Sensus Plenior

Source critics, unable to discern Sensus Plenior, speculate that the authors of the Gospels used oral tradition and other writings to compile their books. Theologians presuppose that they had special miraculous knowledge in order to use the Old Testament in novel ways. As we examine the four gospels together, we will see that their understanding of the sensus plenior increased as time passed. They studied the scriptures just as they instructed us to do:

2Ti 2:15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

What order were the gospel written?

Tradition tells us that the order of the writing of the gospels was Mark, Matthew, Luke, and John. If this is the case, then we should see evidence in their handling of sensus plenior that indicates more understanding of the hidden prophetic pictures of Christ, and the methods used to discern them with each succeeding book.

As the earliest record of the teachings of Peter, the gospel according to Mark displays only the most primitive understanding of sensus plenior.

Peter’s (Mark’s) methods

Tradition tells us that Mark’s gospel records the teachings of Peter. Peter was the first one to preach that Jesus fulfilled the prophecies of the Old Testament (Acts 2:14). Therefore, if the apostles studied the scriptures to understand sensus plenior, his teaching would be expected to use the fewest tools for interpreting the scriptures.

The Son of God

He begins his teaching with the first testimony of Jesus that he obtained before Jesus died:

Mt 16:16 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
Mk 1:1 ¶ The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God;

We must ask how he obtained his testimony. There is no record of a ‘special revelation’; no flashing lights, burning bush, or special messenger. But we do know that he and his brother Andrew studied the scriptures:

John 1:41 He first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ.

As Peter observed Jesus and his miracles, he saw the prophecies being fulfilled and concluded that he was the Son of God. He begins his case that Jesus is the Son of God with the testimony of John the Baptist:

Remez

Peter ties the wilderness of Isaiah’s prophecy with the historical fact of John preaching in the wilderness:

Mk 1: 2 As it is written in the prophets, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee.
3 The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.
4 John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.

Matthew had time to learn more and uses riddles to push the beginning of the story to Abraham:

Mt 1:1 ¶ The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

The last few chapters demonstrated Matthew’s use of the new tools and a greater understanding of the sensus plenior. Both Mark and Matthew reference Jesus’s teaching that he was the stone rejected by the builder…

Mt 21:42 Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes?
Mr 12:10 And have ye not read this scripture; The stone which the builders rejected is become the head of the corner:

…But Matthew ties the stone into his genealogy beginning with Abraham in the teaching of John:

Mt 3:9 And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.

John as Elijah

Mark mentions Jesus’s teaching that Elijah must come first, but it is Matthew that adds that the disciples understood that Jesus was speaking of John.

Luke

Luke demonstrates that he understands a deeper meaning of John as Elijah as he sets out to give a more perfect understanding of the scriptures:

Lk 1:3 It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus,
4 That thou mightest know the certainty of those things, wherein thou hast been instructed.

Since he was aware of Mark’s and Matthew’s gospels, he adds a deeper understanding. Luke uses drash against the record of Elijah and identifies that John specifically fulfills the prophecy of Eljah:

1Ki 17:1 And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the LORD God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.

Luke understood the riddle that water represents the word of God. There would be no word of God until Elijah speaks.

There were 400 years of silence where God did not speak to Israel through prophet, priest, king or judge. Zacharias was asked to name a sign from God as an assurance that he would have the son promised to him. Since he did not name a sign, God gave him a sign in the same meaning as the prophecy. Zacharias could not speak until John was born. John, identified by Jesus as the last prophet, was the one to break the silence of God. There was no word until John. Luke has found the meaning of the prophecy that Mark and Matthew could only hint at.

Not only does Luke demonstrate a greater understanding of the hidden prophecies, but he extends the beginning of the story to Adam in his genealogy of Jesus. Mark began with the teaching of John. Matthew pushed the beginning to Abraham, and Luke has pushed it to Adam.

John

So far the methods of Remez and Drash are not difficult for us to accept because theologians use them to a small degree. The use of riddles is a bit more difficult to accept because theologians have only stumbled across instances of them thinking that they are accidents rather than the norm.
John, as the latest author, demonstrates an even deeper understanding and uses new tools to discern riddles. The tools that John uses are very strange to us, but are still common among the Jewish rabbis as they were available to the apostles and Jesus in the first century.

John begins the story before creation.

Jn 1:1 ¶ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 The same was in the beginning with God.
3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

In the beginning was the Word…

Ge 1:1 bereshit bara elohim (In the beginning created God…)

Look at the word for beginning… bereshit.

In the word bereshit is the word bara (don’t forget to ignore vowels)

In the beginning was the word… Get it? bara is in bereshit.

And the word was with God

bereshit (bara elohim) Since the word bara is next to the word Elohim, we can say the word is with God.

and the word was God

bara Elohim

Since bara is in a position to be an adjective for Elohim, the bara is an attribute of Elohim.. The word is God.

The word was the life

L’chai-im is a pun for Elohim meaning life.

The word was the light
Elo-khoom is a pun for Elohim that means ‘not dark’ or light.

Son of God

bar also means son. So John knew the Son of God (bar Elohim) was the Word, the light, the life and God all from the first three words of Genesis 1.
John understood the use of rules and tools which Mark, Matthew and Luke do not demonstrate. He had more time of study before writing his gospel to learn the rules.

The Light

When John first mentions John the Baptist’s testimony, it was a testimony that Jesus was the Light:

Jhn 1:7 The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe.
Jhn 3:19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

John is demonstrating an understanding of the metaphoric meaning of the shadows. The light is God’s Holiness, and John the Baptist testifies that Jesus is Holy:

Jhn 1: 27 He it is, who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoe’s latchet I am not worthy to unloose.
29 ¶ The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
30 This is he of whom I said, After me cometh a man which is preferred before me: for he was before me.

We are permitted to discern Sensus Plenior

There is much more evidence that the apostles ‘studied’ to learn the sensus plenior as successive writers demonstrate more understanding and use more tools, which should be an encouragement to us.

The objection of scholars that we cannot discern sensus plenior shoud be reconsidered.

1. There is no scriptural admonition that we should not seek Christ in the scriptures. In fact we are told that they all speak of him. Those forbidding such ‘study of the scriptures’ might wish to consider if they fall under the same condemnation as the Scribes and Pharisees:
Mt 23:13 But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.

2. The apostles encouraged us to ‘study’ and to check their teaching against the OT scripture.

3. If the apostles had a new teaching, the Jews would not have accepted it, but they showed from the scriptures that their teaching was true. We have their teaching, and we can verify it against the OT.

4. The fact that the apostles learned how to read the sensus plenior better with time, shows us that it was not a special revelation, but a hermeneutic and a method for interpreting the scriptures that we too can learn.

Last chapter we saw that Matthew had used passages and narratives from different places in relating the story of Jesus’s birth. This methods are called ‘Remez’ and ‘Drash’ by rabbis. Remez means ‘hint’ and drash means ‘compare’. The processes were both used by Matthew. First he found narratives that were linked by the idea of going into and coming out of Egypt. Then he overlaid them like transparencies so they made a single prophetic picture of Christ. Then he told us the details of how Jesus fulfilled the prophecies.
Modern theologians will tell you that Matthew could do that but that we can’t. The Apostles want us to imitate them.
2Ti 2:2 And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.

Three women at the well

There are three narratives of a woman at a well. This is practicing Remez. The first one tells of Rebekah (Ge 24), the second of Rachel (Ge 29) and the third is that of the woman at Sychar (John 4). It is enough that there is a woman at each well in order to link these narratives together, but there is more. It just so happens that all the wells are the same well.

Each narrative is individually a prophetic picture of Christ. The well represents the grave or tomb of Christ. It is a picture of the water (Word) in the ground. In the story of Rebekah, the well is open and the water is carried on her shoulder. I’ll cheat a bit by giving you metaphoric meanings that you can verify later:
Rebekah

The thigh represents the will. One places his hand on the thigh of another when promising to do his will. Walking represents living. So the thigh represents the will or purpose of one’s life. The shoulder is similar within the scope of works. The hands represent one’s works. The shoulder is the intention or purpose of one’s works. The will is the spiritual aspect of life, and the intention of works is the fleshly aspect of life. This duality is what Paul refers to when he says that he doesn’t do what he wants to do.

Rom 7: 15 For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.

Rebekah was carrying water (Word) on her shoulder indicating that she had the Word and was willing to share it. It was her intention in her works to honor God. Prior to the cross, the Word was available to all men, but only a few chose to trust in the name of Christ:

John 1: 11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

Rachel

Rachel was waiting for the well (tomb) to be opened. There were three flocks of sheep waiting for water. Do you remember that the children of Abraham are described three ways: As dust [1], as sand [2], and as stars [2]?

Rachel had no water (Word), and the children of Abraham were waiting for the resurrection of Christ. This is the same desolation that is pictured other places. Christ, God incarnate, had been made to be sin [3], and his Father forsook him on the cross. Where is God on earth? How much more desolate could the earth become?

The stone was rolled away by Jacob who is the type of Christ, just as Christ rolled away the stone of his own tomb.

The woman at Sychar

There is no mention of the stone covering on the well. Now the tomb is open, as a picture of the empty tomb. The woman had come to draw water as a picture of her desire for the Word of God. Jesus proclaims that he is the living water (Word). Notice his position. The Water (Word) is outside the well (tomb).

John 4: 10 Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.

Put them together

As we overlay the narratives we will see a clearer prophetic picture of Christ.

In Remez all three wells are one well, and all three women are one woman. In fact, all three sons are one son. It is the same story told three times from three perspectives.

The first was a picture of Christ before the cross. The second is a picture of the cross (grave) and the third a picture of him in resurrection.

The first picture tells us that the Father chose the bride for the son; the second, that the son wooed the bride with a kiss, and also that he worked for her. The third tells us that the Holy Spirit gathered the bride. Ok. I need to backup to explain how the Holy Spirit is indicated in the third.

When there are three things, we will find that they are related to the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost. We can pencil in that the third story is a story about the Holy Ghost, but we should confirm it since ‘every word is established by two or three witnesses”. The word ‘Sychar’ means ‘intoxicated’ and we remember that at Pentecost when the church was filled with the Holy Spirit, people thought they were drunk (Acts 2:1-13).

The bride is Rebekah, Rachel and the woman with all the town people of Sychar.

Consider the word play of Paul:

1Co 3:6 I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.

I – Yahweh, the ‘I am’, the Father.

Apollos has Hebrew puns of ‘wonderous’, ‘marvelous’, ‘weigh’. Jesus was the marvelous wonder who was weighed in the balance for our sin.

He is the Son who did the work of ‘watering’, of pouring himself out [4].

God – ‘God is Spirit’ [5]. It is the Spirit who gathered the bride of Sychar and gave the increase.

God has chosen us:

Ac 22:14 And he said, The God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know his will, and see that Just One, and shouldest hear the voice of his mouth.

He has wooed, or called us:

1Jo 4:19 We love him, because he first loved us.

Ro 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

2Ti 1:9 Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,

He has gathered us:

Mt 13:47 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind:

Joh 15:5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

Re 14:19 And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.

When the three narratives of the woman at the well are combined into one picture, we see a more complete picture of Christ and how he obtained his bride. Each person if the Godhead was involved. The Father chose her, the son wooed, called and worked for her, and the Holy Spirit gathered her.

We will find other verses that say the Son chose her, and that he desired to gather her. These are not contradictions, but confirmation that the Father, Son and Holy Ghost are one God.

Matthew has taught us to do Remez and Drash; to associate Bible narratives by shared words and ideas, and then to interpret them as a single prophetic picture of Christ.

Footnotes
[1] Ge 13:16 And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered.

[2] Ge 22:17 That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;

[3] 2Co 5:21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

[4] Ps 22:14 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels.

[5] Joh 4:24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

Matthew has taught us to solve riddles by considering puns and prophecies in a larger picture. He quotes Jer 31:15 to give us some practice:

Mt 2:18 In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping [for] her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not.

Children were just killed in Bethlehem. What does Rachel have to do with it?

Since Rachel was buried in Bethlehem, she is used as a riddle in the prophecy to speak of Bethlehem.

Ge 48:7 And as for me, when I came from Padan, Rachel died by me in the land of Canaan in the way, when yet [there was] but a little way to come unto Ephrath: and I buried her there in the way of Ephrath; the same [is] Bethlehem.

Riddles are based in the ambiguity of langauge. “The same is Bethlehem” could be read as “Rachel is Bethlehem” and this gives us the clue to solve Mt 2:18.

Side note

We have an interesting historical fact. Such a fact is interesting, but not required to understand the hidden prophecies. Bethlehem was the place that the sacrificial sheep, or the sheep intended to be sold in the temple, were born and raised. It is appropriate that Jesus should be born among the sacrificial sheep, since he is called the Lamb of God.

Joh 1:29 The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
Joh 1:36 And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God!

Using outside information can be done to add flavor to the hidden prophetic pictures, but it should never be used to derive a solution. Everything you need to get a solution is in the Bible itself. This prevents free-for-all allegory. Only the solution that God intended is authoritative.

Revisit Moses

By quoting Hosea, “Out of Egypt I called my son.” Matthew wants us to think about and review the story of the birth of Moses, Abraham in Egypt, and Joseph in Egypt. There is much to see there hidden in riddle, so we will look at a few highlights:

Ex 2:2 And the woman conceived, and bare a son: and when she saw him that he [was a] goodly [child], she hid him three months.

Moses was under a death sentence since Pharaoh had commanded all Hebrew boys to be killed when they were born. God uses several devices in riddle to indicate the death and resurrection of Christ so that he doesn’t have to actually kill people and resurrect them. This is one device: the Christ figure is under a death threat and does not die. Our attention is called to it by mentioning that Moses was hidden for three months so that we think of the three days Jesus was in the grave.

Moses was under a death threat, hidden three months and did not die. This is a prophetic picture of the cross. It is not an accident. Each verse is packed with riddles, but we will have to learn some more tricks from the apostles to see them all.

Sleep as death

The word for sleep is also used for death. This is another device used to indicate a death and resurrection. While Adam slept his bride came into being as a picture of the church coming from the death of Christ.:

Ge 2:21 ¶ And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;

It is no coincidence that Samuel fell asleep three times . It is a prophecy hidden in riddle of Christ’s three days in the grave.

1Sa 3:3 And ere the lamp of God went out in the temple of the LORD, where the ark of God [was], and Samuel was laid down [to sleep];
1Sa 3:4 That the LORD called Samuel: and he answered, Here [am] I.
1Sa 3:5 And he ran unto Eli, and said, Here [am] I; for thou calledst me. And he said, I called not; lie down again. And he went and lay down.
1Sa 3:6 And the LORD called yet again, Samuel. And Samuel arose and went to Eli, and said, Here [am] I; for thou didst call me. And he answered, I called not, my son; lie down again.
1Sa 3:7 Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD, neither was the word of the LORD yet revealed unto him.
1Sa 3:8 And the LORD called Samuel again the third time. And he arose and went to Eli, and said, Here [am] I; for thou didst call me. And Eli perceived that the LORD had called the child.

You will find a picture of the birth of Christ in the birth of Samuel that you may wish to unpack on your own.

The narrative of Joseph has easier riddles:

Joseph was sold into Egypt because of his dreams (prophesies) that he would rule over his father and brothers. His brothers did not believe it (giving us a picture of a famine of the word), and so they first threw him in a pit that had no water.

Ge 37:24 And they took him, and cast him into a pit: and the pit [was] empty, [there was] no water in it.

Since water represents the word of God, and the pit is reminiscent of the grave, we have been given a picture of Christ in the grave. He is dead in our picture since there is no water in the pit.

Then Joseph was visited by Ishmaelites (from the east) with their camels and carried three things including myrrh, which are a parallel to the three gifts of the wise men from the east bearing three gifts. He spent three periods in a prison. The first was in the pit. The second was in prison on a false accusation (a picture of him bearing our sin). The third he was still in the same prison, but he had been forgotten by the Pharaoh’s cup bearer. Can you hear him cry “why have you forsaken me?” as Jesus did from the cross? These three periods are parallel to the three days Jesus spent in the grave.

He interpreted the dreams of the cup bearer (wine) and the baker (bread). Do you see hints that there is a story of the Lord’s supper here? The cup bearer lived, because Jesus is the living water (wine). The baker died, because Jesus said the bread represented his body which was given for us. These are not coincidences. The spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus.

Re 19:10 And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See [thou do it] not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

The whole story of Joseph contains a second narrative, besides the literal, which is hidden in riddle. As you read through the story of Joseph, you will see many clues that the narrative is there.

Moses referenced again

Mt 2:20 Saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel: for they are dead which sought the young child’s life.

Ex 4:19 And the LORD said unto Moses in Midian, Go, return into Egypt: for all the men are dead which sought thy life.

Matthew intermingles references to the accounts of Joseph and Moses so that we merge all three stories ( including the birth of Christ) into one story. He is illustrating prophetic recapitulation. The same story is told many times so that we know it is no accident of the text that it should speak of Christ.

The Nazarite

As we have seen previously, Matthew then references the law of the Nazarite as a hidden prophecy of Jesus. We use puns to see it (Nazarene – Nazarite), and then we go to the referenced scripture and see how the whole law of the Nazarite was a prophetic riddle of Christ bearing our shame on the cross.

Mt 2:23 And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene.

Matthew has taken Old Testament stories and shown us that they are prophecies of Jesus. He has shown us how to use riddle, to read the whole referenced scripture, to paraphrase, and to interpret the historical account itself as a riddle.

Matthew has several lessons for us in the next section which includes all of Chapter 2.
Each portion has lessons and the whole chapter ties them together.

Visit of the Magi

When the magi visited Herod asking where the newborn king of the Jews was, Herod summoned the scribes and chief priests to ask where he was to be born. They paraphrased Micah:

Mt 2:6 And thou Bethlehem, [in] the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule (feed,shepherd) my people Israel.

Mic 5:2 But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, [though] thou be little among the thousands of Judah, [yet] out of thee shall he come forth unto me [that is] to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth [have been] from of old, from everlasting.
Mic 5:3 Therefore will he give them up, until the time [that] she which travaileth hath brought forth: then the remnant of his brethren shall return unto the children of Israel.
Mic 5:4 And he shall stand and feed(shepherd) in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God; and they shall abide: for now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth.

Matthew records how the scribes and chief priests interpreted Mic 5:2 in light of the claim that the king of the Jews had been born. Originally Bethlehem was called “little” but they interpreted it as “not the least”. The sense is completely opposite due to the ambiguity of the language. You can see other ambiguities that hide the connection unless the proper word is chosen for both.

Matthew is teaching us that the prophecies are concerned with ideas, not the specific word. The word is merely a symbol to point us to the idea. Therefor a paraphrase which accurately communicates the idea is just as valid as a quote. Learning this will reduce the squabbles over words and permit us to focus on ideas. For instance, we will find that bread represents the word of God, but Jesus says it represents his body. This is not a problem because Jesus is the incarnate word of God. We can refer to bread, his body, or the word, and they all lead us to the idea of the incarnate Word of God, who has expressed himself in the written word of God. There are four animals which are said to have carried bread. They represent the prophet, priest, king and judge. Each one proclaims the word of God in their own way, but they all carry bread.
Bethlehem means ‘house of bread’ it has a pun meaning ‘house of war’ and another meaning ‘house of life’. All three puns apply to the birthplace of Jesus.

The house of war might surprise us but Jesus said he did not come to bring peace:

Mt 10:34 Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.

Connecting the dots by paraphrase

Matthew is telling the story in such a way to bring to mind the story of Moses as a child. The magi ‘from the east’ remind Herod of a prophecy of the birth of Christ which threatens his own dynasty. The new king in Egypt also had an ancient prophecy that threatened his dynasty.

Ge 15:13 And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land [that is] not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;

You can guess where this prophecy came from. It was given to Abram while he was east of Egypt. The prophecy came from the east.

Now the magi were asked to betray the Christ child to Herod so that he could be killed. The midwives during the time of Moses were asked to do the dirty work for the king of Egypt.

Mt 2:8 And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found [him], bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also.
Mt 2:16 ¶ Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently enquired of the wise men.

Ex 1:15 ¶ And the king of Egypt spake to the Hebrew midwives, of which the name of the one [was] Shiphrah, and the name of the other Puah:
Ex 1:16 And he said, When ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see [them] upon the stools; if it [be] a son, then ye shall kill him: but if it [be] a daughter, then she shall live.
Ex 1:22 And Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, Every son that is born ye shall cast into the river, and every daughter ye shall save alive.

Matthew has taught us to use ideas, not just words and then he immediately gives us the opportunity to apply what we have learned by playing with the ideas. I don’t think that many commentators have made the connection between the magi and the midwives, but when it is pointed out, it is easy to see. A king feels threatened and asks specific others to do their dirty work.

Each king had two conversations with the ones who were to do the dirty work. Neither the magi nor the midwives did what was requested of them by the king. When the king got angry he killed all the male children of a given age.

Both children, Moses and Jesus, escaped the threat by going into Egypt. Moses floated from Goshen into the house of Pharaoh, and Jesus was taken into Egypt. Matthew is teaching us to think of ideas rather than words to make the parallels. Paraphrases word thing differently so that we can connect ideas.

Let’s follow the idea a bit further. Who else went into Egypt and was called out of it?
Abram went into Egypt because of a famine, a lack of bread. Though Jesus was the Word of God, and the bread represents his body, he had not yet started preaching so we may say that there was a lack of bread when Joseph took Jesus into Egypt. There was a famine of the word of God. In fact, God had not spoken to Israel since Malachi 400 years earlier. Abraham was told that his people would be oppressed 400 years. When do we no longer say they are coincidences, and recognize them as design prophetic riddles?

Jacob went into Egypt because of famine and they were there 400 years as prophesied from the east.

Joseph went into Egypt as a slave, sold by his brothers. They wanted to kill him because they did not want to lose their authority to their younger brother. This should sound familiar like a king not wanting to lose his authority.

Israel is called the son of God, and they were called out of Egypt in the Exodus.

Ex 4:22 And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD, Israel [is] my son, [even] my firstborn:
Ex 4:23 And I say unto thee, Let my son go, that he may serve me: and if thou refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay thy son, [even] thy firstborn.

Abraham, Joseph, Israel and Jesus all went into Egypt because of a famine. And they all were called out of Egypt. (Don’t forget that the Israelites carried the bones of Joseph with them when they left Egypt). This is called prophetic recapitulation. The same prophecy is repeated in different ways so that we don’t miss it. We only see the parallel when we paraphrase it.

To solve the biblical riddles, the prophetic pictures of Christ, Matthew teaches us to think in big ideas rather than getting lost in details. The details are still important, but we must be able to pull back and see the big picture from time to time. All of the hidden pictures of the son being called out of Egypt are one prophecy of Christ in which each story focuses on different details. We learn to focus on the big picture by recognizing that a proper paraphrase has the same authority as a quote.

Matthew taught us to use puns as we interpret the prophetic pictures of Christ. The Lord will make a virgin conceive and bear a son and his name will be called Immanuel. Now the prophecy still isn’t very precise. His name was not Emanuel. But as we dig a bit deeper we find that the word for ‘name’ also means ‘reputation’. Jesus certainly has a reputation of being God with us.

But there is another lesson in the prophecy.

Mt 1:22 Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying,
Is 7:14 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

The quoted verse is pointing to the whole prophecy of Isaiah, not just the verse quoted. Not all the details of word play are given, but having the solutions will help you discover them.

Is 7:15 Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good.

He shall learn wisdom of heaven and earth to refuse evil and choose the good.

Is 7:16 For before the child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her kings.

Before his coming of age, Israel will lose both her earthly king and her heavenly king. She will be forsaken as a prophetic shadow of Christ’s desolation on the cross.

How had Israel lost her earthly and heavenly king before Jesus had become of age? The earthly king, a position held by Herod was lost because Herod wasn’t a Jewish king, he was a son of Esau. The Jews no longer had their own king.

Remember that riddles are made from ambiguity. When did Jesus learn to refuse evil and choose the good? Certainly he had a sinless life. But he faced the temptation of the cross all the way to Gethsemane. He did not want to die. His final choice of choosing the good was in his prayer, “Nevertheless, thy will be done”. Now we have a different timeframe from his ‘coming of age’.

When Jesus had entered Jerusalem a few days earlier, riding on a donkey, the crowds had welcomed him as a king. He was offering himself as the heavenly king, not as an earthly king, and the next day they rejected him crying “Crucify him”. At that moment, they lost their heavenly king. Gethsemane happened that night.

Is 7:17 The LORD shall bring upon thee, and upon thy people, and upon thy father’s house, days that have not come, from the day that Ephraim departed from Judah; even the king of Assyria.

The LORD shall bring upon thee, and upon thy people, and upon thy father’s house, days that have not come, from the crucifixion, the king of the blessed.

Matthew has pointed to this prophecy to show us that history is a metaphoric prophecy of Christ. The virgin that conceived in the days of the prophecy was a prophetic riddle of the birth of Christ. The day that Ephraim departed from Judah is a prophetic riddle of the cross. It is a riddle which is nearly impossible to solve by itself, but once you see that every time there are two things which are split, that it is a prophetic riddle of the cross, then the splitting of Ephraim and Judah fits right into the pattern. The water which is parted in the Red Sea and the Jordan river, the rock which is split, the veil which is torn, the tablets of the law which are broken are all the same picture of the cross and can be used as hints to solve the larger riddles in which they are embedded.

The king of the blessed will come from the cross.

Is 7:18 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall hiss for the fly that is in the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria.

And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall have grace for the foolish that are ‘halting between two opinions’, and those who are wise in the land of the blessed.

Matthew is telling us to read the whole prophecy and unpack the solution in order to know the full story that he is telling. The birth of Christ looks forward to the cross where the sins of man will be forgiven.

This is a rule I have found to be generally true. A reference to a prophecy is just a pointer to the whole prophecy. When Jesus says that he will only give the sign of Jonah, he is referencing the whole book of Jonah as a sign of Christ, not just that he was three days in the fish.
I have only found one exception:

Lu 4:18 The Spirit of the Lord [is] upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
Lu 4:19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
Lu 4:20 And he closed the book, and he gave [it] again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.

Jesus quit reading in mid-sentence. What he did not read was “and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;” He quit because that part of prophecy had not been fulfilled yet.
We can think of the gospels as outlines to the Old Testament. As Matthew taught and reasoned with the Jews, he would begin with the genealogy of Jesus and work through the riddles and prophecies, then he would move on to the story of his birth and again jump back to the scriptures to show how they had been fulfilled. This is how the apostles preached Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery.

Ro 16:25 ¶ Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began,

The Gnostics had it backwards, they read the next verse to say that the wisdom of God is presently a mystery, and they teach it in hidden wisdom.

1Co 2:7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, [even] the hidden [wisdom], which God ordained before the world unto our glory:

But the apostles spoke openly of the wisdom, the riddles of God which were a mystery and hidden, from the beginning of time. The Gnostics were like snotty children, saying “We have a secret and we’re not going to tell you!” The apostles had been given the ‘keys to the kingdom’, the tools to unlock the mystery in the knowledge of Christ, and they were broadcasting it.

Once you read the gospels in this light, you can see Peter’s personality in the book of Mark (the earliest gospel to be written) explaining what happened in detail beginning with John the Baptist. Then Matthew follows up, having had more time to study the scriptures and starts the story earlier with the genealogy of Christ telling more of the prophecy that was fulfilled. Then Dr. Luke even says that he was going to give an even more detailed account of the mystery revealed, and he shares even more of the prophecies that were fulfilled.

1 ¶ Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us,
2 Even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses, and ministers of the word;
3 It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus,
4 That thou mightest know the certainty of those things, wherein thou hast been instructed.

Then John pops in and introduces us to an even more sublime method of seeing the Old Testament prophecies as he interprets the first three words of Genesis 1 into the first four verses of John 1. Even as apostles, there is a friendly competition among them to reveal more of the hidden prophecies of Christ.

Matthew has taught us to read the whole prophecy which is referenced. Next he will teach us to link multiple prophecies together.

Matthew taught us to use puns when interpreting scripture and then by using the pun, we saw that Jesus fulfilled the law of the Nazarite. Some of you noticed that Jesus took some vinegar while on the cross, and noticed that the Nazarite is not allowed to drink vinegar. Please congratulate yourself if you noticed this.

The law of the Nazarite is a prophetic picture of Christ. Christ was not a Nazarite. When Matthew tells us that there is a prophecy that Jesus would be called a Nazarene, he is playing the riddle game.

In the riddle game, contradictions do not make something false, they are clues that there is more to discover. Jesus is the Unbegotten Only Son, the Only Begotten Son and the Second Son. That sure sounds like a mouthful of contradictions, but they aren’t. Each title tells us something about Christ, which is true. As the Unbegotten Only Son, he is the eternal second person of the Godhead. As the Only Begotten Son, he is the only son God had in the flesh literally. The other “sons of God” like Adam, Israel, Solomon, etc. were ‘adopted’ as sons to paint prophetic pictures of Christ. Jesus was literally the biological son of God having been born of Mary’s X chromosome, and a Y chromosome provided miraculously by God. This is why he is called the ‘seed of the woman’ or the ‘offspring of the woman’ because he had no human father.

Ge 3:15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

Jesus was not a Nazarite
The outward symbols surrounding his death, such as his ‘vow’ not to drink the wine, the unused tomb, etc., point to the spiritual reality.

The reality is that
• he bore our sins,
• he did not partake of grace or law since he was the source of grace and law and
• he was undefiled even in death.

So why the contradiction? To get us to look closer at what happened.

The word for vinegar is the same word as for leaven, which is ‘teaching’. Jesus has in fact, not taken a literal Nazarite vow. There was nothing preventing him from taking literal vinegar. Just like all the other ‘contradictions’ such as being the first son and the second son, or the unbegotten son and the only begotten son, he can be a Nazarite figuratively and not be a Nazarite literally at the same time.

Apparent contradictions are invitations to look closer:

Mt 27:46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
Mt 27:47 Some of them that stood there, when they heard [that], said, This [man] calleth for Elias.
Mt 27:48 And straightway one of them ran, and took a spunge, and filled [it] with vinegar, and put [it] on a reed, and gave him to drink.
Joh 19:29 Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar: and they filled a spunge with vinegar, and put [it] upon hyssop, and put [it] to his mouth.

The offer of vinegar (and hyssop) is in the context of a response to his cry of being forsaken. It answers the question “Why have you forsaken me?”

Since ‘leaven’ and ‘vinegar’ represent ‘teaching’, the vinegar is a teaching specifically of hyssop. Hyssop (ayzobe) has the pun ‘Ezbay’ which means ‘my humbling’. The Father forsakes him for the express purpose of teaching him obedience through suffering (humbling).

Heb 5:8 Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;

These are two things that God had never experienced. There was no one for him to be obedient to, and he had never suffered. When we suffer, we usually blame God for it. Jesus suffered willingly because it was the only way our sins could be forgiven.

Heb 9:22 And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.

We have another ‘contradiction’ between Matthew and John, one says ‘reed’ and the other says ‘hyssop’.

The reed is the same word for rod or staff. There is some confusion in translation of the Hebrew word since there are two words used for rod and staff, but they are each translated as rod and staff. In the Greek we don’t know which it is. This is because the two are just two aspects of the same thing. The rod is used for discipline and judgement. It is used against the enemies of the sheep to protect them, this is judgment, but it is used against the sheep for discipline. They learn to shy away from the rod and so it cannot be used to gentle them and give them comfort. Yet we know we are God’s sheep by the discipline he gives us.

Pr 3:11 My son, despise not the chastening of the LORD; neither be weary of his correction:
Pr 15:5 ¶ A fool despiseth his father’s instruction: but he that regardeth reproof is prudent.

The shepherd uses a different instrument to extend his reach and give comfort. The staff, with the hook, is used to draw the animal close. But the two instruments are two aspects of the same thing.

Pr 15:5 ¶ A fool despiseth his father’s instruction: but he that regardeth reproof is prudent.

Matthew is saying that the teaching is one of discipline-judgment, when he uses ‘reed’.

Popular typology says that leaven is ‘sin’, but this verse ‘corrects’ the error of thinking that leaven is sin.
Leaven cannot be ‘sin’ since heaven is liken to it:

Mt 13:33 Another parable spake he unto them; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.

Likewise ‘sin’ does not make any sense for vinegar in this picture, whereas ‘teaching’ fits the bill.

Oh. and we can also observe that it was put to his mouth, the instrument of his teaching. The teacher is being taught. When you teach, the words come out of your mouth. When you learn, the words go into your mouth:

Eze 2:8 But thou, son of man, hear what I say unto thee; Be not thou rebellious like that rebellious house: open thy mouth, and eat that I give thee.
Eze 2:9 And when I looked, behold, an hand [was] sent unto me; and, lo, a roll of a book [was] therein;
Eze 2:10 And he spread it before me; and it [was] written within and without: and [there was] written therein lamentations, and mourning, and woe.
Eze 3:1 ¶ Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, eat that thou findest; eat this roll, and go speak unto the house of Israel.
Eze 3:4 And he said unto me, Son of man, go, get thee unto the house of Israel, and speak with my words unto them.

Matthew uses the phrase ‘gave to drink’ to remind us of the ‘bitter cup’.

Lu 22:42 Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.

Bitter is the same word for ‘filthy’ and ‘lifted up’. ‘Gave him to drink’ references the filthy cup, which was lifted up as a symbol of Christ, the cup, who had been made to be sin (filthy), and was lifted up (on the cross). Matthew is giving us a second confirmation that he is referring to the teaching of the cross.

By the way, the word for ‘bitter is ‘mara’ which is a pun of ‘myrrh’. Now we have solved the riddle of the gift of myrrh at his birth.

Mt 2:11 And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.

Gold represents divinity. Frankincense is a sweet smelling incense representing the sweet savor of the burnt offering, which itself represents Jesus’s total devotion to the Father even to death, He was totally consumed in his passion of obedience to the Father. And now we know that myrrh represents the cross itself. It is the bitter cup.

The three gifts represent his divinity, his total devotion to the father, and the promise of the cross. What a birthday present! He was born to die for us, so that our sins may be forgiven.

Mt 1:21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.

We have seen that apparent contradictions are invitations to look closer for riddles. In this case, the hints that Jesus was fulfilling the prophecy hidden in the law of the Nazarite were contradicted by the fact he took vinegar on the cross. As we examined it, we discovered that the offer of vinegar and hyssop was itself, a picture of Christ on the cross, which answered the question, of why the Father forsook him. He was forsaken in order to learn obedience through suffering.

In sensus plenior it appears that the prayer is an interpretation of Ps 23:

The LORD [is] my shepherd; I shall not want.

Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

Father and Shepherd

David was shepherd who was the ruler of Israel. The word ‘ab’ means both ‘father’ and ‘ruler’. He was the shepherd father of Israel. Jesus teaches us to pray to the father ruler of all.

I shall not want vs. Hallowed be thy name.

The word for ‘want’ is ‘void’. In the beginning God created the void and then filled it with his light, which represents holiness. ” I shall not be the void, but God’s holiness will be made manifest in me.” “Holy be your name”

Peace with God

2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: 3 He restoreth my soul:

10 Thy kingdom come.

One can lie down when there is peace with God in his kingdom.

Trusting God

Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou [art] with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

Bread

he leadeth me beside the still waters.

11 Give us this day our daily bread.

Water is the word of God. In flood it destroys. The still water is the dead Word of God, Christ in the grave. He said his body was the bread given for us.

Leading

he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

Forgiveness

5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

In middle eastern cultures one does not eat with your enemy. Since the Psalm has the enemy at the table, all things have been forgiven. You have been filled with God’s spirit (anointed with oil) and the life he has given you, you give to your enemy (cup runneth over).

Originally published here:

Jesus said that he only spoke what the Father told him:

Joh 12:50 And I know that his commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak.
Joh 14:10 Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.

I have been experimenting with the meaning of the Hebrew letters to see if Jesus or the disciples were aware of them.

The camel

Mr 10:17 ¶ And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?

The letter gimel has the meaning of a ‘rich man chasing after a poor man’ and camel is gamal, an obvious pun. Here the rich man came running after Jesus, the poor man.

Eye of the needle

18 And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God.
19 Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Defraud not, Honour thy father and mother.
20 And he answered and said unto him, Master, all these have I observed from my youth.

This is called “threading the eye of the needle of the law”. One defines the law just narrow enough so that you do not find yourself breaking it. This young rich man declared himself to be righteous by the measure of the law but there are none righteous by the law. The law condemns all men. The young man had rationalized all of his sin, thereby “threading the needle”.

Confronting his sin

21 Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me.

The first law is to love God first. Jesus first establishes that he is God by the young man’s word’s “Why do you call me good, only God is good”…therefor in your mind I am God. Then he says that to demonstrate his love to God, he must give up his goods.

Trusting money before God

22 And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions.
23 And Jesus looked round about, and saith unto his disciples, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!
24 And the disciples were astonished at his words. But Jesus answereth again, and saith unto them, Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God!

The punchline

25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.

The rich young ruler had just chased after Jesus, a poor man (the meaning of gimel a pun of camel) and played a game of threading the needle, by justifying his sin in his own mind. It takes great justifications to say “I am worthy” when standing before God.

So the camel had just threaded the needle of the law. By making the rich man into a camel by way of the pun, Jesus was pointing out the futility the attempt at self-justification. What was easy for the rich man (justifying himself by the law), so he thought, was proclaimed by Jesus to be an impossibility by the pun.

The letter Kuf is known as the eye of the needle. It’s meaning is “There is none Holy but God” This confirms that “threading the eye of the needle” as practiced by the rich young ruler meant he was trying to make himself Holy by his own justifications.

It also shows that Jesus was familiar with the meanings of the letters and was proficient at using them to teach people who were also familiar with them.

Spirit of prophecy

In Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus we have seen the first set of riddles which produce the titles for Jesus and tell us that the whole Old Testament contains a record of Jesus.

As we read the Old Testament for these prophetic pictures of Christ, we are engaging in listening to the spirit of prophecy.

Re 19:10 …for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

As we see Jesus in the Old Testament, we are not engaging in a private interpretation as some will claim. We are participating in the spirit of Prophecy, since everything we find will be a testimony of Jesus Christ. If we find anything else, then it is incorrect. That’s an easy rule to remember.

Matthew’s second riddle

Matthew’s second riddle is just as obvious to a child as was the first, but again scholars miss it.

Mt 1:21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS (Yeshua): for he shall save his people from their sins.
Mt 1:22 Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying,
Mt 1:23 Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.

Matthew says that naming him Jesus fulfills a prophecy that he would be named Emmanuel. Can’t you hear the children saying, “Daddy, Jesus isn’t Emmanuel.” Recognizing that one is Greek and the other is Hebrew doesn’t help either. Jesus in Hebrew is Yeshua (Joshua), which means “God’s salvation”. And Emmanuel means “God with us”. There is still a problem. How could Matthew makes such a silly mistake that even children would recognize it? Because it isn’t a mistake. He is teaching us how to read the riddles of the Old Testament, and how to understand the language of prophecy.

Yeshua has a childish pun ‘Ya-shuwa’ meaning ‘God humbled’. In what way was God humbled? By becoming a man.

Ph 2:5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
Ph 2:6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
Ph 2:7 But made himself of no reputation (kenosis – to empty) , and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
Ph 2:8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

Here Paul is equating ‘kenosis’ or emptying with being humbled. He is speaking of Christ’s incarnation. Since God has become man, he is ‘with us’ just as the name Emmanuel suggests in the prophecy. We would not understand the prophecy if we do not use the pun..

Just to make sure that we understand that we are to use puns, he gives us another riddle.

Mt 2:23 And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene.

The scholars don’t know where to find the prophecy that says he will be called a Nazarene. You can google it and see that this is used by some people to argue that there must be missing scriptures. There are no missing scriptures. Nazarene and Nazarite are two words from different languages, but the people who heard it, and even those of us who don’t speak either Greek or Hebrew can hear the similarities between the two words as a pun.

From this pun we learn that the law of the Nazarite, and in fact each of the Nazarites in the Old Testament, are prophetic pictures of Christ.

The Nazarite

Since there are no known Old Testament verses which can be identified as specifically prophesying this, there are a few possibilities concerning the reality of it.

1. Matthew was mistaken and therefore the scriptures were not inspired.
2. Matthew was correct at the time, but the Old Testament scripture has been lost.
3. Matthew was correct but we cannot see that he was correct because modern literalist hermeneutics blind us.

1 and 2 are false on their face. God is not a liar and He is capable of preserving His word.
Approaching the scriptures as a little child resolves the issue and demonstrates number three is true.

Nazarene is the Greek word for the Hebrew Nazarite. This does not solve the problem because there are not scriptures directly stating that Jesus would be a Nazarite either.

However, Jesus fulfills the law of the Nazarite. Elements that are suggestive:

Vow of abstinance

Numbers 6:2 …When either man or woman shall separate themselves to vow a vow of a Nazarite, to separate themselves unto the LORD:
3 He shall separate himself from wine and strong drink, and shall drink no vinegar of wine, or vinegar of strong drink, neither shall he drink any liquor of grapes, nor eat moist grapes, or dried.

Jesus took the vow at the Last Supper when he said he would not drink again until…

Long hair

Numbers 6:5 All the days of the vow of his separation there shall no razor come upon his head: until the days be fulfilled, in the which he separateth himself unto the LORD, he shall be holy, and shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow.

1Co 11:14 Doth not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him?

Long hair was a prophecy that Jesus bore our shame on the cross

Separation from the dead

Numbers 6:6 All the days that he separateth himself unto the LORD he shall come at no dead body.

Jesus, during the time of his separation (in the grave) was not in contact with a dead body since it was an unused grave. Now you know why this was important.

Holiness

Numbers 6:8 All the days of his separation he is holy unto the LORD.

All the days Jesus was separated from the Father were Holy. Though he was made sin for us, he had no culpability for sin. Hid dead body did not defile those who prepared it for burial which is why there is no indication that the women were unclean for the Passover.

Shaved head

Numbers 6:9 And if any man die very suddenly by him, and he hath defiled the head of his consecration; then he shall shave his head in the day of his cleansing, on the seventh day shall he shave it.

The shaving of hair is losing ones covering for authority. As the Father forsook Christ on the cross, Jesus head was “shaved” figuratively. He was in the grave on the seventh day, dead and having lost his authority.

Sacrifices

Numbers 6:10 And on the eighth day he shall bring two turtles, or two young pigeons, to the priest, to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation:
11 And the priest shall offer the one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering, and make an atonement for him, for that he sinned by the dead, and shall hallow his head that same day.
12 And he shall consecrate unto the LORD the days of his separation, and shall bring a lamb of the first year for a trespass offering: but the days that were before shall be lost, because his separation was defiled.
13 And this is the law of the Nazarite, when the days of his separation are fulfilled: he shall be brought unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation:
14 And he shall offer his offering unto the LORD, one he lamb of the first year without blemish for a burnt offering, and one ewe lamb of the first year without blemish for a sin offering, and one ram without blemish for peace offerings,
15 And a basket of unleavened bread, cakes of fine flour mingled with oil, and wafers of unleavened bread anointed with oil, and their meat offering, and their drink offerings.
16 And the priest shall bring them before the LORD, and shall offer his sin offering, and his burnt offering:
17 And he shall offer the ram for a sacrifice of peace offerings unto the LORD, with the basket of unleavened bread: the priest shall offer also his meat offering, and his drink offering.
18 And the Nazarite shall shave the head of his separation at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and shall take the hair of the head of his separation, and put it in the fire which is under the sacrifice of the peace offerings.
19 And the priest shall take the sodden shoulder of the ram, and one unleavened cake out of the basket, and one unleavened wafer, and shall put them upon the hands of the Nazarite, after the hair of his separation is shaven:
20 And the priest shall wave them for a wave offering before the LORD: this is holy for the priest, with the wave breast and heave shoulder: …

Certainly all of the sacrifices were shadows of Christ and will be covered when we study Leviticus.

Drink wine again

Numbers 6: 20 …and after that the Nazarite may drink wine.

After his resurrection, Jesus could drink again with the disciples.

Hearing God’s word as a little child suggests a plausible answer to the problem without resorting to disbelieving God.

Matthew, looking back at the law of the Nazarite saw a picture of Christ, and though it could not be discerned until after the time of Christ, he considered it a prophecy. This should not surprise us since most prophecies cannot be discerned until after the fact of their fulfillment.

Matthew has taught us to use puns when discerning the fulfillment of prophecy. He teased us into it with the naming of Yeshua, and he had us use it to understand that the law of the Nazarite was a prophecy of Christ.

The titles associated with the genealogy listed in the last chapter were derived using the methods of riddle.

The second son refers to the theme in the Bible where the second son gets the inheritance rather than the first son. The only begotten son refers to Jesus as God’s only son in the flesh. The unbegotten only son refers to the second person of the Trinity, the eternal son. The forsaken son refers to Jesus as being forsaken by the Father on the cross.

Deriving most of the titles is straight forward, once the trick is known. The nature of riddles is that there is always a trick involved due to the ambiguity of the language.

The Only Begotten Son
In the scriptures where the names listed are included in the genealogy the word ‘begat’ in a formula to say ‘Father begat son’.

Ru 4:19 And Hezron begat Ram, and Ram begat Amminadab,
Ru 4:20 And Amminadab begat Nahshon, and Nahshon begat Salmon,
Ru 4:21 And Salmon begat Boaz, and Boaz begat Obed,
Ru 4:22 And Obed begat Jesse, and Jesse begat David.

Now we know that David had brothers. But in the genealogy, they are not mentioned, therefore in riddle we can say that David was an only begotten son. Oh, and don’t be troubled by the spelling differences. The names in the Old Testament were in Hebrew and the names in Matthew were in Greek.

The Unbegotten Only Son
The names listed which are associated with the title Unbegotten Only Son are listed in the genealogy, but the word ‘begat’ is not used. The formula has been changed.

1Ch 3:10 ¶ And Solomon’s son [was] Rehoboam, Abia his son, Asa his son, Jehoshaphat his son,
1Ch 3:11 Joram his son, Ahaziah his son, Joash his son,
1Ch 3:12 Amaziah his son, Azariah his son, Jotham his son,
1Ch 3:13 Ahaz his son, Hezekiah his son, Manasseh his son,
1Ch 3:14 Amon his son, Josiah his son.

The absence of the word ‘begat’ permits us to say that these men were not begotten. This is childish riddle. They really were begotten in the flesh.

The Forsaken Son
There is not much said about these men. So we have to discern why not. They lived during the 400 years of silence when God did not speak to anyone in Israel. There were no prophets during that time. The silence was broken by John the Baptist. Later we will see the period of silence is actually another riddle that prophecies that Jesus would be left desolate on the cross. All of his disciples had left him, and he cried out to the Father “Why have you forsaken me?”

Since the period of time is a prophecy of the forsaken son Jesus, the since the silence concerning these men also points to that, they have taken the label.

Skipped names
We passed over the second sons because we will deal with some of them in detail. But we also skipped over David and Solomon as unbegotten only sons. Because there are different riddles involved.

1Sa 24:16 ¶ And it came to pass, when David had made an end of speaking these words unto Saul, that Saul said, [Is] this thy voice, my son David? And Saul lifted up his voice, and wept.

David is not literally Saul’s son, but Saul has adopted him. David is an unbegotten son of Saul. Just so we don’t miss the riddle, or think it is an accident, God does it again with Solomon. In this case God adopts Solomon as his son:

2Sa 7:14 I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men:

Solomon is the unbegotten Son of God as a prophecy of Jesus being the unbegotten Son of God.

Second Son
The second son theme is a mere curiosity for most theologians. They do not know how to handle it and so they largely ignore it. All of the second sons point to Christ as being the second Adam. Sin came into the world through one man and righteousness through Christ. He is the second Adam who gets the inheritance of the Kingdom of Heaven, where the first Adam lost it as he was ushered out of the garden.

Lets handle the easy ones which are derived literally:

Ishmael was Abraham’s first son and fully expected to get the inheritance, but God said that Isaac would.
Esau was the first born child of Isaac but sold his birthright to Jacob for a bowl of beans.
The twins wrestled in the womb of Tamar. The first, Zarah, had a scarlet thread attached to his arm, but he pulled his arm back in. Pharez, the second to breach, was born first.

Now it gets tricky. In order for Hezron to be a second son, Pharez must be a first son, and we find the solution here:

1 Chron 4:1 The sons of Judah; Pharez, Hezron, and Carmi, and Hur, and Shobal.

Pharez is now listed as a first son, with Hezron as the second son. Again, we are playing word games. The order they were actually born doesn’t matter. Pharez is a second son when paired with Zareh and a first son when paired with Hezron. Now we don’t really know how Hezron, the son of Pharez became a son of Judah, but we don’t have to know. It doesn’t really even matter if they are the same person or not. This is riddle.

Abraham
We must do some math to discern that Abraham was a second son to Terah:

Terah was 70 when he began having children. How are we to interpret this? Where the three sons triplets? There is no indication that they are in the fashion that Cain and Abel were indicated to have sisters as twins and triplets. As we will see below, Abraham has to have been born after Terah, and the order is due to the prominence of Abram, not his order of birth.

These are one event:
Terah died at 205 years of age.
Abram left Haran when Terah died.
Abram was 75 when he left Haran.

Since 205 – 75 = 130, Terah was 130 when Abraham was born.

As the first son (hint: first Adam), Terah died. Abram the second son got the inheritance (the promise from God).

It is likely that Terah’s birthright was being recognized by Abram when he gave Lot first choice for the land. Lot, being of the flesh like his father, chose the land based on it’s outward appearance, the same as Esau will do two generations later choosing his flesh over his birthright.

Ok. We don’t really know that maybe he was the third son. So God gave us a second riddle to confirm it.
Abraham was not always Abraham. As Abram he was the earthly first son, as Abraham he was the inheritor of the promise.

Judah
Judah was the fourth son of Jacob, but the pattern suggests that he was a second son. He certainly got the inheritance as the second son should. So how does he get the number two position?

Ge 49:5 ¶ Simeon and Levi [are] brethren; instruments of cruelty [are in] their habitations.
Ge 49:6 O my soul, come not thou into their secret; unto their assembly, mine honour, be not thou united: for in their anger they slew a man, and in their selfwill they digged down a wall.
Ge 49:7 Cursed [be] their anger, for [it was] fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel: I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel.

Since Simeon and Levi are scattered, Judah moves to the number two position. Just so we are not mistaken, we have a confirmation in the character of Reuben, the first son, because he was a man of the flesh like Esau:

Gen 30:14 And Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest, and found mandrakes in the field,

While he was supposed to be harvesting wheat (heavenly harvest) he was collecting mandrakes (lustful harvest since mandrakes were a aphrodisiac). Isn’t it interesting that all the little trivial details have become important in helping to paint the prophetic picture of Christ?

The really exciting thing is that not only do these men have titles of Christ, in a pattern, which are discerned in riddles, but the records of their lives each contain detailed narrative prophetic pictures of Christ.

I know that some of you are skeptical of this, thinking that I am extremely clever in contriving it all. There are some things I have omitted for simplicity, because there are riddles in riddles. For instance Solomon is also a second son, David is a second son, etc. They both have many titles, and so I have used the ones that fit the larger picture here. Their other titles come into play in other riddles.

It is not important if what I say is absolutely correct. I may have made errors which you can correct. But my errors do not negate the reality of all the pictures of Christ that are in the scriptures. The real test is not that you can verify my observations, but when you see pictures of Christ or hints of the pictures of Christ for yourself.