Isaiah uses the phrase “days of east” ( yemey-qedem ) several times in his prophecy (23:7; 37:26; 51:9). At times, the word “east” by itself is used in context where it seems to have a temporal significance ( 45:21; 46:10). East is the direction of the sunrise, so “days of east” would presumably early days, morning days, in the morning of the world. That is the way most translators take the phrase, using “ancient days” or “ancient times.” Yahweh is... Read more
Does Isaiah follow a creation week sequence in 2:5-22? The details don’t match, it seems, but in general and roughly there is a movement from the “light of Yahweh” in verse 5 to the exaltation of Yahweh in the splendor of His majesty in verse 21 – perhaps a sabbatical image. In the middle, Yahweh casts down the lofty things and is “exalted alone on that day” (v. 17), which may be a Day 4 theme. Read more
Jesus’ conversation with the disciples at Caesarea Philippi in Matthew 16:13-28 includes eight statements, alternating between Jesus and the disciples: 1. Jesus asks who people think he is 2. Disciples: various answers 3. Jesus: Who do you think I am? 4. Peter’s confession 5. Jesus: build church 6. Peter: God forbid 7. Jesus: Get behind Satan 8. Jesus: life by losing life This seems to have some connections with the creation week. (more…) Read more
The episode where the disciples fail to bring bread along with them (Matthew 16:5-12) is organized in parallel: A.Disciples forget bread (“take”) B. Jesus: warnings of Pharisees and Sadducees C. Disciples think it’s because they lack bread A’. Jesus asks them about the two feedings (emphasis on what they “took up”) B’. Jesus: leaven of Pharisees and Sadducees C’. Disciples realize that it’s not bread but about teaching (more…) Read more
The word “evening” ( opsios ) is used seven times in Matthew’s gospel. Before we look at the details, we suspect that seven evenings prepare for the dawning of a new day, an eighth day that is the beginning of a new week. What are the seven evenings? 1. At evening, they bring Jesus demon-possessed and sick people to heal (8:16). 2. After Jesus has been teaching all day, evening comes and the people need food so he miraculously provides... Read more
Charles Taylor neatly contrasts Augustine’s conception of time and eternity to that of Plato, Aristotle, and Plotinus. Eternity is not for him timelessness but “gathered time.” He expounds: Augustine’s “instant is not the ‘nun’ of Aristotle, which is a limit, like a point, an extensionless boundary of time periods. rather, it is the gathering together of past into my present to project a future. The past, which ‘objectively’ exists no more, is here in my present; it shapes this moment... Read more
The color “scarlet” is named most often in the Bible in connection with the tabernacle curtains and the garments of the High Priest. It’s also, of course, the color of the whore of Revelation. That means: Only a people already clothed in scarlet can become a prostitute clothed in scarlet. Only Bride Israel gets divorced. Read more
INTRODUCTION The House of Jacob has wandered into darkness. If they want to avoid destruction, they must turn to the light (v. 5), because a day of reckoning is coming (v. 12). THE TEXT “O house of Jacob, come and let us walk in the light of the LORD. For You have forsaken Your people, the house of Jacob, because they are filled with eastern ways; They are soothsayers like the Philistines, and they are pleased with the children of foreigners. Their land is also full... Read more
For two reasons, Isaiah 2:5 should be taken as the introduction to what follows, rather than as the conclusion to 2:1-4. First, the exhortation of v. 5 is to walk in the “light” of Yahweh, and the following passage refers to the “splendor” of Yahweh (vv. 10, 19, 21), as well as to the light-full “day” of Yahweh (v. 12). Second, the name “Yahweh” appears seven times in verses 5-22 (vv. 5, 10, 11, 12, 17, 19, 21). Without verse... Read more
Some commentators take Isaiah 2:5 as the conclusion to the first paragraph of Isaiah. Seitz, for instance, says that v. 5’s exhortation to Israel to walk in light shows that Israel is going to have to make a pilgrimage to the mount of Yahweh’s house just like all the other nations. I see 2:1-4 as a description of restored Israel and Jerusalem, which become the mediators of Yahweh’s instruction to the nations. Thus, verse 5 is an exhortation to the... Read more
Leithart
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