The Human King

“6. What is the significance of the name ‘Son of Man,’ with which Christ designated Himself?

This name is also derived from the Old Testament, specifically from Daniel 7. After the description of the four world monarchies, portrayed by as many animals (a lion with eagle’s wings, a bear, a panther, a beast not mentioned by name), reference is made to one ‘who is like a son of man’ and who by the ‘Ancient of Days’ is given ‘dominion and honor and a kingdom that all peoples and nations and languages should honor him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion that shall not pass away, and his kingdom shall not be destroyed’ [Dan 7:13-14]. It is not subject to doubt that the Messiah is intended here, although not the Messiah by himself. Since the Son of Man comes to supercede the earlier world-kingdoms, he must be taken here, together with his kingdom and it subjects, as ruler over Israel representing his people. He is called a son of man because over against the wild and animal-like world-kingdoms he represents true humanity as it must be in God’s kingdom…he apparently wanted to counter the faulty conceptions that people had formed about the Messiah as an outward king. The kingdom in which He is Messiah and King is not according to the manner of the kingdoms of this world – which find their image in an animal-type, but it bears a human countenance…”

- Geerhardus Vos (1862-1949), Reformed Dogmatics, vol. 3 (Lexham Press), pgs. 17-18.

Every once in a while you come across something truly special in a Systematic Theology (even Louis Berkhof gets almost poetic at times). In this quote, Vos reminds us how important it is to know your Old Testament, and to let the O.T. inform our reading of the New. You will never understand the Book unless you read it as a whole, unified, connected Book.

The theme of “king” and “kingdom” are massively important to a right understanding of Jesus – I was reminded of that yesterday writing part of a sermon on the second petition of the “Lord’s Prayer.” Vos’ words underscore that for me.

Jesus is King of the heavens and the earth. In His Kingdom and in submission to Him as King, humanity will one day become what it was created to be.

While Vos doesn’t make this connection here, this commentary on the title “son of man” also informs us concerning the “beast” in the Revelation. All other kings and kingdoms are ultimately bestial (rebellious against God’s will) because they deviate from Christ.

(As a side note, this shows that Vos does his best Systematic Theology when he’s actually doing Biblical Theology.)

Reading Challenge, Book 1

The first book of Tim Challies’ reading challenge for 2019 is a biography. I chose to read Geerhardus Vos: Reformed Biblical Theologian, Confessional Presbyterian, by Danny E. Olinger. It was published by Reformed Forum. I have learned a lot over the years from their podcast, Christ the Center. I was excited to read their first published monograph.

This is more than just the telling of a life (though it does that); this biography is also a theological reflection on Vos’ thought through a consideration of his works in chronological order. It was fascinating to me to have a good survey of each work (most of which I’ve read), and to see the work in its context in Vos’ life. I didn’t know the man wrote poetry. I was vaguely aware of the struggle he faced opposing the creep of theological liberalism at Princeton, but appreciate it all the more now knowing the fullness of the story. Getting to know the man behind the theological works was rewarding for me.

I am passionate about what is known as Biblical Theology, or, as Vos preferred to call it, “the history of special revelation.” I spend so much time in teaching and preaching trying to show the progressive revealing of God’s work in Christ from cover-to-cover in the Bible (I get chuckles from the congregation in Wednesday night Bible study when I say “turn to Genesis 1-3,” because they know it’s coming at some point). Edmund Clowney is quoted in the book expressing exactly how I feel out this approach: “Biblical theology, truly conceived, is a labor of worship” (Edmund Clowney, quoted on pg. 209). Vos was a significant figure in Biblical Theology (to understate it), and it was meaningful to familiarize myself with his life.

In the 1880’s Vos had been offered teaching positions in the U.S. (where his parents had moved) and in his native Netherlands. His preference would have been to stay in Europe, but, as he says in a letter, “the circumstances, as they have formed themselves under God’s rule, apparently do not allow that” (pg. 22). Later he wrote, “I am going to America with the feeling that my place is not there.” Vos’ preference and his sense of belonging-to-place were both outweighed in the decision-making process by a commitment to honor his parents, who wanted him with them in the U.S. In a “take care of yourself,” “follow your heart,” and “you be you” age, this difficult commitment to the 5th Commandment (Exodus 20:12; Deuteronomy 5:16; Ephesians 6:1-3) is striking, and, as Vos recognized, was part of “God’s rule” in his life. This is an illustration of the priority that should be normal, not outstanding, in the lives of believers. Vos’ example here also reveals wisdom in seeking God’s will for our lives: the foundation of discovering that will is not in new revelation, but in His revealed Law for His people. That chapter ends pointing out that Vos never returned to the Netherlands.

Teaching in America, Vos’ estimation of Christianity in the U.S. is far from outdated. For Vos, “what is most practical in the life of the believer is the cultivation of communion with the triune God” (pg. 30). This is in stark contrast to what he saw to be the focus of American Christianity, which was a reign of the practical at the expense of the theological revelation contained in the Bible. He regarded this pragmatism as “a lack of confidence in [the] truthfulness of the Word of God…if we believed [the Bible], we would think more and with greater liking, and maintain the thoughts of God over against the thoughts of the world” (pg. 31). Pragmatism must be ubiquitous among ministry students, for this same gravitation to the practical against doctrinal knowledge was something I witnessed in seminary – and, to be honest, is something I struggle against internally with the pressure of pastoring a church to “success.” I loved Vos’ continual thought about the truly “practical” in ministry: “It was heavenly-mindedness that sought the cultivation of one’s communion with the living God” (pg. 212). Again: “Vos would say that biblical theology yields the highest fruit of practical theology. It points the believer to life with God in heaven, which is the goal set before humanity from the beginning” (pg. 160).

A cousin to pragmatism is perhaps the dominance of “social gospel” ministries. Over a century ago, Vos spoke a truth that I have tried to proclaim many times: “The ministry of the Word…should not be the promotion of the social gospel, but preaching Christ as the only remedy for sin” (pg. 201). This concept is echoed in what I think is one of the most important sentences in my denomination’s confession (and an idea mostly ignored in practice by most of its members in this highly political age): “Means and methods used for the improvement of society and the establishment of righteousness among men can be truly and permanently helpful only when they are rooted in the regeneration of the individual by the saving grace of God in Jesus Christ” (Baptist Faith & Message [2000], XV).

Vos made an interesting observation comparing the Judaism of Jesus’ day to modern liberal tendencies in Christianity. Just a few quotes:

• “Israel’s error of making eternal that which was meant to be temporary” (pg. 223).

• “Jesus believed the Messiah existed for the sake of God. The Judaistic mindset believed that the office existed for man. ‘Not God but Israel was in it the chief figure of the world to come, and the Messiah appeared as the agent who would raise Israel to this greatness’” (pg. 247). And, in footnote 40 on the same page, “liberalism shared the same spirit and reversed the creator-creature distinction. The result was a mindset that believed that if God exists, he exists to serve me.”

These quotes, made concerning the liberalizing tendency Vos was fighting at the Princeton of his day, could be made concerning much popular Christianity today.

In contrast to Abraham Kuyper, a fellow Dutchman (and eventual Prime Minister of the Netherlands), Vos believed the Bible teaches the consummation of this creation rather than its transformation. He was a man who was strongly focused on heaven. “Kuyper’s focus was on this creation, Vos’ focus was increasingly on new creation” (pg. 95, footnote 72). This biography presents this theme throughout. I appreciate it. It has always seemed to me that the New Testament teaches believers should have a heavenward focus (Colossians 3:1-4, for example). While it is clear that this is normative New Testament Christianity, the general attitude of our day seems to see heaven as a postscript to this life rather than the source of true life now.

One important biblical-theological principle that was a mainstay for Vos’ theology was the idea that God’s purpose in redemption is not just to get His people back to a pre-Fall state, but to take them to a consummation beyond that. This telos/eschaton (end-goal) was something which was promised in the tree of life, so that the ultimate goal of God for His people in Christ is something that was present before the Fall and before the revelation of redemption.

• “The goal put before man at creation, full communion with the living God forever, forfeited in Adam’s sin, has been achieved for believers though the person and work of the second Adam, Jesus Christ…Scripture teaches that it is the Holy Spirit’s intention to bring those whom the Father has chosen and for whom Christ died to the realm of the Spirit, the heavenly Jerusalem above” (pgs. 76-77).

• “…the goal set before man from creation, full communion with God on a higher estate” (pg. 145).

• “The eschatological is an older strand in revelation from the soteric” (pg. 153). In other words, the higher promise symbolized by the tree of life (Genesis 2:9) preceded the revelation of a Savior (Genesis 3:15).

• “The life of heaven is the fulfillment of the hope set before Adam in the garden” (pg. 184).

• “Ever since the goal set by the covenant of works came within his ken, man carries within him in all his converse with the world the sense of belonging to another…the lower may never supplant the higher, for the heart of man calls for eternity” (pg. 206).

• Ah, footnotes! Richard Gaffin’s observation of this eschatology from the beginning observes something about the Fall of man that is massive: “…salvation brings to the eschaton a Christological cast or complexion that would not have been present apart from the fall” (pg. 147, footnote 13). I’m a highlighter junkie when it comes to reading a book. Highlighting wasn’t enough for me on this quote; I broke out the black-ink pen and did some underlining and dramatic exclamation marks. While the tree of life pointed Adam to a greater reality beyond just blissful life in the garden, it took the Fall to bring Jesus into view in that ultimate beatitude as the Way to achieve it. The Fall put the focus on Jesus (I’m hearing the songs of Revelation 5 in my head now)!

Speaking of Him: “Jesus, the one true interpreter” (pg. 205). I like this as a name for our Lord. I will be using it.

Olinger, discussing the beginning works of Vos, makes this powerful statement about religious legalism: it “lacks the supreme sense of worship (‘it obeys but it does not adore’)” (pg. 57). We exist for God’s sake, and are called to obedience to His revealed will, but for the believer in Christ this should lead to joy and worship, not the relationship-breaking coldness that marks so many legalists.

In Vos’ resistance to changing the confessional standards of his denomination to conform to contemporary sentiments, he reaffirms a timeless truth: “It is a well-known fact that all heresy begins with being a partial truth” (pg. 111). He then speaks of the all-to-common game played by heretics ancient and new, where orthodox words are used but filled with heterodox meaning.

Ultimately, a book is “good” if it fills me with an excitement to read, study, or teach God’s Word. This biography of Geerhardus Vos did that. Similar to this beautiful concept is the reflection of former student John DeWaard on Vos’ teaching legacy: “His courses were commentaries on the Bible, his lectures were exegeses of the Word. I loved him when I studied there; I love him more now, not because he has given me a number of valuable interpretations of the Word, but rather because he has given me through his lectures a desire to study the Word itself” (pg. 228). What a crown!

Related to that, becoming familiar with his life and engaging his works in a chronological manner equipped me to read his work with more confidence and a deeper level of understanding.

I will admit, too, to feeling the poignant weight of his life as he lost friends to death, was rejected by the majority of students at Princeton because of the depth of his teaching (and the U.S. cultural reaction to those perceived to be German between the world wars), the seemingly fruitless battle against theological liberalism in his academic life, and the normal fading into the twilight of this life.

Let me say a few words about reading challenging things (not the biography, but Vos’ work). We don’t work to understand anymore, it seems. If it’s not “easy listening” or quickly accessible, there is a tendency not to bother with it. I’m just as guilty of this as anyone else. I try, however, to incorporate disciplines in my life to counteract this contemporary life that feels like floating in a quick-running stream. For example, when I get a new album, I will listen to it repeatedly for at least a week, even if I don’t care for it on my first listen. By repeatedly experiencing the work, I try to understand what the artist was trying to do. It’s rare that I don’t come to eventually appreciate that which was first a temptation to reject. As I mentioned already, I’ve read a lot of Vos – repeatedly. After this, I will continue reading Vos, and especially those parts of his work that still confuse me. In a way, doing that is not really about his theology, but about discipling myself. Such discipline will bear fruit in other areas of my mental life, even as I’m tempted to scroll unthinkingly through headlines or news feeds.

I prefer holding a physical book (though I have done plenty of digital reading). It disciplines me further to resist distraction, with a single possible exception: footnotes. I love footnotes, and this book is footnote-heavy. Sometimes I wonder if the distractions of multiple screen windows and apps find their predecessors in long footnotes.

To wrap this up: I have to work to read Vos at times, but it’s proven to be a worthwhile venture for me in my growth as a reader of the Bible. Olinger’s biography has helped me eager to read more Vos and to re-read what I’ve already read. I don’t read that many biographies. This was well-worth it.

Speaking of weak areas in my reading habits, the next book on Challies’ reading challenge is a novel. This will not be familiar territory for me…but that’s the point in doing this.

Jesus Prays Psalm 6

In the Gospels we often read about Jesus’ prayer life – passages that describe His all-night prayers (Luke 6:12) catch our attention, especially in a time when our attention spans are decreasing at an exponential rate. How did He pray? Remember that the Psalms (the Bible’s prayer/song book) are about Jesus (Luke 24:44). Let me suggest that the Psalms are an insight into Jesus’ extensive prayer life on earth and as He intercedes for us in heaven (Romans 8:34; Hebrews 7:25). Reading Psalm 6 this morning, let’s briefly explore how this is a Jesus-prayer.

“O Lord, do not rebuke me in Your anger,
Nor chasten me in Your wrath.
Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am pining away;
Heal me, O Lord, for my bones are dismayed.
And my soul is greatly dismayed;
But You, O Lord—how long?

Return, O Lord, rescue my soul;
Save me because of Your lovingkindness.
For there is no mention of You in death;
In Sheol who will give You thanks?

I am weary with my sighing;
Every night I make my bed swim,
I dissolve my couch with my tears.
My eye has wasted away with grief;
It has become old because of all my adversaries.

Depart from me, all you who do iniquity,
For the Lord has heard the voice of my weeping.
The Lord has heard my supplication,
The Lord receives my prayer.
All my enemies will be ashamed and greatly dismayed;
They shall turn back, they will suddenly be ashamed” (Psalm 6:1-10).

How is this Jesus’ prayer? The Lord Himself gives us the interpretive key to understanding this plea in His context.

He quotes verse 8a in Matthew 7 when He speaks of false confessors/teachers: “Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.  You will know them by their fruits.  Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they?  So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit.  A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit.  Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.  So then, you will know them by their fruits. Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father Who is in heaven will enter.  Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’  And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness’” (Matthew 7:15-23).

 They may fool many people, but they do not fool Jesus the Judge. Jesus, in quoting Psalm 6:8a in this Sermon on the Mount teaching, reveals to us the greater context of His judgment of false confessors/teachers. In Psalm 6, we see that the damage they do within the covenant family (the Church) is taken personally by the Lord of the Jesus. What these liars and hypocrites do to the Church, they do to Him. Before Paul was apostle, he was Saul of Tarsus, chief among the persecutors of the Church. When Jesus knocked the man off his horse, the glorified Lord of the Church asked this question: “Why are you persecuting Me?” (Acts 9:4; 22:7,8; 26:14). To hurt the Church is to attack the Lord of the Church. He prays on behalf of His Church to His Father (even now).

The answer to the prayer is the resurrection of Jesus Christ. In Psalm 6, the Lord points out that God’s wrath and death itself must be conquered by God Himself before the adversaries of God’s beloved can truly be conquered. We often associate Jesus' prayer concerning His death with the Garden of Gethsemane alone. This is not necessarily true: “In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety” (Hebrews 5:7). Psalm 6 was one of those prayers, prayed long before the Garden. The prayer was "heard," and answered. This, of course, happened in the saving work of Jesus on the cross, in His resurrection, and in His coronation seating at the right hand of the Father in heaven. The enemies were placed into the judging hand of the Lord Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:25). Prayer answered.

Yes, false confessors/teachers are a deadly threat to the Church in every age. They sneak in to the Church from the outside, and rise up from the inside. Unless we are diligent, we step into that role ourselves.

We should read this Psalm as the answered prayer of Jesus to the Father on behalf of His Church, which in His Body – in union with Him by faith, sealed by the Spirit. To hurt His Church with lies (in practice or doctrine) is to attack Him. Judgment is assured.

This is how Jesus prayed Psalm 6.

The Tale of the Serpent-Slaying King

This is a story I have told twice lately in teaching the saints; I want to share it here, too. It is a beautiful and powerful tale, and, like all the best tales, is true.

On Wednesday evenings, we’ve been learning about God’s teaching concerning “Christ” in 1 Samuel. “Christ” is not Jesus’ last name, but is the Greek translation (Χριστός) of the Hebrew word “Messiah” (מָשִׁיחַ), which means “Anointed One.”[1]

Prior to 1 Samuel, only the priests had the title “anointed one” (Leviticus 4:3,5,16; 6:22). Late in Israel’s Period of the Judges, however, there was a woman named Hannah who desperately wanted a child. She prayed to the LORD, and He gave her a son named Samuel. When the boy was weaned, she brought him to the high priest to be raised in the service of the LORD. Upon leaving her son, Hannah prayed a prayer of thanksgiving (1 Samuel 2:1-10).^[2] At the end of her prayer, she prophesies of a great new work of God with His people - the Messiah/Christ/Anointed One would not just be a priest, but also a King: “He keeps the feet of His godly ones, but the wicked ones are silenced in darkness; for not by might shall a man prevail. Those who contend with the Lord will be shattered; against them He will thunder in the heavens, the Lord will judge the ends of the earth; and He will give strength to His king, and will exalt the horn of His anointed [מָשִׁיחַ, or Messiah]” (1 Samuel 2:9,10).^[3]

Let’s look at three who held the office of God’s Anointed One (Messiah/Christ).

Saul held the office first. After being anointed (1 Samuel 10:1), Saul faced off with Nahash, king of Ammonites (11:1-15). The name Nahash means “serpent” (same word used in Genesis 3). God’s anointed king over His people faced off with the serpent-king. Saul was ultimately rejected from the office of Anointed One/Messiah/Christ because of his disobedience to God (1 Samuel 15:22,23).[4]

David held the office next. After being anointed (1 Samuel 16:13), he faced off against Goliath, the giant “clothed with scale-armor” (17:5) - a serpent-warrior. David could not stay in the office of God’s Anointed One/Messiah/Christ because he aged and died.

Jesus of Nazareth holds the office of Anointed One/Messiah/Christ finally and forever. Saul and David were anointed with oil, representing the Holy Spirit.[5] Jesus is anointed by the Holy Spirit at His baptism.

Compare these two passages about David and Jesus’ anointing. First, David: “…Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him… and the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward” (1 Samuel 16:13). Second, Jesus: “After being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and lighting on Him, and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, ‘This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well-pleased’” (Matthew 3:16,17// Mark 1:10,11//Luke 3:21,22//John 3:32-34). David, whose name means “beloved,” goes through a visible rite (anointing with oil) which represents his being given the Holy Spirit upon entering the office of God’s Anointed King. Jesus, pronounced “Beloved,” goes through a visible rite (baptism) and receives the Holy Spirit upon entering the office of God’s Anointed King.

Like Saul and David, Jesus, after being anointed into the office of Anointed One/Messiah/Christ, faces off against the serpent (Matthew 4:1-11//Mark 1:12,13//Luke 4:1-13). Jesus does not vacate the office because of either disobedience or death, since He is perfectly obedient to the Father and, though He “was dead,” is “alive forevermore” (Revelation 1:18).

God’s Anointed One/Messiah/Christ defeats the enemy of God’s covenant people, the serpent, fulfilling the promise of Genesis 3:15.

“The Lord God said to the serpent,

‘…I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her Seed;
He shall bruise you on the head,
And you shall bruise Him on the heel’” (Genesis 3:14,15).

We know this theme is important because it is counter-balanced on the other side of the Bible from Genesis 3 in the Revelation (chapters 12 and 20).

Christ “must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet” (1 Corinthians 15:25).

Q. 30. How does Christ execute the office of a king?

A. Christ executes the office of a king,

in subduing us to Himself,

in ruling and defending us,

and in restraining and conquering all His and our enemies.

-          Baptist Catechism, by Benjamin Keach (1640-1704)

It is a great tale. And it is true.

Remember the basic saving confession of Christianity: “…if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9). Confessing “Jesus as Lord” is not an empty statement. Jesus is “the ruler over the kings of the earth” (Revelation 1:5), the One Who “overcame and sat down with [His] Father on His throne” (3:21), the One Who is named “King of kings and Lord of lords” (19:16), and is “the root and Offspring of David” (22:16). It is the voice of the Holy Spirit through believers (1 Corinthians 12:3), given by God the Father for His universal and eternal glory (Philippians 2:11).

Believe in Him, and give Him glory as King. It is your “Great Commission,” Church: “Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age’” (Matthew 28:18-20).

Western Diamondback Rattlesnake
hitchhiking along NM-9.

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[1] It’s become popular in the last decades to emphasize Hebrew words in Christian devotion/worship, but notice that the New Testament doesn’t attempt to bring the Hebrew word “Messiah” into its language of Greek (outside of John 1:41; 4:25, where its meaning is explained). God’s work in the New Testament to today is beyond a single people’s language; the Lamb has “purchased for God” with His “blood men from every…tongue” (Revelation 5:9). God is not on a Hebrew-is-holy trajectory. I would put the use of “Yahweh” in this category, too. The N.T. doesn’t attempt to render this name (it approximates its meaning in Revelation 1:4 with “Him Who is and Who was and Who is to come”); Jesus Himself, in fact, commands us to address God as “Father” (Matthew 6:9). This peppering Christian worship with Hebrew (by non-Hebrew speakers) is akin to the language snobbery of 1 Corinthians 12-14 or the Roman Catholic Mass being in Latin (when the people had ceased to speak or understand Latin).

[2] Mary’s Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55) echoes much of Hannah’s prayer.

[3] In the same chapter, “a man of God” prophesies to Eli, the high priest, about the corruption of his sons. Through the prophet, the LORD says, “I will raise up for Myself a faithful priest who will do according to what is in My heart and in My soul; and I will build him an enduring house, and he will walk before My anointed [מָשִׁיחַ, or Messiah] always” (1 Samuel 2:35).

[4] Even after being rejected by God, David continues to refer to Saul as “the LORD’s anointed,” or Messiah/Christ (1 Samuel 24:6,10; 26:9,11,16,23; 2 Samuel 1:14,16).

[5] “You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him” (Acts 10:38). For Saul and the Holy Spirit, read 10:1-16. For David and the Holy Spirit, read 1 Samuel 16:13.

Cultivating the Presence of God

I’m working with a group through L. Michael Morales’ excellent Who Shall Ascent theMountain of the Lord? on Tuesday mornings. As I’ve been preparing for tomorrow morning and making some notes, I wanted to take a point of his further so that we can make a very practical application from this rich biblical theology.

On pg. 100, Morales reminds us that “another parallel” between Eden and the tabernacle “is in the terms used to describe the work of the priests within the tabernacle complex and that of Adam within the garden of Eden, ‘to worship and guard/obey’” (pg. 100).

Let's look at those parallels.

Adam in the garden: “Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate [עָבַד] it and keep it [שָׁמַר]” (Genesis 2:15).[1]

The Levites in the tabernacle:

·         “They shall perform [שָׁמַר] the duties for him and for the whole congregation before the tent of meeting, to do [עָבַד] the service of the tabernacle. They shall also keep [שָׁמַר] all the furnishings of the tent of meeting, along with the duties of the sons of Israel, to do [עָבַד] the service of the tabernacle” (Numbers 3:7,8)

·         “…you and your sons with you shall attend [שָׁמַר] to your priesthood for everything concerning the altar and inside the veil, and you are to perform [עָבַד] service. I am giving you the priesthood as a bestowed service…” (Numbers 18:7).

Here’s the further point I want to make: these same verbs are used together in describing how God’s people, “a kingdom of priests” (Exodus 19:6; 1 Peter 2:5,9; Revelation 1:6; 5:10; 20:6), could maintain fellowship with God (as in the garden and tabernacle, but on a daily, personal level):

·         “You shall follow the Lord your God and fear Him; and you shall keep [שָׁמַר] His commandments, listen to His voice, serve [עָבַד] Him, and cling to Him” (Deuteronomy 13:4).

·         “Only be very careful [שָׁמַר] to observe the commandment and the law which Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, to love the Lord your God and walk in all His ways and keep [שָׁמַר] His commandments and hold fast to Him and serve [עָבַד] Him with all your heart and with all your soul” (Joshua 22:5).

Just as Adam maintained the place of fellowship with God (the garden) and the Levites maintained the place of fellowship with God (the tabernacle), the old and new covenant people of God, as “a kingdom of priests,” maintain fellowship with God through an obedience-producing faith.

Now, with this in mind, hear afresh Jesus’ words the last night before His death as He walked with the disciples between the upper room and the garden of Gethsemane: “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words [Christ’s words are His presence] abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love” (John 15:4-10).

We cultivate the garden/tent of our fellowship with God in Christ when we lovingly work out our faith by bringing His words into us (hearing, reading, meditation, memorization) and by taking ourselves into His words (obeying them in our thoughts, affections, and actions).

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[1] I haven’t given these Hebrew words as they appear in the text, but in their root forms so you can see the similarities.

A Call from His Heights

I’ve been preaching through Proverbs for a while now during our Lord’s Day evening service, and teaching through L. Michael Morales’ most excellent Who Shall Ascend the Mountain of the Lord? (InterVarsity Press, 2015) on Tuesday mornings. While Morales’ work focuses on the Pentateuch (especially Leviticus), the principles of biblical theology he highlights span the entire Bible. In this post, I want to examine a few places where the “mountain of the LORD” finds a thematic echo in Proverbs with the house of the Woman Wisdom at the top of the city and her call to join her for a feast in the heights.

“Does not wisdom call,
And understanding lift up her voice?

On top of the heights beside the way,
Where the paths meet, she takes her stand;
Beside the gates, at the opening to the city,
At the entrance of the doors, she cries out:
‘To you, O men, I call,
And my voice is to the sons of men.

O naive ones, understand prudence;
And, O fools, understand wisdom.
Listen, for I will speak noble things;
And the opening of my lips will reveal right things.
For my mouth will utter truth;
And wickedness is an abomination to my lips.
All the utterances of my mouth are in righteousness;
There is nothing crooked or perverted in them.
They are all straightforward to him who understands,
And right to those who find knowledge.
Take my instruction and not silver,
And knowledge rather than choicest gold.’
(For wisdom is better than jewels;
And all desirable things cannot compare with her.)

‘I, wisdom, dwell with prudence,
And I find knowledge and discretion.
The fear of the Lord is to hate evil;
Pride and arrogance and the evil way
And the perverted mouth, I hate.
Counsel is mine and sound wisdom;
I am understanding, power is mine.
By me kings reign,
And rulers decree justice.
By me princes rule, and nobles,
All who judge rightly.
I love those who love me;
And those who diligently seek me will find me.
Riches and honor are with me,
Enduring wealth and righteousness.
My fruit is better than gold, even pure gold,
And my yield better than choicest silver.
I walk in the way of righteousness,
In the midst of the paths of justice,
To endow those who love me with wealth,
That I may fill their treasuries.

The Lord possessed me at the beginning of His way,
Before His works of old.
From everlasting I was established,
From the beginning, from the earliest times of the earth.
When there were no depths I was brought forth,
When there were no springs abounding with water.
Before the mountains were settled,
Before the hills I was brought forth;
While He had not yet made the earth and the fields,
Nor the first dust of the world.

When He established the heavens, I was there,
When He inscribed a circle on the face of the deep,
When He made firm the skies above,
When the springs of the deep became fixed,
When He set for the sea its boundary
So that the water would not transgress His command,
When He marked out the foundations of the earth;
Then I was beside Him, as a master workman;
And I was daily His delight,
Rejoicing always before Him,
Rejoicing in the world, His earth,
And having my delight in the sons of men.

Now therefore, O sons, listen to me,
For blessed are they who keep my ways.
Heed instruction and be wise,
And do not neglect it.

Blessed is the man who listens to me,
Watching daily at my gates,
Waiting at my doorposts.
For he who finds me finds life
And obtains favor from the Lord.
But he who sins against me injures himself;
All those who hate me love death.’

Wisdom has built her house,
She has hewn out her seven pillars;
She has prepared her food, she has mixed her wine;
She has also set her table;
She has sent out her maidens, she calls
From the tops of the heights of the city:
‘Whoever is naive, let him turn in here!’
To him who lacks understanding she says,
‘Come, eat of my food
And drink of the wine I have mixed.
Forsake your folly and live,
And proceed in the way of understanding’” (Proverbs 8:1-9:6)

The false “wisdom” (see James 3:14-16) the “Woman Folly,” makes it her ambition to deceive through her imitation of  this ascended true wisdom:

“The woman of folly is boisterous,
She is naive and knows nothing.
She sits at the doorway of her house,
On a seat by the high places of the city,
Calling to those who pass by,
Who are making their paths straight:
‘Whoever is naive, let him turn in here,’
And to him who lacks understanding she says,
‘Stolen water is sweet;
And bread eaten in secret is pleasant.’

But he does not know that the dead are there,
That her guests are in the depths of Sheol” (9:13-18).

Notice the contrast between the message given “on a seat by the high places of the city” with the final result of that message: “…her guests are in the depths of Sheol.”

The same contrast between ambition-to-heights and Sheol is seen in the taunt of the king of Babylon:
“…you said in your heart,
‘I will ascend to heaven;
I will raise my throne above the stars of God,
And I will sit on the mount of assembly
In the recesses of the north.
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.’
Nevertheless you will be thrust down to Sheol,
To the recesses of the pit’” (Isaiah 14:13-15).

In the story of the tower in Babel, the LORD had to “come down” (וַיֵּרֶד, from יָרַד) to engage the builders (Genesis 11:5), implying that their place of construction was in a lower realm. In the same way, the woman Folly’s realm is a descending one toward Sheol:

“…the lips of an adulteress drip honey
And smoother than oil is her speech;

But in the end she is bitter as wormwood,
Sharp as a two-edged sword.
Her feet go down [יֹרְדֹות, from יָרַד] to death,
Her steps take hold of Sheol.
She does not ponder the path of life;
…her house is the way to Sheol,
Descending [יֹרְדֹות, from יָרַד] to the chambers of death” (Proverbs 5:3-6; 7:27).

In the other Wisdom literature of the Old Testament, the “heights” are known as the domain of God:

·        “Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven,
And my Advocate is on high” (Job 16:19).

·        “Dominion and awe belong to Him
Who establishes peace in His heights” (Job 25:2).

·        “And what is the portion of God from above
Or the heritage of the Almighty from on high?” (Job 31:2).

In the Song of songs, the lovers either dwell on mountains and descend to meet, or are compared to mountains.

·        “‘Listen! My beloved!
Behold, he is coming,
Climbing on the mountains,
Leaping on the hills!
My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag.
Behold, he is standing behind our wall,
He is looking through the windows,
He is peering through the lattice.

My beloved responded and said to me,       

“Arise, my darling, my beautiful one,

And come along”’” (Song of songs 2:8-10).

·        “O my dove, in the clefts of the rock,
In the secret place of the steep pathway,
Let me see your form,
Let me hear your voice;
For your voice is sweet,
And your form is lovely” (Song of songs 2:14). How can we not hear an echo of Exodus 33:18-23 in this Song?

·        “Until the cool of the day
When the shadows flee away,
I will go my way to the mountain of myrrh [1:13; 3:6; 4:14; 5:1,5,13]
And to the hill of frankincense [3:6; 4:14]” (Song of songs 4:6).

·        “You are altogether beautiful, my darling,
And there is no blemish in you.
Come with me from Lebanon, my bride,
May you come with me from Lebanon.
Journey down from the summit of Amana,
From the summit of Senir and Hermon,
From the dens of lions,
From the mountains of leopards…
…a garden locked is my sister, my bride,
A rock garden locked, a spring sealed up…

…you are a garden spring,
A well of fresh water,
And streams flowing from Lebanon” (Song of songs 4:7,8,12,15). As the garden in Eden was built on a mountain and its river flowed downward to water the lower region (representing the “four corners” of the earth) in Genesis 2:10-14, the bride of this Song dwells on high in a garden whose spring flows down to lower realms.

·        “You are as beautiful as Tirzah, my darling,
As lovely as Jerusalem” (Song of songs 6:4).

The “heights” in the Psalms, too, are the domain of the LORD:
Psalm 7:7; 10:5; 18:16; 68:18; 71:19; 92:8; 93:4; 102:19; 144:7; 148:1.

The call of the “Woman Wisdom” in Proverbs to join her for a feast in the heights echoes the call from heaven in the Revelation to “come up here” (4:1; 11:12; compare with Exodus 24:12; 34:2).

This “Woman Wisdom” is a personification of “the wisdom from above” (James 3:17), given to those who “ask in faith without any doubting” (1:6), “coming down from the Father of lights” (1:17).

Jesus promises His disciples that a time will come when they are arrested and persecuted. They will not stand alone to give witness, but the Christ assures them that He Himself “will give…utterance and wisdom which none of your opponents will be able to resist or refute” (Luke 21:15). Where is Jesus while His disciples are standing trial for His “names’ sake”? From where will He give them “utterance and wisdom”? He is in the heights: “Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. But when these things begin to take place, straighten up and lift your heads, because your redemption is drawing near” (21:27,28).

The “Woman Wisdom’s” call to join her in the heights points us to the gifting of the Father and Son from above. It is “in the Spirit” (given by the Father and Son from “on high,” Luke 24:49) that we are lifted up with the apostle to “a great and high mountain,” from which we meet the descending “holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God” (Revelation 21:10,11). This “city” is imagery for the Church, which is “the bride, the wife of the Lamb” (21:9). She is no mere piece of architecture, but a people. Us.

The Bible paints a single, glorious portrait of a return to a greater walled garden on the mountain of God, greater than the one from which we were exiled at the beginning of the story. Elements of this beautiful mural are found all over the Book, including the Wisdom Literature. May we catch glimpse of these, and may they, by the illumination of the Book’s Author, God the Holy Spirit, enrapture us to an elevated joy in what God has in store for His people.

Pueblo Mountain, north of Taos, New Mexico (2010)

The Birth of a Girl and the Great Story

I saw a meme slandering the “religion” of the Bible yesterday, justifying the rejection because of this citation (I give it exactly as it appeared): A woman who bears a female child is twice as filthy as one who gives birth to a male. Leviticus 12:1-5

First, there is no verse that says this (notice the citation is for 5 verses). Second, no English translation of Leviticus 12:1-5 uses the word “filthy.”

The passage hinted at and twisted actually says this: “Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Speak to the sons of Israel, saying: “When a woman gives birth and bears a male child, then she shall be unclean for seven days, as in the days of her menstruation she shall be unclean. On the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised. Then she shall remain in the blood of her purification for thirty-three days; she shall not touch any consecrated thing, nor enter the sanctuary until the days of her purification are completed. But if she bears a female child, then she shall be unclean for two weeks, as in her menstruation; and she shall remain in the blood of her purification for sixty-six days” (Leviticus 12:1-5).[1]

You can reject the Bible because of a single idea (not accurately quoted) that seems offensive in our culture and time (so much for tolerance, understanding, and pluralism, eh?). Or, you can step back and see this verse as reaching back to the first and greatest low point in human history where a promise of incredible saving grace was given…then see that this verse bridges between that bright promise on a dark day and a future day when the promise was fulfilled in the greatest gift the world has ever (or will ever) see.

Let me tell you a story. Leviticus 12:1-5 is an element of that story.

In the beginning, “God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them; and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it, and rule’” (Genesis 1:27,28). There’s no category of “unclean” at this point. God’s creation “was very good” (1:31). The “unclean” part comes in later.

God created a unique place of joyful communion with Him – “a garden…in Eden” (2:8). All that human beings could need was there. They could “from any tree of the garden…eat freely” (2:16). Except one tree, which was the test of faithful obedience to the Creator Who had supplied their needs and made them to be in blessed relationship with Him, the Source of Life and Goodness. The one commandment was given to them: “Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. The Lord God commanded the man, saying, ‘From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die’” (Genesis 2:15-17).

Then something happened.

“Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, ‘Indeed, has God said, “You shall not eat from any tree of the garden”?’ The woman said to the serpent, ‘From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, “You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.”’ The serpent said to the woman, ‘You surely will not die! For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’ When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate…” (Genesis 3:1-6).[2]

Every verse after Genesis 3:6, and every moment of human existence (including yours and mine) afterwards, is grace. That could have been the end. But God, from before the foundation of the world, knew what would transpire and had a plan. The ending would be better than the beginning. It’s a story played out over a very long time, though. As the twisting and criticism of Leviticus 12:1-5 shows, we don’t often have the patience for a long story, no matter how beautiful.

Serpent, woman, and man are summoned to God’s tribunal for this rebellion. The serpent is cursed by God. In the curse, God makes a promise. The Promise. “I will put enmity [warfare] between you and the woman, between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise Him on the heel” (3:15). Immediately after this, the woman’s punishment is announced: “I will greatly multiply your pain in childbirth” (3:16). The woman tastes death – the punishment for rebellion – in giving birth, even shedding blood (life, as we’ll see). Every birth is a reminder of the sentence of death, a reminder that the saving serpent-Crusher promised by God is desperately needed.

A long time later, God organizes His people into a nation, giving them moral laws, civil laws, and ceremonial laws. The ceremonial laws reminded them that they were a people who lived by a different standard than all the other peoples of the world, who were alienated from Him and living however they desired (the autonomy espoused by the serpent that fateful first day of the Fall of humanity). Among those ceremonial laws was Leviticus 12:1-5. The shedding of blood was significant from a symbolic standpoint, for “…the life of the flesh is in the blood” (Leviticus 17:11). Bloodshed was to be a reminder that rebellion against God forfeited the life of the rebel, and that sin had separated us from God. The blood and the ritual inconvenience was to be a reminder. Those laws under that old covenant (we call it the Old Testament) applied to all of life for God’s people – there was no aspect of life that didn’t point them to the Great Story. Including childbirth, in which (as a result of Eve’s rebellion) there is the shedding of blood, a picture of sin-caused death (alienation from God) even in the entry of life into the world. We need the serpent-Crushing Savior.

Why, though, was the ritual time of “uncleanness” longer with the birth of a girl? It’s not because God or the Bible consider girls bad. In fact, did you know that, among all the ancient religious texts, the Bible is the only one that tells us about the creation of women (Genesis 2:18-25)?[3] The Bible is filled with women who were great heroes, from the judges of Israel to prophetesses to incredible key parts of the Great Story! No, Leviticus 12:5 isn’t there because girls are worse than boys. It’s there to keep reminding us of the roots of the Great Story and The Promise. The apostle Paul later says, “the woman [Eve] being deceived, fell into transgression” (1 Timothy 2:14). The birth of a girl, daughter of Eve, reminds us that through the woman Eve’s actions, sin entered humanity. Before you get angry at how unfair this seems, remember: God is not holding a grudge against the female gender because of Eve. He is reminding every generation in which a girl was born that through the “seed” of the woman the serpent-Crusher was going to enter the world. The birth of a girl brought a longer meditation on this Promise and the need for that Promise’s fulfillment than the birth of a boy.

Instead of the female of humanity being a stigma forever reminding of one woman’s sin, the female of humanity was, by the gracious plan and Promise of God, the means by which the solution to humanity’s problem was to be solved. Bloodshed and “uncleanness” were reminders that we all are under sentence of death for our rebellion against God, but through the woman a serpent-Crusher was going to come. This was worth a two weeks’ reminder with every birth of a girl among the ancient people of God.

Let’s fast-forward. The Bible tells us that, “when the fullness of time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law” (Galatians 4:4), including the “Law” contained in Leviticus 12:1-5. The serpent-Crusher didn’t come through the “seed” of a man. This is why Mary’s conceiving of Christ as a virgin is theologically important – it fulfills the promise of the first pages of the Bible! The messenger-angel said this to Mary upon bringing her the news: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:35). The same messenger-angel assured Mary’s fiancé Joseph with this revelation: “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child Who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:20,21).

The regulation of Leviticus 12:1-5 isn’t there to stigmatize women and infant girls. It’s there as a reminder that humanity’s greatest problem, brought into the world by the first woman’s sin, will be incredibly and gloriously solved by God through a woman. The beginning was tragic, but it is infinitely out-shined by the ending. Like any good story, the tension was maintained and built throughout the telling, and Leviticus 12:1-5 was part of that.

It’d be a shame to miss out on the whole Story.

Genesis 3:15 has been fulfilled by God when He sent His Son into the world through a woman - not just one famous woman (Mary), but through women who were providentially brought into the Christ-story even though their backgrounds should have excluded them. Ruth was from Moab, not Israel…she wasn’t part of the nation God was using to bring His Son into the world, but by His incredible gracious plan to “purchase for God with [Christ’s blood]…from every tribe and tongue and people and nation” (Revelation 5:9), she was included. Her name is in Jesus Christ’s genealogy (Matthew 1:5). Rahab was a harlot in Jericho…the same Jericho filled with idol-worshipers consigned to destruction (Joshua 6:1-27). But by God’s providential plan and grace, Rahab and her family were saved out of the destruction. And she became part of the Old Testament people of God, Israel. Her name is in Jesus Christ’s genealogy (Matthew 1:5).

The ceremonial regulation of Leviticus 12:1-5 doesn’t apply to new covenant (New Testament) believers anymore, because it was fulfilled in Christ, the serpent-Crushing seed of the woman promised in Genesis 3:15. Now “you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes. There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. And now that you belong to Christ, you are the true children of Abraham. You are his heirs, and God’s promise to Abraham belongs to you” (Galatians 3:26-29, New Living Translation). Men and women are equal in the salvation that comes through Jesus Christ (the same equality by which both are described as the image of God back in Genesis 1:27). In Christ, a woman is to be honored “as a fellow heir of the grace of life.” God doesn’t even hear the prayers of anyone who treats her less than this (1 Peter 3:7)!

Let me finish up the story by taking us to the words of the apostle Paul: “I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling; likewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire, but with what is proper for women who profess godliness - with good works. Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet. For Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. Yet she [Eve] will be saved through childbearing [her “Seed,” Jesus Christ] - if they [female Christians] continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control” (1 Timothy 2:8-15, English Standard Version). The mandate that women not be pastor-teachers in the Church isn’t a punishment. It is, like Leviticus 12:1-5, a telling of the Gospel story in the role women play in the Church. Women still speak the truth of God’s Word by the power of the Holy Spirit, what the Bible calls “prophecy” (Acts 2:17; 21:9; 1 Corinthians 11:5). But they don’t take the leading teaching role in the Church, as a telling of the story of Eve and the eventual salvation that came through her “Seed,” Jesus Christ. Children of Eve, tell this story by continuing in “faith” in her “Seed,” Jesus Christ, in “love and holiness, with self-control.”

I’ve heard for decades now that the attention span of the average American is continually shrinking. I wonder if we’re capable of reading beyond a meme or bumper sticker anymore. Please don’t reject the Grand Story of God’s Love because of a single tiny falsehood that popped up on your screen appealing to your innate desire to rebel against everything.

“‘She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.’ Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet [in Isaiah 7:14]: ‘Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,’ which translated means, ‘God with us’” (Matthew 1:21-23).

Believe in Jesus Christ, this “Seed” of the woman, the great serpent-Crusher, the Defeater of the sin-penalty of eternal death, the Savior of all – men and women equally – who call on His name, the Reconcilion to our Creator, and the Demonstration of the love of God.

Yes, the love of God. “By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world [as the “Seed” of the woman] so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son [as the “Seed” of the woman] to be the propitiation [punishment-taker] for our sins” (1 John 4:9,10).

Believe.

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[1] New American Standard Bible, unless otherwise noted.

[2] What’s sad about this is that the serpent hasn’t had to change his strategy in the least since that moment. The meme slandering the “religion” of the Bible is a modern expression of that “serpent of old” (Revelation 12:9): twist the Word of God, then outright deny the Word of God. It worked then, and still works today. The Bible says these continuing followers of the serpent’s way are in “the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will” (2 Timothy 2:26). God grant them freedom to the truth of the Bible!

[3] Some will chafe at the creation of the woman – wife to the first man – as a “helper” (Genesis 2:18). “The term ‘helper,’ which is also used by God to identify Himself (Exod. 18:4; Deut. 33:7), describes the woman God created to become a partner with the man in the overwhelming task of exercising dominion over the world and extending the generations (Gen. 1:28; 2:18). When you call upon God to be your ‘Helper,’ you are not suggesting that He divest Himself of His deity and supernatural powers. Rather you ask Him to come to your aid with the powers of His divine person. There is no hint of inferiority in the term. It describes function (what she does) rather than worth (who she is).” Dorothy Kelley Patterson, “The Family,” in Baptist Faith & Message 2000: Critical Issues in America’s Largest Protestant Denomination, ed. Douglas K. Blount and Joseph D. Wooddell (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2007), 188.