2 And now in these final days, he has spoken to us through his Son.
. . .
4 This shows that the Son is far greater than the angels, just as the name God gave him is greater than their names.
5 For to which of the angels did He ever say,
“YOU ARE MY SON,
Psalm 2:7
TODAY I HAVE FATHERED YOU”?
And again,
“I WILL BE A FATHER TO HIM
2 Sam 7:14
AND HE WILL BE A SON TO ME”?
6 And when He again brings the firstborn into the world, He says,
“AND LET ALL THE ANGELS OF GOD WORSHIP HIM.”
Deut 32:43
Now we begin to look at the Seven Quotes I told you about in the previous Gem. I listed them out for you. The writer then follows up with four more quotes as he continues his argument. In Gem 2031 I told you of the significance of the TANAKH being quoted and why, as well as giving you the hint as to why he opens with the first seven quotes. It was deliberate; it’s a rabbinical thing to do. The technique is called remez, giving you a hint of deeper things to come. I am not going to explain that here, I save that for Deeper Bible where we have more time.
I will tell you one more thing before we start looking in depth at the quotes from the Old Testament used in the New. The seven quotes are as follows:
- Psalm 2:7 (The Writings)
- 2 Samuel 7:14 (The Prophets)
- Deuteronomy 32:43 (The Law)
- Psalm 104:4 (The Writings)
- Psalm 45:6-7 (The Writings)
- Psalm 102:25-27 (The Writings)
- Psalm 110:1 (The Writings)
Yes. I know it is seems strange to see 2 Samuel classified as the Prophets . But that is how the book is classified in the Hebrew Old Testament. The historical books and the books of the prophets are called The Prophets. Allow me to give you another way of looking at the books of the Old Testament which I expand in Deeper Bible. Think of the Torah (The Law) as the Principles. Think of the Nevi’im (The Prophets) as the Practice – what was done by the people of God – both as they were warned against by the prophets and what they had done in history as outlined in the historical books. Think of the Kethuvim (The Writings) as the exPlanation. Just like poetry and wisdom literature can be a social commentary on the things we do and why. There you have the three P’s.
- The Principles – the Law
- The Practice – the Prophets
- The exPlanation – the Writings
When these three come together in a passage of Scripture and the writer gives you examples or quotes from each of the three sections of the TANAKH it is time to sit up and take notice. Now is the time for you to do just that with the first three quotes. I have given you below the full quote from the section where the quoted verse is found. Read the full quote from the Old Testament and see what you notice.
The Source of the Quotes
PSALM 2:7
Why are the nations so angry? Why do they waste their time with futile plans?
The kings of the earth prepare for battle; the rulers plot together against the LORD and against his anointed one.
“Let us break their chains,” they cry, “and free ourselves from slavery to God.”
But the one who rules in heaven laughs. The Lord scoffs at them.
Then in anger he rebukes them, terrifying them with his fierce fury.
For the Lord declares, “I have placed my chosen king on the throne in Jerusalem, on my holy mountain.”
The king proclaims the LORD’s decree: “The LORD said to me, ‘You are my son. Today I have become your Father.
Only ask, and I will give you the nations as your inheritance, the whole earth as your possession.
You will break them with an iron rod and smash them like clay pots.’”
Now then, you kings, act wisely! Be warned, you rulers of the earth!
Serve the LORD with reverent fear, and rejoice with trembling.
Submit to God’s royal son, or he will become angry, and you will be destroyed in the midst of all your activities—for his anger flares up in an instant. But what joy for all who take refuge in him!
Psalm 2:1-12
2 Samuel 7:4-17
But that same night the LORD said to Nathan,
“Go and tell my servant David, ‘This is what the LORD has declared: Are you the one to build a house for me to live in?
I have never lived in a house, from the day I brought the Israelites out of Egypt until this very day. I have always moved from one place to another with a tent and a Tabernacle as my dwelling.
Yet no matter where I have gone with the Israelites, I have never once complained to Israel’s tribal leaders, the shepherds of my people Israel. I have never asked them, “Why haven’t you built me a beautiful cedar house?”’
“Now go and say to my servant David, ‘This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies has declared: I took you from tending sheep in the pasture and selected you to be the leader of my people Israel.
I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have destroyed all your enemies before your eyes. Now I will make your name as famous as anyone who has ever lived on the earth!
And I will provide a homeland for my people Israel, planting them in a secure place where they will never be disturbed. Evil nations won’t oppress them as they’ve done in the past,
starting from the time I appointed judges to rule my people Israel. And I will give you rest from all your enemies. “‘Furthermore, the LORD declares that he will make a house for you—a dynasty of kings!
For when you die and are buried with your ancestors, I will raise up one of your descendants, your own offspring, and I will make his kingdom strong.
He is the one who will build a house—a temple—for my name. And I will secure his royal throne forever.
I will be his father, and he will be my son. If he sins, I will correct and discipline him with the rod, like any father would do.
But my favor will not be taken from him as I took it from Saul, whom I removed from your sight.
Your house and your kingdom will continue before me for all time, and your throne will be secure forever.’”
So Nathan went back to David and told him everything the LORD had said in this vision.
2 Samuel 7:4-17
Deuteronomy 32:1-43
“Listen, O heavens, and I will speak! Hear, O earth, the words that I say!
Let my teaching fall on you like rain; let my speech settle like dew. Let my words fall like rain on tender grass, like gentle showers on young plants.
I will proclaim the name of the LORD; how glorious is our God!
He is the Rock; his deeds are perfect. Everything he does is just and fair. He is a faithful God who does no wrong; how just and upright he is!
“But they have acted corruptly toward him; when they act so perversely, are they really his children? They are a deceitful and twisted generation.
Is this the way you repay the LORD, you foolish and senseless people? Isn’t he your Father who created you? Has he not made you and established you?
Remember the days of long ago; think about the generations past. Ask your father, and he will inform you. Inquire of your elders, and they will tell you.
When the Most High assigned lands to the nations, when he divided up the human race, he established the boundaries of the peoples according to the number in his heavenly court.
“For the people of Israel belong to the LORD; Jacob is his special possession.
He found them in a desert land, in an empty, howling wasteland. He surrounded them and watched over them; he guarded them as he would guard his own eyes.
Like an eagle that rouses her chicks and hovers over her young, so he spread his wings to take them up and carried them safely on his pinions.
The LORD alone guided them; they followed no foreign gods.
He let them ride over the highlands and feast on the crops of the fields. He nourished them with honey from the rock and olive oil from the stony ground.
He fed them yogurt from the herd and milk from the flock, together with the fat of lambs. He gave them choice rams from Bashan, and goats, together with the choicest wheat. You drank the finest wine, made from the juice of grapes.
“But Israel soon became fat and unruly; the people grew heavy, plump, and stuffed! Then they abandoned the God who had made them; they made light of the Rock of their salvation.
They stirred up his jealousy by worshiping foreign gods; they provoked his fury with detestable deeds.
They offered sacrifices to demons, which are not God, to gods they had not known before, to new gods only recently arrived, to gods their ancestors had never feared.
You neglected the Rock who had fathered you; you forgot the God who had given you birth.
“The LORD saw this and drew back, provoked to anger by his own sons and daughters.
He said, ‘I will abandon them; then see what becomes of them. For they are a twisted generation, children without integrity.
They have roused my jealousy by worshiping things that are not God; they have provoked my anger with their useless idols. Now I will rouse their jealousy through people who are not even a people; I will provoke their anger through the foolish Gentiles.
For my anger blazes forth like fire and burns to the depths of the grave. It devours the earth and all its crops and ignites the foundations of the mountains.
I will heap disasters upon them and shoot them down with my arrows.
I will weaken them with famine, burning fever, and deadly disease. I will send the fangs of wild beasts and poisonous snakes that glide in the dust.
Outside, the sword will bring death, and inside, terror will strike both young men and young women, both infants and the aged.
I would have annihilated them, wiping out even the memory of them.
But I feared the taunt of Israel’s enemy, who might misunderstand and say, “Our own power has triumphed! The LORD had nothing to do with this!”’
“But Israel is a senseless nation; the people are foolish, without understanding.
Oh, that they were wise and could understand this! Oh, that they might know their fate!
How could one person chase a thousand of them, and two people put ten thousand to flight, unless their Rock had sold them, unless the LORD had given them up?
But the rock of our enemies is not like our Rock, as even they recognize.
Their vine grows from the vine of Sodom, from the vineyards of Gomorrah. Their grapes are poison, and their clusters are bitter.
Their wine is the venom of serpents, the deadly poison of cobras.
“The LORD says, ‘Am I not storing up these things, sealing them away in my treasury?
I will take revenge; I will pay them back. In due time their feet will slip. Their day of disaster will arrive, and their destiny will overtake them.’
“Indeed, the LORD will give justice to his people, and he will change his mind about his servants, when he sees their strength is gone and no one is left, slave or free.
Then he will ask, ‘Where are their gods, the rocks they fled to for refuge?
Where now are those gods, who ate the fat of their sacrifices and drank the wine of their offerings? Let those gods arise and help you! Let them provide you with shelter!
Look now; I myself am he! There is no other god but me! I am the one who kills and gives life; I am the one who wounds and heals; no one can be rescued from my powerful hand!
Now I raise my hand to heaven and declare, “As surely as I live,
when I sharpen my flashing sword and begin to carry out justice, I will take revenge on my enemies and repay those who reject me.
I will make my arrows drunk with blood, and my sword will devour flesh—the blood of the slaughtered and the captives, and the heads of the enemy leaders.”’
“Rejoice with him, you heavens, and let all of God’s angels worship him. Rejoice with his people, you Gentiles, and let all the angels be strengthened in him. For he will avenge the blood of his children; he will take revenge against his enemies. He will repay those who hate him and cleanse his people’s land.”
Deuteronomy 32:1-43
You do your pondering first and then we will investigate the connections in the next Gem. These first three are easy ones and are the way the Writer of Hebrews opens the argument. Well, the third one is easy in one way but contains a major complication as well. Can you spot it?
The Torah opens with the creation story rather than the legal portions for only a life-giver can be a law-giver.
Abraham Joshua Heschel
If we want to worship in spirit and in truth, we need to rediscover the capacity to wonder that God placed within each of us.
David Jeremiah
If we want to worship in spirit and in truth, we need to rediscover the depth and wonder that God placed within His Word.
Ian
The Bible is full of depth and wonder. True awe and wonder comes when you begin to find such things for yourself.
Ian