Soon God shall raise up the ‘Levitical Priesthood‘ once more. I have been sitting on Part 3 of this series for a year or so before finally deciding to publish it because I didn’t feel the unction to get it out there.
In a nutshell, the real historical account of the raising of Lazarus in John chapter 11 prophetically prefigures the raising of the Levitical Priesthood led by Aaron’s son Eleazar (Lazarus in Greek).
Yeshua is the one that issues the command for Lazarus to rise and He does this just prior to gathering Ephraim into the ‘wilderness of the peoples‘ (Ezekiel 20:33-38) during the upheaval of World War 3.
The only place in the entire New Testament where the name ‘Ephraim‘ appears is in the account of the raising of Lazarus. Lazarus helps bring many Jews to a knowledge of Yeshua. And the Levitical Priesthood that he represents helps cement the two houses of Israel together.
The two Houses are represented by Mary and Martha.
I have actually not put Part 3 in this blog, but put it in the following link below.
For more information go to the Article Raising Lazarus HaCohen
-this has Parts 1, 2, & 3.
- Part 1 is just a general introduction concerning Yeshua who is the Resurrection.
- Part 2 Introduces us to the Leader of the Levitical Priesthood, ‘Eleazar’.
- In Part 3 we will look at the gospel account of the ‘Raising of Lazarus’ in John 11 and it’s prophetic symbolism of the Raising of the Priesthood.
We look at it systematically, verse by verse (or paragraph by paragraph), in an expository manner. You may need two or three sittings to get through it all but I think you will find it intriguing and encouraging.
This topic of the ‘Raising of the Levitical Priesthood‘ headed by Eleazar (‘Lazarus‘) should be of vital interest to any messianic Torah believer that understands the fact of the two Houses of Israel, both Judah and Ephraim. The raising of Lazarus will profoundly affect us all!
For more information go to the Article ‘Raising Lazarus HaCohen‘.
After reading the article last week about raising Lazarus/Eleazar, I read 3 Maccabees for some reason, which has nothing to do with the Maccabees but the community in Egypt that built up after fleeing the Babylonians 3 centuries earlier, and is set from what I can determine around 217bc. Of interest is chapter 6 and the prayer of Eleazar, and the following answer to that prayer with their lives being saved. In v31 of ch6 it mentions a ‘banquet of deliverance’, and I wonder if that deliverance is referring to Yahushua by being their Savior, in a present and future sense. Yahushua went to Egypt as a small child, among this community I assume.
Anyway, I can see a theme of Eleazar being present and praying for the people’s deliverance while in exile, and the prayer being answered. Ch6 v4 Eleazar is praying for the ‘nation of Yisrael’, not just Jews.
Something to ponder.
Online 3 Maccabees, ………..http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/r/rsv/rsv-idx?type=DIV1&byte=4451716
Reply
Thanks for that info Michael
3 Maccabees of course is not scripture but it may have a historical basis of truth to it. I wouldn’t begin to know much about it since I have not studied such matters. But for what it is worth I have copied the text from chapter 6 that describes Eleazar’s prayer and pasted it below from the link you provided.
3Mac.6
[1] Then a certain Eleazar, famous among the priests of the country, who had attained a ripe old age and throughout his life had been adorned with every virtue, directed the elders around him to cease calling upon the holy God and prayed as follows:
[2] “King of great power, Almighty God Most High, governing all creation with mercy,
[3] look upon the descendants of Abraham, O Father, upon the children of the sainted Jacob, a people of your consecrated portion who are perishing as foreigners in a foreign land.
[4] Pharaoh with his abundance of chariots, the former ruler of this Egypt, exalted with lawless insolence and boastful tongue, you destroyed together with his arrogant army by drowning them in the sea, manifesting the light of your mercy upon the nation of Israel.
[5] Sennacherib exulting in his countless forces, oppressive king of the Assyrians, who had already gained control of the whole world by the spear and was lifted up against your holy city, speaking grievous words with boasting and insolence, you, O Lord, broke in pieces, showing your power to many nations.
[6] The three companions in Babylon who had voluntarily surrendered their lives to the flames so as not to serve vain things, you rescued unharmed, even to a hair, moistening the fiery furnace with dew and turning the flame against all their enemies.
[7] Daniel, who through envious slanders was cast down into the ground to lions as food for wild beasts, you brought up to the light unharmed.
[8] And Jonah, wasting away in the belly of a huge, sea-born monster, you, Father, watched over and restored unharmed to all his family.
[9] And now, you who hate insolence, all-merciful and protector of all, reveal yourself quickly to those of the nation of Israel — who are being outrageously treated by the abominable and lawless Gentiles.
[10] Even if our lives have become entangled in impieties in our exile, rescue us from the hand of the enemy, and destroy us, Lord, by whatever fate you choose.
[11] Let not the vain-minded praise their vanities at the destruction of your beloved people, saying, `Not even their god has rescued them.’
[12] But you, O Eternal One, who have all might and all power, watch over us now and have mercy upon us who by the senseless insolence of the lawless are being deprived of life in the manner of traitors.
[13] And let the Gentiles cower today in fear of your invincible might, O honored One, who have power to save the nation of Jacob.
[14] The whole throng of infants and their parents entreat you with tears.
[15] Let it be shown to all the Gentiles that you are with us, O Lord, and have not turned your face from us; but just as you have said, `Not even when they were in the land of their enemies did I neglect them,’ so accomplish it, O Lord.”
[16] Just as Eleazar was ending his prayer, the king arrived at the hippodrome with the beasts and all the arrogance of his forces.
[17] And when the Jews observed this they raised great cries to heaven so that even the nearby valleys resounded with them and brought an uncontrollable terror upon the army.
[18] Then the most gThanks for that info Michael
3 Maccabees of course is not scripture but it may have a historical basis of truth to it. I wouldn’t begin to know much about it since I have not studied such matters. But for what it is worth I have copied the text from chapter 6 that describes Eleazar’s prayer and pasted it below from the link you provided.
3Mac.6
[1] Then a certain Eleazar, famous among the priests of the country, who had attained a ripe old age and throughout his life had been adorned with every virtue, directed the elders around him to cease calling upon the holy God and prayed as follows:
[2] “King of great power, Almighty God Most High, governing all creation with mercy,
[3] look upon the descendants of Abraham, O Father, upon the children of the sainted Jacob, a people of your consecrated portion who are perishing as foreigners in a foreign land.
[4] Pharaoh with his abundance of chariots, the former ruler of this Egypt, exalted with lawless insolence and boastful tongue, you destroyed together with his arrogant army by drowning them in the sea, manifesting the light of your mercy upon the nation of Israel.
[5] Sennacherib exulting in his countless forces, oppressive king of the Assyrians, who had already gained control of the whole world by the spear and was lifted up against your holy city, speaking grievous words with boasting and insolence, you, O Lord, broke in pieces, showing your power to many nations.
[6] The three companions in Babylon who had voluntarily surrendered their lives to the flames so as not to serve vain things, you rescued unharmed, even to a hair, moistening the fiery furnace with dew and turning the flame against all their enemies.
[7] Daniel, who through envious slanders was cast down into the ground to lions as food for wild beasts, you brought up to the light unharmed.
[8] And Jonah, wasting away in the belly of a huge, sea-born monster, you, Father, watched over and restored unharmed to all his family.
[9] And now, you who hate insolence, all-merciful and protector of all, reveal yourself quickly to those of the nation of Israel — who are being outrageously treated by the abominable and lawless Gentiles.
[10] Even if our lives have become entangled in impieties in our exile, rescue us from the hand of the enemy, and destroy us, Lord, by whatever fate you choose.
[11] Let not the vain-minded praise their vanities at the destruction of your beloved people, saying, `Not even their god has rescued them.’
[12] But you, O Eternal One, who have all might and all power, watch over us now and have mercy upon us who by the senseless insolence of the lawless are being deprived of life in the manner of traitors.
[13] And let the Gentiles cower today in fear of your invincible might, O honored One, who have power to save the nation of Jacob.
[14] The whole throng of infants and their parents entreat you with tears.
[15] Let it be shown to all the Gentiles that you are with us, O Lord, and have not turned your face from us; but just as you have said, `Not even when they were in the land of their enemies did I neglect them,’ so accomplish it, O Lord.”
[16] Just as Eleazar was ending his prayer, the king arrived at the hippodrome with the beasts and all the arrogance of his forces.
[17] And when the Jews observed this they raised great cries to heaven so that even the nearby valleys resounded with them and brought an uncontrollable terror upon the army.
[18] Then the most glorious, almighty, and true God revealed his holy face and opened the heavenly gates, from which two glorious angels of fearful aspect descended, visible to all but the Jews.
[19] They opposed the forces of the enemy and filled them with confusion and terror, binding them with immovable shackles. lorious, almighty, and true God revealed his holy face and opened the heavenly gates, from which two glorious angels of fearful aspect descended, visible to all but the Jews.
[19] They opposed the forces of the enemy and filled them with confusion and terror, binding them with immovable shackles.
Thanks Rory. I never thought of Maccabees as Scripture either, but there may be some historical truth in this, as you say, and it caught my attention straight away. A few days after reading your very insightful article, I picked up my old RSV version with apocrypha and read 3 Maccabees, for maybe the first time. I haven’t really studied these books, but for some reason started reading.
HalleluYah.