Revelation 3:16, The Lukewarm Church
So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.
//Revelation’s letters to the churches contain some fascinating subtleties that only come to light with historical study. I’ve written about some of these before. Here is another one.
The church at Laodicea was described as distastefully lukewarm, and God says he will spew them out of his mouth. I’m guessing John of Patmos (who wrote these words) had visited Laodicea, and came away less than impressed by the drinking water.
Laodicea was built not far from an enormous hot spring, and water was piped from this spring to the city. However, by the time it got there, it was lukewarm, fit for neither cleaning nor drinking.
Genesis 49:22, Joseph, the Wild Donkey
Joseph is the foal of a wild donkey,
the foal of a wild donkey at a spring—
one of the wild donkeys on the ridge.
//This is part of the blessing of Jacob to his sons, as he prepares to die. I’ve quoted the New Living Translation here, to bring out an alternative translation of this verse. Most translations read like this:
Joseph is a fruitful bough,
A fruitful bough by a well;
His branches run over the wall.
Much different. Most scholars now prefer the “wild donkey” version, which brings up an interesting question. What is Jacob telling us? How did his son Joseph acquire the ways of a wild donkey? Perhaps it goes back to the day Joseph, probably as a young man, is sold by his brothers to the Ishmaelites:
Then Midianite traders passed by; so the brothers pulled Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. And they took Joseph to Egypt. –Genesis 37:28
Thus Joseph comes under the influence of the descendants of Ishmael. And what is said of Ishmael?
He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers. –Genesis 16:12
Did the Ishmaelite way rub off on Joseph? The good news is this: While Joseph remained a wild donkey, he did seem to overcome his “hostility toward all his brothers.”
Mark 3:27, Binding the Strong Man
No man can enter into a strong man’s house, and spoil his goods, except he will first bind the strong man; and then he will spoil his house.
//I’ve heard this saying numerous times, by many people making different points, and quite often it’s quoted out of context. Who is the strong man, what is his house, and who is going to spoil his house?
In Mark chapter 3 (a story repeated by both Matthew and Luke), Jesus exorcised a devil from a man, but the scribes who watched this were unimpressed. Jesus, they claimed, was tapping into the power of Beelzebub; he was using the power of Satan to cast out devils.
Jesus points out what nonsense this is:
And he called them unto him, and said unto them in parables, How can Satan cast out Satan? And if a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand. –Mark 3:23-25
Then Jesus launches into the saying about spoiling a strong man’s house. We are to understand that Jesus sees his purpose as destroying the “house” of Satan; his hold over the earth. Satan is the strong man, and Jesus is binding him and stealing away his prisoners … like the man he freed from the devil.
Psalm 96:5, Idols or Demons?
For all the gods of the nations are idols: but the LORD made the heavens.
//Today’s verse presents a translation of the original Hebrew in Psalm 96. In it, the psalmist claims that the gods of the surrounding nations are all just idols.
But the Septuagint version of the Old Testament, the translation into Greek from Hebrew done in the second century BC, reflects a different opinion. In it, the word “idols” becomes “demons.” All of the competing gods are not idols, but demons.
The apostle Paul embraced this idea. Insisting that the Corinthians avoid anything to do with false gods, he calls these gods demons, not idols.
Rather, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to demons and not to God, and I do not want you to have fellowship with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the Lord’s table and of the table of demons. -1Corinthians 10:20-21
This makes me wonder. If idolatry has been replaced by demonology, what do the churches of today mean when they caution against idolatry?
Revelation 12:1,4 Zodiac and the Bible
Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun … And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born.
//Readers of my book about Revelation recognize this as one of the instances in Revelation that points to astrology. For twenty days out of the year, the sun “clothes” Virgo, the woman, by appearing in her midsection. At the same time, Scorpio’s claws seem about to catch her. The myth was often flavored with the idea of the dragon attacking a newborn child.
It’s easy to see the attractiveness of astrology, though it’s based on faulty assumptions about the universe. Astrology presupposes that the earth is the center of the universe, and that the celestial bodies revolve around it, suspended in space. Additionally, the ancients determined the Zodiac by presuming that the stars existed on a plane, perhaps a curved dome that covered the earth—see, for example, Genesis chapter 1. They could then divide this plane into twelve 30-degree portions.
The zodiac predates Christ by several centuries, and flourished especially in Babylon. In its Chaldean roots, astrology was practiced by the priestly caste and linked closely to religious beliefs. The figures of the zodiac were Babylonian gods. By the time of Jesus, and the book of Revelation, astrology had made inroads into Roman, Greek, even Jewish thinking.
Acts 28:11, Castor and Pollux
After three months we put out to sea in a ship that had wintered in the island—it was an Alexandrian ship with the figurehead of the twin gods Castor and Pollux.
//Some of Paul’s adventures in the Bible are fascinating. After one shipwreck, he tells of next boarding a vessel with the figurehead of the Twin Gods. These gods were popular with navigators in the ancient world, so perhaps Paul chose this vessel to prevent another shipwreck. Could be, I guess … it’s hard to know why he thought to mention this little detail.
Anyway, the brothers Castor and Pollux, known as the Dioskouri, were worshiped by Romans and Greeks both. There were temples to the twins in Athens and Rome, and a number of shrines in other locations. They are sons of Zeus, proficient in horsemanship and hunting, usually depicted with their horses.
Today, Castor and Pollux have been demoted to a brand of organic puppy food. Nevertheless, they have outlived most of their Olympian peers.
Genesis 4:20, Cain Learns His Lesson
Adah gave birth to Jabal; he was the father of those who live in tents and raise livestock.
//Remember the fight between Cain and Abel, the first people born on the earth? Cain is a farmer, and brings the fruit of the ground to God as an offering. Abel is a shepherd, and brings one of his flock. God likes Abel’s effort, and doesn’t like Cain’s. So Cain kills Abel.
God isn’t too happy about that. He sends Cain away from the land of his parents, to be a vagabond on the earth. Cain cries that his punishment is too great to bear, but God is unrelenting.
Immediately Cain finds a wife (God only knows where) and starts having children. A few generations later, along comes a descendant named Jabal. Jabal becomes known as the father of all who dwell in tents and amidst herds—shades of Abel.
It takes a while, but it appears that Cain and his descendants finally learn how to live the “Abel” way.
Acts 8:9, Magic in the Bible
But there was a certain man called Simon, who previously practiced sorcery in the city and astonished the people of Samaria, claiming that he was someone great
//Sometimes it’s fascinating to step back just a little and consider how different the world was to the folks who wrote the Bible. For one thing, they believed unquestionably in magic, and condemned it as Satanic. There are four instances in the book of Acts that involve the use of magic.
1. Today’s verse tells about a magician named Simon, who was baptized as a Christian, but really just wanted to know how the apostles were dispensing the Holy Spirit through laying on hands. He wanted to be able to do the same trick.
2. Acts 13 tells of a man named Elymas the sorcerer, who attempted to sway another man from believing in Jesus. Paul called him a son of the devil, and cursed him with blindness.
3. Acts 16 tells of a slave girl who had a spirit of divination, and who made lots of money for her masters with this magic. The magic spirit revealed to her that Paul and Timothy were servants of the “Most High God.” Paul performed an exorcism on the spot, driving away the spirit, and this infuriated her masters.
4. Acts 19 tells of many people who were practitioners of magic, who brought their spell books together and burned them. The total value of the books was fifty thousand pieces of silver. A nice-sized bonfire, I’d imagine. I can’t even guess how much these books would be worth to historians today; their burning was a horrific loss that would have helped us better understand the world of the first Christians.
Amos 9:11-12, Why We Needn’t Circumcise, part II of II
In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old: That they may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen, which are called by my name, saith the LORD that doeth this.
//Yesterday, I pointed out how James, the head of the church in Jerusalem, referenced this passage in the book of Amos to justify his decision that Gentiles need not be circumcised.
But James isn’t reading the same words you are! Not even close. He is reading not the original Hebrew, but the Septuagint, an early Greek translation of the Old Testament. (Let’s ignore for now the question of whether the author of Acts correctly represents James, who probably would have preferred Hebrew scriptures over the Greek version used in the Diaspora.) There are two critical differences between what you see and what James sees:
1. The word Edom became Adam. Thus James interprets the saying to refer to all men, descendants of Adam, presumably excluding the Jews. He thus relates this saying to Gentiles in general, not just to the Edomites … the enemies of Israel.
2. The word “possessing” isn’t in the Septuagint at all. It’s replaced with a clause about Gentiles being able to seek the Lord.
So, Amos wrote about a coming conquering Messiah, when Israel would possess the land belonging to their enemies (Edomites) in the south. Somehow, Amos’s message became completely distorted, and James uses it to say that Gentiles may seek the Lord without respecting the laws of the Jews.
Hence, today we Gentiles need not be circumcised. Thank goodness for the Septuagint.
Acts 15:16-17, Why We Needn’t Circumcise, part I of II
And after they had held their peace, James answered, saying, Men and brethren, hearken unto me: … After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up: That the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things.
//This topic will require a little introduction. The book of Acts tells how Paul argued before the heads of the church that Gentiles need not be circumcised like Jews in order to be accepted as Christians. James, the head of the Jerusalem church, agrees. He stands up and offers this argument: God selected a people (the Jews) out from among all the nations, and gave them special circumstances that didn’t relate to the gentiles.
Thus the course of Christianity is drastically altered, allowing Gentiles to enter the fold without living up to the law of the Jews regarding issues like circumcision. It’s hard to imagine a more important decision in the course of Christianity.
In presenting his argument, James directly quotes the prophet Amos. Note the similarity between what he says and what is written in the book of Amos:
In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old: That they may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen, which are called by my name, saith the LORD that doeth this. –Amos 9:11-12
Amos is talking about the coming Day of the Lord, when God would send a Messiah to rescue the Jews and set the world right. First-century Christians argued that that day was upon them; the long-awaited Messiah had arrived. Thus, says James, the time has come and Gentiles can finally be accepted as they are.
But don’t read the verses in Amos too carefully, or you’ll see the problem. More tomorrow.
Proverbs 15:17, A Valentines Day Observation
Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled ox and hatred therewith. –KJV
//Need a cute verse to write inside your valentines day card? Here’s one, if you can make any sense of it. Why is a dinner of herbs compared to a furious ox stuck in the mud? This verse highlights the oddness of attempting a direct translation. Let’s look at a different translation:
Better is a dinner of herbs where love is than a fatted ox and hatred with it. –RSV
Ah! So it’s an angry fat ox! I guess that’s why he’s stalled. But who wants a fat ox? Let’s try again:
Better a small serving of vegetables with love than a fattened calf with hatred. –NIV
A fattened calf! Now it makes sense, given that we all know that phrase. It’s a calf that has been prepared on the best grain for slaughter. The calf is for eating, not plowing. I think we’re ready for the final translation to bring it into today’s world:
A bowl of vegetables with someone you love is better than steak with someone you hate. –NLT
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Genesis 24:64, The Camel That Wasn’t
Then Rebekah lifted her eyes, and when she saw Isaac she dismounted from her camel;
//As a recent study in Israel shows, camels were not domesticated in Israel before the time of King David:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/11/science/camels-had-no-business-in-genesis.html
So what is Rebekah doing riding a camel in today’s verse? I did a quick search, and found camels listed in 20 more verses in Genesis. Why are they there?
It actually should come as no surprise. Once the camel was properly domesticated, it became a staple of life. One could hardly imagine life without camels. So, the folks who put the Bible in writing—this would have been after the time of King David—naturally assumed camels to have been a convenient mode of transportation a thousand years beforehand, clear back to the time of the Patriarchs.
There is no deception going on, here. As the ancient stories were passed down, they were naturally retold in a way that made sense to their current audience, a thousand years later.
1 Corinthians 16:22, Anathema Maranatha — Come, Lord!
If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha.
// Unless you routinely read the King James Version, you may have never paid much attention this verse. What on earth does Anathema Maranatha mean?
It’s actually two separate statements. Anathema means cursed, while Maranatha means … well, we’re not sure. Our various Bible translations differ. Some read it as a plea: “Come, Lord!” Others as a promise or exclamation: “The Lord is coming.” Still others render it as a creedal expression, “The Lord has come.”
Since this is the only time this phrase is used in the New Testament, it’s hard to know what Paul meant. Was he saying:
“Come, Lord, and curse these people who hate you!”
“If you don’t love Jesus, you’ll get what’s coming to you soon when the Lord comes!”
“If you don’t love Jesus, you’re cursed, because Jesus came as the Messiah.”
Matthew 27:59-60, Boy, Was Jesus Lucky!
And when Joseph had taken the body [of Jesus], he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, And laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock: and he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre, and departed.
//In all accounts of Jesus’ burial, he is laid in a tomb, not buried in the ground. During the short period between 20 BC and 70 AD (when Jerusalem was destroyed), Judean Jews observed a strange burial practice of laying the body out on a slab in a tomb to let it decompose for one year, and then gathering the bones so that the tomb could be re-used. The bones were then placed in a box called an ossuary and properly buried.
Imagine what might have happened had Jesus chosen a different time in history to appear! He could have been trapped in the ground instead of laid restfully on a stone slab! Would he have still been able to resurrect?
So, here’s the question: Did God recognize and seize the opportunity during that short century, or did God poke around inside the heads of Jews during this time suggesting that they start leaving bodies unburied for a while? Or was Jesus just lucky?
Daniel 12:2, Everlasting Contempt
And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
//This verse has the dubious distinction of being the one verse in the Old Testament that speaks of eternal punishment, or so we are often told. Actually, it depends upon the interpretation, and there are two problems:
Problem 1: Does “everlasting contempt” mean eternal conscious torment? The word “contempt” in this passage is the same Hebrew word as is translated “abhorrence” in Isaiah 66:24, which refers to corpses, not living people. You may be familiar this verse, because Jesus quoted it as well.
And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh. –Isaiah 66:24
Problem 2: Of perhaps greater concern is that word “many” in today’s verse. “Many” of them shall awake. Why not all? When the judgment comes, won’t everybody awake and arise? Note how the Gospel of John copies today’s promise from Daniel, but he conspicuously changes the word “many” to “all.”
Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation. –John 5:28-29
Did John completely misunderstand Daniel’s message, or did he merely correct it?
Galatians 1:4, What Are We Saved From?
[W]ho gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father
//The Bible speaks often of salvation. But what exactly is it that we are saved from? Most Christians imagine that salvation means being tucked away up in heaven, and that what they are saved from is a lost eternity. But in the Bible, almost every instance of salvation is this-worldly. In fact, some scholars insist that every instance is this-worldly. That the word does not relate to the afterlife at all. Here are a few examples of things we are saved from, all of which have nothing to do with heaven and hell.
This present evil age (Galatians 1:4)
Our present alienation from God, and need of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:19-20)
A pointless, hopeless life (Ephesians 2:12)
Bondage to sin (Matthew 1:21, among many)
Fear of death (Hebrews 2:15)
Genesis 2:21-22, Adam, Eve, and Panentheism
And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.
//What a brilliant idea! If you want to make something like something else, make it out of that something else. If you want to make something like yourself, make it out of yourself.
God took of piece of Adam to make Eve. Adam, he formed out of the dust of the earth. But where did the dust of the earth come from?
Most believers assume creation ex nihilo, a Latin phrase meaning “from nothing.” God started with nothing and made something. The Bible never directly claims that God made everything from nothing, but many read Hebrews 11:3 to imply this: “By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.” We take this to mean that the universe came into existence by divine command, rather than being assembled out of preexisting matter or energy.
But is this a valid interpretation? Does the verse in Hebrews instead say that God made everything out of the Word of God? (Do not think of Word as a spoken command; Jesus, for example, is the Word of God according to John’s Gospel.) Does this explain where God’s building materials came from? Did God take a piece of himself and create the universe from it? Is that how mankind wound up in the image of God?
This wouldn’t be pantheism, per se, but rather a flavor of panentheism … the idea that God both pervades and transcends the universe.
Matthew 1:18, More on the Perpetual Virginity of Mary
This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit.
//A couple of days ago, I mentioned a verse that seemed to indicate that Mary, the mother of Jesus, felt required to go through the purification period after the birth of Jesus. This seems to imply that she did not have a miracle birth, and that the Catholic doctrine of perpetual virginity was in error. But there are many more reasons for believing Jesus had brothers and sisters, and thus Mary was not a virgin for long. Helvidius, way back in the fourth century, provided the following arguments against perpetual virginity:
1. Today’s verse seems to imply that after the birth of Jesus, Joseph and Mary did “come together” (share in sexual intercourse). This is even more clear a few verses later:
But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus. –Matthew 1:25
2. Luke 2:7 speaks of Mary “bringing forth her firstborn son.” This implies she had further sons later.
3. Various passages mention the brothers and sisters of Jesus, giving no hint that they do not refer to biological family.
It’s a doctrine that never did make much sense to me.
Luke 2:21-22, Was Jesus Miraculously Born?
And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, his name was called JESUS, which was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb. And when the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were accomplished, they brought him to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord;
//The Catholic doctrine of perpetual virginity arose in the sixteenth century, and typically includes the assumption of a miraculous birth (not just a miraculous conception) so that Mary remained a physically intact virgin. It appears to be a further development of the belief in virginal conception. From that point forward, Catholics and Protestants (who recognized the “brothers of Jesus” mentioned often in the Bible to be sons of Mary) differed in doctrine.
So here’s a question: If Mary was a “perpetual virgin,” why did she need purification? Today’s verses seem to suggest that Mary and Joseph went through the usual period of purification after the birth of Jesus before they took him to the temple.
Did the Catholic Church miss this little detail?
Revelation 20:14, The End of Death and Hades
Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
//In my book about Revelation, I assume that this verse symbolically presents the end of death … that death has been conquered. Hades, the holding place of the dead, is therefore no longer needed. It is emptied and discarded.
There is, however, a deeper way to read the verse. It is by referring back to the four horsemen, where Death and Hades are first introduced as villains:
So I looked, and behold, a pale horse. And the name of him who sat on it was Death, and Hades followed with him. And power was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword, with hunger, with [disease], and by the beasts of the earth. –Revelation 6:8
Clearly “Death and Hades” are still to be understood symbolically, but does this change the meaning of their destruction? Is it only the sword, hunger, disease and wild beasts that are conquered? Will people still die of old age after Death and Hades are conquered?
That would certainly radically change our understanding of the New Jerusalem!
Fantasy Football, Anyone?
Put on the whole uniform of the Team, that ye may be able to stand against the blitz of oncoming linebackers. Don the hip pads of truth, the shoulder pads of righteousness, the cleats of preparation. Don’t forget the facemask of faith and the helmet of salvation. Then clutch the pigskin with much Spirit, for that is what the Play Book of your Coach in Heaven demands.The River of Life
Twice before Lee Harmon has written about Christian topics, once on the gospel of John and once on the book of Revelation. But the question people keep asking him is this: As a liberal Christian, why do you care so much about the Bible? Others wonder whether he is truly a Christian at all.
The Way It Happened
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| Revelation: A love story gone awry. | The Gospel: A love story set aright. |
What really happened 2,000 years ago? How did a persecuted minority of end-time believers known as Christians, with their dreams of Armageddon and a conquering Messiah named Jesus, evolve into the largest religion in the world? Author Lee Harmon explores the period in which the New Testament was written in his books about John's Gospel and Revelation.
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Lee Harmon interviewed on The God Show about the History Channel's miniseries The Bible and Lee's latest book, John's Gospel: The Way It Happened.
About Lee
Hello! I'm an author, historical Jesus scholar, book reviewer, and liberal Christian, which means I appreciate and attempt to exercise the humanitarian teachings of Jesus without getting hung up on any particular supernatural or religious beliefs.
The Bible is a magnificent book that has inspired and spiritually fed generations for thousands of years, and each new century seems to bring a deeper understanding of life’s purpose. This is true of not only Christianity; through the years, our age-old religions are slowly transforming from superstitious rituals into humanitarian philosophies. In short, we are growing up, and I am thrilled to be riding the wave.
I avidly read all thought-provoking religion titles. New authors: I'd love to read and review your book!
Contact me here.
About Leslie
Hi! While Lee writes the articles and reviews the books, I edit, organize, and maintain the blog. The views expressed here are Lee's but I'm his biggest supporter! :-)
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