Eichrodt, Theology of the Old Testament, 2:41. In regards to the dwelling of the Name, Eichrodt notes Deut 12:5, 11, 14:23, 16:2; 1 Kgs 11:36, 14:21; 2 Kgs 21:4, 7. See Eichrodt’s comments on the Word of YHWH in his Theology of the Old Testament, 71–75. Also see von Rad on the prophetic and Deuteronomistic conception of the Word in Eichrodt, Theology of the Old Testament, 2:80–99.
75. Note that this is one reading. The LXX version states: “not an ambassador, nor an angel, but he himself saved them.” See discussion in Gieschen, Angelomorphic Christology, 116–19. Also see Barnes, “Veni Creator Spiritus,” 4. Note that both authors consider the MT reading that we cite above to be the authentic one. Interestingly enough, Barnes comments that the rabbis treated the two readings as if they were identical.
76. Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary, 2:307–8. Delitsch also notes verbal similarities to the sprinkling of blood in atoning sacrifices.
77. Ibid., 2:179. Also see A. Pieper, Exposition of Isaiah 40–66, 187–88.
78. Hengstenberg, Christology of the Old Testament, 3:221. Leupold makes a similar observation. See Leupold, Isaiah, 2:64–65.
79. Leupold, Isaiah, 2:229–31. Leupold agrees that this death is atoning, though he does not pick up on the Passover imagery.
80. Among older theologians, Nicolaus Hunnius interprets the verse as referring to the sufferings of Christ. See brief comment in Hunnius, Epitome Credendorum, 45. Also see Leupold, Isaiah, 2:342–43. Leupold understands these verses as referring to the exodus and not ahead to the incarnation.
81. Hengstenberg, Christology of the Old Testament, 3:351–53. Leupold agrees that this is a reference to Jubilee (Isaiah, 2:321).
Chapter 2: Mediation in the Old Testament, Part 2
Priestly and Kingly Mediation
Priestly Mediation
Within the history of Exodus, priestly mediation arises through the prophetic mediation of the Word of God. The prophetic word both reveals the chosen status of the Levites and the practices in which they must engage. The occasion of the election of the Levites as the priestly caste occurs during Moses’s reestablishment of order after Israel’s apostasy to the golden calf. The Levites (Moses’s own tribe) rally to support him and zealously exact vengeance on those who have fallen away from YHWH (Exod 25:32–39).82 Our discussion of priestly mediation will nonetheless not begin with this narrative, but rather with the description of the nature of creation in Genesis 1–3. As we will see, these narratives served as foundational to priestly mediation.83
Recent scholarship on Genesis 1 has gradually come to recognize that it contains strong liturgical themes. Early in the twentieth century, much of the critical scholarship on Genesis 1 revolved around attempts to connect the chapter with the Babylonian epic, the Enuma Elish, and the ancient mythological motif of the chaoskampf.84 Though parallels still continue to be recognized, critics have also come to appreciate the presence of significant cultic and liturgical themes as well.
P. J. Kearney’s work has been particularly important for its recognition of these themes. Kearney has shown that there are not only strong verbal similarities between Genesis 1 and Exodus 25–32, but also that the seven days of creation directly correspond to seven speeches God made concerning the construction of the tabernacle in those chapters.85 Similarly, although the Jewish scholar Jon Levenson has claimed that Kearney’s interpretation is not entirely persuasive, nevertheless he thinks that it is impossible to deny that the accounts of creation and the tabernacle/temple share significant themes.86 Levenson notes that in Exodus 40:2, the erection of the tabernacle occurs on the day of the vernal New Year, the same time Genesis tells us that Noah emerged from the ark into the new creation of the post-diluvium world.87 Similarly, 1 Kings 6–7 emphasizes that Solomon’s dedication of the temple occurred on the seventh month during the Feast of Tabernacles, a seven-day feast.88 This would appear to suggest a connection with the seven days of creation.
Returning to Kearney’s scholarship, the activities of each day of creation correspond to an aspect of the construction of the tabernacle. The tabernacle and the later temple are, therefore, intended to represent a microcosm of creation. Among the seven speeches establishing the tabernacle, the seventh speech concerns the Sabbath, directly paralleling God’s own protological Sabbath rest. It stands to reason that if, as Kearney has shown, creation’s formation directly corresponds to the erection of the tabernacle, then they must also serve the same purpose, that is, the worship of God. Evangelical scholar G. K. Beale generally agrees with Kearney and has argued that each major section of the temple/tabernacle represents a part of the created order.89 In both the original tabernacle and the Solomonic temple, the basin of water represented the sea, the courtyard represented the land, while the holy place and holy of holies represented the starry and celestial heavens (or possibly Eden, in that it is the locus of divine presence). This theory is further bolstered by the fact that the curtains covering the holy place and the holy of holies were woven to resemble the sky (Exod 25), something also mentioned by Josephus concerning Herod’s temple.90 With Levenson, Beale also mentions the importance of the number seven in the liturgical calendar of Israel (notably the seven-day week and the forty-nine-year cycle of Jubilee) and in the imagery of the tabernacle.91 He argues that the use of seven corresponds to the seven planets visible to the naked eye. In the tabernacle, the seven planets appear to be represented by the seven lamp stands.
The second chapter of Genesis continues the liturgical themes of the first chapter. The Old Testament scholar Gordon Wenham has argued for a strong connection between the garden of Eden as it is portrayed in the second chapter and the later Israelite cult. Wenham notes similarities between Eden and the temple/tabernacle such as the opening of both to the east and each functioning as the locus of the divine presence (Gen 2:15).92 Wenham has also argued that the text’s descriptions of Adam’s activity in the garden possess verbal similarities with the ministrations of the priesthood elsewhere in the Pentateuch.93 This means that the author of Genesis describes Adam and Eve’s care for creation as a true act of grateful worship, making it a liturgical activity. In Wenham’s commentary on Genesis, he also notes that Adam’s reception of the first commandment in the garden parallels the storage of the book of the law in the Israelite tabernacle.94 Adding to all this, Beale has noted the verbal similarities between the arboreal imagery in Genesis 2–3 and in the description of Solomon’s temple in 1 Kings 6–7.95 Jon Levenson has demonstrated the verbal parallels between the description of Eden and
