The End From the Beginning—Part 3—Other Narrative Foundations
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| The Old Testament, by contrast, is dominated by an essentially different form of typological thinking, namely, that of the eschatological correspondence between beginning and end. — Urzeit and Endzeit |
Introduction and Review
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| Hezekiah, who exposed all he had to an enemy nation, once chose the Lord alone to whom he would expose his problems. |
Voluntary Exposure: A Lesson From Hezekiah
At that time Berodach-Baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that Hezekiah had been sick. And Hezekiah was attentive to them, and showed them all the house of his treasures—the silver and gold, the spices and precious ointment, and his armory—all that was found among his treasures. There was nothing in his house or in all his dominion that Hezekiah did not show them.Then Isaiah the prophet went to King Hezekiah, and said to him, “What did these men say, and from where did they come to you?”So Hezekiah said, “They came from a far country, from Babylon.”And he said, “What have they seen in your house?”So Hezekiah answered, “They have seen all that is in my house; there is nothing among my treasures that I have not shown them.”
— Isaiah 39:1-8
It appears that there wasn't a single thing that He didn't expose. That's true today, as many of us spend a significant amount of time online buying, selling, interacting with others, and expressing our thoughts and opinions. We reveal what we like and dislike, more than is often realized, in our online communications. Social media has become one of the largest platforms for people to voluntarily share a vast amount of information about themselves publicly.
Another voluntary form of self-exposure comes with ancestry genetic testing. People freely expose the code of their entire person, including all faults and weaknesses, to a company that can sell that information to any third party it chooses. Once you submit your DNA, it becomes the property of the company you offer it to. It doesn't get more naked than that.
The result of this exposure for Hezekiah was the announcement of the exile of his kingdom and descendants, along with everything he had exposed to the nation, which had supposedly come to console him with letters and a present.
Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the Lord: ‘Behold, the days are coming when all that is in your house, and what your fathers have accumulated until this day, shall be carried to Babylon; nothing shall be left,’ says the Lord. And they shall take away some of your sons who will descend from you, whom you will beget; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon. ”
— 2 Kings 20:16-18
Here, we also see another interpretation of "naked and ashamed."
Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.
— Genesis 3:7
The fig also appears in the Hezekiah story, serving as a type of medicine and linking us to the Genesis 3 event.
Then Isaiah said, “Take a lump of figs.” So they took and laid it on the boil, and he recovered.
— 2 Kings 20:7
In Genesis chapter three, all it took was a few questions from a serpentine figure to uncover the first humans by getting Eve to disclose everything voluntarily. Ultimately, they were left naked, ashamed, and exiled outside the sacred garden.
In the conclusion of this section, it is ironic to observe that in Hezekiah's "good king" years, he kept his disclosure between Him and the Lord alone. When enemy forces gathered against him, he became frightened, took the entire situation, and presented it before the Lord, expecting salvation from Him alone.
And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord. Then Hezekiah prayed before the Lord, and said: “O Lord God of Israel, the One who dwells between the cherubim, You are God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. Incline Your ear, O Lord, and hear; open Your eyes, O Lord, and see; and hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to reproach the living God. Truly, Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands, and have cast their gods into the fire; for they were not gods, but the work of men’s hands—wood and stone. Therefore they destroyed them. Now therefore, O Lord our God, I pray, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You are the Lord God, You alone.”
— 2 Kings 19: 14-19
A final word on this revelation is that Hezekiah was one of Judah's end-time kings, depicting a potentially prophetic future fulfillment. Four kings later, the nation was exiled to Babylon.
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| A depiction of Job by John Gilbert |
A Case of Data Collecting In the Book of Job
Satan answered the Lord, "From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it.”— Job 1:7
It looks like Satan may very well have been studying Job's habits and patterns to find a flaw in him to bring an accusation against him. He cannot be omnipresent or omniscient, so he goes "to and fro throughout the earth." From a modern perspective, what better way could there be to go to and fro throughout the earth than to "web" and "net" them all through data-collection technology? In other words, get them to volunteer all the information needed to make accusations.
In its English version, the next part of this conversation reads as if God is pointing out Job to Satan, inviting him to test him.
Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered (set your heart upon) My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil?”
— Job 1:8
In Hebrew, however, the scene appears somewhat differently. Instead of the phrase "Have you considered," the literal rendering should read "Have you set your heart upon."
This phrasing leads us to a much different conclusion. God is confronting Satan for scoping out Job and reminding him that there is no evil data on him. Job's slate is clean, and therefore, there is no legal basis for Satan to take Job's life. Satan's only case is that Job is faithful and does good only because God has blessed him.
At the end of the book of Job, God describes a dragon-like creature, similar to the one in Revelation 20. God's description of this creature makes an intriguing connection to how humankind gives the enemy access through pride and by revealing everything to him.
He (dragon) beholds every high thing;
He is king over all the children of pride.
— Job 41:34
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| Samson gives it all up, lying in the lap of Delilah. Andrea Mantegna |
Data Collecting Delilah
But it came to pass on the seventh day that they said to Samson’s wife, “Entice your husband, that he may explain the riddle to us, or else we will burn you and your father’s house with fire.— Judges 14:15
Their mission succeeds, and Samson succumbs to pressure to reveal everything about the secret riddle to his wife.
Then Samson’s wife wept on him, and said, “You only hate me! You do not love me! You have posed a riddle to the sons of my people, but you have not explained it to me.” And he said to her, “Look, I have not explained it to my father or my mother; so should I explain it to you?” Now she had wept on him the seven days while their feast lasted. And it happened on the seventh day that he told her, because she pressed him so much. Then she explained the riddle to the sons of her people.
— Judges 14:16-17
Consequently, Samson's wife and her father died by fire due to Samson's vengeance taken on the Philistines for the riddle bet gone wrong; later, he slew one thousand with the jawbone of a donkey.
Next, Samson spent the night with a harlot and then shacked up with Delilah.
The Philistines were out to get Samson, but they could not because of his God-given strength, secured by his Nazirite vow. One element of the vow he had not yet broken was not cutting his hair. The story of Samson begins with a case of data collection for the purpose of entrapment through his wife, and now it ends with a case of data gathering by his live-in lover, Delilah. The tactic remained the same; this time, they were after more than a bet involving the secret to a riddle; they were after the secret of his strength.
And the lords of the Philistines came up to her (Delilah) and said to her, “Entice him, and find out where his great strength lies, and by what means we may overpower him, that we may bind him to afflict him; and everyone of us will give you eleven hundred pieces of silver.
— Judges 16:5
Delilah sold him out for the silver, and the Philistine mission was again accomplished.
Then she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me these three times, and have not told me where your great strength lies.” And it came to pass, when she pestered him daily with her words and pressed him, so that his soul was vexed to death, that he told her all his heart, and said to her, “No razor has ever come upon my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If I am shaven, then my strength will leave me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man.”
— Judges 16:15-17
By sharing everything in his heart, including the final piece of the vow he had not yet broken, he lost his strength and fell under his enemies' control.
When Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, “Come up once more, for he has told me all his heart.” So the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hand. Then she lulled him to sleep on her knees, and called for a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his head. Then she began to torment him, and his strength left him.
And she said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” So he awoke from his sleep, and said, “I will go out as before, at other times, and shake myself free!” But he did not know that the Lord had departed from him. Then the Philistines took him and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza. They bound him with bronze fetters, and he became a grinder in the prison.
— Judges 16:18-21
In the end, Samson brings down the Philistines with the last hurrah, but he goes down with them.
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| James Tissot's depiction of Absalom. |
Anti-Christ Absalom
After this, it happened that Absalom provided himself with chariots and horses (man-made programs, politics and policy), and fifty men to run before him.— 2 Samuel 15:1
A later story about another of David's sons and a treasonous attempt to secure the throne mentions chariots, horses, and fifty men. This second reference reveals what was most likely in Absalom's heart.
Then Adonijah the son of Haggith exalted himself, saying, “I will be king”; and he prepared for himself chariots and horsemen, and fifty men to run before him.— I Kings 1:5
Absalom's modus operandi was to "work the crowd" by making them feel he was all for them and their causes. He began collecting data by asking them for their personal information and detailing their problems, promising a better deal.
Now Absalom would rise early and stand beside the way to the gate. So it was, whenever anyone who had a lawsuit came to the king for a decision, that Absalom would call to him and say, “What city are you from?” And he would say, “Your servant is from such and such a tribe of Israel.” Then Absalom would say to him, “Look, your case is good and right; but there is no deputy of the king to hear you.”
— 2 Samuel 15:2,3
Absalom claimed he would do a much better job of ruling the kingdom than his father, a type of Christ. He implied that the king lacked the means to help or to hear their case and cause. The claim of the up-and-coming system will be very much the same in its excuse, method of attainment, and rejection of Christ's rule.
Moreover, Absalom would say “Oh, that I were made judge in the land, and everyone who has any suit or cause would come to me; then I would give him justice.” And so it was: whenever anyone came near to bow down to him, he would put out his hand, take him, and kiss him. In this manner, Absalom acted toward all Israel who came to the king for judgment.
— 2 Samuel 15:4-5
The narrative ends with a familiar theme.
So Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel.— 2 Samuel 15:6
Absalom is like Nimrod, the mighty human snarer. Nimrod gathered the people at the tower to unite in a worldwide rebellion against the king of heaven and earth, and Absalom gathered the people at the gate of his father's kingdom. He collected their information and stole their hearts from the king.
All of the elements above apply to what we see happening today. We see disgruntled humanity shaking their fist at God, whom they pridefully perceive as not doing enough, and selling themselves to a system driven by evil intent that they believe can cure all their woes. Interestingly, this event occurs at the "end" of David's reign.
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| Ahitophel, the counselor, proposes gathering the people to Absalom. |
Anti-Christ Ahithophel
Then Absalom sent spies throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, “As soon as you hear the sound of the trumpet, then you shall say, ‘Absalom reigns in Hebron!’
Next, Absalom consulted with Ahithophel, a former counselor to King David, about his next move.
Then Absalom sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, David’s counselor, from his city—from Giloh—while he offered sacrifices. And the conspiracy grew strong, for the people with Absalom continually increased in number.
— 2 Samuel 15:10-12
Ahithophel's advice was coveted as if it were the words of God Himself.
Now the advice of Ahithophel, which he gave in those days, was as if one had inquired at the oracle of God. So was all the advice of Ahithophel both with David and with Absalom.
— 2 Samuel 16:23
The book of Revelation records a similar future scene.
And all the world marveled and followed the beast ...
— Revelation 13:3
Ahithophel proposes the following plan.
Moreover, Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Now let me choose twelve thousand men, and I will arise and pursue David tonight. I will come upon him while he is weary and weak, and make him afraid. And all the people who are with him will flee, and I will strike only the king. Then I will bring back all the people to you. When all return except the man whom you seek, all the people will be at peace.” And the saying pleased Absalom and all the elders of Israel.
2 Samuel 17:1-4
Much like a united world gathering system, Ahithophel proposes gathering all the people and getting rid of the king, promising peace. The world fantasizes that it will find peace by getting rid of the Messiah, Jesus, and those who worship Him. Sadly, without Him, there is nothing to expect but chaos and trouble.
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| The first image is by Phillip Medhurst. The Second Image is by James Tissot. The number seventeen brackets both the Noah story and the Joseph story. |
Noah, Joseph, and the Year 5780/2020
In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. — Genesis 7:11 Then the ark rested in the seventh month, the seventeenth day of the month, on the mountains of Ararat.— Genesis 8:4
We've already discussed Noah's connection with these themes.
The following narrative, which occurs at the end of Genesis, discusses Jacob's history, with Joseph as the main character. It also adds another facet to this story in terms of "beginning and end."
Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brothers. And the lad was with the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives; and Joseph brought a bad (evil) report of them to his father ... Then he (Jacob) said to him, “Please go and see if it is well (good) with your brothers and well with the flocks, and bring back word to me. (data collecting perhaps?)— Genesis 37:2,14And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years. So the length of Jacob’s life was one hundred and forty-seven years.— Genesis 47:28
Recall that Joseph's narrative includes a type of "one world" gathering of people and a unified economic system that collects and combines global finances for redistribution. It ultimately ends in slavery. The powers that be own everything, and its members become subservient to the system. In the end, the Israelites are forced to make more bricks for the Pharaoh's cultural development projects without receiving provisions from the system.
Therefore go now and work; for no straw shall be given you, yet you shall deliver the quota of bricks.
— Exodus 5:18
What appears to be a system that imagines our ease and comfort will demand services we cannot provide. It will incur a debt we cannot repay.
The number two is also factored twice in 5780. In connection with the second day of creation, this number was associated with a watery, messy, chaotic state involving separation. It is the only day that is not declared "good." It represents the space in between.
The number two associated with this chaotic "end" time of Israel's history is unmistakable. Joseph had two dreams that infuriated his brothers; he was imprisoned twice. He interpreted two dreams, one in which one lives and the other in which one dies. He interpreted two dreams for Pharaoh, one of which prophetically foretold a worldwide famine.
The number between the numbers two and seventeen, in 5780's factors, is the number "five." Five" in Scripture categorizes God's grace and power. What is between the beginning and the end (17)? It is a space (2) of time. It is an opportunity to experience God's grace (5) and heed His invitation to all humankind to return to Him.
... to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He made us accepted in the Beloved. In Him, we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.— Ephesians 1:6-7
Borrowed ideas from "The Bible Wheel" website—In connection with grace, the number 17 is linked to a New Testament event involving a net. Jesus' third appearance to His disciples after His resurrection includes an episode with 153 (3² x 17) netted fish. 153 is the 17th triangular number (number of dots that can form a complete triangle) and the sum of the integers 1-17. Immediately after this scene, Peter is restored from his three repeated denials.
Perhaps this relates to Christ calling His disciples to be fishers of men and extending His grace to all who would come. The Hebrew word for "fisherman" has a gematria of 17. In summary, the "two" accounts marked by the "two" seventeens indicate that He is extending His grace in the chaotic in-between time. While the world gathers its data, we are to be gathering souls.
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| The top images show the Stasi files and the building that houses them. The bottom images are of the contemporary version of a similar system. |
The Stasi Files Revisited
"The East German secret police, one of the most intrusive and oppressive spying operations ever assembled, collected millions of files on people it suspected of being enemies of the state."
According to Fee.org, one in three Germans was under surveillance, and one in every thirty was an agent. Families and neighbors spied on one another to gain favor with the state. Tapped phone calls and hidden microphones recorded private conversations. Everything a person did or said was documented and filed. There was virtually nowhere to hide. One survivor described feeling "naked" (Genesis 3) under the system's scrutiny.
Things aren't that different today. Most of us carry devices that can track our movements, learn our habits, listen to conversations, and much more. We are watched and studied wherever we go. Wallace B. Henley quotes Professor Luigi Zingales of the University of Chicago in Who Will Rule the Coming Gods.
Google and Facebook know more about us than our spouses or closest friends—and sometimes even more than we know about ourselves. They can predict what we are going to do, how we're going to vote, and what products we are going to buy. And they use the best minds to manipulate our decisions.
Google is just one of many tech giants that collect and analyze data for profit. Amazon Web Services offers several data management platforms, including Redshift Data Lake, a cloud data warehouse.
... to give you instant visibility into the end-end business operations ... in order to make data driven decisions ... Amazon Redshift utilizes sophisticated algorithms to predict and classify ...
According to "Input Magazine," Amazon requires its drivers to sign a biometric consent form authorizing the company to monitor their driving, location, and facial expressions. AI-powered cameras are being installed. The article also notes that warehouses use this technology to oversee workspaces. The company has been criticized for pressuring employees to increase productivity and meet "stringent quotas." This is reminiscent of the Pharaoh in the Exodus story, who demanded more bricks but provided no straw.
What happens when these same functions are applied to a world system that predicts and classifies humans to govern them? This application is just around the corner. At "ZeroHedge," Tyler Durden quotes Larry Backer of Penn State.
... the shift in law with this system will “ ... change the focus of public law from constitution and rule of law to analytics and algorithm ... ”
He also refers to an article in the Wall Street Journal titled "How Bad Your Diet May Weigh On Your Job" and to concerns about insurance companies' surveillance.
“Your insurance company ... already knows whether you’ve been taking your meds, getting your teeth cleaned and going for regular medical checkups. Now some employers or their insurance companies are tracking what staffers eat, where they shop and how much weight they’re putting on — and taking action to keep them in line.”
China already has a well-established "Stasi File" system, known as a "Social Credit Score." Every aspect of a person's life is closely monitored and rewarded or penalized based on compliance or non-compliance.
The bait in this snare offers services that will ease our toil from the messes we have created in humanity by avoiding God and His directives.
“Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’: 'Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it
— Genesis 3:17
The Noah narrative again becomes a relevant prophetic piece in light of current developments. Noah's name means "rest," the opposite of toil. He is named Noah specifically in the hope that he would be the one to ease them from the toil of the cursed ground.
Lamech lived one hundred and eighty-two years, and had a son. And he called his name Noah, saying, “This one will comfort us concerning our work and the toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord has cursed.”
— Genesis 5:28
The Midrash claims Noah was expected to invent the plow to ease humanity's toil. The Midrashic interpretation could be that relief from their toil was expected to come through a form of ancient technology.
Humankind neither recognizes nor repents of the cause of toil; instead, they hope to invent another way around it. It is a hope of salvation through human invention. However, the rest do not return to Earth's domain until humanity reaches its end. The result is judgment. At the end of that judgment, Noah builds an altar and makes a sacrifice.
Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And the Lord smelled a soothing aroma. Then the Lord said in His heart, “I will never again curse the ground for man’s sake, although the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done.
— Genesis 8:20-21
This thought points to the only way to salvation, which is through Christ's work on the cross. No human invention can save our souls. Only on the altar of the cross of Jesus Christ will humanity find rest from their toil.
Truly my soul silently (in rest) waits for God;
From Him comes my salvation. He only is my rock and my salvation
— Psalm 62:1-2
Punch Card Tabulating and Data Collection in History
Data collection is an easy way to reveal who people are and what they are truly about by observing their online behavior, including patterns, responses, likes, dislikes, and more. What you don't do and don't respond to is just as revealing as what you do.
The video above explains how modern computing is based on the mechanics and principles of punch card looms, which were used to create textile designs and patterns. Strategically placed holes in punch cards instruct the loom to produce a particular pattern in the fabric. Our online activity reveals certain things through our patterns of expression and behavior in much the same way; only now, the data is expressed digitally.
This type of exposure gives new meaning to David's plea to God in Psalm 51 to "blot out his transgressions." David speaks of his sin as data on a permanent record.
"Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving-kindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions."
— Psalm 51:1
God, too, has a book of records that He will bring into account at the end of all things. Anything not blotted out by the precious blood of Jesus Christ will be subject to judgment.
And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books.
— Revelation 20:12
In stark contrast to Satan's looking for a reason to steal, kill, and destroy, as with Job, the omnipresent and omniscient God is looking for those He may bless. He also suggests that forfeiting the blessing comes with hearts that are not fully devoted to Him.
For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. Herein thou hast done foolishly: therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars.
— 2 Chronicles 16:9
Nazi Germany used punch-card tabulating during World War 2. The punch-card system for information collection was initially designed in the early 1900s to speed up and store US census results. By the Second World War, Hitler despicably used this technology to identify, capture, torture, and kill Jews in a highly organized, rapid system. Edwin Black discusses this topic in an online article titled The Nazi Party: IBM & "Death's Calculator."
Mankind barely noticed when the concept of massively organized information quietly emerged to become a means of social control, a weapon of war, and a roadmap for group destruction ... the IBM punch card and card sorting system-a precursor to the computer. IBM, primarily through its German subsidiary, made Hitler's program of Jewish destruction a technological mission the company pursued with chilling success ... IBM Germany invented the racial census-listing not just religious affiliation, but bloodline going back generations. This was the Nazi data lust. Not just to count the Jews — but to identify them.
Could history repeat itself?
© 2019 Tamarajo
*All sources for this series are available in the final part.
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