Gold of the Temple

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In Matthew 23:16+17 Jesus is giving the leaders of the Jews a lesson on gold and the temple. He is at the end of His forty months of ministry and will be on the cross in a few days. Early in His ministry was The Sermon on the Mount, now He is delivering a sermon on the Temple Mount and will give one on the Mount of Olives. In preparing for this part of the first sermon He has turned over tables of gold coins and answered about paying money to Ceaser. As this teaching unfolds, He gives the Pharisees “seven woes”; in this woe He ask them which is greater the gold in the temple or the temple that makes it holy?

The original thought for this post came as I read through the Books of Kings and Chronicles. David, Solomon, and the people gave tons of gold for building the Temple of God. Like Moses, David had gotten the plans from God. David gave his to Solomon. I believe this Temple, like the Tabernacle are representations of the Temple/Throne Room of God in Heaven. Everything was gold, or covered in gold, even the wall coverings; except the curtain that shielded the Ark. That golden apple proved tempting for many enemies. Several kings of Judah conveniently used the temple’s treasures to buy off those enemies. Maybe that gold was not as important as the Pharisees and Sadducees made it out to be.

The Initial Deposit

 The deposit slips and the final delivers are spread through several chapters in Kings and Chronicles. Between the temple and Solomon’s house the quantities are impressive. Please read 1 Kings 6, 7, and 10; 1 Chronicles 9, 22, 28, and 29; 2 Chronicles 2, 3, and 4 have a glimpse of the final products; that much gold and silver had to get every greedy king’s attention.                                                                                                                                                    The First Withdraw

Rehoboam’s pride and foolishness provided the door for judgment on Solomon’s sin the matters of his wives and their gods. Solomon’s first wife was an Egyptian royal, which he should not have married, he also had business dealings with the country. So, Egypt had a good knowledge of the treasures in Jerusalem.

Shishak king of Egypt, 2 Chronicles 12:9 and 1 Kings 14:26, made a significant withdrawal. I read or heard that an archeologist commented on the amount of gold work done in Egypt around his time of rule.

Asa a Revolving Door

Asa was a “good” king, who developed an attitude, it happens. He ruled for forty-one years, the last years of his rule his son, Jehoshaphat ran things. In 1 Kings 15:15 and 2 Chronicles 15:18, Asa is bringing gold and silver into the temple. Baasha, king of Israel, starts to bother Judah; so, Asa takes the gold and silver and sends it to Ben-Hadad of Aram – Kings 15:18 and 2 Chronicles 16:2. God rebukes him for his lack of faith in the power of God. By extension, the gold is what bought Asa relief.

Jehoram

2 Chronicles 21:16 and 17 tell of the Philistines attacking Jerusalem and looting the palace but not the temple. I think they learned their lesson back in the time of Samuel. The other interesting point in the story is Jehoram received a letter from Elijah.

Joash

Joash was another “good” king, who also developed an attitude. He repaired the temple by collecting money from the people – 2 Chronicles 24:14 and 2 Kings 12. Either the priests were just “sitting” on the money or possible misusing it is unclear, but they were not repairing the temple. The accounts of the withdrawal are slightly different but Hazael of Aram attacked and Joash sent the sacred objects to Hazael to leave. 2 Kings 12:18 says a stockpile of objects from Jehoshaphat, Jehoram and Ahaziah, the kings of Judah, was part of what was sent.

The Northern Kingdom Takes a Share

Jehoash, King of Israel, attacked Judah (Amaziah) broke down the city wall and took treasures from the temple and hostages – 2 Kings 14:14 and 2 Chronicles 25:24. Chronicles mention what was entrusted to Obed-Edom; this is a thought from the time of David and Solomon.

Ahaz and Assyria

Assyria, the enemy we forget about, is coming to power. Ahaz, a bad king, is being attacked by Aram and Israel, so he bribes Pul of Assyria to attack his attackers – 2 Kings 16:8 and 2 Chronicles 28:21. 2 Kings 16 and 2 Chronicles 28 tell the story of Ahaz but share very different facts. Ahaz goes to see Pul and does things in the temple to please the foreign king.

Hezekiah and Sennacherib

Hezekiah tries to buy peace from Assyria, 2 Kings 18:15 + 16. Sennacherib takes the money and keeps coming, it does not really work out well for him. Hezekiah must have recovered the doors with gold because it mentions he stripped them to get the gold. Sennacherib blasphemed God so, what gold could not do God did with rats. Israel (north) was deported at this time. I am still studying, but the Nineveh that is described by Jonah is the one Sennacherib created. A prophecy comes after Hezekiah’s illness because he has shown envoys from Babylon everything in his treasury.

Babylon Cleans the Bank

Well, before Nebuchadnezzar takes all Neco king of Egypt fines Judah because Josiah fought with him – 2 Kings 23:35. Nebuchadnezzar actually has several times when he takes goods and people from Judah – 2 Kings 24 and 25; Jeremiah 52; and 2 Chronicles 36 tell the story.

Nebuchadnezzar first took Jehoiachin and treasures and people. Later because Zedekiah had not learned he came back to clean house and tore down the temple. Both of these times temple articles were cut up and carried away. He did leave the poor in the land to take care of things.

The Ark with the Mercy Seat

According to John in Revelations the real Ark is in heaven, remember Moses made a copy of what he saw. What happened to the one Moses made? Who knows. The favorite theory is Jeremiah, who was a priest, got some Levities together and hid it. Many things are not mentioned by name, but you think that would have been; it was not returned with the first wave of people who returned to Jerusalem.

In all of those withdrawals it never mentions the Ark. It makes you think that the Philistines experience was well known, and no one wanted any part of it.

Redeposit  

Nebuchadnezzar did something unusual with some of the gold and silver (treasures) they took from the temple. He put it in the temple of their god (Ezra 1:7). David also put some of the things he captured into his treasuries for the temple, but it would seem most nations just used what they took. Was this a way of taunting the Jews? I do not know.

Babylon lost control to the Medes and Persians (Daniel 5:30,31). After the seventy years predicted by Jeremiah, the Persians let Israel go back to the Land and sent the temple treasures back with them (Ezra 1:9-11). That was the first wave of people to return.

Ezra was the second wave of people to return; his king ordered a large amount of goods to be given to him for temple use. See Ezra 7:22. Then in 8:25 – 27, is another load of donated goods for the temple.

A Thought

Shiny things get peoples’ attention, they are nice to look at, and we put a high value on them. Solomon built a temple for the Name of the Lord and put the Ark in it. No expense was spared, and it must have been amazing to look at and worship in. But, when it is all said the treasures were taken, and the stonewalls knocked flat, and the wooden roof and the room panels were burned with fire, twice. That makes me think that the two things that were left was what was really important – the Land and the People.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

Bear Fruit

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I recently viewed the movie Jesus & His Times by Questar Studios, released in 2009. There are many good ideals, scenes, and scenery in this movie, I watched it through Prime Video. One hour into the film they talk about grapevines and wine, with connections to various aspects of first century Jewish life. In this section they address John 15:2, my focus of this post. With all of that said I will state this is a STUDY not an ANSWER.

The earthly kingdom of God and our Lord Christ Jesus is built around being connected to the Vine and bearing fruit. The management of the branches and fruit are the core of this verse and the section that includes loving God and fellow members of the kingdom and mankind. The movie questions the phrase “cuts off”. They assert that the practice Jesus knew would have been to “lift up” the branch and place it on a rock to keep it from making its own roots and allowing it to produce fruit. Okay, that could be good for several sermons in itself. For me it was a challenge to think through how I view the Father and His dealings with us. To demystify that sentence, will God pick you up to help produce fruit or just cut you off? The movie writers assert that there is a misinterpretation of the word αἴρω (airō) Strong: G142. This is the study.

It is important to see how God reveals His glory to Moses, Exodus 34:5-7.

Start with these:

Please look at the cultural context sections and the corresponding Hebrew words, Nasa and Massa.

An important fact about concordances, they list root words. So, many words we search for are a variation of the word you find in the concordance. The actual word in John 15:2 is Greek Concordance: αἴρει (airei) — 8 Occurrences. (God bless translators.) You should read through those eight verses putting them in context.

  • Matthew 9:16, Mark 2:21. The question to Jesus was about fasting and He answers with examples of a wedding ceremony, patches, and wineskins.
  • Mark 4:15, Luke 8:12. Jesus is explaining the Parable of the Sower to His disciples. This is where the seed hits the path, and Satan takes the Word right away.
  • Luke 11:22. Jesus was driving out a mute demon and was accused of doing it with power from the lord of the flies. Our word is in one of the four comments He made in response to their unbelief.
  • John 10:18. Jesus is talking about Himself and His mission after He healed the man who was born blind in John 9. He has found the man and the Pharisees are running mouth.
  • John 15:2. This part of Jesus’ last meal with His disciples before He goes to the first garden.
  • John 16:22. This also is part of the last fellowship Jesus had with His disciples; He is talking about their joy. Judas Iscariot has been gone from the dinner since Chapter 13.

Cuts off or lifts up, you may have to go back each time airei is used and reread inserting the phrases. I hope you can see why this is a study and not an answer. Another study to help this one is BibleGateway – Keyword Search: bear fruit.

Bible 911 – John

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John 9:11 He answered and said, A man that is called Jesus made clay, and anointed mine eyes, and said unto me, Go to the pool of Siloam, and wash: and I went and washed, and I received sight. (KJV)

John’s Purpose was to show Jesus as the Son of God. He did this by highlighting miracles with the teaching Jesus did. We have singled seven out of those John listed, but in my Plus One post, and Miracles ++++ post I tried to show others.

Festival Time – Yes, Jesus observed the festival. Chapter Seven starts the Feast of Tabernacles or Yom Kippur. John 7 to 21 is just several months; from the seventh month to the first month in the Hebrew Calendar. For much of this period He relocated to the east bank of the Jordan River across from Jericho, just like Joshua and Israel. (That crossing was also at Passover.) The teachings/statements that Jesus gave at this Day of Atonement Feast are quite bold. The opening of the eyes of a man born blind (Chapter 9) is as much of a challenge to the authorities as it was an act of mercy and a testimony for the power and greatness of God the Father.  

What Was Not Said – I was going to have a long list of things not said, I had thought of many of them. The most important thing I settled on was the man did not ask for help. John, like the other Gospel writers, focused on Jesus and His actions and not all of the characters. The other question is how did they know that the man was blind since birth? Okay, this could keep going especially in the “trial” of the man.

The Pool of Siloam – Its history starts with Hezekiah in the 8th century BCE and his efforts to protect Jerusalem’s water from the Assyrians. He was the fourteenth king in Jerusalem and the fifteenth ruler over the City of David. There are various mentions of this system in the Old Testament (2 Kings 20:20, 2 Chronicles 32). Nehemiah 3:15 mentions it in the rebuilding of the wall. Jesus references a tower in the area that fell and killed people, Luke 13:4. There is a fair amount of guessing about this tower and the people who died. (As part of the Gihon Spring’s protection there was a tower built over the spring that was part of the wall of Jerusalem. Just saying.) The name may have come from the water being “sent” to the pool. Siloam | The amazing name Siloam: meaning and etymology  The Incredible Tunnel of King Hezekiah – Chabad.org    Gihon Spring – Wikipedia

The Washing – In my myopic vision, I initially missed the water and the spring that allowed for the washing. (Thank you, Jesus for fixing it.) In the Jewish religion at that time there were many types of washings/baptisms, it was an important of their culture. If the man had not walked to the pool and washed there would have been no miracle.

Given the feast it happened at; the washing can represent the healed people of Israel walking through the Red Sea and being free of Egypt. The fresh start allowed them to see that God cared for them and was their God and Moses was His servant. I do not want to end the Exodus comparison there; that water flowed from a rock that had been “broken open” to supply water inside Jerusalem. Glory!

As always, I am thankful for the resource links, but ask God for wisdom as you read them.  

Spitting – This topic has been covered in different ways by different people; my big add-in is there are two different words for spit. The one used most often is Strong’s Greek: 1716. ἐμπτύω (emptuó) — To spit upon Yes, this one is just disrespectful and is not used in John 9.

The word in this passage is used three times and they are connected to healing miracles. The other two references are in Mark 7:33 and 8:23. In Mark 7 Jesus has traveled from Tyre and Sidon to the Decapolis, both are not in Israel and Mark 8 is in Bethsaida. Both of these tell of Jesus taking the people out of town by themselves, where the miracle happened. John 9 seems to be done in plain sight of everyone. Strong’s Greek: 4429. πτύω (ptuó) — To spit Between my imagination and wanting to inject “science” into this I still have to say that I could not prove any of my ideas. I will point out the onomatopoeia of the Greek for the cartoon sound of spitting – ptoo.

Why the Mud – In Seven Miracles in John, I tried to find an Old Testament type for Jesus’ miracles. In the first writing I could not think or find any, but I have added several since working on this post. After musing on this for awhile and still wanting to add some “miraculous science”, I will offer this thought. The one miracle I thought of was God creating man from the earth. If the man was born blind, were all of the working parts in the eyes? So, Jesus added some raw material and His holy DNA to create what was lacking in the eyes, and finished the miracle with water that flowed from a rock. Now, part of that thinking is from the two miracles in Mark; were there “missing parts” in those people?

The complexity of the miracle – This man had used his other senses, but not sight. Imagine the rush of information into this man’s brain. I say this and then have to say that the God who created the earth could help this man through this shocking change in his life. See the link to the Name of Siloam. This amazing act of mercy is a forerunner of Acts 3 and the man crippled from birth. In verse 3:8 he is walking and jumping just minutes after the healing. (That is a complex motion.)

Jesus Not Claiming the Glory – He walked away. He did not follow the man. He did not wait for the man to return. The man’s trip to the pool was a faith/obedience walk. I am not sure what your personal image of Jesus is. The thought of Him not breaking a bruised reed or putting out a glowing candle is valid, when He was working with people in their faith. There were cultural aspects here that would have been at odds with Jesus “blowing His own horn”. He also had just had that conversation in Chapter 8. He did not shy away from confronting wrong thinking and, in John, there are plenty of times He “hide Himself” because He had gotten the crowd upset.

It was not yet His time. The next few months still had many things that needed to happen. Read from Matthew 13:53 and then again in Chapter 19 to Palm Sunday. Of course, when He did this miracle may have been part of why He walked away.

Sabbath – Please, the rest God wants us to enjoy started in Genesis not the middle of Exodus. The Father wants us taking time each week to rest and focus on Him, that is righteous fellowship.

To open blind eyes in the time period of Yom Kippur and living in the booths for seven days to remember the Exodus is a bold action. Just that much could be several sermons. So, was this a special Sabbath or the weekly one? I do not know, but it was a Sabbath (See Leviticus 23). Making mud/clay, putting it on the man, and healing were all “work”. I would think washing it off was also considered work. Then we can think about the uproar the man made when he could see. We are not told if the man knew where the mud came from, that would have added more charges to Jesus for spreading body fluids.

People Talking – More questions to ask, more assumptions to be made, and more commentaries to write about 9:8 and 9. Because of these verses, I will say the man lived in or very close to Jerusalem. The people’s reactions are what you would expect. How many of them were mad because they thought they were duped? Others knew something amazing had happened and they needed answers, so off to the church leaders they went. To be fair, the common person in Jerusalem may have heard of Jesus and what He was doing, but they probably never went to see Him.

The Holy Spirit, gently, reminded me that THESE PEOPLE are the reason Jesus did the miracle. These children of Abraham, the people Jesus would cry over, needed Light. Here are the various groups:

  • The disciples, there were more than just the Twelve.
  • The man.
  • The people at the pool.
  • The neighbors and those who had seen him begging.
  • The Pharisees.
  • His parents.
  • The Jews.

The Light shone on all of them and there were different reactions to the miracle. If that miracle happened in your church today; what group would you be in? (Look at reactions and words, not titles.)

Jews – How many times can you read something and never see it? In verse 18, John referred to the Jews not believing; yes, I had to look. Please keep in mind that John’s Gospel may have been one of the last New Testament books written. If you do a word search, know you will find jewels first, so, see the link for some help. Strong’s Hebrew: 3064. יְהוּדִי (Yehudi) — Jew, Judean Acts (Luke) and Paul use Jew many times and you will find it in the Old Testament, mainly after the Babylon Exile (See Ezra, Nehemiah, and the last parts of 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles.) So, John using that term so often should not be a surprise, but it was. He did not use the term Sadducee at all but included “chief priest” frequently with Pharisee. He did use Pharisee about twenty times.

I will say that I found this surprising and I think it is a major paradigm shift in early Christian thinking. In 2 Corinthians 11:22 Paul does refer to himself as a Hebrew, and an Israelite, as well as a child of Abraham. Something new to study and ponder.

The Rulers and the Trial – If you have read the Gospels or seen any Jesus movies you know the Pharisees and Sadducees took Jesus as a threat to them and their continued leadership. This trial is no different. I call it a trial because they asked questions and called witnesses.

With this man is an added dimension. He actually participated in the miracle and he had a blind beggar’s cloak. Threats and insults are how “little leaders” react when they know they are losing or lost.

He should have had limited rights to participate in religious gatherings, he was not “perfect”. By his answers he knew a lot about God, and the Pharisees did not like that. Him being of age probably meant that he was old enough (12 or 13 years old) to read Torah, if he could have seen to do it. No, there is no indicator as to how old he was. He may have been thirty.

The Man – Recently I finished a post on Romans 9:11. The man in this story is an example of being called of God before birth. Jesus’ answer to the disciples in verse 3 not only addresses the miracle about to happen, but I believe speaks of his future.

Was he special? Yes, by the way he answered every challenge thrown at him, and his fearless replies to the Jews I know he was special. His eyes may not have worked, but he heard the Word and knew His God.

Who was he and what became of him? I believe the Holy Spirit kept the Gospel writers from include some of those details. Why? Because people are people and the focus and glory belongs on and to the Father and Jesus. So are there answers to any of the questions I am about to ask, no. The answers are but dreams of how “the work of God was displayed in his life”.

  • Was he standing in the crowd when Jesus rode the donkey into Jerusalem and get a wave from the Master?
  • Did he listen to the sermons in the Temple and on the Mount of Olives?
  • Did Jesus wash his feet in the Upper Room?
  • Was he praying in that room on Pentecost?
  • Did he carry out and bury Ananias and Sapphira?
  • Was he one of the seven deacons?

Stones and Rocks

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I am layering this post on top of Stone, Rock, and Cornerstone. Rocks have been used for thousands of years to make stone building, jewelry, and weapons. In Genesis we find Jacob using rocks to make memorial stones and piles of stones to bear witness to oaths and treaties. (O, rocks and stones listening to us and then being used to testify about our words; that certainly could be used in creative writing:) The brick pits of Egypt are certainly mentioned, but we miss the fact that some of them worked with jewels when they made Aaron’s priestly garments.

God commissioned a pile of rocks from the Jordan be used as a memorial for teaching His people. He also had definite rules how to handle rocks that were to be used in His worship; no working them with tools, especially metal ones. Metal tools were for war, not for building an altar for God. The altar in Solomon’s Temple was made of olive wood. The blocks for the foundation and walls were worked with tools, but not at the building site. (See 1 Kings 6 and 7) Yes, there seems to be a difference between etz (wood) and rocks.

I started comPILING this post after reading about David and Jonathan by Eben-haezel or the Rock of Ezel, 1 Samuel 20:19. Both of those men had rocks and stones as important parts of their stories. There are many places in the Bible where rocks and stones are important parts of the stories. An example of a type of rock is found in Joshua 5:2 when flint was made into knives for circumcision. A hard, sharp rock for hard attitudes; ever male young than thirty-eight years old had to circumcised. They did not do that while they wandered in the desert, that can open up many questions. Here are a few references to look at.

Easter is in just a few days, so I will take this time to make the case for Jesus, the Rock of our Salvation, becoming our Cornerstone, and the Stone the builders rejected. Rocks are called stones after man has used them for something. Jesus went from our Rock to the Stone after He was beaten and nailed to the cross for us. He is what we have to build our lives on, but the chief priest used Him and then threw Him away.

Jesus Christ or Christ Jesus

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As I read 2 Timothy this morning, I thought it would be good to write what I have learned about these terms – Jesus Christ and Christ Jesus. To be perfectly clear, Jesus is the Christ/Messiah. He was born of the Virgin Mary, was killed on Good Friday for our sins, and rose in victory on Easter morning. He has sent His Spirit to those who chose to believe and would have everyone repent and follow Him.

In a little naivety I thought this would be an uneventfully study. I was almost correct. First, Jesus is His name. There are a few variants of that name in Hebrew and in Greek, like Joshua and Justus. Christ (Greek) or Messiah (Hebrew) is a title that connects to God. So, Jesus Christ could be understood as the Man-God while Christ Jesus should be thought of as God-Man. I looked for my reference on that and could not find it, I thought it was from the Vine’s Dictionary in my Strong’s Concordance.

Then I went to step-two in the study and was going to list Scripture verses. My reading this morning was in the NIV. The references I started to compile were in the KJV. I soon found out that the editors of the KJV seemed to have followed the 1599 Geneva Bible (GNV). The Greek Interlinear in Bible Hub is in agreement with the NIV and NASB and many others. I will offer what may have happened and some other things I noticed.

  • The Gospels and the Letters from Hebrews to Revelation use Christ or Messiah when referring to the One who will redeem mankind.
  • Jesus (by itself) is used in the narratives of the Gospels.
  • Paul in his Letters use Jesus Christ or Christ Jesus. He is specific when he uses them. I have found that reading Man-God where Jesus Christ is written and God-Man where Christ Jesus is written adds to the understanding of the text.
  • If you use BibleGateway you will see different totals in the numbers of times the terms are used between translations. The first thing to remember is that some of them use headings in their writing and this can add up quickly. Even the 1599 Geneva has commentaries, and they use the terms Jesus and Christ in them. I did read that one reason for the King James being written was to get rid of those Commentaries. The English Crown did not like them.
  • I may not be perfect in my observations; I looked through several translations.

Was there anything nefarious going on, no. I believe it was a matter of keeping it simple for the readers (not sure on that point). Society was coming out of the Dark Ages and being able to read God’s Word in your own language and home was a big deal. We take so much for granted.   

In 2 Timothy Paul uses Christ Jesus the most and Jesus Christ only in 2:8. Paul had been in prison for a while and I think it shows in how he wrote to Timothy and where his thoughts were.