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It has been well-noted that the return of the ark from Philistia replete with gifts is an exodus story. And of course, there are numerous parallels between the Philistines and the Egyptians (actually, the Philistines were descendants of Mizraim = Egypt). Just as God sent plagues upon Egypt, He sent plagues upon Philistia and showed His judgment over its gods. As with Israel emerging from Egypt with all sorts of valued goods of the Egyptians, the Philistines sent the ark back to Israel with valuable gifts.

All of that, therefore, is a given and important. However, it must be recognized that 1 Samuel treats the departure of the ark from Israel to Philistia in the first place under an exodus motif, as well.

In a recent Bible study discussion, we noted that at key points in redemptive history (i.e. at the introduction of a new covenant), God sent “multi-office” figures who served not only in kingly/ “judgely” roles, but also in priestly and prophetic ones: Abraham, Moses, Samuel.

But there are further (disturbing) parallels between Moses and Samuel. Like Moses, Samuel was given up by his mother to live in the house of the leader of the land. Yes, that’s exactly what I am implying: Eli serves in parallel to Pharaoh. Now, of course, Eli in some respects fears God – he at least rebukes his sons. However, when push comes to shove, like Pharaoh, Eli does not fear God. That in fact is what the man of God suggests to Eli: Eli does not honour God, but despises Him (1 Sam 2.30). It seems clear that though Eli rebuked his sons, he was willing to become heavy (“glorious”) from the food they had stolen from Yahweh’s offerings. Thus, just as Pharaoh refused to allow Israel to worship Yahweh in the way He had commanded, Eli, through his sons, disallow Israel from worshipping rightly, as well, by stealing the Lord’s portion (1 Sam 2.13-17).

What all this means is that the departure of the ark from the possession of Eli’s house is an act of exodus. Yahweh’s presence – the place of the cloud of glory which accompanied Israel at the Egyptian exodus – goes up from the presence of this new Pharaoh, and as it turns out, the Philistines treat Yahweh’s ark with more reverence and good sense than Eli’s own house had done. (They at least sent the ark back with a guilt offering.)

Well, after writing no music for a very long time, I’ve put together another in the last couple of days. It recounts the testimony of the spies Moses sent into Canaan, and as the post title suggests, is called “The Witness of Ten.” Not sure when I’ll have a recording available, but here are the lyrics:

ONE:
there is a chosen band
nearing a promised land
the land has come in sight
the time has come to fight
send in spies to see
the riches of our dreams
through the eyes of a dozen men
this is the witness of ten:

CHORUS:
It’s a green green land,
it’s a good good land
It’s a land of promises
it’s a land that swallows us alive
We will not survive
It’s a land of giants
it’s a land of violence
Why’d you bring us here to die?
This is their land
this is not our land
May our souls be damned
We won’t take this land
from your hand
We’d go back to old slavemasters
Make return to past disasters
Do you understand what we confess
We won’t enter in to your rest
Let the grumbling begin
This is the witness of ten

TWO:
there are a couple men
trying to counter them
“the land is promised us
the Lord will fight for us
the Canaanites are stew
they’ll be bread for you”
but who gives heed to a couple men
against the witness of ten?

[Chorus; then continue to finale]

FINALE:
I’ve borne with this generation
How long will you test My patience?
Do you wish to die [in] this wilderness?
You won’t enter in to My rest
Let the judgment begin
All for the witness of ten
Let the judgment begin
All for the witness of ten
Let the judgment begin
All for the witness of ten

Check out this 11-year-old wonder. Lots of songs to choose from. I’m very partial to “When the Children Cry” (yes, White Lion!).

[Note: This material is also posted on the Biblical Horizons blog.]

In our previous post, we examined the sundry texts from which Paul quotes in his great catena of quotations in Rom 3.10-18. But the thought unit is not yet complete; Paul makes his assessment of the implications in 3.19-20. This followup makes Paul’s intent clearer, although it is frequently misread (verse 19, in particular; I think this is likely also the case with verse 20, but my understanding of the verse is still being formed).

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Okay, here it is. As I say, just a quickie.

Wow, it’s hard to remember the last time I wrote a new song. (Actually, I’m not sure if I’ve even picked up my guitar since I finished recording the third volume of my Anthology.)

But with Easter looming and me supposed to do a song for the program, I was thinking during supper of perhaps writing something new. And an idea based on Romans 4 entered my head. It didn’t take long for this to emerge:

Out of the Grave
Words & Music by Tim Gallant March 9/08

Abram was old and Sarah was barren
Their bodies were cold their future in question
Years they had passed but Abram held fast
Receiving by faith a life from the grave
This is what Yahweh still counts a righteous response

Out of the grave and into the garden
Died for our shames raised for our pardon
This is just God at His Word
This is the life of the world

The unlikely son is born and is “laughter”
Things that are not are spoken and happen
The God we believe His Word we receive
The promise is strong give glory to God
This is what Yahweh still counts a righteous response

Out of the grave….

The truth is that both the lyrics and the tune are relatively simple, so writing wasn’t an involved process. I’m going to try to get a rough version recorded this evening, so I can have a tune outline preserved. I need to find some AA batteries for my music computer mouse first, though….

Roger Federer has had mono since December – and didn’t know it until February. So the food poisoning prior to the Australian Open wasn’t even his biggest problem.

It’s amazing to realize that Roger got to the semifinals of a Grand Slam while fighting mono, on top of having lost weight and strength due to the food poisoning. Wow.

Anyone who watched the semi could see that Fed wasn’t moving well, although the commentators tried to say it was Djokovic’s aggression making Roger look slow. (Djokovic himself got beaten by low-ranked Gilles Simon in his next event when fighting a slight flu.)

Fed had a tough comeback, forced to play Andy Murray in the first round without being in match shape. Hard loss to take, but now that he’s better, I’m sure he’ll be back to form soon.

Here is a very nice summary of Romans, by David Field. Concise and accurate.

[Note: this post also appears at the Biblical Horizons blog.]

In our earlier look at Paul’s use of Scripture in Romans 3, we focused upon how Psalm 51, from which the apostle quotes in verse 4, determines and shapes our reading of 3.1-8. We also noted that the psalm contains a reference to divine righteousness (Ps 51.14), where it refers to God’s salvific activity. In this post, we move on to the next subsection, and begin our consideration of Romans 3.9-20. What are these passages from which Paul quotes? What do they contribute to our understanding of Paul’s train of thought?

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[Note: This post also appears at the Biblical Horizons blog.]

It has always been important to pay attention to the Old Testament quotations we find in the New Testament, but in recent years, it has become even more clear that one must take into account the extended context of the passage cited, not simply the words directly quoted. This is understandable: unlike our situation, the ancient world largely communicated texts as an oral culture, and nobody footnoted.

But it is understandable on an even more important level: the New Testament writers are not manufacturing a de novo religion; they are drawing upon an inspired and authoritative text that has come to new light with the advent of Christ and the Spirit. (Indeed, this is what Paul says almost directly in 2 Corinthians 3.) And if this is the case, we can be sure that – no matter what our untrained eyes may lead us to believe at first glance – the writers of the New Testament were contextual and faithful to the Scriptures from which they drew. Our failure to recognize this stems, not from our superior training in hermeneutics, but from the poverty and weakness of our biblical understanding.

In the case of Romans 3, we have one of the heaviest concentrations of biblical citations to be found within the Pauline corpus. This means that proceeding to define terms and phrases must not be done in a vacuum; we must investigate the passages Paul cites.

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Well, it’s been a long time coming, and with schedules in the publishing world, it could be well over another year yet, but….

Canon Press informed me today that they would like to publish my little book. The full title is These Are Two Covenants: Reconsidering Paul on the Mosaic Law. It was originally intended as a chapter (an admittedly long one) in an Athanasius Press book which ultimately did not get published. I prepared it in 2004, although I did some minor touchups last year when I decided I needed to release it as a standalone book. Thus most of the work done on this is a few years old, and it’s relatively short (probably somewhere around 100 pages), but those who helped me vet the manuscript seemed to indicate that they found it a very helpful treatment of Paul’s view of the law. So although some time in the far distant future, I’d like to do a more comprehensive treatment of the subject, I’m very much looking forward to seeing this essay finally come to print.

I am conversing with someone who asked me where infant baptism can be found in Scripture. Here is what I wrote in response.

Thank you for your question. I am glad to see that you are concerned to
follow the Bible in this way. I hope you don’t mind if I take a few
paragraphs to talk about this.

Paul mentions baptism which includes infants in 1 Corinthians 10.2. Of
course, he is referring to an Old Testament event, but as he continues, we
find that he says that the Red Sea and wilderness partaking of water from
the rock and manna were of the same pattern as baptism and the Lord’s
Supper. To be more precise: he uses the language of “tupos” in verses 6 and
11, which is more than “example;” it refers to a pattern or matrix. And this
pattern of Israel was set for “us” (new covenant believers, including
Gentiles), who partake of the Lord’s Supper (1 Corinthians 10.16-22).

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Congratulations to my friends John and Moriah Barach, to whom God granted a son yesterday! Like the two generations of men before him, his name is John Vance, but he will be called by his middle name.