A Tradition Of Wells (part 10)

This study now advances to the works of the prophets.  A look at wells through the prophets will conclude the exploration and recognition of that which has provided useful background information and contextualization for the portrayal of Jesus’ meeting with the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well.  As this is done, one should continue to reflect on the fact that the shared historical narrative of the nation will shape the prophets’ conception of wells, providing foundation material for their own thought, while maintaining the awareness that prophetical treatment of wells will also serve to inform the significance of wells as they appear in the messianic presentations of John’s Gospel. 

Looking first to the thirty-seventh chapter of Isaiah.  As the prophecy shares material that is common to the second book of the Kings, Isaiah recounts the invasion of Judah by the Assyrian king Sennacherib, along with the response of the king, that being Hezekiah.  Hezekiah has laid Judah’s case before Israel’s God, asking for His intervention against what appears to be the seemingly unavoidable calamity that is coming upon His people.  In response, Isaiah sends a message to Hezekiah (37:21), sharing the response of the “Lord God of Israel” (37:21b). 

In the course of what is to shared with Hezekiah, Isaiah makes mention of a well, placing its mention on the lips of the arrogant king of Assyria, as the reader gets to hear what Israel’s God has effectively heard him say: “With my many chariots I climbed up the high mountains, the slopes of Lebanon.  I cut down its tall cedars and its best evergreens.  I invaded its remote regions, its thickest woods.  I dug wells and drank water.  With the soles of my feet I drip up all the rivers of Egypt” (37:24b-25). 

Naturally, any mention of Egypt by a foreign king that stands against the people of Israel, is bound to invoke memories of Israel’s Egyptian experience.  Regardless of what any king could claim to have performed against Egypt, the God of Israel could lay claim to far more astounding feats.  With talk of Egypt triggering such thoughts, one could easily retrace and rethink talk of chariots (the Egyptian army overcome by the water of the sea), the digging of wells (Abraham and Isaac), and the drinking of water (the continuous provision of water in the wilderness), and be reminded that the covenant and Creator God of Israel had more than sufficient power with which to repel the relatively impotent king of Assyria.  How this might play into the thoughts of John and Jesus, if at all, while considering the importance of Isaiah to thoughts of the messiah and to the New Testament in general, is not entirely clear, though the underlying themes of covenant faithfulness do provide a means of application.

Deceit & Judgment (part 1 of 2)

The human mind is more deceitful than anything else.  It is incurably bad.  Who can understand it?  - Jeremiah 17:9  (NET)

With these words, the God of Israel, presumably speaking through His prophet Jeremiah, sends forth a stinging rebuke against His covenant people.  Before attributing an incurably bad and deceitful mind to His own people that had been culled out from humanity so as to be the shining lights of His glory in and to the world, He accuses them of placing “trust in mere human beings” (17:5b).  The Creator God here says that He will curse His people that do such things, “who depend on mere flesh and blood for their strength” (17:5c), because in that, they demonstrate that their “hearts have turned away from the Lord” (17:5d). 

Of course, when the reader of Scripture stumbles across any mentions of curses, that reader’s thoughts should be caused to dwell upon the curses to be found in Leviticus and Deuteronomy that are especially pronounced against idolatry, which are set in juxtaposition to the blessings that are to be enjoyed for faithfulness to covenant obligations, the proper worship and recognition of the covenant God, and appropriate bearing of the divine image. 

The statement about the human mind found here in Jeremiah is not necessarily to be taken as a generalization and universal condemnation.  Rather, it is specifically connected to trust in human beings, so it asks to be understood as a reference to idolatry.  Jeremiah is in the midst of communicating judgment and exile to the Creator God’s people, and in doing, lets them know that their idolatry is the key component of that judgment.  The implications of the judgment is that rather than being a light reflecting the glory of their God, and subsequently directing the nations to the worship of the one and only God of Israel, they had instead imitated the nations surrounding them and gone after their idols.  It is because of that then, that “The Lord said, ‘So I will let them know My mighty power in judgment.  Then they will know that My Name is the Lord’.” (16:21) 

Remembering that there is a wider context and a continuous narrative stream in Jeremiah, it is appropriate to back up to the fifteenth chapter so as to learn that the punishment to be rendered by their God for this idolatry will be severe.  The covenant God speaks about His people and says “I will have war kill them.  I will have dogs drag off their dead bodies.  I will have birds and wild beasts devour and destroy their corpses.  I will make all the people in all the kingdoms of the world horrified at what has happened to them” (15:3b-4a).  Naturally, kingdoms being horrified at the woes of Israel stands in stark and glaring contrast to what the God of Israel had intended for His covenant people. 

It is worth inquiring as to when the fate of this people was sealed?  It is suggested that the were going to suffer judgment “because of what Hezekiah’s son Manasseh, king of Judah, did in Jerusalem” (15:4b).  As is to be routinely found in the historical narrative of Israel, the king stands for and represents the people, with the people often subject to cursing because of him and his actions.  Later on in the Scriptural narrative, it will be possible to find another King that stands for and represents the people, and that it is through Him that the people of God become blessed.  

Token Of Submission (part 1 of 2)

Don’t listen to Hezekiah!  For this is what the king of Assyria says, “Send me a token of your submission and surrender to me.  Then each of you may eat from his own vine and fig tree and drink water from his own cistern.” – 2 Kings 18:31  (NET)

Hezekiah is the king of the nation of Judah (the two tribe southern kingdom after the division of the Israel into north and south following the death of King Solomon).  At this point in the Scriptural narrative, Assyria has already conquered the northern kingdom, and has now set its sights upon furthering its conquest and bringing the southern nation of Judah into submission as well.  In fact, it is reported that “King Sennacherib of Assyria marched up against all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them”(18:13b).  Quite understandably, this action provoked alarm on behalf of Hezekiah and the people of Judah, causing Hezekiah to respond to the emissary of the King of Assyria by saying “I have violated our treaty.  If you leave, I will do whatever you demand” (18:14b).  Upon this statement, a duty was laid upon Judah.  This duty would be a regular payment of some form, as an indication of subservience 

Subsequently, in customary fashion in these matters and in order to cement Hezekiah’s loyal service, Sennacherib sent a messenger to Hezekiah.  The purpose of the messenger was to inform Hezekiah, through his subordinates, that he was powerless to stand up to the might of Assyria.  Accordingly, continued subjection should be considered to be the best course of action for Hezekiah and his people.  In addition, Sennacherib’s messenger communicates information that could very well have had the effect of conjuring up thoughts of the promised covenant curses of Leviticus and Deuteronomy and the judgment of God upon His people if they failed to live up to their relatively simple covenant responsibilities, when he says, “The Lord told me, ‘March up against this land and destroy it’.” (18:25b) 

The messenger goes on, resorting to intimidation tactics and invoking the name of Israel’s God as the One Who has not only sent Assyria, but Who will not in any way be able to stem the tide of destruction if the people choose to rebel.  At this point, the messenger of Sennacherib says, “this is what the king of Assyria says, ‘Send me a token of your submission and surrender to me.  Then each of you may eat from his own vine and fig tree and drink water from his own cistern’.” (18:31)  It is the words that follow this that should give one pause, and in so doing, offer a mental transport from this scene of ancient Israel into the very present life of faith as lived by Resurrection power, which is somehow delivered through the agency of the Spirit of the Creator God. 

The Creator God makes a claim upon His divine image-bearers and their lives, trumping the claim of all other kings and principalities and powers as He, through His messengers (apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastor/teachers, and His Word) speaks to them and says, “Send me a token of your submission and surrender to Me.”  To what are they submitting and surrendering?  They submit and surrender, by the act of faith (manifested as confessing allegiance to Jesus and His ways in both word and deed) to the message that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah---the crucified and resurrected Lord of all (the Gospel).  What is the token of that submission and surrender?  Naturally, the token is love, which is both concrete and abstract.  However, two very real, tangible, and visible tokens of such are baptism and the communion. 

Veil Of The Temple (part 4)

When Solomon constructs the first temple, not only are there images of cherubim included in the design of the separating curtain, but representations of cherubim are to be found throughout the temple.  “In the inner sanctuary he made two cherubs of olive wood; each stood fifteen feet high” (1 Kings 6:23).  Their wingspans were also said to be fifteen feet (6:24-25), so that their wings reached out to touch the walls (6:27).  These cherubim would have shined brilliantly, as they were overlaid with gold (6:28).  Though the temple did not have curtains all around it, as did the tabernacle, Solomon still made it a point to mimic the decorative cherubim of the tabernacle curtains, carving cherubim into the walls, into the doors, and into the stands for the large basin. 

When the temple was completed and the Ark was brought into the most holy place, it is pointed out that “The cherub’s wings extended over the place where the ark sat; the cherubs overshadowed the ark and its poles” (8:7).  Of course, the reader goes on to learn that Solomon did this because his father, David, “gave him the blueprint for the seat of the gold cherubim that spread their wings and provide shelter for the ark of the Lord’s covenant” (1 Chronicles 28:18b).  Naturally, in its recapitulation of a portion of Israel’s history, the second book of the Chronicles also details the construction of Solomon’s temple, with numerous references to the cherubim to be seen there.      

Many years later, when Hezekiah and the southern kingdom of Judah are threatened by the Assyrians, Hezekiah is said to have went to the temple and prayed to the “Lord God of Israel, Who is enthroned on the cherubs!” (2 King 19:15a)  The Psalms speak of cherubim (80:1,99:1).  Isaiah calls upon the “Lord Who commands armies, O God of Israel, Who is enthroned on the cherubim!” (37:16a).  Though in a different way, cherubim feature prominently in Ezekiel’s prophecy.  Though there is no veil with cherubim in the vision of Ezekiel’s temple, representations of cherubim are still to be found there.  Finally, cherubim make their way into the New Testament, being referenced in the letter to the Hebrews, where the author writes, taking in the full scope of cherubic presentations, of “the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat” (9:5). 

Why all this talk of cherubim?  Were these people just very fond of all things angelic, or are the people of the Creator God to be reminded of something quite specific each and every time they hear about and see these cherubim?  These are good and important questions.  With these numerous and regular presentations of cherubim, what was it that was being communicated to the covenant people?  When they would see the cherubim, what is it that would spring to mind?  These questions can likewise be posed for the veil.  As one considers the veil of the temple, along with the veil of the tabernacle, what was it that made the veil so important?  It would seem to be obvious that it was something that served to keep the Creator God’s people from the place where He was to be encountered.  It seems to have been designed to limit their fellowship with their God. 

One can know from the Scriptural narrative that a promise that had been made by the Creator God was the promise to meet with Moses, and the High Priest of His people, above the mercy seat of the Ark of the Covenant, between what must be considered to be guardian cherubim.  This meeting between cherubim took place behind the veil that was adorned with guardian cherubim.  This forces an observer to reflect upon and consider where it is that cherubim are first introduced into the narrative.  Where does this take place?  To obtain that answer, it is necessary to look to the book of Genesis.  There, in the third chapter, it can be read that “When He drove the man out, He placed on the eastern side of the orchard in Eden angelic sentries who used the flame of a whirling sword to guard the way to the tree of life” (3:24).  Those angelic sentries, of course, were cherubim.