Ethan R. Longhenry's Blog, page 9

Echo Chamber

We might enjoy hearing the resonance of the sound of our own voices in an echo chamber, but such will not prove conducive in persuading or reaching anyone else.

The idea of the echo chamber comes from any number of forms of acoustic echo chambers: an enclosed area in which sound reverberates off of many surfaces to amplify and repeat any sound uttered within it. In an acoustic echo chamber, a person could hear their voice amplified and repeated back time and time again, perhaps giving the impression the sound involved a lot more than just the efforts of one person.

By extension, therefore, an echo chamber proves to be the fruit of epistemic closure and confirmation bias: people are either closed off or close themselves off from hearing from a range of perspectives and voices, and listen only to those voices with which they agree and which reinforce their basic assumptions and beliefs. They thus close themselves off from obtaining insights from perspectives of others who would disagree, and they magnify the size and standing of those voices with which they agree.

Echo chambers do not, in and of themselves, manifest a logical fallacy, but many fallacies and an inability to well reason with others often results from living within an echo chamber. It proves almost impossible to maintain a well-reasoned and charitable framework and disposition while remaining siloed in an echo chamber.

The types of echo chambers, and reasons for finding oneself in an echo chamber, prove legion. Some echo chambers are imposed on people from those in positions of authority: an official line is taken and disseminated while forms of disagreement and dissent are silenced and suppressed. The impression is given everyone believes and accepts such things, and often grave consequences await any who would outwardly demonstrate resistance. Even if the powerful interest uses a “softer glove” approach featuring incessant propaganda but without as much suppression of outward dissent, the constant, withering barrage can still lead people to accept the authority’s framework and understanding about such matters.

Yet many voluntarily enter into echo chambers without any outward forms of coercion and in the face of plenty of disagreement and dissent. While it can occasionally happen very abruptly, most of the time people cease putting in the effort to fully consider and grapple with other perspectives and points of view. It proves easier to listen to those with whom you share fundamental assumptions and beliefs; before too long, it seems everyone with whom you are communicating basically agrees with you. At this point, receiving information that would suggest a significant percentage of people do not agree with you proves mystifying; it seems like a conspiracy or a hoax to you because you intuit far more agreement than actually exists because you’ve surrounded yourself only with people who agree with you.

We are tempted to enter echo chambers regarding many aspects of our lives, but as in all such things, rarely more so than in terms of politics and religion.

Almost everyone can see the challenges with echo chambers in politics; unfortunately, the challenges and critiques are almost invariably leveled at those on the other side. The recent shifts toward greater radical and reactionary poles of political discourse have likely been because of and fueled by echo chambers: people become alienated from those who disagree with them politically, which makes them easier targets for radicalization, leading to demonization, dehumanization, and great hostility toward those of the other side. Nothing good has ever come from such demonization, dehumanization, and hostility (cf. James 3:14-18).

Yet the tendency toward developing echo chambers remains quite alive in terms of religion as well. The Christian faith can easily be co-opted and made to be about “us” versus “them.” “We” have the truth and the answers, and “they” therefore must be in the wrong. We can justify and rationalize why we should only listen to those who share our religious presuppositions. Preaching and teaching can easily be conformed to the echo chamber, able to rally the faithful but without much critical rigor or standing. And in such echo chambers the temptation toward radicalization remains. How many horrific deeds have been perpetrated by those who professed to follow Jesus who ended up getting radicalized in a religious echo chamber?

There was hope and promise regarding the Internet: we had hoped interconnectedness would facilitate more information, insight, and exchange, and work against the echo chamber mentality. Yet the Internet has proven both a bane and a boon for the development of echo chambers. Internet algorithms can lead a person to experience selective exposure; the Internet has facilitated all sorts of people with very niche interests or views to find and support one another, for good and for ill. Therefore, it remains quite possible to ensconce oneself into a comfortable Internet bubble, receiving information only from those with whom you are predisposed to agree, and able to block, hide, or never even see material or people with opposing viewpoints. At the same time, people have often come into contact with those who had been demonized as “the other,” and they were discovered to be normal people, leading to disillusionment regarding the attitudes and ideologies in which people were raised. We see this latter trend especially prevalent among those raised in very restrictive and fear-based religious environments; such has led to not a little of the deconstruction going on in the present day.

Thus, in the end, the echo chamber ultimately proves self-defeating. You can be reinforced in your shared agreement for only so long before the group seems utterly remote and mystifying to anyone who is not a part of it. Sometimes people turn on one another in the echo chamber because of perceived deviations from what was held in agreement; many more times some have seen through the conceit of the echo chamber and no longer want to be a part of it. Those who wish to develop themselves or others in what seems to be the relative comfort and security of an echo chamber will be hard pressed to avoid any and every form of disruption which would easily shatter it all.

Arguments and ideas cultivated and developed in echo chambers painfully demonstrate their origins. They may make a world of sense to those already committed to those principles, but often seem hopelessly arcane to anyone else. Furthermore, the deeper we enmesh ourselves into an echo chamber, the more extreme and esoteric our arguments, discussions, and ideas become.

Echo chambers stand at variance with our shared work of God in Christ. Jesus called upon Christians to be the light of the world, not putting the light under a bushel, but out so all could see it (cf. Matthew 5:13-16). Jesus and the Apostles freely discussed and disputed with others from differing religious and socio-economic backgrounds. Paul could only tear down arguments and obstacles raised up against the knowledge of God by engaging with them, understanding them, and finding ways to subject them to the knowledge of God in Christ (2 Corinthians 10:4-5).

Iron sharpens iron (cf. Proverbs 27:17), and the truth never has anything to fear from exposure or discussion. Therefore, Christians should not fear engaging with people with whom they have various levels of disagreement. In fact, such engagement is required for the Christian to be able to develop a robust, healthy faith and defense for that faith.

Engagement with other ideas does not demand acceptance of other ideas. And yet no matter how significant the disagreement, and even if we have been given no reason to adapt or modify our views based on what has been presented, we will never be entirely the same after the interaction. Perhaps in it we have learned a better way of describing our beliefs, or we have a better understanding of why we strongly disagree with a given premise. That kind of engagement and interaction will be manifest in how we discuss that given issue or practice in the future.

The Gospel of Christ cannot be well preached in an echo chamber. Those in echo chambers might be continually reinforced in what they believe, but the lack of a catalyst for critical engagement or thought will invariably lead to far weaker beliefs, impatience and frustration when attempting to communicate those beliefs, a strong temptation to demonize, dehumanize, and manifest hostility to those outside of the echo chamber, and ironically, a greater chance of later disillusionment if and when the echo chamber, for whatever reason, is shattered. We can only well and truly reflect God in Christ through the Spirit to the world by engaging in and with the world and allowing those engagements and interactions to better shape and inform our arguments and presentation of the Gospel. May we resist the tendency to ensconce ourselves in echo chambers, consider a range of views and perspectives, but always ground and root ourselves in what God has accomplished in Jesus!

Ethan R. Longhenry

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The Seven Trumpets

John is in the midst of a vision of Heaven; he has seen the One who sits on the throne and the Lamb as having been slain (Revelation 4:1-11). The Lamb has a scroll with seven seals and has opened the seven seals, ostensibly allowing the scroll to be opened (Revelation 5:1-8:1). As the seventh seal is opened, silence comes over Heaven for a half hour, and then seven trumpets are given to the seven angels before God’s throne (Revelation 8:1-2). Another angel takes a golden censer, fills it with the incense, the prayers of the saints, and the fire from the altar, and casts it upon the earth (Revelation 8:3-5). The time had come for the angels to sound the trumpets (Revelation 8:6).

As the first four angels sound their trumpets, John sees great environmental damage take place. Hail and fire mixed with blood destroy a third of the land, trees, and grass (Revelation 8:7). A mountain burning with fire is cast into the sea, turning a third of it to blood and killing a third of the sea creatures (Revelation 8:8-9). A star, Wormwood, falls from the sky, making a third of the freshwater brackish and poisonous (Revelation 8:10-11). A third of the stars, moons, and other lights in the sky are struck and are darkened (Revelation 8:12).

Yet this is just the beginning. An eagle cries out to warn people regarding the woes that will come with the next three trumpet blasts (Revelation 8:13).

The fifth trumpet, or the first woe, leads to the opening of the pit of the abyss, and fearsome locust creatures come out, prepared as for war, which are commanded not to attack vegetation but people, particularly those who did not have the seal of God, causing them such great pain and distress that many seek to die but will not find it (Revelation 9:1-10). Their king is the Destroyer, called Abaddon or Apollyon (Revelation 9:11).

The sixth trumpet, or second woe, leads to the releasing of the four angels at the Euphrates and a cavalry of two hundred million who kill a third of mankind with their plagues of sulfuric fire and smoke and brimstone (Revelation 9:12-19). And yet, despite all of these plagues and great devastation, those on the earth who remained did not repent of their idolatry, sorcery, murder, adultery, and theft (Revelation 9:20-21).

The second woe only fully comes to an end in Revelation 11:14, yet there seems to be some sort of an interlude between the sixth and seventh trumpet/second and third woe as there was between the sixth and seventh seals (cf. Revelation 7:1-17). John sees a strong angel coming down from heaven, standing on earth and sea, holding a little book, proclaiming that the delay shall be no longer, but the mystery shall be finished with the seventh trumpet (Revelation 10:1-7). John is then exhorted to take the little book and eat it, and it is sweet to the taste but bitter in the stomach, and he will again prophesy about peoples and nations and kings (Revelation 10:8-11). John is then given a reed to measure the temple of God, but only the inner court, since the outer court will be trampled by the Gentiles for forty-two months (Revelation 11:1-2). Two witnesses, the olive trees and lampstands before God, will prophesy to the people for 1,260 days, wearing sackcloth and having power to shut up the heavens and bring fire upon their enemies (Revelation 11:3-6). The beast from the abyss will rise up and kill them, and the people of earth will make merry and give gifts to each other, but after three and a half days God will raise them up and will go up into heaven in a cloud, leading the people to fear and give God glory (Revelation 11:7-12). A great earthquake then kills seven thousand people, and the second woe is ended, but the third woe comes quickly (Revelation 11:13-14).

When the seventh trumpet sounds, great voices in Heaven cry out that the kingdoms of the world are now the kingdom of the Lord and His Christ, and He shall reign forever; the twenty-four elders give thanks to the Almighty “who is and was,” for He has taken His power and now reigns, having poured out His wrath upon the nations and rewarded His servants (Revelation 11:15-18). John then sees the Temple, the Holy of Holies, opened up, so as to be able to see the Ark of the Covenant, followed by lightning, voices, thunders, an earthquake, and great hail (Revelation 11:19).

The seven trumpets prove more challenging and mystifying than the seven seals. All sorts of interpretations and identifications are advanced to explain John’s meaning, yet few prove very satisfying.

We do well to remember that while John sees what is in the vision, the various aspects of the vision have meaning based in the long-standing themes of the Old and New Testaments. Furthermore, the seven trumpets come forth based upon the opening of the seventh seal: as a seal is a mark of identification and surety that a document has not been corrupted, a trumpet blast proclaims a message and/or sounds a warning for war and judgment (Ezekiel 33:1-6, Hosea 5:8-9). Throwing the coals of the altar upon the earth is a sign of impending judgment and destruction of Jerusalem in Ezekiel 10:1-7; the plagues unleashed by the first five trumpets have much in common with the plagues God cast upon Pharaoh and Egypt to liberate the Israelites from the bondage of slavery, Ezekiel’s warning to Gog about what God will do to him and his land if he attacks the people of God, and Zephaniah’s declaration of what God will do to the land of Judah because of their transgression (Exodus 7:1-12:32, Ezekiel 38:18-23, Zephaniah 1:3). The fearsome locusts, beyond their association with one of the plagues upon the Egyptians, are similarly described in Joel 1:4-2:25. The “Destroyer” is as the destroying angel of God (Genesis 19:1-29, 2 Kings 19:35). The terrifying and ominous army to the east, coming to destroy, is a theme repeated throughout Israel’s history with Assyria and Babylon (cf. Habakkuk 1:6-11).

God tells Ezekiel to eat a scroll in Ezekiel 2:8-3:3, and it is sweet to the mouth but bitter in the stomach. Measuring a temple features prominently in Ezekiel 40:1-48:35, Amos 7:7-9, and Zechariah 2:1-5 to lay out the plan for the restoration of the people of God and cutting off of those who refuse and rebel; in the New Testament, the people of God are the temple (1 Corinthians 3:14-16, 6:19-20, Ephesians 2:20-22, 1 Peter 2:5, 9). Forty two months, 1,260 days, and three and a half years are roughly the same amount of time, and is heavy with symbolism: Antiochus IV Epiphanes desecrated the Temple in Jerusalem by offering pig’s flesh on the altar and that devastation lasted from 167 to 164 BCE. This time period now becomes a way of expressing a time of persecution by an oppressive power (cf. Daniel 9:27, 12:7). The integrity of the church will be maintained, but there will be distress from those who are without. The two witnesses prophesy and are described in terms of the images of the high priest and governor of Israel as well as the exploits of Moses and Elijah (1 Kings 17:1, 18:41-46, 2 Kings 1:10-14, Zechariah 4:1-14); many seek to identify them as Elijah and Enoch, Moses and Elijah, the Old and New Testaments, but they likely represent the proclamation of the Gospel according to the witness of the God in Christ through the Holy Spirit and the witness of believers. The beast features prominently in Daniel 7:21-25 and 8:23-24 as the power of the oppressive nation, and Sodom and Egypt both represent the world, iniquity, and oppression (Genesis 13:13, 19:4-11, 24, Exodus 1:1-14:31). Jerusalem is the city in which the Lord was crucified, and it is expanded to include the whole world, since all see the events taking place. Yet the witnesses are raised and ascend to heaven: the proclamation of the Gospel cannot be so easily defeated, and no matter what the oppressive power may attempt to do, God’s people will continue to proclaim it.

The seventh trumpet is described in terms of the end of time: the kingdoms of men now are the Kingdom of God, and He reigns; the time of judgment and resurrection is now seen in the past (cf. Psalm 2:1-12, Acts 17:30-31, Romans 2:5-11, 1 Corinthians 15:20-57, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-5:10, 2 Thessalonians 1:5-11). The Temple is now open; the Ark can be seen; God’s promises are fulfilled.

Yet Revelation is not over; there are still eleven more chapters to go! We do well to remember that John has ingested the scroll, which is to absorb the message of God, and must now again prophesy regarding peoples, tongues, nations, and kings. Through the images of the temple, the witnesses, their death at the hand of the beast and their subsequent resurrection, we get a glimpse into what John will see more fully in Revelation 12:1-20:10. Through the seventh trumpet blast we get an idea of what will take place as described in Revelation 20:11-22:6.

In Revelation 4:1-10:11, John sees the vision of Heaven and how things look from the heavenly perspective; God in Christ directs the action, and there is no opposition. In Revelation 11:1-14 John receives an overview of the challenges which lay ahead: the persecution of believers by an oppressive, hostile power, but the promise of Revelation 11:15-19 should sustain them: they will overcome through God in Christ, for the kingdoms of the world will become the Kingdom of God in Christ. No matter how difficult or challenging the situation may seem, we do well to remember that God is in control, He will not delay, and those who oppose Him will suffer His wrath in judgment, and believers must continue to overcome all evil through the blood of the Lamb. Let us glorify and praise the Lord and His Christ!

Ethan R. Longhenry

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The Seven Seals

John has been granted a vision of Heaven, highlighting the rule of God on His throne and the glory and honor given to Him (Revelation 4:1-11). John sees that God holds a scroll with seven seals upon it, and learns that the Lamb of God, Jesus, is worthy to open the seals, and He is greatly praised by all creation and the angelic host (Revelation 5:1-14). The time has come for the Lamb to open the seals.

As the first four seals are opened, horses and their riders come forth (Revelation 6:1-8). The first horse is white and goes off to conquer (Revelation 6:1-2). The second horse is red, and its rider was given a sword to take peace away from the earth (Revelation 6:3-4). The third horse is black, and its rider carries a balance, and a voice calls out highly inflated prices for wheat and barley, while oil and wine remain, indicating scarcity (Revelation 6:5-6). The fourth horse is pale, perhaps the pallor of illness or death upon a man, and Death rides it with Hades following behind, and sword, famine, pestilence, and wild beasts bring forth death (Revelation 6:7-8).

The fifth seal is opened, and John sees souls under an altar, those slain as martyrs for God (Revelation 6:9). They cry out to God, wanting to know when their blood will be avenged; they are given white robes and told to wait a little longer until the full number of martyrs is reached (Revelation 6:10-11).

The sixth seal brings forth all sorts of momentous events: earthquakes, the sun turning black and the moon to blood, stars falling from the sky, the heavens rolled up as a scroll, and the movement of mountains and islands (Revelation 6:12-15). Everyone on earth, from kings to slaves, hide and want to find some way of escaping face of the One upon the Throne, and the wrath of the Lamb (Revelation 6:16-17).

Before the seventh seal can be opened, God’s people must themselves be sealed. John sees the angels who hold back the four winds at the four corners of the earth, and they are exhorted to do no harm to the creation until the people of God are sealed (Revelation 7:1-3). John speaks of these as 144,000 from the “tribes of Israel,” listing 12 tribes of 12,000 people each, following the standard pattern of the tribes of Israel except omitting Dan, counting Levi, and speaking of Manasseh and Joseph but not Ephraim (Revelation 7:4-8; cf. Genesis 35:22-26).

Then John sees a great multitude from every people and nation before the throne and before the Lamb, praising and glorifying God and the Lamb as seen previously in Revelation 5:9-14 (Revelation 7:9-12). They are the ones who came out of the tribulation, having washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb, and they are always before the throne of God, serving Him constantly, sheltered by His glory (Revelation 7:13-15). They do not hunger or thirst, are not oppressed by heat, and are shepherded by the Lamb who guides them to springs of living water, and God wipes every tear from their eyes (Revelation 7:16-17).

Then John sees the seventh seal opened (Revelation 8:1). All is silent for about a half an hour. Another series of events will soon take place before John’s eyes.

The opening of the seven seals has fascinated and mystified people for generations; the “Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse” is one of the most defining images of Revelation. The meaning behind these events is quite disputed, and we can understand why: these images seem quite strange.

Nevertheless, the images are consistent with many themes found throughout the Old and New Testaments. Four horses and their riders are sent out in Zechariah 1:8-10 and 6:1-8; judgment is suspended until the righteous are sealed in Ezekiel 9:1-8. We can gain some insight into the meaning of these images through their continued use throughout Scripture.

The horses and their riders evoke the hand of God among the people: the white horse and rider as conquering by the promotion of the Gospel and/or victory in battle, the red horse and rider as persecution of believers or conflict among nations, the black horse and rider as scarcity on account of famine, extortion, or mismanagement, and the pale horse and Death as the representative judgment of God against a nation: sword, famine, pestilence, and death (Revelation 6:1-8; cf. Leviticus 26:21-26, Ezekiel 4:10, 16, 14:12-21, Matthew 10:34-39).

The altar of the fifth seal is the altar of sacrifice, and since the blood of the sacrifice would collect under the altar, and life is in the blood, so the lives of the Christians who died for their faith remain under the altar (cf. Exodus 29:12, Leviticus 4:7, 18, 30, 17:11-14). Their blood must be avenged, not because of hatred or ill will against their fellow man, but on account of the divine mandate in Genesis 4:10, 9:5-6 and Numbers 35:33 regarding the pollution that comes from unavenged blood. God remains a God of justice as well as a God of love!

All of the events of the sixth seal evoke the signs of the days of judgment and reckoning in Isaiah 13:10-13, 34:4, Jeremiah 4:19-28, Hosea 10:8, Joel 2:30-32, Amos 8:8-9, and even Jesus in Matthew 24:29-34. These all speak of nations great and small falling.

Many relate the events surrounding the six seals to Israel in the days of the destruction of Jerusalem around 70 CE or to the Romans and their Empire in the first centuries CE. This is to be expected, since the referents for the images speak of judgment upon Babylon, Israel, and Judah. They are how God visits judgment upon people, and reflect God’s continued activity and presence in His creation.

Yet however God judges the nations, He has sealed His own people with His name. The “144,000” do not necessarily escape the trials and tribulations of the seals, but they have the spiritual security of being God’s people. Throughout the New Testament, Christians in the church are spoken of in terms of the people of Israel (Romans 2:28-29, 9:6, Galatians 6:15-16, Philippians 3:3): so it is with the 144,000 in Revelation 7:1-8. They are the “12 x 12 x 1000,” the very large number who are religiously complete before God; they are Christians living on earth and serving God, often called the “church militant.”

They are joined in their praise and service by the innumerable people of God who have gone on to their reward and continually stand before the Throne and the Lamb (cf. Revelation 7:9-17). They are the “church triumphant,” and they have received the wonderful promises of God. They do not hunger or thirst; they do not suffer from heat; they have living water, being shepherded by Jesus, and God wipes every tear from their eye. It is all love, joy, peace, glory, and grace, and it is wonderful!

While we will never exhaust the mysteries of the seven seals, we can gain encouragement from them. Events transpire as they have in the past: people stand for God’s Word and are persecuted for it. Nations conquer and are conquered; there are times of plenty and times of scarcity; people always find ways of making war on each other. Nations rise and fall. The people of God must endure such things as they always have. Yet they have their own seal upon them which God has given them; they are His and live to praise Him. They cherish the hope of the promise of joining that “church triumphant,” able to stand before the throne and the Lamb in love, joy, peace, glory, and grace, and receive rest. Let us stand firm for the cause of the Lord so as to obtain that wonderful inheritance, glorifying and honoring He who sits upon the throne and the Lamb!

Ethan R. Longhenry

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Tobit

The people of God have often enjoyed stories of the faithful overcoming difficulties and obtaining honor and reward in their righteousness. A little bit of godly romance also never hurts.

The book of Tobit can be found within the Old Testament Apocrypha, or Deuterocanon. The Old Testament Apocrypha/Deuterocanon should be defined as texts, or expansions of texts, which were considered part of the Greek Septuagint but not reckoned as canonically part of the Torah, Prophets, or Writings of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh). “Apocrypha” is a Greek term for “hidden away”, and “Deuterocanon” is Greek for “second canon”; these terms tend to be used interchangeably for this collection of Second Temple Jewish literature which was highly esteemed but not reckoned as inspired like the canonical books of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament. Arguments for inspiration of the Apocrypha were not advanced until the medieval era, and even then only within Roman Catholicism.

The book of Tobit can be found within the Apocrypha/Deuterocanon of all the Christian traditions which maintain such a collection. The book purports to describe events which took place in the heyday of the Neo-Assyrian Empire in the 8th and 7th centuries BCE; the overall romantic nature of the tale and a couple of Hellenisms (the month of Dystrus, payment of a drachma; Tobit 2:12, 5:15) betray authorship during the Hellenistic period, probably in the late third or early second century BCE. Tobit has been handed down to us in Greek, but patristic authors attest to its existence in Aramaic and fragments of Tobit in Aramaic and Hebrew were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls.

The book of Tobit presented the story of Tobit and his son Tobias (Aramaic and Greek forms of Hebrew Tobiyahu, “YHWH is good”), Naphtalites among the exiles to Assyria in Nineveh (cf. Tobit 1:1-2, 9-10). The book fantastically claimed Tobit was a young man when Naphtali deserted the House of David and Jerusalem (Tobit 1:4); such would have been around 923 BCE, and since the narrative would go on to suggest Tobit died at 112 years old (cf. Tobit 14:2), even the text did not maintain this claim consistently. The premise Tobit was born in Israel and personally experienced the exile of the Israelites was a bit more feasible, but he would have been quite young, and so the claim he continued to go down to Jerusalem to serve YHWH faithfully proved likewise fantastic (cf. Tobit 1:5-8).

Tobit presented himself as an Israelite who sought to faithfully honor the customs of Moses to the best of his ability while in exile: he avoided defiling foods, gave alms and support to his people, and would bury murdered Israelites, the last of which led to the confiscation of his property and his descent into poverty (Tobit 1:10-2:9). After one such burial, Tobit slept in the courtyard of his property, and the droppings of sparrows into his eyes blinded him (Tobit 2:10). His wife Anna was compelled to work; one day she received an additional benefit, and in his despair Tobit disbelieved her and accused her of theft (Tobit 2:11-14). When he recognized what he had done, Tobit prayed to God and asked Him to take away his life (Tobit 3:1-6).

In Tobit 3:7-9 Sarah the daughter of Raguel, a kinsman of Tobit, was introduced as being rebuked by a slave maid, for Sarah had been married seven times to kinsmen, all of whom were killed by the demon Asmodeus on the wedding night; on the same night Tobit prayed for his life to be taken, Sarah contemplated suicide but did not want reproach to come upon her father, and so she also prayed for her life to be taken (Tobit 3:10-15).

The narrator assured the reader of how God heard both of their prayers; the angel Raphael was dispatched to provide relief for everyone involved (Tobit 3:16-17).

The next day Tobit remembered the money he left in trust in Media, where had had previously served as a purchaser for Shalmaneser king of Assyria, and commissioned his son Tobias to go reclaim it, presenting him with many moral and ethical exhortations (Tobit 4:1-21). But Tobias was apprehensive, unsure about how he would be received or how he would get there; he went out to find a companion who could take him there, and the angel Raphael met him in the guise of his kinsman Azariah (Tobit 5:1-22).

They made it as far as the Tigris River the first day; Tobias attempted to wash his feet in the river, but a large fish tried to swallow his foot; Raphael told him to catch the fish and bring it ashore, which he did, and then counseled him to keep its gall, heart, and liver (Tobit 6:1-6). Raphael would later counsel Tobias about using them for expelling demons and healing (Tobit 6:7-9).

When they approached Ecbatana in Media, Raphael gave commands to Tobias: they would be staying with Tobias’ kinsman Raguel there, and Tobias should marry Raguel’s daughter Sarah (Tobit 6:10-13). Tobias was already aware of the fate of Sarah’s previous husbands, and Raphael made specific application of his previous counsel, advising him to burn some of the fish liver and heart with incense to ward off the demon (Tobit 6:14-18). And so it took place: Tobias and Raphael stayed with Raguel, his wife Edna, and daughter Sarah, and Tobias and Sarah were married; Tobias followed Raphael’s counsel, and he and Sarah prayed for God’s protection and provision; Asmodeus was repulsed by the incense and fish liver and heart and fled to Egypt, where Raphael met and bound him (Tobit 7:1-8:8). Raguel, not as confident, had prepared a burial place for Tobias, yet was overjoyed to hear Tobias had survived, blessing God (Tobit 8:9-18). Raguel prepared a two week feast and gave Tobias half of all his possessions (Tobit 8:19-21). Tobias asked Raphael-as-Azariah to travel on to obtain the money Tobit had commissioned them to receive from their relative Gabael, and to invite Gabael to the wedding feast; all was accomplished, and Gabael blessed God when seeing Tobias (Tobit 9:1-6).

All of these events were taking longer than would have been expected; Tobit began to wonder if all was well, but his wife Anna was convinced Tobias was dead, and always watched the road to see if he was returning (Tobit 10:1-7a). After the fourteen day feast Tobias begged Raguel to allow him to return home to his parents, and Raguel eventually relented, and provided appropriate counsel to Sarah his daughter; Tobias prayed to God that he might honor Raguel and Edna for the rest of their lives (Tobit 10:7b-13).

When approaching Nineveh, Raphael recommended to Tobias they should go ahead of Sarah to prepare the house, and they did so: after Anna saw them and went to inform Tobit, Raphael made the final specific application of his earlier counsel, exhorting Tobias to smear the fish gall on Tobit’s eyes so he might be healed, and Tobias did so (Tobit 11:1-13). Tobit was overjoyed to be able to see his son and blessed God; Tobias informed him of all which took place and his marriage to Sarah, and Tobit blessed God all the more (Tobit 11:14-18).

Tobit and family celebrated Tobias’ wedding; afterward, Tobit and Tobias intended to settle accounts with Raphael-as-Azariah, but Raphael first called to both of them and revealed to them who he was so they might bless God and give Him the glory and honor, which they did (Tobit 12:1-22).

Tobit then turned to bless and honor God, giving exhortations about faithfully serving God, blessing those who bless God, cursing those who turn way from Him, and anticipating the restoration of Jerusalem (Tobit 13:1-14:1).

Tobit was either 58 or 62 when he lost his eyesight and lived until he was 112 (textual variations; Tobit 14:2). The text presented Tobit’s final words of warning and prophecy: Tobias and his seven children should soon leave Nineveh because the word of God through Nahum against Nineveh would soon be fulfilled; he should return to live with his in-laws Raguel and Edna in Media (Tobit 14:3-4). Tobit prophesied the exile of Israel and Judah, the destruction of the Temple, the restoration of the people to the land, and the conversion of the nations (Tobit 14:4-8). He exhorted them all to faithfully serve God, and warned them to not stay overnight in Nineveh one the day they would bury him and his wife Anna; he then related what transpired with his relative Ahikar and his son Nadab, how Nadab plotted against Ahikar but ended up dying according to the mechanism he had planted for his father as a testimony to the iniquity in Nineveh and the wages of injustice (Tobit 14:9-11). Tobit would then die, as later would Anna, and Tobias buried them; he then went to live with Raguel and Edna, burying them as well, and inheriting the estates of both Tobit and Raguel (Tobit 14:12-13). Tobias himself would live to 117, having seen the destruction of Nineveh and some of its people exiled to Media by Cyaxares king of Media, rejoicing over it and blessing God (Tobit 14:14-15).

Tobit thus represented a Hellenistic romance composed for an audience of Second Temple Jewish people. Tobit looked like the kind of northern Israelite which a Judahite would want to imagine: one who lamented the division between Israel and Judah, still returning to serve God in Jerusalem, looking forward to the restoration of Jerusalem. In so doing, however, the composer well demonstrated to the fictional nature of the story: Tobit could not have been a young man in 933 BCE but die at 112 as an Israelite exile in Nineveh; for that matter, the math would remain difficult for Tobit to be able to visit Jerusalem as a young man yet only be 58 or 62 in the days of Esarhaddon king of Assyria (cf. Tobit 2:1, 14:2). Geography was also not among the composer’s strengths: the Tigris River is the opposite direction if traveling between Nineveh and Media, and his understanding of distances and topography within Media is also lacking (cf. Tobit 5:6, 10, 6:2). And then there is the matter of Ahikar and Nadab, who represent famous characters from the Story of Ahikar (or Words of Ahikar), in which Ahikar was presented as a chancellor of Sennacherib and Esarhaddon and who adopted his nephew Nadab to be his son to succeed him. Nadab would then conspire to have Ahikar executed, but the executioner had been previously delivered by Ahikar, and thus a proxy was killed and presented to Esarhaddon as if it were Ahikar. Our texts of the narrative end there, but we believe Nadab would eventually be killed and Ahikar restored; many wisdom sayings would become associated with Ahikar. This morality story seemed to have circulated widely in the ancient Near Eastern world during the Persian and Hellenistic periods, and it would seem the composer of Tobit appropriated it and incorporated its characters and moral warning.

We consider the story a Hellenistic romance since it featured two virtuous lovers presented at a different historical time who endure various trials but ultimately end up together and their honor and dignity are upheld, and so it went for Tobias and Sarah. But it is not a run of the mill Hellenistic romance, since the text also featured God’s testing of Tobit and Tobit’s vindication; wisdom sayings from Tobit; angelic intervention from Raphael and demonic visitation from Asmodeus; and Tobit’s will and testament, featuring prophecy regarding Nineveh, Jerusalem, and the ultimate restoration of God’s people.

Let none be deceived: while Israel was cast into Assyrian exile, and the kings identified did indeed rule, we have no basis upon which to believe Tobit, Anna, Tobias, Sarah, Raguel, Edna, Gabael, etc. represent actual historical personages. Raphael the angel is mentioned in 1 Enoch as well and was thus recognized as one of the seven angels who perpetually stand before God in both Jewish and Christian traditions; Asmodeus the demon might well derive, at least in part, from the Zoroastrian “aeshma-daeva,” demon of wrath, and also recognized in later Jewish traditions. Yet neither Raphael nor Asmodeus can be found explicitly in the pages of the Old or New Testaments. Therefore, we have every reason to conclude that the book of Tobit was not written as inspired Scripture and was never expected to be seen as such.

Nevertheless, we can find some encouragement from the book of Tobit according to what was its original purpose: to encourage the people of God to remain faithful to God despite personal and collective distress, and to enjoy a story of people seeking to prove faithful to God and ultimately obtaining His favor and honor. In its pages we can see how Second Temple Jewish people grappled with what it looked like to trust in God and prove faithful to Him in the midst of oppressive pagan nations. We can see how they understood the harmful effects of demons but also the advocacy and assistance they might receive from angels. We can even see how they might appropriate characters from the wisdom traditions prevalent in the ancient Near Eastern world into their own stories and thus learn from them. Above all, we can see the desire for Second Temple Jewish people to remain faithful to God and to have reason to bless and honor Him despite all they were enduring as embodied in the characters of Tobit and Anna, Raguel and Edna, and Tobias and Sarah. May we find ways to enjoy the stories of old, take encouragement from them, and faithfully serve God in Christ so we might obtain the resurrection of life in Him!

Ethan R. Longhenry

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Purity in the Camp

The Book of Numbers is better understood in terms of its name in Hebrew: Bemidbar, “in the wilderness,” for it described Israel’s preparations to depart from Mount Horeb/Sinai and their wanderings in the wilderness afterward. The events described therein would have taken place sometime around either 1450-1410 or 1250 BCE, depending on one’s view of the Exodus; Moses would have written the original text while in the land of Moab across the Jordan River from Jericho.

In Numbers 1:1-10:10 Moses set forth the preparations necessary for Israel to travel; while we may find such information tedious, we have records of Egyptian rulers chronicling their preparations and logistics for major campaigns, suggesting many ancient people took pride in detailing all which proved necessary to accomplish their great deeds. YHWH had commanded Moses and Aaron to take a military census of the Israelites and to organize the camp by tribe in Numbers 1:1-2:34 and then to take a count of the Levite men and assign their forms of service in Numbers 3:1-4:49. Moses, Aaron, and the Israelites had proven obedient to all which YHWH had commanded them.

In Numbers 5:1-31 YHWH would provide commandments to Moses which seem to center on maintaining purity and wholeness within the camp of the Israelites and among the Israelite people.

YHWH commanded Moses to expel from the camp all who were “leprous,” who suffered from a discharge, and who had become ritually defiled because of a corpse, and Moses and the Israelites proved obedient to YHWH’s command (Numbers 5:1-4).

Hebrew tsaura’ is often translated as “leper” but does not refer to someone afflicted by Hansen’s Disease; it instead referred to people who suffered from some kind of easily spread skin condition or disease.

Thus YHWH demanded immediate compliance with the standard first declared in Leviticus 13:45-46 for those with skin conditions, and added upon it other matters involving defilement. We today recoil at such marginalizing treatment of many people who were likely suffering to some degree or another. Yet we do well to note how exclusion from the camp did not mean complete abandonment or disregard; they would still be reckoned as Israelites, would live outside the camp, and would be considered appropriate recipients of alms and other forms of aid. Those who were rendered ritually unclean from touching a corpse would have an opportunity to become clean again and thus be restored to the camp, as would anyone whose skin condition or discharge was healed.

But YHWH’s concern was made explicit in Numbers 5:3: the camp of the Israelites needed to maintain a high standard of purity because YHWH was living there in their midst, and YHWH is holy and pure. As Christians we must be careful about the conclusions we draw regarding ritual purity in light of Jesus’ exhortations in Mark 7:8-23. None of us are fully pure and require cleansing from the Lord Jesus (Ephesians 5:22-33, Titus 3:3-8); we all suffer the effects of the decay and corruption of the creation (Romans 5:12-21, 8:18-23). Nevertheless, the theological quandary of ritual purity versus the integrity and dignity of those who suffer from disability and/or disease remains.

After this YHWH gave commands for Israel regarding confession and reparation: Israelites who sin and are found guilty must confess and make reparations, paying back fully to whomever has been wrong and adding a fifth to the total (Numbers 5:5-7). Provision was made for circumstances in which no close relative existed to whom the reparations would be paid: the reparations would go to YHWH for the priest beyond the ram of atonement offered for him (Numbers 5:8). Offerings made by Israelites would belong to them save for those portions given to the priests (Numbers 5:9-10).

In just societies reparations prove important as means by which to restore those who have suffered loss, let alone as a deterrent from causing such injury toward others. To this day one can learn a lot about individuals and/or societies who resist calls for reparations and restitutions to those who have been seriously impaired or injured as a result of individual or systemic criminal behaviors, exploitation, and/or oppression. Likewise, we can maintain confidence YHWH will not look kindly on individuals and/or societies which have built their wealth on the exploitation and oppression of others and who entirely resist any and all calls for reparations and restitution.

YHWH then set forth for Moses and Israel the test for a wife whose husband has become jealous and suspects infidelity; in Hebrew this test is known as the sotah (Numbers 5:11-31). This test was not designed for circumstances in which sufficient evidence of adultery was present; it was for situations in which a husband had become jealous and suspicious of his wife’s sexual integrity, whether the wife had actually defiled herself or not (Numbers 5:11-14). The husband was to bring his wife and an offering of barley for the offering of suspicion (Numbers 5:15). The priest would lead the wife to stand before YHWH and put some dust from the ground of the holy place in some holy water to create bitter water (Numbers 5:16-17). The priest would uncover the wife’s head and have her hold the offering of the suspicion and abjure her with an oath and a curse: if she had not defiled herself, she would be free of any curse; but if she had defiled herself and had committed adultery, YHWH would cause the wife’s reproductive system to fail by means of the bitter water she would be consuming, and the wife would thus invoke the oath and curse with a twofold amen (Numbers 5:18-22). The priest would write down the curse and scrape it into the water which she would then drink after the priest had made a wave offering and a bit of a burnt offering of the grain of the offering of suspicion (Numbers 5:23-24). If she had proven faithful to her husband, she would not suffer a curse, and would be able to bear children; if she had been unfaithful, YHWH would cause her to prove infertile and thus cursed among her people (Numbers 5:25-28). This was then described as the law for cases of jealousy, in which there is no guilt for the husband, but the wife would bear her guilt if deserved (Numbers 5:29-31).

As modern readers we are often taken aback by the misogyny we perceive in this narrative: why should the wife thus suffer because of her husband’s jealousy and suspicion, especially since no consequence seems to attend to the husband in any way?

Many interpreters, ancient and modern, would understand the sotah in similar ways as the lex talionis of Exodus 21:23-25: as a principle of limitation. Thus, just as “an eye for an eye” was established to make sure the punishment did not exceed the crime, so the sotah test was put in place to provide a means by which a husband’s jealousy could be put to the test and his suspicions allayed. In this way it would be imagined the sotah test was imposed as a benefit for the wife, as a way to provide her vindication. To this day we are aware of the prevalence of “honor killings” in some societies, situations in which family members will kill female relatives who are accused of committing sexual impropriety. Without the sotah it might well have been possible that many Israelite men would have done something similar to their wives on the basis of mere suspicion of infidelity.

It should also be noted how the sotah represents the only kind of examination or test which would compel a kind of miraculous result. In no other matter is the decision so completely left up to YHWH as in the sotah. There is nothing intrinsically in consuming water with a bit of dirt in it which would lead to infertility; such would only be possible if God turned such water into a curse for the woman.

We can therefore understand why the sotah, in our perspective, seems quite problematic, but also hopefully how and why the sotah was established as a means by which the suspicions of Israelite men could be put to some kind of test. We can perceive how important YHWH reckoned purity among the people and in the camp, and how He made provision to give confidence or a lack of confidence of a woman’s purity in the marriage relationship. In Numbers YHWH was attempting to establish a holy people for Himself which He would bless as He had promised to their fathers. In Christ God has atoned for the defilement of all who would come to find cleansing in Him, and thus to obtain the blessings of eternal life in salvation. May we obtain holiness in Christ to be able to stand before the most holy God of heaven, and share in eternal life in Him!

Ethan R. Longhenry

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Lazarus

The “disciple whom Jesus loved,” known as John, either John the brother of Zebedee (the Apostle), or John the Elder, was writing his recollections of his experiences with Jesus so that those who hear or read would believe Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and would find eternal life in His name (cf. John 20:31). He began by speaking of the Word of God, the Creator, the life and light of men, who took on flesh and dwelt among us as Jesus of Nazareth (John 1:1-18). He then described the calling of the first disciples, Jesus’ first sign at the wedding in Cana, the events which took place while Jesus was present at the Passover in Jerusalem, and Jesus’ return to Galilee via Samaria (John 1:19-4:54). John the Evangelist then set forth Jesus’ healing of a lame man at Bethesda and the storm of controversy it engendered, Jesus’ feeding of the five thousand, and His challenging description of Himself as the Bread of Life (John 5:1-6:71). John the Evangelist then described a long series of engagements and instructions of Jesus around Jerusalem during the Feast of Tabernacles, featuring the healing of the blind man and Jesus’ teachings as the Light of the world and the Good Shepherd (John 7:1-10:21). Jesus would echo similar teachings and again identify Himself with God while teaching during the Feast of the Dedication, or Hanukkah (John 10:22-42).

According to John 10:40, Jesus had retreated to the Decapolis region across the Jordan River from Judea; we imagine He was still within this region when the events of John 11 began to unfold. John the Evangelist introduced his audience to Lazarus, Mary, and Martha, and did so with a bit of forecasting: they lived in Bethany, and Mary would be the same Mary who would anoint Jesus in John 12:1-8. We have confidence these are the same Mary and Martha spoken of in Luke 10:38-42. Lazarus had become very sick, and Mary and Martha had sent word to Jesus regarding this fact (John 12:1-3). John the Evangelist informed his audience how Jesus loved Lazarus, Mary, and Martha (John 12:5); certainly Jesus loved His disciples and the world and everything, but John was attempting to convey significant intimacy in the relationship between Jesus, Lazarus, Mary, and Martha: they were very close friends, and such will go a long way to explain the ways in which Mary and Martha speak with Jesus throughout these events.

Despite hearing the news of Lazarus’ illness, Jesus did not immediately return to Judea. He waited for a couple of days, and then informed His disciples they would be returning to Judea (John 12:4-7). The disciples did not understand: Judea had become dangerous territory (John 12:8). Jesus taught them about working while it was light and suggested Lazarus had gone to sleep and He needed to go wake him up (John 12:9-11). Jesus was speaking of the sleep of death and awaking in resuscitation, but the disciples thought He meant actual sleep, and suggested Lazarus would wake up on his own (John 12:12-13). Jesus clarified the situation: Lazarus was dead, and Jesus was glad to have not been there, so they might believe (John 12:14-15). Thomas, perhaps sarcastically or sardonically, encouraged his fellow disciples to go with Jesus to Judea and die with Him (John 12:16): a bit of a premonition, for life would never be the same for any of those involved on account of what they would go on to experience in Judea and Jerusalem.

By the time Jesus arrived in Bethany of Judea, Lazarus had not only died but also had been buried for four days (John 11:17). John the Evangelist provided additional context: Bethany was not far from Jerusalem, so there had been many Jewish people who came out to grieve with and console Martha and Mary (John 11:18-19). Martha went out to meet Jesus when He arrived with an accusation and some hope: if He had come earlier, Lazarus would not have died; nevertheless, God would grant whatever Jesus would ask of Him (John 11:20-22). Jesus assured Martha her brother would live again; Martha expressed her confidence of Lazarus obtaining the resurrection of life on the final day (John 11:23-24).

Martha’s confession in John 11:24 is notable as an affirmation of the understanding of resurrection common in Second Temple Judaism. We do well to remember how there was nothing written in the Hebrew Bible which would automatically and obviously expect the Messiah to die and be raised from the dead as the firstfruits of the resurrection long before the final day; this would become evident through what God accomplished in Jesus and then in what He made known through the Spirit (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:1-58). Daniel 12:2 provided the most explicit confidence in the resurrection, and as Martha confessed, it spoke of the raising of everyone on the final day. Thus we must never interpret Luke 10:38-42 in any way which would disparage Martha’s understanding of religious matters; she has a good handle on the Hebrew Bible as well understood at the time. Furthermore, John the Evangelist worked diligently to present both Martha and Mary as friends of Jesus who had great hope and confidence in Him yet were not automatically expecting Jesus to immediately resuscitate Lazarus from death.

Jesus then affirmed for Martha how He was the resurrection and the life, and how those who believe in Him will live even if they die, and those who live and believe in Him will never die; Martha affirmed she believed as much, and also how Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God who came into the world (John 11:25-27). Thus Martha well believed in Jesus, but even then did not have a full understanding of all such implies.

Martha then called for Mary, telling her privately how Jesus was asking for her (John 11:28). Mary went out to Jesus; the crowds followed her, imagining she was going to mourn at Lazarus’ tomb (John 11:29-31). Mary repeated the same accusation as had her sister Martha, and continued weeping (John 11:32). Jesus began to be significantly emotionally affected by the outpouring of grief He perceived from Martha, Mary, and the crowds. He asked to see the tomb, and He wept (John 11:33-35). The people understood His grief as a testimony of His love for Lazarus, yet they wondered if He could have done something about it since He gave sight to the blind man (John 11:36-37).

They arrived at the tomb (John 11:38). John the Evangelist informed his audience the tomb was a cave with a stone in front of it in order to explain why Jesus asked for the stone to be taken away (John 11:38-39). The land of Judea is not large and there has never been a lot of room for tombs and whatnot; in the days of Second Temple Judaism, the Jewish people would often carve out a tomb in the rock faces around towns and villages. They would lay a recently dead relative upon the main bier within the tomb, and would return after a year or so in order to retrieve the bones. They would then place those bones in a box we call an ossuary, and would often keep the ossuaries of many family members on the ground or in caches within the tomb. It is quite likely that we have discovered the ossuary of Joseph Caiaphas who will be spoken of in John 11:49.

After Jesus told them to take away the stone, Martha warned Jesus how the body had been buried for four days, and the stench of decomposition would be present (John 11:39). Jesus intimated to her how she would see the glory of God if she believed (John 11:40). Jesus then uttered a performative prayer to His Father for the benefit of the crowd (John 11:41-42). Jesus cried out for Lazarus to come out, and behold: Lazarus came out, his hands and feet tied in cloth along with a cloth around his face, and Jesus commanded for some to remove those bindings (John 11:43-44).

While we could speak of Jesus having raised Lazarus from the dead, we generally speak of it as a resuscitation to make a distinction between Lazarus’ “resurrection,” in which he was brought back to life but would die again, and the resurrection Jesus would experience, in which He was brought back to life to never die again (cf. Romans 6:1-11). Nevertheless, it was the most significant miracle and sign which Jesus would accomplish in His ministry in the Gospel of John, and many who were there to experience it believed in Jesus (John 11:45).

Others, however, brought word to the Pharisees about what Jesus had done, and they summoned the Sanhedrin (John 11:46-47). The chief priests and Pharisees addressed the Sanhedrin: Jesus was performing many signs. If they allowed Jesus to keep doing these kinds of things, everyone would believe in Him (John 11:47-48). At perhaps no other place in his Gospel did John the Evangelist prove more ironic than in this circumstance, for indeed; the point was for people to believe Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, because of these signs which He was accomplishing! But for the chief priests and Pharisees it represented a danger: they were convinced the Romans would come and take away their place and their nation (John 11:48). “Their place” is generally and best understood as the Temple, but it would also not be wrong to perceive how the chief priests and Pharisees understood Jesus and His work to be a threat to their position and standing among the people. We can understand their logic: if word gets out to the Romans that the King of the Jews has come, and the people all believe Jesus is the King of the Jews, He might well give an order, and war against the Romans would ensue, and might lead to their ultimate disadvantage. The ultimate irony, however, is that forty years later, the Romans would come and take away their place and their nation, and the judgment was secured precisely because they had rejected Jesus as their Messiah, and the people would choose Barabbas and the way of insurrection against Rome instead.

At this point Caiaphas, High Priest in the year 30, stood up and spoke: they knew nothing, for it was more expedient for one person to die on behalf of the people than for the whole nation to perish (John 11:49-50). John the Evangelist reported how Caiaphas “prophesied” this statement of Jesus dying for the Jewish nation and in fact for all people, thus strongly suggesting the Holy Spirit inspired him to do so (John 11:51-52). We are left to conclude the Spirit would remain present with the person serving as High Priest no matter how odious said person would otherwise be.

The ultimate point, however, is that Caiaphas gave the Sanhedrin the justification and reason for wanting to put Jesus to death: as a scapegoat to allay Roman apprehensions and fears, and so that the position and standing of the Temple and thus the chief priests and Sadducees would not be challenged, as well as the standing of the Pharisees as religious authorities among the people (John 11:53). On account of this Jesus did not walk in Judea publicly but withdrew to an area called Ephraim (John 11:54).

The Passover was again drawing near, and Jewish people from around the region and the known world were going up to Jerusalem (John 11:55). The people were looking for Jesus while standing in the Temple courts, and the chief priests and Pharisees had made it known anyone who knew where Jesus was should report as much to them (John 11:56-57). Thus John the Evangelist concluded by setting the scene for the rest of his Gospel, foreshadowing the final days of Jesus and His ultimate betrayal by Judas Iscariot.

The resuscitation of Lazarus remains a potent sign of Jesus’ authority and power, and the response to this miracle said much about the condition and quality of the hearts of the various types of Jewish people of the day. Jesus indeed is the resurrection and the life, and all who believe and live in Him live and are sustained by this hope. May we trust in the Lord Jesus and obtain the resurrection of life in Him!

Ethan R. Longhenry

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The Throne and the Lamb in Heaven

Having written down the letters to the seven churches, John is now invited to glimpse a vision of the power and majesty of the heavenly court. He is again in the Spirit (Revelation 4:1-2), and begins to describe the details of the heavenly court in ways quite reminiscent of similar scenes in Isaiah 6:1-5 and Ezekiel 1:26-28.

John begins with the throne of God (Revelation 4:2-3). He tells the reader that One sits upon the throne but provides no detail about His form: to look upon Him, John says, is like jasper, sardius, and a rainbow around the throne like emerald. These are the most precious jewels imaginable; they may also represent God’s purity, justice/wrath, and mercy. John well describes God essentially as an emanation of light (Exodus 28:17, Psalm 104:2, Ezekiel 28:13, 1 Timothy 6:16), along with the rainbow, the reminder of His covenant with all mankind (cf. Genesis 9:12-17).

John then describes the twenty-four thrones around the throne of God, and the twenty-four elders upon those thrones (Revelation 4:4). These twenty-four elders most likely represent two sets of twelve, the twelve patriarchs of the Old Testament and the twelve apostles of the New Testament, and therefore are the embodiment of the people of God throughout time. They are dressed in white garments, indicating their purity, and have golden crowns of victory. They also have harps and bowls of incense, representing the songs and prayers of God’s people (Revelation 5:8). Thus the people of God surround God’s throne in purity and triumph; they are shown constantly casting their crowns before God’s throne, prostrating before Him and declaring His worthiness as the Creator of all things (Revelation 4:10-11).

John then further sets the scene in Revelation 4:5-6a: lightning and thunder, evoking God and Israel at Sinai in Exodus 19:16, the seven torches as the seven spirits of God, representing the Holy Spirit (cf. Revelation 1:4), and something like a sea of glass, like crystal. Such details express the majesty and awesomeness of God as well as the distance between God and man.

John then speaks of four living creatures in Revelation 4:6b-9. Like the seraphim in Isaiah 6:2-3, they surround the throne of God and ceaselessly declare, “holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come,” (Revelation 4:8). Yet much of the description is like the cherubim of Ezekiel 1:10, 18, 10:14-15, 20-22: four creatures with the heads of a lion, a calf, a man, and an eagle, likely representing nobility, strength, wisdom, and swiftness, respectively (also as leaders of their representative animal categories; others have seen in the four the four Evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John). They have eyes everywhere and see all things; they obtain no rest from their ceaseless praise of God.

John then focuses on a scroll in the hand of the One upon the throne, written on both sides and sealed with seven seals (Revelation 5:1). An angel cries out asking who is worthy to open the scroll, and no one is found, leading John to weep and lament (Revelation 5:2-4). One of the elders then comforts John, declaring that there is One who is worthy: the Lion of Judah, the Root of David (Revelation 5:5).

At this time John then sees standing in the midst of the throne and of the elders a Lamb as though it had been slain, with seven horns (representing honor, strength, and power; cf. Deuteronomy 3:17, 1 Kings 22:11, Psalms 18:2, 75:4, 89:17, 112:9, 148:14, Daniel 7:24, Zechariah 1:18-21) and seven eyes (the seven Spirits of God, a representation of all sight, thus omniscience and omnipresence: Zechariah 4:10, Revelation 1:4-6), who takes the scroll from the One upon the throne (Revelation 5:6-7). John then sees a threefold set of praises and honor given to the Lamb: first, a new song of the four living creatures and the elders (Revelation 5:8-10), then an innumerable number of angels with the living creatures and elders, declaring a sevenfold declaration of the Lamb’s glory (a doxology; cf. Revelation 5:11-12), and finally all created things in the universe proclaim blessings, honor, glory, and dominion to the One on the throne and to the Lamb (Revelation 5:13-14).

The Lamb of God, which is the Lion of Judah and the Root of David, is Jesus of Nazareth, who died in order to ransom all men from the power of sin and overcame death in the glorious victory of His resurrection (cf. Romans 5:6-11, 1 Corinthians 15:1-58). We do well to note the emphasis John places on the description of Jesus as the Lamb: only in Revelation 5:5 is He described as a lion, but in Revelation 5:6, 5:12, 6:1, 16, 7:9-10, 14, 12:11, 13:8, 14:2, 4, 15:3, 17:14, 19:7, 9, 21:22-23, and 22:1-3 He is called the Lamb. This is not to deny that Jesus is the Lion of Judah, but to remind us that throughout Revelation, as throughout the whole New Testament, Jesus’ victory is won through His sacrifice. He overcame the power of sin, suffering, and death through suffering and dying. His people will overcome through Him also by dying to sin and suffering whatever they are called upon to suffer (cf. Romans 6:1-23, 1 Peter 1:3-9).

It is hard not to be overcome and awed by the majesty of the scene which John presents of Heaven with the One upon the throne and the Lamb. What John sees is not something that is yet to come; it existed in his present day, and it exists to this day and will exist for eternity. John is writing to Christians in Asia Minor who are suffering persecution and who may feel that God and His power are quite distant: through this scene they could see that the victory had already been won. Their songs and prayers surround the throne of God. As they praised, glorified, and honored the name of the One who sits upon the throne and of the Lamb while on earth, so they would also do so in heaven as it is being done in heaven. No matter how dark or difficult our days may seem while on this earth, we can be sure that God sits upon His throne, the Lamb reigns in Heaven, and if we overcome in Jesus, we also will sing the new song of redemption by the Lamb forevermore!

Ethan R. Longhenry

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Jesus at Hanukkah

The “disciple whom Jesus loved,” known as John, either John the brother of Zebedee (the Apostle), or John the Elder, was writing his recollections of his experiences with Jesus so that those who hear or read would believe Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and would find eternal life in His name (cf. John 20:31). He began by speaking of the Word of God, the Creator, the life and light of men, who took on flesh and dwelt among us as Jesus of Nazareth (John 1:1-18). He then described the calling of the first disciples, Jesus’ first sign at the wedding in Cana, the events which took place while Jesus was present at the Passover in Jerusalem, and Jesus’ return to Galilee via Samaria (John 1:19-4:54). John the Evangelist then set forth Jesus’ healing of a lame man at Bethesda and the storm of controversy it engendered, Jesus’ feeding of the five thousand, and His challenging description of Himself as the Bread of Life (John 5:1-6:71). Most recently John the Evangelist described a long series of engagements and instructions of Jesus around Jerusalem during the Feast of Tabernacles, featuring the healing of the blind man and Jesus’ teachings as the Light of the world and the Good Shepherd (John 7:1-10:21).

In John 10:22-23, John the Evangelist abruptly transitioned to a new time context: it was the Feast of Dedication, in winter, and Jesus was walking in the Solomon’s Portico area of the Temple.

We generally speak of the Feast of Dedication as Hanukkah. Hanukkah commemorates the re-dedication of the Second Temple in the days of the Maccabees around 164 BCE. In 167 BCE the Macedonian Greek Seleucid ruler over Judea, Antiochus IV Epiphanes, issued a series of decrees against the practice of the customs of Moses in order to encourage the Jewish population to Hellenize. A pig was offered on the altar of YHWH in the Second Temple in order to desecrate it, and the Temple services were suspended for three years. These decrees and their enforcement spurred on the Jewish revolt headed by Judah the Maccabee which ultimately proved successful. Judah made provision for the cleansing of the Temple, the tearing down of the desecrated altar and the erection of a new one, and an eight-day observance beginning on the 25th day of Kislev. This eight-day observance was the original Feast of Dedication. It was also reported that the menorah only had enough oil for one day, and yet by God’s miraculous provision the oil endured for all eight days; to this end Hanukkah is also known as the Festival of Lights. Judah the Maccabee exhorted Israel to continually observe the Feast of Dedication/Lights afterward, and it has thus been observed ever since. This historical information was preserved in the apocryphal books of 1 and 2 Maccabees. The author of 1 Maccabees reported how the Maccabees set the desecrated altar aside until a prophet should arise and inform Israel what to do with it, and it was so until the author’s day, indicating the author did not number himself among the prophets. To this end we have no confidence in any claims of inspiration for 1 and 2 Maccabees but should maintain every confidence they generally preserve the historical record of events.

Thus Jesus went up to Jerusalem during the Feast of Dedication. Jesus was walking in that very same Temple; Solomon’s Portico was a large colonnaded section of the Court of Women on the eastern side of the Temple, and of some size, since Peter and the early Christians would meet there according to Acts 5:12. The Hanukkah story, and even the matter of waiting for the prophet, should be kept in mind when considering what would soon take place.

Jesus was accosted by the Jewish authorities who declared an ultimatum: they wanted Him to clearly identify Himself as to whether He was, or was not, the Messiah (John 10:24). Jesus well perceived the lack of good faith in their ultimatum: He spoke of how He had already told them but they did not believe (John 10:25). They did not believe because they were not His sheep; those who were His sheep listen to Him and follow Him, and Jesus would give them eternal life, for His Father was greater than all, and none would snatch the sheep from His hand (John 10:26-29). In this way Jesus continued using the line of argument and thought expressed a couple of months earlier in His “Good Shepherd” discourse of John 10:1-22.

Jesus concluded by identifying Himself strongly with God, saying He and the Father were one (John 10:30). The Jewish leaders picked up stones to stone Him; He asked them for what good deed would they stone Him, and they responded it was because He blasphemed, associating Himself with God (John 10:31-33). The Jewish leaders correctly understood Jesus’ association; He used the language of the Shema of Deuteronomy 4:6, how YHWH God of Israel was one, to speak of the unity of the Father and the Son. Thus for a second time Jesus directly associated Himself with YHWH, and for a second time the Israelites were ready to stone Him (cf. John 8:31-59).

In response, Jesus made an argument on the basis of Psalm 82:6: if Asaph could speak of those to whom the Word of God came as “gods,” how could they condemn Jesus for blaspheming by declaring Himself the Son of God (John 10:34-36)?

Jesus’ argument proves challenging for many reasons. Jesus spoke of Psalm 82:6 as “in the law” of the Israelites, even though it is a psalm and thus part of the Ketuvim, or “Writings.” We can best understand Jesus as using “law” accommodatively to refer to all the revelation of God within the covenant between God and Israel. While Jesus’ argument remains quite comprehensible on its own terms, it remains difficult to reconcile it with any kind of contextual understanding of Asaph’s message.

Psalm 82:1-8, by common confession, remains an esoteric psalm, one which leads to more questions than it answers. The thrust of its exhortation can be easily discerned: the authorities whom God has placed over the order of things has proven craven and oppressive, and God chastised them in His heavenly council, demanding they execute justice and righteousness; they profess to be mighty beings, but they would die like humans and be greatly humbled. In this way Asaph asked God to execute judgment among the nations. But who are these “gods,” Elohim in Hebrew? Some translations basically add a new definition to the term for this passage and speak of them as “judges,” perhaps attempting to consider them as humans. Yet where else do we have any expectation of humans sitting in the heavenly council of YHWH? If they were human, dying like humans would be expected, not the dramatic reversal declared in Psalm 82:7. “Gods” remains the best translation, and we can perhaps make sense of them in terms of the “powers and principalities” of which Paul spoke in Ephesians 6:12. The witness of the Scriptures is ambivalent about the “gods” of the nations: some passages speak of them as if they did not really have any existence, but other passages speak of them as if they were demons or some other kind of spiritual power installed by God but often and easily corrupted. It is never wise to prove dogmatic about matters relating to the spiritual realm, for God has revealed just enough to let us know more is going on behind the scenes than we can imagine, but not nearly enough in order to be able to make much sense of it. True understanding is most likely beyond our understanding or quite unprofitable for us. We thus recognize the challenges presented by Asaph and Jesus regarding Psalm 82:1-8: more questions remain unanswered than answered, but we can understand the general thrust of the argument of each, and should recognize that neither Asaph nor Jesus is suggesting humans can become gods.

Jesus continued His response: He did not expect anyone to believe in Him if He did not do the deeds of His Father; even if they would not believe in Him, they should at least believe in those deeds, so that they might come to an understanding of how the Son and the Father share in perichoretic relational unity, mutual interpenetration without loss of distinctive identity (John 10:37-38). Through miraculous intervention Jesus again escaped their clutches, for His time had not yet come (John 10:39; cf. John 7:58-59).

John the Evangelist then related how Jesus left Jerusalem for the region immediately east of the Jordan River, the area in which John the Baptist was active (John 10:40). In contrast to Jesus’ experiences in Jerusalem, the people near the Jordan River confessed how John the Baptist had done no miraculous sign, but everything he had said about Jesus was true; many there thus believed in Jesus (John 10:41-42).

Israel celebrated the re-dedication of their Temple, and yet One greater than their Temple was present. The authorities, at least in theory, were waiting for prophetic insight about what they should do; yet they rejected Jesus the Prophet because they reckoned His claims about His relationship with God to be blasphemous. In a few years all of the Temple would become as that desecrated altar, torn down never to be rebuilt again. Yet Jesus was vindicated as the Son of God in His death and resurrection, and thus we all do well to humbly submit to Him and live as His sheep. May we find life in God in Christ through the Spirit!

Ethan R. Longhenry

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Ad Hominem

According to the adage associated with Eleanor Roosevelt, “great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.”

While we may look askance at such a thought because of its elitism, the premise certainly holds true when it comes to argumentation.

One of the most common logical fallacies committed in argumentation, debate, discourse, and writing is argumentum ad hominem, Latin for “argument to the person,” often shortened to ad hominem. Ad hominem fallacies take place whenever a person ceases to argue, discuss, or dispute regarding the issue(s) at hand, and instead attack, deride, insult, or slander their opponents with a view of discrediting them before others and thereby casting aspersions on their arguments or ideas.

ad hominem tends to serve as a penumbra for a constellation of more specific logical fallacies; one could also understand a host of fallacies as specific applications and forms of ad hominem arguments. Guilt by association and tu quoque are common forms of ad hominem logical fallacies, attempting either to malign a person and their ideas by associating them with someone or something deemed odious, or by making an irrelevant appeal to perceived moral hypocrisy.

A good number of situations in which we find and see examples of ad hominem fallacies involve abuse and circumstance. Abusive ad hominem would involve the classic understanding of the fallacy: speaking evil or ill of a person as opposed to directly addressing their argument. Such evil speaking might well be slanderous. Abusive ad hominem pollutes discourse and inhibits discussion, which all too often seems to be the point: attempting desperately to get away from the arguments and ideas at the moment and focus on anything else. Such is what the prophet Jeremiah endured: he was almost universally denounced for prophesying YHWH’s messages; since no one could really argue with the messages on their merits, they would deride, insult, and mock Jeremiah (cf. Jeremiah 20:8-10). Our modern American political discourse, more often than not, quickly falls into forms of abusive ad hominem.

Circumstantial ad hominem involves pigeonholing people based on perceived circumstances and situations, attempting to dismiss arguments or ideas because, it is believed, people in those given circumstances must by necessity come to such conclusions. Circumstantial ad hominem is also part of the “genetic fallacy” category, imagining an argument proves invalid on account of the one arguing for it. More often than not, when a person’s age, gender, or race is brought up in terms of an argument, the goal is a circumstantial ad hominem, attempting to dismiss the argument because the person is male or female, white or black, young or old. This kind of fallacy also depends upon stereotyping and some form of reductionism.

Ad hominem fallacies prove appealing because they often work: the discourse is poisoned, discussions devolve into name-slinging, and people are sufficiently distracted from the issue at hand. Many who profess Jesus would even attempt to justify committing ad hominem fallacies, making much of Elijah’s mockery of the prophets of Baal in 1 Kings 18:27. Yet such appeals and desires tend to be motivated by less than godly and honorable motives, and seem derived from the demonic wisdom of this world (cf. James 3:13-18). Christians are called to not slander or speak evil of others (Titus 3:2, 1 Peter 3:1). Christians should not be known for abusive speech (Colossians 3:8). Nevertheless, Christians should expect to be the object of ad hominem fallacious arguments, but are not called upon to respond in kind (cf. 1 Peter 3:15-16). Few testimonies to the truth of God in Christ prove more powerful than responding to ad hominem by continuing to address the specific arguments or ideas at hand. But if we prove anxious and fearful in our arguments and discussions and commit ad hominem fallacies, how could we possibly give grace or well honor and reflect Christ in how we thus speak (cf. Ephesians 4:29)?

This final concern reflects the limitations of understanding ad hominem arguments as logical fallacies. We address ad hominem logical fallacies because when we make reference to the person as a strawman or a deflection from the argument, God in Christ is not glorified. Yet not all appeals to people, their beliefs, morals, and conduct, thus prove fallacious.

We do not live in a disembodied world of abstractions; we live in a world made by our Creator by means of His Word which would take on flesh and dwell among us as Jesus of Nazareth (cf. John 1:1, 14). Therefore, it is not wise for us to entirely separate arguments and ideas from people and their conduct. There will be times when moral hypocrisy genuinely happens and it might be productive to point it out. Sometimes people do maintain ungodly and unhealthy associations, and contract guilt from so doing (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:33, 2 John 1:6-10). And there will be times in which people’s experience will mean something in terms of an argument or an issue, and those who have not shared in that experience will struggle to come to a similar understanding of those matters.

Yet in these contexts appeals to a person’s behavior or their experience are not designed to deflect from the substance of the argument or discussion, but instead are marshaled as part of the substance of the argument or discussion in order to advance it.

The truth of God in Christ through the Spirit has never been demonstrated through reason alone; it has always featured the message of God proclaimed and embodied in practice, from Abraham through Moses and the prophets and most perfectly manifest in Jesus of Nazareth. The Apostles thus encouraged proclamation of the Gospel in word and deed (1 Peter 2:11-3:16); Jesus and the Apostles expected Christians to imitate their examples (John 13:1-15, 1 Corinthians 11:1, 1 Thessalonians 1:6, 2:14). To this end the Gospel of Jesus Christ never requires us to commit ad hominem fallacies; insulting or deriding opponents may feel intellectually satisfying but represents the demonic wisdom of this world, not the peaceable wisdom which comes from above. Yet most of our words will fall in vain if our lives do not manifest their truth: why should anyone do what we say if we do not even do so? To this end we do well to avoid ad hominem logical fallacies but instead faithfully embody the Lord Jesus Christ in word and deed by means of the Spirit to the glory of God the Father!

Ethan R. Longhenry

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The Levites and Their Service

The Book of Numbers is better understood in terms of its name in Hebrew: Bemidbar, “in the wilderness,” for it described Israel’s preparations to depart from Mount Horeb/Sinai and their wanderings in the wilderness afterward. The events described therein would have taken place sometime around either 1450-1410 or 1250 BCE, depending on one’s view of the Exodus; Moses would have written the original text while in the land of Moab across the Jordan River from Jericho.

In Numbers 1:1-10:10 Moses set forth the preparations necessary for Israel to travel; while we may find such information tedious, we have records of Egyptian rulers chronicling their preparations and logistics for major campaigns, suggesting many ancient people took pride in detailing all which proved necessary to accomplish their great deeds. YHWH had commanded Moses and Aaron to take a military census of the Israelites and to organize the camp by tribe in Numbers 1:1-2:34, and Moses, Aaron, and the Israelites had proven obedient to all which YHWH had commanded them.

The one tribe excepted from the military census was the Levites; YHWH commanded Moses to appoint the Levites over the service and transportation of the Tabernacle and its furnishings (Numbers 1:47-53). This charge would be taken up and described in detail in Numbers 3:1-4:49.

The genealogy and experience of Aaron and his children are detailed in Numbers 3:1-4. In Leviticus 8:1-9:24, Aaron and his four sons, Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar were consecrated to YHWH to serve as His high priests. Nadab and Abihu would die soon after when they offered unauthorized incense before YHWH (Leviticus 11:1-4); this event was mentioned again in Numbers 3:4 to explain why Aaron’s two younger sons will now be given positions of authority and responsibility.

For however long between the events of Leviticus 8:1-9:24 and Numbers 3:1, it would seem Aaron and his sons alone served before YHWH. In Numbers 3:5-4:49 YHWH charged Moses to bring the tribe of Levi and dedicate them to assisting Aaron and his sons in the service before YHWH: to help with the ministrations of the Tabernacle as well as its transport (Numbers 3:5-10).

Long beforehand, Levi had three sons: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari (Numbers 3:17). Each of these had their own sons, and from all of them would come the families of the Levites, and their roles in the service and transport of the Tabernacle would be determined by family (Numbers 3:18-20). YHWH commanded Moses to count every male over a month old among the Levites by these clans and families (Numbers 3:14-16); not for military purposes, as the census of Israel, but for dedication to serving YHWH in His Tabernacle.

The male Gershonites numbered 7,500 and would camp to the immediate west of the Tabernacle (Numbers 3:21-23). They would be responsible for the tent itself, the curtains, the courtyard around the altar, and their service (Numbers 3:24-26). The male Kohathites numbered 8,600 and would camp immediately south of the Tabernacle; they were responsible for the sanctuary and all its implements and their service (Numbers 3:27-31). Eleazar ben Aaron was responsible for the oversight of the Gershonites and Kohathites and their service (Numbers 3:32). The Merarites numbered 6,200 and would camp immediately to the north of the Tabernacle; they were responsible for the frames and pillars of the Tabernacle and their service (Numbers 3:33-37). Moses, Aaron, and Aaron’s sons would camp immediately to the east of the Tabernacle and maintained oversight over the whole system (Numbers 3:38). Moses and Aaron proved faithful to YHWH’s commands, and the number of Levites came out to 22,000 (Numbers 3:39).

In Exodus 13:1-2 YHWH had commanded Moses and the Israelites to reckon the firstborn male of the womb as dedicated to YHWH. Such a dedication would demand a sacrifice: the actual sacrifice of an animal, or dedication to YHWH’s service for male humans. In YHWH’s original desire, all Israel would have been holy and sanctified and able to serve before Him (Exodus 19:5-6); however, during the incident with the golden calf, only the Levites came to Moses as standing for YHWH (Exodus 32:26-29). Thus the Levites were consecrated before YHWH; and in Numbers 3:11-13, YHWH brought these matters together by declaring the Levites as being consecrated to YHWH as redemption for the firstborn males of all Israel. To this end YHWH commanded Moses to count the firstborn males of Israel; the total was 22,273 (Numbers 3:40-43). Such left 273 over; YHWH commanded Moses to obtain five shekels for each of them for redemption, for a total of 1,365 shekels given to Aaron and his sons for the service before YHWH, all as YHWH had commanded (Numbers 3:44-51).

YHWH then commissioned Moses and Aaron with a more specific census for each of the three clans of Levi of men between thirty and fifty who would be the ones in active service (Leviticus 4:1-49). YHWH would then describe the role of each clan in transporting the Tabernacle and its equipment. Aaron and his sons were charged with covering the Ark of the Testimony, the table of the Presence, the altar, and their implements, and to position the poles in place for their transport; it would then fall upon the Kohathites, numbering 2,750, to carry them (Numbers 4:1-16, 34-36). If any Kohathite watched the covering of the holy things or touched a holy thing itself, he would die (Numbers 4:15, 17-20). Eleazar was given oversight over all these matters as well as for the oil for lamplight, oil of anointing, incense, and the daily grain offering (Numbers 4:16). The Gershonites, numbering 2,630, would be responsible for carrying the curtains and coverings; Ithamar ben Aaron was to provide oversight over them (Numbers 4:21-28, 38-41). The Merarites, numbering 3,200, were responsible for all the poles and ropes and other supporting materials; Ithamar ben Aaron was to oversee them as well (Numbers 4:29-33, 42-44). Thus all the Levite men between thirty and fifty years old in active service numbered 8,580 (Numbers 4:45-48).

All things had thus been structured: Israel had been numbered for military service and organized for the march, and the Levites had been numbered and provisions had been made for the service, transport, and installation of the Tabernacle (Numbers 1:1-4:49). We do well to note how Moses, Aaron, and the Israelites had proven faithful to YHWH in all of these matters and were commended for that faithfulness (cf. Numbers 1:54, 2:34, 3:42, 51, 4:49). Israel would soon be on the march.

All seemed well and in order, and for the moment, it was. We know how it will all fall apart and yet put back together again. These preparations were detailed for us to understand how God organized His people and to what end, and their faithfulness in executing this organization. Organization and structure are not everything, nor are they even primary in terms of our faithfulness and service to God; nevertheless, they should exist as God intended so that we can most effectively work to His glory and honor according to the forms of organization He has set forth in Christ through the Spirit as put in place by His Apostles. May we honor God in our organizations and structures, and obtain eternal life in Him!

Ethan R. Longhenry

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