Last week’s notes.
Open Door Lesson
A
Time Line within a Time Line
The Six Books of the Kings of
(I & II Samuel; I & II
Kings; I & II Chronicles)
July
24, 2022
Ø Abiathar - the following from
GotQuestions.org.
Along with Zadok, Abiathar served as one of the chief priests
during David’s reign as king. He was the sole surviving son of
Ahimelech, of the line of Eli.
The the High Priest,
held the holiest position in Judaism. His role
extended through history, from Aaron in ancient times until
the
destruction of
the
His most prominent responsibility was entering
the Holy of Holies
on Yom Kippur—when the most sacred time, person,
and place
converged. (Taken from Chabad.org)
Those who are familiar with the child Samuel and his
residence
with Eli, the High Priest, remember that long before, God had
warned Eli that this would happen (II Samuel 2:27-36 - (circa. 1165
B. C.) compare ibid. ch. 4:10-22 - around 24 years later
- )
The start of
the fulfillment
“The
gifts and callings of God are without repentance.”
“Known
unto God are all His works from the beginning.”
“The
Lord is longsuffering to usward, not willing that any
should perish but that all should come to
repentance.”
Open
Door Sunday School Class
A Time Line within a Time Line V
The Six Books of the Kings of
(I
& II Samuel; I & II Kings; I & II Chronicles)
July
31, 2022
Besides these, a few days
after that feast, on the one and twentieth day
of the month Artemisius, [Jyar,] a certain prodigious and incredible
phenomenon appeared: I suppose the account of it would seem to
be a
fable; were it not related by those that saw it; and were
not the events
that followed it of so considerable a nature as to deserve
such signals.
For, before sun setting,
chariots and troops of soldiers in their armor
were seen running about among the clouds, and surrounding
of cities.
Moreover, at that feast
which we call Pentecost; as the priests were
going by night into the inner [court of the] temple,10 as their
custom was, to perform their sacred ministrations, they
said, that
in the first place they felt a quaking, and heard a great
noise:
and after that they heard a sound, as of a multitude,
saying,
“Let us remove hence.” But
what is still more terrible; there
was one Jesus, the son of Ananus,
a plebeian, and an husbandman,
who, four years before the war began; and at a time when
the city
was in very great peace and prosperity; came to that
feast whereon
it is our custom for every one to make tabernacles to
God in the temple,
(17) began on a sudden to cry aloud, “A voice from the east; a
voice
from the west; a voice from the four winds; a voice
against
and the brides; and a voice against this whole people.”
This was
his cry, as he went about by day and by night, in all the
lanes
of the city. However certain of the most eminent among
the populace
had great indignation at this dire cry of his; and took
up the man,
and gave him a great number of severe stripes. Yet did
not he either
say any thing for himself, or any thing peculiar to those
that chastised
him: but still went on with the same words which he cried
before.
Hereupon our rulers,
supposing, as the case proved to be, that this
was a sort of divine fury in the man; brought him to the
Roman
procurator. Where he was whipped till his bones were laid bare.
Yet he did not make any
supplication for himself, nor shed any
tears: but turning his voice to the most lamentable tone
possible,
at every stroke of the whip his answer was, “Woe, woe to
And when Albinus,
(for he was then our procurator;) asked him,
“Who he
was? and
whence he came? and why he uttered such words?”
he made no manner of reply to what he said: but still
did not leave
off his melancholy ditty: till Albinus
took him to be a mad-man,
and dismissed him. Now, during all the time that passed
before the
war began, this man did not go near any of the citizens;
nor was seen
by them while he said so. But he every day uttered these
lamentable
words, as if it were his premeditated vow: “Woe, woe to
Nor did he give ill words to
any of those that beat him every day,
nor good words to those that gave him food: but this was
his reply
to all men; and indeed no other than a melancholy
presage of what
was to come. This cry of his was the loudest at the
festivals; and he
continued this ditty for seven years, and five months; without
growing hoarse, or being tired therewith. Until the very time
that
he saw his presage in earnest fulfilled in our siege;
when it ceased.
For as he was going round
upon the wall, he cried out with his
utmost force, “Woe, woe to the city again, and to the
people, and
to the holy house.” And just as he added at the last,
“Woe, woe
to myself also,” there came a stone out of one of the
engines,
and smote him, and killed him immediately. And as he was
uttering the very same presages he gave up the ghost.
Taken from Jewish Antiquities by Flavius Josephus -
Book 6, chapter 5, point 3.
I will now attempt to draw attention to God leaving the temple in
eastern gate as mentioned in v. 2 – (CY – 2009)
There was a precedent
set at the time of the Flood when God said
“my
Spirit shall not always strive with man”
- Genesis 6:3
No one can be saved
without the leading of the Holy Spirit drawing
a man to God – Jesus said “No man can come
to me, except the
Father which hath
sent me draw him” – John 6:44
When
of God, and despised His words, and misused
His prophets, until the
wrath of the Lord arose against His people, till
there was NO REMEDY” –
II Chronicles 36:16
Therefore Jehovah
withdrew from His
people and this withdrawal has
lasted for around 2500 years. This withdrawal, in stages, is depicted by
Ezekiel in the
following passages:
chps. 9:3, 10:4
Comment on 9:3 – “Was gone up” - better, went up. The prophet saw the
process as well as the result. The “glory of the Lord” which he had seen
(ch. 8:4) by the northern gate rose from its cherub throne (we note the
use of the singular to express the unity of the fourfold form), as if to direct the
action of his ministers, to the threshold of the “house.” This may be
connected also with the thought that the normal abiding place of the
presence of the Lord had been “between the cherubim” (Psalm 80:1) of
the mercy seat.
Comment on 10:3-4 – “Now the cherubim stood” - The position of the
cherubim is defined, with a vivid distinctness of detail. They had been standing
on the right, i.e. the southern side of the sanctuary. What follows is probably a
reproduction of the change of positions described in ch. 9:3, and the verbs
should be taken, therefore, as pluperfects. The cloud of glory, as in 1 Kings 8:10-11
and Isaiah 6:1-2, the Shechinah, that was the token of the Divine presence,
filled the court, but the glory itself had moved to the
threshold at the first
stage of His departure.
ch.
10:18-19
Comment on 10:18-19 – “Then the glory of the Lord” - The chariot throne
was, as it were, ready for its Kingly Rider. The “glory”-cloud, or Shechinah.
takes its place over them, and the departure begins. From that hour the temple
was, in Ezekiel’s thoughts, to be, till the time of restoration contemplated in ch.
40-48., what
the voice which Josephus tells us was heard before the final destruction of
the second temple, exclaiming, “Let us depart hence,” as the priests were
making ready for the Pentecostal feast (‘Bell. Jud.,’ 6:5. 3).
v. 19. — The departure has the east gate of the Lord’s house for its
starting point. By that gate, in the later vision of the
restored temple, the
glory of the Lord was to return (Ezekiel 43:4).
the east
side of the city – ch. 11:23
Comment on vs. 22-23 - Another stage of the departure of the Divine glory closes
the vision. He had rested over the middle of the city. He now halts over the
mountain on the east side of the
city, i.e. on the
Zechariah 14:4). Currey mentions, but without a reference, a Jewish tradition that
the Shechinah, or
glory cloud, remained there for three years, calling the
people to repentance. What is here recorded may have suggested the thought of
Zechariah 14:4. We may remember that it was from this spot
that Christ “beheld
the city, and wept over it” (Luke 19:41);
that from it He, the true Shechinah,
ascended into heaven. Here, perhaps, the dominant
thought was that He
remained for a time to direct the work of judgment. And so the vision was
over, and the prophet was borne back in vision to
exiles of Tel-Abib the wonderful and terrible things tidal he had seen.