The Scarlet Cord - Moriel Ministries

Hebrew Teaching – Continued
prophetic agenda mainly on Israel and the
Jews. Thus, God begins to again deal with
Israel and the nations as He did in the old
covenant; that is in His wrath and correction
of His own people unrepentant Israel
and the Jews. The shift in literary genre
back to an Old Testament literary structure
and character matches the divine reversion
back to Israel. The church as such no longer
exists after chapter 3. This is not however
to place the parousia at that point (this
author places that between the 6 th and 7 th
seals). Neither does it deny that the Book
of Revelation was written primarily for
the church to understand and prepare for
the future. It indeed descriptively predicts
what will transpire concerning unbelieving
Israel, but it is not written mainly for Israel
(apart from the remnant of Jews who will
turn to Christ during the time of Jacob’s
trouble’). Yet clearly the eschatological
emphasis in the Book of Revelation goes
from being ecclesia-centric (concentrated
on the church) to Judeo-centric (concentrated
on the unbelieving Jews) and the
switch in literary genre underscores and
characterizes this transformation in God’s
prophetic dealings.
Even more acute from a literary perspective,
however, is the Book of Revelation’s
kindred textual character to the inter-testamental
apocryphal books of I & II Enoch,
the books of Maccabees, and the Septuagint
(LXX) translation of Old Testament apocalyptic
books such as Daniel, Zechariah, and
Ezekiel. The Intertestamental Period and
Hasmonean periods witnessed the development
of apocalyptic concepts in Hebraic
thought and saw the combination of Hebrew
eschatological theology with Greek
apocalyptic forms, minus the pagan mythology
or where it was transformed into
the Greek language descriptions of Old
Testament concepts.
Examples of this are features from the
Hebrew TENAK (Torah, prophets and
writings) that were related by terminology
borrowed from Hellenistic eschatology
such as sheol becoming hades, “Destroyer”
becoming “Apollyon,” and in the Book of
Daniel, the citation of animals popularly
understood even in Greco-Roman culture
to be metaphoric of political empires. The
similarities and differences (apart from the
obvious monotheism) between Hebraic and
Hellenistic apocalyptic is a massive subject
in its own right beyond the parameters of
this article. However, what we have in the
Book of Revelation in essence is Old Testament
Hebrew apocalyptic literature in
genre translated into the Greek language
written mainly for the church.
We must note as believers that “all Scripture
was written for us”, but “all Scripture
was not written to us.” Hebrews, the Epistle
of James, 1 & 2 Peter, Jude, John’s Gospel,
and to a large degree Matthew’s Gospel and
portions of Romans and Galatians, were all
written to Jews, and it is essential for us to
grasp this consideration in our reading and
study of those books in order to properly
comprehend under the illumination of the
Holy Spirit what the content of those books
means for us. Unless we comprehend what
the content meant for the Jews to whom it
was written, we are handicapped in correctly
determining its precise meaning for
us in Christ, be we Jew or non-Jew.
The Book of Revelation however goes
well beyond this, although it is written to
the church at large consisting of both Jew
and non-Jew. While it is imperative we
avoid the errors of Marcionism (misreading
it as a radical difference between the God
of the Old Testament and The God of The
New) and hyper-dispensationalism (seeing
the Book of Revelation as part of the
Old Testament), from a literary viewpoint
it must be read as we would read a Greek
translation of The Old Testament yet retaining
the awareness that the promised Messiah
has already come but is coming again.
Most of these simply draw on Old Testament
references in Revelation and focally
employ two of the seven midoth used by Paul
in his epistles acquired from the School of
Hillel, ‘Binyan Ab M’Shna Ketubim’ (deriving
an interpretation from the principle
that the same terms or points used by relating
two kindred texts apply to all scriptural
texts having the same terms and points) and
Binyan Ab M’ Katub Achad (an interpretation
where the principle meaning of terms
in one text carries the same consideration
in others texts having the same terms and
points). The other five midoth are used in
Revelation to a lesser degree. These midoth
existed from the early scribal era associated
with the ktav tradition of the Hebrew
prophet Ezra in the post captivity restoration
period but were not codified and formally
formulated until the time of Rabbi Hillel,
the grandfather of Paul’s tutor Gamaliel.
Once again, the ignorant spout religious
clichés about Paul counting all things as
waste after coming to faith in Christ. They
are too unlearned to read the context that
he was speaking of efforts to be justified by
his own righteousness under the Torah, not
about his background. In the New Testament
he spoke of himself in the Greek text
in the present continuous active as still being
a “Pharisee of the Pharisees,” not as in
trying to be justified by the law but in terms
of what a Pharisee meant from the Hebrew
infinitive ‘L’ Paresh’, that is ‘one who interprets.’
He continued to ‘L’Paresh’ after
salvation—that is to say Paul continued to
interpret the Word of God, and his use of
midoth is evident throughout his writings.
Others likewise cite Jesus’ warnings from
Matthew 23 “Woe unto you Scribes and
Pharisees,” omitting that Jesus also said, “I
will send you scribes” (Hebrew scholars).
Whenever addressing issues concerning
midrashic content in the New Testament,
it is essential to filter out the background
noise of the ignorant babblers who misdirect
others because they do not know what
they are talking about.
The other recurrent midrashic feature
permeating the Book of Revelation is the
Peshet (straightforward grammatical-historical
literal or simple meaning speaking
of one event) and its pesher (applied further
meaning to a future prophetic event.)
We see the Exodus judgments on Egypt
(still commemorated in the Paschal Haggadah)
recapitulated globally in the Book
of Revelation: blood, darkness, frogs, etc.
We see Ezekiel’s marking with the tav from
Ezekiel 9:4-6 in a pesher interpretation in
Revelation 7:3. Joel’s four invasions of
locusts representing the four Babylonian
invasions as the peshet find their pesher in
Revelation 9 as the demon cohorts of hell.
No place is pesher interpretation more
conspicuously important in the Book of
Revelation than in the eschatological recycling
of Pharaoh and his magicians (identified
by Paul and by Jewish historical writings
as Jannes and Jambres) counterfeiting
the miracles of Moses and Aaron as the
antichrist and false prophet will counterfeit
the miracles of Jesus and His witnesses
in Revelation 13. Paul places an eschatological
contrast on Pharaoh’s magicians using
“Binyan Ab M’Shna Ketubim” in his
teaching on the Last Days in 2 Timothy
3:8. Paul tells us this will transpire again
eschatologically and so, alas, in Revelation
13 we see it happening.
The content of the ‘Midrash of Iddo’ (2
Chronicles 13:22, 2 Chronicles 24:27) is
hinted at or referred to various times in other
Old Testament passages revealing its content.
This was known in the early church,
even into the patristic era, as in Questions
Hebraica by Jerome and is noted in the historical
record by Flavius Josephus (Antiquities
VIII .8,5).These cite the words (dvarim)
of Iddo in relation to 2 Chronicles 12:15.
Of stronger note eschatologically however
is the closing reference to Iddo’s visionary
writings in 2 Chronicles 9:29. It is
in this passage, and in its synoptic parallel
in 1 Kings10, that the total number of the
beast, 666, is used four times in connection
with backslidden Solomon. It is used twice
for the weight value of gold and twice in the
architectural design of Solomon’s throne.
In total, the number of the beast is used for
backslidden Solomon more than with any
other figure in Scripture (we examine this
phenomenon in some depth in the book
12 Moriel Quarterly • September 2012