Soil from Stone

Chiasm in 1 Timothy 6

v3-5 - Beware of false teachers

v6-12 - Warning to the rich

v13 - Praises to God/Jesus

v14 - Keep the commandments until Jesus appears

v15-16 - Praises to God/Jesus

v17-19 - Warning to the rich

v20-21 - Beware of false teachings

Detestable Abominations and the Like

I did a quick survey of "abomination" and its close synonyms in the Old Testament in response to a question from a good friend. I had to correct a couple of misconceptions that I have entertained for years. There are several Hebrew words used for this idea, but two in particular stood out:

Hebrew: Shekets/shakats/shikuts שׁקץ
English: Something detestable/abominable, to detest, to make detestable
Context:

Unclean animals of all kinds are to be considered detestable to you. Leviticus 7, 11
Eating unclean animals will make you detestable. Leviticus 11:43, 20:25
Unclean animals offered as sacrifice or impure sacrifices. Deuteronomy 29:17, 2 Chronicles 15:8, Jeremiah 4:1, Jeremiah 16:18, Ezekiel 5:11 (Sometimes translated as "abominable idols" or something like that, but "idols" is an assumption of the translator. I'm pretty sure it's referring to the sacrifice, not the idol.)

Hebrew: Toebah תּועבה
English: Abomination
Context:

Sexual immorality including temple prostitution. Leviticus 18, 20:13, 1 Kings 14:24, Jeremiah 6:15
Human sacrifice, necromancy, and related practices. Deuteronomy 18, 2 Kings 16:3, 2 Chronicles 28:2-3
Idolatry and general pagan religious practices. Deuteronomy 20:18, 32:16, 2 Kings 21:2, 23:13, 2 Chronicles 28:2-3, 34:33, Jeremiah 16:18
Generally wicked behavior. Proverbs

There is definitely a difference between the two words, but it seems to be lost on the English translators. That's more the fault of the English language than of the translators, though. The major difference that I can see is that "shekets" and it's relatives is used when God commands us to hold a thing to be detestable, especially unclean animals, like trying to train a child not to eat something he found on the ground. It’s not that the parent is repulsed by the child eating it (although he is!) so much as he needs to teach the child to be repulsed for himself. On the other hand, whatever is "toebah" is more offensive personally to God. It is behavior that he hates: idolatry, sexual immorality, and a love of death. I don't think that English has such a distinction.

With that perspective, it seems perfectly reasonable to say that God told us not to eat unclean animals because it's bad for us to do so. Whether it's bad physically or spiritually or both is another question. The last option gets my vote.

The Weightier Matters: Love Your Neighbor

Over the past two decades I have spent a lot of time discovering what it means to follow Torah. We all know that the essence of the Law is love: Love God with all your being, and love your neighbor as yourself. I have tried to learn how that applies to waking up in the morning, to eating lunch, to watching television, and to building relationships.

I can follow the right calendar, keep all the biblical feasts, not keep any "pagan" feasts, and avoid all the wrong foods and still not really live Torah. I know people who have never given a thought to whether or not they should eat a seafood salad, but who follow Torah much more closely than I do. The couple who give all their time to the spiritual redemption of murderers and thieves, the man who volunteers day after day to serve hot meals at the Rescue Mission, the woman who spends her afternoons teaching art to neglected and hard-to-teach children, the child who saves his allowance all year to buy Christmas presents for everyone but himself.

For if anyone is a hearer of the Word and not a doer, he is like a man studying his natural face in a mirror. For he studied himself and went his way, and immediately he forgot what he was like. But whoever looks into the perfect Law of liberty and continues in it, he is not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work. This one shall be blessed in his doing. If anyone thinks to be religious among you, yet does not bridle his tongue, but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is vain. Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit orphans and widows in their afflictions, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world….If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and if one of you says to them, Go in peace, be warmed and filled, but you do not give them those things which are needful to the body, what good is it?

-James, the Just

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?

Different Priesthoods for Different Covenants

Torah portion Vayeshev (Genesis 37-40), contains one of many stories of misdeeds and poor decisions of the patriarchs. In this particular episode, Tamar, the widow of Judah's son, disguises herself as a prostitute in order to trick Judah into sleeping with her. He has no idea it was her, and three months later, when he learns that she is pregnant, he suggests that she be burned as punishment.

That seems excessive, but there's always more to the story than the bare text might imply.

Leviticus 21:9 prescribes burning as punishment for the daughter of a priest "if she profanes herself by whoring, profanes her father". Since Tamar was accused of "whoring", some believe that she was the daughter of a priest. Clearly she was not the daughter of a Levitical priest, because the Levitical priesthood would not be instituted until a few generations later. If her father was a priest, then he was a priest of some other order, one we don't know anything about.

It seems as though every covenant between a god and mankind requires the mediation of a priesthood. In many cases, that priesthood is as simple as the father or eldest son. In others, the priesthood might be large and complex with castes and compartmentalized responsibilities, like that of Aaron and his sons. The requirements, rituals, and laws that govern each priesthood are necessarily different because they have different purposes, serve different covenants, and often even different gods.

Keep that in mind as you read this article I recently wrote for Founded in Truth: Priests, Laws, and Covenants in Hebrews 7-8.

Short Lessons from Joshua

The Book of Joshua records the events following the death of Moses, when Joshua led the children of Israel into the Promised Land and into war against the many cities and kings of the Canaanites. Although the Israelites were numerous, they had little experience in war, no trained armies that we know of, and less advanced technology than their enemies. What they did have on their side was God and his angelic armies, and the fear that God's presence inspired in peoples all over the region.

In 2019 I recorded a series of short lessons from the Book of Joshua. Each episode is only a few minutes long. I recommend you read the Book of Joshua and use these videos as a supplement to other study aides.

Don't forget to subscribe to my Rumble, Daily Motion and YouTube channels.

Short Lessons from Joshua

Hagar and the Forbidden Fruit

Check out these interesting connections between the stories of Abram, Sarai, and Hagar on one hand and Adam, Eve, and the forbidden fruit in the Garden.

Adam, Eve, and the Forbidden Fruit

2:10-14 - Land among the rivers, including Euphrates
3:5 - Pretending to higher station
3:6 - Eve doubted God's word
3:6 - Eve gave the fruit to Adam
3:6 - Adam ate the fruit
3:8 - YHVH walked in the Garden
3:8 - Adam and Eve hid themselves
3:9 - YHVH asked Adam "Where are you?"
3:12 - Adam blamed Eve
3:13 - Eve blamed the Serpent
3:15 - Curse of enmity of offspring
3:15 - Promise of offspring
3:23 - Forced to work
3:24 - Exile from the Garden
3:24 - Cherub with flaming sword

Abram, Sarai, and Hagar

15:4 - Promise of offspring
15:13 - Exile from the land
15:13 - Forced to work
15:17 - YHVH with flaming torch
15:18 - Land between the rivers, including Euphrates
16:2 - Sarai doubted God's word
16:3 - Sarai gave Hagar to Abram
16:4 - Abram took Hagar
16:4 - Pretending to higher station
16:5 - Sarai blamed Abram
16:6 - Abram blamed Sarai
16:6 - Hagar hid herself
16:7 - YHVH walked in the wilderness
16:8 - YHVH asked Hagar "Where are you going?"
16:11 - Curse of enmity of offspring

Short Lessons from Joshua

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