Supernatural Session 19

By the time of the events in the region known in Old Testament days as Bashan—Peter’s confession at Caesarea Philippi and the transfiguration on Mount Hermon—Jesus knew that the hour of his death was fast approaching. He had provoked a confrontation with intelligent evil in many ways over the years of his ministry, but what he did and said in those two places was especially defiant. The move was calculated.

THE BULLS OF BASHAN

All four gospels describe the crucifixion of Jesus in varying degrees of detail. One of the more thorough descriptions is that of Matthew:

35 And when they had crucified him, they divided his clothes among themselves by casting lots. 36 And they sat down and were watching over him there. 37 And they put above his head the charge against him in writing: “This is Jesus, the king of the Jews.” 38 Then two robbers were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left. 39 And those who passed by reviled him, shaking their heads 40 and saying, “The one who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross!” 41 In the same way also the chief priests, along with the scribes and elders, were mocking him, saying, 42 “He saved others; he is not able to save himself! He is the king of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him! 43 He trusts in God; let him deliver him now if he wants to, because he said, ‘I am the Son of God’!” 44 And in the same way even the robbers who were crucified with him were reviling him.

45 Now from the sixth hour, darkness came over all the land until the ninth hour. 46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”) ().

Many readers will know that Matthew tracks on in this description. The parallels are impossible to miss:

They divided his clothes among themselves by casting lots (v. 35).

“They divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots” (v. 18).

“Those who passed by reviled him, shaking their heads.… In the same way also the chief priests, along with the scribes and elders, were mocking him” (vv. 39, 41).

“All who see me mock me. They open wide their lips; they shake the head … they gaze, they look at me” (vv. 7, 17).

“Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?’ (that is, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’)” (v. 46).

“My God, my God why have you forsaken me?” (v. 1).

In addition to the clear textual links between Matthew and , scholars have long noticed that elements of appear to describe injuries and conditions congruent with crucifixion:

• I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint (v. 14).

• My strength is dry like a potsherd, and my tongue is sticking to my jaws (v. 15).

Less apparent are some under-the-surface connections to the divine council worldview and its cosmic holy war context. If you were to read all of at this point in our journey, verse 12 would no doubt jump off the page:

“Many bulls encompass me; strong bulls of Bashan surround me.”

STRONG BULLS OF BASHAN?

We know by now that Bashan carries a lot of theological baggage. It was the Old Testament version of the gates of hell, the gateway to the underworld realm of the dead. It was known as “the place of the serpent” outside the Bible. It’s associated with Mount Hermon, the place where Jews believed the rebellious sons of God from descended.

Simply put, if you wanted to conjure up images of the demonic and death, you’d refer to Bashan. If it’s true that elements of prefigure the crucifixion, it makes sense that a reference to Bashan would be part of that. But we still need a bit more context for understanding it.

The presence of a cult site at Dan located in the northern region was infamous with respect to the idolatrous worship of Samaria, the renegade northern kingdom of the ten tribes of Israel who forsook David’s dynasty after Solomon died. This confederacy and rival kingdom was set up by Jeroboam (). So the worship of other gods—gods besides Yahweh who were called demons (shedim)—was part of the identity of Bashan.

That helps us process , where the “bovines of Bashan” also appear:

1 Hear this word, you cows of Bashan who live on the mountain of Samaria, who oppress the powerless, who crush the poor, who say to their husbands, “Bring something so that we may drink!” 2 My Lord Yahweh has sworn by his holiness that, “Behold, the days are coming upon you when they will take you away with hooks, even the last of you with fishing hooks ().

Since the “cows of Bashan” are said to speak to their “husbands,” scholars are universally agreed that Amos is specifically addressing upper-class women of northern Israel who were idolaters of the golden calves of Bashan. I wouldn’t disagree with that necessarily, but there’s more to the wording than that.

Amos could be targeting temple priestesses who served the gods along with male priests. It is also quite possible that the cows of Bashan are the deities themselves in the form of the idols. This possibility is strengthened by noticing their crimes: “oppressing the poor [dallim]” and “crushing the needy [ebyonim].” These same two Hebrew words are used in , where the corrupt elohim are accused of exactly these same crimes ().

For our purposes, what we know for sure about Bashan is that it has secure associations with demonic powers. Although wasn’t originally messianic in focus, Matthew’s use of it fixes that association. The implication is that Jesus, at the moment of agony and death, was surrounded by the “bulls of Bashan”—demonic elohim who had been the foes of Yahweh and his children for millennia.

THE FALL OF BASHAN

Bashan was ground zero for Old Testament demonic geography. But for all the darkness conjured up by the term, references to “Bashan” in the Old Testament aren’t all sinister. describes a time when Yahweh takes ownership of Bashan.

15 A mountain of God is the mountain of Bashan;

a mountain of many peaks is the mountain of Bashan.

16 Why do you look with hostility, O many-peaked mountains?

This mountain God desires for his dwelling.

Yes, Yahweh will abide in it forever.

17 The chariots of God

are twice ten thousand, with thousands doubled.

The Lord is among them at Sinai, distinctive in victory.

18 You have ascended on high; you have led away captives.

You have received gifts from among humankind,

and even from the rebellious, so that Yah God may dwell there.

The first thing that sticks out in this passage is that the infamous Mount Bashan is called the “mountain of God” (68:15). The phrase “mountain of God” is actually “mountain of elohim” (har elohim) in Hebrew. That means it can be translated as either “mountain of God” or “mountain of the gods.”

The latter makes more sense than the former in context for the very observable reason that the two mountains in the passage—Bashan and Sinai—are rivals at the beginning of the psalm. The mountain of the gods (Bashan) “looks with hatred” at Yahweh’s mountain, Mount Sinai. God desired Sinai for his abode, and the psalmist asks Bashan, “Why the envy?” This would make little sense if Bashan was already under Yahweh’s authority.

The psalmist intends a contrast of association. In the Old Testament, Sinai is firmly associated with Yahweh and Israel. Bashan is the polar opposite of Sinai. It symbolizes unholy ground.

The rest of the psalm describes an assault on Bashan by Yahweh and his holy army. We know the description refers to spiritual warfare since there was no such engagement of the Israelites in the Old Testament, and also because verse 17 clearly speaks of a divine army. Yahweh, the divine warrior, will one day tear down the strongholds of Bashan. He will lead a train of captives down from the mountain (v. 18).

TAKING PRISONERS

, where Yahweh leads a host of captives, may sound familiar. Paul cites the verse in :

You have ascended on high; you have led away captives. You have received gifts from among humankind.

Therefore it says,

“When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men” (esv).

If you look closely, there is a problem in the quotation. For Paul, was about Jesus ascending on high and giving gifts to humanity. Jesus is somehow the fulfillment of . But the Old Testament text has God ascending and receiving gifts.

Reconciling this conflict of ideas requires getting some context first.

gives us a standard description of conquest, known from other ancient texts and even from ancient sculpture and iconography. The victorious captain of the army leads the enemy captives behind him; they are the human booty of war.

When Paul quotes in , he does so thinking of Jesus. Part of the confusion over how to interpret what Paul is saying is that so many commentators have assumed that captives are being liberated in . That isn’t the case. That idea would flatly contradict the well-understood Old Testament imagery. There is no liberation; there is conquest.

Paul’s words identify Jesus with Yahweh. In it was Yahweh who is described as the conqueror of the demonic stronghold. For Paul it is Jesus, the incarnate second Yahweh, surrounded by the demonic elohim, “bulls of Bashan,” fulfilling the imagery of . Jesus puts the evil gods “to an open shame” (esv) by “triumphing over them by [the cross]” (leb) (). and are in agreement if one sees conquest, not liberation.

What about the “receiving” and “giving” problem? Paul’s wording doesn’t deny there was conquest. What it does is point to the result of the conquest.

In the ancient world the conqueror would parade the captives and demand tribute for himself. Jesus is the conqueror of , and the booty does indeed rightfully belong to him. But booty was also distributed after a conquest. Paul knows that. He quotes to make the point that after Jesus conquered his demonic enemies, he distributed the benefits of the conquest to his people, believers. Specifically, those benefits are apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers ().

But how is Paul getting that idea? He explains himself in .

You have ascended on high; you have led away captives. You have received gifts from among humankind.

Therefore it says,

“When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.”

(In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.) (esv).

Christ’s conquest results in the dispensing of gifts to his people after ascending (in conquest) in verse 8. But that ascent was accompanied by a descent (“into the lower regions”).

Paul’s logic is not at all clear, at least at first. What ascent and descent is he talking about? The text does not make clear the order of events, or even whether there was an intended order.

The key to understanding Paul’s thinking is the descent. There are two possible explanations. The most common view is that, upon his death, Jesus descended into the lower regions of the earth. This is the way is worded in many translations. In this case, the language speaks both of the grave and of cosmic Sheol, the underworld. This is possible since elsewhere in the New Testament we read that Jesus descended into the underworld to confront the “spirits in prison”—the original transgressing sons of God from (). But that visitation may not be Paul’s point of reference here.

The second view is reflected in the esv, which is the translation I used for . Note that instead of “lower parts of the earth” the esv inserts a comma: “the lower regions, the earth.” The effect of the comma is that Jesus descended to “the lower regions, [in other words] the earth.” This option fits the context better (the gifts are given to people who are of course on earth) and has some other literary advantages. If this option is correct, then the descent of verses 9–10 does not refer to Jesus’ time in the grave, but rather to the Holy Spirit’s coming to earth after Jesus’ conquering ascension on the day of Pentecost.

JESUS AND THE SPIRIT

This view makes sense in that the ascent (victory) would refer to the resurrection, and the descent would speak of the ensuing coming of the Spirit at Pentecost. They are both triumphs. But it raises an obvious question: Is Paul confusing Jesus with the Spirit?

Perhaps we should instead ask, is the Spirit Jesus in some way? The question sounds odd, but it’s akin to asking if the man Jesus is God in some way. The answer, as we’ve seen in previous chapters, is that Jesus is the second Yahweh, the embodied Yahweh of the Old Testament. But Jesus is not the “Father” Yahweh. He therefore is but isn’t Yahweh. It’s the same with the Spirit. The Spirit is Yahweh, and so he is Jesus as well, but not incarnate or embodied. The Spirit is but isn’t Jesus, just as Jesus is but isn’t Yahweh the Father. The same sort of “two Yahwehs” idea from the Old Testament is found in the New Testament with respect to Jesus and the Spirit. That is the source of Trinitarian theology.

Viewed against this backdrop, the idea that Jesus and the Spirit might be identified with each other isn’t so strange. In fact, it helps us make sense of some things certain New Testament writers said about the Spirit.

It is clear that Jesus and the Spirit are different persons. That’s clear from passages about Jesus’ baptism (), his temptation (), and other passages (; ). Jesus also said he and the Father would send the Spirit (; ; cf. ). The Spirit was to come and indwell and empower believers. The events on Pentecost in mark the coming of the Spirit.

But the New Testament also identifies the Spirit with Jesus:

6 And they traveled through the Phrygian and Galatian region, having been prevented by the Holy Spirit from speaking the message in Asia. 7 And when they came to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, and the Spirit of Jesus did not permit them ().

9 But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, this person does not belong to him. 10 But if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness ().

For I know that this will turn out to me for deliverance through your prayer and the support of the Spirit of Jesus Christ ().

4 But when the fullness of time came, God sent out his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 in order that he might redeem those under the law, in order that we might receive the adoption. 6 And because you are sons, God sent out the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying out, “Abba! (Father!)” ().

10 Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace meant for you sought and made careful inquiry, 11 investigating for what person or which time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he testified beforehand to the sufferings with reference to Christ and the glories after these things ().

Paul’s quotation directs our attention in two important ways. First, not only did the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross mean the fall of Bashan, emblematic of the cosmic powers of evil, but it also triggered the empowerment of the Church by the gifts of the Spirit. Second, that victory and empowerment also had something to do with Pentecost.

Paul’s thought about Pentecost in is quite the understatement. As it turned out, what happened at Pentecost cannot be understood without cosmic geography—the worldview. Like the gospel accounts, there’s much more behind than we might have presumed.[1]

[1] Heiser, M. S. (2015). The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible (First Edition, pp. 288–295). Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.

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