Re: Naked Bible 95: David Burnett — Resurrection and the Death of the Gods – On the podcast, Heiser features a PhD student sharing a paper he was preparing for presentation at a scholarly conference. His thesis is that Paul’s discussion of resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15:35-50 is not based on Genesis 1-2, but on Deuteronomy 4.
Review: We know from Deuteronomy 32 that God parceled out the nations to His Elohim Council at the Tower of Babel. However, He separated out Abraham and his heirs (Israel) as His own nation. Deuteronomy 4 reminds Israel that they were not handed over to those other gods, so they must not worship them. The list of creatures Paul offers in 1 Corinthians 15 is an echo of the same list in Deuteronomy 4, not the list we see in Genesis 1-2.
Side note: The language of “sun, moon and stars” in Deuteronomy 4 refers to idolatry, as the pagans regarded those celestial bodies as deities. It’s not that Israel believed so much in astrology, but knew the pagans regarded them as gods with great power over human existence.
The Second Temple Jewish scholars regarded Deuteronomy 4 an evangelistic passage. It was the basis for calling out to Gentiles to stop worshiping God’s lackeys and to focus on Him as the Maker of all things. Paul knew he was not under the power of those pagan deities. The author cites Philo as a primary example of this thinking and did not argue at all whether such deities existed, only that they were secondary powers, at best.
Nobody doubted that humans could not handle this world without some kind of divine guidance, so it was all proper. We cannot stand on our own; that is a very recent myth. Greek mythology insisted that we must be herded by a higher race of beings (outlined in Plato’s Laws). The point is that the whole of humanity is incapable of deciding anything really important but are steered by higher powers. Philo noticed that this notion was wholly consistent with Scripture. His point was that Israel was not allotted to those beings but selected by God.
Earlier in that same letter to Corinth (10:20-21) Paul warns them to avoid participating in ritual pagan feasts. Even though the idols were actually of no significance, Christians were not under the authority of those demons and elohim (see Deuteronomy 32:17 and 1 Corinthians 12:2).
Then this author lowers the boom: You are no longer part of the nations. Your national identity was tied up in idolatry and control from hostile powers. You must leave all that behind; you must denounce your human national identity. You are now under a Covenant with Heaven; you have been selected and pulled out of that. They didn’t become Jews because that was just another ethne (human national identity). It’s a wholly different category based on spirit, not DNA and culture. This is the New Exodus.
It’s the same language used in the Call of Abraham as well as the Exodus. Abraham was taken away from the elohim and demons who ruled the pagan nations. Israel was not one of the 70, not in the Table of Nations. And who inherits the Call of Abraham? That’s what Galatians is all about. It’s the same language for Christians.
It also connects to the imagery of how every royal heir in the ANE was commissioned to go off and do battle, to defeat some enemy who held people who didn’t belong to them. God did battle with the gods of Egypt and defeated them. The Ten Plagues were a judgment on those gods. The language of resurrection comes from the image of Israel being dead under the power of Pharaoh. God brought Israel back to life.
The author with Heiser refers to the chaos Isaiah describes in chapters 24-27, and how God restores cosmic order. Isaiah clearly foreshadows a latter-day exodus of people who won’t need a verbal law but will obey from a new spirit. Instead of extravagant imagery of kings as gods, the New Israel will have God as their real king.
It sweeps in the imagery of Israel’s elders beholding God on the mountain (70 of them, the same number of Jehovah’s elohim elders who beheld His glory). The numerical parallels show up across the ANE pagan mythology, of ascending to a cosmic mountain image to celebrate the glory of one god or another. Isaiah promises the final gathering and celebratory feast. This is the Wedding of the Lamb, the son as conquering hero. The elders will assemble for inspection and be judged (Psalm 82).
This is all in the background, the context of what Paul relates in the key passage in 1 Corinthians about resurrection. Every time Paul uses the language of “Holy Ones” — often lamely translated as “saints” — he’s pointing to the Day of Judgment when the Elect will replace the Elohim Council.
The podcast goes on to dig into the terminology of the Unseen Realm and how it completely alters how we see the New Testament. The New echoes the Old in a thousand ways.
