Warnings From Ancient Rebellions
1/19/202652 min
The Letter of Jude E3 — After the letter’s opening appeal, Jude (or Judah) begins warning corrupt members of a Jewish messianic church community who cast off restraint and live openly immoral lives. He does so with an ancient rhetorical technique found in both the Hebrew Bible and the Dead Sea Scrolls. Jude shares three stories of rebellion in the Hebrew Bible: the spies fearful of the promised land in Numbers 13-14, the “sons of God” in Genesis 6, and the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 19. Then he draws comparisons to the corrupt church members, promising they’ll receive th...
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First 90 secondsJon Collins· Host0:00
[upbeat music] Welcome to BibleProject Podcast. We're in a series on the New Testament letter of Jude, or as we've been calling it, the letter of Judah. So far, we've only read the first four verses.
Tim Mackie· Host0:15
Judah said, "Hey, I love you guys, and I wanted to write a biblical theology of salvation, but somehow I got wind of certain people who have started to hang out in your communities, and they're not a good influence."
Jon Collins· Host0:31
Next, Jude hyperlinks these men in their community to three different types of characters in the Hebrew Bible.
Tim Mackie· Host0:38
These people are like the spies who rebelled in the wilderness generation, they're like the sons of God in Genesis chapter 6, and they're like the people of Sodom and Gomorrah.
Jon Collins· Host0:47
First, they're like the spies in the wilderness who refuse to go into the Promised Land. Now, this isn't a random story Judah selects. It's a key rebellion narrative at the center of the Torah.
Tim Mackie· Host0:58
When they refuse to trust, that becomes this pivotal moment in the wilderness, and it's what ends up condemning the whole of the people to wander in the desert for 40 years. They faced God's judgment.
Jon Collins· Host1:10
Second, Judah compares them to the sons of God from Genesis 6. That is, the rebellious spiritual beings who look on the daughters of humanity and wrongly take them as wives. What?
Tim Mackie· Host1:23
These angels, because of their physical desire, didn't honor the limits God put on