BIBLICAL Horizons, No. 63
July, 1994
Copyright 1994, Biblical Horizons
The consensus of modern critical scholarship is that the book assigned to Isaiah was in fact composed by several different hands. "Deutero-Isaiah" supposedly begins with Isaiah 40:1. There are many good reasons for rejecting this conclusion. Among these, the narrative pattern of chapters 36-39 is a neglected piece of evidence.
All commentators on Isaiah recognize that the chapters after Isaiah 40 hold out the promise of a new exodus (cf. 43:14-21; 44:27; 50:2; 51:9-11). Just as the Lord delivered Israel from Egypt under Moses, so He promised to deliver Israel from captivity in Babylon. If there is to be a new exodus, however, there must needs also be a new Passover. Isaiah’s Passover is found in chapters 36-39, which record a series of events during the reign of Hezekiah.
The section begins with a chronological note that the events took place in the "fourteenth year" of king Hezekiah (36:1). There are no additional chronological markers in the remainder of this prose section. Hezekiah’s sickness is dated very generally: "in those days" (38:1). The whole series of events, then, symbolically if not literally took place during the fourteenth year; at the very least, it is clear that Sennacherib’s siege of Jerusalem and the subsequent deliverance happened in the fourteenth year. Similarly, Passover occurred on the fourteenth day of the first month (Lev. 23:5). These events thus take place under the sign of Passover.
The events themselves parallel the Passover pattern in several ways. First, there was a threat to the people of Israel. At the time of the original Passover, Pharaoh had attacked and enslaved the seed; Moses came with the Lord’s demand that Pharaoh let Israel, the Lord’s firstborn, go. In Isaiah, the threat was Sennacherib’s siege of the city of Jerusalem.
It is significant that the military threat of Sennacherib’s siege is described as a contest between the gods of Assyria and the Lord. Rabshakeh warned the people of Jerusalem that they should not trust their gods to deliver them, since the gods of other nations had not delivered them. Hezekiah recognized his words as blasphemy and called on the Lord to vindicate His name (36:18-20; 37:1-7). The Lord humbled the gods of Assyria as He had humbled the gods of Egypt (36:21-29; cf. Ex. 12:12). Appropriately, this theme of humiliation of the gods of the nations continues into Isaiah’s exodus prophecies; Isaiah’s "idol polemics" are embedded in the exodus context of chapters 40-56 (cf. 40:18-20; 41:6-7; 44:12-20; 45:1-7; 46:6-7).
The specific judgment against the Assyrian army is reminiscent of the Passover judgment on Egypt. The "angel of death" went to the Assyrian camp by night and slaughtered 185,000 (37:36; Ex. 12:29-36). Sennacherib himself survived the slaughter, but returned home only to be assassinated. The sword of the Lord reached even into "Pharaoh’s" house.
A further dimension is added when we note that the slaughter of Sennacherib’s army was, in all likelihood, the fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah 9:1-5. The "gloom" cast over the land of Zebulun and Naphtali (9:1) was the Assyrian devastation of the northern kingdom (cf. 8:1-7). The Lord promised, however, to dispel the gloom and break the yoke of Assyria (9:4) with a victory similar to the victory of Gideon over the Midianites (9:5; 10:24-26), a victory that also reflects the Passover theme of a night deliverance (Judg. 7:19-25). That the slaughter of the Assyrian army recorded in Isaiah 37 fulfilled the promise of Isaiah 9 is suggested by the repetition of the phrase "the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this" in 9:7 and 37:32. Moreover, the prediction that the war materials would be burned (9:5), though not mentioned in Isaiah 37, fits well with the Lord’s unilateral assault on Assyria; Isaiah implied in 9:5 that the Lord Himself would be the Victor by saying that the spoils would be consecrated to Him by fire (37:26; cf. Josh. 6:24).
(One problem for this view is that Isaiah 36-37 describes Jerusalem‘s deliverance from Assyria, while Isaiah 9:1 speaks of a light dawning over portions of the northern kingdom. It is very likely, however, that following Sennacherib’s devastating defeat at Jerusalem and his subsequent assassination, Assyria’s hold on the northern kingdom was dramatically weakened. Further, it is clear that the time horizon of Isaiah 9:1-7 is not confined to Hezekiah’s reign, but points to the dawning of the true light in Galilee [Mat. 4:15-16].)
Isaiah 38 tells the story of Hezekiah’s sickness and recovery, a story that also fits the overall Passover context of the surrounding chapters. Sickness and recovery is a kind of death and resurrection, as Hezekiah’s psalm of thanksgiving makes clear (38:10-11). Isaiah 38 thus displays the positive side of Passover: The angel of death slaughtered the Assyrians, but passed over Hezekiah, the representative of the nation of Israel.
After his "resurrection," however, Hezekiah immediately fell into sin by showing off the treasures of his house to Babylonian emissaries. This is parallel to Israel’s sin with the golden calf right after their deliverance from Egypt. Because of Hezekiah’s sin, the Lord said that the Babylonians would return to do more than window shopping (39:1-8). Babylon would take the furniture of the temple into exile; this passage therefore sets the stage for the following chapters about the deliverance from Babylon.
These chapters, replete with Passover themes, form the background for the announcement of a new Exodus beginning in chapter 40. What is significant in respect to critical scholarship is that this pattern crosses the supposed chasm that divides Isaiah from "Deutero-Isaiah." A prophecy ending at chapter 39 would be like the book of Exodus ending at chapter 12. The unity of the narrative pattern, in short, underlines the unity of authorship, theme, and prophecy.
BIBLICAL Horizons, No. 63
July, 1994
Copyright 1994, Biblical Horizons
Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy has pointed out throughout his many fascinating and occasionally quixotic writings and lectures that human life exists in four directions. These four directions are inward, outward, backward, and forward. In this article I want to explore these as they relate to the work of the Church.
Each of us relates to various in-groups, which are balanced by out-groups. Since human beings are made in the image of God, and particularly in the image of the Second Person of God, the Word, this fundamental dimension of our existence is revealed in our language. We speak of I and you, of we and they; and in some languages we have the you-familiar form used for the in-group, and the you-formal form used for the outgroup.
One in-group is me, myself, with everyone else in the out-group. Equally fundamental is the group of my wife and I, with everyone else outside. Another fundamental group is the church to which I am covenanted, with all others in various out-groups, such as other churches like mine, other Christian churches, and heathens. Another in-group is my circle of friends, while another is my circle of associates at work or school. We relate inwardly, introvertedly, and subjectively to our in-groups, while we relate outwardly, extrovertedly, and objectively to our out-groups.
Also, each of us relates to the past and to the future, and we do so by creating something called the "present." In the sense of physics, the present is a razor-edge of time that has passed before we can even speak of it. But in human life, we create a span of time that we call the present, in terms of which we define the past and the future.
We exist in various different "presents." We may presently be in a lecture that lasts an hour; or we may be presently in a course of study that lasts one semester. We may think of the 20th century as the present age, or the post-Viet-Nam war as the present era. In every case, the present is something defined by human consciousness; it does not have a "scientific" reality outside of human life.
What defines the boundaries of the present is what lies on either side of it: the past and the future. We don’t live in the Middle Ages, nor do we live in the age of space travel. We don’t live in the pre-Christian time of the First Creation, nor do we live in the glory of the resurrection age to come. You are not reading this essay yesterday or tomorrow, but today.
Here again, as human "words of God," our languages express this by having a way of expressing past and future, generally in the form of verbal tenses.
Thus, here are four modes of human speech, speech that reveals these qualities of human life:
| Inward – I am coming | If we fail in our in-group relationships, we shall have anarchy. |
| Outward – He is coming | If we fail in our out-group relationships, we shall have war. |
| Past – I came | If we fail the past, we shall reject the past and have revolutions. |
| Future – I shall come | If we fail the future, we shall ignore the future and have decadence. |
We see what is outside of us. Sight tells us nothing very significant about other people and God.
We hear the experience of the inner group. It is by listening that we learn about the inner lives of others; the in-group consists of those we listen to. God and the saints reveal themselves through words, not through pictures.
We touch the past, in that the motions of our physical life and activities reflect the patterns and structures (cities, houses, churches, etc.) put in operation or place before us.
We "sense" or smell what is coming in the future.
Now, because God is Three & One, human society reveals the same principles as human individuals do. Let us consider the business factory. In any such business there are four kinds of people: managers, salesmen, workers, and engineers & entrepreneurs. The manager oversees relations in the in-group. The salesman presents the product to the out-group. The engineer and/or entrepreneur looks to the future and designs new products. The worker routinely performs in terms of what has been established in the past.
Let us consider the local church. Every local church must perform each of these functions in such a way as to restore human life from imbalance, overcoming anarchy, war, revolution, and decadence.
The pastoral function of the church deals with the in-group.
The evangelistic function of the church deals with the out-group.
The liturgical function of the church, in the broad sense, deals with the past. Under liturgy I include law: customs of worship and of law change very slowly and gradually, and come to us from our fathers. This is more properly called the apostolic function.
The prophetic function of the church deals with the future.
Paul writes of four gifts to the Church: Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, and Pastor-Teachers. In the fullest sense of the terms, both Apostles and Prophets are gone, because the New Testament completes the Whole Bible Deposit of liturgy-law (apostolic) and future revelation (prophecy). In a general sense, however, some men are naturally going to be more apostolic (oriented to liturgy and law, conserving the past), or more prophetic (challenging for change), or more evangelistic (ministering to the outsider), or more pastoral (ministering to the church).
Within any church, and within human life generally, some people are more dissatisfied, more full of inner conflict, and more easily depressed. They want change. They, because of their suffering, are most open to the future. We can call them melancholic. There used to be a lot of these people in Presbyterianism and Calvinism, which revolutionized the Western World.
Within human society, some people are very easy-going. They are happy with things as they are. "Why fix it, if it is not really broken?" is their attitude. These past-present oriented people can be called phlegmatic. There are lots of them in Episcopalianism, Presbyterianism, and virtually all of evangelicalism today.
Within human society, some people are very outgoing. These friendly, evangelistic types we can call sanguine. There are lots of them in Campus Crusade for Christ.
And of course, some people are concerned to help others get their lives shaped up. They’ll help you get regular with your daily devotions by phoning you every morning at 6:00 a.m. to remind you. We can call them choleric. There are lots of them in the Navigators.
When these natural human gifts are perverted by sin, they produce distorted counterfeits of the Church. During the Restoration Era, four fundamental denominations appeared in Judaism, which are still with us today.
The Sadducees compromised with the out-group and meshed with Greek philosophy. Today, they are the liberals.
The Essenes retreated from the world into the in-group. Historically they are the anabaptists, and today various pietistic groups.
The Pharisees conserved the past to the point of absolutizing and perverting tradition. They are the Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholics, and Anglo-Catholics of today (and I hate to say it, but some conservative Baptists and Presbyterians come close to this also, though without the explicit idolatry of the three other groups).
The Zealots became so future-oriented that they rejected God’s methods of bringing the future to pass. Various revolutionary groups at the time of the Reformation were like this, as are some pro-life extremists today.
Churches often become overbalanced in one of these areas. God’s way of correcting this imbalance is revealed in the Bible.
The Hebrews of Moses’ day were past-oriented. They were tribalistic, and looked to the fathers. God corrected this not by prophecy, but by telling them to look up and out. The Tabernacle, an image of the heavenly glory-cloud, caused them to look up. The law and liturgy, while apostolic and past-oriented in form, emphasized in content the mission of Israel to the world and their witness to that world. Notice that God’s remedy for such a backward-looking group was not to confront them with a vision of the future. Such a message would not have been heard. What a backward-looking people needs is a world-vision.
The Israelites of David’s day had acquired a vision of God as King in Heaven and of the world outside. What they needed as a corrective was an emphasis on the in-group. This was accomplished by the psalter and the Temple, which is an architectural image of the psalter, a halo of Levitical choir and orchestra gathered around God in the midst. Note that in this case, God’s remedy was what we would think of as the opposite: correcting an excessive outwardness with an emphasis on inwardness. The psalter provides both personal inwardness and the corporate in-group-ness of gathered praise.
The Jews of the Remnant & Restoration eras had become very inwardly oriented. They had internalized the message of the psalter, but were in danger of becoming too isolated. What they needed was a vision of judgment and of the future, which the prophets provided. Such a vision would open them up to the other three dimensions of life. Here again, notice the wisdom of this procedure. Pietistic inward-oriented people will not hear a message of cultural involvement and world transformation; they will perceive it as compromise. What they can hear, however, is that if they repent, God will transform the world and bring blessing.
Finally, the Christians of the early church had become so future-oriented that they expected all to end soon. What they needed was a solid dose of the past. Jesus provided this by constantly referring to the Old Testament. The Apostles did the same, as we see in their epistles, which constantly argue from the past to the present.
Today most Christians believe history is over and Christ is coming soon. The answer to today’s blocked future is the study of the whole Bible, a return to the past in that sense. Those who become desperate for history to end need to be regrounded in the apostolic foundation.
Biblical Chronology
Vol. 6, No. 7
July, 1994
Copyright © James B. Jordan 1994
by James B. Jordan
14. Joseph and Judah
Genesis 38 tells us about Judah’s sons and grandsons, and if we try to get these events into the time before the descent of the Hebrews into Goshen, it is very difficult to do so.
But this passage is almost certainly dischronologized. Thematically Genesis 38 is linked with the story of Joseph. Judah falls into the sin that Joseph resisted (adultery). Both married foreign women, Joseph rightly and Judah wrongly. Both had two sons, whose birth-statuses were reversed. Given the structure of Genesis, there is no good place to stick this story if it happened later than the descent into Goshen. We have every reason to believe that after they relocated their headquarters to Goshen, the Hebrews continued to pasture up in Canaan (1 Chronicles 7:21-22, 23-24). We are told in Genesis 38 that Judah married at about the time Joseph was sold to Potiphar. Judah and Joseph were about the same age, so Judah was about 18. We then read that after a long time Judah’s wife died (Gen. 38:12). This comes after Tamar’s first two disastrous marriages. Almost certainly this projects the rest of the story into the period after the relocation of the Hebrew encampment to Goshen. Though dischronologized, Genesis 38 fits exactly with the theological order of presentation in Genesis, showing the kinds of sins the Hebrews were prone to fall into if they remained in Canaan, and explaining why God sent them into a sanctuary in Goshen.
Genesis 46:12, though, says that Judah’s sons by Tamar, born at the end of Genesis 38, went down into Egypt with Jacob. At first glance, this indicates that they were born before the descent into Goshen. The last clause in the verse, however, mentions the two sons of Perez, who are included in the count in verse 15. Nobody can believe that these sons were born before the descent into Egypt. Thus, the list of names in Genesis 46 has to be taken as a genealogical summary, and not as a list of those who, head for head, made the trek. (And note 46:21, which lists 10 descendants, including grandchildren, of Benjamin; obviously these had not been born before the descent into Egypt!). We have fitted the grandsons and great-grandsons of Jacob into the chronology.
Thus, in the chronology we are assuming standard 30-year distances between generations, and two-year intervals in births unless the text indicates otherwise (which it does in Genesis 38:11, where Judah’s third son Shelah is clearly several years younger than his next oldest brother).
2297? – Job ben Issachar born; Elon ben Zebulun born (Gen. 46:13-14).
2298 – After two visits by his sons to Egypt, Jacob moves his household to Goshen (Gen. 45:6). This is exactly 215 years after Abram moved into the land of promise (in 2083), and is the mid-point of the 430 years of dwelling "in Egypt." Ezbon ben Gad born; Ishvi ben Asher born? (Gen. 46:16).
2299? – Shimron ben Issachar born; Jahleel ben Zebulun born (Gen. 46:13-14).
2300? – Eri ben Gad born; Beriah ben Asher born (Gen. 46:16-17).
2302? – Arodi ben Gad born; Serah bath Asher born (Gen. 46:16-17).
2304? – Areli ben Gad born (Gen. 46:16).
2307? – Er marries Tamar and God kills him (Gen. 38:6-7). Onan refuses seed to his dead brother and God kills him (Gen. 38:9). Tamar is told to wait for Shelah to grow up.
2312? – Bela ben Benjamin born (Gen.46:21).
2313 – Jacob dies at 147 (Gen. 47:28). Shelah is 20 years old?, but is not given to Tamar. Judah’s wife dies (Gen. 38:12). Tamar seduces Judah (Gen. 38).
2314? – Perez and Zerah ben Judah are born (Gen. 38:27-30); Becher ben Benjamin born (Gen. 46:21).
2316? – Ashbel ben Benjamin born (Gen. 46:21).
2317? – Libni ben Gershon born (Ex. 6:17).
2318? – Gera ben Benjamin born (Gen. 46:21).
2319? – Shimei ben Gershon born (Ex. 6:17).
2320? – Naaman ben Benjamin born (Gen. 46:21).
2321? – Mahli ben Merari born (Ex. 6:19).
2322? – Ehi ben Benjamin born (Gen. 46:21).
2323? – Mushi ben Merari born (Ex. 6:19).
2324? – Rosh ben Benjamin born (Gen. 46:21).
2326? – [Muppim] ben Benjamin born (Gen. 46:21).
2328? – [Huppim] ben Benjamin born (Gen. 46:21).
2330? – Heber ben Beriah born (Gen. 46:17); Ard ben Benjamin born (Gen. 46:21).
2332? – Malchiel ben Beriah born (Gen. 46:17).
2344? – Hezron ben Perez born (Gen. 46:12).
2346? – Hamul ben Perez born (Gen. 46:12).
2350? – Births of Amram (Kohath is 61) and Jochebed (Levi is 93).
2369 – Joseph dies at 110 (Gen. 50:26).
15. Moses
Exodus 2:1 states that "a man from the house of Levi went and took a daughter of Levi," and from their marriage came Aaron, Miriam, and Moses. There is an important contrast within this verse: the man was from the house of Levi, while the woman was a daughter of Levi, not a daughter of the house of Levi. The verse clearly implies that Moses mother was an actual daughter of Levi himself.
This supposition is confirmed by the statement of Numbers 26:58 & 59. Verse 58 states that Moses’ father, Amram, was a grandson of Levi, while verse 59 makes it clear that Moses’ mother was an actual daughter of Levi: "And the name of Amram’s wife was Jochebed, the daughter of Levi, who was born to Levi in Egypt."
These passages force us to conclude that the "430 years of Egyptian bondage" referred to in Exodus 12:40 cannot possibly begin with the descent of the Hebrews into the land of Goshen under Joseph. Rather, the 430 years must begin with Abram’s arrival in the land of promise, which was under Egyptian hegemony at the time. (For a full discussion, see Biblical Chronology 2:7: "The Moses Connection.") If we can figure this out, it is no surprise that Paul also could (Gal. 3:17).
Exodus 6 adds further confirmation, telling us that Amram was the son of Kohath, Levi’s son, and that "Amram took to him to wife his father’s sister Jochebed," again affirming that Jochebed was Levi’s actual daughter (Ex. 6:18-20).
Exodus 6 also provides us a relative chronology for the sojourn in Goshen. We are not told when Kohath was born to Levi, but we are told that Levi lived 137 years. We are not told when Amram was born to Kohath, but we are told that Kohath lived 133 years. We are not told when Moses was born to Amram, but we are told that Amram lived 137 years (Ex. 6:16-20). Thus, we can put down a relative chronology as follows:
2257? – Levi born (see Chapter 13 above).
2289? – Kohath ben Levi (see Chapter 13 above).
2350? – Amram ben Kohath born (Ex. 6:18) (Kohath is 61); Jochebed bath Levi born (Levi is 93).
2352? – Izhar ben Kohath born (Ex. 6:18).
2354? – Hebron ben Kohath born (Ex. 6:18).
2356? – Uzziel ben Kohath born (Ex. 6:18).
2382? – Korah ben Izhar born (Ex. 6:21).
2384? – Nepheg ben Izhar born (Ex. 6:21).
2386? – Zichri ben Izhar born; Mishael ben Uzziel born (Ex. 6:21, 22).
2388? – Elzaphan ben Uzziel born (Ex. 6:22).
2390? – Sithri ben Uzziel born (Ex. 6:22).
2394? – Levi dies at 137 (Ex. 6:16).
2412? – Assir ben Korah born (Ex. 6:24).
2414? – Elkanah ben Korah born (Ex. 6:24).
2416? – Abiasaph ben Korah born (Ex. 6:24).
2422? – Kohath dies at 133 (Ex. 6:18).
2430 – Aaron ben Amram born (Ex. 7:7).
2433 – Moses ben Amram born (Amram and Jochebed are 83). According to Exodus 7:7, Moses was 80 when he returned to Egypt to lead the people out. Thus, he was born 80 years before the Exodus.
2460? – Nadab ben Aaron born (Num. 3:2; Ex. 6:23).
2462? – Abihu ben Aaron born (Ex. 6:23).
2464? – Eleazar ben Aaron born (Ex. 6:23).
2466? – Ithamar ben Aaron born (Ex. 6:23).
2473 – exile of Moses from Egypt, according to Acts 7:23.
2487? – Amram dies at 137 (Ex. 6:20).
2494? – Phineas ben Eleazar born (Ex. 6:25).
2513 – Exodus.
What time of the year was Moses born? In Deuteronomy 31:2 Moses says, "I am 120 years old today." Evidently this was the same day as Deuteronomy 1:3 – "the 40th year, on the 1st day of the 11th month," or shortly thereafter. Was this Moses’ birthday? We cannot be certain, but we can be certain that it was close to his birthday, because Moses was already 80, when he initiated the 10 plagues. This means that the first eight plagues happened during the last two months of the lunar year. Evidently Moses had just turned 80 when he stood before Pharaoh.
16. Chronology of the Plagues & Exodus
Exodus 12:41 says, "And it came about at the end of 430 years, to the very day, that all the hosts of Yahweh went out from the land of Egypt." Some have suggested that "to the very day" refers back to Abram’s entrance into the land of promise, so that we can date his entrance as the 15th day of the 1st month. Exodus 12:41, however, does not demand this interpretation, and it seems better to translate it: "And it came about at the end of 430 years that it happened on this very day . . . ." The stress is on the date of the Exodus, as the following verse indicates.
The plagues took place during the (solar) year 2513, as did the Exodus. We can construct an approximate chronology as follows:
11th Month (January-February 2513) (assume 29 days)
Day 1: Moses stands before Pharaoh and Aaron’s staff swallows the staffs of the Egyptian magicians (Ex. 7:8-13).
Day 2: The Nile and all Egyptian water turned to blood for seven days (Ex. 7:14-25). I shall assume that the plagues came 9 days apart.
Day 11: The Plague of Frogs (Ex. 8:1-7)
Day 20: The Plague of Gnats (Ex. 8:16-19)
Day 29: The Plague of Insects (Ex. 8:20-32).
12th Month (February-March 2513) (assume 30 days)
Day 8: The Plague on Cattle (Ex. 9:1-7). Assume a 29-day month.
Day 17: The Plague of Boils (Ex. 9:8-12)
Day 26: The Plague of Hail (Ex. 9:13-35)
1st Month (March-April 2513) (assume 29 days)
Day 1: The new moon. YHWH speaks to Moses and Aaron (12:1-20). Moses tells the elders (12:21-28)
Days 2-9: The Plague of Locusts (10:1-20)
Day 10: Passover lambs/kids set aside (3d day of 2d week)
Days 11-13: The Plague of Darkness (10:21-23)
Day 14: Moses’ last interview with Pharaoh (10:24-29; 11:4-8). At evening: Passover
Day 15: The exodus from Egypt (beginning of 3d week)
Day 16: Pharaoh’s pursuit
Day 17: Red Sea passage (counting backwards from Month 3, this may have been a sabbath; it is also the 3d day after the Exodus.)
Day 18: If the previous day was the first sabbath after Passover, this day would be the equivalent of the Day of First Fruits (Lev. 23:11). My guess is that the Song of the Red Sea was sung on this day, 15:1-21.
Day 19: Marah incident, 15:22 (note: a crisis after 3 days)
Day 23: Elim encampment, 15:27
Day 24: Sabbath
2d Month (April-May 2513) (assume 30 days)
Day 2: Sabbath
Day 9: Sabbath
Day 15: Wilderness of Sin, 16:1 – "on the 15th day of the second month."
Day 16: Manna begins, 16:13. Seems to last at least a week before they move on. Sabbath
Day 23: Move to Rephidim, 17:1 (Sabbath)
Day 24: Meribah incident, 17:1-7
Day 25: Amalek arrives, 17:8
Day 26: Battle with Amalek, 17:9
Day 27: Jethro arrives, 18:1
Day 28: Jethro’s advice, 18:13
Day 30: Sabbath
3d Month (May-June 2513) (assume 29 days)
Day 1: Leave Rephidim, arrive at Sinai, 19:1 – "On the 3d new moon . . . on this very day."
Day 2: Moses ascends and hears (kingdom of priests), 19:3-6
Day 3: People accept, 19:7-8a
Day 4: Moses ascends and reports, hears (God in the cloud), 19:8b-9a
Day 5: People accept, 19:9b
Day 6: Moses ascends and reports, hears (consecrate and prepare for 3d day), 19:9b-13
Day 7: 2d day (Sabbath)
Day 8: 3d day: Sinai Theophany (Pentecost; Lev. 23:15-16)
Day 9: Ex. 24:4-11
Day 14: Sabbath: Moses ascends into Cloud, 24:16
4th Month (June-July 2513) (assume 30 days)
Day 24: Aaron makes the calf, 32:5-6
Day 25: Sacraments with the calf, 32:5-6 – "a feast to Yahweh." Moses returns, 24:18
Day 26: Moses intercedes, 32:30
5th Month (July-August 2513) (assume 29 days)
Day 1: Moses returns for another 40 days (Ex. 32:28).
6th Month (August-September 2513) (assume 30 days)
Day 11: Moses comes back
Let us now explain the details of this suggested chronology.
Month 1, 2513
Exodus 12:3 says that the Passover lamb was to be chosen and set aside on the 10th day of the month. As regards the month itself, this was the 3d day of the 2d week, and points to the pervasive "3d X" theme in the Bible: Significant events occur on the 3d day, in the 3d week, in the 3d month, in the 3d year, and in the 3d hour. For reasons that will become clearer as we proceed, this was probably the sabbath day of the week in this particular year (since the 17th was most likely a sabbath).
Now, God’s speech in Exodus 12:1-20 came on the 1st day of the month, and thus precede Moses’ final audience with Pharaoh, which happened at the end of the plague of darkness, and which came the day before the Passover plague (Ex. 10:28-29; 11:4). Thus, the 3-day Plague of Darkness (Ex. 10:23) happened between the time the lambs were set aside on the 10th and the Passover on the 14th. Accordingly, we can be certain that the Plague of Darkness happened on the 11-13th days of the month. I have suggested that the Plague of Locusts happened Days 2-9 of this month.
We can now make a comparison with the creation week of Genesis 1, as follows:
Day 10: Sabbath; lambs set aside.
Day 11: 1st Day: Light created; Sun darkened over Egypt.
Day 12: 2d Day: Firmament established; Sun in firmament darkened.
Day 13: 3d Day: Land revealed; darkness in all the land of Egypt (10:22).
Day 14: 4th Day: Sun, moon, and stars created; firstborn of Egypt die, and in terms of Biblical symbolism, this is the fall of the astral bodies of Egypt.
Day 15: 5th Day: Hosts of land and sea created; Host of God leaves Egypt.
Day 16: 6th Day: Man created; Pharaoh pursues.
Day 17: 7th Day: Sabbath; Israel granted sabbath as they pass through the Red Sea.
The 17th day is not only a sabbath, but is the 3d day after the Exodus, and thus a day of transition for Israel. Now, the text does not say this the passage through the Red Sea happened on this date, or on the 3d day after the Exodus. This interpretation is only my educated guess, based on the chronological and calendrical "logic" of the text.
In Leviticus 23, God later tells Israel to observe the day after the sabbath in Passover week as the Feast of First Fruits (Lev. 23:11). According to our reconstruction, this would be the day after Israel passed through the Red Sea, the day of celebration as they sang the Song in Exodus 15.
The 3d day theme returns in Exodus 15:22, where we read that 3 days after they passed through the Red Sea the people found only bitter water to drink. God delivered them in this crisis.
My suggestion of Day 23 for the arrival and encampment at Elim is only a suggestion.
Month 2, 2513
Exodus 16:1 says that Israel arrived at the Wilderness of Sin, approaching Sin-ai, on the 15th day of the 2d month. Evidently they began their complaining about food on that day as well. The next day, then, would be the beginning of the manna. The remaining suggested chronology for this month is designed to show how the progression of incidents recorded in Exodus 16-18 might have occurred. The sabbaths are, again, based on counting back from Month 3.
(Chapter 16 will be concluded next month)
OPEN BOOK
Views & Reviews
No. 22 Copyright (c) 1994 Biblical Horizons July, 1994
A Short Survey of Good
Fantasy and Science Fiction
for Christian Schools and Home Schools
by James B. Jordan
From time to time I am asked what is good SF and fantasy that teenagers in Christian and home schools might enjoy. The following brief discussion is my answer that question. I’ve tried to point out authors and stories that are not widely known, and therefore have set aside G. K. Chesterton, George MacDonald, Charles Williams, C. S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkein, and Stephen Lawhead. So, here goes.
Ray Bradbury. Bradbury is not a Christian, but his writing is excellent, and his moral values are quite acceptable. His novel Something Wicked This Way Comes was made into a _ne movie some years back. His Dandelion Wine is, in my opinion, far more enjoyable than Tom Sawyer and should be on any reading list. Finally, Fahrenheit 451 is without a doubt the best dystopian novel of the twentieth century.
Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four projects a society in which the state crushes the intellect by forbidding people to read. Not very realistic. In Fahrenheit 451 it is political correctness that leads to the outlawing of books. Bradbury’s 1953 book was far more prophetic than Orwell’s. Consider this passage from the novel: "You must understand that our civilization is so vast that we can’t have our minorities upset and stirred. Ask yourself, What do we want in this country, after all? People want to be happy, isn’t that right? Haven’t you heard it all your life? I want to be happy, people say. Well, aren’t they? Don’t we keep them moving, don’t we give them fun?." Thus, "Colored people don’t like Little Black Sambo? Burn it. White people don’t feel good about Uncle Tom’s Cabin? Burn it. Someone’s written a book on tobacco and cancer of the lungs? The cigarette people are weeping? Burn the book." And so, "There you have it, Montag. It didn’t come from the Government down. There was no dictum, no declaration, no censorship, to start with, no! Technology, mass exploitation, and minority pressure carried the trick . . . ."
Good stu_. Prophetic. Required reading.
James Blaylock. I’d have to say that Blaylock is B+ to Bradbury’s A, but his novels are entertaining, and Blaylock is an evangelical Christian of sorts (reads the Bible; trusts Jesus; doesn’t always go to church). Some of his novels are better for more mature readers, but Land of Dreams and The Last Coin are _ne for teens, and quite enjoyable.
Tim Powers. Powers is a friend of Blaylock’s, and a practising Christian of sorts (some kind of Antiochian brand of eastern orthodoxy, last I heard). Powers writes the same novel over and over again. His main character always winds up cut in his head, hands, and feet, and manages to save the day; but the main character is usually not all that good of a guy. For the most part, his novels are not "entertaining." A teenager who really goes for SF and fantasy might be given Dinner At Deviant’s Palace, which contains a great deal of Biblical allegory. Point the reader to the city of Jerusalem for Los Angeles, the garden of Eden for Venice, and the sacraments for the demonic drug "blood" and the good beer that the hero drinks to combat it. This book is, however, stronger stu_ than the rest of what I’m discussing here.
Manly Wade Wellman. Wellman’s stories of Silver John are wonderful. Written in mountain dialect by John himself, they tell of the adventures of John the Balladeer, with his silver-strung guitar, who banishes evil and witchcraft wherever he _nds it in the mountains of Appalachia. John is an explicitly Christian hero, and in one of his tales John tells some children about the "only man who was exactly six feet tall." Since these are fantasy novels, Silver John does employ a kind of white magic, based on a book called The Long Lost Friend, but this is always clearly an implicitly Christian technique. As a Christian electrician uses electricity, so John uses some of the techniques of white magic. Now of course, magic does not exist at all, so this is fantasy literature.
Let me provide a few lines from After Dark, to give a feel for Wellman’s (John’s) style. "It wasn’t full night yet, as I’ve said; but I thought to myself, something sort of snaky showed there, like the shadow of the log. And I made my long legs stretch themselves longer to get away from the place, quick as I could. Whatever was I there to do? Well, gentlemen, I’d been a-going through the county seat, and there were signs nailed up to tell folks about a big sing of country music, along about sundown . . . . I reckoned I’d just go and hark at it and maybe even join in with it."
Look for John the Balladeer (all the short stories) and the following novels: The Old Gods Waken, After Dark, The Lost and the Lurking, The Hanging Stones, and The Voice of the Mountain.
Randall Garrett. Long-time SF writer underwent a conversion to Christianity toward the end of his life, the end result of many years of interest. I recommend his Lord Darcy stories. They are set in the Anglo-French Empire of the 20th century, obviously in another world. In this world, magic really works, but devout magicians are licensed by the Church and work to defend Christendom against evil magicians. Lord Darcy is a Sherlock Holmes in this world, Chief Investigator for His Royal Highness Prince Richard of Normandy, and he is ably assisted by Master Sorcerer Sean O Lochlainn, his Dr. Watson.
These are very clever stories, and quite in the tradition of Holmes and Chesterton’s Father Brown. A one-volume complete collection was published a few years ago called Lord Darcy. This included two previously published collections of stories: Murder and Magic, and Lord Darcy Investigates, and one novel: Too Many Magicians.
Gene Wolfe. Wolfe, an active and devout Christian, writes adult fantasy and SF. He has one novel for teens, however, The Devil in a Forest, set in the Middle Ages. This is an excellent novel, very well written, and should be on any reading list.
Two of Wolfe’s short stories should be included in Christian anthologies for high schoolers: "The Detective of Dreams" and "Westwind." The former is contained in the collection Endangered Species, and the latter is found in the collection Storeys From the Old Hotel.
Cordwainer Smith. I have called attention to Smith’s work often over the years. While his stories are all clean as regards language and sexual content, most are fairly literary and probably would not be enjoyed by teens as much as by adults. I suppose, however, that if you’re going to have them read complex material like Moby Dick, you might as well let them have a go at Norstrilia or the novella, "The Dead Lady of Clown Town." If I were making an anthology for Christian schools, I’d include "The Dead Lady" in the book.
Now let me turn to a short list of some of the best SF short stories that I would have teens read. These are not by Christian writers, but are striking and helpful in forming a good conscience.
The _rst is the classic "Flowers for Algernon," by Daniel Keyes, which is widely anthologized. It is a series of diary entries by a mentally retarded man who undergoes a treatment to raise his I.Q. As this poignant story ends, the man’s I.Q. reverts to what it was before, and the careful reader will also realize that he is soon to die as a result of the experiment. Keyes expanded this story into a novel, but as a novel it is not successful. It is successful as a story to be read at one sitting. Hollywood made a movie of it called "Charly," but again, the beauty of the story was marred by the sexual dimensions Hollywood stu_ed into it, and also, there is no comparison with the written style of the story itself. The Bible tells us not to mock the deaf or put a stumbling block in front of the blind. No one who reads "Flowers for Algernon" will ever think of feebleminded people the same way again.
Isaac Asimov’s story "The Ugly Little Boy" has a neanderthal child brought by a time machine to the present. A tough old spinster is hired to help control and teach him. The story unfolds the gradual a_ection between the boy and the woman, until she becomes a surrogate mother for him. That last page would jerk tears from a hard of molybdenum steel! A wonderful story, employing the cave man myth to good e_ect. "The Ugly Little Boy" has recently been expanded into a novel – this is called "cashing in." I have not wasted my time reading it. The punch and beauty of this tale lies in the fact that it can be read and experienced in one sitting. To stretch it out into a novel could only ruin it.
Jerome Bixby’s "It’s a Good Life" is a horrifying re_ection on human depravity. In this famous story, a child is born with godlike powers, and in the rage of birth destroys the world. All that is left is his home town _oating in some kind of space. He uses his powers to force people to do what he wants. He is a bad little boy because no one could ever spank him. This story, in considerably altered form, was dramatized in the _lm, "Twilight Zone: The Movie." The story is better. You will never forget it. Neither will your kids.
Gun owners may want their kids to read A.E. Van Vogt’s most famous story, "The Weapon Shop." Put with another story, this became the equally good novel, The Weapon Shops of Isher. The theme is expressed in the slogan of the Weapons Shops: "The right to buy weapons is the right to be free." Van Vogt writes what is called "super science _ction," swashbuckling adventures featuring fabulous heroes who save the universe.
Well, doubtless there are more that could be mentioned. I have not said anything about the stories and novels of Christian writers Fred Saberhagen and Walter Miller, mainly because their works are either not clearly Christian or are rather more adult in their appeal (though not "adult" in sexuality).
Maybe some of you have some writers, novels, or stories you’d like to contribute to this list. If so, send them in, with short descriptions.
Theology At the Movies
John M. Frame
After I go to a movie, I usually "debrief" myself, asking what the _lm was about, what I enjoyed, what I didn’t, etc. Sometimes my debrie_ng occurs in conversation with others, but often I simply sit down at the computer and type up my own review of the _lm, seeking to put into words my response to the experience.
I have gathered some of my reviews together, with some introductory essays, to present to my students at Westminster Theological Seminary for our course called "The Modern Mind," a critical survey of modern thought and culture. In order to teach such a course, one must have some source of regular _rst-hand exposure to cultural trends, and I have found that for myself _lms are the best means of gaining that exposure. Although I love music, I confess I _nd modern avant-garde music, both popular and "serious," very hard to listen to. I have little taste for, or understanding of, modern art. Novels take too long to read; plays are too expensive. I used to watch a lot of TV but, well, we now have young children in the house, and I don’t want them to become "addicted." I do read modern philosophy and theology, but I also need exposure to something more universally popular, to see how academic philosophical and religious ideas are re_ected and anticipated in the general culture. For that purpose, _lm has become my medium of choice.
Movie reviews are a dime a dozen; why do I add mine to the pile? Well, reviewers di_er greatly in their emphasis. Most are concerned with aesthetic or technical matters, or with judgments of entertainment value. Christian reviewers tend to focus also on the moral tone of _lms, some actually counting the instances of sex, violence or foul language. A few reviewers o_er unique perspectives. Jim Jordan, for example, brings to his reviews a rich background in literary symbolism, and he suggests patterns of symbolism in _lm that have subtle but profound bearing on the content of the _lm. All these approaches have their usefulness.
I do not have Jordan’s sensitivity to symbolism. I do have thoughts about aesthetic, technical, and entertainment values, which I will express from time to time in the reviews. I am obviously interested also in the moral aspects of _lm, though I have neither the head nor the heart for counting up dirty words.
Though I have no degree in _lm or drama, I do have some knowledge of the history of _lm, having enjoyed movies and discussions of movies from childhood. I believe that my musical experience also gives me some appreciation for dramatic structure: ebb, _ow, and climax. But others certainly have stronger quali_cations than mine for expressing opinions on these matters.
What I do bring to the reviews is, in a word, theology. For theology is my main life work. It is Jordan’s too, and Harvie Conn’s. But perhaps because I am less knowledgeable than they about matters of cinematic detail, I tend to focus more than they on the larger picture. I see the "messages" of the _lms less in the context of _lm as such than in the context of the general culture and of those great cultural debates which are at bottom theological. My approach is to stand back from each _lm and ask, what is it trying to tell me? What is its world-view, its law, its gospel?
The world-view is the most important issue in _lm. That is the element that is most culturally in_uential (often in a destructive way), and it is often most central to the _lmmaker’s purpose.
One of the old _lm moguls (Sam Goldwyn’s name comes to mind, but it may have been someone else) is often quoted as saying "If you want to send a message, call Western Union." Many _lmmakers have made this sort of claim, that their work has nothing to do with messages, with theology or philosophy, that it is nothing other than "art for art’s sake," or, at least, "entertainment for entertainment’s sake."
I would not want to claim that art can be reduced to theology or philosophy. Art tends to be particular and concrete, while philosophy, and theology to a lesser extent, tend to be general and abstract. Art strives to entertain; theology and philosophy generally do not, although the di_erence here too is a matter of degree. (Plato, Nietzsche, and Kierkegaard are entertaining in a way that Aristotle, Kant, and Tillich are not. That fact is not irrelevant to the proper evaluation of their work.) Art does have dimensions that delight or disturb us, quite apart from any ideological content. Much of what art communicates is the ingeniousness of its own design: its colors, its musical harmonies, the juxtapositions of its scenes. In _lm, much of the product’s quality comes from the sheer interest of the camera angles, the harsh or soft focus, the direction of the light, the short pauses in the actors’ speech, the vast range of artistically formed detail.
Having said all of that, I must add that it is simply false to claim that art has nothing to do with "messages." Indeed, we are living in a time in which the messages of art are becoming more and more explicit. Oliver Stone, for example, is quite explicit about the political content of his _lms. He is not at all embarrassed by claims that he has an axe to grind. So much the better. In the _lm community, directors and actors are praised on all sides for participating in _lms (even, often, mediocre _lms) that take "controversial" positions on moral/political issues. That is, they are praised when those controversial positions are the ones that are popular in the _lm community and in the national media.
The "art for art’s sake" rhetoric tends to appear when these controversial projects receive criticism from conservative or Christian viewers. To such criticism, the standard reply is, "Art is not philosophy and should not be judged as such. Art is above politics and religion. Art communicates only itself, not ideology." But that reply is disingenuous. Everyone knows that it simply isn’t true.
Even such concepts as beauty and form are not religiously neutral. What is beautiful to a non-Christian may very well be ugly to a Christian: homosexual romance, for instance, or the demonic simulations in Disney’s "Fantasia." Some techniques, of course, like the use of hand-held cameras, can be used by Christians or non-Christians. A dim level of lighting in a scene does not necessarily distinguish Christian from non-Christian _lmmaking. On the other hand, such dim lighting can be used to make a value judgment. A director’s choice to use dim lighting in a room for the scene of a meeting might in some contexts convey that director’s view that the characters at that meeting are fairly unsavory. That doesn’t mean that dim lighting always indicates the presence of evil; but granted other elements of the drama, it may indicate that. And of course Christians and non-Christians tend to disagree as to where evil is to be found.
Message, then, is not all there is to art, but it is an important element of it, one that is especially important to Christians who are concerned about the impact of _lms on their families and upon society. From one "perspective," it is the whole: for when we ask about "message," we are simply asking what the art as a whole is communicating to us. The message may not always be easily expressed in words, or in the terms of philosophy or theology. But attempting to express it in words is a worthy goal for a reviewer. Nor is the message of a _lm to be obtained in the same way we obtain the message of a philosophical treatise. Films, even Oliver Stone’s, do not simply teach or preach. But no one should have any objection to analysis of a director’s artistic decisions to see what they reveal about his vision of life.
It is usually not hard to answer the question, "What does the director want us to think (about the characters, the events, the setting, the atmosphere)?" It is usually pretty clear who are the basically sympathetic characters, who are the villains. In _lms as in real life there is, of course, moral ambiguity. There is good in the worst, bad in the best. But even to make such comments we must be able to use moral terms; we must be able to distinguish good from bad. The chief approach of my theological analysis of the _lms will be simply to ask "What does the _lm consider good, and what bad?"
So my reviews will basically try to sum up the "message" of each _lm: its ideology, its values, its world-view, its philosophy, its theology. I will comment on other elements of the _lm as they seem especially relevant to formulating that message. In the process I will try to observe proper distinctions between art and philosophy, especially to recognize the particularism of a _lm’s focus. But particularism is of no interest unless it is in some measure universal, unless it reminds its viewers of what they, too, have observed.
Such is the program underlying these reviews. I hope that readers and viewers will _nd them in some measure edifying. May God use them in some small or large way to strengthen the Christian presence in the contemporary world.
One word of warning: since these reviews attempt to be serious analysis rather than "viewing guides," I will not avoid discussions of endings. Obviously, one could not meaningfully discuss "Hamlet" or "Death of a Salesman" without saying something about the endings of these dramas. The same is true about signi_cant _lms. Those who can’t bear to know the ending of a _lm before seeing it should proceed with appropriate caution.
My thanks and appreciation go to those Christian authors who have entered this arena before me, who have endured the scorn of the world by developing a Christian interpretation of _lm and who have often endured the scorn of Christians because they have chosen to go to movies. Especially, I have learned from the contributions of Donald Drew, Harvie Conn, Jim Jordan, and Keith Billingsley. Much should be said also for the work of an orthodox Jew, Michael Medved, who has exposed the moral antagonism between Hollywood and "traditional American values." Whether he recognizes it or not, those values he cherishes are, by and large, the values taught and advanced by the Christian gospel.
