Chiasm in Mark 11 on the Authority of Yeshua

 

• V1-11 - Authority of Yeshua recognized by the people
• V12-14 - Yeshua curses the fig tree
• V15 - Yeshua and disciples enter Jerusalem
• V15-18 - Yeshua cleanses the Temple
• V19 - Yeshua and disciples leave Jerusalem
• V20--26 - Disciples see the withered fig tree
• V27-31 - Authority of Yeshua challenged by the elite

Yeshua (Hebrew for "Jesus") doesn't require anyone to recognize his authority for it to be real, but he has chosen the lowly, rather than the religious or political elite, to reveal his purpose and nature to the world. This chiasm is bracketed by people's recognition or opposition to his authority, illustrating that everything between those brackets is under that authority. 

There are also three geographic domains of authority within Israel represented by the three scenes of this chapter.

1. All of Israel outside of Jerusalem. (The fig tree might actually represent the religious leadership of Judah instead. See this parallelism in Matthew 21.)
2. Jerusalem.
3. The Temple.

There is no "Court of the Gentiles" in God's design for his Temple. Although no unauthorized people are allowed to enter the Temple itself, all people--Jew and gentile, man and woman, slave and free--are supposed to be able to enter the courtyard and approach the altar. The Jewish leadership at the Herodian Temple had barred gentiles from the area of the altar, relegating them to an outer court, which had also become an open air marketplace. The God-fearing gentiles were left with no place to worship at the Temple in peace. (H/T: Ryan White of Faith of Messiah Ministries)

When Yeshua chased the money changers and vendors from the outer courtyard, he asserted his authority as the Son of God to restore the Temple to its rightful purpose. When he stopped everyone from carrying anything into or out of the Temple area, he effectively suspended all Temple activity. The sacrifices and offerings stopped. In doing this, Yeshua asserted his authority over the entire religious system of Israel.

There is no division between civil and religious law and life in God's plan for his people. The King of Israel is the King of all Israel, the land and the people, inside and out.

For more on chiasms--including how to identify, map, and interpret them--check out The Chiasm Course!

The Biblical Symbolism of Seventy

Bullinger's Number in Scripture says that the number 70 "signifies perfect spiritual order carried out with all spiritual power and significance" because it is 7 (spiritual perfection) multiplied by 10 (order). I believe he's correct, but possibly not in the precise way that he thought. Look at these 70s:

• 70 nations of Genesis 10
• 70 persons of the house of Jacob in Genesis 46:27
• 70 days of mourning by the Egyptians for Jacob in Genesis 50:3
• 70 anointed elders of Israel in Numbers 11
• 70 palm trees in Numbers 33:9
• 70 kings subdued by Adoni-bezek in Judges 1:7
• 70 sons of Gideon in Judges 8:30
• 70 silver paid to Abimelech to depose the sons of Gideon in Judges 9:4
• 70 sons of Abdon the judge in Judges 12:14
• 70 men struck by God for mishandling the Ark in 1 Samuel 6:19
• 70 sons of Ahab in Samaria in 2 Kings 10
• 70 Shemitot not observed by Israel in 2 Chronicles 36:21
• 70 years of life in Psalm 90:10
• 70 years that Tyre will be forgotten in Isaiah 23
• 70 years for the days of a king in Isaiah 23:15
• 70 years to serve the king of Babylon in Jeremiah 25
• 70 elders of Israel in Ezekiel 8:11
• 70 cubits for the building wall in Ezekiel 41:12
• 70 years of exile in Daniel 9:2
• 70 weeks of judgment in Daniel 9:24
• 70 years of judgment in Zechariah 1:12 and 7:5
• 70 disciples sent out by Yeshua in Luke 10

I see two common themes in almost all of these instances, and they do seem to be associated with divine order imposed on the affairs of mankind:

First, seventy represents the delegation of authority. God delegated authority to the 70 elders of Israel, while judges and kings delegated authority to their 70 sons, and Yeshua delegated authority to 70 disciples. Several times, God assigned one people to punish another for a period of 70 years or 70 weeks, effectively delegating his authority for a period of 70 units of time rather than to 70 individuals.

Second, seventy represents the transformation of patriarchs into nations. Noah became 70 nations in Genesis 10 and Jacob grew from one man who left Canaan to four wives who bore twelve sons and finally to seventy descendants who entered Egypt. This might even constitute another kind of delegation.

Of course, these two possibilities don't explain every instance of the number seventy. For example, what are the 70 cubits measured in Ezekiel 41:12? A metaphor of the 70 elders, perhaps?

Why Wasn't Rachel Buried with Jacob?

Genesis 49:31
…there I buried Leah. Jacob's concubines, Bilhah and Zilpah, were not buried in this cave because they probably died sometime later in Egypt. The real question is why Rachel was not buried here. It was certainly not because Leah held a higher place in Jacob's affections. I do not believe that it had anything to do with whom Jacob married first or who was a real wife and who was not. I suspect that the separate burial of Rachel was prophetic of the separation of the two houses of Israel and Judah. The latter has remained physically identifiable with the patriarchs while the former has been scattered and has forgotten their origins. The blessing of Joseph in verse 26 reinforces this idea in my mind: "The blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills: they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren."