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Descriptions of the actions of the eschatological high priest are scattered throughout the Old Testament in a variety of interconnected texts. As we have already noted, the Servant of YHWH in the later chapters of Isaiah is identified as the new Passover lamb, necessitated by the new exodus. He is, as we have also suggested, identified in chapters 49 and 63 with the Angel of YHWH and the kavod. This identification is deepened by the description of the Angel of YHWH in Isaiah 63:9 as possessing both robes soaked in blood (63:2) and the role of the divine warrior (vv. 1–5), much like Leviticus’s portrayal of the high priest. As was previously noted, the Angel of YHWH is also said in Isaiah 63:9 to be afflicted with the afflictions of the people in order to redeem them. Isaiah then hearkens back to the time of the exodus and states that this same angel (as is clear from the text of the Pentateuch as well) guided and redeemed Israel in the first exodus. He is described as being “his [God’s] glorious arm” (v. 12). This is identical with the description of the Servant in Isaiah 53:1 as “the arm of the LORD.” This wording therefore further identifies the sufferings of the Angel of YHWH and the Servant, and thereby positively demonstrates them to be the same figure. In the same way also atonement leads to a universal Jubilee. We are told that the Servant announces such a Jubilee in Isaiah 61 and that he will justify many in chapter 53.165
Isaiah 53, 61, and 63 find an intertextual echo in Daniel 7 and 9.166 The kavod is described as functioning in Daniel 7 as a universal and heavenly high priest coming to God’s throne to enact a universal Day of Atonement. If the Son of Man comes to God’s throne, he must like the earthly high priest on the Day of Atonement possess an offering to make to God. Like the suffering Servant, he therefore implicitly makes “intercession for the transgressors” (Isa 53:12) by this offering. The Son of Man is also exalted to the divine throne in the same manner as the Servant, who after his sufferings has a “portion with the many” (v. 12). In light of the New Testament’s identification (which we will examine below) and these striking parallels, we must posit that this text is suggesting that the Son of Man is the same person being spoken of in Isaiah 53 as the Servant.
Daniel 9 also describes these same themes of eschatological atonement and redemption. We are told: “Seventy weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place” (Dan 9:24). Seventy “sevens” (or “weeks” as the KJV translates) represent the fulfillment of ten Jubilees (Lev 25). The number appears to suggest not an actual timeline, but rather symbolically conveys a supreme and definitive Jubilee.167 The finality of this Jubilee is deepened by the statement that in this period there will be an “end of transgression” and the establishment of “everlasting righteousness.” The agent of this transformation must be a divine and heavenly high priest (described as the Son of Man earlier), since God alone can bring “everlasting righteousness.”168 This also parallels the “year of the Lord’s favor” of Isaiah 61 enacted by the Servant.
The seventy weeks (or as it is restated “sixty-two sevens and seven-sevens, i.e., sixty nine sevens, that is, a “seven” before ultimate fulfillment) will culminate in the coming of the “anointed one, a prince” (v. 25).169 This prince or anointed one “will confirm a covenant with many” (v. 27), which will end sacrifice. The confirmation of this covenant is presumably tied up with a new order of redemption.170 Because of the universal Day of Atonement and a supreme Jubilee, sacrifice for the sake of atonement will no longer be necessary.171 The anointed one is therefore also identical with the Servant who is a “covenant to the nations,” the “Angel of the covenant” of Malachi 3, and the prophet like Moses of Deuteronomy 18. He is indeed like Moses, in that he also mediates a covenant. Lastly, since this covenant is tied up with “ending sacrifice” and bringing “everlasting righteousness” (i.e., forgiveness and sanctification), it must be thought to be identical with Jeremiah’s new covenant. This parallel is further suggested by the fact that Daniel at the beginning of the chapter is reading a scroll of Jeremiah (v. 2). Part of God’s promise to Jeremiah regarding the new covenantal order is that Israel will never lack a priestly mediator to stand before him (Jer 33:18). This finds fulfillment in the announcement that the anointed one “will be cut off and will have nothing” (Dan 9:26).172 This again directly parallels the fate of the Servant of Isaiah 53 (who is also “cut off” v. 8), and implicitly the Son of Man of Daniel 7 (who as we saw, has an offering to offer the Ancient of Days). For this reason, the anointed one must be both the heavenly high priest, who is the Angel of YHWH/kavod, and the eschatological suffering Servant, who brings about a new covenant through his earthly vicarious suffering and death. In a word, this must be the “seed of the woman,” whom we know to be Christ.173
Kingly Mediation
Walter Brueggemann has appropriately emphasized the need for a kingly mediator who arises within Judges and 1 Samuel as a response to the problem of military subjugation by neighboring civilizations.174 Nevertheless, it must also be observed that this kingly mediation ultimately has the same goal in mind as the prophetic and priestly mediations. As Rolf Rendtorff accurately notes, the book of Judges presents us with a continuous cycle of Israel’s apostasy to foreign gods and its subsequent conquest by the other peoples of the land.175 Such apostasy, notes Rendtorff, also has the aspect of the failure of Israel in its vocation, that is, the conquest of Palestine to the end of the expulsion of false foreign gods.176 The author of the book of Judges views the conquest by foreign peoples as the punishment for the failure on the part of Israel to live by the divine grace of election, and thereby act as a true worshiping community that destroys and expels idolatry.
This places the kingship as a response to the conquest of foreign powers in a new light. If conquest is the response to apostasy, then military success and the expulsion of hostile pagan peoples logically means the expulsion of idolatry and the establishment of the true worship. True worship is the vocation of Israel as a priestly nation. It also means to establish creation in true rest from their enemies, as many biblical texts emphasize.177 Such a rest, as we shall see, prefigures the true and eternal Sabbath of the people of God at the eschaton.
The book of Judges also demonstrates the need within Israel for the institution of the monarchy with the oft repeated refrain that “everyone did as he saw fit” (Judg 21:25). If Israel could not receive the law or obey the law, then it must be necessary for the law to be enforced. Deuteronomy emphasizes that the king is subject to the rule of the revealed law of Moses. He must keep his own copy of the law and study it diligently (Deut 17:18–20). The so-called Deuteronomistic history characterizes the rule of any given king as either righteous or unrighteous to the extent that they enforce the worship of the true God. Solomon initially comes off well insofar as he who builds the temple. Early in 1 Kings he is described as an embodiment of divine wisdom. Similarly, Josiah, who is described in 2 Kings as the most righteous of all the later kings (2 Kgs 23:25) is the one who purifies the Israelite cult and nation from idolatry (vv. 24–25).
Initially 1 Samuel reports that YHWH is not pleased with the prospect of a king. This is because it represents a rejection of God’s own divine kingship (1 Sam 8:7). It should be observed that this does not mean
