ReNEWed COVENANT Ministry

SABBATH BIBLE STUDY

12-22

(2020)

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Compiled by JS LOWTHER
renewedcovenantministry.com
servant@renewedcovenantministry.com

Church Government

(continuation from: A Community of Election and Order)

Part 6 

Presbyterian Episcopate of Judges and Heads

Exo_20:12

Honor (value) thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which YHWH thy God giveth thee.

Lev_19:32

Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head,

and honor the face of the old man/ Presbyter (πρεσβυτερων),

and fear thy God: I am YHWH.

(G4245 Presbyter: (elderly); older, old one)

In the last 2 studies we have focused on the Election of the LORD GOD as it pertains to the Presbytery hearing by faith.

We have established that this is the first tier of the Electorate (as we will call it)
We have And as such we have seen how it was by the spiritual Call and election of God in Exodus 3, 4, 12 and 17 that the first tier, as it were, was selected to be the base of the Government of the people of God.
It was not a general election of the demos of the general chiding and murmuring people, it was an council of Presbyters,
These are:
1. old men / not young men
2. that heard the call
3. who believed in YHWH’s visitation and deliverance
4. who would receive the sacraments of the blood of the lamb, which was Christ, for the family and instruct the houses to follow them as to save the first born of their sons, but to affect a destruction on the first born of the enemy Egyptians. This was the power of this symbolic blood: salvation and judgment on the enemy’s of God all in one blow.
5. These are the Elders who followed Moses to a Rock to receive water, which was said to also be Christ
and last we hear
6. These are the Elders of Israel who met with Jethro to eat a sacrificial meal with Moses, already acting the part of the embassy of the people, why? Because these people were natural heads of the 100onds of Israel’s families. These also honored Moses, and who Moses honored they honored and sought to worship with a fellow servant of YHWH.

It was on the morrow of this meal that Jethro gave his advice to Moses concerning how to ordain Judges which the Lord showed him:

And Moses chose able men out of all Israel, and made them heads over the people, rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens.
And they judged the people at all seasons: the hard causes they brought unto Moses, but every small matter they judged themselves. Exo_18:25-26

And so we see this representative of “all the people” in Jethro’s council and then we see the interpretation thereof as “all Israel”.
If we end here in taking Israel as every Israelite born genetically and ethnically to genetic Israelite parents , “All” means “All”, but if we both see the prior use of the term:

Exo_3:15  And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel… and this meant: Exo_3:16  Go, and gather the elders of Israel together, …
Exo_4:28-29  And Moses told Aaron all the words of the LORD who had sent him, and all the signs which he had commanded him.   And Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the children of Israel

And so we see in this group the application of this council of …provide out of “all the people” “able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness…” in the application of this to the eventual choice of Judges by Moses.
This representation is consistently maintained in Chapter 19:

Exo_19:3  And Moses went up unto God, and the LORD called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel;
Exo 19:4  Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself.
Exo 19:5  Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine:
Exo 19:6  And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.
Exo 19:7  And Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before their faces all these words which the LORD commanded him.

And further as this narrative moves on we see not only the terms of this agreement made by the Elder Judges, but also it is this people the focus has not left off of that Moses also speaks the words of the 10 commandments.

Exo_20:19  And they said (the elders of the people) unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die.
Exo 20:20  And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not.
Exo 20:21  And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was.

And then we see a further establishment of this being the order maintained as we see :

Exo 24:1  And he said unto Moses, Come up unto the LORD, thou, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel; and worship ye afar off.
Exo 24:2  And Moses alone shall come near the LORD: but they shall not come nigh; neither shall the people go up with him.
Exo 24:3  And Moses came and told the people all the words of the LORD, and all the judgments: and all the people answered with one voice, and said, All the words which the LORD hath said will we do.
Exo 24:4  And Moses wrote all the words of the LORD, and rose up early in the morning, and builded an altar under the hill, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel.
Exo 24:5  And he sent young men of the children of Israel, which offered burnt offerings, and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen unto the LORD.
Exo 24:6  And Moses took half of the blood, and put it in basons; and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar.
Exo 24:7  And he took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience of the people: and they said, All that the LORD hath said will we do, and be obedient.
Exo 24:8  And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which the LORD hath made with you concerning all these words.
Exo 24:9  Then went up Moses, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders (presbyters) of Israel:
Exo 24:10  And they saw the God of Israel: and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his clearness.
Exo_24:11  And upon the nobles ( אצילי/ AZILI ) of the children of Israel he laid not his hand: also they saw God, and did eat and drink.
Here is an interesting thing to notice about what the KJV calls the “Nobles”, the LXX
Exo_24:11  And of the chosen ones of Israel there was not even one missing, and they appeared in the place of God, and did eat and drink.

The nature of the nobility is the selected, choice, chosen character, which shows that these men had been selected noble, the literal Hebrew reads אצילי/ AZILI “delivered ones”. This aids in the fortification of comprehending that these men are recognized as Elect, even in the sense of salvation, delivered of the people, and delivered up of the “all the people to this noble” position.
And so here we end in the progression of the first year of the people leaving Exodus, at a established Electorate made up of the Presbyters of Israel, of which there are 70 who are deemed ‘delivered’ enough, or ‘noble’ enough to see the God of Israel and ate and drank, as a further attestation to the nature of these zaqen / old men of which is said not even one was missing.

These are the Elders the natural presbyter of Israel, the Old men that believed in YHWH by Faith, that followed Moses Law by Faith and who perceivably loved YHWH and His salvation and had faith in his lawgiver.
It was to these faithful old men that Moses laid upon them the heart mind and might received prescription of :

Take you wise men, and understanding, and known among your tribes, and I will make them rulersH7218 /heads/ LXX leaders : hēgeomai over you. Deu_1:13
Deu_1:14  And ye answered me, and said, The thing which thou hast spoken is good for us to do.
Deu_1:15 So I took the chief of your tribes, wise men, and known, and made them heads (LXX leaders : hēgeomai) over you, captains (heads) over thousands, and captains over hundreds, and captains over fifties, and captains over tens, and officers (Scribes/ Grammataus) among your tribes שׁבט(LXX says for your or unto you Judge שׁפט implying the judges of the tribes, but which is an easy typo in Hebrew of on similar letter .
Deu 1:16  And I charged your judges H8199at that time, saying, Hear the causes between your brethren, and judge righteously between every man and his brother, and the stranger that is with him.
Deu 1:17  Ye shall not respect persons in judgment; but ye shall hear the small as well as the great; ye shall not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment is God’s: and the cause that is too hard for you, bring it unto me, and I will hear it.

These are the : Able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and placed over them, to be rulers of thousands, and rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens:  these judged the people at all seasons: Exo_18:21-22

And then what we read again in Num 1 is about a 1 year long establishment of Exo_18:25-26 ,as we know the dates of Egypt in the 1st month the eating of the Elders in the 3rd month we read in:

Num_1:1  And the LORD spake unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tabernacle of the congregation, on the first day of the second month, in the second year after they were come out of the land of Egypt, saying,

(And so this system has been established for a year, now with the addition of the revelation of the workings of the tabernacle, but it is at this time that sufficient organizational time has elapsed to show forth the “SUM” or Over site the Episcopate of the people in fact and in time:)

Num_1:2  Take ye the sum (Archon, Head, the person) of all the congregation of the children of Israel, after their families, by the house of their fathers (LXX ABP patrimony G3965) with the number of their names, every male by their polls (skulls);
Num 1:3  From twenty years old and upward, all that are able to go forth to war in Israel: thou and Aaron shall number G1980 them by their armies.
Num 1:4  And with you there shall be a man of every tribe; every one head (Archon, Head the person) of the house of his fathers.
Num 1:5  And these are the names of the men that shall stand with you: of the tribe of Reuben; Eli-zur the son of She-deur.
Num 1:6  Of Sim-eon; Shel-u-miel the son of Zur-ish-addai.
Num 1:7  Of Judah; Nahshon the son of Amminadab.
Num 1:8  Of Issachar; Nethan-eel the son of Zuar.
Num 1:9  Of Zebulun; Eli-ab the son of Helon.
Num 1:10  Of the children of Joseph: of Ephraim; Eli-shama the son of Ammi-hud: of Manasseh; Gama-liel the son of Ped-ah-zur.
Num 1:11  Of Benjamin; Abi-dan the son of Gid-eon-i.
Num 1:12  Of Dan; Ahi-ezer the son of Am-mish-addai.
Num 1:13  Of Asher; Pag-iel the son of Oc-ran.
Num 1:14  Of Gad; Eli-asaph the son of Deuel.
Num 1:15  Of Naphtali; Ahi-ra the son of En-an.
Num 1:16  These were the renowned (selected ones) of the congregation, princes of the tribes of their fathers, heads of thousands in Israel.
Num 1:17  And Moses and Aaron took these men which are expressed by their names:
Num 1:18  And they assembled all the congregation together on the first day of the second month, and they declared their pedigrees after their families, by the house of their fathers, according to the number G1980 of the names, from twenty years old and upward, by their polls (skull).
Num 1:19  As the LORD commanded Moses, so he numbered ( επεσκεπησανG1980 ) them in the wilderness of Sinai.

Num 1:20  And the children of Reuben, Israel’s eldest son, by their generations, after their families, by the house of their fathers, according to the number of the names, by their polls H1538 גלגלתם/Golgo(l)thim), every male from twenty years old and upward, all that were able to go forth to war;
Num 1:21  Those that were numbered επεσκεπησανG1980 of them, even of the tribe of Reuben

Num 1:20  And there were to the sons of Reuben, first-born of Israel according to their kin,G4772 according to their peoples,G1218 G1473 according to the housesG3624 of their patrimony,G3965 according to the numberG706 of their names, according to their head count,G2776 every male from twenty years and up, every one going forth in the force,G1411

I hope by this point it is well established that what we read in Ex 18 and Num 1 as requirements for spiritual leadership come from a natural people in need of Government, judges and heads of 10’s, 50’s, 100’s and 1000’s one must be before all else: wise men, and known, who agree to not respect persons in judgment; but to hear the small as well as the great; to not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment they are aiming to execute is God’s: and the cause that are too hard are admitted to and brought to greater authority in Law to hear it.

These are the: Able men, these are such as fear God, These are men of truth, hating covetousness
And at the heist level of this, at the level of the Heads of 1000’s, as we see the list of men’s names who established this office as they are listed we cannot over look how this numbering took place:

Num_1:44  These are those that were numbered επισκεψις (noun)G1980
, which Moses and Aaron numbered επεσκεψαντο (verb), and the princes of Israel, being twelve men: each one was for the house of his fathers.
Num 1:45  So were all those that were numbered επισκεψις
of the children of Israel, by the house of their fathers, from twenty years old and upward.

This people was numbered by a numbered, over seen by an overseer an Episcope or as we say it in bastard English ‘Bishop’, this is the Episcopate of the presbytery of the congregation of Israel, these are the Called of the Natural order and of spiritual order (or presumed to be see so by men), this is the Theonomic order as it is presented by the Law of God.

(επεσκε-G1980> all words related to Episcopate government in the LXX Greek Book of Numbers : 1:3,18,19,21,23,25,27,29,31,33,35,37,39,41,43,44,45; 2:4,6,8,9,11,13,15,16,19,21,23,24,26,28,30,31,32; 3:15,16,22,34,36,39,40,42,43; 4:23,27,29,30,32,34,36,37,38,40,41,42,44,45,46,48,49; 16:5,29; 26:7,14,18,22,25,27,34,37,41,47,50,51,54,62,63,64; 27:16.)

Here is my total point that I want to be understood on the biblical Presbyterian episcopate of the Church family as we have it presented in Biblical Law.
The 5th Commandment as it pertains to both Natural and Spiritual realities are products of Grace and Election.