Creation of the earth and man #6 Of the Sabbath day #4 Mosaic codes, Sabbaths and Sunday

As I have shown, the observance of the seventh clay was obligatory only upon the Israelites so long as the Mosaic code was in force, being “a sign” between God and them. The sabbaths belong to the land and people of Israel, and can be only kept according to the law while they reside in the country. This will appear from the fact that the law requires that “two lambs of the first year without spot” should be offered with other things “as the burnt-offering of every sabbath”; an offering which, like all the offerings, etc., must be offered in a temple in Jerusalem where the Lord has placed His name, and not in the dwelling places of Jacob. Israel must therefore be restored to their own country before even they can keep the sabbath. Then, when

“the throne is established in mercy; and he (the Lord Jesus) shall sit upon it in truth in the tabernacle of David, judging, and seeking judgment, and hasting righteousness”, (Isaiah 16:5)

then, I say

“shall the priests, the Levites, the sons of Zadok, that kept the charge of my sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray from me, come near to me to minister unto me, and they shall stand before me to offer unto me the fat and the blood, saith the Lord God: and they shall hallow my sabbaths.” (Ezechiël 44:15, 24.)

But these sabbaths will be no longer celebrated on the seventh day. They will be changed from the seventh to the eighth, or first day of the week, which are the same. The “dispensation of the fulness of times”, (Ephesians 1:10) popularly styled the Millennium, will be the antitype, or substance, of the Mosaic feast of tabernacles which was “a shadow of things to come”.

Eph 1:3-14 The Scriptures 1998+  (3)  Blessed be the Elohim and Father of our Master יהושע  {Jeshua} Messiah, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Messiah,  (4)  even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be set-apart and blameless before Him in love,1 Footnote: 12 Thess. 2:13.  (5)  having previously ordained us to adoption as sons through יהושע  {Jeshua} Messiah to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His desire,  (6)  to the praise of the esteem of His favour with which He favoured us in the Beloved,  (7)  in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of trespasses, according to the riches of His favour,  (8)  which He has lavished on us in all wisdom and insight,  (9)  having made known to us the secret of His desire, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Him,  (10)  to administer at the completion of time, to gather together in one all in Messiah, both which are in the heavens and which are on earth, in Him,  (11)  in whom also we did obtain an inheritance, being previously ordained according to the purpose of Him working all matters according to the counsel of His desire,  (12)  for us to be the praise of His esteem – those having first trusted in Messiah,  (13)  in whom you also, having heard the word of the truth, the Good News of your deliverance, in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Set-apart Spirit of promise,  (14)  who is the pledge of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His esteem.

In this type, or pattern, Israel were to rejoice before the Lord for seven days, beginning

“on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when they had gathered the fruit of the land”. In relation to the first day of the seven, the law says, “

it shall be a holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein”. This was what we call Sunday. The statute then continues, “on the eighth day”, also Sunday,

“shall be a holy convocation unto you, and ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord: it is a solemn assembly; and ye shall do no servile work therein”.

Again,

“on the first day shall be a sabbath and on the eighth day shall be a sabbath” ( Levites 23:34–43)

 

Lev 23:34-43 The Scriptures 1998+  (34)  “Speak to the children of Yisra’ĕl saying, ‘On the fifteenth day of this seventh month is the Festival of Booths for seven days to יהוה {Jehovah}.  (35)  ‘On the first day is a set-apart gathering, you do no servile work.  (36)  ‘For seven days you bring an offering made by fire to יהוה {Jehovah}. On the eighth day there shall be a set-apart gathering for you, and you shall bring an offering made by fire to יהוה {Jehovah}. It is a closing festival, you do no servile work.  (37)  ‘These are the appointed times of יהוה {Jehovah} which you proclaim as set-apart gatherings, to bring an offering made by fire to יהוה {Jehovah}, a burnt offering and a grain offering, a slaughtering and drink offerings, as commanded for every day –  (38)  besides the Sabbaths of יהוה {Jehovah}, and besides your gifts, and besides all your vows, and besides all your voluntary offerings which you give to יהוה {Jehovah}.  (39)  ‘On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you gather in the fruit of the land, observe the festival of יהוה {Jehovah} for seven days. On the first day is a rest, and on the eighth day a rest.  (40)  ‘And you shall take for yourselves on the first day the fruit of good trees, branches of palm trees, twigs of leafy trees, and willows of the stream, and shall rejoice before יהוה {Jehovah} your Elohim for seven days.  (41)  ‘And you shall observe it as a festival to יהוה {Jehovah} for seven days in the year – a law forever in your generations. Observe it in the seventh month.  (42)  ‘Dwell in booths for seven days; all who are native Yisra’ĕlites dwell in booths,  (43)  so that your generations know that I made the children of Yisra’ĕl dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Mitsrayim. I am יהוה {Jehovah} your Elohim.’ ”

External aerial view of Sukkah booths where Jewish families eat their meals and sleep throughout the Sukkot holiday

Thus, in this “pattern of things in the heavens”, the first and eighth days are constituted holy days in which no work was to be done. It also represents the palm-bearing or victorious ingathering of the twelve tribes of Israel from their present dispersion to the land of their fathers, “when the Lord shall set his hand a second time to recover the remnant of his people”

Isa 11:11 The Scriptures 1998+  (11)  And it shall be in that day that יהוה {Jehovah} sets His hand again a second time to recover the remnant of His people who are left, from Ashshur and from Mitsrayim, from Pathros and from Kush, from Ěylam and from Shinʽar, from Ḥamath and from the islands of the sea.

Three times in four verses does Zechariah style the yearly going up of the Gentiles to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts, there, the keeping of the feast of tabernacles; (Zechariah 14:16–19) an event which is consequent upon the destruction of the dominion represented by Nebuchadnezzar’s image, and the re-establishment of the kingdom and throne of David.

Zec 14:16-19 The Scriptures 1998+  (16)  And it shall be that all who are left from all the gentiles which came up against Yerushalayim, shall go up from year to year to bow themselves to the Sovereign, יהוה {Jehovah} of hosts, and to observe the Festival of Booths.  (17)  And it shall be, that if anyone of the clans of the earth does not come up to Yerushalayim to bow himself to the Sovereign, יהוה {Jehovah} of hosts, on them there is to be no rain.  (18)  And if the clan of Mitsrayim does not come up and enter in, then there is no rain. On them is the plague with which יהוה {Jehovah} plagues the gentiles who do not come up to observe the Festival of Booths.  (19)  This is the punishment of Mitsrayim and the punishment of all the gentiles that do not come up to observe the Festival of Booths.

This national confluence of the Gentiles to Jerusalem is characteristic of Messiah’s times; and of the true or real festival tabernacles, when he will “confess to God among the Gentiles, and sing unto his name”, and “they shall rejoice with his people”, Israel.

Rom 15:9-10 The Scriptures 1998+  (9)  and for the gentiles to praise Elohim for His compassion, as it has been written, “Because of this I shall confess to You among the gentiles, and I shall sing to Your Name.”  (10)  And again it says, “Rejoice, O gentiles, with His people!”

Referring to this time, the Lord says,

“the place of my throne, and the place of the soles of my feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel for ever, and my holy name shall the House of Israel no more defile, neither they, nor their kings, by their whoredom, nor by the carcases of their kings in their high places.… They have even defiled my holy name by their abominations that they have committed: wherefore I have consumed them in mine anger. Now let them put away their whoredom, and the carcases of their kings, far from me, and I will dwell in the midst of them for ever”. (Ezechiël 43:7–9)

This is clearly a prophecy of what shall be hereafter, because the House of Israel still continues to defile God’s holy name by their abominations; but when this comes to pass they shall defile it “no more”.

After the declaration of these things, Ezekiel is commanded to show them the description of the temple which is destined to be “the house of prayer for all nations”, with the ordinances, forms, and laws thereof. The Lord God then declares,

“the ordinances of the altar in the day when they shall make it”,

and when the Levites of the seed of Zadok shall approach unto Him. The “cleansing of the altar”, and the consecration of the priests, is then effected by the offerings of seven days.

“And when these days are expired, it shall be that upon the eighth day, and So Forward, the priests shall make your burnt offerings upon the altar, and your peace offerings; and I will accept you (O Israel), saith the Lord,” (Ezechiël 43:27 27)

Thus, the day of the Lord’s resurrection from his seventh-day incarceration in the tomb, becomes the sabbath day of the future age which shall be hallowed by the priests of Israel, and be observed by all nations as a day of holy convocation in which they shall rejoice, and do no manner of servile work at all.

– Thomas, D. J. (1990). Elpis Israel: an exposition of the Kingdom of God (electronic ed., pp. 21–23). Birmingham, UK: The Christadelphian.

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Note:

The phrase “They will be changed from the seventh to the eighth, or first day of the week, which are the same” could give the impression we believe the Sunday came in the place of the Sabbath, which is not.

elpis_israelWe want to remind our readers that “Elpis Israel – An Exposition of the Kingdom of God” (commonly called “Elpis Israel” (English transliteration of Greek for “the hope of Israel”, taken from Acts 28:20)) is a theological book written by John Thomas, founder of the Christadelphians, in 1848-1849 and published in 1849. It predated the coining of the name “Christadelphian” by a decade and a half, but sets out in a logical manner the distinctive and fundamental beliefs that the Brotherhood, all these years afterwards, still upholds.

The original manuscript was essentially the substance of a lecture series delivered by Brother Thomas during a visit to the United Kingdom from the USA in 1848. After being encouraged by many who heard these lectures to put them into a more permanent form, Brother Thomas stayed for a time in London, and in a feverish period of activity centred mainly on six weeks when – to use his own description – he oscillated like a pendulum between his desk and his bed, he produced this important work.

Before the author’s death in 1871, the work went through four editions, the last of these incorporating some changes, mostly in the third and last part. As he explained in the Preface to that edition, he was agreeably surprised that so few changes were necessary: less than a dozen altogether in the first two parts of the book. Those in the last section were occasioned mainly by developing international events, but also by a more detailed consideration of the subject of resurrection.
In the light of changing times and modern discoveries, especially in the field of textual knowledge, several visions got changed. Where there is some doubt regarding the scriptural support for any point, this has generally been covered by a footnote in the later editions, and not by amending the text.

At first you could receive the impression Dr. John Thomas is for the replacement of the Sabbath with the Sunday, but as you will see later and in texts of his works he first stated what he got to see in his time, wanting to observe a Judaized Lord’s day (p. 23).  For him it was a voluntarily inflicted case and restriction upon themselves, bringing on them selfinflicted limitations or pains and penalties to which they may be entitled for its “profanation”. Later the vision on Sunday as observance day became much more clear and the new light or insight on the Sabbaths made it clear that we do not have to have Sunday as the specific day of worship for God. Any day of the week can be used. The same for work and rest, each person can work on any day or night and take some rest on whatever day of the week, as long as he provides enough rest for himself to recuperate from his duties.

You may find more about the Sabbath and Sunday in later writings on this site (a.o. when we shall discuss Jesus’ saying on this subject.) or in previous writings on our other sites. Please do find also our article: Sabbath according to the Scriptures.

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Preceding articles:

Creation of the earth and man #3 Of the Sabbath day #1 the Seventh day

Creation of the earth and man #4 Of the Sabbath day #2 Days 1,7,8 and 50

Creation of the earth and man #5 Of the Sabbath day #3 Ceasing from the works of the flesh

Were Gentiles excluded from entering the synagogue?

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Related articles:

  1. People Seeking for God 3 Laws and directions
  2. Built on or Belonging to Jewish tradition #4 Mozaic and Noachide laws
  3. Hellenistic influences
  4. Do we need to keep the Sabbath
  5. Communion and day of worship
  6. Christmas and other feasts or holy days in certain Christian groups – Kerstmis, Katholicisme en heidense feesten
  7. Old orthodox Dissenters and Unitarians in 19° Century London
  8. Two new encyclopaedic articles
  9. To find ways of Godly understanding

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Further reading:

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No man see the Almighty God and live


“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1 AKJV)

“And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said to him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be you perfect.” (Genesis 17:1 AKJV)

“2 And God spoke to Moses, and said to him, I am the LORD: 3 And I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them.” (Exodus 6:2-3 AKJV)

“Who is like to you, O LORD, among the gods? who is like you, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?” (Exodus 15:11 AKJV)

“Now I know that the LORD is greater than all gods: for in the thing wherein they dealt proudly he was above them.” (Exodus 18:11 AKJV)

“And he said, You can not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live.” (Exodus 33:20 AKJV)

“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:” (Deuteronomy 6:4 AKJV)

“Because I will publish the name of the LORD: ascribe you greatness to our God.” (Deuteronomy 32:3 AKJV)

“Yours, O LORD is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is yours; your is the kingdom, O LORD, and you are exalted as head above all.” (1 Chronicles 29:11 AKJV)

“And the house which I build is great: for great is our God above all gods.” (2 Chronicles 2:5 AKJV)

“Behold, God is great, and we know him not, neither can the number of his years be searched out.” (Job 36:26 AKJV)

“Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.” (Psalms 46:10 AKJV)

“Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of his holiness.” (Psalms 48:1 AKJV)

“Your righteousness also, O God, is very high, who have done great things: O God, who is like to you!” (Psalms 71:19 AKJV)

“Blessed be the LORD God, the God of Israel, who only does wondrous things.” (Psalms 72:18 AKJV)

“That men may know that you, whose name alone is JEHOVAH, are the most high over all the earth.” (Psalms 83:18 AKJV)

“Among the gods there is none like to you, O Lord; neither are there any works like to your works.” (Psalms 86:8 AKJV)

“For who in the heaven can be compared to the LORD? who among the sons of the mighty can be likened to the LORD?” (Psalms 89:6 AKJV)

“O LORD, how great are your works! and your thoughts are very deep.” (Psalms 92:5 AKJV)

“3 For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods. 4 In his hand are the deep places of the earth: the strength of the hills is his also. 5 The sea is his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry land. 6 O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker. 7  For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. To day if you will hear his voice, 8 Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness: 9 When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work.” (Psalms 95:3-9 AKJV)

“For you, LORD, are high above all the earth: you are exalted far above all gods.” (Psalms 97:9 AKJV)

“He sent redemption to his people: he has commanded his covenant for ever: holy and reverend is his name.” (Psalms 111:9 AKJV)

“For I know that the LORD is great, and that our Lord is above all gods.” (Psalms 135:5 AKJV)

“Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable.” (Psalms 145:3 AKJV)

“But the LORD of hosts shall be exalted in judgment, and God that is holy shall be sanctified in righteousness.” (Isaiah 5:16 AKJV)

“And one cried to another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.” (Isaiah 6:3 AKJV)

“Sanctify the LORD of hosts himself; and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread.” (Isaiah 8:13 AKJV)

“To whom then will you liken God? or what likeness will you compare to him?” (Isaiah 40:18 AKJV)

“I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no savior.” (Isaiah 43:11 AKJV)

“Fear you not, neither be afraid: have not I told you from that time, and have declared it? you are even my witnesses. Is there a God beside me? yes, there is no God; I know not any.” (Isaiah 44:8 AKJV)

“For thus said the high and lofty One that inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.” (Isaiah 57:15 AKJV)

“Who would not fear you, O King of nations? for to you does it appertain: for as much as among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms, there is none like to you.” (Jeremiah 10:7 AKJV)

“I will accept you with your sweet smell, when I bring you out from the people, and gather you out of the countries wherein you have been scattered; and I will be sanctified in you before the heathen.” (Ezekiel 20:41 AKJV)

“And I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the heathen, which you have profaned in the middle of them; and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, said the Lord GOD, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes.” (Ezekiel 36:23 AKJV)

“Thus will I magnify myself, and sanctify myself; and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the LORD.” (Ezekiel 38:23 AKJV)

“The king answered to Daniel, and said, Of a truth it is, that your God is a God of gods, and a Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, seeing you could reveal this secret.” (Daniel 2:47 AKJV)

“And it shall come to pass, that whoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD has said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call.” (Joel 2:32 AKJV)

“For then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call on the name of the LORD, to serve him with one consent.” (Zephaniah 3:9 AKJV)

“After this manner therefore pray you: Our Father which are in heaven, Hallowed be your name.” (Matthew 6:9 AKJV)

“And Jesus said to him, Why call you me good? there is none good but one, that is, God.” (Mark 10:18 AKJV)

“For he that is mighty has done to me great things; and holy is his name.” (Luke 1:49 AKJV)

“God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” (John 4:24 AKJV)

“1  These words spoke Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify your Son, that your Son also may glorify you: 2 As you have given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as you have given him. 3 And this is life eternal, that they might know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” (John 17:1-3 AKJV)

“I have manifested your name to the men which you gave me out of the world: your they were, and you gave them me; and they have kept your word.” (John 17:6 AKJV)

“25 O righteous Father, the world has not known you: but I have known you, and these have known that you have sent me. 26 And I have declared to them your name, and will declare it: that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.” (John 17:25-26 AKJV)

“And it shall come to pass, that whoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (Acts 2:21 AKJV)

“For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:” (Romans 1:20 AKJV)

“For whoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (Romans 10:13 AKJV)

“O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!” (Romans 11:33 AKJV)

“4  As concerning therefore the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifice to idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one. 5 For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many, and lords many,) 6 But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.” (1 Corinthians 8:4-6 AKJV)

“According to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust.” (1 Timothy 1:11 AKJV)

“For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;” (1 Timothy 2:5 AKJV)

“For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us:” (Hebrews 9:24 AKJV)

“And we have known and believed the love that God has to us. God is love; and he that dwells in love dwells in God, and God in him.” (1 John 4:16 AKJV)

“And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, LORD God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.” (Revelation 4:8 AKJV)

“Saying, We give you thanks, O LORD God Almighty, which are, and were, and are to come; because you have taken to you your great power, and have reigned.” (Revelation 11:17 AKJV)

“And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are your judgments.” (Revelation 16:7 AKJV)

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Find also: El-Shaddai God Almighty Who no-one may see and live

Briil Psalms
Briil Psalms (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

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Forbidden Fruit in the Midst of the Garden 3

In the Garden of Eden we see that there is been spoken about the seed. In certain creation myths we also get seeds and eggs being part of the creation and do we find serpents creeping in.

Alexander Rivera writes on his blog The Aeon Eye

Orphic Egg
Glycon was considered to also be a snake god in satirical form as mentioned by the satirist Lucian, and was said to be the incarnation of Asklepios in the mysteries of Alexander of Abonutichus, a pagan philosopher of the 2nd century.

In Orphic mythology, the serpent was sometimes linked with the primordial egg from which all things emerged and is shown entwined around the egg. Epiphanius in The Panarion discusses the doctrines of the Epicureans who believed that the universe was formed by chance rather than providence:

Originally the entire universe was like an egg and the spirit was then coiled snakewise round the egg, and bound nature tightly like a wreath or girdle. (3) At one time it wanted to squeeze the entire matter, or nature, of all things more forcibly, and so divided all that existed into the two hemispheres and then, as the result of this, the atoms were separated. (4) For the light, finer parts of all nature—light, aether and the finest parts of the spirit—floated up on top. But the parts which were heaviest and like dregs have sunk downwards. This means earth—that is, anything dry—and the moist substance of the waters. (5) The whole moves of itself and by its own momentum with the revolution of the pole and stars, as though all things were still being driven by the snake like spirit.  {Forbidden Fruit in the Midst of the Garden (Part 2)

That the world goes in circles and time repeats itself is also brought forward by the circular symbol of the serpent eating its own tail, known as the Ouroboros, the primal being who said,

I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last (Rev. 22:13).

Rivera reminds us that the serpent is also seen in the Syriac Hymn of the Pearl as it depicts the soul’s descent into the world, forgetting his mission but eventually roused by the call on high to remind him of his original nature and duty, his glorious rising again into the Kingdom of the Father.

The Pearl, the Prince seeks in Egypt, represents the Gnosis, and the terrible Serpent that guards it, is depicted as the passion of egotism.  {Forbidden Fruit in the Midst of the Garden (Part 2)

It was that passion of egotism, the deep longing to have everything for oneself that made Eve testing her Creator. She had a craving to become as wise as He is. The yearning came also over the 1° Adam by listening to his wife. The female partner was much stronger than the male and could convince him that it would not heart. Their aching to possess as much wisdom and power as God made them to disobey their Maker.

In several man made stories we do find such evil thoughts of jealousy coming into the picture and destroying a relationship. Often such thoughts creep into our mind as a serpent and as such it is pictured.

Epiphanius of Salamis (church father, ca. 310–...
Epiphanius of Salamis (church father, ca. 310–20 – 403), fresco at Gracanica monastery, near Lipljan in Kosovo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Typical to Jewish and Christian tradition, another negative portrayal of serpent imagery was used by the Church Father Epiphanius in his closing comments in the Panarion to high-light the “evil nature” of Simon Magus as being like a snake, asp and a viper.  {Forbidden Fruit in the Midst of the Garden (Part 2)

We also find acquisitiveness coming into life of many, bringing wrong actions and evil thoughts.  The embodiment of greed brings also pictures of extra terrestial figures of angels (fallen angels) or devils. When we look at the Targum Psuedo-Jonathan we do find the Serpent with the fallen angel Samael, the “Blind One” who was a originally a great prince in heaven, descended to earth and rode upon the serpent to deceive Eve and seduce her. The fruit of his seduction, as the same text claims (like the Gospel of Philip) was Cain, being the son of the Devil.

And the woman saw Sammael, the angel of death, and she was afraid, and she knew that the tree was good for food.

Rivera tells about Rabbi Isaac who in The Treatise of the Left Emanation, also compared Samael and Lilith as husband and wife, much like Adam and Eve — an inverted, “Satanic” power, a concept which is featured later in the Zohar and Jewish myth concerning evil. Samael acts as an evil doppelganger of the first man that came into being with the first human transgression:

The first prince and accuser, the commander of Jealousy and Enmity…he is called ‘evil’ not because of his nature but because he desires to unite and intimately mingle with an emanation not of his nature… it is made clear that Samael and Lilith were born as one, similar to the form of Adam and Eve who were also born as one, reflecting what is above. This is the account of Lilith which was received by the Sages in the Secret Knowledge of the Palaces. The Matron Lilith is the mate of Samael. Both of them were born at the same hour in the image of Adam and Eve, intertwined in each other.  {Forbidden Fruit in the Midst of the Garden (Part 2)

He continues:

As this passage suggests, Jewish mysticism contains a dialectic notion of “evil”; all things emanate from God, so Samael is one of God’s “severe agents,” yet he grows beyond the attenuated form God intended because he feeds upon the evils of the world. The Zohar builds upon the image of Samael found in Rabbi Isaac’s text as the demon king and consort of Lilith; together they are the evil counterparts of Adam and Eve. Samael is the tempting angel from who “copulates” with Lilith as the male and female principles of the “left side emanation”, united and achieve their full potential by spawning demons. Samael is in effect the evil left-side counterpart of Tiferet in the Sefirotic system of the Tree of Life. In the Apocryphon of John, Samael also happens to be one of the alternative names for Ialdabaoth, the Satanic creator god.  {Forbidden Fruit in the Midst of the Garden (Part 2)

Also the mind, the thinking or the being of a person got out of a seed but was also like a serpent.

The Ophites connected the eternal principle, Nous, “mind”, with Naas, the Greek word for serpent—stating that the serpent in the Garden of Eden was actually Nous in serpent form. Accordingly, the Demiurge tried to prevent Adam and Eve from acquiring knowledge, and it was the serpent who persuade them to disobey the Demiurge and taste of the fruit. This was the origin of gnosis. Because the serpent frustrated Jehovah’s designs, the serpent was cursed (Gen. 3:14). The Naasenes also agreed with the sentiments expressed in the Gospel of Philip, in that the separation of sexes marked the beginning of death and evil when they claimed that sex was “…man’s fatal effort to become one without recognizing that the only real unity was spiritual.”  {Forbidden Fruit in the Midst of the Garden (Part 2)

In Church-history we find peculiar ideas about the relationship with the seed, the serpent, man and Jesus.

According to the Church Fathers, the Ophites had a peculiar ritual meal involving a snake. The Ophites made a distinction between Christ the Savior, and Jesus, the man. Christ equated the serpent with the Son of Man (John 3:14), whereas Jesus equated serpents with scorpions, and spoke of the serpent as the “enemy” (Luke 10:19). For this reason some Ophite sects vilified Jesus. Origen in Contra Celsum records that the Ophites cursed Jesus, and wanted converts to do the same. St. Paul’s reference to those who curse Jesus (1 Cor. 12:3) may point to these snake-worshipers. The Ophites also happened to believe that Adam and Eve were originally beings of light, according to Irenaeus in Against Heresies, I, 30.9:

Adam and Eve previously had light, and clear, and as it were spiritual bodies, such as they were at their creation; but when they came to this world, these changed into bodies more opaque, and gross, and sluggish. {Forbidden Fruit in the Midst of the Garden (Part 2)

No surprise Rivera wants to make the link also to some titles which we can find in Christianity, like “Lord of Hosts” as a reference to יהוה YHWH  Jehovah/Yehowah/Yahuwah/Yahweh. which can be found in some translations at 1Samuel 1:3,11; 4:4; 15:2; 17:45;  2 Samuel 6:2,18; 7:8,26-27 and James 5:4 for example.

2Sa 7:26-27 NET  so you may gain lasting fame,43 as people say,44 ‘The LORD of hosts is God over Israel!’ The dynasty45 of your servant David will be established before you,  (27)  for you, O LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, have told46 your servant, ‘I will build you a dynastic house.’47 That is why your servant has had the courage48 to pray this prayer to you.

2Sa 7:26-27 MKJV  And let Your name be magnified forever, saying, The Jehovah of Hosts is the God over Israel. And let the house of Your servant David be established before You.  (27)  For You, O Jehovah of Hosts, God of Israel, have revealed to Your servant, saying, I will build you a house. Therefore Your servant has found in his heart to pray this prayer to You.

Several Christians do want to believe it than relies to Jesus but it is all about יהוה The Elohim Hashem Jehovah to Whom belongs the victory.

Clarke wants us even to believe:

“It having pleased God that, between the time of a Messiah being promised and the time of his coming, there should be delivered by the prophets a variety of marks by which the Messiah was to be known, and distinguished from every other man; it was impossible for any one to prove himself the Messiah, whose character did not answer to these marks; and of course it was necessary that all these criteria, thus Divinely foretold, should be fulfilled in the character of Jesus Christ.

But in those passages of the Lord of Hosts is not spoken about the Messiah but about the bringer of the messiah, Jehovah God.

Clarke agrees that God declares himself the Father of the Son.

God declares himself the Father of the Son here meant; (see also Heb_1:5); and promises that, even amidst the sufferings of this Son, (as they would be for the sins of others, not for his own), his mercy should still attend him: nor should his favor be ever removed from this king, as it had been from Saul. And thus (as it follows) thine house (O David) and thy kingdom shall, in Messiah, be established for ever before Me: (before God): thy throne shall be established for ever. Thus the angel, delivering his message to the virgin mother, Luk_1:32, Luk_1:33, speaks as if he was quoting from this very prophecy: The Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David, and he shall reign over the house of Jacob For Ever: and of his kingdom there shall be no end. In 2Sa_7:16, לפניך  lephaneycha, is rendered as לפני  lephanai, on the authority of three Hebrew MSS., with the Greek and Syriac versions; and, indeed, nothing could be established for ever in the presence of David, but in the presence of God only.

It shall be the Divine Creator Who makes everything and Who is the Father of everything and Host for all things and beings, who shall provide in His House the seed of peace and the seed for a new paradise, the Kingdom of God with the Garden of God once again here on earth. And for that Garden Jehovah God shall provide a gardener from the seed of Adam bringing the seed of Abraham, continuing the line with bringing seed to King David by which the offspring shall be the seed long awaited which shall bring the offering like the seed which formed the bush and got burning, the world shall have to see a burning light and bright morning star. to that seed Jehovah shall be a Host and He shall take him to sit at his right hand to become a mediator between God and man.

Rev 7:9-12 MKJV  After these things I looked, and lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, out of all nations and kindreds and people and tongues, stood before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palms in their hands.  (10)  And they cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God sitting on the throne, and to the Lamb.  (11)  And all the angels stood around the throne, and the elders, and the four living creatures, and they fell before the throne on their faces and worshiped God,  (12)  saying, Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever. Amen.

Act 7:55-56 MKJV  But being full of the Holy Spirit, looking up intently into Heaven, he saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.  (56)  And he said, Behold, I see Heaven opened and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God.

Heb 10:12-17 MKJV  But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right of God,  (13)  from then on expecting until His enemies are made His footstool.  (14)  For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are sanctified.  (15)  The Holy Spirit also is a witness to us; for after He had said before,  (16)  “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord; I will put My Laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them,”  (17)  also He adds, “their sins and their iniquities I will remember no more.”

1Ti 2:5-6 MKJV  For God is one, and there is one Mediator of God and of men, the Man Christ Jesus,  (6)  who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.

Rivera writes:

Interestingly, the Alexandrian Gnostic teacher, Basilides called the demiurge “the Seven” which could have been a reference to the seventh planet, Saturn, which rules the rest. The Hebrew name of the planet Saturn is Shabbathai, clearly transcribed in the form “Sabbataios” in Gnostic verbal play on the term “Lord of Hosts” as a reference to YHWH. Tacitus in Histories 5,4 associates the Jewish God with Saturn.  Saturn is naturally also honored on the same day by the Pagans that the Jews did with Jehovah on Sabbath. Since the Jews worshiped on Saturday, the Graeco-Roman world in which Basilides lived in tended to identify Jehovah with Saturn. Saturn is the Graeco-Roman sky-god so consumed with fear of being overthrown that he devours all his children, missing only Jupiter (Zeus), who does later overthrow him. In Rome the overthrow of the old year by the new, the hunched-up old man by the babe, was celebrated in the Saturnalia. Similarly, for Gnostics, the Christ child replaced the tribal god Jehovah. {Forbidden Fruit in the Midst of the Garden (Part 2)

saturnToday we still find the majority of Christian believers not willing to accept Jesus to be a man of flesh and blood who had really enough reasons to be afraid of death. They still make Jesus into a god, because they think no human being would ever be able to keep to God His commandments. They forget that they make a very cruel Creator of this Most High God, having Him made immature imperfect beings to which He demands the impossible. For those Binarian and Trinitarian Christians the human beings where deficient from the beginning, not able to keep to God’s Wishes.

Michelangelo Bounarotti - The Fall and Expulsi...
Michelangelo Bounarotti – The Fall and Expulsion of Adam and Eve – detail (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

We do not believe in such a cruel God, who than after the Fall would have waited so long before to intervene and Who keeps us still waiting so many years before He stops us to let us suffer. For us it is more acceptable that God created a perfect universe in which He gave the human beings a free will. They were perfect and could have stayed faultless.

To stay without fault people had to make the right choices. Eve  got tempted by her own greed, her willing to be even more like God. She had the breath of God blown in her nostrils and as such got the ‘soul‘, the ‘being’ ‘life’ in her. Those refusing that life itself was the essence given by God Himself wanted as in the different creation myths see their other gods providing that life, and as such used the figure Jesus as that bringer of life and bringer of love and eros.

As Irenaeus relates in his Against Heresies, Ialdabaoth is the eldest of seven rulers born of Lower Wisdom (See the Secret Book of John for this story). Ialdabaoth is depicted as a grotesque mutant—a lion-headed serpent which fits with Plato’s distinction of the “rational soul” part from the lion and the many headed beast portions of the soul in the Republic along with the Orphic Phanes or Eros. {Forbidden Fruit in the Midst of the Garden (Part 2)

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Preceding articles:

Forbidden Fruit in the Midst of the Garden 1

Forbidden Fruit in the Midst of the Garden 2

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Please do find the very interesting articles by Rivera:

Forbidden Fruit in the Midst of the Garden (Part 1)

Forbidden Fruit in the Midst of the Garden (Part 2)

Forbidden Fruit in the Midst of the Garden (Part 3)

Forbidden Fruit in the Midst of the Garden (Part 4)

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Additional reading:

  1. Because men choose to go their own way
  2. Fallen Angels
  3. Join the debate about the position of fallen angels
  4. Jesus and the fallen angels in hell
  5. Death and after
  6. Satan or the devil
  7. Sheol or the grave
  8. Doest thou well to be Angry?
  9. One mediator

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  • 11. Babylonian Talmud of the Pharisee & the Zohar (12160.info)
    the Pharisees have delivered to the people a great many observances by succession from their fathers, which are not written in the law of Moses; and for that reason it is that the Sadducees reject them and say that we are to esteem those observances to be obligatory which are in the written word, but are not to observe what are derived from the tradition of our forefathers.
  • Gospel, 3rd Sunday in Lent, Year B (jessicahof.wordpress.com)
    Origen comments that our souls are the Temples of Christ, and he has especial solicitude for them, and here is driving from us impure thoughts and things which drag us down. Augustine sees the same symbolism. The Church, the Temple of Christ, has within in those who buy and sell holy things, and they need to be driven out too.

    All the Fathers see the reference to Jesus being the Temple and being raised on the third day. It is the Father who raised Him up after He was obedient, unto death, even death upon the Cross. Augustine and St Cyril both comment on his caution in entrusting himself fully to those not yet born again of the Spirit.

  • The Blame Game Again (supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com)
    The societal sins are merely those made individually by unique persons choosing the wrong way over and over and over and over. The sins of a culture or civilization are not some types of sins which just happen, but sins done repeatedly by those persons in that culture or civilization.
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    There would be no weak men without Adam, and the long line of couch potatoes, sports idolizing , game obsessed men who have given up all responsibility for their families and eschew commitment. Individuals sin and make movements.Just because the men are nameless, does not mean it is not yet another “movement” of weakness changing the culture one decision at a time.
    To blame a “movement” is to push blame onto nothing….some amorphous event in history. Of course, men and women decide to choose good or evil, thus creating the course of their own lives, that of their families and even nations.
  • A Life Bearing Fruit (therealdaniel.com)
    The greatest commandment that so many reject is to love God with all our hearts, soul, mind and strength, and the second commandment is to love our neighbor as ourselves. When self becomes god as Satan is all too familiar with then a separation from the Creator of all things good is inevitable.
  • Cleo and her asp. (barrywax.wordpress.com)
    According to Plutarch (quoted by Ussher), Cleopatra tested various deadly poisons on condemned persons and concluded that the bite of the asp (from aspis – Egyptian cobra, not European asp) was the least terrible way to die; the venom brought sleepiness and heaviness without spasms of pain. The asp is perhaps most famous for its alleged role in Cleopatra’s suicide