Ark of the Testimony – Journeys (1)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Ark would never return to Moses’ tabernacle!

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

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

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

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

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

 

 

 

Chronology: the Exodus to Samuel

In this topic, Bible chronology is traced from the exodus out of Egypt until the judgeship of Samuel.  Earlier chronology is addressed in “Chronology: Abraham to the Exodus” and “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.

However, exact dating cannot be done for Israel’s exodus, or for the years of the many judges which followed in the Land.  Also there’s no consensus among Bible historians regarding the dates when Saul, David, and Solomon 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.

A date of 1612 BC for the exodus of Israelites & the mixed multitude from Egypt was taken from Dr. Martin Anstey’s The Romance of Bible Chronology, v.2.  I use that date, 1612 BC.

Moses was born around (circa or c) 1692 BC.  Moses is the son of Amrám and the grandson of Koháth (who’d gone to Egypt with Jacob c 1827 BC, Ge.46:8, 11).  Moses’ father Amram was born in Egypt, while Joseph was still alive.  see “Levites and the Exodus Multitude (1)”.

Moses fled to Midian at age 40 (Ex.2:15, Ac.7:22-29), c 1652 BC.

Caleb was born in Egypt c 1651 BC.  (cf. Nu.13:25-30, the 2^nd year of the exodus…with Jsh.14:6-10.)

Moses is 80 when he returns to Egypt from Midian (Ac.7:30-34), c 1612 BC.  Ex.7:7 “Moses was 80 years old, and Aaron 83, at the time they spoke to Pharaoh.”  The exodus occurred then (Ex.12:39-41).

When they exited Egypt c 1612 BC, Joshua is a young man, compared to Moses (Ex.33:11, Nu.11:28).  Joshua is 44 or so.  Caleb is 39 (born c 1651 BC).

The Israelites left Egypt, and then had to spend 40 years in the wilderness (Nu.32:13), until c 1572 BC.

{Sidelight: Ge.41:51 Joseph fathered Manasséh.  Ge.50:23 Manasseh fathered Machír.  Machir’s son Gileád was the same generation as Moses/Aaron.  Joshua’s father Nun was the same generation as Gilead & Moses/Aaron.  Zelophehád, Hépher’s son, was Gilead’s grandson (1Ch.7:14-27, Nu.26:28-37, 27:1, Jsh.17:3).  Zelophehad’s daughters are seen in the 40^th year of the exodus (Nu.27:1-ff, 36:1-ff).}

Nu.21:23-26 & De.3:12 in the 40^th year Israel took Heshbón and Aroér, and began to dwell in that area east of the Jordan River.  (Nu.25:7 Phineás’ bold action occurred in the 40^th year in the wilderness.)

The Israelites entered the Promised Land c 1572 BC.  De.34:7-9 Moses died that year at age 120.

Jsh.11:15-19 Joshua then waged war with the kings in the Land for 5 years at least, and defeated them.

Jsh.13:1 Joshua is old, near 90.  Cambridge Bible Note Jsh.13:1 “The Hebrew leader was now about 90 years of age.”  Josephus Antiquities of the Jews 5:1:19 “The 5^th year was now past, and not one of the Canaanites remained.”  Josephus implied there were 5 years of conquest.  The supposed Book of Jasher 89:54, “For 5 years did Joshua carry on the war with these kings…the land became tranquil”.  The land of Canáan became relatively tranquil for a while.

Jsh.14:6-11 indicates there were 5 years of conquest.  Caleb says he’s 85.  45 years have passed since he was age 40 in the 2^nd year of the exodus (c 1611 BC), when he and Joshua spied out the Land.  Ellicott Commentary Jsh.14:7 “Caleb would be 40+38=78 years old when they crossed the Jordan. He was 85 when they began to divide the country.”  Joshua allotted the Land among the tribes of Israel c 1566 BC.

Jsh.23:1, 14 “a long time” (19-20 years) after the Land division, Joshua knows it’s his time to die.  Jsh.24:29 Joshua dies at age 110, c 1546 BC.  (Joseph previously also had died at age 110, Ge.50:26.)

Joshua was in the Land for around 25-28 years: 6-7 years of conquest/settlement, 19-20 years of ‘rule’.

Josephus op. cit. 5:1:29 “Joshua…became their commander after his [Moses’] death for 25 years.”  Jasher 90:32 indicates that Joshua died 28 years after crossing the Jordan, 68 years after leaving Egypt.  Eusebius Chronicles, p.111 “The Hebrews say that he [Joshua] was leader for 27 years, as so he was 43 years old when Moses went out of Egypt.”  Elihu Schatz “The traditional interpretation assumes that Joshua ruled for 28 years (Seder Olam Rabbah, ch. 12), which means that he was 83 when he began to rule, since he lived to be 110 years old (Jsh.24:29).”  Again, Joshua was 4 or 5 years older than Caleb.

Jsh.24:31 & Jg.2:7-10 the elders who outlived Joshua continued to serve the Lord…for several years.

Josephus op.cit. 6:5:4 “After the death of Joshua, for 18 years in all the multitude had no settled form of government, but were an anarchy; after which they then permitting themselves to be judged by…the best warrior…the Judges.”  The magistrate was usually a champion who delivered them from enemies.

bible.ca/archeology/chronology-of-judges “The 8 year oppression of Arám-naharáim (Jg.3:8) began…15 years after Joshua died.”  Jasher 91:12 “The elders judged Israel after the death of Joshua for 17 years.”

So Joshua and the elders who outlived him led the Israelites for 40 years or so in the Land, prior to the series of judges.  (6+19+15=40)  From c 1572 BC until c 1532 BC.

Jg.2:16 “Then the Lord raised up judges [shaphát Strongs h8199, Hebrew] who delivered them from those who plundered them.”  These judges were warriors, military leaders, or ad hoc rulers in the early loose confederation of Israel.  Succeeding Joshua, there are no ruling judges before this verse.  Barnes Notes Jg.2:16 “This is the first introduction of the term judge, which gives its name to the book.”

How long did the judges lead Israel (prior to the people asking Samuel for a king to rule them, 1Sm.8:4-5)?  Before we identify those judges, a pertinent passage was spoken by the apostle Paul in retrospect:

Ac.13:16-21 “The God of Israel chose our fathers…with a mighty arm He led them out from it [Egypt]; for 40 years He put up with them in the wilderness. When He had destroyed seven nations in the Land of Canaan, He divided by lot to them their Land, about 450 years. After this He gave them judges until Samuel the prophet. Then they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul…for 40 years.”  Our translations of the passage differ.  Barnes Notes “This is a most difficult passage, and has exercised all the ingenuity of chronologists.”  To what centuries was Paul referring?

Most commentaries interpret the 450-year period as…from when God chose the “fathers” until Joshua divided the Land.  The Land was divided in c 1566 BC.  Isaac the son of promise was born c 2017 BC.  That’s 451 years earlier.  Abram was called at age 75, c 2042 BC.  That’s 476 years earlier, perhaps still close enough to the “about 450 years” Paul indicated. (see “Chronology: Abraham to the Exodus”.)

Ellicott Commentary Ac.13:20 “The 450 years in this case referred to the interval between the choice of ‘our fathers’, which may be reckoned from the birth of Isaac.”  Benson Commentary Ac.13:19 “The apostle is not to be understood as signifying how long God gave them judges, but when he gave them….computed from the birth of Isaac….it will be 448 years.”

But some commentaries interpret the 450-year period as…from when the judges began until the days of Samuel.  Joshua and the elders had died by c 1532 BC.  Samuel was living 450 years later, c 1082 BC.

Meyer’s NT Commentary Ac.13:20 “Until the end of the series of judges.”  Eclectic Notes Ac.13:20 “Judges characterized the period of 450 years.”

I’ll leave it to the reader to decide which of the above two interpretations better fits the history.

Let’s now look at the period of the several judges/deliverers, until Samuel the prophet-judge.

After the deaths of Joshua and the elders who outlived him, c 1532 BC, the Israelites began to do evil.  Jg.2:10 “There arose another generation after them [Joshua and the elders] who did not know the Lord.”  Jg.3:7 they served heathen gods and angered the Lord.  So He allowed an oppressor to subjugate them.

Jg.3:8 the first oppressor was Cushán-rishatháim of Aram-naharaim for 8 years, until c 1524 BC.

Jg.3:9-11 the people cried out to the Lord.  He was merciful and raised up Othniél (Caleb’s nephew, the son of his younger brother Kenáz, Jsh.15:17) as warrior-judge.  Othniel prevailed, and the Land had rest 40 years, from c 1524 BC to c 1484 BC.

A pattern will repeat throughout the time of the judges:  Israel would disobey the Lord, come under foreign domination, the people will cry out to God, God mercifully raises up a judge to defeat the oppressor, the Land has peace.  Then the people disobey again, God allows them to be subjugated, they cry out to God, He sends a deliverer, the Land has rest again, etc.  The same cycle, over and over again.

Jg.3:12-14 Israel does evil.  So they must serve Eglón king of Moab for 18 years, c 1484 BC – c 1466 BC.  Jg.3:15-30 Ehúd of Benjamin subdues Moab, and the Land has rest 80 years, until c 1386 BC.

Jg.3:31 Shamgár saved Israel from Philistines.  Josephus op.cit. 5:4:3 said Shamgar died in his 1^st year.

Jg.4:1-3 Jabín of Canaan oppresses Israel for 20 years, c 1386 BC – c 1366 BC.  Barák, Deboráh and Jaél defeat Jabin and his general Siserá (Jg.4:4–5:31), and the Land has peace 40 years, until c 1326 BC.

Jg.6:1-ff Israel does evil again, so the Lord gives them over to the Midianites for 7 years, until c 1319 BC.  Gideon is called; he defeats Midian.  Jg.8:28 the Land has peace 40 years, until c 1279 BC.

Jg.9:1-22 Abimélech, Gideon’s son, rules over Israel 3 years, until c 1276 BC.  After Abimelech dies, Tolá of Issachár judges Israel 23 years (Jg.10:1-2), until c 1253 BC.  After Tola, Jaír the Gileadite judges Israel 22 years (Jg.10:3-5), until c 1231 BC.

Jg.10:6-8 Israel does evil, so God gave them over to the Philistines and Ammonites for 18 years, from c 1231 BC – c 1213 BC.  Jg.11:8-11 Jephtháh the Gileadite warrior became Israel’s deliverer.  Jg.11:12-28 the king of Ammón wanted back old Amorite land east of the Jordan River, which Israel had taken possession of over 300 years previously.  It seems that land had belonged to the Ammonites before it became the Amorites’.  The Israelites had taken possession of that land from Sihón king of the Amorites at the end of the 40 years in the wilderness (again Nu.21:23-26 & De.3:12, also Jsh.12:1-2), c 1572 BC.

Jephthah’s messengers said to the king of Ammon in Jg.11:26-27, “While Israel lived in Heshbon and in Aroer and in the towns that are on the banks of the Arnón [LXX Jordan], 300 years, why didn’t you recover them within that time? I therefore have not sinned against you, but you are doing me wrong by warring against me.”  However, 340 years had elapsed from c 1572 BC to the oppression of c 1231 BC.

Matthew Poole Commentary Jg.11:26 “300 years; not precisely, but about that time.”  ESV Study Bible “300 years’ may be a round number giving an approximate date.”

Also, some judgeships possibly had overlapped since Joshua divided the Promised Land of Canaan, or were concurrent in different tribal areas of the Land.

Jg.12:7 having ended the Ammonite war in c 1213 BC, Jephthah judged Israel 6 years, until c 1207 BC.

Jg.12:8-10 Ibzán of Bethlehem succeeds Jephthah as judge, for 7 years, until c 1200 BC.  After Ibzan, Elón the Zebulunite judges Israel 10 years (Jg.12:11-12), until c 1190 BC.  Then Abdón judges Israel 8 years (Jg.12:13-15), until c 1182 BC.

Jg.13:1 “Israel again did evil, so the Lord gave them into the hands of the Philistines 40 years.”  Actually, the Philistines warred against Israel on & off for hundreds of years (2Ki.18:1 even 8 years in King Hezekiah’s day).  This 40-year period of Philistine oppression was from c 1182 BC – c 1142 BC.

Jg.13–16 is the account of Samson fighting against the Philistines during this time.  Jg.16:30-31 Samson sacrifices his life, having judged Israel for 20 years.  This ended Philistine oppression temporarily.

Jg.15:20 “He [Samson] judged Israel 20 years in the days of the Philistines.”  It is thought by some that Samson’s heroic judgeship was during the latter 20 years, c 1162 BC – c 1142 BC, of that 40-year Philistine oppression.  Anstey op. cit., p.18 “The judgeship of Samson, 20 years, is included in the 40 years of the 6^th servitude under the Philistines.”

James Jordan Puzzling Out the Era of the Judges “The Philistine oppression lasted 40 years (Jg.13:1). Samson was born about this time. Samson judged for 20 years, and in his death killed all five Philistine kings as well as a large number of the Philistine nobility and priesthood (Jg.15:20; 16:27). It is unlikely, if not impossible, in the light of Nu.1:3, that Samson began judging before he was 20. Thus, his 40 years seem to be the same as those of the Philistine oppression.”  Samson died at age 40, c 1142 BC.

{{Sidelight: Jg.17–21 these ending chapters of Judges are a flashback to events which occurred earlier in the book, but weren’t inserted then (to not interrupt the timeline).  Henry Commentary Jg.17:1 “What is related in…the rest of the chapters to the end of this book, was done soon after the death of Joshua.”  Pulpit Commentary “Two detached histories [Jg.17–21], which fill up the rest of the book…are long prior to Samson.”  Josephus op. cit. 5:2-3 places them before Othniel’s early judgeship of Jg.3.}}

Again, it is possible that some judgeships were contemporaneous, or they began within the years listed as foreign servitude (such as Samson’s judgeship).

Generally the book of Judges was a period of less restraining authority.  The final verse in the book is Jg.21:25. “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”  The syndrome was ‘I did it my way’, not God’s way.  Israelites didn’t want to be governed by the Lord or His laws.  It was a time when self-will ruled, for the most part.  But Pr.28:26 says, “He who trusts in his own heart is a fool”.  Benson Commentary Jg.21:25 “There was no supreme governor, such as Moses and Joshua were…none that had power sufficient to punish public wrongs…and thereby check the progress of vice and profaneness, and keep the people in order. ”  Most didn’t have the Holy Spirit.  Wrong covetousness was the norm.  This is a lesson we can glean from the book of Judges.

1Sm.4:15-18 Eli judges Israel for 40 years til age 98, c 1142 BC – c 1102 BC.  Samuel is judge after Eli.

Recap: The exodus from Egypt was c 1612 BC.  After 40 years of wilderness wandering under Moses, the Israelites entered the Promised Land under Joshua c 1572 BC.  After Joshua’s wars of conquest, the Land was divided to the tribes of Israel by lot c 1566 BC.  That was approximately 450 years after the birth of Isaac in c 2017 BC, and 464 years before the time Samuel succeeds Eli as judge c 1102 BC.

My other topics in the timeline are “Chronology: Samuel to Rehoboam”, “Chronology: Abraham to the Exodus”, “Chronology: Septuagint versus Masoretic Text”.

 

Sexual Sins, Harlotry, Rape – (1)

Sexual sins and crimes are big concerns in society and in the church.  Cultures of the world have differing standards of morality/immorality.  Here we’ll look at sexual immorality from God’s word.

At creation, the first command God gave to man/ánthropos (Greek LXX) was about reproduction.  Ge.1:28 “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.”  Human reproduction was a creation mandate!  God subsequently set guidelines which are recorded in His word to identify moral versus immoral.

Types of immorality or lewdness and harlotry are identified in Le.20:10-22, 5-6.  A similar listing of sexual sins is found in Le.18:5-24.  Without understanding what actions constitute immorality based on Christ the Lord’s commands to Moses/Israel, a person wouldn’t know all that is sexual sin in God’s eyes!  Sexual sin includes: adultery, incest, homosexuality/lesbianism, transvestism, beastiality, menstrual sex, idolatrous prostitution.  Without learning these foundational scriptures, knowledge of sexual sin may just be based on or skewed by the customs & traditions of our nation or church.

From Le.20: Sexual immorality with a married or betrothed woman (v.10) is adultery…with a near relative (v.11) is incest; 1Co.5:1 “It is reported that there is immorality [pornéia] among you, someone has his father’s wife”.  Intercourse with a person of the same sex (Ro.1:26-27, Le.20:13, De.22:5) is homosexuality or lesbianism…with an animal (v.15-16) is beastiality…with a menstruating woman (v.18) is uncleanness…with a harlot/prostitute to a pagan god (v.5-6) for pay or barter is idolatry.  As we see from reading Le.20, Christ prescribed serious penalties for those who committed such acts!

From Le.18:  v.20 adultery “Do not lie sexually with your neighbor’s wife.”  v.6–ff incest “None of you shall have sexual relations with a close blood relative.”  v.22 homosexual intercourse “You shall not lie with a male, as one lies with a female; it is an abomination.”  v.23 beastiality “You shall not have intercourse with any animal, to be defiled with it; nor shall a woman offer herself to an animal.”  v.19 menstrual sex “Do not have intercourse with a woman during her menstrual impurity.”  Ex.34:16 religious prostitution “They will seduce your sons and daughters to whore after their gods.”

There are many other scriptures which add detail and amplify the above passages.  e.g. Re.18:2-4 of Babylon the religious harlot. “All nations have drunk of her immorality [pornéia Strongs g4202, Greek], and the kings of the earth have committed acts of immorality with her. Come out of her My people.”

In the LXX/Septúagint the Greek term for idolatrous (and adulterous) harlotry was “porneia” (g4202).  The term was rare in classical Greek, but occurs often in the LXX and the New Testament (NT) koiné Greek.  During the intertestamental period, the meaning of porneia expanded to include other sexual sins too.  In the NT, porneia had come to mean sexual sin in general.

Some rabbis also believed ‘unnatural forms of intercourse’ are immoral, anal & oral sex.  Humans are unclean to eat (cannibalism is wrong, even when there’s no killing.  cf. Ezk.4:12-15, Is.36:12, De.23:13.)

To avoid confusion, I’ll rarely use the word “fornication”, from older English translations.  There is no ancient Greek term for “fornication”.  It came into English from two Latin words associated with brothels.  Since the meaning of this word has changed over the centuries, the term is a misnomer.  Rev. Bill McGinnis “Fornication’ is not really a very good translation for the word ‘porneia.”

Testaments of the XII Patriarchs, Test. Benj.9:1 “You will commit porneia with the porneia of Sodom.”  Homosexual intercourse and sex with a different kind/“strange flesh” are also forms of porneia and sin.  Jude 7 “Sodom and Gomorrah indulged in gross immorality [ekporneúo, cf. Le.17:7 LXX], going after strange flesh.”  ref Ge.19:1-5 Sodom.  Transvestism too is wrong.  De.22:5 “A woman must not wear that which pertains to a man, nor shall a man put on women’s clothing; anyone doing these is an abomination to the Lord your God.”  Pulpit Commentary “The divinely instituted distinction between the sexes was to be sacredly observed.”

The meaning of adultery in Christ’s theocracy of ancient Israel, as well as in most of the ancient world, differed from the meaning of adultery in modern western nations today.  Christ was the God/Rock of Israel.  In ancient Israel, adultery is…sexual activity between a married (or betrothed) woman and a man not her husband.  The man’s marital status isn’t a factor.  So by definition, it was impossible for a widow, divorcee, or otherwise single woman to commit adultery (unless she was betrothed)!  And it was impossible for a man to commit adultery with an unmarried or unengaged woman!

Biblical Archaeology Society: Understanding Israel’s 10 Commandments “You will not commit adultery.’ In our world, adultery is defined as sexual relations with someone who is not your spouse.  The Biblical understanding of adultery, however, is gender-specific. In the ancient world, a married man could engage in sexual relations with [his] wives & concubines, and prostitutes; a married woman could only have sex with her husband. Thus, committing adultery for a man consisted of sleeping with a woman who was someone else’s wife; for a [married] woman, adultery was sex with someone other than her husband. The same law and definition is ubiquitous throughout the ancient world.”

Christ told Moses/Israel the adultery penalty was death.  (even Jn.8:7 “Let him throw the first stone.”)   De.22:22-27 shows that the adultery law applied to betrothed women too.  If the adultery was by mutual consent, both the man and woman were guilty.  If he’d raped her, only the man was guilty.

But God’s meaning of adultery was altered over the centuries.  It was altered in Greco-Roman society too, differing from Christ’s meaning in His older theocracy.  Jesus and Paul lived in the Roman Empire, where the laws of Christ’s theocracy weren’t enacted.  Yes, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever (He.13:8).  He knew what adultery is and what it isn’t.  But Jesus wasn’t the Roman ruler.  Although the inferior laws of men/heathens don’t change God or God’s morality, it wasn’t wrong to avoid Roman legal action, while not disobeying God.  But some laws & customs of Rome became part of early Christianity, the Roman Catholic Church, etc., and filtered down into Christian belief today.

For example, Ge.29:30, Ge.30:4, 9, the man Jacob/Israel isn’t an adulterer (he had four wives simultaneously)!  Ex.21:10 “If a man takes another wife, he must not diminish the food, clothing, or conjugal dues of the first wife.”  De.21:15 “A man might have two wives and love one but not the other, and they have borne him sons.”  1Sm.1:1-2 is about Elkanáh the father of Samuel. “He had two wives, one named Hannáh and the other Peninnáh.”  1Sm.25:42-43 “Abigail followed the messengers of David, and became his wife. David had also taken Ahinóam, and they both became his wives.”  Those marriages weren’t adultery in Christ’s theocracy.  Pagan Greece & Rome enjoined serial monogamy on their societies long before Christianity began.  These scriptures seem so strange to our modern western minds!

Yet God’s word is authoritative!  Jesus and Paul both said several times, “It is written”.  However, also ref Is.4:1 (which relates to Ex.21:10), and Jg.8:30 & SSol.6:8 for exorbitance.  Although a few Israelites were excessive, overindulging in this matter of plural wives…that doesn’t mean Christ erred in the commands & guidelines He gave to Moses/Israel regarding this marital option.  Jesus Christ is Lord!

It would be too lengthy to examine details of: the marital excess of Solomon (e.g. De.17:16-17), examples of concubinage in the Bible, lévirate marriage, and marital defilement.  Those matters relate to morality/immorality, but are beyond the scope here.  (see the topic “Polygyny – Lawful in God’s Eyes?”.)  And based upon the marriage customs in most (western) nations, it seems that only rarely would it be advised for a man to have plural wives today.

In ancient Israel, a young daughter belonged to her father or protector prior to her marriage.

Her father would eventually be paid the bride-price from the bridegroom.  Le.19:29 “Don’t profane your daughter by making her a harlot, so that the Land may not fall into harlotry and lewdness.”  Many commentaries relate this command to the practice of heathens, whose custom was to fund the daughter’s dowry with earnings from idolatrous prostitution.  A father wasn’t to degrade his daughter by making her a common prostitute, lest secular harlotry become the norm in the Land instead of marriage/family.

De.23:17-18 “None of the daughters or sons of Israel shall be a cult prostitute. You shall not bring the hire of a harlot or the wages of a dog into the house of the Lord, both of these are an abomination.”  God wouldn’t accept the offerings of religious prostitutes.  A “dog” in this context was the sodomite whose position for homosexual intercourse resembled a dog’s.  ref Re.22:15.  (The label of ‘dog’ also became an epithet against gentiles.)  2Ki.23:7 King Josiah “broke down the houses of the male cult prostitutes.”  It seems that quarters in the temple precinct even housed sodomites in those days!  Le.21:9 “The daughter of any priest who profanes herself by harlotry profanes her father.”  Her prostitution at the sanctuary reflected on her father.  Le.21:7, 14 also priests weren’t to marry a profane woman.  Ancient Israel’s worship of Christ the Lord wasn’t to be a fertility cult…no religious sex!

A virgin living under her father’s roof was to remain chaste, else De.22:13-21 could later apply (I won’t quote the passage here).  But people in love may not always follow the usual or customary channels.  Christ made allowances for them too.  Ex.22:16-17 “If a man seduces a virgin who is not betrothed, has sexual relations with her, he must pay the bride-price and marry her. If her father refuses to give her to him, he still must pay the bride-price for virgins.”  The man was then to marry the girl.  This wasn’t casual sex, it was another way (not the usual way) of obtaining a wife.  But if her father refused to let them marry, this non-virgin daughter would bring her father a lower bride-price in the future.  So taking a daughter’s virginity could also be a form of theft from her father too.  (And possibly there could be serious De.22:13-21 repercussions, if deceit is subsequently involved.)

Yet scripture is mostly quiet in regards to sexual relations with the unmarried non-virgin (not a harlot) with no protector, who’s not living under her father’s roof.  In Christ’s theocracy, it appears that intimacy with divorcees, widows, orphan women (not priests’ daughters) generally isn’t barred by scripture.  For example, Ru.3:7 Ruth the goodly widow lay down secretly in Bóaz’ bed one night.  The text gives no indication that Ruth’s action was sin.  And after spending the night with Ruth, Boaz didn’t rest until he’d obtained her the next day (Ru.3:18–4:10)!

In some cultures, economic conditions are such that an unmarried woman (e.g. divorcee, widow) with no protector/provider…could become destitute!  God didn’t outlaw commercial prostitution in Israel.

Again, a virgin living under her father’s roof must be chaste, else De.22:13-21 could apply.  But for a single non-virgin (not a temple harlot), who solicited her favors to obtain income (perhaps to avoid starvation)…Christ didn’t require strict punishment for her or her clients, and not even a blood sacrifice for sin!  It seems that wasn’t ‘sin’ or iniquity in God’s theocracy.  This may seem strange to western society.  Fathers were forbidden to prostitute their daughters (Le.19:29), but otherwise single women away from home weren’t prohibited from prostituting themselves, selling their body possibly to survive.

Other than Jesus Christ, King Solomon is called the wisest man who ever lived.  1Ki.4:29-34 “God gave Solomon wisdom and very great discernment and breadth of mind.”  God said to Solomon in 1Ki.3:12, “I have given you a wise and discerning heart, there has been none like you”.  Four verses later is the famous story of the two harlots who as ‘plaintiffs’ came to Solomon to settle their dispute.  1Ki.3:16-28 the king received even harlots, and rendered his wise decision.  He didn’t have them arrested for prostitution!  There was no animal sacrifice offered for any ‘sin’.  (Yet ironically, Solomon himself acted unwisely when he was older; his heathen wives turned his heart to pagan gods, 1Ki.11:1-10.)

Samson was an Israelite judge in whom the Spirit of God worked mightily with superhuman strength!  Jg.16:1 “Samson went to Gaza and saw a harlot there.”  Samson, a single man, had relations with a harlot.  v.4 “After this he loved a woman in the valley of Sorék whose name was Deliláh.”  It is thought that Sorek was not far from Samson’s home town of Zoráh (in the tribe of Dan, Jg.13:2).  Samson loved Delilah.  Josephus Antiquities of the Jews 5:8:11 said Delilah was a harlot among the Philistines who Samson lived with.  Jg.16:12 “Delilah took new ropes and bound him. Then Delilah said, ‘The Philistines be upon you Samson.’ But he snapped the ropes from his arms like they were threads.”  God is still with Samson, even after he visited a harlot (v.1) and had relations with Delilah!  Those acts weren’t sin that separated Samson from God.  Sleeping with harlots didn’t violate Samson’s Nazarite vow!  Jg.16:19-20 God leaves Samson only after his hair is cut, in violation of the vow (Jg.13:5, Nu.6:1-5).  Perhaps we think Christ should have left Samson earlier when he had relations with those women?  But we’re not God.

In Jsh.2:1-3, the two faithful Israelite spies wanted to stay with the harlot Raháb!  v.13 she’s unmarried.  (A married harlot is an adulteress.)  God didn’t rebuke either the spies or Rahab.  In Ja.2:25, Jesus’ relative James indicated that this gentile harlot Rahab was justified by her works.  He.11:31 Rahab is in God’s Who’s Who!  Mt.1:5 and her descendant Boaz (cf. Ru.4:18-22) is an ancestor of Jesus Christ.

In Ge.38, Judah was a single man whose wife had died.  He was one of Jacob’s sons and patriarch of the Jewish people.  v.11-19 Judah had sex with a woman who looked like a prostitute.  He didn’t know she was his disguised daughter-in-law, whose betrothal to Sheláh his son should have already resulted in marriage.  So she tricked Judah for procrastinating.  v.24 death was the penalty for a betrothed woman who has sex with another man.  The narrative is involved.  The point here…God didn’t rebuke Judah for having sex with a supposed prostitute.  And the son she conceived by Judah is an ancestor of Jesus.

There are those who might say that Boaz, Samson (before his haircut), the two faithful spies, the patriarch Judah…have ‘fallen from grace’, so to speak…if their above behavior was done today.  But that’s not what the scriptures indicate.  In recent decades, many churchmen have been maligned and accused of sexual sin/miscues, when their behavior may not have been sin according to scripture (unlike our customary beliefs in most modern nations)!  In the NT, Christ didn’t change His morality for Rome.

There are men & women who love each other but don’t have a government-issued marriage license, for whatever reason.  (Whether marriage should be authorized by the state, the church, the families, private contract…is debatable.)

God didn’t forbid non-incestuous responsible sexual relations between a man and an (independent) unmarried/unbetrothed woman, with mutual consent.  It wasn’t punished.

A pastor and his wife had raised several successful grown children.  She’d done her part, and was tired from childbearing.  (As Greta Garbo said in the old movie, “I vant to be alone.”)  Pastor provides for her & respects her wishes to abstain.  But he is still a man (with testosterone God created within us).  Pastor then fell in love with a younger single woman.  He now loved two women.  Christians were stunned.  This is heartrending…but the church/society doesn’t follow the relevant guidelines Christ gave Moses/Israel!

Maybe we too have judged others rigidly or unjustly for their supposed sexual indiscretions, based upon traditional societal or church beliefs…not the word of God.  God isn’t a prude.  Or perhaps we’ve had difficulty forgiving ourselves for our having committed (years ago or recently) what we’d been taught to believe was sexual sin…and it wasn’t really ‘sin’ after all in God’s eyes!

Greco-Roman society and later tradition has altered what sexual immorality is/isn’t, and the meaning of “fornication”.  Religious sex, eroticism, homosexuality, pederásty was widespread in the Roman Empire.  Regardless…marriage is best, if possible (e.g. 1Co.7:2, 6 as Paul suggested).

Secular prostitution in ancient Israel wasn’t sin as we might think it, for a single woman not dependent on her father.  But there are often grave consequences to that lifestyle!

A harlot who doesn’t take needed precautions may end up destroying “the temple of God” (1Co.3:16-17) with disease…her own body and/or that of her clients.  That isn’t loving her neighbor or herself; opposing the will of God.

There’s more to this broad topic of sexual immorality.  “Sexual Sins, Harlotry, Rape – (2)” concludes it.

Jesus’ Death – the Physical Cause

Over the years, you may have heard or read of various possible physical causes for Jesus’ death at His crucifixion.  Such as: a broken heart, a spear thrust in His side, multiple wounds, suffocation, exposure, heart failure, exhaustion, poison.  The apostle Paul affirmed in 1Co.15:3, “Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures”.  In so doing, Jesus fulfilled Bible prophecies about His death.  We’ll examine what the scriptures reflect in regards to physical factors associated with His death.

Ancient historians too have verified that Jesus lived and died.  Jewish historian Josephus Antiquities of the Jews 18:3:3 “Jesus, a wise man…Pilate, upon hearing him accused by men of the highest standing among us, had condemned him to be crucified”.  In 117 AD, Roman historian Tacitus Annals 15.44 “Christus, from whom the name [Christian] had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilate”.  Jesus was a known historical figure.

Crucifixion was a slow, painful, humiliating execution.  The sufferer was nailed or tied to a large wooden cross or pole, and left to hang until dead.  It could take two or more days for the victim to die!  Crucifixion was used by the Persians ca 500 BC, and ‘perfected’ by the Romans ca 100 BC.  It was their common method for executing condemned criminals, rebels and traitors.

Flogging or scourging would usually precede the crucifixion.  The whip (flagrum) consisted of leather strips, with pieces of bone, metal and stone tied in.  It could rip out chunks of flesh, exposing muscles & bones.  David prophesied of Jesus in Ps.22:17, “I can count all My bones. People stare at Me.”  The victim would then carry or drag the crossbeam to the execution site where the stake was in the ground.

“According to the scriptures.”  Is.52:14 “His appearance was marred more than any man.”  Is.53:5 “He was wounded for our transgressions. And by His scourging we are healed.”  Jesus is at the Jewish high priest’s residence in Mk.14:65. “Some began to spit at Him, to beat Him with their fists.”  Mk.15:15-20 “Roman soldiers put a crown of thorns on Him. And they kept beating His head with a staff and mocked Him.”  Mt.27:26 “Pilate…Having scourged Jesus, handed Him over to be crucified.”  Bleeding from multiple wounds, the crucifixion victim was nailed up.  Ps.22:16 “They pierced My hands and My feet.”

The Roman victim might remain on the cross for days, slowly dying in agony.  But not Jesus nor the two criminals crucified with Him that day in Judea (Lk.23:38-43)!  De.21:22-23 “If a man commits a capital offense and is hanged on a tree, his body shall not remain all night on the tree. You shall bury him the same day; that the land be not defiled.”  A rotting corpse wasn’t to be left hanging in the air for birds to eat.  So the Jewish leaders who framed Jesus wanted His (dead) body taken down before night.

Let’s now read what happened to Jesus while He was hanging on the cross, before His death that same day.  The Bible doesn’t provide complete autopsy results, but does indicate the physical cause of death.

Mark’s gospel says they tried to give Jesus a wine drink mixed with myrrh, immediately prior to hanging Him up.  Mk.15:22-25 “They offered Him wine [oínos Strongs g3631] mixed with myrrh [smurnízo g4669], but He didn’t take it.”  The Greek term oinos g3631 occurs 33 times in the New Testament (NT).  Pure myrrh (smúrna g4666) is a bitter yellowish tree resin.  In the NT, the term myrrh g4666 occurs only in Mt.2:11 & Jn.19:39.  The mixture or tincture of myrrh g4669 occurs only in Mk.15:23.

What was the nature of this drink (which Jesus initially refused)?  Some think it was a mild painkiller provided by charitable women (Sanh 43a, ref Pr.31:6).  Others think it was a medicated wine or narcotic to dull the pain, or sedate.  Would the Roman soldiers have offered this mixture out of compassion?  The late theologian and Anchor Bible commentator Raymond Brown, “Neither in fact nor in what we know of ancient pharmacology does myrrh serve as a narcotic. Perhaps the myrrh was only a flavoring and the wine used was thought to numb.”  Myrrh would affect or alter the taste of the mix.

Matthew’s parallel account identifies another ingredient in this mix!  Mt.27:33-35 “They gave him sour wine [óxos g3690] to drink mixed with gall [cholé g5521]. After tasting it, He wouldn’t drink it.”  The term oxos g3690 occurs in 6 NT verses, all relative to Jesus’ crucifixion (Mt.27:34, 48; Mk.15:36; Lk.23:36; Jn.19:29-30).  Oxos/sour wine g3690 was a variety, quality or adulteration of oinos/wine g3631, e.g. acrid wine or vinegar.  Cheap wine or vinegar mixed with water was a common beverage.  By itself, it wouldn’t be rejected as undrinkable.  (However, vinegar is a stimulant, not a sedative!)  So Matthew chose the Greek term oxos for this mixture, which had water with wine or vinegar as a base.

Combining the accounts of Mark & Matthew…the drink Jesus initially refused was wine mingled with myrrh and gall.  The Greek term rendered gall is chole g5521.  In the NT, this term occurs only here in Mt.27:34 and in Ac.8:23, where the apostle Peter said to Simon the magician, “I see you are in the gall [g5521] of bitterness and the bond of iniquity”.  A few translations read, “…you are poisoned by bitterness.”  Peoples NT Notes Ac.8:23 “The gall of reptiles was considered by the ancients the source of their venom.”  Robertson Commentary “Peter describes Simon’s offer as poison and a chain.”  Poison!?  The term often used in ancient Greek poetry for poison is…chole/(gall) g5521!

We read in Mt.27:34 that Jesus didn’t drink the gall mixture then.  V d Brink Commentary “In the LXX [gall/chole] has the meaning of poison (in Jb.20:14, Ps.69:21)….It is clear that offering wine mingled with poison must here be regarded as an act of mercy.”  The Mt.27:34 margin refs Ps.69:21, to be fulfilled by Jesus.  However, that Old Testament (OT) prophecy won’t be fulfilled until Mt.27:48.

While the term chole/gall is in the Greek NT & LXX, the corresponding OT Hebrew term is rosh h7219.  Strongs Hebrew and Chaldee Dictionary describes rosh h7219. “A poisonous plant. Poison even of serpents.”  Ps.69:21 “They gave me gall [roshe h7219] for My food, and in My thirst vinegar to drink.”  Jewish Publication Society “They put poison in my food.”  ISV & NET Bibles “They put bitter poison into my food.”  Cambridge Commentary Ps.69:21 “The Hebrew word rosh, rendered gall, LXX χολή (chole), denotes some bitter and poisonous plant.”  The Greek LXX has, “They gave Me gall [chole g5521] for my food, and made Me drink vinegar for My thirst”.  Again, this Greek term chole g5521 is the term in Mt.27:34, offered to Jesus!

The Hebrew term rosh h7219, translated as gall or poison in Ps.69:21 (the prophecy Jesus will fulfill), occurs in 11 other OT verses.  Following are selected verses for comparison and a frame of reference:  De.32:32 “Their vine is from the vine of Sodom and the fields of Gomorrah. Their grapes are poison [rosh h7219].”  Ho.10:4 “Judgment springs up as poisonous weeds [or hemlock h7219] in the furrows of the field.”  Am.6:12 “You have turned justice into poison [h7219], and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood.”  Je.8:14 “Our God has given us poison [gall h7219] water to drink, because we have sinned against Him.”  Jb.20:14-16 “He sucks the poison [h7219] of cobras; the viper’s tongue slays him.”  Here the Greek LXX term for poison or gall is chole g5521…as in the Greek of Mt.27:34!

Let’s return to the gospels for Jesus’ prophetic fulfillment (“according to the scriptures”, 1Co.15:3).

We read in Mk.15:23 & Mt.27:34 where Jesus tasted but refused to drink the wine/sour wine (oinos/oxos) mingled with myrrh and gall/poison (chole g5521).  Again, chole is the term often used for poison in ancient Greek poetry.  Why didn’t Jesus just drink it then and avoid hours of agony on the cross?

Ac.3:18 “The things God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that His Christ must suffer, He has fulfilled.”  Jesus must suffer as prophesied!  He desired to bear the full burden consciously with His senses.  It was prophesied that His hands & feet must be pierced.  Ps.22:14-17 “All My bones are out of joint”.  His bones (shoulders, elbows) must slip out of joint hanging on the cross, before He dies.

Yet something most unusual occurred from 12–3pm!  Mt.27:45 “From the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour.”  Unexpected darkness! (Am.8:9?)  We read in De.21:23 that a body was not to remain hanging after dark!  Jsh.8:29 “He hanged the king of Ai on a tree until evening; and at sunset Joshua commanded and they took his body down from the tree.” (also Jsh.10:27.)  This darkness phenomenon at noon would cause confusion…it was still dark at 2–3pm!  Jesus and the two malefactors are hanging on crosses in the dark!  What were the Jewish leaders/onlookers thinking then?

Around 3pm, Jesus does drink the sour wine.  (He’d refused it earlier, Mt.27:34.)  Mt.27:46-48 “Jesus cried with a loud voice, ‘Elí, Elí, lamá sabachthaní.’ And some who heard it said, ‘This man is calling for Elijah.’ And immediately one of them ran and filled it with sour wine [oxos g3690] and gave Him a drink. The rest of them said, ‘Let’s see if Elijah will save Him.’ And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up His spirit.”  Jn.19:28-30 “Jesus, in order that the scripture be fulfilled [margin Ps.69:21], said, ‘I thirst.’ They put a sponge full of the sour wine [oxos g3690] to His mouth. When Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, ‘It is finished.’ He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.”

At 3pm, Jesus drank the sour wine mixture of vinegar, myrrh, gall…and died suddenly!  They mocked Jesus about whether Elijah would “save” Him…immediately after He’d drank that gall/poison wine!  Mk.15:36-37 “Someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine [oxos g3690] and gave Him a drink. ‘Let us see if Elijah will come take Him down.’ Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed His last.”

A man suffocating due to hanging bodyweight, or suffering a heart attack, doesn’t cry out loudly.  Yet Jesus did.  A person having a heart attack is relatively quiet.  Matthew, Mark and John all show Jesus dying right after He drank the mixture in the sponge!  metrum.org “It cannot be denied that there is a causal relationship between the application of the sponge and the death.”  It was a potent poison.

Jesus was in good physical condition from walking throughout the Land.  He wasn’t diseased; He had a healthy body and immune system.  Jesus never ate any unclean parasitic creatures, disease-carriers.

Mk.15:42-46 “Pilate was amazed to hear that Jesus had already died, so he summoned the centurion to ask if He was in fact dead. When he knew it from the centurion, he gave the body to Joseph.”  Pilate was well aware of the extent of Jesus’ scourging.  Jn.19:1-5 that morning Pilate had beheld how much Jesus was beaten.  Yet Pilate still wondered why Jesus was so soon dead…He’d been on the cross only six hours!  The Romans were experts at torture and crucifixion.  It could take a man days to die…a cruel, lingering, exhausting death!  Yet the Son of God died before the two criminals beside Him died!

Again, darkness had set in at 12pm.  The sabbath normally would begin near 6pm.  The three victims must be taken down ASAP.  Jn.19:31 “The Jewish leaders asked Pilate to have their legs broken and their bodies taken down.”  To hasten death, the Romans would break the legs of crucifixion victims with a club.  Hanging on the cross, they’d then be unable to thrust themselves up with their legs to expand their slumping chest cavity to breathe.  They’d quickly suffocate.  Jn.19:32-33 “So the soldiers broke the legs of the two men crucified with Jesus. But when they came to Jesus and saw He was already dead, they didn’t break His legs.”  There was no need to break His legs to bring on death…Jesus had been in control of His circumstances during that time, and was already dead!

Jn.19:34 “One of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.”  Reading Jn.19:34 in more than 20 translations, none of them say ‘had pierced’, as if the spear thrust caused His death.  Jesus had died from the sour wine in v.30, prior to the confirmation of v.34.

Jn.19:35-38 Jesus’ legs wouldn’t be broken! (ref Ps.34:20, Ex.12:46.)  The piercing must occur (Zec.12:10)!  To confirm a victim was dead before releasing the body, the Romans customarily inflicted a spear wound through the right side of the heart.  The outer sac of the heart (pericardium) contains blood and water.  Jesus’ blood was shed!  Mk.15:39-45 before Pilate could give Jesus’ body to Joseph, Pilate sent a centurion to certify Jesus was dead.  His side was then pierced, perhaps by the centurion’s order.

{Sidelight: Here’s one more crucifixion account.  It’s the earliest existing non-canonical account of Jesus’ Passion.  A fragment of the Lost Gospel of Peter was discovered in 1886 in an Egyptian tomb.  It was referred to by Serápion bishop of Antioch in 190 AD, Órigen in 253 AD, Eusebius bishop of Caesárea in 300 AD.  Theodóret in 455 AD said the Nazarenes (Ac.24:5) used it, and previously Jústin Mártyr also mentioned it.  Dr. D.H. Stanton wrote in Journal of Theological Studies, “The conclusion with which we are confronted is that the Gospel of Peter once held a place of honor”.

GosPet.1:15-19 “Now it was noonday, and darkness prevailed over all Judea; they were troubled in an agony lest the sun should have set, for that He yet lived. For it is written for them that the sun should not set on him that had been slain. And one of them said, ‘Give ye Him to drink gall with vinegar’; and they mingled it [Mt.27:34] and gave Him to drink; and they fulfilled all things and accomplished their sins upon their own heads. And many went about with lamps, supposing that it was night; and some fell. And the Lord cried aloud saying, ‘My power, my power, thou hast forsaken Me’. And when He had so said, He was taken up.”

We don’t give the Lost Gospel of Peter the same credence as the four canonical gospels, of course.  Nonetheless, GosPet does indicate what some Christians believed regarding Jesus’ crucifixion ca 100 years afterwards.  It contains a few details not in our gospel Passion accounts.

Dominic Crossan The Birth of Christianity “That is exactly the point of the Gospel of Peter, where Jesus is given a poisoned drink to finish the crucifixion speedily so that His body can be removed before dark.”  Another researcher observed, “In the Gospel of Peter it was poison and vinegar both in a drink”.  Prior to the advent of firearms, the most convenient common means of taking a person’s life was poison (ref Mk.16:18).}

Jn.19:4-12 Pilate thought Jesus was unjustly accused.  Mt.27:17-25 Pilate’s wife had a dream about the righteous Jesus, and so told her husband.  Pilate wanted Him released, and “washed his hands” of guilt.  Perhaps Pilate, despite other wrongs noted by historians, desired to ease or shorten Jesus’ suffering?

Jesus’ total time on the cross was comparatively short.  Some critics don’t think He really died.  But Jesus did die, according to the scriptures.  Peter said of Jesus, Ac.2:23 “This Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death”.

Yet God isn’t a masochist or sadist.  Jesus needn’t be on the cross any longer than to accomplish His Father’s will and fulfill all prophecies about Him…including the Ps.69:21 gall/poison.

Mt.26:42 “My Father, if this cannot pass away unless I drink it, Thy will be done.”  Also see Jn.18:11.  Jesus drank it…and died.  To the very end, Jesus, not His tormentors, was in control of His life.  Jesus determined exactly when/how He would die.  Jn.10:17-18 “No man takes it from Me, I have authority to lay down My life.”  Mt.26:53-54 Jesus’ Father would have sent Him legions of angels to rescue Him, had He asked. “But if I did ask, how would the scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen this way?”

Jesus said in Jn.10:11, “I Am the good Shepherd. The good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.”  Jesus also fulfilled Zec.13:7, which reads in more than 20 translations, “Strike the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered”.  Jesus referred to Zec.13:7 in Mt.26:31 & Mk.14:27.  But in both accounts He added words not found in Zec.13:7.  Mt.26:31 & Mk.14:27 in more than 20 translations, “I will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered”.  Jesus Himself struck the Shepherd!  (And His disciples left Him and fled, Mt.27:56, as prophesied.)

God commanded in Ex.20:13, “You shall not murder”.  God Himself has the authority and right to take life when He so chooses.  God determines the number of our days (Jb.14:5, Ex.23:26), and then God takes us.  In so doing, God isn’t a murderer, needless to say.  The capital punishment that YHVH commanded for certain crimes in His theocracy of ancient Israel…it was killing, but it wasn’t murder.  (see the topic “War & Killing and the Bible Christian”.)

As God, Jesus chose to lay down or sacrifice His life (according to His Father’s will).  In Jg.16:28-31, Samson also chose to sacrifice his life for a higher cause, dying at his own hand.  Samson is among God’s faithful (He.11:32)!  Jn.15:13 “Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”  There are war heroes who sacrificed their life, falling on a grenade so infantrymen next to them could live.  And the stewardess who voluntarily gave up her life jacket and went down with the sinking ship.  (Relative are the Christian martyrs who could have escaped death, but chose to die instead.)

To view the death of Jesus or Samson or those war heroes, etc. as self-murder is too narrow!  Their self-sacrifice was intentionally taking one’s own life for a greater good (somewhat similar to agathusia or benevolent suicide).  Self-sacrificers such as Jesus and Samson aren’t suicidal self-murderers!

Father God & Jesus were in charge of His entire ordeal.  Jesus didn’t die due to loss of blood from men’s actions according to the will of man, or because He just couldn’t take prolonged suffering.  Jesus made the decision as to the exact time He would die…He said, “I thirst”.  He initiated the onset of death.  Jesus struck the Shepherd.  He gave His life (for us)…men didn’t take it!

Yet many, so very, very many, ‘assisted’ in Jesus’ death, if you will.  We might say that satan ‘killed’ Jesus, or that Judas killed Jesus, Lk.22:3-4.  Or those Jewish leaders killed Jesus.  Or that Pontius Pilate killed Jesus.  Or those Roman soldiers killed Jesus.  Or that Father God killed Jesus, Ro.8:32.  Or that we ‘killed’ Jesus…you and I, all of us sinners (1Pe.3:18).

We understand that Jesus’ throat wasn’t slit as were the Passover lambs & animal sacrifices.  (Analogies and types end at some point.)  The important thing to remember is…Jesus did give His life/blood for our salvation!  1Jn.5:6 “This is He who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ.”  Both water and blood flowed from His spear wound (Jn.19:34).  Ro.3:23-25 “Christ Jesus, whom God displayed publically as a sacrifice through faith in His blood, for the remission of our sins.”  He.10:19-23 “Since we too have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, let us draw near in full assurance of faith. For He is faithful who promised.”

Jesus conquered death!  1Co.15:4 “He was buried, and raised the 3^rd day according to the scriptures.”  Jesus died…and rose again!  His blood was poured out on our behalf.  Therefore we can come boldly to God for forgiveness.  So let us come to the throne of grace with confident assurance.  Our God is faithful!  It is finished (Jn.19:30)!