Ark of the Testimony – Journeys (1)

The “Ark of the Testimony” (seen in Ex.25:16, Jsh.4:16, e.g.) was the most important object in God’s portable tabernacle which Moses/Israelites constructed.  The Hebrew term for “ark” is aróne, Strongs h727; “testimony” is aydúth h5715.  The Ark was also known as the “Ark of the Covenant” (h1285, Nu.10:33, e.g.), the “Ark of the Lord” (h3068, Jsh.3:13), and the “Ark of God” (h430, 1Sm.3:3).

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

This two-part topic traces the journeys of the Ark of the Testimony/Covenant through the history of ancient Israel.  Part 1 covers the time from its construction in the aftermath of Israel’s exodus from Egypt…until the capture of the Ark by the enemy Philistines circa (c) 1100 BC.

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

Ex.19:1 “In the third month after the sons of Israel went out from Egypt, they came to the wilderness of Sinai.”  While Moses was up on Mt Sinai for 40 days (Ex.24:18), the Lord gave him instructions for the tabernacle (mishkán h4908), its furnishings, and the Ark.  (also see “God Tabernacles With Humans”.)

Ex.25:1, 10-21 “The Lord spoke to Moses, ‘They [Israelites] shall construct an ark of acacia wood. Overlay it with pure gold. You shall make a mercy seat of pure gold, and two cherubim of gold at the two ends of the mercy seat, their wings spread upward. You shall put the mercy seat on top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the testimony which I shall give you.”

The dimensions of the Ark were about 45 in. wide, 27 in. deep, 27 in. high.  It was a gilded rectangular chest.  The Ark had rings on the sides through which two long poles were inserted to carry it from site to site.  (The Lord said the descendants of Levi’s son Koháth were to carry it, Nu.4:4-6 & 7:9).

Continuing with Ex.25:22, “There I will meet with you from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are upon the ark of the testimony”.  The Lord Christ would seat Himself atop the mercy seat, from where He would command Moses and Israel’s high priests of His principles & ways.

It was called the “Ark of the Testimony” because God’s own testimony of moral principles against sin, written on tablets, was placed inside.  Gill Exposition Ex.25:16 “This was put into the ark…which may signify the law was in the heart of Christ.”  The law reflected the character of Christ, ‘seated’ above.

Ex.31:18 “When He [the Lord] finished speaking with him [Moses], He gave Moses the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, inscribed with the finger of God.”  These principles were the Ten Words (h1697 dabarim), called the Ten Commandments, the Decalogue.

Moses recounted in De.10:4 LXX NETS, “He wrote on the tablets the Ten Words (g3056 lógos, Greek), which the Lord spoke to you in the mountain out of the midst of the fire [Ex.20:1-18], and the Lord gave them to me”.  Also cf. De.4:13 LXX, where the Greek term for “words” is g4487 rhéma.  The Decalogue was both logos and rhema.  In addition…a jar of manna (Ex.16:32-34), Aaron’s rod (Nu.17:10), and later God’s book of the law (De.31:26, 2Ch.34:14-15) were placed in or by the Ark.

The Ark with the mercy seat resided in the Holy of Holies room of the tabernacle (Ex.26:34).  Aaron the high priest was authorized to enter that compartment only once each year, on the Day of Atonement.  There he would sprinkle blood on the mercy seat of the Ark, to atone for Israel’s sins (Le.16:2, 14-17).  The Ark with the mercy seat signified God’s judgment and mercy.

Ex.30:26 initially Moses was to mix holy anointing oil and “anoint the tabernacle and the ark of the testimony”.  Ex.40:17-21 the Ark was brought into the completed tabernacle at Sinai 11 ½ months out of Egypt.  v.34-35 the Holy Spirit glory cloud filled the tabernacle on the occasion!  v.36-38 “In all their journeys, whenever the cloud was taken up, the sons of Israel would set out.”  They weren’t to leave a site until the Shekínah glory lifted; Nu.9:21-22 “Whether it was after two days, a month, or a year.”

For much of ancient Israel’s BC history (subsequent to Egypt), the Ark and the tabernacle were together at the same site/location.  But they weren’t together during all that period of time, as we’ll see.

Nu.10:11-13, 33 in the 2^nd month of the 2^nd year, they departed Sinai with the ark for a 3-days’ journey to the Parán Wilderness.  Nu.11:3, 34-35 their first stops after Sinai were Taberáh/Kibróth-hattaváh and Hazeróth.  De.1:1-3, 19 it was an 11-day march by way of Mt Seir from Horéb/Sinai to the Kadésh-barnéa spring/oasis in Paran (Ge.14:6-7 spring of judgment, Nu.12:16, 13:3, 26, 32:8).  De.1:46 “They remained in Kadesh many days.”  Nu.14:33-34 they won’t enter the Promised Land until the 40^th year!

Nu.20:1-2, 13-14, 27:14, 33:36 in the 40^th year, they camped at Meribáh Kadésh (not an oasis!) in the Wilderness of Zin.  Nu.33 lists in order their 40–45 encampments made during the 40-year journey to the promised Land of Canáan.  Moses died just before they entered-in (De.34:5).

Jsh.3:3-ff after 40 years, priests with the Ark went before Israel as they finally crossed the Jordan River, c 1572 BC.  Jsh.4:19 “The people came up from the Jordan and camped at Gilgál on the eastern edge of Jericho.”  The Ark is at Gilgal in the Promised Land.  Jsh.6:1-20 in their conquest of Jericho, Israelite warriors marched behind the Ark, circling Jericho for 7 days.  Jsh.14:6 Joshua’s HQ location is Gilgal.

Then Jsh.18:1, “The sons of Israel assembled at Shilóh and set up the tent of meeting there.”  God’s tent of meeting/tabernacle and Ark were moved from Gilgal to Shiloh.  Centuries later the Lord recounted in Je.7:12, “…My place which was in Shiloh, where I made My Name dwell at the first”.  Christ ‘dwelled’ atop the Ark at Shiloh.  Jsh.22:9 Israel had “gathered together at Shiloh.”  (Jsh.24:1, 25 the LXX and Arabic versions have “Shiloh”.)  Joshua’s HQ became Shiloh; it means ‘place of rest’.

Jg.2:6-9 Joshua died c 1547 BC.  (see “Chronology – the Exodus to Samuel”.)  Jg.2:1 LXX “The angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal…to Bethél, to the house of Israel.”  Jg.2:5 Israel sacrificed there (Bethel/‘Bochím’, where they ‘wept’).  The Divine Captain of God’s host had earlier appeared to Joshua while Israel was camped at Gilgal (Jsh.5:10-15), prior to Shiloh.  Shortly before Joshua’s death, the Ark and tabernacle where sacrifices were made were moved from Shiloh to nearby Bethel (the Luz of Ge.28:19, Jg.1:23).  Cambridge Bible Jg.2:1 “A transference of the sanctuary [to Bethel] (Jdg 2:5b).”

{Sidelight: Jg.17–21 these ending chapters of Judges are a flashback to side events which occurred earlier in the book, but weren’t inserted then (to not interrupt the timeflow).  Henry Commentary Jg.17:1 “What is related in…the rest of the chapters to the end of this book, was done soon after the death of Joshua.”  Pulpit Commentary “Two detached histories [Jg.17–21], which fill up the rest of the book, are long prior to Samson [Jg.13–16].”  In Jg.20:28, Aaron’s grandson Phineás the high priest is still alive (cf. Nu.25:7)!  Gill Exposition Jg.17:1 and Barnes Notes connect Jg.17:1 & Jg.18:1-2 “Dan” to Jg.1:34 “Dan”.  Josephus Antiquities of the Jews 5:2-3 places Jg.17–21 before Othniél’s early judgeship of Jg.3.  Jg.3:8-11 the warrior Othniel judged Israel 40 years, c 1524 BC – 1484 BC.  Caleb’s nephew Othniel acceded a few years after the time of the “elders who outlived Joshua” (Jg.2:7), c 1547 – 1532 BC.}

Jg.18:31 echoes the tabernacle had been at Shiloh earlier.  Jg.20:18 LXX “They went to Bethel and inquired of God.”  Not long after Joshua’s death, the Ark was at Bethel.  Pulpit Commentary Jg.20:18 “At this time the ark of God, with the tabernacle, was at Bethel, only 7–8 miles from Shiloh.”

Jg.20:27 “The sons of Israel inquired of the Lord, for the ark of the covenant of God was there [Bethel] in those days.”  Ellicott Commentary Jg.20:27 “At Bethel.”  Again, Bethel was near to Shiloh.  Jg.21:19 an annual pilgrim feast was held at Shiloh, “on the north side of Bethel”.  Situated in the tribal territory of Ephráim, Shiloh-Bethel became the Ark & tabernacle location (after Gilgal).  350 years elapse….

Jg.16:30-31 Samson the warrior-judge died, c 1142 BC.  Eli and Samuel then conclude the long period of the judges.  1Sm.1:1-3 Elkanáh (Samuel’s father) annually went to Shiloh to sacrifice to the Lord.

The Ark is again at Shiloh.  Ellicott Commentary 1Sm.1:3 “Shiloh was the religious center of Israel during the whole period of the judges. On rare occasions the sacred tent, and the holy furniture, seems to have been temporarily moved to such places as Mizpáh and Bethel, but its regular home was Shiloh.”  1Sm.3:3, 21 the Ark is at Shiloh, where the Lord revealed Himself to young Samuel.

In the latter years of Eli the high priest & judge, Israel had become very backslidden.  1Sm.4:1-5 the Ark is carried into the battle of Ebenézer against the Philistines, c 1102 BC.  v.17-18 the heathen Philistines sack Shiloh, and capture the Ark.  Eli dies when he hears the news.  v.22 “The glory is departed from Israel, for the ark of God is taken.”

The Ark would never return to Moses’ tabernacle!

Cambridge Bible 1Sm.1:3 “It [Shiloh] ceased to be the national sanctuary. Samuel sacrificed at Mizpeh, at Ramáh, at Gilgal, never, so far as we read, at Shiloh.”  Barnes Notes Ps.78:60 “The place of worship was finally and forever removed from the tribe of Ephraim, within whose limits Shiloh was.”

The Ark had resided in the Holy of Holies innermost room (Ex.26:34) of Moses’ tabernacle for 500 years!  From c 1611 BC – 1102 BC (except when it was in transport or taken into battle.  cf. Nu.10:35 “Rise up, O Lord! And let Thy enemies be scattered.”)

The Ark now will reside elsewhere, apart from God’s tabernacle, for 110 years (til c 991 BC).  During these 110 years, the Holy of Holies compartment of Moses’ tabernacle was entirely empty!

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

This topic is continued and concluded in “Ark of the Testimony – Journeys (2)”.

 

 

 

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!!

Sabbath 7th Day (1)

There’s been much controversy in the church about whether or not Christians should observe the 7^th day sábbath of scripture, or the Roman Catholic Church (RCC) & Protestant tradition of Sunday, or no specific day.  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.”  A surprising admission!?  Let’s see what the scriptures say about the 7^th day.

The 7^th day sabbath has its beginnings at Creation.  The Holy Spirit and Christ, the Spirit and the Word, are the Creators (being the divine agents of Father God).  ref Job.33:4, Ps.104:30, 33:6, Jn.1:3, Col.1:16.  They are God, the God-kind, the “Us” of Ge.1:26. “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness.”  God declared as “good” each of the first six days of Creation: Ge.1:4, 8 (LXX), 10, 12, 18, 21, 25.  Then Ge.1:31, “God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good.”  Creation ends.

When Creation was finished, Christ ceased (shabáth Strongs h7673, verb).  Ge.2:1-4 “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; a temporary cessation/rest dedicated to God.

The 7^th day sabbath is a sign which identifies God as the Creator of everything.  No other day of the week so reflects God as Creator.  By ceasing or resting on the 7^th day, the sabbathkeeper witnesses that his God is the Creator God.  We may choose to rest or worship God on other days too.  But as Lord of the 7^th day sabbath, at creation Christ ordained the 7^th day as holy or sanctified/set apart, 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 conferred on it peculiar honor, and annexed to it special privileges above those granted to any other day; ‘and sanctified it’. That is, separated it from common use, and dedicated it to his own sacred service, that it should be accounted holy, and spent in his worship, and in other religious and holy duties. 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.”  The 7^th day sabbath long antedated Moses/Israel and giving the Decalogue.

An eternal law of God existed in the heavens.  In 2Pe.2:4, Peter wrote of the “angels who sinned”.  (cf. Jb.4:18)  Where no law is, there is no transgression or sin (Ro.4:15).  So a law existed which angels violated.  1Eno.99:2 spoke of those who transgress the “eternal law”.  (Jude 1:14 refers to 1Enoch.)  1Eno.106:13-14 “Some angels sin and transgress the law.”  Law & order exists in the heavenly realm.

The Book of Jubilees is dated 150 BC.  Jub.2:30 “We [the angels of the presence and sanctification] kept Sabbath in the heavens before it was made known to any flesh to keep Sabbath on earth.”  That indicates the sabbath day was observed in the heavenlies prior to Eden?  Pulpit Commentary Ge.2:3 “We conclude that a 7^th day sabbath must have been prescribed to man in Eden. Here was the 7^th day sanctified, or instituted in the interests of holiness, proclaimed to be a holy day.”

After the Flood, in Ge.8:8-12 Noah sent out a dove from the ark at 7-day intervals.  Barnes Notes Ge.8:10 “This points to the sacredness associated with the number arising from the hallowed character of the 7th day.”  Matthew Henry Commentary Ge.8:12 “Having kept the sabbath with his little church, he expected special blessings from Heaven.”  JFB Commentary “Seven days – a strong presumptive proof that Noah observed the Sabbath during his residence in the ark.”  Pulpit Commentary “The frequent repetition of the number seven clearly points to the hebdómadal division of the week, and the institution of Sabbatic rest.”  Ge.8:9 initially the dove Noah sent out could find no place of rest, so she returned to the ark for rest.  Noah didn’t send out the dove arbitrarily; he inquired of the Holy Spirit.  (Noah wasn’t Jewish.  Ge.7:1-2 God also gave the gentile Noah knowledge of clean & unclean animals, long before Moses.)

The Hebrew term for “seven” (sheba/shibah h7651) occurs 370 times in the Old Testament (OT).  It is “as the sacred full one; seven times”.  Seven signifies completeness or divine perfection.  For example: the seven days of Creation; the 7^th day sabbath; Re.1:4 the sevenfold Spirit (or seven spirits) at God’s throne; Zec.4:1-2 the golden lampstand has seven lamps & seven pipes; Job.42:8 friends of the patriarch Job were to offer seven bulls & seven rams to the Lord; etc.  Seven is God’s number, so to speak.

God said in Ge.26:5, “Abraham obeyed Me and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, My laws”. (cf. De.11:1)  The patriarch Abraham, a gentile/non-Jew, obeyed God’s (eternal) law centuries before there was a codified Mosaic law!  (see the topic “Abraham Obeyed Which Commandments?”.)  Henry Commentary Ge.2:1 “Sabbaths are as ancient as the world; and I see no reason to doubt that the Sabbath…was religiously observed by the people of God throughout the patriarchal age.”  Chief Rabbi of the British Empire, Joseph H. Hertz, Authorized Daily Prayer Book, p.579 “Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. The Patriarchs are often represented as having observed the Sabbath.”  Abraham was very obedient.  The Lord even visited him in Ge.18!  Ge.18:17 Christ didn’t hide what He was doing from Abraham.  It’s unlikely that Christ left Abraham in ignorance of His holy time that had come and gone every 7^th day since Creation!  Ellicott Commentary Ex.16:23: “Much can be said in favor of the primeval institution of the Sabbath, and of its having been known to the family of Abraham.”

God promised Abraham, Ge.22:16, “By Myself I have sworn,’ declares the Lord. ‘Indeed I will greatly bless you and multiply your seed.”  The term for “sworn/oath” is shabá h7650, occurring 180 times in the OT.  It means “to swear, to seven oneself or bind oneself by seven things.”  It’s the root of the term for seven h7651.  When God (or anyone) made a solemn oath, He ‘sevened Himself’.  (He.6:13 “When God made His promise to Abraham, since He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself.”)  Is.45:23 “I have sworn [h7650] by Myself, the word has gone forth from My mouth. That to Me every knee will bow, every tongue will swear [h7650] allegiance.”  The Lord and all humanity ‘seven themselves or bind themselves by seven things’.  It’s total.  Another example is Ps.89:49. “Thy lovingkindness O Lord, which You did swear [h7650] to David in Thy faithfulness.”  We can see the concept of seven and to seven oneself by an oath goes beyond which day we should attend church.

Christ the Lord is the God/Rock of ancient Israel (cf. De.32:4, 18 & 1Co.10:4; Is.6:1-5 & Jn.12:41-44).  Unlike the earlier patriarchs, the Israelites became slaves in Egypt (e.g. Ex.6:5-7, De.5:15); not resting on the 7^th day.  According to the supposed Book of Jasher (ref Josh.10:13, 2Sm.1:18), the Pharaoh of Moses’ youth did decree sabbath rest for the Israelites.  Jash.70:47 “Thus says the king, ‘For six days you shall do all your work and labor, but on the 7^th day you shall rest…as the king and Moses the son of Bathia have commanded.”  But the Pharaoh/king of 60 years later said to Moses regarding the Israelites, Ex.5:5, 9 “You would have them cease [shabath h7673] from their labors….Let the labor be heavier”.  So any sabbath rest allowed the Israelites was rescinded, no longer observed there by that generation.

Christ freed them and showed them clearly which day was the 7^th, His sabbath.  In Ex.16 the Israelites are no longer slaves, and Christ provides them manna in the wilderness based on His 7^th day cessation.  Ex.16:22-30 “This is what the Lord meant, tomorrow is a holy sabbath [shabáwth h7676] to the Lord.”  The Hebrew noun shabawth appears over 100 times in the OT; Ex.16:23 is the first time.  It’s from the root verb shabath h7673 to cease, seen in Ge.2:2 at Creation.  “That’s what the Lord meant” back in Ge.2:2 (which Moses also wrote), though as slaves the Israelites were denied (sabbath) rest.  Ex.16:4, 28 the 7^th day sabbath had been a law of God!  God gave them daily manna Sunday–Thursday and a double portion on Friday, so they wouldn’t need to gather any manna on the 7^th day Saturday.  Ex.16:30 so the people ceased [h7673] gathering food on the 7^th day.  This went on week after week for 40 years.  A total of 12,000 miracle feedings proved to them conclusively which day was the 7^th!  And it wasn’t any one day out of seven!  Christ was specific.

Adam Clarke Commentary Ex.16:23 “There is nothing either in the text or context that seems to intimate that the Sabbath was now first given to the Israelites.”  Ellicott Commentary “During the Egyptian oppression the continued observance would have been impossible.”  Catholic Encyclopedia XIII “The Sabbath is first met within connexion [sic] with the fall of the manna; but it there appears to be an institution already well-known to the Israelites.”  Benson Commentary “Here is a plain intimation of the observing a 7^th day sabbath, not only before the giving of the law upon mount Sinai, but before the bringing of Israel out of Egypt, and therefore from the beginning.”  Significantly, Ex.16 predates the giving of the Law.

Christ gave to Israel the Decalogue, the Ten Commandments so-called.  Ex.20:8-11 “Remember the sabbath [h7676] day to keep it holy. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth and all that is in them, and rested [h5117 núwach] on the 7^th day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.”  The 7^th day is God’s holy time, unlike any other day ordained by men.  Poole Commentary Ge.2:3 “If we compare this place with Ex.20:8-11 we shall find that Moses there speaks of God’s blessing and sanctifying of the sabbath, not as an action then first done, but as that which God had done formerly at the creation of the world.”  The sabbath wasn’t created in 1500 BC at Mt. Sinai; ancient Israel was to “remember” it.  The 7^th day sabbath was codified in the law of Ex.20:8-11, but had existed previously, as commentaries indicate.  Poole Commentary Ex.20:8 “The word ‘remember’ here is very emphatical; it reminds us of a formal delivery of the substance of this command, Ge.2:3.”  The 7^th day sabbath is a creation ordinance.  The 7^th day was the first thing God made holy!  (I’m not 7^th Day Adventist.)

The 7^th day sabbath is Saturday, both traditionally and presently.  Over 100 languages use a form of the word sabbath for Saturday!  e.g: in Arabic Saturday is Shabet, in Bulgarian Sabota, Croatian Subota, Czech Sobota, Indonesian Sabtu, Italian Sabato, Polish Sobota, Portuguese Sabado, Romanian Sambata, Russian Subbota, Serbian Subota, Spanish Sabado (literally, “the sabbath”), Greek Savvato.  And the modern Greek word for Friday is Paraskevi, meaning literally “to prepare”.  The Bible preparation day preceded the sabbath rest (Ex.16:23).  cf. Mk.15:42 “It was the preparation day, that is, the day before the sabbath.”  In the Bible koiné Greek, the term for “preparation” was paraskeué g3904…which is their word for Friday in today’s Greek!  Circa 200 AD the Roman historian “Dio Cassio speaks of the Jews having dedicated to their God the day called the day of Saturn”, heathen reckoning.  So it is clear…when Jesus walked the earth the sabbath day was Saturday!  (see the topic “Sabbath Day Became Sunday in Rome”, for man’s steps in the transition from Saturday to the traditional Sunday.)

Jesus never sinned.  Therefore, He kept the 7^th day sabbath (cf. Lk.4:16).  Christ said in Ex.31:16-17, “Celebrate the sabbath as a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between Me and the sons of Israel forever; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, on the 7^th day He ceased [h7673] and was refreshed.”  Christ was refreshed.  For man, the 7^th day is a time of refreshing from the physical/mental demands and concerns of the workweek…perpetually week after week.  The 7^th day is sanctified time devoted to God.

Christ’s new covenant is with Israel.  Je.31:31 “Behold’, says the Lord, ‘I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and Judah.”  Gentiles may share in it, according to Paul (Ro.11:13-19).

Josephus Against Apion 2:40 “There is not any city of the Grecians, nor any of the barbarians, nor any nation whatsoever, where our custom of resting on the 7^th day has not come!”  Philo On The Creation (89) “The 7^th…that day is a festival of all the earth; a day which alone it is the right to call the day of festival for all people, and the birthday of the world.”  The 7^th day rest time is universal from Ge.2:3!  Theóphilus bishop of Antioch, 175 AD To Autólycus 2:12 “The 7^th day, which all men acknowledge.”

Jesus said in Mk.2:27-28, “The sabbath [sábbaton g4521, Greek] was made for man, and not man for the sabbath”.  Man was made on the 6^th day, prior to the sabbath being instituted for man on the 7^th.  Christ Himself as God & Creator made the sabbath day (and He was refreshed), and thereby He is Lord of it.  v.28 “Therefore, the Son of Man is Lord even of the sabbath.”  The Son of Man also has dominion over what pertains to man.  Jesus said the sabbath was made for man/ánthropos/humanity.  (Though Christ was refreshed, God doesn’t grow weary, Is.40:28.)  Jesus didn’t say the sabbath was made just for Israel or the Jews!  Jonathan Edwards Sermon XIII “It is unreasonable to suppose that He hallowed it only with respect to the Jews, a nation which rose up above 2,000 years after [creation].”  After Adam the human was created on the 6^th day, he rested (with Christ) on the 7^th.  It wouldn’t make sense to think that Christ made the 7^th day sabbath for man, but then delayed thousands of years before He gave/revealed it to man!  Family New Testament Notes Mk.2:27 “As the Sabbath was made for the whole human race, they have a right to its rest & privileges.”  The sabbath day is a universal blessing.

By the 1^st century, the Jews had devised a traditional code which had 39 categories (plus itemization) of prohibitions for the sabbath day; as if man was made for the sabbath!  These were a man-made burden.  But Jesus said the sabbath was made for man, not vice versa!  Matthew Henry Commentary Mk.2:28 “The sabbath is a sacred and Divine institution; a privilege and benefit, not a task and drudgery.”

Again, the sabbath is a holy day/period of cessation from certain activities.  It’s not a ‘work’.  Le.23:3 it’s a holy assembly.  It’s not for legal striving or burdensome do’s & don’ts.  However, a level of faith is necessary to believe and know that Christ will provide our daily bread/manna/needs on the 7^th day, while we rest from work.

After Israel didn’t gather any manna on the 7th day for 40 years, the younger generation knew without a doubt which day of the week is God’s sabbath!  So in De.5 when the Decalogue was repeated, there’s no admonition to “remember” it (unlike Ex.20:8 earlier).  De.5:12-15 “Keep the sabbath day. Six days shall you labor. But the 7^th day is the sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall not do any work, you or your son or daughter or your male or female servant or your ox or donkey or your sojourner; so that your male and female servant may rest as well as you.”  They’re to recollect they’d been slaves.

De.5:12-15 is quite revealing.  Mankind is expected to work, caring for his own and for the earth (Ge.2:15).  Also this passage shows that the sabbath is a moral command, not just ceremonial!  Male & female servants, our employees, temporary sojourners…they need rest too.  There’s an equality in sabbath rest.  Allowing others to rest relates to loving our neighbor as yourself.  Work animals need rest.  It’s not just oxen & donkeys belonging to Jews that need rest!  All peoples’ work animals need rest…all-inclusive.  And work animals don’t just ‘rest in Christ’ either.  The sabbath is an enduring moral principle, to allow those under our charge to have rest.  Christ the Creator knew His creatures require rest.  It’s a physical need.

The Decalogue of Ex.20 & De.5 contains ten points of obedience; the 7^th day sabbath is one.  Others are: the command to honor our father & mother, and prohibitions against idolatry, murder, theft, etc.  Christ’s 7th day cessation is seen at Creation, before other points.  It’s strange to hear people claim the sabbath day ended at Jesus’ cross, but the other points are still in effect.  No one says the cross freed us to dishonor our parents, or commit murder or theft, for example.  Yet the church says we’re ‘free’ to work on the 7^th day.  Why this inconsistency?  Who gave man the prerogative to change God’s holy time (as if that’s even possible)…was it Paul, Christian gentiles, the RCC, some other man?

Again, see the topic “Sabbath Day Became Sunday in Rome”.  I’ll close for now with The Works of the Rev. John Wesley, v.1, Sermon 25. “The moral law contained in the ten commandments, and enforced by the prophets, He [Christ] did not take away. It was not the design of His coming to revoke any part of this. This is a law which never can be broken. Every part of this law must remain in force upon all mankind, and in all ages.”  The 7^th day sabbath is part of it.

We’ll explore the sabbath issue further in “Sabbath 7^th Day (2)”.

Two Witnesses in the Bible

A verdict or judgment is delivered based upon witnesses.  In scripture, two witnesses were required to substantiate a legal matter.  Here we’ll take a historical look at God’s two witnesses from the Bible.

De.17:6 “On the evidence of two or three witnesses shall the condemned be put to death; not on the evidence of one witness.”  De.19:15 “A single witness shall not rise up against a man; on the evidence of two or three witnesses a matter shall be confirmed.”  It’s not limited to public courts.  Jesus applied De.19:15 to disputes between church brothers in Mt.18:16. “By the mouth of two or three witnesses.”  1Ti.5:19 Paul instructed Timothy, “Don’t receive an accusation against an elder except on the basis of two or three witnesses”.  So we see in both Testaments (two!) that at least two witnesses are necessary.

Jesus confirmed the need for two witnesses in Jn.8:16-18.  There, Father God and Jesus Himself are as two witnesses (not one)!  Even God has His unique two witnesses!  The very first verse of the Bible, Ge.1:1 “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth”.  Is.1:2 “Listen O heavens and hear O earth, for the Lord speaks!”  Moses declared in De.32:1, “Give ear O heavens and let me speak; let the earth hear the words of my mouth”.  Scripture shows that heaven and earth serve as two immutable witnesses for God.  And, as we’ll see below…it was the witnesses who put the condemned to death.

Moses told ancient Israel in De.30:19, “I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse”.  Also De.4:26 “I call heaven and earth to witness against you, that you shall surely perish from the Land.”  Furthermore, the law of God has its source in heaven; Christ gave it to Moses & Israel on earth.  The Decalogue was written by the finger of God (Ex.31:18)!  Then De.31:26-28 “Take this book of the law and place it beside the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God that it be a witness against you…Call heaven and earth to witness against them.”  The Old Covenant law was authored by God in heaven for Israel on earth.

Not only did two witnesses testify, they also carried out the judgment or sentence.  De.17:7 “The hand of the witnesses shall be the first to put him to death.” (also Le.24:14, Jn.8:7)  They cast the first stone, as it were.  God commanded natural phenomena in the heavens and the earth, as two witnesses, to execute His judgments!  We read of thunder, lightning, wind, rain, hailstones, earthquakes, fire, famine carrying out His punishments.  Nu.16:31-32 “The earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up with their households.”  Is.29:6 “From the Lord you will be punished with thunder and earthquake, with whirlwind, tempest and a consuming fire.”  Ps.148:8 “Fire and hail, snow and clouds, stormy wind fulfilling His word.”  The two witnesses act as God’s agents.  Re.16:17-21 “There were flashes of lightning and peals of thunder, and a great earthquake. And huge hailstones came down from heaven upon men.”  Also De.11:17 “The Lord will shut up the heavens so there will be no rain, and the earth won’t yield its produce, so you will perish from the Land.”  The guilty put to death by heaven & earth.

So heaven and earth were two witnesses.  (Earth isn’t a ‘heavenly body’ in scripture).  And God’s Old Covenant law was linked to both.  Words & actions aren’t hidden from the (figurative) ears & eyes of heaven and earth.  Jesus prayed to Father God, Mt.6:10 “Thy will be done, in heaven as it is on earth”.

Let’s now turn our focus to two Bible characters/witnesses through whom God worked miracles…Moses and Elijah.  They were witnesses for the true Deity.

Moses is the compiler, writer, transmitter (Jn.1:45) of the Law/Toráh, the first five books of the Bible.  Ex.3:13-15 the true Deity was revealed to Israel through Moses.  Ex.7:19-20 Moses turned water into blood, the first plague on Egypt.  Other plagues from God follow in Ex.8-12.  Ex.14:21 Moses was the agent to divide the water of the Reed Sea.  After YHVH freed the Israelites, Moses escorted them to Mt. Sinai, Ex.19:1-3, 10-17.  In Ex.30:25-30, Moses anointed with oil the tabernacle, ark and priests.  The Lord did miracles, judged Egypt, and governed the Israelites through Moses and the law of God.  In the end, Moses left this life in an unusual way (seemingly he wrote De.34:5-ff posthumously)!

“Elijah has been called the grandest and most romantic character Israel ever produced.” (Smith’s Bible Dictionary)  Elijah was active c 900–850 BC.  2Ki.1:7-8 his unusual appearance was easily identifiable.  Elijah was from the rugged highland area of Gileád in the tribe of Manasséh.  He wore a hairy garment with a leather belt, and a sheepskin cloak/mantle which he wrapped around his head (1Ki.19:13).

Many miracles were performed through Elijah/Eliyáh.  In 1Ki.18, he confronted King Aháb of Israel and the prophets of Báal.  Fire proceeded from YHVH to consume the sacrifice, showing God’s greater power!  EliYah means ‘Yahweh is El/God’…v.39 Eliyah restored knowledge of the true Deity to Israel.  1Ki.17:12-16 the oil supply miraculously continued for the widow and her son.  v.21-24 her son was brought back to life!  1Ki.17:1 prior to Elijah’s encounter with the prophets of Baal, there’d been no rain for 3 ½ years (1,260 days).  1Ki.18:1-2, 40-45 finally, there’s rain (ref Ja.5:17-18, Lk.4:25)!  1Ki.19:15-16 Elijah to anoint kings of Syria & Israel.  2Ki.1:9-15 he called down fire from heaven.  2Ki.2:8 he too divided the water (as did Moses).  v.11-12 in the end, Elijah was transported to heaven!

The last Old Testament (OT) prophet Malachi (or ‘My Messenger’, Mal.3:1) appeared around 450 BC.  He prophesied that someday God’s messenger would come to prepare the way of the Lord (Jesus).  God said, Mal.4:4-6 “Remember the law of Moses My servant. I Am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the day of the Lord. He will restore the hearts, lest I smite the Land with a curse.”

Our OT ends with that passage about Moses & Elijah and the warning from God.  That would be Elijah’s later commission.  J.H. Hertz Pentateuch and Haftorahs “Elijah was traditionally regarded as the advance Messenger who would appear at Passover and announce the dawn of the Messianic era.”  But first came the ‘Silent 400 Years’, when supposedly no one was given the Holy Spirit of prophecy.

Then following the so-called ‘Silent 400 Years’…the Messenger came on the scene.  At the time Jesus was born, holyland Jews thought the Messiah’s coming was imminent.  At the annual Passover meal, they’d even leave a door open and set a place with a wine glass at the table for the expected Elijah!

In fulfillment of Mal.3:1 & 4:6, the person who came on the scene in the 1^st century AD as the expected Elijah was…John the Baptizer.  Lk.1:13-17 “It is he who will go before Him [Jesus the Lord] in the spirit and power of Elijah.”  John was born six months before Jesus (Lk.1:24-27).

Jesus confirmed, as scripture prophesied, that the promised Elijah would come…and he had then come!  Mt.17:10-13 “I say to you that Elijah already came, and they did not recognize him. Then the disciples understood He spoke about John the Baptist.”  John too wore a hairy garment and leather belt, as Elijah had worn.  Mt.3:1-4 “John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness. This is the one referred to by Isaiah the prophet saying, ‘The voice of one crying, Make ready the way of the Lord!” ref Is.40:3, Mal.3:1.  The commission given to John the Baptist as “My Messenger” came to pass, although most Jews disbelieve it was John who came as the prophesied Elijah.

John the Baptizer come as Elijah was a witness for Messiah Jesus.  Jn.3:25-27 “John’s disciples came to him and said, ‘He [Jesus] about whom you witnessed.”  John replied in v.28-30, “I have been sent before Him. The friend [best man] of the bridegroom rejoices greatly. This joy of mine is full. He must increase but I must decrease.”  John the Baptizer was a witness for the bridegroom (groom) Jesus.

Moses and Elijah are two witnesses.  The ancient Jewish wedding ceremony required two witnesses, one for bride and one for the groom.  (see the topic “Wedding Pattern in Bible Holydays”.)  Ex.20-ff YHVH was married to Israel at Sinai.  Je.31:31-32 KJV “My covenant they broke, although I was a husband to them,’ saith the Lord.”  Christ, as the pre-incarnate Word of God and Creator, was the Lord God of Israel!  (see “Jesus Was The Old Testament God”.)  Ex.24:6-8 the Old Covenant was as a marriage contract.  v.3 the people said ‘I do’.  Je.3:14 KJV “Saith the Lord, ‘I Am married to you.”  Is.54:5 “Your Maker is your husband.”  (He later divorced rebellious Israel, Je.3:8.)  Jesus said to them in Jn.5:46, “If you believed Moses you would believe Me, for he wrote of Me”.  Moses witnessed Christ’s marriage to ancient Israel.  And John the Baptizer typed Elijah.  The traditional two witnesses were Moses for the bride and Elijah for the groom.

It is significant that Christ and the two witnesses Moses & Elijah are the only 3 characters in the Bible who fasted 40 days!  ref Mt.4:1-2, Ex.34:27-28, 1Ki.19:8-9.  Also it was Moses & Elijah who appeared with Jesus in glory at the Transfiguration, Lk.9:28-33.  (So real, even booths were suggested for them!)  They spoke of Jesus’ soon exodus (v.31, Greek) from Jerusalem.  Moses had led Israel’s ancient exodus from Egypt.  (Lk.9:9 Herod had beheaded John the Baptizer as Elijah prior to the Transfiguration.)

{Sidelight: Could two totally dead people appear in glory with Jesus?  Jn.3:13 only Jesus descended from heaven, died on earth, and then ascended to heaven…nobody else!  (He.11:35 some, such as the widow’s son, and Lazarus Jn.11:43-44, died twice physically.)  Neither Moses nor Elijah descended from heaven.  Elijah’s death wasn’t witnessed and no grave is known.  He was transported to heaven (2Ki.2:11-12), and was expected to come again (Mal.4:6).  De.34:5-7 Moses died, but his death wasn’t witnessed and no grave is known.  Targum Jonathan De.34:6 said Michael had charge over Moses’ grave.  Jude 9 the devil disputed with Michael about Moses’ body (because Moses had killed an abusive Egyptian in Ex.2:11-12, or his grave could become a shrine?).  In Jewish tradition, Michael resurrected Moses.  JFB Commentary Jude 9 “That Moses’ body was raised, appears from his presence with Elijah and Jesus at the Transfiguration.”  Josephus Antiquities of the Jews 4:8:48 “He [Moses] disappeared in a valley, although he wrote in the holy books that he died, done out of fear lest they’d say that because of his extraordinary virtue, he went to God.”  Philo On the Life of Moses 2, p.291 “That he [Moses] might fly away to heaven, he was once more filled with the Holy Spirit, relating how he had died when he was not yet dead. Because he was entombed by immortal powers and wasn’t placed in the tomb of his forefathers.”  Again, Luke says both Moses & Elijah were seen in glory with Jesus on the mount!}

The OT was a three-fold division: Law/Torah…Prophets/Néviim…Psalms-Writings/Ketúvim.  As the word of God, these also serve as two or three witnesses!  The Law and the Prophets were read every sabbath day.  Jesus said in Mt.5:17, “Don’t think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets”.  Following are scriptures which note the Law and the Prophets: Mt.7:12, 11:13, 22:40; Lk.16:16, 24:44; Jn.1:45; Ac.13:15, 24:14, 28:23 (Da.9:10-11; Zec.7:12).  Paul wrote in Ro.3:21, “The righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets”.  They’re two witnesses!

Moses wrote the Law (Da.9:11), and Elijah typified the Prophets.  Moses and Elijah metaphorically are composites representing the Law and all the Prophets!  And Jesus is the prophet like unto Moses – De.18:15, 18; Jn.6:14, 7:40.  Again, both Moses and Elijah left this life in unusual ways.

The Lord’s two witnesses are referred to in Re.11.  v.1-2 God’s physical temple in the holy city Jerusalem is standing.  v.3 “I will grant to my two witnesses and they shall prophesy for 1,260 days.”  Pulpit Commentary Re.11:3 “Moses and Elijah are typical of the Law and the Prophets. It is not probable that two individuals are meant.”  v.4 “The two olive trees and lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth.”  This is reminiscent of Zec.4, Zerubabbél the governor and Joshua the high priest who’d laid the second temple foundation.  Moses and Elijah both did anointing, and they stand before the Lord (ref Ex.17:6, 33:21-22, 1Ki.18:15).

Re.11:5-6 the two witnesses have power pertaining to fire, drought, water to turn it to blood, plagues.  Moses and Elijah had been given those powers of heaven & earth.  Moses and/or Elijah divided waters and turned them to blood, brought forth plagues, called down fire, 3 ½ years of no rain.  Meyer NT Commentary Re.11:5 “The features of the description derive from the histories of Elijah and Moses.”  Cambridge Bible Note Re.11:6 “The verse is descriptive of the powers entrusted to Moses and Elijah.”

Moses and Elijah performed miracles done by the two witnesses of Re.11.  They personify the Law and the Prophets.  The Law and the Prophets are two witnesses of God’s verdict that His OT curses and punishments (e.g. De.27:16–28:68, Le.26) be executed upon Judea, Jerusalem, and the temple.  Olufalahan Akintola wrote, “The two witnesses, representing the Law and the Prophets.”

Re.11:7-10 with the Jewish-Roman War and the destruction of 66-70 AD (3 ½ years), the Law and the Prophets ceased in Jerusalem.  The Law and the Prophets or Old Covenant corpus lay in the street, as it were, of the city where the Lord was crucified.  Ellicott Commentary “It is Jerusalem, the apostate place where the Presence of Christ is hated.”  John Blake wrote, “The symbolic death of the two witnesses or the lack of the reading of the Law and the Prophets in the temple.”  God’s written word with its judgments had tormented the disobedient, guilty populace.  Jesus had accused them in Jn.7:19, “None of you carries out the Law”.  After God’s judgment, the city & temple were destroyed/desolated.

Re.11:13 “A tenth of the city fell, 7,000 people were killed.”  Harvard.edu says the size of Jerusalem then encompassed maybe 450 acres, the temple complex covered 37 acres; the estimated resident population was 60,000–80,000 people.  Both Wilkinson and Wikipedia say 75,000–80,000.  The temple area approached a tenth of the acreage of Jerusalem; the initial 7,000 people killed was approximately a tenth of Jerusalem’s population.  The population of Rome the Beast was more than 500,000…Rome was much too large!  JFB Commentary “A tenth of Jerusalem.”  (see the topics “Babylon the Great’ in Revelation”, “The Last Days”, “Day of Atonement (2) – in Revelation”.)

That work of the Law and the Prophets was done!  The Law and Prophets had foretold and accused the Jewish nation of apostasy.  Re.11:12 the Law and Prophets returned to heaven, the source of the word of God.  v.19 “The temple of God in heaven was opened and the ark of His covenant appeared in His temple.”  Pulpit Commentary “The ark of His covenant, a symbol pregnant with meaning to Jewish Christians.”  The ark which contained the Law (De.10:1-5, 31:25-26) was now with Christ in heaven!

Christ, the Rock of Israel (1Co.10:4), is just (e.g. De.32:4, Is.30:18, Ro.3:26).  Although He divorced and judged the unfaithful ancient Israelite people He loved…there is another marriage!  Is.62:1-4 “For Jerusalem’s sake I will not keep quiet. You shall no longer be called ‘Forsaken’, or your Land ‘Desolate’. With the joy of a bridegroom over a bride, your God will rejoice over you.”  Re.19:6-9 is the metaphorical marriage of the Lamb Jesus, the bridegroom!  He.8:10-13 although the Old Covenant ended, the New Covenant is also with Israel (and grafted-in gentiles, Ro.11:13, 17 & Re.7:9).

Moses and Elijah exemplify the Law and the Prophets…two witnesses.  Christian Research Institute “Ultimately, the two witnesses form a composite image of the Law and the Prophets.”  Elijah was the typological prophetic master (2Ki.2:2-3).  The ark/Law comes from, and goes to, heaven.  Paul wrote in 2Ti.3:16, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God”.  The word of God is His written record to His people and to all mankind…witnessed by heaven and earth!  Praise God!