by Brian Godawa
In 19:19-20 John finally gets to the fate of the beast.
Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr., The Divorce of Israel: A Redemptive-Historical Interpretation of Revelation Vol. 2 (Dallas, GA: Tolle Lege Press, 2016), 619-620.
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CHAPTER 41
Achan is a single man who disobeyed Yahweh during the Conquest, resulting in the suffering of the whole nation until he was found and punished. His story is in Joshua 7.
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CHAPTER 42
Boaz refers to:
Hebrews 8:13
13 In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.
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Stoicheia: In every place that stoicheion shows up in the New Testament it means elementary principle rudiments of a worldview, sometimes a godless worldview (Col. 2:8), but more often the elementary principles of the Old Covenant law described as a “cosmos” (Gal. .4:3; 9; Col. 2:20; Heb. 5:12).
Remember how the cosmic language of creating heavens and earth was used to describe the cosmic significance of God establishing a covenant? And remember how in the Old Testament, the destruction of covenants, nations, and peoples was described in decreation terms as the collapsing of the universe?
That is the case in these passages as well, with the term “cosmos” being used metaphorically for the “universe” of God’s covenantal order as embodied in the Old Covenant laws of Jewish separation: Circumcision, dietary restrictions and Sabbaths. Paul is telling his readers that the stoicheion of the Old Covenant cosmos are no longer over them because the people of God are under new stoicheion, the elementary principles of faith (Gal. 4:1-11).
Peter means the same thing. When he says that the heavens will pass away and the stoicheion will be burned up, he is claiming that when the Temple in Jerusalem is destroyed, it will be the final passing away of the Old Covenant cosmos, along with all the elementary principles tied to that physical sacramental structure, the laws that once separated Jew and Gentile. The new cosmos is one in which both Jew and Gentile “by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” (1 Pet. 1:5).
Leithart, Peter J. The Promise of His Appearing: An Exposition of Second Peter. Moscow, ID: Canon Press, 2004, p.101. Bauckham argues that “The heavenly bodies (sun, moon and stars) is the interpretation favored by most commentators,” for stoicheion. But then we are right back to the sun, moon, and stars as figurative language of covenantal elements. Bauckham, 2 Peter, Jude, 316. But I doubt this interpretation because the clear words for “heavenly bodies” are not stoicheion, but epouranios soma (1 Cor. 15:40-41).
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Boaz quotes: Hebrews 12:26-29.
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Symeon, son of Clopas became a bishop of Jerusalem after the war:
“Hegesippus writes that the election of Symeon happened “after the martyrdom of James and the capture of Jerusalem, which instantly followed” (see chapter 6), thus suggesting that the election of Symeon happened following the Jewish War.”
Jeffrey J. Bütz and James D. Tabor, The Secret Legacy of Jesus: The Judaic Teachings That Passed from James the Just to the Founding Fathers (Inner Traditions, 2009), 213.
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CHAPTER 43
Thelonius quotes: Revelation 18:10.
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Thelonius quotes: Romans 1:21-25.
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Thelonius quotes: Colossians 1:13-14.
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CHAPTER 44
Titus crucified Jews at the city walls:
Flavius Josephus, The Wars of the Jews 5.11.1, §449-451
[captured Jews] were first whipped, and then tormented with all sorts of tortures before they died, and were then crucified before the wall of the city. (450) This miserable procedure made Titus greatly to pity them, while they caught every day five hundred Jews; nay, some days they caught more; yet did it not appear to be safe for him to let those that were taken by force go their way; and to set a guard over so many, he saw would be to make such as guarded them useless to him. The main reason why he did not forbid that cruelty was this, that he hoped the Jews might perhaps yield at that sight, out of fear lest they might themselves afterwards be liable to the same cruel treatment. (451) So the soldiers out of the wrath and hatred they bore the Jews, nailed those they caught, one after one way, and another after another, to the crosses, by way of jest; when their multitude was so great, that room was wanting for the crosses, and crosses wanting for the bodies.”
Flavius Josephus and William Whiston, The Works of Josephus: Complete and Unabridged (Peabody: Hendrickson, 1987), 720.
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CHAPTER 46
Titus’s knowledge of Judaism: The Roman historian Tacitus gives a glimpse of the fascinating misunderstanding of Judaism that the Romans had. In his Histories 5.2-5 we read of Tacitus’ understanding of Judaism as a mixture of truth and bizarre fiction drawn from gossip. Here is just a small section of that passage.
[4] In order to secure the allegiance of his people in the future, Moses prescribed for them a novel religion quite different from those of the rest of mankind. Among the Jews all things are profane that we hold sacred; on the other hand they regard as permissible what seems to us immoral. In the innermost part of the Temple, they consecrated an image of the animal which had delivered them from their wandering and thirst, choosing a ram as beast of sacrifice to demonstrate, so it seems, their contempt for Hammon. The bull is also offered up, because the Egyptians worship it as Apis. They avoid eating pork in memory of their tribulations, as they themselves were once infected with the disease to which this creature is subject.. They still fast frequently as an admission of the hunger they once endured so long, and to symbolize their hurried meal the bread eaten by the Jews is unleavened. We are told that the seventh day was set aside for rest because this marked the end of their toils. In course of time the seductions of idleness made them devote every seventh year to indolence as well. Others say that this is a mark of respect to Saturn, either because they owe the basic principles of their religion to the Idaei, who, we are told, were expelled in the company of Saturn and became the founders of the Jewish race, or because, among the seven stars that rule mankind, the one that describes the highest orbit and exerts the greatest influence is Saturn. A further argument is that most of the heavenly bodies complete their path and revolutions in multiples of seven.
Tacitus, Histories, 5.4. See the rest of the this passage at: http://www.livius.org/sources/content/tacitus/tacitus-on-the-jews/
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CHAPTER 47
Woes of Moshe: These were the words of the man in Josephus’ Wars of the Jews who prophesied against the city. I have made that man into my Moshe character. Flavius Josephus, The Wars of the Jews 6.5.3, §309.
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Ellihu quotes from: Revelation 11:14. Technically this occurs after the Witnesses ascend to heaven. I am using this prophecy proleptically.
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Three and a half years: This is the length of the ministry of the Two Witnesses in Revelation 11:2-3.
Revelation 11:2–3
2 [Rome] will trample the holy city for forty-two months. 3 And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.”
Notice that this also matches the “time, times and a half time (3 1/2 years) of the siege of Jerusalem by Titus:
Daniel 12:6–7
6 “How long shall it be till the end of these wonders?” 7 … it would be for a time, times, and half a time, and that when the shattering of the power of the holy people comes to an end all these things would be finished.
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CHAPTER 47
The death of the Two Witnesses:
Revelation 11:7–13
7 And when they have finished their testimony, the beast that rises from the bottomless pit will make war on them and conque
r them and kill them, 8 and their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city that symbolically is called Sodom and Egypt, where their Lord was crucified. 9 For three and a half days some from the peoples and tribes and languages and nations will gaze at their dead bodies and refuse to let them be placed in a tomb, 10 and those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and make merry and exchange presents, because these two prophets had been a torment to those who dwell on the earth. 11 But after the three and a half days a breath of life from God entered them, and they stood up on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them. 12 Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here!” And they went up to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies watched them. 13 And at that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.
In previous books of this series, I have created a fictionalized version of the witnesses that I tied into Josephus’ history of the war. He spoke of one prophet named Jesus or Joshua ben Ananus who preached similarly to the Two Witnesses, so I made him into one of them (changed his name to Moshe). Josephus was not inside the walls so he was writing from other people’s accounts. Just because he speaks of one man, does not mean there could not have been two in reality. Just like the resurrection accounts speak of one man at the tomb and another of two. Both can be true.
Here is the passage from Josephus that tells of Joshua ben Ananus.
Flavius Josephus, The Wars of the Jews 6.5.3, §300-309
“Jesus, the son of Ananus, a plebeian and a husbandman, who, four years before the war began, and at a time when the city was in very great peace and prosperity, came to that feast whereon it is our custom for everyone to make tabernacles to God in the temple, (301) began on a sudden cry aloud, “A voice from the east, a voice from the west, a voice from the four winds, a voice against Jerusalem and the holy house, a voice against the bridegrooms and the brides, and a voice against this whole people!” This was his cry, as he went about by day and by night, in all the lanes of the city. (302) However, certain of the most eminent among the populace had great indignation at this dire cry of his, and took up the man, and gave him a great number of severe stripes; yet did not he either say anything for himself, or anything peculiar to those that chastised him, but still he went on with the same words which he cried before. (303) Hereupon our rulers supposing, as the case proved to be, that this was a sort of divine fury in the man, brought him to the Roman procurator; (304) where he was whipped till his bones were laid bare; yet did he not make any supplication for himself, nor shed any tears, but turning his voice to the most lamentable tone possible, at every stroke of the whip his answer was, “Woe, woe to Jerusalem!” (305) And when Albinus (for he was then our procurator) asked him who he was, and whence he came, and why he uttered such words; he made no manner of reply to what he said, but still did not leave off his melancholy ditty, till Albinus took him to be a madman, and dismissed him. (306) Now, during all the time that passed before the war began, this man did not go near any of the citizens, nor was seen by them while he said so; but he every day uttered these lamentable words, as if it were his premeditated vow, “Woe, woe, to Jerusalem!” (307) Nor did he give ill words to any of those that beat him every day, nor good words to those that gave him food; but this was his reply to all men, and indeed no other than a melancholy presage of what was to come. (308) This cry of his was the loudest at the festivals; and he continued this ditty for seven years and five months, without growing hoarse, or being tired therewith, until the very time that he saw his presage in earnest fulfilled in our siege, when it ceased; (309) for as he was going round upon the wall, he cried out with his utmost force, “Woe, woe, to the city again, and to the people, and to the holy house!” And just as he added at the last, – “Woe, woe, to myself also!” there came a stone out of one of the engines, and smote him, and killed him immediately; and as he was uttering the very same presages, he gave up the ghost.”
Flavius Josephus and William Whiston, The Works of Josephus: Complete and Unabridged (Peabody: Hendrickson, 1987), 742–743.
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CHAPTER 48
This chapter is taken from:
Revelation 11:7–14
7 And when [the Two Witnesses] have finished their testimony, the beast that rises from the bottomless pit will make war on them and conquer them and kill them, 8 and their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city that symbolically is called Sodom and Egypt, where their Lord was crucified. 9 For three and a half days some from the peoples and tribes and languages and nations will gaze at their dead bodies and refuse to let them be placed in a tomb, 10 and those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and make merry and exchange presents, because these two prophets had been a torment to those who dwell on the earth. 11 But after the three and a half days a breath of life from God entered them, and they stood up on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them. 12 Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here!” And they went up to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies watched them. 13 And at that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven. 14 The second woe has passed; behold, the third woe is soon to come.
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42 months, 1260 days is also the “time, times, and a half times” of Daniel:
Revelation 11:1–3
1 Then I was given a measuring rod like a staff, and I was told, “Rise and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship there, 2 but do not measure the court outside the temple; leave that out, for it is given over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for forty-two months. 3 And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.”
Daniel 12:6–7
6 And someone said to the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the stream, “How long shall it be till the end of these wonders?” 7 And I heard the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the stream; he raised his right hand and his left hand toward heaven and swore by him who lives forever that it would be for a time, times, and half a time, and that when the shattering of the power of the holy people comes to an end all these things would be finished.
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First Woe corresponds to the fifth trumpet:
Revelation 9:1–12
1 And the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star fallen from heaven to earth, and he was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit. 2 He opened the shaft of the Abyss, and from the shaft rose smoke like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened with the smoke from the shaft. 3 Then from the smoke came locusts on the earth, and they were given power like the power of scorpions of the earth… 12 The first woe has passed; behold, two woes are still to come.
The Second Woe corresponds to the sixth trumpet:
Revelation 11:11–14
11 But after the three and a half days a breath of life from God entered them, and they stood up on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them. 12 Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here!” And they went up to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies watched them. 13 And at that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven. 14 The second woe has passed; behold, the third woe is soon to come.
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Resurrection in Daniel 12:2:
“[Options for interpreting Daniel 12:2 resurrection]:A fifth possibility is that this refers to the emptying of sheol into heaven when Christ ascended there. This is a concept less familiar to us today, and will be explained below.
“And a sixth possibility is that the resurrection here is a national resurrection li
ke the one portrayed in Ezekiel 37. This is the only credible possibility.
“Looking first at the fifth possibility, ascension to heaven: Until Jesus went into heaven, nobody went into heaven. Those who died from Adam to Christ went to sheol, which the New Testament calls hades. The righteous went to Abraham’s Bosom, also called in theology Limbus Patrum, while the wicked went to an uncomfortable place. After Jesus’ death He descended to sheol and sorted the dead. When Jesus ascended into heaven, He emptied Abraham’s bosom and brought all the righteous dead to heaven with Him. The wicked in sheol, however, are not brought up to heaven until the end of time, when they are cast into the lake of fire that is before the throne of God (Revelation 14:9–11; 20:10–15).
“It is possible that the first resurrection of Revelation 20:4–6 refers to the ascension of the Old Covenant saints to heaven, to be seated with Christ at the right hand of the Father, and to reign with Him as kings and priests for a thousand years. Meanwhile, Christ and the Church on earth are binding Satan from deceiving the nations for the same thousand years (Rev. 20:1–2; Matt. 16:18–19). On the basis of Revelation 6:9–11, and the fact that Revelation 20 comes after Revelation 19, my guess is that the ascension of the Old Covenant saints to reign with Christ happened in AD 70, not AD 30.