Page 300 - Through New Eyes

302 NOTES TO PAGES 161-172

calls either the whole altar or the top section “the Mountain of God .“ See for in-
stance, C. F. Keil, Biblical CommentaV on the Prophecies of Ezekiel, 2 vols., trans.
James Martin (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1968) 2:287; E. W. Hengstenberg,
The Prophecies of the Prophet Ezekiel Elucidated, trans. A. C. Murphy and J. G.
Murphy (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1869), p. 425; and Charles Lee Feinberg,
The Prophecy of Ezekiel (Chicago: Moody Press, 1969), p. 254.
Albright suggests that the heq haizrets, translated “base on the ground” in the
NASV of Ezekiel 43:14, and “gutter on the ground” in the NIV, should be
rendered more cosmically as “the foundation of the earth.” Such a translation
makes sense in light of the cosmic “mountain of God” imagery in verse 15. It has
been disputed on technical grounds, however. “Gutter” also would have impor-
tant symbolic associations, since it would point to the “gehenna” area at the
base of the mountain. See W. F. Albright, Archaeolo~ and the Religion of Israel,
5th ed. (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins, 1968), pp. 146-147; and summary of
criticisms by David P. Wright, The Disposal of Impurity: Elimination Rites in the
Bible and in Hittite and Mesopotamian Literature. Society of Biblical Literature
Dissertation Series 101 (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1987), p. 151.
15. See also Isaiah 51:13-16, which speaks of “planting” the heavens, in context a
clear reference to the founding of Israel as God’s “planting” (see Chapter 7). See
also Jeremiah 4:23-31. A particularly useful sermon on the New Heavens
and Earth by Puritan expositor John Owen is found in Owen, Wbrks, 16 vols.
(London: Banner of Truth Trust, 1965-68) 9:131ff. See also Chilton, Days of
Kmgeance, pp. 538-545.
16. See Chilton, pp. 197, 238-239.

Chapter 13 – The World of Noah

1. Translated from Welsh original by the author and Peter Williams.
2. On the Day of the Lord, the sabbath, and judgment, see James B. Jordan, Sab-
bath Breaking and the Death Penal~: A Theological Investigation (Tyler, TX: Geneva
Ministries, 1986); and Jordan, “Christianity and the Calendar (A Syllabus)”
(available from Biblical Horizons, P.O. Box 132011, Tyler, TX 75713).
3. On time as burden or opportunity, as cyclical or linear, see various works of
Mircea Eliade, especially Cosmos and History: The Myth of the Eternal Return,
trans. Willard R. Trask (New York: Harper Torchbooks, [1949] 1959); and
Gary North, The Dominion Covenant: Genesis. An Economic Commentary on the
Bible I, 2d ed. (Tyler, TX: Institute for Christian Economics, 1987), pp.
118-131, 440-441. C. S. Lewis also has some interesting remarks on this subject
in his novel The Great Divorce.
4. See commentaries on Genesis. The alternatives are that the sons of God were
angels who married with men, but this is based on Jewish fables and makes no
sense in the light of Matthew 22:30. A modification sees the “sons of God” as
demonized men, thus angelic in that sense. The other view sees the “sons of
God” as powerful warrior kings who took whatever women they wanted,
precursors of Nimrod. There is much to be said for this view, but I believe it is
guilty of importing to the context considerations that are absent. In context we
need an explanation for what happened to the godly line of Seth. The intermar-
riage interpretation alone provides it.
5. Meredith G. Kline, Kingdom Prologue, 3 vols. (by the author, 1983) 2:105.
6. Ibid.