Class Assignment: The Message of the Text: Zephaniah (SHORT Version)

*Short Version, LONG version HERE

The Message of the Text: Zephaniah

The King’s University, Southlake, Texas

Biblical Background and Interpretation (2021FA-BIBL-2301-ONL)

Professor: Dr. J. Wallace

11/21/2021

By Darrell Wolfe

 

Zephaniah (Circa 640-609 BCE)

Understanding of the message of Zephaniah can be enhanced by contextualizing the history, intertextual factors, and biblical hyperlinks to the Hebrew matrix of ideas. Zephaniah’s message was that “the Day of Yahweh” would purge the land of Israel, allowing a remnant to return, so he could continue to bring all nations back to himself.

Historical factors

Despite many reformations and warnings by the prophets leading up to King Josiah’s reign, Israel/Judah worshiped a plurality of gods, incorporating neighboring cultures deities (aka syncretism)[1] and maintained only ritual obedience to Yahweh.[2] It was in the days of Josiah’s reign that Zephaniah came warning of a “day” when Yahweh would cleanse the land of faithless covenant breaking, and restore it to his purposes. In the year 641 BCE, Josiah became the fourth and final “good” king of the Southern Kingdom of Judah. Constable notes, “Josiah’s reforms were more extensive than those of any of his predecessors”; but they did not purge everything.[3] In 586 BCE, just 55 years after Josiah first took his throne, Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, destroyed the temple and captured Judah (fulfilling Zephaniah’s words).[4]

Intertextual factors

The accounts of Josiah can be found in 2 Chronicles 34-35 and 2 Kings 22-23. The prophets Jeremiah, Huldah, and possibly Nahum operated in this period (Jer 1:1-3; 2 Chr 34:22).[5] While no text specifies they are the same person, the “second priest Zephaniah” was among those who were killed by Nebuchadnezzar at the fall of Jerusalem (2 Kgs 25:18–21; Jer 52:24–27). Yates notes, if these were the same individual “Zephaniah lived to see his prophecy.”[6]

The message and theme of Zephaniah

Face of the ground: The Hebrew Phrase "פְּנֵ֥י הָאֲדָמָ֖ה" (the face of the ground") occurs several times in the Hebrew Bible,[7] and it occurs twice in Zephaniah (1:2-3). It refers not to the whole earth, as some say, but to the immediate whole-territory which with the prophet is concerned.[8] Anyone who defiles Yahweh’s territory will be removed. This is further supported by Zephaniah’s later reference to “Canaan, land of the Philistines” which is the traditional land of Israel (2:4-7). The purpose of this purge is to “remove from your midst those exulting in your pride and you shall no longer be haughty in MY holy mountain” (3:11). The use of the phrase “the face of the ground” carries with it the pre-loaded conceptualization of ground that is to be “fruitful and multiply”. While the judgments of Yahweh are hard; Zephaniah concludes that a remnant that will return to the land and become fruitful as always was Yahweh’s will and intention for his people.

The Divine Council and “other gods”: Another set of hyperlinks within Zephaniah, come with the phrase “host of heaven” in connection with the judgment of not only the human inhabitants but the other gods they worshiped (1:4-5). This phrasing brings hyperlinks to texts regarding the fallen Watchers and rebel Divine Council members (Psalms 82, 89; Duet 32).[9]

Day of the Lord: The day of Yahweh (aka the day of the sacrifice of Yahweh, the great day of Yahweh, day of wrath, day of trouble, etc.) (1:6-7; 14-17) is a major theme in the Hebrew scriptures. The rest of the book outlines the “Day of Yahweh” and its results. The Day is intended to be a judgment for all those who rejected Yahweh and followed other gods. In the middle of describing all the horror to come, the prophet pauses to call those who will listen to “gather” (2:1-3; also echoed in Jesus’ ministry Luke 13:34; Mat 23:37). Zephaniah calls for repentance with the possibility that those might be spared in the coming judgment.
 

Conclusion

After bringing the Day of Yahweh to purge His land of the fallen Divine Council and their worshipers, what result will come? He says, “I will leave in your midst a people afflicted and poor, and they shall take refuge in the name of Yahweh” (3:12). Yahweh promises to annul the judgments after His enemies are purged, to save and gather the lame and outcast, and change their shame to glory throughout the land (אֶרֶץ). This was always Yahweh’s plan from the day he told Abram, “through your seed, all the lands (אֶרֶץ) will be blessed”. From the day Yahweh divorced the nations at Babel, he has worked through Abraham’s seed to get them all back. Thus, the Day of Yahweh becomes a symbol not just for restoring His territory to fruitfulness but of his eventual restoration of all people unto himself through “the seed”. Yahweh always intended that this land be his territory, that all nations would be brought back to him through this land, and that this land would be praised by the nations.

NOTES

[1] Faithlife Study Bible, via Logos Software (Faithlife / Logos Bible Software, 2018), Infographics “The United Kingdom” & “The Divided Kingdom.”

[2] The Lexham Bible Dictionary - Barry, J. D., Bomar, D., Brown, D. R., Klippenstein, R., Mangum, D., Sinclair Wolcott, C., … Widder, W. (Eds.). (2016). In The Lexham Bible Dictionary. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press. (Billingham, WA: Leham Press, 2016), LBD Entries: Baal (בַּעַל), Asherah (אֲשֵׁרָה), Milcom (מִלכֹּם), LexhamPress.com.

[3] John F. Walvoord, Roy B. Zuck, and Dallas Theological Seminary, eds., The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Wheaton, Ill: Victor Books, 1983), 581-Thomas L. Constable, “2 Kings,”.

[4] Lexham Bible Dictionary, Elliot Ritzema, “Nebuchadnezzar,.”

[5] Jeffrey Glen Jackson, Synopsis of the Old Testament (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2009), “Josiah’s Reign”; Lexham Bible Dictionary, NAHUM THE PROPHET (נחום, nchwm).

[6] Lexham Bible Dictionary, Gary E. Yates, “Zephaniah, Book of,”.

[7] Logos Bible Software 8.17 SR-38.17.0.0022 (Faithlife Corporation, 2000), Search Function, logos.com; Richard J Goodrich et al., A reader’s Hebrew and Greek Bible: 2nd edition., 2020; William D. Mounce, ed., Mounce’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old & New Testament Words (Grand Rapids, Mich: Zondervan, 2006), H622; H5486; H3772. Note: Genesis 2:5; Gen 6:1: Gen 7:3; Num 12:3; Jeremiah 35:7.

[8] Gordon D. Fee and Douglas K. Stuart, How to Read the Bible Book by Book: A Guided Tour (Grand Rapids, Mich: Zondervan, 2002), 248–49.

[9] Heiser, The Unseen Realm; Michael S. Heiser, Demons: What the Bible Really Says about the Powers of Darkness (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2020).

Bibliography

“Enuma Elish - New World Encyclopedia.” Accessed November 17, 2021. https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Enuma_Elish.

Faithlife Study Bible, via Logos Software. Faithlife / Logos Bible Software, 2018.

Fee, Gordon D., and Douglas K. Stuart. How to Read the Bible Book by Book: A Guided Tour. Grand Rapids, Mich: Zondervan, 2002.

Goodrich, Richard J, Albert L Lukaszewski, A. Philip Brown, and Bryan W Smith. A reader’s Hebrew and Greek Bible: 2nd edition., 2020.

Heiser, Michael. The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible. First edition. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2015.

Heiser, Michael S. Demons: What the Bible Really Says about the Powers of Darkness. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2020.

Imes, Carmen Joy. Bearing God’s Name: Why Sinai Still Matters. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, An Imprint of InterVarsity Press, 2019.

Jackson, Jeffrey Glen. Synopsis of the Old Testament. Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2009.

Logos Bible Software 8.17 SR-38.17.0.0022. Faithlife Corporation, 2000. logos.com.

Mounce, William D., ed. Mounce’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old & New Testament Words. Grand Rapids, Mich: Zondervan, 2006.

The Lexham Bible Dictionary - Barry, J. D., Bomar, D., Brown, D. R., Klippenstein, R., Mangum, D., Sinclair Wolcott, C., … Widder, W. (Eds.). (2016). In The Lexham Bible Dictionary. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press. Billingham, WA: Leham Press, 2016. LexhamPress.com.

Walton, John H. The Lost World of Genesis One: Ancient Cosmology and the Origins Debate. Westmont: InterVarsity Press, 2010. https://public.ebookcentral.proquest.com/choice/publicfullrecord.aspx?p=2030851.

Walvoord, John F., Roy B. Zuck, and Dallas Theological Seminary, eds. The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures. Wheaton, Ill: Victor Books, 1983.

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Shalom: Live Long and Prosper!

Darrell Wolfe (DG Wolfe)

Storyteller | Writer | Thinker | Consultant @ DarrellWolfe.com

Clifton StrengthsFinder: Intellection, Learner, Ideation, Achiever, Input
16Personalities (Myers-Briggs Type): INFJ

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Class Assignment: The Message of the Text: Zephaniah (LONG Version)

*Sometimes I have to face the fact I talk too much. I see a thousand things and I want to dump it all on my listener when they aren't ready for it. So... this is the paper I wrote on Zepheniah. It ended up being 5 pages, single spaced. The assignment was for 2-pages. I'm going to have to cut this back so far that I am not sure the thesis will be truly picked up. That being said, I'm sure it will be better when I'm forced to say it more succinctly. Here is the original version, the SHORT version here.

The Message of the Text: Zephaniah

The King’s University, Southlake, Texas

Biblical Background and Interpretation (2021FA-BIBL-2301-ONL)

Professor: Dr. J. Wallace

11/21/2021

By Darrell Wolfe

 

Zephaniah (Circa 640-609 BCE)

Understanding the message of Zephaniah can be enhanced by contextualizing the history, intertextual factors, and biblical hyperlinks to the Hebrew matrix of ideas. Zephaniah’s message was that “the Day of Yahweh” would purge the land of Israel, allowing a remnant to return, so he could continue to bring all nations back to himself. 

Historical factors

During the days leading up to King Josiah’s reign (~640-609 BCE), the kings and priests of the land of Israel/Judah practiced the worship of a plurality of gods.[1] They maintained surface-level ritual obedience to Yahweh; however, included devotion to other gods.[2] The influence of these neighboring cultures from even as early as Moses can be seen in the very structure of the Genesis 1-11 accounts, all aimed at making theological counterclaims to the neighboring god-stories.[3] It was into the early days of Josiah’s reign that Zephaniah came warning of a day when Yahweh would cleanse the land of faithless covenant breaking, and restore it to his purposes.

In the year 641 BCE, at the age of 8-years old, Josiah became the fourth and final “good” king of the Southern Kingdom of Judah (following Asa, Jehoshaphat, and Hezekiah). However, “Josiah’s reforms were more extensive than those of any of his predecessors”.[4] Following Josiah’s reforms, a quick succession of bad kings would lead Judah into its final days. In 586 BCE, just 55 years after Josiah first took his throne, Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, took Judah’s capital Jerusalem captive, destroying the temple of Solomon.[5] The remnant reformers, including Nehemiah and Ezra, would not return to the land for 70-years and it remained largely desolate for that period. 

Intertextual factors

The accounts of Josiah can be found in 2 Chronicles 34-35 and 2 Kings 22-23. However, the prophet Jeremiah also operated at this time out of the region of the tribe of Benjamin (Jer 1:1-3), as did the Prophetess Huldah (2 Chr 34:22), and possibly Nahum.[6] Josiah became king at 8-years old, and at 16-years old began seeking the “God of David, his ancestor” (2 Chr 34:3-7). At 20-years old, he began cleansing the land of the symbols of the other gods, going so far as to burn the bones of false priests. Jeremiah began prophesying in the 13th year of Josiah’s reign (when Josiah was 21-years old) (Jer 1:3).

When Josiah was 26, after he had purged the land of other gods, he sent people into the Temple to repair the Temple of Yahweh, originally built by Solomon. As they repaired the temple, they found the Torah (five books of Moses) and read them out loud to Josiah. Even after all his reforms, at the hearing of these words, Josiah tore his robes on behalf of the nation. He sent his people to seek Yahweh on his behalf, and they found the Prophetess Huldah who told him that Judah would be destroyed but because he was faithful, he would go to his grave in peace before it happened.

While no text specifies they are the same individual, the “second priest Zephaniah” was among those who were killed by Nebuchadnezzar at the fall of Jerusalem (2 Kgs 25:18–21; Jer 52:24–27). Yates notes, if these were the same individual “Zephaniah lived to see his prophecy fulfilled and was murdered by the King of Babylon at the end of the reign of Israel's kings.”[7]

The message and theme of Zephaniah

One key to understanding Hebrew literature is to see how key phrases are used to hyperlink ideas and concepts into the text from other scriptures. In this way, a few well-placed phrases can do the heavy lifting by carrying pre-loaded meaning and significance into the text.[8]

Face of the ground: Some of the phrasing used by Zephaniah is thought by Fee and Stuart to be a hyperbolic reference to the Genesis 6 flood accounts “he predicts at several points that God will destroy the whole earth and all its inhabitants”.[9] The Hebrew Phrase "פְּנֵ֥י הָאֲדָמָ֖ה" (the face of the ground") occurs several times in the Hebrew Bible,[10] and it occurs twice in Zephaniah (1:2-3). The word translated “the earth” הָאֲדָמָ֖ה (the adama) means dirt or ground. The inhabitants of the Ancient Near East (ANE) had no concept of a globe circling a sun; the term would more immediately refer to the ground upon which they walked and lived.[11] In this way, wiping the “whole adama” could simply be a reference to the “adama” Yahweh cares about, namely the border of Israel, in this case, the southern kingdom of Judah and all the nations using that land. This is why other nations get wrapped into Zephaniah’s prophecy. Anyone who defiles Yahweh’s territory will be removed. This is further supported by Zephaniah’s later reference to “Canaan, land of the Philistines” which is the land of Israel (2:4-7). The purpose of this purge is to “remove from your midst those exulting in your pride and you shall no longer be haughty in MY holy mountain” (3:11).

While some commentaries note the negative connection to the flood by the usage of this phrase “the face of the ground”, this phrase is almost exclusively used in connection to Yahweh's blessing the "face of the ground". Even its use in Gen 6 shows that mankind has multiplied as Yahweh intended, and the curse was not yet part of the discussion. This phrase precedes the sin of the Watchers in Gen 6:2-8. Only here, in Zephaniah, connected with the "Day of Yahweh" is the phrase used to indicate destruction. In this chapter, the phrase "face of the ground" is tied with two parallel Hebrew phrasings (1) אָסַף ʾāsap to gather/take away + סוּף sûp to sweep away/ demolish; and, (2) כָּרַת kārat to cut off (often related to creating or breaking covenant). The use of the phrase “the face of the ground” carries with it the pre-loaded conceptualization of ground that is to be “fruitful and multiply”. While the judgments of Yahweh are hard; Zephaniah concludes that a remnant that returns to the land and becomes fruitful as always was Yahweh’s will and intention for his people.

The Divine Council and “other gods”: Another set of hyperlinks within Zephaniah, come with the phrase “host of heaven” in connection with the judgment of not only the human inhabitants but the other gods they worshiped (1:4-5). This phrasing brings hyperlinks to texts regarding the fallen Watchers and rebel Divine Council members (Psalms 82, 89; Duet 32).[12] The presence of Baal, Asherah, and Milcom in Yahweh’s land was the ultimate afront to Yahweh’s honor. The first three of Yahweh’s ten words (decalogue, aka Ten Commandments) were to have no other gods, make no idols, and carry the name of Yahweh as an image-bearer, his very representative (Exod 34:28, Deut 4:13; 10:4).[13] Judah failed to live the three most important instructions, and by extension, the rest as well. By the time of Josiah, the time had come to deliver a final verdict to Judah. Zephaniah, Jeremiah, and Huldah would provide this verdict.

Day of the Lord: The day of Yahweh (aka the day of the sacrifice of Yahweh, the great day of Yahweh, day of wrath, day of trouble, distress, disaster, ruination, darkness, deep gloom, clouds, thick clouds, trumpet, and trumpet blast) (1:6-7; 14-17) is a major theme in the Hebrew scriptures. The rest of the book outlines the “Day of Yahweh” and its results. The Day is intended to be a judgment for all those who rejected Yahweh and followed other gods. In the middle of describing all the horror to come, the prophet pauses to call those who will listen to “gather” (echoed in Jesus’ ministry Luke 13:34; Mat 23:37). Zephaniah calls for repentance with the possibility that those might be spared in the coming judgment (2:2-3).
Conclusion

After bringing the Day of Yahweh to purge His land of the fallen Divine Council and their worshipers, what result will come? He says, “I will leave in your midst a people afflicted and poor, and they shall take refuge in the name of Yahweh” (3:12). Yahweh promises to annul the judgments after His enemies are purged, save and gather the lame and outcast, and change their shame to glory throughout the land (אֶרֶץ), translated “whole world”. This was always Yahweh’s plan from the day he told Abram “through your seed all the lands (אֶרֶץ) will be blessed”. From the day Yahweh divorced the nations at Babel, he has worked through Abraham’s seed to get them all back. Thus, the Day of Yahweh becomes a symbol not just for restoring His territory to fruitfulness but of his eventual restoration of all people unto himself through “the seed”. Yahweh always intended that this land be his territory, that all nations would be brought back to him through this land, and that this land would be praised by the nations.

The book of Zephaniah cannot be understood without contextualizing the history, intertextual factors, and biblical hyperlinks to the Hebrew matrix of ideas. Zephaniah’s message was that the Day of Yahweh would purge the land of Israel, allowing a remnant to return, so he could continue to bring all nations back to himself. 

Notes

[1] Faithlife Study Bible, via Logos Software (Faithlife / Logos Bible Software, 2018), Infographics “The United Kingdom” & “The Divided Kingdom.” Details: In 1051 BCE Saul became the first king of Israel, David took his place in 1041 BCE and lead Israel into becoming one united Kingdom of Israel, leaving his legacy to Solomon in 971 BCE. While much is made of David’s kingdom, and the legacy of Solomon, Israel fractured into civil war afterward and never recovered. The northern Kingdom of Israel, based in Samaria (a name that comes up in the gospels frequently), fell in 722 BCE and the ten northern tribes never returned (in mass) to the land but remained as the “diaspora” among the nations. The southern Kingdom of Judah did not fare much better but did have several reformers.


[2] The Lexham Bible Dictionary - Barry, J. D., Bomar, D., Brown, D. R., Klippenstein, R., Mangum, D., Sinclair Wolcott, C., … Widder, W. (Eds.). (2016). In The Lexham Bible Dictionary. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press. (Billingham, WA: Leham Press, 2016), LBD Entries: Baal (בַּעַל), Asherah (אֲשֵׁרָה), Milcom (מִלכֹּם), LexhamPress.com. Detail: such as Baal (בַּעַל) (originally a Ugaritic god eventually became the most common "other god" worshipped by fallen Israel). Also mentioned in the Josiah/Zephaniah accounts are Asherah (אֲשֵׁרָה) the Canaanite fertility goddess, and Milcom (מִלכֹּם) who was considered the chief god of the Ammonites.


[3] “Enuma Elish - New World Encyclopedia,” accessed November 17, 2021, https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Enuma_Elish; Michael Heiser, The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible, First edition (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2015); John H Walton, The Lost World of Genesis One: Ancient Cosmology and the Origins Debate. (Westmont: InterVarsity Press, 2010), https://public.ebookcentral.proquest.com/choice/publicfullrecord.aspx?p=2030851.


[4] John F. Walvoord, Roy B. Zuck, and Dallas Theological Seminary, eds., The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Wheaton, Ill: Victor Books, 1983), 581-Thomas L. Constable, “2 Kings,”.


[5] Lexham Bible Dictionary, Elliot Ritzema, “Nebuchadnezzar,.”


[6] Jeffrey Glen Jackson, Synopsis of the Old Testament (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2009), “Josiah’s Reign”; Lexham Bible Dictionary, NAHUM THE PROPHET (נחום, nchwm).


[7] Lexham Bible Dictionary, Gary E. Yates, “Zephaniah, Book of,”.


[8] Tim Mackie and Jon Collins, “BibleProjectTM Videos and Podcasts,” The phrase “hyperlinking the text” originally Dr Tim Mackie’s work at BibleProject., accessed June 18, 2021, https://bibleproject.com/.


[9] Gordon D. Fee and Douglas K. Stuart, How to Read the Bible Book by Book: A Guided Tour (Grand Rapids, Mich: Zondervan, 2002), 248–49.


[10] Logos Bible Software 8.17 SR-38.17.0.0022 (Faithlife Corporation, 2000), Search Function, logos.com; Richard J Goodrich et al., A reader’s Hebrew and Greek Bible: 2nd edition., 2020; William D. Mounce, ed., Mounce’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old & New Testament Words (Grand Rapids, Mich: Zondervan, 2006), H622; H5486; H3772. Note: Genesis 2:5 referring to water the whole face of the ground (first occurrence), Gen 6:1 referring to humanity multiplying, Gen 7:3 preserving animals, Gen 8:8 the dove or preservation checking for new growth, Num 12:3 Moses was the most humble on the face of the earth, Jeremiah 35:7, during the days of the son of Josiah (so after Zeph's days) regarding the faithfulness of the Rechabites allowing them to prosper on the "face of the ground" in comparison to the faithlessness of Israel.


[11] The Lexham English Bible (LEB), Fourth Edition, Logo Bible Software, Harris, W. H., III, Ritzema, E., Brannan, R., Mangum, D., Dunham, J., Reimer, J. A., & Wierenga, M. (Eds.) (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2010), Zeph 3:11-CAPS added for emphasis., http://www.lexhampress.com.


[12] Heiser, The Unseen Realm; Michael S. Heiser, Demons: What the Bible Really Says about the Powers of Darkness (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2020).


[13] Carmen Joy Imes, Bearing God’s Name: Why Sinai Still Matters (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, An Imprint of InterVarsity Press, 2019).

Bibliography

“Enuma Elish - New World Encyclopedia.” Accessed November 17, 2021. https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Enuma_Elish.

Faithlife Study Bible, via Logos Software. Faithlife / Logos Bible Software, 2018.

Fee, Gordon D., and Douglas K. Stuart. How to Read the Bible Book by Book: A Guided Tour. Grand Rapids, Mich: Zondervan, 2002.

Goodrich, Richard J, Albert L Lukaszewski, A. Philip Brown, and Bryan W Smith. A reader’s Hebrew and Greek Bible: 2nd edition., 2020.

Heiser, Michael. The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible. First edition. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2015.

Heiser, Michael S. Demons: What the Bible Really Says about the Powers of Darkness. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2020.

Imes, Carmen Joy. Bearing God’s Name: Why Sinai Still Matters. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, An Imprint of InterVarsity Press, 2019.

Jackson, Jeffrey Glen. Synopsis of the Old Testament. Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2009.

Logos Bible Software 8.17 SR-38.17.0.0022. Faithlife Corporation, 2000. logos.com.

Mackie, Tim, and Jon Collins. “BibleProjectTM Videos and Podcasts.” Accessed June 18, 2021. https://bibleproject.com/.

Mounce, William D., ed. Mounce’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old & New Testament Words. Grand Rapids, Mich: Zondervan, 2006.

The Lexham Bible Dictionary - Barry, J. D., Bomar, D., Brown, D. R., Klippenstein, R., Mangum, D., Sinclair Wolcott, C., … Widder, W. (Eds.). (2016). In The Lexham Bible Dictionary. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press. Billingham, WA: Leham Press, 2016. LexhamPress.com.

The Lexham English Bible (LEB), Fourth Edition. Logo Bible Software. Harris, W. H., III, Ritzema, E., Brannan, R., Mangum, D., Dunham, J., Reimer, J. A., & Wierenga, M. (Eds.). Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2010. http://www.lexhampress.com.

Walton, John H. The Lost World of Genesis One: Ancient Cosmology and the Origins Debate. Westmont: InterVarsity Press, 2010. https://public.ebookcentral.proquest.com/choice/publicfullrecord.aspx?p=2030851.

Walvoord, John F., Roy B. Zuck, and Dallas Theological Seminary, eds. The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures. Wheaton, Ill: Victor Books, 1983.

Subscribe Now - Pursue a No Hiding Lifestyle 

Shalom: Live Long and Prosper!

Darrell Wolfe (DG Wolfe)

Storyteller | Writer | Thinker | Consultant @ DarrellWolfe.com

Clifton StrengthsFinder: Intellection, Learner, Ideation, Achiever, Input
16Personalities (Myers-Briggs Type): INFJ

Read more →

Facebook question: Are there terms in the New Covenant? What does it take to be "saved"?

Question (paraphrased): Are there terms in the New Covenant?

Jesus said that if we forgive, the Father will forgive us (Matthew 6:14-15), if we are standing before an altar and realize we have a strife with our brother, we should leave the altar and be reconciled and then come back (Mark 11:25-26), he said that we should be merciful and judge not lest we be judged (Luke 6:36-37), and then he made that "strange" comment about forgiving anyone we forgive (John 20:21-23).

• Are these terms of the New Covenant? 
• Are this required aspects of being a follower of Jesus?
• Implied: Can you still go to heaven if you don't forgive?
  

Answer: That depends on the framework you're using. Platonic Heaven or a Biblical Kingdom?

 

Here are my thoughts today (subject to change after more prayerful study and reflection).
 

Modern western Christianity: If you've got a 16th century Calvinist/Lutheran concept of an angry God who's going to send you to a place called hell, but Jesus came to let you go to heaven if you say the magic password; then if you're mapping onto that framework an additional requirement of saying the magic password AND behavioral modification, then that would be a difficult set of waters to tread. You will have trouble speaking of these as "terms" of the New Covenant.

If, however, you've come to realize that much of what is said about the Bible in modern churches (much of what is said between about 200-1900AD, frankly) is basically inaccurate, incomplete, and in some cases just wrong, then you have a different dialogue all together. 

Background: The later church fathers started thinking like Greeks instead of Hebrews around the late 200s, and most of what happened next took us on the wrong path to the wrong questions and wrong answers. Greeks thought in terms of a disembodied future and a ticket into that future. For Plato (not Jesus), this body is inherently evil and the disembodied state is the "real" state we should be in.

By consequence, the ROMAN Catholic church adopted that inherited Greek way of thinking and added ritual to it, and then Martin Luther and Calvin did their best with what they had to counter the gross practices of medieval Catholicism, but did so still thinking like Greeks. Thus, in 2021, Christians are still debating about what magic password combined with which behavior is required to get to the correct disembodied future. Meanwhile, the entire debate, all sides, Calvin, Arminius, and Catholic alike, are all asking questions of the text it never intended to answer...

So, what does the text actually ask its audience to hear?


The Biblical Narrative: God made a good world, and he chose to reside on it with his human and elohim co-rulers.

In a series of joint rebellions, both of Human and elohims (Genesis 3-11), the plans for earth were delayed.

The results of this rebellion were Death. And that death is painted most prominently throughout the scriptures as "separation" and "exile". Adam and Eve are cast from the Garden, Cain is cast from the city, Noah shows the total destruction of the land and people (the ultimate separation). When Jacob plots and schemes it separates him from his family. When Joseph's brothers cast him into the "pit", which becomes a common metaphor for death, their relationship is severed.

Immediately after the first rebellion, without any repentance or request from the first humans, God stepped in to cover the transgression and make a promise of restoration. At Babel, YHWH divorced the nations, turned them over to lesser ELOHIM (an exile in-masse), but chose one man and built a nation from Him so that through him the entire population could be restored. Then Yahweh began working his promise to restore all people to himself through this one man's future offspring.

Genesis ends with God taking that which was intended for evil in the life of Joseph and using it to bring about restoration. Then, the story of Israel begins. Moses murders a man and is cast into the desert. Israel sins and wanders for forty years. Israel sins again and again and is eventually sent into exile (separation).

Sheol, the grave, is depicted as the ultimate separation from God, family, and land. Nobody can escape Sheol, it takes all big and small alike. Sheol and Death are the greatest enemy of humanity.

All along, the prophets acknowledge that the people's hearts need to be changed if they will ever be able to live out the covenant with Yahweh. He responds by promising them new hearts and a new covenant.

They imagine a day, The Day of the Lord, in which all humans who ever lived are raised from the dead, all evil is judged, and those who were loyal to Yahweh enter into the New Creation, with New Hearts, and a New Covenant.

And this is the hope for which Israel waited, The Day of the Lord/New Creation. Not a disembodied future, but a re-embodied future in a new creation with a new heart and a new King.

 

Then Jesus/Yeshua/Messiah: Yeshua came around the first century AD, as Yahweh embodied (God with us). The seed of Abraham steps on the scene. He shows what it really means to walk with Yahweh. It does not mean dead works. It does not mean following the laws by building a hedge around Torah, adding laws to the laws that God himself did not even add. It does not mean being so ritual and legal-code bound that one cannot breath for fear of violation and yet another exile.

It looks like freely eating grain on the Sabbath. It looks like loving your neighbor, serving the weak and broken, healing the man left for dead. It looks like having your heart changed. But, he acknowledged, that cannot happen until a few most steps come.

So, he goes to the cross. He spends three days in Sheol (apparently preaching, would love to have heard that). And then he raises from the dead. The first human in history to experience the resurrection before the Day of the Lord.

Then, he ascends to the right hand of the Father, and sends the Spirit to dwell inside humans. Why? What was the need? If "Jesus paid the price" what need did we have of a Spirit-Life?

It was never about paying a price so that we "get to heaven when we die". Jesus was a Hebrew Messiah, not a Platonic one. The Spirit came to dwell inside of us to begin making us into new kinds of human beings.

The Kingdom of God has already arrived, it arrived 2,000 years ago. All who live in this age between the inauguration of the King (at the cross) and the Coronation of the King (at the Day of the Lord) have an opportunity to join the Kingdom. While we wait for the Day of the Lord, the day in which all evil is judged and Death is defeated once and for all, we are given the Spirit to begin the process of renewing us from the inside out. We also get the opportunity to invite others on the highways and byways into the Kingdom.

 

So, about the "terms of the New Covenant"?

We are invited to freely become members of the New Covenant Kingdom. The invitation is free and freely offered. All writers (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Peter, James, Paul, Jude, and the author of Hebrews) agree that being a part of this Kingdom involves being changed into a Kingdom citizen.

Citizens should act like Kingdom People.

The Spirit of Yahweh takes up residence in us to make us new from the inside out, because thousands of years of human history proved we cannot change ourselves. Is there some kind of behavioral bar by which we are judged? 

If you do X you can't stay in the Kingdom? In short, that's not accurate either.

That would be conflating membership in the Kingdom from discipline of the Kingdom Citizens. The King, The Father, disciplines his children. He shows them how to become better human beings, he enables them to enter that change by giving them the Spirit. But, the very fact we are asked to change, and enabled to change, is a result of already having become Kingdom Citizens.

The one and only "requirement" to become and stay a citizen, is to be loyal to Yahweh and his Son, Yeshua (Jesus).

But, he will convict you if you stubbornly refuse to change (which every human does to some extent) and he will press gently but firmly on your heart until you either submit to change or reject him and leave the Kingdom. He will leave that choice to you until your dying day.

That's the best answer I got, as of 11/14/2021. I hope that helps.

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Shalom: Live Long and Prosper!

Darrell Wolfe (DG Wolfe)

Storyteller | Writer | Thinker | Consultant @ DarrellWolfe.com

Clifton StrengthsFinder: Intellection, Learner, Ideation, Achiever, Input
16Personalities (Myers-Briggs Type): INFJ

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Biblical Counseling: Charts

I wanted to share two charts from a Biblical Counseling course taken in Fall 2020. 

 

 This first chart shows the different elements involved in healing a human being created in the image of God.

 

 

 

 

Possibly even more revolutionary, is the Spokes of Support model. Human beings are designed for community. Despite anything a modern American might say about it, we were never intended to be isolationists. We only do well, physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually, and financially, inside healthy safe community. 

In an individualist culture, that can be especially challenging. This chart shows that you do not have to attempt to gain community from one single source. If you have various types of communities to plug into, you can shape your community for yourself. The more wide and varied your communities are, the less likely an abrupt change to one will deeply effect your life and emotional health. 

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Shalom: Live Long and Prosper!

Darrell Wolfe (DG Wolfe)

Storyteller | Writer | Thinker | Consultant @ DarrellWolfe.com

Clifton StrengthsFinder: Intellection, Learner, Ideation, Achiever, Input
16Personalities (Myers-Briggs Type): INFJ

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Class Assignment: SCHOLARLY OPINION PAPER Christian Counseling Approaches for the 21st Century

SCHOLARLY  OPINION PAPER 

Christian Counseling Approaches for the 21st Century

TKU Course: Biblical Counseling BIBC-2301

 

Introduction to Christian Biblical Counseling

My father was an Alcoholic Pastor, turned Atheist Pastor, turned Atheist Crack-Addict Psychologist. Mental Illness and Addiction have plagued my family for generations, leading to death, divorce, and brokenness for all involved.

My own healing journey began in earnest in Spring of 2013, when a pastor who was also a PhD Psychologist, told me that it was okay to struggle and gave me the freedom to be “not okay”. He handed me a book called Grace the Power to Change (Richards, 1993), by Dr Jim Richards, who was himself a triple PhD in Theology, Medicine, and Psychology. A great deal of my personal foundation was laid under the ministry and practice of Bob Hamp, former Associate Pastor at Gateway Church and Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) at the Think Differently Counseling Consulting and Connecting Center. The final and most profound steps of my journey were taken with Dr Jana Ross, Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC) at Idaho Christian Counseling, who I began seeing for grief counseling shortly after becoming a widower, but eventually continued seeing for the remainder of my healing journey.

Meanwhile, my experience with secular non-Christian psychologists led me to believe that they are playing in the field of the mind and heart, without the full context of the entire being as it was created (which includes the human spirit, created in the likeness of God); therefore, they are hopelessly incapable of handling the deepest and most core issues related to the healing of the human being, resulting in years of counseling with no real change.
 

Christian Biblical Counseling

Over the years, various schools of thought have developed around the concept of Christian Counseling. These schools of thought range along a spectrum from a Psychology Trumps Theology approach to the other extreme of excluding any material other than the Bible in the treatment of the human condition. The book Counseling and Christianity: Five Approaches (Sisemore, 2012) set the stage for discussing five related and overlapping theories about how to approach Biblical/Christian Counseling. They are:

A Levels-of-Explanation Approach, generally, states that Psychology and Theology are separate disciplines and provide separate explanations for the human experience. This approach seeks to understand these explanations separately and does not allow for integration of Psychology and Theology but treats them as separate studies.

An Integration Approach, is a Science First, Theology Second view. It says All Truth is God’s Truth and seeks to integrate the truths of Psychology with the truths of the Christian Faith. This approach sees secular Psychology as the dominant method of change as it is based in science while acknowledging that the Christian Worldview of the counselor will color or shape the knowledge achieved through the study of Psychology.

A Christian Psychology Approach, is a Theology Influenced Scientific view. It is directly counter to the Integration Approach. In this approach, the Christian Psychologist is encouraged to view The Bible and God’s Truth as the foundation upon which all truth is understood. Then, they are to build their own models, theories, scientific research, and practice from that foundation. Essentially, while Integration would leave God out of the research and then adapt the findings to the influences of the individual Christian Counselor, the Christian Psychology Approach would develop its own separate centers of science and research operating as a counter-culture to the secular research. This approach holds the most merit.

A Transformational Approach, takes the baton further along the pendulum swinging out of science and into a religious approach. In this modality, the goal is the spiritual formation of the human being into the image of Christ. Spiritual direction is the primary driver, and mostly Christian-Only resources are used. Secular psychology plays a less than minor role in the influences of these approaches, as it is primarily a theological driven approach.

A Biblical Counseling Approach, from my experience, could be the most dangerous of all five approaches. This approach sees the Bible as the only source of truth and sin as the only problem that needs to be solved. David Powlison summarizes his view:

…he contends, “Christian faith is a psychology. . . . Christian ministry is a psychotherapy” (p. 245; italics in the original). Conceding that there are many competing psychologies from outside the Christian faith, Powlison would direct us to the only one that is truly rooted in the nature of God and his revelation in the Bible. (Gingrich, 2012, p. 32)

As a result, this approach runs the danger of believing that “getting saved” will solve all their problems. Having extensive background in “The Church” in North America, and especially as a Pastor’s Kid growing up in a denominational church, I can say without any hesitation that the modern Christian concept of “getting saved” will not bring the lasting change for which people are grasping. Jesus came preaching (wholly) The Kingdom of God. He did not come preaching (solely) the forgiveness of sins. When we take one aspect of the Good News and fail to see the larger picture God was painting, we fail to address the real roots of the human experience. A total renewing of the mind to live inside of God’s Kingdom is required to see the lasting change we desire. That must include, first and foremost, a new way of thinking.

My experience has led me to believe that a combination of the Integration and Christian Psychology approaches are best. There is no reason we should ignore the good work being done by secular psychology; however, as Ambassadors for the Kingdom of God, we should be leading the way not following steps behind. If we pour our time, effort, and resources into research and developing practices and methods driven by our unique understanding of the world, we have a better opportunity to get at real, targeted, and holistic modalities that treat the whole of human experience, rather than dissecting the human into pieces and treating them as separate parts.

It is only through an amalgamation of processes that deal with the entire whole of human experience, that we can begin to heal the multi-dimensional wounds that result in unwanted behavior, thoughts, and feelings.

 

The Church and Mental Health

In The New Christian Counselor, Doctors Ron Hawkins and Tim Clinton provide a compelling frame to hang our understanding:

Throughout the world, trauma is the new mission field. In war-torn and impoverished areas, people suffer tragic emotional wounds and have tremendous spiritual needs. Leaders in the field have observed that trauma is a unique problem and an opportunity for Christian counselors to offer hope and healing to those who have been abandoned, abused, traumatized, enslaved, or otherwise mistreated. (Clinton, 2015)

We need well trained lay counselors in the church who are equipped to help people attain real freedom and lasting change. The vast majority of well-meaning lay counseling I encountered inside the walls of The Church was comprised of quoting Bible verses at you while telling you to “stop sinning”, in the vein attempt to create real change.

Only a Christian with a deep and relevant relationship with the heart of The Father, an understanding of the processes and patterns of thought life, and emotional development and emotionally healthy spirituality is equipped to wield the scalpel of The Word to create healing, rather that harm.

For my part, it was only after I began “renewing my mind”, as instructed by Paul in Romans 12:2 (God, 1984), that I began to see lasting, real, and meaningful change in my life. Lasting change cannot come without changing our thinking. Bob Hamp stated it this way in his book, Think Differently Live Differently (Hamp, 2010):

“In fact, the very thing He (Jesus) asked us to do – repent – literally means ‘to think differently afterwards’… There is a vital difference. We try to have new thoughts. Jesus says, ‘Have a new way of thinking’.

The Church can be an agent for real change. Much of the pre-work I needed to do to eventually accept the help of my Christian Counselors was laid in the form of classes and meetings through the Gateway’s Freedom Ministry and Kairos meetings. If executed well, the church can be the best place for healing. They can normalize the experience of being “not okay” and provide tools to understand the struggle through new lenses and ways of thinking. When we work with each other, we are living out the adage “Iron sharpens Iron”. We need other believers to walk this path with us.

Every church should either have a counseling center of its own; or if not equipped or funded, access to one in the local area they can trust and refer people to. Biblical Counseling should involve the absolute best of our understanding of what The Bible says about the human condition and the most current and proven modalities for healing.

In the best scenario, the counselee is seen by a spirit-filled Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC), LMFT, or PhD, or similar. However, the sheer number of spirit-filled licensed counselors as compared to counselees, as well as financial and other hindrances, make this unlikely.

A well-trained lay person could likely handle most basic counseling sessions within a church or parachurch setting, referring to a professional when pre-determined indicators are present or when there is a gut-level feeling that deeper work by a more seasoned professional is needed. This is especially true if the potential for real medical intervention is needed. I would suggest each person who takes their health seriously have a family doctor, chiropractor, massage therapist, and a licensed Christian Counselor that they see regularly. But costs and availability make this (currently) an unlikely option for many. “The Church” could pick up this slack by offering these programs and training lay counselors to work with the people, referring to a professional when possible or necessary.
 

Works Cited

Clinton, D. R. (2015). In The New Christian Counselor. A fresh biblical & transformational approach. Eugene, OR: Harvest House Publishers.

Gingrich, P. F. (2012, November). Counseling and Christianity: Five Approaches Denver Journal Book Review by Denver Seminary Professor Fred Gingrich. Retrieved from Denver Seminary: https://denverseminary.edu/article/counseling-and-christianity-five-approaches/

God. (1984). Key Word Study Bible. In New King James. Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers.

Hamp, B. (2010). In Think Differently Live Differently: Keys to a Life of Freedom. Southlake, TX: Bob Hamp.

Richards, D. J. (1993). In Grace: The Power to Change. New Kensington, PA: Whitaker House.

Sisemore, S. P. (2012). In Counseling and Christianity: Five Approaches. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

 

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Shalom: Live Long and Prosper!

Darrell Wolfe (DG Wolfe)

Storyteller | Writer | Thinker | Consultant @ DarrellWolfe.com

Clifton StrengthsFinder: Intellection, Learner, Ideation, Achiever, Input
16Personalities (Myers-Briggs Type): INFJ

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