Fire-breather

Last updated on: April 18, 2011 at 10:58 am By Peter Leithart

The two witnesses of Revelation 11 are implicitly linked to Elijah adn Moses, Joshua and Zerubbabel, the two olive trees in Zechariah’s vision, and the lampstands of Zechariah’s vision. But the fire-breathing part (v. 5) is not so directly linked with these Old Testament precedents. Yahweh breathes fire (2 Samuel 22:9), but Moses doesn’t in a literal sense, and neither does Elijah. The closest Old Testament precedent seems to be Jeremiah 5:14, where the Lord promises to put His words... Read more

Roaring lions

Last updated on: April 18, 2011 at 10:00 am By Peter Leithart

Peter warns that Satan is a roaring lion (1 Peter 5:8). What does that mean? Judah is the lion tribe, and the Davidic king is a roaring lion (cf. Proverbs 19:12). The devil is a Davidic pretender, a counterfeit David. Yahweh Himself roars like a lion (Hosea 11:10; Amos 3:4, 8), so the devil also tries to mimic the voice of Yahweh Himself. But there is nothing to fear from the lion’s roar. Jesus too was surrounding by gaping, ravening,... Read more

Exhortation

Last updated on: April 17, 2011 at 5:54 am By Peter Leithart

Today at Trinity Reformed Church, the young children of the church led the procession with palm branches. Here are some of the reasons for that. In part, we took a page from the worship of ancient Israel. At the climax of Israel’s liturgical year, everyone commemorated the wilderness period by living for a week in shelters made from tree branches. The Eucharist is the new covenant memorial of Jesus, but occasionally, like Israel, we memorialize Jesus’ saving work in other... Read more

Eucharistic meditation

Last updated on: April 17, 2011 at 5:52 am By Peter Leithart

Isaiah 11:7-8: And the cow and the bear will graze; their young will lie down together; and the lion will eat straw like the ox. When Jesus entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, He immediately went to the temple. What He saw filled Him with outrage: Jews were going about their sacrifices and their purifications and their prayers, but Jesus knew they spent their lives outside the temple in lives of greed, violence, lust, abuse. (more…) Read more

Imperium

Last updated on: April 16, 2011 at 6:38 pm By Peter Leithart

The Stoic philosophy M. Cornelius Fronto advised Marcus Aurelius with these words: “Now imperium is a term that not only connotes power but also speech, since the exercise of imperium consists essentially of ordering and prohibiting. If he did not praise good actions, if he did not blame evil actions, if he did not exhort to virtue, if he did not warn off from vice, a ruler would belie his name and be called imperator for no purpose.” Reminiscent of... Read more

Wisdom of death

Last updated on: April 16, 2011 at 11:09 am By Peter Leithart

“Hades” is used in some 75 verses of the LXX, usually translating the Hebrew sheol , which is used about 65 times. But the distyribution of the usage is not even. Genesis uses sheol/hades four time, but outside of Genesis the word appears infrequently in the Pentateuch (Numbers 16; Deuteronomy 32:22). The term appears at the beginning and end of 1-2 Samuel (1 Samuel 2:6; 2 Samuel 22:6), and twice in 1 Kings 2 (vv. 6, 9). Otherwise, it is... Read more

Proverbs 30:32-31:5

Last updated on: April 15, 2011 at 1:49 pm By Peter Leithart

PROVERBS 30:32-33 Chapter 30 is enclosed by exhortations to humility, warnings against self-exaltation. “I am more stupid than any man, and I do not have the understanding of a man,” Agur begins (v. 2), and he ends with a warning to puffed-up fools to stop their mouths before problems arise. Verse 32 is a warning against self-exaltation. The verb “be foolish” is the verb form of the name Nabal, the self-exalted husband of the wise Abigail, who endangered his entire... Read more

Wolf and Lamb

Last updated on: April 14, 2011 at 9:25 am By Peter Leithart

The scene of restored shalom in Isaiah 11:6-8 is intricately put together. The poem breaks up into two stanzas with a 3 + 1 arrangement,. the first stanza is verse 6, which has three animal pairs, climaxing with the young child who leads: 1. Wolf and lamb 2. Leopard and kid 3. Calf, young lion, fatling Plus: 4. Young child The animal list breaks into three sections, but there are seven different animals listed, a link with creation. The young... Read more

Smelling fear

Last updated on: April 14, 2011 at 4:45 am By Peter Leithart

The first clause of Isaiah 11:3 is translated in various ways: “He will delight” (NASB; NIV; ESV); “He will make him of quick understand” (AV). But the verb is the verbal form of “spirit” ( ruach ) and means to breathe, blow, or, most often, to smell. Yahweh scents the aroma of Noah’s offering (Isaiah 8:21), something idols are incapable of doing since they have noses but no ability to ruach (Psalm 115:6). “He will smell him in the fear... Read more

After the flood

Last updated on: April 14, 2011 at 4:30 am By Peter Leithart

After the flood, a dove brings a branch to Noah. Then Noah’s ark rests (Heb. nuach ) on Ararat, a wandering ark come to a resting place. As his father predicted, Noah brings nuach . After the Assyrian flood, which is also a deforestation, Yahweh will make a Branch grow from the root of Jesse, and on Him the ruach of Yahweh rests ( nuach ). He is a new David, also a new Noah, also a new Adam. Read more