In this week’s pericope, we see even more “growing pains” being experienced by the first Christians. They have such sharp disagreements that the first Church Council was convened. It’s called simply the “first Jerusalem Council” for obvious reasons. We read about some of what happened there in Acts 15:
5 But some believers from the party of the Pharisees stood up and declared, “The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to obey the law of Moses.” 6 So the apostles and elders met to look into this matter.
7 After much discussion, Peter got up and said to them, “Brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you that the Gentiles would hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe. 8 And God, who knows the heart, showed His approval by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as He did to us. 9 He made no distinction between us and them, for He cleansed their hearts by faith.
10 Now then, why do you test God by placing on the necks of the disciples a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear? 11 On the contrary, we believe it is through the grace of the Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.”
12 The whole assembly fell silent as they listened to Barnabas and Paul describing the signs and wonders God had done among the Gentiles through them. 13 When they had finished speaking, James declared, “Brothers, listen to me! 14 Simon has told us how God first visited the Gentiles to take from them a people to be His own. 15 The words of the prophets agree with this, as it is written:
16 ‘After this I will return and rebuild the fallen tent of David.
Its ruins I will rebuild, and I will restore it,
17 so that the remnant of men may seek the Lord,
and all the Gentiles who are called by My name,
says the Lord who does these things
18 that have been known for ages.’
At this time, James, the brother of Jesus, was clearly the biggest voice in the room, even more so than Peter. When he spoke, people listened. And when James quoted the prophet Amos here, he did so in Greek. We know this because the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible) alters and expands upon the text in the original Hebrew. Instead of “Edom”, it is changed to “Adam” and translated as “peoples” or “nations”, Gentiles in particular.
So, from this we can discern a few things. First, James is more than likely speaking in Greek, or at least quoting the Scriptures in Greek, which in and of itself, is making a “statement” of sorts. And at the same time, he referred to “Simon” Peter by his Hebrew/Aramaic name rather than its Greek equivalent “Simeon”, even though they are interchangeable. As subtle as this seems, both of these things could have been perceived as a gesture of validation for both the “conservative and progressive” leaders gathered there that day.
But James ultimately gives his judgment in favor of the progressives, proving from the Scriptures that Jewish Christians joining in fellowship with Gentile Christians was God’s intention all along. I realize that the words “conservative and progressive” have different meanings in our modern day setting. But back then, the struggle to make sense of what God was doing was very real. All of their lives, Jews were strictly schooled from childhood to “come out from among them and be holy”, and the “them” was Gentiles.
James picks an interesting Scripture from the book of Amos about the “tabernacle of David” to confirm what the Holy Spirit had already been saying through miraculous signs, wonders, dreams and miracles concerning the inclusion of Gentiles in God’s family. Amos used the metaphor of the tabernacle of David to prophesy about the Gentiles' inclusion in a number of ways.
First of all, Amos seems to be alluding to the Tent that David prepared for the Ark of the Covenant in Jerusalem. Remember that the Ark was captured by the Philistines and taken away from the original tabernacle of Moses which had been in Shiloh for centuries. The Philistines were afflicted with tumors and hemorrhoids, so they only kept the Ark for a few months and were very glad to see it go to the house of a man named Abinidab. It remained there for at least two decades! Eventually, King David rose to power and decided to bring it to Jerusalem. With all the best intentions, Abinidab and his sons helped move the Ark until tragedy struck. Uzzah grabbed the Ark irreverently when the oxen pulling the cart it was riding upon stumbled. Uzzah was struck dead instantly. This was understandably upsetting to King David and everyone else. So, the Ark was housed and taken care of by a man named Obed-Edom whose house just happened to be on the way. We read that this man and his whole house were very blessed while the Ark was cared for by him.
We don’t know a lot about this man Obed-Edom whose name, curiously, means “servant of Edom.” Not only that, the Bible tells us he was a “Gittite” which means he was from Gath. Gath is where Goliath was from, although some Bible scholars have pointed out that there was more than one city named Gath or something similar. For instance, the prophet Jonah was from a place around the Galilee region called Geth-Hepher. However, it is quite possible he, although not a Philistine, was from the Philistine city of Gath.
The Bible also tells us he was a Levite, which means he was Divinely qualified to care for the Ark. The transportation of the tabernacle and its furniture was the Levites' sacred responsibility during the time of its wilderness sojourn under Moses and Joshua. The strict instructions for moving the Ark was that it was to be transported on the shoulders of Levites and not pulled by animals on a cart.
When David realized his error, he appointed Levites to move the Ark in accordance with the Lord’s instructions and it was brought successfully to Jerusalem. David danced before the Lord with all his might during this celebration. He had erected his own tabernacle for the Ark to rest, and It is said that David appointed nearly 300 musicians to worship around the clock there, singing, playing instruments and leading Hebrew people in a 24-7 worship service. David wrote many of the songs that were used in worship around that tabernacle and we read their lyrics in the book of Psalms. Many of those psalms were prophetic and predicted the coming of the Messiah, Jesus. In fact, it was through a prophetic psalm that David received the promise that one day the Messiah would sit on his throne.
"The LORD hath sworn in truth unto DAVID; he will not turn from it; Of the fruit of thy body will I set upon THY (DAVID'S) THRONE. If thy children will keep My covenant and My testimony that I shall teach them, their children shall also sit upon THY THRONE for evermore" (Psalm 132:11-12)
One other fascinating feature of the tabernacle of David is that apparently it did not have a veil. Perhaps it was possible for any worshiper, Levite or not, to get an “unveiled” look at the very Ark of the Covenant. The symbolism seems to indicate openness to all who desire to draw near to worship the God of Israel.
So, we can see that James connecting the new Spirit-led openness to Gentiles with the prophecy of Amos concerning a rebuilt tabernacle of David makes sense. The new covenant, symbolized by the resurrected tabernacle of David, invites one and all, Jew and Gentile, to draw near to the God that promises to draw near in return. The veil is no more! There is unfettered access into the presence of God for “whosoever will” and each person that bends their knee to Messiah-King Jesus, Jew or Gentile, is fulfilling the great promise concerning David’s throne in Amos and the Psalms.
One other thing that strikes me as interesting. It seems it was Obed-Edom the Gittite that was a mediator of sorts and in some ways facilitated the safe transport of the Ark to Jerusalem. His name means servant of Edom, which means “Red.” In fact, the Hebrew word for blood is “dam” and Esau, the father of the Edomite nation, was red haired. Perhaps Obed’s name carries a hidden message. This “Servant of Redness”, hailing from a strange location became a mediator assisting David in bringing unveiled access to the God of Israel in Jerusalem.
This reminds me of another suffering servant, whose bleeding “stripes” make us whole. Jesus tore the veil for us and paid the full price with his red blood. The same God who promised David an eternal throne from which our Messiah would rule and reign, promised to tear the veil through the shed blood of His own unique Son, uniting Jew and Gentile as “one new man.”
James could see the prophetic significance of the Amos passage and it became another foundation stone in the building of the Church of Jesus Christ with living stones consisting of both Jews and Gentiles.
PRN: Thank you Lord for tearing the veil in two, from top to bottom for us. Thank you for inviting us to Your throne of Grace without fear or condemnation. Please help us to invite others to the Lord Jesus, our one mediator, who unites Jew and Gentile in one family of God. In the name of Jesus, amen.
Comments