The Glorious Ones and The Body of Moses: Jude 1:8-9, 2 Peter 2:10-11, and Zechariah 3:1-10

The Glorious Ones

One of the most interesting biblical mysteries is the Body of Moses and the glorious ones. At one point, I believed that the glorious ones were the apostles and the Body of Moses was talking about his physical body. However, recently, I’ve took another look at the text and came to a different interpretation.

It’s easy to come to the conclusion that the glorified ones are Moses and/or the apostles. Moses had close fellowship with God on Mt Sinai. This resulted in his face glowing in 2 Corinthians 3:12. Similarly, the Apostles witnessed Christ’s transfiguration in Matthew 17:2, Mark 9:2-3, and Luke 9:28-36. It wouldn’t be farfetched if they had the same outcome as Moses. However, based on the context, it wouldn’t fit correctly to read Moses or the Apostles into the text of 2 Peter and Jude. If one interprets authority as church authority and the glorious ones as Moses/Apostles, it sounds redundant. Furthermore, it doesn’t fit the context of 2 Peter 2:11 and Jude 1:9. It fits better to acknowledge the glorious ones as spiritual forces of the heavenly realms who are mentioned in Ephesians 6:12.

In 2 Peter 2:10, we see that the Angels of Heaven, who are stronger and more powerful than mankind,  do not call down curses upon the false teachers under THEIR OWN AUTHORITY, but rebuke them under the Lord’s name.  We see this also in the parallel passage of Jude 1:8-9.

 Michael, the archangel, did not feel that he had the authority to call down a curse upon Satan. Michael and Satan would appear to be spiritual beings with similar high rank while the false teachers (lower in rank compared to spiritual beings) did so in a flippant manner. The false teachers claimed to have authority that they arrogantly did not have.

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The Body of Moses

The Body of Moses has had unusual connections to apocryphal literature. Nevertheless, I believe that the Body of Moses is talking about the Old Covenant body of believers figuratively; similar to the Body of Christ in the New Covenant. See 1 Corinthians 10:2 and Hebrews 3:1-6. This passage is often connected to Zechariah 3:1-10. However, I believe they are two different passages with similar principles.

In Zechariah 3:1-10, we have a pre-carnate Jesus as the Angel of the Lord, Satan, and Joshua as a high priest with tarnished garments-physical and spiritual, noticed in the text that the Angel of the Lord did not say anything. The Angel of the Lord stood there in Zechariah 3:2. God the Father rebuked Satan.  It is safe to say that the Angel of Lord could only rebuke Satan under another’s authority (God the Father’s authority), which is in lined with Jesus’ character in the Gospels of Matthew 17:18 and John 5:19, 5:30, 6:38, 8:16, 12:49-50, and 14:10.

At this time, Satan was not sentenced to eternal condemnation, so it makes sense that he would only be rebuked at that moment. Likewise in Jude, we see a similar principle, Michael (who is not Jesus) who intercedes for the Old Covenant elect’s spiritual garments under another’s authority (Christ’s authority). In contrast, the false teachers claimed to exercise authority (their own authority or to use Jesus’ name as a talisman to blaspheme spiritual beings/forces such as in exorcisms and/or eternal sentencing-see Acts 19:11-20) that even Jesus did not exercised under his pre-carnate state and in his times of ministry before the cross (at the ascension, it would make sense for Jesus to then choose to exercise his power to sentence one to eternal condemnation) as well as Michael, a higher ranked angel. When Jesus exorcised demons under the Father’s authority, he did not send them to the abyss for eternal condemnation at that time. See Matthew 8:28-34 and Luke 8:31-33. It appears that when a demon’s host dies (pigs), the demon ceases to exist.  To them, it was preferable to non-exist than to be sentenced to the abyss for eternity.

Jude 8-9 English Standard Version 8 Yet in like manner these people also, relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones. 9 But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you.”

2 Peter 2:10 English Standard Version 10 and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority. Bold and willful, they do not tremble as they blaspheme the glorious ones,

Zechariah 3:1-10 English Standard Version 3 Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him. 2 And the Lord said to Satan, “The Lord rebuke you, O Satan! The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is not this a brand plucked from the fire?” 3 Now Joshua was standing before the angel, clothed with filthy garments. 4 And the angel said to those who were standing before him, “Remove the filthy garments from him.” And to him he said, “Behold, I have taken your iniquity away from you, and I will clothe you with pure vestments.” 5 And I said, “Let them put a clean turban on his head.” So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him with garments. And the angel of the Lord was standing by. 6 And the angel of the Lord solemnly assured Joshua, 7 “Thus says the Lord of hosts: If you will walk in my ways and keep my charge, then you shall rule my house and have charge of my courts, and I will give you the right of access among those who are standing here. 8 Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, you and your friends who sit before you, for they are men who are a sign: behold, I will bring my servant the Branch. 9 For behold, on the stone that I have set before Joshua, on a single stone with seven eyes, I will engrave its inscription, declares the Lord of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of this land in a single day. 10 In that day, declares the Lord of hosts, every one of you will invite his neighbor to come under his vine and under his fig tree

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