To avenge His Covenant
people as their Kinsman-Redeemer:
God is morally
obligated to avenge His family as their Kinsman-Redeemer. The law that willful murder must be avenged is set
forth in Numbers 35:16-21: “The avenger of
blood shall himself put the murderer to death when he meets him,” (RSV).
This
passage is quite simply put and so straightforward as to require little
explanation except for the term “avenger
of blood,” in Hebrew, the go’el. The go’el was the nearest kinsman, who also
had the rights and obligations of redeemer. As redeemer, he could buy back a
field that had been lost through indebtedness and marry a childless widow in
order to raise up an heir for the deceased family member as illustrated in the Book
of Ruth. He could buy back a person who had been sold into
slavery for indebtedness. This term is frequently used of God as the Redeemer of His people. It
is in this sense that we must understand the admonition found in Leviticus 19:18:
You shall not take vengeance or bear any grudge against
the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am
the Lord, (RSV).
For
people living within the Covenant relationship, God
was their nearest Kinsman, their Go’el.
They were not, therefore, to usurp His office by taking upon themselves the
role of avenger. (This passage is quoted in Rom. 12:19 and Heb. 10:30 and still applies to us.)
To Cleanse the Land of
Innocent Blood:
Not
only was God the Avenger of Blood for the sake of
His covenant people, but He was also morally and legally obligated
to avenge innocent blood to cleanse the land from defilement for He is the Owner
and Occupant of the land:
You shall not thus pollute the land in which you live;
for blood pollutes the land, and no expiation can be made for the land, for the
blood that is shed in it, except by the blood of him who shed it. You shall not
defile the land in which you live, in the midst of which I dwell; for I the
Lord dwell in the midst of the people of Israel, (Num. 35:33-34. See also Deut. 19:11-13, RSV.) [Underlines of Scripture are mine throughout.]
God’s
concern for the land is again expressed in Deuteronomy 32:43 RSV:
Praise His people, O you nations; for He avenges the
blood of His servants, and takes vengeance on His adversaries, and makes
expiation for the land of His people.
That
the laws concerning the shedding of blood were taken seriously in the New
Testament era is well attested. In the trial of Christ Pilate declared that he
was “innocent of the blood of this Man,”
while the Jews cried out:[1]
“His blood be on us
and on our children!” (Matt. 27:24-25). Even Judas
realized that he must pay the penalty: “I have sinned in betraying innocent blood,”
(Matt. 27:4). But the chief priests and elders refused to fulfill the
law, so he destroyed his own life.
Peter and the other
apostles were very bold to accuse the “Jews” of blood-guilt. This bothered the
High Priest:
You intend to bring
this man’s blood upon us. But Peter … answered, “The God of our fathers raised
Jesus whom you killed by hanging him on a tree,” (Acts 5:28-30. See also Acts 2:23; 3:15; 4:27, RSV.)
Stephen was very bold in
his accusation before the Council:
Which of the prophets did not your fathers persecute? And
they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One,
whom you have now betrayed and murdered, (Acts 7:52
RSV).
For this
witness, they added yet another crime, the slaying of innocent Stephen.
Even
Josephus knew that there
was a penalty to pay for shedding innocent blood. He describes the murder of
the high priest Jonathan who dared to oppose the Roman appointed Felix:
They slew Jonathan, and as his murder was never avenged,
the robbers went up with the greatest security at the festivals after this
time; and having weapons concealed in like manner as before, and mingling
themselves among the multitude, they slew certain of their own enemies, and
were subservient to other men for money; and slew others not only in remote
parts of the city, but in the temple itself also; for they had the boldness to
murder men there, without thinking of the impiety of which they were guilty.
And this seems to me to have been the reason why God, out of his hatred to
these men’s wickedness, rejected our city; and as for the temple, he no longer
esteemed it sufficiently pure for him to inhabit therein, but brought the
Romans upon us, and threw
a fire upon the city to purge it; and brought upon us, our wives, and children,
slavery, – as desirous to make us wiser by our calamities, (Ant. 20.8.5).
Again
he says:
And who is there that does not know what the writings of
the ancient prophets contain in them, – and particularly that oracle which is
just now going to be fulfilled upon this miserable city? – for they foretold
that this city should be then taken when somebody shall begin the slaughter of
his own countrymen! And are not both the city and the entire temple now full of
the dead bodies of your countrymen? It is God therefore, it is God himself who
is bringing on this fire, to purge the city and temple by means of the
Romans, and is going to pluck up this city, which is full of
your pollutions, (Wars, 6.2.l).
Thus the moral imperative of
Revelation 1:1, “must shortly come to pass” was fully
accomplished in the fall of Jerusalem and the fleshly
nation, Israel.
This lesson is from my book Revelation In Context, pages 93-94. Revelation In Context is available locally at the Living Word Bookstore, Shawnee, Oklahoma and online at www.amazon.com and www.xulonpress.com. Free downloads are available at www.revelationincontext.sermon.net.
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