In Scripture, numbers indicate something beyond just an enumeration of something. The authors of Scripture were usually not concerned with literalistically counting things. Their primary purpose in presenting numbered things was to convey a message through their symbolic meaning. The literalistic meaning can be true as well (such as the days of Creation), but often it is not. Here are some of the numerical values and their meanings as I understand them.
Matthew's Genealogy: The Gospel according to Matthew lists 14 generations between three key people/events (Abraham-David, David-Exile, Exile-Jesus). This doesn't exactly match the Old Testament, but Matthew wasn't trying to be so accurate. He was conveying a certain message to us through his numeration. David's name in Hebrew (transliterated) is DVD. (There were no vowels in the alphabet then). The numerical values of the letters D V D add up to 14. This indicates that Jesus is the Davidic heir & king, the prophesied Messiah and Savior. Three 14's indicates the absolute, strongest and perfect meaning. (Hebrew didn't have the modifiers -er and -est. (as in big,bigger,biggest). To describe something as the biggest they would say big-big-big. An example is in Revelation4 & Isaiah6, the angels are exclaiming "holy holy holy is the Lord" meaning God is the absolute perfectly holy one.) As we read this genealogy we can see hidden in it "DAVID DAVID DAVID" concluding in Jesus. So, Jesus is the perfect fulfillment of the kingly/messianic prophecies.
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The Samaritan woman at the well had "five" husbands.
The 10 northern tribes were assimilated into "five" gentile nations. In Jesus' time the 10 lost tribes were known as the Samaritans.
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John 21:11 - 153 fish. "Simon Peter went up, and
drew the net to land full of great fishes, an hundred and fifty and three: and
for all there were so many, yet was not the net broken."
OT - not there? Then what's the meaning? Outside Scripture can be found this number. It's the number of known species of fish at that time. This could mean that all men will be "caught" in the salvation "net".
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Acts 2:41 - "about 3000" people were
baptized, hence brought into God's family.
Exodus 32:28 - "about 3000" people were lost from God's family
(the slain idolators)
We can see that with
the coming of the New Covenant certain bad things of the past are undone by
certain good things.
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Sunday, June 23, 2013
Monday, June 3, 2013
Semites and Hebrews and Jews, Oh My!
Semites and Hebrews and Jews, Oh My!
Did you ever wonder where these terms come from? And mean?
Technically, Semites means descendants of Shem (son of Noah), Hebrews means descendants of Eber (great-grandson of Shem), and Jews means descendants of Judah (son of Israel). Some folks writing on the subject say Arabs are descended from Ishmael (son of Abraham) while others say not. But, any descendants of Ishmael would be considered Shemites and Hebrews, technically, since Abraham is descended from Shem through Eber. In practice, though, these terms seem more often to point only to Israelites, who were descendants of Jacob (son of Isaac the son of Abraham).
After David's kingdom split (soon after the death of Solomon) 10 tribes went north. The southern Kingdom at Jerusalem was then called Judah even though it was composed of Judah, Benjamin and Levi. (It's just that Judah had the greatest number of people.) The northern Kingdom, in the region that came to be called Samaria, was known as Israel or Ephraim. (The books of Samuel, Kings & Chronicles describe these things.) The northern kingdom tribes were conquered by the Assyrians in the 700's B.C. and mostly assimilated into gentile people groups and came to be called Samaritans. (The Jews considered the Samaritan-Israelites to be half-breed unclean folks because of their mixture with gentiles. ) But the southern kingdom tribes retained their identities through their exile & return to Jerusalem (500's B.C.). By the time of Jesus the term "Jew" referred to all the "true" Israelites, whether of Levi, or Benjamin or Judah tribes. Paul specifies his tribal specifics (Benjamin) in his letter to Philippians but in general conversation he was lumped into the term "Jew" (as in Romans, Colossians, Thessalonians). In Philippians we see usage of the term "Hebrew" as well.
Addendum:
OT prophets said the 12 tribes would be gathered together again by the coming Messiah. This He has done. Jesus has brought back the 10 lost tribes by bringing in all the gentile people groups (which includes those into which the 10 tribes were assimilated) to join God's Kingdom. This is the restored and perfected Kingdom of David... the new Israel... the new Jerusalem. It is also called His Church. He built His New Kingdom, His Church, on the foundation of the Apostles (Eph2). Jesus commanded and empowered the Apostles to lead/teach/protect/discipline the inhabitants of this restored Kingdom of God, this Church (ie Isaiah22:20ff; Jer3:15; Matt16:13ff; Luke22:29ff; John21:15ff).
Did you ever wonder where these terms come from? And mean?
Technically, Semites means descendants of Shem (son of Noah), Hebrews means descendants of Eber (great-grandson of Shem), and Jews means descendants of Judah (son of Israel). Some folks writing on the subject say Arabs are descended from Ishmael (son of Abraham) while others say not. But, any descendants of Ishmael would be considered Shemites and Hebrews, technically, since Abraham is descended from Shem through Eber. In practice, though, these terms seem more often to point only to Israelites, who were descendants of Jacob (son of Isaac the son of Abraham).
After David's kingdom split (soon after the death of Solomon) 10 tribes went north. The southern Kingdom at Jerusalem was then called Judah even though it was composed of Judah, Benjamin and Levi. (It's just that Judah had the greatest number of people.) The northern Kingdom, in the region that came to be called Samaria, was known as Israel or Ephraim. (The books of Samuel, Kings & Chronicles describe these things.) The northern kingdom tribes were conquered by the Assyrians in the 700's B.C. and mostly assimilated into gentile people groups and came to be called Samaritans. (The Jews considered the Samaritan-Israelites to be half-breed unclean folks because of their mixture with gentiles. ) But the southern kingdom tribes retained their identities through their exile & return to Jerusalem (500's B.C.). By the time of Jesus the term "Jew" referred to all the "true" Israelites, whether of Levi, or Benjamin or Judah tribes. Paul specifies his tribal specifics (Benjamin) in his letter to Philippians but in general conversation he was lumped into the term "Jew" (as in Romans, Colossians, Thessalonians). In Philippians we see usage of the term "Hebrew" as well.
Addendum:
OT prophets said the 12 tribes would be gathered together again by the coming Messiah. This He has done. Jesus has brought back the 10 lost tribes by bringing in all the gentile people groups (which includes those into which the 10 tribes were assimilated) to join God's Kingdom. This is the restored and perfected Kingdom of David... the new Israel... the new Jerusalem. It is also called His Church. He built His New Kingdom, His Church, on the foundation of the Apostles (Eph2). Jesus commanded and empowered the Apostles to lead/teach/protect/discipline the inhabitants of this restored Kingdom of God, this Church (ie Isaiah22:20ff; Jer3:15; Matt16:13ff; Luke22:29ff; John21:15ff).
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