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Exodus 37:1-9: Bezalel Makes the Ark of the Covenant
Moses received the instructions for the Ark and its Mercy-seat in Exodus 25:10-20. The Ark was to be placed in the Holy of Holies and was to contain the treasured covenant documents "the stone tablets of the Ten Commandments. Its cover was the solid gold Mercy-seat: the place where God dwelt in the midst of His people.
The Ark of the Covenant was the most holy of the three altars in the Sanctuary of Yahweh for three reasons.
It safeguarded the testimony of the covenant contained in the two tablets of the Ten Commandments. The glory of Yahweh rested upon the Ark's top covering between the wings of the golden cherubim that overshadowed the Mercy-Seat of the Ark, making it the earthly throne of God. As the ritual site of the atonement of Israel on the Feast of Atonement (Yom Kippur) it became Yahweh's earthly "throne of grace," establishing the institution of atonement (see Lev 17:11) and serving as the foreshadow of Christ's act of atonement when He became both the sinless victim as well as the enthroned King on the earthly Altar and "Mercy-seat" of the Cross.
The New Covenant Mercy-seat is Jesus Christ. It is to Him we go to confess our sins in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. When we repent our sins it is Jesus' blood that is smeared on our sins (as the blood was applied to the Mercy-seat for forgiveness of sins at Yom Kippur), and in repentance and in turning back to God our sins are forgiven and our fellowship with God is restored.
Exodus 37:10-16: Construction of the Table of the Bread of the Presence
The instructions Moses received on the mountain are found in Exodus 25:23-29. It was placed on the north side of the Holy Place opposite the golden lamp-stand which illuminated the golden table.
The Table of the Bread of Presence points to the Lord Jesus Himself as the Bread of Life given for His people (Jn 6:25-63) and the Communion table of the New Covenant Church. The altar upon which our offerings of bread and wine are placed in the sacrifice of the Mass will become the table of the Presence of God when our gifts are transformed by the words of Christ at the Last Supper (the words of consecration) into His Body and Blood (1 Cor 10:15-21; 11:23-34).
The Old Covenant table was illuminated only by the light of the lamp-stand that symbolized the light of God's spirit in the darkened space of the Holy Place; our table is illuminated by the Light of the Holy Spirit, transforming our simple gifts into Jesus Christ: Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity.
Exodus 37:17-24: Construction of the Golden Lamp-stand
This section corresponds to the instructions Moses received in Exodus 25:23-30. Scripture suggests that Bezalel, God's spirit filled master craftsman, may have personally made all the sacred pieces for the Tabernacle (Ex 37:1, 10, 17, 25; 38:1, 8), but it is also possible that he made some items and may have overseen the creation of others (Ex 38:9, 22).
Question: The lamp was to never be extinguished so long as God's Presence was in the Tabernacle. Where is the lamp that symbolizes the presence of God in the New Covenant Sanctuary?
Answer: It is located near the Tabernacle that holds the consecrated host; it is to be kept continually burning so long as the consecrated host is in the Tabernacle, signifying that Christ dwells in the midst of His people.
Exodus 37:25-29: Construction of the Altar of Incense
This section is a summary of the instructions Moses received in Exodus 30:20-22 and 34-38.
Question: During worship services in the desert Tabernacle and the Jerusalem Temple, incense consecrated the holy space and represented the prayers of the faithful rising to heaven (Ex 30:7-8; 40:26-27). Incense is also the visual sign of the prayers of the faithful in the heavenly Sanctuary (Rev. 5:8).
The use of incense is optional in any form of Catholic Mass. It can be used to consecrate the congregation during the entrance procession, to incense the altar at the beginning of Mass, at the procession and proclamation of the Gospel, at the preparation of the congregation's gifts (at which time the altar, priest, and people are also incensed), and at the showing of the Eucharistic bread and Chalice after the consecration.
Exodus 38: 1-8: Construction of the Altar of Burnt Offerings and the Bronze Basin
Moses was given the instructions for the Altar of Burnt Offerings in Exodus 27:1-8 and the instructions for the Laver of holy water in Exodus 30:17-21
Question: Where is the altar of sacrifice in New Covenant worship? What does it represent?
Answer: In the celebration of the Mass and in the Divine Liturgy of the Eastern Rites it is the altar upon which the sacrifice of Christ, 2000 years ago, is made present in sacred time and sacred space. It stands in the midst of the congregation and represents not only the altar of sacrifice but the table of the Last Supper and the empty tomb.
Question: From what was the bronze container for the holy water constructed?
Answer: ...from the mirrors of the women who served at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. Mirrors at this time were usually hand-held mirrors made of highly polished copper or bronze and fitted with wood or ivory handles.
The priests were to ritually bathe (by immersion) each morning before putting on their liturgical tunic and they were to wash their hands and feet before entering the Tabernacle. The Old Covenant people also ritually bathed/immersed as a sign of repentance of their sins as St. John the Baptist, an Old Covenant priest, baptized the faithful at the Jordan River (Mk 1:4-6).
Question: Where is ritual washing present in New Covenant worship?
Answer: The use of water in ritual purification dates back to the earliest years of Christianity.
- In Christian baptism: Water is a sign of purification of sins and re-birth into the family of God "regeneration through water and the Spirit.
- For the congregation: In the sacramental of holy water at the entrance to the church Sanctuary where the faithful dip their fingers, make the sign of the cross, pray for spiritual purity as they enter the Sanctuary, and remember the sworn baptismal vows when they became children of God in the New Covenant. The congregation also renews their baptismal vows at various times during the liturgical year in the Sprinkling Rite when the priest passes by the people sprinkling them with holy water.
- For the priest: after the gifts are presented and before he takes up the host and speaks the words of consecration. At this point in the Mass the priest is about to move into the Presence of Christ in the Eucharist and so he prays and purifies himself just as the Old Covenant priests purified themselves before entering the Tabernacle, the Dwelling Place of God.
Exodus 38:9-20: Construction of the Outer Courtyard
These instructions repeat the commands given to Moses in Exodus 27:9-19.
Question: Is there an "outer court" in Catholic churches where the faithful can gather? Are the rules for access to the Sanctuary the same as in Old Covenant times?
Answer: A space outside the Sanctuary but within the church building like a narthex is similar to an outer court. But unlike Old Covenant worship, even those who are not members of the covenant can be invited into the church narthex and Sanctuary. However, like Old Covenant prohibitions, only covenant members can receive the sacred meal of the communion sacrifice.
For catechism references pertaining to the instruction that those receiving the Eucharist must be in a state of grace and in fully communion with the Catholic Church.
Catechism of the Catholic Church 1384 - 1386
1384 The Lord addresses an invitation to us, urging us to receive him in the sacrament of the Eucharist: "Truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you."
1385 To respond to this invitation we must prepare ourselves for so great and so holy a moment. St. Paul urges us to examine our conscience: "Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a man examine himself, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For any one who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment upon himself." Anyone conscious of a grave sin must receive the sacrament of Reconciliation before coming to communion.
1386 Before so great a sacrament, the faithful can only echo humbly and with ardent faith the words of the Centurion: "Domine, non sum dignus ut intres sub tectum meum, sed tantum dic verbo, et sanabitur anima mea" ("Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul will be healed.").
Question: In what direction was the Sanctuary and its Tabernacle oriented? What is the significance?
Answer: The entire Sanctuary was oriented east to west "with the entrance to the Sanctuary in the east and the Holy of Holies at the back of the Tabernacle in the west. In this way the people and priests moved from east to west in approaching the Presence of God and when they left the Sanctuary they moved away from God's dwelling Presence toward the east. Ever since the fall of man in Genesis chapter 3, movement to the east has signified moving away from God while movement to the west signified moving toward that which is holy.
Question: How will this symbolism take on a deeper meaning when God's anointed representative leads the Israelites cross the Jordan River into the Promised Land and when the anointed Redeemer-Messiah crosses the Jordan River back into Judah after His baptism? Look up the Hebrew names of these two men in a Bible Dictionary; what is significant about their names? See Josh 3:14-17; 4:19; Jn 1:28-29.
Answer: This symbolism will take on a deeper significance when "Joshua" (Yahshua/ Yehoshua meaning "Yahweh saves" or "Yahweh is salvation") leads the Israelites across the Jordan River into the Promised Land in the Book of Joshua. He will lead the people across the river from the east bank opposite the city of Jericho, moving to the west. Joshua will be moving from east to west just as Jesus (Yahshua/ Yehoshua), who bears the same name as the hero who led Israel into the Promised Land, will cross the Jordan River after His baptism by St. John the Baptist (who was baptizing on the "far side" the eastern side of the Jordan River) when He begins His mission to lead God's people into the Promised Land of heaven.
Exodus 38:21-23: The Craftsmen
The Levites (Moses' and Aaron's tribe), under the direction of Ithamar, were responsible for producing an inventory of the costly metals used in the construction of the Tabernacle.
Ithamar was Aaron's youngest son whose birth is recorded in Exodus 6:23 and his election to the priesthood mentioned in 28:1. Throughout the next forty years Ithamar will be responsible for directing the work of the Levitical clans in connection with the care, transportation and reassembly of the Tabernacle (Num 4:28). Ithamar's descendants will continue to play a role in the history of the covenant people into the era of the monarchy and into to the years of the return from the Babylonian exile (1 Chr 24:3; Ezra 8:2).
Oholiab's expertise in needlework is emphasized in 38:23; according to tradition he is the artisan who made the beautiful curtain that covered the Holy of Holies.
Exodus 38:24-31: The Tally of the Cost of the Precious Metals
This inventory was compiled after the census (Num 1:5-47; 3:14-43), which was recorded by the Moses and Aaron (Num 1:2-4). God commanded that Moses take the census in Exodus 30:11-16 and to collect a poll tax of half a shekel from every male Israelite over 20 years old to help pay for the expense of building the Sanctuary. The money collected was used to purchase the metals that were needed in the construction of the Sanctuary and its furnishings. According to Egyptologists this inventory of the metals reflects Egyptian accounting practices in building projects. The metals are listed according to value, with the most expensive metals listed first.
Exodus 39:1-31: The Vestments of the High Priest and the Chief Priests
The Ephod of the High Priest (also see Ex 28:6-8-12)
This list includes the four items worn by all priests and the additional four parts of the vestments worn only by the High Priest. In addition to the four colors of natural linen, red, blue and purple, costly gold thread also embellished the vestments of the High Priest. The process of producing the gold thread mentioned in verse 3 is typically Egyptian. The gold was hammered over a stone into very thin sheets from which narrow strips were cut to make a fine wire and even narrower threads. Generations of slavery in Egypt turned a pastoral people into gifted artisans who were prepared to build the sanctuary of God. It is an example of how God can take an evil and turn it to a good (Gen 50:20; Rom 8:28).
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Leviticus 26:1-2: A Summary of Covenant Obligations
The word “covenant” appears ten times in Leviticus (Lev 2:13; 24:8; 26:9, 15, 25, 42 three times, 44 and 45). The eight time repetition of the word “covenant” in Chapter 26 identifies this chapter as a summary of the Law given in the reinstatement of the broken covenant after the sin of the Golden Calf (Sailhamer, The Pentateuch as Narrative, page 364). In the text of Chapter 26 the word “covenant” will be underlined for emphasis.
Question: The summary of the Law is prefaced by recalling to Israel what two principle laws of the covenant that serve as the introduction to this section?
Answer:
- The prohibition against idol worship
- The Sabbath obligation
Question: How are these two laws central to the covenant formation that was broken in the incident of the Golden Calf and God’s graciousness in reinstating the broken covenant?
Answer: When Moses ascended the mountain the first time, just prior to signing the stone tablets of the first covenant documents that were the Ten Commandments/Decalogue, God gave the Sabbath obligation as a covenant “sign” between Yahweh and His people (Ex 31:12-18). After the rebellion of the Golden Calf, which broke the covenant command not to make and worship idols, Moses returned to the mountain and God renewed the covenant by signing two new stone tablets. In the covenant renewal the first command to Moses and the Israelites began with a restatement of prohibition against idols (Ex 34:13-16) and ended with a restatement of the Sabbath obligation (35:1-3).
Leviticus 26:3-13: Ten Promised Blessings for Covenant Obedience
Verses 3-13 are a general statement of purpose for Yahweh’s covenant obligations. These verses list the ten ways God promises His divine protection for Israel when they take possession of the Holy Land of Canaan, if the covenant people will live in obedience to Yahweh’s Law, the body of which is found in the ten commandments of the Decalogue:
- Rain will come at the right time needed to grow crops.
- The soil will be fertile and yield crops and fruit trees will yield fruit.
- Harvests will be plentiful and they will always have enough to eat.
- They will live secure in the land and will have peace.
- God will rid the land of beasts of prey.
- Enemy armies will not conquer the land.
- When Israel fights her enemies she will be victorious.
- The numbers of their people will increase.
- God will uphold His covenant.
- God will continue to dwell among His people.
| Blessings for Obedience to the Sinai Covenant | God’s Original Blessings in Genesis |
| 1. I shall give you the rain you need at the right time (Lev 26:4a) | … water flowed out of the ground and watered all the surface of the soil (Gen 2:6) |
| 2. … the soil will yield its produce and the trees of the countryside their fruit (Lev 26:4) | From the soil, Yahweh God caused to grow every kind of tree, enticing to look at and good to eat … (Gen 2:9) |
| 3. You will eat your fill of bread and live secure in your land (Lev 26:5b). | Look, to you I give all the seed-bearing plants everywhere on the surface of the earth, and all the trees with seed-bearing fruit; this will be your food (Gen 1:29). Then Yahweh God gave man this command, ‘You are free to eat of all the trees in the garden. But the tree of knowledge of good and veil you are not to eat … (Gen 2:16-17). |
| 4. I shall give you peace in the land … I shall rid the land of savage beasts of prey (Lev 26:6). | … and let them be masters of the fish of the sea, the birds of heaven, the cattle, all the wild animals and all the creatures that creep along the ground (Gen 1:26). |
| 5. … I shall make you fertile and make your numbers grow… (Lev 26:9). | God blessed them, saying to them, ‘Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth and subdue it (Gen 1:28). |
| 6. I will fix my home [dwelling] among you and never reject you (Lev 26:11). | God planted a garden in Eden … and there he put the man he had fashioned (Gen 2:8). |
| 7. I shall live [walk] among you; I shall be your God and you will be my people … (Lev 26:12). | The man and his wife heard the sound of Yahweh God walking in the garden … (Gen 3:8). |
| M. Hunt © copyright 2010 | |
The Execration: The Five Curses/Judgments
Leviticus 26:14-40 contains a list of five warnings that are increasingly severe redemptive judgments against an apostate people who reject God by breaking His holy covenant. The essence of a covenant is loyalty—the loyalty of the great king to his vassal and the loyalty of the vassal to the great king. In the covenant between Yahweh and Israel, deliberate covenant failure is tantamount to treason and represents Israel’s rejection of God’s authority over the people.
The intention of God’s punishments is always remedial. It is His desire that the people will repent their sins, return to Him, and be restored to His intended blessings.
Leviticus 26:14-17: Judgments for Covenant Disobedience that are meant to bring Israel to Repentance and Redemption
Question: What afflictions will the Israelites suffer if they are reject God’s laws and covenant obligations?
Answer: Sickness, foreign invasion, destruction of crops by the invaders, foreign domination, and constant fear.
The expression “subject you to terror,” refers to a sickness that strikes without warning causing high fever, blurred vision, and shortness of breath. It is unknown what particular disease it is, but it was probably an affliction common to the region.
Leviticus 26:18-20: Hardness of Hearts Leads to Further Judgments
Question: What is this judgment?
Answer: This “woe” is a famine judgment.
Famines occurred all to frequently in the ancient world ( Gen 12:10; 26:1; 41:27; 42:5; 43:1; 45:7; 47:13; Ruth 1:1; 2 Sam 21:1; 24:13; 1 Kng 8:37; 18:2; 2 Kng 6:25; 7:4; 8:1; 25:3; etc.). Instead of God’s divine protection in preventing a famine, the judgment is that God will withdraw His protection and Israel will suffer like her neighbors when famine sweeps the region.
Question: In the New Testament Jesus will contrast the judgment of a seven times punishment for the unrepentant with His command to forgive seven times when someone who repents (Lk 17:4). Such forgiveness is consistent with the Old Covenant law in Exodus 21:2-one does not continue to hold a “brother” in servitude either physically or emotionally. But, what was the requirement for St. Peter when he asked Jesus if he was also to forgive seven times, and why was Jesus’ answer to Peter different? See Matthew 16:18-19; Isaiah 22:22 and Matthew 18:21-22.
Answer: The requirement for St. Peter as leader of the Apostles is not to forgive seven times but seventy-seven times. At a time prior to Peter’s question, he professed his belief in Jesus as the promised Redeemer-Messiah. Because of Simon’s profession of faith, which Jesus said was a divine revelation, Jesus changed the Apostle’s name to Kepha/Rock and gave him authority over Jesus’ earthly kingdom—the “keys of the kingdom” of heaven on earth (Mt 16:18-19). In that pronouncement Jesus elevated Peter to the position of His Vicar, the administrator of the kingdom who also served as the ruler of the kingdom in the king’s absence. As the Church’s leader, Peter must typify the Church’s mission to forgive and restore the repentant sinner in the Sacrament of Reconciliation; therefore, he is held to a higher standard.
Question: What would pride in their strength indicate about Israel?
Answer: Pride in their strength would indicate that the Israelites believed that the success and wealth of their nation was due to their own efforts and not to God’s divine intervention.
When that happens, God will remove His protection. The reality of the struggle to survive in a hostile world should break their false pride when they realize the rains will not always come at the right time, the land will not produce abundant crops, and they are not immune from the devastation of famine in the land.
Leviticus 26:21-22: A Continued Failure to Repent
Question: What does it mean to “walk against” God?
Answer: To “walk” against God is opposed to walking in fellowship with Him. It is an act of deliberate rebellion.
Question: What is the judgment in this “woe”?
Answer: Attacks by wild beasts that decimates the population. The deserted roads probably also refers the lack of commerce.
Question: What problem did the immigrants encounter when they settled the land of Israel? See 1 Kings 17:25-26.
Answer: The land was full of wild beasts that attacked the people.
Leviticus 26:23-26: Additional Judgments if Israel Failed to Repent
Leviticus 26:26: When I take away the bread which supports you is literally translated “When I break the staff of bread to you.” It is a figure of speech referring to famine that is also found in Psalm 105:16 where the passage reads: He called down famine on the land, he took away their food supply [he broke the staff of bread]… the literally translation is very similar to the phrase in Leviticus 26:26 (Interlineal Bible: Hebrew-English, vol. I page 334 and vol. III page 1489). The result of the redemptive judgment is that there will be so little grain that each woman will only have a very small loaf of bread to bake for her family so that ten women can bake in one over (ten is the number symbolizing divine order). Bread will be so costly that it will be sold in little cakes by weight.
26:27-40: Yahweh’s Ultimate Judgment if Israel Continues to Fail to Repent
The fifth woe combines the repeated phrases that began the other “woes.” If the people fail to repent and the judgment comes to this—they will meet God in the fullness of His wrathful judgment.
Question: What are the afflictions in the fifth woe?
Answer:
- Famine will result in cannibalism
- Altars dedicated to false gods will be destroyed
- The will be many deaths
- Cities and towns will be reduced to ruins
- God will reject their sacrifices and the Sanctuary of Yahweh will be destroyed
- Even Israel’s conquerors will be appalled by the destruction
- The covenant people will be scattered among the Gentile nations of the earth
- The land will be unoccupied
- Those living in exile will be in constant fear
- Those who survive in exile will repent their guilt
All of the judgments listed in the fifth woe were historically fulfilled. Wars and famines ravaged the covenant people when they continued to violate the covenant with Yahweh. At one point during siege of Samaria, the capital of the Northern Kingdom, the famine was so severe that women ate their children (2 King 6:24-31), as God warned in the covenant judgments: You will eat the flesh of your own sons, you will eat the flesh of your own daughters (Lev 26:29; also see Dt 28:53).
Question: Where in the Leviticus Holiness Code did God warn Israel that exile from the Promised Land would be their judgment if they didn’t live in holiness in His Holy Land?
Answer: God warned the Israelites in Leviticus 18:26-30 if they behaved like the Canaanites, practicing their vile sins, He would dispossess them of the land in the same why He dispossessed the Canaanites.
Leviticus 26:41-46: Summary and Conclusion
Question: What is Yahweh’s gracious promise in the Summary and Conclusion of the woes?
Answer:
- He will remain faithful to His covenant with the Patriarchs.
- When the covenant people repent in the lands of their enemy, He will remember them.
- He will leave the Promised Land at rest for the required time.
- He will remember the covenant He made with Israel at Sinai.
- He will restore the covenant and He will restore the people to the land He promised their ancestors.
The Israelites, as the people descended from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, were the trustees of the promise God made to the Patriarchs. As the other nations of the earth watched, God called the children of Israel out of Egypt to prepare for the day when God would fulfill His three covenant promised to Abraham in establishing a kingdom, descendants too numerous to count and a world-wide blessing (Gen 12:1-3). The Israelites were the vehicle by which God would select the promised “Woman” of Genesis 3:15 and send her son, the Redeemer-Messiah born from a daughter of Israel, to gather children of God through Christian baptism into the unity of the Kingdom of Heaven on earth—the Universal Church.
New Covenant believers are all Abraham’s spiritual children (Gal 3:29). Those children include the Jewish Apostles and disciples of Jesus who were the spiritual fathers of the New Covenant Church. Also included are all the Israelites scattered and absorbed by the Gentile nations in eighth century BC Assyrian exile, the sixth century Babylonian exile (only a faithful remnant returned), and the Roman exile in the first century AD. All the descendants of those Israelites were who lost to the covenant people were to be brought back into the New Covenant along with the Gentiles converts who were grafted on to the root of the Old Covenant people to become the Universal Church of Jesus Christ (Rom 11:17-24). The Kingdom of the Universal Church fulfills the promise that makes Abraham “the father of a multitude of nations” (Gen 17:5), and through his descendant, Jesus Christ, “all the nations of the earth shall be blessed” (Gen 12:3): And it was because scripture foresaw that God would give saving justice to the Gentiles through faith, that it announced the future Gospel to Abraham in the words: All nations will be blessed in you (Gal 3:8). Also see CCC 59-60.
The Catechism affirms that God kept His covenant promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob despite Israel’s failures: Against all human hope, God promises descendants to Abraham, as the fruit of faith and of the power of the Holy Spirit. In Abraham’s progeny all the nations of the earth will be blessed. This progeny will be Christ himself, in whom the outpouring of the Holy Spirit will “gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.” God commits himself by his own solemn oath to giving his beloved Son and “the promised holy Spirit … [who is] the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it” (CCC 706; quoting and referencing Gen 12:3; 18:1-15; 22:17-19; Lk 1:26-38, 55-56, 73; Jn 1:12-13; 3:16; 11:52; Rom 4:16-21; 8:32; Gal 3:4, 16; Eph 1:13-14).
| The Fulfillment of the Five Woes of Leviticus 26 Biblically and Historically | ||
| The Five Woes of Leviticus Chapter 26:14-46 | The Covenant Judgments of Leviticus 26 Fulfilled | Jesus’ Prophecy of the Destruction of Jerusalem and the Prophecy Fulfilled in 70 AD |
| Woe #1: Disease, raids by the enemy, war | War with Philistines (1 Sam 4); civil war (1 Kng 12); Egyptian invasion (1 Kng 14:25-26); Moabite war (1 Kng 3:4-27); Aramaean wars (2 Kng 6-13) | Mt 24:6: You will hear of wars and rumours of wars… For nation will fight against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. |
| Woe #2: No rain, no crops, famine | Famine, no rain or crops (Ruth 1:1; 2 Sam 21:1; 1 Kng 17:1, 18:2; 2 Kng 6:25-7:20; 8:1; Amos 8:11; etc.) | Mt 24:7: There will be famines … |
| Woe #3: Wild beasts in the land, no trade | Wild beasts in Israel (1 Kng 17:25-26; Jer 27:6) | |
| Woe #4: War, pestilence, conquest | Assyrian wars of conquest; Israel becomes a vassal state (2 Kng 15:29-31) | Mt 24:6-7; Jews massacred in Caesarea and Alexandria; Jewish revolt against Rome begins in 66 AD |
| Woe #5: -War, death -Cities destroyed -Enemies living in your country will be appalled -Cannibalism -Sanctuary destroyed, conquest by another nation, -The people exiled and scattered among the nations of the earth -The country will rest | -Aramaean wars -Assyrian conquest of Israel in 722 BC -Immigrants came to inhabit Israel (1 Kng 17:24) - Cannibalism during the siege of Samaria (2 Kng 6:26-30) The “yoke” of Babylonian conquest (Jer 27:6-11) -Temple destroyed 9th of Ab 587/6 BC by Babylonians -The people of Israel scattered among the nations; Judah exiled to Babylon -No Judeans or immigrants inhabited Judah after the Babylonian conquest; land at rest (Jer 43:4-7; 52:28-30; 2 Chr 36:21) | Mt 24:6-7; Mk 7-8, 13:12-13 (wars) -Romans sent four legions against Judea 68-70 AD -People ate their children during the siege of Jerusalem in the spring of 70 AD (Josephus, Wars of the Jews, 6.3.4). -Mt 24:2; Mk 13:2; Temple destroyed 9th of Ab, 70 AD -Romans enslaved Jews and sent them into the nations of the Roman Empire (Josephus, Wars of the Jews, 6.5.3 ) |
| Conclusion: The promise of restoration All blessings and judgments in Lev 26 are temporal | -No restoration of Northern Israel; Judah restored when Cyrus of Persia allowed the exiles to return to their ancestral lands in 538 BC (2 Chr 36:22-23; Ezra 1:1-4) -The United Nations recreated the secular nation of Israel in 1947; Jews scattered across the earth begin migrating to the modern state of Israel. | The spiritual restoration of the new Israel is the (universal) Catholic Church in which Jews and Gentiles become one people in Christ (the progeny of Abraham) in the New Covenant based on eternal blessings and eternal judgments. |
| M. Hunt © copyright 2010 | ||
The promised blessings of Leviticus 26:3-13 and judgments for covenant rebellion in 26:14-45 will be expanded in Moses’ final homily a little more than thirty-eight years later. In his final homily Moses will prepare the covenant people, who will be led by his assistant Joshua, to begin the conquest of Canaan (Dt 28:1-68). The covenant blessings and woes make it clear that the rejection of God’s laws is a rejection of His divine protection. God will not force Himself on human beings. Their interaction with Him must be strictly voluntary and if they decide to follow other gods or to act as their own gods, relying completely on their own initiatives apart from Him, Yahweh will honor that decision.
What was promised to the Old Covenant people corporeally in blessings and judgments is fulfilled spiritually by Jesus Christ for the New Covenant people of God. The Old Covenant is the storehouse of the words of Moses and the prophets while the New Covenant is the living and active Gospel of salvation (Origen). Jesus contrasted the Old and New Covenants using the analogy of old and new wineskins. New wine cannot be poured into old wineskins because the expanding gases in the fermenting process of the new wine will burst the old skins that were expanded to capacity (Mt 9:17; Mk 2:22; Lk 5:37-38). Old Covenant Law is the old wineskins that have to be set aside because they cannot contain the vital new wine of the New Covenant that fills to overflowing the wineskins of the New Covenant law fulfilled in the redeeming work of Jesus Christ.
CHALLENGE: “We should form our theological beliefs by Scripture alone, following the example of the Bereans, who ‘were more noble than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with all eagerness, examining the scriptures daily to see if these things were so’ (Acts 17:11).”
DEFENSE: This seriously misreads the passage regarding the Bereans. The context for the Berean incident is found in Acts 17:1–10. When Paul and Silas initially visited the Macedonian city of Thessalonica, they began preaching and making converts, which led to conflict with some in the Jewish community: “And taking some wicked fellows of the rabble, they gathered a crowd, set the city in an uproar, and attacked the house of Jason, seeking to bring them out to the people” (Acts 17:5). They then dragged Jason and some of the new Christians before the city authorities, charging them with sedition against Caesar (Acts 17:6–7).
The situation was so alarming that the Thessalonian Christians hurriedly sent Paul and Silas away by night (when traveling was not safe) to the nearby city of Berea. The non-Christian Jews in Thessalonica remained so opposed to Paul that they sent men to pursue him to Berea and incite the crowds against him, forcing him to flee at once to Athens (Acts 17:13–15).
That is the background against which the statement that the Bereans were more “noble” (other translations: “open-minded”) than the Thessalonians. The contrast is not between credulous Thessalonians, who accepted whatever Paul said without evidence, and skeptical Bereans, who demanded proof from Scripture. It is between actively hostile Thessalonians and Bereans who “received the word with all eagerness” (Acts 17:11).
This is no prooftext for sola scriptura. Paul’s message did not include merely things found in the Old Testament Scriptures. It included the many new elements of the Christian faith. What the Bereans did was confirm the basic elements of his message (i.e., the fact that Jesus fulfilled messianic prophecy) and then proceeded to accept all the new, unwritten teachings that were part of it (e.g., baptism, the Eucharist, the inclusion of Gentiles in God’s people without circumcision). In short, they accepted the whole of apostolic Tradition after confirming the core elements of the Christian message with Scripture. To follow their example, we should do the same.
Jimmy Akin, A Daily Defense: 365 Days (Plus One) to Becoming a Better Apologist
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