by Brian Godawa
Matthew 24:30
30 Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven, and then all the tribes of the Land [of Israel] will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
Hebrews 9:8–9 (NASB95)
8 The Holy Spirit is signifying this, that the way into the holy place has not yet been disclosed while the outer tabernacle is still standing, 9 which is a symbol for the present time.
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Armageddon:
Revelation 16:13–16
13 And I saw, coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs. 14 For they are demonic spirits, performing signs, who go abroad to the kings of the whole world, to assemble them for battle on the great day of God the Almighty. 15 (“Behold, I am coming like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake, keeping his garments on, that he may not go about naked and be seen exposed!”) 16 And they assembled them at the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon.
“The correct (Hebrew) term John uses to describe the climactic end-times battle is harmagedon. This spelling becomes significant when we try to discern what this Hebrew term means. The first part of the term (har) is easy. In Hebrew har means “mountain.” Our term is therefore divisible into har-magedon, “Mount (of) magedon…the Hebrew phrase behind John’s Greek transliteration of our mystery Hebrew term is actually h-r-m-ʿ-d. But what does that mean? If the first part (h-r) is the Hebrew word har (“mountain”), is there a har m-ʿ-d in the Hebrew Old Testament? There is – and it’s stunning when considered in light of the battle of “Armageddon” and what we discussed in the previous chapter about the supernatural north and antichrist.The phrase in question exists in the Hebrew Bible as har moʿed. Incredibly, it is found in Isaiah 14:13…the phrase har moʿed was one of the terms used to describe the dwelling place of Yahweh and his divine council – the cosmic mountain…When John draws on this ancient Hebrew phrase, he is indeed pointing to a climactic battle at Jerusalem. Why? Because Jerusalem is a mountain – Mount Zion. And if Baal and the gods of other nations don’t like Yahweh claiming to be Most High and claiming to run the cosmos from the heights of Zaphon/Mount Zion, they can try to do something about it.”
Michael S. Heiser, The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible, First Edition (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2015), 369-373.
“The rulers of the empire”: I use this phrase because the translation “kings of the whole world” is a bad translation that gives a false picture of the original language. In Greek, the word for “whole world” is oikoumene, which contextually in the New Testament means the Roman empire.
The same Greek word is used in Luke 2:1: “Now it came about in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus, that a census be taken of all the inhabited earth.” In the New American Standard Version, the marginal note in Luke 2:1 reads “the Roman empire” (also see Acts 11:28, 24:5).”
Gary DeMar, Last Days Madness: Obsession of the Modern Church, Fourth revised edition (Powder Springs, GA: American Vision, 1999), 88.
In NT thinking the Roman empire is the world (Ac 11:28; 17:6; 24:5; Col 1:6, 24). This is true among non-biblical writers, as well (Jos., J.W. 2:16:4 §361, 380, 388; 4:3:10 §78; Ap. 2:4 §8; Tac., His. 2:78).
And the Greek word for “kings” mean rulers of all kinds, not merely kings as in monarchies:
“The NT has 115 occurrences of βασιλεύς. “king” a) As in the LXX, references to the secular ruler predominate with 72 occurrences (25 in the Synoptics, 19 in Acts, 17 in Revelation, 7 in Hebrews, and 2 Cor 11:32; 1 Tim 2:2; 1 Pet 2:13, 17). b) 38 occurrences refer to Jesus (19 in the Synoptics and 16 in John, of which 26 are in the Passion narrative; Acts 17:7; Rev 17:14; 19:16).”
Horst Robert Balz and Gerhard Schneider, Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testament (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1990–), 206.
Spiritual war of cosmic mountains: Isaiah 14:13-15. For the fictional depiction of this spiritual war of cosmic mountains see Brian Godawa Jesus Triumphant: Chronicles of the Nephilim Book 8 (Embedded Pictures, 2015). For an explanation of the theology behind that fiction see the appendix of that same book, pages 308-311. For the academic defense of the interpretation, see Michael S. Heiser, The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible, First Edition (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2015), 288-295.
Armageddon as battle of cosmic mountains: Richard J. Clifford, The Cosmic Mountain in Canaan and the Old Testament (Wipf & Stock Pub, 2010).
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This description of the demons taken from: Revelation 9:7-10.
Ken Gentry makes a strong argument for the case that these demons are described this way in order to link them to the Roman legions that would besiege Jerusalem for 5 months in AD 69-70.
1. “Their appearance was like horses prepared for battle” (Rev 9:7) is a reference to the war horses of the legion.
2. “On their heads appeared to be crowns like gold” (9:7) Crowns are symbols of victorious march. These could be symbolic of the spiritual powers and authorities of darkness.
3. “And their faces were like the faces of men” (9:7).
“This may also imply that these demons inhabit those Jews – particularly the Idumeans, zealots, and Sicarii – within the city during the final five month siege. They lead these men to act in a bestial manner, for as Josephus writes of that period: the trapped citizens are “like a wild beast [thērion] grown mad, which, for want of food from abroad, fell now upon eating its own flesh” (J.W. 5:1:1 §4). Thus, those men operate “without mercy, and omitted no method of torment or of barbarity” (J.W. 5:1:5 §35).”
4. “These demon-locusts also had hair like the hair of women” (9:8a).
“This additional anthropomorphism may indicate the demonically-enhanced, shameful crimes committed within Jerusalem of this period. According to Paul long hair (such as women have) on men may picture that which is dishonorable: “even nature itself teaches you that if a man has long hair, it is a dishonor to him” (1Co 11:14). Or this image may even more particularly anticipate the demonic actions of John of Gischala’s men:
They also devoured what spoils they had taken, together with their blood, and indulged themselves in feminine wantonness, without any disturbance, till they were satiated therewith; while they decked their hair, and put on women’s garments, and were besmeared over with ointments; and that they might appear very comely, they had paints under their eyes, and imitated not only the ornaments, but also the lusts of women, and were guilty of such intolerable uncleanness, that they invented unlawful pleasures of that sort. And thus did they roll themselves up and down the city, as in a brothel-house, and defiled it entirely with their impure actions; nay, while their faces looked like the faces of women, they killed with their right hands; and when their gait was effeminate, they presently attacked men. (J.W. 4:9:10 §561–563)
5. “Their teeth were like the teeth of lions” (9:8b)
“This not only picks up again from the Joel backdrop (Joel 1:4, 6; cf. Rev 13:2), but enhances the terror imagery. It is a proverbial image denoting the frightening and destructive power of lions (Job 4:10; Ps 7:2; 57:4; 58:6; Jer 2:30; Joel 1:6; Sir. 21:1–3; cp. 2Sa 1:23) from whom “none can deliver” (Pr 30:30; Isa 5:29; Hos 5:14)…Not only does this add to the fear John is evoking, but may indicate their insatiable appetite which is used in Scripture as a metaphor of destructive war: “Behold, a people rises like a lioness, / And as a lion it lifts itself; / It will not lie down until it devours the prey, / And drinks the blood of the slain” (Nu 23:24; cp. Job 38:39; Ps 17:12; 22:13; 104:21; Eze 19:6; Na 2:12; 1Pe 5:8).”
6. “They had breastplates like breastplates of iron” (9:9)
“This is a part of their look as “horses prepared for battle” (9:7a): fully dressed for battle in their protective plated armor.”
7. “The sound of their wings was like the sound of chari
ots, of many horses rushing to battle” (9:9b).
“The visual image (along with its audial element) also is designed to impart fear, for in antiquity the attack of war horses and chariots was a signal of approaching devastation (1Sa 13:5; 1Ki 20:1; Isa 2:7; 5:28; Jer 6:23; 46:9; 47:3–4; 50:42; Eze 23:24; 26:7, 10; Nah 3:1–4).
8. “They have tails like scorpions, and stings; and in their tails is their power to hurt men for five months” (9:10).
“Here in 9:10 John repeats the “five months” time frame from 9:5b which emphasizes this particular period of the Jewish War. This five-month period represents the last days of Israel’s temple and the death throes of her holy city.”
Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr., The Divorce of Israel: A Redemptive-Historical Interpretation of Revelation Vol. 1 (Dallas, GA: Tolle Lege Press, 2016), 742-750.
“The Roman Soldiers as the great army. Their similarity of description to the locust demons: “Foot-soldiers wear breastplate and helmet, with a sword on each side, the longer on the left while that on the right is only nine inches long. The picked troops around the general are armed with a half-pike and small shield, but most of the infantry are equipped with a javelin and a long shield, a saw, a [hod-like] basket and a pick, together with an axe, a strap and a sickle, besides enough provisions for three days – so there is not much difference between an infantry man and a packhorse. A cavalryman has a long sword at his right side and carries a lance, protected by a shield slanted to cover his horse’s flank, while he also has a quiver holding three broad-bladed javelins that are not much smaller than spears. Like the foot-soldiers, he wears breastplate and helmet…
“This account needs qualification. Although they had metal helmets, legionaries wore armor made from hardened leather straps and metal studs and carried oblong leather shields that were strengthened with iron. Officers (including centurions) were distinguished by cuirasses of scale, chain, or plate armor, red horsehair crests, and colored cloaks. The sword – worn on the right side and not on the left, as Josephus says – was the gladius, a short, straight weapon with a blade two feet long and two inches wide. The javelin was the pilum, with a slender wooden shaft four and half feet long with a barbed iron head of the same length – its neck made of soft metal, which bent and hung down after piercing an enemy’s shield, so as to hamper him. The stirrup had not yet been invented, and a charge by mounted troops did not have the impact it would have in later centuries.”
Desmond Seward, Jerusalem’s Traitor: Josephus, Masada, and the Fall of Jerusalem (Da Capo Press, 2009), Chapter 3 online: http://erenow.com/ancient/jerusalems-traitor-josephus-masada-and-the-fall-of-judea/2.html
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CHAPTER 33
Ancient tracheotomy:
“A fragment of the writings of Antyllus is preserved by Paulus Ægineta, [1] and shows the quality of the work done in bygone ages. It is his description of the operation of tracheotomy, and runs as follows: –
"When we proceed to perform this operation we must cut through some part of the windpipe, below the larynx, about the third or fourth ring; for to divide the whole would be dangerous. This place is commodious, because it is not covered with any flesh, and because it has no vessels situated near the divided part. Therefore, bending the head of the patient backward, so that the windpipe may come more forward to the view, we make a transverse section between two of the rings, so that in this case not the cartilage but the membrane which unites the cartilages together, is divided. If the operator be a little timid, he may first stretch the skin with a hook and divide it; then, proceeding to the windpipe, and separating the vessels, if any are in the way, he may make the incision." This operation had been proposed by Asclepiades about three hundred years before the time of Antyllus.”
Elliott, James. Outlines of Greek and Roman Medicine (p. 57) K-Edition.
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CHAPTER 34
This story is told in: Flavius Josephus 5.7.1-2, The Wars of the Jews, §291-302. I withheld the battering rams here in order to avoid redundancy later in the story when they use the rams against the Antonia.
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Fenugreek defense: Flavius Josephus, The Wars of the Jews 3.7.29, §276-282. Although this description is used at the battle of Jotapata.
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Warm welcome: This was a popular phrase said by those who used this tactic.
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CHAPTER 35
The Ebionites and heresy in the early church:
“In addition to these things the same man, while recounting the events of that period, records that the Church up to that time had remained a pure and uncorrupted virgin, since, if there were any that attempted to corrupt the sound norm of the preaching of salvation, they lay until then concealed in obscure darkness.
But when the sacred college of apostles had suffered death in various forms, and the generation of those that had been deemed worthy to hear the inspired wisdom with their own ears had passed away, then the league of godless error took its rise as a result of the folly of heretical teachers, who, because none of the apostles was still living, attempted henceforth, with a bold face, to proclaim, in opposition to the preaching of the truth, the ‘knowledge which is falsely so-called.’
“Therefore, they called the Church a virgin, for it was not yet corrupted by vain discourses. But Thebuthis, because he was not made bishop, began to corrupt it.”
Eusebius of Caesaria, “The Church History of Eusebius,” in Eusebius: Church History, Life of Constantine the Great, and Oration in Praise of Constantine, ed. Philip Schaff and Henry Wace, trans. Arthur Cushman McGiffert, vol. 1, A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, Second Series (New York: Christian Literature Company, 1890), 164, 199.
“Up to that period the Church had remained like a virgin pure and uncorrupted: for, if there were any persons who were disposed to tamper with the wholesome rule of the preaching of salvation, they still lurked in some dark place of concealment or other. But, when the sacred band of apostles had in various ways closed their lives, and that generation of men to whom it had been vouchsafed to listen to the Godlike Wisdom with their own ears had passed away, then did the confederacy of godless error take its rise through the treachery of false teachers, who, seeing that none of the apostles any longer survived, at length attempted with bare and uplifted head to oppose the preaching of the truth by preaching “knowledge falsely so called.”
Hegesippus, “Fragments from His Five Books of Commentaries on the Acts of the Church,” in Fathers of the Third and Fourth Centuries: The Twelve Patriarchs, Excerpts and Epistles, the Clementina, Apocrypha, Decretals, Memoirs of Edessa and Syriac Documents, Remains of the First Ages, ed. Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe, trans. B. P. Pratten, vol. 8, The Ante-Nicene Fathers (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Company, 1886), 764.
The Nazoreans, a group similar to Ebionites with possible ties:
“Epiphanius is, as far as we know from historical records that have been preserved, the first writer to mention a distinct Jewish Christian sect of Nazoraeans, in chapter 29 of his Panarion. According to the Panarion, the Nazoraeans began when Jewish followers of the apostles who practiced circumcision and lived by the Torah left the “church” after the ascension. To put Epiphanius’s view in modern terms, he understands the Nazoraeans to be Jewish Christians who backslid and reverted to Judaism. Epiphanius is confused by the fact that he knows of a Jewish Christian sect called Nazoraeans existing in his own day, but he also knows from the book of Acts that the earliest Christians were called by a similar name (Nazarenes): “For this group did not name themselves after Christ or with Jesus’s own name, but ‘Nazoraeans.’ However, at that time all Christians were called Nazoraeans in the same way…”
“[H]e goes on to say that the beginnings of the Nazoraeans can be traced to a group of Christians in Transjordan who had fled Jerusalem before its capture in 70 CE…
“Epiphanius confirms what we know from other sou
rces that these Nazoraeans lived in Pella and Kokhaba, and also adds the name of the village of Beroea, near Syria. Beroea, which is some distance from Pella and Kokhaba, is not mentioned in any other source as a dwelling for Jewish Christians, except for Jerome, who independently confirms this. Epiphanius considers the Nazoraeans to be somewhat orthodox because they believe in the resurrection of the dead and believe that Jesus is the Son of God. These are, however, things the Ebionites also accepted, though they understood the title “Son of God” in its original Jewish sense.”