Biblical Commentary

Hosea Chapter 1

I decided to present the prophecy of Hosea commencing with this week, because on the Saturday program over the next few weeks I plan to present my papers on the Scythians and their origins - God willing – and this prophet more than any other with the arguable exception of perhaps Isaiah, goes hand-in-hand with the history of the deportations of Israel and Judah.

Hosea began his prophesying, according to his own introduction, at the time when Uzziah (who is also sometimes confusingly called Azariah in the King James Version) ruled over Judah and and Jeroboam II ruled over Israel. Both of these men reigned for a long time: Uzziah, who was stricken with leprosy while he ruled, from about 791-739 BC and Jeroboam II from 793-753 BC. Therefore Hosea began to prophecy before 753 BC. He wrote until the days of Hezekiah. Hezekiah ruled Judah from about 729-698 BC and since there was no king in Israel after Hoshea's rule ended circa 722 BC, we see that Hosea did not mention any king after Jeroboam II even though six kings followed him before Israel was fully broken as a kingdom. Therefore Hosea wrote from no later than 753 BC unto at least 722 BC, a period of at least 32 years during the time described in the Bible from II Kings chapters 14 to 20, and from II Chronicles chapters 26 to 32.

James Chapters 4 and 5 - 01-20-2012

Here, because of its importance, and because of the ways in which the chapter is abused, I thought to repeat James chapter 3, and to present it in a manner a little more pointed than how it was presented last week. 

III 1 You must not produce many teachers, my brethren, knowing that we shall receive a greater judgment. 2 For we all fail often! If anyone does not fail in word, he is a perfect man able to guide with a bridle even the whole body. 3 Even if the bridles of horses are put into their mouths for which to persuade them for us, then we maneuver their whole body. 4 Behold also, there are such great ships, and being driven by severe winds, maneuvered by the smallest rudder, being driven straight where impulse desires. 5 Thusly also the tongue is a small body-part and boasts loudly. Behold how small a fire ignites so great a forest! 6 And the tongue is a fire, an ornament of injustice. The tongue sits among our body-parts soiling the whole body and setting ablaze the course of existence, and being burned by Gehenna! 

Gehenna, the destruction caused by the fiery trials of this life, the wars and strife caused by the tongue. All of these things are of course true, but we must consider how and what kind of speech causes men to slip. And in whose perception do men slip? One man may think that you have erred when he does not like what you say. But what is sin, to slip in the eyes of man? Or to slip in the eyes of God? It may well be that man's pride which causes him to think badly about you. Therefore we have only one Judge: Yahshua Christ, and one Guide, which is His Word.

The Epistle of James - 01-13-2012

II 1 My brethren, do not with respect of the stature of persons hold the faith of our Prince Yahshua Christ of honor. 2 For if perhaps a man should enter into your assembly hall with a gold ring in a shining garment, and a beggar should enter in a filthy garment, 3 then you should look upon he wearing the shining garment and say “You sit here comfortably”, and to the beggar you should say “You stand there”, or “Sit beneath my footstool”, 4 have you not made a distinction among yourselves and become judges of evil reasonings? 

“Respect of persons” is respect for the stature or the status of persons in judgement. The Greek word προσωπολημψία comes from πρόσωπον, literally the face, and a verb which means to receive. The use of the term by James reflects that same idea which Paul often infers where the King James Version translates the Greek word προσωπολημψία, which is literally the receiving of a man's appearance, and related words and phrases as “respect of persons”. 

The Epistle of James, Chapter 1 - 01-06-2012

I do not see how the Hebrew name Ya'aqob, the Greek Iakobos, could have possibly become James in English. At first I pondered the notion that the translators of the King James Version were purposefully flattering the king who commissioned them. However that cannot besince the spelling of this name in the 1560 Geneva Bible is Iames, which today we would write as James. Wanting instead to be faithful to the Greek, when I translated the New Testament I spelled it Iakobos, leaving it as it appears in the Greek Nominative case. The English name James seems to have come from the French word for leg, which is jambe (the 'b' is silent). A related French word jamon, refers to a leg of ham. King James Version apologists strive to connect the two terms since Iakob does come from a Hebrew word with a meaning connected to the heel of the foot. But Ya'aqob (Strong's # 3290) means "heel holder" and therefore allegorically it means "supplanter", and that has nothing to do with a pig's leg.  

The prophecy of Obadiah is a prophecy concerning Edom, that nation which descended from Esau, Jacob's brother. In order to understand the prophecy concerning Edom, one must understand all of the history of the nation, and its relationship to Israel and to God, from the days of Jacob and Esau.

The angels that left their first estate, left it because they decided to race-mix with men, and also with many other species, something we find only in apocryphal literature but which our Bibles as we know them today do not sufficiently explain. When Adam was placed into the Garden of Eden, that tree of the knowledge of good and evil – the results of that first rebellion against God – was already in the garden. These were a race of people (or angels if you must) who at one time knew good, and then knew evil – when they had rebelled against God. Their creation is not explained in Genesis, although Christ tells us in Luke chapter 10 and in the Revelation at chapter 12 that they fell “from heaven”.

The fall of Adam was the partaking by him and his wife of this tree of the knowledge of good and evil – they race-mixed with that person represented by the epithet of “serpent”. Cain was the result of this union, and in spite of the corrupted text we currently know as Genesis 4:1, it can be discerned in several other ways that Cain was not the son of Adam, although he was the son of Eve. Later on in the New Testament, but also often in the allegories of the Old Testament, are the descendants of Cain often referred to as “serpents”.

The Book of Jonah - 12-23-2011

2 Kings 14:16-27: 16 And Jehoash slept with his fathers [perhaps around 798 BC], and was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel; and Jeroboam his son reigned in his stead. 17 And Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah lived after the death of Jehoash son of Jehoahaz king of Israel fifteen years. 18 And the rest of the acts of Amaziah, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? 19 Now they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem: and he fled to Lachish; but they sent after him to Lachish, and slew him there. 20 And they brought him on horses: and he was buried at Jerusalem with his fathers in the city of David. 21 And all the people of Judah took Azariah, which was sixteen years old, and made him king instead of his father Amaziah. 22 He built Elath, and restored it to Judah, after that the king slept with his fathers. 23 In the fifteenth year of Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel began to reign in Samaria, and reigned forty and one years. 24 And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD: he departed not from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin. 25 He restored the coast of Israel from the entering of Hamath unto the sea of the plain, according to the word of the LORD God of Israel, which he spake by the hand of his servant Jonah, the son of Amittai, the prophet, which was of Gathhepher. 26 For the LORD saw the affliction of Israel, that it was very bitter: for there was not any shut up, nor any left, nor any helper for Israel. 27 And the LORD said not that he would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven: but he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam the son of Joash.

 So Jonah the prophet, the son of Amittai, lived and prophesied before the time of Jeroboam the son of Joash of the kings of Israel. Jeroboam II was king in Israel for about 40 years, from about 793 BC, so Jonah definitely prophesied before 753 BC, and possibly before 793 BC – although that is not certain from the text here in 2 Kings 14. This places Jonah as one of the earliest of all of those prophets of the Bible from Isaiah to Malachi which can be dated. 

Mark Chapters 15 and 16 - Christogenea on Talkshoe 12-16-2011

Last week we concluded with the end of Mark chapter 14, and the unlawful trial of Yahshua Christ in the court of the high priest. There we saw that while they wanted to have Christ executed, they had a problem with consistent witnesses establishing a charge worthy of a capital offense. Therefore the high-priest himself provoked Christ in order to instigate a charge that satisfied those taking part in the judgment against Him.

XV 1 And immediately at morning making counsel the high priests with the elders and the scribes and all the council, binding Yahshua they led Him off and turned Him over to Pilatos.

Here we see that after the mock show-trial in the home of the high priest, they still required a meeting in order to work up a plan by which they could convincingly present Christ to Pilate as a criminal who was worthy of execution. When Judaea was designated a kingdom, up until the time of Herod Archelaus, the king had the privilege of trying capital offenses. However when Judaea was reduced to a province, and a Roman governor was set over it by the emperor, the local political leaders lost that privilege, and only the Roman governor could try capital offenses. Christ having had many followers, the high priests could not risk politically the murder of Christ by themselves. In Matthew chapter 26, verses 3 through 5, we learn that the high priests had been planning for a way to execute Christ, while avoiding a “tumult among the people”. Since it was the feast, Jerusalem was typically very crowded at this time, and a major disturbance would have invited an inquiry by the Roman officials. They had to pressure the Roman governor into complying with their wishes. A Roman citizen, such as Paul of Tarsus, would have the right to appeal to Caesar. We see in Acts chapter 27 that Paul, not wanting to trust either the Judaeans or a possibly corrupt governor with his fate, exercised that right. However Christ, not being a Roman citizen, did not have that right.

Mark Chapter 14 - 12-09-2011

XIV 1 And it was Passover and the feast of unleavened bread after two days. And the high priests and the scribes sought how seizing Him with guile they could kill Him. 2 For they said “Not on the feast, that at no time shall there be an uproar by the people!”

Christ not only had thousands of followers, winning the hearts and minds of the people, but He was also winning the battle of ideas. His expositions of scripture and a proper application of the Law, judgement and mercy, kicked the foundations out from under the pedestal of legalism upon which the Pharisees pretended their authority. Not wanting to lose their status and titles and position, but realizing that Christ continually exposed them, rather than repenting they sought to kill Him.

From John chapter 11 we can read a fuller account: “47 Then the high priests and the Pharisees gathered a council and said 'What do we do, seeing that this man makes many signs? 48 If we should leave Him thusly, they shall all believe in Him, and the Romans shall come and they shall take both our place and our nation!' 49 Then a certain one from among them, Kaiaphas, being high priest that year, said to them: 'You do not know anything, 50 nor do you consider that it is advantageous to you that one man should die on behalf of the people, and the whole nation not be lost.' 51 (Yet he did not say this by himself, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Yahshua was about to die on behalf of the nation, 52 and not only on behalf of the nation, but that also He would gather into one the children of Yahweh who had been dispersed. [Here is a parenthetical statement by John, and if Yahweh can use Balaam's ass to express His will, then the Edomite Sadducee high priest is not much different.]) 53 Therefore from that day they determined that they would kill Him.”

Mark Chapter 13 - 12-1-2011

During the first half of this podcast we discussed the chronology of Daniel's 70-Weeks prophecy, found in Daniel chapter 9, with great detail from the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, and from the history of Persia. (Click here for the notes to that part of the program.) Now we may proceed with Mark chapter 13, repeating a few of the things which we discussed last week when we began this chapter, and hopefully after seeing the prophecy of Daniel, the marvel of these prophecies will be that much more meaningful to us.

XIII 1 And upon His going out from the temple one of His students says to Him: “Teacher, behold what quality stones and what quality buildings!” 2 And Yahshua said to him: “You see these great buildings? By no means should there be left here a stone upon a stone which would not be thrown down!”

Here Christ forecasts the destruction of Jerusalem which was to come nearly 40 years later. At the end of Matthew Chapter 23, which Mark did not record, Christ exclaimed to the Judaeans “Behold, your house is left to you desolate!” Daniel 9:27 once again, says of the ministry of Christ that “he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.”

Mark Chapters 12 and 13 - Christogenea on Talkshoe 11-25-2011

In Mark chapter 11, we saw the cursing of the fig tree, which we related to the parable of the fig tree and the explanation of the fruitlessness of Christ's mission in Jerusalem. We then related how this was the final fulfillment of the dispersion of the Bad Figs of Jeremiah chapter 24, which is proven when comparing the language of Jeremiah to that of Christ concerning Jerusalem in his prophecy of its impending destruction as it is recorded in Luke chapter 21. We will discuss that at length here again next week, since it is also a subject of the latter half of Mark chapter 13. All of these prophecies and parables are part of a related theme, and so is the Parable of the Vineyard which we are about to read here in Mark chapter 12.

XII 1 And He began to speak to them in parables: “A man planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a vat and built a tower and let it out to husbandmen, and he traveled abroad. 2 And he sent a servant to the husbandmen at the appropriate time, in order that he would receive from the husbandmen from the fruits of the vineyard, 3 and taking him they cudgeled him and sent him away empty. 4 And again he sent to them another servant, and him they hit on the head and dishonored. 5 And he sent another, and him they slew, and many others, some then being cudgeled, but some being slain. 6 Yet he had one beloved son. He sent him to them last saying that ‘They shall respect my son!’ 7 But those husbandmen said to themselves that ‘This is the heir! Come, we should kill him, and the inheritance shall be ours!’ 8 And taking him they killed him and cast him outside of the vineyard. 9 So, what shall the master of the vineyard do? He shall come and destroy those husbandmen and let the vineyard out to others!

Mark Chapters 10 and 11 - Christogenea on Talkshoe 11-18-2011

X 1 And arising from there He goes into the borders of Judaea and on the other side of the Jordan, and the crowds again come together to Him, and as He is accustomed, again He taught them. 2 And the Pharisees having come forth questioned Him whether it is lawful for a man to put away a wife, trying Him. 3 Then replying He said to them: “What did Moses command you?” 4 And they said: “Moses permitted to write a letter for a bill of divorce and to put her away.” 5 Then Yahshua said to them: “For your hardness of heart he had written this commandment for you. 6 But from the beginning of creation ‘He made them male and female. 7 On account of this a man shall leave his father and mother and shall cleave to his wife, 8 and they shall be two into one flesh.’ Therefore no longer are they two but one flesh. 9 So that which Yahweh has yoked together man must not separate!”

A certain so-called Christian Identity pastor recently stated on his Talkshoe program that Christ's words here do not condemn divorce. Yet clearly, considering the context, Christ is indeed condemning divorce. Otherwise, He would not have proceeded to quote Genesis 2:24, where it says that “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh”. It is the act of putting away which is divorce. The “bill of divorcement” is only a receipt which records the act.

Mark Chapters 8 and 9 - 11-04-2011

Discussing Mark last week I had made a radical comment concerning the blood brothers of Christ, that some of them were apostles. Here I will go over that again, because it is something which has not been discussed sufficiently, and due to a few inquiries I received, perhaps some people did not understand it.

The lists of apostles at Mark 3 and Matthew 10 agree: Simon Peter; James the son of Zebedee; John the brother of James; Andrew; Philip; Bartholomew; Matthew; Thomas; James the son of Alphaeus; Lebbaeus Thaddaeus; Simon the Cananean; and Judas Iscariot.

In Luke chapter 6 there is a James mentioned with John who must be that same brother and son of Zebedee mentioned in Matthew and Mark. Yet in Luke's list Lebbaeus Thaddaeus – who is only mentioned twice, once each in the original lists of Matthew and Mark - is not mentioned and seems to have dropped out of sight, because he is never mentioned again.

To fill out the twelve, "Judas the brother of James" is mentioned in his place. In Luke's account in Acts we see mentioned “Petros and Iohannes, and Iakobos [James] and Andreas [Andrew was Peter's brother, James and John were the sons of Zebedee], Philippos and Thomas, Bartholomaios and Maththaios, Iakobos [James] son of Alphaios, and Simon the zealot [the Cananean] and Iouda the brother of Iakobos.” The lists in Matthew and Mark being early in Christ's ministry, Lebbaeus Thaddaeus must have dropped out at some point for some reason, and Jude the brother of James filled the list out to twelve again when Luke made his lists.

Mark Chapters 6 and 7 - 10-28-2011

Before reading the first paragraph of Mark Chapter 6, it would be fitting to discuss what was customary to do on the Sabbath. It is obvious from many places in Scripture, that people gathered on the Sabbath to learn the Scripture. But it was apparently not that way from the beginning, where the command in Deuteronomy chapter 31 was to read the law to all the people once every seven years, in the year of release, on the Feast of Tabernacles.

Deuteronomy 31:10-13: 10 And Moses commanded them, saying, At the end of every seven years, in the solemnity of the year of release, in the feast of tabernacles, 11 When all Israel is come to appear before the LORD thy God in the place which he shall choose, thou shalt read this law before all Israel in their hearing. 12 Gather the people together, men, and women, and children, and thy stranger that is within thy gates, that they may hear, and that they may learn, and fear the LORD your God, and observe to do all the words of this law: 13 And that their children, which have not known any thing, may hear, and learn to fear the LORD your God, as long as ye live in the land whither ye go over Jordan to possess it.

Mark Chapters 4 through 5 - 10-21-2011

Here tonight we shall see, when we get to Mark chapter 5, that there are a couple of discrepancies in the chronology of events between Mark and Matthew, where Luke agrees with Mark, which are difficult to resolve. These do not, however, discredit the Gospel, once we realize the nature of the Gospel accounts and their purpose. At this point, Mark chapters 4 and 5 contains events found in Luke chapters 8 and 9, and also in Matthew chapters 8 and 9.

IV 1 And again He began to teach by the sea, and a very large crowd gathers to Him, so as for Him boarding into a vessel to sit in the sea, and all the crowd was by the sea upon the land.

In the ancient Greek world, it was very common for teachers of philosophy to have many followers, and to teach people in diverse places. In Acts chapter 19:9, we see a certain school of philosophy mentioned. Such schools were begun by private individuals who would attract - or perhaps already had – adherents to their philosophy. Sophists, Platonists, Epicureans, Stoics, Cynics, Gnostics, there were many different types of philosophical beliefs in the world at that time, and each had many followers and many teachers. Therefore if Christ had a few dozen followers, He would never have been so despised by the religious authorities in Judea, since it was quite normal for a philosopher to have and be followed by a few dozen students. Yet if Christ had hundreds, then hundreds more would have joined the crowd simply out of curiosity, if for nothing else, and it is not hard to imagine that there were thousands of people at many of His gatherings. By this, the official authorities would indeed feel threatened.

Mark Chapters 2 through 3 - 10-14-2011

II 1 And entering again into Kapharnaoum, for days it was heard that He is in a house. 2 And many had gathered together so as no longer to have space, not even there by the door, and He spoke the Word to them. 3 And they come bringing to Him a paralytic being carried by four men. 4 And not being able to bring him forth to Him because of the crowd, they had taken off the roof where He was, and digging through lowered the cot upon which the paralytic laid. 

The men with the paralytic had “taken off the roof” and then “digging through” it they lowered the paralytic to where Christ was. The roof being described must be a thatched roof covered with ceramic tile, and the version of this account at Luke 5:19 tells us they were ceramic tiles. The tiles were expensive and surely were not broken. Digging trough the thatching must have made a mess, clouds of dust and dirt and straw dropping into the room below. Yet Christ did not take umbrage to the situation. Rather, He marveled before the crowd.

Mark Chapter 1 - Christogenea on Talkshoe 10-07-2011

There is nothing at all in the Gospel of Mark which explicitly indicates its authorship. However many of the earliest Christian writers have not only attributed the gospel to Mark, but have also said that Mark recorded Peter's testimony, even calling him “Peter's interpreter”, in the words of the second-century Christian presbyter Irenaeus. This seems to indicate that Mark wrote the Greek which Peter may have related to him in Hebrew, however such a viewpoint is not entirely necessary, and the word may have simply been used more loosely of a transcriber and not necessarily of a translator. In other words, the statement does not by itself prove that Peter was not bilingual. Peter is mentioned 19 times in Mark's gospel, but that is not too frequent since he is mentioned just as often in Luke, and even more often in the gospels of Matthew and John. Yet in one place there is a special mention of Peter, where there really need not have been, and that is at 16:5-7 where it describes the women arriving at the tomb of Christ: “5 And having entered into the tomb they saw a youth sitting on the right clothed in a white robe, and they were astounded. 6 Then he says to them: 'Do not be astonished! You seek Yahshua the Nazarene who had been crucified. He has arisen, He is not here! Behold the place where they laid Him! 7 But you go tell His students and Petros that He goes on before you into Galilaia. There you shall see Him, just as He said to you!'” This special mention of Peter seems to support the testimony that the man who related the account to its writer was indeed Peter himself. Here are some of the ancient testimonies concerning the authorship of this gospel....

Matthew Chapter 28 - 2011-09-23

Before we get into the final chapter of Matthew, chapter 28, it may be fitting to discuss just why it is that Christians should believe in a resurrection. There are many supposed Christians who have rejected the notion of the resurrection, shamed by so-called science – mistakenly believing that the science of man should be able to explain everything and anything, and therefore whatever it cannot explain cannot be true. This is the folly of humanism, which believes that man is god, and therefore anything that man cannot understand is fiction. Their own evolution theory is of course an exception to this. In truth, man is not god, and the true God will not be mocked.

If we believe that God created the heavens and the earth, and it is absolute folly to believe that they were created by chance, then we must by necessity believe that God transcends the physical creation as we know it. If we believe that Adamic man was created in the image of God and bears His spirit, then we can imagine that Adamic man can also transcend the physical world as God does. In the Wisdom of Salomon, at 2:23, it says: “For God created man to be immortal, and made him to be an image of his own eternity.” If God has no efficacy in the reality of creation, then our faith is vain. As Paul told the Corinthians, “If only in this life have we had hope in Christ, we are the most pitiable of all mankind.” (1 Corinthians 15:19)

Christogenea on Talkshoe – September 16th, 2011 – Matthew Chapter 27, Part 2

I think of the Nuremberg trials, or the fate of Sylvia Stolz, or see what they did to Germar Rudolf and Udo Walendy and Robert Faurisson, and a thousand other unjust railroadings in this day, and I think of the trials of Christ. Taken by force in the middle of the night by a mob of so-called officials, the jewish tyranny often operates in much the same way today, which is the same way as the bolsheviks also operated in Soviet Russia. Wherever you find jews, you find tyranny and oppression conducted in the name of justice.

This is the twenty-second week of our presentation and discussion of the Gospel of Matthew. It will require at least one more week after tonight to bring it to completion. Last week we left off with Matthew chapter 27, verses 20 through 23, and we shall commence by repeating those tonight.

24 And Pilatos, seeing that nothing helps, but rather a tumult arises, taking water washed the hands before the crowd, saying “I am innocent from the blood of this man! You see to it!” 25 And responding all the people said: “His blood is upon us, and upon our children!” 26 Then he released Barabbas for them, but having scourged Yahshua he handed Him over in order that He would be crucified.

Discussing these circumstances at the end of last week's program, we focused on the situation that Pilate was in, and how it was difficult for him to avoid handing Yahshua Christ over to their desires. To me, this situation of Pilate's encapsulates something which has been a dilemma for our race since the beginning: the failure of man to properly confront evil, in exchange preferring love of the world and one's own comfort. Indeed, Pilate may have resisted the blood-thirty desires of the jews, but then he would have had to deal with their riotous behaviour and all of the political fallout which would certainly have followed. Christ Himself certainly understood Pilate's situation, and therefore said that “he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin”, as we read at John 19:11 in the discourse between Christ and Pilate which Matthew did not record.

Matthew Chapter 27 - 2011-09-09

Last week, among many other things that were evidenced while discussing Matthew chapter 26, we saw from the prophecy in Zechariah chapter 11 a direct connection between the thirty silver pieces for which Christ was betrayed to His enemies and the breaking of the Covenant which Yahweh made with the people, meaning of course the people of Israel. This is found at Zechariah 11:10-13, where it says: “10 And I took my staff, even Beauty, and cut it asunder, that I might break my covenant which I had made with all the people. 11 And it was broken in that day: and so the poor of the flock that waited upon me knew that it was the word of the LORD. 12 And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver. 13 And the LORD said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was prised at of them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the LORD.” While it was discussed in brief here last week, Zechariah chapter 11 itself requires a full study (which shall not be done here presently), because of ambiguities, and because of differences in the Masoretic text as it compares with the Septuagint version. Furthermore, the Brenton translation of the Septuagint Greek of this chapter is also wanting – or can at least be contested - in various places. Yet all of the versions agree on this one thing: that the covenant was broken, and the thirty pieces of silver are connected to that act.

Now it can be asserted and proven, that the old covenant which Yahweh made with the children of Israel at Mount Sinai beginning with Exodus chapter 19 was a covenant equivalent to a marriage contract between Yahweh and Israel, with God as the Husband and the entire nation of the body of Israel as the Bride. That this is a proper interpretation is evidenced in Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hosea, the epistles of Paul, and many other places. That old covenant being eternal, and within the laws of marriage set forth by God, the only way that it could be broken was with the death of either the Husband or the Bride. Since Yahweh promised that a new covenant would be made with Israel and Judah, for instance in Jeremiah chapter 31 and Ezekiel chapters 34 and 37, that would also necessitate the breaking of the old covenant, as Paul explains in Hebrews chapter 8, where he also quotes from Jeremiah. So we see that the fulfillment of the old covenant, its completion (which is the meaning of the Greek word which the King James Version often translates as fulfillment), took place on the cross of Christ as Paul explains in Romans chapter 7.