Is trinitarianism something limited to the New Testament or is it in the Old Testament? Did Jesus introduce something new, or was he building on what was already known and believed by Jews? Does it seem odd that the disciples would accept that Jesus said he and the Father were one? When Paul wrote about Jesus, “For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily,” (Colossians 2:9), why was this not seen as heretical? Did the Jews already have an understanding of the Godhead and the triune God?
Now you may be wondering why is this important. I contend it is very important in terms of apologetics, in terms of our theology, our doctrine, the continuity between the testaments, and especially in evangelizing Jewish people. If you try to witness to a Jew, one of the things that they stumble over the easiest is how can you worship Jesus and be a monotheist? How can I accept the idea that Jesus is God and God is God and not be a heretic?
Among the Jewish people, the Shema is part of the daily morning and evening prayer services. It is the cornerstone of their faith and their most important prayer. “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might,” (Deuteronomy 6:4-5).
But believe it or not, there was the belief in Judaism in what they call them, two powers in heaven. This was not one good and evil, but both were good guys. This was Jewish theology up until the end of the second century. Believing in the two powers did not conflict with the Shema, just as believing in the Trinity does not conflict with our belief that there is one God.
That was normative Judaism until after the Christian era. We have got to get over this divine plurality hurdle before we get to what you could really show a Jewish friend in terms of, “Hey, your old testament is not really different than the New Testament. You just got to look at it a little bit from different angles and you’re going to come out at same place.”
The other is an apologetic discussion. You may have run into certain groups like the Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Mormons who deny the deity of Christ. The idea of God being the Father and Jesus is confusing to them. Jehovah’s Witnesses are famous for denying that Jesus was a deity. He’s a creative being according to the doctrine of the Jehovah’s Witnesses. The Mormons sort of see lots of gods in their bible and they believe Jesus and Lucifer are brothers. So they have many god figures and they’re all sort of equal and interchangeable.
Then there are the non-believing academics who are fond of saying things like the New Testament authors just sort of made this up about a trinity or God had you won’t find this in the Old Testament.
There’s also biblical continuity and interpretive clarity. The two testaments are very consistent with each other. Even something as fundamentally Christian as a Godhead, you will see in the Old Testament. You just have to know what you’re looking at and what to look for.
One of the most important things in understanding the Bible is contextualized theology and by that, I mean interpreting the scripture in context. Of course, all Bible teachers say you must take verses in context, but not many do. You need to think like an ancient Israelite to understand the Bible as they would understand it and as the writer intended it to be understood. Biblical theology is framed by the world and the people who created it. These people are not from the Middle Ages. They’re not from the Reformation era. They’re not modern. Scripture must be understood from the historical, cultural and linguistic context it was written.
We’re going to look at how Jews interpreted the two powers idea that they see in the Old Testament. Many Jews see a belief in Jesus as God as a problem. We need to be able to fit the idea of Jesus as God and then God is still there into monotheism. Somehow that needs to be monotheistic. If you’re talking to a Jewish friend, (or Jehovah’s Witness), you have got to be able to do that.
One of the first things we need to look at is the word “elohim.” The God of Israel is naturally elohim. But, the gods of the nations are called elohim.
In fact in 1 Kings 11:33, you get three of them and one of them is a goddess, although oddly, biblical Hebrew does not have a word for goddess.
1 Kings 11:33 reads, “Because that they have forsaken me, and have worshipped Ashtoreth the goddess (elohim) of the Zidonians, Chemosh the god (elohim) of the Moabites, and Milcom the god (elohim) of the children of Ammon, and have not walked in my ways, to do that which is right in mine eyes, and to keep my statutes and my judgments, as did David his father.”
In Deuteronomy 32:17 devils are called elohim. “They sacrificed unto devils, not to God; to gods (elohim) whom they knew not, to new gods that came newly up, whom your fathers feared not,” Deuteronomy 32:17.
In first Samuel 28, the spirit of Samuel is called an elohim.
Moses was referred to as an elohim in Exodus 4:16 and 7:1. Moses was not a god, but he was God’s representative and in this role, he was considered to be standing in the role of an elohim. Exodus 7:1 ”And the Lord said unto Moses, See, I have made thee a god (elohim) to Pharaoh: and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet.”
Is there more than one elohim that is real and exists? Yes, in the Bible, we have plural elohim. They’re right there. I see them, but I’m a monotheist.
There’s some tension here because we’re used to thinking of the term monotheist in a certain way, and the way we think of it does not conform to the Bible. That’s the problem. That’s the tension we feel. So on the one hand, the use of the Hebrew term isn’t really clear. All you gotta do is look up elohim in a concordance. You’re going to find those verses. In the English, it is sometimes a bit obscured. But elohim is used to refer to the one true creator God, the gods and goddesses of the heathens, deceased humans, devils (demons) and other spiritual beings.
Now these figures, these entities are not equal in attributes. We’ve got obviously an angel is not at the level of the god of Israel. None of these are at the level of the god of Israel. So it can’t be about attributes. When we think about the word God, we tend to assign attributes to the word. We think of the one most high creator, his omnipotence and omniscience. God with a capital “G” does refer to the most high. When we see “god” with a little “g” we start getting nervous. Our monotheism wants to say there are no other gods, just Yahweh. Yet the Bible discusses others gods and treats them as real beings.
We are just not used to thinking in these terms. Elohim is a term used to denote what I call a place of residence. That is, if I called something an elohim, it means that thing lives in the spiritual world. Different elohim have different attributes or characteristics.
For more on the word “Elohim,” see: https://dennisregling.blogspot.com/2018/08/who-are-elohim-in-bible-by-dennis.html
A summary to this point, here’s what I want you to get. Where we’ve gotten so far, the biblical use of the word Elohim shows us that it’s not tied to a specific set of attributes. That explains why more than one thing gets described with the term in the Bible. English translations at times obscure this important point. Since elohim is not about attributes, the biblical writers were not denying monotheism by using that word to describe other figures they believed were real, that were also elohim.
Divine plurality language should not be a threat. If you are going to lead a Jew to Christ, this is a big deal. If you start leading them by the hand and getting them over this sort of threat of plural language for God, they can then go with you to the next step.
We can accept a plurality of elohim, but we also establish that Yahweh is inherently superior. He is in command. He by definition is superior to anything else in the spiritual world and of course our world, too. He is the creator of all other elohim.
Once we establish divine plurality, we need to address the “son-ship” language that you will see associated with certain elohim in the spiritual world. The word son gets rightly applied to divine beings because God created all those other divine beings, not only humans, without threatening monotheism.
Since divine plurality, it doesn’t interfere with monotheism, let’s talk about this “divine son” idea. To a Jew, who is the son of God? There are two candidates in the Old Testament. Who gets called “my son?” In Hosea 11, Israel is called God’s son. “When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.”
The other passage is when Moses and Aaron go before Pharaoh and they request to be permitted to leave Egypt. Exodus 4:22 refers to Israel as God’s son, “And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD, Israel is my son, even my firstborn.” Again, it’s a corporate reference. In 2 Samuel 7:14, speaking of Solomon, God says, “I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men.” So both corporate Israel and a king were called sons of God.
But Jesus is saying he’s the son of God. He’s not Israel and he’s not the king. That seems to contradict this whole divine plurality thing that Jesus could be divine. But, it doesn’t because we have passages like Psalm 82 were the same language is applied to spiritual beings.
Psalm 82:1-8 “God (Elohim) standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he judgeth among the gods (elohim).
2 How long will ye judge unjustly, and accept the persons of the wicked? Selah.
3 Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy.
4 Deliver the poor and needy: rid them out of the hand of the wicked.
5 They know not, neither will they understand; they walk on in darkness: all the foundations of the earth are out of course.
6 I have said, Ye are gods, and all of you are children of the most High.
7 But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes.
8 Arise, O God, judge the earth: for thou shalt inherit all nations.”
So God is standing in the council of the gods. Our first reaction as Christians is, “this must be the Trinity.” Trust me in Psalm 82, you do not want the trinity. If you read the rest of the Psalm, what happens to the elohim? God judges them for being corrupt and evil. You don’t want the trinity in Psalm 82. It’s just really bad theology to do that.
So here we have in Psalm 82:1 the word Elohim two times. First it is singular and the second time it is plural. One of the things you’ll hear is that this council must just be people and then they will quote Jesus in John Chapter 10, not realizing that doing so undermines his deity in the passage.
Look at Psalm 89: 6-7, “For who in the heaven can be compared unto the Lord? who among the sons of the mighty can be likened unto the Lord? God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him.”
Here we have the heavenly beings. The “sons of the mighty” in Psalm 89 are in heaven. There are in the “assembly” of the saint, the divine council of God. These are the same beings as in Psalm 82.
Jesus quotes Psalm 82:6 in John 10. In Psalm 82, God says to the elohim of his counsel, “I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High. But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes.” And again, you don’t want the trinity here. Just not a good idea.
This is a declaration that because of their corrupt administration of the authority God gave them in ruling the nations, and part of their failure was having men allowing humans to worship them instead of the true God,” God is going to strip them of their immortality. In essence, God is saying, “I’m bigger than you are. I made you, not the other way around. I gave you life and I can take it.”
Psalm 82 is talking about Deuteronomy 32:8-9, “When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel. For the Lord’s portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance.”
This will upset my KJV-Only friends, but there is a small problem with the translation of this verse. Most English translations will have “sons of Israel” in verse 8. The English Standard Version (ESV) has “When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he divided mankind, he fixed the borders of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God.”
Now, let’s look at the verse. When the most High gave the nations their inheritance, when he divided humankind, all mankind. When did that happen? When did the nation is divided? At the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11:1-9. When God did that, he set up boundaries for the people’s according to the “number of the sons of Israel,” in most English translations. In the ESV, we have according to the “number of the sons of God.” The ESV is one of the few translations that we’ll have this rendering. However, that is the reading in the Dead Sea Scrolls, and also the reading of the Septuagint. So the oldest manuscripts of the Hebrew Bible, we have read “sons of God” in this passage. But the age of the manuscripts is not why I believe the correct reading is “sons of God.”
The story is here is that God, if you remember back to the Tower of Babel episode, looks down on what is happening in Babel. Humanity is not dispersing as he had commanded them to do. So He goes down and he confused their languages and split everybody up, and then they disperse. In the chapter prior to that, Genesis 10, you have the table of nations. It gives a list of the nations that are associated with Genesis 11.
What happens here is God says, “you don’t want to listen to me, and we thought that the flood would sort of take care of this, but you don’t want to listen to me. I’m not going to be your God any more. I’m going to split you up. I’m going to put you under the authority of lesser divine beings. These are the sons of God who work for me. I’m going to create a people of my own from scratch.” That people was Israel. Israel does not exist at the time of the Tower of Babel because God hasn’t called Abraham yet, and Israel is not listed in the table of nations for that reason.
This is why it says he divides the people’s up according to the number of the sons of God, but the Lord’s portion is his people. Jacob, also known as Israel, is his allotted heritage. This is the story of the rest of the Old Testament in a nutshell. This is the beginning of antagonism between Israel and everybody else in between God and other deities, other pantheons. This is the Old Testament explanation for why the other nations have their own pantheons. Why they’re messed up because God punished them by abandoning them, disinheriting them.
Now we know from the very next chapter when God calls Abraham, God does not completely forget the other nations. When he calls Abraham, he says through you, “all nations of the earth will be blessed,” (Genesis 22:18). God hasn’t forgotten them, but they are under punishment.
Coming back to the Shema, is all of this a violation of the Shema? The idea God has sons that are elohim, (small “g” gods)? We want the Jewish person to look at their own Bible, their own old testament and realize it is okay to recognize divine plurality, because elohim just talks about where our being it lives and where he’s from has nothing to do with attributes. And some of those elohim are sons. There is son-ship language in the Old Testament. It’s not a violation of the Shema.
In view of divine plurality, the Israelites believed in a whole spiritual world, populated with other elohim. They understood God had punished the nations and some of those elohim had become corrupt and they were demanding and receiving worship from other people’s instead of the true God. They saw where God said, “I’m going to bring you out of Egypt, but you stay away from the other gods. You stay out of their territory. You don’t intermarry with them. You stay away from them,” because he knows the threat is real.
This is the story of the Old Testament. This is why in the Old Testament you get this sense of certain areas were owned or under the domain of different deities. This comes through in the biblical story.
This is what the Shema means. The Shema is not a denial of other elohim or that God has sons in the spiritual world. There’s a context for it. It’s just not one we’re used to.
You might be thinking, what about statements like “there’s none beside me, unlike me.” They’re not denials of the existence of other elohim, their statements of Yahweh’s incomparability.
I’ll just point out some of these denials are in Deuteronomy 32:39, “See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand.” there in Deuteronomy 4:35,39 say, “Unto thee it was shewed, that thou mightest know that the Lord he is God; there is none else beside him. Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart, that the Lord he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: there is none else.”
Well, what’s going on there? Deuteronomy 32 said the devils are gods and they must be real, because we can’t deny the demons are real. But what about these verses?
If you think of them as statements of incompatibility, there actually is no problem. In Zephaniah 2:15, Nineveh claims, “This is the rejoicing city that dwelt carelessly, that said in her heart, I am, and there is none beside me: how is she become a desolation, a place for beasts to lie down in! every one that passeth by her shall hiss, and wag his hand.” In Isaiah 47:8, Babylon says, ” Therefore hear now this, thou that art given to pleasures, that dwellest carelessly, that sayest in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me.”
Now, are Nineveh and Babylon claiming they are the ONLY cities in the world? No. They are saying they are unique and stand above the others. That is exactly what God is saying when he says there is none like him. Again, we establish the Shema is not a contradiction to divine plurality and is not inconsistent with monotheism.
Understanding this helps us understand how Christianity grew out of Judaism. I haven’t touched on the two powers in heaven yet. That is an upcoming article. But establishing the existence of more than one elohim, the divine plurality, is the first step to getting to the belief that Jesus was God, yet the father was still God. I will be exploring this more in future articles.
Looking To Get More Out Of God’s Word?
If you are like me, you’ve heard thousands of sermons over the years, yet you feel like you have only scratched the surface of the Bible’s message. It seems after all these years, all I am hearing is the same dozen messages preached over and over again in a handful of different ways.
Rather than digging into the text and teaching us what God was conveying to the original audience when the Books of the Bible were written, it seems that preachers are just focused on applications for us today.
I love the Gospel. I love reading the Bible. However, I also like to dig deeper. There are some verses and passages, that in our 21st century mindset, don’t seem very clear. We’ve heard explanations that don’t seem to satisfy.
Sadly, pastors and evangelists spend more time telling us what they believe the Bible means and almost no time, if any, teaching us how to study the Bible ourselves. Even most recently, I have discovered things in the Bible that I should have learned years ago.
For 40 years I have studied the Bible. I use a wide variety of tools and resources to try to understand the Bible the way it was meant to be understood. I have spent years trying to get into the mind of the original audiences that the Bible books were written to. I’ve looked at the languages the Bible was written in. I’ve sat under some of the best Bible teachers and read some outstanding scholarly works.
I have met many people that have sat in a church pew for 40 years and know almost nothing about what the Bible says, or can actually defend what they believe using scripture. They know a few proof texts, but have no real knowledge. Sadly, I have met many pastors that have preached for 20 years and have little understanding of the Word beyond parroting the party line. The church needs teachers. They need to move past the milk and onto the meat. The church needs more than homilies, they need content.
I hear pastors say that folks aren’t interested in deeper study, but I believe rather, that they are not given the chance or equipped to dig into the Bible on their own. There are so many amazing things in God’s word. Things that make one want to dig even deeper. But they need to be taught. Taught how to study God’s word. Taught where to find relevant information outside the Bible, using commentaries, history books, inter-linear study helps and other tools.
When Christians come together, they ought to be talking about what they are studying, what they have found and how it is impacting their faith and Christian walk.
I have discovered there is so much more to the Bible than the average Sunday morning sermon, or Bible study lesson gives us. Now, I want to share my studies with you.
I will be continually adding more articles and studies, so be sure to sign up for our newsletter. Make sure you don’t miss any. Additionally, if you have questions or subjects you would like me to address, please share them with me.
What Does 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 Mean?
“For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”
1 Thessalonians 4:16-17
This verse is given as “proof” of a pre-tribulation rapture. Of course it says nothing about a tribulation, but it seems to be the only verse that even vaguely supports the eschatology of those who believe this.
The sensational idea we will be “caught up into the clouds” to be rescued from a great tribulation does not explain why the “dead in Christ” need to be rescued.
So what is this verse talking about? If we are not being snatched away to heaven, what is happening?
Apantesis, the Greek word translated “meet” in 1 Thessalonians 4, is, according to the Souter Lexicon, “almost technical for the arrival of a newly arrived official.” The idea is to meet to honor and escort.
In ancient times, when a king visited, the people would go out to meet him and escort him back to town. Those welcoming the official would change direction after the meeting and then escort him back to the town from which they had come, not back to his place of origin (see Moulton, Greek Testament Grammar, Vol.1, p.14).
Apantesis is used four times in the Bible. In Matthew 25:1,6, Acts 28:15 and in 1 Thessalonians 4.
“Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.” Matthew 25:1
“And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.” Matthew 25:6
“And from thence, when the brethren heard of us, they came to meet us as far as Appii forum, and The three taverns: whom when Paul saw, he thanked God, and took courage.” Acts 28:15
Notice in Matthew, it is revealed that the virgins had been waiting for the bridegroom to appear. When He did, they met him and escorted him to the banquet hall.
They did not go back with him to the place from which he came.
“And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut.” Matthew 25:10
The bridegroom did not change directions, reverse course after the waiting virgins met him. Rather, he kept on coming in the original direction from which he started. The ones who changed direction were the virgins.
In Acts, the brethren came out and escorted Paul back to Rome. After they met him they did not return to Caesarea with Paul (which was his place of beginning for this trip). Paul did not change directions after the waiting brothers met him; rather, he maintained his course to Rome. The ones who changed direction were those who met him.
The Lord’s coming is not our going. It is His coming! We will not be caught up to escape anything,. We will be meeting him in the air to honor him in his coming and escort him back to earth.
No matter one’s eschatology, nothing can be proved from this verse other than that this is the appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;” Titus 2:13
It is the time of His glory and honor. “When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day.” 2 Thessalonians 2:10
We are caught up to honor him and escort him to earth.
(PLEASE FEEL FREE TO COMMENT, BUT KEEP IT NICE. THANK YOU.)
What is “the sign of the Son of Man in Heaven?”
Matthew 24:30 “And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.”
What is “the sign?” The sign is the Son of Man in Heaven. Will Christ return for his church? I believe so. And he will return with all glory and dominion which was given him when he sat at the right hand of the Father.
But I believe the sign mentioned in this verse is that the “Son of Man” is in Heaven. He has been given the same glory and dominion as the Father. What is the ” Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven?”
Daniel 7:13-14 “I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.”
So many Christians read Matthew 24:30 and immediately the get the idea of Jesus riding a cloud and returning to earth.
But when we compare the verse to to the very same phrase in Daniel’s prophecy, we see Jesus is not coming down in Matthew 24, but he is going up. Up to the throne of God where ALL dominion and glory was given to him.
Jesus referred to this part of Daniel’s prophecy when he addressed Caiaphas, the high priest, at his trial.
Mark 14:60-64 “And the high priest (Caiaphas) stood up in the midst, and asked Jesus, saying, Answerest thou nothing? what is it which these witness against thee? But he held his peace, and answered nothing. Again the high priest asked him, and said unto him, Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed? And Jesus said, I am: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven. Then the high priest rent his clothes, and saith, What need we any further witnesses? Ye have heard the blasphemy: what think ye? And they all condemned him to be guilty of death.”
Jesus claimed to be that very “Son of Man” that would be given ALL DOMINION AND GLORY.
Now we know that these things belong only to God, so Jesus was saying that, yes, he was (he is) God. This was the great blasphemy the Jews used to condemn him.
Mark 14:62 “And Jesus said, I am: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.”
I welcome comments and corrections. I do not welcome argumentation and contention. Visit us at: https://www.winthechildren.com
Why Are The Ugaritic Texts Important To Bible Study?
Why Are The Ugaritic Texts Important To Bible Study?
Most Christians, including a lot of pastors, have never heard of the Ugaritic texts, much less considered how they can aid us in understanding ancient Hebrew literature and life. Yet, certain Old Testament books actually quote from the Ugaritic religious texts. This will be discussed later in this article. First, let’s get some information about where the Ugaritic texts came from.
In 1982, near Ras Shamra, a Syrian farmer was plowing his field when his plow struck an unusual rock which had an unnatural square shape. When the farmer removed the rock, he discovered an underground vault.
The vault was filled with vases, jugs, tablets, gold, silver, and pieces of ivory. Quite accidentally, the Syrian farmer had discovered the ancient Phoenician city of Ugarit, today known as Ras Shamra. Ras Shamra is approximately seven miles north of Laodicea, approximately fifty miles east of Cyprus.
However, the greatest discovery involved the finding of a scribal school and library. This amazing discovery revolutionized Biblical scholarship.
The clay tablets discovered and deciphered in the late 1920s and early 1930s opened a window to look into the life and religious worldview of the ancient Israelites.
Ugaritic language is important in that its vocabulary is so close to biblical Hebrew. Many Ugaritic words are letter-for-letter the same as biblical Hebrew. The similarity of the languages helped scholars get a better understanding of the Hebrew language, particularly in cases where the Bible may use a word only once.
The texts found also included a wide variety of languages. Sumero-Akkadian cuneiform, Egyptian hieroglyphics, Hittite hieroglyphics, and native cuneiform texts were represented.
All these gave ancient language scholars a wealth of knowledge enabling scholars to interpret previously impossible passages.
It is the religion of Ugarit, however, that is especially important to Old Testament scholarship.
Sadly, most Christians have settled on the idea that we know everything we need to know about the religion of the Israelites from the Bible. Although I believe the Bible contains all we need to come to a saving faith in Jesus Christ, many phrases and events in the Bible remain a mystery to us. Other ancient texts can help us to understand these tough passages and ideas.
To be honest, a lot of the Bible is pretty foreign to the 21st century reader. The Biblical writers were writing to people in their time, not for a technological society. Words, phrases, descriptions, and concepts that were completely familiar to an Israelite are lost on us.
The availability of ancient texts from that same time and area help us to understand what is being said and how it was received by its original audience.
Also, ideas from other religions, especially Baʿal worship, influenced the Israelite’s thoughts and ideas about God. You have to wonder why, to paraphrase Elijah (1 Kings 18:21), Israel kept halting between two opinions as to who was the true God.
1 Kings 18:21 “And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the Lord be God, follow him: but if Baʿal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word.”
Yet, because the Israelites were not in a bubble separated from their Mesopotamian neighbors, but rather, interacted with them in commerce and day to day living, the ideas and believes of those around them would influence them.
We can see in our own country where the different philosophies of our neighbors, and the changes in culture, have influenced various churches and church leaders. It would not be different for the ancient Israelites.
The ancient literature of Ugarit sheds a lot of light on these issues and others . The destruction of Ugarit can be accurately dated to around 1200 BC. That means these tablets, and the ideas they convey, were around earlier than most of the books of the Hebrew Bible.
Given that chronology, (the texts pre-dating the Bible), scholars were surprised to find so many striking parallels to words, phrases, pericopes (an extract from a text, especially a passage from the Bible), and ideas previously known primarily and in some cases, only from the Hebrew Bible.
Before the discovery of the library of Ugarit, scholars of the Hebrew Bible and the languages of the ancient Near East presumed that Mesopotamian religious texts provided the best parallels to those found in the Hebrew Bible. The cuneiform tablets of works such as the Gilgamesh Epic and Atrahasis (the flood story) were first translated, revealing similarities to stories in the Bible in written material centuries older than the Bible.
Indeed, many skeptics claimed, and still claim, the Bible actually stole from these earlier stories.
After the discovery of Ugaritic, the idea that Israelite beliefs came from foreign civilizations in Mesopotamia was abandoned.
The Ugaritic texts showed that people in Canaan living during biblical days were quite literate, a realization that was important, since the oldest manuscript evidence for the Hebrew Bible at the time dated to roughly 1000 AD.
The Ugaritic importance in understanding the Bible:
One of the most important principles of interpretation is to put every text into its proper context. That is, to read the text to be interpreted in perspective to its meaning to its original audience.
We look not only at the text that comes before and after the text to be interpreted in the Bible, but also to the social, historical, cultural, and literary traditions of the world in which it was produced. The texts recovered at Ugarit provide a key piece of literary, social, and religious context for certain passages of the Old Testament.
To understand the Bible, you must understand the literary context. First of all, it’s important to understand that the biblical writers, though under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, followed the ordinary forms of literature that were current in their day when they wrote. If, for example, the biblical writer was describing a covenant treaty between God and his people, his description conforms in style to covenant treaties known elsewhere in the ancient world. To depart from this style would have seemed strange to the ancient readers: “What kind of covenant treaty is this? Didn’t this guy know how to write one?”
The apostle Paul wrote his letters to the churches in the style and format of the day. The recipients of Paul’s letters knew what a letter was supposed to look like. The Bible is written in the language, expressions and style of the times in which it was recorded. We wouldn’t write a personal letter and put footnotes in it, or write a recipe to share and use scientific terminology. Likewise the biblical authors wrote using the literary conventions and styles that would be expected by their audience.
Also, we must understand that every word in the Bible is not an original thought. The Apostle Paul often quoted Greek philosophers and other ancient writers. Jude quoted the Book of Enoch. Old Testament writers also quoted from other texts and cultures.
Christian preachers and authors today quote commentaries, devotionals, journals, newspapers, and even television shows to illustrate a lesson or make a point. Similarly, the biblical writers used external material to draw attention and make a statement.
Paul quotes from pagan Greek poets. The psalmists and prophets borrow vocabulary and paraphrase material from ancient Egyptian, Mesopotamian, and Syrian literature. The people of biblical times knew the quoted material wasn’t inspired, but it had meaning for them and their audience.
Biblical writers didn’t just use the forms of contemporary non-inspired literature, they were also influenced by the literature itself. The stories and philosophies affected how the writers and their readers thought, just as what we read and watch influences our thoughts and opinions. The lens through which we see the world is colored by what we read and see. It was the same for Biblical writers and their audiences.
We also must consider the religious context of the writings. The religion of Ugarit and the religion of ancient Israel were not the same, but there were some striking similarities. For example, the name of the ultimate divine authority at Ugarit was El, which is also one of the names of the God of Israel (e.g., Gen 33:20).
Genesis 33:20 “And he erected there an altar, and called it El-elohe-Israel.“
El was described as an aged god with white hair, seated on a throne. However, at Ugarit, El was sovereign, but another god ran things on earth for El as his vizier. That god’s name was Baʿal. At Ugarit Baʿal was known by several titles: “king of the gods,” “the Most High,” “Prince Baʿal” (Baʿal zbl), and “the Rider on the Clouds.”
Baʿal’s position as “king of the gods” in Ugarit, Israel’s northern neighbor, helps explain the “Baʿal problem” in the Old Testament. Jereboam’s religion in the northern kingdom borrowed from Baʿal worship, and it soon began to look like there was no difference, or if there was a difference, they were so close that worshipping one or the other was just theological hair-splitting.
We see this same problem with contemporary Christianity, with so many of the cults claiming to worship the God of the Bible, yet with so many contrary teachings. Indeed, to properly communicate with the followers of the cults, we must first define terms, since they use terms like born-again, sanctified, etc, in ways that differ from how the Bible uses them.
This is what prophets like Elijah had to contend with. The people had no Bible. They had only the prophets and their words. When a prophet wasn’t around to set the record straight, it was easy to just do what the neighbors were doing, especially if your king didn’t care, or actually preferred it that way.
Given this state of affairs, it is not surprising that the prophets counted on familiarity with Baʿal to make their case that it was Jehovah, not Baʿal, who was the heavenly king.
We know this was the case, since certain Old Testament books actually quote from the Ugaritic religious texts, most notably the one that modern scholars have called the Baʿal Cycle. Whereas the Baʿal Cycle would give Baʿal credit for things like sending rain and making the crops grow, the prophets would credit those things to Jehovah. The showdown at Carmel is such a case. God had withheld rain for three years and Elijah challenged Baʿal, the rain giver, to a showdown, which God won in an astounding and impressive manner (1 Kings 17-18).
To fully understand the bible, we must put it in its original context of time and culture. God preserved the Bible for this generation and all generations. It is relevant and contains the truths God’s people need. But we must understand, the Bible was not written by this generation nor for this generation, It was written at a specific time for a specific audience to convey a specific message. Putting the Bible into its ancient social, historical, and religious context doesn’t harm it. Rather, the text is illuminated for those people who are culturally removed from their origin.
“The Cloud Rider”
Throughout the Ugaritic texts, Baʿal is repeatedly called “the one who rides the clouds,” or “the one who mounts the clouds.” The description is recognized as an official title of Baʿal. No angel or lesser being bore the title. As such, everyone in Israel who heard this title associated it with a deity, not a man or an angel.
Part of the literary strategy of the Israelite prophets was to take this well-known title and attribute it to Jehovah in some way. Consequently, Jehovah, the God of Israel, bears this descriptive title in several places in the Old Testament (Isaiah 19:1; Deuteronomy 33:26; Psalm 68:33; 104:3). For a faithful Israelite, then, there was only one god who “rode” on the clouds: Jehovah.
Until we hit Daniel 7, that is. You know the story, but you likely don’t know the full context, since Ugaritic provides that for us:
Daniel 7:9-14 “I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire. 10 A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened. 11 I beheld then because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake: I beheld even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame. 12 As concerning the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away: yet their lives were prolonged for a season and time. 13 I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. 14 And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.”
The plurality of thrones in the passage tell us plainly that we have here what scholars of the Hebrew Bible call a divine council scene. We have the Most High seated in his throne room, meeting with the heavenly host. The literature of Ugarit has many such scenes, and the biblical divine council and the council at Ugarit are very similar.
In point of fact, the flow of Daniel 7 actually follows the flow of a divine council scene in the Baʿal Cycle:
In the Ugarit / Baʿal Cycle we have:
(A) El, the aged high God, is the ultimate sovereign in the council.
(B) El bestows kingship upon the god Baʿal, the Cloud-Rider, after Baʿal defeats the god Yamm in battle.
(C) Baʿal is king of the gods and El’s vizier. His rule is everlasting.
In Daniel 7 we have:
(A) The Ancient of Days, the God of Israel is seated on the fiery, wheeled throne. Like Ugaritic El, he is white haired and aged. (We see this throne also in Ezekiel 1.)
(B) Jehovah-El, the Ancient of Days, bestows kingship upon the Son of Man who rides the clouds after the beast from the sea (yamma) is destroyed.
(C) The Son of Man is given everlasting dominion over the nations. He rules at the right hand of God.
The striking parallels are especially noteworthy given that this is the only time in the Old Testament where a second person other than Jehovah is described as “coming with or upon the clouds.”
That the intent of the author to describe this “son of man” with a title reserved only for Jehovah, (the rider of the clouds), is clear by virtue of how the scene followed the Baʿal literature, the literary cycle whose central character, Baʿal, held the Cloud-Rider title.
The Jewish audience reading Daniel would have clearly understood the implications. The prophet Daniel was describing a second power in heaven, a second being at the level of Jehovah to whom Jehovah himself granted authority. Although we naturally think of the idea of a godhead as distinctly Christian, we have evidence here that this idea is found in the Hebrew Scriptures.
We find that Jewish theological (noncanonical) writing during the second temple period is filled with references to the “second power in heaven” and attempts to figure out how to articulate what was going on in heaven in light of monotheism.
Jewish writers speculated that the “second god” was the archangel Michael, or perhaps Gabriel. Some Jewish writers even wrote that Abraham or Moses occupied that position! However, for Christians the answer is obvious. This second person in the Godhead is Jesus, pre-incarnate.
It is well known that Jesus’ favorite title for himself while on earth was “son of man.” The term means two things: (1) human being (Jesus enjoyed being human!), and (2) the deity figure to whom all authority was given. The latter usage is perfectly evident in Matthew 26, as Jesus stood before Caiaphas, someone who knew his Old Testament, waiting to fulfill his destiny on the cross.
When asked to give the Sanhedrin a straight answer about who he was, Jesus quoted Daniel 7:
Matthew 26:62 “And the high priest arose, and said unto him, Answerest thou nothing? what is it which these witness against thee? 63 But Jesus held his peace, And the high priest answered and said unto him, I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God. 64 Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said: nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven. 65 Then the high priest rent his clothes, saying, He hath spoken blasphemy; what further need have we of witnesses? behold, now ye have heard his blasphemy. 66 What think ye? They answered and said, He is guilty of death.”
By quoting this passage, Jesus was making an open, unmistakable claim to be deity, he was the one who rides on the clouds. That this is the interpretation is evident from Caiaphas’ reaction:
65 “Then the high priest rent his clothes, saying, He hath spoken blasphemy; what further need have we of witnesses? behold, now ye have heard his blasphemy. 66 What think ye? They answered and said, He is guilty of death.”
The statement is only blasphemous if one is claiming to be the rider on the clouds.
The idea of a second person in the Godhead may have been acceptable to Jews at the time, but it was simply intolerable that this man Jesus of Nazareth would claim to be the incarnation of the second power.
What many may think is an odd answer, or even a deliberate deflection of Caiaphas’ demand, is the exact opposite. Jesus could not have been more direct. He was the “second deity” of Daniel 7.
The meaning would be clear to those present. The concept of a godhead is not a Christian innovation; it is rooted in Israelite religion and Jewish theology, and was accepted doctrine for Jews until the second century A.D. when, in response to the worship of Jesus by Jews converting to Christianity, the rabbis declared the second power idea a heresy.
Are the Ugaritic texts important for the Christian? I say an emphatic, “Yes!” We are able to see the beginnings of the Christian doctrine of the godhead in the Hebrew Bible with the help of the context supplied by the literature of Ugarit. We are able to better understand exactly what the writers were telling their audience in the context of the time.
Does this mean I believe every Christian should devote himself to studying ancient texts? No. But those of us who claim to be called to teach should familiarize ourselves with the ancient texts, not only the Ugaritic texts, but the ancient Hebrew writings, which though not canonical, influenced the Biblical writers and the people to whom they wrote.
We need to read and study our Bibles. We need to know the Word of God. But, when we see something unusual, we need to see if there are other writings of the period that may shed light on those texts. As teachers and students of the Word, we need to be diligent in our study.
2 Timothy 2:15 “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”
When Did The Apostle Paul Expect Christ To Return?
Much of the Christian world believes Christ Jesus is going to return at some point in our future to establish His Kingdom here on planet earth. Some Christian groups believe the return of Christ is imminent and fully expect Jesus to return very soon.
What is often overlooked is that Christians of every generation since the establishment of Christianity in the first century A.D. have looked for Christ to return in their lifetime. Yet, if we are to believe the Bible, Christ’s return must have been in the first century.
Jesus, Himself, plainly taught He would return within the lifetime of some of those hearing Him teach. Jesus made some very straightforward statements during His ministry that speak to His return occurring in the generation in which he lived. His disciples and also the Apostle Paul, repeat what Christ said about his soon return. If the return of Christ didn’t occur in the time frame seen by the New Testament writers, it is not a matter of only the disciples of Jesus being wrong, it’s a matter of Jesus Himself being wrong.
The writer of Hebrews exhorted the readers to patience, knowing Christ’s return was imminent.
Hebrews 10:36-37 “For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry.”
The Apostle Paul believed that Christ was returning in his time and shared that thought with the church at Thessalonica to comfort them. Paul said “we which are alive,” not “they which are alive.”
1 Thessalonians 3:13 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.
14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
James wrote that the coming of the Lord was nigh, near. The judge was “before the door.” Christ’s coming and his judgement on wicked Israel was soon approaching.