Ezekiel 36:25

Earlier this month, I read Ezekiel 36, and I found a chiasm in verse 25:

I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean

From all your uncleannesses, 

And from all your idols

I will cleanse you.

I lookt up the Hebrew text, and I'm pretty sure it also has this feature.

Around the same time I read this particular verse, I was following along with the Daily Dose of Greek series in John 3 where Jesus is talking to Nicodemus and refers to baptism.  Dr. Plummer mentions this verse from Ezekiel in his video on John 3:5, and the study notes in my Bible also reference it.  Clearly, this verse in Ezekiel describes baptism.

But since it has this chiastic structure, it also points to Christ's crucifixion.  The study notes in my Bible explain that "sprinkle" is a "term most often used with the blood of the atonement and covenant," and that description seems to fit more with the crucifixion than with baptism.

Les siècles des siècles

For a little over a year and a half (26 June 2018 to 4 February 2020), I followed along in the Daily Dose of Greek videos on Revelation (copying out each verse).  This is where I learned that the Greek phrase "τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων" literally means something like "the ages of the ages" but is an idiom that means "forever."  (The first instance of this that I could find is in Revelation 11:15.)

As I noted before, since the lectionary started over in December, I've been following along with each Sunday's readings in French.  I have a French New Testament and a French hymnal that has most of the Psalms.  At end of the Gloria Patri after each Psalm, the French has "les siècles des siècles," and for a few weeks, I'd been suspicious that this is the same way that the French New Testament translates "τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων."  I finally lookt it up a couple weeks ago, and not only did I confirm that, but I also discovered that "les siècles des siècles" has the same literal meaning as "τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων" - "the centuries of the centuries."

John 10:11

Once again, I'm behind, but while watching the previous week's Worship Anew last week, I noticed a small feature in John 10:11 in my French New Testament.  "Je suis le bon berger.  Le bon berger donne sa vie pour ses brebis."  "I am the good shepherd.  The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep."  Granted, it's a rather small instance, but in French, there's alliteration in "good shepherd" ("bon berger").  This consonance gives something of an idea of Jesus' perfection.

Ezekiel 29:9-10

I'm still making my way through Ezekiel, but I recently found a note I made in late March about chapter 29 that I forgot to write about.

The Lord tells Ezekiel to prophesy against Pharaoh, and in the second half of verse 9 and into verse 10, He says, "Because you [Pharaoh] said, 'The Nile is mine, and I made it,' 10 therefore, behold, I am against you and against your streams, and I will make the land of Egypt an utter waste and desolation, from Migdol to Syene, as far as the border of Cush."

Pharaoh's claim that "The Nile is mine, and I made it" is very similar to what the Psalmist says of God in Psalm 95:5:  "The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land."  (I lookt up the Hebrew, and while most of it is beyond me, I did notice that both verses use the same verb for "made.")  Pharaoh's claim is prideful and arrogant, but the Psalmist properly credits and (elsewhere in this Psalm) praises God for His creation.


As brief side notes:

"From Migdol to Syene" and "the sea/the dry land" are both merisms.  The first seems simply to indicate a specific geographic area, but the second illustrates the variety and expanse of God's creation and - in turn - His powerful dominion over it.

Psalm 95:5 has a chiastic structure whose elements are features of God's creation ("the sea" and "the dry land") and the act of creation ("he made it" and "his hands formed"):

The sea is his

for he made it 

and his hands formed

the dry land.