Jude 9 "Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee."
This, then, is the last charge of the great lawgiver (MOSES): "The Lord prepared me before the foundation of the world to be the mediator of His covenant. And now that I am about to be gathered to my fathers (HE'S ABOUT TO DIE), I commit to thee this writing, which thou shalt preserve safely [131] unto the day of visitation." This prophecy of Moses was to be kept in the holy place till the last time of judgment. "And now thou shalt lead the people into the land promised to their fathers, and shalt settle them there. And it shall come to pass that after they have been in possession for five [132] (THE numbers in the brackets are for reference in scripture) years, they shall be governed by princes and tyrants [133] eighteen years; and ten tribes shall revolt for nineteen years." The eighteen years represent eighteen rulers, as in the Book of Enoch, viz. fifteen judges ("principes") from Joshua to Samuel, and three kings ("tyranni"), Saul, David, and Solomon; the "nineteen" are the kings of Israel from Jeroboam to Hoshea. "But two tribes shall come and remove the tabernacle of testimony; and God shall make a resting-place for His sanctuary among them (2 Sam. vi.; 1 Kings viii.4). And they shall offer victims for twenty years." This refers to the reign of the twenty kings of Judah, including Athaliah. "And seven shall fortify the walls, and nine will I watch over, and they shall maintain the covenant of the Lord." (Remember in previous blogs that we learn Judah will produce the kings and will not stray from the LORD) Seven kings improved the condition of the people, viz. Rehoboam, Abia, Asa, Jehoshaphat, Joram, Ahaziah, and Athaliah; and nine God defended, viz. Joash, Amaziah, Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, Manasseh, Amon, Josiah. "But the last four kings shall worship false gods, and defile the temple with their idolatries. And then from the East shall come a mighty king (Nebuchadnezzar) who shall destroy the city, and burn the sanctuary, and take their precious things, and carry all the people and the two tribes into captivity. Then the two tribes shall call the ten to repentance, acknowledging the justice of their punishment; and all together shall invoke the God of their fathers, and humbly confess that that chastisement which Moses predicted has righteously fallen upon them. At the end of seven and seventy years one of their princes shall pray for them." This refers to the intercession of Daniel; the seventy years of exile are extended by seven according to the Jewish predilection for that number, traces of which we see in Matt. xviii.22, and in the genealogy of our Lord in St. Luke. "And God shall look upon them, and put it into the heart of the prince (Cyrus) to restore them onto their own country. Some portions of the tribes shall return to their appointed place and rebuild the city walls; but the two tribes alone shall remain true to the Lord, yet lamenting that they are now unable to offer acceptable sacrifices." (Judah and Benjamin- These two tribes formed the kingdom of Judah, which existed until Judah was conquered by Babylon in c. 586 BCE and the population deported) The notion of the writer is, that the temple having been restored under heathen auspices, and the officiating priests being friendly to the pagan supremacy, the services therein were illegitimate and inefficacious. [134] As for the ten, they shall thrive in the foreign land, and shall some day rejoin the others in the day of restoration. ( "The Regathering of Israel" The gathering of the "state of Israel" was in 1948. We will get into that again later. THIS IS THE TIME WE ARE IN NOW CURRENTLY--Well, the time we are going into - The Restoration after The Great Tribulation) [135] And now the times of trial shall draw near, [136] and vengeance shall arise because of the wickedness of princes given for their punishment; for ministers who are not priests, but slaves and born of slaves, shall defile the altar; [137] and those who are their doctors of the law shall pervert justice and fill the land with iniquity." [138] The writer makes no definite reference to the persecution of Antiochus or the gallant struggles of the Maccabees, but hurries at once to the later time of the decadence of that great family and the consequent corruption of religion and morals. The scribes and Rabbis of the Asmonæans were doubtless Sadducees, to which party John Hyrcanus had attached himself (Joseph. Antiq. xiii.10.6).
In the view of the seer, which, as I have said, is that of the sect of Zealots, the holy people were to be governed by no earthly king, not even by a prince of Jewish birth. Jehovah alone is their Ruler. From this standpoint he regards the rule of the Asmonæan princes as usurping the authority of the Lord. He proceeds: "Soon shall ruling kings arise, [139] calling themselves priests of the Most High God, and shall profane even the Holy of Holies. To them shall succeed an insolent king, not of the family of priests, a man rash and shameless, -- and he shall judge them as they are worthy. He shall slay their chieftains with the sword, and strangle them in secret places, [140] so that their bodies shall not be found; he shall kill old and young, and spare not; there will be great dread of him throughout the land, and his tyranny shall continue for four and thirty years." This is a fine and true description of Herod the Great, and the notorious cruelties practiced in his reign. The mistake concerning the length of the reigns of Herod's sons has been already noticed. "He shall beget sons, who shall reign a shorter time than their father; until a mighty king of the West shall come, and shall utterly defeat the people, lead some away into captivity, crucify others around the city, and burn part of the temple." The mention of the partial destruction of the temple by fire forbids us to see here an allusion to the final conquest of Titus, and compels us to look to another event for an explanation of the prophecy. That event is doubtless the defeat of the Jews by Varus, when, as Josephus narrates, [141] the porticoes or cloisters of the temple were burnt, the sacred treasures plundered, and two thousand of the insurrectionists were ruthlessly crucified. (And if you have been reading this blog, none of this thus far has been covered. So, I can't expect you to know all this - especially from what I have given you, but if you know your history, you can see where the author of this article is coming from.)
Up to this point the history has been tolerably clear; but now (chap. vii.) comes a passage which is most obscure, and has given rise to many interpretations and great controversies. [142] The seer is. evidently speaking with studied ambiguity, and as we do not know what he means by "the last times," nor by what intervals he divides them, it is impossible to arrive at any sure solution of the enigma here presented. He seems to have regarded the victory of Varus as a token of the subjection of Israel to the heathen yoke and the virtual overthrow of the theocracy. "Ex quo facto finientur tempora." "When this shall come to pass the times shall end. In a moment the course of years shall end, when the four hours come." (Here's the sentence that changed everything for me... I will mention that below!) The "four hours" may possibly be the "time, times and a half" of Dan. xii.7, and the following paragraph probably defines more exactly the various stages of the epoch which culminated in the erection of the supremacy of Rome. More than this we are unable to affirm. Next we have a description of the Herodian princes under Roman rule, and the parties then prevalent: "among them shall reign pestilent and godless men, boasting themselves to be just, [143] zealous indeed, but crafty, self-pleasers, hypocrites. These are gluttonous and wine-bibbers; they devour, the substance of the poor, saying that they do it for pity's sake; their language is: Let us eat and drink luxuriously as princes. Their hands work iniquity, and their tongue speaketh proud things: Touch me not lest thou defile me." (I SEE ALL OF THIS NOW... This all describes the time that we are living in, which also fits well with the four hours part. )[144] One cannot help seeing here a reference to the Herodians, and, in the latter part, to "the scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites," who were so sternly denounced by our Lord in St. Matt. xxiii. The first portion of the description applies closely to the Sadducaic faction in Herod's half-pagan court, which really affected the doctrine of the Epicureans. Then falls upon them the punishment of their iniquity: "Lo, then shall come on them a wrath and a vengeance such as never before were seen. A mighty power shall be roused against them; those who confess circumcision shall be crucified, and they who deny it shall be tortured and imprisoned; their wives shall be given over to the heathen, and their children shall be made uncircumcised. Under pain of fire and sword they shall be compelled to carry the idols of their masters, [145] to offer on their altars, and to blaspheme the great name of God." The persecution here foreshadowed recalls, and is meant to recall, that under Antiochus Epiphanes [146] Is there any parallel to be found within the limits of the period to which we attribute the composition of the Assumption? Colani [147] boldly says there is not, and affirms that the only persecution which answers to the one mentioned in the text, is that which took place under Adrian as a punishment for the rebellion of Bar-Cocheba, A.D.136. But for an author, writing the history of the Jews (be it in a predictive form), to omit all mention of the destruction of Jerusalem under Titus, and to leap at once to the calamities which were consummated by the erection of Ælia Capitolina, is a proceeding so very improbable, that we cannot admit it for a moment. The other alternative (if it be granted Adrian's persecution is meant) would be to endow Pseudo-Moses with the true spirit of prophecy, or at least to allow that he has made a most happy guess at the future which subsequent events fully justified. Of course, Colani and those who hold his opinion would say that the book was written after A.D.136; but I have already given reasons for assigning it to a much earlier date, nor does this part of the "prophecy" alter this decision. Evidently the writer wished to announce in striking terms the chastisement which he saw coming upon his nation from heathen Rome. How could he better herald this than by recalling to mind the awful cruelties of Epiphanes, and using his acts as a type of the hostility of godless tyrants assailing the fallen Israel? What those cruelties were, and how in many particulars they answered to the description in our text, may be seen in the beginning of the First Book of Maccabees. That, as a fact, the atrocities of earlier days were repeated in after years, is only what might have been expected. Given similar victims, similar circumstances, similar perpetrators, the result was sure to be analogous also. Here, as elsewhere, history repeats itself, and we need seek no closer fulfilment of the prediction. By speaking, in the following paragraph, of "a second vengeance," the writer seems to desire to call to remembrance the persecution of Antiochus. (History repeats itself, yes.. That is why it is mentioned several times as TIME, TIMES and Half a TIME... Daniel 7:25 "And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.)
This next part I am leaving in as it is part of the book, but I won't be discussing it yet. I just wanted to give you the information for your reference!
We now come to the great crux of the whole book (chap. ix.), at a satisfactory solution of which no commentator has yet arrived. "In that day, at his command (illo dicente) a man shall arise from the tribe of Levi, whose name shall be Taxo. And he shall call his seven sons unto him, and thus address them: 'Behold, my sons, a second time has vengeance fallen upon this people, a cruel, foul punishment, and pitiless captivity. What nation or people has suffered for their iniquities as we have suffered? Ye see and know that we have never tempted God, [148] neither our fathers nor ancestors, so as to transgress His commandments. And herein lies our strength. Let us then do this: let us fast for three days; and on the fourth day let us go into a cave which is in the field, and rather die than break the commandments of our God. For if we do this and die, the Lord will avenge our blood.'" Now the question is, who is meant by "Taxo?" Is it a real name? Are we to take it as representing a certain numerical value, as the beast in the Revelation of St. John? And if so, is the name Greek, Latin, or Hebrew? Or is it a cypher, containing the same number of letters as the name intended? Into these and such like questions editors have entered at great length, with this conclusion, according to Fritzsche, with which I am forced to agree: "ut nemo adhuc inventus est, qui nomen satis probabiliter enuclearet, ita de ejus explicatione videtur desperandum." Among the various theories offered, that of Wieseler [149] seems in some respects reasonable. In his view the seer is again introducing details from Maccabæan history, such as occur in 1 Macc. ii.29 ff. and 2 Macc. vi.11 ff., or from the deeds of that Matthias who was the ringleader in the disturbances which took place on the rumour of the death of Herod, and who, according to Josephus (Antiq. xvii.6; Bell. Jud. i.33), made much the same speech as Taxo, before pulling down the Roman eagle on the temple gate, urging his followers to sacrifice their lives in defence of the honour of God. As for the word "Taxo," it is probably the Low-Latin word meaning "a badger," equivalent to the Hebrew ths, tachash, which is very similar to the German "Dachs," and has the same meaning; and it may be either a play on the badger skin which formed part of the covering of the tabernacle, or the appellation of the man who had to act the part of this animal by hiding in dens of the earth. [150] This man may be either Judas of Galilee, or some chief among the party of the Zealots, possibly the writer himself. Now the principal fact that militates against Taxo being Judas is the character of Judas himself. Though his followers saw in him the promised Messiah, he was by no means one who would have used the words attributed to Taxo. Non-resistance was not his policy. Certainly he taught that it was better to die than to break the law of God; but it was death with arms in their hands that he exhorted his followers to meet. His watchword, "We have no master but the Lord," led him to fight with earthly weapons, and the cruelties and excesses of his companions have stained the name of Zealots for all time.
There is so much more matter interesting and important in this little work that we need not spend further time on the interpretation of "Taxo." Suffice it to say that Hilgenfeld affirms the original to have been txg' = 363, i.e. numerically Messiah. But it is inconceivable that Messiah should be represented as hiding in a cave and there awaiting death. Volkmar writes taxo, which he makes = 431, and deems that the person intended is Akiba, the comrade of Bar-Cocheba. Colani and Carrière pronounce that the translator has mistaken the original Aramæan word which meant "ordinance" [151] for a proper name, whereas the sentence really signifies, "there shall be a man of the tribe of Levi who shall promulgate an ordinance, or give an instruction" -- the instruction being the address to the sons which follows, and the speaker being Rabbi Jehouda-ben-Baba, who, according to a Rabbinical tradition, acted somewhat in the manner of "Taxo" towards the end of the persecution of Adrian. [152] But the date of the Assumption renders this last theory utterly untenable. Perhaps, after all, the simplest solution is to regard the word as a corruption of the text.
To proceed: "Then shall His (Jehovah's) kingdom be manifested in all His creation, and the devil (Zabulus) shall find his end, and with him all sorrow shall vanish away. [153] Then shall power be given [154] to the messenger who is set in the highest place, [155] who soon shall avenge them (Taxo and his comrades) of their enemies." This "messenger" seems to be the prophet like unto Moses of Deut. xviii.15, 18; who himself is called "the great Messenger" in chap. xi. of our book. Nor can we be intended to see in this personage the Messiah. At the most, the expected One was an equal of Moses, superior to him neither in person nor in act. The same expectation of a faithful prophet prophetes pistos is found in 1 Macc. xiv.41, where the epithet points to Moses, to whom it is specially applied. [156] The party among the Zealots, to which the writer belonged, looked for a heaven-sent Saviour and Deliverer to prepare the way for the visible reign of Jehovah; and when the multitude, who were miraculously fed by Christ (John vi.), exclaimed: "This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world," they were expressing the vague expectation of the advent of a personage like unto Moses, possessed perhaps of some Messianic features, but not the Messiah Himself. We see the difference in the estimation in which our Lord was held by His contemporaries. "Some said," we are told (John vii.40), "of a truth this is the prophet. Others said, This is the Christ." And although we know from Christ's own words [157] that Moses wrote of Him when he foretold the appearance of a prophet like unto himself, yet this was by no means the general view, and a distinction between Christ and this prophet was generally recognized. [158] In the following eloquent passage which speaks of final triumph, Jehovah Himself comes to the rescue of His oppressed people [159] "Then shall the Heavenly One arise from the seat of His kingdom, and come forth from His holy habitation, with wrath and indignation for His children's sake. And the earth shall tremble and quake to its utmost borders; and the lofty mountains shall be humbled and shaken, and the valleys shall sink. (This also eludes to Our time NOW) The sun shall give no light, and shall turn into darkness; the horns of the moon (I find this sentence interesting... many think the moon is evil, and not real... replaced.) shall be broken, and she shall be turned into blood, and the circle of the stars shall be confounded (This is interesting as well. A huge cluster of stars is said to be missing from its place now. Nasa is reporting this on the news.) The sea shall retreat to the abyss, the springs of water shall fail, and the rivers shall be dried up; because the Most High, the Eternal, the only God, [160] shall arise and come manifestly to chastise the nations and to destroy their idols. Then shalt thou be happy, O Israel, (ALL OF US... God's people) and shalt mount on the necks and wings of the eagle, and thy days shall be fulfilled. [161] And God shall exalt thee that thou shalt cleave to the starry heaven, over the place of their habitation. [162] And thou shalt look from above and see thine enemies on earth, and shalt know them, and rejoice, and give thanks, and acknowledge thy Creator."
The triumph over the heathen power of Rome, here, as in the Book of Esdras, represented under the symbol of the eagle (which had twelve feathered wings and three heads), is ascribed to the direct intervention of Jehovah, the signs that are to accompany His presence being adopted from the imagery of the Old Testament prophets. There is no hint of a conquering Messiah, a Son of David, who should restore the dominion of Israel, and reign a mighty King over an innumerable people. The Zealot could not contemplate the accession of any earthly monarch to the government of the chosen nation; his hopes centered in the restoration of the theocracy and the visible rule of Jehovah. It is with this grand expectation that he comforts the stricken hearts of his brethren. Then he proceeds to define the time of this epiphany. Addressing Joshua, he says: "Keep these words and this book; for," he continues, "from my death and assumption unto His appearing shall be two hundred and fifty times." At the commencement of the book, if the revised reading of editors may be trusted, the last year of Moses' life is said to correspond with the year 2500 A.M.; and, taking "the times" as weeks of years (250 x 7), we find that the great Parousia will occur in the year of the world 4250. This would be 45 A.D. according to the chronology of Josephus, as gathered from some portions of his writings; but no importance can be attached to this, as he is very inconsistent in his dates, and we have no reason to suppose that Pseudo-Moses followed the system of chronology used by that writer. Without attempting to solve the enigma of the number of years, I should be inclined to suppose that the seer had no definite date in his mind, and merely assigned this visible interposition of Jehovah to the distant future; using terms in his vaticination with which the prophets of old had made him familiar.
But it is time now to turn to the second part of the Assumption. (So, Moses is now talking to Joshua about all of this because he will be leading his people to the promised land now. "Deuteronomy 31:1-8; 34:9) When Joshua heard the words of Moses, we are told, he rent his clothes, and fell upon his face, addressing his leader with words of grief and fear: "What a word is this that thou hast spoken, full of tears and sorrow! [163] Thou art leaving this thy people. What place will receive thee, and what will be the memorial of thy burial? Who will dare to transfer thy body hence as that of any other mortal man? Other men are buried in the earth; but thy grave is from the rising to the setting sun, from the south to the north; the whole world is thy sepulcher. And thou wilt depart; and who will nourish, thy people? Who will pity them and be their leader? And who will pray for them every day that I may bring them into the land of the Amorites? How shall I be able to lead them as a father guides his only son, or a mother her daughter now ripe for marriage? And how shall I give them food and water? For the people have so increased under thy prayers that they number now a hundred thousand men. The kings of the Amorites, when they hear that thou art departed, will war against us, thinking that there is no longer among us that sacred spirit (Moses) worthy of the Lord, manifold and inconceivable master of the word, faithful in all things, the Divine prophet throughout the world, the perfect teacher. And they will say: Let us attack them. [164] If our enemies have once sinned against their Lord, they have now no defender to pray for them to the Lord, as Moses was a mighty messenger, [165] who every hour, day and night, had his knees pressed to the earth, looking to the Almighty and praying Him to visit the world with mercy and justice, remembering the covenant of the fathers.' Yea, they will say, He is with them no more, let us drive them from the face of the earth.' And what shall become of this thy people, my lord Moses?"
To this sorrowful appeal Moses answers with encouragement. He tells Joshua to fear nothing. All nations are in God's hands, who has predetermined all that happens, even to the least particular, and unto the end of time. "The Lord," he proceeds, "hath appointed me to pray for the people, and to make intercession for their sins. Not for my strength nor for my weakness hath this befallen me, but from His mercy and long-suffering. And I tell thee, Joshua, that it is not for the piety of this people that thou shalt destroy the nations. The vault of heaven and the foundations of the world were created and approved by God, [166] and are beneath the ring of His right hand. [167] They who keep the commandments of God shall be increased, and prosper in their way; but sinners and the disobedient shall have no part in the promised blessings, and shall be punished by the heathen with many torments. For it is not possible that He should destroy His people utterly. For God will come forth, who hath foreseen all things in every age, and His covenant is established, and with an oath, which" . . .
Here the manuscript ends, some ten or twelve leaves being lost. The missing fragment doubtless contained the conclusion of Moses' address, and then told how Joshua departed to his appointed work, and how Moses took his Pisgah view of the promised land, died, was buried by the angels in spite of Satan's opposition, and received his "assumption" -- his mortal body being laid to rest in the unknown valley, his immortal part being escorted by angel bands to heaven itself.
(And finally, the reason for this blog... This was the scrip that Jude was reading that we didn't get to know about personally. If not for that one sentence in Jude:9, we wouldn't know any of this. Pay attention! God speaks to those who listen! :)
