The Unknown Gifts

Our Father in heaven has long history of doling out stones and serpents to His children. How can He possibly be good?

The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra,
and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den.
They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain;
for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.
(Isaiah 11:8-9)

In Matthew 7, Jesus exhorts His followers to trust in the goodness of God as their Father in heaven. At face value, this is simply an exhortation to expect good things from God. Jesus uses stones and serpents as examples of things a father would not give his child, yet our Father in heaven has long history of doling out stones and serpents to His children. In that case, how can He possibly be good?

Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? (Matthew 7:9-10)

Firstly, as always, there are clues in the Covenant-literary structure of the passage. These words of Jesus are not “isolated proverbs” as Bible teachers and translators often lead us to believe. They are part of a carefully constructed speech, elements in a single stream of thought. If we isolate them, they lose much of their meaning and our “hermeneutic” is reduced to the level of a child who insists on playing snakes and ladders without first understanding the rules.

Where does this passage fit in the bigger literary picture? The first major cycle of the Gospel of Matthew recapitulates the journey from Egypt to Canaan and the Levitical festal calendar (the dominion pattern) in order to present Jesus as the nation of Israel “personified.” This text is part of the Sermon on the Mount, the Law for a New Israel after the defeat of Old Israel in the wilderness. See Jesus’ Manifesto.

Working our way in, the next task is to understand the overall structure of the pericope in question. In this case, it is arranged according to the fivefold covenant pattern:

Overview of Matthew 7:7-12

TRANSCENDENCE
Ask, and it will be given to you;
seek, and you will find;
knock, and it will be opened to you.

HIERARCHY
For everyone who asks receives,
and the one who seeks finds,
and to the one who knocks it will be opened.

ETHICS
Or which one of you,
if his son asks him for bread,
will give him a stone?
Or if he asks for a fish,
will give him a serpent?

OATH/SANCTIONS
If you then, who are evil,
know how to give good gifts to your children,
how much more will your Father who is in heaven
give good things to those who ask him!

SUCCESSION
So whatever you wish that others would do to you,
do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.

The first stanza is a triune divine imperative and promise. The second is the same but expressed as a statement of fact. The third, strangely, calls for discernment concerning what is actually received, found, and opened. The fourth reminds the people that God’s desire is to bless rather than curse. The fifth calls them to trust God as they bless others in future.

This progression works from Above, to Beside, to Below as a recapitulation of sacred architecture, which in turn is a symbol of God’s holy mountain, a “ziggurat to heaven.”

Analysis of Matthew 7:7-12

TRANSCENDENCE

The first stanza alludes to Adam in the Garden of Eden. He was to listen to God, act upon His revealed Word, and defy the false teacher. Once qualified, he would inherit the promised kingdom. Thus, this stanza works through the pattern of Priesthood (submission to heaven), Kingdom (gaining wisdom on earth), and Prophecy (qualifying for a future). The stanza is missing its final line, since the glory and rest that were promised to Adam depended upon his response to the Law of God.

When expanded into three domains (in a 3 x 3 grid), these three imperatives — as warp and weft — describe the complete biblical theoscape. Continued obedience brings results in the Garden (the fruit of righteousness), in the Land (the fruit of the Land and the womb), and in the World (inheriting the nations). But Adam did not ask, seek, or knock. Instead, he stole. Consequently, there was bloodshed in the Land and judgment of the World.

THE PROPHETIC GRID

	Priesthood Forming	Kingdom Filling	Prophecy Future
Priest GARDEN “Ask”	Tree of Life	Tree of Judicial Knowledge	Two Doorposts to Land…
King LAND “Seek”	Grain	Grapes	Firstfruits of World…
Prophet WORLD “Knock”	Bread	Wine	Feast with Heaven…

HIERARCHY

The second stanza stanza mimics the pattern of the first, but now the single word lines are in the second half of each couplet. Thus, the two stanzas fit together like the shape of dovetail joint, or a key and the corresponding shape of its lock barrel. If that doesn’t make sense, the first stanza is short-long; short-long; short-long but the second stanza is long-short; long-short; long-short.

Even more interesting is what happens if we actually put the “key” in the “lock.” It forms a complete “Creation Week” stanza which completes the sacrificial pattern.

Now, you might ask what the justification is for splitting line 6 into two parts (lines 6 and 7) when line 3 is not split. As with the Creation Week, the arrangement appears to be a THREE (forming) + THREE (filling), but it is in fact also a FOUR + FOUR, since Day 3 (the dry land and the fruit bearers upon it) culminates in a preliminary filling (the earthly table of Man) as a promise of a greater filling on Day 7 (the heavenly table of God). The Table is always a Firstfruits “promise” of the glory of Booths, just as the grapes of Eshcol were a taste of the Promised Land. Since the first three days conclude with a preliminary filling, they constitute a miniature version of the entire construct, a self-contained “head” that finds full expression as “head and body.” Thus, the combined stanza can be represented as two corresponding columns in the same way that the Creation Week can.¹See Jacob’s Tabernacle for a similar pattern subtly inscribed in the listing of Jacob’s sons. The first three days are a recognition of empty spaces, appetites, hungers that were created to be satisfied by God through patient faith. The next three days are the response of the faithful as His bride.

The imperatives relate to the often arcane nature of the Old Testament, which is at face value a history and a legal code but upon further contemplation is revealed to be the mind of God wrapped in riddles. The Bible Matrix represents a process of maturity, a state achieved through faithful reception of the Word of God and active obedience to that Word. The Bible becomes an open book only to those who persevere in asking, seeking and knocking.²See The Art of Why. God reveals Himself only to those who demonstrate that they are serious. The fact that His discovery requires faith, labor and patience make it all the more precious.

It is the glory of God to conceal things,
but the glory of kings is to search things out.
As the heavens for height, and the earth for depth,
so the heart of kings is unsearchable. (Proverbs 25:2-3)

The divine riddle inherent in the Law and the promises was solved in the mystery of Christ, the incarnation being a denouement that not only fulfilled all expectations but also subverted and transcended them. Moreover, as the one who possesses the mind of God, Jesus shares this wisdom with His friends by the Spirit. So, the first half of this pattern reflects the Mosaic imperatives (external law, stoicheia) and the second half their fulfillment in the Spirit (internal law).³For more discussion, see “Internal Law” in Michael Bull, Sweet Counsel: Essays to Brighten the Eyes. The ministry of Jesus and the Apostolic Church (as head and body) divided Israel into two camps: those who outwardly professed to seek God (external circumcision) and those who truly sought Him from the heart (internal circumcision). The first believers not only received, found, and entered, but they also became the gatekeepers for others.

I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. (Matthew 16:19)

When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades. (Revelation 1:17-18)

Although the sons of Korah served as gatekeepers of the Tabernacle and Temple from the time of Phinehas (1 Chronicles 9:17-27), this particular opening refers to the Veil before the Most Holy Place, a domain which amazingly served as a type of God’s throne and the tomb of Jesus (hence the two angels flanking the space where He was laid). As illustrated in the seven steps leading up to the throne of Solomon, Jesus — as “the door” — gives us direct access to the throne of God. However, that route is not a simple path. His gifts are hidden from the eyes of Man in order to sort the men from the boys. As it was for Adam, obtaining them requires discernment, and the key to this discernment is desire that is expressed in persistence. God dwells in a court because He is a benevolent king who desires to be courted.

This call to persistence was an obstacle to the Pharisees in Jesus’ day who, like Adam, desired the gifts of God without submission to God. Covenant Ethics was replaced with sorcery. The Temple thus became a synagogue of Satan.

But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in. (Matthew 23:13)

The Jews who considered themselves to be the gatekeepers would be cast out by the saints — “holy ones” — who wielded the flaming sword of the Spirit as a new order of gatekeepers. It is no accident that the New Covenant “bookends,” the two Johns, were both Levites, the first trumpet and the last.

Yet in like manner these people also, relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones. (Jude 1:8)

This explains the next stanza, which alludes to “corporate” Adam — Israel and the fiery serpents in the wilderness.

ETHICS

Adam was to be child before heaven that God might make him a father on the earth. That is the difference between the Oath (stones) and the Sanctions (fruit). (For more discussion, see Stones and Fruit: Divination and Procreation.) Earthly fathers are to image the heavenly Father to their sons. They do this by imaging the Son before the Father.⁴This relationship between type and antitype is confused and conflated in paedobaptism, which claims to be about the heavenly Father (faith) but, like circumcision, is in truth about earthly fathers … Continue reading

God formed Adam, then filled him with physical breath. His Testing was intended to qualify him to be filled with heavenly breath, that is, the Spirit of God. Possessing both “breaths,” Adam could not only represent earth before heaven but also legally represent heaven on earth.⁵For more discussion, see “The Spirit of Adam” in Michael Bull, Inquietude: Essays for a People without Eyes. (That, and not angels or “watchers” is the definition of a Son of God.)

In Adam’s case, the “stone of stumbling” was the prohibition upon the Tree of Judicial Knowledge. If he was trustworthy, that would be given to him as a gift. The serpent, of course, was a false prophet who advised him to steal the gift rather than trust God for it. This explains Jesus’ refusal to end His fast at the word of the serpent. His success gave Him dominion not only over the bread and the fish, Day 3 and Day 5, or the Land and the Sea, Jews and Gentiles, but also over the devil. Like Moses, the true Pharaoh, stones and serpents were now tools in His hand for the purpose of purifying the people of God.

Notice the phrase “his son some bread” at Ascension. Besides alluding to the relationship between the fruit of the Land (the kingly offering of Cain) and the fruit of the womb (the priestly offering of Abel), Jesus also hints that His own flesh and blood would be offered to us as bread and wine. Adam was the first to offer his own offspring to a false god for some “bread” that perishes (John 6:27).

The stone appears at Pentecost. The Law was given at the first Pentecost and the Spirit given at the last. For the Patriarchs, unhewn stones formed the Altars where the Law was satisfied. For Moses, graven stones were the tablets of the Law. With the stone altars replaced by more glorious Bronze and Golden Altars (as death and resurrection), the unhewn stones were now reserved for murderers (false priests), adulterers (false kings) and blasphemers (false prophets). These were the “teeth of the Land” that gnashed upon those for whom substitutionary atonement was revoked. This was the message from God for the Jewish rulers on the Day of Pentecost. If they continued in their rebellion, they would die under the Law of Moses.

Rather than the serpent appearing at the center (as is usual), the serpent appears in line 6, Day 6. This means that it refers to the “serpentine wisdom” which Adam should have gained through his obedience, the wisdom of Jacob and Solomon, men who were crafty for God, wise as serpents but harmless as doves. Step 6 in the matrix pattern concerns overcoming.

Isaiah’s promise of a Land where Abraham’s children play without harm near a snake’s nest is a wonderful swipe at the devil and his “seed,” presumably because the serpent’s nest is barren. The serpent desired to hijack Adam’s seed (hence the attack upon his wife). The link between children and serpents is found throughout the Old and New Testaments, and includes Jesus’ labeling of the Pharisees as a “brood of vipers” when they considered themselves to be the seed of Abraham.

OATH/SANCTIONS

When God gave Adam the Law, it included access to the Tree of Life (living bread). When Adam broke that Law, access to the Tree of Life was revoked. Jesus’ point here is that when the Father gives the Man stones and serpents, they will be transformed into bread and fish only by faith. When God allows us to experience prohibitions and physical limitations, fiery trials and kingly temptations, it is our faith in His good character that recognises that He means them for our ultimate good and the good of those in our care.

His brothers also came and fell down before him and said, “Behold, we are your servants.” But Joseph said to them, “Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. So do not fear; I will provide for you and your little ones.” Thus he comforted them and spoke kindly to them. (Genesis 50:18-20)

This was the experience of Stephen, the first New Covenant martyr, who was ironically (and illegally) stoned for blasphemy under Jewish Law when he was indeed the only one not blaspheming. His testimony culminated in a vision of Christ in heaven, making him a sign of what was to come upon the kings of the Land for their murder of the saints.

Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the Land will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. (Matthew 24:30-31)

Faithful obedience to the external law leads to the opening of one’s eyes, to “Pentecostal” filling, a great harvest. But it also involves sifting like wheat. It is no coincidence that these “lights wrapped in darkness” correspond to the dark night of the soul, the suffering of the Covenant faithful in the wilderness. It is only through obedience that the mind of God is opened to us, and those things which we perceived as curses are suddenly made apparent as great blessings because they transform us into His likeness. The stones and serpents are gifts in disguise, given to get us out of our comfort zones, to trust in our Father that we might become true sons. It was, after all, the perseverance of the saints during the 40 years between Pentecost (AD30) and the first century holocaust (AD70) which made apparent who were the true Jews.

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. (Romans 8:18-19)

SUCCESSION

Based on the veiled nature of God’s greatest gifts, the final stanza is extremely ironic, and perhaps an actual riddle. “Therefore” indicates that it is an explanation of what precedes. The conjunction (oún) “therefore, now then, accordingly so,” means, “By extension, here’s how the dots connect.” If that is the case, it perhaps puts an interesting spin on these famous words of Jesus. If God and men are sending stones and serpents our way, we are to respond with gifts that are truly good. Joseph, in his wisdom, understood that sometimes those good gifts are hard words, trials of heart, and the rod.

Deuteronomy was “the second Law,” another fractal expansion of the two tablets and the two sets of tablets given at Sinai. This might explain Jesus’ reference to the Law and the Prophets. Moses and Elijah were mediators between heaven and earth. Moses was given power to curse the waters below. He brought death upon Egypt. Elijah was given power to curse the waters above. He brought death upon an Israel that had become like Egypt. Together they were two legal witnesses whose authority was transferred to Jesus at His transfiguration (Matthew 17:3-5) and then to the Church at His ascension (Luke 24:4; Acts 1:10). The testimony of the “two witnesses” in Revelation 11:6-7 is thus the testimony of Jesus against Israel.

We are to give good gifts, but with the wisdom of good fathers (and Joseph was a “father” to Pharaoh). The Testing of Adam was for the purpose of training him in kingly or “serpentine” wisdom, that is, the discernment of hidden things, especially the hearts of men and women (1 Kings 3:16-28). Meditating upon and acting in accordance with God’s law would enlarge Adam internally that his kingdom might be enlarged externally. Instead, he was not prepared for the government that was placed upon his shoulders. Likewise, our gifts are to enlarge and bless our sons (both physical and official) in the long term, that these gifts might be “paid forward” through personal and cultural Succession. If we do not, Jesus will take the kingdom from us and give it to those who will bring forth the fruit that He desires (Matthew 21:43).

The discipline of prophetic witness is a gift of love, even when it is perceived as a curse. The prophetic ministry often involves riddles, bread and fish disguised as stones and serpents. Jesus’ parables were exactly that, as is the entire Bible to a great degree. It is not an easy book to understand, since it was written to bless and to curse, to strengthen the faithful but also confound the faithless. Those who will not submit to God will never understand the Bible. It is pearls before swine. In fact, it will enrage them, increase their rebellion, and hasten their destruction, as it did in the first century. If the world rejects our testimony, it is rejecting the “unspeakable gift.” In that case, the “gift” becomes the priestly knife of Ehud.

This pericope is the Genesis step in a fivefold pattern and leads naturally into the Exodus step — Jesus’ exhortation to enter by the narrow gate.⁶Again, see Jesus’ Manifesto. The members of His New Israel — as wise gatekeepers — were not to behave like the scribes and the Pharisees, those who colluded with kings who behaved like Pharaoh.

Conclusion

Carnal shortsightedness, a failure to discern between good and evil, true curse and true blessing, is now rampant in Western Culture. The Bible, the foundation of our blessings, is portrayed as the source of all our problems. We desired freedom from the constraints of the Law of Moses and expected great blessings, dominion over the Land and Sea. Instead, we now have multiplied tomes of legislation and a brood of vipers governs us.

All this occurred because of our distrust of God, who gives only good gifts. The issue here, as it was in Eden, is faith in His character despite immediate circumstances and outward appearances. The Word of God is not the source of our problems but the means of our deliverance. Only Christians are able to take, by faith, the ridiculous legislations (the multiplying “leaven” of the Pharisees) and lawless rulers of our day (like the Herods) and turn them all once again into bread and fish for all people. As at Pentecost, the best gifts come from heaven in response to our submission on earth.

Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. (James 1:17)

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