the ancient antediluvians had other unidentified sons & daughters.  Abraham had at least 6 additional identified sons not born to Sarah (Ge.25:1-2).  Some Bible historians and yeshíva teaching think the large population in the exodus resulted from polygyny.  e.g. c 1300 BC, Jg.8:30-32 “Gideon had seventy sons, for he had many wives. His concubine in Shechém also bore him a son, Abimélech. Gideon died at a good old age.”  (see “Polygyny – Lawful in God’s Eyes?”.)

3.) There were others besides Israelites in the exodus.  Included with the approximately 600,000 fighting men leaving Egypt (Nu.11:21) was a mixed multitude of people.  Adding women & children would’ve brought the total to 2,000,000 or so!  Nu.1:45-47 “All the numbered men were 603,550. The Levites weren’t numbered among them.”  Who all comprised this mixed multitude?

Ex.12:37-38 “A mixed multitude of people went up with them, along with flocks and herds.”  Others also left Egypt with biological Israelites.  JFB Commentary Ex.12:38 “A great rabble’ (see also Nu 11:4; De 29:11); slaves, persons in the lowest grades of society, partly natives and partly foreigners, bound close to them as companions in misery, and gladly availing themselves of the opportunity to escape.”  Ellicott Commentary “Some may have been Egyptians, impressed by the recent miracles; some foreigners held to servitude, like the Israelites, and glad to escape their masters.”  LXX NETS “A great mixed crowd went up with them.”  So many non-Israelites also left Egypt in the exodus.

Cambridge Bible Note “Non-Israelites of various kinds are meant; e.g. Egyptians who had intermarried with Israelites.”  Since Israelite newborn males were thrown into the Nile River, there’d be a surplus of Israelite females to marry Egyptians or others.  In Le.24:10, Moses wrote of a man in the camp whose mother was an Israelite but whose father was an Egyptian.  So, Egyptian blood was present in Israelites.

The Bible uses patrilineal reckoning from the fathers (not the traditional Jewish matrilineal reckoning from mothers).  Nu.1:18 “They registered by ancestry in their families, by their father’s households, according to the number of names.”  Not according to the mothers.  Philo op.cit. “Among the mixed multitude were those born to Hebrew fathers by Egyptian mothers, who were enrolled as members of their father’s race. And some, also, who had come over to them by reason of the magnitude of the incessant punishments which had been inflicted on their own countrymen [Egyptians].”

Also, we read of intermarriage by Joseph c 1837 BC, 225 years prior to the exodus.  Ge.41:45 Pharaoh had given Joseph an Egyptian wife named Asenáth, the daughter of the priest of On (LXX Heliópolis).  So Joseph’s sons Ephráim & Manasséh were both half Egyptian (Ge.46:20).

Did Ephraim & Manasseh likewise take Egyptian wives?  If so, then Joseph’s grandchildren had mostly Egyptian blood!  (Ephraim & Manasseh were first cousins of Kohath, the son of Levi.)  Ge.46:27 LXX says Joseph had nine sons.  Jacob prophesied that the names of Joseph’s other (half-Egyptian) sons would be attached to the inheritances of Ephraim & Manasseh (Ge.48:5-6).  Early in the wilderness, the soldiers of Ephraim & Manasseh numbered 72,700 men (Nu.2:18-21).  Although they became two of the twelve tribes of Israel in the Land of Canaan, there was (much) Egyptian blood in their ancestry.

Note: Ge.50:23 Manasseh’s son was Machír.  Machir’s son Gilead (Joseph’s great-grandson) was of the same generation as Moses & Aaron.  Nun, the father of Joshua, was the same generation as Gilead.  Zelophehád (son of Hépher) was Gilead’s grandson. (see 1Ch.7:14-27, Nu.26:28-37, 27:1, Jsh.17:3.)

Ex.30:11-16 Moses was to levy a poll tax on the men of military age.  (This became the basis for the later temple tax.  cf. Mt.17:24-27.)   Ex.38:25-26 “The silver from those of the community who were numbered was 100 talents and 1,775 shekels. A half-shekel a head for those who were numbered from age 20 and up, for 603,550 men.”  This half-shekel tax for the tabernacle was taken from all non-Levite soldiers. (A shekel weighed approximately ½ ounce.)  Barnes Notes “The talent contained 3,000 shekels.”  So 100 talents of silver = 300,000 shekels.  Add the 1,775 shekels, and the total = 301,775 shekels.  This amount is exactly 603,550 half-shekels (békahs)!  It matches the population figure of Nu.1:45-47.  The amount of silver taken as tax appears to confirm the number of Israelite/mixed multitude fighting men.

{Sidelight: However, the 1,000,000 talents in 1Ch.22:14 would equal 3 billion shekels (at the rate used in Ex.38:25-26)!  But 1½ billion ounces of silver is unrealistic…it would be enough to build Solomon’s temple of solid silver!  Also, the 10,000 talents of silver in Est.3:8-9 would equal 30 million shekels!  That’s 15 million ounces or nearly 1 million lbs. of silver personally owned by Hamán!  An unrealistic amount.  It’s likely the weight of the shekel or talent had changed since Moses wrote Exodus.}

Early in the wilderness is Nu.3:39-43. “All the Levites from one month old and upward were 22,000….All the firstborn males from one month old and up were 22,273.”  The difference was only 273 males.  v.44-45 “The Lord spoke to Moses saying, ‘Take the Levites instead of the firstborn among the sons of Israel.”  The firstborn, who had belonged to the Lord (Ex.13:1-2), were redeemed…replaced by the 22,000 Levites.

But Nu.1:46 says there were 603,550 warriors from their tribes, age 20 and up.  If only 22,273 out of the more than 603,550 were firstborns…those were huge families!  603,550 ÷ 22,273 = 27.  Did each family average more than 27 sons?  Add an equal number of daughters, and that’s over 50 children per family!  But… most of those 603,550 weren’t ‘purely’ Israelites.

In the wilderness 39 years later is Nu.26:57-62. “These are those who were numbered of the Levites….23,000.”  So during 39 years, the number of Levite males increased from an approximate 22,000 to 23,000.  That’s an increase of only 1,000 in that generation.

Note: The male Israelites/mixed multitude age 20 and up (born in Egypt) died in the wilderness, except for Joshua & Caleb (Nu.14:27-30).  Excluded were Levites (Nu.1:47), males under age 20, and women.  Aaron’s grandson Phineás, in the 4^th generation of Kohathites after Kohath, was probably born around the time of the exodus.  Phineas’ bold intervention in Nu.25:7 didn’t occur until the 40^th year of their wanderings.  Phineas’ father Eleazár (Aaron’s son), the high priest, even outlived Joshua in the Land (cf. Nu.20:28 & Jsh.24:29-33).

What about past servants among the mixed multitude in the exodus?  Going back several generations….

In Ge.12:5, 16, 20:14, Abrám had many servants.  Ge.14:14 in Abram’s household (before the birth of Ishmaél) were 318 fighting men.  Plus he had other ‘house’ servants and those watching the livestock!

Ellicott Commentary Ge.14:14 “This large number of servants born in his house…added to the older men left to defend and take care of the cattle, proves that Abram was the chieftain of a powerful tribe.”  Barnes Notes “Abram had now a company of 318 trained men, born in his own house; which implies a following of more than 1,000 men, women and children.”  Pulpit Commentary “The children of his own patriarchal family, neither purchased nor taken in war, 318, implied a household of probably more than 1,000 souls.”  Abraham’s household was very large!  Ge.17:26-27 all the males were circumcised.

Ge.26:12-14 Isaac’s great substance.  Cambridge Bible Ge.26:14 “A large number of slaves and attendants.”  Ge.32:5-6 Jacob’s large household.  (Ge.34:13-15 indicates they’re circumcised.)  Ge.36:7 Jacob and Esau’s property was too great for them to dwell together.  Barnes Notes Ge.36:7 “What remained in the hands of Isaac was virtually Jacob’s, though he had not yet entered into formal possession of it.”

Ge.45:9-10 & 46:5-7, 26 “All the direct descendants of Jacob who went to Egypt with him were 66 in number; this does not include the wives of Jacob’s sons.”  Gill Exposition Ge.46:7 “No mention is made of servants, though no doubt many came along with him.”  James B. Jordan The Moses Connection “Abraham had 318 trained fighting men in his sheikdom. Estimates range up to 3,000 or more for his complete household. These servants multiplied and became those of Isaac and Jacob. It might have been 10,000 people who moved to Goshen.”  So…numerous servants also went to Egypt c 1827 BC.

Francis Peloubet Select Notes, v.27, p.319 “Also the servants, ‘Who were reckoned as part of the household, and were admitted to the covenant [of circumcision, Ac.7:8], and recognized as Israelites.”

William R. Harper The Old Testament Student, v.6, p.248 “Jacob took to Egypt the whole body of his servants and retainers. These dependents…were all included in the covenant of circumcision, gradually blended while in Egypt, with the blood-kindred of Jacob, so that all alike were reckoned Israelites.”

Jacob’s entire household, including circumcised descendants and servants, had numbered perhaps 7,000 to 10,000 souls.  They too went with Jacob to his son Joseph in Egypt (Ge.47:11-12) c 1827 BC.  There they intermarried with Egyptians & other peoples, and “multiplied exceedingly” (Ge.47:27 KJV).

Jacob died 17 years after moving to Egypt (see Part 1 timeline).  A great funeral cavalcade, including Egyptian dignitaries, then traveled 300 miles to bury him east of the Jordan River (Ge.50:7-10).

The people multiplied in Egypt (Ex.1:5-9, 12, 20).  They became a great mixed nation (De.26:5).  The exodus “nation” of ancient Israel/mixed multitude was comprised of a motley group of people, not one pure race.  They’d increased to 603,550 soldiers, excluding Levites, early in the wilderness (Nu.1:46).

As for question #3 posed at the beginning: With mixed marriages, the assimilation of servants, concubines to bear children, Egyptians and others who left Egypt in the exodus…the 603,550 number of males early in the wilderness seems feasible.

The apostle Paul wrote in 1Co.10:1-5, “All were baptized into Moses in the cloud and the sea”.  The entire mixed multitude, and their children, were symbolically “baptized” in the Reed Sea.  They ate the manna in the wilderness.  (Nu.11:4 is the last direct reference in the Pentateuch to the mixed group.)

There were 601,730 males 39 years later (Nu.26:51), after those over age 20 had died in the wilderness.

That younger generation of motley peoples (children of the mixed multitude) born during the 40 years in the wilderness, weren’t circumcised.  So after crossing the Jordan River, Joshua had all the males circumcised at Gilgál (Jsh.5:2-8).  Whatever their ancestry, the 601,730 males all became circumcised!  cf. Ge.17:26-27 Abraham’s large household of servants, etc., not of his ancestry, had all become circumcised.  (see the topic “Circumcision in the Bible”.)

The children of the circumcised mixed multitude then received tribal territory when Joshua apportioned the Land of Canaan for the tribes of Israel (Jsh.13–19).  There, more intermarriage ensued among tribes.

As for questions #2 and #1 about the number of Levites and Kohathites: With past servants and other peoples having been assimilated into Levite and Kohathite households (in Egypt)…it seems feasible the males among them could total approximately 22,000 and 8,600 respectively (Nu.3:27-28, 39).

In the Land of Canaan, the Levites/Kohathites (including Aaronide priests) would live within the various tribal areas (Jsh.21).  There, Levites intermarried with those tribes.  Samuel was a Kohathite (fostered or ‘adopted’ by the high priest Eli) who lived in Ephraim c 1100 BC (1Sm.1:1, 25-28, 1Ch.6:22, 26-28).  When the Lord split the united monarchy (1Ki.12:20-24) in the 900s BC, most Levites joined with Judah & Benjamin as the southern kingdom of Judah…the Jews.

Ro.3:29-30 Paul said that God is the God of both Jews and gentiles, circumcised and uncircumcised.  Again, Israel with the mixed multitude were all “baptized” in the Sea, and they all ate the manna (1Co.10:1-3).  The Lord didn’t discriminate in that regard.  Ga.3:27-29 “There is neither Jew nor Greek…you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you be Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed.”

Today Jewish Christians and gentile Christians are to be as one, all baptized in the name of Jesus.

As was the large ancestral mixture of peoples who exited Egypt, Christians today are a racial mixture. (see “Gentiles in the Bible”.)  And our numbers are increasing.

Re.7:9-12 “I looked, and behold, a great multitude, which no one could count, from every nation, and tribe, people and tongue, standing before the throne and before the Lamb.”  A mixed multitude from all nations cries out loudly, “Salvation to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb. Amen.”

The mixed multitude with ancient Israel was a historical type of the great mixed multitude of humanity to whom our God is giving salvation.  Praise God!

Doctrinal Disunity Impacts Evangelism (2)

This Part 2 is the continuation and conclusion to “Doctrinal Disunity Impacts Evangelism (1)”.  Part 1 should be read first.

There are presently more than 2.2 billion Christians worldwide.  But they are divided into more than 40,000 denominations, sects, or groups!  Disunity within Christendom not only divides the body of Christ, but the perception of Christian disunity also hinders evangelism both here and abroad.

Answers.com How Many Christian Denominations Are There? “Different people have different beliefs in Christianity. Unfortunately, those differences lead to divisions. God requires unity. Jesus’ last prayer was for His disciples to remain united (John 17). The Lord never intended for His church to be divided into competing groups teaching different doctrines. The Lord is not the Lord of confusion. Much of Christianity has been polluted by other false pagan religions, which has led to differing beliefs and unscriptural practices which has caused them to break apart.”  Unscriptural practices cause division!

The apostle Paul exhorted Titus in Ti.2:7, “Be an example of good works, with soundness in doctrine”.

The question was posed: What if all Christian beliefs and practices were based on scriptural doctrine, with no pagan or contradicting unscriptural practices based on man’s traditions that cause disunity?

Most Christian churches make the claim that their beliefs, teachings and practices are based on the Holy Bible.  The late Dr. Myles Munroe wrote in 2008, “The Bible is the Constitution of the Kingdom of God”.  Pastor Benny Hinn says, “The Holy Spirit authored the Bible”.  That’s the written scriptures.

The inspired word of God, the holy scriptures of the Bible, is the true standard for our faith!  1Ti.4:13 Paul told Timothy to do public reading of Old Testament (OT) scriptures in church.  The written word of God is the basis, the foundation, of true knowledge…unlike various dogmatic traditions of men.

Our topic is addressing four points of Bible doctrine which impact Christian unity and evangelism.  Part 1 addressed two causes of disunity…controversy concerning #1) Clean vs Unclean and #2) Blood.  (also see the topics “Unclean versus Clean Food” and “Acts 15 – Four Prohibitions”.)  Now in Part 2, we’ll address two other causes of disunity, #3) and #4), also pertaining to doctrine.

#3) 7^th DAY SABBATH rest:  There’s been much controversy in the church over whether Christians should keep the 7^th day sabbath of scripture, or the Roman Catholic Church (RCC) and Protestant Sunday of tradition, or neither.  Let’s see what the scriptures reveal.

The 7^th day sabbath has its beginnings at Creation.  The Holy Spirit and Christ, the Spirit and the Word, are the Creators (ref Ge.1:1-2, 26; Jb.33:4; Jn.1:1-3; Col.1:16), being the divine agents of Father God.   

When Creation was finished, Christ ceased (shabáth Strongs h7673, Hebrew verb) or rested.  Ge.2:1-3 “By the 7^th day God finished His work which He had done, and He ceased on the 7^th day. Then God blessed the 7^th day and sanctified it, because in it He ceased from all His work which He had created and made.”  Although the first six days were all good, only the 7^th Day did Christ bless and sanctify or make holy!  This is the great prototype of the weekly 7^th day sabbath, an intermission dedicated to God.

The 7^th day sabbath is a sign which identifies God as the Creator of all.  No other day of the week so reflects God as Creator.  By resting on the 7^th day, the believer shows that his God is the Creator.  We may choose to rest or worship God on other days too.  But as Lord of the 7^th day sabbath, Christ ordained at creation (when there were no Jews!) the 7^th day as holy or sanctified…and no other day of the week.  And throughout the Bible, Christ nowhere rescinded His 7^th day as holy time!

“Sabbath” is a holy day/period of cessation from certain activities.  JFB Commentary Ge.2:3 “The institution of the Sabbath is as old as creation.”  Benson Commentary Ge.2:3 “God blessed the seventh day’. He…separated it from common use…that it should be spent in His worship. It appears evidently by this, that the observation of the sabbath was not first enjoined when the law [Mosaic] was given, but it was an ordinance of God from the creation of the world.”

Theóphilus, bishop of Antioch (175 AD) To Autolýcus 2:12 “The 7^th day, which all men acknowledge.”  The 7^th day rest time is universal, from Ge.2:3.  Not Sunday, not any other day of the week is holy.

RCC Archbishop James Gibbons wrote in The Faith of Our Fathers, 1876, p.89 “You may read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, and you will not find a single line authorizing the sanctification of Sunday. The Scriptures enforce the religious observance of Saturday, a day which we never sanctify.”

Irish RCC Father Stephen Keenan, A Doctrinal Catechism, 1851, p.174 “She [RCC] substituted the observance of Sunday the 1^st day of the week, for the observance of Saturday the 7^th day, a change for which there is no Scriptural authority.”  The RCC admits the RCC made the change!  Christ didn’t.

Jesuit Father Martin J. Scott, Things Catholics Are Asked About, 1927, p.136 “Nowhere in the Bible is it stated that worship should be changed from Saturday to Sunday. The Church…instituted, by God’s authority, Sunday as the day of worship.”  These RCC admissions are surprising!?  Also non-RCC:

Evangelist Dwight L. Moody, Weighed and Wanting, p.47 “The Sabbath was binding in Eden, and it has been in force ever since. This 4^th commandment begins with the word ‘remember’, showing that the Sabbath already existed when God wrote the law on the tables of stone at Sinai. How can men claim that this one commandment has been done away when they will admit the other nine are still binding?”

Methodist theologian Harris F. Rall Christian Advocate, 1942, p.26 “The matter of Sunday…There are indications in the New Testament [NT] how the church came to keep the first day of the week as its day, but there is no passage telling Christians to keep that day, or transfer the Jewish Sabbath to that day.”

Pulpit Commentary 1Co.16:2 “This verse can hardly be said to imply any religious observance of the Sunday.”  Cambridge Bible Ga.4:10 “There is clearly no exemption here from the obligation of the observance of ‘the 7^th day’. The law of the Sabbath…is as old as the Creation.”

Adam Clark Commentary Co.2:16 “There is no intimation here that the Sabbath was done away, or that its moral use was superseded, by the introduction of Christianity. ‘Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy’, is a command of perpetual obligation.”  JFB Commentary Col.2:16 “The weekly sabbath rests on a more permanent foundation, having been instituted in Paradise to commemorate the completion of Creation in six days.”  And Jesus Himself, the Creator in the flesh, observed the sabbath day (Lk.4:16).

Lutheran August Neander, The History of the Christian Religion and Church, p.186 “The festival of Sunday, was always only a human ordinance, and it was far from the intentions of the apostles to establish a Divine command in this respect…to transfer the laws of the Sabbath to Sunday.”  Jesus’ apostles didn’t try to change the 7^th day sabbath.  The NT never says Sunday is the church or gentiles’ sabbath, in the manner that Saturday is sabbath holy time.  It shouldn’t be about gentiles vs Jews racism!

Anglican priest and scholar Joseph Bingham, Antiquities of the Christian Church “The ancient Christians were very careful in the observation of Saturday, or the 7^th day. It is plain that all the Oriental churches, and the greatest part of the world, observed the Sabbath as a festival. Epíphanius says the same.” (v.2, b.20, ch.3, sec 1, 66)  “Athanásius says: They met on the Sabbath, not because they were infected with Judaism, but to worship Jesus, the Lord of the sabbath.” (b.13, ch.9, sec 3.)  The 7^th day sabbath and its observance long predates Judaism.

Many other reputable theologians say the 7^th day sabbath is holy time, unchanged by God since Creation.  (see “Sabbath 7^th Day” series, and “Sabbath Day Became Sunday in Rome” for man’s steps of change.)

Christ said in Ex.20:8, “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy”.  Since it was holy at Creation.

The customary practice of setting aside Sunday as the day of Christian worship is man’s tradition.  But some Christians have rightly viewed God’s word, not the traditions of men, as the true authority!  Church traditions have divided Christ’s body.  Jesus accused the Pharisees in Mk.7:8-9, “Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men”.  The Pharisees were popular.  Yet Jesus was against their wrong traditional dogmatic views (and their burdensome minutiae of sabbath observance).

The RCC Sunday tradition is a form of Phariseeism.  And most Christians ignore Christ’s holy time that has come & gone every 7^th day since Creation…to keep the RCC (and ensuing Protestant) tradition.  Dr. Dave Miller Unbelief and a Divided Christendom “When people introduce personal creeds, human interpretations, and religious additions to God’s doctrine, disunity inevitably results.”

Sabbath is cessation, rest.  Even most of those who customarily attend church on Sunday don’t really rest on that day.  We want Jews to be converted to Christ.  But mainstream Christianity appears false to them.  Christians eat the unclean (unlike Jews and many Muslims), and don’t fully rest (on Sunday) as religious Jews rest on Saturday.  Christian efforts at evangelism are thereby hindered.

There’s a health benefit too in sabbath rest.  The need for rest every 7 days is built into our human bodies, as Christ created us.  Wikipedia: Circaseptan “A circaseptan rhythm is a cycle consisting of 7 days in which many biological processes of life evolve.”  Several of our bodily processes and defenses reset approximately every 7 days.  For example: Immune response to infections, blood & urine chemicals, blood pressure, heartbeat, coping hormones.  (ref Erhard Haus Chronobiology in the Endocrine System.)

Mankind’s body clock is ticking to the ‘beat of 7’…we can’t annul it!  But we can violate it by not resting every 7 days.  Jesus said in Mk.2:27-28, “The sabbath was made for man”.  He’s the Creator of it; and He knows our physical and spiritual needs.  (I’m not Seventh Day Adventist.)

#4) FEASTS observance:  Some minority groups today think Christians should observe the OT pilgrim feasts which the Lord gave to ancient Israel…Passover, Péntecost/Shavúot, Booths/Tabernacles/Sukkót.

Scriptural guidelines regarding #1) Clean vs unclean, #2) Blood, #3) 7^th Day Sabbath rest…are seen in Genesis before there was ever a nation of Israel or Jews or the Mosaic Law.  But not so with the Feasts.  Unlike the weekly sabbath rest day of Ge.2:1-3, there were no pilgrim feasts prior to Moses.

The three pilgrim feasts of Israel were to be kept only at the location where God placed His Name, the site of the physical tabernacle/temple sanctuary.  De.16:5-6 “You are not allowed to sacrifice the Passover in any of the towns which the Lord your God is giving you, but at the place where the Lord chooses to establish His name.”  ref also De.12:5, 14, 17-18, 26, 14:23-25, 16:1-2, 10-11, 15-16, concerning keeping pilgrim feasts in that one place only.  God’s one place was in the Holy Land, not elsewhere in other nations!  The timing of the feasts was based on the agricultural cycle in Israel.

God’s people were to keep the feasts solely at the city where the sanctuary was, never at two or more locations simultaneously!  (see the topics “Feasts of the Lord and the Jews” and “Ark of the Testimony – Journeys”.)

Neither in the OT nor in the NT do we read of people, with or without the Holy Spirit, keeping pilgrim feasts in a town away from the environs of the central sanctuary in Israel where God had put His Name!  All NT passages about pilgrim feasts show them being kept only at Jerusalem, where the temple was.

Another of God’s requirements for keeping the ceremonial feasts was physical circumcision.  ref Ex.12:48, Ezk.44:9, Lam.1:10, Ac.21:28-29.  Uncircumcised gentiles weren’t allowed in the temple where the Passover and other pilgrim feasts were kept by circumcised Israelites/Jews & Jewish proselytes!  Outsiders could come no closer than the Court of the Gentiles.  (Note: Physical circumcision isn’t necessary for salvation.  see “Circumcision in the Bible” and “Passover and Peace Offerings”.)

G.J. Goldberg wrote, “With the destruction of the Temple, the pilgrimage festivals could no longer be observed in their prescribed forms.”  It’s impossible to really keep a scriptural pilgrim feast today!  For nearly 2,000 years, the required singular earthly sanctuary where God’s Name was…hasn’t existed!

Jews today do a ritual seder (‘order’) for a traditional retelling of ancient Israel’s exodus from Egypt.  But the seder isn’t an actual Passover feast (and isn’t meant to be), as the scriptures define Passover.  And 90% of Jews normally work during the pilgrim feast days of Sukkot/Booths and Shavuot/Pentecost.  Also, Muslims don’t keep these feasts.  (I’m not Jewish or Muslim.)

And in scripture, pilgrim feasts weren’t authorized to be kept just anywhere by people whose bodies are the temple of God via the Holy Spirit (1Co.3:16).  Without that one place available (Jerusalem temple), there was no lawful pilgrim feast!  Other simultaneous sites would be counterfeit pseudo-feasts.

In Ro.10:2, Paul wrote of those who “have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge”.  Although there are well-meaning ‘Hebrew roots’ groups and Christians who think they’re observing pilgrim feasts in other cities simultaneously…scripturally, such practice isn’t to be done (cf. 1Ki.12:32–13:5).

Christian groups who traditionally promote pilgrim feast-keeping today may pharisaically cause other Christians, who don’t claim to be observing pilgrim feasts, to feel less righteous or perhaps lacking in Bible understanding.  This harms the body of Christ and causes division.  And disunity is further caused by calendar differences even among the groups trying to promote and pinpoint the exact when for their pseudo-feast observances.  It is confusion.  (also see “Days Israel Observed – God-Ordained”.)

Concluding: The four scriptural points of doctrine addressed in Part 1 and Part 2…most (mainstream) churches rarely examine in-depth.  Yet these points contribute to our living a harmonious healthy life in Christ (Jn.10:10).  Perks of His Kingdom!  Jn.17:17 “Thy word is truth.”  That’s all the written scripture of the OT too.  Again, ref “Doctrinal Disunity Impacts Evangelism (1)”.  (for more on early evangelism, see the topic “Evangelism in the Apostolic Church”.)

I like to believe that, as time goes on, more of the church at large will honor these four points.  This will increase unity in Christendom.  A fractured Christianity has hindered evangelism.  Dr. Dave Miller op. cit. “Disunity confuses and discourages honest searchers of truth.”  Jn.17:11 Jesus prayed that His disciples would be unified, as one.  And this unity should contribute to furthering our evangelistic success…making Christians, Jews and Muslims more like-minded in these truths of God’s word.

As we and mankind learns the Lord’s principles of life (De.30:14-16), the church as a whole will benefit from less disunity and better (table) fellowship.  And when our days are fulfilled, we’ll live with Jesus in eternity!  Praise the Lord!

Jewish Sects of the 1st Century (2)

This Part 2 is the continuation and conclusion to “Jewish Sects of the 1^st Century (1)”.

Harvard scholar Jacob Neusner wrote that there were several ‘Judaisms’.  We’re identifying seven Jewish religious sects & groups that were extant in the Holy Land in the 1^st century…when Jesus lived as a Jew and the temple still existed.  Part 1 discussed: #1 Scribes, #2 Pharisees, #3 Sadducees.  Material in Part 1 won’t be repeated here in Part 2.  We’ll resume the discussion now with group #4.

#4 HERODIANS: Herodianói Strongs g2265, Greek noun; it occurs 3 times in the New Testament (NT).  This party of Hellenistic Jews was partisan to Herod and submitted to Rome.  Herodiáns wielded political power.  They may have been religious Sadducees (see Part 1).

In 40 BC Rome had appointed an Edomite, Herod 1 the Great, as ‘King of Judea’.  (Ending 100 years of Jewish Hasmónean rule, from 140 BC.)  Herod the Great died soon after Christ’s birth (Mt.2:19).  Herod’s kingdom was divided upon his death; his three sons became tetrarchs of provinces in the area.

Herodians are mentioned in Mt.22:16, Mk.3:6, Mk.12:13.  Mk.3:6 “The Pharisees went out and began conspiring with the Herodians against Him [Jesus], how they might destroy Him.”  It seems that tetrarch Herod Ántipas viewed Jesus as a ‘formidable rival’, so Herod’s devotees even joined with Pharisees in wanting to get rid of Jesus.  (Alfred Edersheim The Life And Times of Jesus the Messiah, p.739.)  Jesus warned His disciples in Mk.8:15, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod”.

Ro.16:11 the believer Herodíon (g2267), whom Paul noted, was a relative Jew possibly from Herod’s family.  The Iduméan Herod 1 the Great had been raised as a Jew.  Barnes Notes Ro.16:7 “These persons [Andrónicus and Junías] and Herodian Ro.16:11, it seems probable they were remote relatives of the apostle [Paul].”  Aristóbulus 5 of Chálcis was Herod 1’s grandson (Ro.16:10?).

The Herodians, though Hellenistic (like the Sadducees), wanted Jewish rule in Judea.  As did the Pharisees.  But the Herodians sought this via a Herodian dynasty on the throne, whereas the Pharisees wanted a restored Davidic dynasty to rule.

Wikipedia: Herodian Dynasty “The Herodian was a royal dynasty of Idumean (Edomite) descent, ruling the Herodian Kingdom and later the Herodian Tetrárchy, as vassals of the Roman Empire.”

Some scholars think there may have been Herodians who regarded Herod himself as a Messiah.  (cf. Ac.12:20-23 the 44 AD death of the showy tetrarch Herod Agríppa 1, grandson of Herod the Great.)

The rule of the Herods ended in the 90s AD, with the death of tetrarch Herod Agrippa 2 (before whom Paul had appeared decades earlier ca 60 AD, Ac.25:13-ff).

#5 ZEALOTS: The Zealots began as Jewish guerrilla bands, active in Galilee in the 1^st century.  They became the Nationalist political party.  Their purpose was to incite the people of Judea to rebel against the dominance of (gentile) Rome, and forcefully remove it from the Land.  The Zealots have been called the ‘extreme opposite’ of the Herodian party.

The Zealots aren’t mentioned in the Bible.  Though the Zealots weren’t a religious group, they favored the Pharisees (not the Sadducees).  Josephus Antiquities of the Jews 18:1:6 “These men [Zealots] agree in all other things with the Pharisaic notions; but they have an inviolable attachment to liberty, and say that God is to be their only Ruler and Lord.”  Josephus referred to the Zealots as the ‘fourth sect’  (after the Pharisees, Sadducees, Éssenes).

One of Jesus’ twelve original disciples was Simon the Cananaéan/zealot.  Simon is called a Cananaean (g2581) in Mt.10:4 & Mk.3:18.  Luke calls him a zealot (g2208 zelotés) in Lk.6:15 & Ac.1:13.  Jacobus de Voragine The Golden Legend “Zelotes is the equivalent of Cana, because cana means zeal.”  The New Theological Movement “St. Simon, ‘the Canaanite’ not from Canaan and ‘the Zealot’ who was no Zealot. Indeed, the name ‘Canaanite’ is closely related to the Hebrew word for ‘zealous.”  Simon the zealous disciple of Jesus likely wasn’t part of the violent Zealot political movement!

The Zealots followed John of Gischála during the Roman–Jewish War of 66–73 AD, taking control of Jerusalem and the temple…until Rome destroyed both Jerusalem and the temple in 70 AD.  Zealot holdouts took the Masáda fortress near the Dead Sea…until they were all found dead by suicide in 73 AD.

#6 ESSENES: The Essenes were a significant sect, though fewer in number than the Pharisees and the Sadducees.  The origin of the name ‘Essenes’ is uncertain.  They began to emerge 130–100 BC, as a devout group.  Many scholars think the Dead Sea Scrolls (DSS), discovered in 1947 at the Qumrán caves near the NW shore, were written by Essenes.

The Essenes were an ascetic sect.  Josephus Wars of the Jews 2:8:2 “There are three philosophical sects among the Jews. The followers of the first are the Pharisees; the second the Sadducees; the third who pretends to a severer discipline are called Essenes. These seem to have a greater affection for one another than other sects have.”  Essenes lived together communally.  Wikipedia: Essenes “Accounts by Josephus and Philo show the Essenes lived a strictly communal life, often compared to later Christian monasticism.”

Essenes were overly concerned with ritual purity.  The concept “works of the law” (Paul wrote against it, e.g. Ga.2:16) is found as Essene rituals in the DSS document 4QMMT.  It related to their sectarian solar calendar, purity regulations & cooking utensils, ceremony, the intermarriage of priests, etc.

Essenes were celibate.  Josephus ibid “They neglect wedlock, but choose out other persons’ children.”  Essenes adopted children.  Continuing in Wars 2:8:3, “These men are despisers of riches.”  Wars 2:8:5 “As for their piety towards God, it is very extraordinary.”  Wars 2:8:6 “They are eminent for fidelity.”  Josephus notes other characteristics and observations of Essenes throughout Wars Book 2: Chapter 8.

Essenes rejected the sacrificial system of the Jerusalem temple and the priesthood, which had become corrupt.  Antiquities of the Jews 18:1:5 “The doctrine of Essenes is: They teach immortality of souls. They do not offer sacrifices, because they have more pure lustrations [ceremonial purification rites] of their own. There are about 4,000 men that live this way, and neither marry wives nor keep servants.”  Philo wrote in Every Good Man Is Free 12:75-84, “They do not make armaments….They honor virtue”.  The writings of Josephus and Philo show an admiration for the Essenes.

Edersheim op. cit., p. 226 “One of their [Essenes] largest colonies being by the shore of the Dead Sea. They also had ‘houses’ in most cities of Palestine. In these houses they lived in common, under officials of their own. They partook of common meals, and devoted themselves to works of charity.”  It seems the moral conduct and good works of the Essene brotherhood resembled in some respects that of 1^st century Jewish Christians.

However, there are no direct Bible references to the Essenes.  Edersheim op. cit., p.225 “We may feel certain: neither John the Baptist…nor the teaching of Christianity, had any connection with Essénism.”  Yet there are scholars who think some Essenes became Jewish Christian Ebionites.  That is conjecture.

The Essene sect disappeared after 70 AD.  Their law interpretations weren’t brought into orthodox Judaism.

#7 NAZARENES: Nazoráios g3480 Greek noun.  It occurs 15 times in the NT, all but once (Ac.24:5) as “Jesus the Nazarene”.

Nazarénes were the new sect of Jewish Christians who believed Jesus/Yeshúa is their prophesied Messiah.  Nazarenes weren’t the same as Old Testament Nazarítes h5139 (who took consecration vows, Nu.6).  Ellicott Commentary Mt.2:23 “Any reference to Nazarite vows is out of the question.”

Why was the new sect of believers called the Nazarenes?  Following are the reasons:

Nazaréth [g3478, 12 occurrences] was the town in Galilee where Jesus grew up.  Lk.2:39 “their own city Nazareth.”  Mt.2:23 “He lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophets, ‘He shall be called a Nazarene [g3480].”  Dwellers of Nazareth were called Nazarenes or Nazoréans.  Thus Jesus the Nazarene.  Gill Exposition Mt.2:23 “Christ is often called Jesus of Nazareth, or the Nazarene, and His followers Nazarenes, from the place of his habitation.”

In Mt.2:23, Mathew referred to “prophets” in general, not one specifically by name.  Isaiah prophesied of Jesus as a figurative Branch.  Is.11:1-2 “A rod shall come forth out of the stem of Jesse [David’s father], a Branch shall grow out of his roots. And the Spirit of the Lord will rest upon Him.”  (cf. 60:21 branch).  The Hebrew term used by Isaiah for “branch” was náy-tser h5342.  Its sound resembled “Nazarene”.  Jews occasionally used a play-upon-words in their parlance.  Pulpit Commentary Mt.2:23 “It is evident that the Jews connected this name [náy-tser] closely with Jesus the Nazarene, and…saw a connection between it and ‘the Branch’ of Isaiah 11:1.”  Nazarenes were followers of “the Branch”.

Residents of the town Nazareth in Galilee were disliked in general.  Jn.1:46 “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth [g3478]?”  Furthermore, the Pharisees said to Nicódemus in Jn.7:52, “No prophet arises out of Galilee”.

The Jewish authorities disapproved of the new sect.  Benson Commentary Mt.2:23 “Now it is certain the Nazarene was a term of contempt and infamy put upon Christ [cf. Is.53:3], both by unbelieving Jews and Gentiles.”  They also rejected His followers, calling the sect “Nazarenes”.

The Jewish high priest’s attorney said to governor Felix, Ac.24:5, “We have found this man [Paul] to be a real pest, stirring up dissension among all the Jews, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes [g3480]”.  He charged Paul with being a heretical leader.  Gill Exposition Ac.24:5 “Nazarenes…so called by way of contempt and reproach.” “Nazarenes” was a term of reproach. (cf. 1Pe.4:14, Ro.15:3.)

Ray A. Pritz Nazarene Jewish Community, p.15 “The name Nazarenes was at first applied to all Jewish followers of Jesus. Until the name Christian became attached to the Antióchian non-Jews [Ac.11:26], this meant that the name signified the entire Church, not just a sect. So in Ac.24:5 the reference is not to a sect of Christianity, but rather to the entire primitive Church as a sect of Judaism.”  (For the early church being viewed as a sect of Judaism, see “Sabbath Day Became Sunday in Rome”.)

However, apostolic era Jews who believed Jesus/Yeshua is the Messiah referred to themselves as…“The Way” g3598.  Paul said to Felix in Ac.24:14, “I admit to you, that according to the Way which they call a sect [or heresy] do I serve the God of our fathers”.  (ref Ac.24:22, 9:2.)  “The way” g3598 is seen in the Greek Septúagint/LXX.  Is.40:3 LXX “The voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Prepare you the way [g3598] of the Lord, make straight the paths for our God.”  The Is.40:3 prophecy is tied to John the Baptizer in Jn.1:23, Mt.3:3, Mk.1:3-4, Lk.3:4.  Also, “the way” (g3598) back to the Tree of Life was guarded by cherubim in Ge.3:24 LXX.  Jesus is the figurative door (Jn.10:7) of the Way to eternal Life.

Church History: The Ancient Nazarenes “The early Church of God, referred to by some as the Nazarenes, left Jerusalem [for Pella, 66 AD] just before the Roman armies of Titus destroyed the city in AD 70. The Church of God then continued to settle and migrate throughout the areas of Asia Minor and later into Europe.”  Those Jewish Christians fled into Jordan, migrated to Syria…and beyond.  Their legacy is the Jewish Christians of today and Christianity.

Those who believed in Jesus became known as Christians, Christianós g5546, Greek noun.  Ac.11:26 “The disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.”  Greek was commonly spoken in Antioch.  In Ac.26:28, Herod Agrippa 2 referred to believers as Christians, ca 59 AD.  Peter wrote to a mixed group of Jew & gentile believers in Asia Minor (1Pe.1:1), ca 64–65 AD.  1Pe.4:16 they’re called Christians.

Conclusion to this two-part topic: The Herodians, the Zealot Nationalist party, and the Essenes…became extinct.  A remnant of the Sadducees may be the Karaíte Jews, which still exist.  Phárisaism is the basis of rabbinic or Talmúdic Judaism today.  Wikipedia: Pharisees “The Pharisees preserved the Pharisáical oral law in the form of the Talmud.”  That’s become normative Judaism.  Although the Talmud is meaningful for the Jewish people, it isn’t necessary for salvation.

Jesus/Yeshua said in Jn.14:6, “I Am the way (g3598), the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but by Me.”  Jesus is The Way…the only way!  In no other name is there salvation for mankind (spoken by Peter in Ac.4:10-12)!

Two Covenants – Heart of the Matter

The heart is used figuratively in the Bible as man’s moral, emotional and sometimes intellectual center.  Jesus said emphatically in Mt.22:37, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind”.  Jesus was quoting De.6:5 of the Old Covenant (OC).  In this topic, we’ll look at the Old Covenant and the New Covenant (NC), in relation to the heart.

Our Bible forms an integrated whole, a standard for the church.  2Ti.3:16 all scripture is given by the inspiration of God.  Yet Christians and others overlook some of God’s (enduring) principles, because they were cited in the OC.  Many speak of the OC with disdain, not considering that moral principles therein were evident in Genesis for gentiles…and that was before there ever was a nation of Israel or an OC!  see the topics, “Added in the Old Covenant” and “Genesis Principles Predate Moses”.

Most of ancient Israel didn’t like the laws of God.  Neither do some NC Christians.  In that regard, it seems these Christians somewhat resemble the mindset of OC Israelites/Jews!  They dislike, or ignore, or may even be hostile towards some of God’s written laws (purposed for the good of society)!

There is only One true Lawgiver.  Ja.4:12 “There is one Lawgiver who is able to save and to destroy.”  God the Lawgiver had His morality and justice recorded for humanity and the Kingdom of God!

But from the beginning, man opted to establish his own laws and ways, thinking that man of himself innately knows right from wrong.  But a just determination of good & evil is a prerogative solely of God the Lawgiver, not man.  If man tries to ascertain what’s good vs evil on his own, he does so from the wrong tree of the knowledge of good & evil.  ref Ge.3:3-6.  (see “Tree Symbolism in Scripture”.)

God’s theocracy of ancient Israel was given His just laws.  Moses asked the rhetorical question in De.4:7. “What great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the Lord our God?”  None.  No other nation on the face of the earth!  Old Testament (OT) Israel was given God’s very own principles of morality and His commandments.  Le.22:31 “You shall keep My commandments and do them; I Am the Lord.”  God isn’t unfair.  He didn’t require the ancient nation He loved to do that which wasn’t doable!  God’s commandments are doable!  But their heart wasn’t in it.

Who specifically gave God’s divine laws to Moses/Israel?  Jesus said that no human in OT times had heard Father God’s voice or seen His form.  ref Jn.1:1, 14, 18, 5:37, 6:46.  John indicated it was Jesus the Word of God who the Jewish prophet Isaiah had seen in vision on the Throne! (cf. Is.6:1-ff with Jn.12:41-44.)  De.32:3-4 “Ascribe greatness to our God! The Rock! His work is perfect.”  The Rock of Israel, who went with them in the wilderness…“That Rock was Christ”, according to Paul (1Co.10:4)!  It was Christ who’d personally visited Abraham (Gen.18).  It was Christ who spoke to Moses, gave Israel the Decalogue (Ex.20), and then established the OC (ref Ex.24:1-8).  Moses and the elders of Israel saw the preincarnate Christ (Ex.24:9-12)!  also ref the topic “Jesus Was The Old Testament God”.

Orthodox Study Bible, p.652, quotes church historian Eusebius writing about OT saints. “It is obvious that they knew God’s Christ Himself, since He appeared to Abraham, instructed Isaac, spoke to Jacob, conversed freely with Moses and the Prophets who came later.”  Christ/the Word was the God who spoke with mankind in the OT!  And He.13:8…“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.”

During their OT history, Israel rebelled against Christ the Lord and His laws, and later corrupted God’s precepts with their own man-made religious traditions.  Je.17:9 “The heart of man is deceitful above all, and corrupt.”  The human heart is deceitful.  Most of ancient Israel didn’t have the Holy Spirit (HS).  So under the OC, the HS wasn’t impressing God’s principles on their hearts.  The last verse of the book of Judges sums it up.  Jg.21:25 “Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”  Apart from God’s laws, man does what seems right in their own conscience or circumstances…an ancient form of humanism.

(Some Christians seem to do this too, yet may attribute their actions to the HS leading them…as if Christ or the HS isn’t consistent, and contradicts God’s written word or moral principles from the OT!)

As a result, God sent disobedient Israel and Judah into captivity…for bloodshed, idolatry, incest, usury, sabbath-breaking, oppressing the weak, etc. (ref Ezk.22:1-16).  The law of God wasn’t in their heart.

Some from the southern kingdom of Judah later returned to the Holy Land.  These Jews wrote selected OT verses in small boxes or phylácteries.  They literally strapped them to the arm & forehead.  De.6:4-9 “Hear O Israel! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind. These words shall be on your heart. And you shall bind them on your hand.”  But their literal practice became a pretense; they did it mostly to impress others.  Jesus said in Mt.23:2-5, “The scribes and Pharisees…do all their deeds to be noticed by men, for they broaden their phylacteries and lengthen their tassels.”  (De.6:8 a literal physical binding of scriptures in phylactery or téfillin boxes wasn’t the meaning of the verses anyway.  For example, Pr.3:3 & 7:2-3, “binding” God’s commandments on necks, fingers and hearts…was metaphorical only, not to be taken literally.  They weren’t to tie them onto the fingers!)

Jesus called them hypocrites (or stage actors) in Mk.7:6. “This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me.”  Most Jews who returned from captivity didn’t “write” upon their hearts the principles of God, which Christ and the HS had given Moses.  Jesus accused Jews who opposed Him in Jn.7:19. “None of you carries out the Law.”  They disliked Christ’s OT laws.  Those Jews considered God’s written commandments a burden.  But 1Jn.5:3 “This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome.”  According to John, real love involves keeping God’s commandments…and they’re not a burden!  (see “Love – Godly Love”.)

However, there was a minority of OC Israelites who honored and even loved God’s written principles, and desired to obey them.  King David was such a man.  Ac.13:22 (quoting 1Sm.13:14) David is called “a man after God’s own heart”!  1Ki.11:34 “David observed My commandments and My statutes.”  Only in the matter of Bathsheba/Uriah did David turn aside from what God commanded him.  1Ki.15:5 “David did what was right in the sight of the Lord.”  David made mistakes, a few very serious, but his overall intent was to obey the Lord.  [Note: Mic.5:2 is a prophecy of Bethlehem, David’s birthplace (1Sm.20:6, 17:58) and Jesus’ birthplace.  Lk.2:4 the family ancestry was there.  Mt.9:27 Jesus is the son of David!]

David’s name appears over 1,100 times in the Bible.  Interestingly, both the first and the final name mentioned in the New Testament (NT), except for “Jesus”…is “David” (in Mt.1:1 and Re.22:16)!

In some respects, David was a forerunner of real NC Christians!  1Sm.16:13 the HS was mightily on David from that day when Samuel anointed him!  Jesus said in Mk.12:35-36, “David himself said in the Holy Spirit….”  The following two verses, written by David, reflect how he viewed Christ’s principles and laws: Ps.19:7-8 “The law of the Lord is perfect”.  Ps.40:8 “Thy law [toráh Strongs h8451, Hebrew] is within my heart.”  The HS figuratively wrote God’s laws on David’s heart.

Therefore we might call David a prototype of He.8:8-11 (prophesied in Je.31:33-34). “This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel’, says the Lord. ‘I will put My laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. All shall know Me.”  In the NC, God writes His laws upon human hearts.

God made the NC with Israel and Judah…other Christians are grafted-in, according to Paul.  ref Ro.11:13, 17, 23-27 all of ‘spiritual’ Israel will be saved, via the NC (not via Judaism).  As God’s laws are being written on our hearts in the inner man, we shouldn’t habitually sin.  We should be able to say with David, “Thy law is in my heart” (Ps.40:8).

Similar to Je.31:33 (Je.38:33 LXX), is Ezk.36:26-27. “I will give you a new heart…I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes and observe My ordinances.”  Real Spirit-filled Christians allow God to write His laws and principles on their hearts & minds!  The apostle Paul said in Ro.3:31 e.g., “Do we nullify the Law through faith? God forbid! We establish the Law”.

David wrote of the righteous man in Ps.37:31. “The law of God is in his heart; his steps do not slide.”  David, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Paul essentially are saying the same thing in the verses quoted.  Paul wrote in Ro.7:12-14, “The law is holy, and the commandment is holy, just and good. We know that the law is spiritual.”  Yes, the Holy Spirit had given it to Moses.  Paul goes on in v.22-25, “I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man….I myself with my mind am serving the law of God.”  According to the NC (He.8:10), God was writing His laws upon the apostles’ minds and hearts too.  2Co.3:3 Christ’s moral laws are no longer written on tablets of stone, but on tablets of human hearts.

Other ways of describing the heart on which God can write His laws are…a new heart (Ezk.36:26), an exchanged heart, a circumcised heart.  These are interchangeable terms for that heart which is willing to obey the Lord.  De.30:6 was Moses’ prophecy of a future (non-physical) heart circumcision which God would do (to the hearts of both men and women).  Paul wrote in Ro.2:29, “Circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit”.  Not the physical circumcision operation of the foreskin done by men.  Col.2:11 “In Him you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands.”  God does it (this fulfills De.30:6).  These persons will allow God’s principles to be written on their heart by the HS.  (see the topics “Circumcision in the Bible” and “Holy Spirit-Filled”.)

Ten years ago I had the opportunity to hear a Christian speaker from Mozambique.  This man had reportedly resurrected a dozen people from the dead in the name of Jesus!  He related to us a vision he’d received.  In the vision, he was shown people with trees growing out of their heads!  He said the Lord told him the vision represented modern society (including the church) partaking of the tree of the knowledge of good & evil (Gen.3:6)!  Even the church appears humanistic, many churchgoers attaching Jesus’ Name to that wrong tree, not desiring God the Lawgiver’s definition of good & evil on His terms.

On another occasion, a pastor from Uganda was invited to speak at a church in my city.  He told of closing himself off for three days in his room to seek the Lord for the topic.  He said God told him to address Ezk.22:26. “Her priests have violated My law, they make no distinction between the holy and the profane, or between the unclean and the clean; and they hide their eyes from My sabbaths.”  That visiting pastor spoke courageously!  But his sermon was hard for some to hear.

Is.8:20 “To the law and to the testimony [the Decalogue, Ex.31:18]! If they don’t speak according to this word, it is because they have no light.”  Too many Christians (perhaps unknowingly) are attaching Christ’s Name to man’s laws and justice system from the wrong tree of humanism…as if man is God.

It can feel more comfortable to be religious or follow denominational traditions which may not honor God’s written word.  That’s what the majority of OC Israel/Judah did, and the Pharisees did in Jesus’ day.  Paul wrote of them in Ga.6:13. “Those who are circumcised [physically] don’t even keep the law.”  Those Jewish religious leaders who contended with Jesus weren’t keeping God’s written laws.  Mt.15:18 “The things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart.”  The scribes & Pharisees who spoke against Jesus…God’s written principles weren’t on their hearts.  (Jesus was law-abiding).

Let’s us not be pharisaic NC Christians by resembling OC Israelites/Jews that disrespected God’s laws.  Sectarian church traditions or the views of so-called church ‘fathers’ (e.g. some Roman Catholic Church tradition) shouldn’t be placed above the written word of God.  That practice can also be a cause of division in the Body of Christ.  (also see “Doctrinal Disunity Impacts Evangelism”.)

The Lord exclaimed in De.5:29, “Oh, that they had such a heart in them, that they would fear Me and keep My commandments always, that it may be well with them and with their sons forever”!  But such a heart wasn’t in most of those OC Israelites, and they failed to be a right example to the nations.

In conclusion…God saves the upright in heart (Ps.7:10).  We too can be real NC (grafted-in) Christians, having God’s righteous moral principles written on our hearts and minds!  And they’re not burdensome (1Jn.5:3).  And as the gospel spreads, obedient NC Christians will reflect the righteousness and true heartfelt love of God to the world!  To God be the glory!!

Life and Death – for Saints

The Christian hope is to live eternally with God!  As our years in the body advance, this hope becomes nearer.  Jesus said in Jn.10:10, “I came that they might have life, and more abundantly”.  Life after death may be better than we thought!  Here we’ll look at scriptures about life and death for the saints.

As we age, most will experience aches & pains in the body.  Yet the future for saved Christians is wonderful!  Ex.23:25-26 the Lord will fulfill the number of our days.  We can receive healing in the body until that last illness or the day we take our final breath.  (see the topic “Healing Our Bodies”.)  Pr.9:11 “Years of life will be added to you.”  Ps.48:14 “This is our God forever; He will guide us unto death.”  Is.46:4 “Even to your old age and grey hairs, I will deliver you.”  God sustains us and will give us the abundant life!  Physical death is a time of transition to the afterlife; it isn’t the end of our existence.

Ps.91:16 “With long life I will satisfy him, and show him My salvation.”  (The Hebrew term for salvation is yeshúwah, Strongs h3444.)  God saves His people.  The Lord gets us out of trouble, in general!  He ‘saves’ us from danger, catastrophe, enemies, sickness, etc…and saves us in the spiritual sense.  God saves us from death.  And the Bible indicates there are (at least) two kinds of death.

One kind of death occurs when we take our last breath.  Our physical body is buried; it decomposes or disintegrates.  God formed the first human from the elements of the earth, breathed life into him, and he became a living soul (Ge.2:7).  The Lord told the first man Adam in Ge.3:19, “You return to the ground, for out of it you were taken. You will return to dust.”  Adam died physically at a very advanced age (Ge.5:5).  David said of God in Ps.103:14, “He is mindful that we are but dust”.  And Ec.12:7 (the reverse of Ge.2:7), “The dust returns to the earth, and the spirit returns to God who gave it”.  (The term for spirit is Hebrew rúwach h7307, Greek LXX & New Testament pneúma g4151.)  We breathe our last, our spirit returns to God, our physical body returns to dust or decomposes…this is physical death.

God has given each of us a human spirit, the “breath of life”.  Jb.32:8 “There is a spirit in man, and the breath of the Almighty gives them understanding.”  The human spirit is a non-physical component which imparts self-awareness & intellect to our brain.  At physical death, our spirit is to return to God.  Ja.2:26 “The body without the spirit is dead.”  Without our human spirit, our body is just a corpse.  ref Lk.8:53-55 the girl who’d died was a corpse (until Jesus brought back her spirit, which returns to God after death, to her body).  When Adam finally died physically, the human spirit God had initially breathed into him went back to God.  We humans undergo this physical death.  Ps.104:29 “You take away their spirit, they die and return to dust.”  When the Lord takes away our spirit…we expire.  Man’s spirit returns to God for His renascence, re-embodiment, placement or disposition, as He sees fit.

Now let’s look at another kind of death.  When Adam & Eve ate from the wrong tree, they died in another sense.  Mankind is made in the image & likeness of God (Ge.1:26-27).  God said in Ge.2:16-17, “The tree of the knowledge of good and evil, in the day you eat from it you shall surely die”.  The serpent deceived Eve (Ge.3:4-7).  When Adam & Eve ate from it and disobeyed God or sinned, they became separated from God spiritually.  That day their spiritual death occurred.  (Their physical death wasn’t until centuries later.)  Ge.3:8 so they hid themselves from God.  Ge.3:24 although they’re made in God’s image…to further separate them from Himself, the Lord banned them from the garden of Eden.  (see the topic “Tree Symbolism in Scripture”.)

Death is a form of separation.  Adam & Eve were separated from God’s Presence and the Tree of Life.  Even if they’d previously eaten some from the Tree of Life while obedient (Ge.2:9, 16), outside the garden they couldn’t continue to eat its fruit…and Adam finally expired at age 930 (Ge.5:5).  Gill Exposition Ge.2:9 “Before Adam sinned there was no prohibition of his eating of it.”  (Perhaps the effect of the Tree of Life was passed down through very long-lived descendants for generations?)

At physical death, one’s human spirit is separated from the physical body.  Spiritual death is separation from God, who is eternal Life.  Is.59:2 “Your iniquities have separated you from your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you.”  Sin kills us spiritually, in this sense.

Since Adam & Eve, humans are born spiritually ‘dead’.  David referred to his unborn self, Ps.51:5 “I was shaped in iniquity, in sin my mother conceived me”.  Natural man from birth is spiritually unaware, our eyes ‘blinded’ to spiritual eternal Life (e.g. 2Co.4:4).  Ro.5:12 “Just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, so death spread to all, because all sinned.”  Mankind has inherited a sin nature.  Ja.1:15 “When sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.”  Separation from God.  Gill Exposition Ja.1:15 “As the first sin of man brought death into the world, brought a spiritual death.”  Orthodox Bible Ge.2:17 “The words ‘you shall die’ indicate a spiritual death through separation from God.”  Spiritual death happened to Adam at the wrong tree; it became the common state of all mankind.

We were all dead spiritually.  Paul wrote to the saints in Ep.2:5, “We were dead in our transgressions”.  Of course Paul and those he was writing to weren’t dead physically!  Rather, they’d been spiritually dead earlier, while physically alive!  Continuing in Ep.4:18, “Being alienated from the Life of God”.  As Adam & Eve had become alienated from God; separated from the Lord and His Presence.

Jesus said in Mt.8:21-22, “Let the dead bury their dead”.  Jesus expressed two kinds of death here…in other words, let those who are spiritually dead bury their relatives who had died physically.  And in Jesus’ parable of Lk.15:24, 32, the prodigal son had been spiritually dead, while physically alive.  In 1Ti.5:6, Paul wrote of the profligate widow who “is dead even while she lives”.  Spiritually dead, physically alive.  Paul also wrote in Col.2:13, “You were dead in your transgressions”.  The Colossians were physically alive, yet earlier had been spiritually dead by reason of sin.  But not dead forever!

Continuing in Col.2:13 “…He has made you alive together with Him”.  Those Christians were no longer spiritually dead!  1Co.15:22 “For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive.”  Since Adam, humanity was spiritually dead or separated from God, and also died physically.  But through Jesus and the Holy Spirit (HS), we’re made alive spiritually; there’s no separation from God (though we still die physically).

Peter said in Ac.2:38, “Repent and be baptized, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit”.  The HS is Life eternal (He.9:14).  1Co.6:17 “The one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him.”  It’s a spiritual union.  We become spiritually alive!  Ga.6:8 “The one who sows to the Spirit shall from the Spirit reap eternal life.”  Wikipedia “For Paul (as in Ga.6:8), future eternal life arrives as a result of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit during the present life.”  The seed of eternal Life is now within us.

The New Testament (NT) doesn’t describe eternal life in detail.  But it does provide assurance that the saints will receive it.  Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible “The nature of eternal life is only sketched in its essential elements in the New Testament.”  The saved Christian becomes spiritually alive, no longer are we spiritually dead!

John wrote in 1Jn.3:14, “We know that we have passed out of death into life”.  Saved Christians are spiritually alive.  1Jn.5:11-12 “God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who doesn’t have the Son doesn’t have life.”  The eternal Life made possible by Jesus indwells us.

Jesus said in Jn.8:51, “If anyone keeps My word, he shall never see death”.  Jesus was referring to spiritual death, not physical death.  Of course we all die physically.  Jesus also spoke of Himself as the living bread.  Jn.6:50-51 “One may eat of it and not die. I AM the living bread that came down from heaven.”  Not die spiritually, that is; having the kernel of eternal Life.  Jn.11:26 “Whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die.”  Shall never die spiritually; won’t be separated from God.

Many believe that even Jesus Himself experienced separation from God for a short time on the cross…for our sake!  Mk.15:33-34 “Darkness fell over the whole Land. Jesus cried out with a loud voice, ‘My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (cf. Ps.22:1)  Jesus knew He’d be resurrected (Mt.20:18-19).  But as Jesus became sin in our stead (2Co.5:21), He was separated from His Father for the only time.  Ga.3:13 “Christ became a curse for us.”  Father God is so holy; He won’t dwell with sin.

God is the Father of spirits (He.12:9).  The Lord gives breath & spirit to His creatures on earth (Is.42:5).  For physical death to occur, man’s spirit departs his body, and returns to God who gave it (Ec.12:7).

Jesus also experienced physical death when He expired on the cross.  At the transfiguration of Lk.9:31, Jesus spoke of His soon departure (g1841) which would take place at Jerusalem.  Later, Jesus said as He died on the cross in Lk.23:46, “Father, into Thy hands I commit My spirit’. He breathed His last.”  Jesus’ spirit departed and returned to Father God.  Jn.19:30 “Jesus yielded up His spirit.”

2Pe.1:13-15 elderly Peter said he would soon die physically.  The time was near for his spirit’s earthly tent (his physical body) to be laid aside.  “After my departure (g1841) you may remember these things.”  Peter’s spirit would soon depart his body.  (Ja.2:26 “The body without the spirit is dead.”)

In the last chapter of 2Timothy, Paul’s time to die physically was imminent.  2Ti.4:6 “The time of my departure has come.”  Paul’s spirit would soon depart his physical body, when he expired.  As Peter’s.

In Ac.7:54-60, righteous Stephen was stoned to death.  As he died physically, Stephen said, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit” (v.59).  Stephen’s spirit departed when his body “fell asleep” and decomposed.

At their physical death, the spirit of Peter, of Paul, of Stephen…departed their body and returned to God.  They went to be with Jesus.  Their fleshly body became dust after their spirit separated from it.  But those three, as well as the saints Paul wrote to at Ephesus, Colossae, etc., are made alive in spirit!

Paul wrote in Php.1:21-24, “To live is Christ and to die is gain. To depart and be with Christ is far better.”  Paul’s earthly life was dedicated to Christ’s purposes.  Yet Paul believed Life for him would be better after he died physically, when his spirit consciousness went to be with God and Jesus.

Here’s the final verse of the song, God Knew Your Name, by Jim Likens. “As you gracefully grew old, you know you had been told, God knew your name. And one day when you died, your friends and family cried, God knew your name. And My angels carried your soul [or spirit] to Me, And I said, ‘Welcome home’. You were one of Mine, I loved you for all time, I knew your name.”

Our spirit, returned to God who gave it, is at His disposal as He sees fit.  In Jesus’ parable of Lk.16:19-31, the poor man’s spirit…“was transported by angels to Abraham’s bosom [or Paradise]”.  The rich man’s spirit was placed in Hades, the realm of the dead (v.22-23).  Evidently some of what Jesus spoke in this parable was commonly believed by Jews in the Land, so they were able to understand His point.

Before Jesus left His disciples on earth, He said in Jn.14:2-3, “In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; I go to prepare a place for you”.  Father God’s house is in heaven, not on earth.  After Jesus died and was resurrected, He was received up into heaven, at His Father’s right hand (Mk.16:19).

Stephen asked of Jesus, “Receive my spirit” (Ac.7:59).  Stephen, Peter, Paul and other saints went to the heavenly dwelling places Jesus prepared for them.  Their spirits returned to God, and would never die!

The writer to the Hebrews wrote in He.12:1, “We have a great cloud of witnesses”.  A most unusual way to identify a group of witnesses!  There’s a “cloud” of saints in the heavens who have gone before us.  Untold numbers of saints had been “caught up in the clouds” prior to the departure of Paul’s spirit consciousness to be “together with them” (1Th.4:17).  Continuing with He.12:22-24, “You have come to…the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the assembly and church of the Firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus”.  Glory to God!  The spirits of the righteous saints in their heavenly dwelling are an innumerable cloud of witnesses!  (cf. Re.7:9-12)

Paul wrote of our body in 1Co.15:44-49, “It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. As is the earthy so are those who are earthy; and as is the heavenly, so are those who are heavenly. Just as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.”  All humans have a natural physical body on earth.  The spirits of the righteous, who departed and were received by Jesus, have a spiritual body in the heavens.  The spirits of Stephen, Peter, Paul…are among those witnesses in the “cloud” with spiritual bodies.  (compare the topic, “Rebirth to Physical Life”.)

Paul wrote more of eternal life with God in 2Co.5:1-4. “We know that if our earthly tent is dissolved, we have a house from God, not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. We long to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling. So that we won’t be naked. While in this tent we groan, not wanting to be unclothed.”  Our earthly body is made by our mother & father, so to speak.  When it dies and dissolves into dust, our spirit returns to God/Jesus.  Our spirit is there “clothed” with our heavenly imperishable spiritual body (1Co.15:42); not mortal physical bodies in heaven.  We don’t live forever as disembodied spirits.  Spiritual bodies are portrayed as being pure and clothed in white (ref Re.3:5, 4:4, 7:9).

Paul continued in 2Co.5:8, “I would rather be absent from the body and be present with the Lord.”  Paul’s preference was to depart his mortal tent here on earth, and go to be at home in his heavenly spiritual body, with the Lord.  (It’s been said that Paul was absent-minded in that regard!)

Greek Bible scholar Spiros Zódiates’ note on 2Co.5:1-10, “Our real self is the spirit within us and not the body. The mortal body is presented as a tent. When death happens we don’t become extinct. We continue to live on. God is building a completely new house for our spirit. It will be identifiable, but not the same. Paul was evidently speaking of his resurrection body.”  It’s a heavenly body for our spirit.

Php.3:20-21 “Our citizenship is in heaven. Jesus Christ will transform our lowly body to conform to the body of His glory.”  We shall be like Jesus (to a lesser degree), in our spiritual bodies.  Cambridge Bible “The saints’ body of glory.”  1Jn.3:2 “We shall be like Him, for we shall see Him just as He is.”  Vincent Word Studies “The manifestation of that glorified state, the revealing of what we shall be.”  Now our physical eyes cannot behold Jesus’ glorified brightness or the appearance of our spiritual body.

{Sidelight: Various eschatological views, the timing of resurrections, other spirits, the underworld…are somewhat related to this topic, but aren’t discussed here.  Also, the interchangeable expressions, “Kingdom of God” and “Kingdom of Heaven” (Mt.19:23-24).  see the topic “Kingdom of God”.}

Cardiologists have revived people who died physically for a brief period of time.  Pronounced dead!  While dead, their spirit left their body, and ‘saw’ the future life.  While dead, they heard conversation of nurses, or viewed streets exterior to the hospital!  As they were revived physically by the cardiologist or medical team, their spirit reentered their body (cf. Lk.8:55).  There are thousands of people who have had near-death experiences (NDE)!  Numerous documented cases are on medical record!

There’s a saying…“A man with an experience is never at the mercy of a man with just an argument”.

Raymond Edman They Found the Secret, p.33, gives Salvation Army Commissioner Samuel Brengle’s account of his final days at age 76.  Though nearly blind, Brengle ‘saw’ some of the great cloud of witnesses, saints who’d gone on before. “I had sweet fellowship at times in my own room. Saints of all ages congregate there. Moses is present, and gives his testimony, and declares that the eternal God is his refuge and underneath are the everlasting arms. Joshua arises, and declares, ‘As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord’. Samuel and David, my dear friends Isaiah, Jeremiah and Daniel, Paul and John and James, and deeply humbled and beloved Peter, each testifying to the abounding grace of God. Luther and Wesley and the Founder [General William Booth] and Finney, and Spurgeon and Moody, and unnumbered multitudes all testify…Fanny Crosby cries out, ‘Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine’! So you see, I am not alone. Halleluyah forever, and glory to God!”

The 2000 edition of evangelist F.F. Bosworth’s Christ the Healer, contains a concluding chapter written by his son Bob Bosworth, about his father’s passing in 1958 (p.246-7). “About 3 weeks after he took to his bed, we were around the bed talking, laughing and singing. Suddenly Dad looked up; he never saw us again. He saw what was invisible to us. He began to greet people and to hug people; he was enraptured. Every once in a while he would break off and look around saying, ‘Oh, it is so beautiful’. He did this for several hours. Finally, with a smile on his face, he put his head back and slept. We took turns sitting with him. My wife Stella suddenly realized that he’d stopped breathing. There had been no struggle, no sound. The psalmist had described it correctly; God had simply removed his breath and he was home! ‘O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?’ [Ho.13:14 LXX, 1Co.15:55]  This is the testimony and ultimate triumph of F.F. Bosworth.”

Death and the grave are defeated!  1Co.15:54 “When this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, ‘Death is swallowed up in victory.” (cf. Is.25:8)  For saints who’ve received and been led by the Holy Spirit, Life with a heavenly body will be abundantly satisfying and pain-free for all eternity!  To God be the glory!

War & Killing and the Bible Christian (2)

We began looking at war from the Old Testament in “War & Killing and the Bible Christian (1)”.  That should be read first, before this Part (2).  Our foundational verses from (1) won’t be repeated here.

In Part 1, the difference between killing and murder was noted.  Killing an individual as capital punishment for a capital crime is justified, scripturally.  Killing as punishment isn’t murder.  On a larger scale, killing in war is warranted or vindicated…when it’s done in self-defense or to ‘end gross violation of human rights’ or cruel oppression.  If so justified, it’s a ‘Just War’.  It isn’t unlawful murder.  And a nation which refuses to defend itself against undue attack would be negligent in its duty to its citizenry.

In this Part 2, we’ll look at war primarily from New Testament (NT) verses, and more recently.  The NT doesn’t directly address the subject of war.  But it does affirm that government (govt) institutions are from God.  Anarchy isn’t God’s method.  Also see the topic “Governmental Loyalty for Christians”.

Ac.22:24-29 the apostle Paul, a Roman citizen, resisted illegal mistreatment.  He didn’t misconstrue “turn the other cheek”.  Jews wanted to kill him.  Paul asserted his rights.  Ac.23:20-33 then two centurions with 200 soldiers protected Paul from Jews in Jerusalem, and brought him safely to governor Felix in Caesárea for a hearing.  A standing army (or a militia) or police force can be used to protect citizens.

Jesus said in Mt.5:39, “Don’t resist evil; but whoever slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also”.  Individuals aren’t to take the law into their own hands.  But if we can defend our family from an intruder (Ex.22:2), Jesus didn’t say to turn our family’s cheek so they submit to possibly being murdered!

Continuing in Mt.5:43-44, “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy’. But I say to you, ‘Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”  Le.19:18 “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”  Pharisee oral law added a racist clause about hating enemies (perhaps stretching De.23:3-6).  In the Lk.10:29-37 parable of the good Samaritan, Jesus explained to the Jewish lawyer who his neighbor is.  Jews and Samaritans were historical enemies.  God didn’t authorize personal vengeance, Ro.12:18-19.  Individuals aren’t to perpetrate racial fighting or wage war.

Lk.3:14 John baptized Jewish soldiers (of Herod?).  He told them not to extort from anyone by violence, don’t make false accusations, and be content with their wages or rations.  Don’t attempt to unlawfully increase them.  Don’t abuse others.  Lk.7:1-10 is the account of the faithful Roman (gentile) centurion, a leader of 100 men.  Also the Ac.10 centurion Cornelius became the first gentile to receive the Holy Spirit.

The NT doesn’t say whether or not those believing centurions changed jobs after conversion.  The Roman military was tied to false Roman religion.  Depending on seniority, the centurion class paralleled the modern rank of major to one-star general (ref historian Colin Wells).  Roman officers were responsible for persecutions & torture.  It seems doubtful that a converted Christian centurion or Roman soldier would want to serve amidst heathen religious rites, or would still persecute & torture fellow Christians.

As a man, the only ones Jesus used physical force against were the moneychangers or usurers (Mt.21:12-13, Jn.2:14-16).  Jesus the man was nonviolent and innocent of wrongdoing (Jn.19:4).  As a lamb, He didn’t resist being taken into custody, Lk.22:47-54.  (Police today can use deadly force against a person, innocent or guilty, who resists arrest and assaults the officer.)  Is.53:5-8 “The Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him. Like a lamb led to the slaughter, He didn’t open His mouth.”  Jesus, unlike us, was to be captured and crucified to die for our sins (1Jn.3:5).  If Jesus’ ruling Kingdom was of this world, then His servants would fight to protect Him from the Jews (Jn.18:36).  But it wasn’t of this world.

Yet Jesus the now glorified Lamb fights with and defeats those who wage war against Him!  Re.17:14 “These will wage war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them because He is King of kings and Lord of lords.”  The just King vanquishes His enemies.  Re.19:11-16 “In righteousness He judges and wages war.”  Jesus wars to avenge and save the righteous; He sentences and punishes the wicked.  God is the Giver of life.  He can take life, as He chooses.

But the King of kings doesn’t authorize all aggressor nations of the world to selfishly conquer and steal land or goods from other nations.  Aggressors murder civilians too!  Also in Re.13:10, “He who kills with the sword must be killed by the sword”.  What goes around, comes around.  God is just.  Jesus said to His disciple Peter in Mt.26:52, “Put your sword back into its place; for all who take the sword will perish by the sword”.  (Jesus must die.)  No individual vengeance.  God will take vengeance.  He authorized law courts and govt (e.g. Ge.9:5-6, De.17:8-11) to maintain law & order and to wield His judgment.

Allan Turner The Christian & War “Should justice be sacrificed on the altar of ‘peace at any price’?”  Pacifism sees war as immoral and should be abolished.  But absolute pacifism itself can be immoral!

Capital punishment and warfare in self-defense kills, but isn’t murder.  Sometimes it’s unjust to refrain from using force; it’s a nation’s duty to protect its citizens.  Having a police force that’s committed to public protection, and to discourage criminality in the streets, isn’t evil.  It’s to maintain law & order.  The person who shoots at police may be killed.  That isn’t murder.  The policeman on duty isn’t pacifist.

War has been called a ‘necessary evil’.  Yet the initial sin that leads to war is the evil first cause.  Ja.4:1 “From where come wars and fightings among you? Don’t they come from cravings that war within you?”  Somewhere sin or greed occurred which can escalate into war.  Should Christians participate in war?

Christ didn’t allow His people ancient Israel to engage in alliances with other nations as “lovers”.  Ho.8:9-10 “Ephráim has hired lovers. Even though they hire allies among the nations, they will begin to waste away.”  Forming political alliances was rebellion against God.  Is.30:1-3 “Woe to the rebellious children’, declares the Lord, ‘Who make an alliance, but not of My Spirit, to add sin to sin.”  Is.36:5-6 also.  2Ch.16:7-10 King Asa of Judah foolishly trusted his alliance with Syria, rather than trusting God.  Ezk.16:2, 33-39 of Judah’s disloyal lovers.  (2Ch.20:35-37 Jehoshaphát’s alliance was bad.)  Ezk.23:1-35 Israel & Judah played the harlot with other nations.  They yoked themselves to the heathen.  Christ sent them both into captivity!  Yokes with unbelievers are unequal, and have ended badly.  Like an ox yoked to a donkey, it doesn’t work.  Paul wrote in 2Co.6:14-15, “Don’t be unequally yoked to unbelievers”.

Our USA Constitution is dated “in the Year of Our Lord 1787” (ref it’s Article VII).  Some historians say this indicates the majority of its signers were Christians.  Jesus Christ is Lord!

Prior to the 1890s, the USA was a non-interventionist nation.  George Washington’s Farewell Address of 1796 expressed our policy of non-interventionism.  In Thomas Jefferson’s 1801 inaugural address, “Essential principles of our government…peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none”.  The USA would engage in trade with other nations, but wouldn’t interfere in other nations’ wars.  The Constitution is non-interventionist, but isn’t isolationist.  Pr.26:17 is a general principle…don’t meddle with strife not belonging to you.  Be non-interventionist.

Paul wrote in 2Co.10:3-4, “Though we walk in the flesh, we don’t wage war according to the flesh. The weapons of our warfare aren’t of the flesh.”  Matthew Poole Commentary 2Co.10:3 “The men of the world war for their honour and glory, or for revenge and satisfaction of their lusts, or for the enlarging of their territories and dominions; but we do not thus war after the flesh.”  Rather, the Christian is to put on the defensive spiritual armor of God (Ep.6:12-17).  The only offensive weapon is the figurative sword of the Spirit, the word of God.  Onward Christian Soldiers (1871) “Like a mighty army, moves the Church of God.”  That doesn’t refer to carnal warfare.

Whereas God will judge carnal wars of selfish or covetous imperialists (Hab.2:8-12).

Should a Christian support a wrong or evil war effort?  Paul wrote in Ep.5:11, “Do not participate in the unfruitful works of darkness”.  Ellicott Commentary Ep.5:11 “Keep no terms with them.”  McLaren’s Expositions “Notice the plain Christian duty of abstinence.”  Paul also wrote in 1Ti.5:22, “Do not share in the sins of others; keep yourself pure”.  Barnes Notes “In no way are we to participate in the sins of other people.”  Don’t participate on the side of evil in war either.  Pastor Chad Wagner “No government has the right to make its citizens kill other people who didn’t attack them.”  We can object or avoid war.

It would be sin for a Christian to defile his conscience (e.g. Ac.24:16, Ti.1:15).  “A conscientious objector is an ‘individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service.” (Wikipedia)  Based on scripture…a citizen’s conscience may not allow him to participate in a war of aggression or imperialism.  But it may allow him to fight in a war of self-defense.  God is the only true Lawgiver and Judge (Ja.4:12).  If there’s a conflict between obeying God and obeying human government, Peter said God is to be obeyed rather than men (Ac.5:29).  Obedience to God would have precedence over an ungodly military duty.  We don’t worship a human govt, be it democratic or dictatorial.  Noncombatant service may or may not be a conscience issue.

Do our leaders submit to God’s principles and to our Constitution?  If a govt cannot be trusted to tell the truth about the need to go to war, can an honest man fight for an untrustworthy govt policy?  We’re to conscientiously try to determine the justness of our govt’s laws & policy, based on God’s right principles.

Jesus said in Mt.5:9, “Blessed are the peacemakers”.  When ancient Israel approached an enemy city, they were first to offer it terms of peace (De.20:10-11).  Justice and righteousness result in peace (Is.32:16-18).  A fruit of God’s Spirit is peace (Ga.5:22).

Opinions vary about the justness of USA govt decisions to join in modern wars.  We abandoned neutrality in 1917 to enter WW1.  We entered WW2 after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor.  Statistics show that unemployment was even higher in 1939 than in 1931.  It’s said that in 1941 President FDR was looking for a way to get into WW2 (war preparations hiring lowers unemployment).  He allowed the Japanese oil supply to be cut off.  Did this goad Japan into an act of aggression?  Japan retaliated by attacking Pearl Harbor.

James Perloff Pearl Harbor: Hawaii Was Surprised; FDR Was Not “Comprehensive research has shown not only that Washington knew in advance of the attack, but that it deliberately withheld its foreknowledge from our commanders in Hawaii in the hope that the ‘surprise’ attack would catapult the U.S. into World War II. Oliver Lyttleton, British Minister of Production, stated in 1944: ‘Japan was provoked into attacking America at Pearl Harbor. It is a travesty of history to say that America was forced into the war’. A pre-war Gallup poll showed 88 percent of Americans opposed U.S. involvement in the European war.”  What were the real reasons for our entry?  Later Japan was willing to make peace before we dropped atom bombs.  General Eisenhower opposed using the bomb…150,000 civilians died tragically!

The USA govt viewed the war in Vietnam as a means of preventing the spread of Communism.  Was our involvement in Vietnam a war of aggression to help France re-conquer Vietnam?  It’s said the early Tonkin Gulf incident was a phantom to boost public support for the war.  This long war lasted 15 years (1959-1975)…and we didn’t win!  Our economy was experiencing recession from 1957–1961; and a war can alleviate recession.  During the war years, citizens increasingly objected to us being in Vietnam.  By the year 2000, a Gallup poll indicated that 69% of citizens thought our involvement in the war had been a mistake.

“Money makes the world go ’round.”  The USA & Federal Reserve has so wanted the U.S. dollar to remain the world’s reserve currency!  But Iraq’s Saddam Hussein wanted to trade oil for euros, not petrodollars.  Some say this was a significant reason for our going to war with Iraq.  Libya’s Gaddafi wanted a gold–backed currency behind Libyan oil trade.  This too could’ve hurt the dollar.  Saddam and Gaddafi were eliminated, whatever the real reasons.  Conspiracy theorists say evil secret groups plan wars.

Rogue nations which forbid usury & derivatives are holdouts from USA & world banker organizations, and are taken down (militarily)…Iraq, Libya, Syria, Afghanistan (Iran in future?).  North Korea and Cuba are also holdouts.  Of note, Christ forbad usury among ancient Israelites (ref De.23:19, Ne.5:7, Ps.15:5).  see “Money (2) – Biblical Honest Weights, Usury”.

Allan Turner op. cit. “The prudent soldier who fights for what he believes in, but later discovers that the real reason for the war was obscured by lies…is not guilty!”  The media may present conflicting info regarding war issues.  Real reasons for going to war can be difficult to sort out.  Young Christians of military age aren’t statesmen who may know what’s going on behind the scenes.  Dedicated young men have been wounded or gave their lives in war to support a cause they believed in.  They’re to be respected.  I’m for being rightly patriotic to our country, while not engaging in misguided patriotism to wrong principles!

Modern America elects interventionist presidents (whereas our founders were non-interventionist).  The USA tries to force usurious secular Western values on non-Western nations!  We give foreign aid to nations who are each other’s enemies.  And we have favorites.  That causes much resentment internationally.  There are even nations which hate the USA who gives them aid!  As ancient Israel and its “lovers”, being unequally yoked to heathen or anti-Christ nations has led to dangerous problems.

Was the American Revolution a violation of God’s principles?  Some historians think the American Revolution was a war of self-defense.  (Ne.4:7-21 reflects self-defense.)  That Britain had attacked America, not vice-versa?  The American colonists’ formal appeals for peaceful reconciliation were met with militarism, violations of British Common Law.  The colonists didn’t want anarchy.  Colonial charters established self-rule under the British monarchy.  They resisted British Parliament (“taxation without representation”) as being a seeming invader, but not initially in revolution.  The Revolution was a response to the: 1770 Boston Massacre, 1774 Boston Tea Party & its aftermath, 1775 attacks on Concord & Lexington and the Williamsburg gunpowder incident.  Freedom from oppression won out!

Moving forward, in the American Civil War of the 1860s, there were Christians from the North fighting against other Christians from the South…a great tragedy for our country!

In wars between peoples and nations today, there are Christian brothers fighting each other!  In the present day Syria civil war, Christians are fighting Christians.  Also Arab Christians in the Middle East fight Israeli Jewish Christians!  (On the other side of the coin, the Israeli govt wants Arab Christians in Israel to enlist in Israel’s military, the IDF).

Concluding, Paul wrote in 1Ti.2:2, “…That you may live a quiet and peaceable life”.  Supporting wars of aggression and selfish imperialism is wrong.  Again, peace is a fruit of the Holy Spirit (Ga.5:22).  As the song goes, “Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me”.  The word of the Lord in Is.2:1-4, “They will turn their swords into plowshares. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, neither will they learn war anymore.”  Eventually carnal warfare will be a thing of the past.  God’s lawful principles and peace will be known by all nations!  May the Lord hasten that day…Shalom!

War & Killing and the Bible Christian (1)

It’s been said, ‘War is hell!’  Yet human history is filled with wars.  But should Christians participate in military wars?  In this Part 1, we’ll survey war from the Old Testament (OT), and look to identify a right or just war.  Can a war be justified?  Are there times when it would be wrong or remiss not to war?

Paul wrote in Ro.12:18-19, “If possible, be at peace with all men. Never take your own revenge, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is Mine, I will repay, saith the Lord.”  Peace is best!  Vengeance belongs to God.  Man isn’t to take personal vengeance or revenge.  In passages such as Ge.9:5-6 & De.17:8-11, we read where God authorized law courts and government (govt).  Govt should maintain law & order within society, and carry out God’s vengeance as needed.  see “Governmental Loyalty for Christians”.

God is the giver of life.  As the giver of life, God also has the right to take life.  Ja.4:12 “There is one Lawgiver and Judge, who is able to save and to destroy.”  Is.33:22 the Lord is Judge, Lawgiver, King.  God is at the top of three functions of govt: judicial, legislative, executive.  The Lord is the Highest Authority.  Only God is completely just.  His laws & principles are the standard for implementing true justice.  Christians are to first obey God and His moral principles, Ac.5:29.

There’s a difference between killing and murder.  The Lord said in Ex.20:13, “You shall not murder”.  Murder is immoral, a crime.  An individual, of his own volition, doesn’t have the right to take the life of another.  Yet God authorized law courts.  Ge.9:5-6 “Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man his blood shall be shed.”  Also the Lord said to Israel in Ex.21:12, “He who strikes a man so that he dies, shall surely be put to death”.  Law courts duly exercise God’s vengeance via God’s principles, prescribing capital punishment even.  That’s killing, but it isn’t murder.  (Lesser crimes exact lesser punishments.)

What causes wars?  Ja.4:1 “From where come wars and fightings among you? Don’t they come from cravings that war within you?”  War can result from wrong coveting, wanting land & goods that others have.  Coveting violates the 10^th Commandment, De.5:21.  (see the topic “Coveting – Wrong and Right Desire”.)  Wars of aggression to control or steal from others are most often sin.  Killings (especially of civilians) by such aggressors are akin to murder.

War may also be a means of defense to protect a people from an aggressor nation or government bent on getting for itself (not giving or serving) or imperialism.

People who advocate nonviolence see war as immoral, that God doesn’t justify war.  Similar is pacifism, which sees the disadvantages of warfare as greater than the advantages.  Just War Theory says war is justified if it’s done in self-defense or ‘to end gross violations of human rights’, cruel oppression.  Waging a ‘just war’ kills, but it isn’t murder.

The account of the first war in the Bible is in Ge.14.  King Chedorláomer had conquered and exacted tribute from the kings of five city-states.  It seems he wanted to take from them, but without providing commensurate benefits for them.  The five rebelled from his yoke.  So Chedorlaomer, with three allied kings, made war against the five.  One of those attacked was the king of Sodom.  Abrám’s nephew Lot lived in Sodom, and was taken captive with others.  v.14-16 Abram assisted the five-king coalition.  He led 318 of his fighting men to defeat the four invading kings and rescued Lot.  People were killed.  We might say that the five city-states (with Abram) engaged in a just war to stop unjust oppression.

Later in Ex.1–14, God miraculously delivered the ancient Israelites from bondage in Egypt.  His plagues killed numerous Egyptians.  But it wasn’t murder.  It’s God’s right to judge and take life as He sees fit.  Ex.14:14-31 “The Lord will fight for you; you shall hold your peace.”  He led them through the Sea.

Ex.17:8-16 after the Israelites departed Egypt, the descendants of Amalék (Esau’s grandson) made an unprovoked attack on weak Israelite stragglers (De.25:17-19).  In self-defense, Joshua/Israel fought and defeated the Amalekites.  God also said for their memory to be blotted out, as just retribution.

Christ, the Rock of Israel (e.g. De.32:4, 18, 1Co.10:4), brought the Israelites to the Promised Land.  Ex.15:3 “The Lord is a man of war, the Lord is His name.”  Ps.24:8 “The Lord is mighty in battle.”  Christ was as a man in His just war, to carry-out His judgment against evildoers, as He determined.

God wanted wicked inhabitants of the Land destroyed (Ex.23:23).  How?  De.7:1-4 Israel’s army became Christ’s agent, administering His judgment genocide upon the corrupt “nations” who inhabited Canaan.  God determined that inhabitants of the 7 nations were so depraved, they would corrupt others.

Before they entered the Promised Land, the Israelites had wanted to pass through the land of Edom via the King’s Highway trade route (Nu.20:14-21).  The Edomite army blocked them.  The Moabites wanted Balaám to curse Israel (Nu.22:1-ff); they fought with Israel (Jsh.24:9).  The Philistines and Ammonites attacked Israel (Jg.10:7-9).  In self-defense, Israel later repelled the Ammonites (1Sa.11:1-11).  King Saul would war against Moab, Ammon, Edom, the Philistines (1Sa.14:47).

De.20 contains laws of warfare.  Christ allowed His people to fight in self-defense against enemies.  v.1-4 the Lord would fight for them.  v.5-8 classifies the men exempt from military service: he who has built a house but not yet occupied it; he who has planted but not yet eaten the fruit (not until the 5^th year, Le.19:23-25); he who is engaged but hasn’t yet married her; he who is afraid (fear can spread to others).

De.20:9-14 Israel was to first offer terms of peace.  War should be a last resort.  If the enemy accepts terms of peace, it may pay annual tribute to Israel (and learn about the true God as a side benefit).  But if terms of peace are refused and the enemy chooses to make war, then Israel was to strike the men.  Israel was to take civilian women & children, animals, and other booty as spoils.

De.20:15-18 the above conditions pertained to enemy peoples outside the Land of Canáan.  (Israel was to destroy inhabitants of the evil 7 “nations” of the Land.)  v.19-20 Israel wasn’t to cut down edible trees in enemy lands.  They were food for Israel’s soldiers.  Israel could construct siege works against enemy cities from inedible trees.

In Nu.31:25-47, the Lord gave instructions how spoils of war were to be divided (De.20:14).  Israelite soldiers and non-soldiers were to receive two equal shares of the booty from the whole taken by them.  The soldiers paid 0.2% (1/500) of their half to the Lord/priests.  The non-soldiers paid 2.0% (1/50) of their half to the Levite non-priests.  (Among the Levites, only the clan of Aaron were priests.)  So the soldiers retained more residual spoils than did the non-soldiers.  Soldiering can be high-risk!  The priests received 10% of the amount the other Levites received.  (also cf. Ge.14:18-20 where Abram gave Priest–King Melchisedek 10% of the war spoils.)  But Israel’s high priest wasn’t authorized to receive any women as spoils…unlike other priests, he must marry only virgin Israelitesses (Le.21:1, 7, 10, 14).

After Moses, in the days of Joshua, the Lord still fought for Israel.  Jsh.10:14, 25 “Joshua said, ‘Be strong and courageous, for thus the Lord will do to all your enemies.”  Jsh.23:3, 10 “The Lord our God has been fighting for you, just as He promised.”  But Israel didn’t really trust Christ to be with them and help fight their battles (De.1:26-36).  They would want a king to lead them in battle and make conquests (1Sa.8:10-12, 18-22).  So after the period of judges, God gave them King Saul.  David succeeded Saul.

God taught David to war (Ps.144:1-2, 18:34, 44:4-7).  He became a war hero (e.g. 1Sa.18:5-7).  David subdued the Philistines, Moabites, Edomites (2Sa.8:1-14), Ammonites (2Sa.12:26-31).  Those peoples were a clear and present danger.  They’d tried to take Land portions within the borders of Israel.

There’s a time for war and a time for peace (Ec.3:8).  A nation would be remiss if it failed to somehow try to defend its citizens from an attacking nation.  Pr.24:6 “By wise counsel you shall wage war.”

2Sa.2:17-23 Saul’s cousin, general Abner, killed Ásahel, warrior brother of David’s general Joáb, in self-defense.  2Sa.3:26-30 but then Joab wrongly took vengeance by murdering Abner.  Killing in self-defense differs from murder!  Ex.22:1-3 even at the family level, an intruder breaking & entering a home at night might be killed by the residents acting in self-defense.  The Hebrew term for murder (and manslaughter) is rawtsák, Strongs h7523.

Jg.19-20 Even a (lopsided) civil war in Israel was commanded against the obdurate tribe of Benjamin.  The Benjamites had refused to turn over for prosecution the murderers from Gibeáh of Benjamin.

King David said in 1Sa.17:47, “The battle is the Lord’s”.  Yet the Lord didn’t allow David to build God’s temple, because David had shed much blood (1Ch.22:7-9, 1Ki.5:3-5).  David’s son Solomon, a man of peace, was allowed to build the temple.  2Sa.10:15-19 David expanded his kingdom into Syria, beyond the borders of Israel.  De.17:15-17 Israel’s king wasn’t to have numerous horses, not for use as a conquering cavalry in wars of aggression.  (Yet see 1Ch.18:3-4 regarding David’s expansionism.)

Later the united monarchy of Israel divided into the kingdom of Israel in the north and the kingdom of Judah in the south.  During the monarchies of Israel and Judah, there was much needless war.  1Ki.14:30, 15:32 even war between Israel and Judah (continually).  2Ki.16:5-6 the first time the term “Jews” occurs in scripture, the Jews (the southern kingdom of Judah) are fighting against an alliance of Israel & Syria!  2Ch.16:1-14 King Asa of Judah would have wars, because he trusted in his own Syrian alliance, not God.

2Ch.17:1-2, 10 King Jehoshaphát fortified Judah for self-defense.  Other nations feared to invade Judah.  2Ch.20:1-30 when an attack did come, praise-singing to God was ordered…not fighting.  v.17 “You need not fight in this battle; station yourselves, stand and see the salvation of the Lord.”  Judah’s ready army stood still.  v.23 Judah’s attackers then destroyed each other!

Is.63:7-10 overall, Israel rebelled against God and vexed His Holy Spirit.  So instead of fighting for them, Christ became their enemy and fought against them.  Consequently, Israel was taken captive by Assyria (2Ki.17:23).  The allies/”lovers” in whom Judah trusted spurned Judah.  The Lord said in Je.30:12-14, “All your lovers have forsaken you, for I have wounded you with the wound of an enemy, because your iniquity is great”.  The Lord sent Judah into captivity to Babylon.  Je.27:6-13 God gave Nebuchadnézzar a kingdom.  Je.21:3-7 Judah and nations who resisted him would die via warfare & famine.

This ends our compacted survey of warfare in the OT.  God, who brought the Israelites into the Promised Land by force of arms…in time, removed disobedient Israel and the Jews from the Land by force of enemy arms.  Ex.15:6-7 “In the greatness of Your excellence, You overthrow those who rise up against Thee.”

War is a consequence of sin.  Fast forwarding to today…in wars between peoples and nations, there are Christian brothers fighting each other!  For example, in the present day Syria civil war, Christians are fighting Christians.  Also Arab Christians in the Middle East fight Israeli Jewish Christians!  What!?

We’ll look at war in the New Testament, and recently, in “War & Killing and the Bible Christian (2)”.

Sabbath Day Became Sunday in Rome

This topic traces the church’s transition from meeting on the 7^th day sabbath to Sunday observance during the early centuries AD.  What factors led to the change?

Ge.2:1-3 “God blessed the 7^th day and made it holy.”  He sanctified His 7^th day cessation as holy time!  The vast majority of people today are unaware that since Creation a specific day of holy time comes & goes each week.  All things were created by Jesus the Word (Col.1:16, Jn.1:1-3, 14).  Jesus said the weekly sabbath was made for man, and He as Creator is Lord of the sabbath (Mk.2:27-28)!  Since Jesus said the sabbath rest was made for man, it is illogical to assume that God withheld knowledge of the sabbath day from man for millennia until the time of Moses!  (see the “Sabbath 7^th Day” series.)

We read in the New Testament (NT) that the saints of the apostolic church assembled together.  Originally the NT church was a gathering of people…it wasn’t the building where they met!  The Greek term rendered “church” is ekklésia, Strongs g1577; it occurs 118 times in the NT.

Lk.4:16 it was Jesus’ custom to attend the formal style of service of His day at synagogue (g4864) on the sabbath (g4521 sábbaton).  This custom resulted from the instruction God gave to Moses in Le.23:3. “On the 7^th day there is a sabbath of complete rest, a holy convocation. It is a sabbath to the Lord in all your dwellings.”  “Sabbath” is a holy day/period of cessation from certain activities.

But Jesus said His followers would become persecuted in synagogues, and eventually would have to leave them to avoid persecution.  Jn.16:2 “They will make you outcasts from the synagogue.”

Mt.18:15-20 Jesus authorized His own future assemblies or messianic Beit Din (‘House of Judgment’) with elders overseeing decisions…to “bind and loose” (forbid and permit), Mt.16:19.  Two or three local elders helped resolve internal disputes and made legal decisions for each local congregation.  Jewish synagogues were lay institutions with unpaid elders (zakén h2205, Hebrew).  Some Jewish Christians would call their own assemblies “synagogues” g4864, as James wrote in Ja.2:2.

But Jesus said church leaders aren’t to be lords (Mt.20:25-28).  Jesus is Lord (2Jn.1:3).  He is the ‘architect’ of His assembly (Mt.16:18)!  He died and rose again, and His NT church began in Acts 2.

All the earliest converts were Jewish Christians/Messianic Jews.  Then Ac.8:1-5, there was persecution at Jerusalem and a scattering (to Judea & Samaria) in the aftermath of Stephen’s martyrdom.

Then in Acts 10, uncircumcised gentiles (Cornelius et al) received the Holy Spirit too.

In Acts 13, Paul (Saul) went out evangelizing with Barnabas.  They went first to synagogues.  Eight synagogues are named in the NT where Paul is at synagogue.  Ac.13:14, 43-48 nearly all the people (Jews and gentiles) at Pisidían Antioch in Galatia went to synagogue on the sabbath day to hear Paul speak.  Paul said the gospel should be preached to the Jew first (cf. Ac.1:8).  Paul’s custom (and Jesus’ custom) was to attend synagogue on the sabbath day, ref Ac.17:1-2, 18:1, 4.

In Phílippi of Macedonia there were few Jews and no synagogue.  Yet Paul and Luke still worshiped on the sabbath day by the riverside with a few people to whom they could share the gospel, Ac.16:12-15!

Again, Jesus Himself attended synagogue on the sabbath day.  Lk.23:55-56 a few hours after Jesus died, the loyal Galilean women who witnessed His crucifixion “rested on the sabbath according to the commandment” (ref Ex.20:8-11).  The Jewish people (including Paul) have perpetuated the sabbath time God ordained at Creation.  The church emerged from this sabbath and synagogue background.  see the topic “Synagogue Influence on the Church”.

The gospel is also for gentiles, non-Jews (e.g. Ac.15:7-8).  Early-on these gentiles were God-fearers who frequented the synagogues (periphery of) on the sabbath day, Ac.13:14-16.  These God-fearers had different social customs, but believed the God of the Jews really is God! (cf. Ac.10:1-2.)

Jesus said synagogue persecution would come.  As Jewish Christians were forced out of synagogues, and the gospel spread into gentile areas, local assemblies with Jewish & gentile Christians together were raised up.  For various reasons, many of them began meeting after the sabbath day ended at sunset (Saturday evening), or on Sunday.  The reasons follow:

Earliest Christianity was viewed as another sect of Judaism.  Ac.24:5 Paul was a leader in the sect of the Nazarenes, Jewish Christians.  (see “Jewish Sects of the 1^st Century”.)

But near the end of the 1^st century, disbelieving Jews added a synagogue curse, the Bírkat HaMinim, upon Jewish Christian ‘heretics’ (so-called) in synagogues.  Everett Ferguson Backgrounds of Early Christianity “Gamaliél’s grandson Gamaliel II (active 80–120 AD) introduced into the Eighteen Benedictions the curse, ‘Let the Nazarenes and the heretics perish as in a moment, let them be blotted out of the book of the living’, which effectively excommunicated Christians from synagogues and formalized the break.”  Gary Morton Theological Vignettes “Around 100 years after the death of Christ, rabbis excommunicated the Christians, leaving them out of the synagogue and the Sabbath.”

Jewish Christians refused to recite the curse (against themselves), and quit the synagogues.  Marriage and forms of commerce with Christians became prohibited by Jews!

After the Jerusalem temple was destroyed in 70 AD, the Jewish temple tax was replaced by the fiscus judaicus tax of Emperor Vespasian (69–79 AD).  Jews paid it to the heathen temple of Jupiter Capitolinus!  Emperor Domitian (81–96 AD) broadened the levy to include other people who observed Jewish customs or lived like Jews.  (The tax continued until 360 AD.)

But if Christianity became a separate religion from Judaism…it wouldn’t be subject to the tax!  That’s what occurred.  Christianity became separate, no longer considered a sect of Judaism.

Lawrence Schiffman Christianity Parting of the Ways “The emperor Nerva (96–98 CE) freed the Christians (probably including the Jewish Christians) from paying the fiscus judaicus, the tax decreed as a punishment in the aftermath of the [Jewish] revolt of 66–73 CE. The Romans now regarded the Christians in general as a separate group.”

This discriminatory tax, paid to a pagan god, motivated gentile Christians to quit Jewish customs.  The customs included meeting on God’s 7^th day sabbath.  Historically, there was racial bias & animosity between Jews and gentiles anyway (ref Ac.11:2, 21:28).  Ingrained differences existed.  In any event….

Jewish and gentile Christians began the practice of meeting after the sabbath ended at sunset, or on Sunday…distinguishing them from hostile disbelieving Jews who met in synagogues on the 7^th day!

Also a factor in Sun-day meetings was the association of Jesus with the sun.  In scripture, Jesus is the prophesied “Sun of Righteousness” (Mal.4:2), and the symbolic “Sunrise from on high” (Lk.1:78).  Furthermore, Christ rose from the dead on a Sunday.  Commemorating the day of the week on which Jesus was resurrected became a primary reason for traditional Sunday observance over the centuries.

However, the 1^st day/Sunday isn’t referred to as ‘Resurrection Day’ in scripture.  That doesn’t appear until later writings.  Jesus didn’t designate worship of Him or rest on a Resurrection Day or Sundays!  Rather, that’s man’s tradition.  God never commanded in scripture Sunday/1^st day observance as a sabbath.  The leading NT apostles, Peter-John-Paul, didn’t try to change 7^th day holy time to Sunday!  Of note, Sunday isn’t mentioned in 1Clement, written from Rome to Corinth in the late 1^st century.

The Epistle of Barnabas, of uncertain authorship, is dated ca 100 AD.  It posits that the 7^th millennium fulfills God’s 7^th day sabbath rest.  Barn.15:9-10 “The 8^th day, that is, the beginning of the other world. In which cause we observe the 8^th day with gladness, in which Jesus rose from the dead.”  It advocates commemorating the eschatological 8^th day on the 1^st day of each week.  However, this epistle contains bias against Jews.  Graham Harter The ‘Letter of Barnabas’ “There is a definite undercurrent of hostility towards the Jewish people.”  Joe Watts Thoughts on Barnabas’s Epistle “Barnabas is stating that everything from Moses to Jesus is simply wrong. Barnabas several times says the covenant is ours (i.e. Christians) and not the Jews.”  Barnabas’ error contradicts Je.31:31 & He.8:8, which clearly states the New Covenant is with Israel/Judah.  Regardless of bias, Barnabas indicates Sunday meetings had begun.

The gentile Justin Martyr (100–165 AD) noted to a Jew in Dialogue With Tryphon XVI, “Cursing in your synagogues them that believe in Christ”.  Justin First Apology, Ch 68 (ca 150 AD) “But Sunday is the day on which we hold our common assembly, because it is the first day of the week and Jesus our savior on the same day rose from the dead.”  Sunday meetings were becoming widespread by 150 AD.

Also Sun–day meetings attracted heathens from old sun–worship (ref Ezk.8:16, Jb.31:26-28, 2Ki.23:5, 11, De.4:19) and from Míthraism.  Usage of the 7-day planetary week grew in the 1^st century.  (However, ancient Israelites and the Jews based their 7-day week on Ge.1:1–2:3 & Ex.16:22-30, and the Assyrians also had a 7-day week.)  The good news that Jesus died for the sins of the whole world (Jn.4:42) was accepted by peoples who’d viewed blood sacrifices as pleasing to their many heathen gods, 1Co.8:5 & 10:20.  (also see “Evangelism in the Apostolic Church”.)

The desire to attract pagans to Jesus led to more Sunday worship.  But this isn’t to say that all heathen gentiles as Christians worshiped the sun on Sun-day.  However, as these pagans came into the church, some of their past festive practices and art became assimilated…e.g. sun-disks, mistletoe, wass-ale-ing.

Pagan practices added to tensions between Jewish and gentile Christians, past idolators.  Gentiles BC had been viewed as outsiders, distinct from Jews.  (see “Gentiles’ in the Bible”.)  Racism existed.  The church gradually split into Jewish and gentile factions.  Gentiles began to outnumber Jews in the church.

In addition to persecution from disbelieving Jews (in and out of synagogues), Christians suffered persecutions from the heathen Roman Empire on-and-off for approximately 300 years.

In 274 AD, Roman Emperor Aurélian made the ‘Invincible Sun’ the official protector of the Empire!

Then in 312 AD, Emperor Constantine accepted a form of Christianity!  Christianity was formally recognized as a religion in 313 AD at Milan.  As a political move, Constantine instituted Sunday rest in his edict of 321 AD. “On the venerable day of the sun let the magistrates and people in cities rest.”  Although he was supposedly converted in 312 AD, Constantine still venerated the Sun/Sol in 321 AD.  Wikipedia: Sol Invictus “Constantine’s official coinage continues to bear images of Sol until 325 AD. His triumphal arch was carefully positioned to align with the colossal statue of Sol by the Colosseum.”

Sylvester I was Pope (314–335 AD) during Constantine’s reign.  “The same pope [Sylvester I] decreed that the rest of the sabbath should be transferred to the Lord’s Day [Sunday].”  Quoted by Rábanus Máurus (776–856 AD), archbishop of Mainz, Germany in De Clericorum Institutione (On the Institution of the Clergy), bk. 2, chap. 46, in MPL, Vol. 107, col 361. Trans. from the Latin.

Eusebius (264–340 AD), bishop of Caesárea and court theologian for Constantine, wrote in his 338 AD Commentary on the Psalms, (Ps.92) Vol. 23, cols 1171-2. “All things whatsoever that it was the duty to do on the Sabbath, we have transferred to the Lord’s Day.”  Rome and the church…men…made this change.  Not God!  Pressure from Rome and ‘the Church’ led to increased Sunday observance.

At the 363 AD Council of Laodicea, sabbath observance was officially banned. “Christians shall not Judaize by resting on the Sabbath, but must work on that day, rather honoring the Lord’s Day, resting then.”  To an increasing extent, the 7^th day sabbath had become changed to Sunday!

In the Edict of Thessalonica of 380 AD, Christianity became the state religion of the Roman Empire.

Later, Pope Gregory 1 even associated sabbath day rest with Antichrist!  He wrote in 597 AD, Letters 13:1 “It has come to my ears that certain men of perverse spirit have sown among you some things that are wrong and opposed to the holy faith, so as to forbid any work being done on the Sabbath day. What else can I call these [men] but preachers of Antichrist.”

And yet it was Christ…not Anti-christ…who’d revealed His 7^th day sabbath rest to Moses/Israel!  e.g. Ex.16:11-30 manna, 20:8-11 keep the sabbath day holy.  (see “Jesus Was The Old Testament God”.)

{Sidelight: It appears the NT church government was more an oligarchy, not a hierarchy.  As Peter, John & James went to the physically circumcised, Barnabas & Paul went to the uncircumcised gentiles (Ga.2:7-9).  Php.1:1 this letter was addressed also to the overseers/bishops (plural) and deacons in Philippi.  Plural bishops in one city.  In the apostolic church, there was no Pope!  The Holy Spirit is the ‘vicar of Christ’, so to speak.  The apostolic church wasn’t an indolent, immoral, corrupt monopoly.} 

But many Christians disregarded man’s attempt to change or ban meetings on God’s sabbath.  The 5^th century church historian Scholásticus wrote in Ecclesiastical History, Bk 5, Ch 22. “Although almost all churches throughout the world celebrate the sacred mysteries [of the Lord’s Supper] on the sabbath of every week, yet the Christians of Alexandria and at Rome have ceased to do this.”  Bk 6, Ch 8 “I mean Saturday and Lord’s Day of each week, on which assemblies are usually held in the churches.”

Furthermore, his contemporary Salmínius Sozómen wrote in Ecclesiastical History, Bk 7, Ch 19. “The people of Constantinople, and almost everywhere, assemble together on the sabbath, as well as on the first day of the week, which custom is never observed at Rome or at Alexandria.”  Rome essentially changed the sabbath to Sunday!  Others have followed suit.

Peter Heylyn, The History of the Sabbath, 1613. “Ambrose, the celebrated bishop of Milan, said that when he was in Milan he observed Saturday, but when in Rome observed Sunday. This gave rise to the proverb ‘When you are in Rome, do as Rome does.”  (Ambrose lived in the latter 300s AD.)

History indicates that some Christian masters in the Roman Empire gave their slaves both Saturday and Sunday off from work.  The late 4^th century Apostolic Constitutions, Bk 8, Ch 33. “Let the slaves work five days; but on the Sabbath Day and the Lord’s day let them have leisure to go to church for instruction in piety….The Sabbath is on account of the creation, and the Lord’s day of the resurrection.”

Yet the 7^th day as holy time/rest remains unchanged in scripture, regardless of other meeting days!  Roman Catholic Archbishop James Gibbons admitted in The Faith of Our Fathers (1876). “You may read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, and you will not find a single line authorizing the sanctification of Sunday. The Scriptures enforce the religious observance of Saturday, a day which we never sanctify.”  Albert Smith, Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, replied for the cardinal in a letter of Feb 10, 1920. “If Protestants would follow the Bible, they should worship God on the Sabbath Day, that is, Saturday. In keeping Sunday they are following a law of the Catholic Church.”  Not a law of God.  (I’m not 7^th Day Adventist.)  Again, ref the “Sabbath 7^th Day” series.

To recap, the main reasons behind the change from the 7^th day sabbath rest/observance to Sunday:

#1 Jewish Christians were forced out of synagogues which kept the sabbath; the synagogue curse was added.  #2 Rome levied the fiscus judaicus tax against those who observed Jewish customs (such as the sabbath).  #3 Prejudice between Jews and gentiles.  #4 Sunday meetings distinguished Christians from disbelieving Jews who met in synagogues on the 7^th day.  #5 Since Jesus rose on a Sunday, men began the tradition of observing Sundays.  #6 Heathens accustomed to pagan sun-worship were attracted to Christianity by Sun-day meetings.  #7 Roman Emperor Aurelius made the ‘Invincible Sun’ the official protector of the Empire; Emperor Constantine accepted Christianity and mandated “rest on the venerable day of the sun” in cities.  #8 The institutional church council outlawed 7^th day sabbath rest.

Thus Sunday meetings became prominent over the centuries, and through Roman Catholic Church influence.  Yet man cannot change the actual 7^th day holy time sanctified by God from the beginning!  God’s word in the scriptures is authoritative, regardless of man’s traditional practices or decrees.

However, the word ‘sabbath’ means ‘cessation’…not ‘worship’, not ‘go to church’.  (Though worship and church are done on the sabbath.)  We may worship the Lord and attend church gatherings/events any or every day.  But only the 7^th day sabbath is holy time, ordained by God for man at Creation.

Israelites Identification (2)

Foundational scriptures for this topic were covered in “Israelites Identification (1)”.  This Part 2 is the sequel.  Part 2 won’t contain a full recap of what was covered in Part 1.  Verses referenced in (1) are essential for (2).  Also see the topic “Israelite Deportations by Assyria” for more background.

Part 1 ended with Hoséa’s prophecy.  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 of Israel would be exiled from the Holy Land, and become a multitude in Assyria, Persia, and elsewhere.  But 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!”  Yet eventually in the future, descendants of the 10 tribes would become the people of God again!  Israel gathered to Christ together with the descendants of the southern kingdom of Judah, the Jews (ref Ezk.37:15-22)…all 12–13 tribes together.

“Israelites Identification (1)” noted Josephus’ Antiquities of the Jews 11:5:2. “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 of the northern kingdom of Israel 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.”

Jewish Virtual Library “The belief in the continued existence of the ten tribes was regarded as an incontrovertible fact during the whole period of the Second Temple and of the Talmud.”  Jewish Encyclopedia: Tribes, Lost Ten “Those of Judah and Levi [and Benjamin] returned with Ezra and Nehemiah. If the Ten Tribes have disappeared, the literal fulfilment of the prophecies would be impossible; if they have not disappeared, obviously they must exist under a different name.”  Only the 2–3 tribes of Judah, Benjamin, Levi, not the 10, returned to the Land from Babylonian captivity.

In the 60s AD, Peter wrote to scattered people living among gentiles in the area of Asia Minor, north from the Holy Land (1Pe.1:1).  1Pe.2:9-12 “You are a chosen stock, a royal priesthood, a holy nation. You were once not a people, but now you are the people of God. Conduct yourselves honorably among the gentiles [nations].”  The scattered resident aliens to whom Peter wrote included those who were “not a people”, but had now become the people of God.  Peter tied them to the ancient northern Israelites of Ho.1:10 & 2:23.  Israelites migrated from captivity.  Jews did too.  Peter continued, 1Pe.4:16 “If anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed”.  Recipients of 1Peter had become Christians of God!

Paul wrote in Ro.9:6, “They are not all Israel who are of Israel”.  There was a spiritual remnant.  v.24-27 “Even us whom He also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among gentiles. As He says in Hosea, ‘I will call those who were not My people, My people. Though the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant will be saved.” (Paul here also quotes Is.10:22 LXX).  Paul too relates the 10 tribes of Israel to…gentiles. (also see the topic “Gentiles in the Bible”.)

Paul continues in Ro.11:13, addressing gentiles, “I am speaking to you gentiles”.  v.17-26 RSV “I want you to understand this mystery, brethren; a hardening has come upon part of Israel, until the full number of the Gentiles come in, and so all Israel will be saved.”  JFB Commentary Ro.11:25 “Blindness (hardness) has come partially, or upon a portion of Israel.”  Meyer’s NT Commentary “A part of Israel is hardened, until the gentiles collectively shall have come in.”  Jews and gentiles, including the 10 tribes, together the people of God.  All Israel.  Judah and Joseph as “one stick” (Ezk.37:15-ff).

Paul spoke his defense before King Agríppa in Ac.26:6-7. “Now I’m standing trial for the hope of the promise made by God to our fathers; which our 12 tribes hope to obtain, as they serve God night and day. For this hope, O King, I am being accused by the Jews.”  Does Paul here differentiate the 12 tribes from the Jews, or are the “12 tribes” representative of “Jews”?  Cambridge Bible Notes Ja.1:1 “The ten tribes of the Kingdom of Israel, though they had been carried into a more distant exile than Judah and Benjamin, were thought of, not as lost and out of sight, but as still sharing the faith and hope of their fathers. So St Paul speaks of ‘the twelve-tribed nation’ as ‘serving God day and night’ (Ac.26:7), and our Lord’s promise that His twelve disciples should sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel (Mt.19:28).”  1Clement 22:24 “Nor did Esther expose herself to any less hazard, for the delivery of the 12 tribes of Israel, in danger of being destroyed.”  After the Assyrian and Babylonian captivities, Israelites of the 12 tribes were in Persia too at the time of queen Esther (400s BC).

By the 1^st century, many Jews saw the restoration of the 12 tribes as part of the eschatological work of Elijah or Messiah (ref Mt.19:28).  Ja.1:1 “James, a bondservant of God, to the 12 tribes who are scattered abroad, greetings.”  Benson Commentary Ja.1:1 “James very properly inscribed his letter to the twelve tribes which were in the dispersion, seeing the twelve tribes really existed then, and do still exist, although not distinguished by separate habitations, as they were anciently in their own land.”  Gill Exposition “They were the posterity of those who had been dispersed in former captivities, by the Assyrians and others, and who remained in the several countries whither they were carried, and never returned. We read of 144,000 sealed of all the tribes of Israel, Re.7:4.”  Those weren’t just the Jews.

Rabbi A.H. Fink from Spokane, WA, “The Jews do not claim to represent the twelve tribes, for the ten tribes never returned from captivity and are lost to history.”

In 1Co.10:18, Paul speaks of “Israel according to the flesh”, the physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob/Israel.  Yet Paul’s writings reflect both a fleshly and a ‘spiritual Israel’.  In Ga.6:15-16, Paul doesn’t restrict the “Israel of God” to those physically circumcised (Jews).  Ellicott Commentary “By the ‘Israel of God’ is here meant the ‘spiritual Israel’, not converts from Judaism alone.”  JFB Commentary “Not the Israel after the flesh, but the spiritual seed of Abraham by faith.”  Paul wrote in Ga.3:28-29, “There is neither Greek nor Jew, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed.”  Gentiles are grafted-in, as Paul puts it in Ro.11:17.

The New Covenant is with descendants of Israel and Judah, God’s two ancient kingdoms.  In He.8:8-10 the writer quoted God’s words to Jeremiah. “I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. I will put My laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God and they shall be My people.”  According to Paul, gentiles share in the new covenant by being grafted-in, becoming part of spiritual Israel.  God writes His laws on their hearts & minds via the Holy Spirit.

In Mt.12:3-4, Jesus spoke of the time David had “entered the house of God”.  The Old Testament house of God was the tabernacle/temple (e.g. Jg.18:31, 2Ch.3:3).  Later He.4:14, 10:21 “We have a great priest over the house of God”.  Now Jesus is High Priest over the house of God (in the order of Melchisedek, He.5:6).  Paul wrote in 1Ti.3:15, “The house of God, which is the church of the living God”.  There’s no more physical temple…the house of God is the church of God!

God’s kingdom and temple “house” was taken from those Jewish leaders…and is given to others.  Jesus proclaimed in Mt.21:42-46, “The kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a nation bearing the fruit of it. The chief priests and Pharisees understood He was speaking about them.”  Accordingly, in 70 AD the kingdom was taken from the physical ‘nation’ of Judaea, and given to a spiritual “nation” bearing fruit.  1Ch.28:5-6 the old kingdom.  De.4:23-27 if the ancient Israelites ignore or violate God’s covenant, they wouldn’t remain in God’s Land!  So God exiled them to other nations.  Paul spoke of them in Ro.10:19 (ref De.32:21 LXX), “I will make you jealous by that which is not a nation”.  The “nation” bearing fruit isn’t a singular national entity.  Again 1Pe.2:9-10 “You are a royal priesthood, a holy nation.”  Peter wrote to a holy “nation”, Christians (1Pe.4:16)…the house of God.

So where are the 10 or 12 tribes of Israel located, since Christ?  Josephus Wars of the Jews 2:16:4 is Herod’s 1^st century speech about Israelite tribes then beyond the Euphrates in Ádiabene (central old Assyria).  Then around 300 years after Josephus, Jerome said the ten tribes were “Still beyond the Euphrates, in the land of their captivity. Nor has their captivity ever been loosed” (Opera 6:780).  They were still  ‘lost’, gone from the Holy Land.

Asahel Grant wrote The Nestorians in 1841.  Grant had missionary experiences in Assyria & Persia.  He there encountered a people who displayed an Israelite culture and claimed to be descendants of ancient Israel.  We’ve also heard of Ethiopian Jews.  The Lemba people in Zimbabwe observe Jewish customs.  In northeast India are a people who exhibit a surviving Israelite culture and claim descent from the tribe of Manasséh.  Some think even Queen Elizabeth of England looked Jewish!?

Dr. J.H. Hertz, Chief Rabbi of the British Empire, said in 1918: “The people known as Jews are the descendants of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, with a certain number of the tribe of Levi. So far as is known, there is not any further admixture of other tribes. The Ten Tribes have been absorbed among the nations of the world. The Jews look forward to the gathering of all the tribes at some future date.”

So the ancient 10 tribes of northern Israel, and the Jews too, are for the most part now assimilated into the various nations.  And intermarriage is increasing!  In 1900 AD, only 2% of married Jews worldwide were wed to non-Jews or gentiles.  In 1975 that figure was 25%.  But by 2004, 50% of marrying Jews intermarry with non-Jews.  And among non-Orthodox Jews in the USA, in 2013 the intermarriage rate is 70%.  And beyond Jews, it’s speculated that by now at least a small fractional % of our father Abraham’s ‘blood’, so to speak, is existent in most nations, if not in most people on earth!

Who is a real Jew today?  Regardless of descent, some consider a Jew to be anyone who practices Judaism.  But the religion or oral tenets of Judaism wasn’t that of ancient Jacob/Israel’s son Judah.  Judaism isn’t ‘Judah-ism’, so to speak.  Many say a (genetic) Jew is anyone who has a Jewish mother (some add, ‘and who hasn’t adopted another faith’).  Sects within Judaism have differing views on this issue.  However, in scripture, genealogies are patrimonial; not reckoned from the mother, whose name often isn’t included.  (a related topic is “Levites and the Exodus Multitude”.)

Some Jews say physical circumcision is unnecessary.  Joseph Jacobs wrote in 1905, Jew. Enc. X, 283. “The question whether the Jews of today are in the main descended from the Jews of Bible times, and from them alone, is still undecided.”  And after 3,500+ years of intermarriage & proselytizing, today it’s difficult to ascertain who’s really of the Abraham–Isaac–Jacob–12 tribe line anyway!

Genetic studies have produced mixed results…“No test can give you unambiguous proof.”  Some results may seem surprising.  Wikipedia: Genetic Studies on Jews “Many genetic studies also found substantial genetic overlap between Muslim Palestinians and Ashkenazi and Sephárdic Jews.”  Wikipedia: Canaanite Religion “The DNA [50%] of the modern Arab and Jewish people matches the DNA of the ancient Canaanites.”  Patheos: “Y–chromosome haplotypes revealed that Arabs and Jews are essentially a single population. Palestinians and Jews are virtually indistinguishable.”

Semites are a language group, not a racial group.  Today 340 million people speak Semitic languages (Shem, Ham, Jápheth were the three sons of the patriarch Noah, Ge.10:1).  Of those: 300 million speak Arabic, 22 million Amháric (Ethiopia), 7 million Tigrínya (Horn of Africa), 10 million speak Hebrew.  (Yiddish was mostly a Germanic language, not a Semitic.)  By definition, anti-Semitic opposes Arabs, Ethiopians, Jews/Hebrew speakers.  But usually the term is used wrongly, with racial implications.  Dr. Benjamin Freedman (Facts Are Facts, 1954) thought the term anti-Semitism doesn’t apply to Jews in the sense its most commonly used, and even “should be eliminated from the English language”.

The question continues to be raised as to whether some secular Zionist Jews who founded the modern Israeli state were really Semites (‘Shemites’, descended from Shem)?  Their Yiddish language wasn’t Semitic.  They’re Ashkenazi (German) ‘Jews’.  Ge.10:1-3 but Ashkenáz descended from Noah’s son Japheth, not Shem.  If so, possibly they’re non-Semitic (and pre-1950 had a non-Semitic language, Yiddish), perhaps descending from East European Slavs; i.e. Kházars who settled in Russia & Ukraine.  In 740 AD, the ruler of Khazária adopted Judaism as their official state religion.

Jewish scholar Arthur Koestler wrote in The Thirteenth Tribe: “The Khazars came not from Jordan, but from the Volga, not from Canaan, but from the Caucasus. Genetically they are more related to the Hun, Úygur and Mágyar than to the seed of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The story of the Khazar Empire, as it slowly emerges from the past, begins to look like the most cruel hoax that history has ever perpetrated.”

But Jewish scholar Yair Davidiy doesn’t think the Khazars came from Turkish stock. The Khazars, Tribe 13 “Early traditions spoke of the Lost Ten Tribes being in the Scýthian and Khazar areas. According to most Jewish sources, Khazars were a portion of the 10 tribes, especially Ephráim and Manasseh. All Jews are Israelites but not all Israelites are Jews, in the same way that all Texans are Americans but not all Americans are Texans.” (p.200)

Descendants from Japheth and Ashkenaz traditionally settled in Germany, but were driven out and established new communities elsewhere in Europe.  They called themselves Ashkenazi, following customs & rulings previously practiced by Jews in Germany.

The Sephardic Jews are in the minority.  ref Ob.1:20 “Sepharád”.  Sepharad meant Spain to rabbis.  Sepharim were Spanish Jews or those following customs & rulings of Spanish Jews.  Sephardics now dwell around the Mediterranean area and North Africa.  Any future DNA matching for the 10 tribes?

When the Land allotments were originally assigned to the tribes of Israel (Jsh.14–19), at least 50% of the West Bank area inheritance went to the tribes of Ephraim & Manasseh & Issachár, not all of it to Judah & Benjamin (who became the Jews)!  And in the north, the area of the Golan Heights within Israel went to Manasseh (and a fringe area to Naphtalí), not to Judah or Benjamin.  That’s Bible history and geography from Joshua, not so-called anti-Semitism.  Yet…if the Khazars descended from the tribes of Israel, adopted Judaism, intermarried with Jews, and some of their seed returned to the Land during the past 130 years…then some living in modern Israel are the seed of ancient Israelites?!

Who is a true descendant of Abraham and Jacob/Israel?  Ga.3:28-29 “There is neither Greek nor Jew, you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed.”  Paul includes all who are in Christ…Christians. (Ro.11:24 with Jews re-grafted.)  Ge.17:1-6 anciently God changed Abrám’s name to Abraham, because he would become father of many nations.  Ro.4:16-17 includes all who have the same faith as “Abraham, the father of us all”.  Ro.11:26 thus all Israel will be saved!

Paul wrote in Ro.2:28-29, “Neither is circumcision outward in the flesh. But he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart [cf. De.30:6], by the Spirit.”  According to Paul, it’s spiritual; not based on physical circumcision or a % of Jewish blood ancestry.

To conclude: Re.7:4-8 “I heard the number of those who were sealed, 144,000 from every tribe of the sons of Israel.”  John identifies 12 tribes (including the tribe of Judah).  Re.21:10-12 “It had a great and high wall with twelve gates; and names were written on them, those of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel.”  At the end of the Book…the names of the 12 tribes are on the gates of the Holy City!

Ps.22:23, 27-28 “You who fear the Lord, praise Him. All you seed of Jacob, glorify Him. All you seed of Israel. All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord. And all the families of the nations will worship before Thee.”  (Ge.32:28 God changed the man Jacob’s name to Israel, see Part 1.)  Eventually all the tribes will be saved.  All the nations will praise Christ, the God/Rock of Israel.  Praise the Lord!!

Church Meetings of the Apostolic Age

In Christianity today, there are many church denominations.  Also there are non-denominational believers.  Churchgoers engage in different activities or proceedings in their church meetings.  Modern group practices vary.

What did the Holy Spirit inspire early Christians of the Apostolic Age to do in their services, according to the New Testament (NT)?  The Apostolic Age was the period of time from when Jesus called His original 12 disciples/apostles until the death of the apostle John near the end of the 1^st century AD.  What Was the Apostolic Age? “The foundations of the Christian church were established then.”

In the decades (and early centuries) after Jesus’ death, diverse Christian groups developed.  The seven churches of Revelation 2-3 definitely had their differences!

{Sidelight: One branch of (marginal) Christian Gnostics reportedly had a very unorthodox approach to their meetings.  Members would draw lots at every service, and let those lots determine which persons that day would perform the various functions within the meeting.  For example, whoever drew the lot for the sermon would give the sermon that day.  Next meeting when they drew lots again, the mix of functions among those present would change.  This approach seems unorganized or haphazard, compared to more usual and orthodox church formats.}

The church at large belongs to Jesus.  He’s building it.  Jesus said in Mt.16:18, “I will build My church”.  Ep.4:11-13 Jesus provides diverse giftings & abilities for His church, His figurative “body”.  These are distributed in each congregation and area (there is some overlap within a group).  1Co.12:1, 18, 27-31 it is thought that every Christian has received at least one spiritual gift.  Some Christians, like the apostle Paul, are given several such gifts.  (also see the topic “Spiritual Gifts and ‘Tongues”.)

Here we’ll look at NT examples that reflect what was done during Christian worship services of the Apostolic Age.  (also see “Synagogue Influence on the Church”.)  Some functions are more visible at meetings than others are.  God’s Presence in the meeting is a priority!  The primary purpose of church meetings is to meet with God!  From scripture, following are four main components of services:

1) Praise/hymns and songs.  This is very important.  Many Old Testament (OT) Psalms were probably songs.  Ps.100:4 enter in to God’s Presence with thanksgiving & praise.  Paul exhorted in Ep.5:19, “Speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord”.  Ps.144:9 “I will sing a new song to Thee, O God, upon an instrument.”  Also ref Col.3:16.  If we meet in services, but don’t enter into the Lord’s Presence, the meeting could possibly proceed according to personal agendas.

2) Prayers.  1Ti.2:8-9a reflects men and women unitedly lifting up holy hands in prayer (and praise).  David wrote in Ps.63:4, “I will bless Thee, I will lift up my hands in Thy Name”.  The Levitical priests in the synagogue or temple lifted up hands to their shoulders or head for benedictions.  Lk.24:50 Jesus too lifted up hands in blessing.  Ac.12:12 reflects an early house church prayer meeting, “Where many were gathered together praying”.  In Ac.16:13-14 while Paul was traveling in Europe, he and Luke found a group to pray & worship with on the sabbath day.  (see “Evangelism in the Apostolic Church”.)

But it seems too many Christian groups ignore fervent prayer in their meetings.  For that matter, Paul said we should try to remain in a continual attitude of “pray without ceasing” (1Th.5:17), whether in church or out.  The NT church did much prayer!

3) Teaching/Preaching from scripture.  Perhaps this component is second in importance.  In 1Ti.4:13, Paul exhorted Timothy to “give attention to the public reading of Scripture”.  The scriptures Timothy had in those days were almost entirely from the Old Testament.  2Ti.3:16-17 “All scripture is inspired by God”, according to Paul.  Yet in many churches today, little is read other than the gospels and Paul’s own writings, or one springboard text.  2Ti.4:2 “Preach the word…rebuke, exhort with patience and instruction.”  In the Apostolic Era church, the scriptures were read as teaching and exhortation!  (That’s not to say the speaker shouldn’t devote time to relating personal anecdotes or storytelling from the pulpit to make a point.)

The above three components could take a while to complete.  In Ac.20:6-8, Paul gave a long discourse until past midnight.  The Hebrew term for a scriptural discourse or sermon was derásha.  Ac.15:32 Judas and Silas encouraged the brethren with a lengthy message.  Ac.13:15-41 is Luke’s synopsis of the discourse Paul gave in the synagogue at the Roman military colony of Pisidían Antioch.

The classic example for the long church service is found in Ne.8:2-6, when Ezra read the book of the law “from early morning until midday”!  (As an aside, when hearers learn and do the word in their daily lives, less pastoring is needed.)  My personal preference is for a speaker to say his sermon in a maximum of 60 or perhaps 75 minutes.  On occasion, the Holy Spirit (HS) may inspire a longer talk (such as Paul’s Troás discourse in Ac.20:7).

1 Corinthians 14 may be viewed as a type of model for church meetings.  1Co.14.1-3 prophecy wasn’t restricted to only predictions or words of knowledge (like the OT seer/see-er).  Prophecy includes edification, exhortation, consolation, besides encouragement & spiritual strengthening (Ac.15:32).  It is speaking the inspired words of God through the HS, via scripture reading and otherwise.  1Co.14:26-30 let 2 or 3 speak (this glimpses the 2 or 3 witnesses pattern, e.g. Mt.18:16).  It seems Paul didn’t view Christian services as a discussion forum or chat format to just share opinions or speculations.

Teachers, preachers, Bible expositors may welcome others’ revelations, insights, comments, or questions from the group (this will lengthen the meeting).  Some object to services that are too formal or inflexible or too long.  The HS should be allowed to guide the meeting.  But if preaching or teaching isn’t inspired by the Spirit, merely speaking our own words is of less value.

1Co.14:31-32 over the months, all so moved by the HS can share their testimony, sermonettes, or sermons…whether topical, expository, extemporaneous, doctrinal, historical Bible incidents, etc.  All sermon types can be spiritually uplifting, pertinent, informative, when prepared through prayer in the Lord’s will.  We want to experience the HS in the meeting…and learn God’s word and God’s character.

1Co.14:33 there should be no confusion or disorder at church services.  It’s not the place for the person who doesn’t come in peace, or who has a personal agenda which may be disruptive.  There should be a sense of holiness present.  v.37 these instructions written by Paul were “the Lord’s commandment”, not Paul’s own words!  Paul concludes the passage in v.39-40. “Let all things be done decently and in order.”  Orderly structure is important.  (also see “Female Roles in the Early Church”.)

4) Food (with the Lord’s Supper).  Ac.2:46 these Jewish Christians were “taking their meals together”.  Spiritual ties can be made stronger by sharing meals.  Jude 1:12a regular lovefeasts were common.  Historically those meals included bread & wine communion.  (see the topics “Bread and Wine in the Church” and “Wine or Grape Juice in Jesus’ Cup?”.)

The financially more well-to-do Christians brought food to share (perhaps potluck style) with the poorer saints.  But there were problems at the lovefeasts in Corinth.  1Co.11:20-34 Paul admonished them to be considerate of one another at their lovefeasts & eucharist.  The intent is to commune with God’s Presence!  This communion is part of meeting with God…at the Lord’s table (1Co.10:21).

Also at church meetings there’s a place for: praise reports, prayer requests, anointing for healing and laying on hands (Ja.5:14-16), inspirational special music/poetry/dance (David danced, 2Sm.6:14), spiritually meaningful personal experiences, giving to others, etc…all done in an orderly manner.

We probably have our favorite portions of the services, and also components we like less (for example, speculative ‘prophecies’ so-called and conspiracy theories may engender skepticism).  Some fellowships seem to ignore various parts of the above NT meeting guidelines, preferring to do more their own thing.  Although I don’t think form/order is greater than substance, it is nevertheless beneficial to do the components which the Spirit led them to do as recorded in the Bible.

The NT is not just about our “life in Christ” of Romans, Ephesians, Colossians…it is also the structure of Acts, Corinthians, Timothy.  (see “Church Structure and Member Functions”.)  Generally, group practices engaged in during meetings should be modeled upon NT examples & doctrine.  Yet….

God can do what He wants through the Holy Spirit!  2Ch.5:12-14 “The house of the Lord was filled with a cloud, so the priests couldn’t stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of God.”  Even at the OT Temple dedication, the praise was magnificent!  The Shekínah glory/kavód (Hebrew) cloud was so heavy, the priests were unable to stand up to minister!

Also people have testified of their miraculous healings at church meetings!  Although the Spirit doesn’t contradict the Spirit or violate God’s word…God is in charge.  God’s will be done.

To recap, the essential components at church meetings from the Bible are: 1) Singing praise/hymns; 2) Prayers; 3) Scriptural teaching/exhortation; 4) Fellowship meal/Lord’s Supper.

Ro.12:4-8 this passage reflects prophecy/inspired preaching, ministry, teaching, exhortation, giving, leading, acts of mercy.  These gifts enable the local church to function harmoniously in love and peace/shalóm.

He.10:24-25 “Let us consider how to motivate one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together.”  Believers with the Holy Spirit are to assemble together.  Assembling can include online Christian chatrooms and livestreaming services, especially for the elderly or infirm.  Let’s all take this verse to heart and regularly gather together somewhere, whether in-person or not.

Commonly, the NT meeting place was house churches.  ref Ac.2:46, 8:3, 20:20; Ro.16:5; Col.4:15; 1Co.16:19; Phm.1:2; 2Jn.1:10.

Lastly…in many nations today, Christian worship services take place with little or no persecution.  But that’s not the case in all nations.  Reportedly, there are 150 million Christians in China, many or most of them meeting ‘underground’ in house churches.  We pray for Christians who are persecuted, that they will be granted favor and positively impact their society with the gospel.

The Lord has given us guidelines in the NT for church meetings.  Thanks be to God for the opportunity and privilege to meet together in fellowship with the saints!