Aug
16
2012
“Now therefore fear the Lord (T)
and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. (H)
Put away the gods that your fathers served (E)
beyond the River and in Egypt, (O)
and serve the Lord.” (S)
Joshua 24:14
40 Years of Harlotry
Israel famously wandered in the wilderness for forty years. They were tested, offered as a sacrifice and refined with the holy fire of the Law of Moses. This “threshing” process appears at the centre of the Bible Matrix. It is pictured as the time of harvest (Pentecost – the giving of the Law), and as the burning eyes of the Lampstand watching over Israel (sun, moon and five visible planets). In the Covenant pattern it is the “Ethics,” the bit where God lays out the rules for success. Threshing is also a biblical euphemism for sexual relations. At this point, under the Lawful eyes of God, Israel is either shown to be a faithful bride or an adulteress. Is the fire of her desire true or “strange” (foreign). We can see this pattern in James 1:15. It is a sick parody of the Covenant process because it begins with a “false word.”
[This post has been refined and included in Sweet Counsel: Essays to Brighten the Eyes.]
Continue reading
Comments Off | tags: Aaron, Communion, Covenant curse, Covenant Theology, Exodus, James Jordan, John the Baptist, Joshua, Malachi, Moses, Numbers, Numbers 5, Rene Girard | posted in Apologetics, Bible Matrix, Biblical Theology, Christian Life, The Last Days
Oct
28
2009
Ignorant (willfully?) of ancient literary conventions, higher critics explained the carelessness of arrangement they thought was apparent in Old Testament books with fallacies like the JEDP theory. It turns out they were very wrong. James Jordan writes:
Continue reading
Comments Off | tags: Chiasm, David A. Dorsey, Higher Criticism, Isaiah, James Jordan, Literary Structure, Malachi, Matthew | posted in Biblical Theology
Apr
11
2009
It was always God’s plan that Israel have a human king:
“When you come to the land which the LORD your God is giving you, and possess it and dwell in it, and say, ‘I will set a king over me like all the nations that are around me,’ you shall surely set a king over you whom the LORD your God chooses; one from among your brethren you shall set as king over you; you may not set a foreigner over you, who is not your brother.” Deut. 17:14-15
Like Adam, this dominion would only come by obedience: by servanthood to God and faithful mediatory witness to the Gentiles. But like Adam, they seized dominion and demanded “a king like the Gentiles.” With Saul, they had a king who palled around with Agag of Amalek whom Moses commanded to wipe from the face of the earth.
Continue reading
Comments Off | tags: Abimelech, Amalek, Babylon, Covenant Theology, Daniel, Exile, James Jordan, Malachi, Mordecai, Temple, Zechariah | posted in Biblical Theology, The Restoration Era