A Name Better Than Sons and Daughters!

A Name Better than Sons and Daughters!

Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord say, “The Lord will surely separate me from His people.” Nor let the eunuch say, “Behold, I am a dry tree.” For thus says the Lord, “To the eunuchs who keep My sabbaths, And choose what pleases Me, And hold fast My covenant, To them I will give in My house and within My walls a memorial, And a name better than that of sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name which will not be cut off. “Also the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, To minister to Him, and to love the name of the Lord, To be His servants, every one who keeps from profaning the sabbath And holds fast My covenant; Even those I will bring to My holy mountain And make them joyful in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be acceptable on My altar; For My house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples.” The Lord God, who gathers the dispersed of Israel, declares, “Yet others I will gather to them, to those already gathered.” All you beasts of the field, All you beasts in the forest, Come to eat. His watchmen are blind, All of them know nothing. All of them are mute dogs unable to bark, Dreamers lying down, who love to slumber; and the dogs are greedy, they are not satisfied. And they are shepherds who have no understanding; They have all turned to their own way, Each one to his unjust gain, to the last one. “Come,” they say, “let us get wine, and let us drink heavily of strong drink; And tomorrow will be like today, only more so (Isaiah 56:3f).

There are many OT prophecies that foretold the New Creation, a radical New World. Commentators often struggle with the language of many of these texts and there is no hard, fast, simple rule for the proper interpretation, except to follow the NT in its application of those texts.

I want to explore one of those OT prophecies that spoke of a marvelous change in covenants, a change that had to have struck the original readers as revolutionary, exciting to be sure, but absolutely earth shattering for the ancient Jews. That text is cited above. It is Isaiah 56:3f.

Keep in mind that under Torah there was no greater blessing than to be called the sons and daughters of YHVH. That spoke of an intimate covenant relationship with the creator of the universe. Often that relationship was couched in language of exclusivity (Psalms 147:19f). And to be sure, historically, Israel pressed their distinctive “place in the sun” as far as they could, insisting that no Gentile would have a place with Israel. Scripturally, this was not accurate. In fact, it was patently false (See 1 Kings 7:41f; Ezekiel 14) but their emphasis on their special election caused them to set up barriers between themselves and the Gentiles that God never commanded. But Isaiah 56 foretold a special, wonderful day coming.

Here in Isaiah 56, the Lord foretold the coming Messianic Temple. Keep this in the foreground of thought because to the Jews access to the temple was the greatest privilege they had. N. T. Wright says the in the Jewish mind set:

1.) The Temple symbolized the cosmos / world.

2.) The Temple represented the Davidic Kingdom. “Threats to the temple were threats to the king”- Thus, kingdom and temple are inextricably bound. “It is highly significant for our understanding of Paul, and his re-use of the Temple motif at various key points, that Temple and (Davidic) Messiahship go hand in hand.” (P. 104).

3.) The destruction of the Temple therefore, led to a dissolution of the original world view and demanded a new one– thus, the predictions of the New Temple / Cosmos. On page 97 he says, “When you went up to the Temple, it was not as though you were ‘in heaven.’ You were actually there.” (N. T. Wright, Paul and the Faithfulness of God, Vol. I and II, 2013, (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2013), 96++ 101) .

The exclusive nature of the temple as it related to being a Jew is illustrated by the wall of separation, called the Soreg, that ran completely around the temple compound. The wall stood approximately 3' high. According to Josephus, every few feet on that wall there was a plague with the inscription that read: “No foreigner (Mēthéna allogenē) is to enter within the balustrade round the temple and enclosure. Whoever is caught will be himself responsible for his ensuing death.” Notice the use of allogenes. That sign meant that anyone not of the seed of Israel was to enter the temple. That sacred place was strictly and exclusively for the sons and daughters of Israel! This is why Isaiah 56 was so revolutionary.

Included in the prophecy was the promise that foreigners could join themselves to the Lord. (In the LXX the word used here is allogenes, meaning “other race or seed.”) This means, quite simply and stunningly, that people from other races, or other “seeds” would be welcomed in the Messianic Temple! This is stunning!

So, what was forbidden in the literal, physical temple, even in Jesus’ day, would be allowed– encouraged– in the Messianic Temple! (There are about eight different Greek words used in the LXX to describe foreigners / strangers / Gentiles. There are some interesting and significant nuances attached to the different words. Our focus here is on allogenes).

Remember the riot that was caused when the Jews thought Paul took Trophimus, a Greek ( hellenas), an allogenes into the temple. A riot broke out because the Jews thought Paul had defiled the temple by bringing Trophimus beyond the Soreg. Some try to claim that Trophimus was simply an uncircumcised Israelite who was “hellenized” into the temple. That is a distortion of the linguistics. And remember that there is not a word in the text to indicate that he was uncircumcised. No, Trophimus was a hellenes, not a hellenestes– i.e. a Hellenized person. But a Hellenes was Greek by nationality and lineage. He was NOT a Jew that had been Hellenized by observing aspects of the Greek culture. There would have been no objection to a circumcised Hellenized Israelite entering the temple, of course. The distinction between a Hellenes and a Hellenestes can be seen in John 7:35. Jesus had just told the Jewish crowd that he was going away and where he was going they could not come. They responded:

Then the Jews said among themselves, “Where does He intend to go that we shall not find Him? Does He intend to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks (Διασπορὰν τoν heλλήνων / Diaspora ton Hellēnōn) and teach the Greeks?

Notice the sharp distinction between the Diaspora Jews and the Greeks among whom the Diaspora Jews were scattered. The Diaspora were the Israelites, who were “among” the Greeks (Cf. Hosea 8:8). They were NOT the Greeks, and the Greeks were not the Diaspora Israelites. This fully explains the outrage in Acts 21, where the Jews believed that Paul had brought an actual allogenes, a man not of the lineage of Abraham and Israel, into the Temple. Naturally, there would have been the fact that an allogenes was also uncircumcised, but that was not the charge leveled against Paul! The charge was NOT that he brought and uncircumcised man into the temple (again, that very well could be considered in the charge. But primarily, the charge was that he brought a man not of the seed, a Hellene of the family of Israel into the temple. (Historically, there were many Hellenestes, Jews who had been circumcised, who went into the temple. They could do this because they were of the family and seed of Abraham. There were no restrictions that prevented circumcised, but Hellenized, Jews from entering the temple).

So, from the Jewish perspective, a Hellenes was an allogenes. As such, his presence beyond the Soreg would be a violation of that sacred space. This is where the glory of Isaiah 56 is manifested. The prophet anticipated the time when those who were allogenes, those not of the tribe and seed of Abraham, would be welcomed into the temple. Not only would they be welcomed within the holy space, but notice carefully three incredible points:

☛ The allogenes could and would “join himself to the Lord.” Not only that, but because of that inclusion, the allogenes could no longer say: “The Lord has utterly separated me from His people.” But you see, the inherent status of the allogenes under Torah was that he was separated from the people! He was not and could not be considered one of “the people.” There was Israel and there was non Israel. But not here. No longer would the foreigner, the one not of the family and not of the seed, ever say that he was still separated from the Lord, when he had decided to join himself to the Lord. This is something new, something wonderful!

This language is throughout the Tanakh to speak of joining the covenant people. It entails far more than to just physically travel along with the nation! It meant to obey the Lord and serve the Lord, to offer acceptable sacrifices, to obey Torah in the same identical manner as the people of Abraham, the seed,

☛ In joining himself to the Lord, the allogenes would “take hold of my covenant.” He would obey the word of the Lord. He would in fact become a member of the covenant community. There is not a hint of a clue to suggest that although he “joined himself to the Lord” that he would not be participant of the blessings that belonged to the nation. The language indicates full covenant participation. Notice all of the things entailed in taking hold of the covenant:

Keeping the Sabbath

Choosing what pleases YHVH

Holding fast to the covenant

Ministering to YHVH

Loving the name of YHVH

Very clearly, in the eyes of the Messianic prophet, when the allogenes would take hold of the covenant, they would be full participants in the covenant. They would receive far, far more than social integration. They would become full members of the covenant community with all attendant spiritual blessings! After all having a place and a name in the temple carried with it the full complement of covenantal inheritance promises. Thus, the allogenes becomes covenantally integrated through obedience and cultic fidelity, not through genealogy. He is granted full equality with those of ethnic and genealogical lineage.

And there is something deeper here.

Look a bit closer at that language of the allogenes who would “take hold of my covenant.” Simply stated, this could not be descriptive of life under the Old Covenant. No, this speaks of a situation under a New Covenant, a covenant totally different from the Old which forbad foreigners from entering the Temple (Deuteronomy 23). Here, the scenario is totally different, the allogenes would have a place in the temple, within its walls. So consider this.

If the allogenes was / is given a place, a room if you please, in the Messiah’s temple, that means that the foreigner is no longer unclean! It means he is cleansed of all defilement. Make no mistake, the Jews consider the Gentiles, non-Israelites, the allogenes, as unclean. By that, they primarily meant cultic or ceremonial uncleanness. For instance, the book of Jubilees, a highly influential book in the first century world, said:

Separate yourself from the Gentiles, and do not eat with them, and do not perform deeds like theirs, and do not become their associate; for their deeds are defiled, and all their ways are polluted and abominable. (Jubilees 22:16, trans. O. S. Wintermute, in The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, vol. 2, ed. James H. Charlesworth (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1985), 96).

Remember what Peter said when summoned to the house of Cornelius, a Gentile: “It is not lawful for a man that is a Jew to eat or to have company with a Gentile” (Acts 10:28– the word Gentile here is from ἀλλοφύλῳ / allophulo, meaning other tribe, or not of the tribe. In other words, Cornelius was not from one of the tribes of Israel. He was truly allogenes).

So, for Isaiah 56 to say that the time was coming, the time of Messiah and the New Covenant, when the allogenes would have a place in the temple, it meant that the widely accepted norms of Gentile defilement as well as ethnic segregation would be removed! They would be welcomed into and given a place within the Messianic Temple.

Not only that, but as just stated....

☛ He would be given a name better than sons and daughters.

There could be no higher honor in the Jewish mind set than to be called the children of God. To be called the children of God meant that they were considered holy and carried with it strict moral obligations (Deuteronomy 14: 1-2). To be a child of God carried the idea that the “child” represented God and was to live a life that would honor that relationship. God commonly called on Israel, “Be holy as I am holy” (cf. Leviticus 26:26). On a personal note, when I was a teenager and was getting ready to go up town with my friends from school, my father would simply say to me: “Remember who you are, and whose name you carry.” That exhortation was not always welcomed, to be honest, but I knew exactly what he meant by that!

When God said that the allogenes would be given a name better than sons and daughters, this promised a relationship with the Father, of unsurpassed glory, honor, and responsibility!

What is promised in Isaiah is reiterated in different ways in different passages. Look at Zechariah:

On that day many nations will join themselves to the LORD, and they will become My people. I will dwell among you, and you will know that the LORD of Hosts has sent Me to you (Zechariah 2:11).

The time under consideration is the time of the restoration of “Zion,” an encompassing promise of the eschatological kingdom (See also Zechariah 8:20-22).

The fact is that contrary to what some skeptics and practical atheist claim, i.e. that God never loved anyone or saved anyone but Israel, it was promised early on that all nations of the earth would be called to worship and serve YHVH:

All nations whom You have made Shall come and worship before You, O Lord, And shall glorify Your name (Psalm 86:9).

To be sure, for a long period of time, Israel was the chief focus of God’s attention and love (Amos 3). But God NEVER intended that this would be a permanent situation. From the very beginning YHVH foretold the time when those who had never been His people would one day be called to serve Him (Cf. Deuteronomy 32:20f). Passages such as Isaiah 56 foretold the plan that, “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations.”

In the Tanakh, it is taken for granted and expressed often that YHVH had created all the nations, all things under the sun. Thus, when Psalms 86 promised the time when all of the nations whom the Lord had created would glorify and serve Him, this is just another way of expressing what Isaiah 56 promised.

We today, those in Christ, are the recipients of the blessings promised in Isaiah 56 and other passages. While we are not of the family, or physical lineage of Israel, through faith and obedience to Christ, we have a place and a name– a marvelous, glorified name that is better than “sons and daughters.” By faith, not by blood, not by flesh, not be family lineage, we are the true sons and daughters of God, and children of Abraham (Galatians 3:6f, 36-29). God’s invitation is to all the nations He has created. It is to those who at one time had to say they were not of “the people”! The contemplation of the grace, mercy and love of God in light of those promises should be a wonderful encouragement and a deep sense of appreciation to the one who loves us and gave himself for us!

 

Be sure to get a copy of my book One Root, One Kingdom, ALL NATIONS! for more on this important topic.