Saturday 11 June 2011

Typology: Moses, a Type of Jesus

Moses & the Ten Commandments
The New Testament is concealed in the Old Testament, and the Old Testament is revealed in the New Testament.

Typology is an ancient way to interpret scripture, a time-honoured Judeo-Christian way of looking at the Bible. The Catechism of the Catholic Church says: "Be especially attentive "to the content and unity of the whole Scripture". Different as the books which compose it may be, SCRIPTURE IS A UNITY BY REASON OF THE UNITY OF GOD'S PLAN, of which Christ Jesus is the centre and heart, open since his Passover (CCC 112 - 79)." - "The phrase "heart of Christ" can refer to Sacred Scripture, which makes known his heart, closed before the Passion, as the Scripture was obscure. But the Scripture has been opened since the Passion; since those who from then on have understood it, consider and discern in what way the prophecies must be interpreted (CCC 112 - 80)".

In our article "Mary, the New Eve" - I learned that Genesis is the foundation of St John's writings. Typology also showed me that the four prophets of the Old Testament prefigured the four Evangelists of the New Testament. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel prefiguring the four Evangelists Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. The 12 Tribes of Israel foreshadowing the 12 Apostles, and so on.

St Matthew the Evangelist, Apostle, & Martyr
In a way, it was St Matthew who introduced me to typology through his writings. For the people back then, typology was widely practised as an interpretative tool to understand scripture. In 1 Corinthians 15:45, St Paul called Jesus the "Last Adam". In John 1:21, John the Baptist was asked "are you Eli'jah?", and in Matthew 16:13-14, Jesus asked His disciples "Who do men say that the Son of man is?"...  ..."Some say John the Baptist, others say Eli'jah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets." Judging from the answers the people gave, they know that the coming Messiah was already been prefigured by either Eli'jah, or Jeremiah, or any one or every single one of those prophets. They know this because they know how to interpret scripture "properly" and it's by means of typology.
The Gospel According to St Matthew, being the first book in the New Testament, showed me its undeniable relationship with the Old Testament, particularly the book of Exodus.

- This is the relationship St Matthew showed me -

An evil tyrant(Pharaoh) tried to kill baby Moses (Ex 1:22)
An evil tyrant, Herod tried to kill baby Jesus (Matt 2:16)

Baby Moses was hidden from the evil tyrant (Ex 2:2)
An angel said to hide the child Jesus from Herod (Matt 2:13)
& both babies Moses & Jesus were sent to Egypt to escape treachery (Moses - Ex 2)(Jesus - Matt 2)

Baby Moses was saved by women: his mother (Ex 2:3); Miriam, his sister (Ex 2:4 & 7-8); Pharaoh's daughter (Ex 2:5-10)
Baby Jesus was saved and helped by His mother, Mary (Matt 2:14)

Pharaoh's daughter, the princess, adopted Moses (Ex 2:10)
Joseph adopted Jesus (Matt 1:24-25)

Moses had a secret identity (Ex 2:11-12)
The Messianic secret - Jesus healed and asked that it remain a secret (Matt 8:4)

Moses spent 40 days & 40 nights fasting(Ex 24:18 & 34:28), Israelites were tested and failed miserably.
Jesus spent 40 days & 40 nights fasting (Matt 4:2). He too was tested only He passes in flying colours by quoting scripture all 3 times, and He quotes from Deuteronomy 6-8. Jesus quotes directly from Moses' writings.

Moses got transfigured (Up a mountain with Joshua, Aaron & Hur) (Ex 34:30)
Jesus' transfiguration (Up a mountain with Peter, James, & John) (Matt 17:1-9)

Moses offering himself to God so that his people will be forgiven of their sins (Ex 32:31-33)
Of course, Jesus did too.

and so on, and so forth.


- Some General Observations -

Moses led & redeemed God's people from bondage and led them to the promise land, while Jesus led & redeemed us from the bondage of sin & death into the Kingdom of God.

There is a long period of silence between childhood & adulthood in the life of Moses... and Jesus' earthly life.

Moses left his rank as the Prince of Egypt to be with the slaves while Jesus left His Kingdom to be with us here on earth.

Moses can't govern Israel alone so he chooses 12 Princes from the 12 Tribes to assist him. (Jesus, among His followers, chooses 12 who will sit on 12 thrones and judge the 12 Tribes of Israel.) Moses, even with the 12, couldn't govern so he appointed 70 more. (In Luke 10, Jesus appoints 70 more, anointed them with the Holy Spirit to assist Him.)


Even the other New Testament writers acknowledges this.

Went from owning everything to being a common workman (Moses - Ex 2:15-19)(Jesus - John 1:1–3, Mark 6:3)

Saved a woman at a well (Moses - Ex 2:16-19)(Jesus - John 4:6–7, 25–26)

Saved gentiles (Moses - Ex 2:16-19)(Jesus - Luke 2:29–32)

Moses was a shepherd, Jesus is the Good Shepherd (Moses - Ex 3:1)(Jesus - John 10:11)

Moses offering himself to save God's people (Ex 32:31-33) Of course, Jesus did too, according to St Paul (Rom 5:11-12 & 6:10; 2 Cor 5:15-21; Col 1:19-20 & 2:14-15 and so on)

and so on, and so forth.

These are more than just coincidences - and most importantly, NO, St Matthew didn't copy the book of Exodus. There is a purpose to all of these prefigurements.

The fun part is over, now it's time for the more SERIOUS part.

In Luke 9:31 - Jesus is talking to Moses about His departure(or exit) which were soon to take place in Jerusalem. The Greek word "EXODOS" is used here, meaning "departure" or "exit". Jesus was talking to Moses about His own EXODUS - and this revelation came from St Luke's writings. St Luke knows that Exodus is the foundation of St Matthew's writings.
Jesus Christ & the Eucharist

Moses' Exodus came after 10 signs. The first sign was to turn water into blood - the water in the Nile and the water in the stone jars turned into blood (Ex 7). In John 2 - Jesus performs His first miracle, He turns water into wine, even the water in the stone jars (the same term for "stone jars" that was used in Ex 7). Then later on, at the Last Supper, Jesus turns the wine into..., what's that again? Right, into blood, His blood.

In short:
Blood = Moses, Old Testament
Wine = Blood = Jesus, New Testament

Therefore, the wine we drink in our Eucharistic celebrations is really His blood. Jesus refer to Himself as a "grape-vine", remember John 15:5? For those who don't know - wine, typically, comes from grapes.

The last of Moses' sign was the Passover. Jesus' last sign before His departure was the New Passover - The Eucharist. Moses' Passover was practised by the early Jews - even Jesus and His disciples themselves acknowledges this. So I don't see any reason at all why we can't acknowledge the New Passover - "The Eucharist" like the early Jews do with the Old Passover.

Genesis is looked at as the foundation of St John's works (St John's Gospel & Revelation), just so as Exodus is looked at as the foundation of St Matthew's Gospel. These aren't embellishments or coincidences, this is typology. This isn't a new discovery, this is how the earliest Christians read scripture. It was passed on to the Apostolic Fathers down to the Church Fathers through His Church, through the ages, and now to us. So, if you don't know typology, then how can you connect yourselves to the Church Fathers, up to the Apostolic Fathers, up to the Apostles, up to "The" Church (Matthew 16), then finally up to Jesus? Without typology, how do you know you have the correct interpretations?


Finally, look at what Jesus said: "If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote of me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?" ~ John 5:46-47 - That was spot-on typology if you ask me and it came from the very mouth of our Lord Jesus Christ. We saw St Paul using typology, the Gospel writers Matthew, Mark, Luke, & John, and now Jesus Himself practices typology.

In Matthew 7, according to St Matthew, Jesus speaks of False Prophets. Catholic apologists today often cry out the words "Mary is the key!". Find out why in our next article "St Matthew Chapter 7 - Know your False Prophets" Click Here.




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