Click link to next study in my sequential chapter study through the Gospel of Matthew.
The patriarch of our faith— father Abraham — had an image of the destruction of the wicked, which was confirmed by the prophet Daniel (discussed in paper) with the message made explicit and confirmed by a third witness in the prophet Jeremiah-- a contemporary of Daniel’s. It is made moot by the traditional doctrine of hell. I quote many traditionalists (on final punishment) in this paper. They have good thoughts. But I also draw on my library of books by those in another camp. My thesis put forth throughout my study of Matthew: the forfeiture of man eternal life of bliss in the presence of God and brethren is a reasonable price to pay for sin. It is also what is taught by Jesus and the Torah, as well as the apostles and the prophets.
After Abram believed in the LORD and it was credited to him for righteousness (Gen 15:6)— “Then He [Yahweh] said to him [Abram], ‘I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to inherit it.’ And he said, ‘Yahweh God, how shall I know that I will inherit it (the land)?’”(Gen 15:7)
"It was not an expression of doubt, but of desire for the confirmation or sealing of a promise, which transcended human thought and conception. To gratify this desire, God commanded him to make preparation for the conclusion of a covenant. ‘Take Me,’ He said, ‘a heifer of three years old, and a she-goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtle-dove, and a young pigeon;’ one of every species of the animals suitable for sacrifice. Abram took these, and ‘divided them in the midst,’ i.e., in half, ‘and placed one half of each opposite to the other….; only the birds divided he not,’ just as in sacrifice the doves were not divided into pieces but placed upon the fire whole (Leviticus 1:17).” (Keil & Delitzsch)
“‘Take’- “…often introduces a ritual such as a sacrifice, e.g., Lev 9:2, 3. The list of animals that follows covers all those species that could be offered in sacrifice. There is some doubt about the identity of the last bird mentioned, ‘turtledove’…, as the only other example of its use is in Deut 32:11. However, it seems likely that it is equivalent to the ‘young pigeon’ of the sacrificial texts. … In an action reminiscent of a sacrifice, he cuts up the large animals but does not split the bird; cf. Lev 1:6, 17. Were this a sacrifice, the pieces would now be placed on the altar and burned. Instead, they are put in two rows. This unique feature of this rite must have been included in the divine command (v 9). For stylistic variation, the command is briefer than the description of its fulfillment: it is common for the command to be more detailed than the record of its fulfillment.” (Word Biblical Commentary by G. J. Wenham)
“The animals chosen, as well as the fact that the doves were left whole corresponded exactly to the ritual of sacrifice.” (Keil & Delitzsch)—the burnt offering. “The propitiatory foundation of the covenant here comes into view, and connects Abram with Habel and Noah, the primeval confessors of the necessity of an atonement." (Albert Barnes)
In the law of the burnt offering of Leviticus 1, Moses was instructed by the LORD to speak to the Israelites and tell them: “‘When any of you'—Not any Israelite merely. (cp. Num. 15:14]— ‘brings an offering [here, a burnt offering] to the LORD, you may bring as your offering an animal from the herd or the flock.’ (Leviticus 1:2) Here we may discover an early provision for admitting heathen to the worship of Jehovah as proselytes of the gate. When the temple was built there was a court of the Gentiles into which they might bring their offerings.” (Daniel Whedon) They were to proclaim liberty- the seventh year release is a type of eternal salvation.
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“God having taught the first man, after his fall, the necessity of atonement for sin by sacrifice, we find it faithfully transmitted to his posterity; and when the true religion was lost in idolatry, the sacrifices still remained." (Thomas Coke)— “an offering made by fire, a sweet aroma to the LORD…” (Lev. 1:13) And then “take”—place your hand upon the head. Apply it to yourself. '’He must put both his hands,' say the Jewish doctors, 'with all his might, between the horns of the beast,' signifying thereby,… An acknowledgment that he deserved to die…” (Matthew Henry)
Inferior offerings were permitted. “One offerer might bring a bullock— another an offering from the flock— another only an offering of fowls. There was evidently much mercy in this provision; for if poverty, or even disinclination, prevented an Israelite from bringing the highest offering, he was permitted to bring a lesser, in order that he might not be deprived entirely of the blessings connected with the burnt-offering." (B. W. Newton) And with the birds, the priest rather than the offerer wrings off its head to kill it. But in contrast to ones from herd or flock, it is divided not. ”Its blood shall be drained out at the side of the altar. And he shall remove its crop with its feathers and cast it beside the altar on the east side, into the place for ashes. Then he shall split it at its wings, but shall not divide it completely.” (Lev. 15-17a)
The burnt offering "expressed the offerer’s complete consecration to Yahweh (cf. Matt. 22:37; Rom. 12:1-2) and God's complete acceptance of the worshiper. However, this offering also made atonement for the offerer (cf. John 1:29). As such, it forms the foundation of the entire sacrificial system of Israel.” (Dr. Thomas B. Constable) The Burnt offering “was wholly consumed, which was not the case in any other offering." (Adam Clarke) It suffers the fate that the offer deserves. (Romans 6:23)
After preparing the rite, Abram saw in vision that Israel would “‘be strangers in a land that is not theirs,’and so they were …. in Egypt, but so are we sojourners this earth. (Heb. 11:10) — ’and will serve them.’ So they did the Egyptians, before they were lords of their own land. And so should we serve the inhabitants of this world.
“And they will afflict them four hundred years. And also the nation whom they serve I will judge.’ It is a righteous thing with God, and a particular act of justice, to ‘recompense tribulation to those that trouble His people.'" (Joseph Benson) ... even if it is His sovereign hand.
“’Afterward they shall come out with great possessions.' "As the Israelite people prepared to leave the land of Egypt, Moses charged: “But every woman shall borrow of her neighbour, and of her that sojourneth in her house, jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment: and ye shall put them upon your sons, and upon your daughters; and ye shall spoil the Egyptians.” (Exo. 3:22) Thus, the Hebrews did come out with great positions. And if prepare for covenant by applying the death of Jesus to our cases and persevere to the end (thus taking it to ourselves), we too shall come out of the world with great possessions. We shall be joint heirs with Christ.
“’And in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.” (Gen 15:13-16) “Though God tolerates the wicked for a time, yet his vengeance falls on them...” (Geneva Study Bible) in (or at) the end.“And it came to pass, when the sun went down and it was dark, that behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a burning torch that passed between those pieces.'-symbolizing "the smoke of destruction and the light of salvation" (Albert Barnes)— the one or the other. God will either graciously lead us as a pillar of fire or, if we persist in our disobedience, He will utterly destroy us in a smoking furnace.“On the same day Yahweh made a covenant with Abram, saying: “To your [spiritual] descendants I have given this land, etc.” (Gen. 15:17-21) Perhaps the words were the covenant. And He was a guiding light to them and He sustained them for the sake of the vine (remnant; cp. Ps. 80:8), but this did not ensure their acceptance of it. Indeed in the end all but Caleb and Joshua perished in the wilderness as an example to us (1 Corinthians 10:11).
He has given us this vision of eternal salvation. — “The prophets frequently looked forward to a ‘repetition of the acts of God.’ The Exodus especially provided a model for prophetic predictions both of acts of deliverance within the national history of Israel, and of the more glorious eschatological work of God…” (Naked Bible Podcast Episode 339: Exodus in the Gospel of Matthew—Dr. Michael S. Heiser) The ultimate rescue is from sin and eternal death. “That even King David could pray for the Lord’s salvation and the restoration of His people (Ps 14:7) suggests that the exile was primarily a spiritual problem requiring a spiritual solution: hence the new covenant (cf. Jer 31:31-34 and Ezek 36:25-27) .Israel’s need for deep, national repentance and subsequent heartfelt obedience to God is also perceived by Second-Temple writers; cf. CD 1.1-21, Jub. 23:23-31, and Pss. Sol. 5:6-7. The tears shed at the Babylonian exile climax in God promises the ultimate deliverance: a new covenant to deliver his people from their sin, so too, the escape of Jesus, the rightful heir to David’s throne, produces a deep sense of hope and expectation of a new exodus for Israel, led by a new Deliverer, the Christ (cf. Matt 1:21— ‘And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.’” (Mosaic Imagery in the of the Gospel Matthew by Wayne Baxter)
“Ephraem Syrus (1, 161) observes, that God condescended to follow the custom of the Chaldeans, that He might in the most solemn manner confirm His oath to Abram the Chaldean.” (Keil & Delitzsch) But perhaps the Genesis rite was the original and it was used by men in Chaldea to confirm covenants, based on the ancient story of Abram.
Whether God intended it or not is another matter. Perhaps Jeremiah 34 is not a case of the usage of the rite by Israel at the giving of the law, but an exposition of Genesis 15 by the prophet, signifying that the mysterious rite of Genesis 15 has to do with the covenant ceremony on Mount Sinai. No such transaction is in the historical record.
And the message is certainly not that God will perform it by Himself. —
Jeremiah says that “the princes of Judah, the princes of Jerusalem, the eunuchs, the priests, and all the people of the land who passed between the parts of the calf.” There is no historical record that they actually did this ceremony on Sinai, as Jeremiah seems to suggest. The covenant on Sinai was between God and man. Here is the historical record. -> Moses “took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people, who replied, ‘All that the LORD has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.’ So Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the people, and said, ‘This is the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words.’” (Exodus 24:8-9) I think that, according to Jeremiah, they then entered into the covenant with God. They spiritually walked between the pieces with God.
In Jeremiah's day, a generation of Jews in Judah — the religious leaders who sat in Moses' seat, as well as most of the priests and common people — like their fathers, did not do the word of the LORD nor have the hearts to do it. They were instructed to set male and female servants free at the seventh year. AND THEY DID IT! “But afterward they changed their minds and made the male and female slaves return, whom they had set free, and brought them into subjection as male and female slaves.” (Jer. 34:11) Then the word of the LORD convicted them of breaking the sabbatical law.— “But your fathers did not obey Me nor incline their ear.” (Jeremiah 34:14) Neither did they. (Jer. 34:15-17) It was not God who would then be destroyed but them.
“Therefore thus says the LORD: ‘You have not obeyed Me in proclaiming liberty, every one to his brother and every one to his neighbor. Behold, I proclaim liberty to you,’ says the LORD—‘to the sword, to pestilence, and to famine! And I will deliver you to trouble among all the kingdoms of the earth. And I will give the men who have transgressed My covenant, who have not performed the words of the covenant which they made before Me, when they cut the calf in two and passed between the parts of it— the princes of Judah, the princes of Jerusalem, the eunuchs, the priests, and all the people of the land who passed between the parts of the calf— I will give them into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their life. Their dead bodies shall be for meat for the birds of the heaven and the beasts of the earth. And I will give Zedekiah king of Judah and his princes into the hand of their enemies, into the hand of those who seek their life, and into the hand of the king of Babylon’s army which has gone back from you. Behold, I will command,’ says the LORD, ‘and cause them to return to this city. They will fight against it and take it and burn it with fire; and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation without inhabitant.’” (Jeremiah 34:17-22) The scene was reenacted when they rejected Jesus and Jerusalem was destroyed in 70AD. The focus moved to the church. And I believe it will again be replayed at the end of time.
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