{"id":16064,"date":"2014-05-22T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-05-22T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leithart.level2d.com\/?p=1007"},"modified":"2014-05-22T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2014-05-22T00:00:00","slug":"root-of-david-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2014\/05\/root-of-david-2\/","title":{"rendered":"In the End is My Beginning"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n<\/head>

An elder tells John to stop weeping because someone worthy has been found in heaven (Revelation 5:5). The worthy one is the victorious lion who is from the tribe of Judah, the root of David.<\/p>\n

How does \u201croot of David\u201d (he riza David<\/em>) fit grammatically? Is it an explanation of \u201cJudah\u201d or a description of the Lion? The latter seems preferable. The pattern throughout Revelation 4-5 (and elsewhere in the book) is to offer triadic (not dyadic) descriptions of Jesus and the Father. Here is another one: Lion, Judahite, Root-of-David.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The triad moves from general to specific: He is the Lion who has overcome; what\u2019s more, the Lion who is from Judah; what\u2019s more, the lion who is the Root of David.<\/p>\n

Commentators note that the \u201croot of David\u201d imagery goes back to Isaiah 11, where a Spirit-filled servant of Yahweh springs from Jesse (v. 1) and is also the \u201croot of Jesse\u201d (v. 10). He is both seed and source, first and last, Alpha and Omega of the Davidic dynasty. He is father of the father of David, yet also David\u2019s ultimate descendant.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And the same is now being said of the Lion. He is of the tribe of Judah, and Judah Himself, the Judah who is the root from which the Davidic branch sprang. Before Judah was, the Lion might say, \u201cI am.\u201d<\/p>\n

And the late appearing of the Lion doesn\u2019t prevent Him from being first. This might be temporal play, a way of highlighting the Alpha-Omeganess of the Lion. But it might be a straightforward way of talking about time and the priority of future over past: The Lion comes at the end of the Davidic line, but the end secures and roots the beginning. There is no meaning to the Davidic dynasty at all unless it comes to this <\/em>end, a Lion who can take the book and open its seals.\u00a0<\/p>\n

There is no source unless there is also supplement and finality.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An elder tells John to stop weeping because someone worthy has been found in heaven (Revelation 5:5). The worthy one is the victorious lion who is from the tribe of Judah, the root of David. How does \u201croot of David\u201d (he riza David) fit grammatically? Is it an explanation of \u201cJudah\u201d or a description of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3021,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[526,788,158],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16064","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-david","category-isaiah","category-revelation"],"yoast_head":"\nIn the End is My Beginning<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"An elder tells John to stop weeping because someone worthy has been found in heaven (Revelation 5:5). 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