Issued: 05/02/22

Part II / Spiritual Considerations

“For everything God created is good, and nothing should be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving.”

1Timothy 4:4

PLEASE NOTE:  All bracketed material may be authorial comments, attempts at proper syntax, or minimal rewordings of Scripture for the sake of clarity and continuity.  These emendations will not be italicized.  The “/” will be used to signify “and/or.”

   In differentiating between Yahweh of hosts [later Jesus] and Yahweh the Most High God, lower case letters have been used when discussing the former; upper case letters are reserved for the One and Only Highest God.  Since Jesus was at pains to differentiate himself from God the Father, we have followed his lead here.

   The term neo-Christian will be used to differentiate between false Christians and Jesus’ true followers.

   In 1Timothy 6:10, Paul explained the reasons why love of money is the root of all evil:  “Some people, in their eagerness to get rich, have wandered away from the faith and caused themselves a lot of pain.”  Please note that Paul is not saying money is evil, for money is currency printed, minted, and now digitalized, lacking conscious will or evil intentions.  In this sense money is like food:  It has no influence over the soul; only the evil already present in men’s heart (Ecclesiastes 7:29, 9:3), which lusts for money and all it can provide, is the factor that endows money with its corruptive influences.

   Following this reasoning, there are really no “unclean” animals, “unclean,” that is, in terms of their natures.  A tiger cub—or any predator, for that matter—is not born bloodthirsty; and many YouTube videos depicting predators raised by humans from infancy prove that fact in dramatic ways.  Further still there are predators which, against type, nurture and befriend species of animals they normally prey on.  By and large, any animal preying on infirm or weaker victims do not do so out of spite, malice, or a lust for killing:  They are following instincts over which they have no conscious control and which have nothing to do with morality or free will.  And the reason is not that animals lack souls:  Solomon himself entertained that possibility (Ecclesiastes 3:21); on that issue, there are no definitive answers.

   The point being made is that pigs, for instance, are not in and of themselves “unclean.”  They might have unclean habits, but the creature itself, being the creation of a moral and pure Deity, is by definition “good.”  Paul’s comment in 1Timothy 4:4 is rooted in Genesis 1:31; and in Titus 1:15 he focuses on the heart of the matter:  “To the pure all things are pure, but to the corrupt and unbelieving nothing is pure. Their very minds and consciences are corrupted.”  Note that he is following Jesus’ argument regarding eating in Matthew 15:16-20:  The things that defile men, [make them “unclean”], are evil words and deeds issuing from their hearts (Luke 6:45)—not the organ pumping blood but the soul responsible for giving life to the body (John 6:63).  In the dynamics of death and resurrection, death ensues at the time the soul leaves the body, but if returning, life resumes (Luke 8:49-55).  The blood might be the life of mortal flesh (Leviticus 17:11), symbolizing the power of Jesus’ blood to remit sins, but the soul is what makes the transition from mortal to immortal life.

   Thus if someone regards something as “unclean,” it is for him but not necessarily for others (Romans 14:14).  Titus 1:15 is preceded by the suggestion that believers should not heed “Jewish fables and commandments of men” (Titus 1:14) that mislead and deprive people of the freedoms granted in Jesus; among these Mosaic ordinances imposed until the new covenant of faith superseded the old “do-as-you-are-told-or-else” Sinaitic version (Hebrews 9:10).  And once again an opinion as to the character of men seeking to enslave others through spurious practices:  “The [Holy] Spirit says clearly that in the last times some people will abandon the faith by following deceitful spirits, the teachings of demons, and the hypocrisy of liars, whose consciences have been burned by a hot iron.¹ They will try to stop people from marrying and from eating certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.  For everything God created is good, and nothing should be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, because it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer” (1Timothy 4:1-5).

   What then is wrong with eating pork?  Under Christianity, nothing; under Mosaic Law, a way of inculcating obedience to God by depriving people of a popular food source—like sea food that could only be gotten had the Israelites gone fishing from desert to the shores of the Red or Mediterranean Sea for 40 years.  Yet the danger for both religions is the same:  If the objective is to please God by obeying easier to follow commands like diet as prescribed by Mosaic Law, everyone is compelled to follow all other Mosaic commands as well (James 2:10), something that no one has been able to do and the reason why Mosaic restrictions were intended to be unenforceable (Ezekiel 20:25; Acts 15:10).  The road to hell is paved with good pretensions.

   In a way Acts 10:15 upgraded Mosaic Dietary Laws:  Jesus scolded Peter that he was in no position to call unclean anything that God had cleansed.  In this Jesus was referring to men, but he used animals to make the point (Acts 10:10-16).  Why animals and not men?  Why wait until Peter was hungry to reinforce a moral precept that had nothing to do with eating, since Jesus had already taught that food had no power to corrupt the soul?  A link was being established between men and animals, or rather, animals as symbols for men—symbolism not then originated, but used extensively in Old Testament prophecies and Mosaic diet.

Animals in Prophecy

   A graphic example is in Ezekiel 4:9-15.  Ezekiel prophesied amongst Jews after the first exile to Babylon (2Kings 24:10-16):  He received his divine commission by the Kebar River in land of the Chaldeans (Ezekiel 1:1-3, 2:3-4).² Ezekiel 4 is laden with information referencing Judeo-Christian liberation [shadow to the substance of Romans 11:25-26—see Exodus 12:40; Ezekiel 4:4-6]; prophetic time-conversion factors (Numbers 14:34; Ezekiel 4:6); and references to the fates of Israel [Judaism] and Christianity [Jerusalem/Judah, Jesus’ tribe (Hebrews 7:14)], the two adulterous “wives” of the ever-faithful Yahweh of hosts (Jeremiah 3:6-11).³     Let us not overlook a clue implicit in Ezekiel 2:6:  “But as for you, son of man [echoing Jesus’ own epithet as the Son of Man (Matthew 20:28)], do not fear them or their words. Do not fear, even though there are briers or thorns and you sit among scorpions. Do not be afraid of their words or be terrified by their looks for they are a rebellious house.”  Who is Yahweh talking about?  Men symbolized as plants and animals, specifically unproductive plants [briers and thorns] we can categorize as chaff to be burned (Matthew 7:9); and an “unclean” arachnid [scorpions] that is both predatory and poisonous (Leviticus 11:41).  Why not say ‘men’ outright?  To drive the point further that to people of faith, everything is revealed in symbolic terms (Mark 4:11-12).

   Other instances of references to men using animal symbolism:

Ezekiel 13:4:  “Thy prophets, O Israel, were like foxes in the deserts.”

Ezekiel 34:2-3,5,11,17:  “Woe to the shepherds of Israel who have been feeding themselves!  Should not shepherds feed the flock?  You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fatlings; but you do not feed the sheep [cross-reference Matthew 23:5,13-14,24]…So they were scattered, because there was no shepherd; and scattered, they became food for all the wild animals…I myself will search for my sheep [cross-reference John 6:39, 17:12; Hebrews 2:13], and will seek them out [cross-reference John 10:27]… As for you, O my flock, thus says the Lord Yahweh: Behold, I judge between sheep and sheep, the rams and the male goats” [cross-reference Matthew 25:32-33].⁴

Ezekiel 39:18:  “You’ll eat the flesh of mighty men and drink the blood of the world’s princes, drinking the blood of these rams, lambs, goats, bulls, all of them fattened as if they’re from Bashan, fit for slaughter!” [Reference to the corpses of the unrighteous dead after the redeemed have been transported to Heaven following Judgment Day—see Jeremiah 25:33; Revelation 19:17-21].⁵

   With respect to Satan and his human minions,

“Behold, I am against you, Pharaoh King of Egypt, the great dragon that lies in the midst of his rivers [cross-reference Ezekiel 32:2; Revelation 20:2].  So I’m going to plant a hook in your jaw and make the fish in your rivers [peoples, multitudes, nations and languages (Revelation 17:15)]…stick to your scales.  I will fling you into the wilderness, you and all the fish of your rivers you shall fall in the open field, and not be gathered and buried [again the unburied corpses following Judgment Day, the bed of maggots Satan will be chained upon for a thousand years (Isaiah 14:11; Revelation 20:2-3)]…I’ll cover the mountains with your flesh and fill their valleys with your rotting carcass.  I will also water with your blood the land in which you swim [the world], even to the mountains; and the watercourses shall be full of you” (Ezekiel 29:3-5 32:5).⁶

Animal Symbolism in Christian Doctrine

   You get the point:  Scripture is ripe with symbolism pairing “unclean” animals with unrighteous men; and since some of this symbolism was discussed at some length in our series Genesis: The Myth That Never Was, Part VI(a), we do not want to belabor them here.  Sheep, the standard animal symbol used by Jesus to denote his followers, are “clean,” and so he places them at his right on Judgment Day; yet goats and rams, which are Levitically “clean” [with split hooves and chewers of cud], are subject to condemnation.  Why?  Enter nuances:  Sheep are peaceful, obedient animals that only listen to the voice of their shepherd; rams and goats are belligerent, recalcitrant, and would follow whoever forced their authority upon them.  Foxes are sly and predatory; bulls are aggressive; creepy crawlers are unpredictable and dangerous; flies are disease carriers; camels are stubborn; vultures eat carrion; spiders spin flimsy webs to ensnare the unwary; etc.  It is possible to go down Leviticus 11:1-47 and pair clean and unclean animals with human behaviors violating divine norms.  Therefore animals themselves, as creatures of God, are “good,” but how they interact with other species illustrates “clean” or “unclean” behaviors.

Pigs

  Let us again focus on pigs.  What is unclean about them?  That they wallow in the mud?  They can be bathed.  That they eat kitchen refuse?  It makes them fatter and tastier.  That their meat harbors dangerous pathogens?  Those can be zapped at high temperatures during cooking.  None of these things indicate intrinsic evil; but something they do, irrespective of morality, makes them posters boys for reprehensible behaviors:  They do not understand the value of what may be lavished on them.

   Hence Matthew 7:6:  “Do not throw your pearls before swine, lest they trample them underfoot.”  And in terms of repudiating Christian conversion, the proverb quoted by Peter:  “A pig that is washed goes back to wallow in the mud” (2Peter 2:22).  For a pig, the choicest piece of meat is no different than a moldy scrap of bread; and to wallow in the mud is their version of glory.  Who really is being referenced here?  People who accepted Jesus, partook of grace, turned their back on God, and went back to their old habits.  Once this is done, there is no turning back or further chance of reconciliation with God (Hebrews 6:4-6, 10:38; 2Peter 2:21).

Dogs

   And the same applies to the other “unclean” animal paired with pigs in both Jesus’ and Peter’s words:  Dogs.  Their astonishing variety of breeds and endearing ways cannot mask the single fact common to all:  Dogs will obey their masters and remain loyal to them unto death, whether used and abused to safeguard masters’ interests, or to tear people to pieces irrespective of moral considerations.  And once again, dogs in and of themselves are “good”; what they are trained to do and do willingly and unquestionably is what makes them reprehensible—or “unclean,” if you will.

   Hence Jesus’ warning to his followers:  “Do not give what is holy [loyalty, obedience, honor, worship] to dogs…otherwise they…will turn around and tear you to pieces” (Matthew 7:6).  Or as Peter put it, “A dog returns to its vomit” (2Peter 2:21), a revolting but well-documented fact that after disgorging something toxic to their system [think sinfulness in human terms], dogs eat the whole mess back with mindless gusto to contaminate themselves all over again.

   We are constantly reminded of such realities in our daily newscasts.  Wars being blamed on some abominable head of state are not waged by him, but by his ‘dogs of war’ doing the raping and killing in the battlefield.  Though time and again proving unworthy of any modicum of loyalty, an execrable politician holds sway over the minds of millions; and continuously berates and threatens payback against people who once served him but no longer do so [the “doggish” behavior reviled in Matthew 7:6].  Their behaviors are there to remind us of their “unclean” status when measured against divine standards, because their actions are undertaken of their own free will—or, as per Romans 6:16 and 2Peter 2:19, in sync with a higher master, as are those of their enablers and abettors.

   When in Philippians 3:2 Paul said, “Beware of the dogs! Beware of the evil workers! Beware of the mutilators!,” he was talking about false preachers trying to enforce circumcision as a religious duty, which would have rendered foolish compliers slaves of Mosaic Law.  As can be seen by Galatians 2:3-5 Paul forcibly resisted those ‘unclean dogs,’ [not having cleansed themselves in Jesus’ blood—refer to imagery in Revelation 7:14], for preaching a return to Mosaic basics, or in Peter’s analogy, the re-assimilation of a doctrine that was lethal to themselves and others.

   But perhaps Jeremiah 15:3 is a better example:  “I will appoint over them four kinds, says Yahweh: the sword to kill, and the dogs to tear, and the birds of the sky, and the beasts of the earth, to devour and to destroy.”  Who constitute the killing word and the birds of the sky?  The so-called Horsemen of Revelation, all of them angels [evil ones, for Satan, the “homicidal sword” (Ezekiel 21:11), is counted among them], empowered [given their destructive weapons] to wreak havoc upon mankind (Revelation 6:2-8).  Who then are the dogs and the beasts of the earth?  The human beings through whom the four horsemen carry out their agenda of destruction.  It bears repeating once more:  Despite the considerable power Satan brags of having through Hollywood movies and satanic literature, he cannot ruffle a single one of his feather unless the Most High God or His proxy God, Jesus, permits him to do so.

Oxen

   Like sheep, oxen are a standard Biblical symbol denoting faithful workers.  Sheep are followers and so the embodiment of God’s people at large; but oxen specifically refers to Apostolic preachers:  “For in the Law of Moses it has been written: ‘You will not muzzle an ox treading out grain’ (Deuteronomy 25:4); does God care for the oxen?  Isn’t He really speaking for our benefit? Yes, this was written for our benefit, because the one who plows should plow in hope, and the one who threshes should thresh in hope of sharing in the crop [goals real oxen have not striving for]. If we have sown spiritual good among you, is it too much if we reap your material benefits” (1Corinthians 9:9-11)?

   What is Paul obliquely referring to?  Jesus’ parable of the sower:  “He who is sowing the good seed is the Son of Man, while the field is the world” (Matthew 13:37-38).  How does a sower furrow the land so that seeds will be planted in deep earth and produce better crops?  With a team of oxen.  If the seed is the word of God (Luke 8:11), is not the earth the hearts of men, for Adam, the father of mankind, was made from it (Genesis 2:7)?⁷  And the punishment imposed on that sinful, first Adam (Genesis 3:17-18), is it not an allegory for the ministry of the redeeming, second Adam (Romans 5:12-19; 1Corinthians 15:45-47)?

   So if Jesus is the new Adam, and his ministry gives rise to evildoers who oppose and undermine it [the thorns and thistles of Genesis 3:18 and Ezekiel 3:6], he needed a team of oxen [Apostles] to enhance the productive capabilities of the field [the world] into which the word of God [the seed] would be planted and fructify.  And the Apostles did this by preaching the Gospel beyond the confines of Israel.  The symbolic giveaway is Yahweh’s instruction not “to muzzle” the oxen, for they are yoked in pairs [the way Jesus deployed his Apostles (Mark 6:7; Luke 10:1)], never muzzled.  What is the message here?  That nothing must impede the Apostles [oxen] from preaching the Gospel or instructing others in God’s way.  Which is also the reason why oxen must not be yoked with donkeys (Deuteronomy 22:10); for whereas oxen plow on obediently and uncomplainingly, donkeys resist everything they are unwilling to comply with—in short, donkeys as symbols for men who do not follow instructions and would preach a version of the true Gospel suiting their biases and self interests.

Wolves

   These wonderful and supremely smart creatures are rendered “unclean.”  Why?  Like all predatory carnivores, wolves eat to survive; and despite popularized misconceptions about alpha male wolves, most wolf packs consists of parents and their offspring—in short, a family unit.  As is the case with humans, family means priority and everything else, no matter how moral or essential, is of secondary importance.  As can be surmised, this arrangement goes against the grain of Christian doctrine, where family disunity for loyalty to Jesus is unavoidable (Luke 12:51-53), and prioritizing the needs of loved ones does not cut mustard with God (Luke 6:32).  The reason should be clear:  If God makes no distinctions amongst people, His own Son included, and He expects men to partake of His holiness, then He expects everyone to toe His line to the letter (Deuteronomy 10:17; Acts 10:34-35; Hebrews 12:10).  Hence the so-called “hard sayings” of Jesus regarding family, which we have discussed elsewhere.

   So this superb social structure so “good” for wolves becomes problematic in terms of Gospel priorities when it comes to men.  But it is the preying instincts of wolves which is at issue [aiming for the vulnerable, weak, and infirm], especially when prey turn out to be sheep.  As applied to religious realities, wolves are the false preachers who exploit unenlightened converts for self and loved ones’ interests.  Thus a litany of warnings:  “Her princes within her are like wolves tearing the prey, by shedding blood and destroying lives in order to get dishonest gain” (Ezekiel 22:27).  “Her princes within her are roaring lions; her judges are wolves at evening; they leave nothing for the morning” (Zephaniah 3:3).  “Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves” (Matthew 7:15).  “I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock” (Acts 20:29).  Princes [i.e., priests (Acts 23:5)]; judges; prophets—no one is to be trusted (Psalms 146:3), for religion, like everything else, is meat for them, but poison to their audiences.

   The free-for-all smorgasbord that contemporary evangelism has become was prophesied in Ezekiel 22:7, 34:1-31, the latter mapping the whole trajectory from exploitation (:3-10), to the necessity for Jesus’ earthly ministry (:11-12,16), to freeing God’s people from their purview (:27-28), to the Last Judgment (:17,20), to the establishment of a new order of things (:23-31).  The manifest proof that Christendom is in the last throes of the apostasy that must precede the second coming of Jesus (2Thessalonians 2:3) is the mind-boggling reality that neo-Christians have bartered away the freedoms given by Jesus and chained themselves to doctrines peddled by religious leaders preying on them .  One has only to take stock of the real estate holdings and life-styles of these new age Pharisees to realize that the sheep have been royally and thoroughly fleeced.  Consequently, what passes for Christianity nowadays is an amalgam of the herd mentality wrapped around celebrity cults, with celebs leading the herd to the proverbial hole.

The Bigger Picture

   Clean and unclean distinctions lead us to the notion that opposites can never be reconciled, be them good and evil, righteousness and unrighteousness.  They are implicit in Paul’s conclusion that there can be no fellowship between light and darkness (2Corinthians 6:14).  Just as Satan has no place in Jesus (John 14:30), people of faith have no business chumming up with unbelievers; for doing so, just as clean animals became unclean when in contact with proscribed species, righteous people are in danger of spiritual contamination from intimate contact with practitioners of sin.

    Yahweh’s religion, which is to say Jesus’ Gospel, does not entertain the notion of all-inclusiveness, all-roads-lead-to-God approaches so compelling in our apostate days.  Holiness in the Bible means separation from the tainted, as were the ritualistic paraphernalia in Yahweh’s Tabernacle/Jerusalem Temple.  Those objects and their uses are emblematic of believers performing specific functions in the building of God’s true Temple, the mystical body of Jesus, wherein he is head and everybody else, body, organs and limbs, are controlled by him (1Corinthians 3:9; Ephesians 2:19-22, 4:15-16, 5:23-30; Hebrews 3-6; 1Peter 2:5).⁸ As holy utensils in that Church, believers cannot taint themselves with anything and anyone “unclean.”

   We have found, then, symbolic meanings underpinning simple dietary restrictions in Mosaic Law, exactly the literary tour de force we would expect from a God Whose mind surpasses all understanding (Romans 11:33-34)—and as He Himself promised to do (Isaiah 29:10-14; Habakkuk 1:5).

   This is by no means a comprehensive study of such symbolism; there is much to be revealed and properly understood, like Deuteronomy 14:21:  “You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk” (Deuteronomy 14:21).  Jewish interpreters past and present approach this from a dietary standpoint, which amounts to scratching the surface as far as the symbolic content of Leviticus 11 is concerned.  Neo-Christians apologists derive all sorts of fanciful interpretations ranging from God’s ‘tender’ nature to familial bonds. These two fail in view not only of how God presents Himself in the Bible, full of good intentions towards His people at some future time but presently allowing Satan to scourge “every son He receives” [not exactly evidence of TLC (Hebrews 12:6)]; but also in terms of mother/child bonds that play no role in spiritual legitimacy (Matthew 10:37).  It will never do to inject human biases into divine intentions.  As God pointedly remarked, His ways and ours do not jibe (Isaiah 55:8).

The Foolishness Afoot

   On May 29, 2021 Remnant Fellowship Church leader and founder Gwen Shamblin died in a plane crash along with husband Joe Lara on route to a MAGA rally in Florida.  Ms. Shamblin preached faithfulness to God by maintaining a slim waistline and harsh parental discipline to raise docile children.  She was a nutritionist peddling the novel idea that hunger for food could be turned into devotion to God.  She got fame and fortune via books, VHS tapes, and in-church indoctrination; the heavyset were subject to derision and isolation.  Her husband, a former actor craving for the good life and a country music career, is said to have married her less out of love and more for the goodies the money she raked in could buy.

   Un-Christian as all these respective goals were, Ms. Shamblin might have gotten her inspiration from L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology, who infamously said that in order to get rich, one had to start a religion.  Mr. Hubbard was hip to a trend woven through Scripture:  that of the professed servant of God who prefers riches in banks rather than heavenly vaults.  With all due respect to Jesus (Matthew 6:19-20), moths and rust take a long time to erode bank assets; as far as thieves are concerned, insurance covers thefts.  Extrapolating from the adage that “a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush,” meaning what is actually secured profits more than something to be realized, both Mr. Hubbard and Ms. Shamblin were exemplars of partaking in the-here –and-now rather than waiting for their slice of a prophesied pie-in-the-sky. 

   The fact that Ms. Shamblin was flying to a MAGA rally speaks volumes about her standing with God; what is mind-boggling is that people, presumably religious and Christian-minded, should choose to be enslaved by someone as bereft, in words and deeds, of Jesus as volcanoes are of ice floes.  No matter the banality preached and practiced, people fell for it:  They may have been gung-ho about body fat tests but they forgot to test the spirits (1John 4:1).  Sadly, they are still at it.

   Whether God turned His back on Ms. Shamblin or if even Satan himself had had his fill of her, nobody knows.  But her death shook the faith of a church suddenly deprived of its leader, which raised the perennial question reverberating in the minds of the unenlightened:  Where was God?  Well, if we believe that He turns a deaf ear to the prayers of the disobedient (Proverbs 28:9; John 9:31), God had to be totally disengaged from Ms. Shamblin.  Imagine a person preaching healthy diet as worship to a God Who allows famine as punishment for disloyalty and spiritual infidelity (Amos 4:6-8; Ezekiel 5:12; Revelation 6:8).  Would the God Who makes no distinction among people allow children in Africa to waste away with mouths full of flies while being tickled pink at cultists in Tennessee maintaining healthy weights through proper dieting?  Would the fat, saintly person rank less in God’s eyes than a misguided, svelte one?  If there is any proof at all of God’s love and patience towards men, it is not John 3:16:  It is the fact that He puts up with all the character assassinations and doctrinal misrepresentations mankind heaps on Him.

   If anybody is interested, there is an updated HBO docuseries on Ms. Shamblin airing in HBO Max.  Whatever you do, pray for her:  She will not be having a good time when facing Jesus on Judgment Day; and this is no unwarranted judgment:  It is what Matthew 18:6-7 is all about, what Paul warns against in Ephesians 4:14 and in 1Timothy 4:1-3.

   And pray for the directionless “remnant” that cannot see Jesus in their focus over proper diet.  If “the kingdom of God is not food and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Romans 14:17), Ms. Shamblin’s remnants need to think less about shapely bodies and more about staving off the spiritual starvation of their souls.

   Bottom line:  Diet is inconsequential to God.  Eating and thanking Him for the food we eat it is another matter.  We all love to be appreciated by those to whom we give generously; and being chips of the proverbial Rock, so does He.

¹ A reference to Satan?  In the sense that Jesus, now the proxy God over creation rules over the world [Satan’s realm—Luke 4:6; John 14:30; 2Corinthians 4:4] with a rod of iron (Psalms 2:9; Matthew 28:18; Revelation 1:18, 19:15), is that rod Satan?  After all Satan is the “homicidal sword” despising Jesus’ rule (Ezekiel 21:9-11); and morphologically, a sword can be said to be an iron rod.  Food for thought.

² The exact body of water being referenced is a point of contention among Biblical scholars, perhaps in Syria on in Iraq.  We need not go there.

³ And as we have discussed before, who is their “husband?”  Israel’s proxy God and Creator:  Yahweh of hosts/Jesus (Isaiah 54:5; Matthew 9:15; John 3:29; Revelation 21:1-2,9).

⁴ Pay attention to detail.  Who gave what to whom?  The Most High gave children to Jesus.  In John 17:12 what is Jesus implying by saying, “I protected them in Your name that You have given me?”  The fact that Yahweh the Most High and Yahweh of hosts/Jesus share the same name (Isaiah 44:6), which Yahweh the Most High bestowed on His Son, the proxy Angel God heard by Moses from inside the burning bush (Exodus 3:2-6, 23:20-21).  And if heard, then not the Most High God Whose voice no man has heard (John 5:37).  Finally, who is the Judge of all Flesh?  Jesus:  “The Father judges no one but has given all judgment to the Son” (John 5:22: Acts 17:31).  And if Judge of all flesh, then seen and heard by Abraham at Mamre (Genesis 18:22-33); consequently not the Invisible Most High God no man has ever heard or seen (John 1:18; Colossians 1:15; 1Timothy 1:17).

    Stop repeating the blasphemy that the Most High and Jesus are one and the same God.

⁵ And all the way to Armageddon and its aftermath.  See Isaiah 34:1-10.

⁶ Since all unrighteous humans will be dead following Judgment Day to await the second resurrection (John 5:29; Acts 24:15; Revelation 20:5-6), the “animals of the air and the birds of the sky” feasting on the dead corpses in Ezekiel 29:5 are the real thing (cross-reference Revelation 19:17-18).

⁷ Following Paul’s logic in Hebrews 7:8-10, all of mankind was potentially present in his loins.

⁸ If Jesus was the foundation stone (Psalms 118:22; Acts 4:11; Ephesians 2:20), Peter was the second brick; hence his name change from Simon to Cephas/Peter, both of which mean “rock” in Aramaic and Greek, respectively (Matthew 16:18; John 1:42).