In a recent message concerning Exodus 24:8 Ben Crick gave a long and well
thought out reply concerning the interpretation of Ex. 24:8 and resources
where different traditions exegete the passage.
However, I would like to note that some of his statements were a little off
base. For example, Mr. Crick gave the impression that all Christians
believe that the wine in the Eucharist merely represents the Blood of
Christ. That is not so. The Roman Catholic, East Orthodox and Lutheran (my
own tradition) all believe that through a miracle wrought by Christ's Words
of Institution the wine becomes the Blood of Christ and the bread the Body
which Christians receive. And we mean it, it's not a metaphor. Check out
Luther's Small Catechism or the Catechism of Rome (1994) or the latest Greek
Orthodox Catechism.
What does this have to do with Ex. 24:8 you say? Quite a lot when you
consider that what we are talking about here is modes of interpretation.
One view, especially identified with the Lutheran tradition, is the
Christological view of the Old Testament. In this view every part and
parcel of the OT refers in some way to Christ. (Cf. John 5:39 and Luke 24)
This has profound effects for interpreting the Torah. Thus in this schema,
Ex 24:8 and in fact the entire sacrificial system of ancient Israel point to
the Messiah's ultimate sacrifice on the cross. The Pesach meal figures the
Eurcharist where Christians truly do receive the very Body and Blood of the
true Lamb. So, Gordon and others, when you are struggling with interpreting
the OT, don't forget another major tradition among the others: the
Christological Approach. A good resource is the volume on Exodus in any one
of these series: The People's Bible (Concordia Publishing House), Popular
Commentary (Kretzmann) or the Lenski commentary.
Hope this helps.
Heath R. Curtis
Student: Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, MDiv
Washington Univ., MA-Classics
PS: If this thread is veering too far off the course set for b-hebrew,
please reply to me off-list - HRC
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Another View of Ex. 24:8,
Heath Curtis, 07/28/2000