Moving eastward in Biblical typology

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H

Henoch

Puritan Board Freshman
Does such a thing exist? That moving eastward is a Biblical symbol for moving away from God's presence?

E.g. Adam and Eve thrown out of the garden(towards the east)
Cain settling in the east
Babylon being in the east
Lot chooses Sodom in the east
The prophecy that Ishmael will move to the east

The fact that the ark was in the west
And the tribe of Judah (gate to the tabernacle) was to the east - would all this imply that moving westward is a sign of moving towards God and moving eastward is to move away from God?
 
From my commentary on Genesis 11:

As they journeyed, humanity moved eastward,[1] which is not a positive direction of travel in Genesis. The garden of Eden itself is “in the east” (Gen. 2:8). Yet when the man and woman are driven from the presence of the Lord, they settled in a land which was on the east side of the garden (3:24). When Cain was sent to wander, he settled in the land of Nod, a land which is “east of Eden” (4:16). Similarly, when Lot separated from Abraham in chapter 13 and followed his eyes into a land “like the garden of Eden”, the place where he headed was “eastward” (miqqedem) of the Promised Land (13:11). As John Sailhamer puts it, “In the Genesis narratives, when people go “east” they leave the land of blessing (Eden and the Promised Land) and go to a land where their greatest hopes will turn to ruin (Babylon and Sodom).”[2]


[1] ESV “from the east” is grammatically possible as a translation of miqqedem, but in the Old Testament it hardly ever means that. Rather, it means “in the east” (Gen. 2:8) or “to the east of” (12:8). Genesis 13:11 is a particularly close parallel, where Lot journeys eastward from the Promised Land (using the same verb nasa‘).
[2] John Sailhamer, The Pentateuch as Narrative (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1992), 134.
 
Jesus travels east to Bethany and there ascends into heaven (Luke 24:50). The disciples head west to return to Jerusalem.
 
Hello Enoch,

I don't think such a thing exists as a type. All the earth is the LORD's. He created the sun to heat and give light to His creation. It was a blessing, and bespoke His majesty and power and love. The pagans did indeed worship the sun, but God's people were taught to worship Him alone. There is nothing evil about the east. Rather, it speaks of the end of night, and darkness, and danger.
 
Don't forget also that the entrance of the tabernacle and temple both faced east: coming westward was a re-entrance into effective echoes of Eden. Going westward across the Jordan had a similar meaning. I don't think we can willy-nilly apply this idea to the modern-day West, as if America were an Eden.
 
Downtown Rome is on the east bank of the Tiber.

Constantinople is even further east.

Maybe we're on to something here. ;)
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Of course, Vatican City is on the west side of the Tiber, but we won't talk about that.
 
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SeanPatrickCornell said:
Downtown Rome is on the east bank of the Tiber.

Constantinople is even further east.

Maybe we're on to something here. ;)
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Of course, Vatican City is on the west side of the Tiber, but we won't talk about that.
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But both Geneva and the Scottish lowlands are further west than Rome ;)

Problem is if a Korean church starts it's own thing, is it the furthest west or furthest east?:think:
 
As far as the east is from the west, so far is the humor in this conversation from anything resembling comedic greatness.
 
On a serious note, I have been curious about the east gate thing in Ezekiel’s temple vision but too lazy to look it up (I do have a commentary by some guy named Duguid though, he might be worth checking…)
 
The mem preposition means from, out of. In Gen. 11, it indicates they were moving from the east, not towards it. Typologically, if restoration meant returning from the east, this might indicate the attempt to initiate their own restoration. That is only if coming from the east bears such significance this early in the narrative flow of Scripture. It would certainly add an important layer to the text. But I fail to see how they are moving towards the east. That translation makes no sense to me.
 
MW said:
The mem preposition means from, out of. In Gen. 11, it indicates they were moving from the east, not towards it. Typologically, if restoration meant returning from the east, this might indicate the attempt to initiate their own restoration. That is only if coming from the east bears such significance this early in the narrative flow of Scripture. It would certainly add an important layer to the text. But I fail to see how they are moving towards the east. That translation makes no sense to me.
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You might think so until you actually study the usage of miqqedem elsewhere, for example Gen 13:11, where the ESV and KJV rightly render it "Lot journeyed east" (the explicit geography of the surrounding passage makes this incontrovertibly right). Compare similarly Gen 12:8, Zech 14:4; Isa 9:12 (Heb v. 11). The min preposition has many uses.
Likewise, miqqedem + l regularly means "to the east of" (see Gen. 3:24; Num 34:11; Josh 7:2; Jud 8:11; Ezek 11:28; Jon 4:5); see BDB. So in 11:2 it should be translated "And as people migrated to the east...", in keeping with the thematic emphasis in Genesis that moving east means moving away from God's presence. See NAS, NIV, NET.

That doesn't mean that everywhere in the Bible going east is problematic.
 
TheInquirer said:
On a serious note, I have been curious about the east gate thing in Ezekiel’s temple vision but too lazy to look it up (I do have a commentary by some guy named Duguid though, he might be worth checking…)
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I'm actually slowly working my way through this. I just finished reading chapter 5 this morning. I might even start a thread as I work my way through it.
 
iainduguid said:
You might think so until you actually study the usage of miqqedem elsewhere, for example Gen 13:11, where the ESV and KJV rightly render it "Lot journeyed east" (the explicit geography of the surrounding passage makes this incontrovertibly right).
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That makes sense from broader usage but we seem to be left with two opposite ideas. In Gen. 11, to go towards the east or from the east. How does one decide when the geography is not clearcut? What is shifting the translator to think it is eastward in that context?
 
MW said:
That makes sense from broader usage but we seem to be left with two opposite ideas. In Gen. 11, to go towards the east or from the east. How does one decide when the geography is not clearcut? What is shifting the translator to think it is eastward in that context?
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Everywhere where the geography is clear it means eastward. See Gen 12:8, Zech 14:4; Isa 9:12 (Heb v. 11), where the KJV routinely translates "eastward" or "to the east", while miyyam means "to the west." There is no instance in Scripture where miqqedem obviously means "from the east". min is also used with other points of the compass to mean "to the north" , "to the south", etc. That is simply how you translate min + location.

In first year Hebrew we learn min as "from" but it actually has a wide variety of uses. See HALOT:

"c) points to the place or in the direction where something can be found (Brockelmann Heb. Syn. §111a; in = בְּ Dahood Biblica 48:427): מִקֶּדֶם eastwards, in the east Gn 2:8."

BDB has on Gen 11:2: "as they journeyed—not from but—on the side of the east, virtually = eastwards. 13:11 and Lot journeyed miqqedem east."
It also cites Isa 17:13: "venas mimmerchoq they fled—not from afar but—afar"
 
iainduguid said:
"c) points to the place or in the direction where something can be found (Brockelmann Heb. Syn. §111a; in = בְּ Dahood Biblica 48:427): מִקֶּדֶם eastwards, in the east Gn 2:8."
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Thankyou for this. In gauging what would be "determinative" for a Hebrew speaker I think you may have pinpointed it from HALOT -- the direction where something can be found. Does the word already carry that directional connotation? If this is what a Hebrew was hearing it wouldn't have left him with the impression that there were opposites to choose from.
 
TheInquirer said:
On a serious note, I have been curious about the east gate thing in Ezekiel’s temple vision but too lazy to look it up (I do have a commentary by some guy named Duguid though, he might be worth checking…)
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Ezekiel 43 was part of my morning reading today and it starts out:

The Glory of the LORD Fills the Temple

[1] Then he led me to the gate, the gate facing east. [2] And behold, the glory of the God of Israel was coming from the east. And the sound of his coming was like the sound of many waters, and the earth shone with his glory. [3] And the vision I saw was just like the vision that I had seen when he came to destroy the city, and just like the vision that I had seen by the Chebar canal. And I fell on my face. [4] As the glory of the LORD entered the temple by the gate facing east, [5] the Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court; and behold, the glory of the LORD filled the temple.
 
Calvin:

“This vision, therefore, was not to be restricted to a visible temple, which was soon to be destroyed, but extended to the whole Church, which is the true temple of God, wherein he dwells by his Spirit. The glory of God entering from the east signifies the renewal of the Church by the coming of Christ, who is the Sun of Righteousness, rising to scatter the darkness of sin.”

Henry:

“The return of God’s glory from the east, whence it departed because of Israel’s sin, is a pledge of His mercy, that He will not utterly forsake His people but will dwell with them again in the person of His Son, who is the brightness of His glory, entering as the Prince by the gate of redemption.”

“This filling of the temple is a sweet emblem of Christ’s incarnation, where God tabernacled among us (John 1:14), and of the Spirit’s outpouring on the church, making us temples of the living God.”
 
TheInquirer said:
So are they saying east gate corresponds to the rising sun?
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I think they are contextualising. The departure was in that direction; so the restoration will come from it as well. I am yet to see anything convincing that "the east" has some unified biblical theology connected with it. Negative and positive things happen in that direction.
 
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