Outside the historical books, and one note in Psalm 72:20, Jesse the father of David is mentioned only once – in Isaiah 11:1, 10. this is itself telling, since it indicates that the pruning that Isaiah describes goes back to the roots. It’s not simply that the Lord whittles the Davidic line down to a single branch (as in the crisis surrounding Joash). It’s as if the Davidic line has never existed, as if Yahweh is starting all over again... Read more
Yahweh threatens to lop down the high boughs and tall trees of Israel (Isaiah 10:33-34). This could be simply the tree of Israel, or the self-exalted elites who oppress the weak. But a number of the terms have more or less direct connections with the temple. The trees that are “lifted up in stature,” and “stature translates a word that is mostly used to describe the “height” of various objects in the tabernacle and temple. These trees will be “cut... Read more
Israel is a tree, and the people are branches. On Palm Sunday, the people cut branches from trees and wave them before Jesus. They are cutting themselves from the tree of Israel, and grafting in as branches of the true Israelite tree, the stump of Jesse. But that tree is going to Jerusalem to be cut down, and when the tree is cut, all the branches are going to be removed and tossed aside. Only after the resurrection does a... Read more
The men of Shechem betray Abimelech, and so Abimelech attacks and burns the city to the ground. He does it by cutting a branch and carrying it to the inner chamber of the tower of Shechem. The rest of his men do the same, and they set the branches on fire, which kills a thousand of the men of Shechem – a foretaste of Samson’s later victory over the Philistines (Judges 9:48-49). A good passage for Palm Sunday meditation. Read more
Locusts come from the smoke that comes from the pit, and these locusts are granted authority like the authority of scorpions. Revelation 9:3 includes a chiasm that reinforces this connection: A. Locusts to the eart B. And was given to them authority B’. As have authority A’. The scorpions of the earth. Since when do scorpions have authority? And when do they have authority in the “land”? Aren’t they wilderness critters (Deuteronomy 8:15)? (more…) Read more
When the fallen angel opens the pit, the smoke that comes out is like the smoke of a great furnace (Revelation 9:2; Gr. kapnos kaminou megales ). Only two passages in the LXX use a similar phrase. Sinai smokes with the smoke of a furnace (Exodus 19:18), and according to Job Leviathan breathes out smoke like the smoke of a furnace (Job 41:20; LXX 41:12). The link with Job is fairly evident: If Leviathan is a Satanic/demonic image, then it’s... Read more
With the fifth trumpet, the fallen star opens the pit with a key that has been given to him. From the pit comes ascending smoke like a great furnace (Revelation 9:1-2). The smoke ascending from the pit reminds us of the smoke ascending from the sacrifices of the altar, the smoke of incense and prayer in 8:4. This is the inverse of the vision of chapter 4, where John ascended through an open door in the sky and entered the... Read more
The seven trumpets of Revelation 8-11 link up at most points with the days of creation. As James Jordan has pointed out, the very structure of the trumpet section nods vigorously toward Genesis 1; the sequence of seven is divided into a 4 + 3 pattern, with four quick judgments and then three longer sections described as “woes.” This inverts the 4 + 3 structure of creation, in which the last three days all include pronouncements of blessing. In addition,... Read more
With the second trumpet, a burning mountain is thrown into the city, turning a third of it to blood and killing a third of the sea creatures (Revelation 8:8-9). A mountain tossed into the sea is a neat picture of Israel, the holy mountain, being absorbed into the Gentile world. But that doesn’t seem to be the precise picture here. Two verses hardly seem adequate to speak of the fall of Jerusalem, especially if that is the whole point of... Read more
Beale points out that the incense of prayer offered up on the altar in Revelation 8:1-5 links back to the prayers of the saints under the altar in 6:9 (the fifth seal). Those souls were praying for vindication, and were told to wait until the full number of martyrs were added. By the time we get to chapter 8, the full number has been killed, and it’s time for judgment to fall, which falls in the seven trumpets. The link... Read more
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