Levites and the Exodus Multitude (1)

This topic traces the ancient Israelites – starting with Jacob’s relocation from the Land of Canáan to Egypt, their population growth…into the exodus & wilderness with the mixed multitude.  My focus here is on the growth of the Levites and, in detail, the descendants of Levi’s son Koháth, the Kohathites.

The Bible characters in this topic lived far back in history.  Dating for their births & deaths is inexact.  The dates used are approximate, to place the Levite lineage in historical perspective.  The chronological framework is taken from Dr. Martin Anstey The Romance of Bible Chronology, v.2.

The patriarch Jacob, whose name God changed to Israel (Ge.32:28), had 12 sons (Ge.35:23-26).  Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, etc…Joseph, Benjamin.  The descendants of those 12 became the 12 tribes of Israel.  (also see the topics “Chronology: Abraham to the Exodus” and “Israelites Identification”.)

Jacob’s 3^rd son was Levi.  Levi himself had 3 sons.  Ge.46:11 “The sons of Levi: Gershón, Kohath and Merarí.”  These 3 sons and their descendants became the Levites, descended from Levi.

Moses and his brother Aaron descended from Levi & Kohath.  They were Kohathites.  Moses was a priest (Ex.24:6, 29:26, Nu.7:1, Ps.99:6).  Later, only Aaron and his descendants among the Levites were priests.  Not all Levites or Kohathites became priests (Nu.4:17-20, 16:1-3); only the clan of Aaron did.

Ge.41:41 Jacob’s 11^th son Joseph became ruler of Egypt under Pharaoh.  Ge.46:5-27 Jacob, his sons and their families, went to join Joseph in Egypt circa (c) 1827 BC.  Ge.41:27 Septúagint/LXX “The sons of Joseph, born to him in Egypt, were 9; all the souls of the house of Jacob who came with Joseph into Egypt, were 75.”  Ac.7:14 has “75 souls”.  (Males, not counting wives.)  Ge.47:9 Jacob was 130 years old then.  His son Joseph was 39 or 40 (cf. Ge.41:46-47 with Ge.45:6), having been born c 1867 BC.

Ge.46:8, 11 Levi’s young 2^nd son Kohath and his two brothers (Gershon & Merari) went to Egypt with their father Levi & grandfather Jacob.  Joseph, age 40, would live on for 70 more years, until age 110 (Ge.50:26), until c 1757 BC.  Kohath was in Egypt during those 70 years that Joseph was still alive.

Nu.26:57-59 “Kohath became the father of Amrám…Jochébed bore to Amram: Aaron and Moses and their sister Miriám.”  Kohath was Moses’ grandfather!  Kohath wasn’t a distant ancestor.  So Moses wasn’t born all that long after Joseph’s death.

Ex.2:1 “A man [Amram] from the house of Levi married a daughter of Levi.”  This may reflect the line of Levi as ancestral, not Levi as her immediate father.  Ellicott Commentary “A descendant of Levi, not a daughter in the literal sense.”  However, cf. Zec.1:1 “Zecharíah, the prophet, the son of Berechíah, the son of Iddó”, versus Ezr.5:1 “Zechariah the son of Iddo”.  Ezra’s account skipped one generation.  Moses’ Exodus account could’ve skipped generations, but it seems unlikely (as we’ll see below).

In scripture, Moses & Aaron were the great-great grandsons of Jacob.  Josephus Antiquities of the Jews 2:9:6 “Moses….Abraham was his ancestor, of the 7^th generation.”  Philo On the Life of Moses 1:2:7 “Moses is the 7^th generation from the original settler in the country [Abraham].”

Abraham–Isaac–Jacob–Levi/Joseph–Kohath–Amram–Moses/Aaron…the 7 generations.  No skips.

1Ch.23:15 Moses had 2 sons, Gershóm (not Gershon) and Eliézer.  Ex.6:23 Moses’ brother Aaron had 4 sons: Nadáb, Abihú, Eleazár, Ithamár.  When Aaron later died in the wilderness, Eleazar replaced him as the high priest (Nu.20:28).  Eleazar’s son was Phinehás (Ex.6:25).

(Kohath)–Amram–Aaron/Moses–Eleazar–Phinehas…that’s only 4 generations of Kohathites, born after Jacob or Israel moved to Egypt.  Ex.18:1-6 soon after the exodus, Moses’ Midianite wife Zipporáh and their 2 sons rejoined Moses in the wilderness.  Moses’ sons Gershom & Eliezer were half-Midianite.

After the exodus, Nu.3:27-28 is early in the wilderness. “Of Kohath…the number of all the males from one month old and upwards, was 8,600.”  What!?  That’s an astounding increase in so few generations!

Here’s a question: How could the branch of Kohath (Levi’s son), reckoned from that 1 man, increase to 8,600 male descendants…after only 4 generations?!  Continuing with the Levite Kohathites….

Ex.6:18, 20 “The sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhár, Hebrón, Uzziél. The years of Kohath’s life were 133 years….Amram married Jochebed, and she bore him Aaron and Moses.”  Moses’ mother Jochebed was a relative (LXX 1^st cousin) of her husband Amram.  “The years of Amram’s life were 137 years [LXX NETS 136].”  Levi/Joseph–Kohath–Amram–Moses…that’s 4 generations.  1Ch.6:1-3 confirms those 4.

Humans were longer-lived in those days than now.  Of Kohath’s 133 years, again, 70 of them were spent with Joseph in Egypt (c 1827–1757 BC).  The traditional (supposed) Book of Jasher 68:29 indicates that elderly Kohath was still alive in the 1690s BC (when Moses was named)!  So perhaps Kohath was born c 1830 BC.  If so, he would’ve been age 3 when they went from Canaan to Egypt c 1827 BC.  That would make Kohath age 73 when his uncle Joseph died c 1757 BC.

Kohath’s firstborn son Amram (Moses’ father) may have been born c 1811 BC, when Kohath was 19.  If so, Amram’s death at age 136 or 137 was c 1675 BC (still decades prior to the exodus).  Amram would’ve been age 54 when Joseph died c 1757 BC.  Pulpit Commentary Ex.6:18 “Amram would have been contemporary with Joseph for above 50 years.”

Dead Sea Scrolls 4Q545 “The writing of the words of the vision of Amram, son of Qahat [Kohath], son of Levi, all that he has explained to his sons…on the day of his death in the year 136 – the year of his death [Amram’s]. In the year 152 of the exile of Israel in Egypt. Also it came to him to call Uzziel, his younger brother, and gave him Miriam his 30-year-old daughter for wife. He sent to call Aaron his 20-year-old son [3 years older than Moses]…I will explain to you your names that he wrote for Moses.”  Accordingly, 152 years after the 1827 BC relocation from Canaan to Egypt was 1675 BC.

The birth of Moses, Amram’s youngest child, c 1692 BC, was only 65 years after Joseph died (c 1757 BC)!  Philip Mauro The Wonders of Bible Chronology, p.40 “The interval between the death of Joseph and the birth of Moses was 64 years.”  Calculating the above 4Q545 elapsed time, Amram would’ve been age 106 when Miriam was born, 116 at Aaron’s birth, 119 at Moses’ birth!  Miriam was around 13 when she spoke with Pharaoh’s daughter at the Nile River regarding baby Moses, Ex.2:1-10.

For those ancient Levites to father children at such advanced ages seems too old by today’s standards.  But people lived longer in those days, and could maintain their life force.  Jacob died at age 147, Levi at age 137 (Ex.6:16), Kohath at age 133, Amram at 136 or 137, Aaron at 123 (Nu.33:39).  De.34:7 “Moses was 120 years old when he died; his eye was not dim nor his vigor abated.”  Even at age 120, Moses didn’t experience the infirmities of age that are prevalent today.  He maintained his vigor!  For that matter, Isaac was 60 when his twins Jacob & Esau were born (Ge.25:26).  Jacob was 90 when he fathered Joseph, and near 100 when he fathered Benjamin!  (ref Ge.47:9 Joseph was near 40 when his father Jacob, at age 130, came to Egypt.)

Ex.12:40 LXX “The children of Israel, while they sojourned in the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan, was 430 years.”  The Masoretic text omits “and the land of Canaan”.  But the accounts in the Samaritan Pentateuch, the Talmud and Josephus all agree with the LXX.  Josephus op. cit. 2:15:2 “They left Egypt 430 years after Abraham came into Canaan, but 215 years only after Jacob removed into Egypt. It [the exodus] was the 80^th year of Moses.”  They stayed 215 years in Canaan and 215 years in Egypt.

Gill Exposition “Certain it is, that Israel did not dwell in Egypt 430 years.”  JFB Commentary “The period of sojourn in Egypt did not exceed 215 years.”  Mauro op. cit., p.34 “The 430 years began with God’s promise to Abram, made at the time he entered into Canaan at the age of 75 (Gen.12:1-4).”

Since lives were longer back then, producing 4 generations over 215 years may be believable.  But producing only 4 generations over 430 years is unbelievable!

If Abrám was born c 2117 BC, he arrived in Canaan in 2042 BC at age 75 (Ge.12:4-5).  At age 100, Abraham fathered Isaac (Ge.21:5), c 2017 BC.  At age 60, Isaac fathered Jacob & Esau (Ge.25:26), c 1957 BC.  When Jacob was 130 (Ge.47:9), he and his moved from Canaan to Egypt, c 1827 BC.

Abram’s arrival in Canaan (c 2042 BC) until Jacob’s departure from Canaan (c 1827 BC) = 215 years in Canaan.  And Jacob/Israel’s arrival in Egypt (c 1827 BC) until the exodus (c 1612 BC) = 215 years in Egypt.  The total of both = 430 years…2042–1612 BC.  (see “Chronology: Abraham to the Exodus”.)

Also, 4 generations of Kohathites lived during the 215 years in Egypt.  Kohath–Amram–Aaron/Moses–Eleazar (and into the wilderness).  Returning to the Levite/Kohathites….

Nu.3:19 “The sons of Kohath: Amram and Izhar, Hebron and Uzziel.”  Besides Amram (the father of Moses & Aaron), Kohath had 3 other sons.  Kohath’s 2^nd son was Izhar (uncle to Moses & Aaron).

Nu.16:1-4 also confirms 4 generations.  (No skips.)  “Now Kórah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi…incited rebellion against Moses and Aaron, and said, ‘Why do you exalt yourselves?”  Izhar’s son Korah was Moses’ 1^st cousin!  Korah, being a near relative, thought he should have more input or authority.  But because of his insurrection, Korah died in an earthquake or sinkhole (Nu.16:32).

Nu.3:27-29 “Of Kohath was the family of the Amramites, the family of the Izharites, the family of the Hebronites and the family of the Uzzielites.”  To repeat, Kohath’s 4 sons (born in Egypt) were: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, Uzziel.  Kohath’s grandsons, which include Moses & Aaron, were also born in Egypt.  Kohath’s great-grandsons, which include the 6 sons of Moses/Aaron, also were born before the exodus.

Again, the (priestly) line in 1Ch.6:1-3 confirms the generations of descent from Levi & Kohath. “The sons of Levi were Gershon, Kohath and Merari.  The sons of Kohath were Amram, Izhar, Hebron and Uzziel. The children of Amram were Aaron, Moses and Miriam. And the sons of Aaron were Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar.”  The Kohathite Aaron and his descendants became the priests in Israel.

So these genealogies in Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, 1Chronicles agree.  It appears that no generations were skipped in those scriptural accounts.

Early in the wilderness, the Kohathites from the ages of 30 to 50 totaled 2,750 men (Nu.4:34-37).  And Kohathites from the age of one month and up totaled 8,600 men (Nu.3:27-28).  Again, Kohath’s branch (which included Aaron & the priests) had increased from 1 to 8,600 males after only 4 generations!

Tracing further the Levite Kohath’s descendants…Ex.6:20-21 Moses/Aaron’s uncle Izhar had 3 sons; Korah (Nu.16:1), Népheg, Zichrí.  Ex.6:22 & Le.10:4 Moses/Aaron’s uncle Uzziel had 3 sons; Mishaél or Micháh, Elzaphán, Sithrí.  Perhaps a 4^th son of Uzziel was Issiáh (1Ch.23:20)?  I’ll include him in the count.  1Ch.23:19 Moses/Aaron’s uncle Hebron had 4 sons; Jeriáh, Amariáh, Jahaziél, Jekámeam.

So Moses & Aaron had 11 male paternal first cousins, most or all of whom lived into the exodus.

Including Moses & Aaron, this would result in only 13 male Kohathites in Moses/Aaron’s generation!  Kohath was their grandfather.  The 13 male first cousins were: Moses, Aaron, Korah, Nepheg, Zichri, Mishael or Michah, Elzaphan, Sithri, Issiah (possibly), Jeriah, Amariah, Jahaziel, Jekameam.

Female paternal cousins, daughters of one’s father’s siblings, would become part of whatever clan they married into (unless she married her own cousin, a grandson of Kohath).  Female maternal cousins, daughters of one’s mother’s siblings, wouldn’t be Kohathites (unless an aunt married one of Kohath’s four sons).

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.

Again, the Kohathite generation previous to Moses/Aaron consisted of Amram, Izhar, Uzziel, Hebron.  Those 4 brothers most likely died in Egypt; none of them living into the exodus & wilderness.

The 13 male Kohathites in Moses & Aaron’s generation had sons.  1Ch.23:15 Moses had 2 sons; Gershom, Eliezer.  Ex.6:23 Aaron had 4 sons; Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, Ithamar.  Ex.6:24 cousin Korah had 3 sons; Assír, Elkanáh, Abiasáph.

The cousins Moses, Aaron, Korah had 9 sons between them.  Scripture doesn’t tell us the number of sons had by the other 10 first cousins.  We can speculate or estimate that 10 other cousins had maybe 40 sons between them?  If so, there were close to 50 males in the next generation of Kohathites.

Possibly the 13 males in Moses/Aaron’s generation all lived into the wilderness.  (Nu.16:32 Korah died in the wilderness earthquake or sinkhole.)  Add to the 13 the perhaps 50 sons they had…the males still alive from 3 generations of Kohathites then totaled only 63.  Amram’s generation = 0; Aaron/Moses’ generation = 13; Eleazar/Gershom’s generation = est. 50.  Total = est. 63.

We don’t know how many grandsons Moses, Aaron and the other 11 first cousins had.  Ex.6:25 Aaron’s son Eleazar had a son named Phinehas.  Nu.25:7 “Phinehas the son of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest.”  Only a few grandsons of the 13 Kohathite cousins are identified in scripture.

Even if the 13 first cousins had 50 sons who had 350 sons of their own (7 sons each!)…that’s only 413 total Kohathites.  413 = 8,187 less than the 8,600 male Kohathites of Nu.3:28, early in the wilderness!

Let’s now look at the other two Levite branches, besides the Kohathites.  Again, Ge.46:11 Kohath had two brothers…Gershon (not Gershom) and Merari, sons of Levi.  There were 3 branches of Levites.

{Sidelight: The 3 branches of Levites later had specific duties in the wilderness.  The Gershonites were on the west side of the tabernacle and carried its tapestry (Nu.3:23-26).  The Merarites camped on the north side and transported the tabernacle frames & support system (Nu.3:35-37).  The Kohathites were on the south side and transported the holy furnishings (Nu.3:29-31).  Moses and the priests (Aaron and his sons) camped to the east and served the sanctuary (Nu.3:38).}

Nu.3:18 “These were the names of the sons of Gershon by their clans, Libní and Shiméi.”  Gershon had  2 sons.  Nu.3:20 “The sons of Merari by their clans, Mahlí and Mushí.”  Merari also had only 2 sons.  Nu.3:19 again, Kohath had 4 sons.  All the Levites named here in Nu.3:17-20 died prior to the exodus.

I won’t trace the lesser lineages of Gershon and Merari.  (ref e.g. 1Ch.23:6-24.)  Yet early in the wilderness the total male Gershonites were 7,500 (Nu.3:21-22).  And the total male Merarites were 6,200 (Nu.3:33-34).  Adding in the 8,600 Kohathite males…there were 22,000 (or 22,300) total Levite males.  Nu.3:39 “All the numbered men of the Levites…from a month old and upward, were 22,000.”

Another question: How did the tribe of Levi, tracking from his 3 sons, become 22,000 or 22,300 males from age one month and up, during that same period (215 years)?!  What an increase from only 3 men!

Furthermore, during the same period of time, the 75-85 males (Ge.46:27 LXX) who were in Egypt with Jacob/Joseph increased to 603,550 non-Levite warriors age 20 and up, early in the wilderness (Nu.1:45-47)!  Josephus op. cit. 2:15:1 “The entire multitude of those who went out [from Egypt], 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.”

So a related third question: How could the 75-85 males increase to more than 600,000 after only 4 generations?!

Were there strong aphrodisiacs in Egypt to heighten libido?!  Did each woman have dozens of children?

This topic about the Levites/Kohathites and the number of mixed multitude who comprised the exodus from Egypt is continued in “Levites and the Exodus Multitude (2)”.

 

Aramaic in the Bible (2) – New Testament

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Abwoon d’Bwashmaya, Neet Kah Schmaakh

Teh Teh Malkutah, Neyweh Tzevyanah Aikhanah,

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

Wash Boh Klahn Kaow Behn, Wahktahehn,

Aikhanah Daph Knanahn Soobwoh-Khan Lahkhai Ah-Ben                                   

Welah Tahlah Le Nesyunah, Elah Patzan Min Bishah                                                 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

Rebirth to Physical Life (2)

This is the conclusion to “Rebirth to Physical Life (1)”.  Part 1 should be read first, before continuing with this Part 2.  Also, I suggest you read “Universal Christian Salvation”, before proceeding here.

In “Rebirth to Physical Life (1)”, we read about God’s future for the men of ancient Sodom, and for men in both the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah in the light of Ezk.37:1-14.  A physical rebirth.  The apostle Paul wrote in Ro.11:26, “All Israel shall be saved”.  Not just a remnant!

We considered the book of Job, when he was suffering.  Jb.1:21 Tanakh KJV Septúagint “Naked came I forth from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there.”  Job indicated he could later be reborn from a mother’s womb, his spirit indwelling a human newborn!  Job symbolically compared himself to the ancient phoenix bird (Jb.29:18 Tanakh), which would live again after a cycle of 500 or 1,000 years.  (see Part 1.)  cf. Re.20:5 “The rest of the dead lived not again until the 1,000 years were completed.”  Re.20:8 the dead, resurrected and returned to physical life, would inhabit “nations” of the earth.

Where in the Bible do we read of an individual, a human spirit, indwelling a second physical body…a personality who later did return to a mother’s womb (as Job indicated) to live another physical life?

The prophet Elijah lived in the early 800s BC.  He was a famous character in Israel’s history.  There’s no scriptural record of Elijah’s death.  2Ki.2:1-14 he was translated into heaven by a whirlwind.

{Sidelight: Elijah’s immediate successor Elisha then received a double portion of God’s Holy Spirit, unlike other “sons of the prophets”.  Elisha performed miracles (ref 2Ki.2:9, 15, 1Co.12:28-29).  Poole Commentary 2Ki.2:9 “Elisha seems to have had a greater portion of the prophetical and miraculous gifts of God’s Spirit.”  Elisha still had his own human spirit of course; it wasn’t replaced by Elijah’s spirit!}

In the 400s BC the Lord said in Mal.3:1, “Behold, I will send My messenger; he will prepare the way before Me”.  Mal.4:5 “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and dreadful day of the Lord.”  Consequently, the Jews expected a bodily return of Elijah.  Alfred Edersheim The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, p.100 “The coming of Elijah…he was to appear personally.”  Traditionally, each spring they’d set a place for Elijah at the Passover Seder table and leave the door open for him.  Rabbi David Kimchi “When God shall bring him [Elijah] to life in the body, He shall send him to Israel.”  He’d be sent from God, bodily.

John the Baptist was a man “sent from God” (Jn.1:6).  Lk.1:13, 24-27 John was born 6 months before Jesus.  John’s mother was Mary’s aunt Elizabeth.  Mk.1:1-4 John “prepared the way” for Jesus’ ministry.

Jesus identified John the Baptizer as the Elijah who was to come!  Jesus said of John in Mt.11:13-14, “This is Elijah”.  John the Baptist was the Elijah who had lived approximately 900 years before!  Jesus said later in Mt.17:12-13, “Elijah has already come, and they didn’t recognize him. Then His disciples understood He was talking to them about John the Baptist.”  Cambridge Bible Mt.17:12 “[Many Jews] didn’t recognize him as the Elijah prophesied by Malachi.”  Mk.9:13 re John, “Elijah has indeed come”.

The angel Gabriel foretold Zacharias re John his son to be. Lk.1:14-17 “He will go before Him [Jesus] in the spirit and power of Elijah”.  The same human spirit in Elijah was in John the Baptizer.  Both were empowered to call the people to repentance.  Jews believe Elijah will return bodily.  He did.

Let’s now notice several similarities between the lives of Elijah and John the Baptizer:

Both dwelt in the wilderness east of the Jordan River (1Ki.17:2-6 & Mt.3:1-3, Lk.1:80).

Both characteristically wore a shaggy cloak and a leather belt (2Ki.1:8 & Mt.3:4).

Both were witnesses for the true God (1Ki.18:37 & Jn.1:14-15).

Both mocked their opponents who displayed a form of religion (1Ki.18:27 & Mt.3:7-9).

Both reproved their wicked king who disobeyed God (1Ki.18:17-18 Aháb & Lk.3:18-19 Herod Ántipas).

Both were wanted dead by the king’s evil wife (1Ki.19:2 Ahab/Jezébel & Mk.6:17-24 Herod/Herodiás).

Both endorsed their replacement, Elisha and Jesus (1Ki.19:16, 19 & Mk.1:9, Jn.3:28-30).

John the Baptizer even ministered at the same site on the east bank of the Jordan River from where Elijah had been taken up into heaven 900 years before (2Ki.2:1-14)!  Scripture reflects too many similar characteristics for it to be just coincidence.  They were the same personality, the same human spirit.

Ja.5:17 Elijah was a man with faulty human nature, as we.  He made mistakes, one serious.  1Ki.18:4, 13 Israel’s evil queen Jezebel had killed prophets of the Lord.  Elijah took vengeance by killing Jezebel’s false prophets.  1Ki.18:40 “Elijah said to them [Israel], ‘Seize the prophets of Báal [450 men, v.22]; don’t let one of them escape.’ They seized them; and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishón and slew them there.”  Ellicott Commentary 1Ki.18:40 “The ruthless slaughter of Baal’s prophets.  Pulpit Commentary 1Ki.18:40 “It is true that the spirit of Elijah was not the spirit of Christianity (Lk.9:56); because our religion instructs us to leave it to Him who has said, ‘Vengeance is Mine.”

Elijah wasn’t a civil authority.  Yet he made the decision to kill the false prophets without having the authorization to kill/stone false prophets (cf. De.18:20, 13:6-11).  The Lord didn’t tell him to kill them.  Elijah chose to kill them…with the sword.  1Ki.19:1 “He had killed all the prophets with the sword.”

1Ki.19:2-3 after slaying the prophets, Elijah fled for his life in fear.  He escaped from evil queen Jezebel.

However, 900 years later John the Baptizer died by the sword, at the behest of evil queen Herodias!  ref Mk.6:17-29.  v.27 the king’s executioner had John “beheaded in the prison”.

Elijah, as John, eventually reaped what he’d sowed!  Ga.6:7 Paul wrote, “Whatever a man sows, this he will also reap”.  Cause and effect.  Elijah killed with the sword…John the Baptizer died by the sword.  Mt.26:52 Jesus said, “All who take up the sword will perish by the sword”.  What goes around, comes around.  Oba.1:15 “As you have done, it will be done to you.”  Ps.7:16 “His violence shall come down upon the crown of his own head.”  Barnes Notes Ps.7:16 “He’d be treated as he had designed to treat others.”  God is just.  Karma?  John reaped the payback for Elijah’s unauthorized ruthless treatment of the false prophets.  Although Jezebel failed to kill Elijah, Herodias succeeded in having him/John slain.

Jesus said John the Baptizer was Elijah.  Jn.1:21 but John didn’t think he was Elijah.  It seems that God mercifully causes amnesia to set in before or by the time children mature.  So a person (like John) isn’t tormented with guilt from any memory of his previous life when he’d committed major crimes or sins.

Elijah was considered a great prophet.  In the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh), Moses typified the Law and Elijah typified the Prophets…the “Law and the Prophets”.  And in Lk.7:28, Jesus said there’s no greater prophet than John/(Elijah)!  Mt.17:3-4, 10-13 in the Transfiguration, Moses and Elijah appeared with Jesus.  The representatives of the Law and the Prophets were two witnesses to Messiah Jesus’ upcoming death (Lk.9:30-31).  Note that the Transfiguration occurred after John the Baptizer was beheaded (back in Mt.14:10).  Elijah couldn’t have been present in the Transfiguration if John was still alive in Judea.

The commission given to John the Baptizer as “My messenger” (Mal.3:1, Is.40:3 & Mk.1:2-4) came to pass in the 1^st century AD, although unconverted Jews still don’t think John was the prophesied Elijah.

Rebirth to physical life was a common belief in Bible times.  Elijah was expected to personally appear on the scene.  Philo Judaeus (ca 20 BC – 50 AD) wrote of the Lógos (Greek), the Word of God.  Works of Philo: The Special Laws 1, p.541 “Now the image of God is the Logos [Word], by which all the world was made.”  The apostle John affirmed in Jn.1:1-4, 14, all things came into being through the primordial Logos/Word who became Jesus in the flesh.  Philo preceded the apostle John.

Philo also wrote in On Dreams 1:138-139, “Now of souls some descend upon the earth with a view to be bound in mortal bodies. Of these, those which are influenced by a desire for mortal life, and familiarized to it, again return to it.”  According to Philo, some Jews returned to a physical life and others didn’t.  (This wasn’t the false New Age belief of transmigration of souls into lower animal bodies!)

Josephus Antiquities of the Jews 18:1:3-5 “Pharisees believe souls have an immortal rigor, and under the earth [cf. Paul’s Php.2:10] there will be rewards or punishments. Virtuous souls have the power to revive and live again, the vicious to be detained….The doctrine of the Sadducees is that souls die with the body…The Essenes teach immortality of souls and esteem that the rewards of righteousness are to be earnestly striven for.”  Pharisees & Essenes thought there was life after death.  Paul had been a Pharisee.

Roman author Pliny (23–79 AD) wrote admirably of the Essenes.  Biblical Archaeology Review Spring 2020, p.49 quotes Pliny. “So fruitful for them [Essenes] is the repentance which others feel for their past lives. Natural History 5:17:4.”

Jews who encountered Jesus thought He too had lived previously.  Some mistakenly thought Jesus was the expected Elijah to come, or that Jesus was John the Baptizer reincarnated.  Mk.6:14-16 “People were saying, ‘John the Baptist has risen from the dead, and that is why these miraculous powers are at work in Him [Jesus].’ But others were saying, ‘He is Elijah.’ When Herod heard of it, he kept saying, ‘John, who I beheaded, has risen!”  Evidently Herod didn’t hold to the Sadducean doctrine of no resurrection.

Others thought Jesus was an Old Testament prophet (other than Elijah) returned to life.  Jesus asked His disciples in Mt.16:13-14, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?’ They answered Him, ‘Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the Prophets.”  Some of Jesus’ countrymen thought He was Jeremiah (lived ca 650–570 BC) physically alive again.  Why Jeremiah?  Jeremiah had prophesied of the future Messiah (Je.23:5-6) and New Covenant (Je.31:31-ff).  Both Jeremiah and Jesus were persecuted by Jewish leaders who opposed them (cf. Je.20:7-10).  JFB Commentary Mt.16:14 “Jeremiah…suggested by a supposed resemblance between the ‘man of sorrows’ [Is.53:3 Messiah] and the ‘weeping prophet’ [Je.9:1, 13:17]?”  Jeremiah’s book of “Lamentations” means “weeping”.  So it is perhaps understandable why some would (wrongly) think Jesus & Jeremiah were the same human spirit.

Jn.9:1-3 Jesus’ disciples asked Jesus about the man born blind from birth.  “His disciples asked Him, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents that he should be born blind?’ Jesus answered, ‘Neither this man nor his parents, but in order that the works of God might be displayed in him.”  Jesus then displayed the works of God by miraculously giving sight to this man.

We understand, a human embryo or fetus in the womb doesn’t commit sin.  Jesus’ disciples assumed the man sinned in a past life and his blindness in this life was the payback; he was reaping what he’d sowed.  Or else the man’s blindness was caused by some sin committed by his parents.  Jn.9:34 Pharisees who opposed Jesus accused this man of being “born entirely in sin”.  Although sin wasn’t the cause with this man, Jesus didn’t tell His disciples that a person couldn’t have sinned in a prior physical body.

Gill Exposition Jn.9:2 “The disciples asked whether this man had sinned in a pre-existent state when in another body. This notion, Josephus says, was embraced by the Pharisees.”  Barnes Notes “Many of the Jews believed…that the soul of a man, in consequence of sin, might be compelled into other bodies, and be punished there.”  The nature of the past life sins may not be capital crimes or wholly evil.  Ellicott Commentary ties Jn.9:2 to the apocrypha book Wisdom of Solomon 8:20. “Being rather good, I came into a body undefiled” (KJV 1611 edition).  He’d been more good than evil; his rebirth body had no congenital defects.  (In Mt.12:42, Jesus referred to the “wisdom of Solomon” 6:1.)  Jesus didn’t tell His disciples that belief in a rebirth from a mother’s womb (as Job believed, Jb.1:21) was erroneous.

Jn.5:28-29 Jesus said that from the graves there is resurrection to eternal Life (Strongs g2222, Greek) for those who did good, and resurrection to judgment for those who didn’t.  Judgment involves evaluation.  Ac.24:15 Paul said there shall be “a resurrection of both the just and the unjust”.  Cambridge Bible Jn.5:29 “This passage and Ac.24:15 are the only direct assertions in the New Testament of a bodily resurrection of the wicked.”  (also cf. Da.12:2 with Je.23:40.)

He.11:35 a resurrection to eternal Life with a spiritual body is better than resuscitation, and better than resurrection to another physical life.  1Co.15:44 that which is planted a natural physical body is raised a spiritual body.  Paul is referring to the just who believed, repented, and lived by the Holy Spirit.  (see “Life and Death – for Saints”.)  The just were “firstfruits” (Ja.1:18, Re.14:4), rising to eternal Life.  The just who sowed good works reap a spiritual body to be with the Lord.

He.9:27 all die at least once physically.  cf. deaths: He.11:35, Jn.11:44, 1Ki.17:22, 2Ki.4:35.  Re.20:14 a second death which terminates consciousness is indicated for the very few.  (see “Gehenna (2) – Lake of Unquenched Fire”.)  Yet based upon God’s principle of justice seen in De.19:21, “life for life”…there wouldn’t be a second death without a second life preceding it!  To hear the name Jesus, believe, repent.

Alfred Edersheim The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, p.1064 “It is at least conceivable that there may be a purification or transformation of all who are capable of such…and that in the end of what we call time, only that which is morally incapable of transformation, be it men or devils, shall be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone.”  (Also, some few view the lake of fire as a refiner’s fire of purification.)

So what do the scriptures reflect will be the final result when every human, BC and AD, has had ample opportunity to hear of salvation via Jesus’ sacrifice, and time to show belief and repentance from sin?

Re.5:11-14 “And every [g3956] created thing – which is in heaven, on the earth, under the earth, in the sea, and all [g3956] that are in them – I heard saying ‘To the One who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb [Jesus], be blessing and honor and glory and dominion to the ages of the ages. Amen.”  Ellicott Commentary Re.5:13 “The whole universe joins in this grand acclaim.”  Barnes Notes “Ascribing praise. All worlds seem to join in it.”  JFB Commentary “The universal chorus of creation.”  Every creature.

So this is total.  At this time all will worship, giving honor and praise to the Lord.  This is done of their own free will.  2Ti.1:10 Jesus has “abolished death”!  There are none left in a hell agony, resisting God!

John envisioned in Re.21:1, 4 “I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and earth had ceased to exist. He [God] shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and death will not exist any more; or mourning or crying or pain; for the former things have ceased to exist.”  There’s no cries of pain & torment from a hell-fire!  Gill Exposition Re.21:4 “There will be nothing to afflict the mind.”

What great news this is in regards to our ancestors, family members, friends & loved ones who died unconverted/unsaved!  Their ultimate fate isn’t eternal conscious torment in hell!  The same goes for “all Israel” (not just a remnant).  And for the unnamed multitudes who lived in BC times.  God is so good!

Needless to say, Christians should hope that Universal Salvation for all through Jesus will eventually be a reality in the ages to come.  God’s loving, impartial plan for mankind, created in His image, is greater than we’ve thought!  Praise the Lord!

Watchers and Gen. 6 ‘Sons of God’ (2)

This is the conclusion to “Watchers and Gen. 6 ‘Sons of God’ (1)”.  Part 1 identified the “Watchers” (Da.4:13-17, 23), and tied the Watcher angels that sinned in the intertestamental book of 1Enoch to 2Pe.2:4 & Jude 1:6, 14-15.  Material from Part 1 isn’t repeated here in Part 2; Part 1 should be read first.

Part 2 mostly focuses on the expression “sons of God”, as seen in the Old Testament (OT) scriptures.

Ge.6:2 “The sons of God saw the daughters of men were beautiful, and took wives for themselves.”

Who were those very ancient “sons of God”?  Some commentaries interpret them as human men.  But earlier sources interpreted them as supernatural beings (also reflected in various Bible translations).

The OT Septúagint/LXX is older than the Masoretic text.  Ge.6:2 Alexandrian LXX “The angels of God, having seen the daughters of men were beautiful, took to themselves wives of all they chose.”  Ge.6:2 Good News Trans “Some of the heavenly beings saw that these young women were beautiful.”  Ge.6:2 ISV “Some divine beings noticed how attractive human women were.”  Ge.6:4 CEV “The children [the giants] of the supernatural beings who had married women became famous heroes and warriors.”

Let’s examine the occurrences of “sons of God” in the OT, and then cite early interpretive views.

The expression “sons of God”, bene haElohím (Strongs h1121 h430, Hebrew), is also found in the OT Job 1:6 and 2:1. “There was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them.”  Ellicott Commentary Ps.89:6-7 “Sons of God’ – i.e. angels. For a picture of the court of heaven see Job 1:6.”  The Job.1:6 & 2:1 “sons of God” refers to heavenly beings.

The Lord questioned Job in Jb.38:4-7. “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth…When the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?”  The Jb.38:7 “sons of God” didn’t mean humans.  No humans were created yet when God “laid the foundation of the earth”.  Pulpit Commentary Jb.38:7 “Sons of God’ here must necessarily be the angels, since there were no men as yet in existence.”  Jb.38:7 LXX “…All My angels praised Me with a loud voice.”

Da.3:25 King Nebuchadnézzar perceived four men (not three!) in the blazing furnace and exclaimed, “Behold! The appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods [h426, Aramaic]!”  v.28 God’s angel.

In the OT, there are no human individuals named who were called “sons of God/god”, bene haElohim.  Rather, the expression referred to supernatural beings…created, unbegotten.

Ps.89:6 “Who in the skies can compare with the Lord? Who among the heavenly beings is like the Lord?”  Some older translations literally read “sons of the mighty”.  1599 Geneva Bible Ps.89:6 note “Meaning, the angels.”  Gill Exposition Ps.89:6 “None of the angels [can compare].”  Cambridge Bible Ps.89:6 “Denotes angels….Synonymous with Job 1:6, 2:1, 38:7.”  Celestial beings, not human beings.

Ps.29:1 “Ascribe to the Lord, you heavenly beings, glory and strength.”  Some older translations literally read “you sons of the mighty.”  JFB Commentary Ps.29:1 “Sons of the mighty’. Heavenly beings, as angels.”  Barnes Notes Ps.29:1 “The allusion is undoubtedly to the angels, as being in an eminent sense the sons of God.”  (also see the topic “Heavenly Host Authorities and Powers”.)

Ho.1:10 “Yet the number of the sons of Israel will be like the sands of the sea….It will be said to them, ‘You are the sons of the living God.”  However, Hosea’s prophecy refers to Israelites becoming sons of God in the future.  Poole Commentary Ho.1:10 “God will bring it about in His time.”  Barnes Notes Ho.1:10 “Sons of the living God.’ God adopts us as sons (Rom.8:15).”  Gill Exposition Ho.1:10 “The Jews will be converted, and all Israel saved, Rom.11:25.”  According to the apostle Paul, humans become adopted sons of God now via the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit.  But only Jesus is Son of God conceived by the Holy Spirit (Mt.1:20)!  Other celestial spirit beings were created sons of God.

The New Testament Lk.3:38 indicates Adam the first human was a “son of God”.  But Adam was a created son of God (Ge.1:27); he wasn’t begotten.  And God is the Father of created spirits, He.12:9.

Again, there are no humans named in the OT who are called “sons of God”, bene haElohim (Hebrew).

The Book of Jubilees (also known as Little Genesis) was written in Hebrew ca 150–100 BC.  It told of the very ancient “sons of God” who had relations with the “daughters of men” in Ge.6:1-4.  Jub.4:15, 22 “Jared [Enoch’s father, Ge.5:18-19]. In his days the angels of the Lord descended on the earth, those who are named the Watchers….He [Enoch] testified to the Watchers who had sinned with the daughters of men.”  Jub.7:21-22 “The Watchers, against the law of their ordinances, went whoring after the daughters of men and took themselves wives. They begat sons the Naphidim, and they devoured one another…the Giants.”  This ancient Jewish work says that some angels/Watchers sinned and fathered evil giants.  See “Watchers and Gen. 6 ‘Sons of God’ (1)” about the Watchers in the book of 1Enoch.

The term incubus relates to a spirit lusting after and having sex with a human woman.  (also cf. Tobit 6:14 “A wicked spirit loves her”; Ge.19:1, 4-7 sex with a different kind of being.)

The fragmentary Book of Giants is an apocryphal Jewish work, dated ‘before the 2^nd century BCE’.  Aramaic copies were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls (DSS) at Qumrán.  It tells of the birth of the hybrid giants.  Wikipedia: The Book of Giants “This book tells of the background and fate of these ante-diluvial giants and their fathers, the Watchers, the ‘sons of God’ or ‘holy ones’ (Dan.4:13, 17) who rebelled against heaven when…they commingled, in lust, with the ‘daughters of men’. Their even more corrupt offspring, the giants, were variously called thereafter nephilim, gibborim, rephaim, being the earthly half-breed races that fought against God and His followers.”  Interestingly, one of the giants named in this work is Gílgamesh.  That may be a polemic against the Epic of Gilgamesh; it is uncertain.

Also part of the DSS is the Damascus Document (4Q271), dated ca 100 BC. “The watchers of heaven fell. And their children whose height was like the loftiness of cedars fell [cf. Amos 2:9]. All flesh that was on dry land perished.”  That alluded to Noah’s Flood.

The Jewish philosopher Philo Judaeus of Alexandria (c 25 BC – c 50 AD) used the Alexandrian Codex version of the Greek OT text (forerunner of our LXX/Septuagint).  Philo quoted Ge.6:2 in his On The Giants (De Gigantibus) 2:6. “When the angels of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, they took unto themselves wives of all them who they chose.’ Those beings whom other philosophers call demons.”  In Philo’s view, those fallen angels who fathered the giants/Nephilim were demons.

Josephus Antiquities of the Jews 1:3:1 “Many angels of God accompanied with women, and begat sons that proved unjust, and despisers of all that was good, on account of the confidence they had in their own strength. The tradition is that these men did what resembled the acts of those whom the Grecians call giants.”  Josephus’ translator William Whiston added, “That the fallen angels were, in some sense, the fathers of the old giants, was the constant opinion of antiquity”.  Most ancients thought it to be so.

Both Philo and Josephus thought the “sons of God” in Gen.6 were (fallen) angels of God.  But it seems that Josephus thought demons were the spirits of deceased wicked humans.  Josephus Wars of the Jews 7:6:3 “Demons…are the spirits of the wicked which enter into men which are alive, and kill them.”

Some people think demons are the earthbound spirits of deceased evil humans, malevolent ghosts.  Others think demons are fallen angels.  Or they’re spirits of the hybrid Nephilim offspring of Watchers (1Eno.15:8).  Or demons are aliens created by God who came here from other worlds, trespassers.

Justin Martyr (ca 100–165 AD) was a gentile Samaritan Christian.  He wrote in Second Apology, Chpt 5 “Angels transgressed this appointment, and were captivated by love of women, and begat children who are those that are called demons”.  This prominent early martyr believed angels were the fathers.

Irenáeus (ca 130–202 AD) was a leading early Greek bishop (in Lyons) who developed Christian theology.  He wrote in A Discourse in the Demonstration of Apostolic Preaching, 18 “Illicit unions took place upon the earth, since angels were united with the daughters of the race of mankind. And they bore to them sons who for their exceeding greatness were called giants”.  This prominent early theologian too believed that angels fathered those giants.

The Aramaic Targum Neofití and Targum Jonathán also indicate that fallen angelic beings mated with human women.  Legend ties the Watchers or their giant offspring to the Titans of Greek mythology.

Natan Lawrence The ‘Sons of Elohim’ and ‘the Giants’ “The idea that fallen angels were the fathers of the giants is the general opinion of antiquity.”  Belief that those fathers were human men is more recent.

The pseudepigráphical Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs (T12P, the sons of Jacob) is a late 2^nd century BC Jewish biographical work, thought to also now contain early ‘Christian additions’.  Testament of Reuben 5:6-7 “They [women] allured the Watchers who were before the flood; they lusted after them and conceived the act in their mind. For they changed themselves into the shape of men, and appeared to them when they were with their husbands. And the women lusting in their minds after their forms, gave birth to giants, for the Watchers appeared to them as reaching even to heaven.”  Deliriums Realm: Watchers/Nephilim comments, “He says the real fathers were humans, but giants were conceived from mutual passions of angels and women.”  Testament of Naphtali 3:5 “The Watchers also changed the order of their nature, whom the Lord cursed at the flood.”  Wikipedia: Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs “A copy of the Testament of Naphtalí was discovered at Qumran among the DSS taken from Cave 4 (4Q215).”  It is thought the original T12P possibly was an Essene writing.

However, the (supposed) Book of Jasher differed on who were those Ge.6:1-4 very ancient “sons of God”.  Jash.4:18 “Their judges and rulers went to the daughters of men and took their wives by force from their husbands according to their choice.”  In Jasher, those “sons of God” were human men, not angels.  This view differs from that of more ancient sources.  Ken Ammi Book of Jasher on the Nephilim “The fact that this text doesn’t offer an Angelic interpretation of the Gen.6 affair is evidence that it isn’t an ancient text, as the earliest Jewish (as well as Christian for that matter) interpretation was that the sons of God weren’t humans in any capacity, but were Angels (see Jude 6-7 and 2Peter 2 specifically).”  The Book of Jasher we have today dates from only a few hundred years ago.

Biblical Archaeology Society: The Nephilim and the Sons of God “Though centuries of rabbinical and church tradition would say otherwise, the audience to whom the text [Ge.6:1-4] was intended would have understood the ‘sons of God’ to be members of the divine assembly mentioned throughout the literature of the ancient Near East, including the Bible. In the Biblical texts, the ‘sons of God’ are usually described as lesser heavenly beings in the service of the Most High.”

International Bible Standard Encyclopedia: Sons of God “Most scholars…interpret ‘sons of God’ as referring to supernatural beings. The intent of the original writer [of Ge.6:1-4] was to account for the rise of the giant race of antiquity by the union of demigods with human wives. This interpretation accords with Enoch [1Enoch] chapters 6-7, etc., and with Jude 1:6.”  (again, see Part 1.)

ReasonsForHopeJesus: Who Were the Nephilim & Sons of God in Genesis 6? “Fallen Angels. This interpretation is probably the most probable and credible, but it is also the most controversial.”

This is a controversial topic.  My focus hasn’t been on what may or may not seem logical to our modern minds, or accord with our church’s belief.  In OT verses, “sons of God” always meant supernatural beings, not humans.  The bulk of surviving applicable ancient writings reflect that the “sons of God” or Watchers who sinned were celestial beings…falling in their illicit desire for human women.

Temple of Zerubbabel (2) – the Period

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ark of the Testimony – Journeys (2)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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)!

Jewish Sects of the 1st Century (1)

Harvard’s late renowned scholar Jacob Neusner wrote in Judaism When Christianity Began, p.5, 50, “Judaism divides into Judaisms….Judaisms that flourished in Second Temple times, before 70 CE, when the Temple was destroyed.”  ‘Judaisms’ plural.  There were several ‘Judaisms’ in the Holy Land.

This two-part topic identifies seven main Jewish religious sects or groups extant in the Land in the 1^st century.  The time when Jesus lived as a Jew and the temple still existed.  Part 1 discusses the Scribes, Pharisees, Sadducees.  Part 2 discusses the Heródians, Zealots, Éssenes, Nazarenes.

#1 SCRIBES: grammateús Strongs g1122, Greek noun.  The term is seen in the Old Testament (OT) Greek Septúagint/LXX, and occurs 67 times in the Greek New Testament (NT).  The OT Hebrew term is Sópherim Strongs h5608 (h5613 Aramaic).

Scribes or Sopherim were writers/recorders, learned in the scriptures.  2Sm.20:25 Shevá was scribe when Zadók was priest in the days of King David.  1Ki.4:3 Shishá’s sons were Solomon’s scribes.  2Ki.18:18 Shebná was scribe for King Hezekiáh of Judah.  2Ki.22:8-13 Shaphán was scribe to Josiáh.

Jewish Encyclopedia: Scribes “The royal officials who were occupied in recording in the archives the proceedings of each day were called scribes….the term ‘scribe’ became synonymous with ‘wise man.”  Scribes were literate, unlike the general populace of Israel and Judah, and more knowledgeable.

The first order of Levitical scribes may have been set up by David, Solomon, or Hezekiah (cf. Pr.25:1).  2Ch.34:13 “Some of the Levites were scribes, officials, and guards.”  Barnes Notes 2Ch.34:13 “A distinct division of the Levitical body has been instituted. The class itself probably originated in the reign of Hezekiah.”  100 years after Hezekiah, Barúch the son of Neriáh was the faithful scribe of Jeremiah the priest (Je.45:1), ca 600 BC.  He’s the traditional author of the apocryphal Book of Baruch.

Previously Israel’s ten tribes disobeyed the Lord’s commandments and consequently were deported into captivity in 721 BC.  Judah was taken captive in 597 BC.  (Prophesied in De.28:15, 36.)  After their Babylonian exile, King Cyrus of Persia allowed Jews to return to the Land with Zerubbabél, ca 538 BC.  Ezra returned ca 457 BC as a royal commissioner from the Persian Empire.  He was sent to investigate conditions in Judea, with authority to administer God’s Law/Toráh to Jewish returnees.

The role of scribes then changed somewhat from that of monarchial Israel & Judah prior to captivity.  Jewish Encyclopedia op.cit. “In the time of Ezra, the designation [‘scribe’] was applied to the body of teachers who…interpreted the Law to the people.”  Scribes/official secretaries became teachers.

Ezra (the name means ‘help’) was a priest and a scribe (Ezr.7:11).  Ezr.7:6 “Ezra…was a scribe skilled in the Law of Moses.”  Ezra led reforms, and instructed the people (ref Ne.8:1-18).

Jews who’d returned to the Holy Land didn’t want to suffer another captivity due to ignorance of, or disobedience to, God’s laws.  The synagogue system was set up to teach the (common) people.

Ezra is traditionally credited with establishing the ‘Men of the Great Assembly/Synagogue’.  It consisted of scribes, sages and a few prophets (120 men?).  This was a legislative body.  They codified the Hebrew scripture canon (OT).  The Great Assembly was succeeded by the judicial Great Sanhédrin (70 men), which arose during the Intertestamental Period and was the Jewish supreme court in the Land.

Scribes, though no longer royal officials, became leaders of society during the time of the Maccabees (post-167 BC).  Scribes were an institution and governing religious class, serving on Sanhedrin courts.  Scribes were ‘guardians of the Law’.  Much of the society was illiterate; scribes were the authorities.

Smith’s Bible Dictionary “Scribes gave attention to study of the Torah, its interpretation, historical interpretation, doctrinal issues, and teaching.”  They helped other Jews learn and obey God’s precepts.

Scribes established organized schools in towns, some adjacent to synagogues.  School teachers were considered ‘Masters’ or ‘Rabbis’.  The “Law and the Prophets”, and the Hagiógrapha/“Writings”, were taught in schools.  (But the “Writings” usually weren’t read in synagogues.)  Obtaining a doctor’s degree from schools resulted in a rabbinical ordination.

These schools still existed in Jesus/Yeshúa’s time.  (also see the topic “Synagogue Influence on the Church”.)

Alfred Edersheim The Life And Times of Jesus the Messiah, p.67 “The Great Assembly had disappeared from the scene. The Sopherim [scribes] had ceased to be a party in power….[their] task was purely ecclesiastical, to preserve their religion.”  Their religion initially was based on the Lord’s OT.

But the scribes overreached in their interpretations of scripture.  They began to add man-made religious traditions & regulations to God’s written word.  They valued their add-ons more than scripture!  Jesus said of scribes and Pharisees in Mt.15:1-ff “You invalidate the word of God for the sake of your tradition”.

Scribes of Jesus’ day were egotistical elitists & bureaucrats (Bible.org: The Scribes)…and they opposed Jesus.  He cautioned His disciples in Lk.20:46-47. “Beware of the scribes who like to walk around in long robes and love respectful greetings in the marketplace, and chief seats in the synagogues, and places of honor at banquets; who devour widow’s houses and for appearance’s sake offer long prayers; these will receive greater condemnation.”  The role and attitude of scribes had changed over the centuries.

Yet 600 years earlier Jeremiah noted “the lying pens of the scribes” (Je.8:8).  Some scribes as recorders & copyists were disregarding God’s written word to advance their agenda even back then.

{Sidelight: The 1^st century scribes/Sopherim were later succeeded by the Masorétes, (rabbinic) scribal scholars.  Masoretes preserved and copied the OT books from ca 550–1050 AD.  This was done in Jerusalem, Babylon, Tiberius, and in the diáspora (dispersion).  They began adding vowel points ca 800 AD, as no Hebrew alphabet letters served solely as vowels.  Masoretes developed the “Masoretic Text” (from the Hebrew masoreth/masórah, meaning ‘tradition’).  The oldest manuscripts date from the 800s AD.  There were two rival versions of the Masoretic Text, the ben Asher and the ben Naphtali (both done at Tiberius on the W shore of the Sea of Galilee).  Wikipedia: Masoretes “The halákhic authority Maimónides [Rámbam] endorsed the ben Asher as superior, although the Egyptian Jewish scholar Saádya Gáon had preferred the ben Naphtali system.”  There’s more than 850 differences between the two versions.  Dr. Paul Wegner, Professor of Old Testament at Kings College in London, writes “Eventually the ben Asher tradition won out”.  The Hebrew Bible Aléppo Codex (900s AD) and Leningrad Codex (1008 AD) both contain the ben Asher version of the Masoretic Text.  (Note: Most OT verses quoted by the NT writers are from the BC old Greek OT, not the later Masoretic Text!)}

#2 PHARISEES: Pharisáios g5330 Greek noun; it occurs 100 times in the NT.  Their opponents called them Perúshim/Pharisees, derived from an Aramaic term meaning ‘separated ones’.  But they took to themselves the OT name Hasídim (h2623), ‘the pious’.  In Psalms, the Hasidim are rendered the saints or godly ones, e.g. Ps.4:3, 31:23.

Pharisees were called ‘the separated’ because ca 145 BC they resisted the Hellenization (Greek cultural influence) of Antíochus Epíphanes from 165 BC.  Alfred Edersheim op. cit., p.5 “Phárisaism…made no secret of its contempt for Hellenists, and openly declared the Grecian far inferior to the Babylonian ‘dispersion.”  Conversely, the Sadducees accepted Hellenization.  And while the Pharisees claimed to be ‘the pious’, the rival Sadducees claimed to be ‘the righteous’ (Edersheim, p.224).

While trying to protect God’s written law from Greek influence, the resisting Pharisees sought to ‘build a fence around the law’.  The fence was a so-called ‘oral law’ which they (wrongly) supposed God had given to Moses, and was handed down.  Josephus Antiquities of the Jews 13:10:6 “Pharisees have delivered to the people a great many observances by succession from their fathers, which are not written in the law of Moses; for that reason the Sadducees reject them.”  Many traditional practices.

Paul exhorted Titus in Ti.1:14 to “not pay attention to Jewish myths and commandments of men who turn away from the truth”.  Oral law is the commandments of men…not God.  Jacob Neusner wrote of the “explicit myth of the dual torah, written and oral. A heretic is someone who rejects the duality”.  The Talmudic Qiddushin 3:16, “A heretic is someone who rejects the duality of torah.”  see the topic “Paul the Apostle (2)”, regarding oral torah.  Pharisees made mandatory both the written and oral torah.

And Pharisees gave these unwritten rules or “traditions of the elders” (Mk.7:5) the priority, as even more binding than the Lord’s written Law!  Mk.7:1-9 they substituted mans’ rules for God’s commands.  Jesus said of them in Mt.23:23…their tithing of garden plants was right; but their forsaking (written) Torah for traditions was wrong.  (However, their oral law instruction wasn’t mandatory for women.)

The oral Torah also tried to explain how-to-do written Torah.  It added details so that sacrifices, rituals, etc., could be performed in an orderly manner.  That part of oral law tradition seems reasonable.

Josephus Antiquities 17:2:4 says there were “above 6,000” strict Pharisees.  (Probably the Pharisees outnumbered the Sadducees.)  Pharisaism was the strictest Jewish sect, Ac.26:5.  They kept aloof from others who weren’t as conscientious about cleanliness.  The Pharisees were less political (compared to the Sadducees).  Pharisees appealed to the masses, to most of the scribes, to the synagogues.

Ac.23:6-10 it’s Pharisees vs Sadducees in the Sanhedrin.  Pharisees believed: the annual Péntecost was on Siván 6 of the Hebrew calendar (not always a Sunday), in resurrection, in the existence of angels with wings, and spirits.  Pharisees had a broad angelólogy and demonology.  (Supposedly they believed that demons at human fingertips liked water.  cf. Lk.8:33 demonized swine ran headlong into the lake.)

Although the Pharisees had their differences with the Sadducees and the Herodians (see Part 2), they joined together against Jesus, who they all viewed as their common enemy.

Mt.23:1-3 Jesus said the scribes and Pharisees seated themselves in Moses’ seat (but Jesus exhorts that they fail to practice what they teach).  Encyclopedia of the Bible: Seat of Moses “The name given to a special chair of honor in the synagogue where the authoritative teacher of the law sat.”  (And conveyed administrative judgments.)  Although most scribes favored the Pharisees, “scribes” and “Pharisees” weren’t synonymous.  Edersheim p.65 “Although generally appearing in company with ‘the Pharisees’, he [Scribe] is not necessarily one of them; for they [Pharisees] represent a religious party, while he [Scribe] has a status and holds an office.”  Scribes were Torah scholars & teachers, and copyists.

In Mt.23, Jesus went on to castigate the scribes and Pharisees with seven woes!  v.4-8 they liked being called “Rabbi”, derived from “rabi” which meant ‘My Master’ (‘Great One’).  It was a title of respect or accolade for Torah scholars.  v.27-28 but Jesus said figuratively they were like whitewashed graves.

Pharisees wrongly claimed that Jesus violated the sabbath, Mt.12:1-13.  Then v.14 “The Pharisees went out and counseled together how they might destroy Him.”  Jesus was drawing people away from them.

Before Paul’s conversion, he’d been a Pharisee, Ac.26:3-5.  Many NT readers today are perplexed when reading Paul’s epistles, in which a written law/oral law mix was sometimes meant.  see “Paul the Apostle (2)”.  The Jewish historian Josephus was a Pharisee.  Jn.3:1 also Nicódemus.  Ac.5:34-40 and Gamaliél.

After 70 AD, Pharisees gradually faded away.  But their doctrine/dogma survives.  Got Questions: “The Pharisees’ legacy lived on. In fact, the Pharisees were responsible for the compilation of the Míshnah, an important document with reference to the continuation of Judaism beyond the destruction of the temple.”  They thought that past temple worship could be substituted by continued study in local Jewish synagogues.  Jewish Virtual Library “They [Pharisees] are the spiritual fathers of modern Judaism.”

#3 SADDUCEES: Saddoukáios g4523 Greek noun, meaning ‘the righteous’.  It occurs 14 times in the NT.  The Sadducees supposedly descended from Sadóc/Zadok (g4524 Greek, h6659 Hebrew).  1Ki.1:39 he was the priest who’d anointed Solomon as king, ca 1000 BC.

The Sadducáic sect arose during the 400-year Intertestamental Period, probably after 150 BC.  They were a more Hellenistic group, having adopted the increasing Greek influence of the Grecian Empire.

No actual Sadducee documents survive.  We learn of them from the writings of their opponents.  And in the NT we see that they opposed Jesus and His disciples.

The Sadducees were political.  They appealed to the: Sanhedrin court, wealthy upper class, priests and temple authority.  Ac.4:1 “As they [Peter and John] were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came upon them.”  Sadducees put Jesus’ apostles in jail in Ac.5:17-18. “The high priest rose up along with all his associates from the sect of the Sadducees, and were filled with jealousy. They arrested the apostles and put them in public custody.”

The Sadducees looked only to the Pentateuch (the five books of Moses) as their law source, although they accepted the entire OT.  Sadducees claimed to adhere to the written Law of Moses, not to oral torah, so-called.  But it seems their diligence was sorely lacking dedication.

The Sadducees bitterly opposed the Pharisee party.  In 85 BC, six years of civil war ensued between the Pharisees and the Sadducéan Alexander Jánnaeus, King & High Priest of Jerusalem.  50,000 Judeans were killed before he succumbed.  His widow Salóme turned affairs over to the Pharisees in 76 BC.

A civil war between Alexander’s two sons, Hýrcanus and Aristóbulus, resulted in them going to the Roman General Pompey in Syria in 63 BC.  They wanted him to invade Palestine and slaughter their (Pharisee) opponents.  Some think this is how Rome came into power there, and it remained in power during Jesus’ time.  During His time, Sadducees and Pharisees were able to bearably coexist in the Land.

Sadducee and Pharisee beliefs differed in some respects.  Sadducees observed the annual feast of Pentecost on a Sunday (Pharisees didn’t).  Sadducees didn’t believe: in spirits, in angels as winged heavenly beings, in resurrection or the afterlife.  Lk.20:27 “Sadducees deny there is any resurrection.”

According to Edersheim op. cit. p.220, a basic difference between the Sadducees and Pharisees was…Sadducees emphasized man’s free will, the Pharisees God’s predestination.  Sadducees rejected fate.

Sadducees also objected to the Pharisees’ detailed concerns with ceremonial defilements and purity.

The Sadducees were conservative scriptural literalists; aristocrats (educated) friendly with Rome, and they controlled the temple.  However, not all temple priests were Sadducees.  The Pharisees interpreted more by tradition; they appealed to the common people & women, and controlled the synagogues.

Jesus and John the Baptizer took issue with both sects.  Jesus said in Mt.16:11-12, “Beware of the leaven [teaching] of the Pharisees and Sadducees”.  Mt.3:7 “When He [John the Baptizer] saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he exclaimed to them, ‘You generation of vipers.”

The Pharisees and Sadducees tried to prove that Jesus was evil or make him appear so (cf. Mt.16:1-12).

Jesus disapproved of the example set by both the Pharisee and Sadducee sects.  He had more run-ins with the Pharisees, perhaps because of their preference for the oral law above God’s written word.

Which party had the most control?  Eerdmans Bible Dictionary “The views of the Pharisees prevailed among the common people…the Sadducean priests were compelled to operate according to the Pharisees’ views.”  Another source said “Pharisaical Hillelítes were in control when Messiah walked the earth.”  (Hillél 1 and Shammái founded the two main Pharisaical schools.)  Also Edersheim wrote that Sadducees who held positions generally conformed to the practices of Pharisees.  From his Sketches of Jewish Social Life, p.220, “The Sadducees had to…reckon Pentecost as did their opponents [Pharisees].”

Roman support ended during the Roman–Jewish War of 67–73 AD.  With Rome’s 70 AD destruction of Jerusalem, the Sadducees conclusively lost any control.  (Sadducees were Sad-you-see!)  There was no longer a temple nor an official priesthood.  And by 135 AD, Rome had destroyed much of the Jewish nation.  The Jewish priesthood and upper class who’d favored the Sadducee party became non-existent.

Wikipedia: Sadducees “Their sect is believed to have become extinct some time after the destruction of Herod’s Temple in 70 CE; but it has been speculated that the later Karaítes may have had some roots in, or connections with, Sadducaic views.”

Few followers of Sadducaic principles remained after Jerusalem & Judea fell.  A remnant or offshoot of Sadducee beliefs may be the sect of Karaite Jews today.  Karaites consider themselves as ‘Adherers to the Text’.  Both Sadducees and Karaites reject the oral torah of (rabbinic) Judaism as binding.

This two-part topic about Jewish religious sects and groups is continued & concluded in “Jewish Sects of the 1^st Century (2)”.  In it are discussed the Herodians, Zealots, Essenes, Nazarenes.

Chronology: Samuel to Rehoboam

In this topic, Bible chronology is traced from the judgeship of Samuel to the kingship of Solomon’s son Rehoboam.  Previous chronology is addressed in “Chronology: the Exodus to Samuel”, “Chronology: Abraham to the Exodus”, “Chronology: Septuagint versus Masoretic Text”.  My basic position is the so-called maximalist view, that Bible history is correct unless archaeology clearly proves it wrong.

Exact dating cannot be done for the time of Samuel’s judgeship in ancient Israel.  And there’s no consensus among Bible historians as to the dates when Saul, David, Solomon, Rehoboám were kings.  Their years cannot be pinpointed by dates from ancient histories.  (There’s no ‘BC’ or ‘BCE’ dates written in scripture.)  The dates in this topic are approximate.

Following is the timing detail from the birth of the prophet-judge Samuel until King Rehoboam.  All scriptures referenced are from the book of 1Samuel, unless otherwise specified.

Elí the high priest preceded Samuel as judge in Israel.  Eli was born around (circa or c) 1200 BC, and he lived for 98 years (1Sm.4:15).  His judgeship began c 1142 BC.

1Sm.1:9-11, 17 Hannáh was childless, and prayed at the tabernacle in Shilóh for a son.  v.20 God heard her prayer, and she birthed Samuel c 1140 BC.  Samuel means ‘heard of God’.  v.21-28 when Samuel was weaned, she dedicated him to God as a Nazarite, and gave him to serve Eli c 1137 BC.  Samuel was fostered or adopted by Eli.  (2:20-21 later Hannah also gave birth to 2 sons and 3 daughters.)

2:22-26 Eli is too old for priestly service (Nu.8:25), near age 72 (cf. 2Sm.19:32), c 1128 BC.  1Sm.2:26 Samuel is near age 12.  Eli’s natural sons were promiscuous and disrespected the Lord’s offerings.

3:1-18 God calls the boy Samuel, age 12.  At 72, Eli’s eyes are starting to dim.  Josephus Antiquities of the Jews 5:10:4 “When Samuel was 12 years old he began to prophesy; and once when he was asleep God called to him by his name.”  v.19-21 Samuel grew, and the Lord confirmed him as a prophet.

4:1 Samuel is now around age 38, c 1102 BC.  v.10-14 Eli’s 2 sons, Hophní & Phineás, die during the battle at Ebenezer when the ark of God is taken by the Philistines.

4:15-18 Eli is blind.  Eli dies then too at age 98, having judged 40 years, c 1142 BC – c 1102 BC.  4:19-22 Phineas’ son Ichabód (Eli’s grandson) is born prematurely at the death of Phineas & Eli.

Samuel, near age 38, begins his judgeship c 1102 BC, after Eli died.  Adam Clarke Commentary 1Sm.7:15 “Samuel is supposed to have lived 100 years; he did not begin to judge Israel till he was about 40 years of age.”

5:1–6:21 the Philistines kept the ark of God for 7 months (6:1).  Then it was carted back to Israel.

1Sm.7:1 the ark was brought to Kiriáth-jearím (to Abinadáb’s house).  There it will remain for close to 70 years …from c 1102 BC – 1031 BC, when David is ruling in Jerusalem (ref 2Sm.6:2-ff, 1Ch.13:3-7).  Leslie McFall The Chronology of Saul and David “The actual time from the death of Eli to the deposition of the ark in Jerusalem by David was 68 years.”

1Sm.7:2 HCSB “Time went by until 20 years had passed since the ark had been taken to Kiriath-jearim. Then the whole house of Israel began to seek the LORD.”  JFB Commentary 1Sm.7:2 “20 years….that length of time had passed when the Israelites began to revive from their sad state of religious decline.”  Cambridge Bible “20 years was not…the whole duration of the Ark’s sojourn at Kirjath-jearim, but the time that elapsed before the reformation now to be recorded….they were vassals of the Philistines.”

After the 20 years…1Sm.7:3 “Then Samuel spoke to all the house of Israel, ‘If you will return to the Lord with all your heart…and serve Him alone, then He will deliver you from the Philistines.”  Samuel is now around age 58.  He’s been judge for all the elapsed time.  Barnes Notes 1Sm.7:3 “20 years of Samuel’s life had passed away since the last mention of him in 1Sm.4:1. Now he appears in the threefold character of prophet, Judge, and the acknowledged leader of the whole people.”

7:4-14 Israel repents.  The Lord helps them defeat the Philistines at Mizpáh, c 1083 or 1082 BC.  A tenuous peace ensues.

7:13-15 “Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life.”  Scripture doesn’t clearly say how many years Samuel judged…he later also advised/instructed King Saul for years.  Philip Mauro The Wonders of Bible Chronology, p.50 “20 years Samuel’s judgeship (1Sm.7:2).”  Ellicott Commentary 1Sm.7:15 “Probably for at least 20 years after the decisive battle of Ebenezer [1Sm.4:1].”  Martin Anstey The Romance of Bible Chronology, v.2, p.20 “Samuel judgeship 20 years.”  Benson Commentary 1Sm.7:15 “For though Saul was king in Samuel’s last days, yet Samuel did not cease to be a judge.”  Institute For Creation Research “Samuel must have judged Israel almost 60 years.”  Haydock’s Catholic Bible Commentary 1Sm.7:15 “As sole judge for 20 years, and conjointly with Saul till he died, almost 100 years old, a year or two before the unfortunate king. Saul put him on a level with himself (1Sm.11:7); and he continued to be regarded as the oracle of Israel ever since he was about 40 years old.”

1Sm.8:1-3 Samuel is getting old at age 58, and appointed his sons to assist him.  Pulpit Commentary 1Sm.8:1 “He was probably not more than 60.”  Samuel had judged solely for 20 years, c 1102 BC – c 1082 BC.  But his sons took bribes and perverted justice.  v.4-5 “The elders said to him, ‘Your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint a king for us to judge us like all the nations.”

Israel doesn’t want Samuel’s dishonest sons to judge…Israel wants a king.  1Sm.9:1-2 Saul appears on the scene.  Speaker’s Commentary 1Sm.9:1 “The sacred historian now tracks another stream of events which were to concur in working out God’s providential purpose of giving a king to Israel.”

10:1–12:1-2 Saul is around age 36 when Samuel anoints him as king, c 1082 BC.  Saul’s eldest son Jonathán is 18 or so.  Abinadab (Ishví?) and Malchishúa are 2 other sons (1Sm.31:2).  Saul’s 4^th son Ishbósheth/Eshbáal is born this year (cf. 2Sm.2:10).  Saul will rule 40 years, c 1082 BC – c 1042 BC.

Paul later wrote in Ac.13:2, “God gave them Saul…a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for 40 years”.  Gill Exposition 1Sm.13:1 “There were no less than 3 high priests in his [Saul’s] reign.” (Ahitúb, Ahijáh, Abiathár 1Sm.22:20.)

1Sm.13:1 translations of this verse differ.  The verse isn’t in the Septúagint/LXX.  Saul is around age 36 (some translations say age 30, NASB and ASV say age 40).  James B. Jordan The Problem of Saul’s Reign “Saul was anointed king by Samuel, led the people in a victory over the Ammonites, and was crowned king of Israel…his first year of reign….Saul was probably around 40, since he had a grown son.”  Pulpit Commentary 1Sm.13:1 “He [Saul] must have been at least 35, and perhaps even more.”  Samuel is around age 58.  Eli has been dead for 20 years (so Eli’s grandson Ichabod is age 20).

13:2-3 Saul has reigned 2 years when Jonathan attacks the Philistine garrison.  Saul is 38, Jonathan is 20 (Nu.1:3, 26:2 Israelites must be at least age 20 to go to war).  Saul’s son Ishbosheth is 2.  Samuel is 60.

1Sm.14:3 Ichabod’s nephew Ahijah is priest at this time.  Gill Exposition 1Sm.14:3 “He [Ichabod], it seems, had an elder brother called Ahitub, who died young, and Ahijah was the son of him.”  (Another son of Ahitub was Ahimélech the priest.  Later, Saul had Doég kill Ahimelech and the priests, 1Sm.22.)

David is born c 1072 BC.  Samuel was then 68, Saul was 46, Jonathan 28, Ishbosheth 10, Ichabod 30.

1Sm.14:46-52 many years pass during these verses.  v.49 Meráb is Saul’s older daughter, Michál his younger.  Saul was perhaps 47 at Merab’s birth, and 49 when Michal is born?  Again, Ishbosheth/Eshbaal is Saul’s youngest son, 1Ch.9:39.  (He will later become king of Israel, 2Sm.2:8-10.)

1Sm.15:1-35 after Saul ruled 28 years (he’s now 64) he fails in the Amalekites ordeal and is rejected by God, c 1054 BC.  Samuel will never see Saul again (v.35).  Samuel, age 86, will live 10 more years.

1Sm.16:11-13, 18 Samuel anoints David, “a mighty man of valor” (v.18), to be king, c 1052 BC.  David is around age 20.  Gill Exposition 1Sm.16:11 “He hardly exceeded more than 20.”  Samuel is 88, Saul is 66, Jonathan is 48, Ishbosheth is 30.  Eli has been dead for 50 years (Ichabod would be 50).

17:33-ff David, a youth of 20, kills Goliath.  John Wesley’s Notes 1Sm.17:33 “Not above 20 years old.”    Matthew Poole Commentary “[David] being now not much above 20 years old, as is supposed.”

18:5 “Saul set him [David] over the men of war.”  v.13-16 David at age 21 is a national hero.  v.17-30 he marries Saul’s younger daughter Michal, perhaps age 19.  But father-in-law Saul becomes his enemy.

19:18-ff David (age 22) flees to Samuel (age 90), c 1050 BC.  David will run from Saul for 7–8 years.

25:1 after 6 years, Samuel dies at age 96, c 1044 BC.  Tradition says Samuel died at a very advanced age.  bible.ca/archaeology/ “Samuel died at 90.”  Orthodox Church in America “The prophet Samuel died in extreme old age.” (as did Eli.)  Saul is now around age 74, Jonathan is 56, Ishbosheth is 38.  David, age 28, flees to the wilderness.

27:7-ff David went from the wilderness to the land of the Philistines for 2 years… until age 30.

28:1-25 Samuel has been dead around 2 years.  Saul visits the medium at Endór, wanting her to consult Samuel’s spirit.  Saul hears of his fate.  He and his sons will battle the Philistines…they die the next day.

31:1-2, 6 Saul is killed at age 76, after a 40-year reign (Ac.13:21)…c 1082 BC – c 1042 BC.  His sons Jonathan (age 58), Abinadab, Malchishua die with him at Mt. Gilboa.  J.B. Jordan op. cit. “Saul…died at about 80.”  Greg Hamm How Long Did Saul Reign? “That would make him 78 when he is killed.” bible.ca/archaeology/ “Saul died at 72, Jonathan dies at 57.”  Jonathan’s son Mephibósheth is age 5 (cf. 2Sm.4:4), born when Jonathan was about 53.  Ishbosheth is 40.  David is 30.

2Sm.2:1-7 Saul is dead.  David, age 30, is made king of Judah in Hebrón, c 1042 BC.  v.8-10 Saul’s son Isbosheth/Eshbaal (age 40?) is made king in Israel by Saul’s cousin, general Abnér (1Sm.14:50-51).  v.11 David will reign 7 ½ years at Hebron in Judah, c 1042 BC – c 1035 BC, from age 30 to 37-38.

2Sm.3:1 “Now there was long war between the house of Saul and the house of David.”  5 years.  JFB Commentary 2Sm.3:1 “For 5 years longer; it is probable Ishbosheth was made king upon Saul’s death.”

2Sm.3:26-ff Joáb murders Abner.  2Sm.4:1-12 also King Ishbosheth, Saul’s youngest son, is murdered.

2Sm.5:3-5 “They anointed David king over Israel. David was 30 years old when he became king and he reigned 40 years. At Hebron he reigned over Judah 7 ½ years and in Jerusalem he reigned 33 years over all Israel and Judah.”  David ruled 40 years total, from age 30 to 70, c 1042 BC – c 1002 BC.  He moved from Hebron to Jerusalem c 1035 BC, at age 37.  1Ki.2:10-11 David later dies at age 70.

1Ki.2:12 Solomon (age not specified in scripture) succeeds his father David as king.  1Ki.11:42-43 Solomon also reigned 40 years, c 1002 BC – c 962 BC.  1Ki.4:29-31 God gave Solomon great wisdom.

1Ki.6:1 “In the 480^th [LXX 440^th] year after the sons of Israel came out of the land of Egypt, in the 4^th year of Solomon’s reign over Israel…he began to build the house of the Lord.”  Solomon began to build the temple of God in his 4^th year as king, c 999 BC.

However, the Biblical timeline from the exodus to Solomon reflects more than 480 (LXX 440) elapsed years.  Barnes Notes 1Ki.6:1 “The interval between the exodus and Solomon, a period considerably exceeding 480 years.”  Some think that 1Ki.6:1 isn’t counting the approximately 111 years of oppressions during the period of the judges…480 + 111 = 591 years…is closer to the record in Joshua–Judges.  (ref “Chronology: the Exodus to Samuel”.)  And some commentaries view the 480 years (LXX 440) of 1Ki.6:1 as being at variance with Paul in Ac.13:18-20.  But the 480 years of 1Ki.6:1 may not be literal.

ESV Study Bible 1Ki.6:1 “In understanding the 480-year figure (e.g. supposing it to result from 12 generations, with a generation taken symbolically to be 40 years…).”  Wikipedia: Biblical Literalist Chronology “Many numbers in the Bible are figurative, especially ’40’ and its multiples – thus, 480 years before the 4th year of the reign of Solomon (12 × 40 years = 480 years) is not necessarily regarded by them as a literal number having historical value.”

Earlier periods and reigns from Israel’s history may be close approximations, not exact…such as: the wilderness 40 years, Joshua and the elders 40 years, Othniél 40, Ehúd 80, Barák/Deboráh 40, Gideon 40, Eli 40, Saul 40, David 40, then Solomon 40.  In scripture, the number ‘40’ occurs often or typically.  So the 480 (or 440 LXX) years may well be symbolic.

1Ki.11:43 after Solomon, his son Rehoboam reigned as king, but only in Judah.  Rehoboam, age 41, ruled for 17 years (1Ki.14:21) until age 58, c 962 BC – c 945 BC.  He burdened the people (1Ki.12:11).

1Ki.12:16-24 in the 1^st year of Rehoboam, God divided the united monarchy of Israel, c 962 BC.  Thereafter the northern kingdom (ruled by Jeroboám, v.20), consisting of 10 tribes, retained the name Israel.  The southern kingdom of Judah (ruled by Rehoboam), consisting of the other 2–3 tribes, became known as the Jews.  The tribal territory of Benjamin (and most of the Levites) was given to Judah.  Israel and the Jews/Judah became separate nations.  (see “Israelites Identification”.)

To conclude with a digression or overview which spans approximately 1,300 years of Bible history….

Josephus wrote in the latter 1^st century AD.  Antiquities of the Jews 8:3:1 “Solomon began to build the Temple in the 4^th year of his reign, 592 years after the exodus out of Egypt, but 1,020 years from Abraham’s coming out of Mesopotámia into Canáan.”  However, Josephus’ dating isn’t all correct.

In Antiquities chapter 20, Josephus revised/corrected his time period – op. cit. 20:10:1 “The number of years…from the days when our fathers departed out of Egypt… until the building of that temple which king Solomon erected at Jerusalem, was 612.”  The elapsed time was revised from 592 to 612 years.  Later, Josephus again has the revised years in Against Apion 2:2. “Solomon himself built that temple 612 years after the Jews came out of Egypt.”  Calculating from the scriptures, 612 years fits better.

Meyer’s NT Commentary Ac.13:20 “In Antt. xx. 10, c. Ap. ii. 2, he [Josephus] reckons 612 years for the same period, this 20 years more [than 592], which comes still nearer to the statement of time in our passage.”  This commentary indicates that Paul’s timeline (Ac.13:17-ff) may generally agree with Josephus’.

If Solomon began to build the temple c 999 BC, an exodus which occurred 612 years (592 + 20) earlier would have been c 1611 BC.  If we likewise add 20 years to Josephus’ 1,020 years of Antiq. 8:3:1 to arrive at the date Abraham came to Canaan at age 75…that’s 1,040 years prior to c 999 BC…c 2039 BC.

The topic “Chronology: Abraham to the Exodus” used Dr. Martin Anstey’s chart date of 1612 BC for the exodus and 2042 BC for Abraham’s move to Canaan (Anstey op. cit., p. 8).  Those dates match almost exactly Josephus’ (revised) time period of years!

The northern kingdom of Israel was eventually removed by Assyria.  (see “Israelite Deportations by Assyria”.)  2Ki.17:19-24 “Israel was carried away into exile from their own Land to Assyria until this day.”  v.6 “In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria settled them in Haláh and Habór, on the river of Gozán, and in cities of the Medes.”  The date accepted by historians is 722-721 BC.

The destruction of Jerusalem by Babylon in 587-586 BC is a historically confirmed date.  So is the date when Ashurbánipal the Assyrian king sacked Thebes in Egypt, 664-663 BC.

V.C. Lewis The Mystery of Old Testament Chronology Revealed, p. ix (2005) “Nearly all scholars are in agreement today, we have three dates which can be considered accurate both scripturally and historically. These are the dates of 722-721 BC for the captivity of the northern kingdom of Israel, the date of 587 BC for the captivity of Judah, and the date of 606 BC for when Nebuchadnézzar began to reign in Babylon.”  So a date of 721 BC for the exile of Israel’s 10 tribes is also considered reliable.

Josephus Antiquities 9:14:1 “The 10 tribes of the Israelites were removed…800 years after Joshua had been their leader, and…240 years, 7 months, 7 days after they had revolted from Rehoboam.”  Josephus’ time period rounds to 241 years.

The 10 tribes of Israel under Jeroboam revolted from King Rehoboam (of Judah) c 962 BC.  According to Josephus, it was 241 years later when the northern Israel was removed into captivity.  That was…962 BC – 241 = 721 BC…the date confirmed by historians today!  (Also, Joshua and the elders had died by c 1547 BC – c 1532 BC.  That was approximately 800 years before Israel was removed to Assyria in 721 BC.)

The Bible record is the word of God!  Again, exact dates for Abraham and Israel’s most ancient history cannot be confirmed (prior to 721 BC).  The dates in this chronology are approximate, based upon the Old Testament timeline.

Zechariah Son of Berechiah, Mt.23:35

Zechariah is a very common name in the Old Testament (OT).  There are 25–30 men named Zechariah.  The name means ‘Yah Remembers’.  In Mt.23:31-38, Jesus connected Jewish leaders of His day to the murderers of God’s prophets of old.  He said they will kill His prophets and servants.  Jesus referred to a Zechariah among those prophets.  Which Zechariah (Zech) was Jesus referring to specifically?

Mt.23:31-38 is the passage in question.  Jesus accused the scribes & Pharisees. “You’re the descendants of those which killed the prophets. You brood of vipers. I am sending you prophets; some of them you will kill and crucify. That upon you may fall the guilt of all the righteous blood shed on the earth [or Land]; from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariáh [Zacharías in Greek], the son of Berechiáh [Barachías in Greek], who you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. O Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets.”  Also Lk.11:46-51 is a parallel passage. “Woe to you lawyers. That the blood of all the prophets may be charged against this generation, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah who was killed between the altar and the house of God.”

It seems that Jesus’ words were no idiom.  The Jewish nation put to death God’s prophets, innocent victims.  For example 2Ki.24:3-4, wicked King Manasséh of Judah shed much innocent blood.

Why would Jesus link those Jewish leaders to Abel?  The first recorded murder in the Bible is well-known.  Ge.4:8-10 “Cain rose up and killed Abel his brother. The Lord said to Cain, ‘The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to Me from the ground.”  Jerusalem Targum Ge.4:10 paraphrase reads, “The voice of the bloods [plural] of the multitude of the righteous that shall spring from Abel thy brother”.  Targum Ónkelos “The voice of the blood of the seed that shall rise from thy brother.”  The scribes & Pharisees didn’t kill Abel.  But Jewish traditional belief held that innocent bloods (which defiled the land, Nu.35:33) collectively continued to beseech God for justice against their murderers (Abot. R Nathan, c. 31).  Also He.11:4 & 12:24, “The sprinkling of [Jesus’] blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel”.  (Mercy is better than vengeance.)  So Jesus too traditionally connected them to Abel.

Four criteria are apparent in the accusation or implication of guilt made by Jesus in Mt.23:

1 Jesus said Zech is the son of Berechiah/Barachias.  This common name meant ‘Blessed of Yah’.

2 Jesus indicated Zech was the last one slain.  Jesus could mean last by order of: the Greek OT (Malachi is the end book), or the Jewish/Tanakh OT (2Chr is now the end book), or the latest murder before Jesus spoke Mt.23, or Jesus prophesied of a final slaying before the temple destruction in 70 AD.

3 The Zech Jesus had in mind is killed between the sanctuary and altar (of burnt offering).  That holy area was located in the inner court/court of the priests (2Ki.21:5, 2Ch.4:9), where only priests (and assisting Levites) were permitted.  So it’s very unlikely Zech was a layman; most likely he was a priest.

4 There’s strong indication that the Zech Jesus meant was a prophet.  Four identifying criteria.

Also we’ll reference secondary texts…Biblical/religious and historical accounts, which corroborate or may serve as confirmation to Matthew’s (and Luke’s) New Testament account.

Of the many men named Zechariah/Zacharias in scripture (and Jewish history), only four seem feasible possibilities or candidates for the Zech/(Zach) Jesus had in mind in Mt.23:35.

The four are: #1 Zech the son of Barúch.  #2 Zech the son of Jehoiadá.  #3 Zech the father of John the Baptizer.  #4 Zech the son of Berechiah or Iddó.  Let’s examine the likelihood of these four, one-by-one.

#1 Zech the son of Baruch.  Josephus wrote of this Zech in Wars of the Jews 4:5:4. “Zealots and Iduméans intended to have Zacharias the son of Baruch, one of the most eminent citizens, slain. Hatred of wickedness was in him. He was a rich man, who had great power to destroy them. He turned his speech to his accusers and went over all their transgressions and made heavy lamentation. Two of the boldest Zealots fell upon Zacharias in the middle of the temple and slew him.”

This #1 Zech/Zach is the son of a Baruch (not Barachias).  He was a prominent citizen, not a priest.  Josephus recorded this man’s final testimony, which may have been viewed in part as prophetic.  This account is a historical witness.  If Jesus was prophesying (Mt.23:35) of the last one to be slain, perhaps this eminent citizen was the last of note before Jerusalem was destroyed?  In 68 AD he was slain by Jewish Zealots in the middle of the temple, not between the sanctuary and altar (off-limits to laymen).  But Jesus probably was referring to a past event.  #1 Zech seems the least likely of the four candidates.

#2 Zech the son of Jehoiada.  His death is recorded in 2Ch.24:17-22. “The officials of Judah bowed to the king. They served idols. The Spirit of God came on Zechariah (LXX Azarías), son of Jehoiada the priest; he stood above the people and said, ‘God has said, ‘Why do you transgress the commandments of the Lord? Because you have forsaken the Lord, He has forsaken you.’ So they conspired against him; and at the command of the king [Joásh] stoned him to death in the court of the house of the Lord. As he died he said, ‘May the Lord look upon it and require it.”  He was a priest, stoned circa (ca) 800 BC.

This #2 Zech was the son of Jehoiada, not Berechiah.  Perhaps Jehoiada was Zech’s famous long-lived grandfather (not father) who died at age 130 (2Ch.24:15), or Jehoiada had two names?  That’s conjecture.  Yet many scholars think this #2 Zech is the one Jesus had in mind.  In support of him as Jesus’ Zech is the Pulpit Commentary. “When he died, it is added, he said, ‘The Lord look upon it, and require it.’ This makes his case correspond to that of Abel, the voice of whose blood cried to God from the ground.”  Also Meyer’s NT notes from Jerome’s Commentary on Matthew. “In the Gospel of the Hebrews the wrong name (Berechiah) was carefully avoided, and the correct one, viz. Jehoiada, inserted instead.”  Jerome (400 AD) disputed the father name associated by Jesus in Mt.23:35 (ca 30 AD).

Since 2Ch is the final book in the present order of the Tanakh (Jewish OT), he’s the last Zech slain in today’s Tanakh (but dying in 800 BC, not the last chronologically).  However, there’s evidence that Chronicles wasn’t always the last book in the Tanakh.  For example, in both the Aléppo and Leningrad Codex (the oldest complete Masoretic text of scripture, 1000 AD), Chronicles begins the section of the Hebrew scriptures called the Writings/Ketúvim.  ref Encyclopedia Judaica.  Furthermore, Chronicles wasn’t the last book in Josephus’ 1^st century AD order of books.  Against Apion 1:8 “The remaining four books contain hymns to God and precepts for conduct.”  The last four were Psal, Prov, Eccl, SSol.

Even in the present order of the Tanakh, the last slain chronologically is governor Gedaliáh, in the 580s BC (Je.41:1-2).  That’s more than 200 years later than this Zech #2, son of Jehoiada.  (Zec.8:19 the fast of the 7^th month honored Gedaliah.)  Although scripture doesn’t call the son of Jehoiada (Zech #2) a prophet, he did speak the inspired judgment of God in 2Ch.24:20.  But a prophet slain 200 years later, ca 605 BC, is Uriáh (Je.26:20-24 below).  The #2 Zech was killed by the Jewish people or officials in the “court of the house of the Lord”.  Possibly that occurred in the great court of the first temple (Solomon’s) where the people were allowed (ref Je.26:2, 2Ch.4:9), not in the restricted inner court.  But Jesus said the Zech of Mt.23:35 was killed near the sanctuary and altar…in the priests’ inner court!

2Ch.24 is OT witness to the murder of a Zechariah/Azarias.  Yet if this #2 Zech is who Jesus had in mind in Mt.23:35, He could have said “son of Jehoiada” instead of “son of Berechiah”…but He didn’t!  This Zech #2 fits two or possibly three of the criteria.  He was a priest, and he prophesied by the Spirit of God.  He being the last slain according to a 1^st century AD Tanakh order of books may be a stretch.

#3 Zech/Zach the father of John the Baptizer.  Lk.1:5 “In the days of Herod, there was a certain priest named Zacharias.”  This Zach/Zech was a priest.  v.13 “Zacharias, your wife Elizabeth will bear a son who you will name John.”  He’s the father of John the Baptizer (and is Jesus’ kin via Mary’s family).  v.67 “Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit and he prophesied.”  v.68-79 reflects Zach’s prophecy.

The Protevangélion of James (an Infancy gospel, so-called) says Herod’s men murdered him in the temple courtyard.  Prot Jas.16:14-25 “Zacharias replied to them, ‘I am a martyr for God, and if he [Herod] shed my blood, the Lord will receive my soul. Besides, know that you shed innocent blood.’ Zacharias was murdered about daybreak in the entrance of the temple and altar, and about the partition. The priests went into the temple. One of them saw congealed blood next to the altar of the Lord.”  It seems the soldiers of King Herod trespassed by entering the court of the priests.

Orthodox Church in America “The Holy Prophet Zachariah and the Righteous Elizabeth were the parents of the holy Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist of the Lord, John. They were descended from the lineage of Aaron: St Zachariah, son of Barach. In these tragic days St Zachariah was taking his turn at the services in the Temple. Soldiers sent by Herod tried in vain to learn from him the whereabouts of his son. Then, by command of Herod, they murdered this holy prophet, having stabbed him between the temple and the altar (MT.23:35).”  And Orthodox Wiki “The holy prophet Zachariah, a priest in the Jerusalem Temple, was the son of Baruch, from the lineage of Aaron.”

The early theologian Origén (185–254 AD) thought Jesus had in mind this Zech #3.  So did Orthodox patriarch Peter I of Alexandria (300 AD).  Also Bishop Serápion The Life of John the Baptist “O pious Zacharias! In the time when the soldiers of Herod came….they killed him inside the Temple, the priests shrouded his body and placed it near that of his father Barechiah in a hidden cemetery, from fear of the wicked [king]. Titus, the Emperor of the Romans, came and destroyed Jerusalem and killed the Jewish priests for the blood of Zacharias, as the Lord ordered him.” (from A. Mingana Woodbrooke Studies: Christian Documents in Syriac, Arabic, and Garshuni, vol 1, Cambridge 1927, pp. 138-287.  Woodbrooke dates Serapion’s text to 385–395 AD, probably composed in Greek.)

The slaying of Zach/Zech #3 may have been the last of note before Jesus spoke His words recorded in Mt.23?  However, the death of the prophet John the Baptist in Mt.14:10 precedes Mt.23, yet probably occurred later than the death of his father Zacharias.  So the murder of John was perhaps last of note.

This #3 Zech fits most all the criteria.  He’s a prophet, a priest slain between the temple and altar, and is a son of Barechiah.  That is, if traditional accounts of his place of death and father’s name are correct.

#4 Zech the son of Berechiah (and the grandson of Iddo).  Ne.12:1, 4, 7, 16 “These are the priests and Levites who returned with Zerubabbél…Iddo…these were the heads of the priests and their relatives; of Iddo, Zechariah.”  As we’ll see below, he’s actually the grandson of Iddo, a chief priest.  Iddo may have been a more notable figure than his son Berechiah, or Berechiah could have died young.  Zech #4 returned from Babylon in the 530s BC.  In 520–518 BC he wrote the first part of the Bible book that bears his name.  Seventy years after the 586 BC destruction of the first temple and captivity, the second temple was completed in 516 BC.  (see the topic “Temple of Zerubbabel”.)  Ezr.6:14-16 “Zechariah the son of Iddo.”  He’s the last Zech (died 480s BC?) in the Greek OT order (became the LXX/Septúagint), which is also the order of books in most of our Bibles today (e.g. KJV).  And Matthew often quoted the Greek OT.

Zec.1:1 KJV & LXX “The word of the Lord came to Zechariah the prophet, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo [Addo].”  The same is in v.7.  Zech #4 says he’s the son of Berechiah, and the grandson of Iddo.  This Zech is also the next-to-last OT prophet-writer (chronologically too).  Malachi is the last.

Targum on Lamentations is an Aramaic rendering/commentary dating from the early centuries AD.  TgLam.2:19 “Arise, O Congregation of Israel dwelling in exile. Pour out like water the crookedness of your heart and turn in repentance. And pray in the synagogue before the face of the Lord.”  TgLam2:20 “Is it right to kill priest and prophet, as when you killed Zechariah son of Iddo, the High Priest and faithful prophet in the Temple of the Lord on the Day of Atonement because he admonished you not to do evil before the Lord?”  TgLam.2:22 “You will declare freedom to your people, Israel, by the hand of King Messiah just as you did by the hand of Moses and Aaron.”  TgLam.1:19 “Jerusalem said, when she was delivered to Nebuchadnézzar, ‘I called to my friends, the sons of the nations, with whom I had made treaties to come to my aid. But they deceived me and turned to destroy me.’ (These are the Romans who entered with Titus and the wicked Vespasian against Jerusalem.)”  TgLam.4:22 “And after this your iniquity will be finished, O Congregation of Zion, and you will be freed by the hands of the King Messiah …, and the Lord will no longer exile you. And at that time I will punish your iniquities, wicked Rome, built in Italy and filled with Edomites.”  This TgLam asserts that Jews killed Zech #4, (grand) son of Iddo (and writer of the book of Zechariah), in the temple.

Also Tátian’s Diatéssaron gospel harmony (170 AD). “That there may come on you all the blood of the righteous that has been poured on the ground from the blood of Abel the pure to the blood of Zachariah the son of Barachiah, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.”  And Irenáeus refs Mt.23:35 in Against Heresies, Book 5:14:1 (180 AD). “All righteous blood shall be required which is shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zacharias the son of Barachias, who you slew between the temple and the altar.”  So Mt.23:35 “son of Berechiah/Barachias” isn’t a later copyist error.

This #4 Zech fits all four criteria at face value…he’s the son of Berechiah, the last slain in the Greek OT, a priest, a prophet.  Although there’s no OT verse noting the death of Zech #4, there are traditional accounts of it.  For that matter…there’s no OT verse about Michael disputing with the devil in regards to Moses’ body either (Jude 9).  Nor are there any verses in the OT (Ex.7:11 or elsewhere) which cite Jannes & Jambres in Egypt (2Ti.3:8).  Yet Christians accept those persons as fact.  TgLam.2:20 saying Zech the descendant of Iddo was killed is significant, and thereby may further identify Jesus’ Zech.

There’s another Jewish tradition, which says the prophet Zechariah “died peacefully at a great age” (Lives of the Prophets 15:6).  Yet George Klein’s Zechariah “The Old Testament doesn’t record anything about the martyrdom of Zechariah the prophet, but rabbinic literature from the early Christian period suggests that ‘Zechariah son of Berechiah’ was murdered.”  And scholar Gleason L Archer in Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties, “We can only conclude that the later Zechariah died in much the same way the earlier one (the son of Jehoiada) did, as a victim of popular resentment against his rebuke of their sins”.

In the book of Zechariah, it may be unclear whether the prophet, writing in 1^st person, means himself or Someone future.  e.g. Zec.12:10 “The inhabitants of Jerusalem…will look upon me whom they have pierced, and they will mourn for Him.”  Gordon Churchyard Commentary “The dead man may be a prophet. Or it may mean the Lord.”  Zec.13:6 “What are these wounds between your arms?’ Then I will say, ‘Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.”  Cambridge Bible note “As given him by his parents, from whose righteous indignation he had escaped wounded, when they went about to kill him (Zec.13:3).”  Pulpit Commentary “It seems most probable the answer is intentionally false and misleading; as if he had said, ‘The wounds were not made as you suppose, but are the result of what happened to me in my friends’ house.”  In His beloved house/nation.

Did Zech #4 the prophet-priest know that he himself would be slain, and therefore his prophecy have a dual fulfillment?  Then perhaps his book reflects both himself and Jesus condemned as a false prophet.

Also consider Isaiah’s prophecy.  Is.8:1-2 “The Lord said, ‘I will take to Myself faithful [Strongs g4103 LXX, Greek] witnesses [martyr g3144 LXX] for testimony, Uriah the priest and Zechariah the son of JeBerekiáh.”  The LXX reads, “Zacharias, son of Barachias”.  Is.8:2 doesn’t read “son of Jehoiada”.  Gill Exposition “Read Berekiah (ref Babylonian Talmud Maccot 24.2).”  Is.8:2 names two faithful witnesses, Uriah and Zechariah.  Benson Commentary “Persons of unquestionable reputation.”  Two victims.  cf. Re.2:13 “Antipas, My faithful [g4103] witness [martyr g3144] who was killed among you.”

First, Uriah the priest.  There was a priest named Uriah in 2Ki.16:10-16, living around 720 BC.  But he wasn’t faithful to God.  Geneva Bible Is.8:2 footnote “Uriah was a flattering hypocrite, 2Ki.16:11.”  JFB Commentary Is.8:2 “Uriah, an accomplice of Aház in idolatry (2Ki.16:10).”  Barnes Notes “In 2Ki.16:10, he was a man of infamous character…corrupting the true religion.”  (also cf. 2Ch.28:21-25.)  This Uriah was unfaithful to God, dubiously having the integrity to fulfill Is.8:2.

But there’s another Uriah, the prophet found in Je.26:20-24. “Who prophesied in the name of the Lord, Uriah the son of Shemaiáh from Kiriáth-jearím; he prophesied against this city [Jerusalem] and this Land words similar to all those of Jeremiah. King Jehoiakím slew him.”  This Uriah was a true prophet, killed ca 605 BC.  Gill Exposition Is.8:2 “The Jewish commentators Járchi, Aben Ezra, Kimchi, Abarbinél would have Uriah the prophet meant, who prophesied in the time of Jehoiakim and was slain by him, Je.26:20-23.”  This Uriah was the son of Shemaiah.  There was Shemaiah the Levite who served King Josiah in the first temple, 2Ch.35:9.  Mark Leuchter The Prophets and the Levites in Josiah’s Covenant Ceremony “Uriah of Je.26 presents a priestly Levite image…Uriah and Jeremiah addressed their own priestly kin.”  So the prophet Uriah in Je.26:20-23 is a priest, as the Uriah in Is.8:2 is a priest.  And he became a victim, due to his prophetic witness in the name of the Lord.

The second named in Is.8:2 is Zechariah the son of JeBerechiah (Barachias, LXX).  From Difficult Sayings “The Targum on Isaiah inserts the assertion that this was the as yet unborn prophet Zechariah, the son of Berechiah.”  Rabbi Ákiva “Uriah was [in the time of] the First Temple, and Zechariah was [in the time of] the Second Temple! The Torah makes Zechariah’s prophecy dependent upon Uriah’s prophecy.”  Isaiah linked the (martyrs) prophets-priests Uriah and Zechariah.  Davar Akher writes, “Ecclesiastes Rabba (3:16), for example, speaks of both Zechariah and Uriah being murdered in such a fashion and the connection of the two names together is indicative of the fact that we are speaking of the Zechariah who served as a witness for Isaiah. This would mean that, along with the Rabbinic sources, Matthew’s gospel is equating Isaiah’s witness with the prophet named Zechariah – despite the fact that they lived hundreds of years apart.”  These sources are saying that Isaiah prophesied in Is.8:2 of the Zech #4 who would write the book of Zechariah 200 years later.

Conclusion: Based on the four criteria, the most likely Zechariah son of Berechiah who Jesus had in mind in Mt.23:35 is either…Zech #4 the prophet-priest who wrote the book of Zechariah, or Zech/Zach #3 the father of John the Baptizer.  And Zech #2 the son of Jehoiada is (possibly a close) third.

Also, it’s not inconceivable that Jesus used the very common name/character Zechariah as a composite representation in Mt.23:35, melded to exemplify the murders historically done by the Jewish nation to some of God’s prophets.