Pageau returns to the story of Noah after the Flood. He notes that Noah’s three sons are parallels of Adam’s, one even named the same. Shem takes the same place as his predecessor, as a fit mediator after one of his siblings fails to keep the balance. Of course, Noah was not doing such a…
Tag: Matthieu Pageau
Keeping the Balance
Pageau covers the Nephilim, but I was disappointed by what he left out. Maybe he wasn’t familiar with Heiser’s work, but this would have been a very good opportunity to discuss how the Nephilim came to be on the cosmic level, and why. The takeaway is that they represent a very forceful destructive presence of…
Restoring Cosmic Balance
Pageau returns to Nebuchadnezzar to discuss his second dream and his time of madness. There are two main points here. First is that Nebs was in trouble for his arrogance. Remember: he was a Gentile. He was not accountable to the Law of Moses, but to that of Noah. Further, by his own religion, Nebs…
Moral Feedback Loop
Is it clear enough yet? Our fallen existence is a curse; it is meant to be punitive. The only hope for mitigation is the Covenant. Obedience of the Word of God is a privilege. If we were left to ourselves to live against the natural world, we would not live that long. God has unilaterally…
Family Affairs
We’ve talked quite a bit about the Two Witnesses: king and priest. Pageau points out that Cain and Abel were portrayed as a mirror of that distinction. Cain worked the ground and supported his brother, while Abel provided wool for Cain’s covering. The symbolism should be obvious. It was initially a peaceful coexistence, rather like…
Fire and Water
Surely by now the Flood in Genesis has obvious symbolism of the ravages of time and chaos. The dry land was covered and all life was drowned and washed away. God would start fresh with what Noah had in his boat. Noah found God’s grace. While Pageau notes that Noah thus represented the proper balance…
Extra: Our Burden
It may seem pedantic and exhaustive to cover Pageau in such depth here. There are reasons. First, it is absolutely essential that we embrace the ancient Hebrew outlook. That is the one God Himself designed for people who seek peace with Him. It was the essence of everything Christ taught. You aren’t a Christian —…
Covering and Seeing
Pageau doesn’t say it clearly enough: Clothing is required by the Covenant because our fallen sensibilities cannot handle nudity without sin. Flaunting it is simply evil. If you’ve seen so much nudity that you are jaded, that is actually worse. We are supposed to be sensitive to it. If we cannot sense the urgency of…
Tools of the Trade
Still working from The Language of Creation, we learn that Moses’ staff represents the pillar of space. It was a talisman of sorts God used to make people aware of His Presence and power. Thus, it could turn into a snake, which symbolizes time and chaos. But as a staff, it could quite literally separate…
Games and Divination
Pageau sometimes uses terminology that makes me uncomfortable. He talks about the stability of the pillar and trees and mountains as “reason”, but includes divine revelation in that. Meanwhile, he then raises up the image of divination as games of risk and chaos. On the one hand, he views Covenant Law as “rational” and doesn’t…