Old Testament Images

The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, 

because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; 

he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, 

to proclaim liberty to the captives, 

and the opening of the prison to those who are bound.

(Isa 61:1)

By Stephen W. Hiemstra

The Holy Spirit is alive and well in the Old Testament. Because the Holy Spirit is the agent of God’s work in his creation, it is helpful to recognize two distinct Old Testament characteristics: Examples of the Holy Spirit’s manifestation and embodiment. I use the term, manifestation of the Holy Spirit, to capture a pattern of action while the Holy Spirit’s embodiment suggests a symbol or joint participation of the spirit and a person. Both are important in scripture as God’s agency in his creation is described.

Manifestations of the Holy Spirit

The first characteristic of the Holy Spirit is manifestation. The Holy Spirit’s footloose nature is manifest in at least two patterns in the Old Testament that display responses to God’s invitation of faith. The first manifestation is seen in Abraham’s call to faith:

“Now the LORD said to Abram, Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Gen 12:1-3)

Abraham must leave behind all sources of security in the ancient world—country, tribe, and family—to respond to God’s call. Abraham’s faith is displayed in a physical, not verbal, response to this call. God’s election becomes obvious in both blessings and curses to prosper and protect Abraham. Evidence of Abraham’s election arises in his sharing of God’s blessings with others.

For those who refuse the invitation of faith, a second manifestation can be seen:

“And when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the LORD your God has driven you, and return to the LORD your God, you and your children, and obey his voice in all that I command you today, with all your heart and with all your soul, then the LORD your God will restore your fortunes and have mercy on you, and he will gather you again from all the peoples where the LORD your God has scattered you.” (Deut 30:1-3)

For those who refuse faith, there is the curse of scattering, an echo of the curse of Cain (Gen 3:14). Here the pattern is: collective sin, scattering and enslavement, crying out to the Lord, and the sending of a deliverer. Walter Brueggemann (2016, 59) describes this pattern as the Deuteronomic Cycle.

These two manifestations are repeated throughout scripture and represent two responses to God’s invitation of faith. All are called; not all respond. One way or the other, through the instrumentality of the Holy Spirit: “To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear allegiance.” (Isa 45:23)

Embodiment of the Holy Spirit

The second characteristic of the Holy Spirit is embodiment. The first person to embody the Holy Spirit is likely Abel, the righteous son of Adam and Eve. Scripture does not actually say that Abel was embodied with the Holy Spirit, but is a keeper of sheep and provided worship that God found acceptable( Gen 4:2-5). His brother, Cain, was a farmer and, later, a city-builder. After Cain killed Abel out of jealousy, God cursed Cain to be a wanderer, and Adam and Eve had a third son, Seth, who replaced Abel as the righteous son (Gen 4:25-26). The genealogy in Genesis 11:10-27 shows Abraham to be a direct descendent of Shem.

Melchizedek is thought by some to be another name for Seth who also directly passed on blessings to Abraham. Abraham responded by offering a tithe (Gen 14:18-20) suggesting that Abraham both had and embraced the status of the righteous lineage, which required no further anointing of the Holy Spirit. This lineage traces through Isaac and Joseph. Each member of this righteous lineage has a direct relationship with God that is then passed onto the Nation of Israel.

This righteous lineage history lays the groundwork for charismatic leadership where the spiritual legacy of the Holy Spirit takes the form of messianic leaders, those anointed with oil and the laying on of hands. Messianic titles include: priests, prophets, and kings. The title, Christ, is a Greek translation of the Hebrew word, messiah.

The Special Role of Moses

Leadership in Israel went to Joseph bypassing Simeon and Levi (the first and second born sons of Jacob) because of their role in the bloodshed after the rape of their sister Dinah (Gen 34). Because Moses was of the tribe of Levi (Exod 2:1) he was not of the righteous lineage. This is ironic because the tribe of Levi became priests under Moses’ leadership. Nevertheless, God called Moses personally to lead the Nation of Israel out of Egypt (Exod 3:1-10).

Moses embodied the Holy Spirit on account of his personal relationship with God. As Moses led the Nation of Israel out of Egypt and into the desert, we read:

“And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night.” (Exod 13:21)

The Holy Spirit is embodied here in a “pillar of cloud” often referred to as the Shekinah cloud, where Shekinah is a transliteration of the Hebrew word for divine presence. The Shekinah cloud is also seen hanging over Mount Sinai with the giving of the law (Exod 19)) and over the Tabernacle (Num 9:15), the antecedent of the Temple built in Jerusalem by Solomon.

The Temple in Jerusalem

The anointing of the Holy Spirit in Old Testament is given to charismatic leaders and, on one occasion, to 70 leaders of the Nation of Israel (Num 11:25), an antecedent of the founding of the church at Pentecost (Acts 2). The founding of the Temple in Jerusalem started not with the Holy Spirit, but with King David wanting to move the Tabernacle to Jerusalem and replace it with a temple.

God was not altogether pleased with David’s idea of building a temple:

“In all places where I have moved with all the people of Israel, did I speak a word with any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, Why have you not built me a house of cedar?” (2 Sam 7:7)

Building a temple in the ancient world was a way to control access to the gods and was typically an instrument of nation-building and kingly rule. God forbid David from building a temple because he spent most of his life at war, but conceded that his son, Solomon, could build this temple.

When Solomon built the temple and dedicated it, it was filled with the Shekinah glory of God (2 Chr 7:1). This was the first Temple of Jerusalem that was later destroyed by the Babylonians (2 Kgs 25:9). A second Temple of Jerusalem was built by the exiles returning from Babylon 70 years later (Ezr 3). 

The idea that God’s throne is in heaven suggests that the status of temples as an embodiment of the Holy Spirit has always been problematic (Ps 11:4). This problematic embodiment reaches a highpoint with the crucifixion of Jesus when temple veil was torn (Matt 27:51) and the Temple in Jerusalem was again destroyed in AD 70 by the Romans.

Old Testament Images
Also see:
The Face of God in the Parables
The Who Question
Preface to a Life in Tension
Other ways to engage online:



Author site: http://www.StephenWHiemstra.net
Publisher site: http://www.T2Pneuma.com




Newsletter at: https://bit.ly/sprng_2025, Signup
 

 

The post Old Testament Images appeared first on T2Pneuma.net.