Tag: Israelites

“Waiting for the Land: The Story Line of the Pentateuch” by Arie C. Leder

~ Bob Hayton ~ 5 Comments

Over the past few years I have fallen in love with the Pentateuch. I now see it as some of the richest theology in all of Scripture. So when I saw this book from P & R Publishing, its title and evocative cover had me hooked in no time flat. Waiting for the Land: The Story Line of the Pentateuch by Arie C. Leder did not disappoint. Instead old insights were crystallized and new gems were discovered as I paged through this wonderful book.

My copy of this book is so dog-eared and underlined that for a long time I’ve hesitated to write this review. I know I won’t be able to say everything I want to about this book, or share every insight that I gained through reading it. I almost want to read the book again right now, as I prepare to finish this review!

What Leder does in this book is to look at the Pentateuch as a whole, and to find the big picture behind it. He analyzes each part and applies the insights of a variety of scholars, yet maintains an evangelical approach throughout. He unpacks the power of narrative and then provides detailed analyses of the structure of each of the Pentateuch’s five books. He argues that the Pentateuch is the ultimate cliff-hanger. The final editors of the Pentateuch know the ultimate ending (as recorded in Joshua), yet they deny the reader the benefit of seeing the end. Like Moses, we are left on a hill overlooking the promised land. And this is an intentional part of the book. Israel is “waiting for the land”, and this waiting continues down to today. Leder argues, and I agree, that this waiting shaped Israel’s experience of the land itself, and shapes how the church views its own wilderness pilgrimage.

The Narrative Structure of the Pentateuch

The narrative problem of the Pentateuch, as expressed by Arie Leder, is that Israel refused Divine Instruction and was thus exiled. Therefore, the message of the Pentateuch as we find it in its canonical form, speaks directly to the Jewish people post-exile. The structure of the Pentateuch is one gigantic chiasm. Genesis stands opposed to Deuteronomy, each dealing with the separation of Israel from the nations, blessing, seeing the land (but not permanently dwelling in it) and promises concerning descendants and the land. Exodus and Numbers both detail Israel’s desert journeys, describe apostasy and plagues, have a role for magicians (Pharaoh’s magicians and Balaam), and discuss the first-born and Levites’ dedication to God. Then Leviticus is the crux, dealing with sacrifices, cleanliness and holiness. The center of Leviticus is the Day of Atonement, and since all of the Pentateuch is about how to live life in God’s presence in the land of promise, it is interesting to note how central a redemptive sacrifice is to it all.

Central to the Pentateuch is the role of fellowship with God, and building projects. God builds the world to be the place of fellowship, but this is marred by sin. Then mankind rebels and builds a tower for their own fellowship apart from God’s presence. Ironically the Israelites are forced to build the towers of Egypt, but end up voluntarily building a tabernacle for the LORD. This tabernacle allows God to dwell in Israel, albeit with barriers to separate His holiness from their sin. God is the one who undoes what man had done: God initiates this building project, and ultimately no temple will be needed as God will finally dwell with his people (of all ethnicities) in the new Jerusalem, where the Lamb is the temple.

Divine Presence and the Promised Land

Leder argues that the Divine presence is the defining characteristic of the promised land, and that all too often this is forgotten in discussions of the nature of the promised land. The church is to be viewed as God’s desert people today, as Hebrews 3 and 4 intimate. Leder explains:

Israel’s desert transition from Egypt to Sinai defines how believers at all stages of sanctification wait for the land: not in triumphal transformation of the desert, but in the regular testing of a rebellious heart and the experience of God’s surprising provision of daily sustenance. (pg. 198-199)

Israel foreshadows the body of Christ as the temple of God, in which each member is a living, priestly stone (1 Peter 2:5, 9; cf. Ex. 19:5). (pg. 201)

The desert is not only an historico-geographical reality but also a theological reality, one that teaches Israel not to think of herself as a landed people, for no earthly soil can produce the fruit of righteousness. (pg. 203)

Ultimately,

…Jesus completes the desert journey for his people. With his ascension he brings them into the intimate presence of God (Heb. 10:19), from where he pours out the Holy Spirit to indwell the body of Christ, the church, God’s temple (1 Cor. 3:16; 6:19) on earth. Thus indwelt, the church of Jesus Christ awaits a promised future: not land to cultivate, but rest from her work just as God rested from his (Heb. 4:6-11), a full rest in God’s presence for all who have been cleansed by the blood of the Lamb (Rev. 21). (pg. 204)

Separated from earthly cultures and ethnicities, and in transition to the heavenly city, God’s people will suffer a constant uprooting from the soils of their past and will be eager for enduring instruction in righteous cultivation of the fruit that produces holy distraction from the world and its interests. (pg. 205)

I could go on offering quote after quote, but you’ll have to get the book and read it for yourself.

Replacement Theology?

Some may take issue with supposed “replacement theology” here. But such is not the case. He sees the church as the ultimate fulfillment of believing Israel, not a replacement of it. Furthermore, the argument is directly tied to and springs from the text itself. Since the Pentateuch itself was concerned with the presence of God more so than mere land, the New Testament’s claims about God’s presence and the church are rightly seen as an outgrowth of this native OT concern. Even if you disagree with some of Leder’s theology, studying this book will prove immensely rewarding as time and again he focuses us on the power of the text.

I devoured this book and I expect you will too. It’s written in an accessible and clear way, with many helpful charts and diagrams. You will be blown away by the connections Leder finds throughout the Pentateuch, so you’ll want to take notes. Perhaps after reading this book, you too will fall in love with the Pentateuch anew.

UPDATE: For a look at my current thinking on the land promise and that whole theological question, I encourage you to read my series of posts: “Understanding the Land Promise“.

You can pick up a copy of Waiting for the Land at the following online retailers: ChristianBook.com, Amazon.com, or direct from P & R Publishing.

Disclaimer: This book was provided by P & R Publishing for review. I was under no obligation to offer a favorable review.

Understanding the Land Promise: Part 4

~ fundyreformed ~ 12 Comments

–continuing from part 3.

Here is a fourth, and most definitive basis for “spiritualizing” the land promise….

4) The connection between land and rest

To start, read these verses in Hebrews 4.

Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it. For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened. For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said, “As I swore in my wrath,’They shall not enter my rest,” although his works were finished from the foundation of the world. For he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all his works.” And again in this passage he said, “They shall not enter my rest.” Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience, again he appoints a certain day, “Today,” saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted, “Today, if you hear his voice,do not harden your hearts.” For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. (Heb. 4:1-11)

The bolded section points out that the rest offered to the Israelites is experienced by us who believe. And the quote in that section, is taken from Ps. 95:

Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness, when your fathers put me to the test and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work. For forty years I loathed that generation and said, “They are a people who go astray in their heart, and they have not known my ways.” Therefore I swore in my wrath, “They shall not enter my rest.” (Ps. 95:7b-11)

So again, it is clear, that the quote “They shall not enter my rest” is taken from Ps. 95 and quoted in Heb. 4. but now, notice Numbers 14. Keep in mind that even in Ps. 95 that phrase is in quotation marks. Ps. 95 is reminding us of what God said back in Numbers 14:

But truly, as I live… none of the men who have seen my glory and my signs that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and yet have put me to the test these ten times and have not obeyed my voice, shall see the land that I swore to give to their fathers. And none of those who despised me shall see it…. “As I live, declares the LORD,… not one shall come into the land where I swore that I would make you dwell, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun. (Num. 14:21a, 22-23, 28b, 30)

And a summary of this passage is mentioned in Deut. 1 where it is specified that God “swore” and in anger made this pronouncement:

And the LORD heard your words and was angered, and he swore, “Not one of these men of this evil generation shall see the good land that I swore to give to your fathers, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh. He shall see it, and to him and to his children I will give the land on which he has trodden, because he has wholly followed the LORD!” (Deut. 1:34-35)

In the above two passages, I hope you see that God is saying these people won’t enter the land. Yet in Ps. 95 and Hebrews 4, it is quoted that God said they won’t enter His rest. There is an explicit connection between the land, and the concept of rest. See also this quote below:

…for you have not as yet come to the rest and to the inheritance that the LORD your God is giving you. But when you go over the Jordan and live in the land that the LORD your God is giving you to inherit, and when he gives you rest from all your enemies around, so that you live in safety,… (Deut 12:9-10)

Here again, the rest, the inheritance, is living in the land God gives to Israel. Entering the land, is entering rest.

Now since Heb. 3 and 4 clearly make the rest a spiritual reality, the land becomes spiritual too. Entering the rest is something believers have done, and the unbelieving Israelites did not do. If we are experiencing spiritual rest, a spiritual “Sabbath rest”, we are enjoying the spiritual reality the land pointed to. All believers, Gentile or Jew, experience the reality the land pointed to — namely, fellowship with God and enjoyment of His blessings.

Ultimately, Jew and Gentile will live with God on the New Earth, the New Promised Land. With this thought, let’s jump one step further.

Keeping the Promised Land in Perspective

The promised land of Canaan, has to be kept in perspective with other Biblical lands: namely the paradise that was lost, and the future paradise that’s coming. Eden was a place of fellowship with God and enjoyment of His many blessings. The New Earth, and the New Jerusalem, will be as well. In Eden, man was to obey God and fulfill a special calling, in Canaan, Israel was to do the same. Today, each believer enjoys special fellowship with the Holy Spirit and longs for the future fulfillment of all God’s promises in the New Paradise where communion with God and obedience to His calling will be eternally experienced.

Just as Canaan was to be entered by faith, the “Sabbath rest” experienced by believers must be entered by faith as well. And entrance into God’s future kingdom of eternal rest and joy in the New Earth is only entered by faith. The road to Canaan started with Passover and crossing the Red Sea. And interestingly, Passover is a clear parallel with Christ’s death and our salvation, and 1 Cor. 10:1-4 connects the crossing of the Red Sea with baptism. Then the wilderness wanderings required faith and endurance, and the many trials and tribulations that await believers require the same. Those same wanderings included a partaking of a miraculous food and drink, and again 1 Cor. 10-11 would indicate that the Lord’s Supper parallels that experience. Ultimately, the Jordan was crossed by faith, and God’s rest was entered. One day, we’ll cross the Jordan and enter Heaven’s bliss.

Do any old-time hymns sound appropriate right about now? Believers of old have long compared the Promised Land with Heaven, and there is adequate Scriptural basis for this comparison.

In the next (and final) post in this series, I hope to show some ramifications of understanding the promise of the land from this redemptive-historical perspective.