Yesterday I spent time looking at Genesis 14 with Melchizedek’s presentation of bread and wine as well as the connections between Christus Victor and God the Destroyer in the Exodus. The later is interesting in the sense that the Lord’s Supper’s link with Passover may lean more towards God’s destructive power over evil (Egypt in the Exodus, death itself in the Christ event) than towards substitutionary sacrifice (although that is a strong theme as well, but one that might be overemphasized at the expense of Christus Victor).
Today is more work on other background texts for the Lord’s Supper – some from Deuteronomy and John.
When I mailed the books back yesterday, I saw the man in the above picture getting his mail with an old fashioned “Radio Flyer.” The pace is certainly different here – in a good way.
The run was easier today and the Elk was yummy (and lean).
Interesting take on the connection exodus and the Eucharist. As I read it I thought…but wasn’t the central image of the passover the Lamb…the “substitute” that caused the wrath of God to pass over the people of Israel?
I’m definitely looking forward to the dissertation…when it’s published I’ll be in line for a signed copy.
I’m using a bit of Gowan’s “Theology in Exodus” as a starting point for this connection. His main premise in Israel’s remembrance of the Exodus (and the Scriptural accounts of the Exodus themselves) focuses strongly on the rescue from Egypt (“brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and outstretched arm, through terrible plagues,” etc.) as opposed to their rescue from God’s wrath in the last plague (although that is an important part of the story as well). Many of the summaries (from Deuteronomy especially) summarize the event as rescue from Egypt to the land God promised, not rescue from God’s wrath while leaving Egypt. Again, it’s a both/and, but God as rescuer from evil (slavery, death, etc.) seems to have slipped over the last few centuries.
I see that…I heard Driscoll argue for a “multi-perspectival” view of the atonement, exodus, etc. You know how I love big words, but that’s a mouthful.