BibleProject

The story of Moses repeats key themes from the stories of the garden, Noah, and Abraham. Moses and Israel both face tests before trees on high places, and Moses takes the act of sacrifice one step further. Listen in as Tim and Jon discuss Moses and the s’neh tree.

View full show notes and images from this episode →

Show Music

• Defender Instrumental by Tents
• Sundown by Aarbor x Aarigod
• Daylight by Jay Someday
• Coniferous by Kupla

Show produced by Dan Gummel and Tim Mackie.

Powered and distributed by Simplecast.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Why are moments of testing on high places often accompanied by sacrifice in the Bible? Why does the Eden story seem ambiguous about the number of trees in the garden? Were humans mortal when they were placed in the garden? Tim and Jon respond to these questions and more in this question and response episode.

View full show notes and images from this episode →

Music

• Defender Instrumental by Tents

Show produced by Dan Gummel.

Powered and distributed by Simplecast.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Noah and Abraham both face important tests before a tree on a high place. Their obedience and sacrifice opens the door for mercy and blessing, and their stories point us to a future hope of one who will overcome the tree of knowing good and bad and restore humanity. Listen in as Tim and Jon discuss Noah, Abraham, and their moments of decision at trees on high places.

View full show notes and images from this episode →

Resources

• Why Did God Ask Abraham to Sacrifice Isaac? Blog by Andy Patton

Music

• Defender Instrumental by Tents
• FIlls the Skies by Pilgrim
• Found Memories by Xander
• Wanderlust by Crastel

Show produced by Dan Gummel.

Powered and distributed by Simplecast.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

View full show notes from this episode →

Resources

• How to Read the Bible: The Books of Solomon

Music

• Defender Instrumental by Tents

Show produced by Dan Gummel.

Powered and distributed by Simplecast.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

View full show notes and images from this episode →

Resources

• Bruce Waltke, An Old Testament Theology: An Exegetical, Canonical, and Thematic Approach, 257
• William Osborne, Trees and Kings: A Comparative Analysis of Tree Imagery in Israel’s Prophetic Tradition and the Ancient Near East. 
• Terje Stordalen, Echoes of Eden Genesis 2-3 and Symbolism of the Eden Garden in Biblical Hebrew Literature.
• Charles Taylor, A Secular Age.

Music

• Defender Instrumental by Tents

Show produced by Dan Gummel.

Powered and distributed by Simplecast.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

View full show notes →

Resources

• Matthew Sleeth, Reforesting Faith
• George Lakoff and Mark Johnson, Metaphors We Live By

Music

• Greyflood: A Moment, A Memory, A Beginning.
• John Williams: The Force
• Kyle McElvoy & Stan Forebee: Bloom
• KV: Bloc
• Defender Instrumental by Tents

Show produced by Dan Gummel.

Powered and distributed by Simplecast.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Check out all we're up to in 2020 and beyond at www.thebibleproject.com. View our classroom beta at www.classroom.bible. 

And learn how you can join a growing family of supporters at www.thebibleproject.com/vision

Happy New Year!

Theme Music:

Defender Instrumental by Tents

Show Produced By: 

Dan Gummel

Powered and distributed by Simplecast.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

QUOTE

"The design of the wilderness narratives in the Torah are trying to tell us that the arrival in the promised land is an image of the future seventh day rest that is beyond.”

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• The book of Hebrews is written to Messianic Jews who are extremely familiar with the Old Testament.
• Hebrews 3 is built around a long quote from Psalm 95, which is a psalm reflecting on Israel’s failure to enter into the promised land of rest.
• Israel rebelled seven times against the Lord in the wilderness.
• The ultimate seventh day rest has been inaugurated by Jesus, but has not seen its complete fulfillment yet.

SHOW NOTES:

Welcome to our final episode in our series on the theme of Sabbath and seventh day rest!

In part 1 (0-21:10), Tim and Jon recap their previous conversations. Tim shares a resource called “From Sabbath to Lord’s Day” by D.A. Carson, a collection of essays examining the evolution and relationship of historical Jewish Sabbath celebrations and the celebration of Sunday as “the Lord’s Day.”

In part 2 (21:10-33:00), the guys dive into Hebrews 3.

Hebrews 3:1-19

"Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, whom we acknowledge as our apostle and high priest. He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all God’s house. Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself. For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything. “Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s house,” bearing witness to what would be spoken by God in the future. But Christ is faithful as the Son over God’s house. And we are his house, if indeed we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory.

“So, as the Holy Spirit says:

“‘Today, if you hear his voice,

do not harden your hearts

as you did in the rebellion,

during the time of testing in the wilderness,

where your ancestors tested and tried me,

though for forty years they saw what I did.

That is why I was angry with that generation;

I said, “Their hearts are always going astray,

and they have not known my ways.”

So I declared on oath in my anger,

“They shall never enter my rest.”’

“See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called ‘today,’ so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end. As has just been said:

“‘Today, if you hear his voice,

do not harden your hearts

as you did in the rebellion.’

“Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies perished in the wilderness? And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed? So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief.”

Tim notes that in verse 7, the writer begins to quote from Psalm 95. Earlier in Psalm 95, Yahweh is referred to as “the rock of rescue.” This name originally comes from a story in Exodus 17.

Exodus 17:5-7

“The Lord answered Moses, ‘Go out in front of the people. Take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink.’ So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel. And he called the place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites quarreled and because they tested the Lord saying, ‘Is the Lord among us or not?’”

In Israel’s wilderness journey, there are seven stories of rebellion. Israel chose to doubt God and rebel against Moses seven times. These seven stories exclude them from being able to enter the promised land. Instead, that generation dies in the wilderness.

In part 3 (33:00-40:30), Tim notes that the author of Hebrews then reads the wilderness narratives as a story that still applies to all people today. People can still miss out on the promised land of God’s rest if they harden their hearts and do not listen to Jesus.

God’s rest is something that Christ inaugurated, but it has yet to be completely fulfilled and will be fulfilled in the future.

In part 4 (40:30-end), Tim mentions that Hebrews seems to be written as an oratory speech or a written sermon. Jon says that he feels an urge to have some sort of practice or Sabbath ritual that he can rely on to create a rhythm in his life.

Tim mentions that perhaps the most helpful part of a Sabbath rhythm is that it should be a constant reminder that our time does not belong to us, but is a gift from God.

Resources:

D.A. Carson, From Sabbath to Lord’s Day

Music:

• Defender Instrumental by Tents
• Bloc by KV
• Halfway Through by Broke in Summer
• I Gave You A Flower by Le Gang

Show Produced By:

Dan Gummel

Powered and Distributed by SimpleCast.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

QUOTE

"We're getting into the scandal that Jesus represented—which wasn’t offering an alternative religion; it was saying that he was bringing the whole storyline of the Scriptures to fulfillment."

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Jesus' claim to be "Lord of the Sabbath" was a key part of his understanding of his own identity.
• Jesus’ resurrection is literally and metaphorically the first dawning of a new week. He was literally raised on the first rays of a new week, and metaphorically, this represented Jesus and all who follow him entering a new age of communion with God.
• The Sabbath practice and the traditions that surround it has always been a controversial topic. As Gentiles who had no Jewish or Sabbath background fell in love with Jesus, the church began to practice or not practice Sabbath in a variety of ways.

SHOW NOTES:

In part 1 (0-7:15), Tim and Jon review the conversation so far. Jesus is claiming to bring the eternal seventh-day rest into reality.

In part 2 (7:15-21:15), Tim dives into words of Jesus in Matthew. 

Matthew 11:25-30

“At that time Jesus said, ‘I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, for this way was well-pleasing in your sight. All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal him.

“‘Come to me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.’”

Tim quotes from Samuele Bacchiocchi.

“The metaphor of the ‘yoke’ was commonly used to express subordination and loyalty to God, especially through obedience to his law. Thus Jeremiah speaks of the leaders of the people who knew ‘the law of their God, but they all alike had broken the yoke, they had burst the bonds’ (5:5; cf. 2:20). In the following chapter, the same prophet says to the people: ‘Find rest for your souls’ by learning anew obedience to God’s law (6:6; cf. Num 25:3). Rabbis often spoke of ‘the yoke of the Torah,’ ‘the yoke of the kingdom of heaven,’ ‘the yoke of the commandments,’ ‘the yoke of God.’ Rabbi Nehunya b. Kanah (ca. 70) is reported to have said: ‘He that takes upon himself the yoke of the Law, from him shall be taken away the yoke of the kingdom and the yoke of worldly care’ (Pirke Aboth 3:5). What this means is that devotion to the law and its interpretation is supposed to free a person from the troubles and cares of this world.”

(Samuele Bacchiocchi, “Matthew 11:28-30: Jesus’ Rest and the Sabbath,” p. 300-303.)

The quote continues:

“Matthew sets forth the ‘yoke’ of Christ, not as commitment to a new Torah, but as dedication to a Person who is the true Interpreter and Fulfiller of the Law and the Prophets. The emphasis on the Person is self-evident in our logion: ‘Come to me . . . take my yoke . . . learn from me ... I will give you rest.’ Moreover, the parallel structure of vss. 28 and 29 indicates that taking the ‘yoke’ of Jesus is equivalent to ‘come to’ and ‘learn from’ him. That is to say, it is to personally accept Jesus as Messiah. Such an acceptance is an ‘easy’ and ‘light’ yoke, not because Jesus weakens the demands of the law (cf. Matt 5:20), but because, as T. W. Manson puts it, ‘Jesus claims to do for men what the Law claimed to do; but in a different way.’ The difference lies in Christ’s claim to offer to his disciples (note the emphatic kago) the rest of Messianic redemption to which the law, and more specifically, the sabbath, had always pointed.”

(Samuele Bacchiocchi, “Matthew 11:28-30: Jesus’ Rest and the Sabbath,” p. 300-303.)

In part 3 (21:15-30:00), Tim moves into the next story in Matthew.

Matthew 12:1-14

“At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath, and his disciples became hungry and began to pick the heads of grain and eat. But when the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, ‘Look, your disciples do what is not lawful to do on a Sabbath.’ But he said to them, ‘Have you not read what David did when he became hungry, he and his companions, how he entered the house of God, and they ate the consecrated bread, which was not lawful for him to eat nor for those with him, but for the priests alone? Or have you not read in the Law, that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple break the Sabbath and are innocent? But I say to you that one greater than the temple is here. But if you had known what this means, “I desire compassion, and not a sacrifice,” you would not have condemned the innocent. For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.’

“Departing from there, he went into their synagogue. And a man was there whose hand was withered. And they questioned Jesus, asking, ‘Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?’—so that they might accuse him. And he said to them, ‘What man is there among you who has a sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will he not take hold of it and lift it out? How much more valuable then is a man than a sheep! So then, it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.’ Then he said to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand!’ He stretched it out, and it was restored to normal, like the other.”

Tim says that the controversies caused by Jesus on the Sabbath are not meant to show Jesus as divisive. Rather, when Jesus says he is “Lord of the Sabbath,” he is saying fundamentally the same thing as when he declares, “The Kingdom of God is here.” Both of these phrases are declarations by Jesus that he is beginning the restoration of creation.

In part 4 (30:00-38:00), Tim and Jon have a quick discussion about practicing the Sabbath, taking one day out of seven to rest. Did Jesus value this? Yes! Jesus went to synagogue on Sabbath. But Jesus seems to place a greater importance on the concept of the Sabbath. Jesus is effectually saying that what the Sabbath pointed to—a time of constant communion between God and man—is here because he is here.

In part 5 (38:00-61:30), Tim talks about instances of Sabbath practice in Paul’s writings.

Romans 14:1-12

“As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him. Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand. 

“One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God. For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.

“Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God; for it is written,

“‘As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me,

and every tongue shall confess to God.’

“So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.”

Tim also shares from Paul’s writings in Colossians.

Colossians 2:16-19

“Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.”

Tim notes that eating kosher and Sabbath practices were controversial issues in the early Church as they are now. Tim also notes that once the Christian movement became majority non-Jewish, the Christian movement quickly lost respect for its Jewish roots and traditions.

Tim then asks, based on Paul, whether modern Christians should have some sort of Sabbath practice? It seems that Paul was flexible. He always went to synagogue and even fulfilled Jewish vows. But he also stood up for Gentiles who had no history or desire to begin practicing Sabbath law. Instead, Paul was excited to build a Christian community where all experienced equality under the lordship of Jesus.

In part 6 (61:30-end), the guys quickly talk about the resurrection narrative at the end of the Gospel of Mark.

Mark 16:1-3

“When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb And they were saying to one another, ‘Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?’”

Jesus’ resurrection is literally and metaphorically the first dawning of a new week. He was literally raised on the first rays of a new week, and metaphorically, this represented Jesus and all who follow him entering a new age of communion with God.

Thank you to all our supporters!

Show Resources:

Samuele Bacchiocchi, “Matthew 11:28-30: Jesus’ Rest and the Sabbath,” p. 300-303.

Show Music:

• Yesterday on Repeat by Vexento
• Ohayo by Smith the Mister
• My room becomes the sea by Sleepy Fish

Show Produced By:

Dan Gummel

Powered and Distributed by Simplecast.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Tim and Jon Responded to these questions:

David from Arizona (2:25)

My question is, does the frequent occurrence of the number seven and the seventh day in Genesis, Exodus, and the rest of the Bible have more to do with the authors creating design patterns within the narrative to make theological claims? Or is it actually how God himself worked in history? Maybe these are synonymous, but I would love to hear your response.

Ashley from Arizona (13:30)

I have a question for you regarding Jesus' words during his miracle at the wedding at Cana. When his mother points out that there is no wine, he takes six water pots used for purification and and then puts water in them and then turns those into wine. There seems to be a connection maybe with the six and bringing the best wine out last. But I'm wondering what the connection is between cups of wine in the seventh day. Is that a thing? Thanks so much for your thoughts and all the work you do.

Jesse from North New Zealand (20:50)

I was wondering about the practical implications of the theological discussion that you've been having. Jews have been practicing Sabbath rest and Sabbath observance for millennia, yet Christians kind of gave up on that a few centuries ago. Should we as Christians go back to Sabbath observance? Is there something more there that I've missed? What are the implications of this Sabbath rest for us as Christians in the world?

Jisca from Rwanda (25:34)

How do we apply the principle of rest in our time as Christians. What do we do with the inclination to rest on the seventh day? How do we live it out on a daily basis? Thank you.

Jon from Malaysia (25:55)

I work in the construction industry here, and it's common for people to work six days a week. This has truly made me appreciate the one day of rest that I get every week. However, a lot of my friends who work a normal five-day week say that working six days in today's world can be way too tiring. Could you share thoughts on the practicality of still working six days and resting one day in a modern world? And on the flip side of that, what are the biblical implications if I do not take a break by continually working seven days a week? Thanks for all you do, guys. I love your podcast. Keep it up.

Resources:

To Hell With The Hustle by Jefferson Bethke
 

The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry by John Mark Comer
 

God Dwells with Us: Temple Symbolism in the Fourth Gospel by Mary Coloe
 

The Subversive Sabbath by A.J. Swaboda

At Home with God: A Complete Liturgical Guide for the Christian Home by Gavin Long

Learn more about what we do and join The Bible Project by financially partnering with us:

www.thebibleproject.com/vision

Show Produced by:
Dan Gummel

Show Music
Defender Instrumental by Tents

Powered and Distributed by Simplecast.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.